Category Family Life

Thanks to Horizon Organic for sponsoring this post.

Hi friends!

Popping in today to share a super-easy way you can make a difference in the lives of some amazing kids! One of the best decisions I made when I was in college was becoming a mentor in our local chapter of Big Brothers Big Sisters of America. In case you’re not familiar, BBBS has been providing children facing adversity with mentoring relationships that change lives for the better since 1904. There are currently over 150,000 Big and Little matches nationwide.

I was matched with my Little for 2 years in college and loved every minute. This organization has such a special place in my heart and I truly believe that something as simple as taking some time out of your day once a month to hang out with a kiddo going through a rough time can make SUCH a difference. My Little and I had all sorts of fun when we were partnered up. We played mini golf, did art projects, ate pizza, went shopping and more. It was fun for me and so important for her!

Currently, one of my favorite companies, Horizon Organic, is supporting BBBS with a fun little campaign called the #HorizonConfiDANCE. They recognize that every child has unlimited potential and want to help inspire them to grow, dream big and be confident. You can help by sharing your own #HorizonConfiDANCE! For every dance shared on Instagram or Facebook by September 30^th, Horizon Organic will give $5 to Big Brothers Big Sisters of America, up to $200k. Just use #HorizonConfiDANCE

Here’s our dance to give you some inspiration!

If your family is anything like mine, I’ll bet you and the kiddos have crazy little dance party at LEAST once a week, if not on the daily…like we do around here. This is such a simple way you can make a difference. Just snap a quick video of your next dance party and share it with the hashtag! Then refuel with a snack like we do!

Need some fuel to power your next dance party? String cheese is one of our go-to snacks! You’ll find 7 grams of protein in both the mozzarella and Colby cheese sticks from Horizon Organic. Plus, they’re super portable!

I toss them in our lunchbox for a picnic at the park or grab a couple for a quick snack after a swimming lesson or tae kwon do class. Or pair one with an apple to add some carbs and peanut butter healthy fats for a perfectly balanced snack!

If your kiddos like milk, Horizon Organic also offers single-serve, shelf-stable milk boxes. Stock your pantry and grab them when you need a quick snack that offers 8 grams of protein along with calcium, Vitamins D and B2. They’re also great for adding to lunch boxes!

We love Horizon Organic because it’s USDA certified organic, which means no added hormones and no antibiotics. Their products help power kids with a source of protein, vitamins and calcium without artificial colors or flavors because they believe “real” is what matters.

I would LOVE to see you and your kiddos do a little dance to benefit others. Be sure to tag me when you share!!

Enjoy!

–Lindsay–

LEARN HOW FOOD AFFECTS YOUR BODY.

Get my free Table Talk email series where I share bite-sized nutrition information about carbs, protein, and fat, plus bonus information about snacks and sugar!

Dear Nolan-

Here were are again, way behind on your monthly updates. So instead of apologizing, I’m just gonna do my best to catch up and record what’s been going on with you lately. I shared your 3-4 month update the day after we got your tongue tie revised with a laser. That same day we went to your 4-month appointment and you had dropped down to the 9th percentile for weight and the doctor had given us a month to get your weight up.

So, later that week went headed to a lactation consultant. She said it didn’t seem to be a supply issue. We did a weighted feed and you took 4 oz, but only after I forced you to nurse both sides. You took 2.5 oz on the first side and typically you’re more of a snacker. You’ve never liked to eat for long periods of time and would be content with just one side so I often skipped the second side. The LC encouraged me to try to get you to eat on both sides at every feed. Over the next week, I did my best but sometimes you weren’t interested, sometimes you ate but then puked half of it up and sometimes it just wasn’t possible with your brother and sister running around. But a week later you had gained 7 oz so we figured that was the ticket. 

After that first week I got a little lax about pushing both sides and the next week you’d lost an oz at our weight check. I learned you’re kind of a lazy nurser and if I wasn’t fully focused and working hard to get you a full feeding on both sides at each feed, you were probably going to have some weight gain issues. That meant no sitting and scrolling social media while feeding you. I had to focus, keep you engaged, do breast compressions while you were feeding, etc. So, I started being really focused again and after another week you gained 5 oz. The LC looked at your weight gain since birth and you had gained more than the minimum amount for an exclusively breastfed baby. She suspected you were just destined to be long and lean like your mama was as a baby. Since it had been about a month since your last appt, we relayed all this info the pediatrician and she said to keep doing what we’re doing and come back for your six-month appt. 

After another 4 weeks, I took you back to the lactation consultant so we could get a weight using the same scale before we went to your six-month appointment because there was a definite difference in your weight on the digital scale at the LC’s office and the manual scale at the pediatrician. Since your last weight check, you’d gained 12 ounces. The lactation consultant told me the acceptable weight gain for your age (5-6 months) was 3-5 ounces per week for an exclusively breastfed baby. So you’d gained 3 ounces per week.

