Harper Reese- 10 Months Old!

We're in double digits, folks! Just two more months until this baby is one year old and each and every month I still marvel at the time that has gone by. Does the world just run in "fast-forward" mode when you become a parent? It sure feels like it.

Harper has become the sweetest, funniest, silliest, most loving baby girl. Her personality really shows more and more every single day and I have these moments where I can't believe I'm the lucky woman that gets to be her mama.  

Harper is also showing more independence this month and she's more vocal. It's fun to anticipate what new or cute thing she might do each day.

Here are Harper's 9 month updates:

Weight:  I won't know official measurements until her 12 month appointment but she's about 22 lbs now.

Health: Harper has been pretty good this month! She has a perma-runny nose, but that's par for the course at this point. Spring and summer should clear it up (I hope!) One of the neonatologists I work with mentioned that most babies have 10 colds in their first year of life, so that was reassuring. We continue to use a cool mist humidifier in her room to help with her nose.

Sleep: The recent time change means that Harper goes to sleep a little later and this working mama couldn't be any happier about that! We put her down between 7-7:15 ish and she typically sleeps until 6:30 a.m. She also naps twice a day, usually around 10 and 2 which is the schedule the daycare has the babies on. It has been a blessing to have her sleeping through the night consistently. We still have a day here and there where she will wake up early or wake up crying at 2 a.m. but they are few and far between and she takes just minutes to settle back down.

Social: I love watching Harper interact with the other babies in her daycare class. Sometimes, they steal toys from each other and one ends up in tears, ha! I noticed that Harper has been a little better with strangers lately. She returns smiles, waves sometimes and is overall passing through her stranger danger phase. She does get shy once in awhile which is really cute.

Diet: I am still exclusively pumping for Harper (read more about my pumping story here). I'm currently working on having Harper get either five 5 oz bottles or four 6 oz bottles bringing her to 24-25 oz total per day. I noticed that as she's eating more solids, she seems to have dropped a feed all on her own but we continued to provide three 6 oz bottles for her at daycare and she would sometimes not take one. So I think balancing it out to where she's getting about 25 oz total is the direction we're headed in. Of course it's still the bulk of her nutrition, but she's so great with solids that she's getting a nice balanced diet.

 

Right now I'm working on weaning down from pumping. I started today with going from four pumping sessions a day to three. I hope to produce about 25 oz per day for the next three weeks and then I'll try to wean down to two and then one pumping session per day until I'm done at the beginning of May. Then, I plan to use my freezer stash to feed her through 12 months. 

Solids are going fantastically and this baby loves all food!  She is especially into cheese and yogurt right now and she also loves fruits and veggies. We got lucky with what a great eater she is, but I know that can all change as we move into toddlerhood (and as an aside, I'm totally not ready to use the t-word yet!)  I continue to make all of her food except for bread, yogurt and cheese and I recently had her try a waffle as well. I love that soon she will be eating exactly what we eat but in smaller bites and portions.  It will also force us to eat as clean as she does right now which will be great for our health too.

She is so awesome at feeding herself! She's got a great pincher grasp and learned to chew her food better than before. Still just two teeth but eating great!

Likes: Pulling up, cruising along furniture, crawling super quick, crawling under the dining table, looking out of windows, music, songs from the movie "Frozen," eating, kisses on her chin (those bring out major giggles), being tossed into the air, being chased, crawling competitions (sometimes I let her win), Mr. Panda, Lulu (but he doesn't want anything to do with her), banging on the table, throwing things, books (Cat in the Hat is a current fave)...

Postpartum: I think that being at the end of the pumping road is giving me something to look forward to and though I'm still bittersweet about it, I know that overall it will be incredible to have some time back in my days and nights and that I won't have to pause my day to pump or plan my days around it anymore. It will be so nice to be out and about on weekends and not have to come home or bring the pump with us if we want to stay somewhere a longer time.

I'm also eager to get back into a fitness routine and I know for me it will have to be classes. Ideally, I'd like to see my personal trainer for 8 weeks about twice a week just to get back into the swing of things and then I'd like to do Bar Method a couple of times a week to maintain muscle tone. 

We are traveling to Canada this summer (I'm the maid of honor in my friend's wedding) and will be visiting lots of family and friends who are all meeting Harper for the first time (except for my mom, of course) and I'm just so excited about that! It will be nice to be back home and have a little break. I'm also itching to plan a vacation for the fall or winter but haven't thought too much about it yet. I would love to just go to a resort and lay on the beach and swim in the ocean�.ahhhh!

Clothes: Harper is wearing 12-18 and 18-24 month Baby Gap

Baby Gear Love: We love our Prince Lionhart bathtub and mostly toys and books this month. I'll share some in an upcoming post!

