BLOGGER TEMPLATES AND TWITTER BACKGROUNDS

Wednesday, April 30, 2008

6 months - Lovely

Photobucket

These past 6 months have been the most wonderful, exciting, emotional, tiring, exhausting, life changing months in my life. I cannot imagine my life without my precious little girl. She is truly the light in my life. She makes me want to be a better person so that one day she will want to grow up to be like her mama!

Photobucket

I went through all of her pictures that we have taken in the past six months and I can’t believe how much she has changed. When it happens right in front of your eyes you miss some of the smaller details. I decided I would post a newborn pic of her and a recent pic to you all could see the comparison.
Photobucket

Photobucket


She is soooo beautiful!

This month has been a trying month for me emotionally. As Malaika grows and starts to discover this new world around her all she wants to do is touch it, grab it, and eat it! This poses a problem for a little one with very little coordination. She tries so hard to get to things she wants but she gets very frustrated in the process. This causes my little “Angel” to act like a two year old and throw herself backwards, pulling her arms in and screaming. Since she discovered her new voice and the reaction it has, she has made this a daily habit for anything she does not like. If I bring a bottle to her mouth and she wasn’t hungry…. THROW BACK AND SCREAM… If I have her sitting on the floor doing tummy time… SCREAM.. If I have her sitting in a position she doesn’t want to.. THROW BACK AND SCREAM… EEK! I am not sure how to handle a 5-6 month old throwing a tantrum. I tell her no. I let her cry it out every once in awhile. I try to find a new position that will make her happy. But by the end of the day I am one exhausted mama. Soooo.. if anyone has any advise I will gladly take it for the tantrum throwing baby.
I try not to get to frustrated though because I know she is just trying to get to a toy she wants or trying to tell me that she wants to do something else. I just never thought it would be this exhausting mentally and emotionally.
Photobucket
Photobucket

Now that I got that out of the way lets talk about some good things she is doing.
Photobucket


*Sitting on her own completely.. her wobbling is pretty much gone. She does have her moments though so I stay pretty close.


*She can stand on her own now for about a minute. Until she see’s something else and tries to reach for it. She can stand up on her own if she is holding onto something.


*When she is on the floor she will turn herself around so she is facing the opposite direction. She is also starting to roll more. If she is in a laying position she can sit up.


*She is not crawling yet but she is trying really hard. The poor thing gets so flustered.


*She turned to edwin last night and said “ dada” that was the first time she has said it! UGH! I wanted mama.. Oh well
Photobucket


*She can drink out of a cup. We have to be careful now when we are drinking. She is surprisingly strong and can pull the cup down.


*She likes House of Mouse. I let her watch it in the morning when I got to take a shower… it entertains her for 23 min.. hehe


*She likes to do what we call a “knee slapper” She takes her hand and hits her knee… pretty much this is an all day thing. I will have to video it so everyone can see.


*She discovered her lips and smacks them all the time.


*I am teaching her how to give hugs and kisses and she is learning. This morning I said, “Give me a kiss” and she leaned forward with her lips slightly puckered. I was sooo proud. (Believe me this is something we have been working on for WEEKS! )


*She is still not excited to go to other people. She will for a few minutes until she catches a glimpse of me. Then she reaches her hand out to me and starts crying.
Photobucket


*She is definatly reaching out when she wants to be picked up.


*We can no longer give her a bath in the baby bathtub… water gets EVERYWHERE!


*Her favorite song is Twinkle twinkle…This can distract her from anything. As soon as I start singing it she gets really excited and smiles really big. I even recorded myself singing so if we are in the car and she has a meltdown I can play it OVER and OVER and OVER. hehe


Photobucket

I guess that is enough for now.. it is amazing how much she has grown and I know I am forgetting a bunch of new things.


I thought I would also list the nicknames we have for her. Some have stuck and others have not.
For the most part we call her Lika (L-eye-kah)
Buga (Boo- gah)
Diva
Sis
Mal
Lovely
Gibi ( Ji-bi )
Photobucket

Edwin is the one who came up with Lika and he thinks he is pretty cool. LOL!
The house is almost done soo I will be posting some before and after pictures soon. Thank you to Solo, Susanna and Chris for helping us paint the whole place! Also I will have a biggest looser update soon… noone has won yet.. 20 pounds is hard to lose! But I will tell you I only have 5 more to go!!!

