7 Months...

 

 Sweet Caroline is 7-months-old! She is AWESOME! We've definitely had our moments with sleeping, but other than that, she seriously is one of the most laid back babies I've ever seen. It is a rarity for her to cry, so if she does cry I'm pretty bad about jumping to fix it because I think it means something must really be wrong. She is still pretty serious at times, but can also be the smiliest (new word lol), squealiest, happiest, baby. This month seems like she has hit a big growth spurt and seems like such a little person now instead of a teeny, tiny baby. We are definitely in love with our girl =)

Sleeping:
We are FINALLY over swaddling! I stressed and stressed over this because the past few times we've tried to stop have been torture, but we just went cold turkey this week after her rolling on her tummy too many times and she did great! She now rolls over to sleep on her tummy or sleeps completely spread out. She is doing pretty well at night (still wakes 1-3 times). This past week she's gotten into a nasty habit of waking up between 4-5 am and expecting to be up for the rest of the day. Umm. No. Her naps are also lacking, with a typical nap now lasting 30 minutes max. So so lame. I've tried switching her to only taking 2 naps a day and she still only slept about 30 minutes each and was just NOT having it by about 5pm. So that didn't work either. Oh well, Greg and I were both terrible sleepers growing up so at least she gets it honest.

Eating:
She is still loving her food =) She's tried several new combos this month and she is pretty much a fan of everything. She still prefers veggies over fruits right now and her favorite is either sweet potatoes and carrots, or zucchini and peas. She's still nursing every 3-4 hours. I would LOVE to have her on a 4 hour schedule, so we'll be working on that soon.




Milestones:

• She waves 'bye-bye'

• She is 'drinking' from a sippy cup- She's been really "stopped up" so we've been giving her diluted apple/prune juice in the mornings. She does great!
• Starting to sign "all-done" (although it looks a lot like her wave haha)
• (not really a milestone) but she switched over to her big girl carseat this month and loves it

Randoms/ Things to remember:

• She has started "growling" it.is. hilarious! She gets a very serious look on her face when she does it too, so you know she means business.
• She loves to touch your face when you hold her or when she's nursing.
• Loves playing "Peek-a-boo"
• L.o.v.e.s music and will "dance" (bounce) to it
• She loves going on walks in the morning
• Every time we are out we get complimented on what a good baby she is, and they couldn't be more right =)
• She is rarely called by her name. Her nicknames are: Tiny, C, little love, sweet girl, love bug, and tater (haha).
• Loves to talk really serious to us lol 
• She got in the pool for the first time this month and was not in love with it haha
• Went on the boat for the first time this month and did not enjoy the life jacket.

Baby Must-haves 3-6 Months...

Clearly the blog has taken a backseat lately...oh well, perhaps now that C is actually taking naps I will have more time to post all the fun things I'd like to! Anyway, for those interested and for me to refer back to on Baby Glawson #2 (several years from now) here are the products that have helped us out the most during these past three months.

1) Miracle Blanket. Yes. Caroline is 6 months old and STILL swaddled. I've given up the battle after trying to go through the unswaddling process several times and it's torture for us all. It's either have her sleep almost all night vs. no sleep at all for any of us and after the month or two of TERRIBLE sleep...I'll take all the sleep I can get =) This blanket is awesome because she does not like for her legs to be swaddled, just her arms (which she is too long for the leg part anyway) and we can still get a good, snug wrap on her. She loves it!

2) Vitamix .

Of course, any other blending or food processing device would work perfectly well for babyfood making purposes, but seriously...this thing is AWESOME for making C's food!! I've made baby food for almost all of the kids I nannied and nothing has ever pureed as well as our Vitamix has. It's saweeet!

3)Video Monitor.

We started out with the Angelcare Motion and Sound monitor which I "just HAD to have"...well, because of C's reflux we were never able to use the motion sensor pad because we have a wedge in her crib and the mattress has to be flat. Plus, since she is still swaddled and can rollover I was constantly going in just to make sure she was still on her back (since her arms aren't free to push herself back over). SO, this has been super!

4) Hidden In my Heart Scripture Lullabies

Seriously. Sweetest CD ever! It's bible verses set to beautiful music and we LOVE it! We keep it in the car and it calms C down within minutes and almost always puts her right to sleep. It is so soothing and so so pretty!

5) Exersaucer

Caroline LOVES to be in this thing! We keep it in the kitchen so she can play while I do the dishes or cook and she is perfectly content just hanging out in there.

6) Grocery Cart/ High chair cover

This is one of those things that I always thought was so unnecessary. Until I had my own kid and realized I'd rather her not chew on the grocery cart handle. I also about passed out when Greg took her to the grocery store alone and put her in the cart without it...oh the germs! LOL! So, we borrowed this one from Katie and we use it ALL the time! Love it!

7) Pack-n-play

This has definitely come in handy these past few months with trips to NC and Florida. I was worried she would not sleep well in it, but she does pretty good!  This is a must when family lives out of town!

8) Activity Mat

Caroline LOVES her activity mat. Especially when she wasn't able to sit up on her own. This is where she does most of her independent play and she is so content just hanging out, talking to her toys. Now that she is sitting up most of the time, she isn't on there as often, but we keep it around for tummy time.


I can't really think of anything else that we use ALL the time besides the obvious- carseat, stroller, high chair, etc...we're starting to use the Ergo carrier more, but I believe that will be more of a 6-12month+ item. Anyway, these are the things that have made life easier the past 3 months!