Gray Hair

I think gray hair comes with the territory of motherhood.  Not just as a sign of aging, but also diligent parenting. My daughter is going to give them to me soon only give me more as she grows up.    Mae's antics are certainly going to have them growing full force!   Confused?  Thought Ace would be the cause of my gray hair?   He is 'the boy' after all - they do all sorts of wild crazy stuff.   While true - Mae seems to be a bit more daring earlier...   She also has a streak of naughty.   Yes, naughty... what on earth do I mean?   Well a picture (or several) are worth 1000 words... enjoy!

Why, yes that IS her scaling a gate - this was when she was 11 months old

All chairs must be pushed in. Thanks for the reminder, Mae!

Trash can lid needs to be fully closed...

She waited until mommy's hands were covered in raw chicken and then went to the cabinet and got out the cherrios and proceeded to dump them, consume them, and smile at me so proudly.

The next day wondering where they all went - having taken this out of the recycling box...

Mae certainly keeps us on our toes!  Whether she's climbing some where or getting place she should not go - she's just so darn cute it's impossible to be mad at her, but trust me she is never out of sight for long for fear of where she might venture or new height she might scale!

Look at that smirk!  She's plotting something, I just know it!

 
We love our little cutie and even amid her climbing, curiosity, and antics - she is worth every gray hair that forms on my head.  They are badges of honor that I've kept this little joyful explorer from harm! :)  I'll take them and cherish them.  Although if she'd stop climbing places that'd be ok with me too!!

One Year

Happy First Birthday, Mae!

It seems impossible that one year has passed since my little girl was placed in my arms.  She's still pretty tiny, but she's far more mobile, expressive, and if possible more adorable as when she entered this world. 

Mae's 12th month brought more firsts:   first time sleeping in her own room,  first Christmas, first allergic reaction, first 911 call, first bout of bronciolitis, first New Year's Eve.

Let's start with Mae's chomper count:  3 total for her first year.  Her second top tooth has broken through the gums, but since it isn't truly visible we will leave the total count at 3.   She's doing well to use them on appropriate things.  Although she does bite when she gets really mad.  Doesn't bode well for preschool, so hopefully she out grows that tantrum.

Mae is putting those teeth to good use in the food department and has started to eat things like sliced turkey, cheese, and even her first McDonald's nugget! She does drink a little goat's milk daily, but nothing terribly measurable and she does so in a sippy cup.  We've skipped bottles entirely - in spite of the $ that I dropped on several fancy ones. Ah well.   She still eats like a baby bird and relies mostly on mama milk.  I think she's going to trend like her brother on the very little food consumption for a bit, making her mama count calories and be nervous.    She is growing though.  She weighs 16.14lbs (2.02%) and is 26.52" (1.70%)  so while she's nearly off the charts she is gaining weight, in spite of illness.

Yes, this last month has been quite the challenge for Mae Mae.   She had a cold when she cut her tooth that seems to be pretty normal for her teething routine it seems, but after the cold (or during?)  we discovered she had an allergy and had to go through the process of handling that, allergist appointments, and carrying around epi pens.  After the immediate reaction we followed up with her doctor who diagnosed our little girl with bronciolitis because she just sounded so junky in her lungs.  By New Years she was feeling much better and when the allergist listened to her lungs, she was totally clear and over it (a week later.)  

I mentioned earlier that Mae slept in her room for the first time, and to date, the only time.  She developed  her cold right after that and this mama bear likes her baby close when she's got a cold. After that it was the allergy, then the bronciolitis, and well now to be honest, her room needs to be cleaned and reorganized again before we can place her in there again.   :)    In general Mae's sleep is not ideal.   She's doing decent napping - sometimes we'll get 90+ minutes out of her - that seems to be once every 5 days.   She is pretty much down to one nap sometime in the afternoon.   She does car nap pretty consistently though.   Her nighttime sleep though is quite dramatic.  As in it takes forever to get her to sleep.  No routine, lighting, or mood can get her to become unconscious unless she a) wants to or b) screams until she's unconscious in our arms.   The doctor yesterday said that is most likely a separation anxiety issue and should pass with time.   Here's hoping sooner than later!

Vocabulary wise we don't have much more official words.   She really doesn't say 'mama' much anymore unless she's upset and reaching for me (and even then it often is only one 'ma' and that is milk)   Although her 'ma' for milk is morphing into 'meee' so she's getting closer to actually getting the real word out.    Same with 'brother' - it often still is 'ba'  but she is on occasion says 'bru da'  - she still utters 'up' but mostly she just reaches her arms up and fusses.   We try really hard to not automatically give her what she wants so that she does need to exercise the language skills.    I have been working with her to say 'please' in sign language and what's really cute is that she signs 'please' on me when she wants it - which for her is just waving on my chest back and forth.    It's sweet.      She is very good at waving hi and bye and on occasion she will say both of those words.   

Development wise, she sort of knows the color red.  I'd say 70% of the time she can show me something red if there are three choices to choose from.   She does really well at eye contact and seeking my approval or disapproval on her actions (or the actions of others.)    She can also put things in and out of a container.     She loves to follow her brother and play with him.   They are starting to get into a bit of a tussle every now and then over a toy, as Mae seems to find it her right to simply take anything and everything her brother has.   He does ok with the process most of the time.     Mae also has started to shake her head 'no' some times when we ask her to do something.   It's cute (currently.)  Mae most of the time is adorably happy,  big smiles and giggling.  However, she does have quite an explosive 0-100% mad gauge. She has easily moved into tantrums without much issue. Whole body going stiff, beet red, and mad mad mad. She recovers quickly, but my goodness she can express her displeasure like no other.

