8 Months

8 months. 8 months?!!!! I blinked and another month passed.

Age: 8 Months

Weight: 17 lbs 4 oz

Length: 25 inches at her 6 month appointment

Size: still in 6-9 month and 9 month clothes

Hair: brown, still with adorable side "wings." Her wings are starting to blend in more as the rest of her hair gets longer. It's almost long enough for a barrette in the front.

Eyes: big and brown. She gets compliments on them a lot, I think mostly because she is so aware so they are big and bright.

Teeth: I finally felt a tooth 2 days before her 8 month birthday. Her bottom right one poked through. I'm guessing more are coming soon. She didn't act much different with the tooth. She had a strange diaper rash that appeared out of nowhere the day before it pushed through, so I'm wondering if this will be her teething sign.

Sleeping:We have made huge improvements with sleep, mostly because I was consistent the whole month. I realized how unfair it was to her to not have a clear plan and to sometimes pick her up, sometimes let her cry, sometimes nurse her, etc. She was probably so confused! She was getting up 5-6 times a night when I finally said enough is enough, she is way too old to be up that much. We tried Motrin and Tylenol just in case it was teeth, but I honestly think she just wants to nurse back to sleep. So our plan was to let her fuss and try to soothe her without picking her up, unless it has been more than 5 hours since her last feeding (in that case I would nurse). We would go in and make sure she had her silky a+a, and just pat her and tell her goodnight. She is down to 1-2 wake ups now! I usually feed her during the second one. She is also getting a lot stronger and I think she is able to get herself into a comfortable position easily. Before she would get on her belly and cry because she felt disoriented and "forgot" how to roll back. Now she just rolls. She has also figured out that the breathable bumpers can easily be pushed down by her hands and feet, so when she cries out I go check to make sure she's not stuck in her crib slats. I'm wishing we went with a video monitor for that reason. Naps still aren't going great, she mostly naps on me, but I plan to work on that more once school is out. Of course she takes great naps at the sitter!

Eating: She still nurses often, just in shorter sessions because she's too busy to spend more than 5-10 being still. I continue to be lucky with pumping and have been able to provide her with plenty of milk for the sitter. Sadie decided this month that she is VERY into solids and she wants to feed herself! We still do a few purees, but mostly we've graduated to finger foods. I've been creative this week during my spring break and have made her many new things to try. She loves banana toast, Greek yogurt mixed with apples, homemade squash and sweet potato fries, and pears with oatmeal. I also made her some broccoli and cheese muffins and she likes those. I plan to let her try scrambled eggs this week too. She is a great little eater.

Movement: She can definitely roll to where she wants to go, and this week I've noticed her getting very frustrated when she's on her belly because she wants to crawl. She will rock on her hands and knees and grab at the carpet with her hands, so I'm sure crawling will come soon. I'm scared ;)! She is also sitting up very well and will happily sit and play with her toys for awhile. 

Milestones: Sitting up, her first tooth, coloring Easter eggs for the first time with daddy, sleeping most of the night. She also got her picture with the Easter bunny. She made a funny face while grabbing his arm fur, but she smiled and we got a great picture.

Favorite Toys/Activities: She loves this new "house" my mom and I got her at a consignment sale. She still loves her beauty salon, and she loves taking the lid off her shape sorter and dumping it. She also has a drum and she has figured out how to hit it over and over. She will play with most of her toys for awhile. She loves her cash register she got from Aunt Char too! The past few days I've been playing with Shorty while she is sitting in the same room. Shorty has a lion on a stick and we move it so she can chase it and dive for it. Sadie thinks this is hilarious! Yesterday she was a little fussy close to bedtime so I started playing with Shorty and she perked right up. Shorty is loving this new favorite activity.

Dislikes: Waiting for food. We are blessed with a very happy baby, except when she's in her high chair and we don't feed her fast enough. She will throw a fit! I've learned to have finger foods ready as soon as I put her in the seat. We are still working on the sign for more.

Words & Sounds: She continues to say dadadada like crazy. We are working on bababa more. She loves squealing and laughing. I just love hearing her voice. I can't wait until actual words come out.

Waiting for the Easter bunny with daddy

Who is that guy and what is he wearing?

I love food! I love food!

Check out my cool new bath seat!

This is how this supports my head, right? If I eat the tag?

I'm too busy for these pictures, mom.

Love those thighs!

That flash is bright mom, I'm trying to play my drum.

Paparazzi

My brother pointed out how today's generation of kids will have their lives recorded because of camera phones. We've been lucky to record so many adorable moments because we almost always have our phones on hand. Here are some recent cute ones. I have some videos too but I'm having trouble uploading from my phone. 

Best friends

Getting ready to go to the babysitter

Sadie has recently decided she LOVES to eat and she wants to do it herself!

Yum, Yum!

Sitting up well and playing

I was playing, and then I got stuck in my blanket. Sad :(

7 Months!!

Here we are again. I just can't believe how fast my baby is growing!

