Definitely on the move now:)

In the last week, Lynsey's mobility has increased almost exponentially. It was like she wasn't really that interested before, but now that she can move a bit faster, she is experimenting more with stairs, climbing things, standing up on things, all things she's not really balanced enough to do well yet. She loves standing up by the fireplace (as you can see from the pictures!) and can quite proficiently stand up by the couch now. Her second tooth came through yesterday and she is drinking her milk a bit better again which is good. If I had the energy (and a better back) to walk her around all day, she would be the happiest baby around. I don't think she would ever get sick of it. Now I'm wishing she would learn how to walk! Okay, I might be crazy. I haven't gotten her weighed since she was 6 months old, but by my next blog post I WILL have! I can't procrastinate any longer - I want to know how heavy she is.

Our basement is almost furnished to my satisfaction - there are just a few odds and ends I want to get yet. It's looking good down there! So nice to have it done because we have gotten more visitors this summer than probably ever before!

Finally a tooth!

After months of drooling, Lynsey has finally cut a tooth! She wasn't actually that cranky either - if this is bad as teething gets I can handle it! She started drinking less of her bottle on Friday or Saturday, and not napping as long as she should, but she didn't actually cry that much. She did NOT like it when I tried to feel the bump on her bottom gum, though! I think it was really sore. Yesterday it finally poked through. I think she finds it strange to have this sharp thing in her mouth, because we can totally see her rubbing her tongue against it:). She also started making this "o" sound a lot (you can see her funny expression in some of the pictures), which also may be her feeling her tooth with her bottom lip. Her last swimming lesson was on Thursday and she passed - yay! Failing is impossible of course, but we can still call it an accomplishment. She is becoming more and more curious of other babies, and I'm starting to see the whole dynamic of them wanting the toy that the other one has. The good news is that Lynsey still doesn't cry when you take something away from her, so I'm hoping that means she's easy-going (fingers crossed!). She is finally sitting and playing sometimes, which is a nice relief for us. For the longest time, she refused to sit and always wanted to be led around. She still does a lot of the time, but with the right entertainment (ie. grass outside) she will sit and play for a while. The basement is slowly taking shape and we will be spending time down there very soon. It just seems like there is always more organizing to do before it can become functional. It's hard making our stuff fit into this new space, and I'm constantly forming new plans in my head about what goes where. How happy will I be when it's all done! Mary and Dave stopped in on Friday night on their way back to Stettler - Ezra is so much more relaxed than Lynsey! It will be a little while yet before they play together:).

Still no crawling!

Well, since my last post, Lynsey has not started crawling. She gets up on all fours on her own without a problem, but she doesn't know what to do when she's there - she either flops onto her tummy soon after, or she starts crying. I know I might regret saying this, but I want her to start crawling! Right now she needs to be constantly entertained! She wants to stand by everything, but she can't stand on her own. She wants to walk everywhere, but she can't walk on her own, either (obviously). I'm hoping that once she learns how to crawl, she will be able to get where she wants to go and while I will have to constantly supervise, at least she will have that little bit of independence. I'm just imagining my post after she does crawl and how I will probably eat my words haha!

In general, she is a good baby right now (as long as we are on top of entertaining her). Her sleeping has been better, but it's not too bad - she gets up on average once a night needing her soother and a flip back onto her back. Naps are not as long as they should be, but she just goes through phases where she does well, and then phases where she doesn't do as well. I stopped breastfeeding completely this week. On Monday morning I tried to feed her, but she just kept turning her head. I even went downstairs and tried to feed her on the couch, but still no go. So, I gave her a bottle and she drained it. I guess I know now how babies wean themselves. I`m glad it was gradual, because I`m not as sad this way. I`m ready for her to be weaned, although I will miss the convenience of the early morning breastfeeding (so lazy I am!). I`ve tried giving her some different textures of food in the last week, and she is getting used to them - at first, she hated the chunky texture but she is starting to chew and swallow so I guess it just takes time! Another fun thing is that she perfected her “dada”s just in time for Father’s Day:). She was saying it all weekend! The only time she says “mama” is when she`s crying - I think it might just be a coincidence . . .

She absolutely loves being outside so we are enjoying the warm weather right now. I put her in a baby swing for the first time this week and she loved it! Of course I didn`t have my camera with me, but I`ll get a picture soon. She is so cute swinging away:)!

Growing up so fast . . . 7 months already!

