Sleep is magical

Lana is rocking the sleep lately (is she just easier than Julia or do I have a much better idea of what's normal and how to handle infant sleep?). So, despite the fact that I know it has almost nothing to do with me, it still makes me feel like an awesome mom. Now we're just in a holding pattern until she can go a little bit longer between naps and we can set up a daily routine.

Also, I'm working on justifying a nice, new expensive camera as an upcoming gift, so I'm trying to get better with the one I have now.

So, those two things combined equal:

  

It's not a photo update without a fingers and toes shot...

So here they are in all their itty glory. :)

State of the Family Update

Alright, well no bump pictures (I look pregnant.) but I feel like doing a little family update.

Julia:

The diaper rash is, knock on wood, resolved for the moment. It cleared up with Desitin after our last pediatrician visit and it hasn't come back. I expect it to recur at some point down the line but for now, her skin is clear and I'm very very very happy about it. I'm even feeling confident enough about it to cautiously put my toe back in the cloth diaper pool sometime in the next few days.

She's still on one nap a day, but hasn't settled into a good rhythm yet. She does best when she catnaps in the car in the morning - too long a morning snooze and she won't take an afternoon nap, but no morning snooze and she's a weepy mess by noon. Her nighttime sleep is starting to get a little better; I'm shooting for at least a 7:30-6:30 night stretch and starting to get it more often than not.

She's still taking two bottles a day, but all milk, no formula (hooray!). No effort has been made at all to get her off of them, and I'm getting to the point where I don't really care. She will happily drink milk out of a cup when it's mixed with chocolate Carnation Instant Breakfast, and she loves her drinkable yogurt, but not in the quantities she needs to to replace the bottles. Plus she likes them as part of her naptime and bedtime routine and I'm loathe to mess with that. (She's still nursing in the mornings like we have been, nothing new on that front. She loves it still and I can't give up the extra 20 minutes in the dark warm bed.)

You're not going to believe what you're about to read...

Julia is also going through a tough period right now, mentally or emotionally or something. She's clingy and whiney and needy and incredibly difficult to keep happy. It's just a phase, I know, she seems to get this way every two months or so, but it's wearing on me. Ironically, she's just fine with other people, like the special behavior gets reserved for me. I'm doing my best to keep my patience but I'm ready to have my chill, flexible, good-natured little buddy back.

Still doing lots of walking, running, and climbing, and virtually no talking. She says "Dada" pretty reliably, and she barks and growls and makes "brmm brmm" noises, but that's about it. She did pick up the sign for "please" pretty quickly when she realized that gets her what she wants a lot more effectively than screaming at me, so she's capable of communicating when it suits her. It just doesn't seem to suit her yet.

Baby #2:

She's good! I feel her moving around in there multiple times a day, and we're almost at fetal viability (24 weeks). She still doesn't have a name or a place to sleep when she gets here, but we're working on it.

Robert and I:

We're good. Compared to Julia, we don't change too much. My main complaints are tiredness and backaches, neither of which are big deals in the grand scheme of things so I'm happy.

We're debating doing a small kitchen remodel, replacing our backsplash and countertops. Not because we really really want to right now, but because we know there's no way it'll happen once we have two babies. I'm also looking into preschools for Julia for this fall, so our schedule these next few months is starting to fill up pretty quickly.

Anyways....

The weather here was beautiful today so we headed out to my favorite local park. We started out at the playground, naturally, but Julia quickly chased some doggies and we promptly ended up on the walking path. This kiddo walked at least 1/4 of a mile, maybe 1/3, just strolling along like it was no big thing and we go walking all the time. A few doggies kept her interested here and there, but mostly she acted like she was just enjoying the chance to stretch her legs. Strange. But I'm really really looking forward to springtime and the chance to get outside more often.

Adorbs, am I right?

Naps and rashes.... the totally unglamorous part of motherhood (wait - there's a glamorous part?)

Despite a weekend, I'm still desperately behind on life. My plan was to take two hours to myself on Saturday, go get a massage, then go to Starbucks and catch up on a whole bunch of things. I ended up upgrading the massage to 90 minutes (not sorry) and then throwing a fit in holiday mall traffic ("I'M NOT EVEN GOING TO THE MALL MY HOUSE IS JUST THAT WAY IHATEYOUALLLLL") and coming home instead. With the best of intentions to catch up later, of course, but then we got to working on our garage and basement and suddenly it was Monday morning.

