Knit Ruffle Capris

A week ago today I finished knitting a pair of capris for Imogen. I even added ruffles at the bottom cuffs, which is much harder and more tedious than it looks. I bought this yarn awhile ago after pondering over it for at least a week--I absolutely loved the colors in the pictures and the yarn did not disappoint in real life! It is also so unbelieveably soft! I have never knit with this type of yarn before, so it was fun :-)

Capri Specs

Yarn Dyed By: Southwest Spectrum

Yarn Type: Gaia Organic Merino

Colorway: Dawn's Early Light

Imogen likes them too, but she hasn't worn them yet except in these action shots:

Onto the next project...

9 Months Old

Today Imogen is 9 months old -- and this past 9 months has gone by in the blink of an eye! Watch the short video to see Imogen crawling on her hands and knees. She's been doing this now for about 2 weeks. Also, in the past week, she's started to clap and wave! Some things we've been trying to teach her are all coming out at once. She is a pro at pulling up on anything and everything too, so we've had to watch her a lot more than we are used to. She also has conversations with herself in her own language and Chris and I get tons of laughs from this!

Food continues to be a chore though. The lady will not open her mouth to save her life! It's actually kind of funny to sit there and watch her purse her lips and shake her head as if to say, "get that crap out of my face!" HA I made her some applesauce tonight and after she gagged when I tricked a spoonful into her mouth, I decided to move to some bananas, which she normally likes, but tonight was a no-go. She mashed it between her fingers and played with it for awhile, but never once put her hand to her mouth for a taste. Oh well, when she is ready to eat, she will! Clearly she is not starving, so right now we're going to take food slow :-) She's got her whole life to enjoy it!

9 Month Doc Visit

Imogen went to her 9-month doctor visit today. She will be 9 months old tomorrow -- I cannot believe it! Above is a picture of her and Dr. Lincoln from this morning. We really love him! He is a great family practice physician who has embraced the things we wanted to do with Imogen with no questions asked, such as extended breastfeeding, cloth diapering and delayed vaccinating. He has really taken time to explain things to us, much more than we ever expected with a doctor. He said Imogen is growing wonderfully and is a good natured little baby, which we know she is. She got two shots and did the best so far with them--only cried when the needles went into her legs...but who wouldn't? Here are her current stats:

Weight: 19 pounds 3 ounces
Height: 27 inches

The above two measurements and her head circumference are all in the 50th percentile -- right on track :-)

Below are some pictures from the weekend:

Imogen playing her Aunt Lisa's piano. She loved banging on the keys and swinging her legs!

A great Mommy & Me photo

Reaching up for her Nunny. She is such a happy little girl! More details about her being 9 months old coming tomorrow...

Valentine's Weekend

The weekend started on Friday after work when Chris gave both me and Imogen roses. Here he is handing a single red rose to Imogen for her first Valentine's Day. We held it up to her nose to sniff and she actually looked like she was doing so!
Saturday, very early in the morning, Imogen and I headed down to Kentucky with my mom and Nana to visit family. Our cousins' baby, Luke, turns one on February 18th and we celebrated his birthday this weekend. Here is our little sweet pea in the car. It was her first time in Nunny and Poppa's carseat! She slept most of the way.
Here is Luke at his party enjoying his first sugar! Some homemade cupcakes made by his mommy.
Some outtakes of Imogen on Saturday evening at my Aunt Cathy and Uncle Sam's house. We just relaxed and hung out together chatting the night away...while watching Imogen do her gymnastics all around the family room.
On Sunday, Imogen and Luke got to play together a lot more. Imogen loved exploring all of his toys! He has so many that she had never seen before and was captivated the entire time.

We returned home this morning and were very thankful that Imogen was wonderful in the car both to and fro. A friend popped over with her baby girl, Samantha, this evening for a short playdate. Samantha is about 3 months younger than Imogen.

Then Imogen enjoyed playing a bit more before bedtime.
Hope you all had a wonderful weekend too!

Crawling?

So, yesterday was the first day that we could actually see Imogen getting from Point A to Point B without laying down on her belly. Her favorite mode of long range transportation while she's trying to catch the cats continues to be the army crawl, but, at one point, she went from me on the floor to Chris on the chair completely on her hands and knees! It's been a little harder for her to get her grip on the floor for crawling, I think, because all of our floors are tile and hardwood, so sliding around is just easier. But, I don't think it will be long before army crawling is a distant past and hands and knees are here at last!

Of course, a totally mobile baby presents an entire new set of challenges. Here's to hoping we're ready for them!

Crafts

We received an awesome gift this weekend from my Aunt Carolyn, who is definitely one of the craftiest people I know. It's a beautiful handmade and smocked romper for Imogen :-) And it's smocked with none other than ice-cream cones! Perfect for her!! It is just a tad big, but will fit her perfectly this summer -- but I wanted to try it on her now anyway! It's getting increasingly harder to take a good picture of an active baby girl!
I also got a great picture of her in the downward-dog position!

