Swimming Lessons 101

Today was Carly's first day of swimming lessons. Unfortunately she did not seem to enjoy them, therefore learned very little. Mommy on the other hand learned a lot!

1) If you wake a baby up at 7:30, she will be tired by 9:00 when the swimming lessons start. (We had to drive by a school during its drop off time and were asked to arrive 15 minutes early to sign-in, etc. She will not be waking up until the last possible minute next week.)

2) If your baby may be starting to have some anxiety to strangers, handing her to the instructor with the baby's back towards you while you get in the pool may not result in a positive outcome.

3) After sitting in the hot and humid indoor pool area for 20 minutes waiting on the lessons to start and then getting into cool water may not agree with your baby's thermostat.

4) If your baby stops crying because she had become focused on an object or person, don't move away from her focal point to rejoin the group. Instead try to get more of her body in the water from there and have your own water time.

Our class wasn't awful, or a complete waste. She did have moments when she enjoyed herself (singing two songs at the end of the lesson and playing with the other babies in the locker room before class started); however, it also didn't go quite like I was hoping or expecting. Carly had done really well at the pool over Easter with Dave, but for some reason wasn't quite feeling it today. I am going to address the four issues I think may have caused this fussy spell and hope for a much better time next week.

Playing in the locker room!

6 Month Check-Up

Carly went for her 6 month check up today and has grown like a weed. She is now 26 inches long (she has grown 5.5 inches in 6 months), weighs 16 pounds, 12 ounces (she has gained 8 pounds and 14 ounces in 6 months), and her head is now 17.5 inches.

Majority of today's discussion centered around making solid foods more than just a "snack" but actual meals. So I did some conversions in the kitchen and learned that 1 small jar of baby food holds 2.5 fluid ounces, which is equivalent to 5 tablespoons. The ice cube tray that we are using to freeze Carly's baby food in holds just under 2 tablespoons when filled to the top. So, after Carly's doctor's appointment she came home and ate 3 tablespoons of rice cereal for her morning snack/breakfast. Later in the evening she ate 2 cubes of avocado and 2 cubes of butternut squash. She didn't quite finish the butternut squash and did end up wearing some of her food on her face and bib, but I am thinking she got pretty close to eating 5 tablespoons of solid food for dinner. All of this solid food did result in her only nursing 4 times and flat out refusing her bedtime bottle... we shall see how long she can slumber on today's feedings (I'm doubtful about us making it through the night.)
UPDATE: We did NOT make it through the night. She woke up at 12:30, ate, and was back asleep very quickly.


Enjoying my dinner!

6 Months

At 6 Months Carly can:

• Sit up independently and balance herself as she reaches for toys. (She still needs to work on her auto-correction, sometimes it is a little fierce and sends her toppling in the opposite direction.)
• Stand on her own, as long as we balance her.
• Grasp a 2in diameter ball with her left hand and swing it around.
• Pick up rings and various other toys with both her right and left hand.
• Roll from her back to her tummy and from her tummy to her back when she WANTS to. (She reminds us by not doing it often that she doesn't do it as a trick like Jake.)
• Eat solid (puree) foods from a spoon.
• Scoot backwards, but we think she is really trying to go forward.
• Rotate around on her belly to get closer to you or a toy she is reaching for.

At 6 Months Carly likes:

• Looking at books and magazines.
• Ripping pages of magazines (She would probably like to rip pages of paper books; however, we don't let her try.)
• Playing her tiger piano, while singing along to her tune.
• To help her mom and dad in the feeding process, by helping to hold her bottle or the spoon.
• Playing with her soft blocks, dolls, balls.
• Putting her hands in her mouth.
• Beating on a computer keyboard.
• Butterflies

At 6 Months Carly loves:

• Petting Jake, she will even cough, jump, babble, etc. to get his attention.
• Bath time
• Playing in her Exersaucer and Jump 'n Go
• Jumping (in her Jump 'n Go, in your lap, on the floor, anywhere she is allowed)
• Seeing her mommy and daddy when she first wakes up. (This smile alone makes a bad day PERFECT!!)

