She's a Mover and a Shaker

My baby is growing up at an alarming speed and while I love watching it happen, I still feel like I just had her and want her to stay little! About two weeks ago, Lila decided to crawl, pull herself up without help and try "cruising" around all in a matter of a few days. She is now really fast unless I have her in pants or a long dress, then it's more like a slip and slide around our house. We are madly baby proofing and trying not to cringe while she bangs herself up every now and then.

Here she is pulling herself up and digging around.

Visiting some fountains with friends. Lila was wary of the alternating, shooting streams of water for about two minutes, but after careful study she decided she couldn't get enough.

(I threw a hat on her since she still doesn't have enough hair to protect her pale scalp!)

Hanging around the house. A progression of events:

I have a whole bag of Cheerios.

Hmm, I spilled a few...I think I liked that.

But wouldn't it be better if I thrashed the bag around all of a sudden so I spilled ALL of them?!

Yes, that will do.

I know most people don't watch the videos, and that's perfectly fine- but for my family, here is Lila crawling and one of her pulling herself up while saying mom-mom-mom (the only thing she says but it's so clever why would anything else be necessary?)

Updates and Easter

Updates on Lila...or just scroll down for lots of Easter pictures!

Lila is 8 months old today! She is doing new things constantly and amazing me with how much she is growing and changing. I love how playful she is and her smile is quite infectious. She is a busy little thing and is a mover despite the fact that she doesn't officially crawl yet. She acts like she is going to crawl, then sticks her bum straight in the air like she wants to get up and walk, then finally resorts to going back onto her tummy and scoots around. In between scoots she goes back onto her knees and tries to crawl again. It makes for pretty good entertainment! She still prefers being on her stomach in the bath even though she sits up fine now. I think she likes sliding around and trying to drink the water. She splashes like a mad woman, then looks at me in shock when her face is covered in water.

Lila had her weight check today at the pediatrician's office. One month ago she weighed 14.6 pounds which put her in the 8th percentile. Today she weighed 15.6 gaining exactly a pound and landing her all the way into the 10th percentile...at least it went up! This is due to the fact that Lila has completely weened herself. Last month I started trying to supplement with formula since she wasn't gaining and she was having less wet diapers. I could tell that she was eating less and less from me. After a few days she got the hang of eating formula out of a sippy (I didn't want to deal with bottles.) I was hoping to both nurse and formula feed but as soon as Lila got comfortable with the sippy, she wanted nothing to do with me, not even the morning feeding! Honestly, I know she needed more and had been getting so distracted while nursing that I am not sad about being done. We made it 7 1/2 months. There are definite positives and negatives to both. The negative about formula I despise is the price. Holy Cow that stuff is expensive and goes fast!

Easter started early in the month with a sweet pop up bunny card from my Grandma Calder. Lila loved ripping the envelope open and immediately stuck the card in her mouth. This is where everything goes!

My mom put together an amazing Easter package for all of us, spoiling us like always! We received all kinds of fun things but here is Lila in one of the cute outfits she sent. I would have taken a picture of Chris and I devouring the Sees Chocolates she sent us, but I'm sure you can use your imagination for that one. (I still haven't figured out what the east has against the best chocolate, but we need a Sees!)

Lila's Easter basket. I added the poofs to spruce it up a bit.

Lila looked adorable for her first Easter Sunday except for the hour or so that she decided to scream during church. The rest of the day was much nicer! I took tons of pictures, of course.

Love this one!

Digging in!

Realizing there are puffs in her easter eggs.

Why do babies like anything that isn't actually a toy?

Yes, I coordinated us.

I had just fed Lila and was trying to keep her clean before taking some pictures. I can't resist that squishy tummy!

Doing a hunt at Mamie and Papa's later in the afternoon. Once she found one egg, she wasn't interested in finding more. I have a feeling this is the one and only year she will feel this way!

Showing Mamie their spoils.

Cohen decided he wanted to be her buddy. She's not so sure she wants to be his... Maybe she is holding it against him that he like to chuck balls at her. Not many 1 year old boys could resist!

She looks like a little easter egg.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter!

My Petite Princess

Despite this chick's round cheeks, she has always been pretty petite. Her weight has never been above the 30th percentile though her height has always been above the 50th. When people ask me how old she is, they never fail to comment on how small she seems for her age. This, of course is worrisome to a first time mom!

I took her to the Dr. last week at 7 months (should have been her 6 mo. check up but we are off because of an insurance misunderstanding...meaning they wanted to charge me over $2000 when we owed nothing. Don't worry, Chris was all over that!) Anyway, she is healthy but dropped from the 26th to the 8th percentile in weight! She dropped in height percentile too but not by as much. The Dr. didn't seem too concerned but wants me to bring her back in at the end of this month for a weight check to see if she is still dropping.

