Our sweet girl is 8 months old!  She is still such a peanut.  I weighed her a few weeks ago and she was 15 lbs 11oz.  She is still wearing 3-6 months clothes!  I have tried a few 6-12 month clothes on her and they are huge.  I am struggling to decide what size I need to buy her for the fall and winter.  I am guessing at this point she will be in 6-12 month through the winter.  I’m not use to having such a tiny baby!

Noelle continues to be a good eater.  She does prefer to be spoon fed instead of feeding herself.  She will eat just about anything and for the most part eats whatever we do.  New favorites are scrambled eggs, pasta, and anything sweet mommy will share with her!  I am so thankful that she doesn’t seem to have the texture aversions like Ethan did.  We still joke that she eats a bigger variety of food than Ethan.  She definitely doesn’t eat much but is always willing to try something new.  She is still nursing 4 times a day.  We are practicing with a sippy cup but she usually isn’t very interested in it.

Noelle is finally sleeping through the night more often than not.  She has been sick so often over the past few months and it has really interrupted her sleep at night.  She now sleeps from 7:30-6:30ish most nights and takes 2 naps a day.  Her naps are always unpredictable, anywhere from 45 minutes to 2 hours.  She is very flexible and doesn’t get too mad if her nap is late or short.  She still doesn’t nap well in the car, so we try to be home as often as possible for naps.

Noelle is crawling like a champ, pulling up on everything, trying to climb stairs, and trying to stand on her own.  We have caught her a few times after she had climbed up to the first step.  We have practiced walking and she is starting to take steps forward when I told on to her hands.  She will also pull up on something and try to let go briefly.  She is very strong and determined!  Very recently she has started “talking.”  Instead of just babbling she has started saying “da da da da.”  She has started to take an interest in books, and I’m hoping she will enjoy them as much as Ethan did as a baby.  She enjoys a variety of toys and likes to be in the middle of whatever her big brother is doing.

Noelle is still such a little sunshine.  She is almost always happy and loves to giggle ferociously.  She thinks her big brother is hilarious.  There are times where the two of them will play together so well and she will laugh hysterically at whatever he is doing.  The only thing she really doesn’t like is her car seat.  We just switched her to her convertible seat which isn’t quite as reclined, so we are hoping that will get better.  We are soaking up her sweet gummy smile (no teeth yet) and fuzzy head, as we know how quickly these next 4 months will go until she’s not a baby anymore!

 

 

A few months ago Noelle saw an Ophthalmologist because of her blocked tear duct.  We scheduled surgery at that time, hoping it would clear up on its own.  As the surgery date grew closer, not only did it not clear up but seemed to get worse.  If we missed a day of eye drops it was green and goopy, and even if it was clear it was constantly running.  A few days prior to her surgery she began to have a runny nose.  The day before her surgery Jason and I decided we would cancel it because she was still sick, but the surgery scheduler convinced me to keep the appointment and have the anesthesiologist check her out the day of.  The next available date for surgery was October 28th, and there was a good chance she would still be able to have the surgery done.  We decided at the last minute to keep the appointment.

Our morning didn’t start out the way I had planned!  Noelle woke up at 4:30 am and could not be comforted.  She usually sleeps all night long, but when she is sick she does not sleep well.  She couldn’t eat after midnight and was not happy about it!  She woke up the whole house (including my parents who were staying to watch Ethan).  We finally got her to calm down but then she was wide awake.  Ethan also announced “I’m awake!” and climbed out of bed around 5am.  We got her changed and ready to go, and she fell back asleep in her carseat before we left.

We got checked into the surgery center and got Noelle registered.  She woke up shortly before they took us back to pre-op.  She was quite happy and pleasant during this time.  The anesthesiologist said her lungs were clear and she should be just fine for surgery.  We waited a bit for everyone to get ready and then they carried her back.  We waited in the waiting room while they did her surgery.

Thankfully it only took about 15 minutes and Dr. Sprunger came out and told us she did just fine.  He said her duct was very blocked, and she would have went to Kindergarten with a blocked duct if we didn’t fix it.  A few minutes later we got to go back to recovery to get her, where the nurses were fighting over who got to hold her!  She was pretty mad but calmed down quickly when I was able to feed her.  After I fed her we changed her and headed back home.

The rest of the day she was a little extra sleepy and fussy.  Her nose has been bleeding a bit (a normal side effect), but otherwise is doing great.  Her eye already looks better and is not goopy or watery at all.  It is nice to see immediate results!  She has a stent that will stay in place for 6 months and then be removed.  We are glad this is behind us and that everything went well!

