Stay at Home Mom

Now that med school is over, I get to be a stay at home mom for a little while. Residency orientation does not start until June 17th, so it's just Alexis and me. I'm excited to spend so much time with her.

Yesterday we walked to the front of the apartment complex to check the mail. Then we walked up to the McDonald's for an ice cream cone. I love this little girl to pieces!

9 Months

Weight: 15lbs 4oz (3rd%)

Length: 27 inches (25th%)

Eating: We are eating anything and everything.  This has been our routine.  Nurse in the morning around 6:45 and then oatmeal with 1-2oz fruit at 7:15.  Then a bottle of expressed breast milk at 10:30, 3oz solids and 1/2 banana at 11:30 for lunch.  Then a bottle at 3:00.  Nurse at 5:30.  Dinner of about 5oz solids at 7:00.  Usually she will also eat whatever we are having for dinner.  She loves eating broccoli, carrots, pancakes, cinnamon apples.  She will eat chicken, ground turkey, anything and everything.  She still isn't too found of fruits.  I can get her to eat strawberries, bananas, and apples.  We tried kiwi this week and she actually liked it.  I've really enjoyed making her baby food.  It's been fun!  The last 2 weeks though she has been having a middle of the night feed around 2:00am.  I have no idea where this came from as she hasn't had a middle of the night feed since December.  Growth Spurt?

Bedtime: So we are still in limbo with this evening nap ordeal.  We tried getting rid of it to see if that would help sleep through the night.  eh not so much.  We are back to taking an evening nap with bed time around 8:30.  We usually do baby massages, pjs, brush our teeth and then story time.  If it's bath night, we do bath first then the rest of the routine.

Awake: She is awake for about 3 hours now.  I'm done with school, so I get to be a stay at home mom.  We are having fun with our awake time.  We have gone for walks, played in the water on the patio, worked on walking, clapping, waving, and blowing kisses.  We also read books and just play.

Naps: She has been taking a one hour nap in the morning around 9:30 and then typically a 2 hour nap around 12:30/1:00.  Then we do the 45-60 min nap in the evenings at 5:30.

Diapers: size 2

Clothes: 6 month clothes 

Favorites: This past weekend she started standing on her own.  She will let go and stand.  She has made it for about 1 minute now.  Once she realizes she's standing she usually plops back down.  If we keep her distracted with a toy in her hands, she can stand longer.  We are also starting to wave bye-bye.  It's so cute.  She has her hand facing her, so she's really waving bye to herself.  She just watches her hand when she does it and then gets so excited.  We are cruising across the couch.  She can walk holding onto our fingers.  She pulls up on everything.  We are having so much fun watching her explore everything around her.

Our New Home

So Eric and I are in the process of buying our first home in Eureka, Mo. We are so excited!!!! Here is a picture of hopefully our new home.

Back To Running

So I decided two weeks ago, that I miss running.  I am trying to get back out to the park 3-4 times a week.  Some friends of ours were sweet enough to give me her old jogging stroller.  I haven't used it yet since it has been chilly out.  Eric and I have just been alternating.  He's home with Alexis and does weights while I run during her nap or vice versa.  Today would have been a great day to take her out in the jogging stroller but unfortunately, she is sick.  She has a fever and has been fussy. :/  Poor thing!

I ran 3 miles today in 31 minutes.  WOOHOO!!!  I would love to do a 1/2 before residency starts.  You can keep up with my progress and help keep me accountable.

On The Move

She is growing up way too fast.  She just needs to slow down!

8 Months

Oh my I can't believe our baby girl is already 8 months.  She is so close to a year.  Sad :(

Weight: 16lbs (Eric got on the scale with her the other day)

Length: 25 1/2 inches (we measured her but she was pretty squirmy)

Eating: We are now doing solids 3x a day, so I really think this has helped her gain some weight.  She nurses in the morning not long after we get up, then she gets 1/4cup of oatmeal with 1.5oz of breast milk and 1oz fruit, then 5oz bottle at 10:30, then at 11:30 2oz fruit & 2oz vegetable for lunch, 5oz bottle at 2:30, nurses at 5:30, followed by solids including 1-2oz meat and then 2-3oz vegetables, nurse right before bed.  This month we have really started feeding her some food off our plate.  It's so fun to watch her enjoy new foods (broccoli, strawberries, pancakes, bread, pasta, meatloaf).

Bedtime: Sometimes she skips her early evening nap, so if she does then bed time is between 8-8:30.  Early this month she kept waking up at 2:30 wide awake jabbering away.  We adjusted some of our feedings to help out with this. We realized if we do her solids early in the evening for some reason she sleeps better than if we do the solids around 7 after that evening nap.

Awake: She is awake for about 2 1/2 hours at a time right now with some stretches of 3 hours.  Usually afternoon-evening are longer stretches.

Naps: She will take about a 30 minute nap in the morning at 9:30 and then an hour and a half nap from 12:30-2:00.  We do a nap again 5:30-6:15ish.  That last evening nap she is usually out, so we wake her up so she doesn't sleep too long.

Diapers: size 2

Clothes: 6 month clothes, jammies are 6-9 month.

Favorites: So just 2 weeks ago she figured out how to pull up to standing.  It's crazy!!!  She figured it out and then the next day she pulls up on EVERYTHING!  It's so cute but this stage comes with lots of falls and tears.  She has had a bruise on her forehead :(  Just last week she took a few steps behind her toy.  (I have a video I will try to upload).

Top Two Teeth!

Bottom Two!

It definitely was a challenge trying to get good pictures this month as she is just on the move.  This is such a fun age as she is exploring and soaking everything up.  Mommy & Daddy love you very much!!!

I matched!

Sorry I'm a little late...

Wow so these past few months have been crazy and full of lots of emotions.  I submitted my rank list February 20th, found out I matched on March 11th, and found out where on March 15th.  Talk about anxiety!

Eric, Alexis and myself will be making the move to St. Louis sometime in May.  I matched at Cardinal Glennon Children's Hospital.  I couldn't be happier.  Eric and I are very excited.  We aren't sure if St. Louis will become our forever home or not, but we are excited to spend the next 3 years there.  We are so excited to finally have a good baseball team to go watch.  Of course I looked up the Ranger's schedule and they will be in St. Louis at the end of June for a 3 game series.  Of course we will be going and sporting our Rangers gear.  (we will all need to get new shirts but that's another story)

We are starting the relocation process including looking for places to live and job hunting for Eric.  I will keep yall posted on our new adventure.