Mae is fully walking now and has some decent speed with it too.   She climbs everywhere she can get to and even tries to climb some places she can't.  While cute- she certainly is going to make me go gray.    She is now quite proficient at climbing up and down the stairs - which makes me much happier that she's mastered these skills.  She still on occasion likes to stand right at the top of the stairs and dance - which is cause for a mild-heart attack by this mama, but overall she has avoided tumbles and mishaps.  But this little girl's guardian angel does certainly work overtime! 

Toys and play:  Mae still loves her little baby doll, and her Sophie giraffe (which lives in the car), and she loves baby dolls and soft stuffed animals.  She likes to carry them around and play peek a boo with them.   She also really loves to put blankets, pants... anything on her head and walk around that way.   Also LOVES to put anything around her neck that she can fashion into a scarf...  she really is my danger child.   Trust me, she's never out of my sight in light of these 'hobbies' of hers.   She's adorable though when she's behaving safely.     Mae really hasn't taken an interest in any particular show or movie.  She for the most part couldn't care less when the tv is on, other than her interest in climbing up onto the table the tv is on.    She still loves to chew on things, but has moved past putting EVERYTHING into her mouth... but she still puts plenty in.      She loves to play the 'upside down' game with her dad,  playing he her room with her brother, and poking noses with her mama.    She's just so happy.  Mae also likes to sing along when we sing songs with "ahhhhhs" in various notes. Pretty cute!

It's so hard to believe that a whole year has gone by!  I can't believe it.  It feels it went even faster than Ace's first year.    She's so special, and is certainly developing into her own personality in this family and we love to watch her do so.    Happy Birthday,  Owlie!  Mommy, Dad, and Brother all love you so much!!

Eleven Months Old

 

I am not sure why but my baby girl turning eleven months old is freaking me out.   I had a mini-meltdown and internal struggle with the idea of getting rid of her swing... one that I have not fully completed mind you.  I am in a bit of a power struggle of sorts with myself on that one.   Logically, she doesn't use it anymore.  In fact only twice since we returned to the NW.  But she might, right?  :(   She used it every day, multiple times a day, for months and months.   I have wonderful memories of looking at her peacefully asleep in there... sitting up smiling and playing with her toes... she can't be done with it?? (See that's just a small glimpse at my nuttiness on this subject.)   Perhaps I'm having this freakout now because I know that when she officially turns ONE YEAR OLD! (gasp!) I won't have time for this mourning, sadness, craziness. It will be a time of celebrating and being excited that my little girl has achieved such a milestone!  But that's in another month, so I choose to embrace my sadness over the quickly slipping away baby in my little girl.

New things for Mae this month: walking, shoes, Black Friday shopping with her mama, her first Christmas tree, a top tooth, and a three day fever followed by roseola.

Mae in the mobility department is more interested in ascending heights than traveling on foot.   Yes, our little girl is a climber, part monkey really.   She has scaled the baby gates, climbs up onto chairs, boxes, coffee tables, anywhere she can get to.  She's a pro at the stairs and VERY quick especially if she knows she's not supposed to be climbing up them.    She also would happily climb into the tub if we let her, it's amazing how high she can kick that little leg up!  In the walking department she is still pretty wobbly but can cross a floor without falling down 6 out of 10 times.   Her speed is increasing and if she follows the couch line she really can move fast!  Mostly I think it's confidence, so she just needs more practice.  :)   In light of this mobility Mae received her first pair of shoes - and she does well to keep them on for the most part.

Sleep still is sub par in my opinion.  She wakes regularly and often takes until 10pm or later to go to sleep.    I think it's partially due to teething, but a greater deal with habit that she's formed in spite of our efforts.   I suspect the new year will bring along with it some sleep training.   We'll see.  I really don't want to talk about it...

In the illness department - Mae has now been able to check off another high profile childhood illness: roseola.   Yes on Friday morning she began running a fever of 100.6  and it persisted all day Friday and Saturday, it spiked to 102.5 in the middle of the night on both nights, but I suspect being too cuddly in blankets and next to her mama was mostly the culprit of that.  I refrained from too much tylenol, as we're advocates of fevers being the body's natural remedy to fight illness and over the course of her three day illness I gave her 4 doses of tylenol.  Twice to bring the temp down and twice for her comfort.  Sunday morning around 5am she woke up and threw up everywhere.  Thankfully I had a blanket that caught most of it.  I called the doctor and one came out to the house to check on her.  Prior to that I was almost certain it was roseola.  Which by Monday it was proven to be just that - but the vomit threw me off.   Tuesday she woke with a cough that sounded tight - so to be safe we took her in.  I don't take chances with coughs anymore.  The cough turned out to be nothing and didn't even linger much past that day.   So she had a rash for about 2 days and by the third day it was gone.    I will say that her rash was much milder than her brother's was when Ace had it at 10 months.

Mae now officially has three teeth.  She is slowly starting to eat more solid food each day.  Mostly still baby food jars, but she also enjoys puffs, and LOVES french fries - I know not the best but still cute.  She also enjoys steamed carrot quite a bit and the freeze dried apples and pears that I have as one of Ace's snacks.   She will also eat a lot of food if her dad baby birds feeds her. 

