Linnea 6 months old

She's done it!! She is now over 6 months old and healthy as can be. Today we went to visit the doctor...first time since about 7 weeks old so I guess it was time. She is 25 1/2 inches long and 17 lbs. She is average in height and weight for her age. Here are her developmental updates:
-Rolls front to back and back to front
-Has gotten up on all fours (ONCE only) with hands on floor and feet on floor, bum in the air (similar to a poorly executed plank) LOL
-Has two teeth and is still regularly teething so I'm sure those top two incisors will come in soon
-Can hold a glass with both hands and wants to drink from it but doesn't know how to drink
-Will start solid foods this week, untraditionally though - gasp, not with rice cereal...we plan on feeding her softly boiled egg yolks and then begin to introduce one vegetable at a time and then fruit.
-Can sit up on her own unattended for about 10 minutes now without toppling over.
-Reaches and grabs toys, moves around on floor, loves to suck on feet and anything she can get her hand on including my hair
-Squeals all the time and babbles a lot
-Happy, content and plays strange with people she doesn't know
-Is freaked out by skyping...doesn't understand how it works but it's cool to watch her just stare at the laptop screen in awe.
-Hair in the front is past her eyes...I have to pull it back with clips often
-Naps in her crib regularly now and has never cried for longer than 15 minutes when plunked in there for naps. Sleeps on average 20 minutes to 1 1/2 hrs+ every nap. She naps 2-3 times a day most days and continues to sleep all night long even when she doesn't feel well.
-Loves to be flipped upside down and lifted up in the air and twirled.
-Loves to see herself in mirror.
-Loves to jump in Merry Muscles every morning for about an hour. Gets great exercise!! Loves to stand as well.

I've included a couple shots taken of Linnea sitting on her own for the first time in her "Little Pumpkin" sleeper from Ang (sorry the cords she's wearing are much too long but they were clean!!), and there are a couple shots I debated putting on of her licking a wine glass that were just too cute and a couple of her in her Merry Muscles...

Back to editing and proofing sessions...lots of orders this time of year!!

Until next time,

Rachel

Linnea - again

I've been super busy editing sessions and making albums the last couple weeks. You'll notice there are quite a few sessions uploaded to my blog. During this process I've been photographing Linnea quite a bit this week. She's changing fast and one thing I noticed is that last week she has a new squeal and it's quite high pitched and very loud! Today, another thing has changed. Although Linnea can roll over and has since 3 1/2 months old she only started rolling over in order to reach something if she wanted it. So today she exhibited rolling over from her back to her stomach several times in a row in order to grab and suck on a toy. And tonight she even rolled from her stomach back to lying on her back. She seems more content on her stomach these days and has her legs moving as if she wants to crawl. I think that'll be the next step....ack!!! She's quite stable sitting up on the couch now and loves her exersaucer and merry muscles (aka jolly jumper). She giggles and laughs a ton and enjoys peek-a-boo more than ever. Since she has 2 teeth now (which arrived 2 weeks ago) she continues to teethe and chomp on anything she can get a hold of. Starting her on solid foods soon will be the next step. I'm not sure if I'm ready for her to eat solids yet, but it's exciting! Which food will we start her on? Any ideas? I'm thinking a vegetable like yams or beets or peas...we'll see.

Here are some more photos of Linnea...lots in action, lots of her mouth as it's so fascinating to me and of course her eyes. Linnea turns 6 months old on October 28th. I can hardly believe she is halfway to being a year old already. Time is just flying by and I she's such a joy in our lives.

You'll notice a shot where Linnea's hand is blurred in the foreground and her eye/face is in the background. I was getting really close to her and she went and grabbed my lens and actually touched and smudged it. I thought the shot was pretty cool and fun so I included it. There are also shots of her moving and playing on the ground and sucking on her dolphin squeaky toy.

