Months 7, 8 & 9

The last couple of months have gone by in a flash. Penelope is getting bigger everyday (about 19 lbs now!) and starting to make that transition from little baby to little girl. It's hard for me to believe that the last update I did was at 6 months...she has changed so much since then!

Over the last few months, she's gotten her two front top teeth - complete with a little gap in between - and it's really just the cutest. Another bottom tooth broke through and the way she is teething on the sides of her mouth, I'd say a few more aren't far behind!

Around 8 months also brought the end of nursing for P and me. It wasn't a momentous occasion (but if you want to read a really sweet one, check out Daily Garnish's story!) but rather a series of events that led to finally ending it...p starting daycare, I being back at work full time and also finding pumping to be increasingly difficult to squeeze in coupled with lack of production once pumping became more of a full time thing. Not to mention that P started to simply outgrow it.

 It makes me sad because I really cherished our mornings and all that time we spent together, just Pen and me, over the first 6 months especially. It really became such a part of my life that it almost felt weird to stop doing it. It still amazes me what the human body can do and I'm so glad that I had a good experience with breast feeding. With P being in daycare, I back at work full-time and solid foods taking over as the star, I realized I was continuing to do it more for my own sake. And then when she started getting frustrated with nursing, I knew the time had come. I do feel a little sad that we didn't get a momentous occasion as a last feeding (instead it was significantly less Earth mother-ish and more like fussing and frustration), but I think it's probably better that way so the chances were lowered significantly of me bursting into tears at the fact that my baby is growing up and needs me less (I know that's not really true). So now were on formula and solid food only. Sniffle.

But I'm proud of us for making it to 8 months, 6 of which were only feeding her breast milk. It's kinda crazy to think back on the fact that I did that. Wow. (Aside: I can do a longer post about my experience with breast feeding if that is of interest since I found it to be sooooo helpful reading about other bloggers' experiences. Don't want to go tmi though if that's not if interest, so let me know! End of aside.)

Oh and with that in mind, P got sick for the first time! (And i cant help but connect the two). Last week I got a call from her daycare that she had a 103 fever and it turned out to be Coxsackie. Have any of your kiddos had that? Also known as hoof and mouth disease, it essentially meant that she ran a high fever and suffered from throat blisters. Not fun for baby or Mom, but I did love the extra snuggle time that she allowed. She has also been battling some cold and sinus situations and I just continue to apologize to her for inheriting my unfortunate sinus issues.

In the eating department, I have quite the foodie baby on my hands. She loves yogurt, applesauce, oatmeal, peas & edamame, sweet potatoes and now eggs.

Basically any mashed fruit is also a win. I've even started giving her tiny pieces of food when I'm eating and have learned to always have a snack on hand for her. We are getting to the point where if she sees people eating  she wants to eat too, and I love that so much. My hope is that she will love all foods as much as her daddy and me, and I know that starts early! I can see that a transition to mostly finger food is in our near future. This past weekend we went out for breakfast and she enjoyed some hard boiled eggs, pancake bits and tiny tastes of oatmeal. She thought it was the best thing.

Penelope is not quite crawling yet. She sits, scoots and lunges from the sitting position, but she hasn't really figured out how to get herself up and go. She has been trying to pull herself up though so I could kind of see her being the baby who goes straight to walking.

Lastly one of my favorite thing to date is that she has started clapping. And not just any clapping, but at the appropriate moments and it is hilarious. The best is while watching Mickey, when he comes over the hill she applauds as well as when they do the hot dog dance...it's as though she is commending them for a job well done.

So that's what's been going on the last couple of months. P is such a happy baby and I'm thankful every single day that we made it out of that newborn crying stage and she turned into such a content little girl.

Can't wait to celebrate the upcoming holidays with my little love bug! I know her first birthday is already creeping up in the back of my mind...please.make.time.stand.still.

6 Months!

Another month gone by and so many milestones happening around here.

Right after her five month mark, Penelope got two teeth, one right after the other. On the morning of July 4, P grabbed my finger to suck on (as she often does) and I felt a tiny tooth poking through on the bottom.

This was almost immediately followed by the one next to it, but this one took more than a few days of crying, Tylenol, ice cubes and drooling before it made its appearance.

It feels like one {very} long month+ of teething since now we are already working on the top two!

Penelope has also started sitting up on her own! The first time she did it I had her on the couch next to me propped in the Boppy and suddenly she just sat straight up and started playing like it wasn't no thang. Since then, she sits and plays for hours...I set her up with the Boppy behind for support and lay all of her toys in front of her. Sometimes I'll set her up on the edge of the playmat so I can hang toys from that to play with.

P has turned into such a happy baby and it really is a joy to watch her discover new things everyday. This month we took her to the beach. She dipped her toes in the water and in the sand. Though maybe she didn't quite love it, she definitely didn't seem upset by it either (and this photo below is one of my all time favorites. I know when she is older, she will love having this photo of her and her Daddy at the beach!).

