Her day

EG has settled into a very nice routine. I have resisted writing it down because as soon as I do she will start doing something completely different, but we use this blog as almost a baby book for her so I thought it would be nice for us to remember this routine which works so well for all of us. We will see how long it lasts. Her is a picture of her day...

5:30: wake up and talk in the crib

5:45: give a good squeal...."i'm ready to get up!" She gets a short bottle (3ozs) and starts her morning play which consists of watching me get ready for work

7:30: breakfast: banana and something else like yogurt or toast or a multi-grain pancake then more play

8:30: tall bottle (8ozs) and 1st nap which is about 30-45 minutes

10:30: snack of toast or yogurt or a fruit then more playtime or errand running

12:30: tall bottle (8oz) and 2nd nap which is usually about 1.5 hours

2:30: snack...sweet potatoes.....this is the riskiest one of the day...she may eat a lot or nothing. Then more play or errand running and mama comes home from work.

4:45: dinner...avocado, yogurt, and lately she has been wanting more at dinner so we will be adding another vegetable

6:00: clean up, bath, books, bottle

6:45: asleep and down for the night



E-

8 months old

EG is full of new and exciting skills.

She can cruise around the furniture and walls with confidence. She takes a few tumbles, but recovers quickly. She hasn't moved to one handed yet.

She now crawls the traditional way as opposed to the full-time commando crawl. Commando crawl is now reserved for the wood floors when her knees get sore.

She loves to put things in other things (little people into the school bus....little people out of the school bus). She will give you things if you hold out your hand and say, "Can Mama have that?"
She will give kisses if requested. She will also randomly come up to both of us and give us a kiss. Her kiss consists of a full open mouth. M is working on teaching her to hug as well.

She loves to "share" her toys by placing a toy in another person's mouth.

She is still a reluctant eater of solid food. She will eat her avocado, yogurt, and toast daily but that is about it. She is really into finger foods like banana, puffs, and teething cookies. It is like she has spoon avoidance. This is usually at its worst during teething...which we are doing again...cutting two more top teeth.

She "says" the following things: kisses, cee-cee (Summitt, the dog), and trshee (Trixie from the book Knuffle Bunny). Now, we are sure that only we can understand her and those might not be words at all....but we think they are cute.

She also adores this Pooh bear that crawls and talks that my mother gave her at xmas. She hugs it and talks to it.

She has attached herself to a blankie that was made by M's mother. She sleeps with it and plays with it in her nursery. When we bring it out of the crib, she can't wait to hold it and bury her head into it. She hasn't tried to bring it out of her room yet and we are hoping that she doesn't. Currently, (we say that with the full knowledge this might change) she doesn't have anything she "has" to have like a passie or blankie.

Overall, her sleep is good. She has been teething for a few days which messes up everything, but she is headed back to normal today with good naps and a happier disposition.

more tricks every day

These may look like posed shots, but I assure you they are not. EG has been caught playing in the toilet bowl several times. This is her latest bathroom trick.

"I didn't do it."

"Time to make a run for it!"

"I'll scare you off with my tiger face."

"HEHEHEHEHE! I'm outta here!"

new skill

Sleep, Glorious Sleep

Two things new mom's worry about most: Sleeping and Feeding. The theme of this winter break was sleep.

I love winter break. It is great break from work and all of the stresses of daily life. It feels like maternity leave all over again, but with a happy-go-lucky 7.75 month old....not a screaming newborn. Our major goal was to help EG learn to sleep through the night and sleep better.

SLEEP:
Prior to Break: We knew that we were tried of getting up at night with EG before xmas break. She had been waking up at 10ish for milk, 1ish for rocking, and up for the day at 5ish. She took two long naps a day (1.5 hours each). It was bearable, but barely.

During Break Week 1: Ninna came to stay with us for 5 days, which was great. She took excellent care of EG and they had a blast together. We all went to M's family xmas and EG did great. She maintained her good nap schedule during Ninna's visit, but Ninna likes to sleep with baby at night. Soooo....EG co-slept with Ninna for 5 nights. Yup. 5 nights of constant care and snuggles. They both loved it.

After Ninna left it was hell. EG went back to her crib and woke up every 2 hours all night long. We indulged her for two nights and got up with her, rocked her, feed her, etc...in order for her to adjust back to the crib and to make sure she was done teething.....and then we did it. We let her cry it out. She cried on and off for 30 minutes...then silence.

During Break Week 2: EG learned to sleep by herself all night long. She goes to sleep at 6:45 p.m. and stays in her crib all night. She might wake up once or twice and fuss for less than 30 seconds and then right back to sleep. The last two mornings she has slept till 6:00a.m. -- which is our goal. It ROCKS. We are actually sleeping and enjoying our nights alone.

Her daytime sleep has declined to a 30-45 minutes morning nap and a 45-60 minute afternoon nap, which is fine. The best part --- she is sooooo happy all day long. She only fusses when she is hungry or ready for a nap. She just laughs and smiles the entire rest of the day. She does need some quiet time in the late afternoon and that is usually when we run a short errand and she relaxs in her car seat and might sleep for 5 or 10 minutes.

Overall, CIO (Cry-it-Out) is not fun. I am sure we will continue to have to work at it as her schedule gets off, but it is sooo worth the happiness that a good night sleep does for the entire family. She was ready. We were ready. It worked for us.

E-

All I got for Christmas was my two front teeth....