Oh how you GROW!

Sweet baby girl… you are already FIVE months old! I can hardly believe it. You are oh SO BIG! (Quite literally). I love you so much sweet princess.

Daddy thinks that you are getting spoiled, and it’s probably true, but I don’t care. It already makes me sad when you don’t want to cuddle. You are too busy exploring your world.

Things you love:

• Chewing- you are teething right now. You have two little buds on the bottom of your mouth that are waiting to come through. You eat EVERYTHING you can get your hands on. You are currently particularly fond of mama’s hands/fingers. Yum!
• Eating- Boy girl, you love you some food! You eat. A lot. All the time. We tried giving you rice cereal on August 1st, but that didn’t go too well. You gagged on it and looked at me like, “What is this CRAP you are trying to feed me??!” Needless to say, since then we haven’t tried and you are happy as a clam with your mommy milk.
• FP Jumperoo- You have finally figured out how to JUMP! I tell you “jump!jump!” and you do! You get a huge grin on your face as you are jumping. You love it so much, and it’s good exercise for you too.
• Waking up- You are the happiest baby in the world when you first wake up. Every time we go in to get you out of your crib you give us the biggest grins in the entire world- even at 4 in the morning… we need to work on that one :)
• Leaves- It sounds weird doesn’t it? You love leaves… like the leaves on a tree. When you hear them rustling in the wind you turn your head to look at them. You also love looking at the trees when we go on walks. Who knew they were that interesting??

You keep growing, and growing, and learning new skills. Yesterday you learned how to SIT on your own!! That’s right, my little 5 month old chunker can SIT!! :) So exciting! Granted, you tumble if you try to turn to look at something, but you are still doing it! We’ve only had two falling/crying incidents so far… not too bad. I think it scares you more than it hurts you when you fall, but you are crying real tears- and that makes Mama sad.

Sensory Overload!!

Sweet baby girl… you are getting so active! You are talking all the time. All.the.time. And it’s loud… Grandma Culp asked if you ever cooed.. You tried that for about a day, and then you realized you could yell… and boy do you love to yell.

Oh hey there mama!

There are times that we can’t even have a conversation because you are talking so loudly. I have a feeling you are going to be like your mama. Oh boy, Daddy will really have his hands full then!

Your personality is definitely starting to come through now. You let us know when you are not happy, especially when you don’t want to go to bed. You scream and scream, and then give us the world’s biggest smile when we come to get you. You already have us wrapped around your finger.

You love love love to roll over. You can only roll from your back to your tummy. You don’t even try to roll back over anymore. You used to cry whenever you flipped on your tummy, but now you rather like it. You only sleep on your tummy anymore.

We do have to keep you off your tummy after you eat because you tend to puke up everything you just ate… all while smiling. We love your smile oh so much pretty girl. You always smile when we tell you that you are pretty. I think you are going to be our little princess.

You are starting to pull off your bows and headbands. We need to work on that. Your hair is just starting to come in and you kinda look like a boy if you don’t have a bow/headband on. You are so proud of yourself when you can pull it off- booger.

You still get really startled by…well almost everything. You hate sneezes and coughs. They are absolutely terrifying to you for some reason. If mama sneezes in the car it results in a full-blown meltdown by you. You are so scared. We feel bad, but at the same time it is really kinda funny. I know I am going to miss that little quirk of yours when you outgrow it.

Your facial expressions are hilarious. You love to dance around with Daddy, and just love our attention. You will yell at us if we are “ignoring” you. You are going to be a full-of-life little girl. I love you more every day!

Love,

Mama

Keeping up with a Roller!

You are becoming such a mobile little girl!! You learned on July 2nd how to roll over from your back to your tummy. You would freak out at first because you hated tummy time, but you are tolerating it a lot more now.

Right after you rolled for the first time!! “Save Me Mama!!”

When I lay you down on your back you flip over immediately 99% of the time. I’m glad you are excited to be practicing your new skill, but it creates a lot of pukey problems when you have just eaten. You spit up a lot for a little baby, but when you roll on your tummy it is amplified by 5 times. You haven’t figured out how to roll from your tummy to your back yet—and I’m in no rush for you to do so.

Speaking of a little baby… you are getting SO BIG. It makes me sad some days to realize that when you are fussing you just want to be set down so you can play with your toys. It was just a few months ago that all you wanted was to be close to me and to sleep on my chest.

You are so into exploring your world. Pretty baby!

Now when I pick you up you are looking around taking in every sight and sound. One quirky characteristic you have is that you are startled/scared of  every.little.noise. Seriously. Currently your strongest dislikes are: sneezing, coughing, and flushing toilets.

It’s a bit ridiculous, but I know you will soon outgrow this phase too. I already find myself trying to remember what it was like what you would sleep on my chest during the day, and realizing that you probably never will again.

You have the cutest little giggle. You have yet to do a belly laugh, but you will giggle at us- and at yourself in the mirror. You think you are pretty funny. One of my favorite things about you right now is the big big big smile I get whenever I get you from your crib. It doesn’t matter what time it is (even at 3:00 in the morning) you have the world’s biggest gummy grin. I love it. I love you so much.

I know I need to write more, and I am pledging to you that I am going to write once a week at least- you change too quickly not to.

You love your toes right now. You can fit them in your mouth…nasty. You love it though! You love chewing on anything you can get your hands on. You have two little teeth under your gums on the bottom. Thanks to this new teething you are now a drool queen in addition to being a pukey little girl. Thank goodness for burp cloths. Best investment so far.

I love you so much sweet princess.

