daphne {month eight}

{alligator: Jellycat //onesie: Carter’s (old) // jeans: babyGap (old) // wooden doll teether: old}

{month eight} Haha, I think Daphne looks like a little old man in this month’s picture! We took our family Christmas card photos this morning, so the last thing she wanted to do before her nap was take more photos… she just wanted to launch herself off the front of the chair! It’s super fun and not at all terrifying (said no mama ever).

I think the biggest thing about this month (okay, everything seems big still!) is the four new teeth Daphne is growing! I noticed some serious increase in the amount of drool she was producing (like shirt-soaking) and, lo and behold, four tooth buds. It’s her top four teeth coming thru all at once. She didn’t seem overly fussy or bothered by them cutting, but of course any time she awakes during nap time or at night is blamed on those new teeth. You can’t really see them very well because of her top lip, but she is going to look so much older once they are in! And now I really feel like I should be brushing her teeth, since I need more things to do to fill in my day, right? Daphne will see the dentist next month when Eloise goes in for her bi-annual appointment. If I only have to drive across the city twice per year and both girls see the dentist at the same time, that is a mama win!

She likes to click her tongue on the roof of her mouth lately which started around the time her top teeth started making an entrance. She isn’t blowing raspberries as much as she was a few months ago, but lots of clicking!

Daphne is an eating champ. Seriously. She eats anything and everything. It may be messy, but she will find a way to eat it. And there isn’t a single thing we have fed her that she didn’t devour: broccoli (just like big sis!), brussel sprouts, salmon, chicken, ground beef, Dragon fruit (in Mexico). Everything! Purees have pretty much become a thing of the past though because Daphne really just wants to feed herself. If there is something (like yogurt or refried beans) that requires a spoon, she wants to grab the spoon and bang it on her tray. So there is a lot of “fighting” over the spoon which isn’t super fun for any of us. Plus, since she is feeding herself, it makes mealtimes (for me) much more enjoyable. Also, we haven’t been doing a lot of cup training recently but after reading Eloise’s update (linked below) I realized that we are behind on teaching Daphne how to use a straw. I remember that being a game-changer, so it’s on the to-do list for this coming weekend.

Daphne’s newest tricks involve her pulling up to either her knees or to standing, or bear crawling around on her hands and feet. She is so ready to be moving like a big kid and just does not stay still at all these days! I used to be able to set her on the play mat with toys and she would be occupied, but now she is immediately off the play mat and crawling towards whoever she can see (or to the kitchen)! But then she cries and gets upset when she gets stuck somewhere! It’s the same situation when we are downstairs. I could leave her on the floor of her nursery with toys while I threw away a diaper or washed my hands, but now she is crawling out her door and down the hallway or into the bathroom to see what everyone else is up to! She also likes to reach for anything she can grab and then pull it down from wherever it was (the little shelf on the sidetable, the coffee table).

In the weeks leading up to our Mexico trip, I was planning on pumping just like I had been doing in the morning and evening for Daphne’s bedtime bottle. But, then it started to occur to me that we would need to bring some frozen milk for the first day or so until I had produced enough to cover the bottle (since I wasn’t producing enough every day to cover her bottle) which would require some sort of dry ice and Yeti cooler type of situation. Thru TSA (we are Pre-Check, but still) and then thru Customs and Immigration along with all of the other things we were shlepping on the trip, including both car seats! Yep, that wasn’t going to happen. So I did some a ton of research and bought some formula to take just in case. {Note: Formula, the type and use of, like many other child-related things is controversial. Lots of people have lots of opinions about it. We chose formula that we thought best-suited Daphne’s needs but every family and baby is different.} It turns out the formula I had chosen (Holle which is a German formula) is being imported by a close friend’s sister via her company Purely Loved Organics which is located just north of us in Lynnwood. Luckily, Daphne drank it down with no issues, so we didn’t have to try any other types or brands. Then in the days leading up to our trip, I started panicking about pumping in Mexico. Not the actual pumping part, but the logistics. Mainly the washing pump parts with bottled water in the bathroom part (since you aren’t supposed to drink the tap water in Mexico). We bought this travel Boon drying rack and bottle brush, but the idea of washing my pump just sort of sent me over the edge. So Aaron and I had a lot of conversation about it, and I let my mama guilt go and decided to stop pumping completely. In all honesty, it was an agonizing decision for me to make (and if you are a recent mama, you probably completely understand) but ultimately I think it worked out for the best. I didn’t have to worry about spending my mornings and evenings pumping or washing pump parts, and Daphne did amazingly well with one bottle of formula at bedtime during our trip, Now that we are at home we defrost frozen milk for her bottle and once we go thru our frozen stash, we will do formula until she is one.

And lastly, Daphne has been pushing her feeding schedule out to 3.5 or 4 hours. Her morning nap is usually interrupted by errands (while Eloise is at school) but she will usually at least cat nap in the car seat. I try to not go out more than two mornings per week during that morning nap time so that she can have solid morning naps. If we are home (or even out) I notice she starts getting tired around 9:30 am and will usually sleep at least an hour if not 90 minutes. Then her afternoon nap is after we get home from picking up Eloise (at 1 pm) and it’s length is dependent on her morning nap, longer if the morning was shorter and vice versa. Her late cat nap (which happens around 5ish) is always a crap shoot and it happens about 50% of the time.

{weight} I would guess close to 17 or 18 pounds but our scale is broken.
{hair} blackish brown.
{teeth} two bottom middle teeth, top four teeth (including two front teeth).
{eyes} dark grey/brown.
{clothes} 3 to 6 months (pants only), 6 months and 12 months (Carter’s), 6 to 12 months.
{diapers} size 3 {from the honest company}. At home we are doing cloth (bumGenius and Grovia) and disposables when we go out and overnight.
{feeding} nursing every 3.5 to 4 hours during the day, starting around 8 am. feeding sessions last around 5 to 10 minutes (both sides). bedtime is around 7:30 with a 6 oz bottle.

{likes} eating, bath time with Eloise, watching big kids or babies, crawling, pulling up to her knees or feet, spinning on her back and belly, teething rings, chewing on anything, sitting in her highchair, staring at her quilt (from Amanda), rattles, nursing, riding in the car (usually), her big sister Eloise, Sadie, singing, lights, paci, being bounced, sucking on her hands, being tickled, talking (cooing).
{dislikes} having gas, lying down flat right after eating, being hungry or tired, not having a bottle immediately after seeing it, having her face or nose wiped off.

{nicknames} Daph, Daph Daph, Daphers, Bug, Snorty, Baby D, Daphne Doo, Daph-a-doo, Love, Lovebug.

And here is Eloise’s eight month update.

Happy Eight Months Daphne!

M

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