Month Six Must-Haves

Another month, another list of must-haves. Baby Tuna's sixth month on this planet has been chock full of milestones, and most of these must-haves have really been...well...must-haves. Obvi. So with month six being full of teething, sitting up, crib-sleeping, and puree-eating (and pooping), here's what we couldn't do with out this past month. 

1. Arm & Hammer Diaper Pail: Of course, we've been using this guy since day one, but it wasn't until the babe started eating oatmeal and purees (and "pooping like a human", as the Hubs says) that I really started to appreciate it. See, the nice thing about newborn poo is that it doesn't really smell too terrible. Fast-forward to the introduction of purees, and you're dab smack in the middle of Stink Town! It's pretty disgusting amazing, actually.  We keep this pail in the open part of Z's closet, and I never smell one hint of a whiff of ickiness. There are little Arm & Hammer air fresheners that are placed inside, and as long as you change it every so often, the nursery will keep smelling fresh.

2. Skip Hop Hug & Hide Owl: A favorite at playtime. The wings crinkle, the baby owl squeaks, different things to chew on. All of that is great, but Z's favorite thing...beating on it to hear the chime inside.

3. Snuzza Halo Monitor: Thanks to this little monitor (it's about two inches tall), the Hubs and I can actually get a peaceful night's sleep (provided Baby Tuna is also sleeping). Because she likes to sleep on her face, we were always panicked about SIDS. This guy clips onto her diaper and measures breathing movement. If it doesn't detect any, it'll vibrate to wake her up and alarm to wake us up. There are other monitors out there that do something similar, but use a pad that is placed under the sheet. Since our kid moves all over the place, we wanted something that moves with her.

4. Aden & Anais Security Blankets: When Z moved into her crib to sleep, we wanted to give her something to snuggle if she needed to, especially since Woobie couldn't be in the crib with her. They are lightweight muslin, so we don't worry too much when she pulls it over her face. She'll chew on it, snuggle with it, and play with it. So cute!

5. Fisher Price Block Sorter: This was one of the first big kid toys we bought for Z, knowing she wouldn't be able to do much sorting. But she loves these blocks, and not just to chew on. I'll build a tower and she has a little too much fun knocking it down. Her favorite thing to do is dump out the blocks, and drum on the bottom of the bucket.

6. Click, Clack, Moo & I Love My Daddy: Of course books keep showing up on the must-haves list! Baby Tuna LOVES her books! We read many times throughout the day (would you expect any less from a former teacher?!). These two have been in heavy rotation this last month. Click, Clack, Moo is a favorite from my classroom. The mooing usually gets a giggle out of her. We have other books in the series, but this one might be her fave. I Love My Daddy is a pre-nap favorite. The illustrations are so sweet, and since she's a total Daddy's Girl, it's an obvious must-have!

7. Plum Organics: When we started Z on purees, this was the brand we chose. They taste so good (yes, I taste everything before Z does!) and are super convenient. I also love that, if you're feeling lazy, you can just squirt it onto the spoon and not have to deal with a bowl.

A Little Randomness for Your Hump Day

So these last few weekends have been packed full of business. We are still in the middle of our Ikea hack, the project that will never end. Not because it's particularly difficult, just that other things keep taking us away from it. Just needing to paint and stain, which the stormy afternoon/evenings have prevented. And I'm almost done with my new chalkboard (also delayed by the weather). Hoping to get those finished soon so I will have something to show you guys.  In the meantime, I wish you all a Happy Hump Day and present you with a little bit of randomness for the midweek.

For some reason, this camel cracks me up! I know this is crazy, but I really feel like that should be his voice! Makes me laugh every time! Let me throw in one more exclamation point!

Speaking of Ikea (well, sort of), two kind of awesome things happened: #1-We declared September 8th "New Sofa Day!" About a month ago, we trekked down to Ikea to check out the sofas, without any real intention of actually getting one anytime soon. Our current furniture has about had it, and once we had chosen something new, our old stuff started looking worse and neither one of us could get the new sofa out of our minds. So, next Sunday, the Tuna family will once again trek south with my step-dad's truck (since the giant boxes definitely won't fit in my VW Rabbit) and pick up this puppy:

IKEA Karlstad Corner Sofa

Of course this means that now we will need a new rug and coffee table and so many throw pillows!

And #2 - This arrived in the mail yesterday! Woot woot! It's the little things these days that make me giddy, and I have to say that coming home to see the 2014 catalog on the table made me squeal with glee. (I probably need to get out more!)