Love,

Mama

Your Baptism…

Sweet, precious, baby girl. You were baptized this past weekend, on June 9th, 2012. It was such a great time, and you were such an amazing little girl. Grandma and Grandpa Culp, Uncle Alex, Grandpa Green, and Aunt Kendra and Laura all came down for your baptism. The Frommelt family was all there too.

You were baptized at Church of the Ascension in Overland Park, KS, which is where we are parishoners. We had you baptized on a Saturday after 5:00 mass, because we wanted everyone that came in from out of town to be able to stay and celebrate for a while.

There was a visiting priest there saying mass. He was from Jamaica. You slept most of mass, until he decided that he wanted to announce your baptism, which was going to be held after mass, and introduce you to the entire congregation. You woke up when I brought you up front, but you stayed calm and didn’t cry at all. Good baby!!

Fr. Tom (Thomas Tank, yes that’s his real name), who is the pastor at Ascension, came back down from a retreat he was helping with to do your baptism. Aunt Kendra and Great-Uncle Steve are your godparents. It was so nice to have everyone there for you.

You wore the same baptismal gown that I did when I was baptized. I didn’t think you were going to be able to fit into it my little chunky monkey, but we squeezed you in. You looked so pretty!

You got a little fussy during the baptism, mostly because you were hungry, but you found your thumb and then all was good. You are obsessed with sucking your thumb. You love it more than anything…well maybe about as much as you love ceiling fans. More about that later.

After mass and the baptism we came home and had dinner and cake, and then played some games. You did great, although you really aren’t a fan of large groups of people. You’d rather it just be you, Mommy, and Daddy. We are so glad that you are now baptized into the faith. We love you oh-so-much sweet princess.

Love, Mama

My Sweet Angel…

You have started “talking” to me and Daddy. I love when you “talk” and you tend to do it ALL THE TIME. You definitely have a story to tell us, and it is so sweet. I can’t imagine what life would be like without you anymore… I am so glad that I am your mommy. We have been taking some little videos of you, so we can remember what you were like when you were so little.

It seems like you are already getting so big. You definitely know who I am and who Daddy is. You smile SO big when you see us, and that is amazing. I love your smile. You have this huge gummy grin.

I love you more every day sweet baby girl. I am so glad I get to stay home with you now. I love waking up with you and staying with you every day.

Love,
Mama

I Love You To The Moon… and Back Again.

Sweet Baby Girl, there have been so many changes in your life lately. You have you smile a lot more. It still isn’t consistent, but we definitely are getting smiles from you. It makes all the long nights worth it when I get those big gummy smiles.
Speaking of long nights, you have started sleeping a lot better at night. For four nights in a row you slept for 7 or 8 hours straight!! Of course, last night you didn’t sleep too well, but I am hoping (and daddy is too) that you start sleeping 7-8 hours consistently. It definitely makes getting up for work easier!
There was a “super moon” on Saturday night. A “super moon” is when there is a full moon on the same day that the moon is closest to Earth in it’s orbit. According to the radio, a “super moon” is 14% larger and 30% brighter. Daddy and I took you outside on Saturday night to look at the moon. You actually stared at it, as it was the brightest thing outside. It was a little windy, and you liked having the wind blow in your face.
I really enjoyed just having family time- just the three of us. I am trying to take in every moment we have together while you are so little. I know that time is going to pass by so quickly, and I don’t want to miss a moment of it.
Yesterday there were tornadoes all around us and the sirens were going off. We couldn’t see any tornadoes, and normally I would have stayed upstairs watching the storm, but now with you here I couldn’t do that. We went and “hit” in the basement underneath the stairs. I’m sure you are going to love it as a play area when you are older.
I love you so much Noelle. More and more every day.
I will always love you to the moon and back.
Love always,
Mama

One Day Down, Only 18 Days To Go

Today was one of the hardest days I’ve had to go through since you were born. I had to go back to work today. When I was pregnant with you, I was thinking, “well maybe I could go back to work”. Now that you are here, I know there is no way I could be a working mom before you are in school.
I am finishing the school year before I can stay home with you full-time, which means that I have 19 school days that I have to be away from you. Daddy has to take you to daycare every morning, because you can’t go until 7:30. I have to leave by 6:15 at the latest to get up to school on time. So I left you with Daddy this morning. You were still sleeping when I left. You looked so peaceful, so calm…and it made me cry. I know you are too young, but I worried about you waking up without your Mommy, having to take a bottle, and being away from me all day.
Daddy took you to daycare and said you were sleeping when he dropped you off. Even he felt weird just leaving you with someone else. You are going to Sophie’s Infant Care, which is an in-home daycare. Miss Amber is taking care of you, along with 4 other babies. You are the youngest by far, with the others being 4 months, 6 months, 7 months, and 21 months.
I still worry about you all the time, even though I know you are in good hands- Amber has six kids of her own and has been doing daycare for a very long time.
Before today, the longest I had ever been away from you was 30 minutes, and that’s when my mom was watching you as we were moving into our new house. I thought about you all day at school. It’s hard to teach when you are the only thing on my mind. The kids were good today, better than normal, but it was still difficult to be away from you.
As soon as school got out I left to come get you. I was worried the whole way back down to Leawood, but when I got there you were happy and content- drinking your bottle. It made me feel a little better that you were happy, but it also made me sad that someone else had seen you all day. Someone else had played with you, someone else had gotten those beautiful gummy smiles that you are just starting to do.
The countdown has begun. There is one day down, 18 days to go. I love you sweet sweet baby girl, and I always will.
Love,
Mama