Friday, August 5, 2011

8 Months

Evie is now 8 months old.  Wow!  Here is what she has been up to this month:


E did not want to have her picture taken today!  This is the best one I captured.  Doesn't she look sweet, though?

For size reference, here she is with a few of her favorite toys. 
 Eating:  Evie has had a pretty major shift this month in her eating habits.  She now eats 3 good solid meals every day.  She nurses about 5 times a day - the first morning feeding, bedtime feeding, and 3-5am feeding are good feedings.  She also snacks 2 other times during the day, but doesn't really nurse for long during those times- sometimes for less than 5 minutes.  She's eating plenty, though, as her weight is up to 18.5 pounds! 

Sleeping:  We were traveling from July 14-27, and it really messed up Evie's sleep schedule.  She started waking up twice at night all over again, but just in the past few days she is back to waking up only once, in the very early morning.  Her naps really regulated this month.  She now naps for 30 minutes to 1 hour twice a day, one hour after she wakes up in the morning, and then about 3 hours after the first nap.  Sometimes she also naps for about 30 minutes in the late afternoon between 3 and 4.  While this isn't a lot of daytime sleep, it's better than she'd been doing, and I am grateful!

Teeth:  Evie cut her two bottom teeth at the end of July.  It didn't seem to bother her much.  Hallelujah!

Play:  Evie continues to grow by leaps and bounds in this department.  She loves to crawl around the house, pulling up on everything in sight.  She is starting to cruise a little bit, but we are not pushing this!  She also likes to walk holding onto our hands, but again, we are not pushing it.  This child is determined to do all this as fast as she can, but I'm not quite ready for it!  I'm already missing a lot of the cuddle time we used to have since she is so much more interested in moving around than in hanging out with mama. 

Something really sweet that has started with Evie's increased mobility is a little game that Finlay plays with her.  As I've mentioned before, she really likes his toys, and he has picked up on that.  He will now walk up to her while she is playing on the floor, with a favorite toy in his mouth, and wait for her to make a move for it.  He then slowly backs away, keeping the toy just out of reach, creating a little game of chase.  You can tell he is soooo proud of himself for coming up with the game, and Evie LOVES it.  So precious.

Evie has also started waving.  She, of course, won't do it on demand or all the time, but she definitely waves hi and bye when she wants to.  It's so cute to see her little arm flapping up and down and the big smile on her face!  Evie is giving kisses now too.  Sometimes after being prompted and sometimes without warning, she will lean in and kiss you anywhere on the face - mouth, cheeks, nose, chin, whatever she can reach.  It is too too too sweet! 

One of Evie's favorite types of toys is "texture books," those that have all the different kinds of fur for animals, etc.  She has always loved to turn pages, but now she feels the pages of just about every book, whether it has textures or not. 

A new, less pleasant thing we have started with Evie is a little discipline.  Since she has been exploring, we have had to start using "no."  She doesn't really get it yet, but hopefully she will soon!  We always try to explain, like " I know Evie wants to play with her sleep sounds machine because it has fun buttons, but she can't yank out the power cord because that might hurt her.  No playing with the sleep machine.  It might hurt Evie."  Clearly I know that she doesn't understand all this yet, but I want us to be in the habit of giving her effective discipline so that once she does start to get it, we'll already be doing it the right way.  Evie has also started to throw temper tantrums when she doesn't get what she wants.  It is so hard to ignore her screaming and try to calmly explain to her what is happening and why she isn't getting what she wants, but again, I know starting these good practices early will pay off in the long run.

Sizes:  Evie is now wearing size 3 diapers and 6-9 month clothes.  I did expect her to thin out a bit more now that she is mobile, but she is still a little chunk!

That's it for the 8 month report.  Hope you enjoyed it!

Monday, August 1, 2011

On July 16th Nick's cousin Amy was married in The Woodlands. (I sadly don't have any wedding weekend pictures, but if I get any I'll post them later). We took the opportunity to enjoy some beachtime in Galveston afterwards with Grammy, Pops, and Aunt Manda.

 Evie's first-ever taste of the beach!  Of course we had to go down right away, before we were even in swimsuits!
 Trying to figure out the whole "wave" thing.
 Safely back in Daddy's arms
 The excitement was just too much - passed out in her Baby Bjorn at the dinner table.
 Hanging out with Dad at the Moody Gardens aquarium - her favorite thing about the whole trip!
 Fascinated by the sealife in the tunnel
 Watching a shark swim by above her.  She arched back like this for a long time, following different fish around.
 Up close and personal with Dad's favorite animal - penguins
 With Dad and Pops by the penguins
 Hanging out beneath the SportBrella
 "Focus Face"
After Galveston I met up with Katie, Lauren, and Leslie, 3 of my best college girlfriends for a weekend of fun in Austin.  We had so much fun I hardly took any pictures.  Boo!  Here's the only one I have, of Katie and me at Hula Hut.  Yummm!  Also, a big thanks to Edie and Grandad for coming to Austin to take care of Evie so I could enjoy time with my friends.