Zara at Five Months!

Happy 5 months to my baby Zara! She's growing up so fast. As David says, she's no longer a new baby, she's an old baby. I feel like month four was all about Zara learning new things and month five has been all about practicing and mastering those new skills. I think this next month will see Zara learning some new tricks (like sitting up on her own perhaps) and reaching some new milestones (like cutting her first tooth). But for now, here's an update on Zara's fifth month of life.

General Observations, Physical Changes, Etc.

Zara keeps on growing. At her last check-up, she weighed 16.4 pounds (90%), measured 26.5 inches long (97%) and had a head circumference of 16.5 inches (63%). When I weighed her today, she was pushing 18 pounds (yikes!). Please tell my baby to stop growing. When I look at her newborn photos, I don't even recognize her.

Zara's hair keeps growing more and more wild every day, but it's now long enough that I can sometimes wrangle it into a cute little top ponytail. I keep expecting it to turn lighter, but I'm pleased to report that it still remains a beautiful brown, which makes me happy. Having said this, however, her hair will probably turn blonde overnight.

Zara discovered her feet this month. She hasn't started to eat them yet, but she does like to grab onto them, especially when she's getting a bum change.

She really likes to touch things and feel their different textures. It looks like she's scratching everything.

Zara has just recently started to make a wheezing sound when she inhales. Some things I've read suggest that this is just babies practicing their vocalizations but other things say it could indicate asthma or some other illness. I'm going to keep a watch on it for the next week to see if it gets worse or she seems to have difficulty breathing, but for now, I think it's nothing serious.

Eating and sleeping habits

This is where things got a little difficult for us this month. All this time, Zara has been an awesome nighttime sleeper. She's never been big on consistent or regular naps during the day, but I never fussed about those since she slept so well at night. She was getting enough sleep, I was getting enough sleep and life was good. But then, over the course of this last month, she decided she couldn't be completely perfect in every way and decided sleep would have to go. She started falling asleep later and later at night and then waking up every 2-3 hours to eat more. We've tried some new methods to help improve things and get her back to sleeping through the night. We'll see how well it goes over the next month.

One thing my sister suggested was to not allow Zara to nap past 5 p.m. When I've actually stuck by this rule, Zara has generally gone to sleep at a decent hour.

Another thing I read--and I tend to avoid reading a lot of parenting theories--said that a lot of babies follow a 2-3-4 napping pattern. (Meaning, they nap 2 hours after waking up, sleep again 3 hours after their first nap, and then go to bed four hours after their second nap.) Zara in no way follows this pattern but keeping this pattern in mind has led me to pay more attention to Zara's general sleep rhythms in an attempt to decipher her own pattern. I think I'm getting closer to cracking the code. But as soon as I figure it out, I'm sure she'll outgrow it.

A lot of parenting books suggest that this is the time when you should start training your child how to fall asleep on their own and to wean them off of sleep associations like being nursed or rocked back to sleep. I'm torn over whether I should follow the guidance of these books or continue to nurse Zara to sleep and feed her as she demands. This is why I've avoided parenting books. They make me doubt my own intutition.

This month also saw Zara making the move from our room to her own crib. It's been a hard transition (for me, mostly) and most nights she ends up in bed with us anyway, but I do think the crib is helping. For one, she's sleeping on a better and more comfortable mattress than our old pack 'n play and she stays warmer because she's further away from the ground. Plus, the nursery stays warmer than our bedroom with its wall of windows.

Zara is a champion eater and I am extraordinarily grateful that I'm a champion milk producer. She'll take a bottle from David or other people (but not from me) but if I'm around, she wants milk straight from the source.

We gave Zara her first taste of 'real' food, real being rice cereal. She doesn't seem to mind it though I'm dubious about how much is actually being consumed. It seems like most of it ends up on her face and bib.

Zara loves to cuddle. She sleeps best and seems most content to sleep in someone's arms. I never realized this wasn't normal baby behavior until my friends kept commenting on how sweet it was that Zara would fall asleep in their arms. With enough rocking and moving around, I can generally get Zara to fall asleep. Except, apparently, at night. I'm afraid she's a night owl, just like her mother.

Accomplishments and Firsts

Last month, Zara rolled over for the first time. And this month, she's become a rolling machine. As soon as I put her down, she rolls over and sometimes she just keeps on rolling. Despite the fact that she hasn't quite figured out how to crawl yet, she does manage to scoot herself around quite well.

Ate rice cereal for the first time.

Moved to her crib.

