Summer Flashback - State Fair

I was going through some pictures from this summer and thought I should post some!

This summer I was off on maternity leave when the Minnesota State Fair occurred.  It's a big deal in Minnesota and is only open for 10 days at the end of August leading up to Labor Day.  Craig likes to go right away because that is when all the 4-H animals are there and it is something he used to take part in while in high school. His cousin was there with her goat. Other than the animals there is all sorts of fried food and exhibits to look at.  Perhaps the most entertaining thing to do is people watching.  Anyway, this year Craig took a Friday off of work so we could go during the day.  One of my old Uroplasty co-workers lives near the fairgrounds (in St. Paul) so we were able to park at her house and walk in with the stroller.  I think we got there around 10:30 am.


Craig feeding Maggie while watching a 4-H animal judging:

A new fair food that surprisingly was not on a stick, fried apple pie:

Craig was nice enough to share his pie with Maggie:



Maggie and mama at the fair having some corn on the cob:

We walked around the fair all day long and stayed until about 7:30 when it started to get hard to walk around as people were arriving after work.

Craig's favorite tractors:

Mom, Dad, and Maggie pausing for a family picture:

6-month Check-up

This past Tuesday Maggie had her 6 month check-up! She is still growing fast with no signs of slowing down!

Maggie's 6 month stats:

• Height: 27 1/2 inches (upper 98%)
• Weight: 18 lbs 3 1/2 oz (75%-90%)
• Head: 90%

The doctor was impressed with her as usual and it was a pretty quick visit. 

Here are a few pictures from her visit:

Dr. Jiwa gave Maggie a toy:

Dad and Maggie waiting for the nurse to come in with shots:

Mags and Mama (I was really sick this day with the stomach flu so I look a little out of it):

Right after our pictures the nurse came in with three shots.  Maggie screamed when she got the shots but was fine almost immediately after I picked her up:

We go back at 9 months!

Avocados

Maggie started eating organic brown rice cereal (jealous?) at 4 months old.  Just when she accepted eating cereal we added avocados to the mix. We decided to introduce her to avocado as her first food because all the health benefits avocados offer, and because I figured she would love them since I ate them all the time when I was pregnant.   Here's a picture of her and some videos as well.  I had just mashed the avocados up and then mixed in a little milk. Since then, I have mixed in a little avocado with a lot of cereal and she accepts the mixture.

Sorry about the quality- it's a phone pic:

And some videos:

6 Months!

Maggie is 6 months old today!


Here's what the little sweetie is up to:
-She is at the end of the 3-6 month sizes, we are transitioning to the 6-9 month sizes based on brand (the brands that run small will fit, while others just hang on her).
-We finally had to cut her toenails for the first time!
-She still doesn't like to be on her tummy, but will tolerate it for longer periods of time (5 minutes max).
-She can pivot around, but doesn't crawl...she'll have to be on her tummy more to figure that out.

-She is getting even better at sitting up, and doesn't like to lay down to play as much...she wants to sit up and play.
-She is strong enough to sit-up from laying down in her car seat (when unbuckled) or while sitting in her bouncer.
-She loves her soothie pacifier still and if she sees it among toys, it will be the first thing she goes after.
-If she's happy we will take it out of her mouth and luckily she doesn't get upset.
-She is working on growing some hair .
-She still takes a bottle/nurses at 7am, 11am, 3pm and 6pm.
-She has cereal/baby food at 11am and 6pm.
-She has tried avocado and carrots.
-She has little patience if you get off schedule when it comes to eating.
-The girls at daycare adore her!
-She is a great night sleeper as usual...going to bed for the night anywhere between 6:30 and 7:30 and sleeping until 6:45am when I wake her during the week, or 8am on weekends.
-She is so observant - she has been since birth actually.
-Judy, her daycare lady, just loves her and says she has been her easiest baby yet, as long as she's fed on time.
-She likes to "feed" herself (she'll hold the bottle on her own, but has yet to figure out that she needs to do to tip it back).

-She is a lady who lunches- I had the week off of work after Christmas and we went to lunch together almost everyday to meet someone.  She was so well behaved and loved sitting on my lap watching everything around her.
-She discovered how to make that "razz" sound with her spit on Christmas- I've been trying to capture it on camera to no avail.
-Still no sign of teeth (she has been a drooler since 3 months).

-She will have her 6 month check-up on Tuesday, January 17th.

Just Hanging Out

Maggie enjoying some quiet time just sitting around....

Hair Watch 2012

Maggie has been lucky it hasn't been a cold winter because she hasn't been too fast at growing hair. We can actually see some hair now though so here is where we're at....

Yes Maggie, we're all suprised at your sudden hair growth.  Still no teeth though!

Big Brother Louie

Poor Louie hasn't had the easiest time adjusting to the new family member.  Overall he has been very good with Maggie.  He has started to act protective of her when new people come over, but he mostly just ignores her.  We have only had a few instances of him stepping on her, and her pinching him. 

January

Happy January! I can't believe the Holidays are over and it's back to work...

Happy New Year!

Maggie would like to say Happy New Year!  I had just finished taking her January picture so that's why the poster is behind her.

Underage Drinking

No wonder why Maggie slept so well on Christmas Eve...

Grandpa gave Maggie his beer! At least it's a good Minnesota beer.

Maggie's First Christmas

We had a great time celebrating Christmas this year with Maggie. The Christmas weekend was kicked off with the Newcomb family.  We headed over to Grandma and Grandpa Newcomb's house for some appetizers before church.  We went to 4:00pm mass which was packed as usual.  Maggie cried a little bit so I walked out with her for  about 10 minutes and she fell asleep and took a 30 minute cat-nap.  After church we went back to the Newcomb house and had our traditional standing rib roast.  It was delicious as usual and we are so glad we were able to have it on Christmas Eve instead of Christmas Day otherwise we would have missed it. 

Maggie opened up her presents before everyone else because of her early bedtime...

A picture of us after church before Maggie changed into pajamas...

Maggie in her Grandma's Stocking....

On Christmas morning we woke up and went back to the Newcomb house for eggs benedict!  After we were full, we jumped back in the truck and drove 2 hours northwest to the Cihlar farm.  We stayed overnight so Maggie got to "play" with her cousins.  We also got some exciting news that in July/August Maggie will get two more cousins! Craig's sisters are due within a few days of each other, so it will be a fun summer!  Here's a video of the Strunk cousins wrestling with Craig.