The big half a year

Nicknames: Kyra Bug, Skeeterbug (from Auntie B), Boo boo

Clothing Size: Mostly 6-9 growing little girl

Personality: You are such a content baby I have been super blessed, you traveled 13+ hours two times and didn't really cry at all it was amazing. You were also so well tempered the whole trip and were just happy to be held and talked to by all your family. You are so funny with your talking tho haven't really made any attempt to say any real words mostly just squeals and whines.

Things I Could Do Without:  JETLAG (which has given me time to write this as I try to get you tired enough to go back to sleep)

Item/Toy We Love The Most: Umbrella Stroller- easy to take anywhere. Quilts and blankets from Auntie B, Great Grandma, and Cousin Ana!!!

Item/Toy You Love The Most: Balls, easy to grab and throw, and Jake's Giraffe and blocks.

Things I’m Loving Most Right Now: How thick your hair is getting, watching you learn new things like sitting up, and going back down, and rolling all over the place.

Things You’re Loving Most Right Now:Sucking on your toes, being carried around, trying to crawl, playing with more advanced toys.


My gosh where did half a year go and now the holidays are right around the corner its gonna just fly right on past!!! Stay tuned for a run down of our family vacation to be written tomorrow or later tonight dependent on Kyra's sleep schedule!

Growing on up!! 5 months!

Nicknames: My booboo, Kyra-Boo ( Caribou ), Kyra-bug, BeBe!

Clothing Size: 3-6 months and a few 6-9 depends on the brand.

Personality: You are so much more social talking, smiling, and interacting with everyone who talks to you. You are into everything you can get to and as you are now able to roll and scoot anywhere you wanna go that is a lot of things!! You made us baby proof early thought we'd wait til after the trip but boy you up'd the anty!

Things I Could Do Without:  Fevers from shots, and the crankiness that comes with it :( No a/c

Item/Toy We Love The Most: Frozen teethers, and toys!

Item/Toy You Love The Most: New bouncer toy!! You love being surrounded by toys, and the unicorn toy.

Things I’m Loving Most Right Now: That you are no longer just a momma's girl!!! Watching you investigate new things. Watching you roll all over, and try to crawl!! Your hair getting longer and being able to kinda spike it up! lol

Things You’re Loving Most Right Now: Sleep, trying to crawl, trying to put your foot in your mouth. ANYTHING that has to do with Daddy, Bath-time, and playing with other babies!!

Hippie Baby

So I feel like the more I learn the more going natural and trying to save the planet also saves us money!! Cloth diapers may be an abstract concept to most cuz it takes a bit more effort with cleaning but, less likely to irritate, don't have to continuously purchase more, seem more comfy for the baby, and aren't filling up landfills sounds smart to me!! Plus if you haven't seen them lately they are SO freaking cute far cuter than Minnie or Mickey mouse!! And I feel like they are more elastic around the legs and waist so less likely for explosions and that is ALWAYS GOOD!!!

Other things I have learned? Sunshine takes out baby stains, for the win. Bright yellow stain on sheets after wash...4 hours sunlight no more stain!!!

Uh also swear by the Amber necklace, though it doesn't relieve all pain it cut the pain some...not as cranky as often about the teeth ROCKING!!!

Also BFing has been a money saver, and so much more convenient no need to wait for the formula to be made, fresh and ready 24/7!  And the bonding is amazing I love when she is all cuddled up wouldn't trade it for the world!!

And Carriers, hands free, hold baby in a good direction for their digestive system, gives them closer access to communication to help with their speaking, and bonding from knowing you are close by!!! I love EVERYTHING I have learned about the more natural routes. I can see now why so many people who do these things get so inspired its amazing, and super great for your baby!!!

Next step with 6 months right around the corner is how to introduce food. We have done the puree's homemade but so far she hasn't been thrilled. Have done some research on BLW and may try this, and my just accompany it with some puree's we shall see gotta try them both out some more and follow my gut on whats best like I have with all of the Above things :)

Sorry that was a blurted out random blog but I wanted to get it all done and written while I was thinking about it!!!

