New Learned Skills

Maisie has a couple new tricks in the works. 1 being, she is now drinking from a sippy cup. Austin and I were not in a hurry for this step, but upon finishing up our dinner with her one evening, she surprised us with an amazing feat. Austin had her in his lap and as we were chatting away, in one swift movement she lunged forward grabbed Austin's glass and put it to her lips and took a little sip. From that moment we knew she was ready for a big girl cup. Austin was more impressed with her skill, as I was just thankful he was just drinking water that night opposed to soda. Maisie loves her sippy cup because to her it's a brand new toy and something she can suck on and get a little drink.

It's a drink...

and now it's a toy!

Her other trick she is try to master is sitting up all by herself. It seems like she it getting better and better with each passing day. It started that she could sit up for like 10 seconds by herself and quickly has learned how to balance herself for much longer. I am thinking she will have it completely mastered in a matter of a week or two, but it is very exciting! I am just imagining her on Christmas morning sitting all by herself surrounded by gifts and wrapping paper.

Oh how I love that kissable bald head!

Maisie has a little (and I mean teeny) diva in her. Maybe it's a girl thing, but she is very capable of doing certain things by herself, but for some reason she will whine until we cave and either do it for her or pick her up. An example is this, she is very able to roll a few times or just from back to belly and belly to back, but for some reason she has decided she is now sick of doing it by herself. So she will be on her back and kind of pushing off with her legs to move around a little bit and then she will roll onto her belly and instead of rolling around or back onto her back like she used to, she will now just lay there defeated until we roll her back over. It makes me laugh every time because she acts so pathetic. I have no clue why she suddenly started doing this, but hopefully she will start rolling around again because it is just so cute!

Sleep? Yes Please!

I haven't been updating as much as I would like, but believe me I have a good (more like great) excuse. 

Maisie had her 6 month growth spurt (she usually finishes her growth spurt by the time she hits the age. So like 5 days to a week a head of time) and honestly, this one was extra rough. I am surprised I survived it! It was five excruciatingly long days and even longer nights of constant feedings and waking up every hour to do so. The days were hard because on top of the feedings, she was super fussy from being so tired. I was dead exhausted mentally and physically, sore and unable to get anything done I.E laundry and dishes (which stresses me out even more). I was so ready for this growth spurt to end and ready to have my sleeping baby girl back. We survived the no sleep 6 month feeding frenzy and I was able to get some rest. Thank heaven!

Maisie went back to her normal sleep schedule. It was amazing to start catching up on my lost shut eye, but 3 nights after her growth spurt ended Maisie started not sleeping (again). At least with the growth spurt she would pass out after each feeding, but this time she would only latch on for maybe 5 minutes (so unlike her. Even if she's not hungry) and then start squirming and crying. I could tell it was a pain cry. She wouldn't even open her eyes. I would repeat our normal bedtime routine, but this time it was taking much longer to get her to sleep and then the minute I set her down she would start crying. I put on her ocean waves white noise and it would help settle her down, but with all the effort of trying to get her to sleep, it was hard for me to fall back to sleep. So here I am dead tired and trying to fall asleep. I finally slip into la la land when I am woken up by Maisie's painful moans and cries. I knew I shouldn't have looked at the clock, but I did and I had only been sleeping for maybe 45 minutes. I swaddled her up tight, rocked and shushed her to sleep and started the process over again 10 times in one night. The next night 8 times, the night after that 5, and finally last night she only woke up 3 times and was relatively easy to get back down. I feel as though my brain is fried. I figured out that she is teething, but she has been having teething symptoms  for months now, I just think now something is starting to happen. I still don't see or feel any bumps, but I can tell it hurts her to nurse. She is constantly chewing on everything, including me (ouch!). She's been pulling at her ears, but I have been taking her temperature frequently and no sign of a fever. I used to dread the thought of her getting her first tooth because I adore her toothless grin so much, but at this point this tooth needs to show up so Maisie can be comfortable again. 

I really should be trying to get some sleep right now, but I feel a slight twinge of guilt when I go a while with out at least a tiny update. We are all healthy and happy, just on the tired side. Even with all the sleepless nights Maisie has been up to some exciting new things! But I will save that for another post.

November Birthdays

November is a great month because a few of my favorite people ever celebrate their birthdays this month. On the second was my baby sister's 21st and today is my dad's 51st. I wish we could have been there to celebrate with them, but they know how much we miss and love them. I hope their birthdays were fantastic and from what I hear from Katie, she sounds like she is having a fantastic time not being a minor anymore.

So, from Maisie, Austin and I we would like to wish our dear loved ones again a very HAPPY BIRTHDAY! We love you so much!

Now it's on to Thanksgiving! :-)

Milk Machine to Future Food Factory?

