Yum…. Carrots!

Raelyn tried carrots for the first time tonight. I would say this is another successful vegetable attempt. We’ll just keep those veggies coming. :)

6 Months

Raelyn's stats at 6 months:

• Weight: 16 lbs (52%)
• Height: 26 inches (61%)
• Head Circumference: 16 in (8%)

Raelyn is officially 1/2 of a year old! I’m not sure any other 6 month period in my life has flown by as quickly as this one.

She’s eating more variety of baby foods. So far she’s tried sweet potatoes, peas, squash, pears, apples and bananas. Raelyn has loved them all except bananas. I thought all babies loved bananas. Oh well, I’m happy she’s enjoying all those veggies. :)

Raelyn loves to play and keeps herself actively engaged with her toys as long as she’s awake. We’ve introduced a few new toys in recent weeks and the first thing she checks out is to see if it’s chewable.

She is sitting unassisted for long periods. Raelyn has great balance and is happy to sit on the floor as long as she has a few toys within reach.

Raelyn and Sheba are forming a friendship. Up until this past month, they’ve mostly ignored one another. One day Raelyn reached out for Sheba and from there a bond has been formed! She loves to pet her big furry dog.

I think her daddy’s favorite milestone is that she can now grab her foot and chew on her big toe. There is just something so cute about a baby with her toe in her mouth. I told her to enjoy it while she can because that flexibility won’t last! ;)

Oh how we love our Raelyn Grace! I’m not sure how it’s possible but we love her more and more each day. She makes it easy as she flashes us that big, beautiful smile!

(You know you want to reach into that photo and pinch those cheeks.)

First Swim

She wasn’t sure at first…

Then she took to it like, well, a fish to water…

Red, White, and rrrROAR

We had a Happy 4th of July and hope that you all did too! We spent much of the day relaxing, eating good food, and hanging out.

Raelyn and Rachelle had plenty of playtime! Rachelle enjoyed showing “Baby Ar Rar Rar” many of her baby toys and how to properly play with them. Raelyn mostly enjoyed testing out how chewable they were. ;)

And here is a sample of Raelyn’s favorite sound. She roar’s all.the.time. Her daycare teacher’s have even commented that they have never had another baby roar like Raelyn does. LOL!

Shopping Pals

Saturday afternoon, Raelyn and I met Avery and Aunt Jenny at the mall for some shopping. I thought it would be fun for Avery to pick out a new outfit for herself since she’s starting kindergarten next month. And hey, since we were there why not let her pick out an outfit for Raelyn too!

We walk into Crazy 8 and I ask Avery what she wants to pick out first. She smiles and tells me a dress for Raelyn. We walk to the back and she spots several dresses she likes. Avery’s first pick yelled pink out to her. Then she spotted a headband and wanted a dress to match it for Raelyn. Ok cool, we ended up with this dress in size 6-12 months for Raelyn.

Now it’s time to find a dress for Avery. We walk to the front of the store. All the dresses up front were long and peasanty and not at all right for a pretty little blonde kindergartener! I remembered that a few of the dresses in the back went up to size “5yr” so we attempted to go back and find something more appropriate for Avery. Guess what her first pick was? Yep, the one that yelled pink. I could sense that Jenny was hoping for something a little less loud so tried suggesting a few others. Two were vetoed immediately by my precious 5 year old niece. Then she spotted a cool straw hat. Ok, we can work with this. There were a few options that would match the hat and then I noticed that the same dress she picked out for Raelyn would match and asked if she would want to have a matching dress. Seriously, I wasn’t sure if this would be cool or really not cool. Well, I’m not sure I’ve ever said anything to her before to make her eyes widen and face light up this way. She was ALL IN for matching with her baby cousin!

After our shopping trip, we walked out to the wishing fountain and Avery threw in a penny for herself and one for Raelyn. She looked at me before throwing in Raelyn’s and said, “You know, we don’t tell our wishes.” One second pause. “I’m wishing a unicorn for Raelyn!”

I love how much Avery ADORES Raelyn!

Good clean fun

I’ve been thrown-up on so many times this week, I needed a small reminder of cleaner days. ;)  It’s just another one of those mom milestones.

Happy 1st Father’s Day, Mark!

We love you.

Happy 1st Father's Day, Mark! from Stephanie Repko on Vimeo.

