Eight Months Old!
Weight / Length - ??
Eating - Nursing 6 times a day: every 3.5 to 4 hours, soon after each wake-up, plus just before bed at night. We tried sweet potatoes early on in the month and they are a HUGE hit!
Click to viewThe only other new food this month was green beans. We tried them yesterday and they did NOT go over well.
Sleeping - Sleeping TANKED this month. We're still at 3 naps per day, but now we're lucky if those naps last a full hour, which is frustrating because she'd been doing 1- to 2-hour naps through the summer. Nighttimes became 3-5 wake-ups per night, with each wake-up prompting half an hour to two hours of her screaming and shrieking. The first week of Sept, we thought she must be teething: the sleep disruptions were coming so violently and out of the blue! But here we are at the end of the month and still no teeth. I was going insane this month trying to figure out what she needed or what else I could try. Naps have gotten kind of hairy, too, producing this horrible sleep-deficit cycle that has contributed to her poor sleeping. Yeeeeg. As of the past two nights, Kierra's slept comparatively well again, so maybe we're on our way out?
There is supposed to be an 8-month sleep regression. Even though Kierra's current bad sleeping phase started about a month ago, I also remember that her "4-month sleep regression" seemed to start at least half a month "early" too. So maybe it is/was just that? Or maybe she needs more food during the day (and when I added a fifth solids "meal" to her schedule, she did seem to sleep better). Or maybe she's getting chilly since the nights are getting cooler and she's no longer swaddled and her arms/hands are out (although we now have a heater in her room that we turn on low around midnight). Or maybe she IS feeling her upcoming teeth moving around under her gums and it hurts (since when she seemed SUPER screamy I tried tylenol and it seemed to buy us a little extra sleep time). Or maybe it's the whole wonder week leap or a related developmental thing (as she started crawling right around when this started and I've heard that babies will practice crawling/standing/sitting/playing/whatever in the middle of the night when working on a new ability). Or maybe it's separation anxiety crashing in whenever she wakes up (because hooooly crap, has she ever been clinging to me this past month, crying if Tom takes her from me, and very upset if I'm not RIGHT THERE with her). I DON'T KNOW. This is what makes babies magical. *stabbing my eyes out*
Clothes - 6- and 9-month clothes! It's getting cooler, so we're using a lot of footie pajamas again. I'm on the lookout for 9-month long-sleeve jumper outfits for the upcoming months. I also bought some shoes at a huge used-baby-goods sale yesterday, and I'm trying to wrap my mind around Kierra actually wearing shoes soon. *_*
Diapers - Using just one Pampers Swaddlers size 2 per day for overnight. During the day, we use my OsoCozy unbleached Birdseye flats with Bumkins flushable liners (cut in half, perfect!) and my Thirsties Duo Wrap covers. I'm a little concerned at the amount of effort she now needs to poop. I try to feed non-constipating stuff and keep her fluids high, but sometimes pooping makes her cry. :(
Appearance - Her head keeps getting fuzzier! On top, she's very blond and has about 10 hairs that are super long compared to the rest. Toward the base of her skull, she's more dirty blond. Her eyes are still blue-grey, and again, I'm hoping they stay this color because they're pretty.
Personality / Behaviors - Separation anxiety, what what? This month, it's been all mommy all the time. -_- If I put her down to play on the floor? I'd better have a super good plan to get her interested in playing or she just crawls into my leg and wraps her mouth around my kneecap while crying. If I give her to Tom? She clutches at me desperately, then cries piteously like I just sold her to circus people. (But the very moment that I take her back from Tom, the cries vanish like they never happened and she is grinning at him like "Haha, escaped you! I got my MOMMY!")
She's pretty good with people she's not used to as long as they give her some time to warm up first. As long as I hold her securely until she's more sure of them, she'll eventually smile at the new person and once she's smiled at them and leaned forward a bit, I can usually pass her over for them to hold her for a few minutes before she wants to come back to me.
She's been pretty moody this month, but I guess there were very few days where she was just a total crank all the way through. Even on her cranky, needy days she gives us some smiles and good times. And she'll hug and cuddle me several times a day now!!! (And sometimes she swoops in and tries to give me hickies when I least expect it!) She's never even remotely been cuddly, so this is surprising and really, really sweet.
In general, this little girl's personality keeps looking bigger and bigger. She is going to be an unstoppable force of nature. o_o
New Milestones - Crawling! Usually her belly is still on the ground, so maybe it's not "official" crawling yet, but she is FAST. She's been doing this all month long and uses her arms and knees to skitter forward at shocking speeds. For the past two weeks or so, she's been pushing all the way onto her hands and knees and will rock in place that way - often lifting one hand to reach for or play with something while maintaining her balance. She's also becoming an all-terrain baby and will crawl right over us if we're sitting or laying on the floor.
Sitting!! Finally! (We have to put her in a sitting position, but she maintains it herself until she eventually loses interest and crawls away.) She finally realized that sitting leaves both hands free to explore and play. She was trying to play with a strap on her car seat and we sat her up next to it. She decided this was the Best Thing Ever and has been happily sitting ever since. She can usually bend, reach, and twist while successfully maintaining her balance now.
Mommy Stuff - Most days go pretty smoothly, even if the nights are nightmarish. The difference between being home with her now versus staying home with her through Tom's last semester is HUGE. I remember how I'd count down the hours and try not to look at the clock too often, how I was basically trapped inside with her, nursing every hour or less, having to hold her through endless screaming, holding her through naps where I couldn't so much as twitch, and me crying as many days as not. Now we go out into the yard to watch cars, go for stroller rides, read books, have floor time, and she takes her naps in her very own crib in her very own room while I get commissions and artwork done.
Speaking of artwork, I just mailed in my cards for the Dark Zodiac set. Now I'm working on a base card for a set I'm super excited about (but not sure if I can announce since I haven't seen the artist list made public yet). Also, a base card for an upcoming 2014 set that is also going to be crazy fun! I'm really happy that I was able to move a lot of my AP card blanks during my summer commissions, so once I'm in a good spot with these two base cards, I'll be opening up all card commissions again! I added a portrait card option at a lower price than my usual rates, too. :)
