Blake Olivia: 8 months

What's been happening this month:

• Well I've tried everything (excluding CIO) and Blake is officially my 30 minute napper.  I give up.  It means we have busy days and not a lot of time to myself but oh well, babies are only little for so long right, so I'm enjoying our time together. 
• On the other hand, our nights have been much better.  We started co-sleeping out of desperate need for sleep but I always put her down in her crib first, at bedtime.  I have given up on the 3am fight and put her in bed with us if I need to.  It works out pretty well and her first stretch of sleep (in the crib) has gotten longer and longer and she basically sleeps through the night again now.  It's hard on my sleep (and my back) but I actually love having her close to me at night.  We are much less stressed about sleep now and way more rested.
• I still follow a loose schedule because a strict one just didn't work for us.  I like to have some order to my day but we aren't chained to the house because of a nap schedule.
• FINALLY she likes to eat food!! This was a huge breakthrough and she just changed one day all of a sudden.  She has tried lots of different things now and has had no allergies and really hasn't hated anything.  I'm hoping she won't be a picky eater.
• With her new love of food came the major poop change. It's pretty gross now and we will be installing a diaper sprayer at the new house.  Still, it's not that much harder and I'm sticking with the cloth diapers :)
• She cut her first tooth.  Her bottom left central incisor to be exact.  I'm sure it probably hurt but she didn't fuss too much about it.
•  She is giving kisses, sometimes, when we ask.
• She went swimming in the pool and had her first beach day. She loved both.
• She's getting more hair but it's still not a lot.
• She has a favorite baby doll that has become her lovie and she's sleeping with her now.
• She's scooting backwards but not crawling yet.
• She's babbling like crazy now.  It's started with nananana and now mmamamama, dadadada, kakakakaka, tatatata, babababa. 
• No more pacifier.  She just decided she doesn't like it anymore.  I hear that it's for the best and I won't have to wean her later but it would be nice if she had something to soothe herself other than my boob. 
• And one of the best things, her hair grabbing has really lightened up.  Thank god because I really couldn't afford to lose anymore than I already have.  

Blake Olivia: 7 months

What's been happening this month:

• We started solid foods.  She pretty much hates it.  We keep trying but she gags at everything (sweet potatoes, avocados, peas, oatmeal, bananas, apples).  Every flavor and every texture.  I did, finally, have some success with avocados yesterday in bigger chucks.  She might just be one of those babies who hates the mush :)
• At her doctor appointment she was a little low in weight, story of her life, so the doc said to keep trying with the high fat foods like avocados and egg yolks (not the whites which are the part people can be allergic to).
• We are still trying to do a schedule to help with sleep.  I'm not sure if she's getting better or I'm getting used to it.  Maybe both but we have had a few nights where she slept through and some others with 5-6 hours stretches so I think that's an improvement :)

As a positive bonus, her schedule is really good for me.  I get a lot more done when I'm organized and forced to do it.  I have a natural tendency toward lazy which makes me feel terrible so keeping to a schedule really helps.  I also read somewhere once that people with ADHD had amazing improvements when they had children because of the schedule they put their baby on.

• We have been going to Beach Fit Moms which is a beach workout for moms and we bring the babes.  Blake is the youngest there and she usually makes it until about half way, which is cool because I need a break about then ;)
• Blake is sitting up all by herself.  And for pretty long periods of time too.  She still topples over when she reaches too far for something though.
• I discovered the hip carry position on the Ergo Baby which has been awesome because she didn't really like the Ergo anymore.  She wants to see what's going on and front facing in the sling isn't completely "hands free".  Here's a link to a video on how to do it. 
• We are totally off the swaddle now and exclusively using the Zipadee Zip.  I'm glad I waited until she was ready instead of being pressured by the pediatrician.  The nurse practitioner told me to just take it away, lay her down, and walk away.  Haha ya right.  Also, we will never let them give us an appointment with her again :)
• She almost gets up on her knees during tummy time.  One step closer to crawling!
• We have had a couple nursing strikes/low supply issues this month.  I'm not sure if she caused it or it caused her to be frustrated but it was just a gentle reminder to never get lax on the breast milk supply maintenance.  It's a full time job.  For me at least.  Totally worth it but something I always have to pay attention to.  

When life gives you lemons...

