Happy New Year!!

Happy New Year everyone!! Well Jazlyn's New Year's didn't start off so great. She woke up New Year's Eve rather sick. She has a serious cold...snotty nose. She was running a fever on New Year's Eve, but that is gone. She just has all of the drainage going on now. Poor thing is miserable while trying to drink a bottle and sleeping. She can't breathe. Needless to say the last several nights have been very late nights for us. I hope she gets to feeling better and back on the correct sleeping schedule by the time we go back to work on Monday.

She did wake up New Year's Eve saying a new thing...her first word of 'dada'. It took me a little while to figure out if that is what she was truly saying. After saying it over and over all day long I was finally convinced that her first word was not 'mama'. Alex got a big smile on his face when he first heard her say it. Thanks to Mamaw Zehr for practicing 'dada' with her everyday. :( She says it pretty consistently now. Now we have to start practicing 'mama'.

Jazlyn's first Christmas was a success. She got to meet Santa at my work's Christmas party. That went over better than I thought it would. Alex put her on his lap with her back facing him so she wouldn't see his face and freak out. Once she realized that mommy and daddy were standing in front of her, she was curious who was holding her. She turned her head to find Santa. She didn't get scared at all. She just started grabbing his beard. It was cute. Her first present she opened she actually started tearing the paper and then once she had enough torn off it went straight to her mouth. Forget the present. Once we took the paper away she did enjoy playing with her new toy. She got to see lots of family over the course of the last 2 weeks. She's spoiled rotten. Thanks to everyone for all of the great gifts for her. She is enjoying all of her wonderful toys and will look great in her new outfits.

Some other updates...Jazlyn is rolling around like crazy. She has not begun to crawl yet, but scoots around. She has sat up on her own on a few occasions. Her balance is getting better. I would say it won't be long. We think she is definitely starting her teething phase. We are unable to feel anything poking through, but she is drooling like crazy and gnawing on everything she can get her hands on. She loves the cold teething rings that St. Nick brought her.

After 7 months of sleeping in the pack-n-play bassinet in our bedroom, we have finally moved her to the crib in her nursery. The first night was good for Jazlyn, but not so good for mom. She slept through the night, but mommy laid awake all night listening for every little sound on the monitor hoping she was okay. The second night she went to bed okay but then woke up about 12:30 screaming. We discovered she doesn't like the mobile that we had over her crib. Once we took that down she seemed to be okay. This holiday break has really messed up her sleeping schedule. The other night we could not get her to go to bed for anything. We had to do the whole let her cry herself to sleep scenario. That was extremely difficult for the parents. She cried for a half an hour and finally went to sleep. We might have to do it a few more times yet until she gets used to it but not until she feels better. It's been some pretty late nights over the past week.

Well after 7 1/2 months of nursing, I have called it quits. It was bittersweet, but yet I needed to stop as I just wasn't producing much anymore. I am just very pleased that I was able to make it as long as I did. My how fast we go through formula now. Jazlyn has also been eating some cereal, but we just recently started her on baby food. The first night we tried carrots, but she did not like that at all. The next night we tried squash and it didn't go as well either until we mixed it with rice cereal. It's amazing how that makes a difference. We went 4 nights of squash and now we are on green beans...still mixing with cereal. Hopefully when we go back to carrots she will like them if they are mixed with cereal. We will get through the vegetables and then we will go to the fruits.

One last thing...at Jazlyn's 6 month checkup, she weighed 11 lbs 12 oz and measured at 24 3/4 inches long. She is definitely putting some weight on with the cereal and baby food. She's got the chipmunk cheeks going on. But she's still so cute.