We did manage to make the most of the one and only storm-free evening by taking a walk around the neighborhood, something we haven't been able to do much this summer thanks to the mosquitoes and suffocating heat. This also marked Baby Tuna's first ride in the stroller like a big kid - without the infant carrier!! Of course, Abby Cadabby had to come along for the inaugural ride!

So, seven Labor Day Weekends ago, one of my oldest friends and I went out for a few drinks. That very same night, a tall and handsome fella happened to be in town and at the very same bar with a buddy. Well, I think you can figure out how this story ends. Even though we knew each other in high school, the Hubs and I didn't start dating until that night. We call it the night we "re-met." So this weekend we celebrated our "Re-Met-aversary" with a yummy dinner and what I call "Half-Assed Cookies & Cream Cupcakes."

I love to bake. My love of Oreos is pure and true, and I try to incorporate them into a lot of my baking endeavors. Usually I bake cupcakes from scratch, right down to the frosting. No frosting from a can in this house. But with a six month old, you gotta make some concessions here and there. So here's how it goes...For Father's Day, I made a batch of chocolate cupcakes and froze what we didn't eat that weekend. I love this recipe from Kevin and Amanda. Yes, it's from a mix, but it's so doctored up and chocolatey delicious, I may never make chocolate cake from scratch again. I use the gluten free Betty Crocker mix. They freeze and thaw so nicely so you can have cupcakes anytime you want! 

Now for my half-assed frosting...

To frost 4 cupcakes (plus a few spoonfuls to taste-test), I used half a tub of the new Cool Whip Cream Cheese frosting (which I would normally make myself), threw some Oreos (about 7 or 8) into my food processor and mixed all together. The frosting on it's own didn't taste exactly like homemade, but once the Oreo crumbs were mixed in...yum-o! Pipe onto thawed chocolate cupcakes, sprinkle with Oreo pieces, and Viola! Chocolatey Oreo yumminess! 

And finally, since it's now September, which should mean instantly cooler temps (but unfortunately it doesn't),

Just know that this temp does NOT include the insane humidity...it felt like at least 500 degrees!

I had to pop in to Starbucks to pickup my first Pumpkin Spice Latte of the season. I usually wait till the temps cool off a bit, but I couldn't resist. So since the babe had fallen asleep in the car, which meant I needed to kill some time while she slept, I hit the drive-thru. And having it iced wasn't so bad.

Now I'm ready to decorate the house for fall and am dreaming of fuzzy socks and open-window weather...which is still at least two months away. Boo to that!!

Six Month Update - A Bit Late

Ok. So I'm a little late on this posting. Baby Tuna had her six month birthday on the 19th and I'm just now posting her update. Can you believe that this kid has been on this planet for half a year already?!?! We spent the first four months in a haze as we waited for Z's surgery, but the time after that has just FLOWN by! The last month has been full of milestones, gallons of drool, and so many spoonfuls of baby food.

Weight: 15 pounds, 13 ounces
Height: 26 inches (The 49th percentile! Remember back when she was in the 15th?!! Finally catching up!)
Sizes: Z is kind of in between sizes these days. I'd say most of her clothes are 3-6 month (although she wore a 0-3 month sized top yesterday), but little-by-little those are getting packed away to make room for the 6 month stuff. It's so sad when one of our favorite rompers or onesies is too small or when we have to cram her little feet into the cutest pair of strawberry footie pjs. I guess it just makes room for cute fall items and Halloween outfits!!

Sleep: Well, I wish I could say that every night Z sleeps for 11 hours straight and that she takes two two-hour naps every day. I would love to tell you that I am able to put her in her crib drowsy but awake (what does that even mean?) and that after babbling for a few minutes she quietly falls asleep. I'd love to tell you all of that, but it would be total bullshit. All of the mommy blogs and sleep training websites would have you believe that this stuff actually happens. I think they are all lying. In truth, Z is an OK sleeper. She has been taking three naps a day, all exactly 30 minutes. You could set your watch by her. Once in a while, she will sleep for longer - like, 40 minutes. At night, she sleeps from about 8pm to 7am, which is awesome. Most nights we only hear from her once, when gas pain wakes her up. It takes about 20 minutes to get her calmed down and back to sleep. As for the "drowsy but awake" baloney, tried it and it can't be done. Not with this kid. After her bedtime book, we take five minutes and rock her to sleep. I'm sure we are ruining our kid's sleep habits forever, but it's what's working for us right now. It's not so bad, although I'd love for her to take two long naps each day so I could actually get some work done! Maybe this month!

