6 Months to a Year

Andi Faye Maness, it saddens me that you are already 6 months. Where did the time go. What is sad is that I am already thinking about your 1st b-day and getting it planned. Yes, I like to plan things way ahead! She is becoming a little person, one that definitely has a temper and likes to go, go, go! I have put a lot of videos in this post of her doing different things.

She loves her Aunt Kissy( Christie). Yesterday she would grab her face and stretch her cheeks and giggle. It was really funny! She thinks that causing pain is funny now. I guess we have entered that stage. She definitely has an ornery side to her!

She has started eating animal crackers and some veggie munchies. She basically just sucks on them. She gags when she eats green veggies, just like her mom...lol. She likes ranch dressing, BBQ sauce, and loves chocolate. Which doesn't surprise me because she is my daughter...lol. She is eating meats now. She loves Chicken and Vegetables and Chicken and Rice. She reminds me of a little bird wanting more with her mouth open. We have started feeding her water and juice from a sippy cup as well and she really likes it too! Her new diet has made her diapers more nastier/rank too. We are back to the blow outs up the back again. Poor Matt gags when he changes her which sometimes makes her cry!

I have a problem with taking toooooo many pictures!!! There are about 7 more to this series. She went and visited my parents for the day. I made sure she had her sun hat since it was a warm one.

 She has started running in her walker now, all over the house. She follows me in it and will come to me when I say her name. She also follows the dogs the most. Poor guys, they are going to be so annoyed when she starts walking/crawling, which ever comes first. She has started running over my feet in her walker or tries to trip me. I taped her some here. She doesn't act like her normal self when she is getting video taped, but you kind of get a glimpse.

I had her on the floor the other night, wish I had gotten a video! She was in between Sam and JuJu and would roll over and pet Sam then squeal, roll over and pet JuJu and squeal. She did it for about 5 minutes. She started grabbing hunks of their meat and pinching later but that didn't bother Sam. JuJu got up and left. They didn't get mad at her though. Here is a pic of her trying to get JuJu.  She has started recognizing the word, doggy. You say it and she looks until she finds one.

She has kind of started to crawl. It is like an army crawl, she does it most on the bed. She definitely gets around on her back by lifting her butt. She does it so much it looks like she is doing butt lift exercises..lol

She has started being able to sit up on her own. She is still a little wobbly though. She will do a hand jerk and topple over. The video below is not very good. It was hard to film her and keep her from falling. She falls twice but it scared me more than her. She is on padding so she wasn't hurt.

She is about to grow out of her car seat. The straps are getting too tight on her, especially trying to buckle the bottom. They aren't long enough!

She likes to hang out in her diaper, naked would be her preverance. I usually just feed her in her diaper because she makes a huge mess that usually gets on me too!

 As you can tell she is going to keep those pretty blue eyes of her dads. There isn't any streaks in them. Her hair is getting blonder too. She is going to probably be white headed like Matt and I were when we were kids. She has also learned her name too!

Now, lets talk about her TEMPER! I can see in a few years she will be in the middle of the store kicking and screaming because she didn't get what she wanted! Yes, it is beginning, Matt and I are getting our pay back. If you do something she does not like she lets you know immediately!! What gets her mad the most is making her go to sleep. She just wants to go, go, go and she will be rubbing her eyes to the point her whole face is red and will refuse to sleep. There have been days she has only taken one nap. Then you think she would crash at night, not the case. Within the past month she refuses to take naps and FIGHTS you to go to sleep. It has been taking me 1.5 hours to get her to go to sleep at night. One night I had it and laid her in her bed. She would cry a little ( fake cry) then after 5 minutes she was screaming bloody murder. I let her do it for about 10 minutes and she was just getting madder so I went in there to find her in a fetal position, hands grabing her hair and screaming, almost blue! I don't do that anymore! Some nights she will wake at 1am and not go to sleep until 5 or 6. This past month has definitely been a bad month for her sleep cycle. A lot of times she will be passed out hard and just start screaming because she has a wet diaper! I have said before, she HATES a wet diaper. The good side is that she should be easy to potty train!

She grabs everything now, especially my glasses. She likes my phone too as you can see in this pic.

She has to be really tired to be put in her swing otherwise she wants to be moving. She mainly wants to be in her walker all of the time. She really likes to walk when you hold her by the arms too. If you pick her up after having her down, she will continue to kick! Didn't I mention long ago how she constantly kicked me in the womb, well it has only gotten harder and more often. She loves to KICK and keep her legs moving. I have watched other babies her age and even older and they are not as active as she is. She can't stay sitting on your lap long, she wants to be doing her own thing. She is a FREE SPIRIT! Matt said he couldn't wait until she starts walking because that is when it is his time to shine since he likes to go, go, go too...well he better be ready cause she is going to be running everywhere!!!

Notice her feet on Cassie, blurred because she is kicking!

Something she has started doing now before she falls asleep is sing. I guess it is because I sing to her at night but this will be before naps as well. She will start singing with me and sometimes it is actually in harmony. I am going to get a video of it one day when I remember to have my phone with me. It is precious. 

Now, the joy of postpartum. I heard that my hair would start to fall out around 6 months postpartum, I just wasn't ready for what I was going to see. I literally have handfuls of hair a day. I don't have any bald spots they say it is from you not shedding any while you are pregnant. 

