Sami's Corner - 9 months

It feels odd writing this today, when Sami is turning 10 months tomorrow... but such is life.  I've been enjoying it and all I can do is attempt to stay current.  My goal with this has been to use this blog segment to document her milestones... for me (for memories) and for her, in the event she's ever curious!  And of course, for friends and family who don't get to see her very often.

9 months (and 10 months) were big ones.  Developmentally, I just can't believe all the things that have happened in such a short period of time.



Weight: At her 9 month check-up (which was a little late - 9/30), she was 16 pounds 4 oz and in the 16 percentile for weight.  She's come a long way from being in the 2.1 percentile!  She's growing for sure!

Features:  Just a couple days before turning 9 months, Samantha broke her first tooth.  She wasn't fussy through the whole ordeal which was great.  Hopefully the same goes for her next teeth - I think they say that how they act for the first few is how they'll act for the rest. Fingers crossed!

Feedings:  Nothing new to report... girl loves to eat!  Slowly trying new things... I think her favorites are still Avocado, Carrots and Mum Mums.

Sleep:  She sleeps well for the most part.  Her naps on the weekend are getting easier.  She used to only nap in our arms, and now she'll nap in her crib (which allows me to do things like write this blog!)

Likes:  What does she not like?  She's a happy girl.  Loves food.  She loves her pink teddy bear, her owl, her blocks, she likes to play with a ball (she actually has a great arm for a 9 month old).

Dislikes:  She doesn't like to be left alone.  If you put her in her jumper activity center, you best stick around, at least for a while!  That is, if she let's you put her in there.  She will often fight you by hiking up her legs so that you can't place her in it!!!

Mama's fears:  Same old, same old... I often get up in the middle of the night to check on her if I can't tell which way her head is facing.  My heart still stops when I find her almost face down.  To this day, I continue to put my hand on her back, or belly to feel it move when she's asleep.

Mama's proud moments: She can pull herself back into a sitting position from being on her back or belly.  One of her new favorite things to do is to sit, go to her belly, roll a few times, and get back up.  If she wants to get somewhere, she will get there!

Just because:  She still only says two words - or rather syllables... not sure she knows what they mean.  Her favorite is da-da... or rather da-da-da-da-da.  She makes this sound when happy.  When really upset, her sound is ma-ma-ma-ma.  I guess a baby does want it's mama when upset.  But I don't know that she's associated making those 2 sounds with either of us.

Pictures:

This has to be one of my favorite pictures to this day.

 rolling to get to the ball

sit, drop, roll, sit back up - rinse & repeat

best example of my squirmy baby - the 9 month photo shoot was very difficult to do! 

Sami's Corner - 8 months

Wow, playing catch up is harder than I thought it would be!  Part of the reason I wanted to do Sami's Corner was to be able to remember her milestones and have them documented.  However, I've preferred spending the time with her, instead of in front of my computer and thus, I'm just about 3 months behind on updating these!


Weight & Length: I want to say that she was around 15 and a half pounds.  Height... she's growing, but I've stopped trying to check her length as it's always seemed to be average :)

Features:  Blue and grey eyes.  Her hair is definitely blond.  It's very thin and whispy... we often give her a little mohawk.

Feedings: This girl loves food.  In addition to eating fruit and vegetable purees, she enjoys eating Mum Mums (rice cracker) and cereal puffs (sweet potato & carrot flavor).  Her pincer skills are improving every day.

Sleep: As we started moving to having more formula into her diet, she started waking up more in the middle of the night.  I'm thinking she started having a lot of gas because of the change in diet and it would wake her up and she'd have trouble settling back down.  We decided to try Gripe Water and it helped a great deal.  For the most part, she's slept through the night.

Likes:  I still think that food is her favorite thing in the world.  I think if we were to keep offering her food, she would keep eating until it made her sick.  She likes music.  She likes playing with her blocks.

Dislikes:  Still not fond of changing clothes.

Mama's fears:  She started rolling to her side at 7 months at night and it freaked me out... well this month she started rolling onto her belly in the middle of the night and on the monitor it's hard to tell where her head is facing... It sometimes looks like she's completely face down and that just makes my heart stop!  It's only happened a few times that I've found her completely face down (and thankfully she was ok), but most times, you can see her little nose and that just reassures me... even though I still place my hard on her back to make sure she's breathing.

Mama's proud moments:  I just love that she can sit on her own and play.  It's so cool to see the wheels turning as she starts to figure out how to get back up when she's fallen over.

Just because:  We went to the mountains with our friends, and went to this cute little beach.  Brett tried putting her feet in the water but she didn't like it.  However, she did have fun sitting on the beach towel in the shade looking at everything that was going on, playing with a ball.

Pictures:

Baby selfie!

Sami's Corner - 7 months

I was hoping to be able to find the time to write these closer to her actual "month"-versaries, but alas time seems to be lacking these last couple weeks.  There's always something to do on the weekends, and the evenings are filled with baby time and chores.


Weight & Length: When Sami turned 7 months, I think she was around 15 pounds.  As for her height, it's hard to judge, so I'll probably only update this when she has an actual measurement - next time would be at 9 months.

