Ava: 8 Months

I didn't mean for this blog to turn into just Ava's monthly updates. I do have other things I want to talk to you about, so maybe I'll find the time one day!

Eating: She's still nursing in the morning and evening, but we had to start giving her formula at daycare. She's now eating three meals of solids a day, two at daycare and one in the evening at home. In the evening she also gets finger foods of some sort, like puffs, banana, or watermelon. And she figured out the sippy cup this month and has gotten pretty good at it (we've just been putting water in it for now).

Sleep: We went through a patch where she was waking up too early, and was waking up earlier and earlier every day. It started with 5:45, then 5:30 then 5:15. She was obviously not done sleeping because she'd either fall back to sleep nursing or be up for an hour and then be ready for a nap. Finally she woke up at 4:30 and we let her cry it out (not fun at 4am!). We had some inconsistent sleeping due to travel too, but after a few nights of letting her fuss I think we're back on track. This week she's slept straight through from 7pm until 6 or 6:30am. (fingers crossed, knock on wood, please don't jinx us)

Illness: Good news on the ears front (again, knock on wood). By the time we saw the ENT, her ears weren't infected any more, just a little bit of fluid. And she hasn't been sick lately, so hopefully they won't get reinfected. We have a recheck with the ENT in a few weeks and hopefully the fluid will be gone by then and we'll be in the clear. I did take her to the doc once for her eczema. When she started on formula it really flared up, so we're still trying to figure out which formula to use. We started out with a regular one (Similac Advance) but I suspected a cow's milk allergy because she broke out around her mouth and her eczema on her belly and under her chin got really bad. We switched to Nutramigen (non-cow's milk hypoallergenic formula) and used a steroid cream the doctor prescribed and it cleared right up. I'm still not sure if she really needs to be on Nutramigen (it's stinky and expensive, so I'd prefer her not to be) so I'm trying to experiment to see if that's what caused the eczema or if it was something else going on or just coincidence.

Activity: This month we went to the park and swung for the first time, which she loved. I finally bit the bullet and started bathing her in the big tub. (She was taking baths in the infant tub inside the big tub.) She loooooves it and loves playing with her bath toys. We've gotten good at taking her to restaurants now with her sitting in the high chair. For the most part she's content to watch people come and go, munch on crackers and drop her toys on the floor.

Milestones: She finally mastered rolling from back to belly, so now she can roll to get to where she wants to go. She got her first boo boo at daycare after rolling herself into the bookcase there. We've found her on her belly in her crib a few times in the morning, but she still much prefers to sleep on her back. When we took a little family vacation to the beach last weekend we had fun watching her scoot around on her belly, although she can only really go backwards. She backed herself halfway down the hall at one point. And she's finally growing some hair, even though it's hard to see in pics. It's fine and light (who would've ever thought I'd have a blonde haired, blue eyed baby?) but filling in all over. Also, she pooped in the tub for the first time. That's a milestone, right?

She really is the sweetest. I'm having a harder and harder time coming up with "dislikes" every month. On this, my first Mother's Day, I couldn't be any more thankful to be her mama.

Swinging for the first time:



Going for a stroll at school:



Think this baby is doted on?




Enjoying a pancake at IHOP:



First time in the big tub:



Can you find the baby? (also, what happens to your house after you have a baby):



Close up:



Lashes for days:



Tupperware cabinet = hours of entertainment:



First trip to the beach:



Beaufort waterfront:



Lunch in Morehead City:



Trying out Granny's wig:



Blanket full of toys, and she wants Daddy's shoe:



First watermelon!



And you know I love my readers (or maybe just my baby's laugh?) when I'm willing to post a video of myself singing:

Ava: 7 Months

I can't get over how grown Ava looks in this month's picture. Also, babies in shorts? Cutest thing ever.

Clothing: mostly 12m and either 6-12m or 12-18m. Still in size 3 diapers.

Eating: She's getting better and better at eating solids and is seeming to enjoy it more. We've started some "finger foods" or baby-led weaning foods like banana and avocado. She mostly mushes them around and makes a mess but she does manage to eat some too. She also loves cantaloupe in the silicone feeder. And we just started giving her crackers (well, baby rice cakes and mum mums) and she loves those as well. We've started to introduce a sippy cup (with water or juice mixed with water) but she hasn't quite got the hang of it yet. She's still nursing in the morning and evening and getting 3 bottles of breastmilk at daycare, but I think we'll need to start supplementing with formula soon as I'm having a harder and harder time pumping what she needs and the freezer stash is quickly dwindling.

