Sunday, August 31, 2008

Grandma Mirly and her girls

This is now one of my favorite shots taken at Zoe's First Birthday party. It is just too cute for words!

Saturday, August 30, 2008

Zoe is ONE!

Today we celebrated Zoe's first birthday (which was actually yesterday). She loves cupcakes!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ZOE!!!

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

11 Month Review

Libby has developed a lot this month. I don't know if it is because she's so close to a year but she seems to be growing up so fast. Since last month she's becoming more helpful. She wants to share her toys and also holds her hands up when you dress her. It definitely makes things easier to get her dressed and undressed. Her vocab is also growing every day. Libby loves to repeat things but doesn't seem to understand everything she's saying. I don't count the words until she actually repeats them and understands them but we're up to 10 words now. She's quite a chatty little girl!

We've also been going to the Zoo a lot more this month. She loves the primate house the best (so far) but the reptile and bird houses were definitely interesting too! We haven't done the Children's Zoo yet but I don't think she would really enjoy it yet. Oh, and how could I forget the Penguins and Puffins! She didn't really enjoy looking at them while in her stroller but once we took her out of her stroller she stared wide eye at them. The Zoo is definitely a favorite of the Ski Household!

One other big change for the month is we turned her car seat forward facing. It is a tad early but since she is virtually the size of a 2 year old, the doctor said she was safer forward facing than cramming into the rear facing car seat that she was maxing out in for weight. I had no idea how fun it would be for her to see me while I drive. She has a blast talking with me now and seeing my reactions to her talking with me. It's adorable! I love it!

Here are some other things to highlight from this month:

weight: 33.3 lbs (based on an impromptu visit to a Dr last week)

  • Vocab -- Libby can say Ball, Cat, Stop, No, Hello, Momma, Dadda, Book, Closed, Down
  • Favorites -- Claps hands, bouncing everywhere and anywhere!, loves to stand, Rubber Ducky Song, Elmo Song, Sesame Street (as long as it has Muppets on the show), Bunnytown (TV show), new inflatable bath tub that she can drown Mommy when she splashes, going to the Zoo, her daddy's old cell phone
  • Dislikes -- Meat (see below)
  • Feedings -- Has had turkey and chicken! Her feeding amounts have diminished a bit. We still have her on a feeding schedule so she is eating the same times but just less.
  • Crawling -- Honestly, I don't think this is going to be in the cards for our little one. She can go backwards and get up on her knees really well...but honestly prefers to be on her but bouncing around.
  • Sleeping through the night -- Unfortunately this is still not happening. She is able to stay up until 8:00 each night now but still cannot seem to make it through the night w/o having a late night feeding.
  • Illnesses -- Sadly she's still sick and has been for awhile now. She's always congested. The doctor says her lungs are clear so it is just a persistent cold that won't go away.
  • Teeth -- We still only 8 that are visible. I think she's working on another but I cannot find it yet.
  • Shoes -- Libby has her own big girl shoes now. Size 6.5W. And they fit. Snugly.
  • Naps -- At daycare (we refer to it as school) she sleeps about 1.5-2 hours. At home she'll take 2 naps each being 1-2 hours each.

Milestones:
Libby is still doing really well from a vocab perspective. We find her trying to repeat a lot of the things we say. It is adorable to see her trying so hard to form the words. She is als starting to hit some previous milestones that others hit awhile ago - mostly rolling over. She has been able to roll over for a little over 2 months but never seemed to really want to. Now, it seems every time we put her in her crib she is rolling onto her tummy. She hates it but there really isn't a way to stop her. The cutest thing (and the reason she rolls over so much) is that she loves to sleep on her side. She looks so grown up when she does it with her purple blanket in her arms that her Grandma Ski hand made her (yes, she has a lovey already).

We've also had some comments from people noticing how well her eye-hand coordination is and the fact she'll look you straight in the eye. Mostly it is because she's staring you down and sizing you up...but i'll still take it as a compliment. =) She does do very well with picking things up and noticing even the smallest feature (like teeny tiny hairs you don't want anyone to pull on!). We recently got her stackable buckets and she loves to play with those. She mostly likes to knock them down but will hide some of the smaller ones in the larger ones on occasion. Oh, and the Sesame Street Toy that is a 'popper' toy but more difficult because it has doors as opposed to just pressing the thing that pops up...she can close the doors! That was a big thing to me. =)

At Christmas last year Libby got a Leap Frog activity table from her Aunt Marsha, Uncle Greg and cousin Mason. We pulled it out a few weeks ago and she loves it. There are all kinds of fun activities on it - like the alphabet song, a door to open and close, and buttons to press. One of her favorite songs as a result of this toy is the Alphabet song. She is so amazed that Mommy and Daddy know the words!

