Whoops! 11 Month Update (for 29/04/14)

Whoops! I totally forgot to do Sammy’s 11 month update. I swear I have good excuses! First of all, it was my 8th wedding anniversary. Unfortunately (and second of all), I spent it curled up in bed with the mother of all period pain cramps, made worse by the fact that I couldn’t take my faithful Naprogesic because it’s not safe to take while breastfeeding. Somehow, I also managed to get a bout of nausea as well, so I was very wholly reminded of all the points I didn’t like about pregnancy (just in case I was starting to get clucky) and felt very miserable for 1 1/2 days. But, enough about me…

Sammy hasn’t started walking yet, but she does take the odd couple of steps when she’s feeling particularly clever (as in, even more than usual). She now says quite a few words: Mama, Dada, huwoh (hello), ya (yes), du (duck), and ba (bath). There’s probably a couple I’ve forgotten. I’m trying to teach her to say “up”. She’s also starting to understand and obey simple commands, such as “come here, please”. She waves hello and goodbye too. She has an evil genius laugh (u-huh-huh), and she loves to play hide-and-seek and peek-a-boo.

She excels at cleaning out draws. She also likes to go around pretending to be Mummy, putting things into and pulling them out of baskets, buckets, washing machines, washing hampers, dishwashers, etc. She can climb quite proficiently up and down steps, and she can scamper uphill very quickly on her hands and feet. She’ll try anything that’s put on her plate once, but if she doesn’t like it then she won’t be coaxed into trying more. She still loves fruit, and she got her 7th tooth.

She was weighed and measured on 31/03/14, and it had been six weeks since her previous appointment.
Weight: 9kg, 68th percentile, 700g increase
Height: 71.5cm, 49th percentile, 1.5cm increase
Head Circumference: 46.8cm, 97th percentile, 0.8cm increase

Sam’s 10 month update

Wow! 10 months! Only 2 more months until Sam is 1 year old!

I don’t have any measurements to share this month, as they’re not being taken until Monday, so I’ll definitely have some measurements next month. I think she’s grown about an inch!

Sam is still getting breast milk every day, but I am exclusively pumping for her twice a day thanks to the little biting problem. This has meant a steady decline in supply, and as I don’t fancy doubling my pumping sessions, I have chosen to supplement with formula at night. Tonight was the first night this happened, and she seemed to like it well enough. I’m completely fine with this and can’t wait until I can stop pumping at 12 months. I never loved breastfeeding, but I do enjoy the financial and immunological benefits.

Sam really enjoys feeding herself, and she prefers to not be watched, so I take this time to pack the dishwasher so that she can eat in peace. Don’t worry, I’m still in the same room as her! I’m just not sitting in front of her watching her eat. Fish is a definite favourite food, along with any fruit and toast.

Crawling has well and truly been mastered, and now Sam is working on coasting, walking with one or two hands steadying her, and crawling up and down single stairs (the step up and down over the doorsill).

She is sleeping fairly well, although she does have the odd night or day where she won’t go to sleep. She normally has a very good reason though and rarely gets to that overtired point.

Still no mama and dada (well, consistently anyway), but she has been laughing and giggling a lot more lately. She babbles all the time and still tells us that everything should be said “ba ba ba BA”. She has also developed this habit of going “uh-haha” when she’s about to get up to mischief, which is her version of chuckling. She also does have sounds that she uses to get my or Brad’s attention, and they are a unique sound for each of us. During the morning, it’s all about Mum, then during the afternoon it becomes all about Dad (until there’s a problem and Dad just isn’t understanding her, at which point she seeks me out), before becoming all about Mum again just before bed. She loves to have a good tickle and giggle in the half hour before bed time.

9 Month Update (Wow!!!!!)

7 February 2014: “Sam, NO!” “Bababababa” These are the two most common sounds heard in our house at the moment. Sam is crawling, pulling herself up, getting herself back down, and coasting around the furniture, and yesterday she started babbling. She has said both “Dad” and “Moomee” once. She’s also started trying to say duck, which she has developed an obsession with.

