Three Years

Our anniversary was last Wednesday, and Matt came home at lunch time and surprised me with an afternoon date to the Tulip Fair at Thanksgiving Point.  It was an absolutely perfect spring day. Sunny skies, blooming flowers, holding hands, happy baby in the stroller. A day I would repeat over and over if I could.

She sat in her stroller during lunch and ate some oatmeal.

This little jack-o-lantern one tooth grin...

Mmm flowers smell so nice...

 ...and also make a great snack

I love when she looks straight up through the window in her stroller canopy at whoever is pushing her.

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PSA: Mom Brain

I would like to make a public service announcement about this very real, and very serious condition that I am currently suffering from. It is called Mom Brain. I believe it is an advanced form of Pregnancy Brain. Symptoms vary, but a few experiences that keyed me in to my condition are the following:

• Went to pick up pizza. Was 97% sure I had actually purchased the pizza but when I got home there was no pizza to be found. Had vague memory of leaving pizza on top of car. Drive back on same path but did not find pizza. Ask cashier if they have seen my lost pizza. Met with confused, pitiful look. They offer me a free pizza as a condolence. On the way home I find lost pizza baking in the sun in middle of pavement. Bring home roadkill pizza along with pity pizza. Eat both. 
• Find restaurant table beeper in my diaper bag. Have no recollection of what this is or how it got there. Matt reminds me where we went out to eat the prior weekend. I return to restaurant and dig through my bag to return the beeper. Cannot find it anywhere. Oops. Go back home and find that it was in my bag all along. (Return attempt number two was successful.) 
• Be outside all day, meet up with friends at playgroup, and see lots of people. Return home at end of day and notice that my pants are inside out. Perfect.
• Get out of shower, blow dry my hair. Weird texture, still wet. Forgot to wash out shampoo and conditioner. 

Is there hope for recovery?

6 months

6 months has felt like a big milestone for Mariah in a lot of ways. The biggest change has been with her sleeping. Months 4 and 5 were more or less a long string of completely sleepless nights. We decided changes were in order. I was so hesitant to try any form of crying it out, but even after being consistent with the bedtime routine we needed extra help. I finally decided to go ahead and try it after realizing that crying for brief timed intervals for a few nights before bed is a lot less total crying than waking up every hour or two crying during the night. The first night was way easier than expected, the second night was tougher, and on the third night- I kid you not- I put her down in her crib and she smiled at me, and without a peep she fell asleep and slept for 8 hours. Magic. It's been a few weeks now, and things aren't always that good but she sleeps much better, and she now takes 2-3 regular naps during the day. The routine has made us all a lot happier and better rested. Sometimes I hear myself rambling on about baby sleep schedules, eating habits, etc...and realize how boring it is...but then keep going.

Mariah started sleeping in her own room too. That turned out to be a much harder transition for me than for her. The first night I was wracked with nightmares that I lost my baby and couldn't find her anywhere.

The other big changes have been eating solids once a or twice a day, sitting up, and she cut her first tooth just a few days shy of 6 months!

She still grabs at everything and tries to eat the whole world. I always put her in the hallway outside the bathroom with some toys while I take a shower, and when I get out I sometimes find that she has rolled over to the wall and is munching on the baseboards. It makes me laugh. She chews on eveeryyything like a little puppy.

Well, at 6 months, Mariah likes:

Rolling over back to belly

FOOD. She has tried brown rice, avocado, pears, carrots, sweet potatoes, bananas, blueberries, apples, oatmeal, and zucchini. As far as I can tell, she loves it all.

Chewing, biting, sucking, and drooling

Blowing raspberries. She has figured out that this is even more fun to do with a mouth full of food.

Giggling. The sound of her laugh is pure joy.

Sucking on both her thumbs at the same time.

Grabbing, pinching, and swatting my face.

My phone and my water bottle. 

When Matt comes home and plays with her. One of my favorite parts of the day is listening to her squeal with delight in the other room while she plays with her dad and I cook dinner. 

Toys. Her favorite things right now are this silicone basting brush I pulled out of the kitchen gadgets drawer, and her own hair brush. Go figure. 

Infant Motrin. Thank heavens for this stuff. It was a life saver last week.

The wind.

Long walks in her stroller.

Mariah does not like:

Teething :(

Riding in the sling. She just gets frustrated and tries to dive out of it now.

Rolling over belly to back

If I try to get anything done. Broad statement but mostly true.

I get her best smiles when I move my face from behind the camera, but then the picture is always way off center!

Moving + Easter

We are still settling into our new home (yay!), and haven't gotten around to taking any pictures of the inside yet. In the meantime, enjoy some Easter baby in the front yard. A yard!

As usual, Mariah was more interested in eating the stuffed rabbit than smiling for the camera :)

She can really only sit up for about 15 seconds at a time until she falls backwards or doubles over.

Love these two.

She is getting too big.

 

Home sweet home.

Avocado

 Mariah has been showing signs of being ready for solid foods for a couple weeks, and has been desperately grabbing food out of my hand and trying to eat it. It has just taken me awhile to accept it. And once I accepted it, I had to read every article ever written on the internet about starting solids. In the end it was nothing fancy, we just mashed up an avocado and fed it to her. In typical Mariah fashion, she was like, "What's the big deal?" I was surprised she actually was able to smoosh the food with her gums and even swallow it. She seemed to like it and kept reaching for the bowl and trying to guide the spoon into her mouth. And I took over 100 pictures.

 We started off with a big regular spoon and then remembered we had baby spoons. We're amateurs.

Hahaha I love her face here. 

 Trying to grab the bowl from me

Mmmmmm so delicious

5 months

Remember last month how I said Mariah's sleeping had gotten worse? Well after that it got worse. And then it got better, but not really better, just relatively better. So, hence the blogging absence, and also mental absence. My brain felt like mush for a couple weeks there.
Thanks also for the helpful links some of you posted. If nothing else, it was a nice reminder that this phase will pass.

Despite the sometimes restless nights, Mariah is really healthy and happy. Her giggle is completely contagious. She rolls over often from back to belly but can't always get herself on her back again. She plays with little teething rings and toys and still tries to suck on everything.

We've come up with a lot of cheesy nicknames over the last 5 months, but I think the ones we use most often are:

Mariahboo
Cutie Babes
Babykins
Little Muffin
Baby Riah
Baby Girl
MariahMariah
Babinski
And we still call her babins

At 5 months Mariah likes:
Grabbing and pulling
Watching us put food in our mouths
Trying to eat everything
Rolling over
Laughing, especially when we shake her arms or do fake coughs or snorts
Music
Her binky
Not sleeping
Cooing and babbling, making m and b sounds
Blowing spit bubbles all over her face
Stuffed bunny, stuffed bear, plastic keys, teething rings, rattle
Sucking on her feet
Coming to work with me (usually)

Mariah does not like:
Loud sounds, especially sneezes and pots and pans
When I leave the room
Being left out of a conversation
Waking up with a wet diaper
When she accidentally(?) drops her toys

Most pictures of her are on my phone, but since I'm on the computer right now here are some from the camera:

 Here is some rolling over in action:

Sometimes she gets stuck on her arm.