Monday, May 18, 2015

Arianna {6 months}

Arianna turned half a year old on May 3!
First, a note of total honesty. This past month (April) has been HARD. We lost my Grandma in April (exactly two years to the day that my Grandpa had been killed in the car accident) and although it wasn't shocking, we are all sad and miss her and just aren't quite ourselves. I am just so thankful that she got to meet Arianna before she passed.
Also last month, Arianna was just NOT sleeping, period. Thankfully that has improved bucketfuls (see sleep section) so we are doing a lot better.
Also, I must note also that something so wonderful happened in April, April 17th to be exact! My brother and sister in law welcomed their third baby, a GIRL this time. Her name is Emersyn Marion (middle name is my Grandma's first name) and she's so freaking adorable. It's so amazing that Arianna will have a cousin that's the exact same age!




Weight:  17lbs ish.


Height:  I actually have no idea, it's so hard to measure this wiggle worm!

Feeding:  Still breastfeed with a little bit of formula. I tried cutting it out, but I still sort of "ran out" of milk around bedtime and I wanted to make sure her tummy is full because she sleeps for so lo

ng. So we are sticking with the one bottle a day and we are totally okay that.
Solids:
This girl LOVES food! To be honest, I have just been buying organic purees instead of making my own. My focus was sleep this month. So far she has tried sweet potatoes, apples, bananas, peaches, pears, apricots, broccoli, prunes, raspberries, carrots. She has also had whole peas (frozen) and she loves munching on those! She's also had tiny pieces of banana, melon and avocado. It's so adorable watching her chew things without teeth lol

Sleep: After accepting that the 4 month sleep regression was NOT just a phase, and realising that we had created a LOT of sleep associations (pacifier, nursing, swaddling/sleep suit/sleeping with us/sleeping on car rides/walks) we decided we needed professional help. We hired a sleep consultant out of sheer desperation. We finished the two week program and it's going amazing! She goes down around 7, sometimes 6-30, and sleeps until about 6am. Naps were a little harder, but we are finally seeing some improvement,  lately she has been regularly down for two naps without any fuss AND sleeps for at least an hour. I cannot even explain what a relief it is to have this under control.

Milestones
*Can sit on her own for a little bit, still kinda wobbly and after a while she will just twist to roll onto her stomach.
*Can stand holding on to something for quite awhile!
*Blows Raspberries
*Babbling away like crazy! I think Dada will be her first word.
*She recognizes words when I say them, the first one I noticed was "puppy". I asked her where her puppy was and she twisted her head around to Layla's regular spot on the couch.
*Drinks of out a sippy cup. She's picky though can only be this "Starbucks" one!
*Not crawling yet but can definitely worm her way around like nobody's business.

Clothes: Barely squeezing into 3-6 months and already fitting into 6-9/6-12 months! Mama needs to go shopping for sleepers soon!

Diapers: Size 3

Likes & Dislikes: You know for most of the month she was a sleep deprived grumpy bear which was heartbreaking to see! She's back to her normal self now, thank God! She loves playing in her jumperoo, loves us and Layla, and FOOD! She loves playing silly games, when I tickle her and blow on her tummy. 
When we started sleep training, she did not like her bedtime routine AT ALL, because she knew it was time to go to bed! Thankfully she loves her bath and bedtime feed and book again!

Baby gear we love: Sophie is getting a lot of use this month! Now that Arianna sleeps in her crib, we are soo happy to have been given a video monitor. I can check (and do a hundred times a night or so haha) that she's doing okay and it's so comforting to see her little chest rise and fall. 
Our friend also lent us a jumperoo which she loves.

Things I don't want to forget:
How freaking cute and fun she is!! She also looks so adorable when she sleeps, even though it freaked me out at first that she just smushes her face into the mattress. I am so loving this age, especially now that we are all well rested!

Looking Forward to:
Enjoying the warm weather with her! I am dying to take her swimming again!