First Birthday

Last weekend we celebrated Macy's first birthday by throwing her a party at our house.  We had lots of fun with friends and family.  We had hoped to be able to play outside (one of the benefits of a summer birthday), but it rained at just the wrong time.  Fortunately, we had space inside for everyone and plenty of food and drinks.

Macy was thrilled to have other babies around and we were so happy to have our family and friends there to celebrate.  She enjoyed greeting everyone, and then sending them on their way by waving hi and bye. 

Just as I had hoped, Macy enjoyed digging into her "smash cake" that was lovingly decorated by her Granna (Cyndie).  She didn't get too messy, either!

Macy got lots of fun presents and cute clothes.  I think we'll have a new toy to open up for her each week for awhile!  (That is my plan to keep things exciting around here).  Thanks to everyone who helped to make the day special!

 Pink lemonade punch

 Slider bar

 Look at all those presents!

 Sunroom decorated with a pennant banner with Macy's monthly pics

 Swim diapers and towels that we couldn't use because of the rain!

 Macy playing with her friends

 The Clemens, Molyneaux, Prosser, & Skeeters Families

Macy's one-year appointment is in about a week and a half, so I'll report her stats then.

9 months!

Last week Macy turned 9 months old and has turned a few corners!  She has made quite a few advances developmentally in the past month and has such a fun little personality! 

Her stats from the doctor's appointment last week:
Weight- 18.7 lbs (a drop down to the 50th percentile, but her doctor says this is normal for breastfed babies, plus she is so much more active now!)
Length- 28 inches

Clothing size: She fits comfortably into most 9-month clothes.  I'm having a lot of fun searching for cute summer clothes and accessories for our vacations this summer!  The goal with accessories now is to find hats and sunglasses that she won't pull off her head.  It pains me to say this, but I hardly ever put bows in her hair anymore.  Even with my attempts at distraction, she still manages to find them and pull them out.

Diet:  Macy is still nursing a few times a day, but the frequency has decreased in the past month or so.  She gets 3 meals a day of pureed food and baby cereal, and snacks in between.  At her 9-month appointment the pediatrician gave us the go-ahead to give her any table food that we can smoosh between our fingers.  So, the past week has included lots of new and exciting foods for Macy.  She is unsure about the textures of some foods, but is a great sport at trying almost anything. 
It has been a bit of a challenge to get Macy to transition to baby food with "texture".  She seems to think the chunks don't belong, gags, and attempts to pull the pieces out of her mouth (see video).

Sleeping:  We finally cut Macy off from the 4am feed.  After about 8 1/2 months we thought she should be able to make it through the night.  I was beginning to suspect that the wake-up was more a desire for attention than nutrition.  She has been doing well now sleeping from about 7pm-7am.  We suspect she still gets up here and there, but we are trying to help her figure out how to put herself back to sleep without our assistance.  Macy now has a consistent nap schedule including two naps a day of approximately 1-2 hours each.

Development:  This has been the best part!  Macy has started crawling in the past week.  It is more of an inchworm technique, but she gets where she wants to go.  The transition to crawling took a bit of time.  We could tell that Macy really wanted to move, but she would dive forward from a sitting position and get stuck on her belly.  She could get on all fours and rock, but that was it.  Slowly she figured out that she could sneak forward a bit by getting her knees under her and pulling her upper body forward.  Still, she lacked motivation sometimes.  I then decided that she needed a distracting challenge to get her moving.  So, I built towers out of blocks and boy, did she go after those (see video)! 

Macy is also efficiently feeding herself and has developed the index finger & thumb "pincher" grasp.  She pulls herself up from sitting to standing.  She also claps on command!  For several days she would answer us with the "ffff" of "woof" when asked what a dog says, but she seems to have forgotten that talent.  Macy has also cut a few new teeth in the past few weeks.  She now has 3 teeth on top and 2 on bottom.

Bryce and I are also thrilled with the most recent development: Macy conquered her fear of flying.  We have tried several times to toss her (just little tosses, people) in the air and she would always ball up her fists and look scared.  Just this week we tried again and she laughed and smiled (see video)! 

Bryce and I agree that this is the best age yet.  We are enjoying her so much and feel lucky to have such a happy girl.

