Amelia turned eight months old on October 12th. It's been a pretty good month. She's definitely turned a corner with her general mood. When she's healthy, she's generally happy. This month, though, we had a bugger of a cold run through the house. She was down for the count for about five days and those were long days for this mama. She had a fever and slept a lot, but when she wasn't sleeping she was nursing. Obviously, she was not herself, and I felt awful for her. She was so fussy and miserable. Thankfully, that's passed.
Right before she was sick, she gave me a tiny preview of what a full night's sleep was like. She only woke up once around 5:30-6 two nights in a row! It was beautiful. Then she got sick, and that was the end of that. After she got healthy again, she resumed waking up 2-4 times a night. She still goes right back to sleep after eating so the whole shebang only takes about 10 minutes, but I am missing legit sleep like whoa. I'm definitely feeling foggy for parts of the day and sneak in naps sometimes in the afternoons while she sleeps. Thankfully, she's settled into a great routine of napping 2-3 times a day with them being at least an hour long. They never last more than two, but they are pretty consistent. She'll often wake up fussing, but I can reposition her quickly and quietly and she'll go back to sleep. I have to stay on my toes and get in there before she fully wakes up, otherwise it's over.
She's gotten stronger but hasn't crawled yet. I did see her up on all fours a couple of times recently but it hasn't resulted in much. She spends most of her floor time sitting, then laying, rolling, and scooting. She also does a slow spin, so she's fairly mobile. She doesn't like her exersaucer so I should really just put that away. The only "baby tool" we use is her high chair, and boy do we use it! I put her in there while I'm cooking, cleaning, doing school with the older girls, and she is happy for up to 20 minutes. As long as she has a snack and something to watch, she's happy. Of course, I also can't leave her sight. Me being out of sight for too long will get her quite worked up.
Her top two teeth keep on growing in, and they are adorable. She does this adorable grin where she curls up her nose and upper lip, as if to really show them off. (See below.) It's just my favorite face she makes. It's always really fast so if you blink you might miss it. I can't believe I was able to capture it!
Food is a great filler for her. She likes almost everything but often times only wants 4-5 bites of one thing before being ready to move on to something else. I'm not always ready for this and she gets impatient with me. If she's truly hungry, she focuses and eats fairly quickly, but I try to nurse her before feeding her so she's getting the max amount of calories.She's still such a peanut, and I know that the breast milk is more calorie dense.
Amelia continues to be fascinated with her sisters. More and more, she peers over at them for long periods of time. I am able to set her down by them and walk away without her crying for me. They get smiles from her that I am unable to get. Whenever I get her and bring her into the room they are in, she is greeted with big smiles, hugs, kisses, and "Hi Millie!" She does her straight arm wave and grins from ear to ear. Their reunions are pretty great.
When daddy comes in the room, she's started lunging towards him (when I'm holding her). I give her to him if his hands are free, but she usually wants to come back to me fairly quickly. I'm glad she's happy to see him, though. It seems to always take at least six months for our babies to warm up to daddy. Once they do, they really do delight in him. Generally, I am able to have someone else hold her these days, at least for a few minutes, and she hardly ever cries when I drop her off at the gym child care. She still twirls her hands and turns her wrists when she's frustrated, hungry, or wanting me. Such a funny "tell" that she's had since she was born.
This month, we stayed at a hotel for a family wedding and went swimming in the pool. The water was cooler than normal, but she actually floated around in her little baby floatie for a solid ten minutes before wanting out. That's a record for the Deyle sisters! The older two never tolerated it, so I was pleased that we were all able to be in the water together without her screaming at me. After a while, she was done (we all were, it was cold) and we didn't try again, so I'm not sure if it was a fluke or if she just has more patience for it.
She's been doing well with napping in the stroller, too. She never did this before, but now that I can leave her in her carseat and push her back and forth with our stroller, she does great napping away from home. This is especially fascinating to me because she prefers her room over anywhere else for sleeping. It's hilarious how easy and fast it is to get her to sleep at home. She just lays on her side and zones out with her pacifier and blanket. I'm so thankful for this. I also wear her in the Beco baby carrier when we are doing activities with a lot of walking or playing. She never ever complains. It's so convenient and makes it easy to be right there with the big girls. She's still light enough that I never have any back aches and pains. I don't wear her on my back often, but when I do, she likes that too.
For clothing, she's still a solid 3-6 month (will she ever grow out of this size?) and I'm putting her in her 6-9 month clothes even with them being much too big. We need variety. Her cheeks seem to be a bit chubbier, and she's eating like a champ, but she doesn't hold onto much of it to get legit baby rolls. She's got an adorable pair of gray moccasins that are 3-6 month and they are gigantic on her. At least I know they'll fit all winter!
I think her eyes are getting even more blue, and the comments are never ending. It's especially entertaining when people notice that all three girls have bright blue eyes. I hear often, "Oh, look at this baby's beautiful blue eyes! And her sister, too! Oh, and the other one, well they all have such gorgeous eyes! How did that happen??" I'm the odd man out, I guess, with my hazel eyes. :)
She loves when we clap and when we clap her hands together. She loves waving (I have noticed her waving at people that are walking by even though they don't see her, at vehicles, at animals, and even at inanimate objects). She loves to stand and observe what's going on around her. She recently stood against the storm door glass (with me spotting her) and thought she was the best babe in the world.
I have a ridiculous amount of pictures of her this month, right?
Here's the comparison shot of all three girls. It's more obvious how different they are in weight here. And the hair is blatantly different. I forgot how red Audrey's skin used to be, and look at Josie's chubby legs! Amelia's smile continues to be the biggest, even though she's only partially smiling here.
I also got a bunch of great shots of all three girls. They've hit a sweet spot for group photos. I can often get them all looking and smiling, although I have to take a lot to get one without blurriness or weird expressions.
I just love these three so much! Look at them, just full of life.
What a little dolly, and could your babies be any different? Except, of course, for the blue eyes:)
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