At about the 5 month point we started to have some sleep issues. She started to wake periodically in the middle of the night instead of sleeping until 4 or 5am like she had been. I let this go on (and get gradually worse) until she was 7 months old (last week, lol). I think her sleep issues are (because we haven't completely fixed them yet!) attributed to the lack of structure to her day. Sure, she has consistent naps (2 in the morning both in her car seat as we drop Caden off at preschool and pick him up and then a 3rd nap at 1pm that lasts about 2-2.5 hours). But I don't think sleeping in the cars east qualifies as "quality" sleep. I've been working very hard the last few days to structure her daytime sleep a little bit more. Of course she's not taking long naps, but we are making progress. :) I've moved her to a four hour schedule. She wakes up at 7am (hopefully, lol) naps at 9 and naps again at 1. If the 1pm nap is short (1 hour or less) then I try to get another nap in the late afternoon/early evening time. I aim for a 7pm bedtime. That is just the goal and that time varies by 30 min on either side depending on how her afternoon nap went. I know that if I have a 3rd child I will be happy I made all these seemingly pointless notes about her sleep schedule (or lack thereof!). :)
In eating news we are still nursing but I've had to start supplementing with a good bit of formula. I don't see that as a failure at all. Nursing has never come easily for me, with either child. With Caden I beat myself up about it, but with Grace I've given it my all but haven't let myself get to the point of exhaustion just for the sake of nursing. I'm proud that I've made it this far and I have a freezer full of milk to keep her on it for another month or two after I quit nursing. I have a feeling that we will be weaning over the next month. I'm not exactly sure how it will look for us yet though. Along with my sleep resolution I also am trying to structure her feeding times a bit. I was supplementing in between nursing but have decided instead to start offering formula immediately after nursing her to try and get her on a consistent liquid feeding schedule.
I introduced solids a week before she turned 6 months old. She wasn't as enthusiastic about eating as Caden. She took some coaxing to open her mouth and we had to let her sort of suck on the spoon to get her to swallow and keep the food in her mouth. After a week or two I introduced oatmeal (we started with rice) and she seemed to like it better for a few days. Then she became difficult to feed so I introduced peas. She loved them the first day, but has refused to eat them since. She has quite the gag reflex, lol. Then we moved on to sweet potatoes, apples, squash, pears. She tolerates them but doesn't eat much. Cereal or oatmeal are almost impossible to feed her. At 7 months of age I'd go days sometimes without even offering her solids because it was such a battle to get her to eat. And what little she was eating was not filling her up in any way. Finally I decided to try bananas. She LOVED them! She also swallowed them very easily with little mess. That made me think that she might like her foods with a more solid consistency. So I started experimenting with the fruit and oatmeal combos and had great success! So, just in the last week I have finally started to offer solids twice a day (lunch and dinner) and she is finally eating them! I stir in oatmeal to the stage 1 runny stuff and she gobbles it up. She definitely prefers fruits though. Here is a photo from her first feeding:
Toward the beginning of her 6th month she started to sit, assisted. I couldn't walk away from her, even with the boppy around her, for the first week. By week 2 she was fully sitting with the boppy and another week or so later she was fully sitting, although if I walk away I always leave the boppy there for her. It's funny because as she was approaching 6 months I was saying that she was no where close to even attempting sitting and then snap... she did it. She still hates tummy time, more now than ever it seems. She can't roll herself over and because of that also can't roll herself onto her tummy from her back. I think, like Caden, she is at a disadvantage to learning to roll because of being swaddled in her crib. On that note...
We are taking away the swaddle in stages. That also started last week (it was a very busy week for Grace!). I tried napping her unswaddled and it didn't go well at all (I even nursed her to sleep unswaddled). I've been watching her on the video monitor and noticing how when she is put down awake and trying to soothe herself to sleep, she can't and looks like a penguin rolling and flopping around in her crib. She's very upset too. So I resorted to nursing her to sleep for all of her naps and at night. I knew I was starting a bad habit. The solution is to get her unswaddled so she can learn to self soothe. One day I braved up and decided to endure some tears and leave one arm out of her swaddle. She cried for 3 minutes and was asleep! I decided from that point forward I was not turning back and her left arm would be out permanently. That night (I was nervous!) she didn't bat an eye! She was still up twice a night to eat, but that is normal for her at this point (her night feedings are at 7pm, midnight, sometimes 2 and 3 am, and always again around 4 or 5 am). A week later and she often puts herself to sleep with zero crying! She talks and holds her dolly and goes to sleep! Next mission: the right arm!
Speaking of talking, we are now babbling! It is so cute to hear those little consonant sounds come out of her mouth. She said MaMa yesterday, but it wasn't to me. It was the first time I had heard the "M" sound. She is the happiest, bright eyed baby. She smiles so big and just melts your heart. She lights up when she sees John. She usually cries when she sees me (or fusses) because she wants me to pick her up. She is a mama's girl big time! She loves Caden and often watches him and laughs and laughs. He also adores her and loves to talk to her and play/interact with her. I should enjoy this while it lasts, right? It won't be long until Grace is mobile and starts to take Caden's toys or mess up his play. Love those kids!
Grace's hair is adorably messy. It's still curly. It's so cold out now that I usually blow it dry. She will sit in the bumpo chair and let me put the hair dryer and roll brush to it. I put her hair in pigtails the other day for the first time and it was so cute! Most nights I have to spray No More Tears Detangler in her hair and brush through the knots. Who would have thought she would have as much hair as she does!?! I love it! But it also drives me bonkers! It usually looks messy and stringy more than it does cute and curly. lol. Well, that's Grace's update in a nutshell. :)
Grace and Caden Thanksgiving Day 2010
My mom made their adorable outfits!
Nana and Gracie Thanksgiving Day 2010
Grace was a few days shy of 6 months old
The following pictures were taken by my sister-in-law, Misty, on the day Grace turned 6 months old. Aren't these pictures phenomenal!?!
1 comment:
Great pix! What a sweetheart! I could just bite those sweet little thighs!
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