Before I get to the update, I want to apologize for my lack of blogging. I've been so busy with life that by the end of the day sometimes the energy just isn't there. Everytime I'm around my house I think about things I want to post about or posts that have been requested like how I orgnize Harper's clothes, what our weekly routine is like, crafts I have been working on, etc, and it just all gets away from me and I always end up finding something around the house that needs to get done (like a bajillion loads of laundry), crafts that need to be made (I'm making my ornaments as gifts this year) and spending Harper's awake time with her. Having said that, I'm going to try to work on getting motivated to create more posts because there's so much I want to share.
I say this every month, but we've seen a whirlwind of changes lately. Harper can sit now, unassisted, for long periods of time. She went from falling forward or backward a lot to just getting it one day and she's been loving to sit ever since. She also loves to stand and can stand with a tiny bit of support or using an object as support, like the ottoman in her nursery. She has zero interest in crawling right now, but can scoot her way around her crib when she's on her belly. She also recently started to "reach out" to us when she wants to be picked up or sees us coming to pick her up. It's adorable. I know this is just normal baby stuff, but whoa, it totally blows us away to experience it.
She is also babbling a lot and we are seeing her personality emerge more and more each day. She's all over the place---one moment she's "reading" (more like eating) a book and the next she's grabbing a toy or smiling as we sing to her. She's more alert and more interested in everything around her.
As a side note, I'm so glad we stuck with doing these monthly shoots in Harper's nursery. I love that we have so many photos that document how much she grows and changes each month. If you're pregnant, I highly recommend buying monthly stickers (I got mine on etsy) and planning to take monthly photos. You will not regret it! I would say we spend about 15 minutes shooting these. We take a ton of photos and then I edit them down to the ones with the best expressions and save them in a folder on my laptop by month. I take a ton of photos with my iPhone, but these ones, which we take with my Canon Rebel T2i are truly special.
Weight: Harper weighs 17 lbs, 5.6 oz, which puts her in the 71st percentile. She is in the 41st percentile for head circumference an 46th for height. When we went to Harper's 6 month appointment, another mom at our pediatrician's office asked if we cloth diaper and I responded that no, we use disposables and she said it looked like we cloth diaper because Harper's butt is so chunky, LOL! I am in love with her chunky, rolly, baby thighs! She barely fits into some leggings because of them. It makes me feel extra good to see those rolls because of what a struggle she had in the beginning gaining weight. It's amazing to me that the human body can nourish and grow babies.
Health: Harper has has a stuffy/runny nose since she started daycare, and we think she probably had a little bit of a cold recently, but she is back to her usual self. Her nose is runnier than usual, but it's all clear thankfully. A lot of moms at daycare have told me their babies have been sick with various illnesses lately so I feel blessed Harper hasn't come down with anything worse, but I know it's only a matter of time. Harper always has some pretty bad diapers after her shots and this time it continued for days and we had so many blowouts we were doing laundry constantly.
Sleep: Harper's sleep has been pretty good, save a night or two a week. We have a pretty typical bedtime routine--- we do a bath, bottle and snuggle a bit in her glider and then I put her down in her crib and she usually falls right asleep. Sometimes she will fuss a bit and I will rub her back in her crib. She also sometimes wakes up right around the time we start to go to bed (10:30 ish) and my husband will usually go into her nursery and rock her for a bit in the glider---though sometimes all she needs is her paci. It's rare for her to wake up in the middle of the night---but once in awhile she wakes at 3 or 3:30 a.m. Usually she can soothe herself back to sleep but sometimes we have to go in there---we just watch on the monitor and make the decision based on how she's acting.
Sometimes, if she wakes up at 4 or 5 a.m., we just bring her into our room so she can sleep for another couple of hours. I was always the one who said we would NEVER (ever ever ever) have our baby in our bed, and now I am eating my damn words because it happens often---and always on weekends when we catch a few extra hours of sleep. I think the important thing is to co-sleep (or bedshare, shall I say) as safely as possible. We have a king sized bed which leaves her ample space to herself right in the middle and we don't cover her with blankets or have any pillows near her. We also sleep at the very edges of our respective sides of the bed so she has a lot of space. And, this is obvious, but neither of us drinks or uses any kinds of sleeping medications when we bring her into bed with us, which is important. I will fully admit I used to judge people who did this, but now, I totally understand why people do it. I personally wouldn't want to bedshare all of the time because I like that she sleeps in her crib, but a few hours here and there work for us.
Sometimes, if she wakes up at 4 or 5 a.m., we just bring her into our room so she can sleep for another couple of hours. I was always the one who said we would NEVER (ever ever ever) have our baby in our bed, and now I am eating my damn words because it happens often---and always on weekends when we catch a few extra hours of sleep. I think the important thing is to co-sleep (or bedshare, shall I say) as safely as possible. We have a king sized bed which leaves her ample space to herself right in the middle and we don't cover her with blankets or have any pillows near her. We also sleep at the very edges of our respective sides of the bed so she has a lot of space. And, this is obvious, but neither of us drinks or uses any kinds of sleeping medications when we bring her into bed with us, which is important. I will fully admit I used to judge people who did this, but now, I totally understand why people do it. I personally wouldn't want to bedshare all of the time because I like that she sleeps in her crib, but a few hours here and there work for us.
Social: We've noticed that Harper has started to have some "stranger danger" in some places where there are lots of people. The first time it happened I was so shocked because she usually smiles back at people and doesn't mind seeing new people and being in new places. I read in my Wonder Weeks app to expect this and boy were they right. That app is always so spot-on. It really depends though---today, for example, we went out to eat and she was smiling at our waiter and totally okay with all of the strangers she saw. In terms of interaction with other babies---she is still in daycare three days a week and our teachers tell us the babies are all noticing one another more and interacting a bit. We had a pow-wow recently for all of the daycare families and it was fun to see the babies together since we all pick up and drop off at different times and don't often have that time together.
