Nora: Month Seven

Dear Nora-

This month was both a ton of fun and completely exhausting. Though everything makes you giggle and laugh these days, and you just love playing and exploring- for at least half of the month, you were sick, and just not yourself.

First it was a little common cold and congestion, which turned into a bad cough and some vomiting, and a low grade fever for ~10 days, which led to two different antibiotics and your first trip to the ER (we would have just gone to our normal pediatrician, but we were in Colorado for the holidays). Even though you were diagnosed with an ear infection and bronchiolitis, you still were giggling away and charming the doctors in the cutest baby hospital gown I've ever seen:

Still, you were very clingy and fussy, and waking up very frequently. One night I think you woke up more than once per hour the entire night! But we knew it was because you didn't feel good, so we rocked you and did everything we could to try to make you more comfortable.

Sickness aside, when you're feeling good you are generally a happy baby, and you made our families completely gaga for you when we visited over the holidays with your big laugh and your goofy tongue-out smiles (sometimes while eating carrots):

(thanks to my sister for this photo)

Sleeping: As I mentioned last month, we were doing some Ferber sleep training and it was going really well. At the beginning of the month, you were only waking about once per night (compared to 5-6 times last month), and sleeping from ~8pm to ~5am, waking for a bottle, then sleeping until 8am.

But... then you got sick. So half the month was spent with some of the worst sleep nights you've ever had (newborn days included). We were sooo tired, and we knew you must be too! Luckily after we got the correct antibiotic and as you are starting to feel better, your better sleep appears to have returned, though we might have to revert to some sleep training because we created a few bad habits while you were sick.

In good news- I think we now have you napping in the crib, so I'm packing up the Rock n'Play. I love you, RnP! The nap story is the same- 2-3 naps of 30 minutes each. I'm not too worried about that- I think you're just not a great napper. You get a lot of sleep at night, so to me it makes sense you wouldn't sleep as much during the day.

Eating: You tried some new foods this month- like pears (don't like unless mixed with something else), peas (like), peaches (dislike), and squash (love). I think your favorite right now may be carrots. We didn't try quite as many things as I would have liked because when you got sick you completely lost your appetite and it was hard even getting you to drink your formula.

I did let you try some baby "puffs"- little snack treats that are flavored like banana that help you work on your "pincer grasp". So far you feel so-so about them but you like picking them up! It's the getting-them-in-your-mouth that's the tricky part. I also let you sample a few things by chewing them- a whole green bean, for example, and a slice of pear. You seem to enjoy that a lot, so I'll continue letting you try some foods this way (I also have this mesh feeder that we're going to try out). This month, you're also going to try yogurt and meat- though I'm not sure I want to puree meat so I might just grind some turkey or chicken into very fine pieces. You've been working on your sippy cup skills- you figured out how to drink/suck from it, but you can't quite tip it back far enough to do it completely by yourself.

You are still on two meals a day and 6 bottles, but I think we might go to three meals soon, plus 5 bottles per day (same total amount of formula, though you haven't been drinking quite as much lately).

Weight: No official weight check this month, but when we were at the ER last week, they weighed you at 17 lbs (with clothes on). I would expect your weight gain to be much less this month, because you really weren't eating your normal amounts for the last two weeks.

Diaper Size: Size 3 pampers. We really pushed the size 2 to try to get through the box I had! Size 3 fits much better.

Clothes Size: 6-9 months. You can still fit into a few 3-6 month outfits though.

Milestones/Firsts: First Christmas and first presents! (posts to come soon on our trip home). First trip to the ER (see above) and first ear infection (ugh).

You are a total pro at sitting and can turn and reach for things far away and still come back to the sitting position. If I'm sitting next to you, you will try to pull up onto my lap from the sitting position- you can't quite do it yet though, but you can get on your knees. Also, you can go from a sitting position onto your tummy- sometimes you can stay at the hand-knee position for a minute but you can't hold yourself up like that for very long yet. But, you have gotten really good at army crawling- today you inched across your entire room! And you can turn on your tummy and roll so you can get anywhere you want to go (albeit very slowly). We haven't needed baby gates yet but I've been researching which ones would work best because I think I might need to order them either this month or next.

You reach for people (especially mommy and daddy) very frequently to be picked up. You love to touch people's faces (and pull off glasses or tug on hair).

Likes/Dislikes: Ugh, the hatred for the car came back with a vengeance, perhaps because we spent more time than usual in the car this month with all our traveling. You actually seem okay with the carseat but as soon as we put the carseat in the car, the waterworks begin (even if one of us is back there with you).

Towards the end of the month, you've become a real mommy's girl- when you get tired or cranky, you just want me to hold you and no one else will do (Daddy for some reason seems much funnier from my arms). I'll try to sit you right next to me on the floor and you'll try to climb up into my lap almost immediately. It's certainly flattering and I love the extra snuggles but I don't want you to have separation anxiety so I'm hoping it's a relatively short phase!

You love music, singing, and dancing. As soon as someone sings to you or starts dancing, you just get the biggest smiles. I hope your love of music continues!

(thanks to my sister for this photo)