7 Months...6 Month Low Down

Yesterday was LL's 7 Month Birthday --Here's Her 6 Month Low Down

Bedtime: between 7:00-7:30.  We moved her time back to her original bedtime.  We are so confused as parents.  We are forever going back and forth and experimenting with poor LL.  The bottom line...at this point in the day, she is tired and needs to go to bed at 7:00!

Wake-Up: Anytime between 6:00am and 7:30.  She is so all over the place.  There has never been consistency to anything LL does.

Naps: For the most part, LL is still taking 4 naps.  Depends on when she first gets up in the morning.  But I can see how she is trying to transition down to 3 naps.  Her first morning nap has become a long one...around 1 1/2 hours. Her last nap is around 3-3:30.  I won't let her take another one after that.

**On a side note:  We have been putting LL down in her crib while she is still awake for all naps and bedtime.  We stand over her crib and pat her stomach and hum and she goes to sleep on her own.
Sometimes it easier than other days, but she's getting the idea.  The goal is to just put her down and leave her to fall asleep solo.  I'm so jealous of moms who can do this with their babes.  We're hoping this will help with nighttime wakings and longer stretches of sleep.

Bottles: LL has been getting more bottles per day.  I would say around  4-5. I still pump a lot just to keep my milk supply up.  But for some reason, my left boob decided to become lazy and stop making any milk.  It all happened when LL was sick a couple weeks ago and stopped nursing/eating.  I should of pumped more then, but I didn't.  Now I know!

Nursing:  LL nurses about 2-3 times a day.  One time in the 3am area and the other first time in the am.  

Foods: LL JUST started eating 3 times a day.  I was only giving her solids in the am and pm, but she's been looking at the high chair in the middle of the afternoon and whining. 

New foods this month:  potatoes, cherries, apricots, pineapple, puffs.  I'm considering incorporating soy yogurt.  Anyone else try this?

Night Time: This month of sleeping has been horrible.  Back to square one with her.  I have officially given up on trying to figure her sleeping out.  She is back to waking up 45 min into her nighttime sleep and back up again around 11:30...sometime up at 1:30 or 3:00am or exactly 4:20 am and then up for the day between 6- 7:30.  There is absolutely ZERO consistency to LL's sleep.  Drives me bananas.

Developmental Milestones & Firsts:  Still scooting and army crawling all over the place!  We did buy her "cage" so that I would feel better about letting her crawl around without constantly looking at her.  She likes it for the most part.

LL is almost sitting up...she's been practicing using her kickstand also known as her tripod stance. She's almost gotten all the way to sitting position, then she does a face plant into the ground. ouch.

LL also got her first tooth!  Her lower right one came in about 2 1/2 weeks ago.  We are anxiously waiting for the 2nd one to pop up.  She's drooling and biting down on everything.

Favorite Toys:

Momma's Mental State:  Back to feeling tired and run day all day everyday.  It's getting very old.  Just when I feel like I get caught up on sleep, LL has a horrible night and here I am back to feeling like poo.  I keep telling myself that it won't last forever...but it very hard to be a good mom when you're tired all the time. 

High Chair!

6 Months 4 Weeks

 

We finally bought a highchair for LL this past weekend.  The bouncy seat just wasn't cutting it anymore.  Besides, she needs to learn to eat sitting up.  And I want her to start practicing picking up her food.  We also introduced Puffs.

Speaking of Puffs, I have only heard of this finger food through other blogs.  I went to babies r us and found the ones below.  Are these the right ones?  They seem really too big  for her mouth.  I keep thinking she is going to choke on them.   I tried them and they do dissolve rather quickly, but I'm still a Nervous Nelly!

She loves her sippy cup!  At dinner, we've started putting her milk in her cup so we can all sit as a family at the table!

It's so fun to see her practice with the Puffs.  It's hard work getting those things in the mouth!

We settled on this Eddie Baur high chair.  I wasn't too concerned with the padding OR the reclining action of the other chairs.  Besides, this is the kind we all grew up in...except I think mine was a metal frame.

