Ahh blogger, It's been what, 2 months? 3 months?
Where do I begin....
I've been investing ALL of my time to my daughter Quinn C Noelle, who consiquently has now turned 8.5 months old. I.KNOW. How did that happen?!
So by now you've guessed right about the milestones;
- Sitting up unaided
- Rolling over
- Crawling
- Babbling
- Self soothing
- Bottle feeding herself
- A consistent routine
- Trying to stand up
- Trying to self feed
- Eating solids
The self soothing happened really quickly, she turned 3 months old and no longer needed a dummy, she didn't want it after 10 minutes of having one and would spit it out. She has found that rubbing her head and sucking her left thumb helps her go off to sleep. I love it, it's putting my mind at rest that I don't need to give her something to pacify her, but on the other hand how long will she suck her thumb for and we all know those stories of thumb-suckers with bad teeth - my own sister sucked her thumb terribly and needed braces..
The sitting up literally just happened we used to put her on the floor inbewteen our legs and then on 13th June, we sat her down & she just sat by herself.. I was stunned!
I love having a routine with Quinn now, more so for my own benefit, I've always been terrible with time keeping and always having late nights but you can't do that anymore when you have a kid. I might do a seperate post on this...
Quinny has always wanted to be upright and standing, often on our laps or slipping through my legs to feel her feet on the floor, we also bought her a little car walker - at first I was against them, but Kurt (her dad) decided it was time for a fun toy for her, as much as anything she can be with me in any room, be entertained and not feel left out. She LOVES it! It was only a cheap one from Argos
Chad Valley Lights and Sound walker
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| Loving her car! |
Rolling over happened almost like overnight too she loves playing on her mat and would fuss if you put her either on her front or her back, she liked to learn how to do it herself, quickly she learned how to go from sitting up to laying down and rolling to get a toy she wanted, the crawling for real only just happened, she was a "floor zombie", she'd use her arms and belly to pull herself along the floor but has since learned to sit on her knees, knealing and eventually it's mophed into a weird version of crawling! It's funny and exciting to watch, but now she's on the move it's even more important to baby-proof our house!
I loved being able to cuddle and feed her, either breast or bottle until 1 month ago, I stopped being able to feed her with a bottle, she grabs the bottle and feeds herself! It's mad! I'm proud of her but sad at the same time. Also trying to teach her to use a handle on her bottles isn't so bad, but I've been trying to get her to cut down on formula and replace with water (as per instructions of Health visitor)
Last time Quinn was weight at 15.5lbs - I never thought she'd be that big, I know some babies are bigger and have bigger appetites but Quinny loves her milk and her puree's still... I've been told she shouldn't have 4 bottles a day at her age now, should only be on 3 with 3 meals plus snacks and water... It's not so easy, I kinda hate this stage if I'm honest - it's so much trial and error and so many different conflicting advice; health visitors, family and information either books or online. Its like the breast or bottle scenario all over again. Jars or fresh, finger food or purees!? Just like the 1st stages of having a baby, I've done a bit of everything. I started out breast feeding and after my milk finished (very quickly) I had to put her on formula, and now it's a similar situation - I puree veggies and fruits but sometimes I know I can open a jar and she can try a bigger portion without me feeling like shes not eating because the flavours nowadays are actually nice - I always get a spoonful for myself and decide whether she'd like it. As they say - Mother's know best!
Right now i've been doing a mixed feeding time where we get finger foods on their own for her to feel, play with and try and feed herself with and after that's been mashed into her fingers and on the floor we move on to the puree version of the whole foods. It's a longer process and it's messy but as far as i'm concerned sometimes she's not interested with things for the 1st time so for her exploration and benefit i'd rather do it this way rather than feed her all myself and not get her involved. The jar foods are an indulgence and something quick when I can't think of what to give her or there's nothing avaliable as left overs for her. I recently bought a recipe book for 1st time foods and toddler meals, it's proving to be very interesting and well worth a read Annabel Karmel's New complete Baby & Toddler meal planner
Quinn's "routine"
Wake up at 8-8.30am
1st bottle 9am
Play time until 11am - depending on how hungry she is she might want a snack
2nd bottle 11.30am-12pm banana porridge
Play time or a walk in the pram or watch me potter around the house
Nap time 2pm (if she wants)
3rd bottle 3pm
Play time depending on what else we can do together
Depending on how hungry she is she might want a snack
Dinner at 6pm
Nap at 7pm (if she wants)
Bath at 8pm
4th Bottle at 9pm and then down for the night
-Rinse and repeat-
I've been a lot more content at times within myself, but sometimes it can creep on me that I'm home alone a lot of the time and i'd like to go out more (I don't drive - yet) and I want to go back to work part time, mainly for my mental health, I need some "me" time. Kurt works away A LOT! it's like 40% home and 60% away.. I appreciate him bring in money and all that, but it's the age old issue of working father-stay at home mom- syndrome. I hate it, I want him to be involved more and I know he needs his time alone as do I but it sucks that Quinn has more of a relationship with Kurt over the phone rather than in person. It's a hard-ass sacrifice. Family does help out, when their not busy. Everyone has got their own junk to sort out and do on a regular basis and it will be different when my mum retires from work next may/june (2017) and at the end of November this year Quinn will be 1 years old and I've decided and discussed with work to go back when Quinn turns 1. I don't want to miss out on anything as she grows up, but she also needs to learn to be with others, eventually I'll get around to going to some mother-toddler-groups in my area and that will help us both develop.
Rory, our beloved cat still doesn't know what to make of Quinn, especially now she's crawling - he's opting to sit higher than the ground when she's about. It's kinda funny actually. She loves him, but he's only okay with her when I'm stopping her from pulling his furr! (oh the joys of parenting - how can you say no to an 8month old so they understand?!) The two of them have enjoyed each others company for a cuddle on our bed, with me in the middle, other than that, Rory is such a scaredy-cat!
I would only do 2 things differently if I could re-do this again. Do more baby-wearing and pump more breast milk when I had plenty supply... Other than that I think I'm freakin' awesome as a 1st time mother!
Some recent pics of my Baby Girl;
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| Queen of the bed ;) |
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| Nom Nom, Dinner time |
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| Summer vibes |
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| 8months Post-partum holding Quinn |
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| 8months post-partum |
Thanks for reading my very late, very long blog post. More to update soon (hopefully)
~Ellie xoxox
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