Mae also loves to play.  She tries to play peek-a-boo still by raising things over her head, although she is getting better about putting things in front of her eyes to do it.   She laughs at her brother doing silly things and loves to climb up on his bed and the two of them play together in his room.  She is waving 'bye bye' very well now and smiles the biggest smile when her dad walks in the room.   She wants to play the game with her hand and making noises on her mouth regularly too.   Vocab wise - she still mostly just has: mama, dada, bruder, up.   Sign language - the only one she really ever uses is 'all done'. 

This last month all the holiday decor has come out and Mae has enjoyed exploring a whole new world of exciting colors, lights, and new toys.  She is fascinated by the tree, but is doing a decent job for the most part letting it be.   She loves the fisher price nativity set and is enjoying chewing on them.  ;)   It's such a magical time of year and I'm so excited for her first Christmas and can't wait to see her experience everything for the first time!    Hold on tight we're headed full speed ahead toward ONE!!

Ten Months Old

Double digits!!!   They've arrived!   ::whimper::   I'm so proud of how well she is doing! 

Firsts for the latest month:  first steps! A new state visited: AZ, Disneyland with Dad, waving and clapping

Mae took her first steps at 9 months and 15 days old - she is up to 5 steps in a row, but still very much prefers to crawl all over the place.  She also enjoys climbing up and onto things.   She's taken a few spills this months as a result, but she recovers pretty quickly.

Mae in the way of communicating is going well - she hasn't added any more vocabulary but she's becoming more deliberate with her words.  'Mama'  has officially morphed into her want for milk.  Which at least she knows what she wants and since I'm the only one that can give it to her, I'll take it to mean she wants me.  ;-)    She also says "up" when she wants up - but often only if we prompt her to.  'Dada' is also in the vocab and 'baba' still is around as well.   She also is waving - which is more sticking her hand straight up in the air at you.  :)   It's pretty cute!

Our little girl did very well on the second road trip.  She enjoyed the trip to Disneyland as well.   She did exercise her screaming a little bit, boy can she get loud, but overall she did great.    Mae has a bit of a fiery personality.  She certainly voices her opinion and lack of satisfaction with a situation.  She's in a state of hating to be seated.  She prefers to spin in circles while someone holds her.   This makes going to restaurants particularly complicated and we are looking forward to when she moves past this phase.

Solid food has been reintroduced and better received lately.   Some days she ravenous for it, and other days she's content to just drink milk.    She is getting better biting and chewing even though she still only has the two bottom teeth.  Mae does have 2 top teeth that are nearly in.  

Mae Mae is certainly a smiley giggly girl who likes to play with everyone in the family.  Her and her dad have a fun game of bopping her hand on her mouth and making fun sounds - which is really cute to watch her try and do on her own.  :)    She loves to climb all over her brother and smiles really big at just about anyone that smiles at her.   However, she isn't fond of going to anyone else right now.  Separation anxiety has fully set in, which is ok.  I'll enjoy the clinging baby while she lasts! 

Can't wait to celebrate the upcoming holidays and more fun firsts for Mae!

She's seconds away from pushing herself up into the standing position.

First Steps!

My baby girl took her first official steps today.   For the last week Mae has been taking one step and then plopping down... today she took three steps, we reset her and she did it again!  So we 'called it'  little Mae has taken her first steps at 9 months and 15 days old!   This mommy and her dad couldn't be more proud.   Even her brother is excited for her.  :) 

She's been a very good stander now for a few weeks and has been getting more and more steady.  She still has a pretty wide stance so walking will still take some practice with balance and footing - but I suspect within the next month she'll be on the go.  For now she still very much enjoys toddling around with an impressively fast crawl!    

There's no stopping her though - my baby is on her way!  In fact she actually climbed up onto a box the other day without even hesitating... her brother didn't start climbing heights until much later.   Siigh.  She's growing up too fast, but it's an exciting adventure! 

Nine Months Old

In about a half a second that headband goes flying!

Little Mae is nine months old!  She is a chatter box that is increasing her free standing, her acrobatic twists and twirls, and still isn't a huge fan of actually consuming solid food.    Yes, she loves to snack on her milk though and hardly looks like she misses a meal.     She's a happy beautiful girl who is very smart (all parents say this, I know!)

Mae's newest experiences this month:  free standing, a visit inside a lighthouse, waving, clapping, test driving a new car (ok riding in one), and the word 'bah bah' (brother.)

Yes, Mae has really begun to babble a lot and she uses the 'lalalas' now and still is very into the words of 'mama' and 'dada' and in the last couple of weeks she has added in her other favorite person 'bah bah' her brother.   She talks to him and even asks for him in the morning when she wakes up.  It's very sweet and I love that she loves her brother so much.    She is signing pretty well and certainly understand a lot of what we say.  She mostly still only signs 'all done' and 'milk'  but we're working on her with 'please' 'more' and 'eat'.   

Speaking of eating - she's not terribly interested most of the time.  I try to get her to eat solid food while her brother does it - but she doesn't want much.  She will consume the puffs and french fries if we have those, she'll gum up a cucumber, and obliterate an orange slice, but actually consuming baby food or even any 'people' food for nutritional value seems to be of little interest to her at this point.    I'm not too concerned.  She's still growing pretty steady and she's not looking like she's missing a meal so she's doing fine.   She'll get there eventually.  :)   We don't have stats until next week... so stay tuned.

