New Favorite Toy - Push Walker

Leah has recently discovered the walker that her Aunt Tara got her for Christmas and it has instantly become her favorite toy. She loves pulling herself up on it and playing with all the features on the face of the lion. She has even braved a few wobbly steps with our help, one or two one her own.  But then tonight as I was playing on my phone (which I know I do way too much :) ) I look up and she is taking steps across the room with it all on her own! She even repeated it enough times for me to get a decent video.

Our little peanut is going to be walking before we know it! She is growing up so fast. 

8 Months Old

This week Leah came down with her first ear infection. Tuesday at daycare Miss Pinky told me that Leah had fought both her bottles which was very unusual. Luckily, we had our follow up flu shot on Wednesday so I came to my appointment with so many questions/concerns that we were switched to a regular visit. Thankfully our pediatrician, Dr. Boonstra, was available to see us. After a quick peek in her ears he said she had an ear infection in her right ear. This was good in a way, as I was very worried about how I would get Leah to drink enough milk each day if she cut down at school. I'm lucky if I get her to nurse for five minutes at a time at home!! So that solved concern #1, how much breast milk does she need a day? Answer - there isn't a 'set' amount. Every baby is different. They need enough to grow at a healthy pace and to not become dehydrated. In other words, he wasn't worried at all that she wasn't getting enough and didn't think this would ever be an issue. Concern #2; Leah has had what appears to be a sty on her right eyelid for two months now. It has never pussed or seemed to bother her but it really worries me. At her 6 month check they said not to worry about it and to try putting a warm compress on it for 5-10 minutes a couple times a day. Yeah, like that will be easy with a very busy baby! The only time I can get her to let me put the washcloth on is at our bedtime feeding.... Two minutes a day is better than none right? It hasn't gone away but the Doc still didn't seem concerned, he did up the dosage on the ear medicine in hopes of knocking both problems out at once. If that doesn't take care of it, then we might have to try some drops next. And lastly, Leah's left breastbud has been very hard lately. I was told this is nothing to be worried about and that it is normal and happens occasionally. So we are off to try our first round of 10 days of antibiotics and hopefully it does the trick! Despite all this, Leah is as happy as can be and still sleeping from 7-6:30 every night. If it weren't for her not wanting her bottle, we wouldn't have even known she had an ear infection. We are so blessed with how happy our little girl is!

Cracking up at her Dad. She is getting so much hair!

Other new developments - since we have been officially crawling for a whole week now we are ready for bigger and better things... Pulling ourselves up on EVERYTHING and trying to take steps with her walker! 

If you look close you can see her sty. And look at that adorable little belly :)

What do you mean slow down?! I'm ready to go Mom! 

Her cute little butt in action :) Crazy how much I love this little girl!! 

We've Got a Crawler!

Leah is now officially on the move. Which is scary because we have yet to get our baby gate up! Her favorite things to get her on the go are our cell phones, my Camelbak and me.

Since she has mastered the crawl, she has already moved on to bigger and better things, pulling herself up/climbing on everything. Her new favorite 'thing' to climb up on (and all over) is of course Bowzer. Luckily he just lays there and takes whatever she throws at him :)

Not the best picture since, as usual, Leah doesn't stay still for long!

We are so blessed that Leah has two sets of amazing Grandparents in her life.  This weekend we got to play with Grandma & Grandpa Meyers and last weekend Grandma Deaner & Papa came to visit.  It is so great having them close enough that they can drive up for the day to visit!

Army Crawling

Leah is such a busy girl and always wants to be on the move. She has been close to crawling for the past couple weeks (Brian teased me by saying we were going to miss her first crawl while we were in Vegas) and while she still hasn't mastered it, she is very close!

Started out only being able to go backwards. I love this video because you can see her frustration at wanting to move so badly but mostly because of Bowz. He is so great with her, we are so lucky to have such a good dog!

Bowz loving that Leah came to visit him

And this is from last weekend, 1/25. She has gotten a little better (going forwards!) but is still at the army crawl stage. And only cell phones and remotes work for motivation of course - she doesn't want her toys! 

7 Months Old

On January 9th we finally had our 6 month check. Leah is hanging in at the 'peanut' range, weighing in at 15 lbs 4 oz, 25%, and 25.2", 9%! I still can't believe our daughter is in the 9th percentile for height! I know that doesn't guarantee she will always be short but it's funny to me with Brian being so tall. 

Since we got back from Vegas, Leah has thankfully been sleeping through the night again, most of the time on her tummy. It scared me at first but since she flips herself I have gotten used to it, plus she sleeps so great! Sometimes she wakes up but has learned to sooth herself so I hardly have to get out of bed anymore and it is amazing. She has become a great eater too, she loves all the food we can give her and always seems to want more! At home we have only tried carrots (which she hated her first try but now likes them), sweet potatoes, squash, yogurt and applesauce. At school she has started eating their food as well and is doing great! She is on a pretty regular schedule as follows. Wakes up around 6:30 and nurses, gets to school around 7:30 and has oatmeal around 8. Takes a morning nap. Eats her first bottle around 10. Then she has lunch around noon which is usually the food I send from home along with anything from the center provided lunch that she can eat. Naps again and eats her second bottle around 2:30. Then she usually has the center afternoon snack around 3:30 if it's something she can eat. We get home around 5, she eats more food (usually a vegetable and yogurt or applesauce) and then play until the last nursing right before bedtime which is still at 7. She has been going to bed without a fuss and sleeping great, let's hope it continues!

                                  

Our always smiling girl. Unfortunately she seems to have inherited her mom's bags under her eyes :)

Vegas!

Late November Carissa and I decided we were ready to leave our babies for a weekend and we booked a trip to Vegas. It came a lot quicker than I expected and of course Leah hadn't been sleeping well lately so I was a little hesitant sending her to my parents for four nights but ready or not, it was time for vacation! We were also joined by Hudson & Kimball and had a great time. We stayed at the Mirage, ate some great food and unfortunately lost just about every time we gambled! 

                                  

Brian & I in our 'fancy' clothes :)

                

Carissa & I in front of the Belliago fountains

Dinner at the very nice steakhouse in the Mirage. Andy's good friend from high school/college is a chef there so we got VIP treatment! The food was excellent and we got to sample things I would have never ordered on my own. 

Breakfast at Hash Hash, a new must on our annual (hopefully :) ) Vegas trip. The portions are HUGE and the food was so good. And it was even reasonably priced!!

It was a great trip and I'm so glad we went as it was great for Brian and I, but I was very ready to get back home to our little peanut come Monday! Thanks so much to my parents for watching her. I know Hannah & Leah kept them very busy all weekend - not to mention Leah didn't let my mom sleep! Grandparents are the best. 

                                       

Good thing she's so cute, easily forgiven :)

Christmas in Minneapolis - Salwey side

Since my Grandma moved back to North Dakota last fall we all really wanted to find time to get together for the holidays to see her. Fortunately, January 4th ended up working out for almost everyone so we all met in Minneapolis for the day. It was great seeing all my aunts and uncle Jay, even though they really just want to see Leah these days :). My cousin Nicole made the trip so we got to meet her 3 week old beautiful baby girl Ava as well. 

Grandma Marilyn with all her great grandkids 

Hanging out with cousin Jarred

Hanging out with the Schenks and Sophies 

Grandma Deaner and her two babies

And my favorite - Luke is no longer defenseless to Leah's grabbing!