My 6 month old

Wow!!! What a crazy, crazy month this has been. I will finally be caught up with this blog after this post! Isla has SO SO SO many changes this month. What a big milestone 6 months is! To start:

• She is rolling like crazy! She can roll from one room to another and often does...
• She is sitting up all by herself like a champ! She can't get to the sitting position by herself yet but hopefully that changes soon because thats the only way she likes to play currently.
• She is eating rice cereal and vegetables with a spoon and is very good at it. So far she has tried sweet peas, carrots and sweet potatoes and she has liked them all. Lately whenever I give her a bite of something she makes a "mmmmmmmm" sound after, I think because she is copying the sound I make.
• She loves peak-a-boo
• She's more obsessed with the dog than ever!
• SHE GOT HER TWO BOTTOM TEETH! My baby is growing up...
• She loves to turn pages in books and can be entertained by that for quite a while.
• Still a super happy child.
• LOVES her dad... Anytime he comes home or walks into the room she has the biggest grin on her face. I think she likes Steve better than me:(
• Wearing size nine month jammies.

6 month stats

Height: 28 1/4 in (98th percentile) still my tall girl!

Weight: 16 lbs 11 oz (61st percentile)

Head circumference: 16 1/2 (31st percentile)

Most of her pictures the past month have been in Utah. Here is a few that I just took since we got back.

To say we love this girl would be an understatement... I could have never imagined how much I love our little family. She is honestly just the best and she makes me want 10 more just like her!!! I love staring at her and can honestly be entertained all day just watching her learn and grow.

Another Utah trip (Part 2)

We did so much fun stuff this Utah trip it's hard to even mention it all! I really felt like I was always busy doing something and I liked it a lot!

We went to the Gateway childrens museum one day and Isla loved playing with these magnet gears. She would pretty much just take them off then stick them back on again over and over again.

She also loved playing with the balls.

Probably the best part was the cool water area. Isla loves to splash around in water.

During one Saturday after Steve left to go back to Arizona we were invited up to my brother in-laws parents cabin in Heber. It was so nice to spend part of the day there and sooooo pretty! We loved hanging out in the gazebo taking in our surroundings and swinging in the cool breeze. This picture is Grandma hanging out with her two favorite grand-children:)

Here is Grandpa spending some quality time with Isla cuddling on the couch. I love this picture! 

Some more grandpa time out on the swing! Haddy loved to sit back and relax:)

This was at a family BBQ and This picture would have been even better if Isla had been wearing her helmet but we had to take it off because it was rubbing her skin in one spot and making it kind of dry. We have Haddy in her cast, My cousin's daughter Ellie with her new glasses and Isla with her flat spot:) What a cute group:)

On the 24th of July we decide to do a family hike with the dogs and all! It was a pretty short hike but we ended up at a cute waterfall and a little river to play in.

Isla loved the water.

Here is the little waterfall. There was a group of guys repelling down it while we where there. This is actually the exact waterfall that I repelled down last year with my friend Jessica! It's hard to see in this picture, I tried to circle the my family but Steve, Justin, Brad, My dad and two of the dogs decided to continue on hiking to the top of the waterfall. That is them at the top.

The whole Cook clan minus Alli who is allergic to the sun so she decided not to come.

Rachel (my sister in-law) was kind enough to invite us to come to Thanksgiving point for farm town. My nephew Mason was our official tour guide and could tell us where anything was! This was Alli and I on the wagon ride. Haddy LOVED the wagon ride and didn't want to get off when it was over.

Yes that baby horse is trying to eat Haddy's cast and she is not even noticing:) 

So that was our Utah trip this year! Things that are not picture that we did as well was I got to hang out with my friends Ashley and Brittney a couple times. I also was able to go to Lunch with some of the Murray girls one day which was totally fun! We watched the season finale of The Bachelorette which I LOVED!!!! And enjoyed house hunters international on HGTV:) We don't have cable so it was nice to have the luxury of watching HGTV... I love that channel, it's probably a good thing we don't have it or else I might waste a lot more time! We also had a fire pit outside on my parents deck one night and roasted marshmallows and the evening of the 24th we watched fireworks from there as well. Such a fun trip. Can't wait to do it again next year! (and Christmas time).

