A New View

Lesley is determined to stand ALL. THE. TIME.



I found this neat kitchen for her on Craigslist and she was immediately in love. It is the perfect height for her to pull herself up to standing. We brought it up stairs one night and she quickly scampered over to it and pulled herself up to play. We don't have any dishes, but she likes to play with the cars in the sink and in the cupboard.




We have also found that the exersaucer works well even when she doesn't want to actually sit in it. She will stand next to it and play for quite a while. We just need to work on teaching her how to get from a standing position to a sitting position. She gets frustrated quickly when she decides she wants down.

She really likes to open and close things right now. The kitchen is great entertainment for her!

Miss Piggy

Getting ready for breakfast at Grandma's House


Our new name for Lesley during dinner time is "Miss Piggy". She has quickly picked up on the eating thing and will eat just about anything that has vegetables or fruit in it. Her favorites right now include applesauce, peaches, green beans, and mixed vegetables with beef. Chris feeds her some banana and cereal for breakfast every morning. Last week she ate an entire mashed up banana! Wow! We have started giving her the Gerber Stage 3 foods with meat in it, along with more of the homemade vegetables in our freezer. I thought we'd add some variety to her meal selection so I bought some macaroni and cheese baby food the other day. She hated it. I don't really blame her, it smelled gross and Jason wouldn't even try it. The funniest faces she's made thus far involved the spaghetti and meat sauce. There was even a little gagging with the first try. She was NOT a fan.

Her cousin Lilly is another story. She refuses to eat anything other than her cereal, milk, and a few fruits. I think applesauce and peaches make the cut. This weekend my mom tried giving her sweet potatoes that she had made (they even had a little brown sugar on them so I'm sure they were delicious). Lilly was not fooled. My mom even tried to mix the sweet potatoes with cereal but somehow Lilly managed to separate the two in her mouth, swallow the cereal, and spit out the sweet potatoes. It was actually pretty impressive. Here's the interesting thing, Lilly weighs about a pound more than Lesley right now even though she was about a pound and a half less at birth. Lilly is currently wearing 12 month clothes and recently "handed down" some items for Lesley to wear. Great Grandma Elaine needs to rethink her comments when she first met the girls back in April. When seeing Lesley she commented, "Oh my, you are a big girl." When seeing Lilly, "Well now, you are quite the runt."

Lesley had her follow up appointment with the dermatologist Monday. He was pleased with the change in her skin but still not 100% happy. He wrote another prescription and instructed us to cut back on baths to every 3rd night - "unless she is stinky". He also asked us to keep a food journal to document what Lesley eats each day to try and find a connection between foods and her eczema flair ups. He still suspects a food allergy. So yeah, that's going to be fun monitoring. At least our daycare lady sends an e-mail everyday to let the parents know what the kids ate so I won't have to request anything special from her.

Growling is also something new Lesley has started in the last couple weeks. It's very odd and seems to happen when she's happy, upset, tired, hungry...really, all sorts of random times. I mentioned it to one of my co-workers the other day and she seemed to remember when her daughter, who is now 16 months old, went through that stage. I think she's discovering her voice more and more. It is funny though when she growls so much it makes her break out in a coughing fit. Silly girl!




This was the best shot I could get of her growling face. Still super cute in her Minnie Mouse shirt.



We helped Lesley's cousin Brodie celebrate his 1st Birthday last night. We loved how he decided to just "dive" into the cake and not even use his hands at one point.






Happy Birthday Brodie!!!

A tornado has hit the house

We came home Sunday evening and it seemed like we had a different baby on our hands. Lesley decided she needed to explore everything and be everywhere. Crawling is a piece of cake now. We pulled her out the carseat and she was OFF...like a whirlwind. Like Jason said, our very own tornado hit the house. She found the bookself, she made her way to the kitchen, she discovered the kitty food, she is a handfull. Now when I go to the kitchen, I have to watch out because she is likely just a few feet away.

Another favorite thing of hers right now is pulling up on whatever is handy and the right height. She insists on standing sometimes and stiffens her body if you try to sit her down. She hasn't figured out how to go from standing to sitting yet which is a problem that usually ends results in Lesley getting very upset. So far, no big falls or mishaps, but I'm sure they will be coming.



"I know there was cat food around here somewhere."