Baby's favorite toys, places to go, etc.

Since David's work has become insane and Korea has became an icebox, we don't get out very much. But Zara is a big hit with the Koreans who, David tells me, keep saying that she looks like a doll. David also thinks we get better service at our favorite Korean restaurant, though at least one of the waitresses steals Zara everytime we go there. Thankfully, they always give her back before we leave.

Zara has started to get bored with her playmat. I think she just really wants to be more mobile than she is and she's less content to play by herself for long stretches of time like she used to be able to. I used to be able to sit her in her Bumpo chair when she got bored of rolling around, but she seems to be liking that less and less lately too.

Zara will stuff anything into her mouth these days. Her favorite things include her cloth books, a pair of plastic keys, and the foam borders of her playmat.

And now some of my favorite photos from this past month:

Eating time! Zara loves to hold her own spoon.

No more rice cereal! (Pouty baby faces are so cute, no?)



Smiling after church last Sunday.

Munching on her playmat.









Naked time! (Zara loves naked time.) I don't think you can really see her, but Zara is looking at Suyom, who is sitting on one of the shelfs on our bookshelf. Zara is fascinated by Suyom but the cat avoids Zara at all costs.

Funny faces!










Such a beautiful baby. I still can't believe I grew her myself.

Good-bye Hair

I always thought I had rather nice hair and was somewhat vain about it. But that's when I had a good hair stylist and time to straighten my hair, let alone brush it. Since Zara arrived, however, my hair has had somewhat of a tougher time, especially once it began falling out in massive clumps, like I had been warned that it would. And once Zara discovered that yanking on my hair was super fun, my hair pretty much never saw its release from my hair claw. In my frustrations, I would often threaten David that I would simply cut off all my hair. He, being a man, likes my hair long. But these were all idle threats because I've spent the last 6 years growing out my hair and really had no intention of chopping it off now.

Well, so much for that plan. I know it's not really short by most people's standards, but this is the shortest my hair has been since probably high school. David and I went to get our hair cut last Saturday (apparently we've been going to the same woman but just didn't know it) and when my turn came, I said that I'd be willing to go a little shorter. I certainly wasn't intending for this much hair to be taken off but once they make that first major cut, there's really no turning back. As I watch my hair flying off all around me, I just kept reminding myself that hair grows back. Eventually. Sometimes. But I lost a good 9-10 inches.

But for now, it's okay. It's a lot more manageable and it's certainly much healthier. Plus, I don't need quite so much shampoo or conditioner now. And the best part is that it's much harder for Zara to grab onto. She really has to work at it now....but that doesn't mean she isn't trying.

Zara vs. Sleep

Zara has been sleeping through the night more or less since she was two months old. It wasn't anything special I did....it was all Zara and her being the most awesome baby ever. And when people would ask how we were sleeping with a newborn in the house, David and I would look at each other with smug little laughs and say, "We get lots of sleep! Our baby sleeps through the night." We felt bad for those poor parents who's children were just not as awesome as ours. Getting up several times during the middle of the night? No thank you.

I'll admit it. I was proud. My baby was a perfect sleeper.

And then, suddenly, she wasn't.

For the last two weeks, she's been doing things she hasn't done since she was two weeks old. First, she just would not fall asleep. Every night it seemed to get later and later and later; most nights she wouldn't fall asleep until midnight. I changed a few things to get her on a more consistent bedtime routine and she started going to sleep earlier but then she would wake up every two hours for the rest of the night, wanting to eat. A few times, it took over two hours to get her to go back to sleep again. (Which makes for one very unhappy mama.)

So David and I sat and stewed about what to do. How did our prefect baby and our perfect sleeper turn into a terrible sleeper in a matter of two weeks? I have some theories, all of which are probably totally incorrect.

We thought, maybe she's finally ready to eat solid foods. And though I was relunctant to do it (because why was my milk suddenly not enough?), we started feeding her a little rice cereal. But that didn't really change anything.

Then we thought that maybe she just wasn't comfortable sleeping in the pack 'n play in our room anymore. She was pretty big for it. But I was really, really hesistant to put her in her crib. She'd be so far away from me and I like having her close by. I much prefer to have in my bed with me but now that David is not working nights anymore, the bed gets a little crowded with three. (Time to upgrade to a king-size, I think.) We'd been using her crib as our changing area but we finally went out and bought a changing table (they only had one option at the furniture store) and I prepped her crib for the sleeping.

Two nights ago was her first night in the crib.