At 6 Months Carly hates:

• Going into her car seat
• Going down for a nap. (She might miss something exciting)
• When she notices someone (anyone) walks away from her. (You can sometimes get away if you walk out of the room backwards)

At 6 Months Carly eats:

• She nurses and/or is bottled milk 6 times a day.
• 3 - 5 tablespoons of solid (pureed) foods

At 6 Months Carly has tried:

• Rice Cereal
• Sweet Potatoes
• Avocado
• Butternut Squash
• Green beans (so far only once, and she wasn't a fan)

At 6 Months Carly's Bed Time Routine is:

• Bath - usually by daddy
• Bottle - usually by mommy
• Bed
• Bedtime prayer - usually recited by mommy

Peek - A - Boo

You can't see me...


Peek - a boo!!


I'm being sneaky now...


Peek - a - boo


SURPRISE!!

We Survived!

Carly and I had our first night as a duet. For Dave's previous business trips I have arranged "support" to assist me with Carly; however, this time I wanted to try to make it on my own. We had a wonderful day, that of course didn't follow the schedule I had laid out in my head (but that wasn't Carly's fault). Our night time routine fell into place like clock work, I had played out how I would orchestrate each piece of her routine without Dave's help. (Hiding a warmed bottle in a towel as we climbed the stairs for her bath, because she would want it as soon as she saw it and I didn't want to take her back downstairs to get the bottle after her bath. I figured it would mess up her BBB plan - bath, bottle, bed.) Once she was down I began getting myself ready for bed and then couldn't sleep. I listened to cars drive by and other random noises like it was my first time home alone. Hopefully I will learn how to sleep without Dave being home soon, otherwise I will be one tired mommy on Thursday night when he flies in.

(PS - I did arrange for assistance tonight incase yesterday was a disaster.)

Bittersweet

I received a bittersweet email yesterday. Early in the year I applied to participate in a Professional Development workshop centered around math through a Math - Science Partnership grant our district received. The focus is implementing our new math curriculum with the current and future state standards (something I am VERY opinionated about). When submitting my application I explained that I could only be in cohort C due to child care constraints and many of the questions about how I taught things this year had the theme of - "I am currently on maternity leave; however while I was teaching this year I..." (I felt I needed to explain why my answers only addressed the first quarter objectives.) As a result, I figured being expected into the program was a LONG SHOT, why would they want to invite someone who would be an emotional basket case these two weeks to a professional development that is competitive enough to need an application process and not just principal nomination?

The email that I received yesterday said that I had been accepted into cohort C and we would start on August 2nd at 8:30 AM. My initial thought was - OMG, my babies first day of daycare will be an all day experience and she will have to go for the entire week, every week, and until Christmas break. Then I remembered that we got Thanksgiving break too, so it would just be until then. A year ago I would have been jumping up and down for being accepted, then thought about how this will alter any current summer plans I have already made. It is amazing how quickly life changes with just a little push (or maybe a few minutes of deep breathing and intense pushing). This email was bittersweet. I am excited at the opportunity and honored to have been chosen, but am really not looking forward to August coming sooner than later.

Carly has hit a lot of major milestones in the past few days. While they have been WONDERFUL things to celebrate, they have also reminded me that she is growing up and that August will be here before she, Dave, and I realize it.

Turning Over

Carly isn't turning over a new leaf, but she is rolling over in both directions while in her crib. On Tuesday morning I woke up to find that she had done a complete 180 degree turn in her crib. Then as I traveled to her watched her (via the monitor) turn onto her belly. By the time I arrived in her room she was back on her back. Today during both of her naps I found her on her belly, after being placed on her back originally.

The past seven days have been HUGE for out little girl. She now sits straight up and selects a toy within her reach to play with, then will put it aside and select another toy (toppling only on occasion). She also is now rolling front to back and back to front by choice or out of something "fun" to do.

In addition, she is rotating around in a circle while on her belly. I sat behind her yesterday during tummy time and she began playing with a toy in front of her. She slowly rotated herself as her hands rotated the toy. She then caught sight/feeling of my leg and rotated herself around so that she was facing me and had both of her hands on my leg (as if she were trying to crawl up me). She isn't anywhere near ready to crawl, but she is working hard to get her legs up under her. At the moment her effort results in her rolling over. I guess some movement from this action is good, although it isn't the movement she is trying for.