Love that little squinchy face!

Diet: Just before Z hit the 5 month mark, we started her on oatmeal. She wore more than she ate for a long time, but really had a lot of fun with it. Once she started actually swallowing and closing her lips around her spoon, we gave her some sweet potatoes. Major hit! Since then, Baby Tuna has had bananas, peas, peaches, apples, carrots, green beans, and butternut squash. Her most favorite is a blend of peaches, apricots, and bananas that I think would be great over vanilla ice cream. I'm serious, the stuff's delish. We have yet to find something this kid won't eat. Once we've established a bit of a menu, I'm going to start making some of her food. I just didn't want to spend all that time peeling, chopping, steaming, and pureeing (is that even a word? I guess it is now!) only to find out that she hated it.

At her checkup, the doc gave us the go ahead to start her on puffs to get her practicing the pincer grab, and to start her using a sippy with water. All signs that she's no longer a newborn. She's moving into big kid territory. Guess we better start shopping for a highchair. So far she's been in her bebepod chair up on the dining room table, but it might be time for an upgrade!

Milestones: Holy milestones this month! Seems like there is a new one every day!
Baby Food: One of the biggest, of course, is starting with fruit and veggie purees. This has been so messy and so much fun. With the first bite of every meal, whether it is her very first taste of it or it is something she has eaten many times, she always makes a face like she can't figure out what it is and she's not sure if she wants more. It's hilarious. Then the lightbulb goes off and she remembers that she likes it. She opens her mouth and moves her tongue around like a baby bird. So cute. Recently, she started "chewing," which may be one of the funniest things yet! This kid has such a silly personality emerging!

Sleeping in Her Crib:  Right around her 5 month birthday, we decided it was time to move the babe into her own room.  She moves around so much in her sleep, and the swishing sound of the pack n' play was driving me nuts! It was a pretty smooth transition that started with nap times. And although we put her down on her back, she likes to roll onto her face to sleep. Totally terrifying. We love our video monitor, but even if we spent the entire night huddling around it in the dark while we watched her sleep, there is no way to tell if she was smothering herself. So, thanks to a brilliant suggestion from a friend (thanks Sarah B!), we purchased a Snuzza monitor, which clips onto her diaper and measures breathing movement, and alarms if the baby is too still for too long. The best $100 bucks we have ever spent. That little thing helps us relax enough to get a full night's sleep. Amen!

Getting Around: Z finally remembered how to roll from her belly to her back a few weeks ago, something she started doing at about ten weeks old and stopped doing shortly before her surgery. Now she can roll her self all over the place. She's also still moving backwards, and has even done an army crawl once or twice. Baby Tuna is really trying to work out the whole crawling with the belly off the floor-thing, but can't seem to get her butt in the air without smooshing her face into the rug. As cute as it is, it doesn't quite count as crawling.

"Oh nothin'. Just chillin' in the middle of the living room." 

Kisses: She will grab my face and come in quick with a big open mouth and a slobbery tongue. It might just be the best thing ever!

Shopping Carts & High Chairs: The little lady has begun to make life a wee bit easier on Momma and Daddy-o. A few weeks back, she starting sitting in those wooden high chairs in restaurants. And, thanks to the tiny carts at Hobby Lobby, she started riding in shopping carts like a big kid.

Why are the wooden highchairs so low? How is that helpful?    

Thank you, Hobby Lobby, for your Oompa Loompa-sized carts!

It wasn't until we got a shopping cart/highchair cover that she felt comfortable riding in the carts at Publix and Target. I think they were too open for her liking. But now, Zoey rolls in style!

Infantino Cart & Highchair Cover

Swimming: This kid has been a water baby from very early on. She loves splashing and kicking in her little whale tub, so as soon as the doctors gave the OK, we brought Baby Tuna into the pool. She loved it! The Hubs got her a little splash pool of her own and she has had such a blast playing around in it.

Teething: We are in the thick of it. The doctor said she could feel the start of something, and we are elbow-deep in drool around here. So, obviously everything ends up in Z's mouth...even fistfuls of my hair. 

So, last month I showed you a collection of outtakes from Z's photo shoot. This month was equally difficult, but more because of my lack of photography skills than anything else - half the shots were blurry. Mental note: always wear glasses when taking photos. Baby Tuna was being way too serious for the first few shots, so I busted out an old Tickle Me Elmo I had from my babysitting days. Her reaction was priceless!

Some more random pix from Baby Tuna's sixth month: