September 17, 2018

arden rae - eight months

MAKE IT STOP.  I truly look forward to being in the big kid stage of life and seeing what our family can do without a baby and irrational toddlers in tow.  BUT, writing these posts make me teary.  Arden is such a sweet little baby and I simply can't soak her in enough.  Her precious little hands, her squishy little feet.  I'm trying to burn them into my mind forever.

Arden_8monthsA

I was reading over last month's post to see what I needed to update for this month, and that already seems like ages ago!  Arden has changed so much in about five weeks, as has our schedule.  We're falling in to a routine and it shows in my stress levels.  Lol.

Arden had a fantastic weight gain at our last appointment.  For her little self anyway!  We saw the pediatrician on August 28th, and she weighed 13 pounds 10.7 ounces (2.7th percentile).  Nearly a pound of weight gain in four weeks, the most she has gained since she was two months old!  Since then she has stopped waking twice at night, and while she is loving solids, her digestive system is struggling to keep up.  Arden hasn't been miserably constipated, but you can tell she is trying to go and just can't.  So we haven't pushed too much food.  In my attempts to weigh her this morning, I got 14 pounds 4.8 ounces.  If I'm doing my math right she JUST maintained a half ounce per day gain, which is the minimum they want to see from her.  Fingers crossed we can keep it up.  She was also 25 inches long on the 28th, which is also 3rd percentile.

Arden_8monthsG

We can finally use the 9 month and 6-12 month sized clothes without them looking totally ridiculous.  It is making me actually get her dressed more often, because there is a short window of time left that I can stick her in the summer stuff from that size.  Arden is still wearing a size two diaper, but I did stick a couple of size three's on her, and they aren't awful.  I tried to put her in a cute pair of 0-6 month Pediped shoes I had that were Elsie or Ryann's or something, but they look so clunky and ridiculous.  I'm thinking moccasins will be the only route we can go when the weather cools off.

Arden_8monthsC

Arden generally nurses six times a day.  When she wakes in the morning, after her first nap, before and after her second nap, before bed, and once in the middle of the night.  She is up for the day between 6:45-7:15am, goes down for a nap around 9:30am, and then her second nap of the day is dependent on how long she slept for the first nap.  Usually her morning nap is 45 min to an hour, and the second nap is two hours, give or take.  Her and Thea's afternoon naps have been lining up for the most part and it is absolutely glorious.  Bed time is between 7:15 and 8pm, depending on how her naps were, what activities we have, and how irrational the other children are being.

Arden_8monthsH

This girl is definitely showing food preferences already.  We started with avocado, and then worked our way through all the vegetables.  Over the last month we added in pears and prunes, and she most definitely loves pears most of all.  She now gags on pureed green beans and will not eat more than a few bites.  She has gotten the hang of getting puffs into her mouth most of the time, so I really want to incorporate some more whole foods this month.  Gotta add some more calorie dense foods to the mix!  She has had water in a sippy cup and it startles her every time.  I guess just because she is used to her liquid being warm?

Arden_8monthsE

She is still pretty content just laying on the floor and playing with toys, with little interest in moving around.  But she is becoming more and more mobile.  She uses a combination of log rolling and the WEIRDEST crawl to get around the room.  It is so incredibly inefficient and looks like she is trying to swim.  But if she really wants something she can make it there!  She tries to get to her hands and knees and sort of rocks, but she just hangs out like she has no idea what to do.  She is fairly sturdy sitting up, but I don't think I'll feel comfortable just leaving her on a hard surface or anything until she is getting to the position on her own.  She'll make attempts to go from seated to laying down to get a toy, and it only ends well about a third of the time.  She does enjoy pulling to stand with my hands, but she isn't at all sturdy once she is up.

Arden cut her first two teeth over the last month!  It wasn't long after we switched her to the crib, so between those two things sleep was pretty brutal for a while.  And she was just down right sad sometimes.  Her top gums look a little puffy like another tooth might be thinking of coming in, but nothing to see there yet.

Arden_8monthsF

Girlfriend is definitely a mamas girl.  If I hand her off to someone, she either cries, or watches me like a hawk to make sure I don't leave the room.  And then she pitches a little fit if I do.  She is constantly my accessory, being toted around on my hip.  To the point that honestly I sometimes forget that I am holding her.  She just hangs out, watching the world go by from the safety of my arms.

She likes when I sing to her, especially Itsy Bitsy Spider.  We try to read books on occasion, but she just gets pissed when I move her hands to turn the pages.  Toys that she can shake and make noise seem to be her favorites.  Her sisters are great fun until they try to make her 'cozy' with pillows and blankets, or take their toys out of her reach.  She gets a kick out of Daddy playing peek a boo, and hates when he takes her out of the shower.  Most of the time she is a champ in the car, and generally makes a decent dinner date.

Arden_8monthsB

Arden girl, I love you something fierce.

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