My aunt gave me a bag full of fresh lemons from her tree a few days ago so I decided to try out making lemonade.  

• 1 cup fresh lemon juice
• 1 cup sugar with 1 cup water (make into simple syrup)
• 3-4 cups of water

Cilantro Lime Dressing

Lately, I've been obsessed with the chicken salad from El Pollo Loco with the cilantro dressing.  I found a recipe online for cilantro lime ranch dressing and created my own version of the salad. 

The salad:

lettuce

purple cabbage

cilantro

tomatoes

black beans

corn

cheese

grilled chicken

The dressing:

1 cup ranch dressing

2 cloves garlic

1/8 cup lime juice

1 jalepeno (remove seeds)

1 tomatillo

1/2 cup of cilantro 

Put all ingredients in blender and blend on high until well mixed.

Enjoy!!

Vegan Avocado Chocolate Mousse

I'm no vegan, but I do try to be as healthy as possible and this is a healthier version of a classic chocolate treat.  This mousse is made with avocado instead of dairy so it's also great for someone who can't handle dairy products.  You can taste the avocado, slightly, but not in a bad way.  It has a really rich chocolate flavor that over powers the avocado flavor.

I got the recipe from Giada's Feel Good Food book, which is her healthier recipe book.

• 1/2 cup bittersweet chocolate chips
• 4 very ripe avocados, chopped
• 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/2 cup agave nectar
• 1 tbs. plus 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1/4 tsp. fine sea salt
• 1/3 cup unsweetened almond milk
• Fresh raspberries and mint leaf for garnish.  I also used chocolate sticks that I stole from work :)

Melt chocolate chips in a double boiler until smooth and set aside to cool slightly.  Combine all ingredients in food processor or blender and blend until smooth and creamy.  Refrigerate for at least 3 hours or up to 1 day.  

Hopping on that Sleep Train and our 5 month sleep regression

Well it happened to us.  The 5 month sleep regression.  I had heard about this.  Babies that previously slept through the night all of a sudden stop.  It can really happen at any month but ours was at month 5.

Hardcore attachment parents believe in doing nothing.  Just deal with it basically.  On the other end of the spectrum, some say baby will never sleep unless you sleep train aka. "cry it out".  Again, I believe I am somewhat of a moderate.  I'm not comfortable with any of the crying methods but I do think that it's valuable to help a baby to sleep and to self soothe.  Well, there's exactly one book I could find about a no cry sleep training method.  The No Cry Sleep Solution by Elizabeth Pantley.  I naively thought that since we had a 'sleeping through the night' baby I wouldn't need this.  I couldn't just set her in her crib wide awake and have her go to sleep but once I got her down, she was a great sleeper.  I really don't mind rocking my baby to sleep.  I love it in fact.  That's one of the best parts of our day.  It's when things started getting worse and worse and I felt like I had a newborn again that I realized we had to do something.  I broke down and bought the book.  I sacrificed yet even more sleep to stay up and read.  I implemented the schedule right away and started on my journey.

This is NOT a quick fix.  It's a process so it takes commitment.  I was fully prepared for this.  My only other options are listen to my baby cry (possibly all night) until she could potentially vomit, choke, and scream for her mommy who had abandoned her OR deal with this sleep deprivation for both of us for potentially years.

Here's how to do it:

Log your progress every 10 days to look for improvement.

There's a lot of room for flexibility and forgiveness if you revert to old ways out of desperation.  That's one thing I love most about this method.  It's NO GUILT and there's no pressure to rush things.  Go at your own pace.

Start a schedule.
We now have a wake up time of 8am.  Blake gets 2 naps, one in the morning about 10am and one in the early afternoon about 2pm.  I try to watch for her cues and put her down when she's sleepy so I am flexible with the times.
Bedtime is tricky because of my work schedule and Blake being at her grandma's until I'm off.  Some nights I don't get done until 10:30 or 11.  This may need to be adjusted if the plan doesn't start working. When I'm home, bedtime starts about 8pm.

Naptime and Bedtime routine.
I was actually already doing this and didn't even know it.  I added a few things just to make it official and I have been keeping it consistent at every nap and every night.  It is about 30 minutes and consists of diaper change, pjs, story time, nursing, and rocking.  I tried to do bath time in my routine but her bath is not always relaxing as much as fun and active. She loves to kick and splash.  :) I also tried a massage but she really doesn't like it.
The naptime routine is a shortened version of the bedtime routine. About 10-15 minutes.