For feeding solids, we decided to stick with the AAP's recommendations that babies should be exclusively fed breastmilk (or formula) until they are 6 months old. This seems to be an unpopular choice based on other moms who I've talked to that started sooner and to be honest, we were excited to start solids, but we felt best just sticking with the recommendations of the AAP and our pediatrician and Harper seemed more ready to start solids at about five and a half months than earlier anyway. That's when she really started to notice and take an interest in our food.
We fed her her first solids---sweet potato on Saturday, just a few days after her 6 month birthday. We skipped over rice cereal, but I did buy some Earth's Best baby oatmeal to try. We are using the book "Baby Love" as a guide to make all of her food. She didn't love the sweet potato, but we tried again today and she took about 2 spoons worth. Everyone has told me that it's normal for babies to take awhile to like food and to just keep offering it. We are going to try peas, pears, apples and avocado soon too. It will be fun to watch her try all of the different foods and see her reactions. We are loving our Boon Flair highchair and our beaba feeding spoons.
Postpartum: I am so thrilled that I met my first breastfeeding goal of 6 months! I know it doesn't seem like a big deal, but it was such a struggle for us and exclusive pumping isn't easy, but I made it and I'm very proud. As I mentioned before, my second goal is a year and if my supply keeps up, I will continue. There are no signs so far of it slowing down so I hope that is a good sign for these next six months.
I still pump five times a day and some days four. Eventually, I would like to go down to four pumps a day but have been weary to try it because I worry about supply (even though the days I do four pumps I get the same amount of milk or even a little more than usual). I might try to wean down to four pumps per day at 8 months or so.
The one frustrating thing about pumping is feeling like you're always watching the clock and not being able to leave the house or do much at all without thinking "when is the next time I have to pump." I basically make all of my plans around it. I think I hate pumping most on weekends because I wish that time was just all "free time" where I didn't have to think about it. Everytime I want to throw my pumping parts in the trash, I remind myself how blessed I am to have gone for this long and how imprortant this goal is to me.
In other news---this really kind of happened at 5 months, but I am back down to pre-pregnancy weight! Some days I'm about a pound or two under my pre-pregnancy weight. Too bad losing the weight doesn't mean getting back the body you once had, LOL! I know pumping has largely contributed to my weightloss with all of those extra calories burned and I will admit that I'm seriously worried about weaning because I eat so much now (I'm ravenous all the time) and I wonder if I will continue to be that hungry even after I stop (hopefully not, because that would be no beuno, lol).
Emotion wise, I feel pretty good. I am happy at work and have settled even more into a good routine but I do have some days where it's extra tough (by the way I've had multiple requests to share our weekly routine, so I will do a post about that soon). I also have major road rage. There is construction going on on the route I take home everyday and there aren't really alternate routes that would significantly reduce my driving time, so I've had a lot of angry car moments on the way to daycare because every minute I spend in traffic means a minute less of those precious evening hours with the baby. It is so frustrating to drive in this city.
I also had a breakdow at the beggining of November because there were some days I literally had 45 mins to an hour with the baby because of traffic and Houston's horrendous drivers. I remember saying to myself "this isn't how I imagined life as a working mom", and so in order to keep my sanity and have more time with Harper, I started to leave work at 4 p.m. most days. I get to work earlier than most of my colleagues (I always have) and I hardly ever take a lunch and just eat at my desk and continue to work, but I always felt guilty about leaving earlier. Finally, I had a "come to Jesus" moment with myself and realized that I had to stop feeling guilty and I had to do what was best for my family and so that I felt there was some balance in my life. If you're a mom who works outside of the home, I'm sure you're just like me--- you feel guilty being away from your baby and also guilty leaving work early. But something's got to give and you have to do what gets you through the day---and for me, that's coming in earlier and leaving earlier. I meet and exceed my goals at work, so I don't know why I was feeling guilty, but slowly, I'm allowing myself to feel good about my choices. I realize having a flexible schedule is not an option for a lot of working moms, but I'm greatful to have bosses who feel the same way as I do about work/life balance.
Clothes: Harper is wearing 6-12 and 9 month clothing. She is close to being too big for some of her 6-12 month sleepers.
Baby Gear Love: I am SO happy we got our glider. I remember wondering when I was pregnant if we would ever use it---and even moreso after she was born since she slept in her pack n' play next to our bed. However, since we've transitioned to her crib, I can't tell you how glad I am we invested in this glider. It's so comfortable and we do her last feed of the night there and we use it to rock her if she wakes up. Both my husband and I just love it. If you're on the fence, I highly recommend a glider for your baby's nursery.
Crying: These days, it can really be anything. I don't classify Harper as a baby who cries a lot and she is fairly easily soothed---but these days she is definitely expressing herself more---she will cry if she's hungry, bored, tired, anything really. Mostly though we notice she cries when she's hungry or really tired. We try to stay on top of her feedings so she eats before she cries.
Milestones: Harper can sit on her own, babbles a lot/"talks" to us, tried her first solids and reaches for us.
Thanks for reading and I hope you all had a happy Sunday! Here's to a great week too.. :)
Harper is wearing...
Tutu dress- Baby Gap
Hair bow- Willow Crowns, c/o
Harper is wearing...
Tutu dress- Baby Gap
Hair bow- Willow Crowns, c/o
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