Tessa - 6 Months

I hope you all have had a wonderful holiday.
Can you believe that this year is almost over?!
Micah, Tessa, and I are still vacationing with family in Washington
(hence the reason why this post is a bit overdue).
Nevertheless, here is our little Tessa's 6 month update...
can you believe that she is already 6 months!
She needs to stop growing up right now!

Weight:

14.6 lbs

Clothing Size:

Were Still in size 3-6 month...

but quickly outgrowing some of them.

Eye Color:

Blue

Hair:

Auburn/Bond/Red
(it really depends on the light)

Teeth:
I've added a new section this month because...
Tessa got her first tooth!!!
(bottom, left, front tooth)
She was such a champ too.
She never really ran a fever and there was only a handful of times
where she was fussy from the pain.
I like to think it was due to the Baltic Amber Teething Necklace.

Movement:

Were a sitting baby now!!!

And still squirmy as ever...

Talking:

Tessa can definitely be a chatty one at times.

She's really into her "dadadadada" and "mamamamama" repetitions,

and she has a great time making razzing and growling noises

accompanied by TONS of spit that she loves to blow out of her mouth.

Playtime:

I feel like since she hit 6 months she has found a whole new love for all of her toys.

She interacts with them so intently

and sometimes she wants 2 or 3 toys to play with at the same time.

And if you cut playtime off to quickly, she lets you know it by her protests.

Some of her favorites are still her Sofie the Giraffe , her activity gym, and her jumperoo,

but we also bought this musical toy for her stocking at Christmas and she seems fascinated by it.

Sleeptime:

Well, we had a few good nights in a row where we were getting 5 hour stretches.

But then a growth spurt hit sometime around Christmas and that all went to pot.

Now she is still waking up about every 3 hours (or less) to nurse.

Surprisingly though, I'm not too worried about it.

I keep reminding myself that she's getting as much breastmilk that she can get

and, in my opinion, that's never a bad thing.

Tessa's Favorites:

People!

Tessa is at that magical age where, if you smile at her,

she will give you the biggest smile you have ever seen back. 

Mommy's favorites:

There are times, early in the morning, when I will bring Tessa into bed with me

so we can enjoy some mommy-daughter snuggle-time.

I'll nurse her, then we both will fall back to sleep for another hour or two.

My favorite part is when Tessa will wake me up after a few hours of sleeping...

I'll open my eyes to find her staring at me,

talking in her cute baby babble, and stretching out to play with my face.

I just melt every time.

Tis the Season for a Christmas Party.

I find it slightly humorous that I'm blogging about an event I had the privilege to decorate for

 right after I blogged about the "Normal Days" of a mom's life. 

Slightly ironic, after talking about the everyday routine that me and Tessa have.

But this past Sunday I was able to put my creative hat on

and transform a local Camp Lodge into an atmosphere suitable for a formal sit down dinner.

The night was filled with music from a grand piano

and beautiful rustic Christmas decorations

(aka pine branches, logs wrapped in flowers, Christmas sheet music table runners)...

 

It wouldn't be a Christmas Party without Christmas Karaoke... right?!

Micah even joined in on the Karaoke fun.

And, of course, my beautiful Tessa put on her Christmas Dress and joined us for the evening.

I don't even know what's going on in the picture above.

The things that happens when Daddy has the baby right? :/

Thank you YWAM Montana Creative Media Department for the gorgeous pictures.

The Normal Days

Micah asked me the other day
if I get tired of my same old daily routine.
You know, the mom routine...
Wake up when Tessa wakes up, nurse, breakfast, play, nurse, nap,
me-time (aka get stuff done around the house or anything else that is pressing),
Tessa wakes up, play, lunch, nurse, nap... you get the point.
Some days we get "crazy" and go to Target,
but for most of the week our days look pretty routine.
So when Micah asked me if I ever got tired of this daily routine
I had to stop and think about it for a second.
I never realized how my "normal days" looked very much alike.
In my "normal days" I don't really get much done.
My normal days are not like they use to be, filled with an immaculate clean house,
sweet treats baking in the oven, or time spent on some crafty project.
Those are the "crazy days" when I get to do something a little extra.
My "normal days" are filled with diaper changes,
10 minutes of "peek-a-boo", rocking my little one to sleep,
and kissing her as much as I can.
And you know what, I can honestly say
that I would not change those days for the world.
I would not trade one of those normal days for a day spent "getting things done".
That's why I love this poem by Mary Jean Irion so much.
It reminds me that these days will not last forever.
And one day, when Tessa is grown, I'll wish that she were little just once more,
so we can have a "normal day" again.

(I really need to find someone who can make a print of this poem to hang on my wall!)



 

Christmas Gifts

Happy December 1st!
Have you started thinking about Christmas gifts for your loved ones yet?

After reminding myself in my previous blog post
not to go too overboard with the Christmas gifts for Tessa,
I feel like Micah and I did a pretty good job
at keeping the gift level perfect and not too extravagant.
With that said, I still wanted to make sure
we bought good quality toys for her that would last for years.
For that we turned to one of my all time favorite stores... 

The Land of Nod

I love the feel, look, and quality of good old fashioned wooden toys.
There is just something about knowing that these toys will stand the test of time (hopefully)
and that I'll be able to pull them out for my grandchildren to play with one day.

So this year we got Tessa a few different items ...

1. Can't Spell ABC Abacus
2. Baby First Christmas Ornament
3. Classic Baby Beads
4. Nesting Xylophone

 I know the Xylophone is a bit too "old" for Tessa
(she will only be 6 months a Christmas)
but I figured I would start racking up the toys for the next few years now,
while she does not know what Christmas is.