Months 1 - 12

So the last monthly update was month 9. Some day I'll get an update. 18 months anyone?

I haven't gotten around to adding the birthday bash, but that'll be next. In the meantime Here's the collage of her monthly photos.

You can tell by the horrible lighting in most of them that I had a tendency to forget until it was almost bedtime. Around month 9 we had to get creative with props and it just got harder and harder to get a good one. As you can tell we own a lot of pink. And because I have OCD about weird things, we didn't ever repeat an outfit. I tried to do the same for bows (which we have more than enough of), but Dad was in charge of month 11 so (wah-wah) it's the same as month 10.

I was really really really proud of myself for taking each one on the 26th of each month. Again because I'm OCD about weird things. That is until her actual birthday. I was so mad at myself for forgetting and being a couple days late. Because, #firstworldproblems. Looking back (hindsight's a bitch) I should've just waited until the weekend to get better light on all of them. Month 1, 2, and 4 are my favs - which of course have the best light. It's fun to look back, and see how she (officially) changed month to month. So while I may not have gotten around to writing updates on month 10 and 11, we DID get a photo!

Now that she's really on the move and walking (re: running), and refuses to take photos (rude) - I hope she appreciates this someday! (But her sappy Mom will love it enough for the both of us).

On letting go

It’s amazing how time plays tricks on you. How the days are long but the years are short. Isn’t that the truth? For most parents anyways. Lately the days have been quite short as well. I’m not entirely sure how we’re already a week away from the new school year. The summer breezily floated by without a care in the world. Clearly not asking my permission of course.

Somewhere in the middle of all the swim meets, tennis lessons, weddings, and family reunions, my baby turned one.

And while that precious milestone was celebrated thoroughly – as it should have been – it’s no less bittersweet. My baby is no longer a baby.

I can’t even count the number of times the Mr has had to tell me, she’s not a baby anymore. But oh contraire, my love, she will always be my baby. THEY will always be my babies.

For the first time, I haven’t been in a rush to switch her to the big girl car seat. She’s still happily toted along in the baby carrier. At 14 months.

I still rock her to sleep each and every night. Even though she’ll go to sleep just fine when I lay her down. (After chatting with herself for a good 10 minutes of course).

I got out the 18 month clothes for fall this past weekend, and some how they just looked so… big.

For the first time I’m pretty emotional about leaving the baby stage and entering the toddler stage. While I’m excited for the new things to come and all the adventures that await our sweet little family, I can’t help but already be a little nostalgic for that darling girl who surprised me (TWO weeks early no less) on my birthday.

“What we call the beginning is often the end. And to make an end is to make a beginning. The end is where we start from.” – T.S. Eliot

To new beginnings.

9 months with Parker Mae

I know what you're thinking. And I'm thinking it too. I'm a little late to the 9 month party, but if you don't blog about it, it didn't happen right? So alas, here's my little Peanut's 9 month update, almost 4 months late...

Thank goodness for Instagram and FB so I can look back and see what actually happened. #amiright

Official 9 month stats:

Height - 25.5 in (37%)
Weight - 16.1 lbs (49%)

This gal continues to be an absolute delight. I mean it, I don't know how but we hit the baby jackpot. Sleeps through night, even when teething, AND sick, eats well, plays well, I mean what more can we ask for? Around this time we had 4 teeth and I believe 5 and 6 quickly popped through. Parker absolutely loves to play with the big kids, and I can foresee many an injury trying to keep up with her sisters. She loves to dance, and makes a bee line in any room for the ONE thing she's not supposed to touch. This month she started to pull up on EVERYTHING, and having an empty living room (#oldhouseproblems) actually worked to her advantage. She loves to look out the window at the world around her. She prefers to be outside as much as possible, and we take advantage of that when the unpredictable KS weather allows.

Still not really a fan of other people, but I'm secretly not complaining. Her sweet lil personality is definitely blossoming, and we see a lot more smiles from our stone-face sally. 

