5 Months Old!

Our little girl is already 5 months old! We've had quite the adventures this last month, but have had a lot of fun.

Getting taller every day!

Still has that double chin... :)

She makes us laugh all the time!

LOVES her feet!

And loves licking EVERYTHING within reach!

 

So, here are some of the things that have happened this month:

• Started rolling over. She finally really got the hang of it last night and can roll over both ways without too much difficulty. It cracks us up - and she officially never stops moving now.
• She slept though the night for two nights...then it stopped. Her sleep schedule is pretty out of whack from being sick all week, so hopefully when she's all better she'll sleep better too.
• Really has the hang of those hands. She can grab just about everything in reach. We nearly had a disaster in church yesterday with the sacrament tray... time to be more aware of what's in her reach!
• Tried a couple new solid foods (attempting to fill her tummy more so she sleeps better). Liked yams but they gave her a rash around her mouth. Tolerated sweet potatoes but she started getting sick so we just went back to breastmilk. We tried some rice cereal in a bottle at night and that just seemed to wake her up more! Her favorite thing is still egg yolk, but she doesn't seem to like it as much hard-boiled. But obviously she's chunky enough without real food, so we'll probably just stick with nursing again for a while longer.
• We thought she might be teething, but can't see any signs of a tooth. My sister thought she felt one, but we can't. (We also don't have any experience in this area...so who knows!). She's been cranky off and on for the last couple of months, seems to be chewing on things more, and has had a lot of congestion. She also has been grinding her gums. So I guess we'll find out soon if she's cutting a tooth!
• Her "stranger danger" is starting to fade a little. She's letting more people hold her without crying now.

We sure love this little girl! It's been pretty tough here an there, but we are so happy to be her parents. It's so exciting to watch her grow and develop, and realize more and more what an amazing and powerful person she is!

 

4 Months Old!

I say this every time, but time flies! I can't believe our little baby is already 4 months old. I also can't believe it's been a month since I posted last... whoops. Well here's some pictures and an update!

I think Todd wished this girl loved to cuddle more... unfortunately she likes to move WAY too much to settle down and cuddle for more than a few minutes.

 

4 months old!

Miss bright eyes :)

Here's the update for the month:
- She is 25.5" long (90th percentile, size of a 6 month old!) and is 14lbs 15oz (80th percentile, size of a 5 month old). We've got a tall girl!
- Lily is still not rolling over, but can sure get up on her side easily! She just needs to learn how to kick over.
- She found her feet :) She can grab and play with them now.
- She got up to sleeping 7 hours a night...then everything went kaputz. It started out with a cold; she was sick for about a week before the cold really blossomed. Even after those symptoms went away she was still cranky and not sleeping. It got worse and worse until we were only getting about 3-4 hours of sleep each night. Let me just say, I was on the verge of a meltdown. We finally figured out that she is...
- Sensitive to dairy! Like mother like daughter. I went off of dairy on Friday, and we're already seeing improvement. She slept better the last two nights, and we're hoping she will continue improving.
- Started on solids. Rather than starting her on rice cereal which can be hard to digest, I'm giving her a little bit of soft-boiled egg. Babies don't have enough of the digestive enzyme Amylase to digest grains, so the rice cereal ends up sitting and rotting in the baby's intestines! This leads to allergies, eczema, you name it. So we're trying the egg instead to see how she does. So far so good! She still nurses full time, and just has some egg on top of that once a day.
- She NEVER stops moving and/or talking :) This little girl is quite active and loves to move. Once she starts crawling we're never going to have a moment's peace. But it will be so fun!
- She loooves her bath time. When she's starting to get cranky but it's not quite naptime, we just put her in the tub and let her play. I think she's going to be a swimmer, she loves the water. Can't wait for next summer to take her swimming!

Well that's all the updates I can think of at the moment. We've been on an adventure of discovery and healing with Lily, and I'd love to share our journey with you as soon as I get the gumption to type it :)

Lily's 3 month photo shoot!

Once again, thank you Amanda Gibbs for the FABULOUS job you did on Lily's 3 month pictures. This amazing lady has done our maternity photos, newborn, and now 3 month photos. We plan on doing 6, 9, and 12 month shots with her too! We're hooked on her great style :)

So, without further ado, may I show of my awesome baby?! Brace yourself...there's a lot...

The classic Merrill "Walnut Cracker" look..check out those eyebrows!

She loved grabbing those feathers with her monkey toes.

Love this one!

Num.. blanket!

Those spit bubbles never stop!

Those feet never stop either!

More spit bubbles...lol

Serious little girl!

The only little grin of the whole shoot! Normally she smiles all the time...but not that day.

lol! "Hmmmm?"

Those little hands are always grabbing something!

 

Thanks for letting me show off our little Lily :) 

3 Months already? No way...

I know I say this in every post, but time is flying! I can't beleive our little girl is 3 months old already.

