12 months!

One whole year!! SERIOUSLY??  This girl has my heart.

 Right before her birthday she came down with a little cold and was actually pretty miserable the day of her birthday :(  She didn't let it get her too down tho and still managed to flash us a few smiles and gave lots and lots of snuggles :)

 Lucy is busy!  Oh so busy!  She is (as usual) always on the move but is still not walking.  Despite the added trouble she will get in to I will admit that I am started to want her to walk just a little bit more.  It would just be that much more convenient and I think she would get less frustrated at times.  But, that's ok.  I will happen all too soon I'm sure.  She has been loving walking holding mom or dads hands lately and have taken a few steps on her own (YAHOO!)  Dillon said the other day that he is pretty sure when we are out of the room or not paying attention she is walking all over ;)  And knowing her personality there might be some truth to that.  haha. 

She still loves food but has her days when she doesn't want anything you give her, even if shes eaten it time and time again.  She does LOVE fruit and I think she will be extremely sad when summer/fruit season comes to an end.  No watermelon for almost a year??!?! Oh dear!  As of the day after her birthday she is officially done with bottles!  She was only taking one right before bed but had started only wanting a couple ounces so I decided to change things up a little bit and take away the bottle. So now we drink some milk from a sippy while we read books and then brush teeth and into bed.  And so far, so good.  She doesn't care one bit that she doesn't get a bottle and loves to drink milk from her sippy :)

She is sleeping really well!  *knock on wood*  She will now let me hold her while I sing to her then lay her down and walk out and just within the last few days again, hasn't even been crying when I leave the room... not even for naps!  GO LUCY!  She goes down for bed between 9-9:30 (we aren't very good at getting to bed early in the summer) and will sleep until between 10-11!!  Since she sleeps in so late she takes one nap usually around 2:30-3 (sometimes a little earlier) and will sleep 2 to sometime 3 (rarely) hours! 

Her hair seems like it is growing an inch a day...I swear!  Especially in the back :)  She can now wear 2 of the cutest little piggytails, as long as she has a headband to cover the front :)  It really is the cutest mullet I have ever seen but probably could stand to be cut just a little bit before too long.  We shall see.  It also seems to be getting more and more curly, but again, just in the back.  And her hair color....far from where it was when she was born!  She is a little blondey through and through now.

She, of course, still loves dad but as of late (like the last few days) has gotten to be a little bit more clingy and wants mom to be holding her just a little bit more.

Has 8 adorable little teeth and Dr said she should be starting to work her first set of molars thru,
they are ready.  

She is definitely a big girl and is in the 75% for weight and 96% for height.  

She loves to be outside and loves to get dirty.  She has a love/hate relationship with both dogs (especially Teton) and gets so mad when they are right up in her face (or when Skeeter is trying to get 2 seconds of attention when Teton isn't hogging it doesn't see Lucy and steps on her or hits her with this butt/tail) but if they are sitting or laying out of reach she will reach for them and squeal :)

She squeals and jabbers and fake laughs and laughs and sings and jabbers NON-STOP.....when we are home.  In public, especially when the attention is on her, she is a stone faced mute.  

Lucy goose we love you more than anything and are so so happy that you have been in our lives for one full year! 
You have changed our lives in so many ways since you came into our arms, but all for the better. 

 Love you goose!  

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

11 months old

Oh my baby... oh how you are not a baby anymore!

This big girl is still always one the move!  Although she has been mobile for over 6 months, much to everybody's disbelief, she is still not walking.  And honestly, I am just fine with that.  Some days it would be nice if she could walk when I have my arms full of  stuff and still have to carry her somehow but the image of her running wild and getting into even MORE things....oh I'm ok if she never walks! :)  She is started to tolerate walking holding onto hands just a little bit more but usually will only go a few steps before she is screeching and wriggling to get away and crawl.  Silly girl.

She now has a total of 7 1/2 teeth.  The only reason its not a full 8 is because one of the top is white as if it was thru but it is still under the gums.  Kinda weird.  She still seems to forget she has so many teeth and actually bites her own fingers every now and then when she is eating.  And she loves to bite mom and dad too.  It is mostly just because she has been teething I think and likes the sensation but there have been a few times when she doesn't get what she wants and bite out of frustration and WOW do those cute little teeth hurt!

Lucy has a love/hate relationship with food and kind of always has.  It is weird.  She will eat the weirdest things like plain onions, mushrooms, pickles, etc and will eat and eat and eat fruit.  Especially grapes, watermelon and pears!  But when she is done....she is done and there is nothing you can do to convince her to eat more.  She has really not been a fan of her bottles lately and went one whole day only drinking only 2 oz all day but she would also not really eat solid food either.  She must have been starving the next day because she sure made up for it that day.