We still absolutely love baby led weaning. I mean I can't say enough good things about it. This gal hasn't met a food she doesn't like. And we don't hold back. Girlfriend loves a lil spice in her life. Tacos, buffalo chicken, you name it. Her willingness to try new foods is really amazing to watch, and man I pray that she never loses that (I'm looking at you terrible twos).

Girlfriend loves to babble. Dada is her fav, and while she can say Mama, she usually doesn't. (whatevs). Interestingly enough, she never took a pacifier, which was actually a good thing - but because of her eczema, the doc recommended giving her one so she wouldn't suck her hands raw, and make her cheeks worse.

We still have a lot of issues with eczema. BOO. It's mostly on her face. For vanity reasons that really sucks, but that means we have her body under control with special lotion, and the occasional prescription. I'm just not willing to put that on her face. With how much she touches her face, I won't risk her putting her chubby little hands in her mouth and ingesting that medicine. Luckily, flare ups are fewer and fewer, but still irritating none the less.

The past 9 months have breezed by without a care in the world. I'm in complete awe of watching her little life grow so rapidly right before my eyes. I adore you Parker Mae, and hope you never forget that.

8 months with Parker Mae!

Despite my best efforts of keeping you a newborn forever, here we are at the 8 month mark. Just 4 months shy of your 1st birthday. And yes your crazy mother has already started planning your birthday party (just don't tell your dad!).

I know I sound like a broken record, but I'm not entirely sure what happened to the month of February? But here's the reader's digest version:

• You got two more teeth! We're up to four now, and I'm kind of dumbfounded. Neither of your sisters got teeth this early so it was definitely a pleasant surprise. 
• Still army crawling everywhere, with a teensy bit of actual crawling. 
• You're pulling up on everything, and trying to stand. (I am not ready for this at.all.)
• We celebrated Valentine's day - your sisters had a slumber party at Aunt Jaime's, so you got Mom and Dad all to yourself!
• You still love to eat, and I'm a HUGE fan of the baby led weaning method. It has been absolutely amazing for us. Does that mean it will work for everyone? No. BUT it has been very beneficial for our crazy busy family.
• We spent LOTS of time outside, and you love to swing. (SO thankful for the nice weather!) You also got to start riding in the stroller sans carseat, and I think it's safe to say you're a fan.
• You got your first cold. BOO. I try really hard not to "cry wolf" at every sniffle and head to the doctor, but you started wheezing really badly so I made the executive decision to head in. I don't mess around when it comes to breathing. The doc professionally sucked your snot out, checked your oxygen levels, gave you a breathing treatment and diagnosed you with a mild case of RSV. So essentially we had to wait it out, suck your snot out appx 500 times a day, and spoil you with extra snuggles.
• You continue to be a dream sleeper. For reals. You go to bed between 6:30 and 7pm, and you wake up anywhere between 5:30-7am. Daddy prefers it when you sleep in until 7 though ;) Even when you're cutting teeth and even when you had a horrible cold, you still slept through the night! A girl after my own heart, I mean seriously. 

You continue to be a delight my darling girl. Quite possibly the easiest baby out of all 3. You still don't require a pacifier, you eat well, sleep well, and are quite entertained by your sisters. You may be the most serious baby to ever grace this world, but you also love to giggle. Your sweet little giggle is pure magic. My favorite part of the day is when I'm rocking you to sleep at night and you chat with me while you sweetly drift off to dreamland. I am pretty much putty in your hands. It's a good thing you can't talk yet, because the answer to anything would be yes. 100 times yes. 

You're still all business all the time. You let us know what you want and when you want it, and then all's good. You are rarely fussy. When it's time to eat, you eat and then you're done. When you're ready for bed, you lay your sweet head down and it's lights out. I sincerely hope you keep this easy going-ness up until you're at least 18. :) 

We barely got your 8 month photo in on the exact day. (Only 4 left! *tear*) So sorry for the awkward grainy-ness, this was at night and the light was no good. Daddy attempted to take it during the day, but had the chalkboard above your head and no bow. Silly dad.

