6 Months

Chloe & Buster

Chloe pushing up tall

Chloe proud of herself after she pushed up with her arms

Chloe looking at the monkeys at the zoo All 3 of us at the Hole in the Wall

Well Chloe is now 6 months old. She is changing daily and from what I hear it won't stop! One of the new things that she loves to do is to blow raspberries and make funny faces. She will go the whole day and all it seems like she does is blow raspberries and make bubbles. She thinks it is funny when you do it to her and she thinks it is funny when she does it. Sometimes she doesn't make the sound or the bubbles, but she pouts out her lips and buffs up her cheeks like she is going to, but then just decides to make the face.

I don't know when you are suppose to teach children words, but we figure that it is never too early to start. So for some of the simple things we make sure to tell her multiple times what it is or rather than saying our dogs' names we say doggies. Then of course we ask her if she can say "ma ma" or "da da" and of course she can't. But what she does do is smile from ear to ear. As if the whole not smiling for the camera didn't show us enough that she may be a bit stubborn like her mom, her grin tells it all. It is like she is saying I know exactly what you want me to do, but I'm not going to do it for you.

One thing that has been very evident this past month or so is that she loves to be on the move. She loves to kick her legs and kick her legs and kick her legs. I feel like she won't learn to walk, but she will just learn to run. Its rather amusing to us, but what is really amusing is when other people notice it. We will be out at a restaurant and she will kick her little legs in her car seat the whole time and people walking by and waitresses always comment about it. To Zach and I it is normal, but everyone else thinks it is strange and will ask if she always is like that. Yes...yes she is. She loves her belly. Ever since she learned that rolling over was fun we can't really keep her off of her belly. She plays on her belly and she can even scoot around in a circle to reach for other toys to anything else that she wants. Within the past week she has really been lifting up on her arms and each time we give her praise for doing so and then she lets out a big grin and falls back onto her elbows. It has been very rare but I have seen her pull her knees under her so I'm sure within the next few weeks she will start to pull them up more and then crawling will be right around the corner.

Chloe has also become much more interested in the dogs. Buster is her dog as he doesn't care if she pulls at his ears or fur or lays on him. He is just happy for the attention. Daisy on the other hand still just wants to come around on her terms or when Chloe is in her booster seat having rice cereal. One of these days maybe Daisy won't be scared of this little baby.
We took our first trip to the zoo. It was beautiful outside in the 80s and it was the perfect time to go. We all put on sunscreen and headed out for a day in the sun. I'm not sure why I was in charge of the sunscreen as I always get burnt, but Zach put me in charge of it. So I lathered up Chloe and off we went. We walked the entire zoo and Chloe stayed awake the entire time. She was sleepy at times, but she did not want to miss anything. Although, I'm not quite sure what she was able to see in her carseat/stroller, but she seemed to like it and we caught her looking at some of the monkeys. Later that evening we were giving Chloe a bath and I asked Zach what the red marks on her knees were and if he thought it was from the carpet when she kicks while she is on her belly. He then told me it was sunburn. Oops...maybe I shouldn't be in charge of the sunscreen after all.

The past few weeks since we have been back from Indy we started "Operation No Swaddle". Chloe was getting out of her swaddle and rolling over so we decided it was time. We decided to stop cold turkey. No swaddle, no pacifier and no middle of the night 2oz snacks of formula or water. I thought it was going to be terrible and we would be up for nights with barely any sleep. Nope...it wasn't too bad. There were a few nights where she would wake up 2 or 3 times, but we weren't up for hours. She is now taking all naps and night time sleep without her swaddle and just with a little blanket. She's back to sleeping through the night so hopefully this continues now that she has learned to put herself to sleep.

Our doctors appointment went well. She weighs 14lbs 6oz and is 26in long. She is still in the 75th percentile for height and is between the 24th and 50th percentile for weight. She did not like the doctor this visit. He has a loud voice and I think that is part of it, but she was giving him the pouty lip as soon as he started talking. He did say that now that she is 6 months and normally parents are a little more calm that he is going to send us to the Phoenix Children's Hospital to see one of the skin specialists there. Chloe has a large strawberry hemangiomas on her belly and our doctor wants us to get it checked out because he is afraid that it will start bleeding when she starts to crawl since it is right on her chest. He said that if it does bleed to just put a lot of pressure on it and to remember that all bleeding stops eventually. I hope this never happens while I am home with Chloe by myself because I'm afraid I may freeze and panic rather than just put pressure on it. They said it may take a few weeks to get an appointment so until then we will just wait.