And of course this isn't helped by the fact that Julia's sleep is still in major flux. She's definitely down to one nap only, but I'm struggling to work out a schedule that works for both of us. She wants to nap earlier in the day, which leads to a too-long stretch of awake time before bed. But my efforts to stretch her out seem to just leave her overtired, meaning she's sleeping poorly overall and not getting enough hours of sleep in a day. Which means I'm on edge too because I need to sleep at night, and I really need her to give me a little more time off during the day.

And - the part that makes me cry - her diaper rash is back. I'm at my wit's end. It was better, almost great, and then Saturday morning it was back. I don't know if this means it's been misdiagnosed this whole time (but why would it have gotten better so clearly in response to the anti-fungals?). Maybe this is normal; these types of rashes are notoriously hard to clear - but going on five months of this? Not normal. Maybe she's managed to breed a super-resistant strain of yeast down there. But - she's a BABY. We can't just hit her with crazy-strong anti-fungals, nor can we keep trying different medicines ad infinitum. I'm so desperate that I'm honestly considering trying to potty train a 14-month-old because I don't know what else could fix this (I know - crazy, but I'm about there).

Anyways, I have an appointment with our pediatrician tomorrow morning. I'm not even going to hope for a resolution, but maybe we'll come up with another approach to try. Fortunately, my crazy-mom tendencies mean I have a photo slideshow of her rash, day-by-day since before we started the latest treatment, on my cell phone, and you'd better believe I'm going to make the pediatrician watch it.

In happier news - we did Christmas with R's family this past weekend. Julia didn't really get the concept but she was adorably excited about her new sled and her new stuffed animals, in particular. Now I actually maybe want it to snow so we can go sledding! She got a horned frog pillow stuffed animal, which she loves, and a giant stuffed lion. She walked into the room with the lion this morning and immediately went, "Raaaar!" Of course the lion has scared the bajeepers out of me several times so far but it's a cool addition to our menagerie.

I also scored a soft and beautiful camera/tablet bag - I'm sure I'll brag about it soon - and R and I got a new tv for our living room. Which is awesome. It's 3D. We are watching 3D television in our home. Let that sink in. Whoa. Awesome. Yes.

And... the whole reason I bothered to post anything at all - photos of the babe:

We had a relatively warm day this past week so we ventured out to the park. She still loves the swings.

She still loves steering wheels and going "brrm brrm."

And turns out she hates mittens.

Last Friday night. Kicking back with Julietta (the doll) after a long week, and not in the mood for a photo.

But she'd rather have her daddy in the chair with her. (Awwww)

Cutie.
(And isn't R's hair so shiny?! It's like long eyelashes on guys - totally wasted. He actually got a haircut today because he didn't want his hair to be shiny for Christmas.)

And her latest thing this past week/weekend - sitting in baskets. I have a bunch of phone photos that I'll have to gather together for a comprehensive post on the subject. Here's a teaser.

Where have I been?

Spending QT with Julia - that's where!

She decided to drop one of her naps. About two weeks ago, she refused one nap. Last week, she refused two. And this week, she suddenly decided she had had enough of this two-nap-a-day thing and would only take one. After a few days of me trying to force the issue, resulting in a morning nap only and a VERY cranky baby by bedtime, I capitulated.

It's only been a few days but she's adjusting well already. Today she slept from about 12:30-2:45, which is absolutely fabulous according to me. Her bedtime has moved up an hour (to 7:00) but she gets up at about the same time (6:30-ish) for an extra hour of nighttime sleep. Eventually I'd love to move everything back an hour - where's DST when you need it? - but for now I'm just working on getting her settled back into a routine and making sure she gets all the sleep she needs in a day.

For anyone wondering, she's 13.5 months, which is early to be dropping a nap but not developmentally inappropriate. She was never a great napper so I'm not shocked, but I am a little surprised because she's usually right in the middle of the pack on these types of things. Maybe we'll end up switching back for a little bit, but she adjusted so quickly to the schedule change that I'm not holding my breath.