We also finally started on solid food this month. Let me tell you, this has really been fun. At first, she didn't quite know what was happening, but she has certainly gotten the hang of things and now loves having her food at lunchtime.

I've started one new food every few days or so. For her first food, I went with sweet potatoes since it is one of my favorite foods (Aside: Mom has since gotten significantly better at not a) getting it all over her face and b) letting P have the spoon).

 

We've also tried bananas, butternut squash, sweet peas, peaches, pears and applesauce. So far, I've made it all myself aside from the applesauce (i didnt see the sense in all that work for applesauce so we just picked up the unsweetened kind where the only ingredients were apples and water and one additive for color).

I have had so much fun making food for P and I am simply loving the weekends when I am home to give her lunch. I think wel'll be upping to more meals per day after her 6 month appt on Friday, so I'm hoping that will let me give her dinner during the week. If there's interest I can do a post about making baby food (so.much.fun. But I'm also a nerd like that).

The last big news, which I've already shared, is that P started daycare. This has been a tough transition for me (and a longer lasting transition for me than I expected). P seems thrilled with it though, so I'm trying to just follow her cues on that front and stay strong. Perhaps I'll do a longer post on that next week.

So here we are after 6 amazing months! Can't wait to see what next month brings :)

For more baby updates:

One Week

Six Weeks

Three Months

Four Months

Five Months

and check out our Baby Talk page for more baby fun!

Baby Talk Tuesday: My Carry-All

I'm starting a new segment called Baby Talk Tuesday here on TAA! As a new mom, I have lots to say about baby stuff and things that I've learned. When I was pregnant and now navigating my way as a mother of a smiley almost-three month old, I found (and still find) reading blogs with baby information to be so helpful; especially when it feels as though this info is coming from a friend who's going through the same things! And if you aren't into baby stuff, well...I hope you'll come back tomorrow for something not baby related ;)

Today I want to talk about a very important piece of equipment - the diaper bag. Though I'd like to try and change this name to a carry-all bag. After all, it's carrying allllll of our baby stuff as well as Mama's things too...so isn't 'diaper bag' kind of a misnomer? And doesn't 'Mom's carry-all bag' just sound a little nicer than 'diaper bag'?

Anyway.

I had tried my hardest to not go crazy with toting around baby things. I had a big leather handbag that I'd throw in a few diapers, wipes and an extra outfit and call it a day. But as time went on, I realized that those items simply weren't enough. Not only did I need other items, but having just 'a few diapers' on hand started to really give me anxiety. Penelope could easily go through 2-3 dipes in one change after all (she is infamous for peeing as she is being changed. Her 16-year-old self is going to hate me for that bit of oversharing.). 

When I realized that I had to finally give in a get a large carry-all for all of her stuff and mine, I wanted something that I would feel happy carrying around. Something for Mom as much as for Baby. And since I know they are super durable and comfortable on the shoulder, I went straight to Vera Bradley.

I ended up with the Vera Bradley Weekender in Ribbons. It is the perfect size for corraling all of Penelope's things, my things and more. Admittedly, it is a BIG bag. But I love it so much. It holds everything, is lightweight and it is absolutely adorable.

Not to mention that I got a free gift with purchase. The lovely saleswoman talked me into getting the ditty bag (the little knapsack), which is vinyl-lined and one of the most perfect items ever. I simply throw Penelope's soiled (read: heavily pooped in) clothes in there when we are out and about and the whole thing can get washed when we get home.

Genius, no? I don't have to worry about carrying around giant Ziploc bags or dirty clothes touching clean ones. Unfortunately they didn't have the matching pattern, but I like this one too and it's easy to spot all rolled up in the carry-all bag.

Now that we have that out of the way, let's take a peak inside, shall we?

I love that I can look inside and see everything right away. I also never feel like I'm sacrificing anything that we might need. I take 2 blankets with me always - one receiving blanket (pictured) for putting down on her plastic changing mat and one aden & anais swaddle blanket (not pictured) for when she naps. I adore my Skip Hop changing mat and will write more about that in another post. I have at least 3 outfits, 2 bibs and 2 burp cloths for her at all times. In the side pockets, I store all of the little things, like hand sanitizer, stain remover spray and baby lotion. On the other side, I can fit my things, like my wallet and lip balms.

Oh and the last thing I want to mention is the Babee Covee. My mom got this for me and I love it. It serves as a car seat cover (to block out light), a nursing cover, a stroller blanket and more. I fold it up nice and tight and secure with one of her larger hair bows.

And as for the diapers?

I like to keep them in the outside pocket. I also keep a stash of 5 in a compartment of the changing mat, along with wipes and Desitin. The outside pocket of the carry-all is just for extras. 12 diapers is my comfortable number for going out.

And other items not pictured that this wonderful bag fits include the full ditty bag, her bottles, video monitor if needed, my manual pump and more.

So there you have it. Probably much, much more than you wanted to know about my baby carry-all, but it's really a life-changing item and I get an inordinate amount of joy in being so organized!

So what do you think? Do you carry a diaper bag? Or do you go the purse route? What are your must-have items for toting around with baby?