9 Months Old

Delaney is already 9 months old! I can't believe I have a crawling, squealing, giggling, high-pitched screaming little comedian, AND I'm past the halfway point in my pregnancy with baby boy Winchester! At Laney's 9 month physical, she weighed in at 17 lbs 15 oz, 28 in long, and her head is in the 83rd percentile at 17.75 in.

It's been a busy few weeks again. Delaney and I have been to Iowa a few times to spend time with her papa while he's hard at work. I hit a milestone with her last week - it was my first trip away from her, and it was her first long weekend with her Noni and Grandpa Winchester. I left for a wedding in Panama at 4am on a Thursday morning and got back at 3:30am on a Monday morning. Although the trip was absolutely incredible, I had quite a few mommy moments where Laney was all I could think about. Fortunately, Kristi and Gary frequently sent me pictures, text messages, and email updates every day! Laney had so much fun with her Noni and Grandpa. She played, went on strolls, met lots of friends, and loved crawling around their house, exploring and playing with new toys. I think it was probably good for her to spend some time away from me, since we're practically attached at the hip. Plus, I knew I was leaving her with childcare pros! Coming home to see her was the best feeling in the world. (I also missed Brad, of course, but fortunately we were able to Face Time almost every day. I would have loved it so much if he could have come with me - I'm sure he would have loved it, too - but he couldn't take time away from work.)

Laney has recently figured out she's able to scream at a very high pitch. It's an ear piercing scream, and she puts everything she has into it - she clenches her fists, locks her legs, and uses every muscle in her belly to make the loudest squeal possible. At home, it's pretty funny. At stores and at restaurants, it gets absolutely everyone's attention. At least the huge grin on her face reassures everyone she's screaming for fun.  

She is also practicing crawling on her hands and knees, instead of dragging her body across the floor. She moves herself forward and loses her balance, but she's determined! She has decided she's ready for it, so she's been working on it nonstop. Her personality is continuing to grow as well. She has started throwing mini tantrums where she screams, cries, pounds her fists and kicks her feet. It's pretty funny, except when I'm changing her diaper and she wants to roll onto her tummy. Sometimes I don't have her new diaper on, and she twists her upper body as hard as she can to flip herself over. I have to wrestle with her and practically pin her down (gently, obviously) while I'm scrambling to get the diaper on, and that's when she'll throw a tantrum. I figured out that giving her a new toy (right now a pink stuffed doll), and only allowing her to play with it when she's getting her diaper changed, helps distract her enough to prevent any tantrums. And she has figured out that she can throw the doll onto the floor over and over again, and mama will pick it up and give it back to her every. single. time. When it comes to keeping her distracted, whatever works... :)

9 months old!

It's freezing outside. Mama tends to overdo it with the winter apparel.

Bath time with Noni

At the hotel swimming pool, treading water like a pro...

Just kidding. Papa is holding her up.

Ready to watch her papa's warm ups (her favorite thing to do)

Wiped out from all of the excitement in Iowa:

Food = happy baby!

It's finally 45 degrees and sunny! Out for a stroll:

37 Weeks Old

I'm not sure how long I'm going to keep describing her age in weeks. "37 weeks old" sounds very strange. She's 8 1/2 months old.

The past few weeks have been quite eventful. The biggest and best moment was finding out Delaney will have a little brother! We're absolutely thrilled and can't wait to meet the little guy! He's been moving quite a bit. I can feel his little kicks and nudges, and every now and then he surprises me with a big roll in my tummy. It hasn't been very long at all since I was pregnant with Laney, but I've already forgotten how incredible it feels when the baby starts moving around. I'm loving every second of it!

Brad has recently joined a new team, the Wild, so we had the opportunity to check out Des Moines, IA last week. The hotel we'll be living in has a great pool, so we're excited to take Laney swimming. She'll be able to show us all of the cool moves she learned in her swim lessons, such as: slapping the water with her hands, kicking her legs underwater, and trying to dip her face into the water with an open mouth. Very complex moves. :) We're also excited to see what Des Moines has to offer outside of the hotel, so we'll explore when we go back later this week.

Brad celebrated his 33rd birthday while he was on a road trip. Brett Keintz had a wonderful idea to invite Brad over for dinner on his birthday, and he invited Delaney and me to come over as a surprise for Brad. We showed up about an hour before Brad arrived, and the look on his face when he walked in the door was priceless! He missed Delaney so much on the road trip, and he was so thrilled that we could be there with him on his birthday. It was a great day for all of us!

All of the sudden, Laney has 7 teeth and two more on the way! She was pretty fussy for a couple days, and I noticed two new teeth coming in on the top. I was paying so much attention to those, I didn't even notice one poking through on the bottom. It's so cute seeing all those little teeth that are too big for her mouth. It's already becoming difficult to remember her toothless, gummy smile.

Last but not least, we have a sitting baby! Laney has finally decided that sitting up is cool, so she's totally into it these days. She hasn't had much practice with it though, so if she gets distracted, she tends to tip over sideways. We're making sure to closely supervise all of her sitting sessions, ready to catch her, until she gets a little bit stronger.

Cash and Laney love helping with the laundry

Laney's first taste of pancakes. She couldn't get enough!

I love those baby blues!

 We noticed the neighbor accidentally left her dog outside in freezing temps, so Laney and I brought her home to warm up while the neighbor was at work. Cash loved the company, but they were running around so much that it kind of freaked Laney out and made her cry. 