Sleep for Mae and the rest of us is sub par - I feel we've declined even more than last month.    She's just not sleeping long stretches, she's flipping over and CRAWLING in her sleep!   She's very squirmy and squirms herself awake.     It's mildly frustrating so we'll see what the weeks to come hold for us.  With our moving soon it doesn't bode well for much.   

Activities for Mae include tackling her brother, eating paper, and chewing on just about everything else.  She loves to play along side her brother and Ace does a great job to accommodate that.   She however just loves to eat paper and she can find it anywhere.  She's so excited to consume it!  I don't get it - we try to avoid it, but she continues to do it.  Siigh. 

Mae is doing very well with her free standing - just in the last few days she has gotten better and better with balance and standing for longer times.  Mae has also started to wave 'bye bye' and 'hello'  and also has started to clap - all of these things are just super cute and we love that she has the biggest grin on her face while she does it. 

This was quick month and I suspect this next month will go even faster as we get ready to move and make a road trip again.   Mae is doing wonderful and is a joy even if she is a little terrorist when it comes to sleep. :-/ We have officially entered the phase of pictures that make it crazy impossible to get the typical shot.  Last month it took the whole family.  This month it was Aiden and I doing our best to get her to smile AND sit still... wasn't happening - enjoy some outtakes! :)

She just rotates over and over in a circle like a little tornado!

So proud of herself!

Smiling at her brother!

Free standing and sooo happy about it!

To see Ace at 9 months click here.

Standing and Stairs

Mae has been pulling herself up into standing now for a few weeks and is starting to adventure into free standing.  Although mostly just to cautiously lower herself to the ground, but still she's working on feeling it out.     She's gathered a lot of independence (including signing 'all done' when she's done with mommy holding her. sniff sniff)  and is enjoying her different perspectives that come with all her standing.  

Upon achieving her newest skill we broke out the table for her to play with and she loves it - as does her big brother who remembered the fun that he had with it 'back in the day.'   Us parents remember it too, although not as fondly...   I've been really pleased with how well Ace and Mae are doing playing together.  Ace is a very patient big brother as his sister mauls him, climbs on him, and even slims him.   He's very gentle and giving when she snatches stuff from him.   I hope as they grow older they both continue to be loving toward one another.

Mae loves to play at the table.   Her twist on it though that we never really saw Ace do is to try and eat it.   She wants to sample everything - and will even get on her tippiest tiptoe to try and reach something to consume... although I have yet to capture that on film.

She pulls herself up on everything now - using the fridge, drawers, walls, couches,  or perhaps even the chair her brother is sitting in.   She doesn't mind and her patient brother continues to allow the silliness.

Other skills Mae has been mastering with or without the help of her family is climbing the stairs.  Yes, she often can be found ascending the stairs (or at best sitting at the base of them thwarted by the gate.)   Her big brother is trying to teach her how to descend the stairs safely.  She just smiles at him and continues upward.    She has a few times managed to break a barrier and climb the stairs on her own.  She's doing pretty well with it. Although I'll be happier when she learns how to go down the stairs and not just up.  :-$

Walking is up next!  Although its hard to say when walking will occur, she's still very cautious and takes her balance very seriously by lowering herself slowly to the ground... but one thing is for sure - she wants to go places.   She might skip walking and go straight for climbing... watch out world Mae's coming!

Eight Months Old

Mae is booking it!  Seriously, she is fast.   Sometimes I wonder if she's got powers like Jack Jack in The Incredibles with the ability to zap through walls or something.  Yes, in the last month of little Mae's life she's been gaining speed and heights.   She's just going to crawl right into a teenager before I know it!  Slow down, baby girl!

Newness for Mae's 8th month:  her first bonk and second, third,....,  pulling herself up and standing, riding a horse, two teeth, and her first fever.  

Sleep for Mae has been routine - not amazing, not terrible.   She is however loud.   She just will loudly chatter as she's stirring, occasionally she will scream/fuss, but most of the time it's just chatter.  I usually can plug her and she's instantly content and drifts back to sleep after her hit of milk.  She doesn't sleep through the night, but she is a very cozy cuddler and so I honestly don't mind the few times I have to wake and feed her. 

Teeth, yep the two bottom ones have finally made their appearance and she is excited to have them.  She wants to gnaw on everything.  I believe the other two teeth on the bottom are going to pop through before any of the top ones will - but who knows.  She does have two cute little teeth in there though.  :)  They took a toll coming in a week or so ago which also happened to coincide with a cold too.  Poor thing had a leaking nose from the teething, snotty off and on from the cold, a fever from the teething (never over 101) on two different evenings (but not back to back) she was a mess for a couple of days and nights.  Eventually the teething ended and she dried up, but the cough persisted.  My heart was racing every time she would have a coughing fit.  She had a few that resulted in her vomiting (sad!) and all the while I was watching for signs that it was going to get worse.  Thankfully it didn't.  She's on the mend and the cough is trending away.

Developmentally Mae is doing great - she has learned how to stand and pull herself up onto things all over the place.  In just the last week she gained the strength to pull herself up onto the couch.  She also is learning how to best descend to the ground without a face plant and is just starting to venture in the letting go of things while standing.  She hasn't successfully held herself independent of anything just yet.   The other night she was crawling up a storm and pulling herself up -  she had a circuit she was 'running'  she'd pull herself up to me where I was sitting, cross the room to see her dada and pull herself up there, then crawl across again to the ottoman and pull herself up and then down again for the short sprint back to me and did this over and over again for at least 5 minutes.  It was adorable.

