Weight:  16 lbs. She is still little, but she is growing! We love our little Daffodil!

Health: This month has been rough in Daphne’s world. She had her first ear infection. She got a bad cough right before Christmas. I am fairly certain she is cutting a tooth right now, because she has been really fussy and not sleeping so great on and off.

Diet: We are still going strong with the breastfeeding.  I nurse her in the morning and before bed. Then she has two breastmilk bottles and one formula bottle during the day while I am at work. On the weekends, for the most part we avoid the formula and nurse the whole time. Usually, she has a fruit/veggie packet for breakfast, oatmeal for lunch, and then a sample of whatever we are having at dinner. She has tried all kinds of new things:  turkey, pasta, oranges, quinoa, black beans, crackers, and she can eat a whole fruit/veggie packet on her own so she has tried a lot of new flavors that way. Her favorite is still mashed potatoes. We are doing mostly a baby led weaning approach, but we have done some purees mostly by way of the packets. She gets really impatient when food isn’t getting to her fast enough, and she still isn’t super great with her pincer grasp, so again she can get frustrated easily. We just have to remind ourselves that she isn’t eating to get nutrition right now, and we are fully in the exploratory stages.

Clothes: She is mostly in 3-6 month clothes. She can fit into some 6 month sleepers, and most of her pants are 6 months. She is in a size 3 diaper, and size 1 shoe.

Sleeping:  We started using the Zipadee-Zip because she was rolling over in everything else and not happy about the freedom. It has been great. We have had a couple nights where her sleep has been bad but that was because she had the ear infection and is teething. The nights she doesn’t sleep though are so rough for us since we are so used to her good sleep habits. She also hates to snuggle and when she is around anyone else it means it is time to be awake and alert so co-sleeping is not an option when she has a bad night. She still has two naps a day, but the length can vary. When all is right, she goes to bed around 8pm and stays asleep until 6ish am. She hardly ever sleeps past 7am. We have been so lucky that she has been a great sleeper!

Likes:  Eating. I’m still the ultimate pacifier for her. She loves her Dory pez dispenser and her Oogaa teethers. She loves tickles and raspberries on her neck. She is obsessed with George; he can get the biggest smiles out of her. She loves jumping in her saucer. We tried putting her in her walker and jumper, both which we think she would love. However, she is still so little that the seats kind of swallow her up. She loves dancing whether it be when you are holding her or when you do it in front of her.

Dislikes:  She isn’t fond of baths or diaper changes. She is starting to roll around when I change her, which is a super fun development. She hates the bumbo; she just tries to turn around in the thing. She is terrified of the vacuum.

Milestones: She can stand when she is holding on to something. She can’t get there on her own yet though. She enjoyed her first Christmas and New Years. She can drink out of straws. She loves drinking out of my cups and is always clamoring to get them, and she has her own little camel back now that she drinks water out of. She sort of waves at you. It is more of a gimme signal, but it is in response to waves.

Nicknames: Chunker Cheeks, Daphie, and Daphie Girl. The two most common are Daph and Sister. George actually says her name, but he pronounces it as Naphne. 

Quirks:  She is very hard to impress and she makes you work for her smiles. Oh but when she does smile, it can light up a room.

We parents are:  tired. It has been a long taxing month. We both have been putting in extra time at work, which creates for long days. Then we all came down with a bug after Christmas. Thank God my mom is here, otherwise I don’t know how we would have gotten through those couple days. Tom’s grandma passed away this past weekend, so that has been emotionally taxing on everyone. Grammy was such a sweet sassy lady. She always treated me like I had always been one of her grandchildren, and she is one of the few people Daph would smile for without much work. She is going to be greatly missed, and it has been hard to see this loss for Tom and my in-laws.

George is:  doing great. I just can’t get over how great of a big brother he is. He is very helpful and kind to her for the most part. We have been dealing with him stealing her pacy and hiding in corners sucking on it himself. He also struggles a little bit now that she can crawl and get toys that he is playing with. He doesn’t quite understand that some toys are hers, and the idea of sharing is sometimes lost on him. He does insist on putting her to bed every night. If for some reason I put her to bed without him, he will walk in her room anyway after lights are out to tell her goodnight. 

The dogs are:

I cannot believe that 8 months have passed with this sweet little nugget.

Here is George at this age.

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.