We Found a New Park!

6 Months 3 Weeks

We found a new park today and it's super close to our house!  Lots of walking and bike trails.  I also love how there was close to zero people there.  Crowds kind of bother me.

This looks like a great playground for LL when she gets a bit older.

A lot of trees and shaded areas.  Very relaxing and peaceful.

We stayed for about 2 hours just walking around and checking the place out.  LL conked out for a good 45 minutes!

TEETH!!!

6 Months 3 Weeks

It has been moody central in our little house lately! LL has been one big crabapple. Fussy and not sleeping at all. Since she loves being outside, I decided to take her morning bottle outside.....it was so nice and breezy by the lake. After her bottle, she was chewing on my finger and WAM....there it was. The sharp feeling of a tooth! I couldn't believe it...I was so excited for her. This also explains why she has been soooooo grumpy lately. Poor thing. I would take pictures of the tooth, but it's only the tip top. So, I'll update with pictures when they are further along.

Instead, I decided to take pictures of her on this momentous occasion!

"Yay, Momma....my FIRST tooth"

In The Pool....Finally!

6 Months 3 Weeks

The water is warm enough so LL can go officially go swimming in our pool.  No more just dipping the toes.    YAY!  Here she is looking at daddy as if she's saying "are we really going in?"

"Are we really going in, Daddy?"

She didn't flinch once she got in... She was loving it!

She is definitly going to love boat time with daddy.  Bryan can't wait to get her behind the boat.

"Daddy is a great swimming partner!"

"Momma, this water thing is pretty great!"

This is also the perfect time for momma and daddy to enjoy a beverage or two!

These are our friends Tegan and her daddy Ty.  When LL saw Ty, she started crying.  She's seen him a million times before.  Not sure what that was about.

We're OK now!

She kicked and kicked and kicked!!  I think she's a natural.  I think this is where we'll be all summer long!

Our First Case Of The Sickies

6 Months 2 Weeks

LL has been sick since Monday.  My guess is that it's a good ole fashion cold.  She woke up extra early Monday morning and was snorting and so grumpy.  It was the first time I got to use the Nose Frieda.  It initially worked the first few days, but now that the snot seems to be multiplying...it's harder to get out. 

Bryan had to leave town Monday morning for work so LL and I packed up and went to MeMe and PawPaw's house to stay for a few days.  I got ZERO sleep because LL was up every 2 hours.  It's so not her fault and she's so pathetic when she's sick.  We pulled out her Rock N Play again so she could sleep in an incline.  Seems to working.

We've also pulled out her Frog Humidifier that was gifted to us from Bryan's Uncle D and Aunt M.  It's like walking into a Rainforest when I walk into her room. 
 

On top of all of that....I got the sickies too.  Yuck.  Very sore throat and all over body ache.  Bryan got home last night, so I took my NyQuil and went to sleep early.  If you have any suggestions for relieving congestion for babies, please do tell.

My First Baby Consignment Sale

My friends invited me to my very first baby consignment sale.  It was interesting to see all the different kinds of items people bring in to sell.  I did look through the clothes, but didn't really find anything good.  I was really looking for pool items and and big cage for LL.  Didn't find any of those, but did find some other fun toys.   

Johnny Jump Up for $5.00.  We put this in the kitchen doorway so she can hangout with daddy while he's cooking dinner.

 The LeapFrog Learn and Groove Table...$8.00  The legs come off so I can put it on the floor for LL to play with.  As she gets bigger, I'll attach the legs.  My friends assured me that LL would get a lot of use out of this one!

Fisher-Price Ocean Wonders, $8.00.  It lights up and plays sounds of the bubbles and moving water when you drop the fish in.  It looks brand new and even came with the instruction manual.  I was kind of in shock when I found out this toy sells for $39.99.  What?? Really??  Toys are completely over priced!

 I couldn't resist buying her these clear jelly shoes from The Gap.

