Well…let’s just call a spade a spade and say that I SUCK at blogging now that I’m a mommy! It’s not that I don’t think about it at times, because I do, it’s just that I have WAY too much on my plate right now to make this a priority. I really hope I can do better, but I’m not going to make any promises. Life is very busy right now and I don’t see that changing anytime in the near future. I suppose you may be interested in a few updates?
On the house front, we’ve made HUGE progress and are currently under contract to have someone buy our home! The last several months have been difficult with the house- trying to keep it clean for showings/having to leave the house with the baby and two dogs anytime someone wants to see the house/having repairs done/looking for a new home/etc. This added a LOT of stress and work to my plate, but now I can see a light at the end of the tunnel. We close on the house on October 10th- I can’t wait! I’m actually going to Fayetteville tomorrow to look at several houses (some to buy/some to rent), so we’ll see what I think. At this point, we are thinking we will have to rent for a few months while we find the perfect home to buy. I hate to move twice, but I also don’t want to rush into anything…so we’ll see. Either way, very excited.
On the work front, things are going well (business/number-wise) and I actually have four new items hitting 2,500 Wal-Mart stores this week/next week. Business is good, but the stress of trying to keep up with everything (while being home with Fin) is really starting to take a toll on me. I’m use to being on top of everything…and knowing my business by heart…and always having the answers….and now I feel like I”m falling behind. I have a friend coming twice a week to help with Fin while I work (she’s amazing and Fin loves her and this has literally saved my sanity), but I’m hoping when I get to Fayetteville I can find someone else to come another couple of afternoons a week or something. I really need at least 20 hours of non-baby time to dedicate to work if I can. Or maybe 16 hours…somewhere along there. Definitely not 8. The short of it is that I need more help and I believe that after we get moved I’ll figure it out. Until then, it’s lots of late night and weekend work I suppose.
On the home front….well…besides the selling of the house and things related to that….and work and things related to that…it’s all about Finley Claire! OMG she’s a hot mess. You guys, seriously…this girl is live wire (as her Gram says)! You know that precious bundle of joy you envision just cuddling with and staring into her eyes and talking to? That little baby you peacefully bath and then rub lotion all over and snuggle goodnight to? That sweet angel that just nurses and looks at you with total love and adoration? Well…send her my way, cause I didn’t get any of that shit! LOL! This girl is busy busy busy….the most active baby I’ve ever been around, by far. You’d think I smoked crack or at least drank caffeine (for the record, I don’t)! Where do I even start? I guess I’ll do the main milestones since I last caught you up and go from there:
- At 5 months, Finley started sitting up on her own. At 5 1/2 months we started her off on rice cereal once a day since she was staring at our food all of the time. She immediately LOVED it! Also at 5 1/2 months she started the army crawl/scoot. It wasn’t really a crawl because her belly never left the floor, but she’d use her arms to pull and her feet to push and she’d get across the room like that. Before 6 months old, we tried several foods very gradually (introduced one new thing ever 4 days as per doctor’s orders)- green beans, sweet potatoes, peas, carrots and squash were introduced by 6 months.
- At 6 months old, we started Fin on oatmeal cereal instead of rice cereal…this immediately helped her have bowel movements more regularly (everyday now). We also introduced the following foods: spinach, avocado, apples, prunes, potatoes, peaches, pumpkin, broccoli and blueberries. Finley started using sippy cup around this age too, just with meals (and just with water). She hasn’t figured out how to tip it back and drink out of it on her own, but she does well if you hold it for her. It was right after her 6 month bday that she started pulling herself up. At first she’d just pull up on this activity cube that we have, but shortly after that she started pulling up on a few other things. This caused us to have to change bathtime, because once she could pull up, all she wanted to do in the baby bathtub was pull herself up and stand. So we ditched the baby bathtub and now she’s in a hamper in the big bathtub and likes that a lot more. She still stands up, but it’s less dangerous. =) The day before she turned 6 months she started crawling ‘regularly,’ and has just gotten faster and faster…and she also figured out how to go from sitting to crawling and then back to sitting. Month 6 was big month for Fin- her gaining some independence and mobility has really made her a happy baby.
- We are currently in month 7 and have added the following foods so far this month: corn, pears, zucchini, bananas, chicken and cherries. Finley is a crawling machine, getting from one room to another in no time flat. She follows me everywhere and is in to everything. She pulls up on anything she can get ahold of (chairs/your legs/couch/walls/dogs), and has even just stood up (no hands) twice that I’ve seen (she didn’t stay up for long, but she’s already testing it). She’s very vocal, but not saying any words at this point. She likes to play and explore and she likes to put anything/everything in her mouth. She’s a very funny, happy girl…as long as she’s getting what she wants. She’s a bit of a diva, which I hope goes away. Example- she won’t eat her veggies unless they are heated. Like straight up refuses/spits them out/chokes. No joke. In other big news this month, tonight I saw her FIRST TOOTH! I’m pretty sure it popped through yesterday (I told Chris I saw it but he didn’t see it)…and it sure does explain the bad sleeping last week and the horrible diaper rash she got all of a sudden a couple of days go. I can tell she’s feeling better now, thankfully. I was happy to see the tooth and know there was a reason she’d been ‘off’….but it also made me kinda sad to see that she’s this big already. Time is flying.
