she laughs...

and it is the cutest thing EVAR.

Thumb Sucker

Moey sucked her thumb as soon as she was out into the world. At about 1 month old when she started using a paci, she stopped sucking her thumb. It was sad.

About two days ago she found her thumb again. I caught her sucking it when she fell asleep in her swing today. too. cute.

Unfortunately its blurry...but its hard to take a picture when she's swinging in her swing!

polka dots...make cute babies even cuter...

Lucy came to visit today, and Moey and her matched. 

 "Hi baaaabeeee"

 Kisses

 Lucy taught Moey all about her toes.

Time to play "Ketchup"

So much has happened the past few weeks! I got to get back into the groove of blogging. Hopefully when I get my new lappy soon, it will be easier than sitting on the floor :).

Lets start at the beginning. August 3rd...We have a FOUR month old. I cant believe it. It just gets more fun each day. Moey is a comedian! Here are her Sophie pics. Sophie is SHRINKING!

Some things about Moey as a 4 month old:
- Moey is LARGE. Her 4 month stats were: 26in long (90%) and 15lbs 2oz (80%). We must be doing something right! We get a lot of comments that she looks like a 6 month old haha!
- She is an excellent sleeper. She goes to bed at 9:30 ish...sleeps until 7, has a quick bottle and then sleeps until 10. She is always sleepy exactly, and I mean EXACTLY an hour and a half after she eats. She is super predictable! So, napping is on somewhat of a schedule. She always wakes up so happy. She coos and giggles. Its the most wonderful sound.
- She loves to sit up and stand. Recently she has begun standing up when you pull her to sit! She wants to skip a step!!
- Her diet has expanded to peas and sweet potatoes. More about that later.
- She understands that a bottle, or the bowl and spoon mean food. She leans in and tries to bring her bottle to her mouth! She loves to hold her own bottle, but hasn't quite mastered it yet.
- The early stages of teething has begun. Moey is constantly sucking and chewing on her fingers; and drooooling. She likes to chew on Sophie's ears and feet. She hasn't mastered other teething apparatuses yet.
- She has found her voice! Recently she will just start yelling and cooing quite loudly! Hmmm, I wonder who she learned that from.
- She is a snuggle bug. She likes to sit on our hip as we walk around and bury her face into our necks. She also loves to take naps with momma and papa on occasion. Family nap time is usually in the early evening. The best time of the day!
- She is very aware of her surroundings. She loves to be held facing outwards so that she can see her world.
- Stranger danger has begun. When someone she doesn't know gets too close, she goes into the ugly-I'm scared-cry.

On August 5th, Momma and Moey went on a adventure. We flew to CT for 10 days to visit family. Papa had a hard time saying goodbye! He stayed home because he had to work.  It was Moey's first time on a plane, other than in momma's tummy. I was worried that we might be "that baby" on the plane; Moey did great! She had a bottle and slept the whole way! The engines scared her a little bit, but as soon as she had a full belly she was fine.
Some pics from our trip....

Gram (aka Graham) had a nice gathering of some of her friends to meet Moey. It was a lot of fun!

 Its my party and I WILL cry if I want to!

 Baby glare...

We also got to spend some time with our cousins! Moey had fun playing with Evan. Cousin Jorden was very sweet and gave Moey some kisses.

All tuckered out! 

It was a great trip. We also got to visit with Uncle Pete and Pop, Grumpy and Mow Mow, GG and PopPop, Gigi, Uncle Dave, Aunt Jenn, Cousin Addy, Mark and Barbara, and Uncle Ronnie and Auntie Patty, Uncle Rob and Aunt Loralee and their boys! She also got baby sat by Auntie Dana!!! I wish I had taken more pictures! What I need to do is download my pics from my phone. 

Moey was very excited to get back to Ohio and sleep in her own bed. We will be going back very soon for JD and Evan's baptism in Octobter!

We have ventured into new food territory! I was on the fence about organic food vs. non-organic. We have tried organic formula with Mo, and she didn't like it; well more so her tummy didn't like it. I think when she is 6 months and her tummy is more mature I will try the organic formula again. Formula is tricky. It all depends on how they fortify it, the enzymes can be different and harsh on little bellies.

 All of her veggies/fruits/cereal is organic. As of right now she eats, Natures Own brown rice cereal, gerber/natures own/ella's kitchen: peas, carrots and sweet potatoes. 

Moey LOVES peas and carrots. She isn't so sure about sweet potatoes. She likes them better when they are mixed into her cereal. I am cautious about starting fruits. With so many allergies in our family we are going to start very slow with introducing fruits. 