Now, the key for me is dealing with less total naptime per day and the total upheaval in my daily routine. No longer can I count on getting a shower in during her morning nap, nor do I get a chance to check my email or blog until afternoon or evening. I also need to be more proactive in planning morning outings ahead of time. I used to regroup during her morning nap and plan our day during that time. Now I need to be on top of things so we can get out of the house and take advantage of her long awake stretch - we can do big things like go to the zoo, which we had never before been able to really squeeze in between her two naps. The schedule change can be a big plus for us if I play my cards right. I just need to make sure I have the energy and planning to do that.

And I need to consider myself lucky in the long run that she made this switch so quickly. I hear some kiddos take weeks to make this transition. It's been relatively painless, even with those crummy few days before I caught on. Sorry Julia, I guess Mama's slow.

I'm also trying to implement a "no tv around the baby" policy, at least when I'm home. Today was Day One. She wasn't watching more than a half-hour tv show a day, ever, but I found myself resorting to ten minutes of Curious George here and there when I was trying to kill a few minutes or distract her, mostly out of sheer laziness on my part. I'm trying to force both of us to come up with more creative things to do, because I don't want to convey to her that mindless, passive entertainment is a viable solution to boredom. So far so good, but like I said, today was only Day One.

So, without tv and without half of Julia's nap-time, I've been busy. And tired. And still spending a lot of my day eyeing my Christmas card pile warily...

Can you believe Christmas is next weekend?!?!?!

Five Things Friday

1. We saw the pediatric dermatologist today. It wasn't near as helpful as I'd hoped it'd be, but honestly I wasn't too surprised. To recap: Julia has had an off-and-on yeast diaper rash for about the past four months. We've tried all sorts of OTC anti-fungal creams, tea tree oil, vinegar in the bathtub, different types of disposable diapers, wool cloth diaper covers, daily baths, tea tree oil, nystatin (prescription anti-fungal), and lots of diaper-free time, and nothing has eliminated it. The ped derm had a few main points, for those interested:

• Don't use commercial wipes; use water and paper towels instead. We haven't and don't use commercial wipes, so this was pretty moot.
• Disposable diapers are better for keeping a baby rash-free than cloth. I think I disagree with her here. She backed up this assertion by talking about a study she helped design for Proctor & Gamble twenty years ago. I respectfully submit that both cloth and disposable diapers have changed a lot since then. Regardless, Julia's been in disposables (with the exception of the cloth/wool diaper covers experiment) since this rash started, since the anti-fungals are bad for the cloth diapers. 
• Our game plan now is: Put 1% hydrocortisone on the diaper area on top of the anti-fungal medicine. Do this for every diaper change when the rash is bad, about three times a day when it's there but not bad, and once a day when it's pretty much all cleared up. This doctor prefers miconazole, sold as Micatin. I'll probably use up the nystatin that we already have first. 
• The doctor also believes that all the other stuff we've been trying is probably unnecessary. I concur with the exception of the diaper-free time. I've noticed a definite improvement in Julia's bum when she gets more diaper-free time, so as much as I'd like to believe the doctor that I don't really need to do that anymore, I'm going to keep it up. Right now, her rash isn't too bad so I feel like I have half a shot at eliminating it soon.
• This rash will be a fact of life until Julia potty trains. I know rashes are part of diapered babies, but the doctor didn't give me a lot of hope that it'll ever clear up. I said, "So you're telling me this is chronic?" She responded, "Oh no! It'll clear up. But it won't go away completely until she's potty trained." Okaaaaay.... Thaaaanks. Is she right? Do I resign myself? I don't know.

Anyways, I'm glad we went just so I know there's not anything else I should be doing, but I'm frustrated that I was basically told to learn to live with this. I also want to get back to our cloth diapers so I'm frustrated by our conversation about those versus disposables. I'm going to have to do some experimenting and sleeping on it to figure out what we're going to do long-term.

And, again, I'm so eternally grateful that Julia is so healthy. We went to Children's (hospital) for this appointment, and I saw SO many babies hooked up to IV's and tubes. There is just nothing sadder than a tiny bald child being pushed around in a brightly-colored wagon with attached IV poles.