What are the stats and what does the doctor say?
We haven’t been to the doctor since Fin’s 4 month shots (and don’t go back til 9 months), so no idea on her stats. I’m guessing she’s around 19ish lbs, but just a guess. She’s healthy as a horse…knock on wood….this girl hasn’t been sick a day of her life. Makes me feel good that I’ve continued to breastfeed and that I’m able to have her home right now. That can change any day, so counting my blessings so far (some days not much of a blessing, lol)
What is Fin eating?
I’m still breastfeeding….about 4-5 times a day. She gets baby food and/or cereal 2-3 times a day and ‘real food’ at dinner when Mom and Dad are eating. Fin LOVES her some corn on the cob and apple slices ! I love watching her eat/try new things. So far she’s eaten everything we’ve given her except for avocado
When does she sleep?
Sleep was off for a couple of weeks, but I think we are back to normal now. For the past several days she’s gone down between 7:30 – 8 and then gotten up around 5:30 or 6 to nurse (and goes right back to sleep) and then up for the day around 7 or 7:30. I love this schedule and will be happy for her to do it as long as she needs to…so much better than nursing her around midnight as well! We’ve always rocked Finley to sleep at night (and for all naps), and about a week ago we decided to stop (because she’d been getting up at night and having to be rocked back to sleep) and do some sleep training so that she can soothe herself. We did the CIO (cry it out) method where you put her down awake…wait 3 minutes and then go in and soothe her (without picking her up)…leave and wait 5 minutes and go back in and soothe if needed….leave and wait 10 minutes and go back in and soothe if needed….and it worked wonderfully. Night one it only took her 30 minutes to put herself to sleep. Night two it was 15 minutes. Night three it was less than 5 and every night since then has been less than 5 AND she’s not getting us up at night. It’s been great.
What do your routines look like?
We are in the process of dropping a nap so the routine is tweaking as we speak. It’s mostly like this:
- Wake for the day around 7:30 and nurse and then change diaper/get dressed
- Finley will bounce her in bouncer for about 30 minutes while I eat breakfast/get her breakfast ready
- Around 8:15 I put Finley down on the floor with her toys and she’ll crawl around while I do some work
- Breakfast for Fin (cereal/fruit) is around 9, followed by more playtime
- 9:45/10- goes down for a nap and sleeps til 11 or 11:30
- playtime following nap
- 12:30- lunch (veggies)
- Afternoon is what is changing right now. At this point I am trying to keep Fin awake til around 3, which can be difficult. She use to go down around 1 and then again around 4, but now she doesn’t need both naps so going down around 3 would be idea….we are transitioning now. If I can get her to play after lunch til 3, then she’d nap at 3 and get up at 4 or 4:30 and play some more
- Nurse at 5pm, then play
- Dinner at 6pm- veggies and cereal (and maybe some adult food depending on what we are eating)
- Bath at 7pm
- Nurse/Bedtime around 7:30/7:45
What size clothes and diapers are you wearing?
6-9 month clothing and still doing cloth diapers (one size). We had to use disposables for 2 days while you had a bad rash (they were size 2) and we HATE them. You never have blowouts/leaks when we do cloth, and we had issues every day in disposables.
What are some things you love?
You probably love your mommy more than anything…you have been very attached lately, and if I leave the room or run an errand you are SO excited when I come back. It’s very sweet. You love crawling around….you love standing on anything…you love to ‘rough house’….you love the outdoors….you love drinking water from cups/sippy cups….you love this little microphone stand-up toy that your Aunt LeLe passed on to you….you love mommy carrying you around in the Ergo…you love to help vaccum…you love to be tickled…you like to go places and be out and about….you are a happy baby!
What are some things you don’t like?
You don’t like mommy to walk through the room and not talk to you. You don’t like ANYTHING when you are really sleepy. You don’t like cold food. You don’t like it when I won’t pick you up if I have my hands full.
What are some thing you can do?
You are so so so talented! You can sit…crawl…pull up…cruise….give kisses….play peek-a-boo..knock over towers….I know I’m forgetting stuff!
What are we looking forward to in the next month?
I’m having my first weekend away from Fin at the end of the month. I’m super excited to go to Dallas and see one of my best friends, but I’m super anxious to be away for two full days. It’ll be challenging. I know I’ll be ok, I just hope she does well for my in-laws while we are gone. At least they are coming to stay at our house and keep her on routine, so that should help. We’ll also be moving within the next month, which I’m looking forward to being in a new place, but dreading the moving part. I’m also hoping to do better at keeping up the blogging after we get moved…it’s important to me to keep track of everything Fin is doing!
hottingerhouse 