You were definitely smaller than your brother and sister were at six months, but we headed to your six-month appointment feeling ok about it. However, the doctor told us you’d dropped from the 9th to the 3rd percentile for weight which meant that for your first month of life you were in the 50th percentile and you’d trended down every month since then. Your height had also dropped from the 80th percentile to the 65th. Our pediatrician was worried and said that if something were wrong like your heart, lungs, kidneys etc were working too hard and burning extra calories, the body protects the brain first, which is why your head circumference stayed on track, and then height and then weight. So kiddos would often fall off the chart in weight first, then height etc and that could indicate a problem. So she wanted us to get some testing done. You got blood drawn to check your thyroid and other levels, and EKG to check your heart, we collected urine to get that checked etc and everything came back normal. She’d been debating between us seeing an endocrine or GI specialist and since all your labs looked good, she sent us to see a GI specialist just to get things check on their end.

With the stress of all the testing and weight gain issues, I could tell my supply had dropped. She didn’t initially recommend formula since we’d done some weighted feeds and you seemed to be intaking enough, but I wasn’t against supplementing with formula if I needed to. I started pumping and doing some triple feeds to boost my supply again. Meanwhile, you were quickly losing interest in nursing because of low supply and a slow letdown. The weekend after all your tests came back normal but before we got in to see GI, I started supplementing with formula. Even though my supply was coming back up, I knew in my heart that the doctor was going to recommend supplementing. 

During the waiting period, I was starting to get super anxious, trying to figure out which formula to choose, being overwhelmed with all the options, worrying because you were nursing even less than before and getting frustrated. So, to ease my own anxiety, I did some research and then just picked a formula (Enfamil Enspire) and started it! It’s easy to go down a rabbit hole and get overwhelmed when picking a formula so for my own sanity, I just needed to make a decision and get started. I continued to pump when I could to boost my supply, continued to nurse and gave you a few ounces of formula after each feed. 

By the time we saw GI later the next week you had already gained weight. You were handling the formula well, not getting constipated like your brother did when he started formula and my supply was also back up and I’d figured out a position to get a quicker letdown so you were nursing better as well. At the GI appt, they said all looked good and that it was likely you just needed some additional calories from the formula. The pediatrician pushed out our weight check out a few weeks so we go back mid-July for another weight check but you’ve definitely gained weight and we’re finally getting into a rhythm. You’re getting 15-18 oz of formula per day and nursing the rest. 

In the meantime, we’ve also started solids. It’s been a totally different experience than with your siblings. Your brother was ready to eat anything and everything at 5.5 months and never looked back. Your sister wasn’t ready until closer to seven months but also dove in and never looked back. You have been much slower to adjust to solid food. Pretty much everything that touched your tongue for the first 3 weeks caused you to make the most terrible faces. There’s a whole highlight saved on my Instagram if you want to watch his reactions (called Nolbot eats). 

But each day I try to offer you a few tastes of a few things and you’re slowly getting more interested! It will be interesting to watch your feeding journey to continue to develop. We’re working on exposing you to the top 8 allergens and have covered wheat, dairy, peanuts and eggs so far.

Right around six months, you figured out how to sit up. You went from struggling to stay up for 1-2 seconds to sitting for minutes at a time in about 2 weeks. Now you’re at 7 months (as of yesterday), sitting like a champ, close to crawling and like to stand up with assistance for short periods of time. 

You don’t have any teeth yet but I think one might be coming in. You just switched to size 3 diapers this week. You’re wearing mostly 9-month clothes. Some six-month stuff still fits and some 12 month but most are too big. 

You’re a happy baby for the most part. You nap on the go almost always and still aren’t sleeping through the night but slowly making progress. 

You spend a lot of time in the Ergo and also like the stroller. We go to the pool a lot and you enjoy splashing in the water. Once you learned to sit I started bringing you in the shower with me and you sit and play happily on the floor. 

You LOVE your brother (and sister too) but Squish especially can always make you smile. We’re constantly telling him to be gentle but i think you guys are going to have a very special bond. You’ve started playing with some of our musical toys and like them!

You’re a mama’s boy for sure, but you love your daddy too!

I love watching you grow but also wish time would slow down a little bit!

Love you, 

Mama

PS. You can read Squish’s 7-month update here. And Lyssie’s here.

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Dear Nolan, 

I’m sorry to say that you’re already falling victim to third child syndrome. I’m trying to do these monthly updates for you just like I did for your brother and sister but I’ve already fallen behind by a month…because here I am writing and we’re already a week into month 4 and I never did month 3!

Nevertheless, I figured it was still worth it to squeeze an update in. You turned 4 months last week and it’s hard to believe we’ve made it through 1/3 of a year with 3 kids!

