Kaitlyn's Eighth Month: Easter

This month seemed to go by quickly.  Kaitlyn is getting more interactive and smiley, which is more fun for us.  She can play with toys and loves her books that have flaps that lift up.  She gets really excited when I take out the Peek a Boo Baby book and tries to lift the flaps herself.  I had a week off for spring break and now I'm ready for summer!  

Developmentally this month we are babbling a lot.  Every once in a while I swear she repeats a word or says a word, but I don't think she actually has.  Sometimes, especially in the morning, she is so serious about whatever it is she is communicating.  Eyebrows up, insistent tone.  It makes me laugh, so that's probably why she keeps doing it.

She's not crawling yet, and still doesn't like to be on her tummy unless she's sleeping.  She can scoot around on her tummy if she really wants something, and she also rolls all over the place.  But above all, she wants to be standing.  

She puts her hands out to the side to ask for our hands to help her walk.  She can stand without holding on to anything or anyone for a few seconds at a time, but then she leans to get something and loses her balance.  She can cruise along the furniture by herself, but sometimes still topples over.  She loves to walk while holding someone's hands (both of them), so we may skip crawling all together.  Our doctor said that was a possibility at her 6 month appointment when she was already so strong at standing.

Our routine has pretty much stayed the same and she's continued to be a great sleeper.  She'll wake up once in the middle of the night to nurse, but goes right back to sleep.

The big bummer this month was the teething.  She finally had one of her top teeth poke through this week, but we've spent a couple of weeks with a pretty fussy baby at times she was normally happy.  She loves to chew on everything.  We got a mesh food holder and put some frozen strawberries in it, and she also likes the refrigerated teething toys.  On particularly bad days, we'd give her tylonel.  The first tooth has broken the gum line, and I can see the corner of the second top tooth.  So hopefully we get a little break after this.

A little blurry, but you can see the two bottom teeth

Eating became much more of a battle this month, I think because of the teething.  She was always a great eater and didn't really reject anything before.  She loved certain foods and didn't seem to care for others, but she would always eat.  This month, she would get really upset as soon as we put her in the high chair.  Sometimes she would refuse to eat anything, even her favorites.  Because my breastmilk supply was never enough, it's hard to know how much to supplement with formula when she's not eating as much solid food.  We tried doing chunks of food instead of the purees, not doing oatmeal cereal (thinking she might be tired of it), giving her foods we know she liked, but none of it seemed to make a difference.  I think we are starting to do better now that her tooth has come through, so it may have been the pain.

On days she would eat, her favorites are squash, sweet potatoes, and pretty much any fruit.  I think her favorite fruit is the apple, strawberry, banana (which tastes like a Strawberries Wild Jamba Juice) mix.  She loves Cheerios (although they're not technically Cheerios) and string cheese chunks.  It frustrates her to try to pick up soft foods like avocado or banana because she hasn't mastered the pincer grasp, so they squish through her fingers.  She is moving more towards using the thumb and pointer finger, so I think we're getting close.  I will miss her sticking her whole fist in her mouth, only to open it and have the Cheerio fall out.  These days she almost always gets it in her mouth.

This month, Kaitlyn has gotten a lot more ticklish, or at least thinks it's more funny when she is tickled.  Stephen is especially good at making her laugh.

Trying out our new sunglasses.  They didn't stay on long.

She loves to be outside.  We got a baby swing to hang on the play structure in the backyard and it's now one of the most surefire ways to keep her happy, at least for a little while.  For some reason she didn't like the stroller for a week or two, but seems to have come back around to enjoying walks.  It may have been the teething pain.

We visited Stephen at work during my spring break.  She does this squishy face now, and we love it. :)

We also visited my grandma, who is doing a lot better.  She's moved from the convalescent hospital to an assisted living facility, so I am much more comfortable taking Kaitlyn to see her.  I was always leery of the germs at the convalescent hospital.

We continue to love our animals (dog Lily and cat BJ).  Lily discovered this month that Kaitlyn drops food, so Lily is now Kaitlyn's best friend.  Our biggest issue is Lily licking Kaitlyn, especially when she's got food on her.  But it is sweet to have put Kaitlyn down somewhere and have Lily go over to lay next to her.  In all of the following pictures, I put Kaitlyn on the floor and Lily came over to her.

The cat is still strangely tolerant of Kaitlyn and even seeks her attention.  He walks by and wafts his tail across her face frequently.  She thinks this is hilarious.  Every once it a while, she'll catch his tail or get a handful of fur (never more than a second because we're careful) and BJ has not retaliated.

This month was Easter.  Stephen played drums at church, so he left early in the morning.  Kaitlyn and I were late (as usual) because church starts right in the middle of her usual morning nap.  I try to let her sleep as long as possible before waking her to go, and I usually wait too long.

After church

My dad with Kaitlyn eating a plastic Easter egg

Then we had both sides of our family over to our house.  It was nice to be able to put Kaitlyn down for a nap in her own bed, and she actually slept right through "dinner" (which meant everyone got to eat at the same time!).  There was tons of food and we had a great time with family and friends we consider family.  I wanted to take some pictures of Kaitlyn with her Easter basket, here are some:

The audience watching Kaitlyn while we took her picture

Lily wanted in on the pictures, too

Kaitlyn getting her dinner outside

We didn't go to the doctor's this month, so I don't know her exact stats.  Based on calculations from our home scale, she seems to be 16-17 pounds.  She's still in 3-6/6 month clothes, but the sleepers are getting a little short.  We'll be heading to 9 month clothes pretty soon I think.  We did move up to size 3 diapers, although I think we moved up a little early.  We ran out of size 2's and I have a stockpile of size 3's.  Since we were getting close, we decided to just move her up.  Next month I'll know specific stats!