Ivy || 7 Months Old

I got distracted by the snow yesterday so I'm posting this a day late. Ivy May turned 7 months old yesterday! It's so hard to believe she is 7 months old. She is such a tiny little thing and this year is such a time warp it's hard to keep track. But here she is on the downhill slide to one!

Ivy at Seven Months

Weight: ?? (15 lbs. at four months)

Height: ?? (27.4 inches four months)

Personality: sensitive and sweet

 

This girl is a creature of habit. All of the things she adores tend to stay the same. Her personality and preferences are consistent month to month. 

Likes

Being held and walked around constantly

Stroller rides

Bath time

Her "command center" activity toy

Standing

Car rides

Music and musical toys

Watching Kip

Eating

Dislikes

Being left to "cry it out"

Being left on her belly for any extended period of time

Being made to sit instead of stand

Being left alone in her crib in the night

Strangers 

Wearing

Size 3 diapers

6-9 month clothing

Nested bean sleep sack

Things I want to remember about Ivy at 7 months old:

How cute, energetic, and vocal she is when she plays in her activity stander

Her smooshy little thighs

Her fuzzy hair

The way she coos "hey"

Exploring the texture of the Christmas tree

How excited she gets when she hears Kip

The way her eyes squint when she smiles

The allergy saga

How interactive she is when certain types of music are playing

Bottle drama

 

 

Sleep

I get less sleep now than I did when Ivy was a newborn. And something I've learned that none of these so-called sleep experts talk about is the fact that even after you "sleep train" it doesn't necessarily mean the baby will night wean at the same time. Excuse me but I don't really care if my baby can fall asleep independently if the child still wakes up in the night to feed. Like, what is the point????? 

Ivy is sleep trained. We can lay her in her crib at bedtime and at naps and she will fall asleep by herself. She isn't rocked to sleep and she isn't nursed to sleep. According to the interwebs this means the baby is sleep trained. AND YET, Ivy wakes up 2-4 times every single night. Dan and I have tried to let her cry it out and put herself back to sleep. Girlfriend will cry and scream forever. We don't know her limit because my limit is 45 minutes and honestly at this point it is just better for me to go nurse her for a few minutes so I can get some sleep than attempt to wait her out. I know that only perpetuates the habit but what else am I supposed to do? I need sleep as well.

Naps are crap too. I don't believe in wake windows anymore. 

And in the last few days we've added the complexity of her starting to roll over in her crib and being unable to roll back. I know this is a "milestone" she has to work through but when she does it several times an hour and needs to be turned over and nursed or rocked in order to go back to sleep. No ma'am. I'm tired!!

 

Eat 

Oh boy. Saga number two for the month. I got lazy with pumping and bottle feeding in November. As a result, Ivy started refusing to take a bottle. And while I like that she is mainly nursed, I do want her to be able to take a bottle. It took us about a week to get her back on track initially with me giving the bottle and rocking in her chair while playing "Jersey" by the Jonas Brothers. When that worked we had Dan and Mandy do it that way until she accepted it. Now she will take a bottle from any of us from any location without music. So we broke that habit. As a consequence, however, I have to pump at least once a day and we give her a bottle once a day in order to keep her on track. Ugh, I'm not a fan of pumping.

We've tried some foods with her but it gives me a lot of anxiety after her immediate allergic reaction to bananas. I'll have to do a full post about that but because I'm really nervous about trying things with her we've limited it to applesauce and yogurt. She enjoys bagels too and done well with baby oatmeal. I scrapped the plan to do baby led weaning with her. I can't deal with another "thing" to figure out.

 

Play

Ivy loves to play. She really enjoys teether toys still and adores her little "command center" activity standing toy. She spins around in that thing and engages with all the features. We call it a command center because when she plays in it she acts like she has a job to do and in charge of some really important task. She also likes the jumper toy. She is rolling back to tummy pretty consistently but hasn't figured out how to roll tummy to back yet. She can sit unassisted but only when she wants to and will regularly arch and stiffen her legs to avoid sitting if she would prefer that you hold her in a standing position. 

 

 

It was a hard month in baby land. It is expected. We've been down this road before it's just so easy to forget that the hard times pass when you're in the moment. I have a lot of mom guilt about doing things wrong or creating bad habits and I constantly feel like I'm supposed to have the answers but I don't. I don't really remember feeling that way with Kip. Maybe it's the pandemic. Maybe it's short memory. Maybe it's working from home. Maybe I just don't know what I'm doing. 

 

But, let's end on some positive things from month seven. 

Ivy had her first Thanksgiving. She experienced her first snow! She is enjoying her first Christmas season at home. She is rolling and beginning to sit and tentatively exploring food. She is a mama's girl and I try every day to embrace the snuggles. Kip was not a snuggle baby so I do appreciate her love for a good cuddle. Okay baby girl let's turn this thing around in month 8!