As Brian says. Chloe is DEFINITELY developing some attachment/separation issues with me. It's at the point now where she's playing, I leave the room and she whines. Sometimes she'll stop after a minute or two cuz she forgets about me, but sometimes it erupts into full-blown crying fits. She is still such a great baby though... she did quite well on our vacation (hope to post pictures of that at some point but we'll see)
She now clings to us when we pick her up... she wraps her little arms around our necks. It is darling and heart-melting.
I think this separation issues are going to be both a blessing and a curse!
I shot a wedding today and I missed her so much. It makes me scared if something were to ever happen to her... how awful it would be to never hold her again. She is so precious to me, the love I have for her is unbelievably big. It's just soooo different then anything else.
This might be TMI for some of you, but for me it was sort of momentous. I just got my first menstrual period since my pregnancy/birth of Chloe in the middle of the night last night (well if you don't count the HUGE period you have right after you give birth, which I do... cuz it's like the worst one ever) but anyway. It was so weird. and of course I got it ON vacation... what the what!! So annoying. But anyway I was shocked. I guess the fact that she's mostly weaned now (I still nurse in the mornings and occasionally at night too) has finally caught up to me. Some women get it sooner.. but it took 6 months. Yeah... my baby is 6 months (but that is a whole other post).
I think it was the moon or the tides here in Myrtle Beach since we're staying right next to the ocean. Who knows. Ugh. I forgot how much periods SUUUCCCKKKK. I did NOT miss these.
This is just gonna be a random mind dump about chloe's day-to-day. I just wanted to get it all out and it was easier to type here then write all out in her baby book. i kind of wish I had a baby site instead of physical baby book but I guess you can't pass that on as much.
Chloe generally sleeps now from anywhere between 10-12 hours a night. It's truly incredible that I have such a great sleeper! She will get tired and cranky around 7:00 pm ...sometimes later. Most of the time at night she gets a bottle or nursing and it puts her right to sleep where we place her in her crib and she stays down! Occasionally she'll wake up around 4ish in the morning which is a bit tough, but I can handle it. I nurse a bit until she falls back asleep, but sometimes she wants to stay awake. we try to be firm that night time is sleep time! Sometimes at this point if she won't go down, Brian will help with his magic touch to get her to go back to sleep :)
When she wakes up in the morning she is usually so cute and happy - smiling and laughing and talking to herself in her crib. One of my favorite things is walking into her room in the morning and seeing her little smiling face. She gets so excited to see us first thing!! We change her diaper and then I usually nurse her for her "breakfast". Sometimes we bring her to bed with us - we are so lucky that we have a little time in the a.m. to spend together some mornings. She is just such a doll in the a.m.!
The rest of the day is spent in various periods of eating, playing, practicing rolling around, smiling, crying and yelling and talking loud. I am still really enjoying breast-feeding chloe - although she has bit me a few times. I really wasn't sure if I'd make it to 6 months, but because I also supplement with a little formula, the demand on me isn't so great and it is truly just a beautiful experience now. It is always available in the wee morning hours, when she is too sad or upset, etc. and can't be comforted by anything else and also sometimes to get her to sleep. I just love it so much - I look at her and just adore her all the time but nursing can be a special time for us! Even bottle feeding is awesome too. She has also tried various fruits & veggies - carrots, squash, sweet potatoes, pears, applesauce, and oatmeal cereal. I've also tried fresh bananas and avacado and she's done great with them. She is an EATER!!
She is rolling and rolling and rolling. She creeps and almost crawls at certain times, but generally she just pushes herself backwards a lot and mainly rolls from place to place. Yesterday she pushed up on her hands & knees and got her chest/stomach off the floor. It was awesome! We are so proud of her.
She doesn't 'giggle' that much... however she does vocalize all the time. But when we can get her to giggle it's the best sound ever!! When she cries she often makes consanent sounds like "mamamaoammmaaaaamaaaaaa" or "baaababaaaaabaaa" and also sometimes when she's awake and happy too, but we're waiting on a litlte more of that. Her cries often go from whines to yells in an instant. it's quite interesting. I think she might be a bit of a whiner...we'll see.
