Weight:  She is 15 lbs. At her check up, she was in the 7% for weight, 25 inches tall (10%), 42.5 inches head circumference (50%). Our peds said that she is doing well enough with growing that we don’t have to keep coming back in with extra checkups. I feel that she is gaining weight when I hold her, but I don’t feel like the scale reflects it!

Health: Besides a diaper rash (which I think comes with the territory with solid food poop), she has been healthy this month.

Diet: We started supplementing soon after she turned 6 months. One thing I told myself this time around was that I was not going to work myself to death to exclusively breastfeed. I don’t want to get to a point where I am a slave to pumping to make enough. So during the week, she gets one formula bottle. For the most part on the weekends, we get by with just breastmilk. Sometimes when we are out and about, I will take a small formula bottle to get through our outing. I am feeling pretty good about this whole thing because at this time with George we were almost completely weaned off and only down to one nursing feeding a day and no pumps. The no-stress/no-pressure approach has been working for us! She has also really gotten into solid food this month. She eats oatmeal at lunch, and then dinner is where we explore with whatever we happen to be eating that day. She has tried all kinds of new things:  broccoli, mashed potatoes, fries, apples, eggs, cous cous, peaches, peas, meatloaf, and salmon. Her favorites are broccoli, meatloaf, and mashed potatoes. We are doing mostly a baby led weaning approach, but we have done some purees.

Clothes: She just went up to 3-6 month clothes. She is in a size 2 diaper, and size 1 shoe.

Sleeping:  We have hit a hiccup with her sleeping. Our peds wants us to transition her out of the magic sleep suit because she has been full mobile now with rolling over for awhile. She is afraid Daphne doesn’t have the mobility and range she needs while sleeping. Plus, her flat spot is coming back again. So we are trying to transition her to the Halo Sleepsack at nap times right now. Her nap times have been cut in half, and she fights going to sleep really hard in that thing. She rolls over in that thing a lot more, and I am panicked that she is going to die with her face in the sheet so it is hard to do anything while she is attempting sleep. I have been looking at the Zipadee-Zip to help, but the sizing is throwing me off. We are still using the magic suit at night, and she is still sleeping through the night (8pm-6:30am). She won’t sleep in past 6:30.

Likes:  Eating. Me. Chewing on her sleeve to go to sleep or chewing on her burp cloths. Any teething toy and George’s mega blocks. Tom’s voice. Puppy Dog Pals theme song. George. Her own feet.

Dislikes:  She still hates a dirty diaper, but even more so now that her poops have changed with the food intake.

Milestones: She started CRAWLING! She is getting faster and faster. She will finally let Tom pick her up without crying for me. While she was sitting up on her own last month, I wanted to note that the pediatrician was surprised at how well she was doing with that.

Nicknames: Sister Friend, Girlfriend, Chunker Cheeks, Daphie, and Daph. Most of the time it is still Sister. 

Quirks:  She does this thing with her hand where her palm is stretched out all the time. See below. It takes a lot to get her to belly laugh, but when she does it is such a good deep laugh.  She has started using a pacy more, which is beneficial. However she only likes the one they sent her home with from the hospital. She wont even use the same brand in a different color.

We parents are:  doing pretty good and getting into the holiday spirit! I cannot believe Christmas is a week away! Tom has been on day shift which I always love because it is just more time at home all together. I also got a promotion at work. My boss got a huge promotion to another part of the institution, so I was named Interim Director of my department until we do a search. It has been kind of a whirlwind of a month with the added duties and the new learning curve. It’s definitely a great opportunity to advocate more for students.

George is:  the perfect big brother. He thinks Sister is his best friend, and is always telling her how much he loves her. He likes to get her toys for her, and if she is crying he tries consoling her with her pacy. He also helps me sing to her at night and “tuck” her into bed. It is seriously the sweetest little thing. 

The dogs are: going to be 7 this week! That is even more crazy than Daph being 7 months old! Grace has been a little off this month. I don’t know what her deal is, but she has been going potty at the front door a few nights while we are sleeping. Tom is a light sleeper, and she doesn’t even let him know she needs to go until after she has already done the deed. They are loving Daph eating in her high chair though. Crosby is pretty much always at her side.

Sweet Daph. You are such a joy to watch.

Here is George at this age.