Age: 7 Months

Weight: 16 lbs 9 oz

Length: 25 inches at her 6 month appointment

Size: still in 6-9 month and 9 month clothes

Hair: brown, still with adorable side "wings." I have some natural red highlights in my hair and I *think* I'm starting to see some in her hair.

Eyes: brown. Many people have commented on her eyes and how big and bright they are. She has always been a very "aware" baby. Even the pediatrician commented on it.

Teeth: Still none in sight!

Sleeping:We are struggling with this. It seems like we'll make progress and then something will happen (illness, travel, etc) and we start all over. I am trying to soothe her without nursing unless it's been 5 or more hours since she's eaten. It's very difficult in the middle of the night when I'm exhausted and I know that I can nurse her and she will be back to sleep in 5 minutes. Standing over her offering the paci and patting her can sometimes take 15 minutes or so. Last weekend we were out of town and she ended up sleeping with me. This week she has been up every 3 hours. I'm not sure if the weekend caused this or not, but I hope it gets better. Until then, I remind myself what a gift I've been given and that I'm so lucky to have a baby to be up with all night :).

Eating: Still nursing for almost all of her nutrition. I am so lucky to have enough milk that I am able to pump enough for her while she is with her babysitter. She is hit or miss on solids. Some days she eats a lot, some days she's not interested. Her favorites are squash, pears with oatmeal, apples, and green beans. I have made all of her fruits and veggies just by buying whole ones and baking or roasting them. Oh and she LOVES puffs. She will open her mouth and stick out her tongue for them. Those don't exactly fill her up, so we've been trying to give her more table food because she wants to feed herself. Last night we gave her a bread stick and she "bit" off a hunk right away. My mom, grandma, and I gave her some crackers over the weekend and she liked those. I made homemade teething "biscuits" by rolling up a piece of bread and placing it in the microwave for a minute. It becomes hard and she is able to suck/chew on it for quite awhile. She has also been eating rice cakes and seems to like those. Tonight I am making chicken and noodles for dinner and I'm hoping she will like it. We've done some cottage cheese, but otherwise she hasn't had much dairy. So far no allergic reactions to anything!

Movement: She is rolling all over the place. I will put her in one spot and the next thing I know she is halfway across the room! She knows how to roll to what she wants. She is not showing signs of crawling yet. She is still a little wobbly when she sits on her own. She can do it for awhile, but I still like to put pillows around her because eventually she will topple over. She will grab for anything! I am amazed at what she can pick up. During a family gathering she dropped a piece of celery on the ground. My brother jokingly held her over it, not thinking she would actually pick it up off the ground. She did! Last night she picked a CD case up off of our desk.

Milestones: She had her first illness and fever. She had a virus/bad cold and her temp was up to 102 for several nights. We had lots of warm baths and snuggles. I stayed home with her the first day, but once she was back at the sitter she did well. Then 2 weeks later the same thing happened! I hope this cold is gone for good now. She celebrated her first Valentine's day, went on her first tour of Dayton, and is learning to drink water out of a sippy on her own. and went to Gatlinburg to visit her great aunt Char, great uncle Greg, and cousin Michael. We had a lot of fun just being together for a weekend. She did a great job on the car ride there. We found a town called Sadieville in Kentucky! We stopped and changed her poopy diaper there :). She also starting saying dadadada and babababa. She is very into her voice and will squeal and babble over and over. I think she just likes hearing herself. She has also learned to "kiss." Basically she will open her mouth and stick out her tongue when you kiss her. I've caught her and Shorty kissing more often than I'd like to admit.

Favorite Toys/Activities: She still loves her beauty salon. My mom got a pop-up toy at the Goodwill and she likes that a lot too. She lights up for daddy and just loves looking around out in public. We were at Target earlier and she as happy and babbling until we got in the fitting room. She fussed until we came back out because she didn't have anything to look at except boring old Mommy! She loves anything with a tag. She had "Taggies" toys, but she will find the tag on anything and chew on it. She likes her exersaucer. One of the toys on top is loose, and if she pulls it enough it will come off. She knows exactly which toy it is and will go directly for that one.

Dislikes: She doesn't like waiting for food. I need to do my finger foods because she has started making this grunting sound in between bites if I don't feed her fast enough. We've been doing the sign for more to hopefully help with that. She also doesn't like being in her car seat for extended periods of time (who would?), and she doesn't like taking naps in her crib. She is very easy to put down at night, but for some reason during the day she thinks it's party time in her crib. She will go from almost asleep to wide awake quickly.

Words & Sounds: I mentioned the dadada and bababa above. It's amazing how things change so quickly. She will make a sound for a couple of days and then move on to something else. For awhile it was this gasping noise that made it sound like she was scared. It was very dramatic. Then it was squealing. Now it's mostly dada and baba. I love hearing her sweet voice.

Big girl!

Valentine's Day. Sorry boys!

Rolling around

Ears are fun toys

She nursed at a rest area right in front of this milk truck on our way to TN. We had to pose her after.

New toy from Nana. 33 whole cents at the Goodwill!

Playing in the saucer