Sweet Baby Rae: Seven Months

This little sweet pea is learning so many new things and its so fun to see her grow and explore!

Rae loves eating all sorts of foods but her current favorites include sweet potatoes, squash and carrots. She's had peas, green beans, bananas and avocado. Unfortunately, she still thinks avocados aren't the greatest but one day she will know how amazing they are.

She has learned how to make a clicking noise with her tongue and loves doing that. She has also experienced the pool for the first time and we hope to go a lot more this summer before we leave for Japan. We've been working on teaching Rae "more" in sign language for at least a month and she did it herself at dinner over the weekend! We're still working on it, but she's done it a few times already. Rae finally has had a tooth break through on the bottom gum line so now I have to be more careful when I attempt to massage her gums to relieve teething pain (insert cringing emoji).

Rae loves: sitting up and looking around, pulling on mom's hair, squeaking, grabbing our faces, jumping in the door jumper, eating sweet potatoes and putting anything and everything in her mouth

Rae doesn't love: being alone, not being held (we're apparently in a "whine about everything" phase right now), not being fed fast enough

We're just starting up a two nap routine - down from three naps - and nursing 4 times a day. We started this yesterday but so far its been going well. Later this month we'll be having lots of visitors and we're looking forward to visits from Oma and Grandma + Grandpa Phillips!

Sweet Baby Rae: Six Months

Well, I honestly can't believe Raelyn is already half a year old! Where has the time gone? Everyone, and I mean literally everyone, tells you how fast the time passes when they are little but of course I didn't know exactly what they meant until I'm here, in the trenches of parenthood.

Rae wakes up extremely happy in the morning. I usually hear her squawking from her room just chatting with herself. Unfortunately, by the end of the day - like most babies - she's fussy and ready for a good nights sleep. Our lives changed forever on MARCH 3rd when Rae slept through the night completely from 7:30/7:45pm to 7am!!! Of course David was out of town so I was the only one who got to enjoy the first night of no wake-ups. Ever since that night, she has slept through until around 7am, usually is awake earlier but not crying.

She rolls over now, all of the time, even though she hates being on her tummy for the most part. She either complains for a while or flips right over to her back again. We're working on sitting up, but she still doesn't have the balance to sit up on her own just yet.

As for food, we've tried pureed avocado and peas. I think it took me a few tries to get the consistency right, so I believe the peas were the only thing that actually made it to her stomach. The avocado just ended up all over the bib and Rae's face.

Rae loves: squawking, squeaking, getting tickled, bouncing in the door jumper, being held, chewing on everything, grabbing our faces, trying peas, chewing and sucking on her sippy cup (she's been able to get water out a few times), nursing, riding in the ergo carrier

Rae doesn't love: feeling alone - I swear I can't even go the bathroom without her crying this week and I actually think teething is starting. False alarm last time. I'll probably be saying that next month too.

This little one has stolen our hearts completely.

Sweet Baby Rae: Five Months

Rae just celebrated her five month birthday! She's quite a character and tried to grab and eat the camera every single picture I took.

Five Month Weight: 16lbs

Rae loves: hanging out in her bouncy seat, putting anything and everything into her mouth including her toes, taking walks in the stroller (without the car seat attached!), being in the ergo carrier, playing with some teething toys, sucking her thumb and giggling for us

Rae doesn't love: teething (I think its starting because I literally have no other explanation for her grumpiness some days)

Raelyn is now wearing mostly 6 month clothes and a few 3 month and 3-6 months clothes. She's still in size 2 diapers but still manages to have blow outs in the middle of the night. Little rascal. She's still working on that peach fuzz hair and its slowly growing. We haven't started solid foods yet but plan on it once she's hit 6 months. I just pureed some peas the other day and froze them so they're ready to go when we decide to start solids. We've edited her schedule even more so that she goes to bed earlier and David and I can have some time together. Here's what it looks like:

Rae's Schedule:
7          wake, eat, play
8:30     nap
10:30   wake, eat, play
12        nap
2:00     wake, eat play
3:30     nap
5          wake, eat, play
7          bath time, final meal, bedtime


She wakes once in the middle of the night to eat still but that will soon be gone - hopefully once solids are introduced or maybe before. This is just a rough outline of a schedule and most of the time the first nap is the only one that actually lasts 2 hours. We still keep the meal times the same and have her play if she wakes up early from a nap. 