 

Trying on headbands :)

Here's some of the things that she's doing now:

- Smiling like crazy! It's really easy to coax a grin out of her now.
- Laughing! Although they're still little just chuckles, they are so fun!
- Holding her head up. She gets the bobble-head once in a while, but she can almost hold her head steady.
- Still waking up once a night. We're getting her on a nice routine of bed at 10pm, eating at 2am and waking at 6am. Some days she can go back to sleep until 9am. But I can't wait until she drops that night meal!
- Eating every 2.5-3 hours. I don't like to stretch it farther than that or she's up more in the night.
- Size 2 diapers! Luckily we hadn't bought any more 1's, so we were able to use up what we had and switch her to the next size. This girl is groooowing!
- In size 3-6 month clothes. Although even some of those are snug...especially if they have to fit around her chunky thighs :)
- Still trying to roll over. She's not to interested in rolling from back to tummy, but will try to roll over when down for tummy time.
- Sleeping un-swaddled! (Most of the time). This is HUGE. She has never been able to sleep with her arms out because she's just wake herself up. Todd asked last week if she was ready to switch, and I thought it was worth a shot. We've had to help her learn how to sleep unswaddled, but she is doing much better. It also means that she doesn't use her binky much anymore because she pulls it out of her mouth when her arms are free.
- Is OK in her carseat. She'll still fuss, but overall she tollerates being in the car. For those of you who have driven with us while she was screaming... you know why that's an improvement :)
- Still sleeping in our bedroom. I really enjoyed having her in our room, but it's getting to a point where Todd's not sleeping very well. We're just saving up to buy a crib so she can be in her own room now. I think I'm finally ready for the change, but it's going to be a hard adjustment.
- Grabbing things. She has been able to grab things for a couple of weeks, but is starting to develop some hand-eye coordination and tries to grab things she's looking at. SO fun to watch.

We had her 3 month pictures taken yesterday. I'll post them as soon as we get them back! Can't wait for you all to see this chunky little girl :)  You can see a sneak previews HERE.

10 weeks just might be the magic number!

What's so special about 10 weeks old? Well, Lily suddenly decided that she was ready to sleep better! Or, should I say, she's finally learning how to self-soothe without going into absolute hysterics. We're able to put her in bed (for naps or bedtime) and just let her cry for a few minutes at a time, plug her binky back in, and repeat until she falls asleep. The last few days she has taken less and less time to fall asleep, and even does it without her binky once in a while! She still wakes up in the middle of most of her naps, but will usually fall back asleep after crying for a few minutes. Might not seem like a big deal, but it feels like a huge accomplishment to us :)   BUT... I don't want to jinx ourselves, and are prepared for some rough nights and naps here and there, just in case. lol.

10 weeks. Legs are getting chunky!

Trying some tummy-time. It didn't last very long, lol

More tummy-time. She decided licking her blanket was more fun!

She's sure starting to grab things! Poor teddy got his ears pulled...lol

 

We decided that it was best if neither of us were in school this semester. So, that means we actually get to see Todd int he evenings! It's been wonderful. Especially since we just got called to be the new Cub Scouts Wolf den leaders! So, we'll be chasing 9 year old boys around our house once a week, plus other activities and camps. But we're really excited. It's going to be an adventure wrangling those boys plus taking care of a 3 month old...but we'll figure it out I'm sure.

We're excited to do Lily's 3 Month pictures with Amanda Gibbs in two weeks. I'm thinking of doing a Autumn theme, and would love to get some pretty fall leaves pictures! So, if anyone has ideas for good locations in Davis/Weber county (preferably close to Layton), I'd love to hear them!

2 Months Old!

Woohoo, we survived our first two months!  

Look how big our little girl is getting!



 We've had an interesting couple of weeks. Todd is back in school full-time and his work schedule is stabilizing a bit. We're trying to get used to not seeing him as much. Monday and Friday he's gone from 6:30am to 4:30pm, and Tuesday - Thursday he's gone from 6:30am to 8:30pm. It's going to be a rough semester, but we'll get through it!

 

Lily has had a rough couple of weeks too. She was starting to sleep better and be happier, and then it went downhill again. She's been fussy and lethargic the last couple of days, and we think she might have an ear infection. Poor little girl, it's so sad to see her not feeling well. I feel that I've been blessed with strength and patience to stay up with her and comfort her. Although I've enjoyed all the cuddle time we've had, I wish it was under better circumstances. Here's hoping she feels better soon, and will be back to her usual, happy self!

Enjoying some good tummy-time. That neck is sure getting stronger!

This little girl sure loves her fist. It's nice for her to have a way to soothe herself a little.

Some good daddy-daughter time :)

We have her 2 month appointment next week. I can't wait to see how much she's grown. She's sure getting big! We've had some ups and downs, and are learning more every day, but we absolutely adore our daughter. She has been such a blessing in our lives, and we love watching her grow and develop each day.