Friday, September 9, 2011

7 months

Nola will be 7 months old tomorrow.  She's becoming even more active and interactive, and it's so fun to see her really having fun with the rest of us.

Here are her stats for month 7:
Eating: Nursing from both sides 8-10 times per day.  She's a pretty easily distracted eater, so we've taken to nursing in her bedroom where there are fewer distractions.  We have decided to do baby led weaning (BLW) with Nola, so that means that she "eats" what we eat.  More accurately, she uses food as toys and discovers their delicious properties through chewing and sucking until she is developmentally ready to eat.  So far it's gone quite well and since we're breastfeeding, I think this method will work better for us than doing cereal and all the purees.  She has tried watermelon, cantaloupe, bananas, cucumbers, tomatoes, avocados, hamburger, baby back ribs, pizza crust, peas, and carrots.  Although her sampling time is still kind of sporadic, I'm hoping to be brave enough to do more of it this month.  I just don't want my milk supply to diminish, so I've been sort of cautious up to this point.

Nola loves watermelon, and Mommy loves the little net bag!
Sleeping:  Better.  At least more predictable.  I'm pretty much guaranteed a nap in the morning starting around ten o'clock that can last anywhere from an hour and a half to three hours.  If it's on the shorter side, she will take another one in the early afternoon.  But our best days are when she naps from 10-1 and 3-5.  I wish I could bottle those days and release them as I need to.  Sleeping at night is still a challenge sometimes, but that is mostly my fault.  I did really well a couple of nights by feeding her in the glider in her room and putting her right back to bed, but most nights I'm so tired that I just bring her to bed with me (or Kevin brings her to me) and she's sleeps with us for a few hours.  Those nights aren't as good for her, so I want to make a better effort at feeding her in her room and putting her right back to bed.
Nola got a new room this month!
Growth:  Don't have any quantitative measurements, but qualitatively speaking Nola has grown from 3-6 month clothing into 9 and some 12 months stuff over the past month.  We just went through a growth spurt a couple weeks ago, and I'm pretty sure we're in another one now.  I'm not buying any more clothes until this spurt is over.  I promise.

Teeth:  We have two!  Both of the bottom front teeth came in within a week of each other.  We had some sleeping and latching issues, but everything worked out once they had cleared the gums.  I've only been bitten a few times, and when that happens I just end the feeding.  Usually she doesn't cry too badly over that, but I'm pretty sure that's because when she bites it is because she's near the end of a feeding and has a lazy latch or she's not really hungry and just trying to rub her gums on something to ease the pain.  I've explained to her that teeth + nipples = owie for mommy, and we'll just continue to work on that one.

New skills:
  • rolling everywhere
  • sitting up for several minutes unassisted
  • picking up those baby puffs and getting them to her mouth with little help
  • climbing out of her bath tub (hilarious and scary all at the same time)
  • helping to turn the pages of her bedtime book
  • gentle touches - more of the time...we're still working on this
  • SPLASHING in the bath tub...I usually end up more wet than she does when it's over
  • chewing chewing chewing on anything she can get her little hands on
  • more verbalization - usually in longer "sentences"
 
    Favorites:
    • her pink blanket to sleep with
    • being swaddled (this is totally new)
    • bananas
    • Mommy
    • playing at my feet while I stalk facebook work on the computer
    • bathtime - this has always been a favorite
    • any of her teething rings
    • The Bedtime Book by Sandra Boynton
    • bouncing on Daddy's knee and laughing at his jokes
    • her swing 
      Enjoying Daddy time
        Nola Grace is growing like a little weed.  I fall more in love with her every single day.  While I'm so thankful for a healthy, growing baby and look forward to all the fun things she'll start to do over the next couple months, I really wish time would slow down.  We're on the downhill slide toward a year, and it will be Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year's, and the girls' birthdays before we know it.

        So that's 7 months of Nola.  Better stop now so I don't cry...

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