We can't wait to see all of the new things Rae will learn this next month!

Sweet Baby Rae: Four Months

I absolutely can't believe how much Rae has grown since she was born! She used to have little chicken legs and now she is getting some delicious leg rolls. Be still my heart.

Four Month Stats: 12lbs 15oz

Rae has discovered many new things over this past month including her voice and that she can shove her fist and pretty much anything else into her mouth - including burp cloths, my hair, and blankets. Rae is so close to rolling over from back to belly and is already a pro at rolling over from belly to back. She loves talking to herself, especially at night while falling asleep and right after eating. We just moved to size 2 diapers after the grossest of blow outs while nursing and Rae is still wearing size 3 month clothing but is slowing making her way to size 3-6 month clothing. Her blonde hair is more like peach fuzz except for a patch on the back of her head that's a bit longer. One day she won't be bald will have hair!

We had to take some photographs in this beautiful dress that Auntie Melanie bought Rae and since its a size 3 months, she won't be able to wear it when there is actual warm weather. The Dark girls have decided its a dress that will get passed around to all of our baby girls so we had to make sure we got a picture of Rae wearing it.

Rae Loves: talking to herself, chewing on anything she can pull to her mouth (including hands, burp cloths, her lovie and her teether toy), smiling and occasionally laughing, playing with the birds on her play mat, doing tummy time on the boppy, going on walks with Emmett

Rae doesn't Love: being tired or hungry (I'm right there with her though) - there's very little that Rae gets upset about; she is such a wonderful, happy baby.

We've been using the Babywise method for eating/wake/sleep time and just started implementing a schedule with Rae. It's taken us a little while to get started on a schedule just because I think I wasn't sure how to transition her from taking little cat naps in the Rock & Play to taking longer naps in her crib. She has slept in her crib at night since about 2 weeks old (yeah we kicked her out of our room quickly!) so we knew she could sleep in there just fine. Here's what her schedule is as of right now. I made it based on a few blogs as well as what her bed time has been. Eventually we will work our way down to a 7PM bed time/beginning of bedtime routine but we're working on getting her to sleep through the night first.

This schedule has been working for us. I know it's not for everyone but it works for now. We will be working on extending play time and dropping naps over time.

Rae's Schedule:
7          wake, eat, play
8:30     nap
10        wake, eat, play
11:30   nap
1          wake, eat play
2:30     nap
4          wake, eat, play
5:30     nap
7          wake, eat, play
9          final meal, bedtime

Rae usually wakes only once around 3-4AM to eat and then falls asleep until around 7. One night last week she slept until 6AM!!! We knew it was a once in a blue moon thing but we're slowly getting to sleeping through the night.

We can't wait to see all of the new things she will learn over the next month!

Sweet Baby Rae: Three Months & Christmastime

For Raelyn's three month birthday we were home in Maryland celebrating Christmas with family! She did fantastic on the plane rides from Yuma to Baltimore and it definitely helped that we were on a half empty flight! We took over an entire row so Rae was able to play on the middle seat between sleeping and eating.

It's always hard spending enough time with each side of the family since both of our parents live in Maryland but I think we did a pretty good job of splitting it as best we could. We spent Christmas Eve with my parents at our church service and opened gifts with them that night. In the morning we enjoyed time with David's parents and in the evening my family came over the Phillips' house for Christmas dinner.

Three Month Stats: 11.2lbs (I held her & stood on a scale to get an approximate weight since there is not a 3 month check-up.)

Raelyn is getting much better at tummy time and holds her head up for quite some time. When we hold her she always wants to be held upright so she can look around. Her neck is pretty strong even though she is still a bobblehead most of the time. She will be able to hold up her head without bobbling before we know it! She also rolls over from belly to back sometimes and is so close to rolling over from back to belly. That dang arm just needs to get out of the way.

Rae Loves: being held upright so she can look around at everything, playing with the rattle birds on her play mat, getting kisses from Mommy & Daddy, chewing on blankets and her hands, talking to Daddy, stretching her body after meals, sticking her tongue out - she just discovered her tongue not too long ago.

Rae doesn't Love: taking naps (we're working on getting her to nap longer than 30 minutes at a time as I type this), loud coughs & people who blow there nose - she gets startled EVERY time.