 Gimmie some moar PEAS!

 Ewww, I don't think I like these. 

 I couldn't get the carrots into her mouth fast enough! We made a huge mess.

Recent Ella's Kicthen purchases. Im liking the idea of veggies and fruits mixed together. 

And now I'm exhausted. Its time for bed. Moey and I spent a long time in my classroom today working. She was such a good girl. Tomorrow we are going to play with Aunt Courtney and Lucy. 

On another note, Moey belly laughed today. It was magical. 

Adventures in Cereal Eating

Grandma bought us a new chair! Today Moey and I tested it out. Its nice because it reclines and then converts into a booster seat, so the seat grows with her! We has a lot of fun eating cereal today; she wanted to feed herself!

Strong Baby!

Moey has always been super strong. Since birth she has always bared weight on her legs. Recently she has been doing "baby sit-ups"; she grunts, tucks her chin in and tries to sit up when laying down! When we prop her up to sit all she wants to do it sit all the way up! It's kinda dangerous though; she usually topples over! Thank goodness for her Bumbo chair! Who knows, she might just be an early walker like her Momma. She will go at her own pace I'm sure!

Tummy time has become a lot more fun now that she can pick up her head almost 90 degrees. We still let her "cheat" with the Boppy and make sure a lot of fun toys are around for her to look at.

Playing with our friends.

Time to flip over for some tummy time!

 Strong baby!

Getting a little tired...that was hard work!

Cereal Experiment

I've been doing some research on starting solid foods. All of the 'experts' say 4-6 months; when your baby is ready.

According to BabyCenter:

Your baby will give you clear signs when he's ready to move beyond liquid-only nourishment. Cues to look for include:

• Head control. Your baby needs to be able to keep his head in a steady, upright position.
• Losing the "extrusion reflex." To keep solid food in his mouth and then swallow it, your baby needs to stop using his tongue to push food out of his mouth.
• Sitting well when supported. Even if he's not quite ready for a highchair, your baby needs to be able to sit upright to swallow well.
• Chewing motions. Your baby's mouth and tongue develop in sync with his digestive system. To start solids, he should be able to move food to the back of his mouth and swallow. As he learns to swallow efficiently, you may notice less drooling – though if your baby's teething, you might still see a lot of drool.
• Significant weight gain. Most babies are ready to eat solids when they've doubled their birth weight (or weigh about 15 pounds) and are at least 4 months old.
• Growing appetite. He seems hungry – even with eight to ten feedings of breast milk or formula a day.
• Curiosity about what you're eating. Your baby may begin eyeing your bowl of rice or reaching for a forkful of fettuccine as it travels from your plate to your mouth.

Moey is showing all of these signs. She technically is already 4 months old, even though I do not count the next month until we hit the 3rd of each month. :) Her 4 month appointment isn't until next Wednesday. With all of this info I decided to try some cereal with her tonight. SHE LOVED IT!

She was squealing in between bites, and she learned quite fast to open her mouth when the spoon got close. She also didn't gag or choke; two things I was worried about.  I want to introduce solid food very slowly, so I'm thinking we will do cereal every other day until her appointment next week so we can talk to her doctor more about it. At this age all of her nourishment should come from just her formula.  I think it is clear though, she is ready to eat more than just her bottle! 

Sideways Sleeping!

I went in to get Moey after her nap today and this is what I found....

She was very proud of herself!

Cape Cod

This past week was a HUGE week for Moey. It was her first big car trip, first time in Connecticut, first time meeting a lot of family members, her first trip to the Cape...the list goes on!!

Mo did awesome in the car ride to Connecticut. She slept most of the way, just waking up for something to eat and a diaper change. We had lots of new toys to keep us entertained! When we got to CT we went right to Gram's house and had a wonderful dinner. We had some visitors; Auntie Carebear came, Auntie Dana, and the whole Seaman family and then it was time for bed!

The next morning we made a lot of stops visiting great-grandparents and Auntie Michelle and Cousins Jorden and Evan. It was a lot of fun visiting!

 Great-Grandee (GG) and Pop Pop!!

 Great Auntie Carrie!

 GiGi

 Cousins Evan and Jorden

Jorden helping Moey with her paci. 

After we had the marathon of visits, we drove up to the cape to see Grandma and Grandpa! We spent the week going to the beach, visiting a lot of towns: Orleans, Chatam, and Provincetown! Moey put her toes in the ocean for the first time, slept on the beach and hung out with cousin Addy. It was a great vacation; cant wait to do it again next year!

Some photos from our week:

A poop explosion on the drive home to end our vacation :)