"What are we cooking tonight mommy?"




Lesley now has her own bookshelf with her own books. Mommy's books were in D-A-N-G-E-R!




"Come on Lilly, this crawling thing is fun!"




I love how she carries a sock around in her mouth while she plays.

Our Little Monsters

We made a trip to Iowa this weekend to celebrate our cousin Megan's birthday and also spend some time with my sister while she was on call. I had some inspiration (Thanks Nicole!) to put a video together. It was quick and I didn't go to much effort, but hopefully in the future I can get a little more creative. Hope you enjoy as much as we enjoyed our weekend up north!

My Crush

I have a confession. I have a new crush. It’s my cell phone. I love it and feel so spoiled to have it. Remember how I ruined my red Centro back in June with water damage. Well to be completely honest, it wasn’t water. It was sweat, I know, gross. It was during the Challenge Walk and I wasn’t even sweating that much, but I digress, back to discussing my new crush. In August, after using an ancient flip phone for a couple months, Jason gave me his Centro so he could get the new Palm Pre. This time he crushed the black Centro in the trunk door and decided I should get the Hero. (Secretly I believe he wants to switch me phones because we both know he wouldn’t have splurged on me for a cell phone.) My favorite part of the phone is that I can check Facebook while at work! Swiss Re blocks any and all “social networking” websites so I’ve been restricted from my Facebook usage during the hours of 8 to 5. But, after we finished the 3rd Quarter close procedures a few weeks ago, I have been anything but busy at work so now I can stay connected with my new cell phone. Isn’t it neat? You really should be jealous.



Speaking of not being busy at work, I’m cool with it and have never had this much free time in all my life to just “explore”. In all fairness, I worked late for about 3 days. One night I got home at 10:30, then the next night it was close to 11:30, and the last night was at 1am. So, even if I’ve had plenty of free time last week and this week, it’s not like I’m completely worthless. This downtime has given me plenty of time to search for the end of the internet. Still working on that...but, I have run across some neat blogs. Oh, how I wish my blog was neater. I promise I’ll try, but my limited technology minded self may not get too far with that promise. Besides scoping out other people’s blogs, I’ve also accumulated a very good Christmas list for Lesley. It’s hard to think of what a 9-10 month old child will want. And, what a child of that age actually needs. Let me know if you have ideas.

I just posted a bunch of Lesley pictures yesterday, so I don't really have any new ones today. Next time though....

You are 7 months old!

October 14, 2009

Dear Lesley,

Wow, another month gone so quickly! You have reached your 7 month birthday and are quite the “little person” now. Mommy started her new job and is really enjoying it. Of course, I’d much rather spend every day with you, but this is a good alternative since that’s not possible. You also started going to Chris’s for daycare and I think you really like it. Each day when I drop you off, you are smilely and stare at the other kids. Addison almost always greets us at the door and immediately sticks her head under the handle of the carseat, starts patting your head, and says “Weswie’s here!” When we pick you up in the afternoon, you are happy to see us but we can tell you’ve had fun since you are exhausted. Luckily, Chris now has you on a pretty good napping schedule so you don’t fall asleep on the way home and go to bed so early like you used to.

On the days you take your morning and afternoon naps, you are so fun to play with at night. Everything is so interesting to you – I would love to be able to read your mind because it just seems that you continually process new things and take in all the knowledge you can. I never hesitate to talk to you and tell you what’s going on since I know you’re always listening. Someday when I tell you “let’s feed the kitties”, you’ll know exactly what I mean. And, that day will probably be sooner than we think.

You have gotten good at picking things up with your fingers. The puffs are your all-time favorite food right now. I think it’s because you can feed yourself. We are now giving you some baby food with chicken and beef in them. So far, you are a fan. Chris feeds you a banana and cereal every morning, and then you usually eat a vegetable like squash or green beans for lunch. We are giving you the meat for dinner and usually some applesauce or another vegetable. You really like the applesauce which I’m not surprised about since it’s one of mommy’s favorite foods too.

You now have 3 teeth and are wearing 6-9 month clothing! Mommy had to pack away a couple boxes of your clothes and some other “baby” stuff you no longer need. Don’t worry, I saved everything hoping you’d get a little sister someday.

