Sarah At Ten Months

Stats
I'm guessing on these again this month.  I know that she's mostly in 12-18 month clothing now and wears size four disposable diapers.
Weight: 21lbs 8oz
Height: 28.5" 
Head circumference: 17.5" 

Sleeping
We broke the pacifier this month.  This felt like the remaining sleep habit other than breaking the bottle once she turns one.  We'd ditched the swaddle and then the sleep sack in previous months.  At Sarah's 9 month appointment I asked Dr. Toth when she thought we should stop using the pacifier.  She said, "Well, she isn't needing one right now during this appointment, so I'd say she's ready to stop.  It'll take a week of perseverance, but I think she'll stop easily."  She was totally right.  Sarah has never been obsessed with her pacifier like some babies (*ahem*her mother), but she has enjoyed sucking on it to fall asleep.  So we started with ditching it at night, and it took about a week, and now we've ditched it for naps as well.  That's been the biggest noteworthy occurrence in the sleep department this month.  Otherwise, she still sleeps from about 7:30pm-7:30am and takes a morning nap and afternoon nap for about an hour apiece.  

Eating 
We're still doing four 8 ounce bottles a day, but the biggest leap in the food department this month was really getting into finger foods.  At the start of this month Sarah decided she wasn't a baby and didn't want to be spoon fed or eat baby food.  We went with it and have introduced lots of finger foods like tofu (yes, seriously), avocado, banana chunks, diced watermelon and strawberries, scrambled eggs, eating yogurt by hand, shredded cheese, sweet potato cubes, brown rice puffs (we think they taste like styrofoam), black beans, and peas.  She has gotten pretty good at feeding herself by hand.  We're working on learning how to use the sippy cup, and she's made a bit of improvement in that area this month.

Personality
Sarah loves teasing people!  If someone says hi to her she will turn her back to them, wait a second, and then turn back around and smile and giggle.  She is asserting her independence and knows exactly where she wants to go now that she can crawl and stand.  Because of that, she really doesn't like it when you move her when she wasn't finished yet.  She hates diaper changes and can twist right out of her arms while you're trying to pin her down.  When she doesn't like something she crinkles up her nose and pooches out her lips.  She will even whack her hands together to try to get you to go away.  She lights up a room and adores being the center of attention with the students at church.  

Health and Physical Ability
Sarah was the unfortunate recipient of an upper respiratory infection and another urinary tract infection this month.  Dr.  Toth had told us to come in any time Sarah has a fever of 101 or more so she could test for a UTI.  We did that a couple of weeks ago and found out it was just an upper respiratory infection and we needed to wait out the virus for 7-14 days.  However, 10 days later her fever came back with a vengeance at 103.6, so we went back to the doctor and saw one of Dr. Toth's coworker.  Sarah had to get yet another catheter, and this time it turned out to be a UTI, so she's on an antibiotic again.  Sarah has an appointment to follow up with Dr. Toth, and then she will schedule additional testing to decide why this is a recurring issue.

Sarah has gotten much more stable while standing, and I really think she would stand without holding onto something, but she gets nervous and grabs on tight.  However, on June 2 second let go of me and stood on her own for about three seconds, so I think she's well on her way.  She can crawl at lightening speed and get wherever she wants to go.  She has also learned how to sit down intentionally without falling down.

New words this month: cat, uh-oh, bye-bye, ball, bubble, yum, hey, quack quack (for a duck), clap, and Hi, Dada (while waving).  She says cat when she sees Mittens.  It's too cute!  She also enjoys clicking her tongue and blowing her lips a lot.  She really likes this pinwheel that she has.  She tries to blow on it while I blow on it.  Too adorable!

Sarah learned how to wave and clap this month - both major crowd pleasers.

She got her seventh tooth this month (a lower lateral incisor), which was super fun on top of the UTI and upper respiratory infection.  She's a trooper!

