::Henley:: 9 Months... 3/4 of a Year!

Well we made it to 9 months and we are in the new house. We moved in on the 18th, Henley's 9 month birthday but it's taken us a few days to get organized enough to take pictures and get the computer up and running.

Weight

We have no idea but girlfriend is heavy!! We go to the Doctor in the morning for her 9-Month checkup and will find out then. I am guessing 20 lbs.


Health

I am scared to write this in fear of jinxing it but this month has been great. Henley has been healthy and happy! We have had a great month so I am starting to think maybe she has caught every germ that is at day care and there are no new ones left ;-)


Sleep
Sleep has not been good lately. She is going down at 7 no problem. I can even usually leave her in the crib awake and she puts herself to sleep. During the night is a different story, she is now waking at least twice a night and refusing to go back down in the crib. I've tried everything--down awake, CIO, rocking to sleep and laying her down and in every situation she just stands up and cries. When we tried having her cry it out, she cried for an hour and then we eventually brought her in our bed---this is the only way she is sleeping well. I am hoping this is just a phase and will be short lived. We are on week 2 of this and I'm sure the move didn't help.

She loves sleeping on mama

Clothing

We are officially out of all of her 6 month clothing and wearing mostly 9 month now. There are a few 12 months that she is fitting into also. We don't have a ton of things to wear in 12 months so I am trying to pick up cute things when I see them on sale. I have found a ton of cute Halloween things that I can't wait for her to wear. We love the holidays in this house.

She is officially in big girl PJ's. They are so adorable, I actually put her in these more often than her one piece footie pj's now.

A few weeks ago I got dressed for work then went to get Henley dressed and afterwards I realized we matched! It was pretty cute if I do say so myself.

Diet

Mama's Milk: She's still nursing pretty regularly, every 2-3 hours when we are at home. She is taking 4 - 4 oz bottles at Day Care.

Solids: She is loving solid food and has tried tons of things. We are now eating chunks and are no longer pureeing everything. She was getting frustrated while eating and just wanted to feed herself and this has been working great for us. Still on the top of her favorites list are apples, carrots, and sweet potatoes. We give her puffs and yogurt melts pretty often when we are at home and she has become so great at using her index finger and thumb to pick up food.

Baby Gear Love

Henley is still loving her pink farm walker from V-Tech. She has started walking behind it and pushing it around. It's seriously so crazy seeing her able to walk with this.

We finally were able to break out Henley's tricycle. We got this as a shower gift and since we now have a neighborhood to walk around, we broke it out this week. She loves it and it's fun to see her just taking a stroll. 

Crying

Same as last month with separation anxiety, it's like she thinks I'm leaving forever if I leave the room. Another guaranteed cry-fest is in the car seat---she hates it! She is fine once she's been in there a while but initially one would think we were beating her by her screams.

Social

We went to the park this month with our friend Ella and her mom Mary. Mary and I work together, Henley and Ella are 9 months apart and both go to the same day care. We met for breakfast then went to the park. After the park we came back to our house and the girls played for a little while. I love seeing her interact with other kids.

Postpartum

Mama is feeling great, although I'd feel even better with a full night's sleep ;-)

Last weekend I got a mom's night out with a few girlfriends, we went to see John Mayer in Concert in Tampa. It was awesome being out. We were able to sit back and enjoy dinner with some great drinks. We were also able great conversation, not even considering the awesome concert!

Milestones

We are pulling up on everything and even walking along the furniture. She is also starting to let go and go "hands free" every now and again.

She is starting to talk way more even though it's not words we know, although I have definitely heard "mama" here and there.

She has starting drinking out of a straw with no problems too. I bought her a sippy cup with a straw and read somewhere that if you squeeze it and let her see there is water coming out, she will learn to suck the straw and it worked. It probably took her 2-3 times but she picked it up like a pro!

Overall we have had a great month. She is getting more and more fun each day (and more and more work!) We are so excited to see her grow up in our new home. Here are some fun pictures from the month:

My goal is to have a house post soon! Sorry for the lack of posting, it's been a crazy month!!