Sometimes you are picky about which toy you want to play with. Just this morning, I caught you digging through your toy basket until you found the little Snoopy doll you love. Another pasttime you enjoy is emptying the diaper basket we keep under the coffee table. I think your favorite toy this month has been the stage that Grandma Cheryl bought for you. It sings and lights up. There is a microphone that came with it and you love holding that and shaking it.

You’ve mastered going from you belly to sitting up all byself. That’s quite the accomplishment! We had to lower your crib so you wouldn’t try to escape. Crawling is just around the corner. Right now you can get to all fours, but can’t quite figure out how to get your legs and arms to move at the same time. Soon though! That baby gate will need to go up in the next week I bet. You also like to stand up, but you’re not quite good enough to do it on your own so Mommy and Daddy have to assist you.

We have noticed a bit of clingyness this month. It’s probably because of the changes, i.e. Mommy going to work, you going to daycare, and because you are getting older and more noticable of your surroundings. It’s okay if you miss Mommy because I miss you lots when we are not together. But, it makes the time we have together so special and we don’t waste a minute.

Mommy: What are you doing Lesley?
Lesley: Babababa
Mommy: Oh really, that’s very exciting.
Lesley: Babababa
Mommy: Wow, I wish I was having as much fun as you.
Lesley: Babababa
Mommy: No Lesley, please call me “Mommy” and not “Abba”.
Lesley: Abababababa, Abababababa, Abababababa
Mommy: Okay, let’s be quiet now so Mommy can talk on the phone.
Lesley: BABABABABABA

Yes, that is a normal conversation we have these days. You also like to say Mamamama from time to time, but usually it’s babababab. You need to throw dadadada in the mix every once in a while so your Daddy doesn’t feel left out. Give it a shot, I bet it will be fun. Something else I’d love for you to try is sleeping past 4am…that’s usually the first wake up call. Then again between 6-6:30. I’d be okay with the 6am if we could just cut out the 4am. Daddy decided that you do sleep longer when you drink a bottle right before bed, versus Mommy feeding you. So, we almost always do that now. We can put you in your crib at night while you are awake and you will fall asleep on your own. That’s really nice since we used to have to hold you to get you sleep. Some nights you jabber for a bit, but usually you fall asleep pretty easily.

If it’s even possible, we fall more and more in love with you everyday. Daddy and I are so lucky God blessed us with you. We must have done something right, and I hope someday you can look back on your childhood and be thankful that God trusted us to be your Mommy and Daddy. My most frequent prayer is that all people who dream of having children will be blessed with someone just as sweet, lovable, cute, and PERFECT as you.

Love,
Mommy

So close...

She almost has it figured out...I think the baby gate will be going up very soon.




Just in case you were wondering, Mommy can get Lesley to laugh too.

A Trip to the Pumpkin Patch

Lesley and I were able to take another trip to the Deanna Rose Farmstead this weekend to help our friend Jayden celebrate his 1st birthday. We enjoyed going on a hayride and picking out a pumpkin from the pumpkin patch. We had lots of fun hanging out with Kate, Evan, and all the others at the birthday party.

"Mommy, where are my gloves like Evan's? I guess I'll have to try and steal them."

"I'm not sure I can pick just one."

These photos are from last weekend when we made a trip to Antioch Park for a few fall photos.

"This one is just right."

What's for Dinner?

"Watch out Mommy, these green beans might come back out at you."

(Photo quality is not the best, the picture was taken with my cell phone so I could send it to Jason while he was away.)

Lately I've been trying some new recipes and things to make in the kitchen. Last night I made a barbeque chicken pizza. It turned out great! Anyone who knows Jason and I probably aren't surprised we enjoy cooking pizza at home. It's one of our favorites (We even had Pizza Hut deliver 100 pizzas for our wedding reception, that's true love!). I got distracted and left it in the oven a little too long, but it was still delicious.


Another new recipe that I've made twice in the last two weeks is Sausage Cheese Muffins. They are perfect for warming up in the morning on the way out the door. Thanks Kathy for the recipe!

Lesley has been a champ when it comes to eating. One of her current favorites is green beans. She also likes the meat dishes we've been giving her. And, those great puffs are still a lifesaver. They will keep her occupied for a long time and give Jason and I a chance to finish our meals.

