8 months

And I missed the weight and length thing again. I'm sorry, I suck.

Eats: Still on Target Gentle and going strong! So.much.cheaper. And we still have a stash of breastmilk in the freezer, thinking she might actually make it to like 11 months with some breastmilk mixed in there. She is still a big fan of cereal, gobbles it down like its candy. And we are loving all kinds of baby food, which is awesome. Mizzle has been having a blast trying out all the new baby foods with her. I think BeechNut has had some changes since Jack was a baby, because their jars are different and they have a bunch of new flavors like papaya/mango/kiwi, broccoli/carrot/strawberry that I don't remember from Jack. I also think that Mizzle is desperate to have a kid that eats anything and everything like he does, and not a child that has her mother's palate. She is working on holding her bottle, does pretty well with this at daycare, but for the most part we hold it at home. She will grab it and stick it in her mouth, but then she lets us finish for her.

Sleeps: Usually up once per night. I know she can sleep through the night, because she occasionally will if she is super tired after daycare. She will sleep until about 6:15 if that is the case, otherwise, she is usually up around 3-4 for a bottle and then right back down. Sometimes if I am ridiculously tired (well, always) I will just feed her and put her back down awake, she protests loudly for a few minutes and then goes back to sleep. She is still on a good nap schedule at home, usually around 9 am and then again around 1 pm. Bedtime is still 7-7:30pm.

Likes: Her favorite toy currently is this Infantino Circus toy which was actually Jack's. She LOVES it. She slams down on those levers and buttons, flips the toy over, tries to eat it, kicks it, pushes it...she's just obsessed. And once again, keeping with her trend of being the opposite of her brother, she is also a huge fan of her little baby toys like the rattles, crinkley toys, etc. Jack was done with those after a few months, but she is still going strong and I love it :) Her favorite food is currently apples, we can mix apples into anything and she will eat it. Still obsessed with her brother, he is able to make her laugh pretty much all the time, she smiles and squeals whenever she sees him.

Dislikes: Being left alone for anything longer than 0.25 seconds. Especially when she knows I'm home. I'm not allowed to be out of her sight, or else all hell will break loose. We are definitely attached at the hip most days. Although peek-a-boo is a fun game, I'd like her to develop object permanance so that I can at least go to the bathroom or get a drink without screaming. She also hates getting her nose wiped or boogers sucked out. But oh well on that one, because we're going to keep doing it anyway.

Milestones: Moved up to the Convertible carseat! No more baby bucket seat :( I'm sad and happy at the same time. I'm happy to not lug that heavy ass thing around, but I'm also sad that this is just another move away from being an infant. She is much more tolerant of the carseat now, and its easier for Jack to reach her, and I think she can see him better. I actually caught them holding hands in the car the other day, I tried to get a picture but I wasn't fast enough. We are sitting up rock solid now a days, no more need for the Boppy behind her. And, even thought it was 10 days after she turned 8 months old, she got her first tooth! Bottom center left :)

Baby Girl,
Someday you'll understand when you are a mommy and have 2 kids...but I was totally overwhelmed this month and didn't get to write you a proper letter.  I'll make it up to you next month, I promise :)
So much love,
Mommy

7 months

Weight & Length? Oops. Better luck next month!

Eats:
We switched her formula (again!). Of course, money was the factor. Even though I've been getting good deals on the Gerber Soothe, we were running out of coupons and needed formula. I didn't realize that Target made a gentle formula that had the pre-digested proteins, so we decided to try that, and she was fine! Its the same price regularly as the Gerber smaller container would be, so its definitely a good deal. This month she really got into baby food also, which has been a lot of fun. Her favorites are definitely fruit & cereal. She loves apples the best it seems, and scarfs down yogurt just like her brother. We also tried puffs, and she mostly just plays with them and gets them all over her face and hair, but its still cute and she gets so excited when she sees the container. Bottles are now up to 7-8 oz, and girlfriend is growing fast!