It’s hard not to compare you to your brother and sister but I’m working hard to remind myself that you are your own little man, growing and doing things at your own rate. You’re definitely the smallest little nugget of the three. I actually waited to write this recap until today because you had your 4-month doctor visit yesterday and I wanted to see how much you’d grown!

But it is fun to put pictures side by side, especially of you and your brother at the same ages. There are definitely similarities but there are also differences. Most people say you look like your daddy, especially when you smile.

You still spend a lot of time in the Ergo…getting dragged along to various activities like Little Gym, swimming lessons, trips to the playground etc and for the most part, you still love it. I occasionally flip you around for a few minutes at a time and you like that. You take a lot of naps in the Ergo and in random places on the floor.

I try to make sure you get some time on your activity mat every day, including tummy time, which you don’t enjoy. You’ve rolled from tummy to back a few times but for the most part, don’t have a ton of interest in rolling over yet. You have figured out how to grab the dangling animals on the mat and that sometimes keeps you entertained while I work out. 

Your brother and sister are still doing a good job with you. Squish loves to chat with you and always pulls your chair right over next to him at meal time so he can talk to you while he’s eating. 

For the most part nursing is still going well. We got your tongue tie clipped when you were a week old,  but after a few months, I suspected that you still had a bit of a tongue tie. You were still needing frequent feeding, not gaining a ton of weight, gumming the nipple, making clicking noises when you nursed, etc. Yesterday we went to a pediatric dentist nearby that specializes in tongue and lip ties who told us that you still had a class 2 tongue tie and a class 3 lip tie. They released both of them yesterday with a laser. The whole process took about 1 minute. We have stretches to do 3x a day for 3 weeks and go back in a week to see how it’s healing. 

After that, we headed to the doctor for your 4-month appointment. While you’ve always been smaller than your brother and sister (more in the 30-40th percentile vs the 90th), at this visit you had dropped down to the 9th percentile for weight. However, you were still in the 85th percentile for height and the 75th for head circumference. 

The suspicion is that you’ve been working really hard to nurse, ie burning a lot of calories, so we’re hoping now that the ties have been released, nursing will be easier and you’ll be more effective at it so we’ll go back in one month to recheck your weight. I’m not overly concerned. Whereas your siblings looked more like daddy did as a baby (a little plumper), you seem to be taking after your mama as a baby (long and lean). 

For the most part, you’re a happy baby. You have your days/times of the days when you’re angry but other days you’re perfectly content to sit with me and watch your siblings do their thing. 

Sleep is not your forte….you have not discovered the long stretches of sleep yet, but that’s ok…we’ll get there. (Also hoping the tongue and lip tie releases will help with that)

You’ve found your voice and love to chatter and scream. Very soon you’ll be ready to be buckled into your stroller for walks and to start using the jumper for a few minutes during the day.

You’re wearing size 2 diapers and mostly 6-month clothes. You still don’t have much hair but it’s slowly starting to come in a little bit. You’re not a huge fan of baths, probably because you don’t get very many. You love chewing on blankets and for the most part, you’re good about using your pacifier.

It’s been fun to watch you grow and I think the next few months is when the fun will really start as you start to sit up, roll over more and even start solids in a couple of months!

Mama loves you.

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Dear Nolan,

This past week you hit the two-month mark! How’d that happen? I did these monthly updates for your brother and sister so I’m making my best effort to do them for you as well. They might be shorter (third kid problems) but I’ve loved being able to look back at theirs so I want to do the same for you.

At your two month appointment, which was about a week early, you were 11 pounds, 9 oz and 23 inches long. You’re the smallest of the three of you but still growing! Up from 7 pounds, 15 ounces when you were born. Here’s month 1 vs month 2:

You’re in size 2 diapers and wearing 3 month, 3-6 month and even some 6 month clothes. I’m exclusively breastfeeding you on demand and just like with your sister, I follow your lead. Since I’m working from home and with you all day, I just feed you whenever you want to eat. After an initial hiccup with not gaining weight after we left the hospital, you’re back on track and haven’t had any trouble nursing. You also sleep when you want to sleep. I know some people follow stricter schedules but this is working for us. Just in the last week, I’ve noticed you’re starting to fall more clearly into the eat, play, sleep cycle vs just sleeping all the time. On a good night, you sleep a 4-hour stretch and then a 2-2.5 hour stretch. On a bad night, you’re up every 2 hours.

You are so much calmer than your sister was at this age and I couldn’t be more grateful. You usually only cry when you’re hungry, overtired or want to be held and you typically settle down as soon as someone holds you. That was not the case with her!

You LOVE the Ergo and it’s a good thing because you spend a whole lot of time in there. You are distinctly unphased by the loudness of your brother and sister and can sleep peacefully in the Ergo while they literally scream right in your ear. You don’t mind your car seat unless you’re in it and we’re not moving. And you love your pacifier.

