myla at 7 months

To the most adorable baby in the world,

Seven months and I love you more every single day. You are such a little person with so much personality! Your dad and I joke that you are  "high adventure" baby because you thoroughly enjoy getting swung around at top speeds, getting thrown into the air, and anything that could be considered a "ride." You love motion. You are also trying to move yourself around. Much to my dismay (and excitement) you are on the verge of crawling. You are up on your knees rocking and otherwise either planking, rolling, or trying to stand (making diaper changes very, very difficult). You can stand up with your walker toy by yourself and with a little encouragement can pull to stand. You love to "walk" while holding onto our hands or your walker...I am going to have a mobile baby on my hands before I know it and I'm not sure I'm ready for that. The apartment isn't ready for your curiosity and I'm not ready for you to be so grown up. What happened to my snuggly girl?

You are sitting absolutely by yourself now and I love it. You can play much more independently and you are pleased as punch about it. You've also figured out your jumparoo and have a great time in there. You also think that I am a jumparoo, however, and try to jump whenever you're standing on my lap. Good arm workout for me.

You have a passion for food and have liked everything offered to you. You like to sit in your bumbo, bib on, food in sight, and have your arms straight out to the sides while beckoning the food forward with your hands (hard to explain). It's basically a "give me that food!" stance. It's pretty adorable. If I'm not delivering it fast enough you start to grunt and groan. You have now tried oatmeal cereal, bananas, avocados, peas, green beans, sweet potatoes, carrots, cottage cheese, cucumbers, puffs, apples, "mixed veggies (spinach/carrots/peas), and prunes. While timid with new flavors at first you have loved them all after a few introductions. I think your favorite is prunes mixed with oatmeal. You like to say "Mmmmm...Mmmmm...MMMMMM" while you eat.

Your mouth is prepping for more chunky food - you sprouted a tooth at the beginning of May and the second one isn't far behind. Bottom center left... or as your dad insists, "left central incisor of the mandable - tooth #23". You are still nursing and those teeth make me nervous, but so far no barracuda attacks! Let's keep it that way.

Thanks to your new food, your poop is... different. I won't go into it. More gross but less blow-outs.

You went on your second set of plane rides when we went to New Mexico and you did great! I was very nervous because dad wasn't there to help out, but you did just fine despite going longer than you have in your whole life without a nap (4.5 hours!). I thought for sure you would sleep on the plane but you just wanted to be social with everyone. You grinned at everyone as we walked down the aisle to our seat and then flirted shamelessly with the people sitting next to us for the hour flight.

We had a great time with grandma and grandpa Nielsen, auntie Jen, and sweet cousin Gage. He couldn't get enough of you and you loved him too! You are so much fun to play with and are starting to really get into "peek-a-boo," "pattacake," and the "tickle-monster!" You also love it when we blow in your face. You always smile after you sneeze. You have the silliest personality and you crinkle your nose when you smile real big... like when we tickle you just right.

You are officially consistently sleeping through the night! Alleluia.

We love you so much. I love being home with you and feel really lucky that I get to be around you all the time. Thanks for being SUCH a joy. xoxo

Love, mom

at the splash pad!

in New Mexico!

Gage and Myla were SO cute together!

this lady loves her baths!

Easter bunnies :)

First tooth! And... of course she is chewing on EVERYTHING she can

Enthusiastic with her sweet potatoes. I got together with a few friends this month and we made a bunch of baby food - it was a lot of fun and myla has liked it all!

Myla at 6 months

I never posted this one! Never mind she'll be 7 months in a few days...

Sweet Myla,

I can't believe you've been out of my belly for half a year! Happy half birthday. You've changed so much lately and we are loving watching you grow. You get stronger every day and would rather be standing than anything else... you can get quite feisty until we pull you up to standing. You are also sitting all on your own now! Being the little curious girl you are, however, you tend to tip over when trying to explore something that's just out of arm's reach. Falling down doesn't faze you and you're always ready to try again.

We started you on some solid food this month! You had your first taste of oatmeal cereal on March 13th and you loved it! You're still trying to figure out how to taste it and swallow it without it getting out of your mouth though. You've also tried a bit of banana and avocado and liked both of those too. You make the cutest faces when you're eating and try something new! You couldn't figure out how to get the avocado off your tongue and down your throat so you just sat there with your mouth open and tongue sticking out.

You love to explore things with your hands... especially my face... especially while you are nursing. You like to try and stick your fingers in my mouth and just stare at me while you eat. It's pretty adorable.

We go to lots of activities during the week and you are getting more and more involved. We have Baby Rhyme and Playtime at the library on Tuesdays followed by lunch and institute with daddy. On Wednesdays you have swim lessons but those are going to end now that you are turning 6 months. Then on Fridays we have Music Makers at Midwestern.

You are still not sleeping through the night, but you are getting better. You consistently take 2-3 naps during the day and sleep from about 8:30 to 3ish, then you eat, and then you sleep again for a few more hours, eat again, etc...  Your daddy and I are thinking about starting some sleep training in the near future :).

We're going to New Mexico this month to visit your grandparents, auntie, and cousin - can't wait! Hopefully you're just as well behaved on the way there as you were on the way to Oklahoma :D

We love you so much, Myla girl!

picnic fiasco...

Myla and her friend, Cohen!

fresh out of the tub!

Myla at 5 months

This month FLEW by. Practically broke the sound barrier, I think.