Sleeps:
I think we may have a decent nap schedule in place! She usually naps for about 45 minutes to an hour in the morning, usually around 9 am. Then she will go down again for about 1.5 hours around 1-2 pm. Bedtime is still 7 pm, sometimes we can stretch her out a little later but there really isn't any point because she doesn't sleep any later in the morning. She has been getting up once a night again for a bottle, but she was starting to have a good streak of sleeping through the night. I think most of that has to do with the 6 month growth spurt. And we are still not napping at daycare. She will usually take 2-3 15 minute cat naps, but that's about it. Jack was the same way.

Likes:
Since she started sitting up on her own, she has been loving all the older baby toys. She loves the Fisher Price Kitchen, and her Busy Zoo activity center that Santa got her. She also loves to sit on the floor with a basket of toys in front of her, she takes them all out and chews on each one for a little while. Still a huge fan of the exersaucer, and she kinda likes the jumperoo, but not as much. Her fave person seems to be Jack, she always has a huge smile for him and watches every little thing that he does. We also switched her to sitting up in the baby tub instead of reclining, and she loves to play with her toys and chew on them. She splashes around like a little fish, she definitely loves her bath!

Dislikes:
Being left alone in a room. If she is awake and sitting up playing, and you happen to like, go to the bathroom or something, oh hell no. She is not a fan. She is definitely at the stage when someone goes from her sight she thinks they are gone forever and doesn't realize they will come back. She's getting better about the car, though long car rides are still not fun. Oh and green beans and sweet peas are apparently poison. Who knew?!

Sweet Girl,

I think you've finally reached the age where you are fun and interactive and just plain awesome. I mean you were always awesome before, but lately you are so.much.fun. I love being able to sit with you and play toys and watch you play. You are still my little sidekick and like to be with me whenever I'm around, but that's ok. I've gotten used to doing many tasks one handed, with you perched on my hip with the other arm.

You are so smiley and happy, and I think really for the first time ever, I can say that you are a "good" baby. Meaning that you are happy, you take naps and you are content for the majority of the time. I will admit, Sadie Lady, that the first few months were pretty rough. I know that wasn't your fault, I know that was the reflux, but it was so hard at times, and honestly, Mommy was ready to jump off a cliff at least once. But now that things are under control and we know what to look for when your reflux is acting up, we can keep you comfy and happy. It's pretty awesome seeing you so happy all of the time, and having everyone notice how sweet you are.

I love you so much...
Love,
Mommy

6 months

Happy Half Birthday!

Weight: 15 lbs 5 oz, 30th% (pedi office on 1/7/15)
Length: 27.5", 90th% (growth spurt!)

Eats: Still on Gerber Soothe primarily, 6 oz bottles for quite a while now. I can't see her drinking more than that any time soon, because most of the time she doesn't even finish that! We kinda took a break from baby food for a few weeks, December was a month of sickness for our house and I didn't feel like pushing it with the food if she didn't like it. However, she still loves cereal! Definitely her fave so far. Otherwise, we've tried squash, sweet potatoes, pears, apples, bananas, and yogurt yesterday. She seems to like the less sweet things, which is not what I expected. Her fave things besides cereal so far are the yogurt, and then a frozen cube of pears in her mesh feeder. Pretty sure she's teething now so that must feel good on her gums. Santa brought her some puffs in her stocking, can't wait to start those!

Sleeps: Someday, I hope, she will sleep in her crib. I've realized now that this is not an obstinance thing, but more of a comfort thing for her. During December she had a huge growth spurt and basically her Prilosec dose was too low for her weight, so we are just catching up now with the correct dose. When her reflux acts up, she doesn't sleep well lying flat. We do have 2 fleece blankets underneath the head of her crib mattress but it never seems to be enough and I'm too nervous to add any more for fear that she'll roll into the side of the crib & get stuck. So for now, we are sleeping in the Rock N Play about 75% of the time. That was the best $20 I've ever spent! Thank you consignment sales! She is still getting up once a night, don't see that ending any time soon.

