Abigail: Month 6

At 6 month check-up:

• 16lbs 15.26oz
• 26.57in
• 17in head circumference

She’s meeting milestones and such a happy and alert mama’s girl 

• She played peek-a-boo on purpose
• Tried peas!
• Still blonde (I guess technically light brown) straight hair and bright blue eyes!
• She has a VOICE. She likes to spit, chat, laugh, and scream (she straightens her arms very dramatically when she screams).
• We are trying lavender on the feet.
• She snuggles and gives good kisses!
• She got a pretty bad cold and can't sleep.
• Claire was playing under her while she was in her jumper, and tipped it over. Thankfully Andrew was close by and scooped her up quickly.
• Still so happy and chatty! She wakes up with the sweetest little coos after a good rest.
• Meme kept her while we took Claire to the doctor and she refused a bottle, but was still in good spirits. She did take a bottle the second time. The milk had not been frozen, meme got it pretty warm and it was in the latch bottle with size 2 nipple.
• She was loving some green beans in her boon feeder. Puréed some, and I think they’re her favorite.
• She's working really hard on sitting up.
• Her poops are starting to solidify.
• She tried avocado again and really liked it, she also tried blueberries.
• We’ve started he cry-it-out process at night. It’s made for 3 extremely long nights. She just really wants to be held 24-7.
• She rolled from her back to belly on 10/22!!! Takes a lot of encouragement for her to do it, but she’s rolled a few more times! She doesn’t do much rolling from belly to back.
• Staring to do really well sitting up unassisted.
• She’s an aggressive grabber (read: clawer) when she wants something.
• She lays her head on our shoulders to snuggle!!!
• She’s done several 4 hour stretches between feedings during the day.
• I swear she says “Mama” when she cries.
• She was pascal for Halloween (trunk or treat). She just wore warm clothes for actual Halloween because it was cold and rainy. She slept on daddy’s shoulder while we trick or treated!
• She very intentionally grabs Claire’s face and pulls her in to kiss her.
• She loves to hold straw cups and suck on the straw.
• SURELY she will get s tooth soon with all the chewing she does!

She loves: blankie, being held or just around people that are paying attention to her, claire, Claire’s toys, green beans, and blueberries

• 3-6, 6 month clothes
• Size 3 diaper
• Nurses for about 10 minutes

Schedule:

• Wakes up any time between 7-7:45 (comes to our bed between 5:30-6:45)
• 8:00 nurse
• 9:00 try a solid
• 9:30/10:00 nap
• 11/11:30 nurse
• 12:00 solid
• 12:30/1 nap (good nap!)
• 2/2:30 nurse if she wakes up
• 4:00 solid (if she didn’t eat in the morning)
• 5/5:30 nurse
• 7:00 bath
• 7:30 nurse and bed

Abigail: Month 5

She loves: slapping her arms, grunting and stiffening her body, still favors cloth toys over hard plastic, hand towels, she grows more and more infatuated with Claire, chewing, eating, and still loves her blankie and paci

• has her first little cold
• We started heartburn medication to see if it helps her to sleep during the night. She's been spitting up quite a bit since she started.
• She went to the nursery for the first time while I did bible study
• Slept a straight 7 hours on 9/7 (8pm- 3:30am)
• Her naps are getting more predictable, and she's wanting to lay on a flat surface more for them.
• Went to her first tailgate
• She has violent burps. She gets very tense and can't continue eating. Sometimes I have to lay her in her tummy or squeeze her real tight while holding her up on my shoulder and do big squats.
• She's started squawking and stiffening her body when she does it.
• Working on rolling and tummy time!
• She tried my banana and loved it, but her poop was super weird afterward.
• I found out that I was giving her 0.1ml of her meds rather than 1ml. Hoping to see a difference in nighttime now. We've stopped giving this to her.
• A friend suggested leaving a light on in her room after hearing that she sleeps perfectly fine during the day, so we are trying that. (Didn't make a difference)
• We started putting her in the Merlin's magic sleepsuit.
• She loves to have the little kisses on her face (like we do for Claire), and has started giving kisses
• Andrew made a good point in saying that she no longer gets sad when left alone, she gets mad and wants us to respond to her!
• She tried sweet potatoes on 9/20, has also tried banana, apple, and butternut squash
• Apparently it's impossible to sleep well 2 nights in a row...
• She's a morning pooper
• At night she typically goes down around 7:45/8, and wakes up in the 12:00 hour, 3:00 hour and 6:00 hour. Sometimes several times within those hours. We "start" our day at 8.
• Eating schedule is around 8, 11, 2, 5, 7:30 with a solid food around 3:30
• She naps around 9:45/10, 12:30/1, and 4/4:30
• 3-6 month clothes and some 6 month
• I can't say it enough how SWEET she is!!

