Laura is Eight Months Old!

Miss Laura turned eight months old on Monday. Like dad said in the previous post, this month has not been without its challenges! Teething seems to be the cause of a lot of her sadness, and we still struggle to get her to take any naps on the weekend, despite her clockwork napping schedule at daycare (which we follow exactly at home). Some days I feel like I've got some other evil twin baby and not our sweet Laura, but then she turns on the charm (at least momentarily) and I remember why I can't sell her on Craigslist...a foolish threat of mine in the early months when she wouldn't sleep. I love her. (Laura's dad and I say this to each other every night!)

Height:

Weight:

Likes: yogurt, cereal puffs, paper/catalogs/ads/magazines, pulling hair, stacking cups, kicking her legs in the tub, making gargling or hissing noises, the mobile in her crib. It's easy to see what she likes these days because she has this whole "excited" thing that takes over her entire body when she's happy - arms and legs stick straight out and shake, and her face scrunches up into this funny smile.

Dislikes: taking naps on the weekends, chunky food with texture (shudders or makes gagging noises), Grandma's carseat

Happy Thanksgiving!

Baby B readers, "Happy Thanksgiving!"
The calendar has designated one day a year for self-reflection on all that we are thankful for. Thanksgiving. This year we added a person to be thankful for in our lives...the little bagooz!

She has been a pleasure, a treat, a challenge, but oh so sweet! Every night I tell Mom that I love our Peanut. Mom will agree we couldn't be more thankful that Laura is here both healthy and happy.

Thanksgiving Day

Made the annual Thanksgiving trip down to Grandma and Grandpa B's house. Food was delicious as usual. I believe Mom grounded up turkey for Laura but she wasn't fond of it. Probably due to the turkey being a little chunky. Laura's food has to be super smooth.

With two new additions to the B family, Laura and Andrew, plus cousin Lilly, this year's version was louder. Lilly was flirty as ever, Laura wouldn't take a nap and was a tad fussy from her teething and runny nose, while Andrew made a few appearances out from his slumber.

Cousin Lilly entertained the group most of the day. Other than the hour or so respite during her nap, she told us names of body parts, do somersaults, show us her belly button, and told us a phone number that only had 9's and 2's. The best part was how nice she was with Laura. Lilly handed Laura her the plug and toys. Unfortunately, Laura wasn't as considerate as she has newly discovered hair pulling.

A Runny Nose

"My hand is the brush, snot is the paint, and my face is the canvas."






Laura's First Cold
We made it almost 8 months. Laura has already been injected with the H1N1 (Swine flu) and regular Flu vaccine for 2009. Despite utilizing those sick-fighting procedures, there isn't anything available to block the common cold. With that said, Laura has a runny nose. Oh no, sound the alarms! Just kidding. But she does look miserable, can't sleep through the night, and gets fussy often. How do you teach an infant to sniff or blow her nose? It's irritating and rather painful listening to her breathe out of her nose. Sounds like a drowning ox. Imagine grunts and hums along with popping snot bubbles. The timing of this couldn't be worse... a runny nose, constipation, and teething all at the same time. Argh!

Teething
Laura has a couple of teeth coming in on her bottoms. Hasn't broken through the gums yet, but if you put your finger in her mouth, you wouldn't know the difference. She bit my nose and I swear she broke skin. She didn't but man did it hurt! All we can do is coat a layer of Oragel on her gums and have her suck on cold teething rings.

She Just Keeps Growing!

Laura keeps changing and growing so fast! Here's what she's been up to lately:

* Working on a tooth! On Wednesday this week, we felt that sharp little point coming up her gums. It's going to take a while to pop through, but it's on its way.


* Growing more hair! There's still not a lot, but what has come in has been very noticeable.














*Looking fabulous!










* Trying a "big girl" cup! Right now she was immensely happy picking it up and banging it around on her high chair tray. Not sure she really gets it yet, but we were interested to see what would happen.











* Saying "ma ma!" Dad predicted this would happen before the end of the month. It's actually Sunday now as I'm finishing up this post...she's never made any sounds remotely like that, and this morning I walk in to hear her saying "ma ma ma ma" plain as day! It was cool to hear but I know she doesn't connect it with me yet. Nevertheless, there's a tiny bit of smug satisfaction that it was "ma ma" before "da da."

Chicken Dinner/Wedding Anniversary

Meat Eater
Yesterday, Laura tasted her way into a new division of the food pyramid. Meat/Poultry. On the menu was ground-up chicken with a side of sweet potato. You could say this was a practice run for Thanksgiving. No fussing, no problems, she ate everything!

Wedding Anniversary - Year Four
And just like that, Mom and I have been married for 4 years! Gotta admit that was pretty fast, folks! The actual day was on Wednesday, November 4th, but we celebrated on Saturday, November 7th.

Mom and I tried to cram everything we could possibly do in one day. In doing so, we had to drop off the Little Bagooz at Grandma and Grandpa B's house with an overnight stay. First on the day's agenda...Enjoy the weather! 64 degrees and sunny, our day began outdoors.

• Golfed at New Prague Golf Club. Scores weren't impressive but Dad whooped Mom, of course.
• Ate at The Blue Door Pub in St. Paul. Great burger joint. The Blue Door Pub was a small place and our waiting time was rather long, but worth the wait.
• Bowled 3 games at the Apple Valley Bowling Alley. Mom was on fire, took the first game but lost the next two. I blame my score on oily lanes, while Mom says fatigue did her in the last two games.
• Went home and snuck in a game of Yahtzee. A late miracle large straight roll by Dad sealed the victory. Yahooo!

Get the sense that we are a competitive family?!?