At first, she slept pretty well. She slept for about 5 hours (I didn't....I was getting up every hour to check on her). She woke up around 3:30 a.m. and I nursed her back to sleep. I put her back in her crib but she woke up again. So I rocked her back to sleep and put her in her crib but she woke up again. So I just took her back to bed with me because I wasn't interested in spending another hour trying to get her back to sleep.

So her first night in the crib was better but still not great.

But last night, I put her in her crib around 10 p.m. (after falling asleep elsewhere) and she slept soundly until 6 a.m. (Though once again, I got up nearly every hour to check on her.)

So perhaps the curse is broken and she'll go back to being our perfect little sleeper. But if not, I guess that's okay too.

I suppose I still need some lessons in humility, after all.

Zara vs. the Rice Ceral

I'm pretty sure no one else thinks Zara is as cute as I do and I'm also pretty sure that no one else really cares to watch a child they didn't birth themselves do mundane, everyday things but just in case you do, here's a video of Zara eating rice cereal for the first time. She seemed to enjoy the process and I was particularly amused that she kept wanting to grab the spoon so she could feed herself. (Or, you know, eat the spoon. I don't think eating the rice cereal was her main objective.)



And if that wasn't enough for you, here's David's turn at feeding Zara.



I think I do it better than him, no?


All in all, I think Zara enjoyed her first foray into "real" food.

But I don't think she'll be giving up the breast anytime soon. Silly girl.

Signs of the Times - A Finished Quilt!

In what is surely a sign of the Apocalypse, I finally, finally, FINALLY finished this quilt.

Are you as amazed as I am? You really should be.

Here's the front in all its red, white, and blue glory.

And here's the back. I've been debating about whether or not I wanted to quilt the stars around the border, but I thought that was maybe a little bit too ambitious and then the quilt really would never get done. So after nearly a year of planning, prepping, sewing, and stewing, I'm declaring this quilt officially done.

David has been after me for many many months to finish the quilt. But, as with any large quilting project, I grew really sick of looking at the dang thing. I didn't love the fabrics anymore, I made too many mistakes. There were things about it I wanted to change but just couldn't. I wasn't sure how I wanted to bind it and I had had one too many fights with my sewing machine over quilting the center squares. So it sat in my tub of fabrics for many months, imcomplete and untouched while I had a baby and pursued other sewing projects.

But since my goal for 2011 was to set aside time every week for sewing, I knew I couldn't start a whole bunch of new projects (of which I have many ideas) before I finished the ones I'd already started. And since I like to make arbitary schedules for myself, I decided that Sunday would be my sewing day. With David off at work and a moderately well-behaved baby playing on her mat, I set to work this past Sunday binding the quilt. I was so energized by that successful endeavor, that I spent the majority of Monday morning finishing the actual quilting of the blocks. I got into a good groove, and before I knew it, I'd finally accomplished what had been eluding me for months.

And what once filled me with disgust, now fills me with profound joy. I finished something. Sure, there are things I still don't love about the quilt, there are things I wish I had done differently, but ultimately, now that the finished product is in front of me, I can't help but marvel at what I created. There is real joy in the process of creating--and finishing--something to be used and loved by my family.

A few things I learned along the way:

- Be patient. I often wanted to cut corners or speed through certain steps and would then be disappointed by my less-than-perfect output. When I actually slowed down, and took my time, my results were always better.

- Don't worry about perfection. I am a classic perfectionist and it is often difficult for me to accept results that are less than stellar. But now I look at my quilt and all its tiny flaws, and enjoy them because they were my mistakes and no one else's. Meaning, I made this quilt; I didn't buy some mass-produced product. And so every flaw is a testament to my work and effort and I can see very clearly how I improved as I went along.

- Plan ahead and visualize the finished project but don't get so caught up in that vision that you can't accept when changes must be made. The finished project will always be different than you imagined, but no less amazing once it's complete.

- It's okay to walk away when you are frustrated. You won't hurt the quilt's feelings.

- Use fabric that you love. Even if you love it when you start it, you'll find yourself hating it while you're making the quilt but when it's done, you'll love them all over again. But the fabrics I only moderately liked still have not grown on me. And now I will forever have to look at them and wish I'd picked something different.


- And always remember: the intended recieptent is going to love it, no matter what.

Hand-made Gifts

This past year, I took up sewing again and I really enjoy it. One of my goals for the year is to set aside a certain number of hours each week to spend sewing. I've got several projects in mind, from quilts to purses to pillowcases to toys and clothes. But since I'm really good at starting projects and not finishing them, I'm hoping that having "sewing hours" will induce me to actually finish some projects, like Zara's baby quilt and my quilt blocks for my Quilting Group. For Christmas, I made a few gifts to give away. And I actually finished them! So I have to document this momentous occasion.

