11 months

19 lbs

Walking like a pro 

This year is going by so quickly!

My cuties lounging together in the backyard.

Baby's first pony-tail

Happy Halloween!

...and a move across town rounds out the month.

10 months!

Standing, balancing, a step or two!

Happy, laughing, waving goodbye.

Squealing, growling, tongue hanging out.

She's growing, learning moving, CLIMBING!

And soon, very soon she will be walking.

Stats:

Doc says she's in the 60th percentile for both height and weight but I don't have exact numbers this month.

9 Months

Leah enjoying her very first cracker

This year is giong by SO quickly and my baby is getting SO BIG!

Leah has mastered crawling and speeds around the house.

 She likes to be near mommy so she often can be found following me around like a little chick. 

She's exploring, learning to open cupboards and empty their contents on the floor. 

She also delights in emptying baskets and drawers. 

She's even beginning to balance while standing on her own, if even just for a moment. Leah has 1 tooth and eats one solid meal a day. Since teething was followed by a really nasty cold, poor Leah (and mommy) haven't had a solid nights sleep in a couple months. But we hope fix that soon!

nom nom nom

Sadly, Camden is going through a phase where he is not being very nice to Leah. He might kick her when she's sitting on the floor so that she falls over or push her, pull her hair. He's not happy that she's getting into his toys at all either. Despite his he continues to be fiercely protective of her. 

Belen and Camden both will pick her up and carry her around or gently wrestle/hug her on the floor. Leah is quite tolerant of the attention she gets from her big sister and brother but has begun to pipe up when she doesn't want to be held.

I love our little bean so much and I love watching her grow and learn new things. I hope all 3 of my children will learn to love each other.

Stats:

Weight 18 lbs (25-50 percentile)
Length 26 3/4"(10-20 percentile)

Leah is 8 Months Old!

Leah has become a pro at maneuvering from her tummy and rolling around to an upright sitting position. She does a  great "plank" and has begun doing a lil'baby military crawl. She's still getting up on her hands and knees and rocking and has taken a tentative knee forward in an attempt to crawl. Then finally started crawling about 4 days before turning 8 months old!

Leah's plank.

Eating chilled carrots to help those teeth!

She's started trying to pull herself up but so far only gets to her knees then gets stuck. I think it's certainly time to lower the mattress in her crib!

Leah is cutting her first teeth on the bottom and 

has been waking 2-3 times a night the last 3 weeks.

Mamma is tired!

Leah has grown to really LOVE the water when we go swimming!

She likes to lunge forward on her tummy as mommy holds her and kick her little chubby legs like crazy. 

She will even dip her face down in the water. It's as though she totally knows what to do. 

I can't believe 8 months have passed. I've found the learning curve with caring for 3 children has been a steep one for me.

 But I'm also learning to be patient with myself and perhaps even learning, bit by bit, that perfection isn't required, nor is it even desireable, in this life. 

Something I've really struggled with. 

But, what better way to overcome personal weakness than in the care of a sweet baby.

8 month Stats:

Weight 17 lbs 9.6 oz. (25-50%)
Length 26 inches (10-25%)

Note: getting Leah's length has become quite difficult. She's pretty squirmy these days so I'm not sure how accurate the length measurement is. I noticed Leah's weight gain has really slowed. She is continuing to grow and develop normally, I attribute her slowed growth to a normal occurance for babies who are exclusively breastfed. But also noticed she has gained a full pound in the last month.

Seven Months Old

Leah is growing, learning and discovering. 

So very quickly.

Bouncing even as she eats.

Baby plank position.

On her tippy-toes.

Rolling, rolling, reaching, exploring.

Testing, tasting, patting, banging.

My infant scientist.

Rug burned knees

Practicing, over and over. 

Almost there, nearly crawling.

So patient as she's poked, prodded and loved on 

by the eager, clumsy hands of big brother and big sister. 

Love her, so very very much.

And the glimmer of serenity she brings to my very busy days.

Leah fell asleep while swimming

Stats:

Weight 16 lbs 9.6 oz (25-50%)

Length:

Six Months Old

Leah is now 6 months old! 

It's going by so quickly! She is really moving, rolling all around the house, exploring.

Camden and  Belen want to be more involved with her. They kind of treat her like a baby doll. Camden even "rescued" Leah from her crib while I was taking a shower the other day.i had him reinact it with his teddy bear so I could record a video. He assured me that she never cried and he was very careful.

Leah had her first rice cereal and enjoyed it very much.
She kept reaching out for more.
She has also had a bit of mashed banana and does really well with it.

She's talkative,
LOVES music,
giggly, happy girl.

She's such a sweet, fun girl.

Her hair seems to finally be growing in again.

She loves to play with her toys and her feet, she sticks her tongue out to the side when she smiles, she's practicing a lot of baby push-ups and "flying" to get strong enough for crawling which is probably just around the corner! She also loves to grab everything, including my nose when I'm feeding her and scratch different surfaces and textures. Right now she's exploring my wedding ring. 

Stats:

Weight 16 lbs 3 oz (25-50%)

Length 26 in (50%)

Leah is 5 months old!

I was thinking today how happy I am that Leah is still so small. Then I realized she is now 5 months old and time is going by way too quickly. She has mastered rolling over (without the help of one of her siblings). But, she often gets herself stuck on her belly or tangled up in a toy or even caught in the slats of her crib. Way too soon she will figure that one out also.