As a neglectful 2nd time mom, I never got around to a 5 month update!  Our little lady has changed a lot in the past 2 months.  We can’t believe she is half a year old.  She is such a sweet little girl and always makes us smile!  She is growing and changing like crazy.  Every week she is more active!  I better get this posted before she starts crawling.

Noelle is still a little peanut.  We had her weight checked at 5 months and she was 13lbs 4oz, which kept her in the 15th%.  At her 6 month appointment she weighed 14lbs 5oz, which is the 16th%.  She also barely managed to double her birth weight (7lbs 2oz).  She actually measured the same length she did at her 4 month appointment (24.25 inches) which they believe was an error.  She definitely seems to be getting longer.  Her head circumference was 42.2 cm (49th%).  Overall she is a healthy little girl.  We did see the Ophthalmologist recently, and he recommended putting a stent in her blocked tear duct in a few months if it hasn’t cleared up yet.  We are also being referred to an ENT since she continues to have fluid on her ears (but thankfully no actual ear infection).  We are glad that these minor annoying issues aren’t a big deal and she is healthy!  Noelle is still wearing 3-6 months clothes and I think she will be there for at least another month.  Unfortunately, I bought her a whole wardrobe of 6-9 month clothing at the end of last summer.  Hopefully we she will be able to wear them later this summer and this fall over long sleeve shirts and leggings!

Noelle has started on solid food over the past week and seems to really enjoy it.  She has had rice cereal, bananas, pears, sweet potatoes, and yogurt so far.  After the initial terrible faces at the new tastes, she enjoys meal time most of the time.  She will eagerly open her little mouth for each bite.  She is also “eating” mum mums (really just smashing them to pieces on the table, but she likes to pick them up and put them in her mouth).  She is still nursing well.  She does get very distracted, especially by her big brother.  Preparing meals and feeding two children has been a challenge!  Definitely keeping me busy.

Noelle continues to sleep well.  Over the past week she has started sleeping all night long!  Except that means she is up for the day around 5:30am.  She goes to bed between 7 and 8, so it really is a long stretch of sleep.  If she does wake up it is just once, usually around 3 or 4, then she will go back to sleep until 6 or 7.  Thankfully, Jason gets up with her early so I can get a little more sleep.  After 6+ months of not getting a full night of sleep, I am officially TIRED.  We are looking forward to her sleeping all night and catching up on sleep (though we know it will happen eventually).  We remind ourselves that she is a MUCH better sleeper than Ethan ever was, and we feel blessed.  Noelle is still taking 3 naps most days, but they are pretty inconsistent and vary in length.  I think before too long she will be taking 2 (hopefully long) naps a day.  Thankfully, her inconsistently makes her very flexible so we can fit her naps into our day.

Noelle is an active little thing!  She seems to be excelling in gross motor skills, unlike her brother.  We joke that she probably won’t say her first word until she is 2, as Ethan started talking very early and has an impressive vocabulary.  She started sitting up on her own shortly before her 6 month birthday.  She can now go from her belly to sitting up on her own, and back to her belly very gracefully.  She also gets up on her hands and knees and rocks.  She sometimes gets up on her hands and feet.  She can move quite a bit and cover a lot of ground.  She is really trying to crawl and I think she might be soon!  I think it is easier for her to move around since she is so tiny and has less chub to move!  She is very squirmy and it is hard to hold her because she won’t stop moving.

Noelle is starting to get a good covering of fuzz on her head.  It is a mix of dark and light, but I think she might end up being blonde.  Her eyebrows and still quite dark though, so who knows.  I have a feeling she won’t need a haircut for a while!  She doesn’t seem to have any obvious signs of teething, so she might get her teeth late just like Ethan.

Ethan still loves his sister.  He is so sweet with her and baby talks her.  I think his unconditional love will start to fade now that she can grab his toys.  We are working on sharing, but he does not like it when Noelle picks up something he is playing with.  I do enjoy watching them play together.  Noelle is still fascinated by her big brother and her face lights up when she seems him.

 

I can’t believe my little princess is already 4 months old.  Time is flying by.  Noelle continues to be such a joy and blessing.  We are enjoying her tininess but love watching her grow.