Another Utah trip! (Part I)

We tend to take a lot of trips to Utah... We love visiting friends and family so I guess that's the reason:) While we where in Utah this time it was packed full of fun and adventure! That is why I chose to do this in two posts. And it will be mostly pictures because I don't have tons of time theses days:)

We started out at Zion's Ponderosa at Steve's parents cabin and I am just kicking myself right now wishing I got pictures there! Jennifer, Becky, Jeff, Scott, Rachel, Steve and I where all there and I wish I would have forced us to get a picture together because we definitely don't get to see Becky, Jeff and CJ very often!

We pretty much stayed at my parents house the rest of the time and did some fun family things.

Haddy (with her cast) and Isla (with her helmet) at the City Creek Center. Don't they make a cute pair? People would definitely stared at us as we walked by but I'm okay with that, complete strangers where always being so nice to us!

You can read about my nieces cast on my sisters blog here if you are interested.

Our cute family at City Creek. What a cool place!

My brother Brad found this dog vest at D.I. and brought it home for Haddy to wear. Isla love to play with it.

Epic Olli and Weston play time. Isla loved watching them play and would laugh a ton whenever they would growl at each other.

We went to the living planet aquarium one day and Isla enjoyed looking at the fish while she was awake, but she wasn't awake that long:)

It was so much fun one evening to go down to Steve's parents house for Kenzie and Tanner's birthday party. We played games and got to get pictures of these cute little cousins together:) It goes Miles, Isla then CJ.

Helmet Head:)

So many of you already know that Isla has to wear a DOC band for the next couple months due to a flat spot on the back of her head. I thought I would do a post about it and answer some of the most common questions about it. Lots of people may already know about them and may even know other kids that have had to wear one! Turns out they are pretty common but I had never seen one (or at least noticed one) before .

First of all this is not anything serious at all! I had a little girl in my ward come up to me one Sunday and say (in a very concerned voice) "sister Murray... What's wrong with Isla? Is she going to be okay?" I quickly told her that she was totally fine she just had to wear the helmet due to a flat spot on the back of her head. 

The helmet is purely for cosmetic reasons and the average time babies have to wear them is about four months or so. I don't think Isla will have to wear hers that long since we got it on her pretty early. Her pediatrician told me that babies heads grow the fastest up until about six months of age and we chose to get her the helmet a little before five so she has that extra month of fast growing! The faster the head grows the shorter she has to wear the helmet.

I was initially worried that the helmet would bother her or hurt her but to my surprise it doesn't even seem to phase her at all! She barely notices the thing. The only annoying thing about the helmet is how sweaty her head will get in it sometimes! She wears the helmet 23 hours a day. We only take it off every evening to clean and dry it and to give Isla a bath. Other than the sweat thing we really feel lucky, this thing isn't even a problem at all! In fact... I think she looks pretty cute in it:)

The whole reason she got a flat spot on her head in the first place was for a few reasons. During labor I was pushing for over 3 hours and that put a lot of pressure on her very mold-able head. She also had torticollis which just means she favored one side over the other. She would only look one way, sleep on one side and we had to stretch out her neck muscles by doing some little physical therapy exercises and tummy time. Luckily the torticollis is gone but because she was always favoring one side her flat spot didn't go away on it's own like it should have.

Most babies don't get the helmet on until they are about seven months or older but our pediatrician recommended getting it sooner because he was pretty sure at four months old hers was bad enough it would not correct itself. I am glad that we got it I can already tell it is making a big difference and it's only been a month! We hope that her head can continue growing fast and so she won't have to wear it that long.

Also, just FYI. The helmet doesn't actually put any pressure on her head. It was custom made for her and it only touches the part of the head that doesn't need to grow and leaves a gap in the area that it does. So her head will just naturally fill in that gap as it grows. Genius! 

This turned out to be a really long post but hopefully it answered some questions if anyone had any:) and I can look back on this post one day if I need to remember how to maybe avoid it with future children!

