Monday, September 29, 2014

Six Months Old!

Blaire - 6 Months Old
This month your height is 26inches and your weight is ~16lbs

Your sleeping patterns are...
Boy are you lucky you're so cute! ;) This month has been a rough one for the sleep department. It seems we struggled right around 4 months, then recovered for a few weeks...but I would say it's been about 4-6 weeks of a real struggle at night. Maybe we're paying our dues now since she started out as a good sleeper from the beginning?! In all honesty - I have spent hours upon hours and days and days trying to figure out a solution to this. Part of me says it's just you being a baby and this shall pass...but then the part of me that has been going through this for almost a month now when you used to sleep up to 13 hours a night just says there's something going on. We are borderline on board to try the Cry it Out method; but we're not there just quite yet. This is what your schedule looks like: 2, maybe 3 naps during the day. They are getting shorter and shorter, somewhere around 45-75 minutes each (they used to be 2-two hour ones). Then, because you're so tired when we get you home from school, we usually start the bedtime routine around 6/6:30pm and are giving you your last bottle around then and you PASS OUT during (which we are trying so hard to not let happen...to no avail.). It never fails, you will then wake up sometime between 9-11pm. We've tried just keeping you up to see if a later bedtime is better for you, but then you just push back that first wake up to about 12-1am. Luckily now, if we feed you, you'll go back to sleep. There were 2 weeks where there was no going back to sleep. You will then wake up again sometime between 2-5am, again, "wanting to eat". We're struggling because we don't think she should be hungry and therefore don't want to feed her just for comfort, BUT, we know it will get you back to sleep now. (My oh my what you'll do for a little sleep.) Then most mornings you will wake up or we will wake you up around 7am. Sheesh! How's that for complicated? We've tried feeding her different things at different times...propping up her mattress...naps at different times of the day... but nothing seems to be changing this pattern. So in a nutshell: naps are short and you wake up once or twice a night to eat. HELP! ;)

Your feeding schedule is... You take ~8oz four times a day. We slowly introduced rice cereal and you'll take it once in the morning and maybe once in the evening. Other baby food begins this week! I hear mixed reviews: some people say eating baby food will help her stay fuller longer and therefore help with sleeping; some people say baby food does no such thing and the most of their nutrition should be coming from the milk and the baby food is just extra. We go in for Blaire's well visit this week so we hope to get more feedback from the doctor. We thought maybe just maybe her nighttime waking could be attributed to something in my diet so we tried her on 5 days straight of a hypoallergenic formula - which was her first time with anything other than breast milk - and it helped her sleep for a day and then she went right back to her old pattern. So now we are back to breast milk and 1 bottle a day of the formula.

Some sounds and motions you make are... "Da da da!" Does that count as her first word?! ;) Blaire loves talking and LAUGHING! She laughs at everything and thinks Mom and Dad are just the funniest. Her little laugh cracks us up every single time and we love hearing nothing more! You roll non-stop and are definitely becoming a little more mobile. You also officially sit up on your own now and it is AWESOME! She is really able to play more with toys and watch things around her now that she's sitting up like a big girl.

Your likes and dislikes are... You love so much. Anyone that will give you eye contact or make a funny face at you, you continue to love. You love kicking in the bath during bath time, playing with all your friends at Primrose (and you LOVE it when Mom or Dad picks you up from school! Laughter ensues for about 10 minutes straight), and riding in your baby bjorn. You dislike, as usual, being hungry and changing into your PJs at night.

Your favorite toys and games are... You love your excersaucer of course, and all your news toys that you are able to sit up and play with. You love all your friends at Primrose - but it's hard to believe that she is now the oldest one in her "class" and they have all moved into the next room! You are soon to follow.

By the end of the month you are learning to... So we have mastered rolling and have learned to sit up. What's next?! Don't tell me it's crawling...pleeeeeeease have that be a few months away! ;)  

 

6 Months old truly is a great age. Here are some of our visitors and happenings over the last month!


Aunt Abby was here!!! We love her too much and were so happy we got to see her.