I finished my latest knitting project for Imogen this weekend, a Hudson Hat! It's my third and final hat of the winter for her (haha!). It's called a 'scrappy' hat because I've used lots of scraps and loose ends of yarn to knit it. The hat came out better than I expected it to, complete with earflaps and tassels -- and I really love it! It does fit her, but is equally big enough for her to be able to wear it next winter too.

What am I working on next? You'll have to stay tuned to find out!

First Teeth

Chris and I have had quite a few sleep deprived nights lately, but finally have something to show for it. Imogen's first teeth made their debut on January 29th. I thought it was just one tooth, but upon further inspection, both of her bottom front teeth are on their way up. I actually attempted to get a picture, but was unsuccessful...as soon as I get one, I'll post it! Yay for Imogen!!!

More Happenings

We start out last Sunday at the celebration of my dad's and my brother's birthday. We had dinner at my parents house and hung out with them all day. It was nice to have everyone together and, of course, everyone loved playing with Imogen.

This is a picture I took that I love!

Imogen loved helping my dad open his gifts. Although she really just enjoyed flailing the paper around.

Here is a picture of Imogen and my mom before we left. I just love the expression on Imogen's face! Normally she hates to be all bundled up in her winter gear.

Longies Specs
Yarn Dyed By: Candypants Yarn
Yarn Type: Corridale Worsted
Colorway: Kandygirl

Next, I want to share the most recent pair of knitted longies I finished for Imogen. These ones actually fit her too! They are her Valentine's Day pants and she'll be sporting them most of the time this month. Here are a couple action shots:

Had to distract her somehow! Haha!!

A first for Imogen recently was her first ponytail!! Her bangs have grown long enough to hang in front of her eyes and it's been hard keeping a barrette in her hair, so I got some very small hairties and put one in. She looked sooooo cute!

Apparently she didn't like her outfit though because she took her sock off and pulled her arm out of her sleeve all by herself! It was so funny to watch :-)

And in more 'big girl' news, we finally lowered her crib mattress. Since she can pull herself up to standing now, we had to make sure she wouldn't topple over the edge. She loves it! (as you can see in the picture below)

Hope everyone had a great start to the New Year and here's to a happy and healthy February!

8 Months Old & First Food

Today Imogen is 8 months old and we thought we'd celebrate by giving her her first food! I know some people think it is crazy that a baby can last 'so long' on just breastmilk alone, but really, before 1 year of age, any food at all is just for taste and carries no nutritional value. Our doctor said we could start feeding her babyfood when both we and her were 'ready'...and although I can say that we weren't necessarily ready, Imogen was giving us all the signs that she was. We started her out with some tasty bananas! My guess is that maybe she actually ingested a teaspoon worth? A picture tells a thousand words below:

I tried giving her some so innocently at first. She didn't open her mouth, but rather sat there staring at me as if to say, "what am I supposed to do?!?!"
I dabbed a little under her upper lip and tongue. You can see how much she liked it above. Her faces were priceless!
Chris decided to give it a try next, and got just about as far as I did.

So, we let Imogen explore on her own. She played in it and was happy!

Although she didn't put her fingers in her mouth at all, she did lift the jar and put it in her mouth one time and looked shocked to find a new taste! It was quite the event -- which was succeeded by a bath, of course.

Other fun things about Imogen at 8 months old:

* She weighs right over 18 pounds
* She is wearing 9-12 month clothing
* She goes from sitting to the crawling position and back (but no crawling yet)
* She gets around inch-worm-style. She can go anywhere this way!
* Her pincher grasp is in full force. She is able to focus on something very tiny and grab it!
* She tries to pull up on anything and everything
* She calls me "na na" and Chris "da da"
* She loves to give hugs to people she knows and recognizes
* She continues to love the bathtub and doesn't cry when water goes in her face

Imogen is generally a happy little girl and we have been very blessed to have her with us. She makes us smile when we're sad or upset or angry, and she adds to our joy at all the happy times. We cannot imagine our lives without her!

Lots o' Pictures

Back in November, we had Imogen's 6-month and Christmas photos taken. Sandy, from Red Lotus Photography, has decidedly become our family's 'family photographer' and she was back again. Here are a few photos from the session that I loved that you probably haven't seen before:

Here are a couple from early January taken by us around the house:

Enjoying a good play on the floor!

Flipping through a magazine to pass the time while Daddy finishes up his homework.

Also, want to send out Happy Birthday Wishes to my brother, Anthony!! Happy 24th Birthday!!! And also, a big Happy Birthday to my friend, Esra!!! :-)

Pulling Up

On Thursday this week, I was in Imogen's bedroom putting her clean clothes away and she was playing on the floor. She likes to scoot herself over to her dresser drawers and pull them open. Well, one of the times when she pulled a drawer open, she grabbed the top of it (from a sitting position) and pulled herself into a squat. Then pushed up! I couldn't believe it -- right in front of my eyes! She's been trying to pull herself up on things for awhile now, but that was the first that either of us saw. What a big girl she is! Here is a picture of her standing after pulling herself up on the couch in our living room. I always keep a hand on her because she doesn't have full balance yet, but our little lady is getting so big so fast!

