Clara 8 months

So this post is a little late, but like they say, better late than never.

8 months old on January 2, 2013!!

Oh how we love this girl. . .

Loves: reading books, tummy time, playing with her Vtech Move and Crawl ball and Fisher Price piano, dancing (if you stand her on your lap she will shake back and forth like she's getting down. . . pretty cute), taking walks in the stroller, kicking and splashing in the bathtub, playing with her chain link toys and grabbing my arm when I'm changing her diaper.

Does not love: eating green beans or green peas, when we put lotion behind her ears (has eczema back there) or when we try to get boogers out of her nose. We reintroduced her reflux meds several nights ago, just to see if it would help calm her at night, and it is safe to say she's not a fan of the meds. She has also started throwing little tantrums when she has had enough food or when she's ready to get out of her highchair. The glare. . .

Eating: She is taking four bottles (5-6oz each) a day (morning, late morning/early afternoon, late afternoon, bed) and we have now introduced lunch (where before we were doing just breakfast and a dinner). She will usually eat the most for breakfast and dinner where lunch is hit or miss. She is still on the jarred Stage 2 baby food. Not quite ready for table/finger food since she is 1-not showing interest in our food at all and 2-is not yet able to pick up food/smaller items and bring it all the way to her mouth.

Sleeping: She goes down for the night between 7-8pm (depends on wake time of last nap) and sleeps until anywhere between 6-8am. If she wakes before 6am and is happy, I leave her in bed to play. She will usually play in her bed for 45 min - one hour before getting antsy, or before falling back asleep. This happens maybe three times a week.

I mentioned in a post last week but recently she has been going down for bed just fine yet waking 1-2 hours later crying. We will rock her until she is calm (duration just depends on the night, some nights she is unconsolable for several hours, other nights she is calm within minutes) and then put her back in bed awake and then she plays in her bed until she falls asleep, usually without fussing. If she is having a "wake up and cry for several hours kind of night" we might try to feed her and will know within seconds if she's actually hungry (so some days I guess she actually gets five bottles). This is still a mystery to me how she wakes, without fail, within the first two hours of going to bed. It's like she thinks this is just a third nap?? Who knows.

She takes two naps a day, usually starting anywhere between 9-10am and 2-3pm. These times are shifted earlier if her morning wake time was super early. Both naps are usually two hours although if she takes a super long morning nap (she can sleep three hours some mornings) her afternoon nap is shorter. She can last a little over two hours from wake wake time to first nap, and then three hours until next nap and three hours from last nap to bed. Catching her at the two and a half hour mark is usually perfect as she's getting drowsy but not overly exhausted. She always wakes up happy and in the best mood!!

Development: I mentioned in her 7 month update that there are some concerns with her development. We are still in the testing phase, but once all the results are received I intend to write a post with some type of update. So. . . stay turned. One recommendation was to get her into occupational therapy, which we did, and she's been going weekly since December 14th (day of her initial evaluation). At that time she was not sitting up unassisted, yet she sat up for the first time all by her self only five days later!!! We are doing exercises at home everyday, and I'll say they are sure paying off. . .

Here's our girl. . .

Other developmental milestones to note: more eye contact, more smilies, better head control, she is showing more interest in her toys and is able to pick up small toys (although hard for her to hold them for longer than a few seconds). She now grabs her paci and takes it out of her mouth although hasn't learned how to put it back in. She's been teething but haven't spotted any new teeth just yet (still just bottom middle). Size 2 diapers and size 3 overnights. Wearing mostly 9 month clothes.

Adventures: We enjoyed Christmas with Brandon's family and the day after with my family. Clara was spoiled, as expected. :) Oh - and she made her first gingerbread house. I'd say she did pretty well!

We haven't really traveled or had too much going on lately, which is nice since a alot of time right now is spent taking Clara to and from appointments.

Think that about sums it up! Thanks for continuing to pray for our little girl!