 
Mama loves getting these! These are for when Blaire's had an *extra* good day at school!


When I learned that Blaire could sit up for the first time! I knew she had been working on it and almost there, so when we were at the doctor's office and I looked down and saw this - I was SO happy she held it long enough for me to get a picture!


 
LOVING bath time. :)

 
Aunt Ashley teaching me things, as usual. Thank goodness for Aunts that are teachers!

 
Mama's girl.


At the lake staying with Grandma!
 

Our favorite PJs...that are now way too small but I can't find any like them!

 
Sitting up ready to eat!

 
Shopping 'till we drop with Aunt Katie. Good times are had in the Baby Bjorn!


Loved getting to see Travis, Jessie and baby Nolan!
 


First time meeting didn't go as well as planned...but soon enough. :)
 


Got a great little visit in with The Gardners!
 

Jojo!!!!
 
 
Kristin came to see us!!!


On Blaire's 5 month "birthday"
 

Aunt Shanny! We miss her like crazy!
 
 
Talks with Grandpa. :)



 
First time with rice cereal! Honey is a master feeder. :)

 
Snuggling with Aunt Katie



Baby's first Aggie football game!
 








Saturdays with Aunt Ashley are our favorite!
 
 
My talks with Mimi are the best. She teaches me so much!

 

Tuesday, September 2, 2014

Five Months Old!

Blaire - 5 Months Old
This month your height is 25inches and your weight is ?

Your sleeping patterns are...
Pretty great! Blaire's normal bedtime pattern is about 8:30pm-6:30am. Every once in awhile we can get her to sleep in until 7/7:30am, but we have learned that putting her to bed later does NOT necessarily make for a later wake time. :) She usually takes 2, 2+ hour naps OR 3-4, 1 hour naps. We are not in a set schedule yet which is good that we can be sort of flexible...but I am patiently awaiting the day I know EXACTLY what time she will need to eat and sleep. I believe once we start solids next month we will get there.

Your feeding schedule is... Continues to be every 3-4 hours - nursed or given a bottle of breast milk at school. She is up to 8oz in the bottle and she sucks it down so we're about to increase. This girl can EAT! We love it. She is still exclusively on breast milk but rice cereal will come this month to hopefully add a few calories and a few more rolls to her bod. ;)

Some sounds and motions you make are... We have a rapper on our hands! ;) Blaire loves to purse her lips together and make sounds that sound just like a rapper might make. She also gurgles (not sure what exactly she's gurgling!) when she's on her back and loves to blow with her lips together too. Blaire gets SO excited when you make faces at her and has her mouth open with a huge smile about 95% of the time!

Your likes and dislikes are... I love that I can still say you have a ton of likes and few dislikes these days! You love, love, LOVE watching other people and observing what's going on. You love it when people make funny faces at you. You think Mom and Dad are hysterical and you laugh all the time. You like being fed all the time - you dislike ever being hungry! ;) You love being at "school" and playing with all the super fun toys and excersaucers there.


Your favorite toys and games are... Still loving the excersaucer at Primrose! That is probably her favorite "toy", and her favorite "game" is probably still Peek-A-boo (not sure how many other "games" we play with her?!) You are a funny, funny girl and love to laugh and giggle.

By the end of the month you are learning to... You are SO close to rolling over from front to back...almost there! You are on your way to sitting up as well. We practice all the time - but I'm sure when the day gets here I will curse myself for wanting you to be more mobile! ;) You also started sleeping in your big girl crib in your big girl room all by yourself! That's a pretty big milestone and it has gone pretty well from Day 1.  
 
This is a wonderful age and we have had a blast with baby girl over the last month. Here are some special memories!!










 
Baby's first time going out in the B'jorn!


 
Grocery shopping with Mimi and Grandpa :)



Shopping with Mimi and Aunt Ashley!




It was a great summer with Cody!



Baby's first "note" home from school! And it was a great one! :)