Well, in the last week and a half, Lynsey has changed quite a bit (I think). She's learning how to stand by the coffee table and other things we prop her up by, and she just started actually staying on all fours when we position her that way! She used to just stiffen her legs, but now she stays on all fours and even rocks back and forth a little:). She hasn't figured out that this is a step towards moving, because she doesn't really like it that much and prefers to plop back onto her tummy and spin in circles, but it's coming along. She has been pretty cranky the last few days, but still no teeth! I've thought she was close for months already - what do I know! Last weekend I decided to almost completely switch to formula. She was just not breastfeeding very long, so I experimented with formula after her breastfeedings and she drank so much that I decided I didn't have enough milk for her anymore. A little sad, but I'm ready and she really likes the bottle so it's okay. I'm still breastfeeding her in the mornings, so hopefully I can still do that for a while. It's definitely possible that the change over to formula has contributed to some crankiness in the form of some digestion issues, so hopefully that will pass quickly. On Tuesday, I drove to Edmonton alone with her to visit my sister Liz and brother George in the hospital (after a successful kidney transplant). Lynsey really didn't do that well Tuesday and Wednesday, which was unfortunate because Brian wasn't around and my family doesn't get to spend a lot of time with us so I wanted her to be happy! Oh, well - she's a baby and has her hard times. We hung out with my sister-in-law Angie and her kids on Wednesday. It was fun to watch Lynsey and Asher play together (more like grabbing each other at this point, but it'll come:)). The last two nights have been a bit rough, but she has been much happier today - more like herself - so I've had a good day. It's so nice to be able to set her down on the floor and know she's not going to randomly start crying!

This post has been a little scrambled I know, but I'm a bit tired from the last few nights being bad so that's my excuse. The finisher is going to be done in our basement today, so this weekend will consist of some painting and touch-ups and the basement will be done!!! Oh, except for the tiling of the shower. I don't count that. Anyway, it's very exciting for us:).

Happy Lynsey = Happy Parents!

Well, in the last ten days or so since my last post, Lynsey has been gradually getting better at sitting, as well as starting to move more when she's on her tummy. She also tried watermelon and really liked it - I wasn't sure how she would handle the texture but she was just chewing away and then opening her mouth for more! I also started feeding her a bottle of formula at night instead of a breast-feeding, and I think it's helping her sleep a bit longer at night. She has slept in until 8am three or four days in the last week which is great:). She likes the bottle and I really like giving it to her - I feel like we can bond just as much when I'm bottle-feeding her. I'm still breast-feeding her during the day for now, but I think I'm slowly going to be weaning her over the next month or so. She is naturally weaning, I think. Overall, she the most content that she's been since she was born so I am really enjoying her! We went to the mall on Saturday and she was so good - just sat in the stroller and hung out. So nice! She is pretty much on a schedule that sort of happened naturally as well - I never scheduled her when she was a newborn, but we've kind of fallen into a routine that really seems to be working for her. Still no teeth so we'll see what teething does to her schedule!

The carpet went in in the basement on Thursday and I was frantically cleaning the house on Friday to get ready for our guests this weekend! It is so nice to live in a clean house again - and to have that space in the basement is awesome. We still have a lot of organizing to do down there, but I'm sort of looking forward to that part. The finisher is coming this week to take a look and give us an estimate, and it sounded like he could come and do it next week maybe. We had 4 adults and one baby over for the weekend - they were down for the Calgary Hoop-it-up tournament. Unfortunately, the weather was really terrible so they only played on Sunday and it was still really rainy and cold. It was a fun weekend, though - Lynsey enjoyed checking out little Lucy:).

Not a lot to talk about this week

So there's not much new this week. Lynsey is becoming more and more curious all the time - reaching for things, grabbing things. It's like she's awakening to the big, colourful world around her. She also starting making the "B" sound last week - very cute:). She didn't really like swimming this week, but I think I've figured out why - she loved the hot tub so I think she must be cold in the pool! I'm going to buy her a swimming shirt to put over her swimsuit - hopefully that will help.

The basement is ALMOST done! The drywall has been mudded and sanded, ceiling has been textured, so now the ball is in our court. We are painting this week and carpet will be going in on Thursday. So close!

Finally a Mom on Mother's Day

I got my first Mother's Day present "from Lynsey" this morning - very cute:). Weird that I'm a mom now! This week has been a bit hectic - the push to get the basement done has been a bit of a drain, especially on Brian, who has been doing the majority of the work. We were both up until 3:30am on Tuesday night getting ready for drywall - didn't realize how long the "odds and ends" would take! We got it done and the drywallers were in on Wednesday - tapers in on Monday. It's so exciting to think that in just a few weeks we're going to have a finished basement!

New with Lynsey this week is that I took her swimming! She LOVED it! We went on Monday morning for the first time and it took her about 10 minutes to warm up to the idea (as it does in the bathtub sometimes) but once she did, her legs didn't stop for an hour. I've never seen her so excited! It was very cute. One day soon when Brian comes along we will get some pics and video and post them - she really is so cute in the water. We started swimming lessons on Thursday, too - she liked them at the start, but then the instructor helped her down the slide and then the fun was over:(. I think she's a bit of a scaredy-cat - have NO idea where she could have got that from! I'm going to take her a few times a week from now on because it's cheap on Mom and Tot days, and she wears herself out so much she sleeps great in the afternoon:). Oh and of course because she just loves it!