Sleep: Finally sleeping through the night! Well, sort of. We had gotten into a really good rhythm where she was sleeping through the night pretty consistently, but hit a bump in the road with sickness/ear infections. I think (hope and pray) we're on the upswing again though. We do bathtime/bedtime routine at 7:00, she's asleep by 7:30 and usually wakes up around 6:00 or 6:30. Naps are still pretty inconsistent (especially at daycare) although she's now taking a longer hour to hour and a half nap most days with a shorter nap, instead of several short 30 or 45-minute naps.

Illness: She still can't shake this ear infection, so we're likely on the path to tubes. We tried our third oral antibiotic this month with no luck. We have a consult with an ENT next week, but in the meantime she's on a strong antibiotic called Rocephin to try and get her comfortable until we can get the tubes in and hopefully get her some relief. Rocephin is in shot form, and she had to get one shot a day for three days (yesterday was our last day) so that has not been fun. She still hasn't gotten her 6 month vaccinations because we haven't been able to get her well enough. Hopefully next week though.

Activity: This month she likes playing with blocks, filling and dumping out containers, and grabbing/crinkling/ripping/eating paper of any sort. And with the nice weather we've been spending a lot of time outside, which she loves. We had the sweetest Sunday afternoon just laying on a blanket in the yard playing and relaxing.

Milestones: She's really started talking and babbling this month. A few times we've sworn it sounds like she's saying her name: "a-VA!" And there have been some da-da's but I don't think they were in context (although Lee might tell you differently). She's getting better at bearing more weight on her legs and standing but still much prefers to sit, which she does like a champ. And she's finally figured out how to roll from tummy to back. She rolled for the first time months ago but it was more of an accident and she never really got the hang of it. Now she's rolling consistently from front to back and although she hasn't fully gone from back to front she's getting really close. She's nowhere near crawling (her short chunky legs won't even allow her to get on all fours yet) and our laid back baby seems pretty content right now to stay put.

And now for pictures!

Trying out her new sunnies:



Loves avocado as much as her mama:



Picking out shrubs at the farmer's market on a cold Saturday morning:



This flower is too ridiculous not to put on her head:



Meeting the Easter bunny:



Cousin love:



Helping daddy plant the garden:



Sugar wanted to join:



Fun outside:



Heading home from daycare:



We love this sweet, sweet girl so much. She's such a light in our lives and we're so thankful to have her!

Ava: 6 Months

I'm over a week late this month. That's probably because I'm in denial that I now have a 6 month old. Here we go...

Clothing: Mostly 9m and 6-12m. We'll likely need to move from 9m to 12m soon. Still in size 3 diapers.

Eating: She's taking in the same amount of milk as last month, but we've increased to two solids "meals" per day -- once in the morning at daycare and once in the evening at home. She's getting better and better at eating from the spoon, but she still doesn't seem to love solids. We've only done purees at this point -- sweet potatoes, peas, carrots, bananas, pears and apples. Sometimes I mix them with rice cereal to give them a little more substance and give her some iron. She's seemed to like the pears and apples the best so far. Looking forward to trying to add in some "finger foods" soon.

Sleep: Still getting up once in the night to eat. I know it could be much worse, but I'm going to try my best to wean that feed this month because I know (and the pediatrician confirmed) that she doesn't need it. She has an off night here or there where she's up multiple times and needs comforting, but overall things are much better than a month or two ago.

Illness: We haven't had as much luck in this arena. She's had a bit of a cold/runny nose/congestion almost all month, which led to her first ear infection. We did amoxicillin for 10 days and assumed it got better. Then I took her in last week for an eye infection and the ear infection was still there. So now we're on a 10-day course of a different antibiotic. The eye infection is gone, but not the ear infection, so she didn't get her shots at her 6 month checkup this week. We go back in two weeks to follow up on the ear infection and (hopefully) get her shots. The cold and runny nose is finally gone now though, so I'm hoping that will help the ear clear up.

Activity: She's actually jumping in the jumperoo now, instead of just standing in it, and she can really go to town. She loves playing with her feet, pulling her socks off, and can now get her feet in her mouth (her big Buddha belly prevented that for a while). We read books together, but she's usually more interested in eating them (and she helps me turn the pages). She can sit unassisted for a few minutes now, but I have to be right there with her or she'll bonk her head. I usually sit her on the floor with the Boppy surrounding her and lots of toys to reach for and she'll be entertained for a good 10-20 minutes. Her new favorite: measuring cups/spoons and the SPATULA! I think she loves chewing on the soft silicone.