4 days and a wake up and home sweet home we go!!!

Impromptu Heidelberg

These are pictures from our random trip to Heidelberg. We didn't plan this trip ahead of time, and decided not to hike up to the Castle...and Couldn't find the train up either. So we decided to just walk around the town which was definitely cool in itself :) I think my friend Ashley's artistic pictures are starting to rub off cuz I was taking pictures of everything!!

 

Topic of the day:  5 people who have influenced you the most and how.

1.My momma, she dealt with a lot raising 3 daughters. I can only imagine how much work that was. Specially when we were all hellions in high school. And specifically now that I have a kids of my own I am more influenced by her because she was a great parent and her and my dad did a great job with us. All I can imagine is to be half as good of a mom to Kyra!!!

2. Dustin, of course he has influenced me man I mean we live together haha. And you hang out with one of us without the other you see the other one in each others personalities all the time now!! He is a great influence because he works hard, and helps encourage me to be a better person everyday!

3. Shawn Adkins, she was a great friend and also helped me to understand being a parent in the Army life. She was so great with both of her boys and you never saw even a stitch of doubt when she had to be a single mother for a year while her husband was deployed. She just seemed to KNOW that she could do it. She also inspires me with her goal setting. When she gets something in her mind she puts her whole being into achieving it!!

4. Mrs. Forde, you wouldn't think someone that was only in my life for 2 school years(kindergarten-1st grade) at the very beginning of my school career would have left such a lasting imprint, but if you were to ask about my favorite teacher she was it. She was the first person outside of my parents to yell at me and make me cry. Not that I didn't deserve it. I was talking in class and didn't stop after she warned me. I think she helped mold my very pliable mind and taught me to be a better person!!

5. Marilyn Monroe, she has always been one of my favorite celebrities of all time. She was so inspirational, and a great influence for all young women!! She wasn't afraid of who she was and was always herself. She has influenced me by letting me realize that how I am is just as great as anything I could pretend to be!

“I'm selfish, impatient and a little insecure. I make mistakes, I am out of control and at times hard to handle. But if you can't handle me at my worst, then you sure as hell don't deserve me at my best.” that quote says it best!!

Baby Items that Rock

So I decided that since Kyra will be turning 6 months while we are on leave, it would be a great time before I get to wrapped up in preparing for the trip, to sit down during Kyra's nap and write about my top 5 baby items up to this point!! Because there are so may toys, and things you can use during the first few months it can be overwhelming.

5. My number 5 baby item must have is: A glider chair. We didn't get one of these right away because we thought it was one of those extra items you didn't really need. But after my friend picked one up and I nursed Kyra in it, I decided this was gonna be a must have. We found ours used for only 40 dollars or so and its older but is still really comfy. We just put extra fabric we had over it and it matched the room that way. But for the late/early night feedings and or just nights when baby needs some loving, its the most convenient place to go. You don't have to bring the baby out of her room and risk making her more awake. And the rocking helps keep her relaxed.

4. This item has only just recently became one of my favorites!! When those little teeth start pushing up and making babies mouth hurt, always grab for one of these. Frozen chew toys. Kyra has a foot and a hand shaped one. She loves when they are cold and against her gums it makes her mouth feel better with out having to use any medicine. Which always makes me feel better :)

3.Boppy Lounger. This item we used NON-stop for the first 3.5 months it was a comfortable place for Kyra to just hang out and watch what we are doing. She loved siting in it cuz she could look around better and be more involved in what we are doing! And they are easy to move around the house wherever you are hanging out :) We got this one on accident thought we had picked up a regular Boppy for nursing but quickly fell in love with it!!








2. Diaper changing station. We got one of these from a friend at our baby-shower, and had no idea just how awesome it was gonna end up being!! It is a fold and go type thing, not only is it a changing pad for when you are traveling but it folds up and has 2 pockets for diapers and wipes, this can either be carried in your diaper bag when LO is still small and needs clean outfits a lot or can be used separately when baby gets bigger  and you don't need to change her outfits very often.