The next month should be pretty relaxing. The weather is getting warmer so outdoor activities will be limited, but now that she is 6 months we can put her in the pool when the weather is right.

Happy Mother's Day to Me!

Well it is my first Mother's day with Chloe not in my belly and it has been a great day so far. Zach actually works on Sundays so we have been celebrating all weekend. I told Zach that all I wanted was for a family day and he make the plans. So on Saturday morning we got up and got Chloe fed and played with her and then we watched a little Saturday morning cartoons together and put her down for her first nap. Zach then told me that the plans were to go to Texas Roadhouse for dinner and then out to Ikea for a little family shopping and then to Dairy Queen for some mid-day treats. Now if you know Zach very well you know that his favorite place to eat is Texas Roadhouse, he loves Ikea and he loves ice cream. So who was this day for again :) I loved it though, because I love those things as well. Maybe not as much as he does, but I didn't care as long as we had the day together. When we got home we took a walk since the sun was down and it was only in the 80s then we put Chloe to bed and watched the movie Night and Day. Don't waste your time on the movie it was better to laugh at rather than laugh along with. It was a perfect day.

So today it is Mother's day and Chloe and I get the whole day together! We did let Zach join in the fun and met him for lunch. When Chloe and I came home Chloe decided to give me her present. See below.

Yup, if you can't tell that is poop on my shirt. She decided to poop on the way home from lunch and I didn't know and she was wearing a dress so when I picked her up the dress folded on my shirt. I had no idea that she had pooped until I headed upstairs to change her and get her ready for bed. As soon as I lifted up the dress I smelt and saw it. The poop was oozing out of the diaper. Yuck! Then I noticed it on the dress so I put it the sink to soak. I continued to get her ready when I still smelt the stench and then noticed it on my arm and soon after noticed it on my shirt. Thank you Chloe! Happy Mother's Day to Me!

Picture Perfect

Chloe and me in the car after our photo session

It was finally the day that we had been looking forward to since about December. It was picture day! Only there was one problem...the forecast was predicting rain and not just rain, but wind and storms. We were going into Indy to the Museum of Art back in their beautiful gardens. We were to start about 6pm at night to hopefully catch a beautiful sunset at the gardens. After the rain was coming down all day we finally called it off at 3pm and rescheduled for the next morning. Saturday morning's forecast was to be a bit cloudy, but no rain. So Saturday morning we woke up early and made our way to the gardens. We were hoping Chloe would sleep during the ride there, but of course she didn't. So we knew that there wasn't much time between the weather changing and Chloe's mood changing.

Once we got to the gardens I was so glad that we waited as the gardens were beautiful and we were somehow lucky enough to have a bit of sunshine. We were out in the gardens for about an hour and we had sunshine pretty much the entire time. The ground was wet, but all the flowers were blooming. The only thing not blooming was Chloe's smile. We tried everything to get her to smile, but as soon as that camera came up her curious face came on. Our photographer, Sara, does a lot of natural and playful shots so we did get some smiles, but in the individual and family shots it was not so easy.

It was a great day and we didn't know what to expect with the pictures, but I told Zach as long as we get a good one of all three of us, a good one of Zach and Chloe, a good one of me and Chloe and a good one of Chloe then it was well worth it. I was blown away when Sara sent us the finished product as all the photos were amazing! I can't believe how good they were and I was so glad we decided to stick it out and not give up because of the weather. You can check out the photos on Sara's blog at www.sprinklesoflight.com/blog/?p=101

Weekend Full of Firsts

Jenna's Parents, Chloe, Jenna & Zach
Chloe being held by her cousin Sydney

On the plane ride on the way to Indy

Chloe and her Easter Basket on Easter MorningChloe's Easter basket by her crib Chloe watching Tom & Jerry on the plane ride home