At 8 weeks I started to transition you out of the swaddle. You’re my first baby who liked to be swaddled so I’d never done that transition before. Things didn’t go so well with one arm in/one arm out, but you’re actually doing much better now (after a rough few nights) with both arms out. You’ve been sleeping flat on your back in the pack and play since about 2 weeks which is also different from your siblings.

During the day you occasionally hang out in the rock and play or your little chair if you can see what’s going on and when I do my workouts, you lay on your activity mat…sometimes happily, sometimes screaming. You don’t mind tummy time and sometimes take a quick cat nap on your stomach.

Your brother and sister love you, but Squish is especially fond of you. He likes to get ALL UP IN YOUR FACE and talk to you, but luckily you don’t seem to mind. You actually give him the biggest smiles out of anyone.

You don’t do a ton of cooing yet but we can usually coax a smile out of you if we try hard enough. All in all, you’re a wonderful baby and mommy is definitely soaking up as many snuggles as she can get.

Love you!

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Dear Alyssa –

Last week you turned 10 months old! Hard to believe your birthday is right around the corner. Catch up on previous monthly updates here:

• Months 1 & 2
• Month 3
• Month 4
• Month 5
• Month 6
• Month 7
• Month 8 
• Month 9

And read Squish’s 10-month update here!

You continue to be quite the eater. You will eat pretty much anything and everything we put in front of you. I’m not quite sure where you put it all. You love fruit, avocado, sweet potatoes, roasted carrots, Cheerios, yogurt, peanut butter toast, eggs and more. You’re not crazy about zoodles or black beans but that’s about it so far.

You eat way more food than your brother did at this age (which I didn’t think was possible) and occasionally even eat more than he does now!

You’re also still nursing. I continue to feed you on demand so there’s no real pattern to when or how often you nurse but it’s rarely for more than 10-15 minutes at a time, several times throughout the day.

Your sleeping habits left something to be desired this month. After a couple month stretch of solid 12 hour nights with one wake up to eat, this month you reverted back to waking up 3-4 times a night and skipping naps for about 2 weeks straight. You haven’t gotten any more teeth and you weren’t sick so I’m not really sure what was going on…but the second half of the month your nighttime sleeping got a little better, although you’re still refusing to nap more than 20-30 minutes a couple times a day

Your brother started early preschool this month. It’s 2 mornings a week from 8:30-11:30 and mommy had high hopes that the timing would work out well and I could drop him off, put you down for a nap and have a couple hours to work. You seem to have other ideas so we’ve been spending our mornings together laughing, talking and playing with all of your brother’s toys.

You continue to be obsessed with your brother. You watch everything he does, smile whenever he looks at you and try to steal his toys. Mommy and daddy have to run a lot of interference but occasionally you play together and it’s so cute. He’s even started singing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star to you when you cry in the car and it melts my heart. He loves coming in to wake you up in the morning or after a nap and when you cry he tells me you’re tired and need to take a nap.

You love your blankie. It’s one of the only things that calms you down immediately and you’re happiest when you’re sleeping with it shoved in your mouth.

You’re a water baby for sure and a fearless one at that. We set up the slip and slide a couple times this month and you went down it with gusto several times. You also love sitting under the water in the shower and crawling around in the swimming pool.

You’re in the phase where you want to put everything in your mouth so trips to the playground etc are tricky. I’m constantly watching to make sure you’re not shoving rocks and mulch into your mouth.

For the most part, you’re a happy girl but when you’re not happy OHHHHH BOY do you let us know it. Usually, it’s related to lack of food or sleep but you still have your moments when you seem to exercise your lungs for no good reason.

You’re not walking yet but you love standing up. In fact, stand up, sit down, stand up is one of your favorite games. You love pulling anything you can reach onto the floor, your music table, your stacker rings and any toy your brother happens to be playing with.

You’re wearing 12 month, 12-18 month and 18 month clothing. Some of your 6 months pants (and 6-12 month onsies) still fit but are more capris than pants.

You chatter constantly and dadada is your newest sound. You’re a master stair climber but are not good at going back down them. You’re a tough little one and love to wrestle with your brother who hasn’t quite mastered the gentle touch when playing with you.

Mommy is patiently waiting for your hair to come in so you can have ponytails, braids etc.

You love your daddy, could care less about TV, are obsessed with chewing on iphones, and hate lying down to get your diaper changed.

Mama loves you, sweet girl.

LEARN HOW FOOD AFFECTS YOUR BODY.

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Hi friends!

Considering Little Miss is almost 10 months old, I figured it was time to sneak in our latest day in the life post.