Speaking of dada - she's in love.   Yes, while she's always loved her dada - she hasn't had much use for him.   Loving Husband is the first to agree that Mae is a mama's girl (after all it was her first word.)   Mae really didn't need or really want to spend much time with him, but now she loves to hug him, snuggle with him and for the first time since she was an infant sleep on his chest for a little while.   It's so sweet to see her light up when he comes home from work or crawl toward the door when he's leaving. 

Mae also loves her brother and loves to crawl after him, try to eat his food, and giggles like crazy whenever he crawls after her.  Also she laughs every time Ace tickles her toes.   She loves her big brother.

Stat wise it's unknown - she is still itty bitty.  She doesn't eat much solid food at the moment, she's still mostly a milky girl.  She still has her little chunky rolls on her arms and legs, but doesn't weigh much.  She's happy and healthy. Mae loves her dolly still, her colorpillar, minnie mouse and her newest toy Sophie the giraffe.  Mommy tries to teach her colors and she just wants to eat the things.  Red tastes the same as purple, mom.  :) 

Our photoshoot this month was met with some opposition twice... but we still got some cute shots.   It required the whole family to get a good smile from her and thus a little big of a distraction from the lens.  :)  That's ok at least she stayed seated.    Onto a new adventure of her ninth month... will it include walking?? We shall see!

On the go!

Mae is busy busy and enjoying her mobility.  She got crawling down pat and is getting around throughout the house and following us around pretty quickly.  She does the traditional crawl a lot of the time, but then there are moment that she puts her own spin onto it. Like this...

Her latest efforts toward walking is the slowly increasing pulling herself up to things. She hasn't yet mastered pulling herself up to the couch, once she does that I think she'll be venturing into walking very shortly. However, for now she's practicing on smaller scales.

We've brought out the gates, but for the most part only use them on occassion to prevent her from venturing outside or to a particular area for a period of time.   For the most part she's free to roam.
 

 
Her brother has found it a bit more problematic these days to be on ground level.  He's started to have to retreat to higher ground (the couch or his table) to eat anything or do anything that he doesn't want help with.   For the most part he's been very gracious to his sister's curiousity.  We'll see if this love continues once she's able to reach him at his current safe havens. :)
 

Mae's First Bonks

With mobility comes bruises and scrapes.  It's just the way of the world of a mobile baby.   However, the first bonk is always memorable - at least the firsts of my children were.  Neither were terribly traumatic for them, but still sad for them and their mommy.    Ace's was a simple run in with the rocking chair.   To her credit Mae managed to survive obtaining a good bruising bonk for a lot longer than her sibling... I wonder if that is gender related?  :)   I digress.

Yes Mae a week ago had her first bonk.  While crawling and attempting to get out to the backyard where her big brother was playing she rammed her head into the door frame.   She was none too happy and a little bruise formed on her head above her right eye.    

Now while she might not be a boy and have that genetic disposition for danger - she does have an older brother that she adores and loves to follow.   Now a week after receiving her first official bonk, and well after that small bruise had healed and been forgotten... she received another.

Earlier this week, I had the audacity to go to the bathroom, leaving two mobile children alone for less than a minute (it's true, anyone that knows me can attest to my speed in that department.)   In this time, Ace had opened the front door, opened and locked open the screen door (pushing that little slide over so it won't shut) and gone outside.   That's ok he's allowed to do that... Mae however wanted to follow her brother (you see where I'm going with this?)  and as quick as she is - followed him right on out, unaware of the consequences of the step down to the porch... and her nose, mouth, and chin met the concrete unhappily.  I come out of the bathroom to find my little one's legs sticking up in the air still half 'in' the house and the rest unhappy on the ground.  I pick her up and dust her off and she only fussed for a few more seconds... sheesh baby girl!  Her battle wounds have already healed even though she did this on Tuesday... but her little chin was pretty red the rest of Tuesday night.

As you can see (or not really see)  the wounds are extremely superficial, certainly already forgotten in her little mind as life continues on and she continues to toddle around the house without a care in the world.  She's fearless and while I applaud that - it makes me nervous.   Stay safe little girl!

Seven Months Old

 Mae is growing and thriving and is everywhere!   Yes, our little girl in the last few weeks has learned to crawl and now she's mobile!  She took a couple of weeks to perfect her technique but she is now a quick crawler when she wants to be.   She is starting to pull herself up into her toy basket and onto people, so it's only a matter of time before she aims for the couch.   Walking is a few months away but we expect that she'll be doing it before year's end for sure.

Firsts this month:  crawling, solid food eating, first time being babysat, first trip(s) to Disneyland

Mae still is working on teeth and still just has a gummy smile.  Not sure when those teeth will finally make their appearance, but she hasn't seemed too bothered this last month, so I suspect they're still not on their way in at the moment.  

Sleep for Mae is eh... sometimes she spins like a top.  Meaning while she's totally asleep, her parents she sleeps in between are not because she literally spins around in a circle, so we get feet, hands, her head batting at us from various angles through the night.   Other nights her sleep stints are longer than others, but on average they're nothing to write home about.   Her cosleeper is going to have to be retired soon, as recently as this past weekend she can pull herself out and onto our bed.   She really is ON THE MOVE!

