8 month old Princess

Happy 8 months Samantha!

First thing this morning, nice and early (thanks Archie and Chico for that by the way!) I got Samantha changed and took her measurements, in shock that in 4 short months we'll be celebrating her birthday!  I'm sure this post is going to be filled with pictures because little Miss has so much personality and has grown leaps and bounds this month!

So, let's start with the numbers :)

Length: 28.25"  I have her at 27" for last month and 26" for 6 months.  So she's growing.  She is at the 88% mark
Weight: 19 lbs, 8 oz.  Before breakfast and no diaper.  A couple weeks ago, she was at 18.6, after breakfast, dressed at the dr office, so that's a big growth.  She is at the 78% mark for weight.  For reference, Kaitlyn was 2 oz lighter at her 15 month appt!
Head Circumference: 17.25"  Her head is huge to me!  But, it's only at the 60% mark.  Then again, at 15 months, Kaitlyn's was only 17.75" so....  lol.

So, she is a big baby!  But, she has teeny little feet.  She is wearing 3-6 month shoes, based on me trying them on at BRU last week.  But, she hasn't actually worn shoes other than as a flower girl in May.  She is wearing 12 month clothes and some 18 month things in swim suits and the likes.

This month she has really grown.  She is scooting around everywhere and will do this kinda army crawl like thing.  She wants to crawl, and she goes from sitting to a crawl like position, eager to get something she wants.  But, she just isn't there yet.  And you can see her get so frustrated in trying.  She really, really, really wants to crawl.  She has gotten fast about rolling everywhere, and can crawl backwards and scoot in circles all over the place.

And even though she wants to crawl, even more so she wants to walk.  She hates to to be sat down, she will lock her legs so you're forced to help her walk.  But, her chubby thighs are just too chubby and she can't support them too well yet.  She is constantly trying to pull herself up to stand.  She has used my legs to pull herself up to a sitting position, and tries to pull on things to stand but that chubbiness I think is holding her back.  She'll get there.

And no teeth yet.  Not even a one.  She's been teething a lot, but that's been going on for months, so I don't know that one is even all that close to arriving.  Time will tell.

By this age, Kaitlyn had 6 teeth, was crawling and was a week away from pulling herself up to stand.  Kaitlyn loved lights and music.  While Samantha isn't crawling, is toothless and isn't able to pull herself up yet (and I highly doubt she'll be walking as early as Kaitlyn did) her fine motor skills are amazing.  Her pincer grasp is so good, there isn't anything she cannot (and will not) pick up.  And successfully shove into her mouth.  She isn't as impressed with music, lights, keyboards and the like, but she loves the intricate detail on toys, she finds the bottom of them with all the wording she can rub her fingers along far more interesting.  And you can see her mind working on overdrive as she is trying to figure it out, that or figure out how to put it in her mouth.

Samantha does love singing, and having books read to her.  She is also learning all about Sesame Street.  She will sit quietly for about 20 minutes of it.  And some mornings, that 20 minutes is amazingly needed.

Sleeping.   Boy how I miss it.  We have transitioned into her crib during nap times.  It was really rough in the beginning.  She would cry for  up to 5 minutes before going to sleep.  Then, after a week, last week, she would cry for maybe 90 seconds and then fall asleep.  This week, she just lays there peacefully and calmly and then goes to sleep.  It's always fun to check on her though because you never know what side of the crib she is going to be on.  Night time sleeping is a whole other story.  I tried to transition her into her crib, but I was weak and after 45 minutes of non-stop crying, I gave up.  I held, cuddled and kissed her to sleep.  Now, we do that most nights, in the co-sleeper.  Then, she sleeps for about 3 hours.  So, usually about 10 PM to 1 AM.  (She added her own nap at about 5 PM lately that I cannot prevent because she will just go to sleep, so I know I need to work out the sleep at night issues to work out that nap issue).  Then, at 1 AM, she is pretty much up every 30 minutes now until about 5:30 AM.  It has been this bad for about a week (before it was every hour to 2 hours), so I'm thinking it's a growth spurt, especially after looking at this morning's weight.  Then, she will sleep from about 5:30 to 8:30 AM before starting the day.

Breastfeeding isn't going as great anymore.  At the beginning of the month, I had a hard, painful milk blockage.  It was not fun.  At all.  But, she was awesome and we got it out by the next day.  2 days later I started my heaviest, most normal, period yet (sorry for the TMI) and my milk supply dropped significantly.  No more feeling let down, no more leaking through the day, no more feeling full and one fussy little girl.  After a couple days of nursing around the clock, I gave in and supplemented with formula.  She downed 6 ounces like it was the best stuff in the world.  So, now we are doing both.  I am breastfeeding as much as she wants and all through the night, which is still every 4 hours or so, but she is also getting formula.  She is getting about 4 oz in the morning, another 4 at lunch time and an evening one of 4 oz.  So, I am sure that with the 12 oz of formula and 6 or so nursing sessions, she's getting plenty.

And she's starting to love to eat again.  She was really over baby food.  She showed no interest really in it, but I was worried about table foods and choking and started researching.  That led me to Baby Led Weaning and I am in love with the theory.  The idea is that you offer babies food, similar to what you are eating (except obviously the salty, overly seasoned and junk food) in pieces they can pick up.  Then, they feed themselves.  They get to explore the flavors, learn to chew and then learn to push it back in their mouth.  So far, so good.  She's loved dry pancakes and toast, devoured blueberries and tomatoes and gotten so excited over chicken!  So, yay!!

Developmentally, she's doing awesome!  She says Mama and Dada and sometimes babababa.  She is clapping like crazy and does this cute monkey face and flaps her arms when she gets super excited, or even a little excited.  She's waving, she lifts her arms up to be picked up and she has learned what separation anxiety is all about.  And if you ask for kisses, she'll open her mouth up nice and wide to greet you :)  She's also learned the fine art of banging stuff together and learned just how loud she can be if she wants to :)

She celebrated her first Fourth of July and loved everything but the fireworks.  She enjoyed the lights, but wasn't that impressed.

She LOVES swimming in the pool.  We try to go out there at least once a day.  She doesn't love the sun on her, so she finds a place in the shade she likes and just hangs out.  She spends half the time in the pool in her little floaty boat toy and the other half having us help her swim or keeping her sitting up so she can splish splash.  She loves it.

She is a pretty happy baby, laughs and giggles all the time.  She plays with her sister as much as Kaitlyn will.  She has found the puppies and is infatuated with Archie and Chico.  She has decided that her pacifier is nothing more than a chew toy and loves chewing on them and then taking them in and out of her mouth.  She is still in love with hats and glasses :)

Overall, she's a happy, growing, healthy little 8 month old baby whose first birthday will be here before you know it!