In case you’ve missed them previously, you can find them here:

Day in the Life – 2.5 Years + 6 Months
Day in the Life – 26 Months + 2 Months
Day in the Life – 21 Months
Day in the Life – 18 Months
Day in the Life – 15 Months
Day in the Life – 12 Months
Day in the Life – 9 Months
Day in the Life – 6 Months
Day in the Life – 3 Months

 Per usual, no two days are the same, but we’ve gotten into a pretty good routine and the overall structure of most days is pretty similar. Here’s what life looks like lately. This was Monday, August, 26th:Sleep is probably the most inconsistent part of our days. Since my last day in the life post, Little Miss has finally figured out how to sleep. Right around 7 months she FINALLY started sleeping decently at night and this mama was so relieved. For the past two months, she’s been sleeping 8-8 most nights, with one wake up around 4:30 to eat. There were also a handful of nights where she slept straight through without waking up to eat – heavenly!Last week, she hit a rough patch and was up 3-4 times per night for several nights in a row. I thought maybe some teeth were coming in, but they haven’t shown up yet. Luckily, she seems to be back to normal this week so she was only up once, around 4.6:30AM – Squish wakes up. This is pretty typical for him lately. Gone are the days where he slept into the 7 or 8 o’clock hour. He’s up and ready to go (and oh so loud) by 6:30 every day. He comes to get me and we head downstairs where I make us breakfast – fruit, pb&j toast and a fried egg for him and toast with avocado and egg and lots of coffee for me.7:00AM – Squish finally finishes eating. He can turn eating a slice of toast into a half hour process. I grab my computer and we head downstairs. He watches PBS and I send emails, read blogs, work on blog posts of my own, etc.8:00AM – Squish gets a snack – usually Love Grown Sea Stars and baby girl wakes up. Daddy gets her up and changed and brings her down while I make them some eggs.8:00AM – Baby girl eats a fried egg, avocado and blueberries. Then it’s playtime with daddy before he goes to work while I run around like crazy starting laundry, calling to schedule appointments, pay bills etc.8:30AM – Daddy leaves for work. I nurse the baby. TV goes off and we play. This mostly consists of Little Miss trying to steal all of Squish’s toys, me running interference, some tears and finally each of them settling on something to entertain them.9:30AM – Little Miss goes down for a nap and it’s Mommy and Squish time. The hardest part of the first 6-7 months after baby was born is that there was literally never a time when I was without her. She was either screaming, or I was holding her, or I was feeding her. Once she finally turned the corner around 7 months, she started napping (IN HER CRIB) and it gave Squish and I some alone time together which has been so nice. We do all sorts of fun things – projects, crafts, playing outside, trains, swings etc. And we almost always spend some time in the kitchen. On this day we made banana baked oatmeal and texas sheet cake and then headed outside to the swingset until she woke up.10:30AM – Little Miss is up after a one hour nap, which is pretty typical. I get her dressed, give her a snack, negotiate a diaper change with Squish, pack them into the car and we head to the library.11:00AM – Library time. Squish loves playing new games on the iPad and they have Little Miss loves all the toys they have.12:00PM – Home for lunch. They shared a Peach Zucchini Smoothie.12:30PM – Naptime. This consists of getting Squish into bed and reading him a few books while Little Miss either entertains herself on the floor or stands next to the bed and screams. Once he’s down, I nurse her and put her down as well.12:30PM – Hubby comes home for lunch and I get to work. This is pretty much my only uninterrupted time all day so if I need to take pictures for a blog post, this is when I try to get it done. I also test recipes, write blog posts, do work for Regan, do laundry, empty the dishwasher and once in a blue moon, actually take a nap.1:30PM – Baby is up after 45 minutes. She’s still not a a great napper but at least she’s taking some now so I try to embrace that. I can typically distract her with toys and snacks for another half hour or so after she gets up so I can get a little more work done before giving up. Then we usually head downstairs and play.3:00PM – Squish is up and it’s snack time. On this day I was testing a recipe so I made some Baked Oatmeal French Toast Sticks that they both enjoyed. Then we play some more….both inside and outside.4:15PM – I squeeze in a quick workout. The timing of my workout varies day to day based on their moods. Sometimes I’m able to sneak it in during naptime. Sometimes I wait until hubby gets home. Sometimes I do it while both kids are screaming out in the garage with me. My workouts rarely last longer than 30 minutes.4:45PM – Little Miss goes down for another nap. I turn on Disney Channel for Squish and immediately start dinner. I work on dinner and play outside with Squish. Hubby comes home around 5 and starts his workout around 5:30.6:00PM – Dinner is served. Some nights all 4 of us eat together. Some nights I feed the kids and eat with them and hubby eats later. I also deal with a ridiculously anxious dog every night while hubby works out (he hates the sounds of the gym).7:00PM – Family hangout time. We watch tv, play etc.8:00PM – Bedtime. We put Squish to bed first and then get Little Miss ready. I nurse her and then put her to bed as well. Then I take a shower.9:00PM – Time for more work and Ninja Warrior with hubby.11:00PM – Reading and bed.Enjoy!
–Lindsay–LEARN HOW FOOD AFFECTS YOUR BODY.