Macy is 8 months old!

This week Macy turned 8 months old. Her personality is blossoming and she impresses us with new developments all the time.

Once again, there was no appointment with the doctor this month, so I'm just guessing that she weighs about 18 lbs.

Clothing size: Macy is still wearing a lot of her 6-month clothing, but I just stuck her in a 9-month onesie today and it fit well. She also graduated tonight to a pair of 9-month pajamas that looked slightly big, but will work. As was the case last month, she enjoys pulling bows out of her hair. Occasionally she will forget the bow is there, but eventually her hand will wander up to her hair and she will discover the invader and pull it out. If I leave it out then, her hand continues to search for the phantom bow.


Diet: In addition to nursing several times a day, Macy is eating 3 meals of pureed food. She generally eats a fruit with cereal for breakfast, fruit or vegetable for lunch, and vegetable with cereal for dinner. Snacks include Cheerios (a favorite), yogurt melts, and fruit that she eats through a mesh bag with a handle (genius invention!). She enjoys drinking water from her sippy cup and has been interested in tasting the water out of my cup as well. She seems to be a pro at feeding herself now, though we do end up with the occasional Cheerio casualty.

Sleeping: No changes to report here. She still goes to sleep around 7pm, wakes up around 4am for a feeding, then sleeps until 7 or 8am. She naps twice a day.



Development: Macy is close to crawling, but doesn't quite have the guts to move all of her limbs when she's on all fours. She rocks back and forth and will move an arm or leg a little bit, but then usually ends up on her belly. She is now rolling both back to belly and belly to back and enjoys exploring all corners of her crib. She enjoys activities that involve standing and loves to bounce in her doorway jumper. Macy is playing on her own more and more.
She also likes to babble. Her favorites are "da da", "ma ma", "ya ya", and "ba ba". Sometimes she'll throw a "na na" in there also. Her third tooth just broke through the gums (top left incisor). She has handled it well, though the teething seemed to be in conjunction with the end of a cold. Yes...Macy finally got her first cold. It was sad for me to hear her coughing at night and know there wasn't much I could do about it. She hated having her nose wiped, but oddly didn't seem to mind the bulb suction. After about a week and a half, she is finally better and back to her happy self.
This week Macy started playing peekaboo. My dad first saw her in her crib pulling the blanket over her face, then uncovering it. Now she plays while we are actually around. She opens her mouth wide and smiles when we say "there you are!"

Likes: Cheerios, most fruits, doorway jumper (for a limited period of time), being outside/taking walks, dogs, watching other kids play, Dad**

**Not that she doesn't like Mom, but Bryce was gone for several days visiting friends this week and when he finally came home, Macy could hardly contain her excitement. She got the biggest smile on her face, and then tensed up and stopped breathing for a little bit! She would hide her face, then look up at him again and smile. It was hilarious to watch. She was obviously SO excited to see him and just didn't know what to do with herself.

Her first experience sitting in grass. "Get me out of this stuff!"

Dislikes: Any time we lie her down on the changing table, whether it's for a diaper change or wardrobe change. She doesn't care for peas and sometimes does not like when I leave her sight. She also fears the vacuum cleaner.

It's been a great month and we're so excited to welcome Spring!

7 Months

Macy is 7 months old! It feels like time flies between these monthly updates. Macy doesn't have another doctor's appointment until she is 9 months old, so I'm not sure of her exact height and weight. My guess is she's about 27 inches long and weighs 17 lbs.


Clothing size: Macy has now outgrown all of her 3-month clothes and comfortably wears 6-month onesies and pants. I enjoy shopping for cute little girl clothes for her! Unfortunately she has become aware of the bows that I put in her hair on a daily basis and sometimes pulls them out. Guess I'll have to find some clips that actually stay in...


Diet: Macy is still nursing, but on top of that she has quite a diverse diet of fruits, vegetables, and baby cereal. She is also snacking on Cheerios and loves feeding herself (though they don't always make it into her mouth). She drinks easily from her sippy cup (just water).



