6 months!

Taking a little rest in the sun with Daddy.

My baby girl is growing up!! Do you think she favors me yet?

One of her favorite play spots.

My baby is six months old, y'all! How did that happen? Well, however it did I'm loving it. I love this age so much!! She's a sweet, snuggley little girl and is just precious and perfect. These days Cecily is scooting and rolling everywhere! It's so funny because I'll set her up in the middle of our living room with a pile of toys and I'll walk out of the room and when I come back she'll be waay on the other side! Gotta keep my eyes on this girl! She can sit up unassisted and does a really good job of keeping her balance and not toppling over. She's still working on moving from a seating position to lying back down so that sometimes gets the tears going when she does ker-flop over. I think that she can get up into a seated position by herself now too. This morning when I heard her crying in her bed she was sitting up! That was a big surprise but I should've seen it coming. Right now she's still in the pack-n-play thing but since Lib will be moving to a big girl bed *hopefully this weekend* little Cecily will soon be moved into the crib! I was hoping for Cecily to be sleeping more consistently at night before I moved her in with Libby but we might just have to try it out. On a good night Cecily will go down around 8pm and sleep until 3am when she'll wake to eat and will go back to sleep until about 7am. That happens about 1 every 4 nights, but it's getting more regular. It's more common for her to wake up a few other times and usually I am able to get her back to sleep by sneaking in and sticking the pacifier back into her mouth.
Our littlest one is still a happy, sweet, and charming little baby. Everyone comments on how big her smiles are and how happy she is to see people. Mama is her favorite person around but she loves it when Daddy holds her too. She also really likes the sweet ladies at the gym daycare and of course her two grandmothers and numerous other relatives.
The other day I gave her an apple slice to suck on and she went to town on that thing! You would've thought I'd given her an addictive substance the way she threw a fit every time she dropped it! I might start trying to give her some baby food here and there but I'm not in a big hurry. I'm waiting for a few more "signs" that she's ready. Plus, I don't want to interfere with breastfeeding quite yet. It's going well and I've even been able to pump a few ounces most days so I'm hoping to keep that up. I'll probably try to pump more when I do start feeding her just to keep my supply bumped up.
Well, I'd better get to cleaning', these little girls can destroy our living areas pretty fast! :)

I'm in love

with this precious girl!!!

2 years ago...

Two years ago tonight I was in labor with my precious first born, Liberty Ann. The labor was long and at times very difficult. You can read about it here. Long story short, I woke up with labor pains early in the morning on the 29th of December, 2008. I hoped this was "it" because my due date was the 20th. The labor stopped then re-started that evening for real about 6pm after laboring at home in bed, in the shower, and on my birthing ball we headed to the hospital around 1am. The longest ride of my life! After getting settled into my room and spending hours in the shower my precious baby girl finally made her appearance at 11:21am. I pushed for 2 1/2 hours. Without pain meds. It was HARD! But holding my tiny newborn for the first time made everything worthwhile. She looked up and around and immediately stopped crying when she heard mine and Tim's voices. She also was able to instantly latch on and start eating. It was truly a magical time. After she spent some time in the nursery they brought her back to us and we reveled in her preciousness.
We brought her home and we were so happy to have her with us, we felt like we had always needed her with us.
The last two years have been wonderful and fun. We've had some rough times with our headstrong little girl, but she has a sweet heart and a desire to do the right thing. She is an amazing addition to our family and we couldn't ask for a better little first born child. Oh and for her birthday she requested: pizza, cake and icecream, and hats (because one of her best buds Miles had hats at his bday party). We were going to have a little party with our best buds but I've been horribly sick and don't want to share the germs. Poor girl, she was sick for her first bday and now mommy is sick for her second. :( Oh well, we'll still make it a blast!!
Here are some recent pictures of our darling:

Darling

Oh I love this baby girl!! She has added so much to our lives and we are blessed to have her. Life is a lot busier with two little ones, obviously, as I've been pretty absent on here. :)
I hope to write a good update soon, but for now these pictures will have to suffice. Isn't she adorable?!

Fun pictures and a bit of an update

We went to one of the Ranger's last games of the season!

We got there late, on purpose because I knew Libby probably wouldn't make the whole game. And I think we timed it perfectly! She really enjoyed it and was getting restless just near the end. They had a fireworks show and it was a really good one! Libby just sort of stoically watched it but she was interested. I'm sure she'll get more into it by next July 4th. We had fun with her and I'm glad we went.

