Seven Months Old

Miss Maddy is seven months old today. 

She still eats small amounts frequently during the day (and if I'm unlucky, many times during the night).  She's up to 4-ounce bottles each feeding.  And it's easier for her to hold these little 2-oz bottles.  She still likes to nurse but I have to rely mostly on formula.  As for solids...it took her a couple days to realize she could push the stage 1 veggies out of her mouth with her tongue.  She resisted them for two weeks, so I tried rice cereal with much more success.  I vow to avoid trends and rely on conventional wisdom and our nutritionist from now on.

She's still all smiles at home.  But stranger anxiety is upon us.  Taking her out or having visitors to the house always brings the fear that she will burst into tears when someone who is not Momma, Daddy or Brother so much as looks at her.

She has so much more head control now.  Her upper body strength is getting better, too.  She doesn't hate being on her tummy anymore, and she can roll over without konking her head on the floor.  She's getting a little too good at rolling - I turn my head for a few seconds and she's across the room.

She's getting more excited about the few board books I've been reading to her.  Yummm, Babies.

Sleep...well, I'm hoping we're getting out of the stage where she wakes up five times each night...or worse, every hour.  For a few nights she's slept for 3-4 hours at a stretch.  It's a relief, but I'm still REALLY tired, and scared I'm gonna jinx it.  Her favorite way to sleep is on her tummy.  If only she could get her pacifier back in her mouth by herself...

Happy Father's Day!

Father's Day: Grandfathers

From Grandpa's visit in April...

From Pap-Pap's (and Nana's) visit last week...

Just Photos

 Field Day face painting

 Upside-down pacifier

 Chocolate pudding smile

Shout

Recently Madeline found her "outside" voice.  Sure, she could always scream and cry loud enough to break glass.  But now our precious angel, our scaredy-cat baby, this delicate little flower who jumps at loud and sudden noises and bursts into tears if someone nearby laughs too loudly, has discovered how much fun it is to holler.  She shrieks and shouts with such glee.  And it drives Ben crazy.  I hope to get a video of that sometime.

The sound of her voice is a wonderful thing.

Sleep (Or Not)

 I love our kids.  They are awesome in their own ways.  But they have both been a challenge in the sleep department.  Ben just never wanted to miss out on all the action when he was an infant and hated falling asleep.   I thought for sure Madeline would be a better sleeper.  Not so much.  When she was a newborn, she slept in her bassinet beside me (see photo, from 6 weeks ago) or with me in bed.  I put off trying to put her in the crib because I was paranoid about being separated from her, and because she woke up so frequently that it was just easier to keep her beside me.

 So last month I tried some sleep training: get her to sleep only in the crib, take longer naps and wake less frequently at night.  She falls asleep fairly easily if I notice her sleepy signs.  Apparently I missed the signs on this day, because she went from playing to sleeping right in front of me on the floor.

 She takes short naps and tends to wake up a lot at night, sometimes up to five times.  For several nights in a row.  Sometimes it makes me want to cry.  I am tired of all the articles that say that at this stage my baby should be sleeping better and have a sleep routine.  Maybe I should read those articles to Maddy.  Maybe she just never got the memo.

 After a few fitful nights in the crib, she was done with the bassinet and only spending nights in her own room.  But she still got up at least every 2-3 hours, sometimes every 30 minutes.  Several nights of that made me start to lose my sanity.  Also, she likes to stay up late (goes to bed between 9 and 10) and sometimes sleeps in until 8 or 9 in the morning, especially if it was a rough night.  I have tried waking her up earlier to adjust her schedule and go to bed between 7 and 8 but so far no luck.

 Her naps are anywhere from 20 minutes to an hour, usually 3 times a day.  If I'm really lucky a nap lasts for an hour and a half.  This week she is only getting up 2-3 times at night.  Once or twice is for food.  Sometimes she gets stuck on her tummy.  Sometimes she just needs her pacifier.  She usually goes back to sleep quickly, so that's something.  Notice all these photos of her sleeping on the floor of our living room?  That happens in the afternoon; instead of taking her to her room for an actual nap, I let her snooze right where she is.  I think it might help her sleep better at night.  Or I could be so sleep deprived that I'm delusional.

In her crib, waking up from a nap.  I can't stay frustrated at her for very long, not with this smile.

Wiggleworm

Madeline has been doing this wiggle dance a lot.  Here she's looking at Mike & Ben sitting on the couch.  When Ben smiles at Maddy, it makes her smile, too.  And the best way to get Ben to smile is to get him to say "cheese" for the camera.  Which apparently makes him hungry.