Mobility as previously mentioned is an adventure now.   Since we're currently living in a house with no brick fireplaces, and no multi-level hazards we haven't chosen to put up any gates just yet.  She's not too into the exploring cabinets or anything mostly just cruising and doesn't stray too far from where she can see me, so we're still enjoying a jungle-gate-free zone.   Honestly, we're not too sure with this configuration of the house, how we will put the gates up, but we'll see!

Mae did great at Disneyland the two days in a row that we went.  She spent a good deal of time in the ergo carrier and while warm was content to snuggle against me and relax.  She enjoyed the rides with little curiosity and a lot of patience, which was nice for her older brother to allow him to truly enjoy Disneyland and all its wonder.

On our anniversary this year, Mae experienced a new first: babysitting!  This girl still won't take a bottle, but she does ok to go for a few hours without milk and so we gave ourselves a little under 3 hours of kid free time with the help of our neighbors.   Reports are she did great... didn't take the bottle we left (no shock there) but was happy.   In fact when we arrived I handed her right to Jessica and there was zero fuss and zero fuss as we walked out the door.  She was content and happy.   Yipee! 

Overall, an exciting seventh month in our little girl's life.  She's adorable and thriving.   I can't believe we're on the downward slide toward one!  Slow down baby girl!!

(Things that I find interesting and unplanned include that in both Ace and Mae's 7th month of life they learned to crawl and both went to Disneyland for the first time.   Like I said not planned just an interesting coincidence that I noticed when reviewing Ace's seven month blog.)

She crawls!

Mae is officially mobile now.   She's been working on it for the last two weeks or so and in the last couple of days has really figured out her way of crawling.   She has yet to master moving her hands in front of her or even the knees but she is for sure actively seeking mobility and forward movement and watch out if she wants something she'll dash off for it very quickly... like yesterday with her brother's sandwich.  :) 

She's not so quick that the gate jungle needs to be set up yet, we're actually not sure how we're going to do that just yet in this house,  but we'll figure out something that doesn't trap Ace and his sister.  :)    Yay for mobility, no looking back now!! 

Six Months Old

Happy Half Birthday, Mae!!
I can't believe my baby is six months old! When did a half a year go by?! She's so sweet, so smiley, and so happy! I love her!

New firsts for her sixth month of life: her first trip to a fair and carnival, first 4th of July, officially sitting, ooching (almost crawling!), her first signed word 'milk', saying 'dada', laughing, first trip on the airplane and to California!

Mae has had a great month overall. She is still teething and working on that first tooth/teeth to pop through and so she has moments of fussiness usually related to that or needing to sleep, but other than that she is so happy. She smiles all the time and loves to chat now. Yes, I am willing to admit she is now also saying 'dada' in addition to 'mama' - it's pretty cute. We now need to get her to say 'baba' or something that is associated for 'brother' :) She likes to babble a lot and talk with you. She will chat to keep herself awake and her giggle now is just plain adorable. Mae also signed her first word this month: "milk" and she seems to do it quite regularly when she wants milk. Her verbal and communication skills are doing great!

Sleep seems to have been lacking luster for us... or certainly the zzzzs. Sometime this past month she gave up the 5-7hr stretches that we were all enjoying and instead reverted back to the every 2-3 hour wakings for food, snuggles, comfort. I suspect her teeth have a lot to do with this and six months is a big growth spurt for babies, so I'm not giving up hope that we can't work back up to those longer stretches.

Food wise we really haven't given her much other than milk. There are so many conflicting reports regarding solid food before six months and since she is getting plenty of nutrients from the breastmilk, she only got some puree jar food a handful of times in her sixth month of life. This up coming month we'll be upping the solid food with more regularity.

Mobility wise, she's somewhat mobile. She can get herself up on her knees, she can even do the rocking motion, but she lets her legs fall out from under her and she ooches where she wants to go. She doesn't move very fast and it isn't an army crawl either, but somehow she can get to what she wants... so anything tiny, chokeable sized items need to officially be retired or hidden. Crawling is only a matter of days or weeks away for this family!

Mae had a great 4th of July and was so happy to just sit on the beach blanket and watch the fireworks. The noise didn't bother her and she was so content to just sit and look at all the pretty colors in the sky. In general on all of our outings this past month she's just been great. She's just so easy going and willing to be toted where ever. She sits very well in the Ergo carrier and happily looks around at her new surroundings.

We haven't officially gotten her six month stats just yet, but on her Grammie's scale on her sixth month birthday she weighed 14.5lbs. :)

It's been such a wonderful first six months with this little girl. She is so happy, agreeable, and loving - we just can't get enough of her. I can't wait to see what the next six months holds for her as she explores her world more and more!

Five Months Old

Mae is another month older and growing and advancing every day it seems. She is so smiley and a joy every morning because she wakes up with the biggest smile on her face.

First for Mae this month: first time swimming, first taste of bottled water, first breast milk bottle she consumed, first solid food, first word: MAMA!!!, (early phase) sitting up

Mae has been doing wonderfully in the sleep department especially this week. For a couple of weeks she had reverted to being away every 3 hours to snack and then sleep again, wasn't sleeping in the co-sleeper for a long stretch at all and overall wasn't wowing me with her sleep. Felt more Ace-ish. Not bad, but not amazing. This past week she's done GREAT. She falls asleep downstairs most of the time with milk and then placed into her swing. I eventually scoop her up and take her upstairs anywhere from 2-4hours later depending on when she fell asleep and when I'm off to bed. Every night so far this week she has transferred without needing a snack or even really waking up. One night she did stir awake but she settled herself back to sleep. She wakes between 3am-4:30am - but so far every night this week it has been a solid 7 hours before she wakes. It's been great! Hopefully no growth spurt, teething surge, or illness disrupts this new found bliss we're all enjoying. After she wakes after 3am I bring her into the bed next to me and she nurses 2-3xs more before we're up for the morning - which is usually dictated by her brother around 7am.