Zara has two cousins (and 3 second cousins) who were born within a month of her. My brother and his wife welcomed their first baby--a girl--on August 24th. Zara followed a week later on August 31st and my sister had her third child--her second boy--on September 21st. (And my other sister just announced that she's expecting her second next year.) So for Christmas this year I decided to make everyone a diaper and wipes case. I used a tutorial from Make It and Love It, one of my favorite crafty sites. It's not the best tutorial, but now that I've made so many of these things, I can whip them out in under an hour. I love quick and easy projects that can be finished in a day.

These don't use a lot of fabric so they're a simple project to do with your scraps or other fun fabrics that you're not quite sure what to do with yet. I made the one on the right side for myself. I just couldn't help myself.

The insides. I actually started working on these quite some time ago (I did the one in the center during the summer) but I had just never finished them. But I got them all done and sent off before Christmas. I was insanely proud of myself.

Well, I had so much fun finishing that project (finally!) that I decided I wanted to do another quick and easy project. And since I've got this really adorable little baby now, who's suddenly very interested grabbing and holding onto things and shoving them into her mouth, I wanted to do some simple toys she could play with.

So I turned to Make It and Love It once again and found tutorials for cloth blocks and cloth teething rings.


I made 6 inch, 5 inch, 4 inch, and 3 inch blocks using lots of fun, vibrant fabrics. The 3 and 4 inch blocks are easier for Zara to hold and play with now.

Here she is with her 3-inch block clutched tightly in her hand. Next up, the cloth baby rings. These were another pretty quick project, but I think I stuffed them with just a little too much fabric because they were kinda a pain to sew together. And I broke two needles in the process.

Luckily, black fabric hides a multitude of sins.


And Zara certainly doesn't seem to mind my less-than-perfect sewing projects.

She's just that awesome. Also, she really will stick anything into her mouth. At least these are easy to wash.

Fun Gifts

My mom sent Zara this faux fur coat for Christmas and I just had to get a picture of her in it.

I mean, it's a ridiculous coat, right? On a adult, this would be downright ugly, but somehow on a baby, it's downright cute. I don't know how that works, but it does. So I put this on Zara every chance I get because it makes me giggle. And it's so soft and plush, I feel like I'm hugging an adorable stuffed zebra and not a crazy baby.

One of the other gifts I ordered this Christmas were these 11 x 17 canvas prints from CanvasPeople. They were having a really good sale that I just couldn't pass up (50% off the entire order with free shipping) so I got two photos. (They run a lot of great deals, so if you want a canvas, keep your eye open for a good sale. Otherwise, the canvases are a tad expensive.) I was originally just intending to get the one of Zara, but when I saw what a good deal they had, I decided to get one of our wedding photos done as well because we'd never done anything with them. Plus, I wanted a picture of a temple so it felt like I was killing two birds with one stone. We get a wedding photo and a great shot of the San Diego temple in the background. Sounds good to me.

Here they are hanging up in our bedroom. (As always, ignore the mess.) I haven't decided if I want to get them framed or just leave them open and canvasy but it was an excellent purchase.

Zara at Four Months!

Life really seems to both slow waaay down and speed waaay up when you've got a baby. It feels like Zara has always been with us but it also feels like she just got here and how can she possibly be four months old already and not the tiny little newborn I brought home from the hospital? It certainly doesn't help that she outgrew that newborn stage really quickly and just keeps on growing. My baby is so big. (Last time I weighed her, she was over 15 pounds and 26 inches long. Her cousin, who just turned a year, is only 29 inches long and 18 pounds. Yikes.)

Here is her four months comparison picture. Now onto the rest.

General Observations, Physical Changes, Etc.

Even before Zara was born, I knew some things about her. I knew that she would be stubborn (not surprising because most women in my family are stubborn). I knew that she would love to move (based on how much she tumbled around in my belly) but I also knew that she was blessed with the gift of laughter. She is--for the most part--a very happy baby. She loves to smile and laugh. Every morning when I go to pick her up from her crib, she greets me with a big smile. It's absolutely delightful.

Zara has become much more aware of her surroundings. She loves to watch people and all the things going on around her. She tries to reach for objects nearby and will shove just about anything she can wrap her little fingers around into her mouth. If all else fails, she just munches on her fingers.

