Leah Love

There hasn't been nearly enough Leah Love on this blog! And now that she's

6

I mean....7

wait....8

err....uh....9

 

umm, make that 10 months old(!), I think it's high time she gets some!

Some loveable things about this little lady of ours:

• Hair Love: I can't not start with this one since "Look at all that hair!" is usually the first thing anybody says when they see her. Really, there's just no denying this girl was blessed with a great head of hair.

The older girls begged me to put it in pigtails when she was about 4 months old. I obliged and we all laughed at how cute she looked.

She even had her first and second haircuts with Randi. (Randi has now moved. Boo-hoo!)

5 months/9 months

• Sibling Love:

They say a picture is worth a thousand words! But if you needed some actual ones, Tom says it pretty well...."Leah must be a special little spirit to have Everett for an older brother!" I was actually pleasantly surprised with how great he did for the first 8 months of her life. He adored his "Leah Cher-Lee-Lee" and was surprisingly gentle. She loved him right back and would often crawl over to him for entertainment and just giggle away. It wasn't until just recently that he discovered all the fun attention he can get from me by knocking her over or pinching her. Grrrrr!

Then there's Claire who full on thinks she's her mom. I have to get after her several times a day for carrying her around the house. Sometimes Leah tolerates it, but a lot of the time she screams.

I can't deny how great of helpers these big sisters are though. Leah certainly doesn't lack for any attention around these parts!

• Sleep Love:  I'd give her a B+/A- in the overall sleep department, but an A+ for adapting to her surroundings....

She lived in our bathroom for about 4 months then moved into a crib next to our bed. She'd always start out in her crib, but then kinda-sorta accidentally turned into a biiiit of a co-sleeper. It was mainly when we'd wake her up coming in at night and weren't up for letting her cry it out right next to us. Lying next to us in bed immediately calmed her down, and not-so secretly, I super liked cuddling with her!

Finally, after having several hang-ups with getting the loft turned into a bedroom, we booted Everett out of his room and in with the girls, and Leah took over his room. I was worried that that would be a nightmare, but the transition went quite well. At the same time, we stopped swaddling her and let her cry it out (probably 7 months?). She learned pretty quickly and sleeps consistently from 7 until about 6/6:30. Naps are decent when we're home, but the poor girl takes most of them on the go. :( 

• Baby Doll Love:

Tom teases me that I love having a little "baby doll" to dress up, and it is so absolutely true. Girls are fun! I can't help myself from buying things for her even though she really doesn't need much. Like she may accidentally have 7 bathing suits for the summer (I justified by getting most of them on clearance or at consignment shops)....

And she's such a little thing that people have often commented that they thought I was holding a doll when they were across the room. I wouldn't say she's super teeny, but definitely on the smaller end. I weighed her on our own scale the other day and she was about 16.5 lbs. Side note: She weighed about 13 lbs. when she was 6 months old which was exactly Reese at that age--which proves my point when I was pregnant with Leah and the doctors pushed my due date back a week. I was annoyed and knew that wasn't right because Reese always measured smaller when I was pregnant with her too. I knew baby Leah was going to be built similarly because of how sure I was on all my dates. I had no other supporters on this though...including my own husband!

Loved these darling little piggies just reaching the bottom.

• Demeanor Love:- "Because [she's] happy!" I couldn't help but want to sing that song to Leah when I first heard it. She definitely has her bad days and is beginning to show a bit of feistiness now, but she overall really is pretty sweet and happy. For sure my easiest baby. I'm sure a lot of it has to do with not stressing about everything so much, but I also think she is just very good natured. (She's sitting here laughing hysterically at Claire as I type.) She's social, smiles easily at others, and is only just now starting to show a slight bit of stranger anxiety.

That being said, here are the things that make her mad.

1. Everett,
2. getting in her carseat (she screams at us),
3. getting her bum changed,
4. and getting stuck while climbing. She's kind of outgrown this, but it lasted a solid month and really made me laugh. Sometimes, instead of helping her, I'd just take pictures.

• Milestone Love: I love that even by child #4, I'm still so excited for all these developments.

1) Crawling: She started army crawling at 6 1/2 months. She's starting to get up on her knees more and more, but when she really wants to cruise she'll army crawl away! (Totally reminds me of Reesey again.)

2) First word, "uh-oh". She used to say this constantly and would repeat it on demand then suddenly stopped. I was bound and determined to get it on video though and I finally did! Too bad I can't figure out how to upload it from my phone.
3) Food- We started feeding her rice cereal right at 6 months and she loved it. I never had a baby gulp it down so well. She seems to like most everything with bananas being her least favorite.

4) Waving- She just started doing a backwards wave and will do it to anyone who will look her way. That's next on my list of things to capture.
5) Teeth- 4 teeth all started coming in at once about a month ago. She got a bit fussier, but nothing too huge. I think another 2 are coming in close behind.

And finally...

• Nickname Love: We love nicknames for this girl even if they all practically sound the same. "Leah Beah", "Beah", "Beah Borkan", "Lee-lee", "Lee-Lee Buns", and "Leah Cher-lee-lee" (Everett's). To my surprise, "Lee-Lee" has actually been the one that's stuck the most.

So in case there is any confusion after this marathon post as to if this girl is loved at all, I will clear it up....WE LOVE LEAH! I truly have never enjoyed the baby stage this much. I keep saying that this is either a great one to end on or that Heavenly Father is trying to trick me into having another. Verdict's still out on that one.

Ta ta for now!