Back to Utah for a long weekend

We went to Utah for the Great Strides fundraiser for Cystic Fibrosis. One of my dear friends has a little boy Garrett's age who is living with CF, and we're making it a priority to be involved in this fund raiser every year.

You did great on this trip. Lots of smiles. Good sleeper. Laid back. Go with the flow. All the stuff I hoped for.You fell and hit your face on the side of the tub right after I took this. Sorry.Breakfast with your friend, B.You even got to see your first solar eclipse! (You weren't as interested as you look.)

6 month stats

Unfortunately, I don't remember your height or head circumference and I may have left the paper at the doctor's office.

But I do know you weigh 15 lbs. 8 oz. You are in the 50%ile for both your height and your weight. (Same percentile as at your 4 month well check.) And the 95-97% for your head. At your 4 month check you were in the 97%ile. So, I guess your head is slowing down by 0-2%??? No one thinks you look like a big headed baby, and I think its the cutest little (big) balled head on the planet.

I tell your dad before every immunization appointment that I'm staying home with Garrett, and he's taking you. But somehow I end up going. Dad was at work, and Garrett was at Disneyland, so it was just me and you. You took the 6 month shots much better than the 4 month ones. I don't know if they hurt less, but we both cried less this time. :)

Maybe I shouldn't blog about this, but thinking back at things your brother went through, and milestones, etc. I realize how this mama remembers so little, and I'm grateful I document things. (This also reminds me that I was going to make these blogs private months ago, how time flies.) Anyway, in case I need to remember this, help a friend, or have another baby with it, I want to remember. You had partial labial fusion when you were born. They said it was nothing to worry about that early on, but gave us specific cleaning instructions. (Basically, just get in there and get it good and clean, and even if it wasn't bath night, I'd bathe you if you had a bad BM that was 'forward shooting'.) At two and four months it had opened enough to just be 'labial adhesion'. And today it's 'looking fine'. If it doesn't fix itself it requires local anaesthesia and a minor procedure to open it. It's a little painful after, and can bleed. I wanted to avoid that, and it looks like we have. *So moms out there (or me if it happens again), if your little girl has this, spread em wide, and clean her good! (UTI's are common with labial fusion.) Be generous with Vaseline or Aquaphor to keep it moist and to avoid the skin fusing together more. And if she acts like the wipes are hurting her, get a small bucket of warm water before each diaper change and wipe her with a soft warm rag instead of wipes, dry her off, and then apply ointment. You can also gently just spread her legs a little throughout the day during playtime to help it self correct. And lastly, I'm sure you know this and do this, but this can happen at anytime really, not just if they are born with it. Girls have lots of folds and creases. Clean good!*We'll probably start on solid food in the next couple of weeks, if I can motivate myself to clean up 2 messy kids covered in food, several times a day. Your brother was pretty tiny at this age so the doctor really pushed solids, but I didn't feel that pressure with you, and your growing just fine, so I'll start slow and we'll see how you do!

6 months

Today marks a half of a year that you've been in our family.
Craziness.I love you so much little Lulu. Yesterday I told dad, "This stage that Lulu is at right now makes me want to have another baby, and then another one once a year after that."Fortunately, your older brother and his toddler-ness cancels out that desire at the moment. I think that's a good thing because I'm happy with just the two of you!You are so happy these days. Your smile is contagious, your laugh is contagious, and your chubby little cheeks just make me happy all day long.This month you've started babbling a lot. Mostly Ga-ga and Da-da. I think this is earlier than your brother started, but I really can't remember. It's so cute.

You get a little more balanced sitting up everyday.You wake up happy and you go to sleep (most of the time) happy.

You're at the stage where it's easy to calm you down if you do cry, but you cry less and less.Dad's aunt, uncle, and cousins are in town right now and after spending 2 or 3 days with then, his Aunt Joyce was holding you and she said, "Does she ever cry? I haven't once heard her cry." Those words are music to my ears. I'm loving this laid back, happy, go-with-the-flow baby you've become.You're sleeping about 8 hours at night, then a quick feeding, then 3 more hours of sleep.

You nap twice a day, for about 2 hours at each nap.We haven't started solid food yet, and I'm kind of dragging my feet on that one. Probably in the next couple of weeks.

You have super strong legs and can stand when we prop you up so you can hold on to something.You still drool through 3 or 4 bibs a day. And you've started this new fun activity of puckering your lips and blowing spit.

You had your first real experience with sand and ocean water.You suck your toes all the time.You grab everything in sight.

You have the cutest lips I've ever seen.I think you'll be able to hold your own with your brother. When you grab at him, he seems more scared of you than you even have of him. But I think he likes you most of the time.Oh sweet Lulu, you are so beautiful. I hope you always know, and believe that. I love you baby girl.

Utah

We took a trip to Utah for about a week and a half. Just you, me and Garrett. Dad was in Canada with Dude-pa for a retreat. You did pretty well with all that we did and you slept pretty good at night, too.



We went to Chuck E. Cheese's on Grandpa's birthday.

Garrett tried to teach you how to do a pound.
Uncle Scott and Aunt Laura took us to Thanksgiving point and we took you on a horse and carriage ride.


But most of the time while brother was seeing all the animals, you just hung out with Grammy and Great Grandma.
We went to a birthday party, it was a little cold, but you stayed pretty happy.
You got to play with Baby B, your BFF.
We spent a lot of time visiting Great Grandma and Grandpa Garrett. They just love you.

5 months old

I need to hurry and post this before you hit six months. I'm having a hard time keeping up!

During your 5th month we brought the swaddle back, you're sleeping much better at night. Maybe once a night you need a binky and you sleep about 8-9 hours before you need to be fed.

I sometimes even swaddle you for naps when you're having a hard time calming down. It works like a charm.

You suck on your toes now. They're like magnets to your lips, it's so cute. Sometimes during diaper changes I struggle to get your feet down so I can put the new one on.

You sat up for the first time right on your 5 month mark. You're still pretty wobbly, but you've sat up long enough to say you've done it.You're even more obsessed with sucking on everything. Even when I think things are out of your reach you often get to them and they go straight to your mouth.

You're still napping great. 2 naps a day, at least 2 hours each.We tried a little rice cereal once. You weren't very interested. We haven't tried since and I probably won't again for a few weeks.I started calling you Lulu. I was looking at a party supply website one day, (sweetlulu.com)...I think... and I was holding you while browsing, for some reason I called you a sweet lulu, and it just stuck. Now Lulu is all Dad and I call you and a few others are starting to catch on, too. I think it'll be around for a while. I love it. You have the best morning smile when I say, "Hi, Lulu!!"

You're becoming much more go-with-the-flow. Afternoons at the beach, long walks, Easter egg hunts, birthday parties, Garrett playing with you, shopping, etc. And everyone who meets you thinks you're just so cute!
You just keep getting cuter and cuter, and I can't believe you're almost 6 months old already.