Mere :-)

::Henley:: 8 is Great!

Weight
Last we heard she was 18 lbs, that was about 2 weeks ago at the doctor's. I read somewhere that they grow about a half of a pound a month for the next couple months. I measured her the other day standing and she was around 26", still 3" to go before we grow out of her infant car seat. (yay!)


Health

If you read my blog regularly you know that we have had a rough bout of sickness lately around this house. For the last week or so we seem to be back to normal overall. Henley has a little congestion going on but that is typical about once a month.

Sleep

When Henley was sick over the last few weeks her sleep patterns got very wonky. I mentioned last week that we started trying the Interval Method of Crying it Out. We started on a Friday since we wouldn't have to work the next day in case it was a total disaster. She cried for 30 minutes the first night. The first four days went great! We read that after a few days of CIO they can have a setback and you kind of have to start over. This was night 5 for us. Since then it's been a little rocky. She is falling asleep but it's just taking a little longer to get her there and she is crying a little longer. 

Clothing

She's still wearing 6 months onesies but they seem to be getting pretty tight on the length. Her 9 month PJ's are about stretched to the max, I just ordered some 12 month PJ's that should be here soon. Most of her other clothing is 9 months and fitting great. I did just wash her 12 month clothing because I'm learning that some brands run small and I have missed out on a couple really cute outfits because of this!

Diet

Mama's Milk: I can't believe we have made it 8 months breastfeeding. This month we had my first issues with supply. I think all of the sickness and being dehydrated affected my supply. I took fenugreek for about 5 days (totally smelled like maple syrup too-ugh) and with that and extra pumping sessions I am finally back to normal!

Solids: Henley has tried a ton of different foods. In the last 2-3 days it seems like she wants to feed herself. I think she has a independent personality and I am starting to see that. We are going to try giving her food to feed herself and see if that works better. She still loves apples and sweet potatoes but also is a fan of squash, pears, pastini, and carrots. She also loves the baby cereal puffs and it's so adorable seeing her pick them up and put them in her mouth.

Baby Gear Love

When Henley was home sick with Grandma Patricia, Daddy bought her this Music Table activity center. She loves it! She doesn't like to play sitting very often anymore so this is perfect. She opens and closes the little laptop over and over again. It's seriously adorable!

Henley has really been loving this Sit to Stand Walker. It's seriously adorable to see her playing on it and climbing on it. She's recently started trying to walk behind it!!

When we were out of town we went to a craft fair and there was a seller with these little chairs. I fell in love and for $25 I couldn't pass it up. She loves it and it is so adorable!

Crying

Separation anxiety is in full force. She is starting to get very sad when we leave the room which makes me feel so bad! She is so funny with the crying sometimes, she will be crying and fussing but then smiling, it's pretty funny. She is crying more than she was but still not a lot at all---mostly when she's feeling left out.

Social

We have had a pretty exciting month. We took our first trip overnight with Henley. We went to a friend's lake house in Lake Placid. Henley even took her first boat trip.

Slept the whole car ride there

Love this picture!! Getting ready to go on the boat

Watching Daddy wake board

We went to the park a few times and Henley loves the swing. It's super adorable to see how big she smiles while on it!

Postpartum

Since getting over the virus and cold I have felt great. I've started consistently taking vitamins and this week I have felt like I'm getting my groove back. Hoping to keep that up and get healthy for good!

Milestones

Standing!

  

Full Blow Crawling (Fast!) 

Feeding Herself

Clapping!

This month has really been great. I cannot believe that she will be a year old in four months. It's totally insane! Hopefully her 9 Month post will be in our new house!

Happy Sunday all!

Mere :-)

::Henley:: Sleep Training Day 2

Day two was much less eventful.She fell asleep in the car during her usual afternoon nap yesterday and only slept 20 minutes. By the time 6:30 rolled around she was exhausted. We kept her awake until 7:15 or so and I went in her room to nurse her. She was falling in and out of sleep while nursing and I tried to keep her awake as best as I could.

