Month Eight

4.12.2016


Wearing: Size 2 diapers // 3-6 months clothes (just in the last week I have started switching in the 6-9 month sizes)

This month’s highlights include rolling, stranger anxiety, and being sick.
 
R rolled over a dozen or so times last month for the first time, but now she’s rolling, rolling all over the place. She likes sleeping on her side or stomach now, and it’s the cutest thing you’ve ever seen.

She pretty much doesn’t need any support while sitting, and she’s really strong standing on her legs. She hasn’t shown much interest in crawling yet. We can tell she wants to move, but she doesn’t actually care enough to try it. She will stretch out on her stomach and reach as far as she can for a toy, but eventually she moves on to something else. Silly girl.
This month R has started showing a bit of stranger anxiety just toward certain people. She will actually lean forward and reach her arms out for me, and it melts me, you guys. I love it.
On Easter morning, we took her to the 24-hour medical center. Her neck was swollen and she wouldn’t turn her head or even her eyes to look at us. She wasn’t talking or moving at all, and it freaked us out. She had been acting sick the day before, so I called our pediatrician, but on Sunday we just went ahead and took her to the doctor. 

Turns out, she had strep! She also had thrush, and both can cause your throat to swell and hurt, which is why she wasn’t moving her head. It was the saddest thing. She also had a terrible diaper rash from the trush (which can cause a yeast infection), so we were using three different creams on her bottom plus alternating giving her medicine for the strep and the thrush. On top of that she has horribly congested and we kept having to suck her snot out. Needless to say, we did not have a good few days. Having a sick baby is the absolute worst

 Thankfully she is better now, and we all dressed up for Easter the next week. R was clearly very excited about Jesus raising from the dead.
She is either nursing or taking a bottle 5x a day. I cut her down from 6 to 5 feedings around the beginning of the month because I felt like she needed to, and it’s been going well! Approximate eating times: 6:30/9:30/12:30/3:30/7:00.

She is also eating purees 2-3x a day, always at daycare for breakfast and at home for dinner, and sometimes she will eat a snack at daycare. We do also give her food off our plates sometimes.
I’m still breastfeeding/pumping exclusively, and I am on the struggle bus with pumping. Nearly every day I tell Jordan I’m not sure how much longer I can make it. But that’s another post for another day. For now I’ll keep doing my best! I am thankful to have made it eight months so far!

Minus the week she was sick, sleeping has been so much better this month! She will typically go to bed around 7:30 and sleep until the morning, anywhere from 5:00 to 6:30. Sometimes she will wake up during the night crying, but we try to give her a minute or two and see if she will go back to sleep on her own before running in there, and for the most part she’s good about self-soothing. Sometimes we go pop her paci back in, and she’s out. And I usually wake up a few times just to go check on her. I don’t set an alarm or anything, but it’s not uncommon for me to have a dream that involves her falling or crying or something, and I will wake up at that point and go check in the nursery. Mom problems.
Finally, something truly terrible happened this month: she learned to pull her hair bows off her head and eat them. This is not a first-world problem this is a serious problem! Okay, it's a first-world problem but still. Excuse me while I go wipe my tears. I'm not bitter or anything. Promise.

But even though she eats her expensive bows, we still love her to pieces. R is so cute and so fun, and I love spending time with her. I thank God every single day for her life and feel so blessed and so thankful that he gave her to us.

Sara said...

What a cutie! I will be so sad when Allie starts pulling her bows off her head.

Katie @ Live Half Full said...

Are you making your own food or buying? I would love to hear more on that! :)

Veronica Lee Burns said...

Oh my gracious, she is just precious and beautiful!

The Lady Okie said...

I'm making her food! It's going great!

Michelle said...

RIP bows! Same thing here. On Sunday we were on the way to visit some friends and I looked back in the car to see she had pulled her bow out, untied the bow, and was eating it. I was NOT amused. She also learned how to pull her ponytails out this week. Ugh. Way to go on cutting down one of R's feedings! G just can't give up any of the nursing and I'm starting to lose my mind.

Sarah Smith said...

Ugh, I'm so sorry R was sick this month. That sounds like it was the worst for all three of you! Glad she's better. She is adorable and so similar in personality to P! Happy 8 months!!

The Girl who Loved to Write said...

This probably sounds weird because I don't know you guys in real life, but when I saw that first picture, I thought HOLY GOODNESS SHE LOOKS JUST LIKE JORDAN. Or at least the pictures you've posted of him. Is this creepy? I'll stop now. Also, Jack has decided he doesn't really care for boobs at the moment, so I'm riding the pumping crazy train with you. Send help.

Leslie Lukens Martin said...

Sweet, sweet baby girl! In several of these pics, I think she's looking more and more like you! I especially love the {belated} Easter family pic...so precious. I'm right there with you on the pumping front. I want to quit so bad, but "mom-guilt" keeps me attached to that annoying pump!

Andrea H. said...

These are all such adorable photos!! You can really start to see her personality!! So sorry to hear about the sickness on Easter. Sounds absolutely terrifying/horrible!! Ironically, we spent Easter morning at an emergency care center as well. But all is well on our end now, too! :)

This One Italian Girl... said...

She is just the cutest little thing. You are one lucky Mom to have such a good baby. Thanks for sharing all the cute photos!

pdot95 said...

She is adorable! Glad she's feeling better and sleeps so well for you!

Amy said...

booooooooo to stranger anxiety :( :(
ALSO - eating her hairbows ;) bless. her. heart. hahaha

Erin LFF said...

Aww poor sick baby and poor momma! So glad you guys made it through that rough combination of things, yikes! Your Easter picture is awesome though :)

Amy @ A Desert Girl said...

How sad that she's learned to pull her pretty bows off. Hopefully that's just a short phase. Her short rebellious phase. ;-)

Kayla MKOY said...

She is SO cute!!! I love that she's leaning forward and reaching for you!

Jenny Evans said...

Gah, pumping! It's so hard! I commend you for even sticking with it for 8 months. It takes forever and then after that you still have to actually do the feeding and THEN clean the bottles!

Beka @ Sunshine to the Square Inch said...

I just love these updates!

Why oh why does she tear her bows off? So sad! She is just probably mad you aren't wearing a matching one ;)

I'm glad she is doing well, other than the bout with sickness! It's hard to believe she is 8 months old!

Anna said...

That sounds like the worst weekend. I hope she's all better and never ever gets sick again! (We can dream, right?)

High five for dropping a feed! Hopefully it was a pumping one, too, to simplify life. It won't be too long until you can drop pumping altogether and switch to milk! It's always so bittersweet when they nurse less. Except P's taken to pinching me, so some days are sweeter than others.

What is she eating in that picture? It looks like the Chilean seaweed someone gave us to help with teething but my guess is something way more normal.

Julie @ Just the Joy's said...

She is such a doll. Looks like such a happy baby! I hated when Rem started taking her bows out too. I think Michael taught her to do that. Ha!

Kristen @ See You In A Porridge said...

oh my goodness, poor thing! i can't imagine how scary/sad it was when she was sick. i think it's so adorable when babies pull things off their heads or faces, though i imagine as a parent it's not as adorable haha. that easter photo is the best.

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