Monday, April 21, 2008

Wedding Vows

Photobucket

My Dad got married on Saturday. It was such a beautiful intimate ceremony and I was so blessed to be a part of it. I am so thankful that my dad has found someone that will make him happy. I love her and I love her family!
They got married on the Portland Spirit a 4 hour dinner cruise along the columbia.
Here are some pics of the family. It was soooo good to see my brother and his fiance and my great grandpa A.D. was there. (So it is Malaika's Great Great Grandpa)

Photobucket

Photobucket


Photobucket

Photobucket

Photobucket

Photobucket

Photobucket

Photobucket

Photobucket

Photobucket

5 Months- Miss Personality

That’s right… we the Mwango’s have created a beautiful, smart, amazing little monster. So much has happened this month, I hope I can remember it all. Also I might repeat things from last month but it is good to know she is still doing them.. right? LOL



* Her SMILE… it is always there, plastered on her face. I have found that we cannot go anywhere (and I mean ANYWHERE .. even in the women’s room) without someone saying how beautiful she is. Some days it is fun to take time out and admire my little angel with a total stranger and talk about how cute she is. Of course Malaika turns on the charm and flashes her dimples at the right moment (usually just as they are about to walk away )Then there is a whole new 10 minute conversation about who she gets those amazing dimples from. I proceed to smile and say “She gets them from her dad!” hehe
Photobucket

* She is so smart! She loves to drink from our cups. I have been giving her a little water in a cup and she grabs the cup and pulls it down to her mouth. She then tilts it so the water will come and then drinks the water! I am happy that she has caught on to this because I have heard it can be hard for babies to transition from bottle to cup.

* She can stand on her own for a few seconds without any help. I personally think she is going to walk instead of crawling. She doesn’t seem to show much interest in crawling when she is on her tummy. But if I stand her up she takes steps to get to things. She just needs to work on the whole balance issue. LOL
Photobucket

* She is sitting on her own, a little wobbly, but she gets so excited when she does it. She looks around to make sure you are looking at her and then flashes her huge smile.

* Holding her own bottles – THANK YOU LORD!!! I can now do the dishes while she eats in the afternoons! Hehe

* She can turn all the way around in her jumper and jumps in it now

* She is eating more solids- Green beans, sweet potatoes, bitter biscuits (for teething) and gerber toast. She is pretty interested in what we eat and is always trying to get it. She grabbed Edwins orange and shoved it in her mouth before we could catch her. She loved it and wanted more!
Photobucket

* She is still drinking 4 to 6 oz at a time.

* Sleeping schedule still varies. I think it is because she is teething. Her regular time to fall asleep is 9:00 pm and then she will wake up around 4:00 am to eat and then sleep until 9 or 10 in the morning.
Last week she was having a hard time at night and woke up almost every hour. She wouldn’t cry or anything by I could tell she was just uncomfortable.
Photobucket

*Drool MONSTER! I know there are some teeth just waiting to come out, but they have not made their Debut yet.

* She discovered her feet and loves to play with them. She likes to eat them!

* When she drinks her bottle she tugs on her hair. SOOO CUTE
Photobucket

*She rubs her eyes when she is tired. This is really interesting to me. There are so many things that just come natural to us. When she rubs her eyes I know she is getting sleepy.

* She is starting to mimic me. When I cough she coughs too. Then she looks at me and smiles. It cracks me up!

* She is wearing size 3 diapers and 3 to 12 month clothes now (depending on the brand) I even found a shirt the other day that is 3T and she is wearing it right now. I pretty much just buy what I think is cute and get a bigger size. She will eventually grow into it! The shirt she is wearing now is like a dress but it looks cute!

I love to watch her develop and change. It is so amazing how everyday they learn something new and they adapt. I am so in love with my little girl!!!!!
Photobucket

Monday, April 7, 2008

Laughing

Malaika