Flower Photo Shoot

I took some photos last week at the Lilac Festival.  I used a photo enhancing software called Picnik.  They look professional (I think).

9 Month pictures

At her first Red Wings Baseball game!  The weather was horrible though.  It dropped to 54 degrees and there were 35 mph winds!  We got hooked up with a suite and Emily enjoyed exploring.

She loves to stick her head in the fishbowl and "sing"

Here she is sucking on real Salmon.  It was frozen and she liked the numbing feeling on her gums.

9 Months old

Yet another month has passed and she is getting smarter everyday.  I really can't say she is getting bigger because frankly she is still a little peanut!  She never stops moving which I think is a big reason why she is not gaining as much weight as other babies her age.  I mean seriously she doesn't stop moving!  She is crawling or trying to climb on anything at her level.

We go to the doctor next week so I will add her stats then.

Milestones/habits/etc.

*Crawling and pulling up on furniture

*Crawling super duper fast

*Likes to clap her hands

*Waves if someone waves at her

*Likes to suck on her index finger while pulling her sleeve over mouth/nose

*Fully sleep trained after a few months of wakeful nights.  She goes to sleep all by herself.  Classical music helps soothe her to sleep or back to sleep.

* Loves to eat cheerios, bread and bananas.  Not too fond of the "puffs"  I have two different flavors- sweet potato and apple cinnamon.  She does like the veggie pinwheels though.

*Laughs when we say "NO" in a stern tone.  (oh boy on this one)

*Loves to go on walks.  

*Loves animals, especially doggies and kitties.  She squeals in delight when she sees them out and about.

*likes to roll a ball around the floor and chase after it.  

*Not fond of the sippy cup.  I made the mistake of giving her carrot juice without adding a "no spill stopper" and it ended up down the front of her soaking her bib, her onesie and her diaper.

*When she drinks her bottle (which she refuses to old herself) she covers her eyes with her hands or pulls/rubs/twirls her hair.

Random pictures

A few random pictures because she is just so stinkin' cute!

I took her to the beach last weekend when we got a remarkable 85 degree day.  She really didn't care for any of it.  She didn't like the sand, the water and I took a nice walk on the pier and she screamed the entire time.  She was not happy with me.

She didn't like the swings.....

We took a weekend trip to Niagara Falls a few weeks ago.  We visited the falls of course and the Butterfly conservatory and the botanical gardens.  Unfortunately the gardens were not in bloom but it was still pretty an we took advantage of the scenery.

 

8 Months already?

It feels like just yesterday that we were anticipating Emily's birth!  It is still fresh in my mind.  I look back at pictures and it is almost hard to imagine that my crawling, babbling happy 8 month old was once my tiny 6 lb baby. 

Last month she learned how to pull up on on couches, toys and just recently can cruise from ottoman to couch and back to snag a remote or piece of junk mail that is in her reach.

She loves to rip up paper.  I call her my little paper shredder.  Give her a newspaper and she will be happy for a few minutes.  Luckily she hasn't learned to put it in her mouth yet!  I am sure that is coming though.

Emily had a little stomach bug a few weeks ago which she lovingly shared with us, her Grandpa and her second cousins.  She lost some weight.  She was 13 lbs even two weeks ago.  Lately this week she has been upping the food intake going from 1/2 jar of food to eating a whole jar at a feeding and I think I am going to have to up her milk bottles from 4 oz to 6 oz.  She has been wanting to eat every two hours.

I have been weaning myself as pumping is getting harder and harder.  I have trouble letting down and I just don't feel like dealing with the frustration anymore.  I couldn't get anything out this morning and didn't bring my pump with me to work.  By the time I got home, I was ready to pump and only pumped 5 oz. total.  I have been doing 1/2 breast milk and 1/2 formula for a few weeks now.  I still have a pretty good freezer stash.  I think I have enough BM for another month.  

I know eventually Emily will be on formula only.  I really wanted to make it to a year of breast feeding.  With the nursing strikes and pump issues, I just don't see how.  I am almost OK with it.

Emily has been home with me for the past two weeks as I was looking for a new job.  She has become increasingly attached to me.  Especially when we are out in public or at family gatherings.  She clings to me and screams if I try and hand her off to someone else.  I can't even enjoy church service because she screams the entire time she is in the nursery room.  I can hear her through the thin walls and it breaks my heart so I end up staying in the room with her.  She would be too disruptive if she was in the service with us so that is not an option unfortunately.  Now that I am back to work, I am hoping that this attachment issue settles down.  Emily apparently cried for 15 minutes after I left her with her great-grandparents this morning and when I came to pick her up, they handed my screaming baby over to me.  They had a friend over and she didn't approve.  

Emily has not been sleeping as well as she used to either.  She used to sleep all through the night from 10 pm-7 am.  Now she has been getting up at 11 pm, 1 am and 4 am. We have been letting her cry it out when we put her down initially because the Ferber method just didn't work.  Every time I would go into her room to settle her, she would just get more upset and would start the process all over again.  It would take an hour or more just to get her to sleep.

 Now she is not napping after 5 pm and goes to bed at 9 am.  I think once we get back on a schedule, she will get better.  I hope she gets better.

This week she has started saying "da da da"  adding to the "ma ma ma" sound she was already making.