Lesley's Best Friend

Just this week, it became very clear to me how much Lesley loves my cousin Katie, also Lesley's Godmother. Katie babysat for Lesley this summer and is currently our backup sitter. She was able to watch Lesley last week when she had a fever/was teething and we wanted to keep her home from daycare and she watched her today because the daycare lady needed the day off. Katie is patiently waiting for the right full-time job to materialize and is currently seeking some opportunities to teach English in Korea. Until then, we are going to make the most of having Katie around.

The other day, Katie offered to come to daycare with me to pick Lesley up. This way she would know where Lesley goes each day and could meet the daycare lady. Now, in the event Jason and I are ever in a pinch and can't get Lesley on time, we can call Katie and she can head over there. That day, I walked in the babysitter's door first and headed around the corner to the living room where the kids were playing. Lesley saw me and smiled, but as soon as Katie walked around the corner, Lesley starting squealing and lurched forward. We thought she was going to take off crawling across the room! She didn't go very far but continued to squeal, laugh/giggle, and clap her hands. It was quite the sight! I went over to pick her up but as soon as I had her up off the floor, she was leaning over towards Katie and wanted Katie to hold her. Daycare lady was shocked at this reaction and immediately said, "Katie, you wouldn't have had to come over, it's pretty obvious she knows you."

Katie came over for dinner that night and to play some cards with my other cousin Matt, his girlfriend Kim, and myself. It was a lot of fun to eat tasty tortilla soup, catch up, and play some Zonk, a family favorite. Lesley loved having them at the house and did not want to go to bed. I don't think she started wearing out until 9:30-9:45ish, after everyone was leaving. She didn't want to miss out on the fun, and the chance to be with Katie.

Last night Lesley and I went over to my Aunt's house for dinner that Katie made for us. It was so good, and nice not to have to cook while Jason is out of town. Didn't hurt that Katie made one of my all-time favorites as a side dish - a cheesey, delicious corn casserole. Lesley always loves going to Aunt Denise's house, seeing Duke, their dog, making funny faces at Uncle Mark, and being part of the action.
Lesley even has her own "seat" at the table. Aunt Denise has saved her kids' highchair all these years and now we are getting lots of use out of it. The straps are no longer there, but we have remedied that by using a piece of fleece left over from a blanket to tie her tight.

We are thankful to have Katie and the whole Schieber family to be such a special part of Lesley's life right now. I hope that no matter where Katie's future jobs take her, Lesley will always be happy to see her. Thanks Katie!

Fall, in more ways than one

Lesley now gets to wear her FALL clothing - Jeans! My favorite! The pair she has on above is distracting since it has flowers stitched on the legs and she just can't seem to figure out how to get them to her mouth.

Jason is out of town this week. He's in Mexico on a business trip to train individuals at a call center he supports. Not a glorious trip by any means - it's to Juarez. (My heart is now racing just typing that out.) Juarez is not really a place one would choose to go. He is one of only 2 members of his team that has an active passport, so he got assigned this trip, and another one to the Dominican Republic in November. He claims it will be safe, i.e. he's staying in El Paso,Texas and will have an escort at all times when he crosses the border. I guess that helps a little, but still Juarez is not like a resort town, they have had all sorts of violence in the past year and I'll be able to breath a little easier when Friday gets here and he's on a plane home. Not to mention that I think Lesley will miss her daddy a lot!

If you don't recall, the last business trip Jason took was to Dallas for some training back in April. Lesley was just a month old and I managed to hurt my back and had to summon help from Jason's mother. Well, already this morning, I managed to slip and FALL on my way in the door at work and twist my ankle. This might be the last straw in continuing to nurse Lesley, stupid breastpump bag got in the way! And, my ankle hurts, a lot. I was afraid to take my shoe off for fear of actually seeing how swollen my ankle was at work, so I just suffered through the day. Tonight, it doesn't look too bad, but still "Ouch!" I feel like I have a high tolerance for pain, but this is bad. Can you really argue, I went through childbirth with no medication by choice...even the other day, Jason commented how I acted like it was no big deal to birth a baby with a "big melon". I guess we are all blessed with something, and I'm blessed with a high pain tolerance. So, although I'm sure I'll be fine once the Ibuprofen kicks in again, I've already informed Jason he is banned from going on any more business trips.

