I would definitely say that this past month has shown the most visible growth and changes. Now it just seems to be happening so fast! Too fast!
Here are some new things she has done in the past month:
- Kissed Momma for the 1st time! (Both hands, open mouth, wonderful slobbery kiss!)
- Went to the splash pad
- Started going to Storytime at the library
- Went swimming with Emma (you loved this!)
- Mouthed "mama" when I tell you to say it, but no sound yet
- LOVE your Jumparoo
- Roll and scooch to explore the whole house! It's amazing how fast she moves!
- You can move to what you want, pick it up and play with it
- Pick up and drink from your sippy cup
Eating
We extended our schedule to eating every 4 hours instead of every three. I'm talking breastmilk here. She drinks about 5 oz per feed and about 5 feeds in 24 hrs. She won't nurse from me unless it is dark outside. So that means she only nurses at bedtime and in the middle of the night (once or twice). I pump throughout the day. She gets her first bottle at 9, then 1pm, 5 pm, 8 pm, 11:30 pm and 5 am. I'm going to try to cluster feed in the afternoon to cut down on the nighttime feeding.
She eats solids after her naps during the day. After the first nap she eats her "Super Porridge". I grind whole rolled oats in the coffee grinder, add leftover breakfast breastmilk, nutritional yeast, liquid multi-vitamin. She loves this! After her next nap she usually eats a puree and some snack item like Little Cremes, Puffs, MumMums. Her final solid of the day is usually fruit like banana or raspberries. If she seems hungry I will add in something else too.
I've noticed that she really prefers to eat solids rather than her bottle. She is always interested in what I am eating and wants to try everything. The only things she gagged on was Zucchini and Sweet Potato. She never warmed up to the sweet potato but after she tried Zucchini again (cold this time) she ate it without gagging. I am not sure how the whole weaning thing will go down so I am going to ask the Dr. at our 6 month appt. My goal is still to make it to a year!
Sleeping
Sadly, I am still getting up 4-5 times a night. Usually, she just wants her pacifier or a pat on the back. I also changer her diaper 1-2x at night. I didn't use to do this because it wasn't full, but now it fills up at night. She is in size 3 diapers right now. Even though I am so sleep deprived and exhausted, I don't mind getting up with her. She actually lets me cuddle her a bit at night and I enjoy that. I won't mind when she does decide to sleep through though!
Avelyn naps wonderfully during the day. She sleeps about every 2 hours right now. She usually wakes up around 7-8 and takes her first nap at 9-10. This nap is 30 mins to an hour usually. The midday nap is usually an hour and a half. The early afternoon nap is the longest of the day. Sometimes even 2 hours long. Yippee! She also takes a short catnap around 5pm that lasts about 30 mins.
Her bedtime routine begins around 7:30 and we start with her bath. Lately, I take a bath with her since she can sit up so well on her own. Then I dry her off and give her a 20 minute lotion massage. The theory here is that it will calm her down but I haven't really seen it working yet. Depending on how antsy she is, I will sometimes read her a story before she gets her bottle. After drinking her bottle, she always looks milk-drunk and sleepy...but 5 minutes later she gets a burst of energy and starts talking really loud to herself, kicking her legs and throwing herself around her crib. She will get very upset if I leave the room and I usually stand next to crib or sit in her glider chair and tell her I haven't left the room. This is the only part of the day I really dread. If I do leave to eat dinner or something, I have to go back in every few minutes to calm her down, pat her on the back, put back in the paci and try to sneak out again. Very tiring!
I try to follow the Baby Whisperer's advice of Sleeping,Eating,Playing. We do pretty well with that. She loves to play and explore. Right now I just sit next to her and stack blocks for her to knock over or read her a story. She likes to have her alone time too. I also downloaded some flashcard apps by the Preschool Prep Company onto my iPad. These teach her colors and numbers and the alphabet. I say the color/number/letter then touch the card to see it flip over and hear the color/number/letter repeated. Most of the time, she will press the card to have it flipped! She is such a little smarty pants! :)
Avelyn is very vocal about what she likes and dislikes. She gets mad at me and yells at me if I am not doing what she wants me to do. :) I am trying to start teaching her what No is and we are working on the "Wait 1 minute". She is so impatient! I wonder where she gets that from?
She is such a happy, even-mannered baby! I am so lucky. Yes, I am still exhausted at the end of the day, but being the only parent around for 7 weeks straight will do that no matter how great the baby is! I am also dealing with buying a house and subletting our apartment. If you count in my regular duties of cooking, cleaning, mommying.... It's alot for me right now and I've been pretty overwhelmed. Brandon comes home in a few days though and I can put some of this weight on him! :)
Back to the baby...I just love having her in my life! I will just look at her from across the room and she breaks into the biggest smile for me! She has really started to show her personality and I love being able to stay home with her all day! Being her momma has made me a much better person!
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