You continue to amaze us, and we love to watch you learn, play and grow every single day. I can't wait to see what the world has in store for you, or what you have in store for it!

7 Months with P!

Month seven snuck up on us just as each month before it. The old cliche is totally true, how quickly time passes. Multiply that by 10 for the third baby. Miss Parker got TWO teeth this month. All of sudden they were just there. Now I'm having a hard time remembering her little gummy smile prior to those two itty bitty teeth. She continues to be a dream sleeper, down between 6-7, up between 6-7. We hit a rough patch after the 6 month check-up, but after those two teeth popped through we were back to all night snoozing. (hooray!). Napping is a total guessing game because with 2 very active older sisters, we sneak naps in when we can. And as long as she sleeps through the night, I'm not going to worry about it too much. I'm usually a total stickler for schedules, but it's virtually impossible with school and other activities. #thirdchildproblems

6 Month photos!

Watch out world, because Parker Mae is officially on the move! Sure she was rolling around like a madwoman prior to this but she's now crawling all over the place. She'll just follow you around the house. She LOVES the hardwood floors, because she can scoot after you much faster. I'm not ready for crawling at all. I'm having a hard time letting go of the newborn phase. Even though that was over a few months ago... I'm still in denial. She's still the most serious baby EVER, but I don't mind. It's part of her charm. She's still not too keen on strangers, or pretty much anyone besides Mom, Dad or her sisters. But again, I don't mind. I'm 100% OK with holding her every second that I'm home, and not sharing her with anyone. The dishes, laundry, dusting, etc. can all wait. This little baby won't be a baby forever ya know.



She can sit up on her own, kinda. I'm not really sure how we've skipped over sitting independently and went straight to crawling. We practice as much as we can, but girlfriend just wants to be on the move. Whether it's rolling around or crawling around, there's no sitting still unless she's in the high chair. Which speaking of the high chair, a little BLW update! She is rocking the whole eating thing. In addition to all her fruits and veggies (favs are bananas and avacados), sister loved her some protein. She absolutely loves meatballs. I'm still pretty flabbergasted by the whole BLW method, I just can't seem to wrap my head around a 7 month old eating that much food. But we continue to love it, with a few minor adjustments. From what I've read you're not supposed to help them eat, they're supposed to do it all themselves, but we've had to break that rule. P absolutely loves silverware. I mean it seriously blows my mind. Some foods she'll pick up off the tray, but she prefers if we put a bite on the fork, and hand the fork to her. Then she puts it in her mouth. Is that normal? I don't know, maybe she's a baby genius. Yes, let's go with that.

She still doesn't like the pacifier very much, which is actually a good thing. We don't really need it anyways, and this way there's nothing to take away! We do however still love the wubanub because it doesn't get swallowed into the pacifier black hole that is a car seat. It's the perfect distraction/chew toy in the car. She doesn't love the carseat either, but I don't really blame her, she gets toted around quite a bit. We've been super lucky with the weather this January, and are outside as much as possible. This month she got to ride in the stroller sans carseat for the first time, as well as swing at the park. We definitely have spring fever now. I keep forgetting that it's January...



Our only slight hiccup in her short 7 months has been her poor skin. She has really bad eczema, and I'm at my wits end on what to do. All of my research I've done recommend changing your diet in order to help clear it up naturally. All she eats is fruit and veggies (and now meatballs) with milk, which is what they recommend. The doc gave us a prescription because nothing else was working. We've tried coconut oil, my usual go-to, and nada. We have been using Eucerin this month and it's been helping, but I'm definitely hoping this is something she grows out of!




Happy 7 months sweet girl!!!

BLW

It's amazing how much has changed in the 5 years since Hadley was born. Not only regarding products available for kiddos, but how easily accessible products and information is. I mean sure Facebook existed then, but smart phones weren't as prominent, and there weren't near as many Mommybloggers. (or if there were I didn't read them). The biggest change of all is the "organic" movement. I say that in quotes because I take everything I read on the internet with a grain of salt. Regardless of your opinion, every author has some bit of bias, whether they're trying to or not.

