7 and 8 Months!

Miss Morgan has been one busy little lady...
7 months old:
Morgan experienced her first Easter! We had a very nice time celebrating with family and even did an egg hunt. Next year Morgan will be able to participate a little more ;)

April 27th, 2011
Miss Morgan had her first day of swim lessons and really didn't have much of a reaction to the water. However, as the weeks have past, Morgan is now kicking and splashing in the water and really seems to enjoy our sessions every Wednesday. We have been working on floating on her back, which she still isn't a big fan of, but have introduced a rubber duck that she kicks while floating and therefore, she seems to relax her head back a little more. Lessons last 5 weeks and then we may try them again in the fall.

8 months old:
May1st, 2011
We made a trip back to LaCrosse to see celebrate Meg's Christening and Trev's 5th Birthday Party! We had a wonderful time and all the Aunties and Uncles were back in town, which made the weekend even more special!

May 2nd, 2011
Morgan learned how to go from the lying position to sitting up! Jenny at daycare sent me this text picture of Morgan during naptime...prior to this picture, we had no idea she knew how to get to the sitting position on her own, but apperently felt this position would work well for napping :)

May 10th, 2011
Nana has been trying to get Morgan to do "so big" for many months now...and she finally does it all on her own...sometimes even when you don't ask her :) We were so delighted to see her hit this milestone and would start clapping for her right after she did the "so big" and therefore, she now claps for herself...too stinking cute!  

Morgan is also able to eat finger food puffs and shovels them in as fast as you put them on her highchair tray. 
Thursday, May 19th, 2011
Our daycare provider has been gone the past week, so between Brad, myself, and Nana, we have been taking turns enjoying one on one time with Miss Morgan and today she has decided to officially crawl after doing the army crawl the past couple of weeks!

Morgan's modeling career has begun...da da's words when I sent him the picture of the wall at Dejong Photography..."Sweet Jesus...we're in trouble!" LOL...I can only imagine :)

So as a recap of Morgan at 8 months:

-has her two middle bottom teeth

-waves "hi" and "bye"

-claps her hands

-plays "peek-a-boo"

-loves to do "so big" and squishes her arms against her cheeks when she does it

-crawls

-favorite expensive toys are the cell phone and remote

-favorite toys of hers are the leap frog school bus, stacking cups, Elmo phone, and sing-a-majig

-favorite book is Sesame Street Beginnings "At the Zoo" (she loves pointing to the giraffe)

-eats baby food with cereal and drinks baby milk

-takes a bottle without fussing

-takes two naps a day and has recently started going to sleep without rocking, but rather we lay her down on her belly and rub her back for a few minutes

-most nights she sleeps through the night (bedtime about 7:30pm and wakes about 6:00am)

-loves to cuddle and snuggle

-has started to take interest in Baby Einstein Videos

-says "da da" all the time and every now and then will say "ma ma" (we are still not quite sure she knows the correlation though)

-is one happy baby and only fusses when she is hungry or tired

We have Morgan's 9 month check-up in a few weeks and are looking forward to hearing her stats! We will keep you posted!

Happy 1/2 Birthday!

Morgan is 6 months old today!  
Happy 1/2 Birthday Princess!

So hard to believe that it has already been half a year...where in the world does the time go? We have been trying to decide since birth who you look like, mommy or daddy...here is a picture that mommy found of herself at 6 months next to you at 6 months:

 













At 6 months Miss Morgan:

• wears a size 3 diaper
• rolls from her back to her tummy
• coos, smiles, and giggles
• eats breastmilk and cereal
• loves jumping in her rainforest jumperoo
• favorite toy is her rings and giggles and smiles when you jiggle them above her head
• always smiles at her sing-a-majig
• loves to watch her daddy while he is in the kitchen and she and mommy are on the couch
• puts everything in her month, but seems to enjoy her toes the most
• likes to drop things on the ground and then picks them up...this never gets old :)
• is wearing size 6-12 month clothes
• her hair is spikey, soft, and fuzzy...seems like it is a blondish brown color
• her eyes are on the verge of turning hazel...or maybe brown
• still does not sleep through the night and actually is up pretty much every 2-3 hours :)
• loves to pet her puppies
• favorite books are Sesame Street because of the bright colorful pictures
• is a great napper at daycare...9-10am and 12-3pm...but an entirely different story at home :)
• you go to sleep around 7:15pm every night after bathtime, eating, reading a book, and rocking and without much fussing
• love to play patty cake and listen to mommy sing songs

Mommy and Daddy can't wait to see what you have in store for us! We  love you so very much!!! As I was just typing this...one more thing to add to the list of your accomplishments...you are now able to roll from back to tummy and then back again to your back! Way to go little Miss thang!!!