He said it could just be her slimming down more like a lot of 6 to 7 mo. olds do, genetics (Chris's family, especially the girls, are all very long and lean) or I may need to supplement with some formula because my milk supply is down or she has lost interest. He also mentioned she may be getting too full on food which doesn't have the high fat that my milk does.

So, I bought that YoBaby whole milk yogurt and am trying to have her nurse more but she doesn't seem to want more. I am also giving her more oatmeal cereal mixed with formula than I was before. Any other suggestions? I am thinking I will probably have to give her some formula, which I'm fine with except for the fact that she won't take a bottle and hasn't mastered the sippy yet! Should be interesting.

Enough of that. Here's what we all know this blog needs more of... pictures of Lila!

Gotta love this yoga like pose. I think she is trying to get into a sitting position.

I had no idea Chris dressed in blue this day and did not intentionally coordinate Lila and myself but it made for a cute family picture after meeting for lunch one Friday.

I think she likes her new shoes.

More pool days. Which means more swim suits! :)

I know, I know, babies don't need hair bows at the pool. Well, mine does. Don't worry, when we got there I took it off and put a hat on.

I know she has food on her face but my mom wants pictures of her clothes, so this one made the cut!

Love those baby blues!

Getting Lila kisses! (Leg of the coffee table got in Chris's way)

Lila loves books already. Makes this mamma proud!

Look out! Someone has been getting up on her knees a lot lately. I can't wait to see this girl on the move. Did I just say that?

At 7 months Lila has some sass and a half and has no problem letting us know what she wants (although this is nothing new). I could post some videos to prove it! She has no fear, giving us belly laughs when we toss her in the air or hold her upside down. Lila cries when anyone other than Chris or I hold her (sigh!) but once I get her back she then feels bad for whoever she just dissed and will smile at them and lean towards them to let them know there are no hard feelings. She keeps me on my toes for sure and I am loving it! She is too much fun and Chris and I feel like the luckiest people on earth right now. We can't get enough of our Lila Girl!

Lila Fun

I am woefully behind on posting so here is a month's worth of Lila pictures. We have been having so much fun! I can't believe this is what I get to do. Don't get me wrong, my daughter is quite strong-willed and can be a pill, but she is really good when we are out and about...so we tend to go a lot of places. :) I am lucky to live in a place where we can be outdoors all year and am surrounded by friends with lots of kids to play with. I got to watch a lot of firsts during Lila's 6th month. I can't believe she is almost 7 months!

Lila's first time swimming

Poor pale baby! Luckily I am Queen of Sunscreen and Shade

One of the young women asked if she would "grow out of that." Hmmm, no, I'm quite sure Lila will not be winning any tanning contests in her lifetime.

Lila's first balloon

My friend, Jenna's baby shower. She's having twins and looks awesome!

Lila's first time wearing the outfit I've been waiting for her to grow into. I love this girl in blue!

Lila's first hockey game...probably won't do that one for a long time! They were free last minute tickets and we really wanted to get out of the house. It was so loud but Lila never cried, just looked shell-shocked the whole time. We only stayed for about an hour, leaving when a lady behind us asked if I wanted some ear plugs for my baby. Not my proudest parenting moment. I think Lila was fine, this lady just wanted to show her disapproval.

I love Lila in leg warmers.

Lila is starting to sit up on her own but isn't all that steady yet.

Trying out her first sippy cup. She mostly just gnaws on it.

I realize most people pick one picture from each event, but I can never pick just one. I had to put all three of these pictures on just for me because I truly love them. She looks SO small (and happy) in the shopping cart with her fluffy cover. This kid is so much better when she can sit up and see everything rather than being in her car seat!

Lila's first golf tournament on St. Patrick's Day (yes, all 3 of us are wearing green). Chris got cheap tickets to the PGA tournament in Palm Harbor and we had a blast. All the old men and women cooed over Lila and she was actually quiet during the putts. I was a little worried some poor golfer would shank the ball during one of her growls or screams, but luckily she loves her puff cereal pieces and I was quick to shove them in her mouth.

Lila loves bread (wonder where she gets that from.) She had fun gnawing on it.

Lila refuses to stay on her baby bath now and in fact refuses to stay on her back. She now baths on her belly, which she LOVES. She pushes off the sides of the tub and slides around to catch her toys. She does sneeze sometimes into the water and comes up looking a little shocked but is a good sport about it!

More swimming, well getting ready to swim in these pictures. I love all her swim suits. They are too much fun!

Lila's first time at the beach. The water is still a bit cold. I put her feet in and she promptly picked them up under her. Sissy!

Lila is taking steps now when I hold her hands.

Whew, I need to keep up better so I don't have marathon posts like this one. I realize I post too many pictures and am "wordy" but I really want to document Lila's first year. Most of my friends have just had their last kid and sit and enjoy, and here I am with my first snapping millions of pictures but I don't care! :)