I have had a few people tell me that she is looking thinner, especially in the face.  She is already losing her baby chub and is looking more like a toddler :(  As I was getting her dressed this morning she looked like she had grown 6 inches overnight :(

She is still very vocal and is not afraid to tell you when she is sad/mad/frustrated/happy or any emotion in between.  

She will now sign "more" and has just barely started blowing kisses.  It's hit and miss so count yourself lucky if she'll actually blow you one :)

She loves to sit and play pat-a-cake and loves listen to you sing "Head Shoulders Knees and Toes."

She has been all over the map in her sleeping habits lately and I think it has had a lot to do with the extreme heatwave we've been having and teething.  I have been trying the 'cry it out' method to get her to finally fall asleep on her own and the first few nights SUCKED!!  But, I am happy to report that after less than a week she has been doing fabulous and I have only had to go in maybe once and a few times she has only cried for 2 mins or less :) :)

Daddy got a new puppy for Father's Day and....well she is starting to like him :)  He was a little too 'in the face' at first and kinda loves to bite a little more than usual.  But he is learning and so is Lucy.  She seems to be ok with him now :)

Her hair is getting SO long and SO blonde!  She can now wear a little piggytail pretty well.  It is quite adorable!

Still a daddy's girl and gets so excited when he gets home.  I love it.  But am a little jealous sometimes :)

We love you Goose!  One more month and you will have been in our arms a full year.  How is that possible?!?! 

Love you!

10 months old

This big 10 month old LOVES bananas, until one day she suddenly decided she LOVES grapes more and LOVES LOVES watermelon even more. Basically, she loves fruit :)  She loves grilled cheese and will eat at least a half of one all on her own.  

Out of the blue her clogged tear duct flared up again :( Or maybe it could have been allergies??  Not really sure, but luckily it cleared up again quick.

This girl is the fastest crawler around!  She wastes no time getting to where she is going.  She loves to walk with Grandma and Grandpa Merrill's walking toy but does not love to walk holding onto hands and does NOT love to stand!  There is simply no time for things like that....she needs to get where she is going quick and the best way to do that is crawling.

All the getting around has its benefits and she really wears herself out and was sleeping SO well! Most nights she would sleep 10-11 hours :)  Well she did that for about 3 weeks and then we moved..........and all bets were off.  BUT, we are slowly getting back to our good sleeping habits :)

Lucy puts EVERYTHING in her mouth.  She LOVES chewing on rocks and sticks.  Such a weirdo.

Within 10 short days she got 3 of her 4 front top teeth thru.  And she so conveniently decided the time around the week we moved would be a great time to do it.  She started from the left side and worked her way right.  She has been working REALLY hard to get that 4th one on the right side thru but hasn't had any luck yet.  

Lucy claps ALL the time and has started 'dancing' which includes bobbing and shaking her head 'no.'  It's pretty adorable :)  She has even started singing lately and it is even more adorable :)

She is not a quiet girl and is very vocal about her feelings and is really starting to throw tantrums.  Already.  Oh great!

She is an outdoors girl and LOVES being outside and LOVES Skeeter.  She loves to grab his tongue and his lips haha.  Good thing he is such a patient old man. 

Overall Lucy is SO grown up and growing way too fast.  But she is slowing down just a little bit as far as the actual physical growth goes and is atually able to stay in clothes a lot longer and isn't growing out of them nearly as fast.  Which is nice.

Basically....we are just completely in LOVE with you Lucy Goose!

9 months old

This girl is quickly moving out of the 'baby' stage and turning into more of a 'toddler' WAY too fast!  She is seriously SO grown up all the sudden.  (Not that she ever stayed "baby" for long)

At her 9 month appointment she weighed in at 19 lbs 14 oz and measured 29  inches long (I don't think the nurse pulled the paper tight, I think she is slightly taller).  She is in the 70something% for weight and still in the 90something% for height.

This month she went thru a phase of clapping all the time and giving high-fives but now it's more hit and miss and she really doesn't do high-fives much at all anymore, it was short lived :)  She is getting better at giving kisses but it's definitely not her favorite thing. haha

She is sleeping MUCH better at night but still has her bad nights.  She will usually only wake up once or twice a night.  She is pretty consistently down to only takeing 2 naps a day but does get thrown off on days I have to go to work and she goes to babysitter. 