Likes: We busted out the Jumperoo last week and she loves it! When she jumps Jack says she is dancing, its really cute! She also got a light-up piano from Santa Claus that she is obsessed with. She pounds on that thing and gets all excited when it plays music back to her. Lately she is also liking rattles, or anything that makes noise. She is less so interested in the crinkley toys like she was a few months ago. Girlfriend definitely has changing interests! Her favorite toys are still her hands...always with the hands in the mouth. I wish she would just stick her thumb out and suck her thumb instead, I think we would all be much happier :)

Dislikes: taking medicine. O.M.G. So on 12/20 we ended up in urgent care and she was diagnosed with a double ear infection. So she was on Amoxicillin for a week, and she totally hated it. Most kids love the "bubble gum medicine", but she does NOT. We ended up with a mostly effective way of getting her to take it though: squirt about an mL in the back of her mouth, plug her nose and it forces her to swallow. She screams, opens her mouth and the whole process repeats until the whole dose is in. Some people might say its cruel, and I suppose it kind of is, but she needs to take her medicine!

Milestones: First Christmas! She was so cute in her little Christmas outfit, I wish I took more pictures :( It was so awesome to see her in the same Christmas jammies as Jack and to think that both of my kids wore the same things. She loved the wrapping paper, and loved slapping the presents and trying to open them. Jack was a good big brother and "helped" her open all her presents. All morning long it was (in a high pitched voice of course) "Sadie! What's dis?!"

My Little Lizard,

You are getting to be such a big girl! Your personality is definitely shining through, you are so smiley and loving, and happy. Well, happy when you have the right dose of Prilosec, but that's Mommy's fault, not yours ;) You are so curious and love to be right up in the middle of everything. Your future as a Daddy's girl is already starting, you love to sit in your Bumbo chair and watch Daddy cook. And you love your big brother more than anyone. He can make you laugh and smile even when you are crying. 

I can't believe we are already at your half birthday...time is flying by. I'm trying to soak up every minute of your babyness that I can. Your soft kissable cheeks, your chunky thighs, your teeny tiny feet! Speaking of your feet, they are so narrow! You are growing out of the 0-3 month size lengthwise, but the 3-6 is too wide and they fall off! Girlie you have so many cute shoes you gotta chunk up those feeties!

Lizard, I love it when you stick out your little tongue, its the cutest thing! That's how you got that nickname :) You smile with your tongue out, play toys with your tongue out, pretty much everything. You look so cute with your sparkly little eyes and that tiny little tongue. Such a cute little imp :)

Oh girlie...I feel like even though its only been 6 months, it feels like a lifetime because it seems like you were always meant to be with us, like you were the missing piece and now you are finally here. It's so much fun to see you grow and you are everything I ever dreamed of little girlie...

I love you,
Mommy

5 Months

A week late. So sue me.

Weight: 
Length:

Eats:
Still on Gerber Soothe primarily, getting fresh or frozen BM once or twice a day. If I'm home with her all day long, I try to primarily give her BM just so that my stash is getting used. She is up to 6 oz bottles now, we did try 7 oz, but that didn't last for more than a few days so I think it was a growth spurt. And she is more of a grazer than anything. Unless she is growing, she will eat 2-3 oz, then an hour or so later will eat another 2-3 oz. If she is growing, she will suck down 6-7 oz in like 10 minutes. At around 4.5 months we started on solids. We started with oatmeal cereal first, which she loves! Jack hated cereal, it's so fun to see the differences between the two of them. We've also done butternut squash and pears and she is not really a fan. She definitely liked the pears more (I roasted them with cinnamon- fancy!) but she tends to gag on the actual foods, whereas she takes the cereal like a champ. She definitely has a strong gag reflex, and I wonder if that is tied to the fact that she gets hiccups all the time? Who knows. And we are still on Prilosec, I'm too chickenshit to try and wean her off of it - it definitely helps her so much.

Sleeps:
For about 2 weeks, she was sleeping 12 hours straight through the night, but over the past few days she has been getting up and having trouble going back to sleep. On her 5 month birthday, she got either her first cold or full on teething. She has a bit of a runny nose and doesn't really want to eat, drooling more (if that was even possible!) and seems congested. She has been kinda sorta maybe getting on a nap schedule, I'm trying to put her down around 9 am and 1-2 pm for 2 naps/day. Sometimes it works, sometimes it's a marathon of 20-30 minute cat naps.