2. I am beat. I barely got through today without biting someone's head off and I'm going to bed as soon as this posts. Julia's sleep has been slowly but surely deteriorating this week and I haven't had a good night's rest in awhile (not helped by needing to get up and go to the bathroom 78613409 times a night). I suspect we're at the very beginnings of a "dropping the morning nap" transition and it's affecting her night sleep and her daily schedule. Just have to wait it out and see how this plays out.

3. I saw two people I used to work with today. It made me question (again) what the heck I'm doing with myself. Everyone I graduated with - from both college and law school - is moving along nicely in their careers and learning and getting more experience and getting better and better at what they do. I've just learned to be a really good babysitter.

4. It looks like we're not doing much (well, nothing so far) in the way of Christmas decorating this year. We just have too much other house stuff that's a higher priority; we can't spend 2+ weekends putting up/down Christmas decorations because there's just so much other stuff to do.... and that stuff is kind of on a tight timeline because we need to make a nursery for this new baby by the end of April. It makes me sad, though. I love colored lights and pine things and candy canes and sparkly useless pretty things on my table tops and mantel. And of course it makes the cold weather festive instead of just dreary, and come end of February I'm going to really be wishing I had taken advantage of the festivities.

5. Maybe I ought to rename this "Four Things Friday" because I just can't think of anything else. This post has kind of turned into a pity-party anyways so maybe it's best I wrap it up. Here are a few cute pics of Julia to redeem things a bit:

Only Monday?

I keep thinking today is Tuesday...


1. Basement progress is slow. It's taken us forever to deal with the baseboards, but I think we're finally ready to paint them. Fingers crossed we get this done before Thursday. I also bought new ceiling tiles today, so we're pretty committed to redoing the ceiling too. I'm hoping it's not going to be a big deal like I think it's not, but who would have thought we'd spend three nights on baseboards? This has been a frustrating project because we've done SO much work on it so far, but there's still so much to still be done. 

2. After another good night from Julia Saturday night, we had a TERRIBLE one last night. Up every hour, terrible naps today. I was sure to put her down by 7:30 today so hopefully things turn around. Or go back to normal. Or whatever. Just hoping we have a good night. I could use a few hours in a row. I think R and I are going to start sleeping in the guest room in shifts again. 

3. Julia now sleeps with a stuffed bunny and her soft blanket. When we go in to get her in the mornings or after a nap, she hands us the bunny, then the blanket, then she lifts her arms up to get picked up herself. It's adorable.

4. I have friends coming in to visit this weekend and I'm really excited! I need to plan some stuff for us to do. I think I'm not even sure what grown-ups do anymore because the first things that come to mind are visiting the zoo or a pumpkin patch. 

Antics from Julia this past weekend:

Inside the dog bed.

Dog Bed Skateboarding.

What's the plan here, dear?

Out of the dog bed and onto the fireplace. That makes Mommy feel good.

Oh... INTO the fireplace. Even better. Why don't you just chew on one of those wires while you're in there?

Oh, no. We have another plan.

"Ah! Your flash! You're illuminating my secret evil plan!"

"Bye Mom."

Dog bed in the bedroom, Julia looking for Daddy in the bathroom. THIS was the plan. Duh.

Six Things Saturday

I'm liking the numbered/bullet point blog posts.

1. We went to not one, but TWO costume parties today with Julia. Fortunately they were both after the afternoon nap, so we had to leave one early and arrive at the other late, but it worked out and we were all social troopers. It was also probably Julia's only chance this weekend to wear her Halloween costume since I don't think we'll be doing any trick-or-treating. (And we need to buy some candy for our own trick-or-treaters, since I ate the designated bag not once, but twice. Yep.) Julia is doing great with other kids, and it's neat to see how her approach to other children is changing. But, let's be honest, her favorite part is playing with someone else's toys. I have a few more ideas for her Christmas list now!

2. The reason we could do all that is because her sleep has gotten much better these past two days. She woke up at 6:30 this morning (!!!!!) and took two nice, normal naps without protest. Now her naps aren't long - 45 min in the morning and 90 min in the afternoon, but that seems to be her rhythm. It's nice when we're all in sync. The bad news is, she went to bed at 7:55 - later than the past two nights - tonight due to our social butterflyness today, so I don't know how well tomorrow morning is going to go. The good news is, it's my turn to sleep in so I won't be bearing the brunt of it if it goes terribly.