Linnea - today

I photographed a family session today that was way too much fun. The parents have twin almost 3 year old girls. They are so adorable and we had a ton of fun at the park and playing in the leaves...you'll have to check out my photography blog in a couple weeks to check out the photos from that session.

Anyways - when I got home I just had to take some more shots of Linnea. She was giving me tons of expressions today. :)

Linnea 5 1/2 months old

Today I photographed my friends Erin and Scott's son Oscar who is 5 weeks old. After their session Linnea wasn't falling asleep in her swing so I took her out and took a few shots of her on the couch. She's got her first TWO TEETH in already which came in with in the last 2 weeks. They're very sharp!! She is growing a lot these days I think...eating and sleeping and lots of smiles still. I haven't cut her hair yet despite that her "bangs" are past her eyes now as you'll see in these photos. I clip it back a lot which works well and is pretty cute. She loves to "dance" and move around while standing. She sits on the couch pretty nicely these days and then falls over which is funny to watch. Sometimes she cries when she falls over and other times (like today) she just starts sucking/licking the couch....nice.

On another note, I'm working non-stop these days and shooting a lot. Yesterday I photographed for the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra's 2009 brochure...we did 3 sessions in one and have about 10 more to do in the next few weeks. I have a family to photograph tomorrow with twin girls which will be fun. I am looking forward to a break from shooting but still have a ton of computer post production work ahead of me left. I designed 4 or 5 albums this week and have many more to go but I'm on a roll! It just means getting a lot less sleep...and not leaving the house or getting laundry done!

Hope you like the shots from today.

Rachel

5 months old

Well, Linnea is sure growing up fast. She's rolled over again finally (in front of my mom and I) and she's making new sounds and loves to stand a lot. She's currently sick with a cold (that she got from her mom) and we've had a miserably exhausting day today. Besides that Linnea has been so wonderful and good natured and happy almost all the time. She continues to sleep all night every day and is getting more and more fun to play with. She loves walks in her stroller and will still sleep in her swing. Here are some shots I took of her this past weekend. Work is crazy for me and I'm way behind. I have two more weddings this month these next two weekends and am shooting family and newborn sessions almost daily. I just finished another shoot for Alberta Milk and am looking forward to a break from shooting in November...Tomorrow I go to my 3rd pilates lesson. I am really enjoying pilates and am feeling stronger all the time. I'm back training at the gym as often as I can go - doing karate and it just feels great!

My latest work...

If you guys are interested in seeing some of my latest work that I've been shooting and producing over the last several weeks please check out my blog....

http://racheljphotography.blogspot.com

I've been uploading a lot of new sessions this week as I've had a very productive week at the computer. Below is a high resolution file of Linnea that was taken this past week. Feel free to download it and print it if you like. :)

September Faces of Linnea

Well Linnea will be 5 months old this coming Sunday! I can hardly believe how fast this summer has gone and now today is the first day of autumn. Well, I have been working so terribly hard on my clients sessions and weddings so I haven't been as diligent at posting these past several weeks and I know a lot of you have been waiting to see what Linnea looks like now. Over the past few weeks we've taken snapshots of her with our little point and shoot as well as my slr so you'll notice a quality difference in some of the shots (not a big deal IMO). Anyways, she now enjoys playing in her exersaucer as you'll see in some photos that were taken today. There are some shots of her first time in her Merry Muscles (similar to the well known Jolly Jumper). She is teething and drooling a lot these days but is still a pretty happy baby for the most part sleeping through the night all the time. I am trying to get her to bed earlier so she doesn't sleep til noon! LOL She is full of different expressions, squeals and giggles and lots of "talking" as she tries new sounds and vowels and discovers how her voice works and how loud she can get. Her cries are louder now that she is growing...She weighed in at 15 lbs 1 oz on Sept 8th. Since the last post we've been to the west coast and back home again and she did really well in the car for the full 13 hour drive. She was a trooper! Anyways - I have to get back to cleaning and working and get more processing done today. My mom arrives on Wednesday and we're excited to have her come visit.