Charlotte Frances {8 Months}

Charlotte Frances, you are EIGHT months old!! 

(Again, written a month ago and never uploaded pics. 
So I'm sharing today just four day shy of C's nine month birthday. Oh well - mama's busy!)

 

Weight/Height: Daddy got on the scale and held you a week or so ago and you clocked in at 16.2 pounds but you're definitely getting longer. Still our petite little girl - if you grow up to be tall and thin, I will have NO IDEA where you got those genes from, sweet girl.

Nicknames: Little Love, Sweetness, C, Lovebug, Tootie/Tootie Butt, Sugar

Clothes: You're just about growing out of most of your 3-6 mos and 6 mos clothes - when you stretch in your 6 month sleepers, the toes are pretty darn snug. I went on a buying spree and stocked you up in 9 month play clothes and sleepers for the cooler weather, but you're so small I'm hesitant to start shopping for Christmas clothes! I ordered one 12 month outfit in the batch and right now, it looks like it will just swallow you up.

A few of the clothes that have been my favorite in this stage are your Carter's kitten sleeper, your Hanna Andersson blue lemon pajamas, your Cat & Jack aqua overalls with the coral and white striped shirt, your Cecil and Lou pink and white monogrammed bubble, your Janie & Jack two piece strawberry outfit, your pink Ralph Lauren bubble with the ruffle on the bum, and your Baby Gap bow-back leggings (blue and white stripes, and the sweet pink that you wore with your strawberry top).

Sleep: My dear, you have become quite the iffy sleeper. You're still in the pack n play in our bedroom which we think is a part of the problem, so we're going to work on transitioning you to your crib in your sweet nursery soon (I feel like I've written that before...). You love your routine and are ready for bed by 7:30 p.m. every night, and you go down easily for a good three hours... and then you wake up. If I catch you right when you stir, I can give you your Wubby and you'll go right back out. But if you have time to really wake-up, you're totally up and ready to play and have the hardest time settling back down. It's exhausting and as much as I love every minute with you, I know that you (and Daddy and I) really need a good night's sleep.

I keep telling myself that this is just a phase, and that there will come a day when you don't wake up and need me in the middle of the night (and that breaks my heart) so I'm soaking up every night that I can for these Charlotte-and-Mama snuggles.

You do take good morning and afternoon naps, but tend to want an extra nap in the evenings around 4 p.m., and I can't help but wonder if that's what's hurting us when it comes to a good night's sleep. We'll get there, my girl.

Schedule: During the week, your schedule has remained pretty much the same for the last couple of months.

Up at 6:30 a.m. Diaper change, nurse, and get dressed for the day

6:30-8:30 a.m. Play  

8:30 a.m. Breakfast (oatmeal during the week with the nanny; scrambled egg yolk, YoBaby yogurt, applesauce 

9 -10:30 a.m. - Nap

10:30 a.m. 4 oz bottle 

11:00 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. Play 

1:00-2:00 p.m. Nap

2:00 p.m. 4 oz bottle 

3:00 p.m. Mama's home! Nurse, diaper change, play

3:30-4:30 p.m. Nap

4:30 p.m. Nurse

5:00-6:00 p.m. Play in your highchair while I start dinner

6:00 p.m. Daddy's home!

6:30 p.m. Dinner (purees - butternut squash, peas, carrots; avocado, pasta, roasted apples with cinnamon)

7 p.m. Tubby time

7:30 p.m. Nurse, books, sing songs, say prayers and bed time

Health: You've been in perfect health, and we're so thankful! We used Tylenol for the first time this month to help with teething pain - it breaks my heart to see you hurting.

Crying: You've started to whine and scream if you're frustrated, but it's very quick and usually followed by a big grin - you're such a mess! You only really cry if you're struggling with teething pain, or if you wake up at night.

Feeding: We're still breastfeeding several times a day (and on demand on the weekends), but as we've introduced more solids, you're slowly cutting back on the amount of times that you nurse and the length of each session. You tend to nurse for the longest first thing in the morning, and when we snuggle once I'm home for the day during the week - I like to think it's our sweet moment to reconnect after being apart all day. I've started to think about how weaning will change things and it honestly breaks my heart - mama's not ready, and I'm still aiming to make it to your first birthday before we totally stop nursing.

