7 Months Old!

Sienna Faith,
My sweet girl you are 7 months old! Even though you are still a bit of a baby blob since you aren't moving around too much, you are becoming such a big girl doing so many new things. Your personality is starting to come out more and more and it's the best. You are definitely a sensitive little thing and you do get upset somewhat easily but you are very easily soothed. You love to smile (still with your mouth wide open most of the time) and you are talking so much! I just love the sounds you make and most of the time they make Allie laugh :) She thinks you are pretty funny.

Boy do you love to eat! (As if you can't tell by your many, many rolls!) As soon as you see me coming towards you with a bowl and spoon your eyes get really big and you start to wiggle. I'm still making most of your baby food and you have loved everything, except avocado and acorn squash - we have to hide those two in other foods :) So far you have had pears, apples, peaches, bananas, prunes, butternut squash, sweet potatoes, green beans, peas, carrots and mixed veggies. And you are still loving your oatmeal. You now sit in your highchair for every meal, such a big girl!

We also had a breakthrough this month...you are FINALLY sleeping through the night!!! And I'm talking 11-12 hours (not 6-8 like the books say, are they crazy?!) Unfortunately I had to put you through boot camp a little bit but really it only took one night. I was afraid that I was creating a habit by feeding you in the middle of the night, since you certainly did not NEED to eat, so it was time to stop and let you figure out how to go back to sleep on your own. You cried for about an hour that first night. I went and gave you your paci a couple of times but then finally you fell asleep. The next 4 nights you didn't make a sound. A couple of nights since you have woken up crying but I just give you your paci and you go back to sleep. You wake up SOOOOO happy in the morning so I know this is what you needed. And you are still napping pretty good during the day, usually two - two hour naps (sometimes a short third catnap still if your afternoon nap was crummy) I feel like a new woman with all this sleep! (thank you baby girl!)

You started 'practicing' drinking out of a sippy cup. It's just filled with water and you mostly just chew on it but I know you'll get the hang of it soon.

You are sitting up great! You don't need your hands at all to keep you up and you even reach for stuff way far in front of you and to the side of you and you can get yourself back up. I'm pretty impressed. For a while there when I would sit behind you you would fling yourself backwards and smile huge, you thought it was so funny. But now I can sit you up and walk away and you will stay up totally fine.

You love playing on your tummy and will stay there for forever...meaning you will NOT roll over! I'm not sure what your deal is since you have rolled over many, many times since before you were 4 months old but lately you have had NO interest at all in rolling. You are perfectly content being a little baby blob and staying just however you are :) Luckily your pediatrician said it's totally normal so I'm not worried (yet!)

And now you sit in the regular seat in your stroller, no longer in your car seat. You LOVE it! I think you are going to be one of those girls who loves her freedom :) You also are taking all of your baths sitting up in your blow up tub. You also LOVE this. You splash like crazy and get yourself (and me) totally soaked.

I can't believe another month has passed. You are getting more and more fun each month and I'm so excited for summer to come since there are so many fun things to do when it's not so cold outside. I love you so much Sienna and every day I'm so thankful that you are in our lives!

Father Daughter Dance

There's something so special about the relationship between dads and daughters. I, for one, have a fabulous father with whom I have so very many memories that just him and I share. He makes me feel special like no one else can, I look up to him and I know that without a doubt he would be there for me in a second if I needed him (as he has been MANY times throughout my life). I am so glad that I have not one, but two girls that get to have that special kind of relationship with their dad, and what a fabulous one he is too! Last year Matt took Allie to a father daughter dance at our church. It still totally touches my heart thinking about it because I did not suggest it to him nor did anyone else, he just saw it on the Highlands website and told me he wanted to take Allie. It was just adorable that he came up with it on his own. Well, it's an annual thing so he wanted to take Allie again this year. They both got all dressed up, Matt took Allie to Charleston's for dinner just the two of them, then they danced the night away (broken ribs and all!). He said she literally danced for two and a half hours straight, she had such a good time! I completely forgot to give Matt the camera so I only have a picture from before they left but what a cute daddy and daugher they are! (He already said he's so excited to be able to take Allie AND Sienna next year:)

Happy Valentine's Day!!!

