5-6 Months

• Smiles at strangers
• Grabs hair and loves having it in her face
• Typically gentle with people’s faces – holds their face in her hands instead of scratching and clawing J
• Loves to eat
• Semblance of a schedule, but still adjusts really well when it gets disrupted
• Thumps her chest with her right arm when she gets excited
• Got SUPER constipated just before 6 months
• SCREAMED whenever she tried to poop
• Pooping “bricks” and wedges that stick between her cheeks
• Bum was red raw and sore – heartbreaking to see
• Gobbles up prunes, but not a huge fan of prune juice, unless she was really in pain and she’d drink it right up
• Able to pick up her binkie and put it in her mouth…often upside down or sideways, but she seems to like it that way and will suck on it like that for quite some time

It’s the end of an era: she’s rolling. Gone are the days when I can leave her on the bed while I run to grab something in another room. She has to be watched constantly now, which is a wake-up call, to be sure. She rolled once on a Thursday and by Friday she had rolled all the way across the room!

Teagan and I had a moment today (4.9.11). We came home from Women’s Conference and we laid down on the bed together and just “chatted”. We gurgled back and forth and she stroked my face and pulled my hair. I love when we make eye contact and hold it – I catch glimpses of the future when we can have actual conversations and it’s a beautiful thing.

We took a picture of all of the Richards grandchildren when Shawn & Annie visited in April 2011. It was quite the production. Nine boys and five girls in jeans and matching white shirts was absolutely adorable! Unfortunately, our timing was a little flawed and poor Landon was woken up from a nap and was less than pleased. He screamed the entire shoot and Teagan ended up beside him and wound up crying as well. So Teagan, arguably The World’s Most Contented Baby, winds up being immortalized in the family photo red-faced and screaming. Awesome. 

 

6 Month Check-Up

• Palouse Pediatrics – Pullman, WA – Dr. Lennis Boyer
• Height: 26” (75%)
• Weight: 17 lbs. 12 oz (85%)
• Head Circumference: 43 cm (75%)
• Daddy came to this appointment – the first time he was available
• Daddy held Teagan for her shots, which she took really well, crying only from the shock of the needles and calming down very soon after
• Mummy & Daddy are older and wiser now and kept the Tylenol coming, avoiding a fever and extreme fussiness (you have to expect a little)

If a baby rolls over in the living room and no one is around to see it, does she make a sound?

Absolutely she does.

I initially intended to capture video of Teagan beginning to roll over from her back to her tummy - an exciting new development that no longer allows me to use the bathroom while she chills on the bed. The footage turned out to serve an additional purpose: preserving for posterity evidence of our social caterpillar (that's a social butterfly in the making.) Pay attention around 0:19...

...when she hears my voice and realizes that someone is indeed in the room with her. Then all of a sudden, all is right with the world. Teagan just needs to know that someone is paying attention to her. At all times. She's been known to start fussing if you should have the nerve to break eye contact with her for longer than 2 seconds. I don't want to use the word "Diva", but...

First Things First.

I thought it apropos for the first post to detail some of Little T's firsts. We're keeping track of everything. And I mean EVERYTHING. Feast your eyes on her firsts...

HER FIRST TASTE OF RICE CEREAL

HER FIRST TASTE OF FLOWER

HER FIRST TASTE OF TOE

HER FIRST GENERAL CONFERENCE

HER FIRST WEDGIE

HER FIRST BEDTIME STORY

 

HER FIRST "I CAN DO IT MYSELF" MOMENT

  HER FIRST ENCOUNTER (of many) WITH DORA ¡Hola! Soy Teagan.

 HER FIRST JUMPING PHOTO (many more to come)

Obviously she's squeezed years of experience into a mere 5 months.  Thanks for wanting to keep up with Teagan's life in the fast lane!

Luck Be a Baby Tonight

The more I speak to other mothers, the more I realize that I am one lucky mama. Please know that the following is not me bragging about my mothering skills (still working on those - apparently they don't come standard) but rather I am recognizing how incredibly fortunate I am to have such an amazing baby. I can sense that you are skeptical of the awesomeness of my daughter. An amazing baby, you ask? Yes. And here's why...

Let's start at the very beginning. Despite causing a wee bit 'o' trouble getting out here, she had nursing all figured out from the get go. The first time we met, she had her mouth wide open, ready to eat. She wasn't messing around then and she hasn't slowed down.

It's been nice not to worry about her weight - let's face it, with parents like us, we didn't think we'd have to :) Her head is certainly a good size. Maybe a little TOO good.

And while bath time can be a little bit tricky trying to ensure we clean between each and every roll, she is enjoying her baths more and more. And I just can't get enough of her chub, even if it adds some extra nooks and crannies.

I feel so very fortunate to have a world class sleeper on my hands. On Christmas Eve (so aptly timed - a wonderful present!) she began a 6 week stint of sleeping for 8 hours at night and then...wait for it...went back down for a couple more hours. Cue the Hallelujah Chorus! And please note that I recognize that I'm incredibly fortunate to have a baby that sleeps well at night and my heart goes out to those mothers of babies who don't value sleep as much as Teagan.

That said, she isn't a napper by any means. But when she sleeps so well at night, it would be a little ridiculous to complain, wouldn't it? But, under the right conditions, she'll sleep for a few minutes. And by "the right conditions" I mean either in my arms or curled up in her bouncy seat. If she's in someone's arms - fantastic! Good hour long nap - easy. However, she seems only to be able to last 20 minutes in the crib or anywhere else. My solution? Curl her up in the bouncy seat and let her snuggle into it enough to trick herself into thinking she's being held, and just make sure every few minutes she has some breathing room :) Please don't judge me!

 

Now, I've never been a morning person (Buddy will enthusiastically agree) but this little woman is. She's been good for me, because how can you wake up unhappy to her sweet little face! (Unless, of course, it's 4:00 AM!)

She has a big, beautiful smile...and bigger thighs. Feast your eyes on the chunky monkey herself. She smiles constantly and it warms my heart. I actually got a real, full-blown baby giggle out of her last week, but regrettably didn't catch it with the camera. Hopefully there will be more of those to come. And with parents like us who put her in all sorts of weird situations, she's bound to chuckle a little. But if not, I know we certainly get a kick out of her...

Starting to wonder if there are any downsides to this angel? Me too!

4-5 Months

• Tries to sit up wherever she is - looks like she's doing crunches
• Sleeps 12 hours - eats twice
• Gurgles and jabbers - sounds like a Wookie
• Still loves to be swaddled
• Needs to be constantly entertained - she could be screaming but as soon as you pay attention, she smiles
• Really fights sleep right up until she goes
• Fascinated with hair and loves to pull it
• Enjoys storytime with Dad every night before bed
• ROLLED OVER FRONT TO BACK- 3.5.11
• Tummy Time no longer exists - she immediately rolls onto her back
• Resisted getting sick, despite sneezes and germ-filled balloons deflating in her face

Loves to sit in her Bumbo on Grandma’s counter and check out everything that’s going on. Especially when her cousins come over. Emma managed to give Teagan her first laughing fit, merely by pulling her dummy out of her mouth and making a funny noise. No amount of singing, dancing or funny faces on our part could make her giggle, but Emma had her hysterical! It was so fun for Teagan to be surrounded by her cousins and get used to chaos and noise. I’m pretty confident we can attribute her easygoing, self-satisfied demeanor in part to growing up with so many cousins hanging around.

3-4 Months

• Sucks and chomps on dummy whole, sideways and bottom
• Holds hand of whoever puts dummy in
• Knows difference between Mummy & dummy
• Very clear when she's full and done eating - turns away and screams!
• Smiles at strangers and happily goes to people she doesn't know
• Happiest laying on her back, staring at the ceiling
• Aware of the camera and stops cooperating when she sees it
• People always mention the same things when seeing her for the first time
• Loves Grandma and Grandad Haw ("GG" and "G-Pop") - G-Pop calls her "Scoopy" as in Pooper Scooper
• Sleeps 10-12 hours a night with one feeding in the middle
• Found her thumb and loves sucking on it
• Whines/talks until she's out of breath - it turns into a low growl

4 Month Check-Up

• Palouse Pediatrics - Pullman, WA - Dr. Lennis Boyer 
• Height: 25" (75%)
• Weight: 15 lbs. 10 oz. (90%)
• Head Circumference: 43 cm (95%)
• Took booster shots like a champion - screamed for 30 seconds after needles, then was fine (until that night when she got a fever and had a terrible time)

Eleven weeks after Teagan was born, her cousin Samuel Kenneth Limburg arrived. Looking at them side by side was incredibly depressing – Teagan was an absolute giant! Where did the time go? But down the road when they’re older, I know that 3 months won’t make any sort of difference and they’ll be great friends.

When Teagan was only 3 months old, she took her first international flight – to Canada to visit her family!  Our day began at about 5:00 AM, then we took 3 flights and skipped 3 time zones to arrive at our destination at about 1:00 AM. What a day! We flew from Spokane to Seattle to Vancouver to Toronto. Teagan was an angel and slept for the majority of the time, prompting some to comment that she was the best “flying baby” they’d ever seen.When we were getting ready to board our flight to Vancouver, the gate agents huddled around Teagan and made such a fuss of her that people came rushing over, thinking that there was some sort of an emergency!