Song Lyrics:

Father and Daughter by Paul Simon
If you leap awake
In the mirror of a bad dream
And for a fraction of a second
You can't remember where you are
Just open your window
And follow your memory upstream
To the meadow in the mountain
Where we counted every falling star

I believe the light that shines on you
Will shine on you forever
And though I can't guarantee
There's nothing scary hiding under your bed
I’m gonna stand guard
Like a postcard of a Golden Retriever
And never leave till I leave you
With a sweet dream in your head

I'm gonna watch you shine
Gonna watch you grow
Gonna paint a sign
So you'll always know
As long as one and one is two
There could never be a father
Who loved his daughter more than I love you

Trust your intuition
It's just like going fishing
You cast your line
And hope you'll get a bite
But you don't need to waste your time
Worrying about the market place
Try to help the human race
Struggling to survive its harshest night

I'm gonna watch you shine
Gonna watch you grow
Gonna paint a sign
So you'll always know
As long as one and one is two
There could never be a father
Who loved his daughter more than I love you

I'm gonna watch you shine
Gonna watch you grow
Gonna paint a sign
So you'll always know
As long as one and one is two
There could never be a father
Who loved his daughter more than I love you

Mommy Home Remedy

At the end of the week, Raelyn showed signs of a diaper rash (red bottom).  They were smearing her with diaper cream at daycare to no avail. I remember reading somewhere that a 50/50 solution of water and apple cider vinegar can take care of diaper rash so I decided to try it. After two nights of squirting her bottom with the solution I’m happy to report she is rash free! 

And just because she’s cute & smiley…

Our Daycare

One small reason why we love our daycare:

Mark and Stephanie,
Good evening! As promised I am emailing you to update you on Raelyn's progress at school. I attached a picture of her playing in the exer-saucer with toys. She is doing very well with holding her head up, tummy time, and soon sitting by herself after some practice! Lately she has been eating all 8 oz of her bottle and seems very content afterwards. She is improving with eating cereal but still needs some practice every day.  She is developing her own personality which I enjoy so much throughout the day! I hope you enjoy her picture and she is improving so much every day! :)
Denise
Stars Lead Teacher

5 Months

Raelyn's unofficial stats at 5 months (we don’t have a well visit until 6 months):

• Weight: 15 lbs 8oz

I just can’t believe that next month we’ll be celebrating her “1/2 year” birthday! I’ll try not to get ahead of myself and plan to enjoy my 5 month old.

We started rice cereal several weeks ago and she has not been the biggest fan. She’s still trying to figure out what to do with her tongue so all the cereal doesn’t come back out. This last weekend I added some sweet potato baby food to the cereal and she seemed to like it a little more. I think she likes the sweet potatoes by themselves the best though.

Besides eating, we are also working on sitting. Once she masters this skill, I think we’ll notice less of a bald spot on the back of her head. :)

Raelyn loves playtime! She especially loves her exersaucer but is also interested in any toy that she can put in her mouth or that plays music. Raelyn will lay on her play mat and pull the flower that plays “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” over and over. Miss Denise, her daycare teacher, says that she does the same thing on the play mat at school. Maybe she’ll have a musical gift to share with the world one day! ;)

She is still a water baby. We have bath time every night before bed and she loves to sit in her tub and splash away. I often find myself toweling off because of the water hazard.

Raelyn is such a happy baby! She’s constantly smiling, giggling, and talking away. I’m going to go out on a limb now and guess that her first word will be “hi”. I may end up wrong, but just in case I’m not I wanted to get my guess in print.

I swear she gets cuter everyday! We are so blessed to call her daughter. We love you, Raelyn Grace!

Meet the Flattery side of the family

We traveled to Springfield, MO over Memorial Day weekend to introduce Raelyn to Mark’s extended family.

Raelyn met her Great Grandma:

 

And her Great Uncle Warren & Aunt Jean:

And her Great Uncle George & Aunt Esther:

And her Great Uncle Ron & Aunt Sharon, as well as Cousin Kris & Cousin Brooke:

Don’t forget Cousin Mark and his three sons Ethan, Luke & Seth:

We want to point out that Kris is already “kissing babies” as he practices for his future political campaign. (Raelyn won’t be swayed to the “other side” though, Kris!) ;)

We had a great visit and Raelyn was happy to finally meet the Flattery gang. Thanks for having us!

Two Weeks

In two weeks, Mark’s parents will be moving to Indiana from Texas. It seems like we’ve been talking about their retirement for years! We’re all looking forward to having them close by and watching them enjoy retirement.

The last weekend in April they were here for a house hunting trip. We searched high and low until they found the perfect home!

We were able to find the house, negotiate a deal, and celebrate in 3 short days.

We also enjoyed a lot of family time during their trip. Both Grandma and Raelyn are looking forward to more of this…

We can’t wait to say, “Welcome Home!”

