live.laugh.love.baby.

Emerson | 8 months

8 months!!

It's so fun watching her little personality bloom and shine. She's such a happy, free-spirited, goofy little girl that couldn't possibly fit into our family any better.

We sure got lucky with this one.

(minus the sleeping factor.)

| growth |

She's weighing in at a whopping 19 pounds. She's wearing some 6 month clothes, but mostly 9-12 months. We're finishing up our size 3 diapers and plan on moving to size 4.

| eating |

She eats like a champ. ALL HOURS OF THE NIGHT. The week or two of {decent} sleep we had last month was just a whim. We're still nursing ever 3-4 hours a day and she's eating food with us during lunch and dinner. She basically eats everything we put in front of her. Homegirl doesn't judge.

| sleeping |

In case you didn't get the memo above, Emerson is sleeping horribly. She did so great with the sleep easy solution and then she regressed. REAL bad.

| personality |
She still Mrs. Happy alldaylong. Her teachers (and even the owner!) at school continuously tell us how much they love her and wish she were full time rather than 2 days a week. She has become super interactive with Ellie and is obsessed with playing (read: climbing all over) the dogs.

| new developments |

She official started crawling this past month -- right at about 7.5 months. She's started drinking water, but still getting the hang of how to drink out of a sippy cup.

| likes |

Food, standing, laughing, trying to eat our faces, and everything to do with water.

| dislikes |

Sleeping. Still.

Emerson | 7 months

My sweet little ball of sunshine is 7 months!

Since I started going back to work part-time, Emerson has been going to the nursery at Ellie's preschool twice a week and she's doing really well. It was so hard to leave her at first, especially in a center like place rather than with a Nanny like we had for Ellie. Fortunately, she's doing great! I'm eager to see what new things she learns by spending time around other babies. I also may or may not look at the cameras one million and one times a day. ;)

| growth |

She's weighing in at a whopping 18 pounds. She's still rocking the size 3 diapers and 6 months clothes, but they're starting to get a bit snug so we've started adding 9 month clothes to the mix.

| eating |

She eats like a champ. Figures. She's nursing every 3ish hours during the day and usually twice at night (one dream feed, she wakes up the second time). She's eating pureed fruits and veggies during lunch and dinner. Depending on the meal, she's also eating some adult food. So far, she loves it all - especially all her veggie purees and any and all people food we offer her.

| sleeping |

The last couple nights she's been waking up a bit more.. which is fun. Teething maybe? But she's typically on a pretty good night schedule FINALLY (don't worry, I paid my dues). She goes down around 8, I dreamfeed her around 10 and again around 2ish when she wakes up. She'll go back down until around 5-6, I bring her to our bed to nurse and fall back asleep until 8ish. She hardly naps, but hey.. I'll take what I can get and a (mostly) restful night's sleep is it!

| personality |
She is super, super happy all the time. She's quite the hit at her new school. She doesn't sleep very well there (shocker), but her happy little self is loved by everyone. I love having such a happy baby, it makes life SO much easier! She is also starting to laugh a lot, especially when you tickle her (this girl is SOO ticklish, it's hilarious!).

| new developments |

The biggest and most important is her first word - Mama!! Ellie's first word was Dada, so I'm happy that at least one of my kids thought of me first. ;) She's beginning to mumble quite a few other consonant sounds as well. She has just started to pull up on everything. I think it's about time to lower our pack n play and crib! She's starting to leap forward from a sitting position and either face plants or lands on all fours and begins rocking. No crawling yet though!

| likes |

Pulling up on everything, pulling any hair she can get her fingers around rather it be her sister, dog, or the lady in front of us at the grocery store, Mommy's jewelry, and all people food.

| dislikes |

Napping.

Emerson | 6 months

Ohmygosh!

For real, I can't believe my little peanut is a HALF YEAR OLD already (as of the 18th)!! She's turned into quite the adorable little babe with a ton of personality already.

| growth |

We had her 6 month appointment last week and she weighs 17.12 pounds (79th percentile) and is 26.75 inches long (83rd percentile). My little peanut isn't such a peanut anymore!
She's still wearing size 3 diapers, chunky monkey thighs and all. She's wearing mostly 6 month clothes and a few 3-6 month outfits.

| eating |

She's nursing every 2-3 hours during the day and twice at night, though we're currently in the process of weaning nighttime feeds. We've started giving her 2-3 ounces of purees during dinner and occasionally at lunch. She's not a big fan of fruit, but loves all her veggies (carrots, sweet potato, green beans, peas, asparagus, broccoli, corn). We've also done some BLW with banana, broccoli, avocado, and pizza crust (mother of the year right here, no?).

| sleeping |

I'm SO happy to say that we've finally turned a corner in the sleeping department. After nearly 6 months, I could no longer take the waking up every hour all night long deal. We implemented the Sleepeasy Solution last week and she now falls asleep on her own, sleeps without the swaddle, each nap is at least an hour long, is sleeping in 3-4+ hour stretches at night and about 10 hours overall with hardly if any fussing at all. She wakes up and falls back asleep on her own; it's seriously incredible!
Long story short, miracles do happen folks!

| personality |
She continues to be the happiest baby on the block! She loves everything and everyone. I love my little laid-back babe!!

| new developments |

She's rolling like crazy, is a pro at sitting up on her own, and loves to stand up against things. She still needs a lot of assistance with the standing, but I'm amazed at how strong and developed she seem to be already!

| likes |

In addition to the usual things (Mama, being worn, baths, walks, watching the dogs), her new favorites are all things that light up and make noise, her jumper, the pool (splashing!!!), and eating--especially her vegetables.

| dislikes |

All fruit other than bananas, when we wipe her face after eating, and when you take food out of her hands. Another one of my kids loves food? Shocker.

--pictures from this past month--