Olivia: 6 Months

6 Month Wellness Check-Up

15 lbs 14 oz

26 inches

Size: “6-9 months”, “Size 2” Diapers

Nicknames: Sneekle Freetzie, Liv, Liver Dude

6 Months

Loves:

“Freezie Treats” (Freezable Teething Toys)

The “Liv, Liv Liv” Song

The Longtime Sunshine Song

Loves faces – Pulling on noses, eyes and mouths

Moby Wrap

Swimming @ Gramma B’s

Playing with Ice Cubes at the dinner table

Petunia Pickle Bottom Diaper Bag

Uncle Chippy’s beard

Sleeping in Mom + Dad’s bed

Nursing

Listening to Dad play Piano/ Guitar

Poppa G’s Watch

Play Dates with Charley (+Momma Michelle)

Dogs – Especially Gramma G’s Yellow Lab Terra and Auntie Maggie’s Toy Poodle Bella

Cranks:

Getting in the car seat

Not being able to be outside (in the Texas heat + threat of West Nile virus)

Taking a bottle

Infant Life Vest

Milestones:

Sitting-Up alone!

First trip to California to visit Gramma + Poppa G

First plane ride

Hiking on Dad’s back in the Snugli Carrier

First trip to the San Diego Zoo

Hanging with the Giraffes at the San Diego Zoo

Riding like a big girl (forward facing) in the stroller

First time in the Johnny Jump Up (Bought Here)

First time meeting 2nd Cousin Alex + Great Aunt Pam

VERY interested in food + drinks (Starting Solids this weekend!)

Blowing lips to make high pitched motor boat noise

Giggling / Belly Laughing

Rolling, Scooting, Moving, Inching… Everything but crawling.

Not Where I left my baby…

6 Months

Daily Routine:

4:00 AM Nurse in bed – Snuggle/ Sleep with Mom + Dad

7:00AM Nurse – Wake Up

9:00AM Nap (45min-1hr)

10:00 AM Nurse

~12:30 PM Nap (30min – usually in the car)

1:00PM Nurse

3:00 Nap (1hr-2hrs)

4:00PM Nurse

6:00PM Nurse

6:30PM Hangout in the Highchair while Mom + Dad eat dinner

7:00PM Read a few books with Mom in bed while Dad gets the bath ready

7:15PM Bath time with Dad while Mom cleans up in the kitchen

7:30 Lotion + Massage, Teeth Gum Brushing, Hair Brushing, Vitamin D

7:45PM Nurse

8:00PM Snuggle with Bunny Blanket for Bedtime Prayers + Songs (Usually a few rounds of Longtime Sunshine)

Between 10:00PM +11:00PM Nurse

(Usually wakes up right as Mom + Dad are winding down for a final snack, Occasionally Mom attempts a “dream feed”)

Olivia: 5 Months

5 Months

15.2 Pounds

25 Inches

Size: “6 month”, Size 2 Diapers

Nicknames: Sneekle Freetzie (AKA Snickle Fritz), Liv, LiverDude, Peanut, OKP

Loves…

The Skip Hop Tree Top Play Mat

The Baby Einstein Exersaucer (AKA “The Disc”)

Sophie the Giraffe and Sophie “Chewie”

The “Liv, Liv, Liv” Song

The Belly Button Song

Reading before bedtime, especially “Where’s Spot?”

Going to the Aquarium

Swimming

“Longtime Sunshine” Song

Bath Time, Baby Massage, Bed Time

Putting fingers, hands, and feet in her mouth.

Interested in food and drinks, wants to put everything in her mouth

The flying baby game

any type of baby wearing: Bjorn, peanut sling (finally!)

Pulling mom’s hair

Cranks…

getting in the carseat

being in the stroller for long enough for mom to shop

watching mom blog

watching dad study

staying up past 9:00pm

watching mom + dad eat dinner

Milestones:

Almost sitting up alone

Meeting cousins Rylie + Remie for the first time

First trip to the Lake with Bilbo/McElyea/Darley fam

Sleeping 5+ hour stretch at night, occasionally 8+

First Fourth of July

First Bubble Bath

Swim Diapers Size S/P finally fit!

Wore Vans tennies for the first time

Stuck tongue out and made a funny face

Getting a little furrier! More blondish red hair coming in…

Went to the nursery at Church for the first time

Daily Routine:

7:30 Wake Up, Nurse

10:00 Nurse

11:00 Nap (30 min – 1hr)

1:00 Nurse

3:00 Nap (1hr-2hrs)

4:00 Nurse

7:00 Nurse

8:00 Read books in bed with Mom + Dad

8:30  Bathtime, Lotion and Massage, “Jammies”

9:00 Nurse, Songs, Prayers*

*In the process of pushing the whole night-time routine up to 7:00 pm… slowly shaving a few minutes off every night

Momma Meg Loves: The Dallas World Aquarium

Daniel and I first visited the aquarium when I came to visit just a few months after we started dating. We’ve since celebrated a few Birthdays and even a Valentine’s day there. Most recently, we celebrated our first Mother’s Day at the Dallas World Aquarium – where Daniel (+ Olivia) gifted me an annual pass.

December 2005 at The Dallas World Aquarium

Mother’s Day 2012

The Dallas World Aquarium Individual Pass $95 + One Non-Designated Guest $80  = $175 allows either our family (Kids under 3 are free!) or I can invite a friend, mom, etc. We decided that it would be best to invest in the extra $80 knowing that Olivia and I would go more often if we could invite friends. Become a Member Here. No matter what, the annual pass is the way to go at the DWA – General Admission tickets for adults are $20.95, Kids 3-12 are $12.95. As fabulous as it is, $20.95 is outrageous to visit the DWA once. Even the Ft. Worth Zoo is cheaper! At an average of 2 visits/month, each trip would cost $7.29.

