The past month has been a whirlwind. 
Cora survived 2 long road trips, started eating solid food, and sprouted her first 2 teeth. Her personality is shining these days, sometimes with bubbly laughter and big smiles, and other times with fire and frustration. There is so much she seems to want to do, but can't yet, and it makes her mad! Not to mention, she is showing signs of separation anxiety (she no longer tolerates her adults ducking out of sight, and she is very clingy at night). Cora has always been pretty opinionated and sensitive (we like to tease her about having a pea under her mattress, the little princess...), but those traits seem to be enhanced this month. She spends much more time playing by herself these days though, whether sitting up on her own or in her Bumbo, or laying on her tummy (she finally likes tummy time!), and she can even scoot a little (backwards only, and just a few inches) and spin in a circle. She bounces wildly in her jumperoo (and on our laps), can stand well while holding onto our fingers for balance, and babbles with a few consonants and vowels combined (nothing recognizable yet). 
She still nurses 6-7 times per day/night, and eats one solids "meal" per day (dinner with the family). She has become easily distractable during nursing sessions, which may be part of the reason she was waking more to eat at night (when there is less activity in the house, although it was probably also due to the fact that she was sleeping with me a lot - hard to pass up a meal when it's right in front of your face). Her sleeping patterns have been unpredictable lately, to say the least. With all the holiday travel and bedsharing, she stopped sleeping through the night all together, and also refused to stay asleep in her crib for longer than a few hours at a time at night (and all this after half a dozen attempts on average to transfer her from my arms to the mattress). She has a new teacher at daycare as of this week (an expectant mama transferred from the 2K room down to the infant room for a slower pace and lighter babies to lift), who is working diligently with us to get Cora on more of a nap schedule, while napping in her crib (something she has never, ever done before this week). We are hoping that better/longer and more structured naps will lead to better sleeping at night. So far this week she has slept through the night three nights in a row (the first night after her new nap routine she went right to sleep, the next night we did cry-it-out, and last night she went to sleep, then woke for a 15 minute fuss session, then put herself back to sleep while we watched her on the monitor). We'll see what the weekend brings with our attempts at napping her in her crib here at home. Oh, and strangely enough, even though she's been sleeping unswaddled for almost 2 months, she still sleeps all night long on her back, right in the center of the crib. It's pretty cool, because we haven't had to change the position of the monitor, so I can still watch her breathe and check on her without even lifting my head from my pillow at night!
I am still nursing her on my lunch breaks, and haven't decided yet when to stop. I love getting to spend that 30 minutes with Cora during the work day, and have the opportunity to reconnect with her and visit with her daycare providers (those ladies love to chat at lunchtime when all the other babies are sleeping, so I get to hear a lot of details about Cora's day). I am in no rush to give it up. I am, however, sending bigger bottles to daycare as of this week. Last month Cora started to consistently finish her 4 oz bottles, so we started offering 4.5 oz. When she then started finishing some of those bottles, we upped it to 5 oz. Now, if you read the books and all, you'll hear that breastfed babies increase their milk intake significantly from birth to 2 months, then pretty much plateau until they start eating solids, at which point they will either maintain or decrease the amount of breastmilk they drink. Well, while that was true for James, Cora is breaking from the norm (imagine that!), and I'm just not worried about it. Besides, I have quite the freezer stash for her anyway, should I ever need it. I think I'm up to 200 oz now!
Cora no longer takes baths in her little baby bathtub. She either bathes with James (and one of her parents, to hold her steady and protect her from her wildly splashing brother - though she's sitting so well on her own we could probably let her go it alone soon) or showers with Mama (excellent for steaming out the boogies in the morning). Her hair is starting to grow in, slowly but surely. Very slowly. It seems to be a light blonde color, and is so soft and feathery that I find myself petting her constantly these days. Good thing she doesn't mind! 
She has become very grabby. Her aim is usually right on target and her grip is painful. When I eat while holding her (as I still end up doing through most of every meal), I now have to watch every bite I take so that she doesn't swipe it from me. Needless to say, I've become a fast eater again. And a messy one, since dodging baby hands is not my forte. One last thing, Cora got her flu shot this week. When we got back from Florida I learned that at least one kid in each of James and Cora's classes was out with the flu (or bronchitis), and I realized that since Cora is over 6-months now, she could get it. So in she went. The crazy girl didn't even flinch! Not at all what I was expecting from my normally melodramatic daughter. I guess she just wants to keep me on my toes, eh?
Oh, and as for her monthly stats, we estimate her weight to be 17 lbs even this month. 
(This is Cora telling me that our photo shoot this morning was O V E R)
1 comment:
At 4 months old Coltin was taking 8 oz bottles! He was only nursing 2x a day and taking 2 bottles a day though. No wonder my milk was decreasing by 5 months! He did not do what a normal BF baby was supposed to do at all. He was constantly distracted while trying to nurse.
Cora will be on the move after big brother soon!
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