9 months...

I can hardly believe it! Our girl turned 9-months-old on Monday! For some reason, this has been the hardest age to turn because I'm so sad to think she's so close to being one! This has been such an awesome month!! We are just so in love with her fun little personality! She is super smiley all the time and talks, talks, talks ...we love it! This has been a big month with first words and  lots of pulling up and cruising on furniture. She is such a sweet girl and are so very happy with our 9-month-old cutie!

Sleeping:
Sleeping has been the best it's been in a looong time! At the beginning of the month, we FINALLY broke down and let her cry-it-out some while she got used to being put down drowsy and not totally asleep. It was hard, but oh so worth it! She now goes down drowsy, without a single fuss and sleeps 7-6:30 with one feeding around 4am. SOOOO much better than being up 5-7 times (sometimes more) a night! Her napping...well, we're working on it. The pediatrician says we might just have to except the fact she's not a napper-booo. But, that just means extra playtime and cuddles with her sweet self!

Eating:
Caroline is still a great eater, but is starting to get a bit picky about pureed foods. She will eat just about any kind of finger food you put in front of her, which I am glad about, but I'd still like for her to take her pureed food for a little longer if possible. If not, I'm not worried, she does a great job with fruits and veggies and grains on her own! Little Miss Independent just things she is to big for baby food now =) She is nursing 4 times a day and eating 3 solid meals.  This month in finger foods she has tried: avocado, grapes (cut up really small), blueberries, cantaloupe, honeydew, watermelon, beets, zucchini, peaches, mango, pear, peas, green beans, meatball, cheese/cinnamon toast, and I'm sure more, I just can't think. Her favorites are diced peaches, grapes, avocado, and cheese toast.

Stats:
Weight- 16 lb 9 oz (22%)
Height- 27in (25%)
Head-17 in

Milestones-

• FIRST WORDS!!!- Dada was first, then Mama, and she has said "Ah-Da" (all done) while signing once. Exciting!
• Standing alone for a few seconds
• Got her 5th tooth

Randoms:

•  One of her favorite things to do is play peek-a-boo and she will try to hide behind everything and wait for you to say "Wheeere's Caroline?" ADORABLE
• Really loves splashing during bath time.
• Got her first cold this month
• Working on her 6th tooth
• Pulls her hair/pats her head while falling asleep
• Loves books, especially touch and feel or lift the flap books
• Thinks it's hilarious to get into the dog's bowls and even more hilarious when we tell her 'no'

8 months...

 

 Today miss Caroline is 8-months-old! This has been a big, big month for C! She had her first beach vacation, 4th of July celebration, started finger foods, and the biggest accomplishment CRAWLING! Caroline is simply the sweetest baby on this planet (not biased at all hehe). We are so very blessed to have this cute girl  =)

 Sleeping:
 We've had our ups and downs with sleeping this month. We've had a few nights of being up every hour, which are no fun. However, we are now on a new routine where I no longer nurse her to sleep. Now the routine is nurse, then bath, stories, rock/singing, bed. I thought that it would be really hard to break nursing to sleep at night, but nope. She's actually had three of her best nights the past three nights. We also switched to two naps this month which are hit or miss and typically a miss, but oh well.


Eating:
Caroline is a great eater! The big news on the eating front is that she is now eating some finger foods! She was constantly grabbing her spoon and trying to eat the food off of my plate so we started giving her some of her own finger food and she's done great with it! She's had waffles (wheat/egg/dairy/gluten free-they melt quickly), soft pieces of pear, peaches, plums, banana, and sweet potato, puffs, mum-mums, cinnamon toast, and cheerios. I was nervous that this would cause her to start refusing her pureed foods, but she is still eating those like a champ! More big news on eating is that we dropped a feeding and are now on a 4 hour schedule rather than a 3 hour...it is a.w.e.s.o.m.e!



Milestones:

• Clapping her hands (started while we were at the beach)
• Getting into a sitting position from laying down
• Pulls up on her own
• And the biggest..CRAWLING! (July 14)

Randoms/ Things to remember:

• She will "dance" and bounce when you tell her to bounce or play music
• She thinks sneezing and animal sounds are hilarious
• If you ask where someone (daddy/Jackson/Chance) is she starts to look for them
• She is obsessed with the door stoppers and must play with every single one she sees.
• She talks constantly and has a very high pitched babble =)
• Thinks it's hilarious to be told 'no'
• Loves to brush her teeth and gets angry when you take the toothbrush away
• She loves bathtime and kicking and splashing around

Videos from this month:

Caroline is crawling!

Our girl is officially mobile! She started crawling July 14th, just 6 days before turning 8-months-old. This video was taken about 2 hours after her very first crawl- she definitely caught on fast! She has been so so close for a few weeks and I was worried Greg would be at work, but fortunately she waited until we were both sitting there with here to show of her new skills =) Our world is totally forever changed!

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!

6 Months!!!

Our sweet Caroline is half a year old! It is hard to believe! This month has been so much fun! Caroline's cute personality is showing more and more everyday and we LOVE it! The girl is a talker! She is constantly babbling and squealing and giggling...so fun! She is super happy and it doesn't take much to get a sweet smile =) We are so very in love with our girl!

Sleeping:
This month has been SO much better with her nighttime sleep (PRAISE THE LORD)! She still wakes up once or twice, but I'll certainly take that over the 7-10 times she was doing last month! She is still taking 3 naps, although nap is such a strong word lol. Her naps are generally 20-45 minutes max. Fun. This month we've started trying to let her put herself to sleep a bit more, sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. She is still swaddled. We tried stopping and that was torture for us all, so I figure we will drop that eventually, but I'm choosing my battles on that one haha.

Eating:
Caroline is a GREAT eater! She gets so excited when it is time to eat and loves just about anything we send her way. She is still nursing (woohoo...we made it 6 months) every 3-4 hours and is eating solids twice a day. So far she has tried: avocado, sweet potato, peas, green beans, carrots, pears, apples, peaches, banana, and mango. She will eat everything, but it not a huge fan of bananas or mango by themselves but enjoys them mixed together. Her favorites are definitely sweet potatoes and peas. We are loving the new adventures in eating =)


Milestones:
She has gotten so good had sitting up on her own this month! Really it's been in the past week or two where she sits really well. She has ridden in a grocery cart without the carseat and sat in a restaurant high chair for the first time this month as well...what a big girl =)

She has also started SCOOTING! Granted, it's going backwards...but it's one step closer to have a mobile baby! Craziness!

Her 4th tooth popped through, so now she has two bottom and two top and I hope and pray we are done with teething for a little while! She is definitely ahead of the game there!

6 Month Stats:
 Weight- 15lb 12 oz (44%)
 Height- 26 in (56%)
 Head- I don't remember, but it was 91%...takes after her daddy haha

Randoms/ Things to remember:

• Caroline makes the funniest facial expressions and finds herself to be hilarious =)
• She is very serious when she first meets someone, but once she very seriously studies the person, she gives big smiles
• She is a very LOUD talker and gets very serious when telling us a big story =)
• She loves the tags on things
• Loves to yell at the dogs. She will stand in the exersaucer and yell at them. I think she enjoys being eye level with them haha
• Is great in a stroller or the Ergo carrier and loves to go on walks and be outside
• We go to music and story time every week and she loves watching all the bigger kids dance around her
• She does well with independent play, but would be perfectly happy if I held or carried her around all day long...and most of the time I would too =)

Just playing...

Because I am too lazy to write a full post...here is a video of sweet Caroline =)