8 Months

Amelia is 8 months old!

This month has flown by. I think it is the anticipation of flying home in 5 days!

Weight-- 20 lbs 2 oz

This month has just flown by. I feel like you have grown up so much in the last 4 weeks. Do I say that every month? Stop growing. It is funny how I want you to learn so many skills and experience so many things, yet I want you to stay a baby forever. You are growing a little too fast for my heart to handle. We just love you so much. We tried to calculate a relatively accurate estimation of how many times you get kissed a day... They number was 650. You ARE loved. We spend all day with you, then when we are lying in bed we talk about what you did that day! We are consumed with you and wouldn't have it any other way :)

Some tidbits about my 8 month old:

-- Tried so many new foods! Raspberries, pears, corn, blueberries, green beans, peaches, puffs, turkey, bananas, mango, spinach. We decided you are a vegetarian. The baby food meat smells like cat food and we both gagged while you ate one bite of it. I promptly threw it away.

--You wiggle out of you swing and you finally fell out of it. Luckily you landed on your bum and only feel 4 inches.

--You got a high chair from Grammy Nicole and Great Grandma Pat.

-- You have started lunge forward to reach for things while sitting. You will end up in crawling position or the splits. You prefer the splits... Crawling position makes you cry. 

--Your dad gives you your nightly baths and sings songs the whole time! (He has been giving you your baths for awhile now.)

--You sleep from 9 pm to 10 am! WONDERFUL. You take 2 naps, and feed 1-2 times a night. We are working on weening you of nightly feedings. 

--Tummy time lasts longer if we show you videos of yourself. You just laugh and laugh. You love looking at yourself. (You get it from you dad. haha)

--You have learned to click your tongue. And will do it back when we do it. You think it is so fun.

-- You are completely off you acid reflux medication! Yay!

-- Your bottom teeth have pooped through! This made me cry... Growing up too fast. 

--You love socks. Whether they are on your feet, my feet, or no feet. 

-- Teething is painful for everyone involved. You had to have teething tablets and tylenol every once in a while. I don't like giving you medicines, but you were desperate :(

-- You laugh so hard when we laugh with you.

-- You scream all the time. Just for fun.

We love you so much. You are growing so fast and you are a beautiful, happy, silly little girl. We couldn't ask for anything else. 

Our Growing girl

 ---------------------------- BLooPers----------------------------

6 Months... Half a YEAR (

** I accidently deleted the 6 month post while putting all the pics back on (because I deleted EVERY pic off EVERY post somehow... Story of my LIFE!!**

My Baby is 1/2 a year! Before I know it, I will have a 1 year old! WHAT???

1/2 Birthday!

Some things about my 6 month old--

-- Allergic to Rice Cereal. You threw it up at night and it was so sad!

-- Eat oatmeal, but it is extremely MESSY!

--You now sleep in your crib... I miss you at night and probably check on you every hour making sure you are alive

-- Had a couple long nights with the transition of solids. I think you must have a sensitive tummy.

-- You like to chew on fabric toys (or shirts or socks...) more than your plastic toys

--Doubled you Acid Reflux meds to help you sleep better. It is definitely working so far. I hope you grow out of your reflux soon.

-- You love to grab our faces. Especially our mouths. 

--Started eating less frequently but more at once. About 7 oz per bottle! Growth spurt??

-- Ate sweet potatoes. Right now, we are making all of your solids. It is much cheaper and healthier in my opinion. I like to know what is going in  my baby!

-- Yummy time is up to about 10 minutes! Woo Who!

-- We took family pictures and you were way too distracted by the leaves to pay attention.

-- You got your 6 month shots... NOT A HAPPY DAY. I felt like the nurse was so rough with you. I wanted to give her a few shots of my own!

Cry It Out Method

 A lot of people have been asking what I did to make Amelia such a good sleeper, so I thought I would share what I did. I have no clue what I am doing, so take what I say as a personal miracle, and know that EVERY BABY is different!
It is so funny, because I know that she is a good sleeper, as in time wise, but she doesn't sleep through the night without eating... So it's not perfect, and I don't expect to ever be. I am grateful that we have found something that finally worked for us.

We tried the Cry It Out Method (CIOM) several times, but it just broke our hearts, and then Anthony would cave. It wasn't until she got her first cold and was wide awake until 8:00 AM that we decided we couldn't rock her to sleep anymore. She needed to learn she could do it herself! (Plus I started getting really bad back pains...)

I think the biggest part of the success was putting her on a schedule so she knew that when she was laid down in her crib, it was time to sleep, not play. I got some good advice from my friend, Emily, to start at nap time. It worked great. It only took 2  naps until she got the hang of it. We also play lullabies in her room during sleep time to "set the mood" and it also blocks out noise from what we are doing (cleaning, talking, watching a movie...)

She cried the first night for about 40 minutes. I would go in and check on her at 5 min, then 10 min, then every 15 min after that.  By the 3rd night, she was asleep after 5 minutes of crying. She would wake up after about 30 minutes, but I would go put her binky in and leave and let her cry. Now she goes down without cry AT ALL... For naps or bedtime. Can I tell you how AMAZING it is? I feel like the luckiest girl in the world now! I don't dread bedtime and it is finally a time I can relax! Phew! We both agree that we would have done CIOM earlier (maybe at 5 months) if we would have known she wouldn't hate us in the morning.

This is her schedule: I based it off Baby Wise's "Sleep, Eat, Play..."

9:45/10:30 (it changes): Wake up and drink bottle
11:00: Eat some fruit
11:15-12:15: Play time!
12:15-2:15: Nap time. She is pretty solid on 2 hours.
2:15: Bottle
2:30-3:15: Play time! (Or running errandds)
3:15: Veggies
3:30-4:30: Play some more!
4:30-5:30 (or 6): Nap time. This one varies from 1 to 2 hours.
6:00: Bottle
6:15-7:00 Play time
7:00- Veggies if she hungry.. generally not though.
8:00- Bath time with Dad!
8:45- Bottle
9:00 Bedtime!

12:30-- nursing

7:30-- Nursing..

This last week, she has only been eating one time a night around 2:00 AM and then sleeping until 10:30! Now we are just working on getting her sleep without eating during the night.

We just switched her to formula yesterday. She will only nurse in the middle of night, so I was pumping 4-5 times a day, and keeping my milk supply up without a nursing baby was difficult since my body wasn't getting the baby's supply and demand effect. I was having to eat constantly to get enough calories to get more milk and I was gaining weight. Then I would work out, and my milk would get cut by half almost instantly. So it was becoming extremely stressful for me. I LOVE nursing her at night, but the pumping all day is just not working out for me. It will also be nice that I won't have to haul a pump around Utah and put breast milk in everyone's fridge... It IS kind of awkward. So far she is liking formula, so I hope it works for us.

And what is a blog post without some pics... (I wouldn't leave you hanging!)

I'm getting "mommy muscles" from my 20 lb baby!

a little Throwback Thursday Saturday for you.