The Witching Hour

Many people say the witching hour is midnight to 3 am, well I believe it when it comes to Andi! She usually wakes around 3 or 3:30 wanting a bottle and then she has this burst of energy where she wants to go all over the house for an hour or so! When she decides to fall asleep is when I am usually getting up for work so needless to say I am not getting much sleep.

We have stopped co- sleeping simply because Matt can't rest with her sleeping between us. She sleeps the best though when she does. It has been a fight to get her to sleep in her crib after 3am. Instead of having a screaming fit I would just put her in bed with us. Well that no longer exists so now I rock her for a good hour while she wallers me and stands up. These are the times I say she is her father's daughter. We have let her cry it out a couple times, lasting 25 minutes. At this time my patience isn't the greatest because I want to be sleeping and as long as she is awake crying, we all are. I will have rocked her and she will be snoring asleep and as soon as I lower her down, her eyes and mouth are open! We try to ware her out at night so she will sleep good, but 3am is the magic time for her.

Onto something else, we got our family photos back and they turned out great! Below are some of the good ones! You will notice she really liked sticking her tongue out. They were taken at the time that she had discovered it! She was 6 months at the time. I can't believe she is almost 8.

 This is one of my favorites!

 We took the blanket out from under her and she did NOT like the grass.

It was a good session but by the end, I was ready to be done! She did really well though!

Since then I have chopped my hair off! I cut 7 inches off in February and it had grown back quick so I went shorter this time. I haven't had it this short since 2007 when I had 17 inches cut off( unwillingly) when I fried it from dye and chlorine swimming pools. I am still losing a lot of it but it is still plenty thick. I will be glad when I am done shedding from the pregnancy. I have been wanting to go short for awhile and I just did it on a whim. I surprised a lot of people with my "new mom hairdo" including Matt because I never said a word about it! It is so much easier to manage and Andi isn't pulling it as bad! 

Matt has started working at his former job again. I am excited that Andi and I will be on his insurance since it has a family deductible of $800! I think he will have it by the end of August and I am glad I will be able to drop mine at work since it costs $85/week just for me. In Matt's words, " We can have 10 kids now!"

Back To My Roots!

Last week my mom, Andi, and I flew to Texas where I grew up. Andi had not gotten to meet her great grandparents and aunt. We also visited more family on my mom's side, my dad, his sister, and girlfriend. I was nervous about flying with Andi, thinking she would throw one of her fits but she was INCREDIBLE!!

She socialized for about 30 minutes and then fell asleep going to and coming from! A lot of people were commenting on how well she did. She definitely likes people. She kept squealing at everyone and having fun! Also the flight was only 1.5 hr which was nice too.

We flew from Branson to Houston. I do not like driving in Houston traffic. It is worse than St. Louis and KC. Beaumont is a little over an hour from Houston. We got the car seat and I should have brought mine. It was a cheapy and it was hard to fasten. Of course Andi had to break it in on the way by having a blow out! 

It was really nice to see everyone again, wish we didn't live so far away. Andi loved everyone too! She acted so well. I forgot how hot it gets and the humidity so Andi spent a lot of time naked! She is very hot natured she would sweat a lot. Then she became a pain trying to put her diaper on, constantly flipping over and trying to crawl as fast as possible away so I got tired of fighting her and let her run buck wild.

One thing I enjoyed getting to watch was her in my rocking chair! She really liked it! The pic below is of me when I was around her age.

Then we have Andi:

It made me soooo happy how she acted with everyone! We really have been blessed with a wonderful baby!
Since it was hot we had to feed her a favorite: Ice cream sandwiches. She loves them and she gets really messy!

She uses us as jungle gyms to pull up on and waller. 

Aunt Brandi had to feed her chocolate cake as well.

Andi really liked my grandparents and aunt. My grandma could get her laughing by showing her teeth which was really cute!

The next pic was too good not to post. Andi was getting tired of getting her picture taken.

The last night we were there I visited my dad and his girlfriend. I got to see his new house, which is really nice!