Food is new for Mae this month, although not yet a regular occurrence. She has enjoyed rice cereal, carrots and sweet potatoes... and she has sampled and rejected peas. I continue to read and educate myself on solid food before 6 months and I still remain unsettled on what is best for her - so Mae will mostly continue to sample food for another couple of weeks before I really start regularly giving her solids for 'meals' - allowing her little digestive system to continue to develop. She also finally enjoyed her first bottle from start to finish. Back in February we did introduce her to the bottle but she only had a sip of it... this time after a somewhat lengthy stand off we got her to finish 3oz of a bottle. Hooray. Although the second attempt was met with equally as loud objection as the first time so little progress was made... In addition to trying out some breast milk in the bottle Mae got her first taste of water. Yum. She really never drank any of it as much as chewed on the cold nipple, but she enjoyed that.

Verbal skills are exploding. This morning Loving Husband will tell you she said 'dada' I'll give him it was close - but she's not said it officially yet. But she is close. She's working on all sorts of sounds in that little mouth of hers. She is quite the chatter box. :) I wonder where she gets that from??? She said mama a week ago and continues to say it when she REALLY wants me. She knows who I am and how to get me. It's really sweet. She's also working on her 'lala', 'baba' and occasionally even manages a ffff sound. Although she's just babbling not really attempting words at those times. The other day I also swore I saw her 'sign' milk. It is certainly what she wanted and I had never seen her tiny little hand move like that at random before... but it could just be my mommy-mind playing tricks on me so I won't claim it to be an intentional act, but I am certainly looking for it again!

Mae loves to squeal and gets very excited when you chew on her ribs, but she doesn't outright laugh just yet. I'd say she chuckles occasionally. No belly laughs just yet. Often she holds her breath. She loves her big brother and loves to play with him while she sits in her excersaucer. She smiles really big every morning when he comes in and says "Good Morning, Sister" (in a very funny voice that we're not sure why he's chosen it.) She's always happy to see him and he loves to help comfort her by reading to her, singing kokomo (which he's getting pretty good at!) or playng her music either in the exersaucer, swing or using her glowworm. He is going to be a good protector.

Mobility wise she is still mostly just rolling from her back to her belly. She hasn't done the belly to her back too much since learning the other way. She can do a bigger push up every now and then and really REALLY wants to move. If you hold her upright she also will walk and do so quickly to get to the other person. Adorable. I suspect crawling will take place very soon. I said earlier "early phase" sitting up - which basically I mean if I put her in a sitting position she is able to maintain it for about 10-30 second before she either topples over or folds in half. She's not quite there, but she's making good progress with those baby-abs of hers. :) Mae also got to try out swimming for the first time in her little life. She loved it and even dipped under the water without any issue.

Teething is still happening and she is chewing on anything (or one) that she can get a hold of. She LOVES her dolly to chew on and that comes with us everywhere. She's not terribly drooly, but is very irritable before naps the last few days. Not sure if it's related, but hopefully she cuts her first tooth soon. I can see it below the surface it's almost here!!

Mae is a very happy baby. We love to see her grow and develop... but I can't believe how big she already is. Happy 5th Month, Mae! Can't wait for your half-birthday milestone.... yes I can... stop aging already! ;-)

Four Months Old

Wow what a month of excitement - first I'd like to say that Mae escaped any major illness in her 4th month of life - which mommy and dad are very thankful for after her severe illness she had in March. No fun for sure. She did have a tiny cold just before our road trip, but overall has been quite healthy. We are very thankful for that.

Mae's firsts this month: her first road trip, her first time in OR, ID, UT, CO, NM, TX, LA, and MS, her first time in a hotel room for that matter, her first (official) Easter, and rolling back to front and her first attempts at crawling too! and finally teething began this month.

Yes, in the mobility department just in the last week Mae has made incredible progress. Since her first few time rolling from tummy to back she only has occasionally repeated this process. Well last week she started doing it much more regularly and just this past Sunday Mae in a very concentrated effort, after several minutes mastered back to front. She's so happy that she can get herself in the position she wants to be in and in fact is quite the roller now. She doesn't quite understand that she can roll to get to things at the moment she's just satisfied with the act of rolling. She also is trying desperately to crawl. She's got the back leg part down, she can get her knees tucked up and under her but her arms still do not have the strength to help her with that - so on occasion she does get enough traction with the carpet to push herself forward - she's been working on that these past couple of days and is actually pretty good at it, but she gets frustrated so she doesn't make any distance of much measure. But she's on the verge and I'd guess by her next "birthmonth" she'll be mobile officially (her brother was crawling at 6 months so we'll see!) She also really enjoys to 'walk' and does really well to lift up her legs and move her feet forward while we hold her hands and give her support. It's pretty adorable.

Mae continues to be a very happy baby. She's almost laughing and she smiles a LOT. She's also quite the talker - she will ramble on and on and just talk to you. It's adorable and I'm glad I have that on video to remember later.