Features:  Her hair is getting longer.  I think it's safe to say it's a darkish blond color, just like her dad's.  Her eyes again, just like her dad's - they fluctuate between grey and blue.  I think she has my lips.

Feedings:  She just started eating 3 servings of baby food a day.  She has 5-6 feedings of milk a day. Food wise she has eaten, peas, sweet potatoes, avocado, apples, pears and carrots.  She wasn't super fond of peas or sweet potatoes when she first tried them, but when I gave them to her again, she loved them.  She loved them.  Her favorites I would say are avocado and carrots.  More things to try.  Exciting stuff :)

Sleep:   She sleeps through the night for the most part.  She sometimes wakes up due to a wet diaper, but usually we can get her to go back to sleep within 20-30 minutes.  She naps great at daycare, but not so much at home on the weekends.  She will nap well if we hold her, but as soon as we place her in her crib, she's wide awake.  I find it odd since she sleeps in a crib at daycare.  We'll keep at it!

Likes:  She loves food.  She likes to play in her bouncy play center.  She can now sit on her own, though she does still topple over at times.  She likes to play with her rings toy and her box with blocks.  She likes to roll around to get from one place to another.  She loves to do art.  They do quite a bit at daycare - finger painting, touching different textures.  She gets to focused while doing it - which is just like I am when I'm into something.

Dislikes:  She's grown to dislike getting dressed like when she was a newborn.  She's still not fond of being put down to change her diaper, even if she hates having a dirty diaper.  The wet diapers don't seem to bother her too much.  She doesn't like not having something to do.  Also not her favorite, cleaning her face after eating.

Mama's fears: Well, she just started rolling over in her sleep.  Let me tell you that I freaked out the first night I woke up to see her tummy down in the middle of the night.  I was relieved to see that her head was to the side, but still, it was a frightening thing to wake up to.  I picked her up and rocked her back to sleep to place her on her back.

I read up on this on the SIDS/Safe-To-Sleep website, and I was reassured.  It is okay for babies to turn to their sides and tummies, as long as we always put them down to sleep on their backs.

"No. Rolling over is an important and natural part of your baby's growth. Most babies start rolling over on their own around 4 to 6 months of age. If your baby rolls over on his or her own during sleep, you do not need to turn the baby over onto his or her back. The important thing is that your baby starts every sleep time on his or her back to reduce the risk of SIDS, and that there is no soft, loose bedding in the baby's sleep area. "

Source: https://www.nichd.nih.gov/sts/about/Pages/faq.aspx

Mama's proud moments: She can now sit on her own.  No more need for a boppy to hold her up!  She tends to fall over on occasion, but if let alone, she can remain sitting without tumbling over for over 30 minutes.

She's quite the artist.  I should take pictures of her art to post...  Picasso would be jealous!

She doesn't seem to be a picky eater, which is great news because I know I was... or maybe that only developed when I got older, lol.

I'm proud that she continues to be super smiley and happy.  I feel like Preston lives on through her smiles, even if they are quite her own, and if possible, her happiness is on another level from Preston's.

Just because:  She's still loving peek-a-boo.  She will sit on my lap and fall into my chest, and then raise her head, and laugh if I say "peek-a-boo".  She hides herself, I don't even need to do it, lol.

She's ticklish on the sides of her tummy.  She can go in laughing fits just because you smile at her.  She's pretty social and will smile at almost anyone, though I can feel the onsets of "stranger-danger" coming on.  Occasionally she'll just bury her faee in my shoulder and act "shy".

Pictures:

Sami's Corner - 6 months

Well, here we are! 6 months!  What an amazing feeling.  And I must say, Samantha is so much fun at this age.  What difference a month has made.  She loves to play and wants something to do at all times, which I find great for her mental and physical development. Yay!

Weight & Length: Again, I'm going to guestimate since we don't go to the doctor for another 2 weeks (for her "6 month" check up & shots)... I believe she hovers between 13.5 to 14 pounds.  And she looks to be about 28 inches long.

Features:  Her hair has grown and continues to be very wispy.  It stands on it's own but it's definetely filling out on the sides and at the back of her head.  Her lips I've decided are mine, and perhaps her ears too, but there rest of her face... it's all Dada.

Feedings:  This girl loves her rice cereal.  She will lunge for the spoon and can't get enough of it!  We actually just tried peas last night (homemade courtesy of the Baby Bullet).  She didn't seem to be a fan.  We'll try again for another 3 days and see... next food for Wednesday - Sweet Potatoes.  I bet you she likes those. Time will tell...

Sleep:  I had a tough time with transitioning her into her crib.  I decided to go for it on Memorial Day weekend given that I had an extra day off from work and knew I wouldn't sleep well for the first nights.  I actually crashed on her floor for 2 nights.  On the second night, I was a little wiser and used a sleeping bag as a mattress.

She did great.  She didn't really wake up in the middle of the night and by night 3 I felt comfortable enough to go back to our bedroom.  It's a constant challenge though.  I freak out in the morning when I'm so exhausted that I didn't wake up once to check on her, or when she doesn't wake up in the middle of the night.  I mean it's great that she sleeps though the night, and I'm super excited about it... but I'm so anxious in the morning when I check on her and I'm so relieved when I can feel her chest move up and down.  I don't know if this feeling will ever go away.