From my two sweethearts :)

Our (Relaxing) Vacation

Well, we both admit that it was not the vacation that we thought it would be. Matt surprised me on Christmas with a planned trip up to Lake Tahoe to ski/snowboard for 5 days. I was so excited, it had been years since I had been skiing and the last vacation Matt and I took just the two of us was almost 3 years ago so I couldn't wait to spend some time with my love. It was sooooo hard to leave the girls but I knew that our week was going to be filled with fun. We woke up Saturday morning and (luckily) decided to ski Heavenly which is the best mountain and very close to our hotel. The conditions weren't great since they hadn't had snow for a while but they weren't horrible either. We were having a great morning. Then it all ended. My poor hubby took a REALLY bad fall. Thankfully I didn't see it happen but I knew the second that I saw his face that it was bad. We didn't rent a car because we figured we would be on the mountains every day and there were shuttles to each place from our hotel so we had to take a taxi to the hospital. After several exams, an x-ray, and a CT scan, the ER doc told us that Matt had broken 2 ribs :( He was so sweet he kept apologizing to me because he thought he ruined our vacation but I was SOOOOOO thankful that it wasn't worse (it really could have been, thank God he was wearing a helmet!) So after about 3 hours and some pain meds (thank you IV!) we went back to our hotel where we spent most of the rest of our vacation. It certainly wasn't what we had planned but it was still WONDERFUL! We slept in, took (many) naps, rented movies, sat in the jacuzzi, went on several walks and ate some fabulous food. I was with my best friend and couldn't have had a better time.

Pre-crash...


Not a lot of snow...bummer

Post-crash - Matt said it was almost more painful that they had to cut off his beloved Under Armour and Angels shirts!


Yummy dinner at the Charthouse - we spent our lift ticket money on some really good food!

We promised each other that the next vacation we take together will be somewhere warm, where we can just sit on the beach and have very little chance of injury!

My Thrifty Finds

I have been scouring the thrift stores lately looking for a nightstand for Allie's room. I have something very specific in mind so it's been very hard to find (but hopefully soon I'll find 'it'!) I have a shopping disease where even if I go into a store for one specific thing, I can't help but walk through some other aisles, looking for 'something'. Well, a couple weeks ago I was at Goodwill and found some great things! No, not a nightstand, but these four things cost me $9 TOTAL!...
Metal & bookend - this thing is HEAVY, pure metal - $3

Perfect for the office

White shelf - $3

Little compliment to Allie's new kitchen. I can't figure out if I should leave it white or paint it brown and I need to put some more things on it.

Apple snack cups - $2

I thought these things were absolutely adorable. They are plastic with pretty secure lids. Allie loves using her 'apple cups'

Vintage looking fabric - $1

This was my find of the day. It was a weird cut of fabric, I had NO idea what it was used for and no idea what I was going to do with it but I couldn't pass it up. When I got home, I kept looking at the scalloped bottom and thought it could make a really cute skirt for Allie. So this is what I came up with.

It's hard to tell in the picture but I dyed a thick piece of elastic light pink for the waistband. I think it turned out really cute adn girly. I will post a picture of Allie actually wearing it (because it's even cuter on) but since it's been about 2 degrees outside, we've been living in sweats these days :)

Gotta love Goodwill!

6 Month Stats

Okay, I promise this is the end of Sienna's 6 Month posts. I know, I know this is a bit of overload but it's a big milestone! She went to her 6 month check up yesterday and is a (BIG) healthy girl. Here are her stats...
Weight - 19 pounds, 10 oz (95%)
Length - 26 1/4 inches (65%)
Head - 43 1/2 cm (77%)
She actually surpassed her sister in weight which I wasn't sure was going to happen. Allie was 19 pounds 3 oz at her 6 month check up but was also almost an inch taller. It's so fun to watch the two of them grow, they are still my little twins :) Sienna went to town with the paper on the table - it kept her busy and happy literally the entire time!

Happy Half Birthday Sienna!

Our baby girl turned 6 months old today and of course we had to celebrater her half birthday (yes, I am that kind of mom!:) I made her cupcakes and we sat her in her highchair for the first time. She was completely mesmerized by the candle (she must take after her uncle's love of fire) Of course I knew she couldn't eat the yummy sugar filled treat, but we decided to let her go to town with it and play. I was actually very surprised that she didn't try to put it in her mouth. 6 more months from now we will be celebrating her actual birthday, I can't believe it!!!

6 Months Old!

Sienna Faith,

Oh baby girl, you are growing much too fast! Of course a part of me loves to see you grow, change, discover new things and do new things, but a part of me wants you to stay my little baby forever. You have been here for a half a year already and I am so thankful for every moment.

You are definitely developing a personality and it is so sweet. You smile a TON and when you do your whole mouth opens. I guess this is your signature smile and I love it. You still smile the most at your big sister and you've even started to 'talk' to her when she is around you (especially when you are in the car together)

You still haven't figured out the whole 'sleeping through the night' thing. Still you do it every once in a while but the majority of nights, you wake up once to eat. And apparentely you think that means party time because a lot of the time you are awake for quite a while afterwards. Since I have mommy hearing I lay awake listening to you talk and play until you finally start to cry and I go give you your paci so you can go back to sleep. Although I do wish you slept through the whole night, a part of me loves the time that we snuggle during the night, just the two of us. Your natural wake up time seems to be between 7:30-8:00 which is fabulous. I have sure been blessed with late sleepers (I just hope this lasts!) You are still taking two great naps a day and wake up SO happy.