Sleep wise, Mae is doing pretty well - with the road trip and the new place we've kind of gotten off track on her longer stretches simply because it was all new and different, but she still is going for longer stretches on the first stint. Although she unfortunately has decided, like her brother, that 7:30am is WIDE AWAKE time. This is unfortunate for her brother because he doesn't get an hour+ of mommy-alone time first thing in the morning. However, Mae is good to take a morning nap - often in her swing and that is the time that mommy and son can play.

Teething is in full and sad force around here. I can see some tooth buds below the surface and Mae's doing her best to bring them in. She chews on everything and is a faucet a lot of the time with drool. She is definitely a drooler with teething. Ace never had any of that he was dry as a bone. Still think we're a ways off from the teeth breaking through - Ace took about a month to actually 'teeth' before his first tooth broke through.

We don't have a pediatrician yet, so we do not have 4 month stats yet - so I'll be getting those in a separate post. She is still pretty itty bitty and it's funny because everyone thinks she looks SO BIG in her pictures - and we agree her head looks huge in pictures compared to how tiny it really is. After all she was in the 10th percentile for her head size at 2 months. Apparently the camera adds 10lbs to babies as well ;-) We're looking forward to a fun summer with our little girl and sharing more SUN with her!

Rolling Back to Front!

She did it! She did it! Just one day shy of four months old our little (strong!) girl rolled from her back to front. What a great Mother's Day gift from my little girl! Now that she's doing it and has figured out the secret, she keeps doing it over and over. She only is going in one direction but she's making progress across a room - although I don't think she's doing this with purpose just yet. It's so exciting to see her learn these fun milestones! Although SLOW down little girl, time is flying way too fast and you're so advanced! Congrats, Owlie on this wonderful accomplishment!

To see Ace's first roll over that direction, click here.

Three Months Old

Unbelievable! I didn't think it was possible, perhaps because she's our last baby, perhaps it's just me, but I swear time is going faster with Mae than it did with Ace! She's already three months old and is so smart and advanced!

New firsts this past month: Grasping things, cloth diapers, sleeping through the night, her first illness, her first xray, her first IV, her first ambulance ride (mom's too!), her first hospital stay, a lot of less than pleasant firsts this month, but also a lot of good smiles! Finally her last first for this month was Easter!
Mae is such a happy baby! There's just no other way to say it. Even when she was miserable and in the hospital, she was smiling up a storm. She would work so hard to breathe but you'd look at her and she'd get the widest grin - and with her healthy they're that much later and happy. It is so sweet and I love how smiley she is with just about anyone she meets.

Mommy and Mae embarked on a new adventure this past month into the world of cloth diapering. We aren't converting over entirely, we're split about 50/50 right now with CDs and disposable diapers. She still wears disposables at night, but the other day that was the only disposable diaper we used for that day. It certainly will save us money on the diaper genie refills to not be disposing of as many... and it will take a while to recoop the cost of one cloth diaper to what you can buy in the amount of disposables - but it's still nice to have options.

Sleep! Oh boy we are blessed in that department. She is pretty good some of the time with self soothing, she still sometimes needs someone around to be comforted and hugged (which I am happy about!) But there are moments I can put her in her swing and she will fall asleep on her own. Ace never did this. Ever. While in the hospital she was swaddled really well at night and in doing that she did GREAT to sleep for long stretches. For the majority of this past week, Mae has been falling asleep on me around 9-10 and staying on my chest and then transferring to the co-sleeper without issue (again, Ace RARELY ever transferred!) and sleeps until 5am! This means on several nights last week she had stretches that were 7.5hrs, 7hrs, 6hrs!! Her other wake up time was 2am so she is consistently sleeping a minimum of 4 hours - or over a 7 day an average of 6 hour stretches! HOORAY! It's such a blessing and I'm so proud of her!

Hospital stay - yes Mae had a week stay in Children's hospital to battle RSV Bronciolitis. It was not a fun time for anyone in our family. It was the first time I had been away from Ace that long, it was the first time Loving Husband was a SAHD for any length of time, it was the first time Mae (or I) were in the hospital for anything non-planned. Not fun! Ultimately she recovered very well and we are hopeful we are all done with the illness this season and that next time she's ill she will be far stronger and able to fight off the illness without medical intervention. I am so thankful that Children's was there and able to help us though.
Mae has discovered her hands and loves to grasp them together and pull at toys. It's really cute to watch her try and use her hands - I'm not positive she understands the mechanics of them just yet, but she knows that they are what she needs to use to accomplish getting things closer to her mouth. ;) In the way of mobility she still will occassionally roll over when provided the opportunity (stomach to back) and she will stand fully holding her own weight by holding onto our fingers for stability. It's pretty impressive. She's on the verge of sitting up and can do it for a few seconds with the boppy's help - I suspect she'll be doing this very soon without the aid of a fluffy crash zone. :)

Mae's stats on the 21st of March were that she was 22" and 9lbs and 11oz. She hadn't gained much since her two month appointment (she had gotten taller though) and it was great that she hadn't lost much during her illness. She's definitely gotten bigger since then and is officially out of 'NB' clothing. In fact I just cleared out her drawers so that we could make room for more of the three month clothing. She is still our itty bitty and is adorable. Her hair is coming in more and more and now that the cradle cap issue has been solved with a little baby oil - her locks should flourish and all those bows I've been buying will be useful ;) We've got some big adventures coming up really soon! So look for more of what Mae is up to then!