7 month update (2 months late)

since it has been 2.5 months since i have posted and 2 "month" milestones...it is official that I am a terrible blogger....but i think i already knew that.  i guess i'll post 7 and 8 months separately...that way I don't mix it up.  forgive me if i talk about 7 month milestones in 8 months, or vica versa...but you won't really know anyway.

so here we go.  7 months (aka July 20, 2013)

weight: somewhere near 20 lbs...
height: LONG...i assume she is still near 90th percentile 

medical: happy healthy baby. we had a run in with diaper rash for the first time...and if you are still reading at the 8 month update you will hear more about this...overall...very very healthy

sleep: we decided to "cry it out" from 6 months on. my rule of thumb was that if she woke up after 5 AM, i would get up with her, if it was before we would let her cry.  we only let her cry for 15 minutes at a time before we go up there and comfort her...thankfully we have never had to do this more than once. she has been sleeping pretty good now...still working on sleeping through the night

clothes/diapers: 9-12 months depending on the brand. size 2/3 diapers..she upsized during the month.  

diet: we have started food.  she has made her way through many fruits and veggies...so far peaches is the only thing she doesn't like.  she is a great eater, and is always ready to try something new.  i have home made all of her food so far, except for cereal she eats in the mornings.  

milestones: this was the month of mobility.  she went from being able to move around a little, to full on crawling. with crawling came sitting up.  so she can go from back to belly to crawling to sitting and back to belly...there is really no stopping her now.  que the baby proofing. she also became a lot more "vocal" this month, which included a lot of growling(?)...i guess she is just testing her range.

likes: eating, drinking from the sippy cup, playing with "Gerry" the giraffe above her changing table, bath time, trying to pet rigsby, being in the stroller

dislikes: she is starting to become impatient during diaper changes, being put down in the mornings while we get ready for work, swimming!

1/2 of a year....happy half birthday

can you believe that it has been over 6 months since we brought our little roly poly into this world? 6 months = 26 weeks = 182 days! i can't believe it, apparently though it has happened.  and showing no signs of stopping, since she has actually been 6 months old for 5 days.  so here is our update...

weight: 18 lbs, 12 oz (90th percentile)
height: 26.75" (90th percentile)  

medical: we had our first medical run in this month...hand, foot, and mouth disease.  she apparently picked this up from daycare before we left for vacation, and started feeling the effects on the last day of our trip.  this caused a nasty rash (from head to toe...not just hand and feet and mouth) and a very ill feeling baby.  she somehow dodged the fever part of the disease though, so I guess it could have been worse.

sleep: our sleep issues did not improve through the 6th month.  i had a middle of the night feeding EVERY single night between 4 and 6 months.  and like magic, in the last 4 nights, she has decided to stay asleep until at least 5 am every night.  we are prepared to try the cry it out method if needed to eliminate that mid night feeding. 

clothes/diapers: 9-12 months depending on the brand. size 2 diapers (although we still use cloth, only disposables at night).

diet: we have started food.  we started giving rice cereal with milk at supper time about half way through last month.  last week we started working in veggies.  so far she has tried sweet potatoes, avocado, and banana.  i hope/plan to make our own baby food.  so far this hasn't been bad (steam, food processor, freeze).  i assume she will want to start eating some cereal or something for breakfast soon enough.  she has also started learning how to drink water out of a sippy cup. this was a HUGE month for these major growing milestones.

milestones: rolling (both ways, although she still RARELY rolls front to back), scooting (backwards), sitting (pretty well, unassisted), growling, sippy cup, putting feet in mouth (along with anything else that she puts her hands on)

she actually prefers drinking this way over the sippy cup...sippy cups are for babies

likes: RIGSBY...she thinks he is hilarious, the bouncer, "peek a boo", bath time (or really anytime she is naked), being outside 

dislikes: getting hot (ie the beach), being patient

shade made baby HAPPY

family: it was a huge month for family milestones.  first vacation, first illness, figuring out how to incorporate baby food/eating into our meal time, etc etc.  i decided to learn how to play golf, so we spent several days at the driving range and even took C to play golf...i'm hoping we can keep squeezing in practice opportunities, because 1) it was fun, 2) i need a lot of practice.

pa went golfing with us too, C kept score

 

a day in the life...

i have seen posts like this on other blogs and i'm fascinated by the schedules of each baby.  i wish i would have done one of these earlier, just to see how things have changed (because they have).  what never ceases to amaze me is the fact that we spend literally 95% of our waking hours either working or with c....sometimes I wonder what we used to do.  so this schedule is a typical day in our current situation (this gives/takes from week to week, but this is typical).

