Happy Half Birthday, Lexi!!

It's been awhile since I updated and if I try to rehash all of Lexi's comings and goings from the last 2 months, I'll never get this post done! So here are all of Lexi's weekly pictures and a few holiday pictures.

First Thanksgiving

Watching football with Daddy and Milkos

Wearing her Thanksgiving dress from Mee-maw!

 

Helping Daddy clean out the office

 

4 months old!!

So I started this post over a month ago and never published it...so here are several weeks of Lexi rolled into one post. About 2 months ago we discovered that Lexi has a dairy allergy so I have been on a dairy free diet  ever since. Anyone who knows me, knows how horribly difficult that is for me! And it's not just avoiding dairy products like milk, cheese, yogurt and ice cream. I can't eat anything that has ANY milk (including butter) in it. Read the labels on the food you eat today and you will realize how difficult that is. Making it through Halloween without eating any Reese's Peanut Butter Pumpkin Eggs was absolute torture! And now with the holidays coming up, Ryan had to research Thanksgiving recipe alternatives that didn't use milk or butter. Good thing he was motivated to do that research, otherwise I would have just had whole grain pasta for my Turkey Day meal.

Lexi has her 4 month check up last week. She weighed in at 11 lbs 8 ozs and measured 24.5 inches. Tall and skinny still. She is sleeping really well still, going 9 hours at night between feedings with no problems. We'll start introducing solid foods in the next month or two!

9/5/12

9/12/12

9/19/12

9/26/12

10/3/12

10/10/12

Dress up time!

10/17/12

10/24/12

Posing with the pumpkin Grandma Kristensen grew for her!

Checking out her baby pumpkin

Lexi was a giraffe for Halloween, just like her best friend Girard the Giraffe! She wasn't a big fan of wearing that costume though.

10/31/12 on the Halloween quilt Mommy made for her!

Our scary pumpkin family

Daddy and Lexi on her 1st Halloween!

Lexi's first Halloween

11/7/12 hugging Milkos the cow

Enjoying Sunday football with Daddy and Milkos

Posing in her Christmas hat. A Christmas hat that will probably not fit by Christmas.

Yummy, plastic!

11/14/12

It's funny that just looking through these pictures you can see how much she has changed in just 2 months time! I can't believe how quickly she is growing!!

2 months old!!

Lexi turned 8 weeks old this week! Which unfortunately meant vaccination time for her. Yesterday she got 3 shots in the thighs and 1 oral vaccine. She howled pretty hard for about 30 seconds after the shots, whimpered for a few minutes, then fell sound asleep. I cried, it is so hard to watch someone hurt your little baby girl! She was a little grumpy the rest of the day, but is acting completely normal today. I bought some acetaminophen to have in case she developed a fever or was acting painful, but luckily we didn't have to give it.

At her appointment Lexi weighed 9 lbs 7 oz and measured 22 1/4 inches. While I am concerned she is not gaining enough weight, the pediatrician insists she is doing great. Her head circumference (15 inches) and height are in the 50th percentile and her weight is only in the 25th. The Dr declared her tall and skinny. Considering Ryan and I both had chicken related nicknames as infants (we were BOTH called Chicken Legs oddly enough. Ryan was also called Droopy Drawers) it doesn't surprise me that she is on the thin side.

She smiles all the time when looking at Mommy and Daddy. She is vocalizing quite a bit now and she really likes it when we talk back to her in her own language! She's got pretty good head control now. When she is being carried she prefers to be carried in a sitting position or over our shoulders so she can look out and see the world! She also really likes to stand up! (with a little assistance...) Her legs are getting pretty strong!

The Dr also said she is old enough to sleep 8 hours at night. Before her appointment we were up to 6 hours. So I decided to give it a shot last night. And sure enough, she slept soundly for 8 hours! She woke up after she heard Ryan and I getting up and she was all smiles! Now I just need to teach myself how to sleep through the night again...

Tummy time is serious business, Mommy! 7 weeks old - 8/29/12

Mommy can't resist the chance to go monochrome...

Nice and clean! She still loves bath time!

Chillin in her bouncer with her bunny buddy

Ryan leaves for a 10 day work trip this weekend. We are really going to miss him!!

6 Weeks of Lexi

Things are finally starting to settle down here at Chez Kristensen. Lexi is doing fantastic. At her first check up she weighed 6 lbs 15 oz. By her 2 week check up she weighed 7 lb 15 oz! At her last pediatrician appointment (she's got a heat rash) she weighed 8 lb 14 oz!

She spent most of her first couple of weeks sleeping. We had to wake her up to feed her.

We had quite a scare about 10 days after Lexi was born...late one night (just as it was time to feed Lexi of course) I started to bleed really, really badly. So we rushed to the ER and found out that I had a small piece of retained placenta. The ER doctor assured me that it would pass naturally, gave me some meds to stop the bleeding and told me to follow up with my OB on Monday. The OB told us if it did pass naturally it was likely I would hemorrhage. So I ended up having a D and C the following day. Everything has been hunky-dorey since then!

By 3 weeks Lexi was starting to spend more time awake and was quite alert! Her smiles at this point were still gas, I'm sure. But I loved seeing them regardless!

At first Lexi was not a fan of tummy time, but she is starting to hate it less. She seems to like it more when she does it on the boppy pillow instead of just on a blanket. It was during tummy time that she first discovered that her fist tastes rather yummy!

By 5 weeks old her smiles are for real!! It just melts my heart when she smiles back at me. She is starting to verbalize a little. Occasionally when she is playing in her gym she will let rip a little happy squeal of delight.

Finally to the present. Lexi turned 6 weeks old this week. She smiles regularly when she sees Mommy or Daddy. Her newest development is rolling over onto her side all by herself. She does it while she is stretching, so I don't think it's on purpose yet. But she is pretty pleased with herself when she does it! She is enjoying her playmats/gyms even more now. She can easily slip her arm in the fish hanging off the octopus on her Baby Einstein gym.

Here are some more pictures from Lexi's first 6 weeks -

Lexi napping in the hospital, just one day old!

Lexi and Daddy hanging out under the play gym.

Our first family portrait!

Baby faced Lexi

Big sister Buttercup, Daddy and Lexi hanging out

Lexi pondering the meaning of life, while getting her diap-diap changed. She's a very deep baby.

Lexi, super excited about her first modeling gig - the purple hippo hat was a present from our neighbors, the Zariktas.

Rocking out in her cupcake onesie. She looks good in black!

Mee-maw came out to visit for Lexi's 1 month birthday!!

Isn't she the most beautiful baby ever?????

Lexi has been sleeping pretty well at night. We are managing 4.5 - 5 hours between feedings at night. She naps well in the morning, but by afternoon she is only taking short cat naps, and then spends the evening fussing and lightly napping. But today she took her first full late afternoon nap in her crib. She slept almost 2 hours!! She loves bath time, yet hates having her face wiped off.