Health: Sweet baby girl got sick again this month. Luckily it was only another 24-hour bug, but Bryann and I still suffered a miserable night of crying baby and no sleep. Unfortunately it coincided with the night we were trying to get her to sleep un-swaddled and doing some cry-it-out, so we didn't realize she was running a fever and was sick until well into the night, at which point I felt like a terrible neglectful parent for letting her cry so much! Mostly she just wanted to be held and snuggled so we took turns going in every 45 minutes and picking her up and snuggling her back to sleep. I even took her to bed with me at one point because we were so desperate for sleep, but she didn't sleep long even laying next to me. After a healthy does of Tylenol late into the night, we all finally caught a few hours of rest, and she was pretty much back to normal 36 hours later.
Sleep: As mentioned above, we began some serious sleep training this month. She had started to wake up every 2 hours at night like a newborn and we'd have to go in to her room and put her pacifier back in to get her back to sleep. Plus she's at the age where, since she can roll from back to tummy (though she rarely does) she shouldn't be swaddled at night so that, if she somehow manages to roll onto her tummy in the middle of the night she has her arms free and can get back over and doesn't suffocate. So we've started the process of unswaddling at night. Currently she has 1 arm free and 1 arm swaddled down. It took maybe 2 nights of some pretty painful progressive crying to get her to self-soothe and put herself to sleep at night, but we are back to the point where we can lay her down awake and she'll babble to herself for awhile, fling her pacifier around a bit, put it in her mouth finally, and fall asleep. She's even been sleeping in some pretty nice 6 hour stretches. She's even given us 7 and 8 hour stretches before. Hopefully this becomes a thing and she'll consistently sleep longer. We ALL need the extra rest...
Clothes/Diaper Size: Callie is still wee-bitty. I can still squeeze her into Carter brand 0-3 month onesies, but for the most part she's wearing her 6 month clothes pretty well. She's still in size 1-2 diapers during the day and size 2 diapers at night.
Diet: We've been exploring some new and exciting baby foods this month! Callie gets solid foods every night for dinner, and Katee feeds her solids on the days when she watches her. We usually mix 2 tbs dry oatmeal with 1 oz formula and 1/3 of a jar of the baby food du jour. That way we can test new foods for 3 days to see if she has any allergies. We've gone through apples, bananas, apple/banana/strawberry (which I think she had a reaction to because her chest broke out in a little rash), sweet potatoes, squash, and we're currently making our way through a jar of peas. She's gobbled down every new flavor we've tried so far! She's also had a few finger foods like banana and graham cracker (which she just gums) and pear slices with the skins peeled off. I may look into making our own baby food purees at home, but it just wasn't worth the energy or cost savings right now since we're just trying one new food at a time over the course of several days. Eventually we'll take her off purees entirely and give her finger food versions of what we're having for dinner.
Baby Gear Love: Bryann bought her one of those exer-saucer things she can stand in and she's been LOVING life while playing in it. We call it her command center because she can do 360 turns in it playing with all the toys and looking around the room. She loves to stand and jump and it's the only place we can set her for any length of time without her getting super fussy.
Nicknames: Goo-Goo has morphed into Boo-Boo lately, so mostly I call her Baby and Boo-Boo.
Favorite Songs/Lullabies: Callie gets a song before nap time and I'll cycle through Rock-a-bye Baby, Moon River, Baby Mine, and Mockingbird.
Milestones/Firsts: Callie has been sitting really well on her own this month. I can sit her up in the living room with some toys in front of her while I go in the kitchen, get coffee going, let Sam out and feed him, and get breakfast ready.
We survived Bryann's first business trip away. I guess Callie has already experienced having BOTH of us gone and a weekend with Grandma and Grandpa Z, but this time it was just us girls for four days, and we did pretty great on our own. I got exhausted and was glad when Bryann came home though. :-)
Callie is also experiencing her first remodeling project. We started on the family room this month, tore out the carpet and the built-ins, and installed new pot lights, bar lights, framed out part of a wall for new built-ins, and have done some painting. Callie LOVES being in the basement because it echoes and she screeches and squeals to hear the sound of her own voice. She plays in her command center while we work, and then when she gets fussy, I strap her into the Ergo and continue working. It's been a lot of fun.
Likes: Sitting up, playing with non-baby toys like phones, and cords, and breakable items, playing in her pink walker and her Command Center. Being in the basement and screaming to hear the echos. Being outside (she starts crying when I bring her in). Chewing on anything she can get her grabby little hands on. Splashing around during bath time (she starts crying when I take her out of the tub). Hanging out with all of her aunties and uncles (aka our friends) at all of our various parties and goings-on this month - Wine & Dine, Kimber's going away party, book club, general hanging out and only very mild shenanigans (we're parents now!)
Dislikes: Being tired and getting put down for a nap. I still haven't figured out the right timing for putting her down before she gets REAL fussy. She always seems to get to the crying/screaming point before I've got her all changed and swaddled and ready to go down. Being on her stomach for extended periods of time.
Things I Don't Want to Forget: This has been my favorite month so far. Callie's personality has really started to shine through. When I look at her, I don't see a baby anymore, I see a real person with thoughts and emotions and opinions. She's started to communicate in her own baby way. She's developed all these different sounds that are absolutely identifiable to communicate what she wants. Mostly it's that she wants to be picked up, or wants a new toy to play with, or wants to sleep or eat. But it's so fun watching her interact with the world and with people. She smiles and squeals with delight and even gives in to giggles every once in awhile. She's a very discerning laugh-er. Only the MOST hilarious things elicit a laugh from her.
One night in particular I don't want to forget - Bryann came home late and I had been having a long day at work, so he took over baby duty and got Callie in the bath, and while I'm sitting in the living room having quite "me" time, I hear her splashing away in the bath and Bryann giggling at her, and I couldn't help coming in and joining in the fun. "Me" time didn't matter anymore. I wanted to have these memories of playing together as a family.
 |
| Trying out her rocking chair - passed down from GG |
No comments:
Post a Comment