Butternut Squash

The chunky monkey has added another food to her list of favorites (at least for the moment). Tonight Dave and I made her a new batch of sweet potato cubes to freeze and our first batch of butternut squash. While I was mashing it up in the food processor Carly was busy playing in her exersaucer and watching me very intently. She even started to mimic the sounds the machine was making. (a-a-aaaa - For some reason I pulsate it rhythmically to entertain myself.) While I was spooning it into the ice cube tray to freeze, Dave came downstairs and brought Carly over to watch what I was doing. I gave her a slight taste, just to see if there would be any type of reaction. She enjoyed it, so I put a little more in a dish and let her enjoy fresh made butternut squash. Hopefully she will enjoy it tomorrow as much as she did today... she has 2 tablespoons of it in the fridge and 16 in the freezer.

It's Official!

Carly is "officially" a sitter! Towards the end of last week she was sitting on her own, but would topple over anytime she would reach for a new toy. While this does still happen on occasion, she began sitting independently for extended periods of time (10+ minutes) on Saturday. I just place a few different toys around her and she will investigate one, then put it down and pick up a second to investigate.

Thursday Night: (falling over)


Friday Night:


Sunday Night:


One thing Dave and I have really started to notice recently is how inquisitive she is in her toys now. Last night she sat in her exersaucer and paid very close attention to the three pieces of ribbon on top of one of the head of one of the birds.

Boating

Carly went on her first boat ride today! We went for a late afternoon cruise around to the I-77 causeway. At the beginning of our trip Carly didn't seem to sure of everything. She wasn't crying, but there was some fussing and a lot of squirming. Then as we got out of the no wake zone and Dave was able to speed up her attitude seemed to change. She quit squirming and got her pinched lip little face. Then she slowly began babbling and letting us see a slight smile. Thankfully she is appeared to enjoy her first boating experience, otherwise she and I would be spending many lonely Saturdays and Sundays at home while her daddy went out and played.

New Jumper

I baby sat Carly today and since she was jumping up and down in her exer-saucer, I decided to pull out the Jumper Seat. It was a big success. She started off a little slow but really got into the jumping in the end.



Follow the link for a larger size.

First Easter

Carly's first Easter was filled with BEAUTIFUL weather! We departed on Thursday evening for Seabrook Island, to visit and celebrate Easter with Carly's great grandparents and grandparents. We had a pretty easy trip for traveling with a 5 month old, and while stopped for dinner at a Chick-fil-a over heard a couple talking about how they were traveling from New York to Florida with three children under the age of 4... we made the mental note not to attempt that type of trip.

Good Friday had a relaxed start and ended with Carly's first dip in a swimming pool and a wonderful dinner with an even better view at the Pelican's Nest.





Saturday was a "mommy" day!! Carly stayed at the house with her dad, Papa, and Great-Papa, while I went on a shopping spree with her Grandmother!! We departed for downtown Charleston around 11:00am and returned around 5:00pm! Thankfully the time downtown was successful and I have lots of new cute clothes (in particular tops) that fit. Our late arrival home left no time for Carly to head back to the pool, but we did have a delicious steak dinner at home.



Easter Sunday started slightly more hectic than we were expecting. I had set the alarm for 6:00am to give me plenty of time to get ready before Carly woke up and we had to leave for church at 8:30. Unfortunately, my alarm did not go off. I woke up at 7:34 and went into super fast speed. Thankfully the rest of the family wasn't quite so frantic so helped feed Carly a bottle after Dave got her dressed as I attempted to shower, pump, put on make up, dry my hair, get dressed and eat breakfast in less than an hour. (Lucky for us Church started a few minutes late and we were by far not the last to arrive.)



During the service Carly was her usual talkative and singing self. However, in her defense there were many church members encouraging her babble. Back at home Carly received her first Easter basket. She got a new bathing suit (she would have gotten two but we needed one of them on Friday), a tiger xylophone/piano, butterfly bath toys, and some large empty plastic eggs. We then ventured back over to the pool and for a sea side lunch.







Our departure from Seabrook worked out perfectly for us to stop in Columbia for Carly to visit with her other grandparents and show off her new piano.

Rest of the pictures are here