Claire's 3rd Summer

• Favorite phrases "I'll show you something" /I show ya sun-tin/, "here I am" /here my-mam/, "my box" /my bock-us/, "I'll do it" /I dood it/, "ride Philippe" /wide weeps/, "it's ok Abigail" /it go-Kay happygirl/, "not right now", "please, can I??", "yeah, sure", "Get my belly" /gech-ya ma belly"
• got a trampoline and loves it!
• Is very inclusive of baby sister
• She knows her birthday, and mine and Andrew's names
• Counted to 15!
• ATTITUDE!!!! She crosses those arms and furrows that brow and says "I don't like it" to pretty much anything. She also likes to say "ok? Ok! Say ok! Go to time out." She also likes to say "uuhhhhggg" and "it no fair".
• She has been talking about bunnies that came into her room and scared her every time we put her to bed. We have to tell her over and over that bunnies are nice. (Still talking about them almost 2 months later.)
• We had a consultation to repair her belly button. The surgeon thinks it's a cyst with possibly a tiny hernia underneath. He agreed that the bleeding isn't safe. Surgery will require her to be put to sleep and they will cut it out and search for the hernia to remove. Relatively short and easy procedure.
• She got to stay up past 10:00 one night, and the next day/night were a nightmare.
• She LOVED fireworks!
• We had a weekend at Bogg Springs. She caught her first fish and had the best time!
• If we are watching a movie, she spends most of the time saying "mama look"
• She really can't wait to go to the beach!!
• Anything with a loop (purses, bra straps, Abigail's playmat) she turns into Phillipe the horse. She will tug on it and say "come on, weeps!" Any kind of long material (belt, measuring tape, of unrolled toilet paper) she plays like she's catching fish or "Rapunzel's mama" where she lifts her up.
• Very into watching Up and Monsters, Inc. right now. Now it's Sing.
• If Abigail makes any noise, she's the first to respond. She'll say "it's ok Abigail" or she will tell me to get her. She's soooooo sweet and kisses her all the time!
• She was a champ on the drive down to the beach and the night in the hotel.
• She loved the beach and the swimming pool and being with her cousins. She started swimming without a floatie and with her face in the water!
• She did not do well at all when we tried to drive through the night. She woke every 30-45 minutes crying hysterically. She couldn't get comfortable, and was bound to wake the baby at any minute. At 1am we stopped and got the last hotel room in Jackson (so it seemed). She slept really well in the hotel and did a great job the rest of the way home.
• New phrase is "no. Not today, tomorrow."
• Imaginary play is so much fun!!! She likes to make toys talk to each other. When she wants to play that game she will hand me a person and say "mama say hi".
• She's super pumped to start dance.
• She has started being silly on purpose.
• My scale says she weighs 32.2lbs
• New words: "pepperoni" /pecamoni/, "oh, awesome!", "yes, perfect", "it's no fair", "okie dokie" /okie gokie/, "granola bar" /owa bar/, "be quiet" /be ci-wet/, "you so funny", "strawberries" /straw-bees/
• She spent a few days at Lolly and Papa's
• When she gets upset she says "I want to go night night", "shhhh, Abigail trying to go night night" or "I'm crynin (crying). I wanna crynin."
• She LOVES horses
• Started KDO in room A, had a night terror that night.
• She called black eyed peas "polka dots" and it was adorable
• She has randomly said "thanks, you saved my life", "lets get started! You excited?", "your green eyes are so beautiful, mama", "I like your Jammies"
• Hunting Easter eggs is still her jam.
• She asked "why" for the first time.

Abigail: Month 4

The month of no sleep.

She loves: blankets, paci (sometimes), talking, blowing raspberries, standing, Claire, peek a boo, singing, and being around people

She doesn't love being alone or her car seat.

• She did really well on our drive home from the beach.
• I don't really know where her first three months went. I blinked. I'm trying really hard to savor every ounce of her!
• Has started pulling her head up doing a kind of sit-up position
• She's grabbing onto more things, but still mostly keeps her hands in fists. She still only grabs onto fabrics or my hand, no toys. She's grabbed her paci a few times
• Since the beach, she's been waking up 3-4 times during the night.
• She slept in her crib for the first time on 8/9 and in a sleep sack. It was a rough process. By the weekend she was doing better!
• 8/16 was the first morning in her whole life that I haven't brought her in bed with us.
• She still kicks a flails like crazy!
• She has finally started purposefully grabbing things.
• She rotates around if I put her on her tummy.
• She learned to blow raspberries and drools a lot!
• She doesn't have a great poop routine.
• Started giving an ounce of milk with oatmeal on 8/27.
• Took a 2 hour nap in her crib 
• Found her feet
• Got hit in the head with a flashlight thrown by Claire.
• Follows Claire with her eyes anytime she's around. She just smiles watching her.
• Has started playing with the toys on her sit me up chair and her play mat.
• When you give her the paci while she's tired, she takes it immediately, closes her eyes, and turns her face to snuggle with a blanket.

At 4 month appointment:

• 15.3lbs
• 25in
• Meeting milestones and very strong!
• Didn't sleep well all day after her shots
• Wearing 3-6 month clothes
• Size 2 Huggies and 3 baby dry at night

I was talking to a friend about how much it physically hurts me to hear Abigail cry. I just can't do the cry it out method with her just yet (even though I'm so very tired). She said that she felt the same way with her second. Her thought was that we feel that way because you understand just how little your baby is now that we have an older child. We know how fast they grow up, and are more understand of them just being babies! I loved these words of wisdom, and I'm writing them down to remember in case anyone else needs to hear them someday.

Nursing Abigail at 3 Months

Feeding her has been the easiest thing. She latched very quickly and has continued to do well. She doesn't use nursing as a "soothing" technique like Claire did. She will only eat when she's hungry and will stop when she's full. Sometimes she fills up just from one side and will refuse the other! She doesn't want to nurse if she's really tired. She's rather have a paci, she doesn't fall asleep much while she's eating.

She typically eats in about 10-15 minutes, plays and then sleeps. On the days when she doesn't nurse from both sides we have a harder time making it to 3 hours, but if she does take both sides she can go 3+ hours! Like her sister, she doesn't take a bottle (well at least-she spits most of it out). We are going to start working on cutting out night time feedings.

My most favorite thing that she does is while she eats is to stop, look up a me, coo, and give me the BIGGEST smile. It is the absolute sweetest!!!

Abigail: Month 3

• So many blow out diapers!!!
• She's staying awake for much longer periods.
• We had her 2 month appointment at 9 weeks 4 days old: 13.1lbs (75%) 24in (95%) and she got 3 shots and 1 oral vaccine. She was so alert and happy. She's strong and healthy and meeting milestones!
• Very sleepy and seemed to be a little sore and feverish from shots.
• First trip to Bogg Springs!
• Slept from 10:30-7 on 7/10
• Trying to get herself into a daily routine, but we aren't quite sure what that is yet. She is awake for a very long time in thee evenings.
• She floated in a pool floatie for the first time.
• She's a talker. I swear she says "hi".
• She only grabs on to fabric and brings in to her mouth.
• She sucks on her fists a lot.
• She keeps her hands in fists most of the time.
• She's still a super efficient nurser
• On 7/15 she went from 7:00pm to 5:40am without nursing (I tried to at 10pm but she wouldn't wake up for it)! Im thinking she fell asleep around 8:30.
• She does the sweetest smiles and coos when she's finished nursing.
• Eyes are still blue
• She's starting to laugh! Did a big REAL laugh on 7/22.
• Switched to a sleep sack rather than a swaddle at 11.5 weeks (still sleeping in our room). She didn't sleep well, so we went back to the one arm down swaddle.
• Got constipated for the first time. Woof. She wouldn't eat because her tummy was so full!
• Started really half rolling from back to belly following sounds.
• She did well on the drive down to the beach!
• She was pretty out of sorts and fussy while we were on vacation.
• Turned 3 months old while at the beach!

3-6 month clothes

Size 2 diapers

My scale says 14.2lbs

Abigail Month 2

Products I've loved:

• Gerber soothe probiotic drops
• Mams pacifiers
• Huggies diapers
• K'tan and Ergo carriers
• Britax B-ready double stroller

• Papaw and Louise came up to meet her.
• Laughed in her sleep.
• Started lifting her head during tummy time!
• Baby acne has begun at week 5
• According to our scale, she weighs 12.2lbs at 5 weeks.
• She does a really good job of falling asleep on her own (when she wants to). Several times during the day and at night she will be asleep in my arms but wake up when I lay her down. She's done a great job of just laying there, looking around, moving, etc. until she falls asleep.
• She seems to have an "every other day" pattern at 5 weeks. She will be alert a lot one day, sleep a lot the next.
• No longer naps while Claire naps. Sad!
• Smiled really big at Andrew while he was talking on 6/11.
• She's had a few nights of 7-7.5 hours between feedings!
• Came to spend a few days at Meme and Poppi's.
• started smiling more at week 6
• Got in the pool for the first time
• Still eats about every 2.5 hours
• Really starting to love watching Claire
• She gets a death grip on anything she can., and claws us to death when there's nothing to grip.
• She is a big kicker!
• She's starting to love the play mat!
• Loudest burper!
• Started shaking her head back and forth like crazy
• Stayed with Cristy and took 4oz in a bottle
• She has the absolute sweetest coos.
• She's had two 8-hour stretches!!!
• Sometimes it's hard for her to eat from the right breast.
• She will hold on to blankets (or my shirt). If you give her a paci at the same time, she will probably fall asleep.

She's working on setting a schedule for herself: eat, play, sleep. She's pretty easy to get to sleep when she's tired. Just give her a blankie and a paci! She wakes up once in the night and then again between 5-6. After that I just put her in bed with me until Claire wakes up.

Thank you for being the best baby!!! Everyone compliments on how wide-eyed and sweet you are! If we could just get you comfy in your car seat, you'd be the absolute BEST! We are thrilled to see your personality grow and glow!