Noelle had her 4 month check up this week.  She weighs 12lbs 7oz (15%), is 24.25 inches long (42%) and her head circumference is 40.8 cm (47%).  She is a little peanut!  Unfortunately her percentiles in weight have dropped the past 3 visits (53%, 30%, 15%).  Her doctor isn’t too concerned but we don’t want her to drop off the chart.  For now we will just fortify her bottles of breastmilk with formula that she gets at daycare.  We will also hold off on solid food since there are more calories per ounce in milk.  Other than her weight, we also had to discuss her blocked tear duct and ears.  Her eyes are still green and goopy a lot of the time.  And I took her to her hearing test (since she didn’t pass her screen at birth) and they couldn’t do the test because she had fluid on her right ear (she had had a cold).  The doctor checked her ears and she still has fluid so we are going to treat her with an oral antibiotic to try to clear up both her ear and her eye infection.  Other than that she is a healthy girl!

Noelle has learned all sorts of new things this month.  She started rolling from her back to her belly about 2 weeks ago.  She has also started laughing, especially when we kiss her belly.  She has started to reach and grab and pull things into her mouth.  She is almost always smiling.  She is usually happy to be doing whatever the rest of us are.  She rotates her awake time between being held, playing on her play mat, sitting in her bouncy seat or swinging.  She is generally content and happy unless she is tired or hungry!  She especially loves her big brother.  Her face lights up when she sees him.  He always gets her best smiles!

Noelle continues to be a pretty good sleeper.  The past month has been a little rough with her being sick as she gets congested and mad at night.  We have transitioned her back to her crib (and out of the rock n play) now that she is rolling around so much.  She seems to enjoy being able to stretch out.  About a week ago we decided to start sleep training.  She was waking up multiple times after I put her down asleep (usually before we went to bed) and would also wake up several times after I fed her.  She caught on very quickly.  We used the “progressive waiting” approach and would go check on her after a few minutes of crying.  She will now fall asleep on her own with no crying!  She also will sleep for much longer.  Her naps are still pretty inconsistent during the day.  She has started taking a longer afternoon nap, which is great when Ethan is asleep too!

 

Our little princess is no longer a newborn!  She is still such a little darling.  We are enjoying her tininess and her bald head and gummy grin.  Here is what Noelle has been up to.

Eating – Noelle has finally started spacing out her feedings and eats about every 3 hours.  She had a week or so where she wasn’t eating very well so I took her to check her weight.  She weighed 11lbs 15 oz, so she has gained about a pound a half over the past 4-5 week, so I think she is doing fine!  She definitely looks bigger to us.  We can tell her face is changing and she is getting longer.  It is funny to me that she has such long skinny feet compared to the short stubby feet Ethan had.  She is starting to fit into her 3-6 month clothes.

Sleep – Noelle is still sleeping well.  We have all had a cold over the past few weeks and she seems to be more congested at night and some nights isn’t sleeping as well.  For the most part she is still waking up twice at night to eat.  We feel lucky that she goes right back to sleep easily and rarely wakes up otherwise.  Occasionally I will get lucky and she will only wake up once.  She is still unpredictable at bedtime.  Sometimes she will go right to sleep and others she likes to yell at us for awhile before she will calm down and sleep!  She has been sleeping in her crib unswaddled for a while, but we have been putting her back in her rock n play since she has been sick.

Noelle has started to prefer to sleep in her room for naps.  Though she naps in a swing at daycare, she usually yells at me if I put her in her swing when she is sleepy.  I usually rock her and she will go right to sleep for her naps.  Her naps are still pretty inconsistent, but usually last 45 minutes to an hour.  Occasionally she will take a long 2 hour afternoon nap.  She will sleep in the car as long as it is moving but wakes up as soon as we stop.  I try to be home as much as possible when she needs a nap but it is pretty hard since she naps so often!

Awake – Noelle has had longer periods of awake time over the past few weeks.  For a long time she could only tolerate being awake for about an hour before she would get fussy and yawn and rub her eyes.  Now she is awake for 1.5 – 2 hours at a time.  Right before bed she is usually awake for 2 hours or more.  She is usually such a happy girl when she is awake.  She has the best smiles and coos.  She is content for a long time either laying on her activity mat looking at her animals or sitting in her bouncy seat wherever we are.  We try to do tummy time but she is still not a big fan.  She is just starting to push her head up when she is on her tummy, but quickly gets tired and goes back to rubbing her face on the floor.  She loves being naked.  I will put her on a big blanket naked and she moves all over the place.  She also seems to liked tummy time better when she is naked.

Here are some pictures of our sweet girl.