We had a great weekend. Lesley was in an awesome mood all weekend, she took naps when necessary and played so independently which was nice. She was focused on crawling and I think within a couple weeks she might have it down. Crazy to think how much she's learned in her 7 months of life! She is having Grandma Nancy and Grandpa Keith withdrawals. :) Hint, hint. They managed to break their webcam (hopefully it's not fatal) so although we talked to Grandma Nancy a couple times this week (Grandpa Keith is in Colorado hunting Elk), and she could see Lesley, Lesley wasn't able to see her. Luckily, we have a few rendez-vous's planned in the coming month. We are heading to Iowa the weekend of October 23rd to celebrate my sister's 30th birthday. My dad, brother and Mike, Aimee's husband, are going antelope hunting in Wyoming that weekend and Aimee is on-call, so my mom, Jason, and I will help out by babysitting Lilly in case Aimee gets summoned on a call. Since fall is not a busy time for vets, we are hoping to just relax at their house and celebrate with good food and happy babies (Lilly got a tooth over the weekend so Aimee hopes her recent crabby mood improves). The following weekend, my parents and Aimee, Mike, and Lilly have plans to come to KC. Lesley is hosting a small Halloween party and Lilly wants to join the fun. Jason also needs help installing new windows in our basement and my dad will hopefully not be opposed to some manual labor (paid in the form of beer and food of course). Then, a couple weekends after that, the whole family (and I hope Andy can make it too!) are meeting up in Omaha to spend the weekend at a hotel. It should be lots of fun and we are very excited for the chance to relax, go swimming at the pool, drink certain beverages, play cards/dominoes, and even perhaps do some Christmas shopping. My dad picked a hotel right next to Cabelas, go figure. So, hopefully with the upcoming weekend plans, Lesley will have plenty of time to show Grandpa Keith and Grandma Nancy her new "tricks" that's she's been working on since we last saw them.

Here's something else you can't argue - she is adorable in jeans and polka dots. :)

Here she is showing off how she can stand (assisted). And, another pair of cute jeans.....

The Little Engine that Could

Lesley has been working really hard on trying to crawl. Chris, our daycare lady, warned me on Friday that Lesley is going to be on the move very soon. She's been trying to keep up with the big kids at daycare.

"I wonder if making funny faces will help me with this crawling thing."

"....hmmm...maybe if I pull my leg up a little...but then, I have to figure out how to get my arms to move at the same time...gosh, this is hard...."

"Mommy, I keep trying but I always end up like this."

"I think I'll just sit and grunt until you bring me toys, that's so much easier than trying to get them myself."

Some random snapshots

Just a few photos from the past week....

Go Irish! That's right, we are starting her early. Notre Dame's record is actually decent right now despite winning a few by a hair.

She's been working on some teeth for over a week. Last weekend was rough, and she spent quite a bit of time like you see her in the photo above - pressing her gums on our shoulder. Today, we see a tooth! Finally, and we have a very happy baby on our hands right now.

"Mommy, your flowers are so pretty."

"I think I'll eat them."

Lesley kept giving me kisses all day. She's look at me, grin, open her mouth wide and lean in. There's nothing better than slobbery smooches from your baby. :)

Daddy being funny, and Lesley loving it!

Lesley has had a rough weekend. We think she's teething again. Symptoms: irritable, clingy, cranky, crabby, fussy, etc. Oh, and she's had a mild fever, sore gums, a runny nose, red cheeks, many random naps, and some diaper "issues" yesterday and today. We hope for the whole family's sake this passes quickly. The above video was one of Jason's many attempts to keep her happy Saturday afternoon. It worked for a little bit.

All by herself

She's a pro now. I think we witnessed her sitting up at least 10 times last night. So grown up!

Diapers Anyone?

Lesley found something new to entertain herself with this morning. She was so happy to empty the basket and was talking up a storm, so we decided not to stop her. It wasn't going to hurt anything, so why not? She was intently searching for the prize at the bottom of the basket. I think I'll find an empty box to put some of her toys in so she can empty that instead. I think the books/magazines under the coffee table are going to have to be moved soon.




"Hmmmm....this looks interesting, I wonder what might be in here."




"Oh, this is fun."




"Gosh, this is a lot of diapers."





"Found it!"