Sleeping: We've backtracked a little in this category. For a little while, Macy slept through the night, but now she usually wakes up once at around 4:30am. I nurse her and she goes back to sleep for 2 or 3 more hours. I would prefer to eliminate this waking, but I have to remind myself that she is still sleeping a long stretch from 7pm-4:30am before waking. Naps have really improved. Macy is taking two naps now, ranging from about an hour to over 2 hours long.

Development: Macy is babbling and experimenting with consonants (ma ma, da da), but the words aren't associated with any particular thing or person. She is not rolling often or crawling yet, but when we put her up on all fours, she rocks back and forth a little bit. She is so perceptive and aware of her surroundings. It seems she is always taking in her environment.
Macy's demeanor is generally calm and relaxed. Our doctor called her a "chill baby", which is fine with us! She is almost always pleasant and happy. Lately though, she has been a little fussier than normal and I'm suspecting some more teeth might be on their way. She is still constantly putting things in her mouth. We can now leave Macy in a sitting position and she stays there without falling over for quite awhile. She can also stand if she is holding onto something (i.e. standing on couch looking over the back cushions). We're working on some sign language with her and are looking forward to her signing back.


Likes: Having her teeth brushed. Every time I pull out that little pink toothbrush she breaks into a big smile! She enjoys jumping in her doorway jumper. She's also become aware of the great outdoors when we go on walks. Instead of lying back in her seat, now she sits straight up and looks around. She loves peekaboo.

Dislikes: Wardrobe changes, car rides longer than 3 hours

We have lots of friends having babies this year and are so excited for Macy to meet all of her new friends!

Fun with Cereal!

This past week Macy and I were on our own since Bryce was traveling for work. We decided to make a mess and have some fun with Rice Krispies. She loved it!

Macy's Teeth!

This morning I finally got a good shot of Macy's first teeth (lower central incisors). It takes a little work for me to show them to people, since she likes to stick out her tongue as soon as I pull down her lower lip.


Anyway, I now have a cute tiny pink toothbrush to add to our family's collection and have fun spending 5 seconds brushing Macy's little teeth every day.

Macy Over the Months...

It's fun to look back and see how much Macy has changed in the first six months of her life. I can't believe how different she looks from July 19!

Birthday: July 19, 2011

1 month

2 months

3 months

4 months

5 months

6 months

Half Birthday

I can't believe this little cutie is six months old!

Last week Macy had her six month appointment. Here are her stats:

Length: 26 inches
Weight: 15 pounds 13 ounces

So much has changed in the past month...

Clothing size: Macy is still wearing some 3-month onesies and pants, but she is transitioning to 6-month clothes. She can only fit into 6-month sleepers. Diaper size is 2, but not for much longer!

Diet: Macy is still nursing, but we've added solid foods recently. She has tried oatmeal, green beans, and peas. She seems to like them all, but makes some pretty hilarious facial expressions during the first few bites. We just started giving Macy a sippy cup with water to practice drinking from it.

Sleeping: With a little help from some sleep training, Macy is finally sleeping through the night! She goes to bed about 7pm and wakes up about 7am. Her naps are still variable, ranging from 30 minutes to over 2 hours long.

Development: This month Macy started sitting up on her own. I still have to keep a hand close by in case she topples over, but she's getting better all the time. Macy can pass toys from one hand to the other, but she generally puts the toy in her mouth at some point. She is grabbing for everything, especially non-toy items. Macy has also cut her first teeth! She now has two pearly whites on the bottom gums. She smiles and coos a lot. We get little laughs here and there, but she hasn't cut loose with a belly laugh yet. Her newborn hair has been falling out and her big girl hair is growing in. It looks like Macy will have brown hair and blue eyes (perhaps with a little bit of green).

Pearly White

For the past month or more, Macy has been chewing on everything she gets her hands on and drooling to the point where she developed a little red rash around her mouth. I figured teeth were on the horizon, and I was right! This week while playing with Macy, she opened her mouth to babble and I spotted a little white bud on her lower gums.


I'm not thrilled about this, since I'm still nursing her, but it is exciting to see her develop and grow. It's definitely a milestone! No pictures of the tooth bud yet (it's hard to even get a good glimpse!) but I will keep you posted. For now, I will miss this gummy smile.