Silly Lily is 8 Months!

April 24, 2013

Yesterday was one o the best moments of my life. I had been with Lily all day so when Rollie got home from work I ran a few errands. I was maybe gone for an hour. The second I walked in the door Lily, who was sitting on Rollie's lap playing, started shaking and laughing sooooo hard...I mean full on belly laughing. It was the most adorable thing I've ever seen. I know I keep saying each month gets better, but this is by far the best. She's incredibly observant, looking at everyone, turning at every noise, putting everything in her mouth, and trying really really hard to get up on her knees to crawl. I still thing we have a ways until she is full on crawling, but she's definitely trying.

We're lucky that we are still able to go out to dinners with her and travel pretty easy. People everywhere say that she is the happiest baby around and I'd have to agree. I'm terrified to have a second because we've been so lucky with her. Sleep is going amazing...I'm almost afraid to write it. She takes 2 naps a day, one around 8 or 8:30am and then another around 3 or 3:30. They aren't long naps but atleast they are pretty reliable. Occasionally she takes a midday snooze too but we are usually out and and about so its in the car, stroller, etc. Bedtime starts with a bath around 7, then a short book that she sometimes doesn't even make it through before rubbing her eyes and starting to fuss. We flip her on her tummy, she puts her thumb in her mouth, we cover her with a blanket (just over her butt) and she's out. No joke in 2 seconds. And for the last 2 weeks (since returning from our southern California trip) she's been sleeping through the night until 6:30am. I know we are beyond lucky. I can attribute it to a few things: luck, consistency, and that she's been in her crib since 6 weeks. Of course she wakes up a few times here and there, and up until a few weeks ago it was because she was truly hungry. Now if she does wake up she fusses for a few minutes and then falls back asleep. We don't rush in at every peep and luckily its rare that she full on cries.

Her appetite is growing like crazy too. Over the last month I've slowly been weaning her from the boob. I just couldn't keep up with the pumping demand at work anymore and I was getting stressed every time I had to take a break to do it. I probably took a month to decide that this was going to be my next step. I first went from pumping twice to only once, then not at all. When we spent our night away from her 2 weekends ago I knew that this was going to be a good time to try and drop another nursing session as well. So since we've been back I've replaced her nighttime session with a bottle as well. Currently I am only nursing her first thing in the morning. Its our 10-15 minutes of quiet bonding time. I'm not sure how long my body will allow me to do this but hopefully a few months longer. I feel guilty and a bit sad that I'm not going to make it to the year mark but honestly my initial goal after she was born was 6 months knowing I was going back to work full time. Here we are at 8 months and she's clearly a healthy, growing, beautiful breastfed and formula fed baby. Its definitely a change. On one hand I can wear regular bras, not have to plan my outfits around nursing, no pump part cleaning and one less bag to pack in the morning. Although now I have to remember to pack a bottle and formula and cleaning bottles is just as annoying as cleaning the pump. Rollie (or anyone else for that matter) can help feed her wherever and whenever too which is nice.

As for her eating schedule she nurses in the morning and then takes 3-6oz. bottles throughout the day/night. Usually around 11, 4, and 7...give or take. She's eating solids 2-3x a day too. Still no teeth. I swear that I feel a bump, but I've thought that before and nothing happened so we will see.

She loves being in her stroller looking at the world, taking walks outdoors and the fresh air, playing on the deck, her bouncer, baths, tickles, being read to, being sung to, rufus, her playgroup friends, food, and her mommy and daddy of course.

She has such a personality and many many expressions...many of which are shown here: