Anberlin has officially been alive as long as it took me to make her. :) This has been a very eventful 9 months and she has grown up so much. And even though it all happens SO FAST, it's still funny to think that some animals mature by now, and Bay can't even walk yet. Haha.
Well, she may not be able to walk just yet but she is well on her way. This month she excelled at crawling and then learned how to pull herself up on things and stand. She got so good at that, that we had to drop her crib mattress down, even! She hasn't really taken any steps yet but she has stood without holding on to anything a few times. She also climbed up on step all by herself at the townhouse in Vegas. Can my baby stop growing now???
Playing at Hastings.
Obviously this was her first Thanksgiving and it was a very nice day spent with family all watching her crawl around. Then for her Thanksgiving meal she had sweet potato fries, green beans, and some turkey. Most of her meal ended up on the floor for the dogs once she realized that she could drop it for them and they would eat it, but she still tried some new foods and had fun.
Bay & Anna
Dad making Bay make some noises by bumping under her chin with his finger.
Eating her Thanksgiving dinner!
Our days are still pretty routine. We wake up anywhere between 5-6 now, though, because for some reason she forgot how to sleep in and likes to wake up screaming really early. Then she plays inside until around 9:30, when we give her breakfast and then put her down for a nap. She will usually sleep until 12, or 1 if she is really tired. Then she is up for the rest of the day. Some days she gets a lunch/snack in the afternoon which is usually sweet potato fries or some other finger veggie. Then she spends the day crawling inside the house, outside in the backyard, or trying to get through the doggy door. Haha. I am still nursing her and she gets that 5-6 times a day. We plan to start weaning her after her first birthday.
SO EXCITED.
Not nearly as excited.
Exploring dad's beard.
Baby feet!
Bath time!
Trying to grab the camera.
Helping mom bake cookies!
In the past week we noticed that she had a new tooth coming in on the top, but it isn't one of her center front teeth. It is one next to it on the left (if you're looking at her). But it looks like her front two are going to follow soon. But she is still a really good teether. We seriously have no idea she has a tooth coming in until we check her gums out because she doesn't really act grumpier than usual. Or many we just have a naturally grumpy baby and can't tell the difference. Haha.
She also has gotten really good at waving in the past few days. At first it started out with moving her arm, but now she can full on open and close both her hands like a normal wave. She loves to wave at everything and she also uses it to let us know when she wants something. She is so smart.
We went out on our first family hiking trip through Sara Park with our friend Kayla, Kenny, and their little boy Roxas. It was so much fun! This was the first time me and Kayle have ever went and obviously toting babies isn't an easy task, but we did it! It was a 2.5 mile hike through the desert, through some rock they call Sara's crack, and then to the lake (and then 2.5 miles back!). I would love to do it again but maybe not go all the way to the lake, haha. It was tiring. When we got home Anberlin took a 3 hour nap. She was pooped. Haha.
Hanging out on Dad's back.
So comfy.
Climbing down the crack.
Passed out!
She was pretty happy after her nap on dad's back.
Our family. <3
We had some ducks get really close to us.
As for our house, we have a walk-through on December 20th, so 16 more days! We probably won't be in the house before Christmas though. It looks like we won't get our keys until December 27th and then we have to paint and move all our things. So hopefully we will be in there before the new year, at least! We are just so excited and ready to be in our own home. These are the latest pictures we got on it though.
Outside
My new kitchen! <3 <3 <3
Master Bathroom
So, I think that covers it for our month. Hopefully next month we will be in our house and getting settled in there. We cannot wait! :)
Yesterday was a busy day for this little half birthday girl! But we will get to that in a bit... This has been a busy month in general for Bay. So much growing and so much learning, lots of "firsts" too!
Anberlin can still only roll from her back to her belly, but she is getting more comfortable about where she does it. She rolled over in her crib a few nights ago and slept on her belly. She seemed pretty confused when she woke up though, haha. She did roll over once from her belly to her back but we are pretty sure it was a fluke because she hasn't done it since.
Teething started this month and we didn't get just one but TWO little teeth coming in. I don't think we would have ever noticed until I ran my finger across her gums. She has been super good with them coming in, not at all the terror we were anticipating. Right now they are through the gums but not fully up. Getting a good picture of them is next to impossible because she doesn't like to show them off, though.
This is how we found them, two little white dots.
About a week later...
And this is them now!
She hasn't started crawling yet (Brad was betting that she would be crawling by the end of August, didn't happen!) but she can push herself backwards on her belly and her back and she can rotate in a circle on her belly to reach things around her. She sits up really well on her and can maneuver from sitting up to her belly if she wants something in front of her. It's not graceful, but it happens. She has found out how to make noises with her mouth. For a week she would make spitting noises with her lips and tongue that she thought was fun, then she switched to playing her lips like a banjo with her hand. It's super cute.
She got to meet a lot of family and friends this month. We got a group of people together to meet us at the Nationals vs. Diamondbacks game in Phoenix (of course) one weekend and she got passed up and down the row most of the time. It was a lot of fun to be rooting for our old "home team" the Nationals while in Arizona. ;) We also stopped by my Uncle's restaurant and she was able to meet her great Uncle Brett, great Aunt Rose, and her Great Great Grandpa! I think she is officially caught up on meeting family now!
Sleeping in the hotel.
Supporting our Washington Nationals!
Her great great Papa.
We have had a few play dates with some friends who had a baby boy a few days after Anberlin was born. It's nice to get together with friends who not only share our interests but have a baby that Bay can play with. They have met about 4 times now and it's so cute to watch them just stare at each other and talk back in forth in their baby babbles.
Roxas & Anberlin
We spent a weekend in Vegas doing things for our house that is getting built. We had a 4 hour long appointment to do things like picking tile and granite and all the other specifics about the house. Bay did really well for the most part. She was pretty cranky by the end of the appointment but we survived. And then we went and saw our lot where they had the trenches dug and some of the foundation put down. We are really excited to watch this house be put together for us and our little family. :) We spend a lot of time now furniture shopping and walking around Lowes looking at things we want to upgrade and picking paint colors.
The start of our new home <3
We are pretty much back on a solid schedule with Bay. She is sleeping through the night 99% of the time so that is good. Unfortunately if she does wake up in the night it is normally 20 minutes before Brad's alarm goes off for work so he gets up a little early on those days. ;)
Bay did have her first cold last week. :( Luckily, it only lasted one day but it was pretty bad. She woke up with a fever of 101.3 and naturally we did the "new parent move" of calling the doctor and getting her an appointment, which confirmed her cold, but at least she didn't have an ear infection or something. Better safe than sorry. It only lasted a day and she spent most of it sleeping. We gave her tylenol before bed and she felt much better the next day. But there is nothing worse than having a sick baby that you can't make feel better with lots of kisses.
Sleeping, sick Bay...
But like I said at the beginning, yesterday was a busy day for our half birthday girl! We started the day with a quick boat ride on the lake with family. At 6 months babies are finally allowed to wear sunblock, so it worked out perfectly. She didn't know what to expect at first and she seemed to like it until we put the life vest on her, haha. Then she got a bit fussy. But once the boat started going she fell asleep in my arms. Hahaha, of course. I don't blame her, I love sleeping to the motion of water!
Styling!
Sleeping...
Hanging out with Anna and Kathy.
Looking up at Daddy :)
Then we decided that since she has been so interested in food and watching us eat, that yesterday was the perfect day to introduce her to "real" food! We have a plan set out for her first foods for the next month. We started with avocado yesterday and she will have that for 4 days until we introduce the next food, to ensure that there are no allergic reactions. She didn't seem to mind the avocado, I think she was perplexed by the texture and flavor since it's so different from sweet breastmilk. This stage is so much fun and I can't wait to get her to try all different kinds of foods!
Bay vs Avocado
And then finally last night we had her in her jumperoo and this is the first time she has actually jumped like crazy in it! Watch her gooo!
She is learning new things every day and I am so happy that both of us get to watch her learn them together. I can't wait to see what this month brings us!
{Thank you Anna for this gorgeous blanket you made for Anberlin!! We love it!}
Anberlin has survived her first month of living in the desert after surviving her first road trip across the country. (If you missed that blog, click here!) Since we moved during monsoon season, the weather in Arizona was pretty similar to the weather in Maryland. Hot and humid. Blech.
We are slowly getting settled and into a routine. We are currently living in Brad's parent's pool house. Our move was a completely nightmare. Since we knew we would be staying with someone when we moved, we had all the things we wanted with us put into the nursery for packing. We told them to make sure all the nursery boxes were labeled with "nursery" so we could easily find them. (Something you don't think you should HAVE to say...) Well, the guy who took apart Anby's crib a) put the "feet" to the crib in a random craft box that was in the room next door to her nursery (which we didn't notice until it was delivered) and b) didn't keep the hardware to the crib with the crib or the nursery stuff, Brad just noticed it in a bag on the living room floor at the end of the move day and then had them put it in a random box and label it "nursery". Fast forward to our delivery day... we wanted most of our stuff put into a storage unit and then the things labeled "nursery" to be left out so we could take them. You would think that would be an easy task for movers, especially since they didn't have to unpack anything or put anything together. But no. No matter how many times me and Brad would tell them to look for boxes labeled "nursery", they still missed some and so did we. In the end, we didn't get a lot of the things we wanted or needed. We got crib pieces, but no hardware and so we had to buy a new crib. Yup. That's about how well this move went.
But we are here now and moving forward... And by that I mean, we knew we couldn't stay with family forever so we made finding a house our top priority... And we did! After debating between staying in Havasu or moving to Vegas, we decided that Vegas would be a better move. More job opportunities for us and more things for Anberlin to do as she gets older. So we signed some papers a few days ago to get a house built in a nice community in Henderson, NV. It starts getting built August 20th and we should be able to move in at the end of November! :)
Anyways, back to the Bay... because I know that is the real reason you all read this blog!
She had her 4 month appointment once we got to Havasu, finally! It went very well. The PA who saw her said that she was happy to see such a healthy, breastfed baby. And that she is! On the day of her appointment she was 4 months and 10 days old. She weighed 18.13 lbs and was 26 inches long. No other concerns were mentioned and then she got some shots. Brad held her and when she cried, I cried. Haha.
Happy before her shots!
Sleeping after her shots...
She is growing up so fast and hitting (most) milestones sooner than she "should be". With that being said, we finally have a roller-over-er. She can only go from back to tummy and she only rolls to her right, so we don't have to worry about her rolling across the living room... yet!
She can pretty much sit up on her own now. She will still topple over after a few minutes, but for the most part she can sit up, unassisted, and even grab for toys while sitting. She actually prefers sitting up now, so we need to get her to figure out how to get there on her own. I think we still have a while for that though.
Her hair is still a reddish brown. But from what I can see, in the places that the hair fell out, it's coming in a light brown. Her eyes are turning a greenish brown color. I am so anxious to know what she is going to look like because she is such an adorable baby. Really it's the almond shape of her eyes that makes me swoon. We are also still adorably toothless. And there is really no signs of them coming in anytime soon. We are completely okay with that because we love her gummy little smile. I keep telling her you have teeth your whole life, no need to rush on getting them now! ;)
Anberlin with her "auntie" Shannie.
Anberlin with her great Uncle Mike.
She loves the sound of her voice and she loves it at all octaves. She has found her outside voice but using it mostly inside. And it gets LOUD. And she is also babbling a lot more. She likes to babble the most when she has things in her mouth, like her hands or toys. She is a cliche baby and says "gagagaga" a lot. It's pretty stinking cute. I can't wait for her to say her first real word!
One of the most exciting things that happened this month for Bay is that she went SWIMMING for the first time! Grandma bought her some little swimmer's diapers and we took her in the pool. She didn't even mind it at all! In fact, I would even go as far as to say that she loved it. No crying, just splashing and swimming! It must have been all the Olympics she has been watching!
First time in the pool!
Swimming with dad!
Splashing was her favorite!
We can't believe that she is almost half a year old! Time really does fly when you have a kid! Speaking of, we want to congratulate our friends Tony & Andrea who gave birth to a baby boy, Antonio, on August 2nd! Congrats and love to you three. Having a baby is so much fun, if you look past the crying, not sleeping, and pooping. ;) <3
.JPG)
.JPG)