They are pretty cool hats! Isla's cousin Miles wants one in his size:)

5 months

Can you see Weston's snout on the top right of the picture? Ya, that's why Isla was looking at the camera:)

I feel like Isla changed drastically as far as appearance goes from her four to five month pictures. Other things have changed too and she's learned some new tricks! 

• She is still happy and smiling! (Lets hope this one never changes:)
• Way better at rolling over from back to tummy.
• She did learn to roll over from tummy to back but she would forget sometimes and I have to say one of the hardest things is when she woke me up (what seemed like) 10 times a night crying because she rolled over onto her tummy and couldn't remember how to roll back. I would have to get out of bed and go turn her over. I'm not the best sleeper so whenever I wake up and have to get out of bed it easily takes me up to an hour to fall back asleep.
• We got her a bouncer/ exersaucer and she absolutely loves it! I thought it would take her awhile to get used to it but seriously within two days she had that thing figured out!
• Because of the bouncer her leg strength had increased tremendously over the month and by the end of it she could easily stand up and put pressure on her legs even without me holding her!
• She had always hated tummy time but once she figured out how to roll over from her tummy she started not to mind it as much.
• She LOVES her toys! One thing that is sure to make her (and me) happy is putting her in her crib and throwing every toy she owns in it with her! She will play like that for over an hour sometimes. I love it because I can clean or do projects and just watch her through her monitor. Fun for her! Easy for me:) Win win.
• One of her favorite toys is her binky. Now that she can hold it and try to get it in and out of her mouth it is another entertaining thing that can last a long time!
• She can sit up by herself. Not for very long at all though and very wobbly! 
• She got a DOC band for her head due to a pretty bad flat spot that wasn't going away on it's own. More to come on that.
• We gave her rice cereal to try for the first just for fun. She was not a fan... That was really the only time we gave her any that month.

5 month pictures

You may notice a little bit of a red spot on her four head. That came from the helmet that she has been having to wear but it went away once the helmet guy corrected the problem with the helmet thank goodness!

Showing off he new accessory. 

 Pictures 4-5 months

Poor doggy:(

Looking old for her age...

Loving her exersaucer!

Rice cereal.... Yucky.

She LOVES cuddling with her tinny Weston:)

Isla at 4 months

Okay so I am a little late in updating Isla's monthly posts but better late than never I guess:) I have to admit that I am already having a hard time remembering exactly what happened between three and four months as far as mile stones go. This post and her five month post may not be as detailed as I would have liked for future remembrance. What I do know is after looking at these picture I have realized she has changed a ton!!! It's only been a few months but she looks so different to me! 

Here is what I remember about her from 3-4 months...

• I felt like her little personality was really developing. 
• Still a really happy baby and super easy!
• She could roll over from her back to tummy but not very well and NOT from her tummy to her back.
• She was getting better at sitting in her bumbo and working on picking things up without dropping them and holding them even longer.
• Still loves Weston, water and fans!
• Doesn't know what to think about swimming in the pool yet... She doesn't hate it but she doesn't just love it either.
• Is now completely on formula:( I just had a really hard time breast feeding her and never really felt like she was getting enough food from me. We made the transition to formula feeding and while I am very sad about this I know that she is getting plenty of food now and it has been a lot easier for us.
• Started making weird grunting sounds. What happened to my cute baby noises?!?!
• When she gets really excited about something she does a hyperventilating thing! She breaths in and our really fast and waves her arms in the air like a crazy person! Of coarse I think it's the cutest thing ever:)
• That is all I can remember... I'm sure there was more but it's lost in my mothers brain now...

Four month stats

Weight: 14 lbs 13 oz (68th percentile) 

Head circumference: 16" (34th percentile)

Height: 27" (99th percentile)! We knew she was going to be off the charts tall!

I didn't take the time to get really good pictures for her four month shots. I still think they turned out okay but hopefully I will do better for her six month pictures:)

Random shots throughout the month...

I was getting ready one day and turned around to check on Isla and this is what I saw. She was asleep like this:)

Another way I found her sleeping one night. I literally snuck in with a camera at 3 am to get this and the flash didn't even wake her up!