  • The DWA is open 9:00AM-5:00PM daily. I’ve found that the best time to go (especially during the summer) to avoid the field trip and summer camp crowds is first thing in the morning when they open, or towards the end of the day (after 3:30PM) You can definitely see it all in a few hours, especially if you have a pass and don’t feel pressured to get your 20 bucks worth.
  • It’s VERY difficult to maneuver strollers (and wheelchairs) through the DWA so I usually make sure to have Olivia freshly fed and diapered when we arrive to avoid having to nurse or change her. Highly recommend baby wearing for this adventure + a backpack!
  • The only downside with the DWA pass is that it does NOT include free parking. Parking downtown (in the touristy West End District) can be pricey. Liv and I usually opt to take DART (The West End Station is just a few blocks from the DWA) adding only a few dollars to our visit cost.
  • Also – They sell beer.

Watching the Waterfall at The Dallas World Aquarium

Most Recently, we visited the DWA while Gramma G + Auntie Em were in town. My sister in law, Tricia, her two girls, Rylie (5) and Remie (5 weeks) and my darling granddad joined us. Liv always loves the manatees and the pengiuns. Oh! and the waterfall – she could sit and stare at it all day.

This is Liv’s “I love Manatees” face

At the DWA with Cousin Rylie

Baby Wearing at the DWA

Featured Image From Here

Olivia: 4 Months


4 Month Check-Up

14.0 Pounds

23.75 Inches 

Size:  “6 month”, Size 1 Diapers

Nicknames: Sneekle Feetzie, Liv, O, Liver Dude, Liv Cakes, Love/Liv Bug, Peanut, OKP

4 months

Loves…

The Baby Einstein Exersaucer (AKA “The Disc”)

Sophie the Giraffe and Sophie “Chewie”

Standing while holding Mom or Dad’s hands

Listening to her Daddy play guitar or piano

The “Liv, Liv, Liv” Song

The Belly Button Song

“Jump Jump Jump” Jana Alayra Song

“Where’s Spot?”

Going to the Aquarium

Going to the Dallas Arboretum (AKA Arbor-eatzi-mah-bah)

Being Outside

WubbaNub (AKA WerberNerb or WerberNerber)

Morning Snuggles with Mom

“Longtime Sunshine” Song

Bath Time, Baby Massage, Bed Time

The “Climb Mommy” game

Happy Baby Pose

Putting fingers, hands, and feet in her mouth.

4 Months

Cranks…

Being called “Dumbo”

Getting in the Car Seat

Being in the stroller

Not being in mom’s arms

The Sling

4 Months

Milestones

Babbling, Cooing, Baby talkin’

Rolls over both directions

WILL NOT SLEEP ON HER BACK

Consistently sleeping for 5+ hours stretch night.

Occasionally sleeping 8+ hours

Going to Church @ Fellowship White Rock

Daily Routine:

3AM- 5AM: Wake Up, Nurse, Snuggle with Mom in bed

8AM: Nurse

9AM: Nap (30MIN – 1HR)

11AM: Nurse

2PM: Nurse

3PM: Nap (1HR-2HRs)

5PM: Nurse

7PM: Nurse

8PM: Starts Dozin’

8:30PM: Bathtime, Lotion and Massage, “Jammies”

9:00PM Nurse, Songs and Prayers

1AM: Wakeful Babe = gets a paci and usually falls back asleep

Note: I need to get better at taking in-focus iphone pictures.

The Honest Company

The Honest Company Sample Kit

I mentioned here that I wanted to give the eco-friendly diaper another “go” when our gifted supply was dwindling. As much as I think it’s totally silly that every celebrity who gets pregnant wants to launch some kind of baby product line… I really like that Jessica Alba went the environmentally conscious route. The Honest Company offers chemical-free, non-toxic and totally cute diapers, wipes and a variety of other baby necessities. The best part? For $4.95 S&H you can order a free trial (above – just received mine a few days ago!). The diapers are adorable… and don’t feel half as bad as the Seventh Generation variety… my only (and pretty significant) problem… coincidence that we had blowouts in 3 out of 7 diapers? I seriously doubt it. The wipes are VERY thin but even THAT I could overlook for the environmentally-friendly factor… but blowouts… DEAL BREAKER. The lotion is olive oil based (pro), VERY moisturizing (pro), but smells like…. olive oil (con). I will say… I think the diapers may be a tiny bit big. Based on her size, the site suggested a size 2.  Although we’ll probably graduate at the end of this case… Liv still comfortably fits in a size 1 Pampers Swaddlers. SO… Either Honest runs small and I just don’t like the product  OR the size 2 we’re too big and caused aforementioned blowouts. Either way, I haven’t written the product off completely… would definitely give a second shot after we’ve worked our way through our gifted stockpile. The packaging is pretty darn cute, huh? I have a hard time believing that those bottles/tubes are biodegradable… but whatever.

Poop Stains

All moms swear by something to remove stains… This concoction works. Equal parts: Wisk, Shout and Oxi Clean. Applied directly to the stain, scrub then soak in warm water for a few hours and pop in with the rest of the load. And my mom had the genius idea of using an old spice bottle (one with larger holes works best) to store a smaller amount of Oxi Clean for easier pouring and quick access.

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