*measurements taken at your well baby visit on September 5th
Sleeping Pattern:
You are still taking three naps almost every day! You crazy thing. Here is our usual weekday:
6:15 - Wake up
8:00-9:00 a.m.- First nap
12:30-1:45 p.m. - Second nap
5:45 - 6:15 - Third nap
Eating Habits:
You are still nursing three times a day and eating meals three times a day, with an afternoon snack of yogurt added in. I’m trying to get you to try more finger foods, but you usually make a face and spit the food out unless it’s cheerios, bread, or puff snacks. You do like shredded cheese, but not small cubes - so funny.
Personality, etc.:
You have been a very sweet and smiley girl lately. You are starting to babble a lot more and I can tell that you really think you are communicating. It’s so cute! You still don’t like to be alone, and I guess I can’t blame you.
Accomplishments & Habits:
You have started clapping this month. It's super cute too, because you always have a great big smile on your face when you do it! You also started saying "Daddy" this month, but I'm not sure you mean it. You have said it several times, but you are usually babbling when you do, so it may just be one of your sounds and not a real "word" to you yet.
Weight: approximately 16 ½ pounds (but my methods of acquiring this information are not very accurate)
Head circumference:(no measurement taken)
Sleeping Pattern:
Your sleeping is about the same as it was last month. Now that Penny has started school I have to get you up early. I usually wake you up at 6:30 on school days and you are back down for your morning nap around 8:30 or 9:00. Your second nap is usually between 1:00 and 2:00 and both of your naps last anywhere from one to two hours. If they are both short, you often end up taking one more half-hour nap around 6:00 even though you go to bed around 7:30 or 8:00. I wish we had a more scheduled routine, but that’s just not your thing.
Eating Habits:
By the end of the month you were nursing three times a day and eating three meals a day. You have started self-feeding with finger foods - Cheerios, small pieces of bread, puff snacks. I started serving you meals with pureed chicken this month and you love the savory foods! You also started having just a tiny bit of whole milk with your baby cereal and you are also enjoying yogurt most days. Yum!
Personality, etc.:
You are still hard to figure out sometimes. You are sweet and happy a lot, but there are still times where you are clingy or unhappy and I just can’t figure out why. We will have a week or two where you aren’t very fussy but then when your teeth start bothering you, you fuss a lot!
You adore your big sister. You think she is hilarious and she loves to entertain you.
Accomplishments & Habits:
You are babbling a little bit more now. Your sounds include dada, buh-buh, vuh-vuh, gaga, a raspy “k” sound, a raspy “f” sound. I am still waiting for you to say “mama!”
You still don’t crawl or even move from your tummy to a sitting position. You are just so content to stay put! You do roll around some to get something that is out of your reach. You are getting better at standing when supported and you think doing that is awesome - you always smile and make so many happy noises when I hold you in a standing position.
Anything else:
You now recognize the word “no.” If you are doing something you aren’t supposed to do, I can say “no” and you stop and frown or cry. It hurts your feelings so much! But it has also helped you start learning some rules. Daddy and I have practiced with you and you now know not to touch your bowl and food while we are feeding you and not to take off your bib during meal time. We are still teaching you not to touch phones and remote controls - all babies love those things!
Photos:
I didn't do a great job of taking many photos this month and I'm sorry for that! It was a really big month for your sister - she turned four, she got saved (!!!) and she started school. I am ashamed to say that most of the photos I took this month were of her. So sorry about that! (Most of the photos below were taken with my phone, so they aren't very great, but they are what I have.)
Weight: approximately 15 ½ pounds (but my methods of acquiring this information are not very accurate)
Head circumference: (no measurement this month)
(*measurements taken by mommy at home on 7/10*)
Sleeping Pattern: You are still in a great routine! You wake up a little before 7:00 most days and take two naps each day. I still never know if you’ll nap for 45 minutes or 2 hours. Usually it’s closer to an hour. You are sleeping about 11 hours each night.
Eating Habits: You still nurse four times a day and eat three meals a day. Towards the end of this month you went through a phase where you almost couldn’t get enough food! Perhaps it was a growth spurt - but you’re still so tiny!
Personality, etc.: You are the sweetest baby in the universe! It’s like you turned 7 months old, got a couple of teeth, and decided not to be fussy anymore - yay! You smile all the time and you make the funniest screaming squealing sounds when you’re excited. When we take you to a restaurant you usually make loud happy noises. It’s funny - we used to worry that we were bothering those around us because you were fussing so loudly; now we worry that we’re bothering others because your happy squeals are so loud!
At home, you are almost always content to just sit on your blanket and play with your little box of toys. You adore your big sister and smile and babble to her a lot. And you are definitely a Daddy’s girl. You prefer your daddy over me most days. It’s really sweet!
One thing that I have noticed that is really strange and kind of funny is that you don’t like to hear adults laugh. Any time your daddy or I laugh loudly, you get startled and then cry! For a long time we have joked with Uncle Jacob about how you don’t like him, but now I am starting to think it’s because he laughs a lot and you just don’t like to hear him laugh! The strange thing is, Penny laughs very loudly around you all the time and you usually giggle back at her. So apparently, it’s just adult laughs that you don’t like. So funny!
Accomplishments & Habits: Your newest babble is “buh-buh-buh” and it’s very cute. You are very sturdy when sitting up and you can now lie down from a sitting position without just falling over and bumping your head, so that’s nice.
