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.

Seven months!

I know! Seven months already? But it's true. The tiny tiny baby has gotten so big, and this past month has seen a lot of changes, so here's the update.

First and foremost, she's sleeping all through the night! She goes down about 7:30 and wakes up about 6:30, with ZERO middle of the night feedings. This is awesome. She still wakes up and cries or moans a little about once a night, but I don't even have to get out of bed for that. I just lay there with the monitor and hope and pray that she goes back to sleep, and she does. *grin* (Or I fall back asleep and just don't hear her moaning any longer.) She also naps 2-3 times a day on a fairly regular schedule. It's amazing how freeing it feels to me, to have her on a schedule. Of course it's flexible and it changes a little every day depending on circumstances, but it's so nice to be able to schedule outings and plan out my day and feel like I have a little bit of control over life again.

She's getting much better at eating solid foods. She eats about 4-5 ounces of solids a day, spread out over 3 or 4 feedings. We're still nursing, and while I'd like her to consolidate nursing sessions a little better (she's nursing 6-7 times a day when I think she really could be more efficient and get down to 4-5), we're both still enjoying it and I see no reason to rock the boat. I'm slowly but steadily going through our freezer stash though, so we might try to introduce a formula bottle sometime in the next month. We'll see - as she takes in more solids, I might be able to meet her nutritional needs with my current supply.

As far as personality changes, she's been all over the map this past month. At first she was Ms Crankypants, but that ended after her two bottom teeth broke through and we got through the sleep training. She's been downright delightful lately, laughing and smiling and wiggling and giving us the occasional high-five. She has separation and stranger anxiety, which is a little frustrating but totally normal for this age so I'm rolling with it. She babbles a little, mostly "ma ma," "ba ba," and "fa fa," and mostly when she feels like complaining. She loves investigating everything she can get her hands on, and although she can manipulate small objects pretty well, she's still clumsy with larger things, and I can tell it frustrates her. She's definitely trying to walk; if I hold her steady, she'll take steps across the carpet, but she doesn't have any idea how to pull herself up to sitting or standing. And just in the last few days have I seen her make any progress towards crawling: she is just starting to push up on her hands and knees. But either way, I think the babyproofing needs to happen this next month!

Once in awhile, when she's tired and I'm carrying her around, she'll lay her head on my shoulder for a few seconds and it's the second sweetest thing ever. Because, she always nurses right before she goes down for her morning nap, and she curls up in my lap and shuts her eyes and I stroke her hair and she gets so mellow and relaxed, and it's so lovely that it makes my heart hurt - that's the sweetest thing ever.

She loves:

• horsey rides on Daddy's shoulders
• peek-a-boo
• when Mommy or Daddy crawls around on the floor
• Home Depot
• riding in grocery carts
• dancing with Mommy
• cell phones
• yogurt
• banana flavor
• the music buttons on her exersaucer
• new toys
• Scrappy
• wiggling 
• the contractor who's doing our bathroom
• playing with the baby in the mirror
• having her tummy kissed
• remote controls

She dislikes:

• putting her arms through sleeves
• having her diaper put on
• being cold
• sitting when she can stand
• laying down when she can sit
• that third nap of the day
• any toy that she's played with for five minutes already
• strangers
• cuddling

A few days ago, my awesome friend Sara met Julia and I in a park to take some photos. Although Julia was surly and I'm not sure we got a single smile out of her the entire time, Sara did a fabulous job of capturing the babe - way better than I do with my camera! I love how she caught Julia's bright blue/green starburst eyes in so many of the pictures. Here are a few of my favorites:

So I just noticed I'm wearing the same shirt here as I was in the penguin exhibit, even though these photos were taken exactly one day later. Here's the story: I bought a tank top at J. Crew and it was so exciting because I never get to go to grown-up stores at the mall any more, and I never buy anything for myself at any grown-up stores anymore, so I was pumped about it (plus it was $9.99!). I wore the tank top to the zoo the day after I bought it, and then I washed it that night and figured, "Oh what the heck - who's going to know?" and wore it again the next day. And probably no one would have noticed except I've gone and drawn attention to it and so now the entire internet knows. Don't judge me.
Anyways.

We've been getting this expression a lot lately.

Robert says it looks like she's trying to break the camera with her mind.

Look at the little chompers!

Back

Well, I hate making this comparison, but apparently blogging is like going to the gym... Once you stop going, it gets harder and harder each day to get back into it. Add in a pulled back muscle, two colds, and a bathroom remodel project, and you get zero motivation on my part lately.

But, things are looking up here so I'm going to try to get back into the swing of things. The bathroom remodel is going at a snail's pace, but at least it's moving forward, and I think R and I are both finally somewhat healthy.

But the big news is: Julia is on a daily schedule and sleeping through the night! I hate to even write this because I'm afraid of jinxing things, but this past week I've made a real effort to track her daily pattern and try to mold it into something that we can all live with. And I realized that she was never ever going to get weaned if I didn't start to step things up in the solid foods department. AND I bought Ferber's sleep book and decided it was time for her to sleep all night without needing to eat or be comforted back to sleep. Then I read the entire internet for every single person's opinion on how much sleep a 6.5-month old needs, which drove me crazy until I called my pediatrician and they told me 14 hours a day.

So: She now has a morning nap and an afternoon nap - both at least an hour long and at approximately the same time every day- and an evening catnap, although we still struggle getting that last catnap in. She eats about an ounce of solid food three times a day, with me feeding her with a spoon, although I'm still trying to let her self-feed and play around at dinnertime.

And.... she goes to bed around 7:30 and gets up around 6:30. Sunday night she cried twice in the early morning for a total of about 15 minutes. Monday night she cried once for about 10 minutes, although it was the "OMG I'M DYING" cry and not her usual lazy moaning. Tuesday night she moaned a little and really cried for 5 minutes (I'm not making this up - seriously - I was checking my clock like a maniac during all this crying time and no joke, the time decreased by five minutes every night). And Wednesday night - angels sang and unicorns danced and she slept all night.

I was a wreck Sunday and Monday nights, totally convinced that I was ruining my child, but standing firm turned out to be worth it, and to be honest, I'm still kind of shocked it worked.

I've been SuperMom in a few other areas lately also, but this is plenty long enough for my "jumping back into the water" blog post so I'll wrap up with a few photos.

I wish I weren't stuck up here on the countertop with my toy just out of reach.

I wish Mom would do a better job of getting my food in my mouth.

I wish I had arms.