- Is crawling! She started at about 7 months with the up on the toes, butt in the air and backwards movements, and then about two weeks later she was moving forward. Favorite things to crawl towards: dog toys, shoes, electrical cords... She alternates between a breast stroke like movement, dragging her legs behind her army crawl style, and "true" crawling, depending on how determined she is to get where she's going.
- Is wearing a mix of 6, 9 and 12 month clothing, with one 12-18 month outfit that is on the big side but will be too heavy to wear as it gets warmer so she's wearing it now. The 6 month clothing is about to be retired, and 9 month doesn't seem like it will be too far behind. She'll just spend a longer time in 12 month, though I'm very sad that Carter's doesn't make their adorable snap front sleepers in sizes larger than 9 months. I'm not ready for two-piece PJ's in that icky feeling fire-safe material!
- Still sleeps swaddled. I'm not sure how I feel about this, but the few times recently that I've tried to leave her unswaddled she has woken up enough that I've ended up having to swaddle her mid-night for both of us to get sleep. I guess she'll let us know when she's ready to go free. I'm guessing it will be before college.
- Hates having her diaper changed. Especially when it's a dirty diaper and not just wet. You'd think I'd taken the time to spread broken glass and tacks on her changer before laying her down on her back, she's that quick to try to flip herself over. It's a battle of wills, and I'm not sure who's winning; though I hold that she who cries first loses. I don't generally lose. Diapering on the floor just makes it 100x worse as she has a much greater opportunity to either roll herself or crawl away.
- Has started to wake up during the night again. It's continued even after switching to a larger absorbency diaper, and more and more a quick snuggle isn't enough to return her to sleep. I'm thinking it has to do with learning to crawl, teething, the excitement of being able to use a pincer grasp...in other words: classic 9 month sleep regression time!
- Seems to be satisfied with my having swapped out nursing for one and sometimes two of the bottle feedings now that she's getting more solid foods. So that means she nurses first thing, eats a good breakfast of oatmeal/formula/fruit, nurses mid-morning (depending on the stored milk supply, she may get a formula bottle while I pump), gets a 5-7 oz bottle of pumped milk (it depends on what the stored bottles hold from earlier pumping sessions) mid-day, nurses again mid-afternoon, eats a good dinner of usually two veggies or one veggie and meat with a cup of juice for extra hydration, and then gets a formula bottle while I pump around 7pm before she goes to bed. Then I generally pump once more between 10 and 11 before I go to bed.
- Gets a diaper rash after she's eaten yogurt. Which is a real shame because she loves it. And because I had stocked up on it before realizing this. Of course.
- Has pushed through tooth #1. Drool, sucking on my chin hard enough to leave hickeys, gnawing on her fingers. It's all happening at times. Yay?
- Is going mum-um-mum-um, screeching happily, screaming in frustration and making many other noises as she increases her verbal repertoire. My favorite? When she semi goes up and down the scale as she's falling asleep in the car.
- When being held and spoken to by another (parent or other adult) she'll stretch out both arms, hands up. It could be a shrug, it could be a tahdah!, it could be I'm happy to see you or meet you. But it's pretty darn cute (if I do say so as her mother).
- While happy to meet you she doesn't want to be left alone with you. Separation anxiety...whoo-hoo.
- Still continues to gather comments of how cute or beautiful she is on a regular basis. I think so too, but it's always nice to have others acknowledge.
- Has started to sit in shopping carts and high chairs at restaurants using her Floppy Seat. *Do note that the Floppy Seat does not work in the plastic Target Carts.* This is a bummer since that's one of our regular shopping destinations - enough so that I signed up for a Target card to get the 5% back (which in my state almost covers the sales tax). The only problem is that trying to get to/from dinner and eat there between her dinner and bedtime generally leads to us inhaling our meals before she starts to squall. It's not good for the digestion.
-appreciating that I am actually skinny without having to put much effort into it. I don't want to look back and realize that I didn't appreciate it like I do when I see my HS pictures. I'm pretty sure that once I stop milk production it's going to become much more of an effort. So, please don't hate me and try to remember I missed out on a month and a half of potential weight gain thanks to Little One's early arrival.
-figuring out weaning. On one hand, my milk supply has been pretty steady, if low, and as noted above I'm nursing more and pumping less which is really awesome; on the other hand, DH really needs a vacation thanks to job-related pressures and would like to take that vacation with me and away from Little One; I would like as well for the two of us to have time to reconnect, but increased nursing/still pumping makes it hard to schedule that for this spring unless something changes.
-deciding if I want to stop working or not. I'm currently working 2x a week, 3-4 hours/day. I'm getting paid for 2-3 hours a day since Little One still goes in with me and she requires a certain amount of attention which I'm sure will increase as she becomes more confident in her movement skills. DH is set against putting her into a care situation, and I'm liking that she's (knock wood) avoided getting sick thanks to not being exposed to huge numbers of other babies, so that's not an option. My employers have been very understanding so far, but I'm not sure they are going to be happy with the amount of time I can put in for the long run. But I really like my job and I'm good at it so I don't want to leave it; and knowing that the neighborhood church preschool starts at age two I'm wondering if I can make it work for the next 18 months.
-trying to figure out how to multi-task at home while caring for Little One. It's not my strong point. DH has asked several times if we need someone to come in to clean the house on a regular basis and I've demurred, but the next time he asks I think I'm going to say yes, because I'm obviously not getting it done. And now that Little One is crawling, it's that much more important for the floor to be clean. (You don't what to know how much fur and other fuzz I find in her poo. What? Not everyone checks their baby's poopy diapers to find out what's going in the mouth?)
What else?
Have I mentioned that DH is working crazy hours? It sucks in many ways, but especially since it means he doesn't get to see Little One every day. Now that Little One is starting to get a personality and is easier to interact with they are so much fun to watch together. And I love how excited she gets when she sees him. What stinks for me is that the time they spend together I'm generally not free to be involved in because I need to do something like cook dinner or clean which I have a hard time doing with Little One on my own. (See above.)
We went away for our first longer trip (Thurs-Sun) with Little One. Apart from having to inhale our dinners (see above) and Little One deciding that she had had enough of this car trip nonsense and howling inconsolably the last hour of the drive home (thank goodness the state troopers were elsewhere), it went okay. Not the best trip we've had as a couple, but certainly not the worst.
So, what are you up to?
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