10 months

Double digits?? How did we get here already?? My sweet baby is growing so fast.

Age: 10 Months

Weight: She was 18 lbs 5 oz at her 9 month appointment so I'm guessing around 19 lbs

Length: 28 inches (she's grown an inch in a month!)

Size: There are a few 9 month things that still fit, but she is mostly in 12 month clothes now

Hair: brown and a few hints of red in the sun. Her side wings are really starting to fit in with the rest of her hair.

Eyes: still big, brown, and aware!

Teeth: she has her 2 bottom ones. I don't feel the top teeth yet, but she's been chewing a lot lately so I wonder if they will poke through soon

Sleeping: Sleep continues to improve. She has an off night here and there, but that is normal. She still wakes up about once per night to nurse. The pediatrician said she is old enough to make it through the night but it's up to me. I have no problem getting up once with her. I know someday she will be older and may not want to be near me, so I will enjoy our middle of the night snuggles/nursing while I can.

Eating: Still nursing regularly and eating lots of table food. She is not a picky eater. We have started to just give her bits and pieces of what we are eating. I think macaroni is her favorite right now. She also loves spaghetti. Yesterday she tried watermelon for the first time and it was a hit! She has decided she doesn't like eggs anymore though. She ate scrambled eggs several times and like them, but now she gags and spits them out. I even put cheese on them and she still didn't care for them. It was pretty funny to watch her gag and spit but I tried not to let her see me laugh. I think she just doesn't like the texture of eggs all the sudden. She also really loves these chicken veggie nuggets I make her with broccoli, cheese, bread crumbs, and chicken. She loves pizza, just like her daddy! She is a pro with her sippy cup now, but has started to drop it on the floor when she is done drinking. It's another time I have to not let her see me laugh, because she looks right at us and just drops it. She does that with a lot of toys too, so I think it's the noise she wants to hear.

Movement:crawling, crawling everywhere! She started crawling the first week of May. She is super fast now. She skipped army crawling and just went straight to her hands and knees. She is also standing all the time now! She can pull herself up just about anywhere. It's really funny when Dave goes outside to let Shorty out and she stands at the sliding door and watches them (and sometimes licks the door..haha). She is also standing in her crib now. Sometimes I think she wakes up, stands, and forgets how to lay back down. She can clap her hands now too. Oh! Her best new trick is learning to climb Shorty's doggie steps to get up on the couch. We thought it was cute that she was playing on them, and then within a day she climbed them! Uh oh.

Milestones:crawling, standing, and clapping. She did her first Furry Scurry, the charity walk for Shorty and I do for the local humane society. She also celebrated her first Memorial Day and went to her first parade.

Favorite Toys/Activities:I don't know if she has a favorite toy. She LOVES books and will pull all her books down from the shelf and sit and "read" them for long periods of time. She has gone to the park with her babysitter, and with my parents and they all say she loves the baby swing. She loves going for walks in the stroller. We try to take Shorty for a walk every day.

Dislikes:Waiting for food (still) and she is starting to hate getting her diaper changed. She will kick her legs and arch her back as soon as I put her on the changing table. Funny because that used to be her happy place when she was fussy! She also hates being strapped in her car seat. Basically anything that means she has to be still.

Words & Sounds: She is a little quieter now that she's focused on standing and crawling, but she will still babble dadadada. mamamama and babababa. We think she was copying us and saying "yay" the other day.

Wow, pretty soon my baby will be a year old. I can't believe how fast time passes. We are so blessed!

"Reading" in her chihuahua jammies. About 2 minutes later I fished part of that paper out of her mouth.

Shorty kisses are good!

The best 10 month picture we could get

First parade!

Grass feels funny

Climbing the steps!

All dressed for the Furry Scurry

Big girl standing!

I love spaghetti!

9 months

Wow. I can't believe we're here. I know I say that every month but it seems like each month passes more quickly. I am so scared I will miss something! My baby will be one year old before I know it. I also apologize that my blog has basically boiled down to monthly posts. I always mean to write more but it's so hard to find time. I am hoping to write more this summer.

Age: 9 Months

Weight: 18 lbs 5 oz (they weighed her fully clothed this time so I'm guessing it's more around 18.2 or so)

Length: 27 inches

Size: she can still wear her 9 month onesies and some 9 month pants, but she fits into her 12 month stuff too. She was in her 9 month size the longest. All the other sizes I felt like she barely wore anything. I was actually getting tired of her 9 month clothes and was glad to put some new ones in the rotation.