Likes:
To hear her voice! This girl loves to babble, yell, shriek - you name it. She started blowing raspberries the other day, and she definitely has plenty of drool to supply the classic wet raspberry. She is also a huge fan of the exersaucer. You put her in it and she goes to town on all the toys. Her favorites are the chameleon and the spinning clear ball with the beads inside. She still likes her playmat, and now that her arms are long enough she grabs the little hanging bees & other toys and yanks on them and tries to put them in her mouth. Also, I think she has her first little friend at daycare! Our daycare has this awesome app (Kaymbu) on their iPads in each classroom where they can take pics of the kids and send them to 8 email addresses supplied by the parents. I've gotten a few pics where Sadie is in the bouncer and Dorothy is rocking her. Or she would be in the swing and Dorothy was close by. Dorothy is just about a year old, and is the 2nd cutest kid in the class (after Sadie of course). We also moved Sadie up to a bigger baby bathtub (Eurobath Primo) and she loves it! She kicks and splashes and would stay in there all night if the water stayed warm enough. Over Thanksgiving weekend I bought her a little pink rubber ducky - her first bath toy :)

Dislikes:
Still not a fan of the car, but its getting so much better. We recently discovered that the FP Seahorse helps settle her down in the car, as well as the Baby Shusher app (best $5 I've spent in a long time). And really, aside from the car there isn't much that she doesn't like.

Milestones:
Starting solids! Hopefully I can get my butt in gear and post the pictures we took, some of them came out really cute. She also had her first Thanksgiving, she went to Nana & Papa's for dinner with Mike & Jack while I worked, then I met them there. Then we drove down to CT the next day for her first Gumbo Gathering! She also met her new cousin Ricky, who is about 1.5 months younger than her. I'm sure those 2 will be stirring up trouble just like me and his dad have done through the years ;) She rolled over for the first time from back to belly, but she's only done it once and that was about 3 weeks ago. That time she was on her playmat on top of Jack's trampoline so I think she had a little leverage from the bouncing of the trampoline. So of course now I start to worry that she's behind, but then I remind myself that she is so so so verbal, so I think she is going to dominate in that area. Plus, it's hard to roll over and meet physical milestones when you still want to be held all.the.time.

Sadie Lady,

My little bunny I can't believe you are 5 months old already! I knew it would happen when I went back to work that the days & weeks would fly by and you would grow up way too fast. I love how you wake up in the morning and occupy yourself for about 5 minutes cooing and talking to the animals on your mobile - its the best sound to wake up to :) Although I much prefer that sound when it happens after 6 am, ok?

You are still my social little girl, loving to be all up in the middle of everything. Now that you are big enough for the exersaucer, you stand up in there and bang on the toys and shriek and make your presence known. You are so busy in there! It's like you have a mission to get that chameleon to sing to you all the live long day :) Now that you've discovered that those 2 little leggies of yours are for standing, that's all you want to do. I'll hold you on my lap and you will push up on your legs, Jack comes over and sits next to us and makes you giggle. It's the best :)

It's been a wild 5 months so far Sadie, but I wouldn't change it for the world. Sometimes I get so frustrated because you cry in the car or sometimes you won't sleep, but I hope you know how much I love you. Just because sometimes it seems like I'm going completely crazy (even though I probably really am), its just because I want to be the best mom that I can, and sometimes that's a hard thing to accomplish. But every day I look at you and think back to when I first imagined having a daughter of my own, and I realize that you are everything that I ever dreamed of.

I love you,
Mommy

Her eyes - she's like a little doe...

I absolutely love the way he looks at her, makes my heart swell

Halloween Photo Dump

For Jack's first Halloween we had a jillion pictures. Perfectly posed. Pictures with the carved pumpkins. Pictures with Mommy & Daddy.

This year? I was lucky if I got 5 pictures. Jack was itching to go out trick-or-treating with his friends and the neighbors, Sadie was kinda fussy, we were waiting for my family to get here and my anxiety was out.of.control. and the gratuitous noise was making me iNsAnE.

BUT. The kids had fun. That's all that matters.

Here's what I got for pics, in collage form because I'm too lazy to watermark individual pics right now.