Ava---6 months old!

 

what the ham sandwich?  my baby girl is 6 months.  i am both excited for all the new stuff she is going to be learning and also a little sad about how quickly she is growing up.  haha, this seems to be the theme about parenthood; emotions that seem dichotomous.  anyway, this last month has been busy, challenging, and stressful with some glimmers of joy.  ava has reached this stage of development where she is awake for most of the day, and demands to be held or entertained.  and she refuses to nap.  it is quite exhausting.  there has been a few times over the past month when i was going insane, having a really short temper and no patience at all, and so exhausted, and then i finally realized, it's partly because this baby girl ISN'T NAPPING anymore!  the heck?  so i NEVER get a break during the day.  and, she cries and screams and throws her arms and legs around if i put her down, or in the mamaroo, or her bouncer, or whatever spot that is not in mama's arms. and z is still very demanding and requires lots of my attention too. he's not quite so independent yet. right now i am in the middle of sleep training z for his naps, and Ava for her naps and night sleep and trying to transition her to her crib. it's so hard! my kids are just not good sleepers. Ava was but now she is not. actually, a few weeks ago i couldn't figure out what happened to my easy going, good sleeping, sweet baby girl, she seemed to have transformed into a whiny, cranky, demanding, non-sleeper. she kind of stopped napping around four months old, i think she went through that four month sleep regression. but now she was just really cranky and demanding, too. in fact, she really has been developing a will of her own. she gets really mad if she gets a toy taken away from her or it drops out of her hands. she gets so upset if i walk out of the room. she is very sensitive to loud noises or the slightest bump from her brother. sometimes it's kind of amusing how pissed off she gets if i take something away from her. she is still easy to smile and giggles a lot now, especially when she watches her brother playing or if he comes over and tickles her or otherwise engages in play with her. so the days are full of ups and downs, struggles and fun times. but i happened to pull up the next chapter in the book The Wonder Weeks and at week 26 she would go through a developmental leap. and she was 23 weeks. and the book described and explained EVERYTHING that miss A was doing, haha. it happens every time! so then it all made sense. this month we traveled to California again, this time to stay with my in-laws, and it was a really nice time. i love that they get to spend a good amount of time with the kids and the kids get a little spoiled by my hubs' family.  there was a lot of time at the park and in the backyard. baby girl did not want to dip her feet in the kiddie pool! Haha. i started her on solids recently. at first i just gave her tastes of avocado and puréed carrot and she wasn't super interested but then got more used to it. so when we were in Cali, my MIL made her some carrot and apple puree and roasted some sweet potato and she started to get the hang of it. now she eats avocado ( so excited because Z never has), apple, carrot, sweet potato, blueberry, and peas. i just read that it's not necessary to wait 3-4 days (unless you suspect your kid may have food allergies) between introducing a new food. so soon she will be eating more! i'll probably do puréed spinach, kale, pear, and broccoli next and introduce quinoa, and maybe some oatmeal cereal in a few weeks. since we got back home, i have decided to have a little more of a schedule for Ava to help facilitate regular naps and a little more structure. so yesterday, actually was the first day this week that it kind of went to plan. i have been referring to the babysleepsite.com website and after chatting with my bestie who has newborn twins, i decided on a course of action. miss A should still be taking 2-4 naps per day for a total of 2-3 hours of sleep. and the website suggests a 2-3-4 nap system with a routine of sleep, wake, eat, play, sleep to avoid sleep associations with nursing. and my bestie also suggested that because Ava was nursing every hour, perhaps she was just snacking and to nurse, play, then nap, then wake up and nurse--every 2 hours so that she gets a full meal of milk rather than just grazing all day. so yesterday actually went well. we did just that and baby girl took a 1.5 hour nap in the morning, 2 hours after waking up, and another 1.5 hour nap in the afternoon 3 hours after her first nap.  and we did that again today except she only napped for about 45 minutes in the morning. i'm also trying to get her to sleep in her crib at night but that isn't going so well. she has been waking up a lot. and because i'm so exhausted , after about the third time she wakes up i just take her back to my bed and nurse her to sleep. so i guess i'll keep trying this and see how it goes before making any adjustments. and i'm also trying to get z to fall asleep by himself for naps. usually i lay down next to him--me, Ava and Z, until he falls asleep, which can take anywhere from 15-45 minutes which is ridiculous! and the kids distract each other. i really love the time to cuddle with him but it's hard to do with both kids and he really just needs to learn to fall asleep by himself. so for this endeavor we lay in Z's bed, i read two books and sing 3 prayers and then he helps me set an alarm on my phone for 5 min. when time is up i leave the room and he has to fall asleep by himself. approximately 1.25 hours later he is asleep. no joke. at least for the first couple days. but like everything else i'm going to keep chugging along and hopefully he will be able to go to sleep quicker. but man, he does EVERYTHING to stall! it drives me insane! anyway, there are a lot of changes going on now. phew!

-feeding: nursing still every two hours and just starting solids as mentioned above

-growth: still seems like a petite little one, mostly in 6 month clothes although her 3 month pants are still fitting her, don't know her actual length and weight since her 6 month appointment isn't until next week, but maybe around 14 pounds, oh i forgot before but she has been in the cloth diapers for about 3 1/2 months now i think

-development: rolling both ways now and much more often, sitting up like a champ, if i set her down sitting up, and she sees something she wants to have, she will flip down onto her belly and try to roll over to get it haha, when i change her diaper now she starts rolling over onto her side or belly, is getting better with her hands, grabs into her feet a lot, grabs anything around her (she made me spill my coffee on the carpet!), seems to be teething because she gnaws on everything and runs her tongue on her bottom gums a lot, still tries to pull herself up to sitting from laying down, stands with assistance, her grip is super strong haha, she is just so active and aware now and interested in everything. she has changed a lot this month.

-sleep: has been terrible but at least naps seem to be getting better while she wakes more frequently at night. sigh.

-temperament: happy with bursts of crankiness. her personality is coming through, she is demanding and impatient now, loud, persistent, strong-willed, smiley, sometimes shy around strangers, loooooves her big brother, wants to have attention and for us to play with her more, she will be on the floor fussing but once one of us gives her attention she usually starts smiling and giggling.

-likes: sitting up, eating, playing, watching and interacting with Z, baths, chewing on stuff, being held, going outside

she is always sitting up now, even in places that she doesn't need to be sitting up in

-dislikes: being cold, being alone, loud noises, strangers, having her head/hair messed with, when she drops something or gets something she is holding taken away from her

-me: flip between going crazy and being happy but according to hubs i'm still pretty grumpy. i feel anxious and stressed most of the time. still trying to work on it but sometimes i can't control it. i think if the kids can sleep well without it taking 2 hours to get them down it will help a lot. having some free time to myself will help a lot. being able to exercise will help a lot. but i feel stuck right now like i can't really do any of it. and it's so frustrating and draining. luckily i feel like i'm starting to build my village; we have been getting together with the few other bahais in our small town, which has been so nice, and have been involved in some bahai activities in another city close by while z goes to bahai children's classes, i take the kids to my dear friend's house every week for another group for the little ones, and have been talking via facetime with my bestie every couple of days---sharing our difficulties and moments of joy.  it's been nice, cause we used to see each other nearly every day back in our single days, but now we live an hour apart and it's hard to get together often enough.  thank goodness for facetime.  anyway, some days are great and some days are challenging and most days are both at the same time, haha.  but i love these little stinkers.