Has it really been half a year since Paige was born? She's completely changed my life. It's odd to think there was ever life before her. She's such a doll. It's fun to see her personality emerge. She's very curious about life, but also needs security before she's willing to explore. She'll cling to me or Stephen until she feels comfortable enough, and then she'll play on her own just fine for a while. It's funny that she does this in our living room still. She needs to know we're sitting near her. She'll be playing fine, and then I get up and go to the kitchen, and that's cause for her to cry, even though she wasn't interacting with me before. It's funny.
Mostly, I think she likes to tag along and watch. She is a watcher and wants to know what's going on. There are times that I'm sitting and holding her and that's not good enough for her. She'll fuss until I get up and do something, and then she'll calm down to watch. It's like she knows I should be cleaning and gets on my case when I don't. She's still a good shopper and is almost always content when we are out and about. It's really helpful for me.
She's almost crawling. She's on her hands and knees and will lunge forward, but still hasn't gotten the coordination down to actually crawl. That doesn't stop her though--she loves to move. She especially loves power cords. I have to cover them up with a blanket or pillow to distract her. If she can see them, she'll go for it. She also likes playing with anything reflective. Our TV stand has a glass door that she'll crawl to and play with. Normally, she just bonks her head against it, but it's still cute. She likes Stephen's water bottle and will also go for that any time she can. Mirrors also intrigue her. Paige's favorite toy is anything she shouldn't be playing with, and in that sense, I think she's a typical baby. With her movement, she requires more supervision, but so far, she's not gotten herself into too much trouble.
I've also started letting her chew on some solids. I'm wanting to do a baby-led weaning approach. At this point though, I'm not actually weaning as much as I'm just letting her explore and play with food. I'm also wanting to make sure she eats healthy. My approach for now is to only let her have 100% whole foods (basically just fruits and veggies for now). She's tried peaches, cantaloupe, mango, carrots, broccoli, and sugar snap peas. She's only swallowing a little bit of it, and that's fine with me. I'm still nursing her so I'm not worried about her nutrition yet. It's mostly just exposure at this point. Also, with the amount of random objects that go into her mouth, some of it might as well be food.
I think it's time to recap this past month. We've done a lot of fun things as a family. I'm sure I'm forgetting to mention a lot of fun things. We still do our Saturday outings and sometimes we go out for dinner or just go for a drive. I love shopping (or even just window shopping) with Paige. I still go running most evening and we're trying to eat healthy. Paige keeps us laughing a lot. I'm so enthralled with her, and I adore watching Stephen be a great dad. Our life is pretty standard, but we have done some special stuff this past month.
Stephen's work hosted an event they called a hackathon. They split up into teams and worked for a few days on a project to improve their product, collaborative flowcharts. Stephen's group changed the way a file saved. If you want more programming details, ask him. They company then had a competition at the end. After inviting the families to see the displays and have dinner, the top four teams were announced. Stephen's team was one of them. The four teams did a presentation, and then the winners were announced. Stephen and his team took first place and each won a $500 gift card to Amazon. Needless to say, I was proud of my smart Husband.
My sister Susan came home from her mission in California. I tried meeting her at the airport during her layover in Salt Lake, but her flight was delayed. I saw her a few days later when we went down to St. George to visit. It had been a long time since all my siblings and I were together, so that was really fun for our family. Paige traveled alright, though vacationing with a baby isn't relaxing. Still, being with my family meant she had a lot of babysitters. I was happy for the break.
My sisters, my mom, my grandma, and I went to the temple together. It was great to be there as a girl's trip. I hope we can do that again someday. It was also fun to go to church as a whole family. Susan gave a great report on her mission and Paige was extra cute. I had a lot of fun showing her off. I was able to see some friends while I was down in St. George too, and I'm glad for that.
Since we were all together, my family had a photo shoot with one of my best friends growing up, Kelsi, as our photographer. If anyone in St. George wants a great photographer, check her out. She did an amazing job working with our large family and our different ideas and opinions. I'm really happy with how the pictures turned out. Thanks, Kelsi! It was fun to choose our outfits too. It was my idea to go with neutrals and navy, and I think it turned out nice. I was very happy to see the pictures when they were done. It'll be something we cherish for a long time.
At the end of July, I saw a facebook post for a contest for Parade of Homes tickets. Long story short, we got two free tickets. Stephen and I have been spending a lot of time looking at fancy homes. I love daydreaming and the Parade of Homes is perfect for that. It's been fun for me. For Stephen, on the other hand, well, it just shows how much he loves me. It's more work for him, and not how he would choose to spend his free time, but he has not once complained to me about it. He's worked hard to give me opinions and input, carrying on the conversation well. We've both learned about what we like and don't like in a home, and so far, we have pretty similar tastes. When we get to build our dream home someday, it's going to be beautiful! Paige sides with me on the enjoyment of looking at homes. We take turns wearing her in the baby wrap as we go through the homes and so far, she's enjoyed all of them.
I've also been trying to make friends and hang out with people. I've tried to get together with my neighbors, but so far, nothing's worked out. I went to a mommy group and had fun there, and we might go back, but I would have to pay to join their group. La Leche Leage is great, but it only meets once a month, ad I would like friends more often than that. I was able to hang out with some of my friends from college earlier this week, and I had a blast. We have a facebook group for us to ask each other mommy questions and share fun articles or pictures, and sometimes we try to do meetups. This one was the most successfully attended. We just went to a park and hung out, but I loved seeing my friends and meeting many new babies.