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Dear Alyssa-

Well Little Miss, you’re 9 months old. And that means your first birthday is approaching so fast I can hardly stand it! Catch up on previous monthly updates here:

• Months 1 & 2
• Month 3
• Month 4
• Month 5
• Month 6
• Month 7
• Month 8

And read Squish’s 9-month update here!

Mommy took you to your 9-month appointment this morning and you’re doing great! You weigh 19 pounds, 4 ounces (68th percentile) and are 28.5 inches (81st percentile). For comparison, your brother was 22 pounds and 30.5 inches at 9 months.

Let’s talk food first. Simply put, you love it. I’m pretty sure you eat even more than your brother did at this age, which is impressive. You eat pretty much anything I give you. The only thing you’ve spit out so far is roasted red peppers.  If there is other food available, Cheerios no longer do the trick. You want to be eating whatever anyone else is eating and scream oh so loud if we don’t give it to you quickly enough.

You’re still nursing. Usually you nurse before bed, once during the night, when you wake up and then a time or two during the day. Mommy had a plugged duct that was no fun, but for the most part nursing is going well for both of us.

This has been your best month of sleep. For most of the month you went to bed around 8pm, woke up once to nurse around 4am and then went back down until 8 or 8:30. It was heavenly. The past few days you even had a few nights where you slept straight through without waking to eat. You continue to be ready for your morning nap not long after you wake up. If we’re home, you’re usually down for a nap by 9:30am but the length varies. You take your afternoon nap around 12:30 and usually wake up around 2:30 and then some days you take a short 30-40 minute nap around 5:30 as well.

You’re constantly on the move. You’ve mastered crawling and pull yourself up to a standing position pretty much any chance you get. You hate laying down so you’re always either sitting or standing. You have also mastered climbing the stairs which is making mommy’s life a little more challenging. You’ve also taken a few steps walking behind a push walker but seem more interested in standing than walking.

You love your brother more than anything and watch his every move like a hawk. He loves coming to get you after your nap and has actually started to play with you a little bit some days which is fun to watch. However, now that you’re on the move, you’re always trying to take touch him and take his toys….which doesn’t go over very well. But we’re working on it.

This month you:

• Went to the zoo
• Started getting used to sitting in your play yard which mommy and daddy work out in the garage
• Went to touch a truck
• Played outside a lot
• Went to the fair
• Took your first shower – you LOVE showers and love sitting in there with your brother
• Picked peaches
• Had your first tastes of ice cream and funnel cake

You love to blow bubbles with your lips and although you don’t chatter as much as your brother did, you can still be vocal if you want to be. For the most part you’re a happy baby -now 🙂 – unless you’re tired or hungry. You love your sit and stand activity table, your brothers trains and chewing on crayons. You hate getting your diaper changed, love your blankie and don’t like to be left out…you want to be in the middle of everything.

Mama loves you baby girl.

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Dear Alyssa-

Here we are with a month 8 recap, albeit about a week late…but I didn’t forget! In case you missed previous updates, you can read them here:

• Months 1 & 2
• Month 3
• Month 4
• Month 5
• Month 6
• Month 7

And just for fun, here is Squish’s 8-month update.

This month was by far your biggest month. Most noteably, YOU’RE FINALLY SLEEPING!!! Can I get a hallelujah?! Your brother finally figured out how to crawl out of the crib, which means he upgraded to his big boy bed and we moved the crib into your room. Until a few weeks ago you were sleeping in the pack and play in our room.

You took the transition to your crib and sleeping in your own room like a champ. You now typically go to sleep around 8 or 8:30 in your crib and sleep until 3:30 or 4. I feed you, put you back in your crib and you usually sleep until around 7am. AND you’ve started napping in your crib. Now that we’ve closed the gym, we’re home most mornings which means you can get a solid morning nap for the first time in your life. You usually go down around 9:30 and sleep for about 2 hours. After 7 months of pretty much no sleep for either of us (at night or during the day), this mama is in heaven. Most days you’ll take a second nap around 4pm but it’s typically fairly short.

In other news, you’ve figured out how to crawl. You’ve been figuring it out for a few weeks now and crawling a few feet at a time but last week something clicked and you’re all over the place now! You also figured out how to stand up and love to pull yourself up to stand at the ottoman, couch, mommy and daddy’s legs and more! This is very similar to the timeline your brother followed as I was writing about all of these things in his 8 month update as well.

One thing you’re ahead of him on is teeth! We had a few rough days that required Tylenol because your first TWO teeth came in on the bottom!!