Milestones: She is so alert these days, watching everything that's going on very intently and reaching out for everything. We've started letting her ride shotgun in the shopping cart and holding her on our laps at restaurants (instead of staying in the infant carrier) and she loves looking around and reaching for anything dangerous she can find (hot plates, glasses of water, knives). She can pass objects from hand to hand and generally has pretty good hand-eye coordination. And she's really started being more vocal this month. Lots of oohs and ahhs, starting to throw in some ga's and ba's, squealing and just generally testing out her voice.

I know I say this every month, but she's just the sweetest. We are blessed by her every day and I can't wait to see what the next six months brings us (although I can't bear to start thinking first birthday thoughts just yet).

And now, some pics from this month.

 Dressed up for Valentine's Day:



Consignment shopping:



One of my favorite outfits:



First time in the shopping cart (I promise she was happier about it than she looks):



Trying out hats for summer:



Celebrating being six months:



And passed out at dinner:



Her friend Harper greets her every morning at school:



Saturday morning snuggles:



Ready for the Duke game (even if the Heels weren't):



Spatula!



And helping Daddy celebrate his birthday:

Ava: 5 Months

Ava is 5 months old! (Well, she was last Thursday.) No official check-up this month, but from my best guess this little chunker is weighing in right at 18 lbs. No clue on length.

Clothing: A mixture of 6m, 9m and 6-12m. And we moved up to size 3 diapers this month.

Eating: I upped two of her daycare bottles, so now she's taking two 5-oz. bottles and a 4-oz. bottle, plus nursing in the morning, evening and usually once overnight. And, we started solids this month! We started out with rice cereal mixed with breastmilk and she did ok, although we're still getting the hang of it (I have to be careful to make sure she's not tired, too full or too hungry or it doesn't go so well). We made a batch of homemade sweet potatoes this weekend and she seemed to like those. She's just getting one meal a day at this point (in the evening) and it's hard to say exactly how much she's actually eating, but probably only a tablespoon or two.

Sleep: Still working on it, but it's gotten much better. We started sleep training at 4.5 months and while it was ROUGH at first, we saw results really quickly. She was pretty consistently sleeping 7p - 6:30a with one dream feed around 9:30 and an overnight feed at 1:30. I think a little bit of a cold has thrown her off though, because the past week or so hasn't been as consistent, with some 3 or 4am wake-ups thrown in there. Naps are still all over the place. An hour here, 30 minutes there, with no real predictable pattern.

Illness: She's had an occasional stuffy/runny nose here and there, but thankfully nothing else to report! (Spoiler alert: we've already started out month 6 not being so lucky.)

Activity: She's still liking her jumperoo, playmat, and good ol' laying on the floor with toys. She found her feet this month and loves playing with them. Grabbing her feet has allowed her to start rolling over onto her side, but she hasn't rolled completely from back to belly yet. (I think homegirl is just not a fan of rolling in general and may just skip that phase.) Still doesn't like tummy time, but is doing really well at it and will tolerate it for pretty long spans of time (especially when she's being entertained by mommy dancing, being silly or blow-drying her hair). We also put her in her high chair a lot with some toys on her tray so she can watch us make dinner or clean the kitchen. We've started using the big stroller for walks now and I think she likes facing out and being able to see everything. She's not a big talker/babbler at this point. She'll give us some oohs and ahhs, but not too many consonant sounds yet. And she went through a phase where all she wanted to do was growl. It was cute and somewhat disturbing at the same time!

Milestones: Just in the past week, she's started being able to sit up. Not for long and of course she needs close supervision, but she's getting pretty good at the "tripod" position. And I swear she's waved a couple of times. Could be total coincidence, but when I walk into the room and she raises her little hand, I have to assume she's waving at me, right?! She's also started reaching up and touching my face, while I'm nursing, rocking or holding her. That little hand on my cheek is the sweetest. thing. ever.

She really is a sweet baby -- happy, smiley, and content. Daycare always comments on how good of a baby she is.

And now, some pics and videos from month 5.

Baby laugh montage! (Please try to tune out my weird 'heh heh' sounds. That's the only way I can get her to laugh for the camera.)



First forays into solids. This happy/unsure/unhappy rotation is generally how it goes:









Tummy time:



Play time in the high chair. She hates when I put these wrist rattles on her, but I love watching her figure out how to get them off!



In the big stroller:



Sitting like a big girl:





Love this lump of sugar!