First Halloween

For anyone that knows me knows that I absolutely LOVE holidays! Christmas is by far my favorite, but come August/September (whenever the weather decided to cool down some) I am in heaven! I sometimes get antsy and start putting out pumpkins in August because I just can't wait any longer, but this year I waiting until September before doing anything. It was tough, but I managed.

 

I started dressing Lakiebug in Halloween stuff as soon as decorations went up. So basically 2 months early :) She didn't mind at all!

 

We typically don't do much for Halloween other than put out a few pumpkins and hand out candy in our neighborhood. We usually just get our pumpkins from Walmart too. This year though, we decided to take Lakelyn  to the pumpkin patch to get some pumpkins! It actually ended up being really cold this day and we got a picture or two without the jacket, but it was just too cold to not have it on her, especially on her little bald head!

 

 

Of course, she tried to eat them ;)

 

We bought her 3 little pumpkins and 2 little baby pumpkins from the pumpkin patch, but I just could not see myself paying $30-40 for a big pumpkin when you can get nice fat pumpkins from Walmart for $4-5 a piece. So off to Wally world we went!

 

It took us a few days weeks to actually carve them, but a week before Halloween we did. Lakelyn of course carved a Minnie Mouse (I started it and daddy finished it and OMG it was harder than it seemed. We even chose the easiest looking one). I carved a bat and Tyler carved some kind of thing from the nightmare before Christmas I think it was called. I really don't know to be honest, I just found it and he picked it out.

Again, trying to eat them. And look how big this pumpkin is compared to her. Only paid $5 for it! WIN!



 

 

Parts on Minnie Broke off. Oops!

I couldn't find any good baby costumes. All the ones I found were the same ole lady bug or bumble bee and I just wasn't feeling it. So we were in target getting some candy to hand out and we found this cute little witch hat on a headband (it was for adults) and it fit her perfectly! and she already had the striped pants with the tutu on it and the Halloween socks. So I found the onesie at Walmart that matched. And that was her costume! The black hair was from a couple of years ago. I wore it and was the lady from the Addams Family. I cant remember her name now. But I saw it and just HAD to put it on her. lol. What is a witch without long black hair?

I wore a witch hat to match her and Ella wore a little witch costume too! It had a hat and tutu! We put a blanket in her wagon to sit on and took her for a walk around the block just to look at the decorations and all of the people. We did not get her any candy. She obviously could not eat any and we are those kind of people that lets our baby get candy for us to eat.

The dog was terrified of all of the people and because Lakelyn kept trying to grab her!

She had so much fun and then we went back home to hand out the rest of the candy and ate some pizza. After all was done we went inside and got a nice warm bath and some cuddles while watching the Hallmark Christmas Movie Marathon! (sidenote: on this day a year ago after the candy was handed out and a shower was taken and I was cuddled in the chair watching these Christmas movies that was the very first time Lakelyn kicked)

 

9 months old!

My baby turned 9 months old on December 10th! I just can't believe how fast she is growing and how much she is learning! She is the funniest baby and she has such a great personality!

At 9 months old Lakelyn can do everything a baby her age should be able to do including:

• work to get a toy that is out of reach
• look for dropped object

She can also do everything a baby her age will probably be able to do including:

• creep or crawl
• get into a sitting position from stomach
• object if you try to take a toy away
• stand holding onto someone or something
• pick up tiny object with any part of thumb and finger
• say "mama" or "dada" indiscriminately
• play peekaboo
• pull herself to standing

Lakelyn can do all of what a 9 month old may be able to do including:

• play patty cake, clap hands, or wave bye-bye
• understand "no" but not always obey it
• walk while holding onto furniture (cruise)

 

Lakelyn can do many of the things a baby her age may even be able to do including:

• drink from a cup independently
• pick up tiny objects neatly with tips of thumb and forefinger
• stand alone momentarily
• stand alone well
• say "dada" or mama" discriminately

 

 

She cannot:

• say one word other than "mama" or "dada" (she kinda says "what's that?" to everything)
• respond to a one-step command with gestures, such as "give that to me" said with hand out
• "play ball" by rolling a ball back to you

 

She is still loving baths
She eats basically everything now and you cannot eat infront of her without giving her some or her causing a scene! Chicken is her favorite!
She loves to go for rides in her wagon. Loves being outside in general
She gets so happy when "dada" comes home she will hear him or see him and craw as fast as possible to get to him!
She gets the "chills" or "shivers" all the time (especially when she tries a new food)
She is laughing out loud a lot more
She is taking 2-3 steps before falling
The only thing she does not like is getting clothes put on or being told "no"

 

I love being home with you everyday! You make this life so much fun and worth living. I am having so much fun watching you grow and learn and I cannot wait to see what new tricks you'll be pulling next! I love you so much baby girl!

 

Sleep regression update

I am so far behind on this blog now that the holidays have come and gone! It will take me forever to get caught up, but I am going to try my best!

My update on sleep regression! So at lakelyn's last appointment we got some different advice that we were much more willing to try than "cry it out" you can read about that here

This method worked so well! Within the week our girl was sleeping through the night!!! Merry Christmas to us!

We would give her a bath and do her normal night routine, lotion, pjs and then give her a bottle in the living room with us. After her bottle I would take her into her room sing her a quick song while holding her, tell her goodnight and give her a kiss and lay her down. Sometimes giving her a paci and sometimes she didn't care for it. Give her her blanket and rub her head one last time before walking out and closing her door.

If she woke up I would go in there try giving a paci and rubbing her head or back and sometimes she would fall right to sleep. A few times in the beginning I had to give her a bottle of water but she would take a few sips and then take her paci instead and go right to sleep. This only lasted a few days and then it was no waking up at all!!

Until...

She got her first cold New Year's Eve. She had a runny nose, horrible sounding cough with flem and just wasn't feeling good. Poor baby. She still slept fine the first 2 nights, but has been waking up a lot the past 2-3 nights! Its hard to say if its the 9 month sleep regression coming to attack (late I might add) or just her being sick still. I'm hoping it does not last long and she will go back to sleeping through the night again!