She's super sweet and gives big wet sloppy kisses on my face. I adore it!
I couldn't not post pictures of Chloe today. She has on this new long sleeve onesie and just looks so adorable with her little pink pants. She was making such cute and hilarious faces too! I think the flash was confusing her but she played along quite well :)
Here's a few of my favies:
hehee:
almost completely sitting up by herself now - she can do it for about 15-20 seconds sometimes longer!
this one is a bit out of focus but i love it like this:
this cracks me up:
she's been really into tags lately!
also I finally got a picture where you can kind of see her two front bottom teeth. yay!
and she's learning to kiss. it's hilarious and melts my heart, and also my face gets drenched with drool
It is seriously so hard for me to keep up with this blog anymore. I honestly don'tk now how regular bloggers do it. I think because I am a photographer and deal with hundreds of photos everyday, I get sooo overwhelmed by my own personal ones that I just don't have to pick the best, fix them, get them up on the blog, etc. Well... here's a shot. We'll see if this will take me like all day to get finished. Excuse that half of these photos are iphone pics, but it is my main-day-to-day-capture-the-moment camera. I love my iPhone. (despite the fact that since the OS4 update it runs like crap)
At 5 months, Chloe is:
Wearing her lightening hair in cute new ways
Trying on cute dresses that she got as gifts before she grows out of them
Riding on a boat! (just once, but it was fun!)
Rolling over all the time from back to tummy, but still can't quite get the other way (even though that was the first way she rolled over weeks ago)
She's spending lots more time outside with her friends & family
Still sleeping very well through the night, waking up sometimes... and taking pretty regular (short) naps about every 2-3 hours. Usually you are tired and cranky by 7:00pm!
Trying to sit up oh so hard! But occasionally toppling down...
Sitting on the front porch steps with mommy & daddy
Eating new foods, oatmeal, sweet potatoes, and pears (also looking just like her daddy - what the heck)
Talking and babbling and yelling. You go to the nursery at church now because you are too loud :) But we love it at home!
Becoming friends with Tycho... :)
Laughing, smiling, and seemingly in love with everyone!
Also... TEETHING! I don't have a picture though, but your first bottom tooth is popping through ... started on your 5 month birthday!
I have been having some of my most vivid and bizarre dreams over the last few nights. No idea what is going on. Last night I read Stephanie Meyer's new Novella before bed, and therefore dreamed about vampires. You should read all this because you might be mentioned! The night before all of these things were in my dream:
I DREAMT ON JULY 24: Bill & Christie were pregnant with twins Lady Gaga was doing my hair and she told me to go back to my natural color Someone tried to steal my laptop, camera, AND hard-drive I dropped my 17-55mm 2.8 lens (again, this happened in real life...it fell out of my shootsac) and it was totally broken. I forgot about 2 love/engagement sessions, I literally was half asleep when they all showed up, and the weather was crappy - Danielle & Dave, and Heather Kinal & her hubby Murl. Both were really upset with me. We were climbing over roofs and in these weird blue rooms. I was taking pictures of Jessy Deppen/Burkell & Laurel Watson/Clark, as friends, couple... I don't know why! My mom & dad stopped over unannounced and I freaked out on them (not that far off from reality) ;-) There was a tv show/film going on right outside my house My mother was letting homeless people into my house and demanding that I feed them.
I cannot believe this little girl. She is 16 weeks old now and so very vocal. She loves to smile at herself, she must think she's pretty cute. (she's right)
She is doing great on her tummy, but she still gets annoyed after about 5-10 minutes there.
She rolled over last Friday twice in a row from tummy to back, but we haven't been able to get her to repeat it since. Her hair is going NUTs. She loves when Brian or I put her high above our head and sing "Super girl!"
She makes a hilarious pouty face now that cracks me up! (see below)
And she is learning and communicating. I can't wait to hear what her voice will be like one day! I am loving being her mom, struggling with time and how to get into a routine. But she sleeps so well at night, I can't complain about anything. She is an angel baby!
Here are some cute videos of her. The first is at 14 weeks, the second at 15, and the third taken this morning at 16 weeks. Enjoy :)
