These are the days

Morgan will be seven months old on Wednesday. I must say that she is at an incredibly interesting and entertaining point in her life/development. She is very interactive and verbal, having new 'firsts' all of the time.

About a week ago she started trying crawling off and on, however, I think she realizes that her 'scoot' action is just as efficient. Sometimes she'll crawl for a bit and then give up and scoot the rest of the way to her destination. This week, she started getting up on her knees and attempting to pull herself up using one of us or the couch/futon/anything else she can reach. This has lead to a few face-plants, a bruise on her temple, and frustration. Today, in the midst of pulling herself up on her crib, her leg (thigh) became stuck between the crib railing. Luckily, as I panicked, Tyler came in and was able to 'free' her. After that we opted for a trip to GG Thompsons' house.

While Morgan will play the 'repeat game' when it comes to talking (she has repeated variations of 'get it', 'hello', 'hey', 'grandma', 'love you'), she has three words committed to her vocabulary: Ma-Ma, Da-Da, and Kitty. She will also mutter in a sing-song voice, 'here kitty, kitty, kitty' after I do (sounds more like eee kiy kiy kiy).

As for foods, she eats Gerber's 'sitter' foods regularly, sometimes mixed with rice cereal. Her favorites appear to be Sweet potatoes and Peaches. When at gg Thompsons', she gets a treat of yogurt (and pickles, today), and I sometimes let her have sips from my cup of tea (not enough to even count as a 'drink').

One of my favorite signs of growth is her 'giving kisses'. When we pucker up and smack our lips, she'll hold her mouth open a bit and lean in to give kisses. This evening, I had her on my lap, standing on my legs. She was fairly calm and looked into my eyes, opened her mouth, and leaned forward and kissed me. My heart melted. <3

Last weekend we had a BBQ here at our place and went outside to take some easter pictures for Morgan. It didn't go as planned (ha, plans), but we did end up with some adorable pics.

Tyler and Morg ventured to Wichita this past week and much fun was had by Tyler, Morgan, Nana Cherie, and family friend Tina.

We're counting down the weeks (5) to summer and more family time!

Natasha

My Stick Family from WiddlyTinks.com

Once upon a Morgan

Our sweet little girl has disappeared in the aftermath of her six-month shots. Today, she had her appointment up in the city. I am out of sick days/leave, so Daddy did this round solo. Overall, he said she did pretty well and didn't cry for too long after the four shots.

In the way of statistics, she is now weighing in at 16lbs, 15.4oz and is 26.5 inches long. As for her progress and health, she gets two thumbs up. We have the go-ahead to start introducing her to new foods and to even use a food processor if we so desire. We've been transitioning into things like oatmeal and mixed baby foods anyway. She loves her some 'people food'.

Morg is up on her knees with her arms extended quite frequently now, she likes to rock back and forth. She'll scoot across a room, too, when she sees something she would like. It is sure fun to watch! Tyler and I take turns tapping our foot on the floor to see who she'll scoot to. She still is very interested in Kibbles and poor Kib takes it all in stride and is SO good with her. I'll have to post a video of the two once it is uploaded to YouTube.

One of my current favorites is rocking her to sleep at night. We have a routine where we'll have a bottle, go in and turn Frankie the Frog on, and then she'll wrap her arms around my neck and we'll rock back and forth for a bit. My absolute favorite is when she rests her head on my shoulder and falls asleep. Well, that and when we go into the room and I turn off the light and she automatically looks up at the ceiling for the stars that Frankie projects! <3

We start our softball games next week, so that will be an entirely different experience for her! When it is too chilly out, she'll stay at gma Leslie's house. However, I can't wait for her to experience the joys of the outdoors and softball! I just wish Mother Nature would cooperate.

Natasha

My Stick Family from WiddlyTinks.com

Moo-ving onward

Morgan turned five months old on Sunday. At this point she is enjoying a variety of Gerber's 'supported sitter' foods and is rolling around the house when we put her down on the floor. Time is moving quickly and it is so fun having her at this interactive stage!

Last Friday we did not have school. I ended up turning our living room into 'blanket central' and just letting her roll all over the place. We fell asleep together on the blankets after a while. One thing we have noticed (we actually noticed it in early January) is that Morgan has something against cows. Tyler has a little toy noise-maker that you turn upside down and it makes a moo sound. Well, Morgan HATES that and will go from smiling to crying in no time flat. Lately, we've found that even making a 'moo' noise makes her cry. We've hypothesised why- anything from being a cow in a past life and meeting an untimely end to having dreams about stampeads. Who knows. I'm glad we don't live in the country.

Today was Morgan's first experience with Bananas- she loved them! Her favorites right now include: Peaches, Sweet Potatoes, and Bananas. Dislikes: Anything cow related, Green Beans, Lack of direct attention.

My Stick Family from WiddlyTinks.com

No More Prunes... EVER.

We embarked upon a new stage this week: baby foods. I must say that it has been exciting and has opened our eyes to a whole new world of diaper changes. We've had parent teacher conferences this week, and I've been getting home rather late in the evenings (when we don't have snow days, that is). Tyler decided that yesterday would be a good time to introduce Morgan to prunes. Yes, prunes. Needless to say, he left this morning and revenge of the prunes: 1 began. OH.MY.

Prune poo aside, Morgan is doing well. At our last appointment she was 14lb 10oz. Our play-yard holds her in the upper area to 15 pounds, so I made the decision today to lower the play-yard to its typical setting. She is in the yard, beside me, just checking out the new digs. I think she likes it, from the sound of the coos she is giving me.

Although she is far from the 'mobility stage' (we hope), she is a smart little booger. She gets up on her knees and will rock but has learned how to scoot across the floor and to roll when she can't quite scoot. We have a 3' by 3' area of blankets we usually lay her on to play and roll around. She'll stay on the blanket area for five minutes or so and then she's off. If I am sitting to the side of the blanket area at my computer, she'll roll over to me until she is under my feet and looking up at me. It's pretty funny. I've also watched her roll to the cat, who quickly exits the situation. Last night, she rolled over to my bag of school goodies and was trying to pull herself off the ground to a sitting position- she would get up to about a 30 degree angle and then lay back down. I took a video of this but haven't managed to upload it yet.

We've been treated to so many snow days this season that we've taken to calling them 'Morgan days'. I mean, in all actuality, that's what they are. We've enjoyed being able to be home together to introduce her to baby foods such as applesauce, carrots, and sweet potatoes. In one sitting the little booger will eat about 3/4 of a little container of baby food. She loves sitting in her new highchair and will open her mouth wide and lunge for the spoon when you have it in your hand. A couple of times she has grabbed for the spoon but usually drops it pretty quickly.

We went on a Morgan-themed shopping trip a couple of weeks ago and ended up coming home with some new, medium-flow bottles, fore mentioned highchair, a new car seat for Tyler's car that holds her up to 100 pounds, some outfits, and a few other misc. items. I think, though, that another shopping trip is in order, as she has outgrown her 3-6 month footy sleepers because she is so darn long! We're planning on a four-generation (gg thompson, gma thompson, mommy, morgan) shopping trip to Legends this weekend so that we can pick up some good buys at the Carters & Osh Kosh outlets (I've got coupons!).

Plans are in the making for Morgan to travel on her first plane ride at the end of May. It will be in the same company as our shopping trip- with GREAT-GREAT grandma! It will be such an awesome thing to capture a five generation visit (again, she visited her other gg grandma when she was a couple of months old). We have pictures of me with my gg, great, grandma, and mother when I was a little bigger than she will be. Sadly, I don't think Tyler will be able to go on this trip. However, we'll be driving to Phoenix with Nana Cherie in June or July so that Morgy can meet her gpa gregg, so we will get a full family trip in as well. It looks to be a busy summer, as I have trips planned to both Atlanta and San Diego for work and a nephew due in mid-June!

I've been working on plans for the March 20th shower, and almost have the invites designed and ready to go. It's so much fun to plan events- I would honestly love to do something similar as a career. Speaking of career, Tyler recently recieved a promotion to 'team facilitator' at his job and is excited about the new changes that brings to his position.

Well, time to take advantage of this Morgan-day and shower while she naps. Tonight, she'll get to spend some time with gma leslie while I go and scrapbook for the first time since her birth (YIKES... time to catch up!)...

Natasha

My Stick Family from WiddlyTinks.com

Four More Months! Four More Months!

This is how we spend our snow days in the Jenkins household. Is it possible that Morgan is a little over four months old? Why, yes, it is! We celebrated her four month birthday with some singing of Happy Birthday and some shared giggles.

As for milestones, she's keeping us on our toes:

In mid-December her first teeth began coming in. Now, her two bottom teeth are through and she has another starting on the bottom, right side. Although she was born with a full head of thick, dark hair, it started falling out and is in the process of coming back in lighter- more of a chestnut color (beautiful!). As for her eyes, they are still a beautiful blue- a hue darker than her daddy's and just a shade lighter than my own.

