4 Months and growing

Fayola Agnes is growing healthy and strong.  She has been the joy of our lives and I have grown very close to God in my mission to create a healthy home for our little girl. This month has brought many firsts along with her continuing personality development. Her strong characteristics are "easy-going", great sleeper, and a cautious observer.  She has not demonstrated much stranger anxiety, and she started to cry when we put her down to sleep, but the past week she hasn't done that.  I think as a parent it is all about staying on your toes and not getting to comfortable, because tomorrow will change. She still wakes up in the middle of the night for a meal, but she sleeps pretty good otherwise. She has really become a noisy girl, with many high pitched squeals and low "ahhhs". I swear it sounded like she said "I love you" last weekend. She is starting to sound out consanents, mmm(s) mostly. We have made two road trips this past month, out to Pittsburgh and Chicago! Tons of family visits and Fall fun!

4 month check-up: Fayola weighs in at 14 lbs. 10 oz., 24 inches long and is a healthy girl! Still no teeth yet and we won't be starting solids until 6 months

Firsts:
10/10 "pouty" lip and cry from Daddy's joking "boo" :(
10/11 belly laugh at Grandpa Bill
10/13 Noticing and smiling at Chloe for the first time
10/25 found toes and grabbed them!! Working on her trunk/hip flexion :)
10/29 Long "Ahhhh!", trying to sing I think!!
10/31 First Halloween... she was a pumpkin and had her cute skeleton sleeper too!
11/5  First Baha'i House of Worship/Temple visit

We are on the countdown for Eric's graduation as an Engineer! He will be graduating December 17th! He has been doing such a good job staying home with Fayola 3 days per week and studying on the all of the other days AND looking for a job. We are so thankful that Fayola has been so mellow and laid back, otherwise there is no way Eric could get a lot of his work done.

I am a working cow still :). I enjoy my job, the commute is starting to become a bit taxing. I am going to start studying or complete my case studies... one or the other. I am also considering starting to hold postpartum health for moms! I think that many women are not taking care of their bodies after giving birth, and I would like to start offering classes. Oh... lastly I have picked up running a little, I would like to run a 5K this Spring for time.... it will be under the radar though.

Much Love & Happy Thanksgiving if I don't post before then!
McGowans'

Hanging out

Mommy's little helper

Say cheese!

such a little helper :)

Smiley girl :)

Baba & Fayola

Aunt Maria with sleepy Fayola

Uncle Jeff & Fayola

Great Grandma & Grandpa McGowan

Tummy time :)

Boo!

4 months!

Best Friends

3 month update

Well, I am back to work, and Eric only has 2 1/2 months of school left until he graduates. And Fayola is fabulous! She is growing strong and has started to really develop her personality. She is very laid back and easy going, but she knows what she wants and when! She is a bit serious, will only smile after a long nap, in the morning and at Daddy!

Fayola's firsts:
Sept. 8th was her first Baha'i Feast at Mirela's home, she was singing while we all prayed :)
Sept. 20th- (Week 11) Found her toes while sitting in the Bumbo. And is sitting in the Bumbo regularly with excellent head control. Has also done very well with tummy time, although that is not her favorite position!

Sept. 21st- Found her thumb and now sucks on her thumb to fall asleep, no more pacifier!

Sept. 23rd- reached for her toy in her carseat AND first road trip up to Michigan (5 hour drive and handled it like a champ!) We visited with Great grandparents, aunts, uncles and friends!

  4 generations! Great-Great Auntie Elaine (Fayola's grandmother's God-mothe) Great Aunt Chris, Great Grandma & Grandpa Jack

 Great Grandpa Jack

 Great Grandma & Grandpa Jack

 Great Grandma Zieglar (Fayola's grandmother's mom)

 Cousin Lexie & Great Aunt Chris

 Love you Chachi & Jackson!

(they are 7 weeks apart)

 My bestest, Chachi, and her baby boy Jackson!

 Great Uncle Keith and Fayola

 Meredith (my college roommate came to visit, she is expecting! congrats!!)

 Great Uncle Frank & Fayola

Aunt Angie & Fayola! Smiling away!

Sept. 24th- Laughing with a bright smile... of all things at a trash can :)

Sept. 28th- First long day at home with Daddy! She was an angel for him :)

We weighed her 3 weeks ago and she was 13 lbs. 6 oz. (at 2 1/2 months of age) on a friend's scale, but we do not take her to the Peditrician until November, so no standard measurements this month. She will get her 3 month shots this week, hopefully she does not get ill.