So that being said, this time around we're giving BLW a spin. What is it you ask? Baby led weaning. Which you would think they could come up with a better name than that, but whatevs.

Disclaimer: Now to preface this, I'm not writing a term paper people. This is strictly my opinion, and I'm paraphrasing from my "research". If you want to know more, or just want to know if I'm full of it, feel free to google. Google is your friend.

Now where was I. Ah yes, what is baby led weaning? Essentially it means skipping all "baby" food. By that I mean no messing with rice cereal, no purees (homemade or store-bought), no spoon feeding, no airplanes. I pretty much signed up after that, but to make myself feel better I kept reading. The gist of it is that we're not doing babies any favors by spoon feeding them purees. By feeding them purees we're teaching them to swallow their food, not chew it. Now maybe it's just me, but that just makes sense. And I kind of felt like, what the heck why isn't everyone doing this? I felt kind of cheated by Gerber.

For the lazy folk that just never got around to making our own "organic" homemade purees, this is a much easier way to make sure they're not getting all the extra yucky stuff in store bought baby food/cereal. And have you seen all those photos going around social media of mold and other gross stuff in some store bought baby food/pouches? I mean I know that's probably pretty rare, but still. Gives me the heebie-jeebies.

So with BLW, you just feed your baby whatever it is you're eating (minus salt). And the baby is in charge of feeding him/herself. Most of their calories are coming from milk anyways, not purees or table food, or whichever route you choose.You just have to make sure that the pieces are big enough for them to grab, but small enough to chew on. Keeping in mind that this is all a learning process for the baby. Learning to chew, not swallow. So be prepared for a lot of it to be spit out and played with. That's part of the learning process.

So I thought to myself, no extra prep, and no stress over how much they're eating/when they're eating. What's.the.catch. No catch my friends. Supposedly this also produces less picky-eaters. I'll get back to you on that one in the long run, but for now Parker hasn't met a food she doesn't like. Hello, easy street!

Girlfriend totally has the elvis lip down.

Currently her menu consists of:

• carrots
• cucumbers
• broccoli (loves this one!)
• avacado
• peas
• green beans
• celery
• toast
• pasta
• peaches
• apples
• mangos
• bananas

And that's only in the past couple weeks. My main concern was choking, but again that's the whole point of BLW, is teaching them to chew so that they don't choke. Also babies have an amazing gag reflex. And even though you aren't spoon feeding them anymore obviously they still need supervision when eating. 

When I thought about the whole baby food process with my older two, I figured the whole reason for purees was because they don't have any teeth yet. But neither of my older two had teeth until they were around one, so they were eating table food by then anyways. So why not just start with it from the get go? And granted we've only been doing this for about a month, but I'm pretty pleased so far.

Anyone else tried it? Loved it? Hated it? I'd love to know!

6 Months

My darling Parker is 6 months old! How is beyond me. Clearly she's already got the whole rebel act down because I specifically instructed her NOT to keep growing so fast. Le'sigh.

Getting this photo has become increasingly difficult due to your desire to be on the move constantly. And you are still the most serious baby I've ever encountered.

I know I'm a little late on the post, but she had her 6 month check-up on Friday so I waited for her stats. Girlfriend is weighing in it 16lbs 1oz (49%) and is 25.5in (37%).

And speaking of her check up, she had a BIG day on Friday. (Even though technically that's part of month 7.. whatevs I'll forget by then). Friday morning she said Mama! It may have only been once, and most likely accidental, but I'm pretty excited that I got to witness it. She loves to babble, and is pretty good with the 'b' sounds but I heard her slip once with an 'm'. Yay! She also got her first tooth on Friday. Holy cow I was not expecting that. She showed no real intense signs of teething besides the usual gnawing on everything, so it totally took my by surprise. Dad was out watching the KSU game, and got a text message around midnight with my discovery.