Other things to try:

• whispering "key words" to her as she is falling asleep so they become a sleep association.  I'm shocked at how well this worked.  I mostly just use "ssshhhh it's sleepy time". The shushing noise really calms her.
• trying to not use her pacifier when I put her down, although she has a really strong suck-to-sleep association.
• putting her down drowsy but still awake and staying with her and helping her to fall asleep while in her crib
• doing some calm playtime and story time in her crib throughout the day so she knows that is a positive and safe place to be.
• make sure she gets plenty of naptime.  I try for 2 2hr naps per day but at this point I don't always get them.

There are lots of tips in the book but these are the first ones I am trying.  You don't have to do all of them, just try things out and see what works.

I am also weaning her from being swaddled right now so that makes the sleep training harder.  She really loves her swaddle and still startles when she sleeps.  I am starting with one arm out for a while and then I will try two arms out and/or the Zipadee Zip.

I am planning to go in phases, starting with putting her down almost asleep and drowsy to progressively putting her down more and more awake.  Some people stop when they get to a phase where both baby and mom are comfortable and getting enough sleep.  I'm not sure where we will end up but we have already had enough progress to be rested and mentally sane again :) 

Skipping the Rice Cereal

On her 6 month birthday, we started Blakey on solid food.  It's more of an experiment really.  Just an exploration of different flavors and textures.  Her very first food was sweet potatoes.  I was so excited to bust out my Beaba Baby Cook baby food maker.  It steams and blends all in one.  I made her sweet potatoes and blended them smooth and then I made them really thin by adding breast milk.  Well, I would hardly call this first feeding a success.  She was so confused and pretty much just turned her head away from the spoon.  I didn't force her.  The next day, I tried again but with a little thicker texture.  I tossed the spoon and used my finger and she would actually take some into her mouth, yay success!!  But...every time I got any in her mouth, she gagged.  I hate to say but she had me cracking up with all the gagging.

After sweet potatoes came avocados, then bananas.  She actually swallowed some of the bananas.  I know this because I saw it come out the other end :)

Then I hit a little breastfeeding hiccup.  I'm not sure if it was the solids or something else but she stopped nursing well and my supply dropped a ton.  I quit the food and focused on breastfeeding for a week straight.  I am 100% committed to breastfeeding for the first year and maybe beyond so I was not about to let this be the end.  Solids are for fun at this point but her milk is 100% of her nutrition.  One week later, we are all good again but it was pretty stressful (which of course only makes things worse).

WARNING: Controversial topic ahead.
I skipped the rice cereal.  In fact I will never be giving my daughter rice cereal and that's ok.  It's good in fact.
Modern thinking (although plenty of people and pediatricians still believe rice cereal is the only option for baby's first food) is that rice cereal is just not necessary.  It has been the standard in recent generations but it has literally no nutritional value and is just a bunch of carbs that taste like cardboard.  Your doctor might tell you it's the iron.  Breastfed babies need iron, especially after the first 6 months.  Although this fact is debatable, iron can be found naturally in many fresh foods.  They might also tell you that allergies or baby's immature digestive system are factors.  Well, if you wait to start solids until baby is 6 months, their systems are ready.  There is less incidence of allergies and the digestive system has matured enough to handle lots of types of food.  Plus, rice cereal can just cause constipation, which I'm sure we can all agree is no fun.
We are choosing to go with fresh, healthy, homemade baby food for Blake.  It's easy, cheap, and good for her.  If you're still not convinced, remember, it wasn't very long ago that we didn't have boxed, processed, baby cereal and all of those babies thrived just fine.  :)

Here are some links with info about the topic.  There are tons of articles about this but here are a few that popped up when I was searching.

http://www.analyticalarmadillo.co.uk/2011/12/nine-good-reasons-not-to-use-baby-rice.html

http://kellymom.com/nutrition/starting-solids/first-foods/

http://aapnews.aappublications.org/content/early/2012/09/19/aapnews.20120919-2.full

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/w_ParentingResource/baby-diet-white-rice-cereal-pediatrician-dr-alan-greene-focuses/story?id=12801589