This girl refuses to eat baby food.  So, she just gets to eat whatever we eat.  Her favs are bananas, oranges, pears, strawberries, black beans, toast and pasta.  She will tolerate almost anything, unless there is something better in front of her...then that's all she wants.  She doesn't want to be stuck in her highchair longer than she has to and sure lets you know when she is all done (it almost resembles the sign language for 'all done' just a little more frantic :) )

She has not been a great bottle/formula eater this month and will only eat a few ounces at a time.  Especially for the babysitter.  Little stink.
Her reflux seems to be resolved (fingers crossed).  We have been weaning her off of her meds and she has been doing great!  Some days it will be 3-4 days before I remember to give her any :)  We are hoping to just be able to finish what we already have and be DONE! 

Surprise, surprise... she is sick,  again.  SNOT SNOT SNOT EVERYWHERE! But no fevers.  YAY!

She still only has her adorable 2 bottom teeth but is trying like heck to get the top teeth thru!

She is still into everything and almost crawls faster than I can keep up with her!  She cruises the couch very well and will stand for only a few seconds at a time.  She wants to get where she is going so there is no time to attempt to walk...crawling is way too quick and convenient.  And mom is ok with that :)

She loves to be teased and  loves to play peek-a-boo.

She is such a daddy's girl and LOVES her daddy!  She gets upset when he leaves the room and gets SO excited when he gets home from work.

She is an outside girl and LOVES the sunshine. If she's upset, just take her outside and she'll cheer right up :) 

We are loving watching her grow and seeing what new things she discovers and learns to do next but she needs to slow down just a little bit!

We love you goose!  Can't believe you are so close to being ONE YEAR OLD!

Blessings can be hard

I don't think it is any secret that Lucy has not been the easiest baby. 
She has been battling reflux since she was a month old, she spits up all the time, she is stubborn, she doesn't like to be cuddled, hasn't liked to be rocked until recently, fought naps for a LONG time (and still does on occasion), moves and talks in her sleep thus waking herself up multiple times a night and is unable to soothe herself back to sleep or needs help getting unstuck from the side of the crib, is horrible for most all babysitters, she is NOT a pleasant teether, does not get teeth thru quickly, she is feisty, she is independent, it is often a battle to get her to eat, she is not easily entertained for more than just a few mins at a time, is always moving and always on the go, and has been sick a lot.  

She has not been a particularly easy baby.  

When things get REALLY bad (especially between 1 and 2 months when all she did was scream) I would/do get so frustrated not knowing what she needs, what she wants, and what I need to be doing for her.  Then I get more frustrated; frustrated at myself for being frustrated.  At times I would find myself thinking about how much simpler and less sleepy life was before she came.  Then I wouldn't get frustrated, I would get MAD at myself for even letting such thoughts cross my mind.  Lucy is what we have wanted, prayed for, longed for, paid for and hoped for for the past 5+ years.... how could I even think about being jealous of our old life?  

 I know that my feelings of frustration are real but I also know that I should be grateful for the sleepless nights, grateful for the crying teething baby, grateful for the constant mess in my house.  I should be grateful because it means I have a beautiful little baby in my life to keep my up at night, to get teeth and to make a mess.  And I am; I am grateful.  But I still get overwhelmed.  

There for a while I was not happy.  I was not happy with myself for being frustrated with Lucy and for being frustrated with my lack of parenting skills.  Then I realized something (with the help of others).....
I was expecting too much of myself. 
For the 5+ years we struggled with infertility I had been told countless times, "You will be such a GREAT mom when you do have a baby."  "You will appreciate that baby so much more."  "You will be so much more patient." 
But the truth?
Parenting after infertility is still parenting.  
It is still hard.  It is still frustrating.  

 I know that we are ever so lucky to have little Miss Mae in our lives and I am ever so grateful to have her in our family.  I know that being her mom is a blessing that I longed for, prayed for and hoped for for a long time.  But I also know that it is ok that I think parenting is hard.

 I love this little girl more than anything in the world and now cannot imagine our life without her in it.  She brings so much joy into our home with that huge toothy grin and those hysterical giggles and those sweet occasional snuggles.

Are there days when I want to pull my hair out?  Yes.  Are there days when Dillon can't walk through the front door fast enough to tag me out?  Yes.  Are there days when all I want is to check into a hotel room just to get a full nights sleep?  Yes.  

And all of that is ok.  

 I have put too much pressure on myself as an infertility "survivor" to somehow be a perfect parent.  Because this little girl was SO desired to come into our family, the guilt I have felt over not being that 'perfect' parent is that much greater in those moments of frustration.

Parenting is hard.  No matter how long you waited for that little one to come into your family.... it still brings the same challenges and the same frustrations.

But it also brings the same joys and happy moments. 

