STOP GROWING! Or rather, just stop getting older child, please? Gah. It is so incredibly fun to watch Arden grow and change and learn, but it kills me a little bit every day to know I'll never have another baby, I'll never be in this stage again. I just love it so much! Well most of it anyway.
Arden is such a sweet, tiny little thing. Our last weight check was August 1st, and she tipped the scales at 12 pounds 11 ounces. Ha. If I had to guess, based on the rate she has been gaining weight, I'd say she is at most 13 pounds 3 ounces. Reality is the most she has ever gained is roughly three ounces a week, but her spit up has slowed down considerably in the last few weeks, and she has also been sleeping like crap, so I'm hopeful that maybe her gained picked up a little bit. We're going to do one more weight check at the breastfeeding clinic around August 24th, and then we are following up with our pediatrician on August 28th to establish some sort of a 'game plan'. Mostly, I'm over the constant weight checks, and she has managed to maintain the first percentile for about two months now, so I'm hopeful that if nothing else, we can feel comfortable with checking in once a month tops. And decide if there is any testing we need to pursue or just go with she is a small kid!
Currently Arden is still in the 3-6 month clothing. I keep hoping that she'll suddenly grow out of them, and I know she will eventually, but I've got more than a handful of rompers I purchased specifically for her that I doubt she'll ever get to wear. Such a bummer. And not that we have any shortage of clothes, but I like to buy some coordinating things, and I just never know what size to get for her if I'm looking forward. She is also still in a size two diaper, and never wears shoes. We did move from the extra small zipadee zip to just the small. Progress! Ha.
Sleep got a little more interesting in the last two weeks. Arden has finally figure out this whole rolling thing. Which is great, except twice she managed to flip face down in the rock 'n play, so we were forced to make a quick switch to the crib. I admit it has gone better than expected. The first three nights bedtime was tough. She would cry a fair amount when I laid her down, but really only the first two nights did I feel like she was truly upset. Since then it has been more of a complaining cry. The real bummer is that she just isn't sleeping as well. She is waking up twice at night instead of just once. And naps are usually 90 minutes tops, but generally just an hour. So nothing horrible, but I had it so good before. Ha. She is also at the age where she is really on the verge of dropping that third nap. Some days if her first two naps are longer we skip it, or if we're out and about and she doesn't fall asleep, a third nap just doesn't happen. But she still shows some tired signs right about two hours after she last woke up.
Between the changing up of naps and trying to incorporate solids and not losing any nursing sessions, I feel like the days are sort of a hot mess. But hopefully we get it all figured out soon. Arden is becoming more and more interested in solids and food in general. So far she has tried avocado, pureed chicken (which she absolutely HATED), sweet potatoes, sweet peas and green beans. She has also had puffs for about a week now. The first couple of days trying those was rather comical. Arden clearly liked them, opening her mouth wide and excitedly, but once the puff was in her mouth she just didn't know what to do with it and her faces were hilarious. She is getting the hang of it though! We need to add another meal, I'm just being lazy about it. I very much look forward to being able to just give her little bits and pieces of our meals. I'm just not quite comfortable with it yet.
Despite swearing I saw one starting to come in, Arden still doesn't have any teeth. She drools like a maniac so I think they're coming, but really I have no idea. The other three all got their first tooth between 7 and 8 months, so we've got to be close, right? These girls are by no means carbon copies of each other, and Arden is veering furthest from our norm, but overall they have all been pretty similar as well. She is just tiny and has little desire to move, probably because I carry her all the time, and if something is out of reach there is usually two or three sets of little hands willing to push a toy in her direction.
Arden is getting stronger and better at sitting every day. And thankfully since the rest of her growth motor skills haven't taken off yet, I might actually get one of those babies who just sits there and looks cute for a little bit. All three older girls were crawling by seven months. Arden is managing to scoot her body around here and there, and can sometimes figure out how to roll to get what she wants, but overall she stays put and I love it. Now that the big girls are back in school I'm hoping to do some cleaning and purging, and hopefully by the time Arden really is on the move the playroom will be mostly safe.
Overall Arden is very easy going, but she is starting to be more and more of a mama's girl. If she is tired she is anti strangers. And she also throws the most ridiculous little fits if something isn't going her way. Mainly if she drops a toy, a toy is out of reach, or something gets taken from her. She tolerates a lot from her sisters, but they can definitely overwhelm her, and I foresee her being pretty vocal if they are bothering her. At the moment they think it is no big deal if they take something from her, but girlfriend has a good grip, the hair pulling is going to happen. I just know it.
I just love you sweet little girl!