• 5:34am, my alarm goes off.  i need to get up now so that all three of us can get ready and we can be at work by 8...i hit snooze.
• 6:00am, chuck's alarm goes off.  sometime between now and 6:15 i get out of bed and hit the shower
• 6:30, charlee starts to stir in her crib
• 6:35, charlee is ready for the day.  i head upstairs, change her, nurse her, and get her ready for school (sometimes chuck does the changing and dressing part)

• 7:00, we are starting to scramble. we would like to leave the house about 7:10-7:15.  things that are happening now: packing lunch, packing my pump and supplies, packing charlee's bag for the day (diapers, wet bag, milk, extra clothes, etc), ironing clothes, packing workout bags
• 7:30, we leave the house. later than we want
• 7:45, drop charlee off at daycare.  we tag team it, and we can do it quick
• 8:07, (it is always 8:07).  get to work
• 8:07-4:45 WORK.  during the day charlee eats at 10, 1, and 4; i pump at 9:30, 12:30, and 3:30
• 5:00 pick charlee up at school
• 5:30, get home and unpack.  play with rigsby.  play with charlee.  sit on the deck, enjoy a beverage



• 6:00, nurse charlee (or solid food, we have just started this routine)



• 6:15, start to figure out what we are going to eat **sometimes we don't eat, sometimes we cook, sometimes we go out.  it usually happens between 6-8
• 8:00, bathtime, story time
• 8:15-8:30, nurse charlee, put her to bed.  she usually goes down easy after eating.  i have heard this is a bad habit...but it works for us.
• 9:30-10, go to bed
• do it all over again...

and we wouldn't have it any other way!

starting solids

according to chuck, rice cereal does not count as a solid.  the consistency was runny; as it is supposed to be in the early stages, and more closely resembled a liquid than a solid, BUT...in baby food world.  we have started solids.  i guess it was anti climatic for some of our family, because I didn't translate the vision properly.  chuck was thinking:

when all he got was:

i stalled on the food front.  several other babies in her class are eating food.  depending on what you read, somewhere between 4-6 months is the right time.  we are a little over 5 months, and i decided we were ready.  c was definitely ready, she took it like a champ.  sure, she spit it all over the place, but by the time we finished with the first serving, i think she was actually swallowing some.  my plan is to keep with the rice cereal for another couple of weeks, and then transition into fruits and veggies around 6 months.  we will see how this goes...it does add a whole other layer of STUFF (bowls to wash, high chairs to clean, bibs to wash, sticky baby to wipe, groceries to buy...).

we tried the sippy cup with water last week also...not sure how successful we were there.  she's gonna need some practice...and patience.

in other news...we had a mini photo shoot for memorial day after we spent most of the day outside.  c stayed in her tent we bought to use at the beach; you could say this was a trial run for the heat...it was HOT! she did pretty well...the wet rag bonnet was a hit.

look at those curls..i'm in trouble

5 months - how in the heck did 5 months pass?

weight: somewhere around 17 lbs

height: I'm guessing she hasn't grown too much in a month, so probably still around 25-26"

medical: nothing major, we have started to get used to the snuffles/cough/snot that comes right along with daycare.  the humidifier and bulb booger sucker have become our best friends.

sleep: just before I wrote my last monthly update she has started waking up once in the early morning hours...well, this hasn't stopped.  I have read lots about sleep regression as she grows and I think this is just part of the game.  It may be because she is getting hungry, who knows...but she does wake up usually sometime between 3 and 6 am.  I have started trying not to feed her before 5 am, just so she doesn't get used to a feeding at that hour...i'm figuring this one out as I go...

clothes/diapers: 6-9 months depending on the brand. size 2 diapers (although we still use cloth, only disposables at night).

diet: exclusively breastmilk still.  I'm on the verge of really wanting to push solid food, but I am trying to wait until 6 months.  There really isn't too much of a hurry, she has her whole life to eat food...right? depending on what you read, sometime between 4-6 months is the right time to start.  my thought at this point is that we will start with rice cereal about 6 months and then add in veggies soon after.

milestones: rolling (she rolls back to front almost every time you put her down, but can't get back over...), she has started sitting unassisted (still working on this one), putting EVERYTHING in her mouth, trying to drink water out of a sippy cup

 

likes: RIGSBY...she thinks he is hilarious, being talked to, "peek a boo", bath time (or really anytime she is naked), stroller

naked baby

 

dislikes: being left alone (or put down), the booger sucker

 

family: sometimes i wonder what we used to do with all of our time...now, we have no time.  we all her waking hours in her face playing and cuddling (we really one get about 3 hours with her in the afternoon) and then we spend the rest of the evenings doing laundry, folding laundry, stuffing diapers, washing bottles, and cleaning up.  wouldn't trade it for anything...maybe one day i will cook a meal again...maybe not.