And finally number 1!!! My Babyhawk carrier!! It has made traveling, and chores(mostly grocery shopping) about 200 times easier!! Its a quick way to carry Kyra specially when the roads in Europe are so rough. She loves being held so close, and being able to look around easier too!! Plus it can be easily transferred from one person to another without any adujustments!! And you can buy them in any design to fit your lifestyles!! If you have to get one baby item this will be a life saver!! And as they get older they can also ride along on your back!!

Well only 18 more days til we are stateside!!!

Finally Plane tickets in Hand!!

After fighting to get our leave for the past couple months we have officially bought our plane tickets and are headed home in 20 days!! I am super excited and ready to show off Kyra to all the family!! Now begins the stress of first off getting my house all clean and organized before we leave so that when I come back transitioning into baby proofing as we will be getting close to crawling, won't be so hard. And getting everything together as far as what we are going to bring with us!! And scheduling our time to spread it out between both sides of the family!!

In the mean time I have started reading/doing the book The Respect Dare. For those of you who know what The Love Dare is this is the book that is more for wives rather than husbands anyways its a book that has I think 2 months worth of different "dares" that are supposed to help improve you and your husband's relationship. NOT to say anything is wrong but it's nice to do little things to keep thing running smoothly!! And so far I really do believe it has helped. He doesn't know that I am doing it and such thing such as yesterdays dare was to not argue about ANYTHING all day. This was easy since he got home late, and I started getting one of my complex migraines only like 2 hours later so wasn't much to get on my nerves. Plus he brought home good news about leave so he was on my good-side LOL!! But the point is to journal and use your religion to bring you and your husband closer by realizing the things you do and not blaming him for everything. If you get the time its a great book to read!!

Well the little one just got up from her nap so I suppose I should tend to her! For everyone back home SEE YOU SOON!!!

Fountain in Heidelberg!

Parenting oh the joys!!

As you all know if you read my last post, we have just crossed the 4 months mark a parents. And I would say that over 90% of it has been amazing. Kyra is such a sweet little girl and she is getting more and more social. Which makes going places a lot more fun as she is far more willing to allow other people to play with her!!! It's also very amazing to me how much such a tiny little person can change in such a short time!!

She has hit a few milestones and before we know it will be doing a lot of other new things. Speaking of let me do a little bragging of what she has done recently before I get to the 10% of parenting I wanted to talk about.

First off she rolled tummy to back a while back, and just this afternoon she finally managed to roll the other way. Although it took her a lot of effort so I haven't gotten it on camera but before long. Also she has started blowing raspberries. We were over at our friends house chatting and she just started and since it made everyone laugh she got a kick out of it and has been doing it since. For a video of her doing it and splashing during bath time hit up this link. It really is one of the cutest thing!! Also she has started sitting up a bit more, granted she has to hold herself up with her arms, and only stays up a min or two and than loses balance and falls over lol. But in time she will get there!!

 

So now that we are up to date on what is going on with my beautiful little girl. To the whole point of this blog. In the past 4 months I have learned a lot of lessons on how to be a parent and feel like I have changed and grown up a lot. 

The main thing is that parenting is not a competition, it is very easy to compare where your child is, where other people's children are and even what books say. Specifically if you have other parents in your neighborhood with kids near the same age. But the main thing I have learned about this is doing this will only make you feel petty and silly because as long as your child is happy and healthy you are really doing what is right for you and them.

Along these same lines, you have to do what is right for your child whether it be all natural approaches to things like diapers, and baby wearing. Or even along the lines of when you decide to start your child on solids. Because if you don't just trust your momma instincts you are gonna be so overwhelmed with unsolicited advice, and maybe even criticism for how you are doing it. Decide what works and hold your ground. Everyone is going to have their own opinions and it seems like a lot of mothers think because you feel differently you must be wrong so avoid those who can't be understanding of different parenting styles and surround yourself with those who are willing to help you out not put you down!! Because trust me parenting is hard on its own with out the extra drama!