About 10 minutes later she finished nursing and I laid her in the crib. She wasn't totally asleep but definitely getting there. She didn't make one peep! She slept until 12:45, I got up and nursed her and she went right back down. There was 1-2 cries at this time and again at 5 when she woke. She woke up for the day at 7:30.

She has been in a great mood these last two days, it's so good to see her well and healthy and back to her old self!

She is napping now before we head out for a day of romping, shopping, and lunch. She will be totally exhausted by the time that's over. :-)

Happy Sunday all!!

Mere :-)

::Henley:: Sleep Training Day 1

This image is too funny...and quite accurate! Henley is almost 8 months old and we have had a relatively smooth time with nights. In the beginning (and by beginning I mean the first 5 months) she got up every two hours to nurse but always went right back down. It was tough getting up but I got used to it and her going back down easily made it much easier.

Around 5 months she teased me with a few days of sleeping 10+ hours through the night. Since then, she started waking once, sometimes twice a night to nurse. I still didn't mind this because just like before, she always went back down. 

Starting about three weeks ago, Henley started having pretty erratic nights of sleeping. There were a few days were she was up for 2-3 hours wide awake, there were nights she wouldn't go down for an hour or two, there were nights of her crying inconsolably, and in most of these situations she would end up in our bed. I love co-sleeping with her and we have done it quite a bit over the months but now that she is so much bigger, no one sleeps great when she's in our bed. It's amazing that someone so teeny could take up so much of the bed!

All of this brings us to last night and sleep training night one.

Since before Henley was born I had been strongly opposed to "crying it out". I thought there had to be other ways and since she was ultimately sleeping pretty well, I didn't really need to worry about any sleep training. These last three weeks got my wheels turning and I spent quite a bit of time researching other methods. I took some tips and tricks and tried there here and there, some worked and some failed. I asked a lot of people that have been here before me and every single person used CIO to get there littles to sleep. This was not what I wanted to hear. I wanted people to tell me that they got sleep and didn't havea screaming baby in the process.

Starting around Tuesday or so of this week I started discussing CIO with Teddy. He was not on board what-so-ever but I went over the stats of our friends' experiences that I collected. On Thursday I came across Isis Parenting's Webinars that discuss CIO, also know as Interval Sleep Training or Ferber, and both Teddy and I listened and considered this was the right thing to do.

Initially thinking about CIO, I pictured Henley crying for hours being left alone, feeling abandoned. The webinar stated that it doesn't have to be total abandonment, meaning we could pick whatever time intervals we see fit to go in and console her while she was crying. 

We decided last night (Friday) would be the best since it would give us the weekend to recoup in case it went terribly wrong. We decided on night one to use timed check-in intervals of 1 minute, 2 minutes, 3 minutes, etc. I also knew that I would soothe her by picking her up and doing a quick rocking to get her to calm down. The webinar suggests one parent lead the charge and since Teddy still wasn't loving the idea, although he was on board, we decided I would do it. I have to admit I was nervous! Getting her ready for bed, I actually had a knot in my stomach! So away we went and here is how our night went:

6:30: Feed Henley dinner, she had carrots and loved them!

6:50: Dad gave her a bath

7:10: Diaper and PJ time!

7:20: In the nursery, nursing Henley one last time before bed.

7:28: In the crib, Mom leaves the room

She would cry for 30 seconds, put her fingers in her mouth and calm down then repeat. It was hard to get one full minute of crying before I could go back in to soothe. 

7:33: Crying for one full minute, Mom in the room to soothe. I picked her up, cradled her until she calmed down. She started closing her eyes and sucking her fingers so I laid her back down. Major crying ensued, I left the room

She did the same thing with short bouts of crying

7:40: Crying for 2 full minutes, Mom in her room and soothing the same way. 

I think this time me going into the room made it worse! We let her cry a little longer this time. 

7:46: Crying 3 and a half minutes, Mom in the room to soothe and put her down. Started crying immediately when I left the room.