You are absolutely loving your food now! I'm pretty sure you were allergic to rice cereal so we switched you to oatmeal and you are doing so much better. You eat that every morning for breakfast and then you eat a fruit or veggie in the evening for dinner. So far you have had bananas (your favorite), avocado, sweet potatoes, carrots and apples. I am making all of your food and luckily you enjoy my cooking :) We'll see how well I do when meats and mixing foods come into the picture! You have yet to eat in your highchair (again, because I am trying to keep you my little baby for as long as possible:) so you eat all your meals in your bouncy seat and do just great. But I guess pretty soon you will have to break in the highchair :)

You have discovered your feet and love to hold them and pull on your socks when you are lying on your back. You are also starting to put EVERYthing in your mouth...feet, hands, toys, mommy's fingers, etc.

You still love your swing, exersaucer and activity mat.

You are doing really good with tummy time (lasting a long time and even playing with toys) and you are doing really well at sitting up on your own, although oftentimes you fling yourself backwards or to the side because you get so excited about something :)

You are SUCH a mommy's girl and I do have to say I love it. You track me like crazy when I am walking around, you don't like it when I am out of your sight. But luckily you (usually) do fine when other people are holding you and you always do great when your grandparents watch you so that is a relief.

You still love your paci. We don't go anywhere without one! And your absolute favorite toy is your giraffe, Sophie. She keeps you busy for very long periods of time!

You had your very first Christmas and although you were completely oblivious and it was just another day for you, you did have a great day! You got loved on by almost every family member here in town and you were very spoiled with gifts.

My sweet (baby) girl, I love you so much and you bring an incredible amount of joy to my day. You are half way to turning ONE and I know so many more changes are going to come (and I am going to love EACH one!)

My New Favorite Thing

I never thought I'd be one of those moms who made their own baby food. To be honest, it was a bit intimidating to me. I'm not a good cook and I don't enjoy cooking so it definitely was not something that I was interested in doing...not even a little bit. My poor, poor Allie got all of her food from a jar. Haha. No, I don't think there is ANYthing wrong with jarred food but right now I'm all about making my own, AND I'm even excited about it. I guess I have several reasons, some of which stem from some New Year's resolutions that I made...wanting to save money, wanting to push myself and try some new things, wanting to cook more and also because of the fact that Allie is the world's pickiest eater, I wanted to do something different in the food department with Sienna, just to see if it would prevent her from following in her sister's footsteps. I remember having several conversations with my mom where she said that when my brother and I were babies, she had this portable food mill that she would use when she cooked dinner or went out to eat. She would just throw in a bunch of food that she had made or ordered, grind it up, and feed it to us right there. I had never heard of something like that (obviously I know some people do this with a food processor or a blender). Well, it still exists! My sister in law found this Baby Food Mill at Buy Buy Baby and I just had to give it a try. It's only $20 and I had a $5 off coupon and a gift card so I was basically free :) Sienna is just starting to eat baby food so I've only used it for bananas and avocado so far but I LOVE it! No cords, no electricity, SO convinient and it gives you a great arm workout! :) It's perfect for small meals or when your on the go. I can't wait to use it more!
Here it is...

This is what it looks like coming out-I did have to thin out the avocado a little

Bananas come out perfect

Bon apetit!

Little Mommy

I always loved the topic of nature vs. nurture in sociology and psycology classes in college. I definitely believe that there are certain behaviors that are 'taught' to children by their parents or caregivers who raise them, but I also believe that there are certain behaviors that are innately part of our beings. I especially love to watch little girls and little boys play. From such an early age, most of the time they are SOOOO different. I have several close friends who have boys and when our kids get together, they are automatically drawn to different toys. I'm not saying it's wrong for a boy to play with a 'girl' toy or the opposite, I just think it's funny to see what they pick out on their own. From early on Allie loved baby dolls (what girl doesn't? See?). But since I've had Sienna, her 'mothering' has gone on overdrive. She absolutely loves her babies and loves to mother them. It's so cute to see her do or say things that I do or say to Sienna. It was also my first glimpse of recognizing that she is CONSTANTLY watching me (and that's a lot of pressure!) Allie is such a sweet little mommy and I'm so excited to see her actually be a mommy some day :)

Loves to carry her baby in her 'moby' wrap

Allie always puts her baby to sleep in the bathroom downstairs. She'll turn the light off and shut the door. She gets so upset sometimes when we have to go to the bathroom because her baby 'IS SLEEPING' and she doesn't want her to be disturbed

Dinnertime

Goin for a walk