You got your first two teeth this month! Your first one came in on 7/12 and the second one showed up a day later on 7/13.
Now that you sit up so well, we no longer have to bring the car seat inside when we are out and about. You can sit up in your stroller, in a shopping cart, and in a high chair at restaurants. This makes me so happy! Neither of us enjoyed it when you had to go everywhere in that car seat. I really think this was the last milestone you needed to meet in order to become the happy baby you are. You hated being stuffed into that seat and you love being free from it! You don’t fuss in the car anymore either, perhaps because you know that you won’t be stuck in that seat for very long.
Anything else: Apparently I was just being paranoid about your hemangioma growing once we stopped your medication. It hasn’t changed at all and if I had not known it was there I wouldn’t be able to tell. You are beautiful! I am so glad we had a doctor who was willing to let us try the newest treatment for that. We were able to avoid a lot of grief because of this easy and early treatment!
This month we went on a very short “family vacation.” It was just one night in Kansas City. (We were afraid to try anything longer with you!) You did great! I think the drive was about four and a half hours and you did cry for 30-40 minutes on the way there and again on the way home. But that was really better than we thought you would do! We stayed at a hotel that had an indoor water park and you really loved sitting in the little kid pool and splashing in the water! We also went to the Kansas City zoo and you did so great in your stroller! One thing that makes grips like this hard with you is that you don’t nap well anywhere other than your bed. So when we are out and about all day, you don’t sleep much, if at all, and that can get interesting. But overall, the trip was a success and you were a very good girl!
Photos:
July 1 - Seven months old!
July 2 - You love to make a mess with your food!
July 2 - With Grams at our church celebration
And so excited to give Uncle Caleb some kisses!
July 3 - We stopped to feed you lunch on our way to Kansas City.
And then again to calm you down after a screaming fit. :)
Ready for swimming at the hotel!
July 4 - Kansas City Zoo with the best daddy in the world!
And later we headed back for more swimming before driving home.
July 7 - A tea party with your favorite people
July 7 - Uncle Jacob took some great pictures!
July 15 - At the playground
July 20
July 21
July 22 - Hanging out with Great Grandma Dorothy
And with Pops later that evening.
July 25 - Enjoying Bible story time with Daddy and Penny before bed
July 26 - A big girl bath!
July 28 - Trying to keep up with the big girls
You did so great at the splash pad! Your cousin, on the other hand, wasn't impressed.
July 30 - I can't believe you're big enough for a sippy cup already.
(*measurements taken at 6 month checkup on 6/2/2014*)
Sleeping Pattern:
We are finally getting into a routine, a real routine. By the end of this month, you were taking two regular naps each day, each one anywhere from 45 minutes to 2 hours, but usually closer to an hour or an hour and a half. Your sleeping schedule looks something like this:
- 7:30 a.m. --- wake up
- 9:00-10:30 a.m. --- morning nap
- 1:30 - 3:00 p.m. ---afternoon nap
- 8:30 p.m. --- bedtime
Eating Habits:
You nurse four times a day and eat 3 meals a day. By the end of the month, this was our general routine.
- 7:30 a.m. --- nurse
- 8:15 a.m. --- eat 3 tablespoons of cereal mixed with formula and sometimes fruit
- 11:00 a.m. --- nurse and then eat 4 ounces of homemade baby food, fruits and/or vegetables
- 3:00 p.m. --- nurse
- 5:00 p.m. --- eat 4 ounces of baby food followed by 2-3 tablespoons of cereal made with water or formula
- 7:30 p.m. --- nurse
Personality, etc.:
You are becoming more and more fun! You LOVE your big sister and smile at her all the time! And you really love your daddy. There are a lot of times that you are fussy with me and then as soon as your daddy takes you from me you calm down. When he is not at work he is usually the one to put you to bed for naps or bedtime because you go to sleep better for him than for me. You are enjoying playing with toys and you love looking out the window or being outside. Sometimes when you are fussy, going outside is the only thing that calms you down. We finally got your little swing hung on the swingset and you love to be pushed in it. Also, we have gone to the pool a few times and you love being in the water. . . as long as I'm holding you. :)
Accomplishments & Habits:
This month you started putting your toes in your mouth (6/13) and then you finally rolled from your back to your tummy on 6/14 - yay! I watched you do it for the very first time in the morning (and instantly ran outside to where your daddy was working and told him about it) and then you just kept doing it for the rest of the day! A few days later (6/17) you sat up for longer than 30 seconds - it was your first time to really sit up on your own without falling over just a few seconds later. By the end of the month you were sitting up like a pro. This month you have also started shaking and banging your toys more deliberately and holding your toys for 5-10 minutes instead of dropping them within a minute or two. Of course, now that you’ve mastered holding onto them, you have decided it’s really fun to throw them too. :)
Anything else:
You are finally off the Propranalol - the medication you were taking twice daily for your nasal tip hemangioma. I’m a little nervous that it’s starting to become more noticeable, but we will wait a few more weeks and be sure before talking to the doctor about going back on the meds. It may just be that I’m paranoid.
Photos:
June 3 - You love food!
Matching sunnies!
June 7 - At Zuri's birthday party
June 12 - tickle tickle!
June 18 - Your first visit to the pool - you loved it!
June 19 - You make this silly face a lot and I LOVE it!