As far as food goes, you love it. I thought your brother ate a lot but you are definitely holding your own and eating as much if not more than he did at this age. We’re doing a modified babyled weaning approach with you as well…which basically means we don’t do purees, but I give you small pieces instead of big chunks to gnaw on because I just can’t get over my choking anxiety. We have yet to find a food you don’t like. After a little allergy scare where you got a red patch on your face after having peanut butter and I was worried you had an allergy, we’ve determined that it was just a coincidence and you in fact tolerate peanut butter just fine! You love Cheerios, fruit, corn, sweet potatoes, noodles, muffins, meat and more! This upcoming month I plan to introduce you to yogurt and a few other types of nut butter!

You’re still nursing, although the frequency is decreasing. Your best nursing session is your one early morning wakeup. You also do pretty well when you wake up a second time. During the day it’s hit or miss, depending on how distracted you are but I usually sneak in 1-2 sessions and then a longer one before bed. Unfortunately, you seem to have inherited your brother’s pooping issues so we’re battle poop pains and constipation just like we did with him, however, it’s not quite as extreme as it was with him.

Speaking of your brother, you love him! You continue to have nothing but smiles for him and watch his every move like a hawk. I have a feeling the month ahead will be a little rough now that you’ve figured out how to crawl and you have an eye for his toys. His splits his energy between ignoring you, saying “No Lyssie” when you touch his stuff and occasionally being heart-meltingly sweet to you.

Other activities this month:

• We celebrated Father’s Day.
• We visited a few splash pads
• You became even more attached to your lovie blanket to sleep with
• You attempt to put anything and everything in your mouth
• You’ve developed an insanely loud pterydactyl-type screech if I don’t feed you fast enough
• We went blueberry picking
• You had your first babysitter
• Mimi and grandpa visited
• We made several trips to the library

Mama loves you, sweet girl. After so many months of tears, it’s so much fun to have a baby that’s happy and smiley most of the time – unless you’re tired or mommy or daddy leave you. I’m sure next month will be equal parts challenging and exciting as you embrace your newfound mobile freedom!

Love,
Mama

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Dear Alyssa –

It’s time for another update! In case you missed any, check out the previous updates here:

• Months 1 & 2
• Month 3
• Month 4
• Month 5

We’ve officially made it through half a year! You hit six months last weekend and we were at the doctor bright and early Monday morning for your six month appointment and shots.

Here’s a side by side of you and your brother at six months. He was 20 pounds, 5 ounces and 28 inches long (90th and 95th percentile). You are currently 16 pounds, 12 ounces and 27 inches long (63rd and 89th percentile). You’re long and lean just like your mama was as a baby.

This month was full of a lot of firsts:

• You celebrated your first Easter.
• You took your first long car trip to Chicago. You slept the entire 6 hours on the way there and about 4 hours on the way back. That’s way longer than you ever sleep at home!
• You rode facing forward in the stroller like a big girl.
• You tried a few foods – we’ve let you nom on some things like apple slices, cucumber slices and green beans over the past few weeks but last weekend I gave you some avocado to actually swallow. You thought it was ok, but you’re currently still more interested in chewing on paper.

The plan in the upcoming weeks is to start introducing you to more foods, letting you sit in the high chair, giving you some Cheerios to practice grabbing, etc. You’re a little bit behind where your brother was at this point but that’s just fine. You do things at your own pace.

You can sit up, but for the most part you choose not to by locking out your legs and insisting that we help you stand or hold you. You’re wearing size 3 diapers and mostly 6 month and 9 month clothing. You’ve found your feet and now really dislike it when they’re covered up and you can’t get to them.

You’re happiest when mommy is holding you but you’re starting to let daddy hold you more without crying. He likes to read books with you. You even let grandpa and aunt Katie hold you without crying while we were in Chicago as long as you could see mommy. And you happily let mommy carry you around everywhere in the Ergo.

We got some family pictures taken this month and we actually got some of you smiling! You don’t have any teeth yet but I think one or two are going to poke through soon since you’re chewing on everything and drooling.

You’re still nursing and doing pretty well with it, with the exception of getting a little distracted sometimes. I feed you on demand and that seems to work well for you. I recently tried again to get you interested in a pacifier but you’re just not into them. You’ll suck your thumb occasionally when you’re in your carseat but still aren’t doing it regularly.