We just got back from a trip to Indiana to see my family. We made the trip out there for Easter before it gets too humid and while the outside is all green rather than white with snow. It was Chloe's first Easter, but it was also her first flight. This wasn't a little flight, it was a long flight. It takes us 4 hours to get from Phoenix to Indy. I had been very nervous all week about the flight and I started to have dreams about what was going to happen. Most of them included us either forgetting Chloe or misplacing her in the airport. Luckily none of them came true. I was also very nervous because of the 3 hour time change. That is a huge difference and even though we tried to get her ready by moving her feedings up the week before, I was still not sure how she would do.
She did great all weekend. We started out on Thursday morning and even though we didn't buy a ticket for Chloe the fight attendants let us take her car seat on the plane because it wasn't a full flight. Chloe didn't take a nap during her first nap so we were sure she would be super tired on the flight. We sat in seats above the wings so that way the engines would muffle out any crying and also there is extra vibration to help put her to sleep. In the row right in front of us was an Arizona cowboy. (I say Arizona cowboy because he wasn't a good ole' country boy, but a more classy cowboy. Basically he is cowboy in fancy hat and fancy boot only.) We hadn't put Chloe is her seat yet because we wanted to give her as much freedom as possible so Zach was playing with her and then she just squealed a high pitch squeal. The cowboy turned around and I said sorry, but he and his wife quickly moved towards the back of the plane. That was really the only noise she made the entire flight. Once we were ready to take off we put her in her seat and I gave her a bottle and then she was out for about an hour and a half. She woke up and we played quietly for a little bit and then she went back to sleep for about 45 minutes to an hour. She was the perfect baby on the flight. It is also worth mentioning that the cowboy sat back near another family. That family didn't have such luck as we did as their children were quite noisy.

We landed and gathered all of our bags (only 1 suitcase, 1 duffel bag, 1 computer bag and 1 diaper bag) and headed back to my parents house. Of course on the way home we had to stop by and get some pizza and breadsticks from the amazingly, wonderfully, glorious Pizza King. Scratch that off my list only just a few more items to scratch off the list before it can be considered a successful Indy trip. We had a nice relaxing night and had a few visitors. My grandparents came by for a visit and then of course Christina, Sydney and Carter came by for a visit. Chloe did so well with the time difference and being in a new place. She woke up a few times throughout the night, but we've been having that same issue for the past few weeks so that was actually normal.

Friday was also to be a relaxing day. We were suppose to meet my friends Heather & Sean and their new baby Ella at the park for a picnic, but it had been raining for like weeks straight so we had to move our picnic to my parents' house. It was a great visit. They were there for a few hours and we were able to meet each other's babies and get caught up. I love meeting up with them because it is like no time has passed between the last visit. Instead of going to take photos we went out to dinner with my family and then went back to my parents' house to put Chloe to bed and play some games.

Chloe slept good on Friday night. She only woke up once during the night. We woke up to a little bit of sunshine and no rain! We were so excited because our chances of getting our photos were looking up. We met our photographer at 9am and were able to spend about an hour getting our pictures taken. It was beautiful out, the ground was really wet, but the sun was out a bit and the gardens were blooming! After our photos we went to a little Mexican restaurant to celebrate my dad's birthday. The rest of the day was relaxing. We went back to the house and my grandparents and aunt came over for a little visit. Zach and I then decided for dinner we would drive to get some Noble Roman's breadsticks and White Castle burgers. We could now mark these two things off my list. While we went out my parents watched Chloe. This was only the second time that Chloe was not with either Zach or myself. She survived and so did we.

Sunday was a crazy day. Zach and I stayed home while my parents went to Easter service so we could make sure Chloe had a good nap before our busy day. After she woke up from her nap she found her Easter basket that the Easter bunny left for her by her crib. It had a few Tom & Jerry DVDs and some new toys. We then went to my cousin's house and had Easter lunch with my mom's side of the family. Zach and I left a little early and took Chloe on a car ride so she could get a little nap in between our family lunch and dinner. It was only about a 20 minute drive in between my cousin's house and my grandparent's house, so I took Zach on a tour of Hazelwood so we could give Chloe about a 45 minute nap. Now for all of you that know where Hazelwood is you must be thinking that we were crazy and how could we spend so much time driving around the city. For those of you who don't know where Hazelwood is it is maybe a 2 mile square grid so we had to go around many many times. At my grandparents' house I could mark the final two things off the list. I marked off my grandma's rolls and strawberry pie from Gray Brothers. It could now be considered a successful Indiana trip. And it was.

Monday was our last day and we just stayed home and had visitor after visitor after visitor come by before we left. Our last adventure was the airplane ride home. I wasn't as nervous this time because Chloe did so well the first time. I should have been. Our flight was in the evening and that was a big mistake. She had already had all of her naps so she wasn't really tired and did not really want to be in her car seat as once again we had our own row on the plane above the engines. For the first hour Chloe fussed and cried until she finally fell asleep. She slept for an hour and then was ready to eat again. So she ate and then played for the rest of the trip home. It was a little more stressful, but it all worked out.

Now that we are home it is time to start on "Operation No Swaddle". We are breaking Chloe of using a swaddle when she sleeps. She is starting to get out of her swaddle at night and waking herself up because of that. So wish us luck as I'm sure the next few nights may be a few long nights.

5 Months!

Baseball game

Jenna's parents with Chloe at Westgate

Keeping Ice on My Wisdom TeethChloe and Zach on the CarouselChloe and Zach going down the slide at Rustlers Rooste

Chloe is now five months old! This past month has been a great month, but it was also a very challenging month. We've been very lucky in the fact that Chloe has slept about 10-12 hours a night since she was about 10 weeks old. This month, however, that has all changed. I have read that at four months so many things are changing and babies are much more aware of their surroundings that sleeping patterns can start to change. That has definitely been the case for us and we are not too excited about it all. We think the biggest culprit is gas though. We started Chloe on oatmeal and veggies and ever since we started she has decided to wake up throughout the night with gas. And I don't just mean wake up and fuss a little. It is a full scream of pain. My first thought was that she wasn't ready for solid foods yet so we stopped for a week, but then she was waking up hungry around 3:30am because she had already gotten use to having the extra filling food. So then we were only doing oatmeal once a day, but still she was waking up twice a night with gas. I called the doctor and didn't get much help. It was more like well every baby is different so make sure you are only doing peas and green beans because those are the least gassy veggies and then we can do some apple juice if she is constipated or to try and push that gas through faster. We started the veggies again, but still she is waking up. We have now decided to try rice cereal twice a day and no veggies since rice cereal is suppose to be easier to digest. If this doesn't work we will go back to formula only and hold off the solids for a few weeks. Now don't feel too bad for us because she normally sleeps at least 7 hours before waking up early in the morning and then she will sleep again another 3 hours or so. We are still getting plenty of sleep as well, but it is a little more interrupted and a change of what we are use to. Wish us luck that we can get things back to normal.

Okay, enough of that. We did a lot this month. We went to Sedona, I had my wisdom teeth taken out, my family was in town and we went to a baseball game and that is just what we did as a family not what Chloe has developed. I would have to say that I have the most wonderful husband ever. When I had my wisdom teeth out I was miserable and I think more miserable than after giving birth. I was helpless too and for three days Zach pretty much took care of Chloe by himself as well as he took care of me too. I was pretty helpless too and I didn't know what to eat or if I could eat. I also did not handle the Vicodin very well and it made me sick so I was just on Excedrin every 5 hours which definitely didn't get rid of all the pain, but it was better than getting sick.

A week after my wisdom teeth were taken out my family came in to visit. We did a lot of great things and had a lot of fun. We went to this little amusement park, Castles N Coasters, and Chloe rode her first ride. She was on the carousel. Zach took her and of course she had to go on an up and down horse rather than one just standing still. Zach said she loved it and I think he was pretty excited about it as well. We also hung out at the park and went to Westgate so the kids could play in the fountain. It was a blast!