Maisie has had her first tastes of real food, so far only oatmeal and pumpkin, but I can already tell I am going to be obsessed with making her homemade baby food. The recipe of disaster is this: 1) I already love to cook and 2) So far her main food source is breast milk, I.E liquid gold. You can't get any better than that. It was specifically made just for her and what she needs. Being the proud breast feeding mama that I am, I naturally only want the best food for her. Nothing else simply won't do. I think the only way for me to ease my fears of her weaning early, is knowing that if she does wean early, she is getting organic, made with love, goodness. Of course I understand that it's not entirely realistic to say I will never give her premade food, so if I do have to bust out a jar of natures best every once and a while, so be it. But my goal is to try to make a great majority of her food. So far the only tool I have is a borrowed magic bullet, but after much research I have found my dream machine...

voilà!

Meet the baby cook. It steams, purees, defrosts and reheats and I want it! Badly. My only concern is that in order to make a decent sized freezer batch it will take multiple uses. The only thing is that I would only have to place the veggies or fruit in and I hate to sound like Ron Popeil here, but "set it and forget it!" So what I have to cook the food in batches and then blend it. I will totally deal. I am very tempted to make this my Christmas wish, but I figure with good money management and a little saving I can get it before Christmas. :-)

Wow...

I have one gifted baby.

She even does it in her sleep!

About a week ago Austin and I saw that Maisie had perfectly interlocked all her fingers together. We thought it was on accident, but even then, we were amazed by her accidental accomplishment. Man, has she proved us wrong! The top picture is from earlier today and the bottom is from a few nights ago. Saying I am impressed by her coordination and concentration is an understatement. I am so proud of my little Maisie Moo.

Maisie Shenanigans

My baby girl has been developing new skills faster than I can keep up. I have been trying to keep a mental list of all the new things she is up to, but it's about time I blog about it.

Maisie has a repertoire of ways to express amusement and depending on her mood she will either belt out a big belly laugh, chortle, chuckle, giggle, shriek, shrill and she even has a noise for when she is smiling so big, but not quite laughing yet. She has even figured out just how loud she can be and that it's a lot more fun to mix up not only your noises, but also changing up how softly or loudly you make them. She's a silly girl and I take pleasure in all her noises she comes up with to express how happy she is. There are a few sure ways to get her laughing and currently those things are:

1)Singing "The Itsy Bitsy Spider", "Old McDonald", "Head & Shoulders Knees & Toes" and this is rediculous, but Austin and I one night were singing the African gospel song "Shut de do" and she loved it! So we are now forced to sing that one as well. It has never failed getting a giggle out of her. haha

2)She is really into playing the games Peek-a-boo and "where's Maisie?!" She waits so quietly until we pull the blanket off her or until we pop up from behind the couch or from under the table. The Halloween onesie my mom got her was just perfect because that game is definitely played a few times on a daily basis. It's amazing seeing her face light up and understanding what's going on around her. She has put together that just because she can't see us doesn't mean we are not there. A whole world exist around herself and it really blows my mind to see her making that connection.

3)If we put on some music and pick her up and dance with her or even if I just dance silly where she can see me. Gets the laughter going. I think I would seriously die of embarasment if some one could see how crazy I act around my baby. I am constantly making up little songs, bouncing and dancing around just for the amusement of Maisie and nothing makes me happier than seeing her smile and hearing her giggle, so my craziness totally pays off.

She is completely obsessed with her little feet. All the toys in the world could not amuse her as much as those cute little feet attached to end of her legs. Months ago she discovered them and they haven't got old yet. She is always grabbing her toes and recently starting to suck on them. The cutest thing about this is she tries to be sneaky about it. She is always trying to hide the fact that she has her toes in her mouth. She will be holding her toes and I turn my head for one second then I hear her sucking and I look over and alas she has crammed in as many toes as she can. Then when I go to look at her she stares at me with her mouth wide open and just lets the toes slip out. She then of course starts giggling. She is such a flexible and sneaky baby. She melts my heart with all her silly antics.

When she is laying on the floor and she gets excited about something, whatever it may be she will shuffle her feet back and forth in the air. It makes us laugh every time because she opens her mouth and starts to breathe a little heavier and then start doing this leg shuffle. It's hard to explain, but trust me it is dang cute!

She loves seeing the world from a sitting up perspective so she loves her bumbo and has taking a recent interest in her bouncer again. We used to use that when she was a newborn and needed to set her down because it vibrates and very calming. She is loving it all over again, but for different reasons. The toy bar has a flower when pulled plays a song and has removable little crinkle bugs. Well now that she is much more aware of her surroundings and interested in feeling (and tasting everything) she rips off the bugs and pulls on the flower so it plays a cute little tune.

Maisie and I take baths together and it is seriously one of my favorite things. There is nothing like that skin on skin contact and seeing how happy she is to splash around and try to gulp the water and bubbles (of course I don't let her, but boy does she try!) I am so glad she is a water baby! I really need to enroll in some mommy baby swim classes. I know she would love it and I would too!

Sometimes when Maisie is in a stubborn or an over stimulated mood she will refuse to laugh or even smile. Or when she does start to laugh it will quickly turn into a complaint. It is so funny to see this bi-polar act in person. Austin is always calling her "a tough crowd", but I love it. It makes Maisie, Maisie.

She thinks it is so funny to drop everything thing and then reach for it. At this rate I will have abs of steal by months end. haha no complaints there. I can totally tell that this left over baby weight is just going to fall off once she's mobile. She reaches for everything that catches her eye. If it be a remote, cell phone, keys, news paper, seriously she wants to check out and study everything.