As usual, here is the "official milestone" review:

... should be able to:
  • get into a sitting position from stomach - not yet! We keep trying to get her to sit up. She will hold onto our fingers and pull up. We do next to no work and she does about 98% of it but still doesn't have the confidence to do it herself.
  • pick up tiny object with any part of thumb and finger - check!
  • understand "no" (but not always obey it) - check!

... will probably be able to:
  • play patty-cake (clap hands) or wave bye-bye - check! Libby can wave hello and good-bye and also clap her hands. Most of the time clapping is part of the hello/good-bye routine.
  • walk holding on to furniture (cruise) - not yet! She can stand really well while holding onto furniture and will walk if we hold onto her hands but isn't confident enough to do it by herself yet.
  • point or gesture to something to get needs met - check!

... may possible be able to:
  • pick up a tiny object neatly with tips of thumb and forefinger - check!
  • stand alone momentarily - check!
  • say "dada" or "mama" discriminately - check!
  • say one word other than "mama" or "dada" - check!

... may even be able to:
  • stand alone well
  • indicate wants in ways other than crying - check!
  • "play ball" (roll back to you) - we are so close to this! She does it by accident and then is so happy to share.
  • drink from a cup independently - check! We've even moved past the sippy cup. She loves to drink from a real (plastic) cup now with Mommy/Daddy's help.
  • use immature jargoning (gibberish that sounds as if baby is talking a made-up foreign language) - check!
  • say three or more words other than "mama" or "dada" - check!
  • respond to a one-step command without gestures ("Give that to me" - without hand out) - check!
  • walk well - oh buddy not yet!

And as usual, here is a picture of Libby from a week ago with one of her famous bows and her Daddy's old cell phone.


Monday, August 25, 2008

Rolling Over

We're behind the times. Rolling over should have been a thing months ago but Libby has decided to make it her new favorite thing to do in her crib. Jim and I keep finding her flat on her stomach in the corner of her crib with a huge grin or sad face pretty much constantly now. I've never actually witnessed her rolling from her back to her tummy but she can obviously do it unless Max the Cat is assisting her in some way. Now the problem is, do I worry about her sleeping with her being on her tummy? She seems to prefer it since she's always moving that direction...but I cannot help but worry about her not being able to breathe. When does the worrying stop? Oh, never? Right. =)

Officially Forward Facing

It's a bit early but we turned the car seat forward facing after consulting with the Doctor. She's so long/heavy that it is actually safer for her to be forward facing now. I have to say that I love her being able to see me and she loves to see me driving. What a difference!! Mommy doesn't just magically appear everywhere she goes!

Bed Head

Libby is getting so much hair!! In fact, I snapped this shot right after a nap. Look at the mess in the back! Too cute!

Pink Panda

We have a new favorite toy in the Ski Household. It is a little soft panda that we have named 'Pink Panda'. Creative I know! Libby loves it though. She smiles and waves at it each time she sees it. Oh, and I swear she said, "Pink Panda" yesterday when I handed it to her. (Jim doesn't believe me)

STL Zoo

We're quickly becoming regulars at the St. Louis Zoo. It doesn't hurt it is 5 minutes away from our house and is free. =) This past weekend we went to the Zoo with some friends and their little one and went into the Reptile House. I cannot remember the last time I was there. After being in there for about 5 minutes I remembered why - it creeps me out! Luckily, Libby loved it. =)

Sunday, August 24, 2008

Eating Habits

I should have known...I thought we had a good routine going and then BAM! Libby decides to change it. We still have her on a feeding/sleep schedule that works really well for everyone (except for the part of not sleeping through the night still). We even knew how much to the spoonful that she would eat. No more! Libby has decided after about 11 months of being out in the world she no longer likes nor wants a lot of food. Giving her solid food usually involves me dodging food being slung or spit at me. The bottle is almost as bad because she can swat it out of your hand so quickly you never know it is coming. I've read this is normal for feeding/eating habits to change. I just never thought it would happen to her because she has always been such a great eater. Just shows me never to assume things will stay the same!!