From this point until about 7:50 she would have 30 seconds of crying and about a minute of silence. She finally laid her head down around 7:54 and made her last peep at 7:58, exactly 30 minutes later. I was so relieved---not bad at all. 

She wasn't totally distressed this whole time, she was just pissed. I was also worried that she would be standing the whole time in the crib and that only last 1-2 minutes until she sat down and played with her Glow Seahorse and her little Lovey toy she has in the crib.

I was impressed. All of my nerves we put to rest and I was so relieved it went so well!! It felt liberating in a weird way. 

Henley slept from 7:58 - 1:45 (her normal wake time). I got up to nurse her and laid her back down awake. She cried for about 15 seconds before she totally passed out. She only nursed for about 4 minutes so I believe she is waking at this time out of habit. I planned to wean this feeding this week. She woke again at 5 so I got up and nursed her. I think she was actually hungry at this point because she nursed for a little while longer. Once she was finished I laid her in the crib awake again and she cried about the same, 15 seconds before she was out. She finally woke for the day at 7:26! Almost 12 hours of slightly broken sleep. It was glorious!

She is napping as we type/read and went down with about 3-4 cries, that's it! I'm so pleased this is working and it not traumatizing for either of us. She woke up SO happy and babbling like always. 

I hope tonight is similar and we are on our way to the next chapter with Henley. Despite being totally opposed to this in the beginning, I really think this worked well for us. I have to say that Teddy and I make every decision for Henley and her growth very thoughtfully. Every choice we have made from when to introduce a bottle to how to transition her to the crib has been made very seriously and this was no different. We did tons of research and made sure this was right for us. We tried other methods over the weeks and this was our last resort and it worked. Sometimes what we think we need doesn't always work out and we go back to the drawing board. I love that I have a husband that is considerate and thoughtful in these decisions with me. (Although he did tell Henley this was my idea last night before bed lol) ;-)

Wish us luck tonight, I hope it goes well!!

Happy Saturday folks---Henley and I are having a mom and daughter shopping day when she wakes up from her nap!

Mere :-)

::Life:: Updates Henley, Etsy, and House

Can I just say “sigh”?! I haven’t posted anything in a while but for good reason---it has been crazy!! I thought it best to just do one giant update post to bring everyone up to speed!


First (of course) Henley! I’m sure you recall from our last few monthly update posts that she has been sick here and there; well we have officially tested her immune system lately. But what’s even more exciting is the Mom and Dad have also been tested (and failed!) in the immunity arena. Here is what the last two months have looked like in the G House:


June 17th: Henley gets a cold and we go to the doctor, out of day care for two days

June 23rd: Mama catches the cold just like the doctor predicted

July 1st: Mama’s not getting better but getting worse, go to the Dr. and bronchitis it is, out of work 3 days

July 2nd: Dad gets a terrible stomach bug and is laid up in bed, out of work 3 days

July25th: Day care calls for us to come get her---pink eye! Mom takes her to the dr.

July 26th: Can’t go to daycare, dad takes off. Aunt Allies watches Henley while Dad goes to the Dr’s, he’s been getting fevers all week, diagnosed as virus

July 29th: Back at daycare for 2 hours before they call with thrush! It is Dad’s turn for the Pediatrician.

July 30th: Attempt to go back to day care but she’s miserable and getting a cold Mom takes a half day and grandma takes the last half

July 31st: Grandma Patricia flies in and keeps her the rest of the week to give time for the thrush and the cold to heal!

Aug 3rd: Mom gets a fever and is sick---looks like a virus

Aug 4th: Back in daycare for a full day!

As you can see that we have been exhausted and have been going to the doctor way too much, especially for someone with a high deductible insurance plan. But it’s looking up. We’ve had a great week and we hear the immune system starts getting stronger and stronger so hopefully we will start seeing less and less of this.