Grabbing/rubbing Austin's beard scruff is one of Maisie's favorite pass times. She will rub his beard for hours, but now she is taking special interest into noses, ears, lips and eyes. Oh yeah and hair! She grabs/pulls on everything. She is just so curious about everything and it's amazing to see the world through her eyes.

Occasionally if Austin is preoccupying Maisie while I am trying to get something done (get myself ready, or doing dishes or laundry) and then if I come into eye sight or sit some where she can see me, but I am not in reach she will stare at me with the most pitiful look. Austin says it looks like she just witness someone kick a puppy. Then she will burrow her head in his neck and then pop up just to give me the look again. This mainly happens when she is hungry, but sometimes she just wants her mommy. Nothing wrong with that right?! :-)

Well there you go, Maisie's shenanigans in a nutshell. I adore my baby girl. She is just perfect in so many ways, As sad as I am to see my baby change and grow, it's so exciting at the same time. I can't wait to see the amazing girl she grows up to be.

Solid Food Endeavor

With how busy we were leading up to Halloween, I kind of forgot to post about Maisie's first real solid food (oops). In Arizona I mushed up a tiny and I mean itty bitty piece of avocado and gave it to her, but she still had the instinct to thrust her tongue and push all food out of her mouth. So it ended up sliding down her chin instead of into her belly, but oh well. So we gave it a little more time and then with the encouragement of our pediatrician we decided to give it another go on the 17th of October. We fed her 1 tablespoon of Natures Best Oatmeal (we choose the oatmeal over the rice cereal because it's less likely to cause constipation) mixed with an ounce and a half of pumped milk and she loved it! She opened her mouth right away and swallowed her first spoonful. I was preparing for a huge mess because of what I have read and what other mothers have warned is that babies end up wearing more of their first food than actually eating it, but in Maisie's case she definitely ate more. Don't get me wrong it was still a messy endeavor (she discovered how fun it is to blow bubbles on the spoon) but my little piglet just couldn't get enough and ended up eating all that was in the bowl. She did get a tiny bit constipated, but it's understandable seeing how she's never digested anything other than breast milk. It was a fun afternoon filled with laughter and of course full bellies.

Her Very First Bite

Looking At Daddy

Helping Mommy

Halloween

I have always been fond of Halloween. I mean who doesn't like to play dress up and eat way to much candy? But this one was extra special because it was Maisie's very first Halloween! We had so much fun together as a family, carving our pumpkins, roasting the seeds, baking cookies, watching "It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown" and of course busting into our delicious candy stash. We only had three trick or treaters, but as Austin says "that's more candy for us!"

Our friends had their baby at 12:14 am on Halloween, so for a chunk of the day we were at the hospital visiting them and their precious new born, Ella. She is just darling and it was mind blowing to think that 5 1/2 months ago we were in the hospital welcoming sweet Maisie into the world. Our baby girl feels like a giant compared to 8 pound Ella. We are so happy and excited for our dear friends. It was great to celebrate the birth of their second daughter with them this eventful Halloween.

I thought I would post a couple pictures of our first family Halloween. Enjoy!

The Lee Family & Our Pumpkins,

"Mummy dearest" & "Bone Daddy"

Maisie & The Pumpkins

(Don't worry I'm holding on to her. You can see my fingers on her right shoulder.)

My Sweet Muffin

The Perfect Onesie Nana Sent Maisie.

Currently Maisie's favorite game

Right now Austin and I are getting a taste of what it will be like to have two children. We are watching our friends eldest (15 months old) daughter over night while they are still at the hospital. So far it has been great. The little beauties (Livvie and Maisie) are both sound asleep and we are hoping everything will run smoothly, but with a 15 month who misses her parents and a teething 5 1/2 month old things could get pretty interesting. haha!

Today Maisie got her first taste of pumpkin (mixed with lots of breast milk of course). We picked a farm fresh pumpkin and I decided that we could carve it and save the scraps so I could whip up some fresh pumpkin puree. It turned out great and Maisie loved it too! She has only had her oatmeal cereal a handful of times (I didn't even want to attempt feeding her solids while she was sick) but I originally wanted to skip the rice or oatmeal cereal all together and just stick to organic veggies and fruits, but our pediatrician thought it would be best because of all the iron packed into the cereals. So we have done that like I said a handful of times, but now its on to the good stuff! Then after I try the veggies and fruits and rule out if theres any risk of allergy I will mix a little bit of the oatmeal in it. Anyway, I made a ton of the pumpkin puree and also steamed some honeycrisp apples and mixed the two for future feedings. It turned out very delicious! I freezed a bunch and saved some of the plain pumpkin for tomorrow and the next couple days of feedings.

I need to do a big update on the haps of Maisie and I need to include the pictures and story of her very first feeding. I will try to do that tomorrow (fingers crossed). She is growing so fast and it's hard to keep up with all the new stuff she is up to! But I thought I would post about our first family Halloween. It was a perfect start to the holiday season! I am so excited for all of the festivities to begin!