You are are terrible sleeper, baby girl. You continue to not really nap and the past few weeks have been especially rough at night. On a good day you’ll take a short morning nap in your carseat and then some sort of nap while I’m holding you after nursing in the afternoon. I can usually get you to sleep by 9 or so and on a good night, you’ll sleep until 1 and then wake up to eat every two hours or so after that. You’d sleep in my arms all night every night if I let you. On bad days you literally don’t nap at all and you go to sleep late and are up for long stretches every couple hours. Your mama is tired. You have discovered sleeping on your stomach though and you seem to prefer that now that you can flip over on your own. The goal for this month is to work on getting some sort of afternoon nap in the crib and letting you practice putting yourself back to sleep during the night. I’m not holding my breath that either will go well 🙂

Just like your brother was at this age, you want to put everything in your mouth. You have a couple of toys you love to chew on, but also like to grab blankets, fingers, etc when you can reach them.  Most days you’re fairly happy until late afternoon/evening which are still kinda rough with you…but a vast improvement over your younger months.

I think this next month will be a big one for you and we’re so excited to keep watching you grow!

Mama loves you!

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Hi Friends!

For a while I was doing pretty well at publishing one of these every 3 months. I missed one right around the time Little Miss was born/Squish turned 2…but I’m jumping back in and i’ll try to keep up!

In case missed any of my previous posts, I’ve been writing one every 3 months since Squish was born. You can find the links below:

Day in the Life – 21 Months
Day in the Life – 18 Months
Day in the Life – 15 Months
Day in the Life – 12 Months
Day in the Life – 9 Months
Day in the Life – 6 Months
Day in the Life – 3 Months

Let me preface this post by saying that there is no normal right now. Every day is different. But this was Monday of this week. The photos are taken quickly on my phone and unedited..but that’s life 🙂

4:45 – Baby gets up. Lately, she’s been sleeping until at least 6 so this is pretty early. I go downstairs, grab my computer, start the coffee and settle in to feed her and get some work done. Hubby coaches a couple of our morning CrossFit classes a week so he leaves to coach at little after 5.

5:00 – 7:30 –  I work on Healthy Aperture stuff and stuff for my blog while also trying to feed and entertain baby. Hubby comes home around 6:45 and hangs out with us for a few minutes before going back to bed for a little while.

7:30 -Squish wakes up. I change him and feed him breakfast while drinking my coffee.

8:00 – 9:00 – We play and I feed the baby again.

9:00 – Put everyone in the car and leave for the gym. I coach our 9:30 class two days a week. Squish watches his tablet and runs around the gym. Baby falls asleep around 9:30.

10:45 – Home from the gym. I make my morning oatmeal and Squish eats some with me.

11:00 – 12:30 – We play. Baby wakes up at 11 so I feed her, deal with her second blowout of the day, follow Squish around to his various playrooms.

12:30 – Lunch. Daddy comes home and we all hang out in the kitchen. Not pictured, baby screaming, squish falling off stool and screaming, etc.

1:00 – 3:00 Naptime for Squish. I try to get work done, write my Bean Bytes post and also feed and deal with baby who doesn’t sleep and alternates between happy and fussy.

3:00 – 4:00 – Squish wakes up, we have a snack, play, feed baby, do some chores, etc.

4:00 – Back to gym. Daddy coaches our 4:30 class and I workout. Usually baby falls asleep around this time but she’s been up since 11 and still not interested in sleeping.

6 :00- Home to make and eat dinner with Squish. Baby is still awake and screaming.

6:45 – 7:45 Squish watches Thomas while I feed the baby and then walk around holding a screaming baby and a phone blaring a hair dryer noise to try to keep her somewhat calm.

7:45 – Daddy comes home. Squish hangs out with him for a little while.

8:15 – Squish goes to bed, baby finally falls asleep for a few minutes and I take a shower.

8:45 -Sit down to write a freelance article and baby wakes up screaming.

8:45 – 9:45 – Deal with baby and try to answer a few emails on my phone.

9:45 – She’s finally hungry so I feed her while writing a freelance article.

10:45 – She’s done eating and finally asleep so I put her upstairs, feed the animals, eat a snack, get the coffee ready for the morning, etc.

11:15 – Bed.

Here’s my Snapchat story for the day! Follow me: leangreenbean1

Like I said, every day is different. This was Monday. On Tuesday:

• I got up at 6 to work.
• Hubby didn’t coach in the morning.
• Baby slept until 7.
• Squish slept til 8.
• I worked out at 9:30.
• Squish asked to take a nap at 12:15 – before he’d eaten lunch (unheard of!)
• Squish spent the afternoon screaming bloody murder.
• Baby took an afternoon nap.
• Both kids screamed for a while simultaneously.
• We didn’t go to the gym in the afternoon.
• Squish took a shower.
• Squish ate dinner by himself while I fed baby.
• Daddy came home at 6:30.
• Squish went to bed at 7:15.
• We ate dinner at 7:30.
• I drank a beer because…toddler getting his molars.
• Baby was asleep by 10:30.

On Wednesday Baby and I were up working and eating at 5:30. You get the picture!

Let’s chat:

How does this compare to your Monday this week?

Enjoy!
–Lindsay–

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