As all things have gone so far on this parenting journey, when I feel sad about one thing ending, something awesome takes its place - this month, it's your love of food! You are seriously loving solids and have so much fun playing and experimenting with everything. Right now, you get two meals a day and when you hit 9 months we're going to up it to 3 meals a day. We're doing a very loose mix of baby led weaning and purees - we basically give you purees to start and gradually work up to super soft, smashed versions next. Your favorites include butternut squash, avocado, apples, pasta, sweet potato, blueberries, egg, oatmeal with peanut butter, and yogurt; your least favorites are peas and sweet potato. 

We've also tried a YoBaby mango flavored yogurt a few times (spaced several days apart) and each time you have a little bit of an upset tummy, but aside from that we haven't had any issues with reactions to any foods we've introduced, thank goodness!

Likes: You LOVE jumping in your jumper, FaceTiming with Gigi and Papa, tubby time/splashing and kicking in the water, and playing on your new playmat. You snuggle your Bun Bun (tiny Peekawho bunny) and always hold a Lovey up to your face when you sleep. You still love your Wubby and we don't go anywhere without one plus a backup. 

Dislikes: You don't like sitting in your highchair for too long and really don't like if someone isn't paying you attention. You really don't like when I walk away from you and will let us know. 

Milestones: So many big things happened this month, sweet girl! You sat up unassisted for the first time on Wednesday, August 16. I happened to be home with you and it absolutely was one of the best feelings I've ever had - you looked so, so proud of yourself! The next day, on August 17, you went from laying on your tummy to sitting up fully on your own for the first time. On Saturday, August 19, you started really kicking your feet with a purpose and noticed that you can kick things away from/off of you. You scoot on your tummy and army crawl everywhere, so I have a feeling that actual crawling isn't too far away! You also reach for me and have started experiencing some stranger anxiety, but we're working on that because I want you to feel comfortable with our friends and families. But I would be lying if I said I hate that you're a stage 5 clinger with me - I love that you want to be with me. 

Faces and Places: You spent lots of time with your cousins this month - Colin, Meredith and Evelyn were visiting from Maryland, you saw lots of baby Addy, and Shirley (plus Aunt Candice and Uncle Ricky) moved back to Massachusetts from Illinois! We hit the ground running with beach days and swinging at the park, which you loved - you enjoy being outside in the sunshine and love feeling the wind blow. We went to a festival in Plymouth and you, Daddy and I also went to your first golf tournament - your Daddy was in heaven!

Molly: Molly girl is definitely taking more notice of you, especially with your new shrieks and squeals. Now that you're getting closer to being more mobile, there've been a few times where you grab her fur and smile, but we're working on teaching you "Gentle" and nicely petting her. I swear there's a connection there already because anyone else she would react to and get annoyed with, but you can kick, swat, squeal and grab away and she just hangs out and ignores it. Y'all are buddies and it makes my heart happy to see you start to snuggle.

Things I Want to Remember: The proud look on your face when you sat up for the first time. The panting sound you make when you're hungry and see that we're about to feed you. How excited you are to see me when I get home from work in the afternoons. The way your face lights up when you hear the sound of FaceTime calling Gigi and Papa. 

The first of many matching cousin pajama photos!

Your first beach day... which you happily snuggled and snoozed through.

Wednesday, August 16 - You sat up totally unassisted for the very first time! The next day, Thursday, August 17, you went from laying on your tummy to sitting up for the first time.

You and Daddy at lunch during our staycation - lunch at Plaza Azteca!

Swinging like a big girl for the first time.

Your cousin Meredith LOVES YOU big time, sweet girl. She liked to tell me "When baby Charlotte is here, she's my baby, but when she's at your house, she can be your baby."

Playing in our backyard on a cooler day - you love touching the grass and feeling the breeze!

You, Mama and Daddy in Plymouth after the Waterfront Festival!

My blue-eyed girl, you're just the sweetest!

When the nanny is sick and Mama has a deadline, into the Solly at my desk you go! 

Your first golf tournament! We spent the day with Daddy at the Dell Technologies Championship on Saturday, September 2 - your Daddy was in heaven!

I've been waiting so many years to share a picture like this! Your Uncle Ricky (holding cousin Shirley), you and Daddy, and your Uncle Jeff (holding cousin Addy) - same boys, same order... with their three daughters! Love it.

My sweet smiley girl.

You still love to snuggle with me and deep in my mama heart I know that these days are somewhat numbered, so I sit and soak them up for as long as I can.