Looking for the perfect toy.

Laney will chew on anything these days!

Papa gave her a new hairstyle in the pool

Happy girl after a long nap :)

Happy birthday, Papa!

Everytime I set her down on the floor in her nursery, she always winds up here:

Sitting like a big girl!

Family fun at Sunday brunch

She loves to sleep with her little booty in the air:

Fun Flashback

My, how things have changed!

8 Months Old

Our little 8 month old is a smiley, fearless little explorer. She loves crawling towards cords, electrical outlets, staircases, fragile objects that tip easily, and just about anything considered dangerous for babies. She also loves peering over the edge of furniture if she's on top of it (we no longer lay her on the bed…). I'm thinking we should probably childproof the house. I already plugged most of the electrical outlets, but that's about it. We'll be ordering baby gates and rearranging some things very soon.

8 months old… such a big girl!

She was crawling away from me, stopped, and looked over her shoulder with this pose:

Trying on her adorable new hat that one of her mama's old coworkers/friends made for her:

Good news! She LOVES the mall! She smiled and kicked her legs the whole time we were there:

Rough housing with papa (she can't get enough of it):

Sound asleep.

Grabbing a fistful of her very patient puppy's fur. She yanked pretty hard…poor, sweet Cash.

34 Weeks Old

When we first had Delaney, friends (and complete strangers) told us, "Just wait, it keeps getting better and better." It's so true! Watching her grow and develop a personality has been so much fun. She's developing a goofy sense of humor and giggles at the littlest things. She also knows how to make us smile and keeps us laughing all the time. Right now, she absolutely loves her jumper and will jump like crazy (arms flailing and head bouncing everywhere)…stop, look at me…then burst into giggles. Then she does it all over again, and again, and again. Sometimes seeing me laugh makes her laugh. She's also ticklish! Tickling her tummy and under her arms makes her squirm and let out a squealing grunt/laugh, which kind of sounds like she's thinking "this is unbearable but I think I love it."

She has really become comfortable in swim class. This week, she smiled the entire time and loved kicking her legs under water. Brad said she was being pretty goofy with him throughout class. She was talking, splashing, and trying to stick her face in the water. I love that she's getting more comfortable in the pool, and I'm so glad we're taking her to this class! It's such a great experience for her - especially seeing how much she's learning and enjoying it!

I've recently realized Delaney isn't sitting up yet - not because she can't, but because she doesn't want to. She's capable of it, but every time I put her into the sitting position, she arches her back and slides into a lying position. Instead of sitting, she likes lying on her side. She'll rest on one elbow and use her top leg for balance (see picture below). I guess she'll start sitting when she wants to.

Delaney's sleep schedule just recently changed pretty drastically. She was taking 5-6 naps each day, but all of the sudden she decided she wants to take 1 nap - sometimes 2. She falls asleep sometime between 9-11pm (she can be quite the night owl!), wakes up sometime between 6-8am for a quick bottle and diaper change, then goes back to sleep until 9-11am. Then she's up for a few hours and takes a 3-hour nap. Depending on how late she naps, sometimes she'll squeeze in one more short nap later in the day. Sometimes she won't. I let her determine her own schedule. I'm fortunate enough to be able to stay home with her all day, and we don't have a reason to get up early/at the same time everyday, so I follow her lead. She knows how much sleep she needs, and she's happy and healthy. It works for us. :)

Time to cover the electrical outlets! ASAP.

After petting her buddy Cash, he rolled over onto her. Crazy kids.

This is how she "sits." It's more of a pose.

Groggy in the morning:

Best friends.

Out to dinner with Grandpa and Noni. She loves them!

Loving her Wisco cap:

Happy Valentine's Day from Delaney!

32 Weeks Old

Delaney has been crawling so much! If she sees something that interests her, she'll go for it. It doesn't matter if it's two feet away or across the room. The more interested she is, the faster she crawls. It's still sort of an army crawl, but she just started practicing propping herself up on her hands and knees, so I'm wondering if she'll start crawling on her hands and knees soon. Her favorite word is still "mama." She LOVES saying it, but I still don't think she knows what it means.

In the past week and a half, both of her top two incisors have made their appearance! She was much less fussy as these teeth broke through than she was when her bottom teeth came in. She loves grinding her bottom teeth against her top teeth, and the sound of it kind of makes my skin crawl. It's like nails on a chalkboard. I'm getting chills just writing about it. Moving on…

Laney has started swimming classes! She has already been swimming twice. She's enrolled in a class with about 6 other babies and their parents. The first time we brought her, we changed her into her little pink, ruffled swimming diaper :) and brought her into the pool area. She became really nervous and panicked a little bit. Brad took her into the pool and we both tried to calm her down. As soon as he dipped her legs into the water, she started to relax. Once she figured out she was just getting into the pool for fun, she really started to enjoy it. She was all smiles! At the second swim class, she seemed much more comfortable. She loves kicking her little legs under the water! Brad will hold her out in front of him, submerged up to her armpits, and pull her around in the pool, and she'll smile and kick her legs the entire time. It might be the cutest thing I've ever seen.

A little unsure about the swimming pool...

Getting the hang of it:

Loving it!

Best buds.

Her thoughts on mango:

She found the perfect spot for a nap: