6 months!!

How is it even possible that my sweet little girl is already 6 months old!  It seems like just yesterday she was a newborn...they said time would fly, but I had no idea they were right!

6 Month Update!

 

 

Sleeping? My little baby is a champion sleeper.  We still have the same, never changing, bed time routine that works like a charm.  Sometimes she will wake up at night, but she is really good at soothing herself back to sleep.  She is always in bed by 7 pm, on the dot, and wakes up between 645 and 730 am every morning.  Its great!  She still fights sleeping during the day...and we consider it a miracle if she takes a 30 minute nap.  Once.  Ugh!  My only wish is that she would nap more during the day. But....I have a baby who sleeps ALL NIGHT, and that my friends is good enough for me!

 



Eating? She is still my little piggy :)  She has graduated to 8oz bottles every 3 hours, and eats baby good at night before we go to bed.  Her favorites are peaches, sweet potatoes, prunes (YUCK!)...and she HATES squash.  (See pic below!)

 

Health?  She is overall good, but getting over a nasty little cold bug.  She has had the same lingering cough for a while now, but the doctor said its just a baby cold... so we turn the humidifier every night.  She is getting better...but its been up and down the last week.  As for stats, Ledoux weighed 16 pounds, 2 ounces at her well baby check up, and is in the 54% for weight, 86% for height (she grew 2 inches since our last dr visit!) and 78% for her dome (she gets that from her daddy!!)

 

Likes? Ledoux loves to be the center of attention (shocker!)  If she senses people aren't paying attention to her she starts acting out.  She also LOVES to bounce.  OMG.  This kid jumps and bounces all the time... she has a bouncer that we put her in.  But even when she is just on our lap, she will bend her legs and try and bounce on our laps.  It is hillarious!  She loves watching the dogs run up and down the stairs (she cracks up laughing!) and enjoys playing with her daddy (the grins she gets when he walks in a room are to die for!)  She also loves her boyfriend Hunter (see pic below!) They lay next to eachother on the floor and play with eachother's faces (and hold hands!)  Ahhh baby love :)

 

 

Dislikes?  She HATES her carseat.  She HATES pacifiers.  She HATES sleeping (no seriously...she fights it with all she has...)

 

Milestones/Firsts: Ledoux is officially sitting up, all on her own, with no help!  It is so much fun to see her grow and develop... and a little shocking to see my sweet little baby growing so fast!!

 



Some words of relationship wisdom!

I saw this today, posted by a friend, and I had to share!  I just LOVE this! And it is so true!
 

Love

Love

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During a seminar, a woman asked," How do I know if I am with the right person?"
...
The author then noticed that there was a large man sitting next to her so he said, "It depends. Is that your partner?" In all seriousness, she answered "How do you know?" Let me answer this question because the chances are good that it's weighing on your mind replied the author.

Here's the answer.

Every relationship has a cycle… In the beginning; you fall in love with your partner. You anticipate their calls, want their touch, and like their idiosyncrasies. Falling in love wasn't hard. In fact, it was a completely natural and spontaneous experience. You didn't have to DO anything. That's why it's called "falling" in love.

People in love sometimes say, "I was swept of my feet."Picture the expression. It implies that you were just standing there; doing nothing, and then something happened TO YOU.

Falling in love is a passive and spontaneous experience. But after a few months or years of being together, the euphoria of love fades. It's a natural cycle of EVERY relationship.

Slowly but surely, phone calls become a bother (if they come at all), touch is not always welcome (when it happens), and your spouse's idiosyncrasies, instead of being cute, drive you nuts. The symptoms of this stage vary with every relationship; you will notice a dramatic difference between the initial stage when you were in love and a much duller or even angry subsequent stage.

At this point, you and/or your partner might start asking, "Am I with the right person?" And as you reflect on the euphoria of the love you once had, you may begin to desire that experience with someone else. This is when relationships breakdown.

The key to succeeding in a relationship is not finding the right person; it's learning to love the person you found.

People blame their partners for their unhappiness and look outside for fulfillment. Extramarital fulfillment comes in all shapes and sizes.

Infidelity is the most common. But sometimes people turn to work, a hobby, friendship, excessive TV, or abusive substances. But the answer to this dilemma does NOT lie outside your relationship. It lies within it.

I'm not saying that you couldn't fall in love with someone else. You could. And TEMPORARILY you'd feel better. But you'd be in the same situation a few years later.

Because (listen carefully to this):

The key to succeeding in a Relationship is not finding the right person; it's learning to love the Person you found.

SUSTAINING love is not a passive or spontaneous experience. You have to work on it day in and day out. It takes time, effort, and energy. And most importantly, it demands WISDOM. You have to know WHAT TO DO to make it work. Make no mistake about it.

Love is NOT a mystery. There are specific things you can do (with or without your partner), Just as there are physical laws Of the universe (such as gravity), there are also laws for relationships. If you know how to apply these laws, the results are predictable.

Love is therefore a "decision". Not just a feeling.

Remember this always: God determines who walks into your life. It is up to you to decide who you let walk away, who you let stay, and who you refuse to let GO..

Month 4 and 5 favorites!

1.) Our Baby Einstein Jumparoo! Ledoux is currently in this right now- and she LOVES using her legs to jump!  It keeps her occupied for a good 30 minutes, which allows mama to get SOOO much done!  It is ahhmazing what I can acomplish these days in 30 minutes...

2.) Boogie wipes!  I LOVE THESE!  This kid has boogers all the time- sometimes I wonder how on earth so many boogies can come out of such a little body!  Regardless, these are great for their sensitive little baby noses.  The ones I like smell like menthol and have saline in them- perfect for her first little colds when she is all stuffed up.

3.) Overnight dipeys: now that doodle sleeps 12 hours straight, she needs a strong dipey so she wakes up with a dry bum.  These do the trick for us!

4.) Little muchkin mesh feeders: these are SO GREAT!  GET THESE!  Ledoux isn't ready to eat anything we eat (far from it actually...) but with these, I can steam up some veggies, or put some fresh fruit in the mesh and she can teeth on it and suck the juices out.  She likes frozen strawberries/blue berries or fresh melon- so fun!

5.) Nuby teether: its bendable, soft, and is a great little toy for her to play with and teeth on.  She loves it!

6.) Lamaze Parrot: Ledoux has been in love with this toy since the beginning, and it is still our fave!  She recently discovered it has a mirror on one of the wings, and she loves to look at herself.  I hang it from her jumperoo to play with.

7.) Beeba spoons:  I love these!  Some people think a spoon is a spoon, but  not with little babes!  These are super soft, and feel good on their little toothless gums. 

8.) JJ Cole Bundle me: we might live in Tucson, but it has been FREEZING cold in this desert lately!  Ledoux was bundled in clothes, jacket, coat, hat, mittens... you get the picture.  Then I discovered this!  Its a car seat insert that fits pretty much any seat, and keeps the baby nice and toasty!  Its great!  And I don't have to put a million layers on her!!

9.) Cupcake red velvet wine: don't judge honey pie!  I am a better mom thanks to a glass of wine!  This wine seriously feels like butter-- so smooth.  and one glass does the trick (most nights!) :)

10.) Bright Starts swing:  we got this when Ledoux was a newborn and she hated it.  seriously, hated.  Now, it is our magic sleep machine.  It is the ONLY way I can get her to nap during the day- I start her into this baby and like magic- Poof! Sleeping baby. 

5 Months!!

5 Months!

 

Sleeping: Ledoux sleeps like a champ (usually!)  We can usually count on her to sleep from 7ish pm until 7 am the next morning.  Most nights she doesn't wake up at all!  She still fights taking naps during the day- but we recently took out the swing we bought when she was a newborn (that she hated!) and it has turned into our magical sleeping machine.  When she starts rubbing her eyes during the day (that's our signal its nap time!) we put her in the swing, and she falls asleep.  The only other way to get her to nap is to bundle her into her car seat and drive.  I have come to terms with the fact that Ledoux is just not a napping kind of baby.  *sigh*

Eating: She has her babas (bottles) every couple/few hours (usually 6-8 ounces) and eats rice cereal at night.  We have also tried sweet potatoes, and green beans!  I am loving trying out new baby foods!!  Unfortunately, Ledoux's little tummy isn't a fan of the new foods just yet, so we have put a hold on everything but rice cereal for a bit.

Health:  She is doing good!  She is teething like a mad woman- and has so much slobber!  It is also causing her to have a runny nose- non stop!  Thank god for boogie wipes, I have some that have menthol in them and she actually likes them.  She had her first baby fever last week (100.5) and the poor babe didn't feel well at all.  It broke my heart :( Luckily, with alot of sleep and loves she is back to her usual sassy self.

Likes: She loves playing in her stander and her bouncer.  She also loves her daddy- she gets huge smiles on her face when we walks in the room!  So cute!  Another thing she loves is my parent's dog Annie- who gives her big kisses.  She giggles and laughs at her, and can't get enough.  She loves her rice cereal, being held, and playing on the floor on her activity mat.  She enjoys pulling my hair, playing with daddy and Opa's beard, and touching EVERYTHING.  Nothing is safe from Ledoux's hands and mouth. 

Dislikes: Her car seat (she screams when we put her in it), not being the center of attention, nap time, and socks (she tears them off her feet.)  Another new thing she does lately- throws a temper tantrum and tears the bows off of her head.  Its pretty funny!

Milestones/Firsts: Ledoux rolled over (from back to tummy!) for the first time on Christmas!! And then did it again on New Years day!  We are so exicted! I actually went to get her this morning out of her crib, and she had rolled over onto her tummy!  I know it seems silly, but I live for these little milestones!  She is ****almost**** sitting up on her own too!  She can do it with a little prop behind her, and sits up by herself on my lap-- but still has a little trouble doing it on her own.  I give it another week, and she will be doing it!! so exciting!!!

How are mommy and daddy? Things are great!  We are starting the house shopping (wahooo!) and daddy is working alot at his new job!  We are lucky to be able to spend time together alot (with and without doodle bug) to go on dates!  Our favorite place is the VFW (who would have thought!?! ) We are excited for some upcoming events- next weekend Lee is going to the Barrett Jackson car auction in Scottsdale, and 2 weeks later we are going to the Dwight Yoakam concert, and in April we have the George Strait concert.  Wahooo! We are also really excited because Ledoux is about to get some new babies to play with! There are three new babies coming within 2 weeks of eachother!  Lee's brother Sam and his wife are having a baby in late July, and 2 of my best friends are due on the SAME day in August!!  It is officially baby season!  Lee and I are so happy we are done with the preggo/newborn stage and we can sit back and (somewhat) relax while we offer advice and buy new baby gifts for everyone else.  I DO NOT envy all of them! LOL!  I am not a newborn baby kind of girl- those first 3 months were brutal!  However, I sure do love it now that Doodle is playing and interacting!

Happy New Year!

WOW! What a year! I can hardly believe everything that has happened in the last year...

We can start by finding out that SURPRISE! We are having a baby!


a 9 week old bean in there!



 

 

Followed by Lee leaving for Afghanistan a couple of weeks later...



The  view from the plane on his way to Afghanistan



 

 

From the first little glimmer of a baby bump (and our first glimpse at Ledoux!)

 

 

To full on baby in the belly...

Lee returned 7 months later, just in the knick of time for Ledoux to make her arrival!

She started as such a little thing...

 

and in the meantime, Lee got out of the Military and we moved to Arizona!

Now we have a beautiful little baby with a huge personality, and an even bigger smile...

 

 

 

I am not sure we could have packed much more into one years time... We can't wait to see what 2013 has in store for us! We wish you a happy new year- and hope it all you wish for!

Ledoux's First Christmas!

Well, our first Holiday season has come and gone (tear!) but it was a great first Christmas for our little Ledoux!

In true Lee and Becca fashion, we waited until the last minute to go see Santa, so off we went the Saturday before Christmas.  It tooke us forever to get there, and then find a parking spot...but we had to get Ledoux's first picture with Santa! She got to meet Santa Clause for the first time (but really could have cared less!) and here is the proof:

Since I found out I was preggo I have been thinking about what our special family Christmas traditions would be... and our first is matching pajammies!  I am addicted to baby pjs, and I am so excited that we all had matching pjs on Christmas eve/Christmas day.  We wore them for most of the day! (See the first pic on the top!) Ledoux did have a couple of wardrobe changes, as I couldn't decide on just one special Christmas outfit. Should we do dressy? Or casual? Or both?  Gosh, decesions decesions! Luckily, its normal for us to go through 2 or 3 different outfits a day thanks to spit up and poo- so I was able to justify multiple outfits!  Here are some:

Our Christmas was overall very relaxing, we woke up and opened Ledoux's stocking (Santa came!) and the went to my parents to open presents. Ledoux is spoiled by both sides of our families- luckly little lady!  From baby pajammies and clothes to toys and everything in between, this little baby made out!  She (we) also got a Baby Brezza so Lee and I can make her baby food!  We are sooo excited to start cooking up some new baby foods!!  I will let you know how this goes, and what foods she likes, as soon as we get started!  For now, it is still rice cereal though.  Lee and I were most excited about our Christmas present from ledoux- she rolled over for the first time!!!! WAHOO!

Enjoy a couple more pics of our little elf, and I will be back soon to blog about Ledoux's milestones for month 4 (and entering month 5!!!) EEK!

 



4 Months!

 Ahh!  How is it possible that my sweet little baby is already a third of a year old!?  Time is going so fast!  Its just a blur!  She changes sooo much everyday! I swear there are mornings when I wake up, and wonder "who is this baby?!"  Her little face just keeps changing and filling out.  It is also pretty fun to watch her learn and discover new things...ahh I just love it!

Sleeping: This last month, we hit a bit of a rough patch here.  My super sleeping baby went to waking up multiple times through out the night- in perfect timing with me going back to work. (thanks Ledoux!) This has resulted in me being in a perma-fog!  Luckily, we started feeding her more before bedtime (6 oz instead of 4) and have established a solid night time routine (bath-pajamas-story time- eat- go to bed!) at 7pm on the dot every night, and its working!  Lee and I didn't set her bed time for her, we just took her cues.  She would get super fussy (I call it flipping the little baby bitch switch) around 6:45 because she was tired, and we just started her bedtime routine at that time.  She is out like a rock everynight by 7:30 pm.  I must note, one of the most AHHHMAZING inventions is the baby noise machine/projector in one.  I turn this little puppy on after putting her down, and she just stares at the ceiling watching the projector and I swear it puts her to sleep. (Her little eyes get heavy from watching in go in circles.) You need one if you have a little bebe.  Ours is the Munchkin Nursery Projector Sound Box- and I got it on Amazon for $25. You can choose it to play lullabies, Mozart, rain/ocean, white noise, etc.  Its great.  This night time routine is great for Lee and I, because we are able to eat dinner, watch a movie, and relax for a few hours minus baby.  She will usually wake up once, around 2 am, and we feed her and put her back down.  We are making progress!  Now if I could just find a way to make this crazy little baby take naps during the day...hmm....

First night in her crib!! Wahoo! Excuse the ugly sleep sack (new ones under the tree for Xmas!) and the mismatched bed sheet!

Eating:  Well, my breast feeding days are near over.  Once I went back to work, these puppies dried up.  I was pretty upset about this for a while (I had a full on crying attack, convinced my baby didnt love me anymore because I couldn't feed her from the boob) and then I realized I was being crazy!  My baby is happy, healthy, and I breastfed as long as I could... now I am providing for her in another way: bringing home the bacon! I am still pumping at work once a day, so she has one bottle of breast milk, and taking fengugreek (I think that is how it is spelled) to try and keep my supply up so I can keep pumping.  Something is better than nothing.  We also got the go ahead from the doctor to start playing with foods!!  I am sooo excited!  It gives me a new thing to start obsessing over: baby bibs!  Add that to my never ending pile of baby pjs and tights, wahhooo! I am on babygap as we speak trying to find baby bibs (they don't have much...) but as soon as I find a cute place that sells super FAB baby bibs, I will share!  Last night, we gave her the first taste of baby oatmeal, and she LOVED IT! She could not get enough of it!  Here are some fun pics!

                                                         Give me MOOOORRREEEE!!!


Health: Ledoux still has a bit of a cold- she hasn't been able to shake it.  The doctor said no worries, its a dry cough.  I just hate it!  She also has a runny nose, but I attribute this to teething rather than a cold.  She is a little baby (and here I thought she was a total piggy!) weighing in at 13 lbs, 14 ozs at her 4 month check up.  This is only the 28 percentile.  Her head is 48%, and height is 54%. Regardless, the doctor said she is doing just fine.  She was also really suprised when she walked in and saw Ledoux rolling around playing with her toes- she said that is usually a 6 month thing.  Its so funny how excited I get when she tells me Ledoux is ahead in something... I am a proud mommy, even if it is only because she plays with her toes!