My sweet P,

You continue to be an absolute delight. You think Gracen is quite possibly the funniest person on the planet - she gets that from Daddy. You still suck your thumb off and on, but I don't mind because you're adorable. duh. You only like the pacifier when you're going to sleep. As soon as you spit it out I know it's time to lay you down. Night time is our special time. I rock you to sleep (probably longer than advised but I'm a rebel and I don't care!) You like to talk to me as you drift off sweetly into dreamland. I credit Daddy for this sweet sentiment because he hums to you when he's putting you down for a nap and you started humming back. It's a good thing you can't talk yet, because I'd give you anything you want in those sweet moments. A pony? It's yours. You're an amazing sleeper (I'll take credit for this one because me and sleep are BFFs). You still take 2 sometimes 3 naps a day, and you sleep through the night. We normally go to bed around 7, and you wake up anytime between 6-7 with a random 5:30 thrown in to keep us on our toes.

You pretty much go with the flow, and are rarely fussy. Ahh the life of a third child. You absolutely love the jumper, and it may help me persuade Daddy to get a swingset this spring. Fingers crossed. You started eating food! We're skipping baby food altogether because after all my reading it just made sense. Plus if I had any doubts, they were all washed away when we actually started giving you food. You have yet to really meet a food you don't like. hashtag winning.

You had your first Chrimstas and it was a doozy. Mom is crazy, and decided to take you and your sisters (solo!) to Church and the Christmas party to see Santa. Mass was at 9 and the party at 10, but we definitely did NOT make it in time for 9am Mass, so we quickly adapted and made it to the party, and went to 10:30 am Mass after. You are the queen of 'stranger-danger' right now, and did not like the party at all. Luckily all I wanted was the pic with Santa... and you obliged! I literally had .2 seconds to snap the photo before you realized it wasn't me holding you, and by some Christmas miracle all 3 of you were looking and 2/3 were smiling! can't wait till next year.

We were pretty practical with your first Christmas because let's face it, with 2 older sisters you hardly "need" anything. You were a complete angel through all of our travels. You were sufficiently spoiled, and you're at the perfect Christmas stage. You can sit up, but you can't go anywhere yet! Speaking of, you're sitting up! Yikes. You look so much older when you're sitting up.

You had your first babysitter! Although you were in bed for the night, I'm still counting it. I had my work Christmas party and Aunt Nanie had your sisters for a slumber party and Aunt Jaime graciously volunteered to come hang out at our house while visions of sugarplums danced in your head. You of course chose that night to hang out until 8:30, so we may have gotten a late start, but we made it count. It was our very first night alone since you were born! Way to hold strong sister.

This month seems to be full of milestones, and I can't wait to see what the next 6 months has in store for us. Happy 1/2 birthday my darling girl! I supposed it's time to start planning your 1st birthday party. Just kidding... sort of.. ;)

Mama

5 Months with Parker Mae

I'm sure it gets old when I say that I can't believe another month has flown by, but my goodness. I would be content keeping you a little baby forever but you clearly have other plans.

It's amazing the differences between your first and third child. With your first born every milestone is SO exciting and you can't wait for the next one! But with the third it's like wait what? how is it time for you to start rolling everywhere? Food - what? Can't be!

Although the month was a blur, it was quite an exciting blur! You discovered your toes, and you love them. We have to set aside time during the day to take your socks off and you get reallly excited about it. You also LOVE your thumb. And as much as I don't want to have to think about you sucking your thumb, it's quite adorable. When I put you to bed we start off with the pacifier, and then once I lay you down you spit it out and in goes the thumb. As if you could get anymore precious.

You had your first Halloween! You dressed up as a ladybug, and didn't really get what all the fuss is about. All in good time my love.

We took family pictures this month, and I'm super anxious to see them. You were pretty much stone faced the.entire.time. I'm just glad you didn't throw up all over your pretty outfit. #itsthelittlethings You're such a serious baby! Except when you're not. Makes total sense right?

You absolutely LOVE your sisters. They can make you giggle and giggle. Until I try to get a picture of it, then it's stone faced Sally. However you still don't really like it when they hold you. But you pretty much don't like anyone to hold you except Mom or Dad. (Which I'm totally OK with btw, I'm cherishing this stage as much as I can!) You've kind of got some stranger anxiety. Which again, I'm secretly relishing. All too soon you'll be running around and demanding everyone's attention. So I'll get in all the snuggles while I can.