3. Our basement progress has stalled. We worked so hard to get the walls and floors finished before Julia's birthday party, and ever since then, we've totally forgotten about it. But, we have rugs and stairs-carpet coming on Thursday, so our my goal is to have the baseboards caulked and painted, along with all the rest of the trim, by then. If I'm awesome, I'll have the stairs walls painted too. Once we do that and get the rugs/carpet in, we might be able to start moving furniture down there. Unless, of course, we decide to fix up the ceilings. We'll see. For now it's just kind of a dumping ground for Julia's toys. She loves it, at least. Living in a house that's out of sorts kind of stresses me out.

4. Julia has 8/16 of her molar points in - we're making progress! Her nose is also doing a lot better and her bum is good enough that we're finally back into cloth diapers. Fingers crossed we don't regress, or if we do, it's not by too much.

5. Are leggings pants? I've always maintained that they're not, but I might be changing my mind. I have awesome black boots that look great with leggings, but I don't have tons of great-for-leggings tops. I tried a shorter shirt earlier this week, and it was weird. I felt all exposed but it was also pretty comfy and I'm really not sure how much I care. Hopefully everyone's looking at my awesome boots and not my butt.

6. And lately, I've been having enough trouble coming up with a decent-looking, comfortable outfit. I guess because this time last year, I had just had a baby and all I was wearing was sweats, and before that I was working. I guess I just don't have many SAHM-suited fall and winter clothing. Anyways, the end result is, I now wear the same outfit two days in a row. Isn't that gross? It takes me enough effort to put together a cute outfit that it's only worthwhile if I get two days' worth of wear out of it. I know. I know! It totally weirds me out too but I'm still doing it.

And I'll leave you with a few thoughts from Julia:

What she thought of the football performance today.

Touchdown? Oh. No. Not a touchdown.

Later in the day...

Not feeling the costume change.

Unsure about this whole puffy-ladybug thing.

"At least I'm not actively crying, alright?"

"Alright Dad. I've had enough. I'm going back to the car."

Mom steps in for a pep talk.
Doesn't my hair look good here? I blow-dried it today for the first time in probably four months.

And like the outfit? Good, because you'll be seeing it again tomorrow.

Finally happy, playing with someone else's todays.

Five Things Friday

I'm stealing this "Five Things Friday" from another blog I follow. I like the idea!

1. The princess slept until 5:59 this morning! I put her down last night at 7:30 instead of her usual 8 or 8:15. Didn't hear a peep out of her until this morning. I actually went to check on her around 4 AM just to make sure she was still breathing - haven't done that in awhile! I'm crossing my fingers for a repeat performance tonight. R slept in the guest room so he could get a good night's sleep in case everything went to hell in the early morning hours, so I think tonight it's my turn. Either way, I should sleep well tonight. Amazing how different that makes the day - we're BOTH happier! Thanks Marc!

2. We still haven't put our house back together from Julia's party. Basically, I shoved everything that could be classified as "clutter" into Robert's study, and shut the door. And I kind of like our house the way it is right now so I've been totally unmotivated to put anything back. We also have a garage full of basement overflow, since we've been making progress on the basement remodel. It's starting to stress me out, but it's a solid day's work, if not more, and I just don't know when I'm going to have a whole day without the little one "helping" me.

3. When Julia and I read her animal book, she can point out "mouse" to me now. Then she immediately puts her hands up to her lips every time. For "mouth" - get it? It cracks me up.

4. We're probably reaching the end of our nursing journey. She's still nursing once a day in the mornings, but this morning she was definitely still hungry when she was done. I think I'm going to try to merge our morning nursing session and our sit-down breakfast, and I can totally see her dropping this final nursing in the next week or two. It makes me sad. I thought I'd be happier about it. I'm glad we did what we could for as long as we did, but I also feel disappointed that I didn't do a "better" job (no or less formula, extended nursing, whatever else the hippies are advocating right now, etc.). Which I know is irrational, but I hear the end of nursing causes a bunch of hormonal changes so I'm just going to call "Hormones!" and leave it at that.