Hair: brown, with maybe a few hints of red. My hair is auburn, and I'm hoping she takes after me. She still has her side wings, but the rest of her hair is catching up. Soon we can do some barrettes or pigtails!

Eyes: big, brown, and full of awareness!

Teeth: she has 2 bottom teeth now. She's had a mystery fever now for 2 days- I'm hoping it means more teeth are coming rather than another cold or virus. 

Sleeping: She is doing really well! We still have nights here and there where she wakes up 3-4 times, but for the most part she wakes up once to nurse and that's it. Last night she went to bed later than usual because we had company, and she slept straight through from 9 pm- 7:15 am. Naps are hit or miss. She will nap in her crib sometimes but her naps are still short. The only time she has a long nap is after her swim class (too bad it's over!)

Eating: Still nursing regularly, and eating pretty much anything. At her 9 month appointment the pediatrician said she can eat whatever we are having (within reason) except for peanuts and shellfish. She had scrambled eggs and loved them. So far she is showing no signs of food sensitivities or allergies. I'm so relieved! She loves to eat. In fact, it's the only time she gets really fussy because if we don't keep the food coming, it makes her mad! Last night she had her first whole piece of pizza (a little square). She's had bites of mine here and there but my mom just gave her the entire square and she loved it. She also loves hummus and pita, any kind of fruit, sweet potatoes, regular potatoes, squash fries, etc. Squash fries are delicious! It's a pain to cut the squash but once you bake it the edges become caramelized and it's so good. I had to stop myself from eating them. I've been experimenting with different recipes from a baby food website. I make large batches and freeze them so I can just grab things to pack for the sitter. I made these veggie "nuggets" with chicken, broccoli, and cheese and they are so good. She eats better than we do at this point.

Movement: She can roll anywhere, and can easily get from a laying to sitting position. It's so strange to come get her from her crib and see her sitting up. What happened to my little baby?! A few times I've found her sleeping in a half laying, half sitting position. It's so hard not to want to move her, but I know she has to figure out how to get herself comfortable. No crawling yet, but it will be any day now. She gets up on all fours and rocks back and forth. She does a very cool roll, sit up, roll, sit up, roll, sit up, find a cord or something else she's not supposed to get, rinse/repeat when mommy moves her away from it. She is already trouble- so I'm afraid we are in for it when she does crawl! It's funny because she has been somewhat "late" on her movement milestones (based on averages) but early on her verbal ones and she's always been so aware. I'm not worried at.all. that she isn't crawling- she has the rest of her life to be mobile!

Milestones: Spending her first whole night away from home. Dave and I went to an adult "prom" and Sadie stayed with my mom. She did great and surprisingly I was fine too. I plan to let my mom take her more often after she's a year old and can having regular milk. Right now it's stressful for me when she spends long periods away because my freezer stash is basically gone and I have to make sure I have enough milk. I don't plan to wean her at 1 year, but I will no longer pump and she will have whole milk when not with me. I've been very lucky to pump as much milk as I do. It's definitely a chore (she's worth it) and I can't wait until school is out and I can kiss my pump goodbye. I plan to do an entire post on breastfeeding soon. Other milestones: we took a parent/child swim class (which she loved!) and she got her second tooth. She is also starting to clap, and we think she's made the sign for more once or twice (although this could be our imaginations!). We also put away all of her pacifiers this month. She was losing interest in them and would just pull them out and chew on the nipples, so we put them up before she could become attached. She hasn't missed them at all!

Favorite Toys/Activities: Now that she can sit up and play by herself, we just surround her with bins of toys. She will dump them out and play. She plays with everything, but loves her remote control, her shape sorter (she takes the lid off and dumps it, no sorting yet) and she LOVES books. This makes me really happy because I am a big reader. She will study each page while we read to her. Right now she really likes Five Little Ladybugs and any touch and feel book. She also likes balls and will roll them back and forth with us. She loves when people cheer and clap for her (not that my whole family has done this), and she loves walks in the stroller and being outside.

Dislikes: She still hates waiting for food, and she's not a huge fan of diaper/clothes changes anymore because she doesn't like being still. She also hates being strapped into her car seat. Once we're moving she's usually okay. She is very laid back and we are grateful! Her pediatrician said, "It's amazing how babies already have such personalities. I've always thought parents take too much credit for their babies' behavior, good or bad." He's right. Fussy baby parents feel like they are doing something wrong and laid back baby parents want to pat themselves on the back! I do think it's helped her that we are laid back too- but I won't take too much credit for her being so content. We are just LUCKY!