Our girl still loves to eat!



Especially bananas! I know, I should've put a bib on her but she was probably already messy so I didn't want to have to wash a bib too! She loves to feed herself so I try to let her with some things.
We still don't have a highchair and I really want to get one but I just haven't gone to enough garage sales and/or resale shops to find one I like and want. We also don't have a dining set right now and I'd like to get that too. We might just get a chair that straps onto a normal chair but I'm not sure. I might be afraid that she would squirm out of it or something. Right now the bumpo seat works pretty well but I can't leave her in it unless it's on the floor. I really want to get a highchair though so I think we will pretty soon. I just don't want to spend $60 on a new one that I don't particularly like!

Libby loves her bathtub!



Almost every bath she props her food up on the side of the tub and just chills out chewing on her toys. She loves her ducky tub and her toys, especially the little sheep. Every time she has a bath she finds the sheep and chews on it and plays with it almost the whole time! Too funny!

I thought this outfit was cute so I tried to do a little photoshoot on the couch.





These were all taken right after another so you can tell how squirmy she is and how hard it is to get pictures these days! So cute though. :)

Pretty girl all ready for church this morning!




Photoshoot with mama and daddie before church. Too bad Maddie couldn't take one of all of us. :(



Riding her wooden horsie!


We were going to save the horse for her birthday but oh well! :) She really loves it and can ride it pretty well now. She even hangs on with her legs and rocks back and forth on it!

I'm amazed every day how much she's changing and growing! She looks so old to me in some of these pictures! Her face is so slender she doesn't even look like a chubby cheeked baby. :( But the new stages are a lot of fun! Last week she really started to up her babbling and I'm ready to say that she can say a few words! At the grocery store on Monday I got her a bouncy ball and I told her a few times it was a ball and ever since then she's been saying 'ball, ball, ball'! Over and over! And I asked her, "where is dad?" and she pointed to Tim and said "dad" very clearly. So of course, so typical, her first word is not mom. :( Oh well! She still wants me when she's hurting or hungry. :)

Libby now has started doing something I have only dreamed about. She will throw Maddie's toys for her!! This is huge for me! Anyone who has ever owned a Border Collie will understand. :) Of course it goes about 6 inches and Libby then looks and me anticipated my applause and just grins and grins when I cheer her on. So we're still a little ways off from them entertaining each other, but it's a huge breakthrough!

She is sooo close to walking!! The other day I looked up and she was standing in the middle of the floor! She looked at me like, oh shoot, now what do I do, and fell forward. :) Thankfully she wasn't hurt (it takes a lot to make her cry). She mostly sticks to walking around the furniture or with her push toy but I can tell she's thinking about walking! Surely by 10 months she'll be walking but who really knows! I know of babies who are soo close to walking for a few months before they actually take the plunge.

All in all, she is such a delight and so much fun to be with every day! I am so blessed and grateful that I am able to stay home with her every day! It is such a joy and I love it!

Pictures!!!

So did y'all check out my scrumptious little niece? Ha! Little is not the right word to describe her!! She is just about 4 pounds less than Libby!! Too funny! I just wish I had been there to cheer Mindy on. (NO epidural or anything!!!!) Hopefully we'll be back in Texas for each of our next births so we can cheer each other on! I just can't believe my 5'2", 115 lb. SIL had a TEN pound baby! And people, the babe was posterior for a while!! Mindy is Superwoman!!

And now since I know you've been dying to see them, here are some pics of slobbery Libby! I've had a bib on her all day so hopefully we can avoid soaking too many outfits!! Oh and obviously she still smiles with her whole mouth! Too funny! I hope she does that for a long time.

Happiest baby around!

No bottles here! We just skip straight to cups!





Practicing sitting and more drool

Trying to crawl!!






Growth!!




Flower child!




As you can see, Libby is trying to crawl and will soon be on the move! She's also doing a pretty good job of sitting on her own. She can sit forever if I hold onto her feet, but without help she can sit without toppling over for anywhere from 5-30 seconds. Although I just can't wait for her to crawl! I love each stage and I'm happy for the changes. I'm not one to want to stay in the same place for long. So I enjoy her stages but I'm just as ready as she is when it's time to move on. Maybe I'll feel differently with the youngest but I doubt it. :) I'd better get going but enjoy these pics!!