5. There's like a baseball game on or something lately. I ought to care more, but I just don't. I watched the early part of the game last night - the error-ridden innings - got pretty disgusted with everyone all around, and went to bed. Robert, on the other hand, watched every second of the game and ran around our family room at the end going, "Raaaaaah" like a crowd-cheer. Then people in our neighborhood set off fireworks. Awesome. I'm glad tonight's the last game.

And, since I enjoyed Photographic Memory Lane so much earlier this week, and I have no current photos for you, here's the little cupcake last November:

Counterpoint

I love her, I do, and I meant everything I wrote in my last post. But she is driving.me.bonkers. right now, to put it politely.

So, she's teething, which I've been talking about for the past six weeks or so. Her four molars are coming in, and I'm counting each molar as four, since there are four different points that break through the gums. Of the sixteen points we need, seven are through. So we've made significant progress, but they're obviously still bothering her. She also has a cold - or her nose is running like crazy because of the teething - and a subsequent diaper rash that is yeast-based and just won't go away (because of the teething, the cold, the ibuprofen we've been giving her for the teeth, or just for another unknown reason altogether).

None of these things are terrible - she seems pretty used to the teething and the diaper rash is persistent but under control - but she's waking up at 5:00 every morning. And not going back to sleep. She's tired and cranky, and she'll calm down in my arms when I walk her, but she howls when I put her back down in her crib, when I sit down in the rocker, or when I take her back to my bed. She wants to nurse, which I refuse to do until at least 6:00 in the morning. Then, lately, she'll often fall back asleep for anywhere from 20 minutes to an hour and a half, in my arms in my bed. This little taste of co-sleeping is adorable and lovely, but I don't want it to continue. We both sleep better when she's in her crib. And I don't want to be getting up at 5, fighting with her until 6, then nursing her and dozing off and on again until 7:30. I know it doesn't sound too terrible, especially to someone with a newborn, but her napping is all off too and I'm exhausted. She is too.

She's also been unusually clingy and whiney and needy lately. One day she was toddling around Target like she owned the place, tearing down displays and dragging five Halloween buckets around the aisles, and the next she totally lost it when I put her down in our back yard. She's not eating as well as she used to either. It's like an emotional regression over here.

This popped up about a day before her sleep all went to hell. Thankfully, someone recommended this book to me - The Wonder Weeks. The theory is that all babies go through somewhat predictable mental growth spurts, just as they do physical spurts, when they start to comprehend another level of complexity regarding the world around them. And, these mental leaps forward are preceded by or coincide with behavioral disturbances, as the babies' worlds suddenly become bigger, newer, and more overwhelming. It's written on a fairly simple level but I have noticed Julia's behavioral issues do seem to pop up right about when the book says they should. Basically, I keep it on my shelf, and when she's a bear for a few days in a row, I open it up and sure enough, it's time for the next freaking "Wonder Week."

Anyways, this is my long way of saying, she's been a pain in the butt lately. Fortunately, I'm finally a seasoned enough momma that I know - and can internalize - that it's just a temporary phase. But, we all need some sleep and I'll be really really happy when she comes out of this. I'm trying to be understanding and just roll with this - I busted out my sling for the first time in months - but I'm ready for my big girl to get back here.

Tonight, I followed Weissbluth's suggestions and put her to bed 45 minutes before her usual bedtime. She went right down without a fuss, so we'll see if it helps tomorrow morning. Fingers crossed.

Nine months!

Nine months! NINE MONTHS! Three-quarters of a year! Holy cow.

Well since I didn’t ever type up an 8-month update, I’ve got a lot to catch up on.

Basics: Julia’s on a great schedule for me now. Of course every day is a little different, but generally, this is how things go:

6:15 – Awake, nurse
8:00 – Solid foods breakfast
9:00-10:00 – Morning nap
10:00 – Nurse
12:00 – Solid foods lunch
2:00 – Nurse
2:00-3:00 – Afternoon nap
4:00 – Formula bottle
6:00 – Solid foods dinner
7:30 – Breastmilk bottle
7:45 – Bedtime

There’s a lot of eating going on in there, but never a ton at a time. Even when I offer her formula, meaning she can have as much as she wants, she tends to only eat 3 oz or so at a time. I’d eventually like to consolidate a little bit of it, so there’s less snacking and bigger meals, but she’s always been a grazer, I’m a grazer, and it’s working for us for now.

