Happy 1/2 Birthday Lainey!

Dear Lainey,

Today you are 6 months old! I didn't know how unbelievably excited I would be on this day but I am so happy to celebrate your unbirthday with you.  You are starting to act and look like a such a big girl and I fear that my little baby is already growing up so fast.  You are so beautiful! I honestly believe that you are the most beautiful baby I have ever seen.  You are so funny! You make me laugh right out loud every single day and I know that Daddy thinks you are hysterical too! He is always giggling at your funny faces and your crazy noises and your seriously playful personality.  You are starting to sit up all by yourself, and not just for a few seconds while I hover over you to make sure you don't fall- but you have been slowly starting to sit up and play.  I am so proud of you!  Today we woke up a little earlier than usual and I sang the Happy Birthday song to you all morning.  You had apples and oatmeal for breakfast and Mama made you this silly little 1/2 birthday hat.  We snuggled and played all morning until Mama had to go to work :-( I have officially decided that I will be playing hookie on your REAL birthday every year for as long as you let me celebrate with you!  When Mama left for work you and Daddy spent the morning together bouncing in your seat and practicing your tummy time!  Grammy came over this afternoon to spend time with you until Mama got home from work and you did an AWESOME job showing her how you are such a big sitting girl! When Mama got home from work we snuggled some more.  You had chicken and apples for dinner, yes everything was homemade so the chicken was definitely a funky texture and your silly faces warmed my heart! After dinner we skyped with Grampy and Auntie Catherine and they were so excited when you screamed "HAAA" at them- which we have all decided is your version of HI.  Mama then gave you a bath, which you still LOVE, and we snuggled until you fell asleep.  I hope that you had a special day and that we always spend a little extra time together on all of your 1/2 birthdays! Mama LOVED celebrating her 1/2 birthdays and I hope that you and I can make our own silly 1/2 birthday traditions!  The past 6 months has been the most meaningful time in my life.  I love you more than you could ever understand and much more than I could ever express in this letter.  I hope that you feel my love every day and you know how grateful I am for you!  I honestly believe that I love everyone that I cared about before you were born even more now as I see them with you especially Daddy.  I couldn't be happier that I picked your Daddy to spend the rest of my life with.  We were so excited to get married and start a family and I think that you ended up with the best daddy in the entire world.  You are the most beautiful, smart, funny, playful, silly, healthy, strong, sweet, loving, lovable, curious little monkey in the world.  Happy 1/2 Birthday Lainey!

I love you!
Mama

Rice is Nice

 So in order to publish this post I needed to preface with Sunday's post about breastfeeding.  While reading all this extreme views on feeding babies there are so many conflicting reports about when to start on rice cereal. I thought that this would be something I wouldn't even consider until Lainey was 6 months old but let's face it- my kid is advanced and it only makes sense she would start rice cereal early too.  She has been showing so many signs that she was ready for a little bit more in her diet.  She stares at us while we eat, reaches for our food and our utensils and opens her mouth as we put food in our own mouths. Needless to say our pediatrician supports feeding babies at 4 months old.  He would support us if we decided to wait as well but after much back and forth I decided to go for it, trust my instincts and not look back.  The kid is a natural and I am so happy that we decided to start this phase!

We love this bowl, a gift from my Aunt MaryLou

We got her all set in her swing seat, adjusted her bib

and explained that she was about to get some Num Nums!!

We started Lainey with 1 Tbsp of rice with 5 Tbsp's of breastmilk.  Let's be clear here, we were basically spoon feeding her milk it was so thin.  Maybe slightly over the top but as mentioned before I am neurotic about all things food related.

Lainey was pretty sure she was going to love what was about to come.  She was all smiles and giggles as Mama and Daddy gushed over her and were just plain giddy with excitement.

Like I said before- She's a natural

HMMMMM what's this?

The first few bites surely dribbled down her chin!

Not sure she likes this?????

Wait YES I DO!!!!!!

