A new milestone: the good, the bad, the funny

The Good: Baby Bear met a new milestone. She learned to get into the seated position from laying day by herself today. She is very close to crawling as well, she is getting up on her knees and she has been able to move a few steps (or crawls) forward. Yikes, our Baby Bear is mobile!

The Bad: When we put her in her crib to go down for a nap, she starts crying and gets into the seated position. Consequently, she had the most difficult time take a nap today. So Papa Bear and I finally had to take Baby Bear for a drive so that she could nap in the car. We drove around for an hour and half so that she could finally nap this afternoon.

More Bad: When we put Baby Bear down to sleep tonight, instead of rolling over and going to sleep, she got up into the seated position and cried. She was going down to sleep so well since we sleep trained. It was great! But tonight, we had regressed and had to do the Ferber Method again. After about 30 minutes, she finally fell asleep. Papa Bear went to check on her after a while and make sure she was sleeping okay. She was okay and asleep, BUT

The Funny: She fell asleep in the seated position with her face down. It was hilarious. Papa Bear called me into the room to help get her in a more comfortable position without waking her. Baby Bear is going to have to learn how to lay down from the seated position.

She likes it, she really likes it

It took a while to get Baby Bear to eat solids. At about 7 1/2 months, she really took to it. I have found that she is not a big eater (unlike her momma, LOL) and she still makes a face when she has her first bite (it doesn't matter what it is, she make a face at first), but she now willingly eats. Baby Bear is a busy body and after a several bites, she needs to play with a spoon of her own or needs something in her hand while I feed her (she is getting better).

In the beginning, I started off with some jarred baby food since she was not a big fan of food at that point. Now she likes peas, carrots, sweet potato, butternut squash, and banana. She seems to prefer her veggies to her fruits (again, unlike her momma). This is great. I have been making her baby food, which I have really enjoyed. I find that I make veggies and buy her fruits (well, bananas are easy and it is easy enough to buy organic applesauce). As a working mom, I realized that I can't do everything so I buy some jarred food. But I do buy organic jarred baby food (Earth's Best), so their are no added ingredients.

Making baby food is so easy and I really enjoy doing it, so I try to make the time do so. I have been using WholesomeBabyFood.com as my resource. I am going to try to make larger batches so that I can freeze them and have them available to feed Baby Bear. I like being able to make her food, plus it saves money and there is less waste. Just good all around.

Some pictures

Life has been a bit busy, but I wanted to share some pictures of my beautiful Baby Bear. I wanted to post these for Valentine's Day, but I guess I am a little too late for that.





How can you not love this face!!

Shhh...sleeping like a baby...finally!

Baby Bear is finally sleeping like a baby!!!! We took a break from the sleep training that we attempted to start last month since Baby Bear was teething and congested. It was not the right time for her. So Papa Bear and I took turns at night getting up with Baby Bear. The last few weeks were getting progressively more difficult and both Papa Bear and I were very sleep deprived and not very happy (or effective) parents. Baby Bear was waking every 1-2 hours. We knew she did not need to eat each time she woke, she just needed help getting back to sleep by being picked up. Papa Bear took the first shift getting up with her and I slept on the couch until about 2am. At that time I would nurse her and Papa Bear went to sleep on the couch. We did this for a couple of weeks.

Last week, we decided that it was time to re-start sleep training. In our previous attempts of sleep training, using the Ferber method, we were focusing on decreasing the night wakings by reducing the number of feedings. Well, we were successful in that she was only being nursed 2 times at night, but the reduced number of feedings did not decrease the number of times she woke up. She would wake up often and once we picked her up, she immediately fell back asleep. She just didn't know how to get herself back to sleep without our help. We had to teach her. It was time to go all out sleep training.

So we started last Thursday night since that was the beginning of my weekend. We went through our normal bedtime routine with bath, lotion, bedtime stories, lullabies, and nursing. However instead of nursing her to sleep, I removed her from the breast before she fell asleep. I gave her a kiss and put her in her crib. Well, Baby Bear hates being put down in her crib and was not happy, she was crying and upset. We started with 3 minutes, then I went in and followed the rest of the schedule set by Ferber. It was so hard to hear her cry, she was definitely angry. Baby Bear went to sleep in under 30 minutes. It was a long 30 minutes. Papa Bear and I slept on the couch. I woke up at about 4am and Baby Bear was still asleep! I went to check in on her to make sure she was still breathing and she was sleeping just like a baby! Baby Bear did not wake up until 6:45am. She had slept for 11 hours!!! It was amazing. I felt so rested.

We did it again the next night and she was asleep after about 10 minutes and again slept until 6:45am. She has finally learned to fall sleep on her own. She still fusses when I first put her into her crib but goes to sleep after a few minutes; tonight she was down after less than a minute of fussing. I hope that she will eventually not cry or fuss when I put her down in her crib. The last couple of nights she has gotten up once in the night and I have nursed her, but put her back in her crib before she falls asleep on the breast. My goal was to reduce the number of night wakings so I have no problem with getting up once a night to nurse her if that is what she needs. I am also noticing that she is eating more during the day, so I know she is getting enough food. I hope this all sticks!

After months of sleep deprivation, this mama bear had the most restful weekend. It feels wonderful to actually get some sleep. I feel like a different mama, a better mama for my baby.

8 months!

Another month has past. Time keeps passing by so quickly. Before we know it, Baby Bear will be a year old. Baby Bear weight 16 lbs. 2 oz and is 26 inches long. She is in the 25th percentile for both height and weight. She is a petite little girl and just totally amazing and great!!



New milestones:

• Baby Bear scoots backwards on her tummy. She is not always a fan of being on her tummy still, but she is becoming a little more mobile. Yikes!
• Baby Bear is eating more and more solids. She love carrots and peas!!! Mmm, yummy.
• Baby Bear has 6 teeth!
  
• Baby Bear is a very busy body, she is loves playing with her toys.
• She loves her kitty brother, Chase Monster Cat. She pays attention to him when he walks by and often tries to grab his tail.
• She says Mama!! and is quite talkative.
• Baby Bear is very attentive to her surroundings and is very observant. She is wonderful when we are out and about and loves to take in the world.
  

She got tired of her month sticker and wanted to eat it. She wants to put everything in her mouth so this is no surprise.

Baby Bear's first word

MAMA!!!

I love it. She said it a couple of time yesterday and it just melts my heart. I love my Baby Bear!