this is the general posture for "sitting"...she kinda folds in half

wonder week

Ever heard of a wonder week? yeah, me niether! that is, until i started googling things like "why is my 4 month old not sleeping through the night?" / "my good sleeping baby stopped" / or "4 month old waking started waking after sleeping through the night"

google results..."wonder week 19" / "4 month sleep regression"

turns out this is common.  here is the quick version, i'll summarize since i have now read LOTS on the wonder weeks.  babies go through certain periods where their development is increasing more than normal.  they learn a whole lot in a short amount of time (the wonder week or weeks) and then they return to a normal stable growth rate.  so why would this cause them to stop sleeping through the night? they are hungry! why are they hungry? because they are learning so much, that learning trumps eating during the day.  they are distracted, they are curious, and they forget to finish eating...therefore leaving them hungry at night. 

i can vouch for this...it happened...to us.  every night for over a week now, i have gotten up to feed c.  now i'm not trying to be all "woe is me", i'm just stating facts.  she slept through the night, every night for at least 2-3 months, then she starts waking up every night. obviously i'm going to turn to my trusted learning tool (google) to figure this out. 

here is a chart i found online...there are several wonder weeks in the first years of life.  week 19 is actually the fourth. those little storm clouds are the "peak" of the developmental leap.  our "storm cloud", if you will, occurred at 18 weeks.

this is nothing more than a public service announcement for those with youngins' or those who may have them soon.  it fascinated me.  and i can also vouch for the fact that C is learning more right now than she has yet...she is hitting milestones FAST...and she is distracted....and it's awesome.  I guess i'm more than ok to get up at 4 am every morning to feed her if she keeps learning like she has been. 

some funny things i should write down or i may forget:

• she has started laughing a rigsby, almost every single time she sees him (i guess i think he is funny too). 
• she grabs your finger now and puts it where she wants it (her mouth mostly)
• she has started vocalizing with different voice tones, her newest a loud "ACK" sound, half laugh/half scream that she does quite frequently
• she holds onto her feet or calves when you change her diaper...maybe she thinks she is helping
• the face she makes when she is intent on grabbing something that is not directly above her head...like my phone sitting on the table....it is a look of complete focus: mouth open, eyes wide...and then she is so proud when she gets it.

look at that concentrating face...she loves him.  he was even laying on her legs

press on wonder week...she just keeps getting cooler!!

"i got this mom, just keep on with your cooking...i'll just chill up here on the counter"
for all you bumbo judgemental folks: she was buckled in and never got out of my arms reach, but she was on the kitchen counter

all she needed was a shoe box to start bouncing



4 months...plus some

4 months has come and gone...I did at least take the pictures on time.  We have had such a busy month. Chuck went to Augusta for the Masters; then ran in a half marathon in Knoxville, we traveled up for the weekend for that.  Both of us traveled for work leaving the other with the baby, and just last weekend we left her with my parents for the first time and we stayed in Nashville.  As hard as it is to be away from her...everyone survived.  We have done a few house projects. I took a new job when my manager left.  Charlee continues to grow and she keeps getting happier and happier.  It is truly amazing to watch her learn new stuff every single day; she is in a phase where she is really starting to figure things out. I want it to slow down...I don't think it will. 

weight: 15 lbs 8 ozs as of exactly 4 months...according to the doctor (80th percentile)

height: 25.75" (90th percentile!?!)

medical: NONE! as long as i keep my diet no/low diary and eggs everyone seems to be happy.  we have suffered through a slight case of cradle cap this month, but that is pretty much under control also. 

sleep: still sleeping well.  she has moved her bedtime up to about 8:30-9:00 and sleeps until it is time to go to day care (except for the last 2 nights when she has woke up at 2 am...).  we stopped swaddling her early in month 4 and that caused no set backs. she turns round and round at night in the bed.

clothes/diapers: 6-9 months depending on the brand.

diet: exclusively breastmilk still

milestones: laughing (real giggles!), rolling from side to side, playing with her feet, holding her own bottle, and she rolled front to back one time - yesterday. 

likes: watching tv, "peek a boo", sitting upright, looking at books, laughing at rigsby

dislikes: tummy time and anything that requires patience 

Mommy: back to work, busy as ever.  back (even below) prepregnancy weight. starting to miss working out. 

ok, one more...or two...or four

Knoxville, cheering on Daddy in the half marathon

chillin while mom trims the hedges 

sumo baby :)

i love this child!!