Morgan has been rolling over (and over, and over) for about three weeks now. She spends more time on her tummy now, as she is happier when she can flip over on her own and decide to go back to her back whenever she pleases (and can manage to get her arm out from under her). Now, she's proceeding to the next step- using her knees to push up. However, this is a rare sight at this point- but we've noticed it a couple of times. My main worry at this point is her rolling over and sleeping on her tummy. I know it is going to happen, but it just worries me, as it supposedly increases the risk of SIDS.

We recently completed are taxes and are getting back a chunk of our hard-earned money. So, this weekend we will purchase Morgan a few of the items we held off on (a walker/bouncer, a high-chair). Morgan has tried applesauce, carrots, and fried egg yolk at this point- I think in the next couple of months we'll venture closer to 'high-chair status'.

Tyler is doing a remarkable job as a stay-at home daddy by weekday and full-time worker by weekend. I don't know how I ended up with such an awesome guy, loving husband, and fantastic daddy- I surely don't deserve it. I hear people say all the time that they have 'the best' husband/wife, but I get to live that situation daily- for that I am indebted to fate. As for Tyler and I, we celebrated 8 years as a couple (seven years of marriage come this may) this January. Is that even possible?!? It seems like only yesterday we were sitting at Barnes & Noble on our first date, writing letters throughout his basic training, and walking in the rain down the streets of Baltimore... oh, life's surprises.

Kibbles is adjusting to Morgan and the fact that she is not always front and center these days. Although she's been scolded for acting out and climbing on the counters, she is still a loving kitty. Morgan has started to take note of her presence and has even reached out and pet her with an open hand as of late. Kibbles is taking it all in stride and I have to applaud her for that.

We had a photographer here at our house today to take photos (we had a free sitting/8 by 10)... I'll plan on posting those in a couple of weeks.

Until then,

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Natasha (and the rest of the Jenkins clan)

My Stick Family from WiddlyTinks.com

Milestones

It took three weeks and eight days, but our little Morgan rolled over onto her tummy (from her back) yesterday. We were lucky enough to catch her in action and get the video camera before she rolled back. It was funny, Tyler and I had her on the floor between us and had both turned to check our e-mail; when he turned around, he said, "tash, look," I turned and looked and sure enough she was on her tummy, propped up by her darn left arm (stuck under her). We grabbed the camera and watched as she struggled to turn over, getting pretty darn frustrated in the process. However, the smile and her reaction afterwards was priceless. It took a lot for me to stand back and not help her when she got frustrated but I am SO glad that I did.

anything, I think this foreshadows the type of parent I want to be and the effort it is going to take to restrain myself in any situation where I could make things 'easier'. I want Morgan to be independent and to experience such joys without my assistance, but I'm sure there will be times (again) where I want to intervene but I think this experience will help me to remember to take a step back and just watch her succeed (or fail and learn from it).

Natasha

My Stick Family from WiddlyTinks.com

Once upon a Morgan

It is a little hard to believe that Morgan will be three months old tomorrow. When I look back on the photos of her first month of life and stare into her eyes today it seems like we have an entirely different baby in our house! The growth, development, and personality that we've witnessed over the last three months leaves us in awe.

Her last appointment with the pediatrician was on 11/24 and at that point she weighed in at 12lbs, 3 oz. and was 22 3/4 inches long with a head circumfrance of 40.4cm. Our growing girl!

We aren't quite at the point of 'rolling over' yet, although she can roll onto her side and back onto her back. In the past couple of weeks her grasp has developed and she loves to hold to her little maraca rattle that daddy got her and has grabbed onto my earrings and gave them a tug more than once.

As for words, she LOVES to babble! Whether it is in her carseat babbling to whoever is sitting next to her or laying/sitting around the house, she has stories to tell! In general she is such an easy, happy baby. We couldn't be luckier in terms of her personality and enjoyment of life.

One of my most recent 'favorites' was waking her from her crib one Saturday and placing her on her changing table as she woke up to focus on my face and give me a great big smile. That sure starts your day on the bright side!

If you've seen Morgan's share site (photo/video site) than you are aware that she loves to giggle, smile, and eyeball her daddy! Seriously, seeing Tyler's face or hearing his voice makes her eyes light up and her lips creep into a smile- we have a daddy's girl on our hands! I can only imagine the bonding experiences to come between father and daughter.

As for mommy and daughter, our favorite pastime is singing. Lately it has been Christmas music, but Morgan will smile and coo and gurgle to almost any song as we sing along. It seems like almost daily we sing-song together for at least a short period of time.

Winter break is here, so there will be more mommy-daughter and family time to go around! We have quite the agenda on our hands, as Morgan will get to see and or meet many family members that she has not yet, including her new baby cousin, Jonathan. It will surely be a holiday season to remember and we'll be sure to capture it in photographs for all to see.

My Stick Family from WiddlyTinks.com