I was all worried about whether and how to introduce formula to her, but it was easy peasy and it’s awesome for me now. We had a solid foods setback when I switched my approach from spoon-feeding purees to letting her self-feed, and she ended up taking in fewer solid food calories so I made it up to her with a bottle of formula instead of trying to ramp up nursing again. I let her try the formula a few times when she wasn’t especially hungry, and then one day I just gave her a whole bottle of it and she took it no problem. I think it helped that she’s been introduced to such a range of solid food flavors. I think she just figured it was yet another different taste to adjust to, rather than flipping out because it wasn’t the same stuff she was used to getting. I think it tastes nasty myself but if she has no problem with it, neither do I! Anyways, it means I go from her 2:00 nursing to my pumping before my bedtime, so I have this long beautiful stretch where I can have some extra caffeine or a glass of wine and totally not worry about it. Or go run an errand or get a massage without the baby and without stopping to pump. Awesome!

I think we'll keep on with the nursing for now. I'm about ready to give it up, especially the bedtime pumping session. But it's not an inconvenience at all and it's still good for her and free, so I'm planning to keep it up through her first year. But I love that morning session and I plan to keep doing that forever and ever and ever.

Sleep is going okay for us. She’s regressed a little bit, as far as going down easily and staying down, but she’s still generally pretty good, and I hear a regression around this age is normal, so we’re just going to ride it out. A bad day for us is a wake-up in the middle of the night (that requires me going to her to comfort her back to sleep) then two half-hour naps during the day. We’re all pretty frazzled when that happens, but I know our bad days are considered good days by other peoples’ standards so I’m not complaining.

The Good Stuff:

She’s crawling! She’s pulling up! She’s cruising! She’s walking only needing one hand for support! She’s imitating sounds! She’s waving! She’s clapping! So much is happening!

She’s moving like crazy now. She’s not a total pro yet at either crawling or walking, since she’s splitting her time between practicing them both, but she’s getting better every day. She’s nowhere near walking on her own yet, but she can stand alone for a few seconds, and she can cruise pretty confidently when she’s in a familiar environment.

Her language skills are picking up. She’s starting to communicate a little with waving and clapping, and she’s still wiggling at anyone when she wants some attention, including at the dog. I swear she says “Hi” to me when I say “Hi” to her; she does this adorable imitation of my inflection. If any other kids are yelling or making noises near her (or if I’m making random noises at her), she’ll imitate the noises. We’ve been slacking in the sign language department but we need to start picking that up again around the house because I think she’s a lot closer to catching on.

She’s also turned into a VERY opinionated little lady. She’s learning that she can’t always get her way all the time, and she’s definitely not a fan of that concept. To make up for all the times she starts shrieking hysterically because we’re doing something she doesn’t want to do (which, frustratingly, includes every diaper change ever), she enjoys playing with us now and gives us big laughs when she’s happy. She kind of plays peek-a-boo with her favorite blanket, all on her own. She’s also getting a little more lovey. She gives us kisses all the time (open mouth on the face = kiss) and she’ll get cuddly with me once in awhile, especially when she’s tired. It’s way adorable.

She loves:
-riding on Daddy’s shoulders and chasing Mommy around the house
-Scrappy
-Scrappy’s claws, teeth, tongue, and eyes
-playing peek-a-boo
-playing “hide & seek”
-being outside
-the pool
-pulling sunglasses off of peoples’ faces
-plums and berries
-chicken
-her blanket
-new things and new places
-windows and glass doors
-things that make loud noises when you bang on them
-eating paper products

She hates (because there are no simple dislikes any more):
-getting her diaper changed
-getting her clothes changed
-going down for a nap
-things that make loud noises all by themselves
-bathtime (I KNOW!)

She's so big... but still so little!

Waving at Daddy.

Yep, five teeth.

Clapping action!

That hat couldn't stay on forever...

This might be my favorite photo in the bunch.

I think she looks a little bit like me here and it makes my heart happy.

Big girl, standing up!

Melt my heart.

Awwwwwww... laughing at Daddy!

...until she sees Scrappy over there.