Crying: Harper is still having some dramatic tears when she wants something or can't do something but she doesn't cry a lot. One time she cries every.single.day is after her bath when we put her diaper and PJ's on. I don't know if it's because she knows her bottle is coming or what, but she cries on cue every single night (and she's all smiles/happy during bath time). Hopefully she will grow out of it. She hates having her diaper changed and tolerates having clothes put on so maybe that's it.

Milestones: Harper is crawling much more quickly, pulling up on everything, balancing well and sometimes even briefly standing with no support. She can clap and wave and started to point a lot recently. She's also been more "talkative." I notice she continues to have better and better movement control when it comes to getting from one place to the next. She loves to cruise on furniture�I also can't resist her smile lately�not a milestone, but goodness gracious it's cute!

You can really see how much her hair has grown here! The roots are very golden/strawberry and the ends are more of a true red. I love it!

Thanks for reading!

Harper's Dress-Baby Gap (in stores)

Harper's Headband-CharlieCocos

Harper Reese- Four Months Old!

This month has been the most fun month so far and also the hardest. Most fun because she's learning so much and developing and meeting milestones (and it's so exciting to watch it all) and difficult because we are going through the dreaded "four month sleep regression."

Watching your baby grow and develop is more amazing than I ever thought it would be. One morning when Harper was about three and a half months old she was hanging out in her Pack N' Play in our room right after a diaper change and suddenly I looked over and she was holding both of her feet in her hands. She had found her feet! I yelled to Kevin and we both just watched her as he happily held her feet and smiled at us.

|| Harper + Lulu share a moment ||

Speaking of smiles---we're seeing a lot of them these days and getting little (and big!) laughs too. It's the most incredible feeling to experience your baby responding to you and really developing a little personality.

Having said all of that, this month has been tough because at 3.5 months Harper went from sleeping through the night to waking up at random times all throughout the night (which, as working parents, is a little bit of an adjustment- when I was at home with her at least I could nap when she did).  We would sometimes feed her a couple of ounces if holding her wasn't working but even if we fed her she would still wake up an hour or two later. We knew she wasn't really hungry because she eats between 30-35 ounces per day but it seems like "The Wonder Years" is right and this is just a stage most babies go through around this time. Dear sleep regression, we are over you. 

We have a bedtime routine which I do think helps with her sleep, but we know this is just sort of a bump in the road and she'll get back into better sleep habits soon (we're praying!)  I've been fortunate that Kevin has really taken on a good share of the night wakings---he functions better on less sleep than I do. I'm not sure if it's the pumping making me really tired or what, but I've just been going to bed early most nights. Sometimes I even sleep for an hour or two right when I put Harper down just to cram in some extra sleep before I have to pump one last time (usually around 10:30 p.m.)

Last month I shared my fears and sadness about going back to work, but being back at work for over a month now has made me realize just how much I really do love my job. I thought I would feel horrible going into work everyday, but I honestly haven't. I miss Harper like crazy and I have "mommy guilt" out the whazoo, but I love what I do and the people/families I work with and that makes my days go by pretty quickly and brings me a sense of fulfillment.  I don't talk about my job a lot on my blog but I'm planning a post about it soon because I get so many questions about what I do, what an average day looks like, etc, so I'd love to share that because I'm very proud of the work I'm privileged to do.

We've been adjusting to daycare better too---Harper goes three days a week (but we pay for full time because they don't have a 3-day option).  On Thursdays her grandparents watch her all day and on Fridays my husband works from home and stays with her (it's so nice that they have that extra time together---I'm jealous!) If he ever has a super jam-packed schedule on a Friday we always have the option of taking her to daycare that day (and we've done that). She is doing well at daycare---when I pick her up she seems happy and she takes good naps there.  She's in a smaller class right now---only 6 babies to two teachers so it's nice.  They do age-appropriate activities with them and go on stroller rides and she seems to enjoy it there. She smiles at her teachers so that makes me feel good.  I always spend a little extra time there in the morning and at pick-up so I can get to know her caretakers better too. 

The one thing that's tough is that she has been so stuffy since she started daycare. I literally have to suction her with the Nose Freida (which, BTW, is a Godsend) all day and night.  Poor girl is just congested but not sick (no fever or anything). One of the lactation experts I work with told me to make sure I spend time in Harper's daycare classroom so that I can be exposed to the same germs and my breast milk will develop antibodies to protect her. I had already been doing that so I hope it's working...or that it will work...one day. Our pediatrician told us she will basically be stuffy until May so I'm not optimistic.

||| Harper's headband is by Ryan&Wren |||

Here are Harper's four month updates and photos:

Weight: We found out at her 4 month appointment yesterday that she is 15 pounds, putting her in the 65th percentile for weight. She is in the 76th percentile for height. Yay for weight gain!

Health: She is healthy but like I mentioned above she is constantly stuffy. We are using the baby saline spray and the Nose Freida to manage her congestion. She also had a terrible diaper rash recently. It was so sad :( A combination of Aquaphor and Boudreaux's Butt Paste did the trick and helped clear it up and now we use the Aquaphor at every diaper change and we add the diaper rash cream if it's acting up again. They also use cream at daycare to keep it at bay.