Secondly is sleep! Since she’s been sick off and on and also learning separation anxiety, sleep is suffering. She is no longer putting herself back to sleep and it’s taking us way longer to get her to sleep than before. We’ve been discussing a plan and it looks like Ferber may be coming into play. I’ve been against Cry it Out Methods in the past but after talking to many, many people with kids, I haven’t found one person that didn’t use Cry it Out to sleep train their little ones. I’m thinking that we should definitely do it on a weekend so maybe this weekend?? We will see! All I know is that everyone needs sleep!


Third is my Etsy Shop—It is going so well! I have had at least 4-5 orders a week totaling 33 orders. With being sick though it has been challenging at times getting these out but I’m so grateful it’s going well! I’ve made enough to buy my first “investment” for the business and was able to get an Embroidery Machine. I have spent zero time figuring it out yet but I’m excited for the possibilities!


Lastly is the house! The house is 99% complete, just waiting on the pool. Last Friday we walked through the house with the Superintendent on the job and just made sure we didn’t have anything major for them to fix and noted little things here and there for them to correct. The pool should be finished in the next 2-3 weeks, and then we will just need a screen enclosure for the pool and site work. We are looking to close the 2nd week of September. I cannot wait---the hubs and I have been looking at furniture and planning everything. It’s getting so exciting!


Well I think that’s a pretty good base line for us to start chatting again. Hope you have a great Thursday! The week is almost over!

Mere :-)

::Henley:: Seventh Month of Heaven

Weight

We are growing more and more every month! Henley had another visit to the Dr. (more on that below) so we know her weight again this month. She is 18lbs and going strong, she is in the 75th percentile for weight.


Health

This month has been rough for our household on the health scale. If you remember in Henley's six month post she was just getting over a cold. When I had taken her to the pediatrician that week, he mentioned that I probably would also get sick. One week later I had a sore throat and a cough (like he predicted). I didn't really think anything of it and figured it would run it's course.

The following week it was way worse and when I got to work on Monday I went to the clinic--I had bronchitis. The next day Teddy got a stomach bug and was laid up in bed also, we were a sad house. Thankfully my mom came by and took Henley to daycare to allow us to rest. The following few days were July 4th and I already had PTO so I ended up being out that whole week.

Last week we were all at full strength (yay!). However this week has been another trying week. On Sunday morning Henley woke up with a weird rash on her diaper area and thighs. I assumed it was a diaper rash so I put some cream on it and waited to see what happened. Monday morning she woke up and it was spreading so we took her to the Dr. He said it was a rash caused by a virus and it just has to run it's course. He prepared us saying she may get a fever and it would probably get worse before it got better---he was right! Tuesday the bumps were everywhere and raised. She also had a fever a few times and refused to sleep! This week was rough in terms of sleep!

Now the rash is almost gone and everyone seems to be back to full strength!


Sleep

Overall Henley's sleep patterns have been two naps a day, ranging anywhere from 1-2 hours. On the weekends when we are home, her first nap is around 8:30 and her second nap is around 1:30. Her night time sleeping has been changing and really been all over the map. For the most part she is still going down around 7 but she's been waking anywhere from 9-2 and then typically once more during the night.

When she was sick she had nights where she was up from 2:30-5! Talk about exhausting. We have come up with the hypothesis that Baby Tylenol makes her hyper. At one point, she was super sleepy and falling in and out of sleep but had a fever. We gave her the Tylenol and she was wide awake for 4 hours. I'm talking jumping, crawling, chatting, squealing, and so on----wide awake!


Clothing

She's slowly growing out of her 6 month clothes---the two piece outfits last a little longer. She's fully into her 9 month clothing now. I think the 9 month PJ's are good for a month or so but I quickly see her growing out of those, especially since we use huge diapers for night time.


Diet

We are fully into foods and loving it, for the most part anyways. We've had apples (love!), pears (yummy), sweet potatoes, carrots, squash, green beans (hated), bananas (not a fan), avocados, and peas (so-so). It's so fun exploring the new foods with her. We are planning to try pureeing our own meats soon.

She's still nursing like a champ, still every 2-3 hours during the day and a couple times at night.