During our visit home Raelyn met one of her Great Grandmothers! Grandma Ruthie now has 8 great grandchildren and loves to tell everyone. She's so cute about it. Hopefully Rae will be able to meet Great Grandpa & Grandma Norris this summer at the Lake Cabin in Minnesota.

Four generations of Phillips & the Phillips Family

Here are some pictures from a successful tummy time (of course I had to photograph it) and then some three month pictures in her onesie.

I think this next  picture will have to be shown at Raelyn's wedding one day. I mean, those chin rolls are so amazing.

Creating Art for Art's Sake

Over the past few months I have been painting daily on a journey to rediscover my aesthetic. (Obviously this has changed slightly now that little miss Rae is around.) I’ve come to find that creating for you is more important than creating for the potential client. I found that in creating everyday, just to create, my heart was more invested and in turn the artwork more inspired. I started a journey of creating consistently for one hundred days. The purpose was to get myself into a rhythm of creating again; to find inspiration and find the style of my artwork. It had been years since I had consistently created artwork for myself and I felt like part of me was missing when I wasn’t painting.

After day one of painting, I looked forward to my daily painting time. Sometimes I had to push myself into it, but I knew once I got into it I would be elated in my painting world. It was a chance for me to escape reality and create for myself. I focused on creating things that I was happy with instead of worrying about how people would react to it on social media. I know many times we get lost in the world of social media. We look at numbers of followers and numbers of likes, but in reality that robs you of your creativity because you focus on others' opinions instead of creating what your heart desires. Don’t let others' opinions stop your creative methods. Keep creating what you love.

Right now I’m half way through my one hundred days of painting and I actually haven’t painted in a few weeks. My husband and I welcomed our first little one into the world at the end of September and I don’t even have enough time to sleep – let alone paint. The thing is that I’m not going to push myself further than I can take just to get back in the painting studio. There are different stages of life and with this new little one I know that my painting has to take a back seat. Not to say that I won’t get back to painting, but that it isn’t my main priority.

When you have a big life change, be okay with those things taking priority. I am looking forward to getting back to painting, but I know that there are other things that must come first right now. Again, don’t let others' opinions change what you know is best. Don’t let the obstacle of others' thoughts change what you are doing. The fear of others’ expectations should not be the reason you push yourself back into creating.

Once I get back into painting I still want to make sure that I’m creating work that I'm passionate about. Eventually I’d love to get artwork in people’s homes, but for now I’ll stick to creating for myself; for the process of it all.

At the beginning of my one hundred days of creating I wasn’t sure how to start. You may be in that same place; unsure of where to begin. I want to encourage you to simply jump right in. When you create for yourself it truly doesn’t matter how successful those first pieces are. Get those ideas out into the world and see what follows them. Your art will change and you will gradually see pieces that you are excited to share. Don’t be afraid to share your process either. It’s encouraging to see the entire journey instead of only the end product. Encourage others by sharing your journey of creating for you. I would love to see your process and how you’ve come to find your creative aesthetic. You can see my one hundred days of painting on Instagram [tulipslacestudio] or feel free to contact me via email at tulipsandlace.studio@gmail.com. Continue to make pieces for yourself and you will be more invested and inspired to create!

Come check out my work so far on Instagram!

https://instagram.com/tulipslacestudio/

Sweet Baby Rae: Two Months

We just celebrated Thanksgiving with David's parents and now we're celebrating Raelyn's two month birthday! We have so much to be thankful for!

Two months stats: 9lbs 1oz, 22.5in long

Rae loves: kicking her little legs and moving her arms, having more awake time, being held up right so she can wiggle her head back and forth, stretching her little body, when we make this weird "pssssss" sound (it usually makes her smile), being held

Rae doesn't love: diaper changes, being hungry

Raelyn is getting more active each day and we love seeing her little personality shine through! She's actually liking the mamaroo now and also loves just sitting on the ground wiggling around. Rae is working on her head/neck control and is great with following objects and people with her eyes. She squeezes mom's fingers as well. She's already been to her first wedding and taken her first airplane trip!

Little Raelyn is still in newborn clothes and newborn diapers. We're slowly working our way into 0-3 month clothing and I'm hoping her Christmas Eve dress will fit!

look at those blues!

captured this one mid-sneeze

celebrating her first thanksgiving

Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving!