Amelia Jane - nine months old

Well. This post is a month late. I have a good excuse! Kind of. The background fabric for this month is a tablecloth that belongs to my mom. I didn't have the foresight to get it from her until after Amelia was nine months old, and she couldn't get it to me until she another week after that, so these pictures were taken quite late. And then I had to edit them, which was challenging, and I didn't have much motivation because Christmas, and then this post needed to be written. So basically, you will get two posts almost back to back. One of them will be shorter. Disclaimer done.

This month has been so great! Amelia is blossoming. Truly, she is hardly recognizable from the baby she was a few months ago. I attribute it to a few things. One, she's just getting older, more comfortable with this world and the life going on around her. Two, she's sitting up and scooting around a lot so she isn't as limited. Three, she's eating real foods and loving it. Four, she's learned that she doesn't need to be with Mom every single second of the day. Can you believe there are other things and people out there that aren't scary? She can, now. :)

Nursing is great. I don't keep track of exactly when I feed her, but I do believe we've dropped one feeding, maybe two, now that she's eating a lot of food. That's not saying much since she nursed so very much before, but I can see that we are on the decline with nursing and it is kind of fascinating to see how that works. I've never gotten to this point before. With the other two, I found myself losing production and desperately wanting to stop that. This time, it's natural because it's what happens as she transitions to food providing the calories and nutrients she needs. We still have a few more months of milk being her main source, but the end is in sight.

She eats great and doesn't seem picky about anything. I've experimented with giving her food in it's whole form and she is amazing at taking bites. For example, I give her a piece of buttered bread, broken into quarters, and she picks up each piece and takes bites instead of stuffing the whole thing in her mouth (ah hem, Audrey). I hover over her when I do this, waiting for her to try to do that, but so far she's been very sensible about it. It's entertaining to see other people's reactions to this because they always want to leap in and rescue her from danger but then are pleasantly surprised when she takes dainty little bites.

She also uses a straw like a champ (there was basically no "learning" this, she just knew how. amazing.) and has a sippy cup in the diaper bag and one at each meal that she can kind of man handle. Sometimes she is lazy and will try to drink without using her hands, ending with us all laughing hysterically as she fishes for it, kind of like bobbing for apples. The diaper bag also has her beloved puffs and animal crackers. Man, they really save the day. I don't even care that it's boring and not creative, having those as fall backs has worked fabulously.

Sleep has been okay. She's still great at going to bed awake and falling asleep happily. She just needs her pacifier, sound machine, and a blanket. No problem. I just wish she'd sleep through the night! She still wakes up to eat at 10:30, 1:30, 4 or 5:30, and then is up for the day way too early at 6:15. We are working on sleep training so hopefully next month I will have a better report.

One other thing to mention with her sleep is that she can go from napping in the car (a quick 5 minute nap or a longer one) to waking up, nursing or eating, and then back to bed with hardly any problems. Almost all of the other kids in my life have not been able to do this so car naps have always been terrible. I don't take this for granted; Amelia rocks at this!

Charming as always, now she adds a happy wave with her big grin and everyone is immediately smitten. Hide and seek is a favorite, and we've been singing "Open Shut Them" which always gets her grinning or at least distracted when needed.

I've been working on her jabbering, because suddenly she's becoming a lot more verbal. If I say "mamamama" she repeats back to me "papapapapa." She thinks she's hilarious when she does it, too. She also loves when we sing back and forth to each other. I match what she sings, then she changes it a little and we do it over and over. She jabbers in her crib when she's supposed to be sleeping and sometimes does it so loud I'm not sure if she's trying to yell at or for me or what. It's fun to hear her sweet voice, though. She was quiet for so long.

She still loves grabbing at my face or hubby's beard. I'm constantly pulling her fingers out of  my mouth or nose. Thankfully, she's gotten a little gentler now that she has a lot more hand control.

At her nine month appointment, we learned that she's 16 lb 9 oz. At just under ten months, that puts her at 16% which is a small jump up from her last measurement. I'm not surprised by this, since she's obviously been growing and is looking a bit more filled out, but I was pleased to see it and have the doctor affirm all of this. She's still just a peanut, but she's growing at a good rate and it's just the way she's meant to be, I guess. Genetics are crazy.

Our doctor spent a while watching her stand and move around. Millie spends a lot of her standing time on her heels, which is kind of opposite of most babies. It's more common that they'd stand on their tip toes. She also positions herself with her ankles turning out a lot, making her toes point to the sides more than forward. It's not a problem necessarily, but she does want to keep an eye on it. I personally think that she hasn't crawled or stood on her own yet because those two things make it a lot harder for her balance. She's getting better all the time, so more than likely it will correct itself, but like the doctor said, we'll keep watching it. Also, it should be noted that they checked her hips and knees and they seemed fine.

Here are the sisters all together! I think it's my favorite part of each photo shoot. The coloring was rough but the expressions and sweet little faces shine through. Oh, these three. They just get me every time.

Isn't this the greatest?? All three, hardly ever happens

Never a shortage on kisses around here.

And the comparison collage. Her legs and feet are just looking teeny tiny this month. Both Audrey and Josie had plumped up more when eating real food, but I guess since Amelia started from a smaller weight at six months, she has more catching up to do. I remember Josie being so wiggly during this little photo shoot, and Audrey laid perfectly and gave me this winning shot right away. Amelia was more random, sneaking in great smiles here and there. Each girl is so different. I love those differences as much as I love seeing how they are similar. Each characteristic they have is so fun to discover.

 I can't believe she's already this close to being a year old. Yikes! It's going so fast. Love this baby lady and her sweet, smiley, ever loving heart!

Amelia Jane - eight months old

It took three mini photo sessions to get these pictures taken. I haven't found a great place in the house that doesn't cast a lot of shadows, and then you throw in a fussy baby for half of the time, and it seemed impossible. Thankful to have them done!

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 great little lady our Amelia Jane is becoming. We love you Millie Moo, Mimi, Milbil, Milbie, Mia girl!

Amelia Jane - Seven months old

Seven months is somehow more fun than six. Amelia seems to be hitting her stride more and more. This month, she has been much more engrossed with her toys, enough that I can walk away for a minute and she doesn't panic every single time. She still does this, just not as often.

She is fully sitting now. It's funny how quickly they can go from barely sitting, then assisted, to fully sitting unassisted. She can sit up for quite a while (20+ minutes) before getting tired, and a lot of times she just gracefully falls over and will play on her tummy when she is too tired to sit up. She's nowhere close to getting to the sitting position on her own, but she's pretty good about falling down in a way that she doesn't hurt her head. 

Just recently, she's started scooting around. She propels herself forward with her legs and is able to get a few feet by doing this. Suddenly, nothing seems to be out of reach for her and we are all adjusting to this new reality. Audrey in particular is constantly worried about Amelia getting her toys (or any toy not deemed a baby's). She doesn't get mad, but she does run around moving everything farther away. I try to remind her to trade her a different toy, but more often than not Amelia ends up toyless and confused.

Another wonderful development that goes with sitting is being able to be in her high chair while I'm in the kitchen and dining room. Such a game changer! I throw a handful of cheerios on her tray, or some cooked veggies, and she's as happy as can be. At the beginning of the month, she wasn't so good at actually getting food into her mouth, but in just a few short weeks she has figured out how to manipulate her fingers to get the tiny cheerios or pieces from inside her fist to inside her mouth. Less and less ends up on the floor when she's actually hungry and not just playing. She is eating whatever we eat, just cut up into small pieces. I do give her crackers (ritz mostly) whole because she's really good at taking bites and if she gets too much it just dissolves in her mouth or falls onto the tray. Great practice.

Her eating or snacking is a great tool to keeping her happy at the gym or when she's being held by others. It's the fastest way to her heart! She took a sippy cup with water in it one day, but we haven't really tried again since. She did manage to get some water, but it was an accident more than on purpose and she wasn't all that interested in it after that. I have a container of puffs in the diaper bag and usually a bag of cheerios along which works great for distraction when we are out and about. Always have to have tricks up my sleeve with how busy we can be.