Overall it was a great trip, good to see everyone again and reminisce about old times. Hopefully one day we will live closer!

When we got back Andi spent the night at Grandma Barbara's so I could get some much needed sleep and when we went to pick her up this is what we saw!

It won't be long until she is walking. The progress she is making now each day is amazing!

Andi, Onto 7 Months Old

Andi, it is unbelievable another month has passed. She is in crawl mode now. She is constantly going even when she wakes up at 3am she is crawling around in her crib. She knows how to get in a sitting position if she is on her stomach or back. She is incredibly alert. She always has been but now she just stares at everything and will babble at it. She is saying gaga and baba a lot. When she cries it really sounds like she is saying mama....she does mmmm...aaaaaa....mmmmm.....aaaaaaa.

 

 She has started sleeping on her side and stomach, which freaks me out. One morning she was face down on the mattress, luckily she had her pacifier in so she could breath.

I have started a bad habit with her. For some reason at 3am when she wakes up for her feeding she will not go back to sleep in her crib. Mind you she only does this when Matt is here. So she sleeps in between Matt and I and she sleeps awesome! The only thing is she likes to turn sideways and kick me in my stomach. One night she was trying to give Matt her pacifier while he was asleep. She kept sticking it on his mouth...lol. I guess she wanted to play their game. They have developed quite a bond. She enjoys going for rides on the lawn mower.

She has started sticking her tongue out A LOT!! We had family pictures taken and she had that tongue out. I can't wait to see them when they are finished. There are some that are really good of her!

She had her 6 month check up last week and her stats so far:

Height: 26.25 inches

Weight: 16.2 lbs

Head: 15 and 7/8 inches

She was 50th( average) in all categories. Her head is a little small still, but she is proportionate. The pediatrician said we arn't going to have a baby much longer. She said she will probably walking soon. Andi kept throwing her clothes, pacifier, and tearing up the paper on the bench while we were there. Then the nurse tried to lay her down and her temper came out! The nurse said we have a very strong- willed girl, yes we do! 

Her next appointment is in October and the pediatrician thinks she will be walking by then! She won't have any shots that appointment so I am happy about that! She actually did better this time with her shots than last time and we were told this would be the worse ones. She was mainly sensitive.

If it were up to her she would already be walking. She has started using her toys to pull up on, furniture not so much.

 She loves music and toes! She will crawl and attack your feet!

She also really enjoys being naked and watching Wheel of Fortune!

 We go through sooo many diapers. I would think the older she gets, the less. She goes through 10-12 a day if not more. Especially now since she is drinking water.

This pic reminds me of someone:

Her father:

 Since she is so mobile now, I have started putting her in her play pen. She likes it for a bit but would rather be on the floor or in her walker. She likes to play peek-a-boo! Matt and I usually will hide behind a door or wall and pop out from it and she starts laughing!! She is a lot of fun! On the other hand, she can wake up in a bad mood. One day she woke from a nap crying. I got her consoled and Matt looked at her and cried Wah!!!! She looked at him, puckered her lip and started crying. She would not take her eyes off him. When she got quiet he did it again and she started crying. She obviously was not liking him making fun of her!

In my last post I talked about how much she loves rubber duckies. I bought her an inflatable tub so she could keep them close. I had my hand on her and the next thing I know she is bobbing for duckies. She sucked water up her nose but didn't care cause she had her ducky. I was freaking out and hitting her on her back because you could hear it in her lungs and she could care less.

She likes to try and stand by pushing up off the side of it. She is dangerous! She has also started doing a pike when she crawls, trying to stand.

She is a very determined little girl. She keeps trying until she has it. No matter what she is doing!

 She has gotten a few bumps on the head, which is going to happen. Probably more since we have wood floors:-(

There are some changes happening in our lives and the next few months are probably going to be hectic, a lot of prayers are being said. Hopefully we are shown the right path to go.

My mom and I are flying to Texas next week, looking forward to seeing the family and Andi getting to meet them! I hope she is in a good mood on the flight. She should be since there will be people around. She loves attention!