17 February 2014:

Weight: 8.3kg, 56th percentile (400g increase)
Height: 70cm, 55th percentile (1cm increase)
Head circumference: 46cm, 96th percentile (0.8cm increase)

28 February 2014: Seeing as there is no 29th of February this year, I am claiming this to be the last day of Sam’s ninth month of life. Now, let me see if I can remember everything she’s doing that I haven’t already mentioned. She is starting to occasionally experiment with standing unsupported, and she is crawling really well now. She’s perfected the bum flop when she’s tired of standing up or feels unsteady.

She’s starting babble in different sounds, and sometimes says “ma” or “da”, as well as various other sounds. If I say “mamama”, she’ll answer with “bababa” and we end up having quite the conversation. She is learning how to knock on the toilet door when I’m in there, and she’s just figured out how to wave. We are also trying to teach her baby sign language so that she can try and tell us what she wants instead of just screaming about it. She also is starting to understand spoken instructions, and will “hop/get down” and will pull her hand back when I say “no”.

She has also figured out how to slide the sliding doors open, so we have to make sure that they’re locked at all times, including when I go outdoors to hang washing out (so I have to use hinged doors that I can definitely close).

She has cut three teeth since Saturday, and I expect there’ll be another one tomorrow morning. That makes a total of five/six. She’s down to two milk feeds a day, but these are coming from a sippy cup as she developed quite the biting problem. We’re coping fine with this new arrangement, and I’m enjoying the extra cuddles she’s lavishing on me as she’s now missing out on the nursing cuddles.

8 Month Update

6 January 2014 – Today marks the day as Sam’s second tooth’s appearance. She now has two little razor blades in the centre of her jaw. She loves to smile now so as to best show off her new toofies, by brandishing a huge cheesy grin. It’s gorgeous! She is also enjoying how much better she can now chew through her food, and she loves to feed herself using her hands.

Her new trick is to feel the texture of anything new on her hands. She’ll feel food between her first two fingers and thumb, and she loves to finger/arm paint with any spew that she happens to deposit on the ground.

She seems to think high pitched noises are hilarious, as is anything that might get the adrenaline flowing or happens to put her higher than us. She’s starting to laugh a lot more now, and I very nearly got a belly laugh from her the other day.

16 January 2014 – Last night, Sam started army crawling (arm over arm, proper commando crawling). She figured this out because she couldn’t sleep, and she’s been practising it all day. Also, today she was playing with the nappy basket this morning when it was full, and she got up on her knees, and then she pulled herself to her feet. When she was sick of this, she plopped herself down on her butt. I’m desperate for her to learn to crawl before she learns to walk, and she is so close. She can lift each limb off the ground, but she hasn’t figured out how to put it all together and crawl.

17 January 2014 – It’s official! My baby girl can now pull herself up on things so that she is sitting on her knees. All those things that were just out of reach now need to be put that little bit higher as they are now in reach. I’m quite proud of this accomplishment, but I still wish she’d learn to crawl. Maybe tomorrow?

24 January 2014 – Yesterday evening, at around 7:15pm, Sam figured out how to crawl!  Yay! Now I can relax about all this standing and pottering around she’s doing. She’s pulling herself up on everything (me included), and she constantly wants to climb higher. She can throw a good screaming tantrum too when she’s not getting what she wants.

29 January 2014 – My baby girl is 8 months old today! She had a CHN appointment back on 20 January, so I’ll go ahead and summarise now.

Last appointment: six weeks previously
Weight: 7.9kg 51st percentile (400g increase)
Height: 69cm 60th percentile (3cm increase)
Head Circumference: 45.2cm 93rd percentile (1cm increase)

Her speech range is constantly expanding, although she’s not saying any words yet. Her repertoire includes um, b, ge, de, ka, rar, boo. She’s also started giggling a lot more. She loves to squeal.

She’s pretty much grown out of 00 size clothes, except in separates where she pretty much constantly is a size smaller.

She’s mastered sitting on her knees, as it’s the only sitting position she can easily get herself into, and she’s constantly pulling herself up on things. She’s banged her head many a time this week, and I’ve spent a lot of time comforting Sam when she gets distressed. She’s also started coasting along the furniture. She still prefers swimming along the ground to crawling, but she does a couple more crawl steps every day.

