8 Months with Zelie

This girl. Glasses and hair exist only for her entertainment, never beyond her exceptionally strong grasp. She has a seriously low, loud growl, and she's constantly shrieking and clapping her hands. Is there a time when her arms are not flailing? Questionable. She's got personality, and it's LOUD. I guess when you've got to compete for attention with the 2.5 year old who NEVER. STOPS. TALKING. 

Let's get right into the nitty gritty.

EATS.

AKA THE STRUGGLE. I have been suffering through trying to feed this baby solid food twice a day for approx. two months. It's always a huge mess, something I didn't mind much with one kid, but now is a big inconvenience. But we forge onward. I don't want to jinx, but it seems—as of this week—that she's warming up to them. She LOVES Puffs all of a sudden (YAY MY FAVORITE PARENTING TOOL) and she's starting to actually open her mouth to take bites of things. Baby steps. Baby steps. 

Breastfeeding is going much more smoothly than it was with Little Will at this point. Probably because she actually likes it. She isn't as distracted. She's never taken a bottle, though we haven't really tried (no point, unless you want to volunteer to come watch her for an entire day? *sob sob sob*), so yeah, she's really into the boob. 

Her routine is pretty solid now that we are settled in the new house - 6:30 nurse, 10:30 nurse after nap, 12:30 lunch (solids), 2:30 nurse after nap, 5:00 dinner (solids), 6:30 nurse for bedtime, and then a 4am-ish nurse. 

SLEEPS.

Great improvement has been had in this area. She struggled with sleep from about 3-6 months with the 4-month sleep regression. And then there was a period of time after the move when she was dropping her third nap, so things got dicey at night again (3+ wake-ups) and I decided to sleep train/night wean. She goes down at 6:30, takes a 4am feed, and wakes for the day at 6-6:30. I could probably drop that 4am feed with some effort, but at this point I really don't mind it. 

UNLESS I STEP IN DOG PUKE ON MY WAY TO GO IN AND FEED HER. (This morning's episode. Can you tell?)

She takes two naps a day. Typically one short nap in the car in the morning (30-ish minutes) and then a longer afternoon nap (1-2 hours) that overlaps with big brother. 

We had both kids in the same room for a while, but I moved Z into the pack n play in the guest room for sleep training purposes. (She'd always nap there so Will would have access to his beloved train table.) Even though they never woke each other up, I didn't want to risk it. Then immediately after sleep training, they both came down with colds so I kept them separated. And now I suppose it's just inertia, she's still in there. Maybe I'll move her back soon. 

Maybe I'll just make this face

and not deal.

POOPS.

Siggghhhhh. When babies start solids, man, it's never fun. Every poop is a blowout, but the timing is always unpredictable. So that's fun. She's in size 4 disposables, which was pretty cool, because Little Will could squeeze into the same size, so I was only buying one box of diapers each time. BUT, little dude is potty trained now, which is so much better. 

This girl hates diaper changes with something fierce. Feeding her and changing her diaper are some of the most frustrating parts of being her mom, but she makes up for it by always giving me a round of applause for my efforts.