You've embraced tummytime. Hooray! You love playing on the floor and rolling around everywhere. And the exersaucer is your new BFF. Although the jumper is slowly climbing in popularity. You're pretty independent at home, which is bittersweet, but in the best possible way. Have I totally confused you yet?

Remember that time when I was so excited you were sleeping through the night? Insert foot in mouth. You decided that just wasn't your thing anymore, and we're back to being up a few times a night. #wompwomp Is it because we moved you to your crib? I don't know. You also have a tendency to have blowouts in the middle of the night, which is awesome. NOT. So by the time you're done getting cleaned up you're ready to party. Mom and Dad? Not so much. Let's get back on the sleeping through the night train this month shall we?

You've started eating solid food! What the what? This month you've tried peas, carrotts, and beans. And of course you got treated to some whip cream at Thanksgiving. (That's what grandparents are for right? to sneak you sugar! *technically* Thanksgiving should be part of your next monthly update but whatevs) This time around we've decided to skip baby food altogether. GASP! I know right? But I've done a lot of research on it, and we're following the baby led weaning method. And it's a lot less stressful, and saves us from buying/wasting baby food. I know it's not for everyone, but I'm totally embracing it.

Last but not least - your monthly photo! I'm super impressed (insert pat on the back here) that I've made it 5 whole months (only 7 to go!) taking your pic on the exact day! Although this one was a close one. I totally thought Thanksgiving was on the 26th, turns out it was the 27th. SO right before bed we got this pic, but you were not in a good mood, and the lighting is super bad because it was already dark out. But some day you'll appreciate these photos right? RIGHT.

Happy 5 months sweet girl!

Parker Mae's Baptism

My darling Parker Mae got baptized! A couple months ago, but whatevs. And if you know me at all, you know that I am SUPER sentimental about the most random things, and it just so happens that we were both baptized on the same day, Sept 14th. Which I didn't even plan! But it just makes my heart so happy anyways. Simply providential (Anne of Green Gables anyone?). She also got to wear the same gown that I wore at my own baptism. And her bonnet - which was seriously the most adorable thing ever - was a gift from Great Aunt Diane. It's an Irish bonnet that we'll put away until her wedding day that becomes a handkerchief for her to carry with her bouquet as her "something old". I'm getting misty eyed just thinking about it!

Mass was a small struggle because they were playing the organ that day, and it is LOUD. 10:30am is always a hard time anyways because it's right around eating/nap time so it's a crap shoot on whether or not it will go smoothly. I'd say this wasn't our best day, but definitely wasn't our worst. The older girls were VERY antsy because their cousins were there. Again not their best, but not their worst either.

I mean seriously could she get any cuter?!

Parker was a dream for the actual Baptism, just went with the flow. She even giggled once or twice. Just wanted to watch everything and everyone.

 We had everyone over for brunch afterwards, and the whole day was kind of a blur. I spent the day before running around like a chicken with my head cut off, with soccer games, heading to the grocery store, Sams Club, the liquor store (all brunches require mimosas) and baking all night long. Her Baptism was right after the 10:30am Mass, which was like a super awkward time. It started around 11:45 so by the time it was over (there were FOUR! baptisms that day) everyone was starving when they got back to our house. It was a little chaotic trying to get all the food out and set up, change the baby, feed the baby, all in our cozy (read: tiny) house, but we survived. The weather was absolutely gorgeous and sweet P was spoiled with gifts (and love).

Gracen desperately wanted to hold Parker, but had just gotten in trouble for messing around, hence the pouty face.

Have to get a siblings pic!

We celebrated Hadley's 5th birthday that afternoon as well since our families were all together anyways. Sorry to steal your thunder P. #thirdchildproblems We promise we still love you oodles, and were so excited to celebrate your special day surrounded by so many people who love you just as much as we do.

Photos c/o Andrea Strecker Photography :)