3 months old

We are still doing cloth diapers, and she is growing out of a size we got as a gift, so we will have to invest in several big girl sizes. She is also still breastfeeding very well and is a "snacker" from the bottle while I'm at work.  She is sleeping very well during the day and throughout the night. We had 3 nights in a row of 12 hours straight (keep it up Fayola!)

We have several months until Eric will land a job... we truly don't know what the future holds, but please keep us in your prayers that Eric finds a job in the Indianapolis area.

Much Love~ The McGowans'

GoodBye Hot Summer

We gladly welcome the Fall season in the Midwest; beautiful trees, mild temperatures, hot cocoa, pumpkin pie, sweaters around a campfire and football!

Here's Fayola again! We love her chubby cheeks!

 2 months

 2 months

 Say "Cheese"!

 So in love

 Aunt Angie & Cousin Katie

Happy Birthday Grandpa!

2 months

Life at the McGowan household is going very smoothly so far. Eric started back to class and is commuting two days per week, he has "major senioritis" as he says and he is definitely ready to graduate.  He is very interested in several jobs/companies in Indianapolis and the surrounding areas so he will be applying and interviewing soon.

Fayola is fabulous! She weighs 11 lbs 15 oz already and is such a good eater. She got her first immunization this month, and then we don't see her Peditrician for another 2 months. We decided to split up her immunizations and spread them out; we have an alternative plan... we'll see how it works.

Milestones this past month:
8/26/11 Fayola looked across the room at her Daddy and smiled so big :) She had been smiling occasionally on/off, but since then she loves smiling in the morning and when Daddy makes funny faces and Mommy's big smile.
8/11- Fayola started to make cooing and ahhh noises after Mommy sings to her. I sing "Hush Little Baby", "Itsy Bitsy Spider", "Twinkle Twinke Little Star", and sing prayers "Blessed is the Spot", "O God guide me!", Dawn prayer and she listens to me pray in the morning and at night.
8/26/11- Fayola slept 7 hours straight... next time she slept through the night was 9/3/11 for 6 hours. She continues to wake every 3-4 hours at night to eat. We are trying to get her to bed around 10pm, but she doesn't like to fall asleep at night. She is a great napper throughout the day! I have to wake her sometimes when she is in her swing. Last night she slept in her own room for the first night, let's just say I didn't sleep at all.
9/1/11- Fayola has found her hands, not sure if she knows what the purpose of them are yet, but she sucks on her hands and has started to drool a lot :)
8/28/11- Fayola is now taking the bottle from Daddy, and most of the time eats all of it.

Favorites: Fayola loves to be carried in the upright position, no baby carry :), she loves music and singing, loves the outside, and loves her swing.

I start back to work this month, I have 3 more weeks at home with Fayola, then she will be with me or her Daddy until January.  I will definitely cherish these next 3 weeks with her, as I know it will always be in my heart and memories.

We had so many visitors this past month, grandparents, cousins, aunts & uncles. It has been so wonderful for all the support. Thank you to everyone who has been so wonderful and generous to us.

We will try to continue with monthly updates.
Much love,
The McGowans'

 2 months

 Cousin Isabelle & Fayola

 Cousin Jimmy & Fayola

 Grandpa Tom, Aunt Maria, Jimmy & us!

Great-Grandma McGowan & Fayola

 Our nephew Kayleb

Great Grandpa & Granma McGowan

 Cousin Katie & Fayola

 Daddy taking a nap with Fayola

 Aunt Angie & Fayola

One Month Milestones

We visited Dr. Walters on Wednesday and Miss Fayola is growing as expected! She has gained 3 lbs. weighing in at 10 lbs. 3 oz., is 2 inches longer and her head is measuring where it needs to be.  She has slept 4 hours in one night, has started on certain days to schedule herself on 3 hr. intervals of feeding, and we are still nursing!

She has been lifting and controlling her head regularly while being held in someone's arms and with tummy time and hold her head up nice and strong. She also loves to smile at mommy after she eats! Not regular. She has also started to make ahhh and oooo noises, so darn cute.

Eric and I are doing well, with the little amount of sleep. He ends his internship at Bowen Engineering in 2 weeks and starts with classes at ISU for the last semester!! He is set to graduate December 2011! He has started the job hunt, and has had some promising finds so far. We will see what happens, keeping our fingers crossed that we stay in Indianapolis.

I have 6 more weeks of maternity leave. I'm working on Fayola's scrapbook, sparingly, and have started to study for my NAIOMT Exams, I hope to accomplish my COMT (manual therapy specialty) in one year from now. But, I am doing this at a relaxed pace, just enjoying my time home with my beautiful daughter.

Check out http://bravo-photography.com for Fayola's newborn pics. Click on client proofs at bottom of page, then click on Fayola. Password: jenmcg