My Little Lainie Month 8

How we are 2/3 through Lainie's first year is beyond me.  I really feel like she should be about 3 months old and Joel and I both feel like we were just in the hospital with her.  She continues to be a complete joy and so much fun.  She is very close to the easiest baby ever.  She goes with about anything, is easy to be around, and smiles almost all the time.  If she slept through the night, I think she would be the worlds easiest baby.

Month 8:

Eating:
Lainie can eat like a man.  Its so funny to be out with friends and see their reaction to how much Lainie eats.  She eats the happy tots squeezie pouches 3 times a day and eats between 1-2 pouches, with usually the most at lunchtime.  She'd much rather eat right out of the pouch than mess with a spoon. She eats much better off a spoon for her Daddy than she does for me.  She does not like the apple blends, and really likes the banana blends.  She still gags if there is a lot of texture.  I've started giving her the meltaway bites and she will pick them up and put them in her mouth and spit it out.  I've tried puffs with the same response.  She acts like she really wants to eat what we're eating, but really isn't interested in the actual eating part if it has texture.  I think it'll come and until it does, we're fine with this. 

She's still nursing about every 3-4 hours and too many times at night.  I would love to get her on a solid 4 hour schedule but it just doesn't seem to happen.  She may just eat every 3 hours until she's done nursing.  On the upside, I've added back dairy (wow do I love cheese). We decided she wasn't sleeping anyways, so we might as well try it.  I haven't noticed too much of a difference which is a relief.  In regards to Joel and I eating dairy, I'm really not interested in going back to eating the way we were (with butter and cheese in almost every meal).  I feel better without it and while its so much easier to make a casserole or something quick with cheese, I want that to be the exception instead of the norm.  I've made up several dairy free dishes for dinner I'll try and post that we both think are better than our old reliables. 

Size:
She's huge.   Based on our entirely inaccurate scale (which I love because I think it measures light!), she weighs about 19+ pounds (Ruthie was 15lbs 7oz).  She's got chunky thighs but doesn't have a michelin baby look at all.  She's just long and too me seems closer to a 12 month old.  I need to measure how long she is.

She's in size 3 diapers and I just bought a box of size 4.  I can't believe I'm going to have an 8 month old in size 4 diapers.  Ruthie JUST got out of size 4. 

She's wearing 9-18 month clothes, with 12 months fitting the best right now. 

Nighttime Sleep:
Man.  We don't have this one down.  At. All.  She needs her own space, and I'm about ready to give up our room so she can have it if it means she sleeps.  We have a noise maker, but almost as soon as we go to bed, she wakes up, and it continues about every 3 hours (which I'm contributing to us shifting, snoring or moving. I, unfortunately, am not a still sleeper).  Its making me a little bit bonkers (and short on patience which is not good).  Even more, its making me really nervous for putting her in her sisters room.  Really nervous. 

The plan now is to put up a wall (which would eventually go up anyways since Lainie's "room" is becoming our master bathroom) and hope that works.  The logistics of putting up a wall with 2 very small kids is the tough part since we can pretty much only work on it when they're asleep, and its not a quiet process.  It will be worth it and I hope it happens really really soon. Her sister started sleeping through the night right at 8 months old, so I'm praying with as different as they, in that way they are similar.

Daytime Sleep:
Almost perfect.  Which makes me so confused about nighttime sleep.  She takes great naps.  She goes down about 8am and sleeps until about 10am.  Depending on our day and if we're home, she'll either take one long afternoon nap from about 1pm-3/4ish or two shorter naps.  She only sleeps in the car if she's really tired and hasn't slept in the stroller in months.

Mobility:

Shes a mover! She crawls like a pro, pulls herself up on about anything, and is starting to cruise along the furniture.  She makes us really nervous because she tries to stand every second of the day and forgets about getting her feet uncrossed.  She has let go and stood by herself for a few seconds a couple of times.  I think she'll be walking soon.

Eyes:
Still all her Daddy, they've lightened up and have some green in the center.  I love them.

Paci:
Still only the crib and carseat.  She can put her paci in easily (thank goodness!).

Hair:
She still has more hair than Ruthie did at a year, but its not blowing in the wind.  Its darker than I thought it would be (since she's got fair skin and blue eyes).  I think it is going to be coarser and thicker than Ruthie (and my) hair.  Maybe she's got Daddy's hair too?

Signs/Sounds and Words:
She's very interested when I do the signs all done and more but she hasn't done any back at me yet.  She's started making the Ba Ba Ba sound a lot, but no words as much as we say Mama and Dada.

Teeth:
The two bottom teeth are through!

Loves:
To crawl and explore.  She can totally entertain herself, which is incredible to me.  She plays alone and doesn't need us to have fun. 

The beach, its in her genes!

Still the jumperoo but she's not loving the confinement as much since she wants to move

Ruthie

She's starting to be very interested in Chloe

Dancing, I love it!!

Every time I get her up from a nap or anytime I get her out of the crib she completely hugs me.  It is one of the sweetest things I've ever experienced.  Its a two arm around your neck squeeze from a chunky baby.  It really doesn't get much better!

I love this baby and every day seems to be better than the last!

*Better late than never!