Baby Gear Love

We got this Lil' Shopper Play Set for our shower and she absolutely loves it. It has lettuce, an orange, a banana, an apple, and milk. She loves the milk and carries it around the room when she crawls. It's so adorable to see her play with it.

She's also stable enough to sit on her own in high chairs and grocery carts so we have been using the Taggies Cart Cover quite a bit. She loves it, it has the little tags all over, and it's great to give a little more cushion in case she topples over.

Another must have for a crawling baby is leg warmers. She was getting all red on her knees from scooting around the carpet and we have been using these a ton!

I'm not sure if I have mentioned this in a previous month but the Jenny Jump Up is a favorite of hers. Those legs go a mile a minute and this is the perfect outlet for her.

New funny faces

I got this little pool for the balcony last month and we are starting to use it more. It's a great way to expend some of her energy on the weekend. I also read some review on amazon where people used it as a ball pit so I ordered some from Amazon this week.

The last thing that she is totally in love with is her giraffe. She gets so excited when she sees it, I think it has something to do with this...

Crying

This little lady is beginning to cry more often when she isn't happy. Some things that have recently caused some tears are getting into the car seat (she hates it) and this week she has started crying at the changing table. This is a major bummer since the changing table has typically been one of her favorite places ever since she was itty bitty!


Social

We celebrated the 4th of July!

Went to the beach

Went for a drive

Hung out at the pool with Grandma 

Played at daycare with Evalyn

Hung out with big cousin Aiden

Postpartum

I've been feeling great overall but I really am ready for a work out norm. I ran once this week but I am hoping all of the sickness stays away and I can get back to it. We have a half marathon scheduled for November and I'd like to start training asap since I am practically starting from scratch.


Milestones

Busy month for milestones over here. We are full blown crawling on all fours and have recently started pulling up on toys and furniture. It's so crazy that she is getting so big so fast!

Here are some other great pictures from the month:

This is a new face that I love!!!

Kisses from Fitzy!

I know I say this every month but it's crazy!! Hopefully this time next month we will be almost in our new home!!!

Mere :-)

::Henley:: 30 Things I Want to Teach Her

Here we are in July and Henley is almost seven months old. In the months leading up to her birth I would have thoughts here and there about what having a girl would mean. If I saw a news story about a girl falling victim to bullying I would immediately put myself in that mother’s shoes. I have pondered what her personality would be like---would she be girly or a tomgirl, ballet or soccer? In all of this wondering, I have thought about things I want to teach Henley, my daughter.

So here it is---a list of 30 things I want to teach Henley, some sooner some later. (in no particular order)

1. How to swim

2. To braid her hair, pluck her eyebrows, and paint her nails

3. How to tie her shoe laces

4. How to bake the perfect chocolate cake

5. How to make croissants

6. That it’s ok to fall in love at 15…or at 30

7. That travel is the most eye opening experience ever

8. To accept everyone no matter how different or unpopular they are

9. That she is beautiful and enough and perfect just the way she is

10. How to sew

11. How to drive (like mama of course!)

12. How important it is to have an opinion (preferably one of her own)

13. To have a passion for life

14. To try most foods, at least once

15. How to budget and save money

16. The importance of working hard for something she wants

17. How to give people the benefit of the doubt while not being too naïve

18. That it’s ok to cry to express any emotion whether it be happy, mad, or sad

19. How to perfectly wrap a present

20. How to climb trees

21. That sometimes the best comfort foods are milk and cookies

22. Go with your gut!

23. Don’t take life too seriously

24. The importance of wearing sunscreen

25. That a bath, a good book, and a big glass of wine can fix almost any problem

26. Never forget to laugh

27. To have something she does that is just for her

28. That having a few best friends is better than a lot of mediocre friends

29. What true love looks and feels like

30. That I always will have her back

Life is tough and there are so many things I am unable to control for her but one thing I can do for her is give her the tools to make the right decisions in her life. I prayed for this little girl to get here in my arms safe and healthy and I still pray for her every.single.day.

Mere :-)