Lainey absolutely loved her first rice cereal experience! It was bittersweet for me.  I am so happy that she is a big girl and eating rice cereal and I want her to experience all of the milestones as she is supposed to be but its sad to know that I am no longer the only one feeding her. And she is truly getting big so fast!

Hey do you people have any more of that stuff??

So, tomorrow will be one week of rice cereal.  So far it has had zero affect on her nighttime sleep habits - but she is happy, loving the cereal and in a few weeks we are sure she will love some REAL food as well. 

Breast is Best?

Let me first preface this post by saying that I am a breastfeeding supporter, a formula feeding supporter and as one of our fellow bloggers put so perfectly I support feeding babies!! I think that whatever works for you and your family is great.  I have thought a lot about this topic in the past 4 months and I think that this is a huge decision for a family to make and one that should be made without worrying about what other people will think of you.  Being a parent is stressful enough and I for one will be sure to never judge a mother feeding her baby again- boob, bottle or whatever!

When I first decided to give the whole Breastfeeding thing a go I started reading all these books, websites, articles etc. etc. etc. etc. about feeding babies.  It wasn't such a good idea for me and has truly led to a very neurotic mama.  For some reason I am obsessed with ensuring that Lainey gets the absolute best nutritional start possible.  I definitely struggled with breastfeeding in the beginning.  I suffered sore and bleeding nipples, engorgement, latch-on difficulties and a roller-coaster of hormonal emotions.  But somehow we made it through.  We utilized a nipple shield- well actually 5 nipple shields since Boomer decided to eat them when he was jealous of the baby- and lots and lots of trial and error.  At an evening feeding on week 12 Lainey decided that she no longer wanted to use the nipple shield and latched on perfectly for the first time ever.  From that point forward we started feedings without the nipple shield and now she feeds without it at every feeding.  Now that I am back at work I am trying to master the art of producing enough milk, pumping and nursing when I am home.  I honestly believe that this process is an art NOT a science as there doesn't seem to be any magic one step potion that makes this process work.  It is a full-time commitment, a time consuming process and surely makes balancing work and motherhood just a little bit tougher.  But I can say without hesitation that it is something I am committed to doing this for as long as I am possible.  I would love to give a date but at this point I take it week by week and give myself a little pat on the back every Friday when I get home from work.  I have been blessed to be able to produce enough milk- with some diet changes (bring on the oatmeal) and a few extra pumps on days when its just not flowing like it should- and so I have decided that I want to provide my baby with mama milk through the most important months of her development.  I want to formally apologize to all those nursing mama's that I judged prior to starting my own experience.  For a long time I thought you were "weird."   I had no idea how difficult it was and how much a lifestyle commitment it would be.  I am happy to report that I am finally realizing the beauty of this gift and I am grateful for the experience that we have had thus far.

Snow Day!

Lainey's First Snow

Growing up my mother always made a very big deal about the FIRST SNOW of the season.  As far back as I can remember she would make my brother, my sister and I go for a walk during the first snow.  It sounds silly but we all loved this and as soon as the weather turned cold and smell of snow was in the air we would get as excited about our walk as we would about the potential to have a SNOW DAY from school.  I can honestly remember getting woken up in the middle of the night to walk down the street in back just to be sure we didn't miss it!  When I was in college I would call my mom during the first snow if I wasn't with her and she would talk with me as I did a quick walk around campus.  This is one of the traditions that I hope to carry on with Lainey.  We did miss the first few snowfalls because they were short snow showers and by the time I got Lainey all bundled up they had passed.  BUT I was able to get her out there during the first snow that amounted to anything and here is a peak at our very first "walk in the snow"

Thank you Corey for my snow suit!

I made a small snowball and let her take a taste.  MMMM she loved it!!!!

 

 

 

All bundled up and ADORABLE!

As you can see I am also trying out some new designs with the blog and I am hoping that you will stick with me as I try out some new things!!!

Happy New Year!

