Twenty Four Weeks!

Weight: Baby girl is around 14 pounds I'm guessing. She feels solid right now!

Sleep: Sleep has definitely improved over the past week. I think we've gotten through our growth spurt and the stuffed-up part of Lizzie's first cold. She's been napping great lately (at least two one-hour naps each day) and has been sleeping clear through the nights some nights, and others just waking up once to re-fuel. She has been sleeping in our room again in her bassinet lately because she's had a really nasty cough. 

Medical Issues: We're over the runny/stuffy nose we had last week, but that's now evolved into a nasty cough. Poor sweet baby sounds like she has so much "gunk" stuck in her chest and throat. She's not rattly when she breathes anymore, so I'm glad we've moved beyond that, but her coughs are still pretty intense. As mentioned previously, we've been having her sleep in our room next to my side of the bed just for the sake of being close by. She hasn't run a temperature at all and she seems to be in a very happy mood all the time in spite of the yucky-ness of this little cold. 

Clothes: For the most part, we've moved beyond the 0 to 3 month things now. I'm opting to put her in 3 to 6 month clothes now because, although they are a bit big, they look a little more comfortable for her to be in. I would say that about half of her 3 to 6 month stuff is still too big for us to put on her at this point, though. We went through her closet and dresser last week one day and put away all of the 0 to 3 month things that she wouldn't be wearing again, and we were definitely a little sad and nostalgic about putting away all of those little outfits. Regardless, I won't lie: I was kind of excited this time, too. I've been curating a 3 to 6 month wardrobe for Lizzie since she was probably three months old! So she's finally growing into the cute stuff I've been hoarding :)

Socialite!: Lizzie got to meet my third graders (and other kids, too!) at school this last week on Halloween! Since she goes to daycare right across the street from school, I ran over to get her for our school's costume parade on Halloween afternoon. I let the kids vote on her costume (she had two… a cupcake and a cheetah :)) and they wanted her to be in her cupcake outfit -- so that's what we did! And everyone (including Lizzie!) had a great time! They couldn't get enough of her :)

Aside from that, Lizzie also saw her great grandparents Jack and Janice over the weekend for brunch on Sunday. She's always a bit fussy shortly after church, so we only have a limited time after mass to go out to eat -- but she did really well with it and even smiled nice for some pictures before we left, too :)

Diet: I'm still nursing Lizzie exclusively, but I think I'm starting to soften a bit on the Baby Led Weaning rules that state babies must be six months old before beginning… because I definitely let her go to town on a waffle or two at brunch yesterday. She loved it and is ridiculously eager to eat pretty much anything we have… as in, she fights to get food from us, more than she fights to get her little hands on toys. So she's now gnawed on a couple of apple cores, a sugar snap pea and two waffles. I do think she got a little bit of waffle in her system because she had a diaper that looked a little different than usual this morning. Anyway, after the waffle experience, I've decided to throw caution into the wind and start introducing foods. On tonight's menu for Andy and me are fajitas… so I plan to give her some roasted red pepper strips :) My students have requested video to show them how it goes tomorrow, and I think I'll be happy to oblige. I can't wait! So excited to see her little reaction! I think next will be avocados and sweet potatoes… eek!

Baby Gear Love: Still loving books, her Snugabunny Swing and also the Fisher Price Go Baby Go 1-2-3 Crawl Along Snail -- she honestly cannot get enough of that silly snail! She also got a cute little (fake) MP3 player from Grandma and Grandpa for Halloween that she loves. It sings songs and lights up, and we do love to dance to it ;) We're also big fans of our Bumbo lately... her sitting abilities have really improved lately!

Crying: She is one sweet baby. She's only fussy if she's hungry or tired :)

Mommy News: Not a whole lot in the mommy arena lately. I hadn't been as "impressed" by how quickly time goes with my little lady, but now that she's almost a half year old (!), I realize just how fast time does go! I continue to cherish every second with her. Not a day goes by that I forget just how blessed we are to have this sweet girl. Last night when I was rocking Lizzie to sleep, I remembered all the struggle and heartbreak we went through to meet her. And one of the best parts was that I found it hard to remember some of it. I had to really dig deep in my memory to recall that I used to spend just about every waking moment, worried that we would never be able to have a baby of our own. I'd forgotten that. All of those awful days, months, couple of years, practically erased -- replaced, instead, by the incredible love and gratitude for our little one. All of those now seem like a bad dream that's hard to remember. Not that I don't remember -- because I do, when I think and try to put myself back there -- but I think my mind and my heart have so many better things to fill it with now, so why bother?
A stranger saw me with Lizzie yesterday and he said to me, "you've been blessed". If only he knew just how blessed.

Oh, so blessed.

Milestones: She's amazing! Lizzie has been doing an amazing job of sitting up as of late. Late in the week last week, she could hardly balance while sitting. But it seemed like suddenly overnight, she could sit, unassisted, pretty easily for 10 seconds or more! She's certainly still wobbly, and she has to be somewhat concentrated in order to do it, but still! She's awesome. I'm thinking the next week will be filled with lots of sitting strides.

I also heard her say the "b" sound the other night for the first time. She's saying all kinds of new sounds, especially when she wakes up from naps or in the middle of the night and babbles to herself (so darn cute!). The buzzing of her tongue has also returned (my favorite!), and she's now started to blow bubbles with her mouth, too :)

I swear she's learning how to give hugs, because when you say "give hugs", she'll lean into your chest... we'll see if that continues, or if it's just been a coincidence :)

She's also starting to lean for things and people that she wants -- Andy was holding her the other day, and when I came around, she leaned toward me with her body. She also has a tendency to do that toward toys she's interested in, and then she'll start to grab at them with her hands.

She's become especially smiley and giggly lately, too. She loves peek-a-boo now, too! My mom was playing with her while I was holding her the other night, and when my mom would hide, she would say something (so Lizzie could hear her voice, but not see her). Lizzie girl would look and look and look all over to see where grandma was, but she was nowhere to be found! Until she'd pop up, and Lizzie would laugh and give big smiles :)

Lizzie also loves when one of us carries her around the house and the other person follows behind. She thinks it is hysterical when we do that, especially if we're coming up the stairs behind her :)

Other milestones: Lizzie's first Halloween! She was a cupcake by day, a cheetah by night! We also tried chomping on a sugar snap pea and waffles for the first time!