Well, Paige is needing another diaper change, so we'll end here. I love being a mom to this sweet girl, and a wife to my amazing husband. Six months of parenting down, eternity to go.
Mostly, I think she likes to tag along and watch. She is a watcher and wants to know what's going on. There are times that I'm sitting and holding her and that's not good enough for her. She'll fuss until I get up and do something, and then she'll calm down to watch. It's like she knows I should be cleaning and gets on my case when I don't. She's still a good shopper and is almost always content when we are out and about. It's really helpful for me.
She's almost crawling. She's on her hands and knees and will lunge forward, but still hasn't gotten the coordination down to actually crawl. That doesn't stop her though--she loves to move. She especially loves power cords. I have to cover them up with a blanket or pillow to distract her. If she can see them, she'll go for it. She also likes playing with anything reflective. Our TV stand has a glass door that she'll crawl to and play with. Normally, she just bonks her head against it, but it's still cute. She likes Stephen's water bottle and will also go for that any time she can. Mirrors also intrigue her. Paige's favorite toy is anything she shouldn't be playing with, and in that sense, I think she's a typical baby. With her movement, she requires more supervision, but so far, she's not gotten herself into too much trouble.
I've also started letting her chew on some solids. I'm wanting to do a baby-led weaning approach. At this point though, I'm not actually weaning as much as I'm just letting her explore and play with food. I'm also wanting to make sure she eats healthy. My approach for now is to only let her have 100% whole foods (basically just fruits and veggies for now). She's tried peaches, cantaloupe, mango, carrots, broccoli, and sugar snap peas. She's only swallowing a little bit of it, and that's fine with me. I'm still nursing her so I'm not worried about her nutrition yet. It's mostly just exposure at this point. Also, with the amount of random objects that go into her mouth, some of it might as well be food.
I think it's time to recap this past month. We've done a lot of fun things as a family. I'm sure I'm forgetting to mention a lot of fun things. We still do our Saturday outings and sometimes we go out for dinner or just go for a drive. I love shopping (or even just window shopping) with Paige. I still go running most evening and we're trying to eat healthy. Paige keeps us laughing a lot. I'm so enthralled with her, and I adore watching Stephen be a great dad. Our life is pretty standard, but we have done some special stuff this past month.
Stephen's work hosted an event they called a hackathon. They split up into teams and worked for a few days on a project to improve their product, collaborative flowcharts. Stephen's group changed the way a file saved. If you want more programming details, ask him. They company then had a competition at the end. After inviting the families to see the displays and have dinner, the top four teams were announced. Stephen's team was one of them. The four teams did a presentation, and then the winners were announced. Stephen and his team took first place and each won a $500 gift card to Amazon. Needless to say, I was proud of my smart Husband.
My sister Susan came home from her mission in California. I tried meeting her at the airport during her layover in Salt Lake, but her flight was delayed. I saw her a few days later when we went down to St. George to visit. It had been a long time since all my siblings and I were together, so that was really fun for our family. Paige traveled alright, though vacationing with a baby isn't relaxing. Still, being with my family meant she had a lot of babysitters. I was happy for the break.
My sisters, my mom, my grandma, and I went to the temple together. It was great to be there as a girl's trip. I hope we can do that again someday. It was also fun to go to church as a whole family. Susan gave a great report on her mission and Paige was extra cute. I had a lot of fun showing her off. I was able to see some friends while I was down in St. George too, and I'm glad for that.
Since we were all together, my family had a photo shoot with one of my best friends growing up, Kelsi, as our photographer. If anyone in St. George wants a great photographer, check her out. She did an amazing job working with our large family and our different ideas and opinions. I'm really happy with how the pictures turned out. Thanks, Kelsi! It was fun to choose our outfits too. It was my idea to go with neutrals and navy, and I think it turned out nice. I was very happy to see the pictures when they were done. It'll be something we cherish for a long time.
At the end of July, I saw a facebook post for a contest for Parade of Homes tickets. Long story short, we got two free tickets. Stephen and I have been spending a lot of time looking at fancy homes. I love daydreaming and the Parade of Homes is perfect for that. It's been fun for me. For Stephen, on the other hand, well, it just shows how much he loves me. It's more work for him, and not how he would choose to spend his free time, but he has not once complained to me about it. He's worked hard to give me opinions and input, carrying on the conversation well. We've both learned about what we like and don't like in a home, and so far, we have pretty similar tastes. When we get to build our dream home someday, it's going to be beautiful! Paige sides with me on the enjoyment of looking at homes. We take turns wearing her in the baby wrap as we go through the homes and so far, she's enjoyed all of them.
I've also been trying to make friends and hang out with people. I've tried to get together with my neighbors, but so far, nothing's worked out. I went to a mommy group and had fun there, and we might go back, but I would have to pay to join their group. La Leche Leage is great, but it only meets once a month, ad I would like friends more often than that. I was able to hang out with some of my friends from college earlier this week, and I had a blast. We have a facebook group for us to ask each other mommy questions and share fun articles or pictures, and sometimes we try to do meetups. This one was the most successfully attended. We just went to a park and hung out, but I loved seeing my friends and meeting many new babies.
Well, Paige is needing another diaper change, so we'll end here. I love being a mom to this sweet girl, and a wife to my amazing husband. Six months of parenting down, eternity to go.