Words & Sounds: She still says dadadada all the time, but she also throws in some babababa and mamamama. She will just jabber to herself over and over. It's adorable. Most mornings she wakes up and just talks to herself in her crib for awhile. I can't wait until I hear real words!

Just going for a walk

Playing happily

I can walk the dog by myself, mom

I'll just pull ALL the books down

I really don't want to sit still

Yummy yummy (don't worry, I cleaned the table first)

The paparazzi is at my house again!

First time in the pool!

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

Cloth Diapers

I've been meaning to write this post for some time now. We've been really busy. I'm SO OVER DH working 60+ hours a week, but that's a whole other post.

So cloth diapers. We decided to use them to save money. We definitely have- as long as I stop buying them! It can easily become an addiction because they are so cute. I started with a few BumGenius 4.0s and some Kawaiis. My mom also got my $200 worth of gift certificates to spend on Bumkins (thanks, mom!), so we ordered some Bumkins fitteds (these need a cover to be waterproof) and some AIOs (all-in-ones). All of the above claim to start at around 8-9 lbs, but they were way too big for Sadie at that point. They didn't fit her until she was around 10-11 lbs. We didn't start using cloth exclusively until she was almost 3 months old.

Getting them clean
 I had a really hard time getting started. If you cloth diaper, you know that the wash routine can be tricky. What works for one person will probably not work for another because washers and water makeup are different everywhere.You can't use a lot of soap, and you must make sure there are absolutely no suds left- that can lead to bad things such as buildup or ammonia issues, which may cause a rash for your baby. I started with All Free & Clear because we used that on our other laundry and this worked well for a friend of mine. No matter how many times I rinsed, there were still suds in the water! It was so frustrating. I had to use vinegar in every rinse and I still saw some soap bubbles. We have really soft water, so I think that may have been a factor. I switch to Rockin Green Soft Rock, which is more expensive and I had to order it from Amazon. I didn't want to use this on our regular laundry because of the expense, and it annoyed me having 2 detergents. I read that many people have good luck with Tide powder, so I decided to try that. The first time I tried it I was convinced it was giving Sadie a rash. She seems to have sensitive skin. However, I was using Tide on all our other clothing and she had no problem with it, so it was all in my head or I wasn't rinsing enough. After much experimentation (and frustration- I almost gave up many times because I felt like I was wasting soooo much water!) we found what works for us. We wash every other day. I have enough diapers to last a little longer, but they get too stinky and gross if left more than that. Here is my routine.

1. Cold rinse to get off any yuckys
2. A full hot wash with 2 tablespoons of Tide 
3. Another full hot wash with no detergent. If I remember, I peek in during the rinse cycle to make sure all of the suds are gone.
4. Dry in dryer for 5-10 minutes. I found my natural fibers get crunchy if they go straight to the drying rack. Hang on drying rack overnight. Back in dryer for another 5-10 minutes. Snap up the rise if needed and ready to use!

I was really nervous to get my first water bill after we started cloth, but it only went up $5!

Finding what diaper works best 
This was also a bit of a challenge. I mentioned above that we started with 4.0s and Kawaiis. These are both pocket diapers. The 4.0s have a suede cloth lining to wick away moisture. Sadie's bottom would get red each time I would put her in cloth. I thought it was a washing issue- until a friend pointed out that suede cloth allergies are fairly common. I had already ordered some Bumkins AIOs, which are bamboo and cotton, so I used those exclusively for a few days and figured out it was the suede cloth. Thankfully, cloth diapers have an excellent resale value so I sold my 4.0s. I also ended up selling the Kawaiis because I found I wasn't a fan of pockets. I hated stuffing them after the wash. We used Bumkins AIOs most of the time after that. I used the fitteds some, but at first I wasn't a fan of the separate diaper and cover. A friend then told me I should try BumGenius Elementals (BGEs). They are AIO and made of organic cotton. When I got my first one I thought it was bulky, but it is actually very trim once on the bum. These quickly became another favorite. I like them because I only had to snap/unsnap the rise, and with the Bumkins I had to unsnap the fold out flap for washing (which is gross when covered with poop) and snap it back in once they were clean.