Under the Weather & Longies

Thursday marked the first day that I noticed Imogen getting a little under the weather. Thursday night was especially fun -- definitely our roughest night since the day we brought her home! We only got 2 hours of sleep. So, we decided to take her to the doctor on Friday to make sure she was A-okay. The doc checked her out and said, "no fever, no strep throat, no ear infection, no flu." It is just a little URI. She said to continue flushing her nose with saline and using the bulb syringe to keep it clear. Today she is feeling better (I think) -- her nose seems a little less stuffy and she slept well last night. We kept a low profile this weekend to reduce her being outside in the cold and exposed to germs. It was very nice to relax at home and give her some extra TLC.

All the time at home gave me more time to knit. I finished my first pair of 'longies' !! I am so happy with them. Longies are knitted pants that are made with wool yarn, which is a natural diaper cover over cloth diapers. They can be quite expensive if you buy them knitted up from someone else, which is one of the reasons I wanted to learn how to knit them myself. As you read before, my older sister, Lisa, taught me how to knit over Thanksgiving. Since then, I've knit Imogen two hats and then these pants! I just decided to dive into a pattern and figure it out as I went along -- and I think that was the best way for me :-) Here they are:

Longies Specs
Yarn Dyed By: Three Irish Girls
Yarn Type: Carys BFL
Colorway: Gwendolyn

Front:

Back:
My favorite way to look at them in pictures:

The only bad thing about them is that they are too small for Imogen. I followed the pattern for a medium size and later learned that the pattern runs small :( But that's okay! This was my tester pair anyways -- and we'll just save them for the next little Boyle! I have some pretty Valentine's Day yarn, so I'll be sure to post pictures of those pants when I'm completed.

Hope everyone had a safe and happy weekend!! Go Steelers!! Heading to the AFC Championship game...woot!!!!!!!!!

Milkshare

Since I went back to work when Imogen was 3 months old, I have continued to breastfeed, so every day at work I have to pump. I've been storing the milk for Imogen to eat while I'm at work, but have been fortunate enough to pump more milk every day than she eats. Slowly over the past 5 1/2 months, I've been filling our freezer to the point of max capacity. It got to where we couldn't even store much food in it! So, I decided to do something. I searched online and found a community called "Milkshare" where people go who want to donate breastmilk or receive breastmilk for their babies. I found 2 very lovely families and this past Friday, donated 200 ounces of my breastmilk to each of them. It's something that was very hard to do, but I know that other babies can benefit from it just as Imogen has.

One family was local here in Pittsburgh and their baby girl was a micro-preemie born at 24 weeks 1 day. She was only 1 pound 2 ounces at birth and survived! She was born at the same hospital as Imogen. The little girl is now 10 months old and such a tiny peanut at only 12 pounds. Imogen was huge compared to her. The mother breastfed for as long as she could, but after 6 months her milk went away and they've been using donor breastmilk ever since. They understand the wonderful properties of breastmilk and know how it is very different from formula, especially in the case of their special little girl.

The other family was from northern Virginia. They adopted a baby girl who was born in Missouri. She is just a month old. The mother also understands how important breastmilk is for her little girl, so has decided to seek it out rather than use all formula, although they have had to supplement.

Why would someone want another mother's breastmilk, you ask? The WHO (World Health Organization) recommends feeding an infant (in the following order):

1) The mother's breastmilk from her breast
2) The mother's breastmilk from a bottle
3) Another mother's breastmilk from a bottle
4) Commercial Formula

It made me feel very happy that I could help 2 other little babies as much as I am loving feeding Imogen. I will continue to donate in the future if I can, and encourage others to as well if it works for their family!

Visit www.milkshare.com for more information.

7 Months Old

Besides being Imogen's first Christmas Eve, today is another special day: her 7th month birthday! She has grown by leaps and bounds since the first day we saw her as a tiny bundle of joy. At 7 months, Imogen weighs about 17 1/2 pounds. She is typically wearing 6-12 month clothing, but depending on the maker, some of those size clothes are too tight. And she does lots of fun things too, like:

* She can sit up without support

* She gets on her hands and knees and rocks
* She scoots her body backwards and sometimes gets into precarious positions
* She says 'da da da da' and 'ba' and (for the first time today!) 'ma' !!
* She can now sit upright in the bathtub
* She likes to put everything in her mouth
* She definitely knows what she wants, when she wants it (and we are good at reading her!)
* ...and so many more there is too much to name!

We look forward to what she will do next every single day and are enjoying our precious baby girl so much! She is such a blessing :-)