It's true, Lucy hasn't been the easiest baby.  But I truly believe that without her feisty, stubborn personality she would not be here with us.  She had to be a fighter to make it into our arms and am I ever so glad that she did.  

I will take my moments of frustration just so that I can enjoy those squeals of delight and those huge smiles.

 And it is OK that I get frustrated and it is OK that I need a break from time to time.  

Just because I had lots of time to prepare to be her mom doesn't mean I have to be the perfect mom.

She will still love me just the same, even with my parenting weaknesses.  

 I am BLESSED!

8 months old

I'm still not sure how she is already 8 months old!

This little girl is a go getter!  If she is sitting still, you know she isn't feeling well.  The crawls all over the place, getting into everything.  She is less interested in cords this month and more interested in the fireplace : /  She isn't afraid to venture around the house by herself.  Often times in the evening when we are just hanging out in the living room watching TV and vegging, she will venture into the dark of the kitchen or her room, do a little exploring and come back into the living room.  Or we have to go find her :)

She knows what "No" means....it means "HURRY!  Mom is coming to stop me."  As soon as she hears "no" or "Lucy Mae" she knows that I am coming to stop her from going wherever she is going or stopping her from whatever it is she has found to play with and will start squealing and giggling and crawling faster to where she is not supposed to be.  

Likes to be teased and play "peek-a-boo."  Loves "pat-a-cake."  LOVES herself and waving at herself in the mirror!  (I picked her up from the babysitters one day after work and my babysitters daughter said, "she loves herself."  They had put a mirror down on the floor for her to see herself and play. haha)
Pulls herself up to everything and loves to stand and play at the couch.  Gets a little too brave and just lets go and falls over right on her noggin.  She is starting to get a little better balance and can stand for just a little bit by herself.  

Has recently started to like cuddling just a little bit more lately!  Will cuddle and fall sleep for naps and bed SO much easier now.  (Most the time)

Still loves to eat just about anything.  And LOVES adult food!  BUT, she will often fight eating.  Really don't know why but Daddy OT seems to think that she is having some oral aversions after being forced to take so much medicine while she's been sick.

Yes, she got sick again this month...strep!  Again we battled 104+ fevers for a few days and had to go on another antibiotic.  This girl and her fevers.....she scares me!  

Still LOVES her daddy and will choose to go to him over me almost every time. 

Still not sleeping very well but *cross our fingers* has been doing a little bit better just the last few nights.  

Still only has the 2 adorable little bottom teeth but has been trying to get some top ones thru for a while now.  She is NOT a quick teether.

Still the cutest little thing and makes the CUTEST and silliest faces.  

We are so in love with this little stink.  Even when she is being a little stink, which is quite often :)

7 months old

Turning 7 months old was a little rough for this little lady!  She has been sick sick sick!  The Flu with a secondary infection of some kind has not been good to her and we have been battling fevers for 4 days.  Tylenol/Motrin every 4 hours, religiously, for the past 4 days and still reaching temps of 104.  This poor baby!  BUT, with the help of a secondary antibiotic the fevers are not reaching as high, coming down faster, and not hitting as often or as suddenly.  Here's to hoping we are on the uphill side :)  

Aside from when she has the Flu, this little go getter is always on the move.  She is hands-and-knees crawling now but still remembers that it's easier to get where she wants to go on the hardwood floors by army crawling.  Sitting up like a pro.  Has even started pulling herself up to things!  Loves to stand (with help).  Her favorite things to play with are cords and the garbage can.  

She popped her second tooth thru just a few weeks after turning 6 months and now she has 2 of the CUTEST little bottom teeth that show when she smiles. 

She LOVES to chat, but for the most part only when we are at home.  I think she is going to be a shy little thing.  At home she babbles and babbles and babbles and BABBLES!  It is hilarious to watch and listen to her.  She loves to say "dadadadada"  and has started "mamama" and has recently started what sounds like "nynyny" (mostly when she's upset or tired).
Her hair gets a little more blonde everyday.
Loves to go for walks with mom and Skeeter while dad is at work!

Still LOVES her daddy and gets so excited when he gets home from work (completely melts my heart).

We are still working on getting the little stink to sleep better at nights again.  We were doing pretty well again until she got sick.  Now all bets are off and we just sleep when we can.  It's exhausting :)

She loves to eat (except for when she's sick).  Always wants to taste whatever we are eating and so far will still eat just about anything.  She loves to share bananas with daddy and loves to share/eat all of mom's yogurt.  The second she sees a Mt Dew can (or hears one open) she is by your side with those beautiful big blue eyes looking up at you.  The other night Dillon just started laughing and said, "I don't think I can resist that face!"  Oh boy....we're doomed.  

She already is so spoiled and loves mom and dad a little too much at times.  

But that's ok :)

We love you little Goosey and it is SO much watching you grow and develop and interact with people more and more.  You have such a strong stubborn and feisty personality but we love it! 

6 months!

 6 months old!

This little girl is no longer my 'little' girl!  At her 6 months appointment she weighed in at 17 lbs 7 oz (75%tile) and measured 28 inches long (100%tile).  She is an army crawling pro and is getting into everything!  Movies...decorations...diapers...the garbage....nothing is safe anymore.  She will get up on her hands and knees and act like she's gonna take off but will usually just rock back and forth then face plant it or if she is on the hardwood floor her knees will just slip out from under her making it impossible to crawl..  But she just keeps trying!  She is sitting up like a champ and only falls over when she is trying to get a toy she can't reach of wiggling around to see someone or something.
Still refluxing and spitting up... A LOT!  We did take her back in this month and upped her dose of medicine and are now thickening everything she eats in hopes that it will stay down better.  Officially done nursing.
To say that this month was a rough month of sleep would be an understatement.  Between transiting from being swaddled to not, reflux, teething and the fact that she is ALWAYS moving, even in her sleep....we have had a lot of sleepless nights.  We are working on sleeping better again tho and hopefully before long mom will be able to get more than a few hours of sleep in one stretch.  And teeth??  She FINALLY popped her first one thru 2 days before her 6 month birthday!  YAY!!!

This silly girl is always moving and always has to know where mom and dad are (spoiled!)  She is starting to love to be teased and still has a love/hate relationship with being tickled.  She loves it and will giggle and giggle but the second she has had enough...she has had enough and will immediately start crying.  She seems to be starting to respond to her name which has been fun.  She talks and talks and talks and talks!  Especially when she is tired.  It is so fun to sit and listen to her babble and talk and tell all sorts of stories!  Overall she is just too grown up!  But we love this stage and all the fun things she is doing and learning.  

Love our little Goose more than anything and find it so hard to believe we have been graced with her smile for 1/2 a year already!!!

Playing catch up

Wow.  I'm so behind!  But, I finally got around to putting Lucy's monthly update posts together with pictures and put on here.  Hopefully a real update on what we've been up to the past 5 months will be coming soon.  I'm sure it'll have way too many pictures since I have probably taken approximately  7,539 pictures (give or take a few :)) since Lucy came into our lives.  But for now enjoy Lucy's 1 month, 2 month, 3 month, 4 month and 5 month updates.  And this adorable picture because, well....she's adorable :)

 

5 months old

 

This adorable little baby girl is already 5 months old!  

She loves to roll over and has started going back and forth from tummy to back more often, instead of just rolling to her tummy and hanging out there.  She working on getting teeth thru which means she still drools all. the. time and has to constantly wear a bib so I'm not always changing her clothes.  Has started this new thing where she wraps her legs around your arm when changing her diaper, her clothes, bathing her, tickling her or anytime she has the chance.  She's our little monkey :)
Ate cereal from a spoon and some baby food for the first time this month.  She was horrible at it!  She would not sit still long enough to get anything in her mouth and when she did, she'd spit it back out.  But, she has gotten MUCH better and will now gobble it up as long as dad is holding her so she can't move around too much.   She really likes cereal mixed with applesauce, pears and apples, has mixed feelings about carrots and does NOT like squash.  Not a veggie girl, just like mom, but we're working on it :)

She did catch her first cold which has made for some rough days and nights.  She is sleeping all the way thru the night more and more and has even slept until 8:30 or 9am a time or two.  But, again, doesn't let me get too used to a full nights sleep and will still get up around 5:30 or 6am a few days here and there. Still loves to watch football with dad.  Still NOT a cuddler, although it is quite hilarious to try to get her to cuddle in just for one little squeeze :)  Still has a smile that lights up the room. 
Her clogged duct  has been clear for almost a month now...YAY!  Finally!

She is apparently just like her daddy was and has to be held out so she can see what is going on around her.  She is always moving and wiggling and grabbing for things.  Still loves to jump and LOVES her Christmas present from Gma Merrill (a jumper) and so does mom :)  Still attempting to army crawl but has yet to make much of any progress. Most mornings after she wakes up she will just hang out in her crib for quite a while before making enough noise for me to realize she's awake.  Sometimes even after I know she is awake I just let her hang out anyways because it is adorable to spy on her and watch and listen to her.  

Even on the rough days I still can't believe I have been lucky enough to have had this sweet baby girl in my life for the past 5 months! 

Love you Lucy Goosey!