Seven Month Update

3 December 2013… Sam spent a lot of time today practising her crawling. She has figured out how to push herself along with her legs and pull herself along with her arms, alternating as she goes. It’s getting really exciting watching her figure out the crawling thing. We can really see her deciding that she wants to get to certain places and then working on getting there. She was constantly going up to things today and patting them and scratching them to see what noise they made.

10 December 2013… Since yesterday, Sam has been really practising getting up on her hands and knees and holding this position. She had an appointment with the family nurse, and the nurse wanted to see how she went on her tummy, and she held that position instead, and the nurse said that it probably wouldn’t be long until she is crawling.

So, the stats from yesterday’s appointment are:
Weight: 7.5kg (250g increase from the weigh-in two weeks ago, 53rd percentile)
Height: 66cm (1.5cm increase, 44th percentile)
Head Circumference: 44.2cm (0.7cm increase, 91st percentile)

So, she’s growing well, and her head is slowly becoming more proportional to the rest of her body. She did start in the 98.7th percentile!

We had a little trouble feeding chicken. I made a chicken casserole as my book suggests and put it through the food processor so that it was mashed. The first day she was to have it, I was going to a birthday party. The food came out of the fridge and one hour later I heated it to serve. She LOVED it, but her body didn’t. Two hours later she was violently ill, and again another hour after that. It looks like I gave her food poisoning . Normally with a reaction like that, I’d wait a month to try again, but my gut said that it wasn’t a reaction to the food itself. I tried again the next day, and while she seriously resisted eating any, she ate enough to confirm my theory. I have since bought a bag to keep her food hot/cold when I go out to hopefully avoid a reoccurrence. I also managed to get her to finish her chicken today, diluting it well with other foods she does like. Onwards and upwards from here.

She does LOVE her banana, possibly even more than she loves her breast milk. I put it in the mesh feeder and she sucks it out through the holes. She has gone to sleep on more than one occasion sucking on this.

No teeth yet. That tooth made a liar of me and disappeared.

15 December 2013… We have an almost crawler on our hands. She gets up on her hands and knees and rocks, and she also does push ups that go all the way to her feet. She is scooting quite effectively now, and can cover metres of distance in a short time frame. She is having a sleep regression and would rather practice crawling than sleep. I think she will be crawling in the next couple of weeks, because she has the same type of focus that she had when she was learning to roll, and she just has to figure it out, like NOW!!!!! LOL

Sam loves being tipped upside down. It makes her giggle, smile and squeal.

28 December 2013… Sam has a hole in her gum and hubby has reported that there is something hard in there if she bites down on his finger. This hole appeared two days ago, and we eagerly await the arrival of its occupant, which will hopefully reduce the grouchiness of its owner.

Sam is practising getting up on her hands and feet now. It’s like she’s trying to learn to crawl, sit up and pull herself up all at once.

29 December 2013… So, we’ve cut our first tooth, and Sam is much happier about that situation. Unfortunately, earlier today it peaked at 35 degrees, and she was definitely NOT happy about that situation.

I can’t believe we’re six months already!

5 November 2013… At Sam’s 5 month check-up (previous check-up was at 4 months), she weighed 6.8kg (350g increase and in the 45th percentile), she was 64.5cm tall (2.5cm increase and in the 59th percentile), and her head circumference was 43.5cm (1cm increase in in the 94th percentile). She can sit unassisted for around 30 seconds, she can roll completely over in either direction, and she can sing. She is trying to sit up unassisted and still trying to crawl. Once I put her in her cot, she seems to be able to crawl quite easily, as I frequently find her stuck up against the bars and in the corner. Maybe she’s like one of those weeping angels on Doctor Who and can only crawl when no one’s watching.

She’s now tall enough to use the Jumperoo without padding underneath, and she’s really getting into the swing of jumping in it and practising her running. She also likes to examine its decorations in great detail.

She now eats solids for breakfast, lunch and dinner. She eats pear, apple, peach, mango, carrot, sweet potato, potato, swede, beans, and zucchini as well as baby rice.

11 November 2013… Sam is blowing copious amounts of raspberries. She has also figured out how to roll to where she wants to get to. She is also happy to sleep for 11-12 hours overnight, as long as she doesn’t get cold.

12 November 2013… Sam just sat on her own in front of the TV watching the Wiggles for a good minute. I’m a very proud Mumma!