Top Producer

 Nana and Papa Al were here this past weekend and were given a good laugh when they saw our poor attempt to organize Morgan's food supply in the freezer. Is it possible that one can really make this much milk?! Papa Al likes to call this mass production "the top producer"...Papa Al lived on a farm when he was a kid and says that the dairy cow that made the most milk in the month was given a "treat" (i.e. some extra hay) for doing such a great job...turns out Mommy is now considered the top producer! We have been trying to work out a system to organize and rotate Morgan's daycare supply...several failed attempts later, this is what the kitchen floor looked like as we tried to figure out something else. We really need to plug in that second freezer :)

Happy Valentine's Day!

 Here are some photos from Morgan's 1st Valentine's Day!

Morgan and her daycare friends exchanged cards, candy, and brought home a card for Mommy and Daddy.

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!

XOXO

Miss Morgan

Our evening was spent making homemade BLT pizza, watching some American Idol, and opening gifts from one another. Morgan got 6-12 months Iowa State shirt, Daddy got some socks and an ISU t-shirt, and Mommy got some running shorts, pants, and a running shirt! We had a wonderful night  filled with lots of playing and cuddling! Morgan also received some very thoughtful gifts from her grandparents...thank you so very much!

Let the good times roll!

Well, it's official...as of Tuesday 2/8/2011 Morgan is rolling over from her back to her tummy! The "first" time was accomplished at daycare, but Jenny was so sweet and sent me two text of Morgan in action:
Before

After

Miss Morgan has not yet figured out how to roll back on to her back, so after a few minutes of tummy time, she gets mad and will start fussing. We have found her in her crib laying on her stomach a couple times now. Morgan has also found her toes and thinks they are the best thing in the world! They offer hours of entertainment! She also must be working on some teeth because she puts EVERYTHING in her mouth and jabbers and drools like crazy! We have been giving Morgan rice cereal before bedtime and she is really getting the hang of it. It is so funny to watch her..she lunges at the spoon :) Oh, and FYI, we have found the wives tale that the cereal makes babies sleep longer is completely false with this little one ;)

We had a great weekend! Nana and Papa came into town to visit and to help do some work in the basement. The boys hung the cabinets behind the bar and they look fantastic! Us girls did a few paint touch-ups and spent quite a bit of time playing :)

Tomorrow is Valentine's Day! Stay tuned for tomorrow's post of Morgan's super cute outfit!

Baptism

 Sunday January 9th, 2011 Morgan was baptized at The Lutheran Church of Hope in West Des Moines. We were so blessed to have our families make it to Iowa to share in this special day for Miss Morgan. Morgan is one very lucky lady to have both Auntie Sara and Auntie Katie as her godmothers! After the church service and baptism, we all came back to our house for lunch, cake, ice cream, and gift opening. Morgan received wonderful and generous gifts, which included an engraved snowglobe, a ceramic cross keepsake holder, a crib cross, a personalized "Morgan" frame, saving bonds, a nativity scene, cash,
and silver set.
Here are a few pictures from Morgan's baptism:

 

Wrapping up 2010

It was Morgan's 1st Christmas this year!

She received so many generous gifts and was able to spend it surrounded by family! We traveled back to LaCrosse, WI for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day

 Morgan met Santa for the first time and sat contently on his lap. Santa brought Morgan a nursery rhyme book that lights up and sings...she loves it!

We drove to Rosemount, MN for New Years weekend to spend time with Daddy's family. Morgan did very well in the car and spent the majority of the ride sleeping...we planned the driving around feedings and during nap/bedtime.

The latest on what little Miss Morgan is up to:
We had Miss Morgan's 4 month check-up, which included her second round of shots. She only cried when the nurse initially poked her and pretty much stopped within seconds after. Morgan is getting to be such a big girl! She is 14 lbs 14 oz. and is 23 1/3 inches long. These stats put her in the 73rd percentile for weight and 85th for height! She smiles and talks to us like you would not believe...we are still trying to figure out what she is trying to tell us, but she certainly has a lot to say! On New Years Day she rolled over from her belly to her back with a little assistance. Brad helped her position her arms and she did the rest. We continue to work on her tummy time and she holds her head up so proud! She has also started to sit in her exersaucer and is so enthralled with all the toys, lights, and sounds that surround her.

Morgan now loves to be without her diaper and has started to grab at her feet and attempts to pull them up to her mouth. She has the sweetest giggles I have ever heard and loves to be tickled. Morgan tried rice cereal for the first time January 2nd and as you can tell from the picture, she was so not impressed. We continue to try it every night, but her thoughts of it have not changed and we are pretty sure she spits more out than she actually eats.

Morgan is wearing 3-6 months clothes and even has a few things that are 6-12 months that she is pretty close to fitting in to. She no longer uses the sling in her baby bathtub and has even taken a few baths in the big tub! She seems to really enjoy bath time, which sure has changed from when she was a newborn and she would spend the entire bath screaming with her high pitched voice. Thank goodness she has outgrown that and we only hear that voice when she is really upset. If you haven't heard it...it is ear piercing! :) Morgan slept through the night last week...wasn't the case for mommy and daddy who were up 4 times checking on her :) She has continued with great night sleeping patterns and usually is up about once a night for a short feeding. Every day is such a gift with Miss Morgan and we love watching her personality take shape!