                                                                 Just chillin' on the couch

Likes: Ledoux has officially started PLAYING!  I know this sounds crazy to you, but I really thought little babies popped out and played from day one.  But newsflash people, they don't! They don't do a thing those first couple months!  Well, that has changed!  Ledoux has her hands in and on everything possible.  She loves her Lamaze Parrot, her Hungry Caterpillar cloth book (that has different textures), her activity gym, and her walker/stander. Most of all though, she LOVES staring at herself in her mirror! (She's soooo vain...!) She loves when we sing to her- it gets HUGE smiles from her everytime, and she loves to go in her Baby Bjorn.  She is so curious, and wants to see everything that is going, all the time.  She also LOVES bath time and taking showers with me, and shopping.  Ok...she is going to like shopping, I am grooming her early.  Lastly, she loves it when we lay her on her back, and talk to her.  Lee swears he can see her little mind going- and she is trying to talk to him but can't quite form the words.  She will sit there for a good 20+ minutes 'talking' to Lee, and he talks back, and they have quite the conversation.  Something tells me next year at this time, she won't STOP talking.  Gggggreat.

Whats up? Just playing in my stander!

She is 'yelling' at her Parrot here

Baby-Beer-Bjorn.  Winning Combo.

And here we are shopping. Shocking.

Dislikes: She hates being in her carseat.  She hates taking naps during the day (this child DOES NOT sleep during the day!) and she doesn't like being restrained in anything. She doesn't like to go more than 30 seconds with a dirty dipey, and will scream bloddy murder at the first onset of hunger.  She will scream and scream and scream until she gets her food.  She hates me getting the boogies  out of her nose, (but I just love digging those darn things out!) and has recently developed a fear of old men... so odd.  This nice old man came to talk to her at the store the other day, and you would have thought she was dying the way she screamed.  Such a drama queen. 

Firsts: She had her first laughs!!! And oh my goodness it was so cute!  It made me laugh and then she laughed again... and on and on.  And she slept in her crib for the first time (and has been sleeping in it since!) She also went for her first bike ride this past weekend, we bought her a baby bike trailer and she cruised along with us! (bicycle...not Harley.  Yet.)  We  had her first thanksgiving, her first christmas tree, and of course- her first bite of baby food!

Oh hey! Just relaxin' in my Santa pajammies

Bike ride with mom and dad!

 How are mommy and daddy? We are doing good!  We have officially started the hunt to buy a house- so excited!  Tucson is a gorgeous city, with the most amazing views, and we are excited to buy a house out in the rural part that has the views of the mountains.  Of course we have our want list... Lee needs a pool and a huge garage, and I want hardwood or tile floors... but I think we are going to find something great! We are def looking outside of the main city so that we can have a dirt road and be without neighbors on all sides.  Ugh! I cannot stand having people being able to look into our yard/house because they are so close.  We are in a townhome right now and its just wayyy to crampped.  Can't wait to FINALLY buy a home!  I have so many ideas for decorating, starting with a chalkboard wall!  Wahoooo!  My Pinterest is filling up with ideas for home decorating! 

We are looking forward to Ledoux's first Christmas and starting traditions with her.  Our first tradition as a family is matching Christmas pajamas- words cannot express my excitement here.  I will share pictures once our pjs get in!  I am trying to talk Lee into wearing our matching Pjs all day on Christmas... 

The culture here in Tucson is sooo different than San Diego: so much more laid back, slow paced... and we really like that. The 0nly thing we don't like are all of the OLD drivers that go 20 mph through town.  Tucson does not use interstates to get around (hardly at all, anyway) so regardless of where you need to go, you pretty much have to drive through town.  It might say Target is only 2 miles away- but don't be fooled...It can take 30 minutes to go those 2 miles.  It is a lesson in patience for us.

 Now that we have been here for a month, we are finally feeling settled. Took long enough!!!  We are enjoying exploring Arizona on the motorcycle- we haven't been able to ride as much as we want, but are looking forward to doing more of it in the future.  In true Lee and Becca style, we have found a couple dive bars we really like in our 'hood, and are on the search for some new friends to hang out with out here!  We really hope to get some visitors SOON! Can't wait to share more pics and stories from ledoux's first Holiday, presents, and life in general--- so stay tuned! :) 

Our riding the Harley! Wahoo! And check out Lee's beard... HOT!