8 Months Old!

On Sunday Claire turned 8 months old. She has her next doctor's appointment at 9 months old, so we have another month to find out how much she's grown and how she's been doing.

Since last writing about Claire, a few things have changed.

First, I stopped breastfeeding her at about 7 1/2 months. When I went to California for the weekend of Cody and Rose's wedding, Brian had been feeding her formula, and then when I got back she wasn't as interested in me feeding her anymore. I tried that Monday all day, but she was really fussy and like she was still hungry all the time. I gave her formula Monday night to get her to sleep because she was screaming and crying and not sleeping. Then I tried to feed her Tuesday morning but she basically refused. So from that day on, she's been on formula. I was a little sad about it because I was so proud of myself for breastfeeding for that long and it's so much more convenient to breastfeed (and doesn't cost money!). But at the same time it was kind of a relief. So anyways, she's been formula fed now for almost a month and things are going really well. She's old enough to have the coordination to hold her own bottle, so I'm basically hands-free!

Claire has been really liking the solid foods for a while and has been at the point lately where she wants to eat every time she sees us eating (even if she was already fed!) and wants our food. I've been still giving her baby food and not table food yet. Although I did feed her "real" oatmeal today and she seemed to like it. Also, I'll give her the Gerber puff things or Cheerios when I remember. I'm just not in a rush for the bigger foods yet. I think I felt the opposite with Paige when she was this age. You know how it is with the first...just kinda wishing that things were moving along and progressing at a semi-fast rate. But for the second kid, I'm like "eh, let's just take it slow and relax."

Although Claire isn't crawling (or even trying to get on her knees at all), she is starting to do the military crawl a bit. Just a couple inches at a time and then she loses interest and wants to be set back up on her bottom.

She has 8 teeth through already too! She's been really snotty and congested because of it lately. And really fickle about bed time. For a while there...maybe a month ago or so, she had been waking up a couple times a night because she couldn't breathe well. Then that eventually ended, but she would still wake up anywhere between 4:30 and 5:30 in the morning. I had noticed, though, that she always slept well in her small pack and play during nap.

{Side note: during naps, she sleeps in her pack and play in our...*ahem*...bathroom. Our bathroom is big and can accommodate the pack and play comfortably. I know it's weird and a little okie, but it's the farthest room in the house and the quietest. That way, Paige can still play in her room while Claire is napping.}

Anyhoo, so because I noticed she always slept better (more soundly, without interruption or waking up throughout the nap) in the pack and play rather than her own crib, I have been putting her in the bathroom at night too. Ever since I started doing that, she's been sleeping 11-12 hours straight! From about 8:30 or 9:30 at night until 7:30 or 8:30 in the morning. So...that's good...but bad. I want her in her own room...not the bathroom! But at the same time, I wonder why it is that she's sleeping better in her pack and play.

These are the two things I can think of:

1) She's by herself and not sharing with Paige. Maybe she sleeps more soundly if there isn't anyone else in the room with her. If that's the case, that's too bad because we only have 2 bedrooms. Hopefully next house we live in will have 3 bedrooms. Not only for that reason, but we're planning on having another kid in the future. And a two bedroom home is too small for a family of 5! Especially if Brian is lucky and we have a boy the next time.

2) The pack and play is more comfortable. The "mattress" is harder, so I always put a fleece blanket down over the "mattress" so not only is it cushier, but also warmer. I'd imagine laying on a thin sheet with tons of drool under my face can get kind of cold. So, I was thinking about switching the girls' mattresses. Paige has a cheaper, not as firm mattress on her toddler bed. It's has softer foam or something. And then if I put that in Claire's crib instead and then put a big fleece blanket ontop of it as well...maybe she'll sleep better. I'll try to remember to try that.

So anyways, that's the current happenings with us.

:)