I am also still having withdrawals from the feeling of a baby inside me. I guess cause Andi was soooo active I was used to her constant movement and I miss it. I really is a miracle how it all starts from a sperm and an egg and evolves into a baby. It really amazes me!

My mom and I will be flying to Texas for my side of the family to meet Andi. I am a little scared flying with her. I have no idea what kind of mood she is going to be in. Thankfully it is only 1.5 hr flight. I can't wait to see them and see what a character Andi is! They are going to love her!

My First Mother's Day

I know I am a little late but I have been working A LOT and haven't had much time to get on here. Mother's Day was a nice day however, I was working that day. I did get two really nice presents from Matt and Andi!! Matt planted flowers for me beside our house! It was very sweet of him and he also got me a necklace/locket with Andi's picture! I didn't expect this and was totally surprised!!! He is a sweetie!!!

All of the rain recently has made our rose bushes bloom wonderfully! I am so glad that warmer weather is finally here!

I had said in my last post that I would post pictures of Andi's room so here they are:

When Andi wakes in the morning she likes to look at the pictures of Matt and I when we were her size. She also LOVES books!!! She started to like them about 2 months ago. No one could believe that she would pay attention to the pages when you read to her until they tried it. They thought she was to young. We have a smart girl:-)

The nursery turned out very well. It is the most peaceful, relaxing place in the house. It isn't very big, but works for now.

 Sometimes she falls asleep like this! She enjoys her fingers and sometimes her fist.

 Then she wakes up happy!

 Sometimes we have to be a girly girl, so tutus are a must! She likes lift her dresses up and put them in her mouth.

 She enjoys going to Wal-Mart and picking out toys. Here she chose a purple monkey. She really likes to roll around on the ground with it.

She loves her pal, Tiger! They have a play date every morning.

She has become interested in phones. She loves to grab at them anytime she sees it!

She has really started liking baths now. She likes to splash in the water whether she is in the sink or the big bath tub!

I have been saying she is going to walk before she crawls since she started pulling up at 5.5 months. Here is a video. It was a little hard trying to tape her and be there to catch her as well. I am not helping her stand, she is doing it all on her own. 

Now when she is placed on the seat, she doesn't care about using the piano to stand. She will stand straight up and then fall.

Andi, I Can't Believe You're 5 Months!

 Well 5 months started off with a bang! Andi rolled over last week from her back to her stomach! She then got upset because she realized she was on her stomach. We were watching a movie and she was in the floor. She has pretty much been rolling over, her hips would be over but she would be caught with her arm. I told her I wished she would just roll over and not even five minutes had passed and she did. I heard her start grunting and looked down and she was on her stomach! Hooray! However, that was the only time, lol.

Other exciting accomplishments: She has started pushing herself in her walker. Mostly back, side-to-side, and some forward. She will zero in on Sam and try to go after him. The other night she was following him in circles, it was really funny! Wish I had the camera rolling!

This is a 12 month onezie she has on. It fits her just fine.

 I love this little outfit that one of her grandmas got her! It is very vintage. I was going to dress her in it when we went to Texas in July since it is a 6-9 month. Well little long legs can already wear it. She wears 6 month tops, 9 month pants, 6-9 month sleepers, and some 12 month onezies. I can't believe how big she is getting. We took her to visit Matt's mom at work and one of the workers there said she is as big as her 9 month old.

 She has such chubby legs and cheeks. Here is proof of her chipmunk cheeks!

She is getting quite the personality. There will be times that she will wake up in a BAD mood and has to tell you about. She will carry on a conversation with you and don't dare laugh at her or she will give you a horrible look and get mad! She has a temper at times, which doesn't surprise me since Matt and I both through bad tantrums when we were little. I just know we are going to get our pay back! She mainly gets really mad when we put her in her car seat and lately because she can't fit her Tweety keyring in her mouth!

 She has started throwing her rattle and other toys, not just dropping. She has quite an arm on her and of course we pick it up and she does it again. She bangs her toys around and sometimes hits herself in the head. She is quite amusing to watch.

We moved her to her room this week and she has done really well. Sam hasn't gotten used to it though. After I put her down, he will come to me and raise up on my lap and whimper, then go to the hallway whimpering looking at me, then go in her room and stay by the crib and whimper. He is use to her sleeping at the foot of the bed in her bassinet and he will hang his head over and watch her sleep. Now all he can do is raise up on the crib and look at her through the bars. I find him doing this in the morning when I wake up. He has definitely claimed her and you can tell they are going to be best buds.

She has had a couple of rough days lately, mainly from her teething. I think the pollen might be bothering her too some since it has been extremely high. I will be glad when we are through with this phase and she has all of her teeth!

Matt and I celebrated our 2nd anniversary together! It is hard to believe we have been together for 4 years total. A lot has changed in those years, we have definitely grown even closer. I can't believe how much Andi loves him. She is in awe of him. She will stop whatever she is doing to watch him. She hardly ever takes her eyes off him. It makes me a little jealous, lol. However, we have our own special bond that won't ever be replaced.

Never knew I could love two people so much. They have definitely made me a better person. Someone I never thought I would be!

Since Andi is in her room now, I will show pictures of it. I realized I never posted pics of her nursery. 

Here's something funny to end on: Our dogs sleep like people. One morning I got up at 3am to feed Andi. JuJu sleeps under the covers on her back with her head on the pillow and Sam sleeps on his back as well. They get snuggled up next to Matt since he is an inferno at radiating heat!