Ivy || 8 Months Old

Ivy turned eight months old on Sunday!! Because her birthday falls in the middle of the month it's always strange for me to write these monthly recaps and feel like so much time as passed. I'm looking back at the first part of one month and the last part of another and it feels like twice as long. Christmas seems like a lifetime ago but it really wasn't. Anyways, we are entering the last quarter of Ivy's first year of life and that fact is just plain crazy!

Ivy at Eight Months

Weight: ?? (15 lbs. 4 oz. at six months)

Height: ?? (27.4 inches inches six months)

Personality: sensitive and particular

 

Likes

Getting into Kip's LEGOs

Her remote controls

Jumperoo

Bath (always and forever her favorite)

Stroller rides

Purees 

Being held

 

Dislikes

Being set-down between the hours of 3:00 - 5:00 pm

Pooping

Being in her high chair too long

Foods that require her to chew

Getting her face and hands wiped after eating

Wearing

Size 4 diapers (she is well under the weight for these diapers but they are required for absorbancy)

6-9 month clothing

Fleece sleep sack

 

Things I want to remember about Ivy at 8 months:

That one day she waved at us

Her pterodactyl shrill screams of excitement

How she reaches up when she wants to be picked-up

How she slams her feet up and down when she is in the high chair

The hand print left on her face after a nap

How cute she is with Kip and plays around but holds her own when he gets rough

How she puts her hands on my face like she is trying to get to know my features

Digging into the LEGOs 

Kicking and splashing Kip in the bath

Her snuffy-nose laugh that sometimes makes her snort

FINALLY being able to roll front and back without drama

Sitting-up unassisted for long periods of time

Her first solid poop (she was a bit traumatized by it)

Rolling to get to where she's going

Her gummy grin (still no teeth)

The way she tries to crunch up instead of roll to sit

That one time she tried to latch on my nose and attempt to nurse

Her scissor grasp instead of pincer grasp

Sleep 

Sigh. I was really hoping to report some positive progress in this area but it feels like one step forward leads to six steps back. Ivy finally mastered rolling over both directions without drama which means she can finally sleep on her tummy. This seemed to help a lot and the first few days after this she was giving us naps that lasted more than 30 minutes. But, sigh, the short naps have returned depending on the day. I also switched her to a fleece sleep sack which seemed to correspond to less night wakings. It didn't solve them but it did seem to help...for a few nights at least. One day she gave us a nearly two hour nap and it was heaven and hopeful and made me feel like we'd reached the summit. Then on the eve of her 8 month birthday, she woke up a record 12 times in the night and honestly I don't have the energy to try and understand anything anymore. Her sleep seems to get progressively worse and if I don't see some teeth pop through in the next week I'm going to pull MY teeth out. I have NO idea why nothing we've tried is working consistently and why she sleeps worse than she did as a newborn.

Eat

Since we passed through that allergy/no allergy drama we've tried to focus more on giving Ivy at least three "meals" in addition to nursing or bottles. She is a petite little lady and I feel like her stomach is the size of a penny. Whereas with Kip he would eat a full serving of something, Ivy is chewing on a single solitary bite but not swallowing any of it. She prefers smooth textures and loves yogurt and purees. Other things she likes are foods that easily dissolve, like Bamba or teether biscuits. She is still nursing well but gets easily distracted. She also takes bottles of fresh pumped milk which we try to do at least every other day to keep her committed. And she nurses all night so there's that too.

Play

Oh boy we are getting into the baby go-go-go phase. Although Ivy isn't close to crawling yet she wants to and does sit independently really well and gets INTO her toys. She loves a little undestructible books and her lights and sounds Hedgehog that Grandma and Grandpa gave her for Christmas. She adores the old remotes that Kip was obsessed with when he was a baby and she has been caught several times pulling over Kip's basket of LEGOS and getting into that. She outgrew her stander activity seat but she still enjoys her jumperoo. I love the way she folds herself in half to reach for something and her super strength to pull something towards her or on top of her. I have a feeling once she becomes mobile we'll have to have eyes on her at all times. She imagines herself as much bigger than she is. 

 

 

This month Ivy celebrated her first Christmas and her first New Year. She mastered rolling, sitting, and sleeping on her tummy. She is so verbal and expressive and even though I feel at my wits end with this sleep situation, I still feel overwhelming love for her - even in tough moments at 2 am. Her tiny gorgeous face astounds me. She is such a beautiful girl and I love seeing peeks of her personality and watching her grow.