Myla bean,

You are so much fun! This month has been a whirlwind of watching you grow, seeing you continue to develop your sweet personality, and dealing with sickness. Yep, 2 bouts of sickness in one month... It really isn't fair! You had your first cold (along with dad and me) and you took it like a champ! Last week, however, you got the flu and it wasn't pretty. You were so tired of throwing up, having a fever, diarrhea, and a yucky cough. I finally took you to the doctor and she said we just have to wait it out and make sure you are hydrated! You liked pedialyte ok - as long as it was warm. Good thing you liked it, because from personal experience I think it's disgusting! I loved the extra cuddles. One of the nights you slept in my arms all night long because you just couldn't stay asleep in your crib or in the swing. Just in your diaper because you were warm, I got to snuggle you all night long. Despite almost no sleep for me, I wouldn't trade that night away! It took you 8 days to get over it, but now you're back to yourself :)

you can just tell she feels crappy :/ So glad she's all better now!

Anyway, enough about the sickness, let's talk about the rest of the month! You are doing great at swim lessons and the teacher says you are ready to go under water! Egads! I don't want to try it until daddy is there to watch, too. Quite exciting. You are now the oldest baby in the class and the teacher likes to use you as an example for the other babies.

You love to play with toys - especially toys that light up or make music. You've started bouncing around more in your jumparoo and it is just adorable! Daddy has been able to get you to laugh a few times, but you're still working on that social skill. Lots of smiles though!

You reach out with both of your hands when you want to touch or hold something. You love touching our faces and playing with/pulling my hair. You like it when we play with your feet and sing songs like "The Wheels on the Bus" or "Pat-a-Cake." You really like to touch our clothes. You always reach for my shirts and feel them, pull on them, and try to eat them. You also like sucking/chewing on your burp cloths and blankets.

You can almost sit up by yourself and you never want to lay on your back... you always flip over to your stomach (and then get frustrated after too long). If you had it your way, you'd always be standing. You'll even take some steps if we lean you forward. I think you might skip crawling all together and go straight to walking! You can stand while holding onto something (our hands or even the couch!). When you eat you like to help by trying to hold your bottle.

Spring break was LOTS of fun - it was so great to have daddy home for an entire week! We took you on 3 hikes in the baby bjorn and you (mostly) liked those. You also had your first trip to the zoo. You didn't really know what was going on, but you were very well behaved and enjoyed being out in the sunshine! You met one of my best friends and her cute little girl, Lizzie. We're hoping your roommates in college one day like we were :).

It has been a VERY fun month! We love you Myla girl!

Love, mom

Anyone else dying of cuteness?!

Myla at 4 months

Ok, she's 4 and a half months now, but I finally finished this post... at least I did it before she turned 5 months!

Myla girl, you just keep getting sweeter and sweeter! Smiles from the minute you wake up until you're in bed for the night. More than once I've found my cheeks hurting because you make me smile so much. You bring us so much joy! A favorite new thing that you do is when you start eating and get a few swallows down, you pause, give me the biggest open-mouthed smile, and then go right back to eating. Heart melter...

Your personality is really starting to come out! You are starting to have opinions and know how to get attention. I'm pretty sure you've even 'fake cried" a few times just so we would come over and see how you were doing. You can be pretty independent, however, and can play with your toys by yourself for a little while before you start fussing for attention.

Your accomplishments this month include short little laughs, "razzing" conversations, great head control in the walker/bumbo, floating on your back at swim lessons (with mom and dad's help of course!), grabbing everything and putting it in your mouth, sleeping in your crib every night (instead of the car seat for reflux), putting all your weight on your legs with us helping you balance (you only have to hold onto our fingers), rolling over both ways, and splashing in the tub instead of just laying there, and saying GOODBYE TO REFLUX! That's right... you haven't had a reflux episode in over 2 weeks and we are thrilled!

You also smile all the time when we talk to you... and you don't just smile with your mouth - you smile with your eyes and your whole body. You get a big grin on your face, crinkle your eyes, and put your hands together by your face and... it's hard to explain. Hopefully I have a video of it somewhere :)

Your favorite toys to play with are Meg the mermaid and your pink ball. You also like your farm sing along toy and is getting some good use out of the jumper (although you haven't figured out the jumping part of the jumper yet...).

You are starting to single us out as your parents and get excited and so smiley whenever daddy comes home from school - he loves that!

You've also turned into a little human faucet. You have a constant, ample supply of saliva/spit-up coming out of your mouth. We even had to invest in some "drool bibs."

Sleeping through the night doesn't happen anymore for some reason. We usually get you to bed from around 7:30 to 8:30 and you sleep 4-5 hours and then are up every 3 after that until I get you up for the day around 7 or 8. I miss my sleep but I bet one day I'll miss the nighttime cuddles.

You survived your 4 month shots and weighed in at 13 lbs 11oz when you were 4 months + a week. 24 1/2 inches long.... and looking chunky (cute chunky, of course!) The doc said we could start you on some solids, but I think we'll wait at least one more month.

We love you Myla Bean!!

the queen of spit up....

swim lessons! 

bedtime stories with daddy

I love her expression (left)! She also got her first "scalp spa treatment" for cradle cap, and we visited dad at school a few times

She LOVES this mermaid (thanks Meg), looking at herself in the mirror

I just love this girl!

like father like daughter...

Is it just me or do these two pictures look similar? Like father like daughter!

I love them :)