Baum Squad: The Baum Family Blog: 8 Months Old

The craziness of me being able to blog two days in a row is not lost on me. I was looking back at my posting history and laughing the other day. When I was pregnant I was posting 20-25 times in a month (I posted almost every week day and on some weekends). In January, when I was on bed rest, I posted the most ever in one month - 29 times! While I was on maternity leave I was still averaging 18-20 posts/month, and ever since I've been back to work it's been twelve or less (mostly less) times per month. It is a constant struggle for me to balance wanting to document everything for Lilly and getting everything done that I need to do as well. Of course I want her to be able to look back some day and read a thoroughly documented "baby book," but by the time I get home from work, take care of her and get her fed, bathed and in bed, I still typically have a ton of work ahead of me: washing bottles and pump parts, packing her things for the next day, packing my things for the next day, not to mention laundry, dinner, taking care of Layla and any other chores that are hanging around here. Anyway, I digress...I am trying to be on time with the monthly updates at a minimum, which is why I am blogging instead of doing the one million and one things I need to be doing tonight! You're welcome, Lilly. :-) Without further ado, here are our 8 month (!!!) stats (How is it possible that I have an 8-month old?! She will be 1 before we know it. Tear!):

Weight/Length: Let's be honest. Clearly this field will be left blank. But please know that Lilly is still chunky and I want to just chew on those little ~~thunder~~ thighs and cheeks!

Sleep: No changes here. Over the weekend when we were away, Lilly fought me on naps (would only sleep for about 30 minutes for both of her naps and also woke up both nights, what the heck!), so I was worried that she was already trying to drop one nap and I was panicking because I am not ready. I have determined that it was either due to a lot of stimulation, teething, or both because she's been back to her regularly scheduled programming since we got home. She goes down at night between 7:30 - 8:00 pm and typically sleeps until 7:30 or 8:00 am (sometimes earlier but usually she's not up before 7, and if she is I normally nurse her and put her back down). She takes two naps during the day which are normally 2 or 2.5 hours long each - the time of said naps depends on when she woke up, etc. but they typically fall somewhere between 10-11am and 2-3pm.
Feeding: For the very first time, I can no longer say that we are "primarily" nursing. We are still nursing for sure, but this month we graduated to three solid meals/day - breakfast, lunch and dinner - so as a result, Lilly is not nursing quite as much. Her "good" nursing (read: longer than 5 minutes) normally occurs first thing in the morning and at the last feeding before bed. She is also no longer really on a strict every-three-hour eating schedule. Here is a sample of an eating schedule these days:

8:30am: Nurse
9:00 or 9:30 am Breakfast: 3 cubes of fruit, each mixed with oatmeal, and 2 T. yogurt
12:30pm: Nurse (for maybe 5 minutes if I'm lucky)
1:00pm Lunch: 3 cubes of veggies (at least one green!) and 1 fruit cube. Veggies are mixed with cereal, fruit is mixed with oatmeal.
5:00pm: Nurse (again, maybe 5 minutes)
5:30 or 6:00pm Dinner: 2-3 cubes of veggies (at least one green), meat, 1 cube fruit. I also sometimes throw in a grain here, like whole wheat pasta. Again, cereal/oatmeal are mixed with each fruit/veggie cube.
7:30pm: Nurse

I have to sneak in the rice cereal and oatmeal where I can because Lilly HATES the stuff, and she won't eat whatever she's supposed to be eating if she can taste it. Diva! I read somewhere that at this age she should be getting 3-9 T. (Does that range seem random/like it spans a lot of distance to anyone else?) of that stuff per day, so through trial and error of what she can taste and what she can't, I came up with a mixture of 1.5 teaspoons of cereal/oatmeal per cube of fruit/veggie so that she's getting somewhere between 3-4T. total per day.

We introduced quite a few new things this month. I've been more adventurous with mixing things (papaya banana, blueberry apple, banana apple pear, apricot pear, etc.) and there is not much that Lilly doesn't like (although green stuff still isn't her favorite, except for peas, which she's now decided she loves, I think because they're sweet). I've also been more adventurous in letting her try things we're eating as long as it's not too spicy/salty/etc. She had puffs for the first time this month, which she of course loves but doesn't get very often. She LOVES Little Duck dried fruits and gets lots of practice feeding them to herself. She is also a fan of whole milk yogurt, which surprised me because she normally doesn't like cold things. I can also get her to drink water sometimes now, but she prefers it to be really cold. Again, diva!

Firsts This Month: I can't remember all of them, but I know there were a few. First bike ride was one of them. First time Mommy and Daddy (together) left her with someone
else for the weekend. That's all I can think of - my mind is going blank!

Developments: The last week of month 7 was a busy one. Lilly started crawling last Tuesday. On Wednesday, she took her first assisted "steps" - Carney was helping her stand up and she started walking towards me, which she's never done before. I am so glad I was there to see it, I would have been disappointed to miss it, even though it's not really walking yet. Then on Thursday, she pushed herself up to a sitting position for the first time with no assistance! She's also been pulling herself up some, but not a ton yet. I feel sure she'll get there before we know it. She is working on perfecting her crawling, but it is mostly still a mixture of an army crawl/spider crawl and a lot of rolling. It's hilarious! Lilly is very vocal and continues to mimick sounds that we make. I would swear to you that she said "Layla" the other day (she was looking right at the dog and said "lala" - Carney heard it, too!). I'm still not sure she knows what things mean, although she has started saying "mama" a lot more often. Her hand-eye coordination has also improved tremendously - she is getting really good at picking food up off of her high chair and putting it in her mouth (what can I say, she's motivated by food I guess!).

Likes: Still not many changes here. Being outside. Eating. Swimming (unless it's at the Y) Layla. Bath time. Snuggling. Giggling. Talking/cooing. Reading books. Nap time/sleeping in general. Sucking her thumb (especially when sleepy). Music - she LOVES to sing songs, the sillier the better (Daddy's specialty). Laughing. Rolling around and scooting. Crawling (especially towards things she shouldn't be getting into). Being naked. Being silly with Daddy. Jumperoo and door jumper. Grocery shopping. Visiting the aquarium. Walks/stroller rides. Bike rides. Sampling anything and everything Mommy and Daddy are eating.

Dislikes: Broccoli and green beans (we are OK with peas these days). Not being able to get to things she wants. Sitting in the high chair but not eating (aforementioned dry fruit and/or puffs come in handy here!). Getting lotioned up before bed. Additionally, putting on PJs or changing clothes.

What I'm Thankful For: A few weekends at home for once! We have lots of fun plans in store and a list of things to do around the house. It will be so nice to be able to relax and not have to be on the go!

What I'm Looking Forward To: We have some upcoming trips for weddings to NY and Vegas that I'm pretty excited about. I'm also excited about the changing season and all of the "firsts" that it will bring for L: pumpkin patch, apple orchard, state fair, and maybe even a football game if we're feeling crazy?! Not to mention Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas...time is surely flying!

Next Pediatrician Appointment: October 26 for her 9-month check-up.

How Mommy's Doing: Good, but busy! It is a constant struggle to feel like I have enough hours in the day and to balance everything I have going on, but I wouldn't change a thing. I have decided to train for a 5k in an effort to lose some of these lbs, so fingers crossed I don't die in the process!

Here's your dose of monthly Lilly pics. I will note that it was much harder to get L to cooperate this month, especially now that she's mobile. I have a feeling our days of "please sit in this chair and pose for Mommy for five minutes" are numbered! I took a really cute series of photos with her "Lillian" combination puzzle/stool from the Weibles, but I'm too tired/lazy to wait on them to upload so I'll save those for another day (tomorrow perhaps? three for three? gasp!). Enjoy!