Fast forward a month or so. A friend introduced me to sustainablebabyish (sbish) and wool. We got some sbish OBFs (organic bamboo fitteds) and snapless (fitteds you need a pin with). I thought wool and snapless was going to be our nighttime solution (we still used disposables at night). I quickly discovered that wool didn't work great for us either, and I actually prefer a disposable on her at night. She is a heavy wetter at night so we still do this. I guess technically I don't cloth diaper "exclusively" but this is what works for us. I usually buy a small pack of L.uvs, and it will last us over a month. Thankfully wool is another easy resell so I sold our 2 pairs of wool longies and my snapless (I found I also wasn't a fan of the pin and DH couldn't do it). I kept my cover because it's adorable and I can use it under clothes if needed.

Fast forward a couple more months. By now we were using a combo of Bumkins AIOs, sbish and Bumkins fitteds, and BGEs. Sadie started leaking through the Bumkins every day at the babysitter. These were the least absorbant of all my diapers. I knew my sitter changed her often enough because I saw how many diapers she went through. We discovered Bumkins no longer worked for us, so I sold most of those and bought more BGEs and sbish OBFs. I never sent Sadie to the sitter with fitteds because I thought my sitter would find the cover a pain, but when we were transitioning out of the Bumkins I sent them and she now prefers fitteds and covers! I am so thankful she is willing to cloth diaper for me. Now that Sadie is eating solids, I prefer the fitteds also because they are the easiest to spray. There are also no rise snaps so there is no prep after washing. The one thing I don't like is that some of them are sized, so we will have to size up eventually. Since cloth diapers sell so well I'm not worried about that.

Our cloth diaper adventure has been rocky. I almost gave up several times, but I am so glad I stuck with it because they work extremely well for us now. I just need to stop buying them! I bought an elephant fitted on Etsy a few weeks ago and I vowed to be done. We have still spent less than $500 on a stash of 31 diapers and 6 covers. Here is my stash:

• 8 Bumkins fitteds (4 size small and 4 size large)
• 9 sbish OBFs (all purchased used so I got great deals)
• 2 sbish Happy Little Clouds
• 1 homemade elephant fitted
• 11 BGEs (most purchased as seconds from Cotton Babies, or a sale from Mom's Milk Boutique)
• 3 Flip covers
• 2 Bumkins covers
• 1 sbish wool cover

This is a large stash. A stash of 15-20 is plenty if you plan to cloth diaper. I like having this many because I can line dry what I've just washed, and I still have plenty of clean ones to pack for the sitter. I purchased many of my diapers used from Face.book swap pages (a bit of bleach and they're good to go). If you check out Cotton Babies they have "seconds" often, which means somewhere there is a minor flaw on the diaper but I've never been able to tell the difference between my seconds and new dipes. I also love SewCrafy Baby and Mom's Milk Boutique. MMB is great because of their reward program. I was able to get one of my sbish for half off after buying a nursing bra from there. Here are some fluff shots:

An adorable Bumkins AIO (she looks so tiny there!)

Cuteness in a wool cover

Our elephant fitted

You can see how this cuteness can lead to an addiction. I love talking about cloth, so if anyone out there in blogger land is interested in hearing more, let me know. I'll be back in a couple days with a 7 month post. How is my baby 7 months old??!!

Half a Year Already

You know that Kenny Chesney song, Don't Blink? He's so right. It feels like just yesterday I was in the hospital having my sweet girl, and now she's 6 months old already.

Age: 6 Months

Weight: 15 lbs 11 oz

Length: 25 inches

Size: in 6-9 month and 9 month clothes. I packed away the 6 month stuff ::sniffle::

Hair: Brown, and starting to get really long on the top too. She still has her side wings. DH wants to cut them but I think they're cute. She is really into shaking her head while she's laying down right now, so she's getting little bald spot in the back. It's so funny to look at her newborn pics. I didn't realize how bald she really was on top until I compare it to now.

Eyes: brown with tiny hint of green (although I'm the only one who seems to see this)
Teeth: None yet. The drooling has slowed a little, or she's just learning to swallow it. A friend from my nursing group has a son who is just a week older than Sadie, and he already has 2 teeth! It's funny how babies are so different.

Sleeping: She is doing okay, but not great. She is in her crib full time and goes to sleep very easily. I nurse her in her room with her Jewel lullaby CD (thanks, Shauna!) and then lay her down drowsy and she will go to sleep. We started putting her down with an A.den and Anais security blanket. It made me nervous at first to put something in her crib with her, but it's just a 16x16 inch piece of breathable gauze bordered with satin. She loves it, and I'm so glad it's breathable because she will chew on it and a couple of times it's been completely over her face! When I was a baby I liked have a small heart shaped pillow over my face to go to sleep (somehow I survived it...lol). She is still waking up 2-3 times a night. I've tried various things, and mostly haven't been consistent with what I've tried, which is my fault. I usually end up nursing her back to sleep. I talked to the pediatrician about it at her 6 month appointment. I know all pedis have different opinions on sleep and sleep training, but he said that since she's not rolling back to belly freely yet, she may not be able to get herself into a comfortable sleeping position on her own. He said she is big enough not to "need" to eat at night, but it's my choice and if I'm comfortable with nursing her than just nurse her. He basically just said make my own plan and stick to it. I'm really hoping that crib gnomes will come help her magically sleep through the night. Until then we will just figure it out.

Eating: still 100% breast milk, but she has started some solids! The pedi wasn't too concerned about all of my allergies, he just said wait a bit between foods. We started with bananas, and she has also tried green beans, sweet potato, carrots, pears, and cucumber. She wasn't too excited about any of it, except the sweet potato puffs she has. She gets excited when she sees the container and opens her mouth wide for them (probably because they taste like sugary cereal!). We are doing a mixture of purees and baby led weaning. I found the BLW book very informative, but I didn't like how it is so against spoon feeding. I think babies need to get used to a spoon too. I dislike anything that says there is a right or wrong way to do things with babies, because they are all so different. Right now I have some apples and squash in the oven to mash for her. She has also had water in a sippy cup. We noticed her becoming very interested in our bottles and cups as we were drinking. If you are holding her and take a drink of something, she tries to grab it! She will hold the sippy and put the spout in her mouth, but she needs some help tipping it up. She will act frantic like she is dying of thirst. It's so funny to watch.

Movement: I have not seen her roll from back to belly, but twice now I've gone to get her out of her crib and found her on her belly. She tolerates tummy time now. She has a little F.isher Price beauty salon and if we put it in front of her when she's only her belly she can see herself in the mirror. DH did a good job picking out that toy. She grabs everything- hair, earrings (no more hoops for mommy for awhile), toys, papers, Shorty. The first time she grabbed Shorty, Shorty turned around and looked at her all bug eyed, then she ran away. She was back about 5 seconds later wagging her tail. If Sadie is laying on the floor, she will reach her hands out so Shorty can lick them. I know it's gross- we tried to keep her from doing it but at this point I'm sure she's had lots of things in her mouth that are dirtier than a little dog drool. I think once Sadie starts crawling Shorty will learn to jump up on things to get away! She has also starting sitting a little on her own. She lasts about 10 seconds before she wobbles over. She loves doing her "Irish dancing" with her feet if you hold her up. 

Milestones: Sitting some on her own, her first overnight trip to Uncle Lo's and Aunt Val's (she's been to Boston- so not her first trip, just her first one to Columbus), taking her 6 month shots like a champ (we've been lucky- she hasn't had any issues with shots), starting solids, sitting in a big girl high chair at a restaurant, celebrating her first New Year. She also outgrew some of her cloth diapers (I'm still planning to do a post on those). She celebrated mommy's birthday (my best birthday ever!) and when we were at the restaurant with my family she was very happy until all the food came, so we put her in her seat with a bottle of mommy's milk and she held it herself! DH had to help a little. She just wanted to eat while everyone else was eating!

Favorite Toys/Activities: She still loves listening to daddy and just watching people. She will be a little fussy and DH will start talking and she just lights up. She loves the boys at the babysitter and is very entertained all day. When I come to nurse her at lunch she is super quick now and wants to get right back to watching them. She is really loving her Exersaucer and is big enough to spin and get to all the toys. It's funny to watch her try to pull all of them into her mouth. She loves her beauty salon and is very into books right now. She looks at each page carefully as you read, until she decides to grab the book and put it in her mouth! She still loves baths and has started to kick her feet and splash a lot.

Dislikes: She still isn't a huge fan of tummy time (she tolerates it), but overall there isn't much she doesn't like. She isn't a fan of being strapped in her car seat, but usually once she's in she will be fine. We are very lucky to have such a happy, easygoing baby.

Words & Sounds: She is really into squealing. It's like one day she just figured out that she could do it and then she didn't stop. She does a little fake laugh that cracks us up. She will also giggle if you tickle under her neck.

Now, if I can just figure out a way to slow time down a bit. I'm sure the next 6 months will be just as fast as the past. We are so incredibly blessed.

If someone can explain how to rotate this, please do. It wasn't sideways when I uploaded!

Trying a pear

6 month photo shoot

What? They taste good.

Just chillin with Shorty

Sitting!

Whatdya mean 2012 is almost over?? (taken on NYE 2012)