Saturday, August 23, 2008

Sounds from Libby

Libby's vocab has definitely grown but sometimes she just likes to babble. Lately this is her favorite thing to do.


Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Bib Review

I know a review on bibs seems a little odd but anyone that has a child that eats the wonderfully messy pureed foods realizes they are important. I've been on the hunt for the perfect bib ever since I realized what the criteria was for the perfect bib (to me):
  • outlasts the meals with the baby
  • doesn't stain easily
  • can go in the dishwasher
I found some good bibs that do the first two but finding bibs that go into the dishwasher was difficult. That search was over a few weeks ago when I ran into a woman washing an interesting looking bib in a restaurant's bathroom. I, of course, started to make small talk with the woman asking how old her little one was, etc. Then I asked her what kind of bib that was and she said a Bjorn bib. She explained it was incredibly old and she didn't know if they even made them anymore. The bib was a bit faded but the nice woman explained that was due to it being put in the dishwasher for so many years. The hunt was on! Given that the bib was over 10 years old (this was a 'late bonus' child) and still looked amazing and was able to go into the dishwasher I knew I had found my perfect bib. And it is perfect. We ordered 2 from Target and they are wonderful. It has a soft plastic and it easily fits around our baby's neck (which is large). They wash in the dishwasher without any wear and really are just great. My only complaint is that they are a bit expensive. Other than that I HIGHLY suggest them!

Sunday, August 17, 2008

Drinking from a cup

Because she doesn't look grown up enough with real big girl shoes and an adorable bow in her hair, we have now entered the stage of wanting to drink from a cup.

Sunday, August 10, 2008

Hair

Libby has enough hair now where we actually got her a bow to put in it. Look how cute she is!



Naps

Sleep in general is a sore topic in our house. When we have Libby home with us, she does 2 1.5-2 hr naps but at the daycare she is too interested in everything around her to nap even 30 minutes total per day. The problem with that is she'll want to fall asleep at 5:30pm versus saying up later to play and eat enough to sleep through the night (ha! - no, she's still not doing that). Last week though, something changed. She's been taking one 2 hour nap each day at daycare. The difference at night is amazing. She's able to stay up until 8:00 or even 8:30pm before we start our night time routine. It has been great. She even slept through the night for the first time in months on Friday night. We owe part of that to Grandma and Grandpa Ski playing with her so much that evening though. We're just so happy she is napping at the daycare now. =) It only took 8 months!

Libby the carnivore!

Libby is officially a carnivore now. After months of trying, she finally had some turkey yesterday. This has been a big deal (for me) because I know we need to get some meat into her (sorry my veg. friends!). I knew if we weren't successful in the next few months, I could at least give her eggs and get some protein in her. But alas, she nullified this concern by eating something with meat! YAY! It turns out for Libby that if we buy the pureed meat (they say it is meat) and mix it with something, anything, she won't eat it. I can't say I blame her - it looks absolutely gross even though it smells like 'real food'. I decided to change my plan of attack and buy something that was already premixed together. The winner for the first trial was Gerber's Sweet Potato + Turkey. I was so excited for her to try it because she loves sweet potatoes and the majority of the smell from the jar was exactly that. She took one bite and didn't even make a face. It was Christmas!! So now we have veggie stew, Chicken and veggies, etc. to try over the next few weeks. Even if those don't work, I am going to buy a million little jars of sweet potato + Turkey. At least she'll be ready for Thanksgiving!

Diaper Rash

We've been having some major problems with diaper rash in the Ski household the last 2 weeks. Some of it stems from the horrible heat we've been having here and the fact that our baby is always hot and sweaty. Other reasons are because the diapers we are using are getting smaller but are still 'ok' according to the weight recommendations. This has never really been a problem for Libby so we weren't exactly sure what to do. We've tried everything under the sun to remove and prevent the diaper rash - Butt Paste, Desiten, wash with a wash cloth versus baby wipe, towel dry the area off after diapering, changing every hour or when we know a 'present' is in the diaper, etc. Everything we could think of and things we got as recommendation from family and friends (thanks!). The thing that seems to work best for us is to change every 1-2 hours, use cornstarch (there are mixed reviews on this), and use Balmex. So, when you are completely frustrated by the diaper rashes that appear - don't ever give up!