5 months old tomorrow!

...and still changing by the day!  Since the last time I posted an entry, a few things have happened: we realized that the swaddle bag was ready to part with Maggie, but Maggie wasn't ready to part with the swaddle bag; pink around the eyelids = tired baby; & always, ALWAYS, check the diaper prior to packing her up for daycare in the morning!  

The swaddle bag was temporarily removed from Maggie's sleeping repertoire, but we had a few things happen that made us reinstate it: Maggie was a fussy & tired little girl at daycare; she was flailing at night(which didn't make for a restful night of sleep for her; and, due to the flailing, she was knocking out her pacifier at least 2 times a night, and the only way to get her back to sleep was to nurse her. So, after initially trying to remedy this by increasing her bottle volume, which helped, we finally had to reinstate the use of the swaddle bag. Daddy & Mommy have slept very well ever since. :)

Poor little baby.  No swaddle bag made her so tired that she refused the bedtime feeding and fell asleep on Mommy in the family room.

The next weekend, we propped Maggie in the seated position to play with a hand-me down toy.  Handed down from her Uncle Chris, Aunt Jilly, and me to her!

This is what happens when you try to use the red-eye flash with Mag-pie.  "Too bright Daddy!"

Mag-pie loves the hand-me-down jingle ball.

"Dad, I'm leaning too far to the left...what the heck?"

Later the same morning as the above photos, Maggie settled in for her morning nap. When Daddy is involved, she prefers a hand on her chest. She grabs the hand, and in no time, she's off to dreamland.

After the nap, we got ready for the day and headed to the LSU Alumni Crawfish Boil fundraiser with Annie's family.  I was very tasteful and made sure I wore a VT outfit to show how humble I was to be in the presence of the team that has beaten us time and time again. 

The family at the boil.  Annie took a turn on the camera for this action shot.

We've found that Maggie loves napping in her high chair. :)  These photos are from her Sunday morning nap last week.

Granddad, Maggie, and largest bib in the world posing for a Sunday evening photo.

Last week, I had some fun with Maggie after work.  I'd dance and/or sing while she played the role of audience after we came home from a hard day's work.  She enjoyed it until she shifted her weight and started sliding to one side!

The outdoors are typically the panacea for Maggie's troubles, but, as you can see, nature is no match for a tired baby.

This past weekend, some new Maggie actions strarted happening.  First, she has become aware that her head can rotate more than just left & right.  She's started looking up & down now.  Second, she has become aware that she can rotate at the torso.  This became largely apparent when we were carrying her upright against us, and she wanted to look around the room to look at either Sunny or one of us.  We also broke out Maggie's walker.  Right now, we left it off the casters since she isn't scooting around yet.

Another red-eye reduction photo - too bright!

Saturday, we went over the river and through the woods, literally, to Grandmommy's house (Grandpa was there too.) Grandmommy bought Maggie a fantastic new bathtub....its a BIG DUCK:) She fits perfectly so that she can sit up and enjoy her bathtime.

It was Sunday morning...Maggie was still sleepy but she and Grandpa had to catch up

Maggie wasn't much for breakfast entertainment.  She fell asleep halfway through!

Memorial Day is here, and Maggie is dressed for the occasion.  She didn't wear the hat except for the picture, but she's getting so darn cute!  Anyway, we had some friends over for an impromptu cookout.  And by impromptu, I mean that we only planned it two days in advance.

That's not just the camera catching Maggie's head movement, she's exausted.  She took zero naps today!  We tried to get her to go down, but she fought at every attempt.

Kristine posing with Maggie.

Maggie's expression in this photo seems to say, "What's up Heather?  How's your day going?  Me?  I'm just chillin'."

After a long, hot day, Mag-pie ended with the same routine: bath, nurse, sleep.  A baby's life seems pretty sweet!

Waking up is hard to do - Part Deux

Once again, life has proven to move pretty fast.  And while I try my hardest to make more timely posts, it seems that once every 3 weeks or so is my new posting schedule.  The razzberries that were mentioned in the last post have come and gone.  Maggie still does them occasionally, but she'd rather jibber-jabber with or without her hands in her mouth!  I've also had a realization that weekends should be longer.  Can anyone help in the endeavor to push through state legislation for a 4 day work week?  Thanks in advance. :)

Maggie's spending a little bit of face time with herself.  She likes talking to the lion too!

A couple of weeks ago, we went on our first big road trip with Maggie:  we visited our friends Charlie & Aubrey in Salem, VA.  We had a great time with them at their new home, and we got a tour of the new home town of theirs.  Aside from seeing the great little farmer's market, we also ate at the locally famous Mac & Bob's.  It seems like they are really starting to settle in up there.  Annie & I can't wait until their little one comes later this year!  On the way out, we tried to meet up with Maggie's cousin Benjamin, but we couldn't get in touch with his mommy to come out & play.

Maggie's travel crib: it's definitely harder on the back than her crib at home.

Annie & Maggie are sharing a moment in the early hours(6 AM-ish) of the morning.

This trip also marked the weekend that Maggie decided that she would no longer let us sleep through the night! At first we had thought it was due to being in unfamiliar surroundings, but her habit has continued on an almost nightly basis and is always complimented by a desire to nurse.  Methinks starting to introduce solid foods is just around the corner.  The only nice part is that when she wakes, she doesn't cry.  She just talks/squeals.  It's really cute as an idea, but it's not so cute at 1:30 and 4 in the morning.  Despite this new habit, we are still able to function at work.