Sleep. Sleep is our struggle as always. Two nights, she slept great and only woke up once. The rest of the nights are usually 2-5 times of waking up, eating, sometimes going back to sleep, sometimes demanding more milk, and sometimes just not wanting to sleep. As much as I hate and feel bad doing it, I've had hubby get up to get her back to sleep much more often. She is a lot better at going back to sleep when she sees him than me since he can't offer her the comfort of nursing. Plus, he has the magic touch for sure. He always has. I know that she wasn't sleeping great for a while because she was teething. She got in her third tooth, the upper right tooth. and the days leading up to that were rough. Now, the left side is causing her discomfort. It's obvious with how swollen it is. I feel for her! I just want it to break through already but it's taking it's time. {Update: it broke through! so much better sleep. Let's see if it lasts.} Her smile is so adorable with all the little white teeth peeking out. I'm not used to a baby this small having more than just the bottom two teeth. Both Audrey and Josie got the bottom two at four months and then didn't get more until they were at least 12 months. She's definitely a lot more different than those two.

Speaking of differences, she is later to crawl and was later to sit up. Like I said last month, she's held more and is a lot more clingy so she just hasn't had the opportunity to build up those muscles. On top of that, she's pretty little. We went to her six month appointment when she was 6 1/2 months old, and she was weighing in at 14.8 lbs which is only 10%. That was lower than last time, but the doctor wasn't concerned since she obviously grew with her height, 27 inches, 79%. That makes her weight to height ratio like 124% and her BMI at just .97. She is the very definition of long and lean, and I laugh at my old self for thinking that the other two were like this. They were much rounder and more average. (Josie was 27 inches long, 17 lb 10 1/2 oz and Audrey was 27 inches long, 15 lbs 8 oz). All girls were about the same length but were pretty drastically different for weight. Also, the percentages were different with each girl for length even with them being exactly the same. That is not very reliable...

Amelia's wardrobe is pretty intense. I sorted through 3-6 month, 6-9 month, and 6-12 month (so ridiculous, like 6 month and 12 month old babies are the same size?) and took out all of the winter clothes, plus a few I've picked up at second hand stores. There are a lot of options! I even took out what I knew she wouldn't wear (too wide, worn out, nothing matched it, etc) and it's a lot left over. She will be so well dressed, with nary a repeat of outfit to be seen. I've also been on a head wrap hunt and am eagerly awaiting those to come. Her hair hasn't grown in at all (as you can see in the pictures) so she still wears headbands or head wraps, my personal favorite, pretty much every day. She sometimes plays with them, but most of the time she just leaves them alone. It's no big thing to her.

Socially, she's really coming along. I pass her on to anyone willing because it's great practice. Sometimes she rocks it, other times she passes. I hear, "oh, she's a mama's girl!" pretty much daily (along with "wow! look at those blue eyes!" and "she is so alert!"). I try not be defensive when people comment on how tiny she is. Most of the time, it's meant as a sweet thing, like she's dainty, not underweight, but man some people just seem tactless at times. She's much more smiley and social, so we seem to draw even more people.

Nursing is still going great. We have a good rhythm down. It's so satisfying to see her pull off with a little milk on her lips, smiling hugely with a full belly. I really do love it. It's crazy to think that we are over halfway done (if we stop at a year) and that she's getting so close to being a toddler. I mean, really, with each kid that comes along they seem to grow up faster into being toddlers, just trying to keep up. I'm sure she won't be that much different, even though she looooves mama and seemingly could be held all the time.

Each passing month shows more and more personality. The girls play with her more, bringing her toys, taking away what she shouldn't have, making her laugh, kissing her endlessly. I finally got a great belly laugh out of her the other day, and I swear to you it was the best sound I've ever heard. She does not offer real laughs ever. Big smiles, yes, all the time, but she's very quiet. Not a lot of talking, jabbering, cooing. She does it, but more than anything she just takes it all in. How will she be when she's older? So exciting to think about.

The comparison shot. Millie's smile is so big and bright, Audrey's cheeks were delicious, and Josie's hair is amazing.