I was kind of lame at this sale. I didn't buy many toys, but the next one I'll know what to look for.  Plus, we live in this tiny 2-bedroom condo with NO storage so I'm reluctant to buy lots-o-toys!

Weekly Wrap-Up: 6 Months 1 Week

SLEEPING: Were back to crappy sleeping this week.  Waking up at 11:00pm, 4:00am...blah, blah,blah.  Last night LL woke up at 4am and I heard her let out this big SQUEAL...like she usually does at 7:00ish in the morning when she wakes up.  I was all like "Oh no, she did NOT just do that!"  and Bryan was like "yup."  I went to get her, brought her back to our bedroom, tried to nurse her but she just wanted to play...(lately she is so curious about everything around her she wants to see EVERYTHING)  So I laid her down in the middle of our bed facing away from us and guess what.....after about 10 minutes of playing with her paci....passing it back and forth between her hands....she fell asleep.  I hope it's the prankster in her pulling an April Fool's joke on us.
**I should note that flameless candles are so great in the middle of the night with baby.  They are portable and put off just the right amount of light.  I just carry it with me to the bed and if it's too bright, I just cover it up with the covers.

EATING:  We re-introduced carrots into mealtime yesterday.  Plus, I pulled out the Beaba and used it for the first time.

That thing rocks!  I made Butternut Squash and Apples and she loved it. Not sure I care for the Beaba sillicone multi-portion trays.  One was gifted to us and we need about 3 more, but I'm not crazy about the price.

I also started giving LL 1 veggie at lunch time. So now she's up to 3 meals a day.  I'm getting kind of nervous because she is starting to become uninterested in nursing.  I have to research that to see if that is normal or not.

PLAYING:  SCOOTing and ROLLing  everywhere.  I ordered that cage for her.  IGriza suggested this cool cage.  but we had already ordered the one from Wal-mart. 

LL is also WAY more curious about her surroundings.  Stops and looks at everything and just stares and stares at it.  SOUNDS...she loves sounds.  She noticed an airplane up in the sky last week.  She looked at the plane, then me...then the plane again, then me.  I was like "yup, crazy how those things can fly, right?


She also can't stop staring at her right hand.  She first discovered her hand when she was about 2 months and  now the fascination is back.  She looks at it, turns it around, looks some more...practices pulling it to her mouth and back again.  Maybe she's practicing getting ready to eat.



MOMMA'S MENTAL STATE: I'm too tired to talk about my mental state.  Actually, I feel pretty good. I guess my mind and body are getting used to this baby thing and adjusting accordingly.  When I first had LL I didn't think I could handle another newborn/infant again.  But now, I definitely know I can.  I'm not gonna lie, the adjustment to LL was the hardest part for me.  Even though it took us 5 years to have her, and wanting her so badly, it was kind of like someone threw a bucket of cold water in my face and said..."Here's your baby".  BUT, now after my hormones have calmed down, and I'm getting used to this routine of ours, I wouldn't change a thing.  She has been the BEST addition to our lives and it just keeps getting better!

Raining, Raining, Raining!

6 Months 1 Week

It has been raining here in our neck of the woods for 3 days straight!  We need it for sure, so I'm not complaining but it is hard to get LL out and about in this. You can even see a tree limb down in the picture and the power was off last night for about an hour.  Soooo.... we have been busy cleaning out her drawers....goodbye 0-3 months and 3-6 months clothes.

 We divided short sleeve outfits, long sleeve outfits, onsies and pants according to size in hopes that when we go looking for them...it won't be a hassle.  Kind of sad to see them go.

We also put together LL's new umbrella stroller.  LOVE it.  So light.  I can carry her and the stroller up the stairs at one time.  It's the Conours Kolcraft in Tangelo.

We even managed to take a walk in between the rain!

"Guess what?? I love this new stroller, too"

LL's first pool time experience will be this weekend!  So excited to get her reaction.  I also ordered that Swimways Baby Float from Walmart.com.  I hope it gets her before then.  Wal-Mart is pretty darn fast with shipping so I'm anticipating it any day now.

Scooting