As hard as I find motherhood, I feel so very very blessed. Leah brings joy to my heart and peace. I wonder if she is lighthearted. Does she find joy and loveliness in everything? I wonder these things because if one of her siblings is having a tantrum and I happen to glance at Leah, she is smiling. If I'm having a stern-mommy-moment and happen to peak at Leah, she is smiling and may even giggle or laugh out loud and coo and babble. Instantly my heart is lifted, my frustration dissipates, if even for just a moment.

She awoke this evening as I was climbing into bed. Belen had been frightened and come in for a reassuring hug. Just as Leah was settling back to sleep (without a peep) I decided to nurse her hoping to avoid the 3 a.m. feeding she's been asking for all week. As she finished eating, she and I sitting in a rocking chair in a darkened bedroom illuminated only by a generic plug-in night light. I laid her sleeping body to my chest, her head on my shoulder, soft snores, her warm regular breath tickling my neck. Gently I stroked her small, delicate back and savored her squishy deliciousness. It is a moment I hope to remember forever. It is a moment of pure awe, pure joy. It was a moment that I felt I was doing exactly what I was meant to do. A quiet but tremendously gratifying moment.

I am trying to savor Leah's infancy. I missed Camden's because a severe case of post partum depression robbed me of the experience. I remember very little. Leah may be our last and I want to soak up all her loveliness. I want to watch her learn how to master the use of her body, discover her toes, and "play" with her siblings.

I love watching Camden who is fiercely protective and very proud of his baby sister talk and play with her.

Belen can make Leah laugh like no one else. Leah has also learned to imitate Belen and has begun saying "dah dah dah" Belen has also become interested in learning to take care of Leah, picking her up when she cries, changing diapers, etc. that will sure cone in handy!

Leah has learned to blow raspberries and when she's upset, Leah will babble fiercely. Almost like she's telling me off in babble. It's absolutely adorable.

It's hard to imagine that all too soon these three will find things to fight about. I hope, instead, they will find things they can learn from each other. They are so very different from one another. And I love them each so very very much.

Leah's 5 month Stats:
Weight 15 lbs 6 oz
Length 25 1/2 inches

Leah is 4 Months Old!

Leah is growing so fast and learning how to use her new body. She is also learning how to show us her personality with the skills she's acquiring.

Leah loves her older brother and sister very much. If they are around she would much rather be talking and smiling at them than eating.

She absolutely loves music and when sung to, will sing along with mommy at nap times and bedtime.

Leah often will sleep 12 hours at night for a couple weeks then wake up once a night for a week or so,

Leah has started putting everything she can get her hands on into her mouth. She's gained good head control, pushes off everything her feet touch and can get up on her elbows when on her tummy. She rolls almost completely over from her back to her tummy just has her one arm holding her up from accomplishing this new skill.

Leah continues to be an extremely happy, smily, easy-going baby. She's very ticklish and loves the feel of daddy's beard stubble on her hands but NOT her face.

Leah has beautiful light blue eyes and I can't help but hope they become like mommy's eyes!

Watching big brother's T-ball practice.

4 Month Stats:

Weight 14 lbs (50-75th percentile)

Length 25 1/4 inches (25-50th percentile)

2 Months!

Leah is now 2 months old! She is a very sweet girl and smiles and coos a lot. She adores her older brother and sister and they can even make her giggle! Daddy is silly enough to get her to giggle, too! Leah has started sleeping 11 hours at night! She is growing like crazy! Life with 3 kiddos is crazy but Leah makes it easy and we feel so blessed that she is here in our family!

Stats:
Weight 11 lbs 14 oz. (50th percentile)
Length 23 3/4 inches (75-90th percentile)
Head circumference 39 1/2 cm

One Month

Today Leah is one month old! She has been my healthiest baby. She didn't even become jaundiced like my other two little ones.

She surpassed her birthweight in only one week (7 lbs 2 oz at her one week well-baby appointment).

She maintains her body temperature so well I quickly learned that she didn't require all the layers of clothing and blankets I needed to keep my other babies warm.

Leah is still quite sleepy but is a very mellow baby. She enjoys bath time as long as she's fed and rested she will recline in the warm water happily.

We've figured out nursing after some minor difficulties and Leah is so efficient that she will often nurse only 7 minutes and be satisfied. She hates pacifiers but rarely needs to suck for comfort anyway so it hasn't been a big challenge.

Leah is not a demanding baby either. She loves being snuggled as she sleeps during the day and will often wake up and ask to be snuggled again if she's laid down. When she's hungry, she will grunt for quite some time before she begins to cry.

Leah handles the chaos created by her older brother and sister like a pro and easily ignores it.

Camden and Belen are both very proud to have a new baby sister and are constantly touching her or wanting to hold her. They also introduce Leah to e everyone!

When Leah was born I had thought her eyes were dark grey as her older sisters eyes were when she was born. But we've discovered that they are actually a dark blue color (Camden's eyes were almost black when he was born). We are looking forward to seeing what color they become.

We are so very happy to have our healthy, beautiful baby girl home with us!

Stats:
9 lbs. 8 oz.
21 inches long
Longest night time sleep: 4-5 hours.

Belen holding her baby sister.

Proud big brother, Camden.

Leah Ainsley is Here!

Born November 19th.

6:09 pm

6 pounds 14 ounces

19 inches long