It was opening weekend for the AZ Diamondbacks this weekend so on Saturday we went out to the game. We weren't sure how Chloe would do, but we wanted to try because this was the first year we did not go to a single spring training game. Chloe did really well. We weren't able to stay for the whole game because of her bedtime, but we were there for a little over two hours. We even had to feed her at the game and she did really well. I had her in our wrap carrier so she was cozy and it was easy to handle her without a huge stroller. Everyone thought she was adorable. It was pretty cold out and rainy so it gave us an opportunity to wear her Nike track suit, but the pants are still a little too big, but she could wear her jacket. Zach was really excited about it as this was one of our favorite outfits that we got from our shower.

Not only did we do a lot this month, but Chloe is just growing by leaps and bounds. She did not go to the doctor this month so I am guessing her weight is about 13.5 pounds and she is about 25.5 inches long. She can't sit up on her own yet, but she is trying really hard. She is also standing up really well. She locks her knees and she will just stand for like 5 minutes until her knees give out. We still have to hold her to stabilize her as her balance isn't there yet, but we are just amazed at how well she is standing. Zach thinks she is going to skip crawling and go straight to walking. Chloe's hair is also finally coming in. I think it is going to be a darker blond or light brown, but we will just have to wait and see once it really comes in. She is also quite a rollie pollie and a wiggle worm when she plays on the floor and she is very interested in anything that we have or are eating.

Next month will be another great month as well. It will be Chloe's first Easter and we will be in Indiana to celebrate it. I'm so excited to show her off for the first time and of course to have some of the best food in the world! We are also going to get some family pictures done, which we are very excited about. I can't wait to see what this month brings

Rollin' Rollin' Rollin'

Well Chloe is officially and constantly rolling over now. When my family was in town we spent a lot of time with Allie and Chloe would just stare at her because Allie would just roll and roll and roll. My family left on Wednesday and on Thursday I was talking to Zach and he said "SHE JUST ROLLED OVER!". He was so excited and it was very cute to hear the excitement in his voice. I had seen Chloe roll over a few times here and there, but every time I would try to capture it on camera she would stop so he had never seen her do it. So now she rolls from back to front with an occasional front to back roll. It was like she had studied Allie's technique and decided she could do it too.

We are very excited for her, but then it hit us. She decided roll over during her nap and then she woke up terrified because she was face down and didn't know how to get back the other way. She let out a big shrill and of course we rush into her room because she does not usually scream like that, and then we laughed as she is all swaddled up and on her belly. It was funny during nap time, but not funny during night time. She woke up at 5am this morning on her belly just screaming. It may be time to do away with the swaddle so she can roll herself back onto her back, but she still sleeps so good in her swaddle and without it she will often wake herself up. Oh the dilemma...

First Family Vacation

Well we went on our first family vacation this past weekend. We spent the weekend in beautiful Sedona, AZ. We had been looking forward to this for over a month, but it started out not quite how we expected. I'm always one to pack about 3 days early as to make sure I don't forget anything and I don't wear anything that I was planning on wearing during vacation. I thought I was doing good because we packed all of the clothes and some toys for Chloe the night before. There were a lot of things that I had made a mental note to pack in the morning after we use it. We were frantically getting everything ready and in time for Chloe's doctor's appointment. It was like the Home Alone movie where they are all running frantically around the house because they woke up late.

We were driving up to Sedona, which is a little less than 2 hours away, but because of the delay in Chloe's doctor's appointment we were running a bit behind. So we had to decide where to stop and feed her. We thought we would just stop at the outlet mall, but she was sleeping in the car so as Zach is asking should I pull off, should I pull off. I'm saying hold on your phone is so slow I can't figure out where the next stop is and if we can make it. He decides to just start to pull off and I say NO there is a McDonald's about 20 miles lets let Chloe sleep and continue driving. The rest of the drive is uneventful as we stop at McDonald's so everyone can eat and then we continue the drive to Sedona.

It isn't until we get to our hotel that we realize everything that we forgot. It just hit me like a ton of bricks. We forgot Chloe's swaddle! Chloe doesn't sleep well without a swaddle because she still has the newborn jerky arms and legs that wake her up and prevent her from sleeping good. Her swaddle was one thing that was on my mental list that I never said out loud because I thought surely I would remember. Sedona isn't the kind of place that has a Walmart or Babies R Us close by. The closest town is a half hour away. So we called the front desk to see if they recommend any stores or anywhere that might have baby stuff. They recommended a place called Beals, but it is basically just like a Ross or TJMax and they didn't have anything and the grocery store didn't have anything. So it was time for plan B. I told Zach just to pick up some Velcro and we would make a swaddle. So that's what we did. Of course once Zach got back from the store I realized that we didn't bring Chloe's nighttime diapers either or her lullabies.

Needless to say we were a little nervous about the first night for Chloe to be in a different bed without an actual swaddle and her super absorbent nighttime diapers. And I was stressing because I didn't have a monitor that detects motion so how was I to know if she was alive in there. Zach laughed when I asked if we should bring the monitor, and he was right we didn't need it, but I was so nervous I wouldn't hear her. The night actually didn't go all that bad. She went right to sleep at 8:30pm and then woke up at 3:30am. We changed her, re-swaddled her and gave her another few ounces to help put her back to sleep. It worked and we had to wake her up at 8:30am the next morning.

On Saturday we went and walked around the town in all the little shops and ate out in town and looked out at the beautiful scenery. It was gorgeous out both weather wise and scenery wise! After lunch we headed out into some of the hiking trails. I had looked up some wheelchair accessible trails because I figured if the wheelchair could get through then so could Chloe's stroller. When we pulled into the parking area the lady at the front gate said that we had to stay on this side of the creek because the water was rushing due to the snow melting. We kind of laughed and thought that it really wasn't rushing, but it was. The water was moving quite quickly and it was deep. There was no way we could get across. So our hike was a little shorter than normal, but it was still nice and relaxing. After our walk we just decided to drive around and see some of the other parts of town and rocks that we don't normally get to see. Then we headed back to the hotel and put Chloe down for a quick nap. Once she woke up we went up to the fire pit, but it was windy so she didn't like that too much. We decided to go back to the room and roast some marshmallows in the fire place. I thought they were YUMMY, but Zach said I burnt them too much.

We weren't too concerned about that night's sleep because we assumed she would do what she did the night before. We were wrong. We put her to bed again at 8:30pm, but then she woke up at 12:30am, 4:00am and then 7:30am. Each time we just changed her diaper and re-swaddled her. We definitely didn't sleep as well as the night before, but she didn't do too bad.

On Sunday morning my goal was to leave the hotel by 9am and go eat breakfast and then leave town by 10am so we could get home at a good time. Zach laughed at me and my goals because he said I have no sense of time or how long things take. He was right. We didn't leave the hotel until about 9:20am and the breakfast place was so packed that we just decided to get Burger King to go. We were out of town before 10am though! Chloe was asleep for a good half hour and then we stopped at the gas station to pick up some Noble Roman's breadsticks. She woke up while we were stopped, but we thought surely she would just fall back asleep once we started moving again. We forgot that we were at higher elevation and for the next 30 minutes she screamed her head off because her ears were popping. Because the roads are so narrow and winding there wasn't a spot for us to pull off so I could get back there and give her a bottle to help with the ear popping. It was not the most enjoyable 30 minutes.

Then we stopped at the outlet mall because we are looking for Chloe some sandals and we love a shoe store that always has buy one get one free. We couldn't find Chloe any sandals and then the store that we love so much is no longer there. What a waste of a stop we thought.

We made it back home by 2pm and we unpacked and got settled for about a half hour and then Zach, Chloe, me Daisy and Buster all took a walk to Sabrina and Adams. Oh and it was about 85 degrees outside. We sweat the whole way and there were times that we thought Buster wouldn't make it there. We made it and Chloe and Allie played together for a bit while the dogs played with a stray dog that Sabrina and Adam have. Allie was definitely more interested in Chloe as she gave her some kisses and kept touching Chloe's head. I'm not sure if she realized that Chloe was not a doll, but it was cute to see her curious about Chloe. We stayed for a bit and then make the trek back home. This time Zach had to carry Buster for about 5 minutes because we were walking at snail speed. The 5 minute break gave Buster a second wind because he was fine the rest of the way home.

Sunday night Chloe didn't make a peep and I'm not sure that Zach or I made a peep either. It was a great family weekend, but it was also great to be home in our own bed. We learned a lot during our first trip away with Chloe, but we also learned that we can make anything work.