So as most of you remember Lainey's middle name "EVE" was chosen to represent the first time Aaron and I met- New Years Eve.  This year, like every other year since 2004, Aaron had to work.  Lainey, Boomer and I had our own little mini NYE bash until the two of them wore themselves out and crashed before the ball dropped.  As much as I wanted my little moo to welcome in the new year with us I have to admit that I was happy that the "kids" decided to sleep through the 10 second countdown as Aaron got out of work at 11, was home at 11:30, and was able to pour us some classic cocktails in time for us to celebrate our own special moment.  This was our 6th midnight kiss and it truly gets better each year. 

I tried to explain to Lainey that this was her holiday and that I hope ever New Year's Eve she experiences is as magical, hopeful and exciting as it can possibly be.

Of course there needs to be one of my wide eyed girl!

Getting her NYE groove on!

Boomer wasn't quite as entertained by my antics but reluctantly he did participate!

Well I hope that everyone else is looking forward to 2011 as much as I am.  One of my resolutions is to be a more balance woman.  I hope to better manage my role as Mommy, Wife, Working Woman, and still give something to myself.  I have also made a resolution to blog more.  As much as I wish I was a diary writer, or a scrapbooker I am just no good at either and I am hoping that this will be a great way to not only share our stories and moments with family and friends but also a place to hold all of the memories I want to give Lainey when she is older.

A personality all her own...

Well let me start by saying my whole life I have wished for a child with some spunk....maybe a little bit fresh....not a misbehaved child by any means but I hopes to raise a confident strong young lady...Lucky for me I think we are on this road.  I love love love that Lainey knows what she wants and isn't afraid to give a little squeal to let us know.  She is, in my opinion, absolutely hysterical! She has started exploring some new sounds of late and now we are lucky enough to hear a lot more than just your everyday cooing and have started to hear some shrieks, some laughs, and some gurgles. As she makes these beautiful sounds you can see her little eyes light up as she realizes that SHE did that.  It is truly and amazing thing to see pride in your little one's eyes and it's made me realize that I need her to know how very very proud I am of her.....

Dear Lainey,

You are only 4 months old but your mama is about as proud of you as I can be.  Its funny how as a child myself I always thought that I needed to do something really impressive in order for my parents, your Grammy and Grampy, to be proud of me.  You know, things like graduate from college, buy a house, start a 401K, things like that.  I had no idea that on a random day, for particular great achievement, they could look at me and feel pride.  But now that I am watching you sleep beside me I am overwhelmed with pride.  You are 4 months old and you are so independent, beautiful, playful, caring, generous, snuggly, funny and lovable.  You already have a personality all your own and let me tell you little moo that its wonderful.  I love you so much and though I wish all kids of great achievements come your way you should wake up every morning and go to sleep every night knowing that your mama is so proud of you.

Love,
 Mama

New Years Eve!

I have been trying to convince Lainey all day today that New Years Eve is her holiday and that since her middle name is thanks to this WONDERFUL holiday that she is destined to have fabulous New year's Eve's for many years to come.  By the amount of smiles and silliness she has elicited today I am pretty sure she is in agreement that NYE is AWESOME!! I must say that 2010 has been a fabulous year.  But then I really feel like every year I say this.  2008- I was so excited because we had JUST bought our first home, 2009 we were married and JUST found out we were pregnant 2010 we had our beautiful girl and she JUST found her little toes this we*.  We have a lot to be thankful for here in the Babinski household and we have even more to look forward too.  Bring it on 2011- we are excited! 

I have for about as long as I can remember LOVED when babies eat their own toes.  I think it is adorable and have been waiting for this milestone since I found out I was pregnant!  And this week sure enough Lainey reached down, tugged off her sockies (which is a task she has officially mastered) and inserted her big toe into her mouth.  Her face was absolutely priceless and once again this little angel has melted my heart more than I thought possible.  I was actually telling my mother this week that she seems to think that she is the luckiest baby on earth to have feet.  Sometimes she will take a quick nibble and look at me with her big beautiful eyes and I swear she is giving me a look that says "thank you soooooo much for giving me these feet" I don't want to deny that I am sure God had a hand in creating such a beautiful babe but I can't help but lean in close to my moo and whisper "you're welcome"