24 November 2013… Sam has been improving her skills. She can sit for a good period of time on her own, and she has figured out how to squirm her way around the place. Between rolling and commando crawling, she can really get places. She seems to always end up at my feet.

Her six month check-up is tomorrow, and she feels so heavy! If she hasn’t doubled her birth weight, she must be rather close.

She seems to like to spend a portion of her day in the Jumperoo, and if we get to the end of the day and she hasn’t been in it, she spends the rest of her awake time jumping on our laps.

We appear to be getting our first tooth. One of the outside incisors seems to be trying to make an appearance, and if this is true, then she is cross-cutting teeth in true Laing style.

29 November 2013… Sam was supposed to have her six month check-up on Monday, but unfortunately the nurse was triple booked. We did get to put her on the scales though, and I am proud to announce that my bubba has doubled her birth weight and weighed in at 7.25kg.

Since Wednesday, Sam has been seriously practising her commando crawling, and now she can actually move with some pretty good pace, especially if she really wants to get somewhere.

Samantha…5th month update

5 October 2013…Today was day six on solids. Today was the first day she gobbled it all down and eagerly awaited each new mouthful, opening her mouth and sucking the puree from the spoon. Today, I was a proud momma. Today she ate one pear puree cube (ice cube size) for lunch, and the same for dinner, plus one tablespoon of baby rice mixed with three tablespoons of breast milk.

In addition to eating solids, Samantha is sitting unsupported by us for short periods of time, although she does lean on her arms. She can roll onto her tummy and back to her back, the latter only under certain circumstances (according to constantly changing rules made up by Samantha). She can lay on her belly supported on her elbows for up to 30 minutes, especially if she’s distracted by the television, and she can push herself up the full length of her arms and hold that position for a few seconds. When she puts her head down, she makes crawling motions with her legs. If she engages her legs a split second before getting her chest back on the ground, she moves forward an inch. This leads onto my next statement, being that she’s commando crawling.

14 October 2013…Last night, Sam did her first 11 hour overnight sleep. I was so proud of her. I thought I’d try cutting out her late feed because she was trying to cut out her 2:30pm feed, and I don’t want her to cut that one for a long time yet. I felt she was trying to tell me that she was ready to cut one of her feeds though, so now she only has four milk feeds (7:00am, 10:45am, 2:30pm, and 5:00pm) and two solid feeds (11:15am and 5:30pm) a day.

She is now eating double portions of baby rice at night, and three cubes of food at lunch. She has now tried pear, apple, carrot and pumpkin. I was doubting how much she was actually eating, as so much ends up everywhere but her mouth, but her poops have changed in texture and smell to solid poops, so I guess more of it is going in than appears to.

She can now sit completely unsupported for a few seconds, particularly if she’s distracted by the TV or the vacuum. When she’s left to her own devises, she constantly works on stretching her vocal chords, rolling and crawling. When she’s with us, she works on her sitting and standing.

 

22 October 2013…The overnight sleeping has been going fairly good. She has been waking up every other night at various times for various issues, and ultimately (after giving medication, water, turning fan on/off or giving a cuddle) wants a feed to resettle. However, she is giving me the distinct impression that she’s not at all hungry, which is one good thing. Hopefully this all settles down over the next couple of weeks.

We’ve ditched the pumpkin for the moment, as it was giving her really bad reflux. However, we have moved on successfully to potato and sweet potato, both of which are definite winners. The vast majority of the food now goes in the mouth instead of down the front. Little greedy guts though finds it hard to stop eating, and will literally eat until she vomits. I guess she got my genes there (not that I eat until I vomit, but I do like to eat until I feel very full).

My weaning book by Gina Ford has arrived, and I now feel like I have somebody holding my hand guiding me as to what to feed my baby. It turns out that she recommends leaving pumpkin until seven months of age, but I didn’t have the book when I tried the pumpkin, with bad consequences. I now look forward to this journey thanks to her guidance, instead of feeling completely bewildered.

Sam is really working on her crawling and desperately wants to follow us, particularly if we leave the room. She is also giggling at me (although I feel sometimes like she’s humouring me). She likes me to growl like I’m a car engine revving, particularly if she starts growling first.