Spotted Baby

Our healthy streak has come to an end. And to think I had almost "knocked on wood". ;)  She's still a very happy baby regardless of the strep throat & rash diagnosis.

 Fuzzy pictures compliments of my iphone camera. 

We'll start over in 9 days and hopefully we'll have an even longer healthy streak next time.

7 Months

We won’t have another well-visit until 9 months, but a week or so before Raelyn turned 7 months she was 17lb 2oz.

At 7 months, Raelyn continues to be such a happy baby! During the past month she has taken an interest in learning to crawl. A few times she has done log rolls to move across the room. She’s also mastering the “worm crawl” and the “army crawl”. We know she’ll be mobile very soon. I guess it’s time to really baby-proof the house! ;)

Raelyn has also been practicing the art of drinking from a sippy cup. She was able to figure out the hold very quickly. She’ll take a few sips of water but mostly she likes to chew on the spout.

She continues to try new foods and enjoys most of them. This month we’ve added green beans & rice, oatmeal/peach/banana, winter squash, and whole milk yogurt with peaches to the rotation.

Raelyn is quite active. She loves to sit and play with all of her toys. She has started grabbing a toy with one hand and then passes it back and forth from hand to hand. It’s so cute as she watches the toy intently move from left to right, right to left.

She tried out sleeping on her tummy a few nights but quickly realized that she likes side sleeping the best. Just like her mommy. ;)

Raelyn and Sheba get along very well. Raelyn enjoys grabbing Sheba’s soft fur and patting her nose. Sheba is very patient as we remind Raelyn often, “Gentle.” There is quite a size difference, but Sheba already knows that Raelyn is the boss. ;)

Mark and I have enjoyed another exciting month of parenthood.

Raelyn, we love you!

Addicted

Photo taken July 21, 2010

I've decided that I'm addicted.

I absolutely cannot get enough of this baby girl. I want to kiss her all over, slather her with butter, and then bite her cheeks off. I don't ever want to put her down and I'm continually trying to breathe in all of her sweet baby goodness.

Maybe it's the chubby rolls, maybe it's her happy nature, maybe it's the smiling and laughing. Whatever it is, I am enjoying her so ridiculously much. I want to spend every waking moment with her.

Honestly, I would love to have a thousand babies.

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.)