One of the nicer things that has happened in the past few weeks is Maggie's greeting in the morning.  Typically, I go in her nursery at about 6 or 6:15 to start the morning ritual.  And on some occasions, she's still waking up when I'm changing her.  But it warms my heart when I come in, and my girl takes one look at me and smiles ear to ear.  I have to say that being a morning baby really helps Annie & I snap out of our non-morning person funk.

One of the many gifts from Aunt Jilly.

I'm an Austin Powers fan, but she started this on her own. Granted, it's the wrong digit, but it definitely looks as though she's plotting to take over the world while her hair is being washed.

Maggie & I sharing some quality time before she goes to bed.  She really is starting to pull up a lot.  She'll be sitting up on her own in no time at all.

Morning-baby extraordinaire!  This was the luckiest photo I've gotten of her, and, considering it was taken on my cell phone, I think it's one of the best photos we have of happy Maggie.

The four month doctor's appointment brought news of a baby that is 92 percentile by weight & 75 percentile by height.  Growth spurt here we come!  The visit also came complete with shots, and a baby that was anything but happy during them.  Poor thing.  I hadn't heard her cry like that since she was a newborn.

Mother's Day weekend was upon us, and on Saturday afternoon, we packed our bags for Grandmommy's & Grandpa's.  We went over the river & through the woods, but we had a nap first.

Sunday morning at Grandmommy's & Grandpa's.  Maggie slept in the 34 year old crib that her Uncle Chris, Daddy, and Aunt Jilly all slept in. 

Maggie took an important phone call while playing with the chime ball that belonged to her Dad & his siblings.  Aunt Jilly and Maggie had a great conversation; Maggie did most of the talking! :)

Action shot of Maggie moving around.

Much to Annie's surprise, Maggie likes duck!

Mother's Day continued at Annie's cousin's place.  Poor Mag-pie had such an exhausting day that she erupted before a quick nap at the familiy get together. 

After a full weekend, Maggie's day ended in the usual fashion: bathtime, nursing, and sawing Z's. 

Happy Mother's Day!

Peter

Strawberries, Bananas, & Razzberries

Before any of you even think it: yes, I know that I've misspelled "raspberries".  That's because razzberries are Maggies new favorite thing that she picked up at the end of last week. :)  But before I get into that, let's play a bit of detailed catch-up:

I neglected to mention in my last post that Maggie has been sleeping in her crib for about 4 weeks now.  The only issues we have at night are getting up to put the binky back in her mouth once she stirs in the realization that it's no longer in her mouth (it's nothing distressing, just some wimpers.)  She contently, and with eyes closed, takes the binky back, and settles back in sleepy baby position for the night.  So, with the binky as the only night issue, we consider ourselves very - no - extremely lucky to not only have a baby that sleeps through the night, but also lucky that our baby that sleeps through the night to the tune of about 10 hours average sleep time!  Most mornings during the week, I actually have to go in & wake her up to get her all changed & ready for the day prior to her morning nursing.  She's such a happy, beautiful baby; she always greets me with a smile, and more recently, some razzberries. :) 

Now back to the razzberries!  Maggie has begun to explore the noises her mouth can make, and she's excelling in that endeavor.  Just the other night, she woke up at about 1AM, which is unusual for her, and instead of crying for us, she just started blowing razzberries while she waited for us to notice.  As much as I tried to re-plug her with the pacifier, which is what she usually wakes up for at night, she didn't want it.  So, we brought in the "heavy artillery", and after some food, she was back to sawing Z's again.  Waking up to those noises that night was quite fun if I do say so myself. 

Going back to work full time for Annie has been tough on us, only because we realize that we really only have 4-5 hours to spend with Maggie during the day:  Usually about an hour and a half in the morning & about two and a half hours in the evening.  We make the most of it though, and Maggie definitely doesn't forget us.  Her eyes light up when we come to pick her up from daycare. 

Now for the photos :)

Maggie is ready to watch Daddy play soccer.

"I'm so close to staying up on my own.  Thank goodness for my stabilizing 'traction control'."

"Smiling is my favorite thi...oh, look a fan!"

"Daddy, you woke me up too early!"

Who can resist this cute pouty face?

A month's worth of photos

For your viewing pleasure, here is a month's worth of pictures. :)

St. Patty's Day at Aunt Heather's & Uncle Burch's

Chillin on the sofa

Maggie mid-talk...she says "Oooo"

Annie's first gin martini since the baby :)

toys-check.  blankie-check. mushrooms & red pepper?  Do I even know what that is?

Maggie was trying out her high chair....and then she fell asleep!

Easter Egg Hunt at the Johnstons! Maggie was holding her own bag:)

Sleepy Maggie

Vising with her Great Grandaddy

Breakfast with Gigi...Maggie's milk is in the water warming up:)

Quite possibly the first family photo with us all dressed up. :)

Full family photo(minus Chris & Jen).  Hey!  Down in front!

Maggie's gifts from Aunt Mary....headbands and a doggie dressed as a bunny:) She was so excited...she had to nap!

Hanging out with Aunt Jilly is exhasting...another nap was in order:)

Cute little bunny! (This photo in no way indicates what Maggie wants to do later in life.)

Maggie is testing out her new bouncy seat.  She fits nicely however she is unable to bounce yet so she is perfecting the art of sitting in it!