After a week in her crib, she started waking up in the middle of the night.  I think it was because she sensed something was difference, and couldn't feel our presence anymore.  I got a trick from one of her caregivers from daycare.  Because she's so used to sleeping with noises, she suggested I play music as she falls asleep.  So I've been rocking her to sleep with the swing's lullaby music going on, and I put her down while it still plays.  I leave it on for a couple songs, and then I turn it off and go to bed.  It has worked like a charm and she no longer wakes up in the middle of the night (for the most part).

Likes: This girl likes just about everything.  She's so interested in food and drinks.  She just wants to grab what you are having.  She loves playing in her new activity center, not the one where she lays down, but the one where she can sit or stand.  She always wants to be doing something!  She likes her owl book (it has a  bunch of flaps to open and details all different kinds of animals).  She loves to sit with the help of her Boppy and play with the rainbow ring pyramid.  One of my favorites as a kid - one of Brett's favorites too!

She loves her cereal.  She loves Rocky Bear... so much so that she seems to "make out" with him... watch out boys! lol

Dislikes:  Perhaps peas?  Still is not a fan of when I put her down for any reason.  With a toy, the tears quickly go away though.

Mama's fears: As detailed above, I often wake up a little anxious in the morning and go check on her immediately.  Being away from her for extended periods of time is also difficult, but I also know how good daycare is for her.  She learns so much and gets to socialize.  Hopefully that means she'll be a social butterfly and not an introvert like myself.

The concept of daycare is still so difficult for me given that Preston passed away at daycare, mind you a different daycare and this daycare has more than 1 caregiver... but still.  I try not to get nervous because I know stress isn't good for me, but I don't know that I could ever not be stressed to some degree when it comes to daycare.

Mama's proud moments: There are so many this month.  She can hold things and reaches for things all the time.  She's weeks (days?) away from sitting on her own.  She's a good eater (not super messy) when it comes to her cereal.  Other foods remain to be seen I guess.  She's starting to want to hold her own bottle.  She can stay entertaining herself for a little while.  She's done art! Such as rolling a ball in paint, making art with hand prints and footprints (though I know that requires help).  She's colored with a marker and with a paintbrush.  She sleeps through the night.

Just because:  When she's in her carseat, if you raise it above your head and play peek-a-boo, she loves it.  She squeals and laughs.  It's one of my favorite things to do.

She's not a big fan of crowds.  We've noticed if we take her to the mall, she quiets down so much and even appears to have a scared look on her face. :(  However, in small groups, she loves to show off and be the center of attention.  We'll see what that equates to at a later age I guess!

Pictures:

I have all these toys, but my dress is more fun!!!

 

Go Cubs Go! Swing batter, batter!

Out for a drive..

Fun times with Dada and my friend's first birthday.

Sami's Corner - 5 months

I attempted to catch up before Sami turned 6 months, but that didn't happen.  I'm typing as she sits looking at me from her crib (with a bobby behind her for support) - 6 months 1 day.

Back to her being 5 months..

Weight & Length:  These are purely guestimates since we haven't been to the pediatrician and aren't due for about a month.  My guess is she's grown a couple inches - maybe 26.  And she's at about 13 pounds.

Features:  Her hair is getting longer on the top of her head.  Very wispy like.  Some days it looks blond, sometimes you can detect a hint of red while other days it looks like a really light brown.  Hair color remains to be determined...  Eyes - totally her dad's eyes.

Feedings:  She just tried rice cereal for the first time.  She seems to like it!

Sleep:  Her sleep pattern changed at this time.  She was waking up a lot at night.  She would fall back asleep after being rocked, but was a little more difficult in this regard.

Likes:  When you hold her, she loves to be sitting.  She wants to soak in everything she sees.  She likes music.  But really, nothing has changed... she pretty much likes everything and smiles all the time.

Dislikes: Perhaps there's an exception.  She's starting to get upset when we put her down.  Be it to change her, or even on her activity mat that she loves.  Usually, after you show her a toy, she's ok.  I'll take it as a compliment - wants to be with mama :)

Mama's fears: At this point, she's starting to be a little long for the bassinett.  She can also roll, which I don't think is a good thing in a bassinet.  So we're looking into transitioning her into her crib.  Ready or not (not ready at all...).

Mama's proud moments:  She rolled over the Friday before Mother's Day.  From back to front, which I've read is the opposite of what they usually do (because it's tougher?)... that's my girl! Learning the harder stuff first.

Just because:  It's fun to see her starting to do "art" at daycare like some of the older infants in her class.  While she may be growing slowly, she's growing, she's happy and she's learning so much already at a young age.  It's so incredible to see.

Pictures:

Trying to get used to sleeping in the crib - daytime nap

One of my favorites!!

Not only can she rolls, but she can twist.  She had her feet to the piano keys at some point..

So sweet :)

Still loves Rocky Bear :)

Happy girl about to eat!

Loving life, her chair, her spoon...