I seriously have no idea what to do with her hair. It just gets more and more wild every day and it's seriously starting to look like a mullet.

Her eyes are a beautiful deep blue right now and we're both hoping they stay this color.
Zara is starting to babble and talk a lot more. Lately, when we're driving and she's just chilling in her car seat, she'll just start making long extended vowel sounds like "eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee" or "uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh." It almost sounds like she's riding a rollercoaster.

She's started to drool a lot more. I wonder if she's going to start teething soon. I'm not really looking forward to that.

Zara has already out-grown several of her 3-6 month clothes and has moved up to 6-9 month clothes. Luckily, I've been able to buy a lot of second-hand clothes for real cheap. Babies go through their toys and clothes so fast that it sometimes doesn't make sense to pay full price for a lot of things, especially when you can find used stuff that looks almost brand new.

Eating and sleeping habits

Since Zara is is more aware of her surroundings, she's also more aware of what I'm doing, especially when she's eating. So now whenever I'm trying to eat when she's breastfeeding, she gets easily distracted and tries to grab my plate or bowl or utensil. She does the same when I try to read while she nurses so I have to limit what I can do while she eats. Apparently, she wants me to focus on just her. Silly baby.

Zara is still a great sleeper although I'd love to get her to go to bed at an earlier hour. Still, our sleeping schedule seems to work for both of us since we're both still getting plenty of sleep.

Zara gets to sleep with me a lot, especially when David works the night shift. I think she prefers being in bed with me over sleeping in her pack 'n play.

Zara still sleeps in the pack 'n play in our room which is already getting a little snug for her, especially since she's starting moving in her sleep. Most mornings, I find her little face pressed up against the mesh siding. I keep thinking it may be time to move her into her crib in her own room, but I really don't want to do that yet.

Zara eats from anywhere from 5 to 30 minutes about every 2-3 hours. She's starting to go longer periods in between her feedings (which is nice) and doesn't need to eat as long though she occasionally likes the nice, long feeding that she falls asleep during. Those are my favorite because she doesn't get distracted while I'm trying to eat or read and she doesn't try to swat things out of my hands and then she sleeps on me for a little while. I love cuddling with my sleeping baby so much, it's a wonder that I ever get anything done anymore.

Zara had a mild diaper rash this month. We determined that the cause was too-tight diapers so we put her in loose disposable diapers for a day or two while we waited for her new cloth diapers to arrive. She nows wears medium sized cloth diapers and size 2-3 in disposables. And for the record, we use Clooth-eez tri-fold cloth diapers and I prefer Thristies diaper covers.

Accomplishments and Firsts
It's been a big month for Zara. First, she amazed us on December 11th by rolling over from her belly to her back several times. Then she wouldn't do it again. But then, a week later, she started rolling from her back to her belly. And now, within minutes of putting her on her back to play, she rolls over to her stomach. The little girl desperately wants to move and crawl but she hasn't quite figured it out yet. But she still manages to scooch herself around her playmat somehow (I have no idea how) and she working very hard on getting more mobile.

She's getting better at sitting upright and can sit for longer periods of time in her Bumpo before she totallys falls over.

She's been getting much better at holding up her own weight when she stands on her feet.

Of course, Zara got to celebrate her first Christmas and New Year's this month. She also saw her first snowfall.

Zara also had her first cold. It was luckily very mild, but we discovered that she really, really detests having her nose wiped.

Baby's favorite toys, places to go, etc.

Being Christmas, Zara got a whole bunch of new toys. We bought her a new foam alphabet playmat (better than having her roll all around our hard wood floors) and I made her a bunch of cloth blocks. She also got her first doll from her grandma and a few stuffed animals. But her favorite new toy is the cloth book her Great-Grandma Hayman sent her. The pages make a crinkly sound when you touch them and Zara loves to hold onto the book and stuff it in her mouth. Eventually, she'll learn that books are for reading and not for eating but I'm just trying to start a love for books--in any fashion--young.

We also received many new children's books. Our collection is growing very nicely. We almost have a whole self-full now. Zara likes to be read to. She seems to really like "Mr. Brown Can Moo, Can You?" and "How Do Dinosaurs Say Goodnight?" Or maybe it's just that those are the books I most enjoy reading to her.

Now for some photos from the month:

Watching Star Wars for the first time. Ha.

Sitting in her Bumpo.




Sleeping with Daddy.




I love this photo of Zara. It so expresses who she is, with the foot kicking towards the camera and a huge smile on her face.