Friday, March 29, 2013

Five Months!

The Goose is five months old! I can hardly believe it. While we traveled a lot in her fourth month, her fifth month brought lots of visitors! Nene came twice(!) and the Holman family came for a really fun cousin (and mommy BFF quality time) weekend. She has also done lots of growing, smiling, giggling and eating. So... Here are some specific updates and memories:

- She weighs about 19 lbs per my crude home weighing. Big. Girl. She's all cheeks and belly. And I love it all.

- She is eating food! And she LOVES it. Not shocking considering how much her momma and daddy love food. But when I feed her she leans forward into each bite. It's so funny... And makes feeding her a little trickier. She loves carrots, butternut squash and apples. She is so-so on bananas and does not like peas or avocados. We'll try the peas again in a couple of weeks, though. Next on the list to try are pears and sweet potatoes. So far I've been making her food and really enjoy it. Not committing to always make it but for now it's really fun and cheap!

- Sleep... Oh, sleep. First of all let me say we are SO fortunate because she always sleeps through the night. And when I say through the night I mean ELEVEN hours! Miraculous! However, last Sunday night we stopped swaddling and started "sleep training." Since her go-to move when she has the use of her hands is to immediately rip her paci out of her mouth, I knew that unswaddling would also mean starting to cry it out. Otherwise I would be in her room basically standing over her until she fell asleep. Night time has been fine (we started with almost an hour of crying and are now down to about 15-30 minutes). Naps, however, have been disastrous. The real problem is that I tried to create a nap schedule at the same time. I think that was too much all at once. So, she is now napping in the swing again - which really means we've regressed from where we were before when she was at least napping in her crib. Ugh. But, my new plan is to get the schedule part down and then we'll tackle taking those naps in the crib, unswaddled, again. I feel that Greer needs to be able to soothe herself and its important that she can be happy without me being right in front of her face. Easier said than done. I'll be VERY interested to see what my update is on this point next month. Haha.

- On a much happier note Greer is SUCH a sweet, happy girl! Yesterday a stranger said hi to her while she was strapped to me in Costco and Greer couldn't have smiled any bigger! At a stranger! It makes me so happy that she has such a sweet disposition and is so friendly. Other than disliking the car seat (again, because I'm not right in her face in the car - haha) she is happy almost all her waking hours! She likes to bounce in the exersaucer and LOVES to watch Dexter wherever he goes. He will be asleep on the couch and she will bust up laughing at him. I love it.

- She CAN put her paci in her mouth correctly now! Sometimes it takes her a couple of attempts but she has made so much progress in the last week, which is almost definitely due to all the crib tears that have been shed. ;-)

- So, she has not rolled over ONCE since last month's post. I blame the belly. She's got a lot of "Greer" to roll. Ha. And she's also a lot happier on her tummy than she has been in the past. So, we're working on sitting up right now - basically just moving on to the next milestone. She HAS rolled over so it doesn't really bother me that's she's content just hanging out however we lay her down (whether she's on her back or her belly).

- She went to the nursery at church on Palm Sunday for the first time! It was the first time anyone kept her other than relatives. I actually did really well and even paid attention to the sermon! And Greer did pretty well, too. When we walked in she was being held because "she got grumpy in the bouncy seat" (shocker) but she was happy as she could be. I think not getting called out of church for a meltdown = success for our first time.

- I still call her Goose most of the time. I am also trying to use her name more and forgot to include "Greersy-Pants-Peeples" as one of my favorite nicknames in last month's post. Also, Will likes to work "Greer" into other names or sayings. So she gets called "Richard Greer" sometimes. Haha. We're strange. (Side note - Will calling Francis "Frangelica Houston" is actually my favorite such nickname.)

- We love FaceTime!! We FaceTime with my mom and sister on a regular (read: daily) basis but we've also chatted with my dad, Gigi and MH & Francis! Greer really does look at the phone and interact with whoever we're chatting with, too! And with all due respect to everyone else... She loves FaceTime with Susan THE MOST! She seriously lights up when Susan's face pops up on the screen! It makes me so happy!

- Stats: She's in size 3 diapers. She wears 6-12 month clothing (that sounds vague but we have lots of 6-12 mo items and then she wears some 6, some 9 and some 12 mo stuff!) and we did specifically have to jump up to 9 month pjs because she's so tall! Everyone please stop and say a prayer that her summer smocked dresses and bubbles fit her - they are ALL 9 months and it's making me sweat. Seriously. Pray.

So, those are the updates on our precious girl! She is the light of my life and such a treasure. I said this last month but I continue to feel unbelievably blessed that God chose us to be her parents. She belongs to him and we are just here to feed, clothe and adore her. And I will do all of it with all of my heart! Thank you Jesus for the gift of salvation and the amazing blessing of Greer Allan Peeples! My heart overflows.











































Tuesday, March 5, 2013

Four Months Old!

So, I am typing this with Greer strapped to me in the Ergo from the Raleigh airport. Dedication. I am bouncing around in front of some nice businessmen because she will have none of me sitting down. So, what better time to list some things I love about her?!

- Stats... At her last appointment (which was almost three weeks ago) she weighed 16lbs 3oz and was 26 inches long. 90th percentile in weight and 99th in height. Big girl!! I need to do a little self weigh when we're home, though, because I think she's had a growth spurt since then.

- Nicknames... She doesn't know her name yet and that probably because I usually call her Goose. Or Gooseberry, sis, sweets or G. But usually Goose. She almost definitely thinks her name is Goose. I should probably remedy that.

- She is grabbing things with intention and putting them in her mouth. She'll put anything in her mouth EXCEPT for the correct end of her paci. She will, however, promptly pull the paci out of her mouth and then get mad about it. Haha.

- She has rolled from her belly to back three times! Once in Memphis, once in Little Rock and once at home. If she had just done it in Chapel Hill she would have covered all her bases. Speaking of these bases... In the last month we have traveled to Memphis, LR and made our first family of three flight to NC. She was great on the flight to NC. We are moments away from finding out how she will handle the flight home.

- We're still not on a schedule. That is my month four goal. And maybe... Just MAYBE it won't end up also being my month five goal. ;-) But right now she is sleeping through the night (about 9-10 hours) with an occasional paci replacement during the night. We're going to cry it out a little when we get home to eliminate the paci trips for mommy and daddy. Naps... She is pretty regular with her big morning nap. Other than that... We try to stay on an eat, play sleep cycle but every day is different. I want to be on a schedule with two big naps a day by our beach trip at the beginning of May. I am purposefully giving myself lots of time for that one. She's a happy girl so most schedule changes are for my long term benefit.

- She is smiling a lot. Giggling when we really earn it. She LOVES her daddy. She will just stare and stare at Will. She likes me, too, but I know that a lot of that has to do with being the food source. That's okay, though. It's nice to feel needed. ;-) She also loves her Aunt SueSue and her cousins!! They are all very entertaining!

We love you so much, baby girl!! I can't remember life without you and it has only been four months. I've hoped and prayed for you for a very long time and you are the fulfillment of so many dreams. I am so grateful that God lent you to us for our time on Earth. I will love you every day of it.