Superficial
Sarah's curls are becoming more pronounced and multiplying.  They're a big hit!  She has started to get a bit of a tan this summer which has been a little surprising, but I guess it shouldn't be since Robert can get quite tan.  I just figured my light skin would win out.  She hasn't gotten a burn, and we put on sunscreen and keep her in the shade when we're out, but she's still definitely darkened up a bit since the cold winter months.  

Highlights of the month
May 6 - Trip to the zoo with Robert and my dad

May 7 - Took 4 assisted steps with Uncle Jim while celebrating Mother's Day 

May 14 - Mark and Serina came for a day trip

May 15 - First professional baseball game (Springfield Cardinals)

May 20-21 - Trip to Windermere

May 21 - Ray, Terri, Jason, and Bethany came for a quick trip

May 30 - Memorial Day

May 31 - Play date with Asa

Dear Sarah,
Right now you love trying new things like new foods, learning how to crawl and sit, traveling to new towns, meeting new people, and playing new games.  One day you might want to learn how to play the piano, do a cartwheel, play soccer, draw a picture, or read a book.  It will be difficult and take persistence, but I know that you are a very determined girl, and you want to work hard at something when you are interested in it.  It's okay to like something even if you aren't the best at it.  You can enjoying playing the trumpet even if you don't get first chair in band class.  You can like drawing even if you only know how to draw stick figures.   I hope you always have the courage to try new things even if you don't know if it'll be easy or whether or not you'll be great at it.

Summer Vacation

Robert's summer schedule is very busy with VBS, summer camp, a mission trip in town, and a mission trip in Nebraska, so it's really difficult to travel in the summer.  We went to Alabama last summer, but we hadn't been back since Sarah was born, so we were due for a trip and turned it into our vacation for the summer.  Robert got wild and didn't even respond to emails while we were gone!

We left on Thursday morning with a destination of Birmingham, AL for the evening.  We knew we would need to stop for about 30 minutes every 2 hours to let Sarah stretch and play, so we left at 8:00, and got to Birmingham at 6:00.  Our first stop was in Hardy, AR, and it was definitely the nicest.  We were able to find a grassy area with a shade tree between a post office and McDonald's.  Sarah enjoyed playing on a blanket.  The next stop was in West Memphis and was not enjoyable, but we just had to stop for gas and to change Sarah's diaper.  I think our third stop for the day was in MS.  For this whole trip Robert was the driver and I was the entertainer.  I think I sat in the front seat on two legs of the trip and was in the back for the rest of it.  We brought lots of toys and books, and Sarah usually took a 30 minute nap every 2 hour leg.

We stayed with Robert's cousin Ethan and his wife, Rachael, on Thursday night.  We hadn't seen them in about two and a half years, and it was great to catch up!  Rachael made a great dinner.  Sarah was a little needy when trying to fall asleep.  We ended up getting her back up so she could join the party.  She approved!  She really did well considering she'd been in a car seat all day and was having to sleep in a pack and play.

On Friday morning we drove 4 1/2 hours to Pensacola, FL to meet up with Ray and Terri who had been on vacation all week.  We only had to stop one time on the way there.  We unpacked (I think we packed and unpacked 4 times on this trip!  Not fun) and headed out for ice cream.  I actually got key lime pie dipped in chocolate, and it was delicious!  We walked out to the beach, and Sarah got her first glimpse of the ocean.  She was relatively scared.  She liked looking at the ocean and hearing the waves (sounded just like her sound machine!), but the water was cold and scary to her.  Robert and I had a date that night while Ray and Terri tucked in Sarah and stayed with her.  We played putt putt, strolled around Target, and got dessert at Chick-Fil-A.

On Saturday we ate breakfast at The Donut Hole with Ray's cousin and his wife and son.  It was delicious!  Chocolate doughnut filled with peanut butter fluff!  After breakfast we headed to the beach.  We were going to a part that's a state park.  We parked and were ready to catch the tram, but soon realized that we had missed it by 1 minute and had to wait another 59 minutes.  NOOOOOO!!!  Thankfully, Sarah took a nap so she was a happy camper.  The beach was beautiful!  It was overcast, which was fine with Robert and me because it helped it not be so hot.  Again, Sarah was uninterested in the ocean but enjoyed playing on a sheet under a big umbrella.  I found this idea on Pinterest and it worked well - bring a fitted sheet and put something in each of the four corners (bag, cooler, etc.) and it creates a large sand-free area that's sort of like a makeshift pack and play.  On Saturday evening we went out on a sunset cruise.  Sarah's first time on a boat!  I think she liked it.

On Sunday we made the two and a half hour drive from FL to Mobile, AL and had a big party for people to meet Sarah.  She did so great!  I seriously think she got passed around to at least 40 people she had never met before.  She left for a bit to eat and take a nap and returned happy as a clam.  She was a bit reserved that evening and wanted to be snuggled by Robert and me which was understandable.  I'm so glad so many people came to meet Sarah and it was good to catch up.

Tuckered out from being the center of attention

So many girl cousins!

Four generations

On Monday we drove to Daphne to see another one of Sarah's great great aunts.  We also took a little stroll along the bay, and Sarah thought the water was scary yet again.  We were able to have lunch with Robert's cousin Marla, and it was great to talk to her about being a mom to girls!  We went to Dauphin Island that evening and got some great dessert again - peanut butter pie.  Yum!

We hit the road on Tuesday morning and made the long drive back to Springfield.  We had toyed with the idea of spending the night somewhere, but we decided it would be nice to just get home, and Sarah was still doing well.  We didn't unpack at all that night, and thankfully Robert had taken Wednesday off as well so we could recover.  I did laundry, unpacked, and decided to stain the deck.  That's what you do on vacation, right?

I should note that Sarah also got two more teeth on this trip.  I think especially considering that, she did so well on this trip.  She met lots of new people, spent a ton of time in the car, and slept in new places.  It was a good trip, but we're glad we don't have any super long road trips planned in the near future.

Sleeping Through the Night

Sarah is an awesome sleeper!  I hesitate to talk about it because I don't want to sound like I'm bragging, but when people ask how she sleeps I'm not going to lie and pretend like it's not that great or like I don't know why or how she turned out this way.  When I was pregnant with Sarah I was very anti-Baby Wise.  I didn't like the idea of waking up your baby or making her sleep if she didn't seem sleepy.  I also didn't understand how you could even make a schedule work with such a young baby, but 10 days after Sarah was born and Robert and I were complete zombies I was desperate for anything!

Sarah lost about a pound between being born and going to her four day well visit.  It sounds like a lot, but since Sarah was 9lb 2oz when she was born, she was still bigger than most babies, even with the weight loss.  However, the doctor still wanted us to feed her at least every three hours.  Sarah would typically want to eat every 2.5 hours anyway, so we usually didn't even need to wake her up during the day, but we'd have to wake her up once or twice in the night to feed her.  Once she'd gotten back up passed her birth weight at her two week appointment the doctor said Sarah could go four hours at night without eating.  I started to realize that we were participating in one of the components of Baby Wise without even knowing it.  We weren't doing it to get her on a schedule.  We were doing it to help her gain back weight, but it was also getting her on a schedule.

Okay, so when Sarah was 10 days old, my friend Tarah came over with her husband, James, and their son, Asa.  Asa was seven months old at the time (I remember thinking he was huge, and now Sarah is that big!).  Tarah and James could be Baby Wise spokespeople!  They are firm believers and credit Asa's excellent sleep habits to Baby Wise.  They came for the day just to let Robert and me rest.  We took an epic nap upstairs while they cared for Sarah downstairs.  We are eternally grateful!  And while they were here they helped us implement a schedule for Sarah.  We were already feeding her on a schedule, but Tarah taught me a pattern to follow in between feedings.

• Diaper change
• Feed
• Play
• Sleep
• REPEAT x a million

Like I said, I was anti-Baby Wise, but when I started to think about it, this is really how we act as adults.  You don't go to sleep the second after you eat.  You eat dinner, watch tv/clean the house/etc. (PLAY), and then go to sleep.  It's the same for babies.  Food gives them energy to play, and then once they play they are tired and ready to sleep.  For newborns, play might only last five minutes, and it might just be moving their legs around and making faces at them.  As your baby grows, playtime will last longer and will turn into things like a bath, stroller ride, blocks, and the activity mat.  The more you play with your baby the more tired she'll get and the better she'll sleep.  It's worth it!

Another component to Baby Wise is the dream feed.  At first, I wasn't a fan of labeling stuff, but once I found out what it was, it was a major DUH moment.  The idea of the dream feed is that when you diaper and feed your baby throughout the night you make the baby feel like she's asleep and it's all a dream.  Basically, you keep the lights low (just turn on a closet light or lamp) and you only whisper (no talking).  Robert and I had been turning on all the lights and talking normally.  Were we insane?  I would hate it if Robert turned on all the lights to go to the bathroom.  Why would I think that Sarah wouldn't mind that?  This dream feed concept helped us start getting Sarah back to sleep quickly throughout the night.

Now, one area where I stray from Baby Wise is that I don't make nap time last a certain amount of time.  Yes, if she stirs 30 minutes into her afternoon nap I do wait 10+ minutes to see if she falls back asleep, and she almost always does.  At this point I just know that she needs at least an hour of sleep in the afternoon so if she's stirring 30 minutes into it I know she's going to fall back asleep.  But when she does wake up I get her out of the crib even if it's not time for a bottle yet.  I don't make her stay in there until a certain time.  I'm also not a fan of "crying it out," and Sarah doesn't do that.  She puts herself to sleep pretty quietly, thankfully.  When she was teeny tiny we started by rocking her until she was sleepy but not asleep and then put her in her crib.  She takes about 10 minutes to vocalize and get situated and then falls asleep.  Now, before you think, "Aww...that's so sad that she doesn't get rocked," she does!  We hold her and snuggle so much when she's awake.  Trust me.  We smother her with love.  

That brings me to the crib.  I've been asked multiple times how we got Sarah to sleep in the crib.  The only tip I can think of is that we put her in the crib from day one.  We never had a bassinet or anything set up in our room, so there wasn't a habit to break.  Our bedrooms in our townhouse were about three feet apart, and now they're about 12 feet apart, so it's really not difficult to walk to her room.  I understand it might be different if you're breastfeeding, but for us with formula I had to go downstairs to make a bottle and get my pump parts, so by the time I came back upstairs I was completely awake so it didn't even matter that Sarah was in a different room.  I know another reason people like having their baby in the room with them is so they can check on them easily.  I totally get this one.  I was very paranoid and concerned about SIDS before Sarah was born.  That's why we registered for the AngelCare baby monitor.  We LOVE it!  It has the traditional monitor option of sound as well as the more modern option of video, but what makes it unique is the built in sensor pad that alerts you if your child stops breathing.  You can set the sensitivity to your preference, but we set it to alarm us if it went 20 seconds without detecting a breathing motion.  Thank you, God, that it never went off, but it was so reassuring to know that it would go off if needed.  I will say that the main con with this is when you forget to turn off the sensor in your sleep-deprived state and accidentally set it off when you pick up your baby at 3:00am, but it's still worth it.  Now that Sarah moves around so much we don't turn on the sensor, but we still really like the audio and video features.  Honestly, it really isn't more expensive than other video monitors.

As Sarah has grown and eats fewer but larger bottles, her wake times and sleep times have changed.  You just need to decide what time you want her to wake up for the day, and then you build the schedule off of that.  For us, we want Sarah to sleep at least until 7:00, so we put her to bed a little bit later than some people might who need to wake up their baby at 6:00 to go to daycare or to get ready to take the big kids to school.  Here are some of our sample schedules:

Birth

7:00am - Wake, diaper, bottle, play, nap

9:30am - Repeat

12:00pm - Repeat

2:30pm - Repeat

5:00pm - Repeat

7:30pm - Wake, diaper, bottle, tuck for the night

10:00pm - Dream feed before we went to bed for the night

Approximately 2:00am - Dream feed

7:00am - Start the day

8 weeks

7:00am - Wake, diaper, bottle, play, nap

10:00am - Repeat

1:00pm - Repeat

4:00pm - Repeat

7:00pm - Wake, diaper, bottle, tuck for the night

11:00pm - Dream feed before we went to bed for the night

7:00am - Start the day 

*Seriously, Sarah started sleeping 8 hours straight at 8 weeks old.  I've heard "sleeping through the night" is 6+ hours.  Still not sure whose restful night sleep is only 6 hours!

3 months

8:00am - Wake, diaper, bottle, play, nap

11:00am - Repeat

2:00pm - Repeat

5:00pm - Repeat

8:00pm - Wake, diaper, bottle, tuck for the night

4 months+ (We're still on this schedule.  We switched to it when Sarah started cereal.)

7:00am - Wake, diaper, bottle and cereal, play, nap

12:00pm - Repeat

4:00pm - Repeat

8:00pm - Wake, diaper, bottle, tuck for the night

When we started cereal our doctor explained to us that this is a good time to get babies used to three meals and a snack.  That's why she got cereal with the first three bottles (breakfast, lunch, and dinner) and just had a "snack" of a bottle before bed.  Now we do cereal with the 8:00am bottle and veggies or fruit with the 12:00 and 4:00 bottle.  Bottle only at 8:00pm.  

Random Tricks to the Trade

• Keep baby's room cool.  The American Academy of Pediatrics suggests keeping your house at 60-70 degrees to prevents SIDS.  In general, a cooler temperature promotes sleep for anyone.
• Swaddle swaddle swaddle!  We are all about the Halo Sleepsack Swaddle.  As you know, newborns aren't supposed to sleep with blankets.  I've heard a lot of people say they couldn't keep their baby swaddled.  I'm here to say that our strong, large baby couldn't bust out of these suckers.  The sack zips down so you don't risk zipping up her double chin.  The wings cross over the torso and velcro on the back.  There's no getting out!  When you're ready to transition from the swaddle you can still use them but with baby's arms out.  They're great!  Of course, once your baby starts rolling over it's time to break the swaddle habit.  You can still use a sleep sack, though.  Last month we broke that habit as well, and now Sarah just sleeps in pajamas.
• We're also all about a sound machine.  We use ours on the ocean setting.  It helps us be able to live our lives and watch tv, talk at a normal level, and do things around the house while Sarah sleeps.

I know that some babies have health issues like acid reflux, being premature, or a whole variety of other issues, but I'm a firm believer that a healthy, full-term baby can totally get on a schedule.  If you think about it, as adults we're on schedules.  We aren't completely rigid about it.  If I'm hungry for lunch at 11:45, I eat lunch.  If I'm not hungry until 12:15, I wait to eat until then, but I'm typically going to be hungry for lunch within the time frame of 11:30-12:30.  Babies are the same way!  After all, they're miniature humans.  I think we can tend to forget that babies have similar desires and needs as we do.  Babies have an internal clock and like routines.  Of course there are exceptions to the schedule like when your baby is sick, is teething, has just been vaccinated, or just seems to be having an off day.  On those days you just do what seems right whether that means 8 feedings instead of your normal 4, all naps occurring in your arms, or whatever.  You're a parent, and nobody knows your baby better than you.  You're your baby's favorite person, and you make great decisions for her!  Please don't hate me if you're reading all of this and rolling your eyes while thinking this would never work for you.  Maybe, just maybe, there's one tidbit of info that will help your baby fall asleep even just 5 minutes faster or sleep 10 minutes longer at naps.  That's worth it, right?