Triple Threat

Late last week, Raelyn developed a cough and then wheezing. On Thursday night she coughed throughout the night and Mark or I went to check on her every 1/2 hour because she sounded miserable. She, however, slept through all that wheezing and coughing.

Mark took her to the pediatrician’s office on Friday morning before work. I was at my desk when I received this text photo:

There is nothing more heartbreaking than seeing your baby helpless and not being able to do anything! The doctor diagnosed her with Strep Throat, an Ear Infection, and Bronchiolitis. She prescribed an antibiotic and albuterol breathing treatments.

Mark took Raelyn home and started her on the every 4 hour schedule. When I came home that evening I cried as she screamed through most of the treatment.

Raelyn is a trooper though. The whole weekend wasn’t all crying & screaming. I’ve figured out that if I play her music (very loudly) to help drown out the noise of the machine she stays calm. It also helps to not use the straps and just hold the mask to her face.

Thankfully we had a lot of  fun during playtime and on Sunday afternoon took a stroll around the neighborhood.

 This morning we headed back to the doctor to check her breathing. He determined we need to stay on the treatments until the wheezing is gone, which might take another week or two. At least she headed to his office in style.

Please pray her lungs heal quickly. My tender mommy heart can’t handle hearing my baby struggle to breath.

4 Months

Raelyn's stats at 4 months:

• Weight: 13 lbs even (38%)
• Height: 24.5 inches (60%)
• Head Circumference: 15.5 in (12%)

You might remember that after her 2  month check up Raelyn had some growing to do. Well, she’s catching up. Just look at her height! Dr. Rob was impressed with the roundness of her head and let me know that we did a good job with tummy time. I give credit to Miss Denise, Raelyn’s daycare teacher. With Mark’s daily reminder she made sure Raelyn received plenty of tummy time. :)

To celebrate Raelyn’s 4th month I got her a “Jenny jump up.” Mark set it up and she’s enjoying spending a bit of time each day in her new jumping seat.

Raelyn has become a little chatter box and often we’ll hear her in the morning just talking to herself (or maybe she’s talking to her toys).  She has also taken to putting her thumb or whole hand in her mouth. Sometimes she even tries to suck her thumb and her pacifier at once. Oh, and her tongue! She is often sticking it out or making little clicking noises with it.  Raelyn has figured out that she can grab a toy and put it in her mouth too. We’re wondering if she’ll be an early teether. She sure is a drooler!

She’s growing, growing, growing! She’s wearing a few 3 month outfits still, but is about to graduate to 6 month size.

This weekend we’re going to venture beyond the world of formula. Rice cereal, here we come! I’m sure we’ll have some fun photos & video of our new adventure with food.

Here’s our little birdie at 4 months old. Can you handle her cuteness?!? (I know, another scratch just in time for the monthly photo.)

Talking Baby

Raelyn’s official 4 month post is coming soon. Until then, enjoy her latest video.

Little Mama

This past Sunday, we were invited to a birthday dinner at Matt & Ashli’s home to celebrate the two May birthday’s. (Matt’s and mine) While we were there, Rachelle kept Raelyn entertained and made sure her toys were well organized. Ashli was holding Raelyn when Rachelle said, “No mama.” Then she pointed at me and said, “Dat’s her mama.” She wanted to make sure the right mama was holding the right baby. :)

Upon Rachelle’s bedtime, she looked at Raelyn and said, “My baby." Then she tried to her pick her up. I couldn’t resist letting Rachelle hold her baby cousin with a little bit of my help.

 

I think we’re already seeing some of Rachelle's “mommy instincts” coming out.

Raelyn Loves Bath Time!

We’re Official

April 15, 2010 will be remembered as finalization day. We’ve been a family since January 9, 2010, but finalization day means we’re recognized as a family by law. The judge declared: “Raelyn Grace Repko shall, for all intents and purposes, be considered their natural child and shall be entitled to the same rights and privileges.”

We saw other families go into court before us and met another family going into court behind us. We were all there for the same reason. It was “Adoption Day.” It’s most likely the happiest day in court each month.

 Mark and I were sworn in and promised to “tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth.” We each had to sit in the witness stand box and answer a few questions. The judge asked Mark if he thought we were financially secure enough to raise a child. Mark answered yes and then the judge chuckled and said, “Are you sure? Girls are expensive. I should know, I have daughters!” haha After the judge granted the adoption and signed all the documents, we took this photo. He is a kind man and congratulated us multiple times.

We declared the day, “Family Day.” We packed up a picnic lunch and headed to the IMA grounds. We had a beautiful day and just enjoyed being together.

Raelyn is such a special little girl. She will always know that she grew in my heart and from my prayers. Oh so many prayers…