Sleep:  Our perfect little sleeper is on strike!  Harper still takes great naps and sleeps 3-6 hour stretches at night. It really just depends. Sometimes she's up every 3 hours, sometimes every 2 and sometimes she will go 5 or 6 without waking. There's no rhyme or reason to it. We have "good nights" and "bad nights" but she doesn't cry for too long when she does wake up. 

Social: Harper recently went to music class at The Motherhood Center with my friend's little baby Caroline. They are 10 days apart! Plus she has all of her friends at daycare--her class used to be all boys but we've had a few girls join our room so it's a nice mix. It's nice to get to know some of the moms too!  

Diet: I'm really proud to say that for over six weeks now, Harper's diet has consisted of only breast milk. It was a long road for us and it took a lot of perseverance but I was finally able to meet and exceed her needs a little and I got into a good groove with pumping (read more about my pumping story here). 

Before she was exclusively getting breast milk,  I feel that sometimes we would give formula in a pinch if she ever woke up at night and we needed something to feed her and didn't have time to warm the milk/want to go downstairs to make a bottle. We were sleep deprived and it was easier. In the beginning when she wasn't gaining weight appropriately formula was essential but then it kind of became a crutch (even though she never got more than one feeding a day of formula, two maximum, but that was rare).  We've discovered that our little girl isn't picky at all---she will drink breast milk at any temperature. I'm really close to meeting my first breastfeeding goal of 6 months (and by breastfeeding I mean Harper getting expressed milk, not actually at the breast) so I am really thrilled about that! My hope is that I can continue for a full year.

Clothes: Harper is wearing 3-6 and 6 month clothes. She even wears some 6-9 month stuff. It is unreal how big she is. I'm always surprised when I hold something up that I don't think will fit and then she's practically too big for it. That has happened with several of my 3-6 month Baby Gap items that I was "saving" until she "got big enough." I'm kicking myself now because they were some of my favorite outfits! The dress she is wearing in these photos is Baby Gap, 6-12 months.

Baby Gear Love: I'll have her four month favorites post up very soon.

Crying: She still cries/screams if she is hungry (we've learned to have the bottle ready as we're nearing 2 hours and 45 minutes between feeds). She actually has a very particular hungry cry.  Other than that, she cries sometimes if she is over-tired and she has moments of fussiness but they are few and far between. Overall she's still pretty content! There was one day a couple of weeks ago (it was a Sunday) where she just wailed and whined all.day.long. That was fun!

Likes: Naps, tummy time (she's getting SO strong!), hair bows (okay, that may be me), smile sessions, having her feet and belly kissed, bath time, her toys (she's really grabbing them and playing with them now), her piano play mat, stroller rides, giggles when we sing and play together, her lovey and her paci.

Postpartum: I'm feeling good these days. I would venture to say pretty much back to normal. I didn't start working out as I had hoped as it's hard to find the time, but it continues to be my goal to do Bar Method once a week.  When that actually begins is anyone's guess.  I think once the weather cools down we can take nice long walks more often which will be great.

Emotionally I feel pretty good too. There are days where I think I've got it all figured out and there are days where I am halfway to a meltdown because I forgot to bring a cooler bag to work for my breast milk or because the baby dropped her pacifier and is screaming and I can't get another one fast enough. I've learned that postpartum emotions can make even the littlest things seem like a MAJOR CRISIS. It definitely tests your patience, your marriage, etc. Living and learning, one day at a time.

I remember that adjusting my morning routine to include daycare drop-off was really tough at first (like, I cried a few times). I became overwhelmed at all of the things I had to bring in addition to the baby and my work stuff/pumping stuff. It took us a week or so to get a good system in place to have everything ready to go and now it's working out great. I think anytime you start a new routine it can be stressful.  I wake up to pump at 5:30 a.m. every morning then Kevin feeds Harper at 6 or 6:30 a.m. while I shower and put some makeup on (sometimes I do her morning feeding if I don't need to start work earlier). Then, we put Harper in her bouncy as we get dressed and finished getting ready and then we're out the door (I do drop-off on my way to work).

Milestones: Harper is doing so much!  I absolutely love this stage because she's really developing so quickly. She can push up on her hands during tummy time (previously she was always propped on her elbows), she babbles a ton (to us and to herself), brings her toys to her mouth and her hands (and my hands too!), she can touch her feet and roll from tummy to back and back to tummy.  She just surprises us everyday with how she's learning. She grabs her toys/shows a lot of interest in them and laughs and smiles a lot. Overall she's just more responsive and it's wonderful.

Thank you for reading and I hope you're having a great week so far!  Before I go I want to give a quick shout-out to two mommy blogs I've been reading lately!  Check out Hello Newlywed Life and Our Happy Days if you're looking for some new reads!