Category: weekly birthday

{letterboard: Letter Folk (Poet) // top: Target (old) // jeans: Gymboree (old) // slippers: Hanna Andersson}

{week 41} This week marked the worst of this cold Daphne has had recently. Coughing, sneezing, runny nose, and one or two short episodes of a low fever. Definitely not horrible, but it is awful to see a baby sick and not feeling well. But, the best thing about Daph not feeling herself was all of the cuddles! Mostly these days she is so busy and on-the-move that cuddles don’t get to happen, unless it is in the middle of the night for a wake-up, so Aaron and I both cherished those cuddles from Daphne this weekend.

I think we are mostly on the back-end of this cold (although we are all sort of stuffy still) and I am so thankful. Obviously because of her age, we couldn’t give her anything (like medicine) but we did run a humidifier in her room overnight and put Honest Breathe rub on the bottoms of her feet and on her chest before she went to sleep. Surprisingly she slept pretty well at night, despite her not feeling well, and we would hear her coughing some times, but then she would go right back to sleep!

This week we also met Santa, which I mentioned in the weekend post, and Daphne did pretty well. We were waiting (forever!) in line during her usual morning nap, so I expected she might be fussy, but mostly she only wanted to snooze if I was holding her. And once we got to Santa, I thought for sure she would lose it because she was sleepy and stranger danger, but she did well. No smile, but no tears either! Again, I will share the official Santa pictures when I get them.

Daphne is really wanting to clap (and loves it when you clap) and she hits her chest instead. She also hits my chest when I hold her and it is so endearing! I think the chest hitting is either her way of clapping or waving, two things we are working on.

This weekend also introduced the Christmas tree to the living room which I was a little anxious about. Daphne is in the phase where everything (literally everything) goes into her mouth and often she leads with her tongue… But, she actually ignored the tree for the first few days, and then just last night approached it. She went for the lights, which wasn’t a huge surprise, and wanted to pull on them. Eloise and I made sure to hang only soft and stuffed animal-like ornaments on the bottom of the tree where Daphne can reach. I am still slightly worried about her trying to eat the pine needles (since we have a real tree) but so far “no thank you Daphne” has worked pretty well!

Biting during nursing has still been an issue, especially during the last two feedings (in the late afternoon and evening) which has not been fun. I am not quite ready to wean her yet, but may be forced to, at least down to just two or three feedings! I am going to attempt to get thru the next two weeks and the re-evaluate. We aren’t ready to introduce cow’s milk yet, so any weaned feeding would have to be replaced with either pumped milk or formula in a bottle; not the end of the world, but definitely some logistics involved, especially if I decide to pump during those two nursing sessions instead.

And here is Eloise’s 41 week update.

Happy 41 weeks Daphne!

M

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{letterboard: Letter Folk (Poet) // top: Gerber // bib: DIY from Rifle Paper Co. fabric // jeans: babyGap (old) // rattle: Amazon (similar)}

{week 40} This week the biggest thing has been biting. Specifically during nursing sessions. Super not fun. I have noticed it more during the last two feedings of the day (so after her afternoon nap and before dinner time) and these tend to be much shorter feedings. Generally it is a small-ish bite and I can see her mouth doing it so I can try to stop (or usually I yell!) before it happens, but she also bites down and then pulls her head back which is horribly and horrifically painful! Maybe it will lead to early weaning… but her pediatrician recommends that we start breastfeeding after mealtimes at this point, so maybe that will help to. I didn’t have this problem at all with Eloise, so I am in super new territory here. Any advice?

Since I didn’t have Daphne’s 9 month stats for her monthly update, I thought I would share them since we just were at the ped’s office for her check-up.

• weight: 19 pounds, 13 ounces (50 to 75%)
• length: 2 feet, 3 inches or 27 inches (25 to 50%)*
• head circumference: 44.4 cm (50 to 75%)

*Daphne is getting close to being too long for her current infant car seat since the maximum length is 30 inches (the seat allows for up to 30 pounds of baby, but she will be too long before she hits that weight!) so we went ahead and bought her a new convertible car seat for one of her Christmas presents during Black Friday deals. We like the Britax Boulevard that we have for Eloise, but upgraded to the ClickTight for easier install. And it’s still marked down if you need a new car seat!

The ped also recommended that we start doing two snacks per day along with three meals… so Daphne is going to be delighted since eating is one of her very favorite things to do! And it means that she is literally going to be eating all. day. long. She already spends a fair amount of her awake time eating her meals as it is (she is a very slow eater, but because of quantity of food she consumes) so hopefully she will be a faster snacker!

And lastly, how are there only 12 weeks left until she is one? I remember feeling this way with Eloise after we passed over the 40 week mark!

And here is Eloise’s 40 week update!

Happy 40 weeks Daphne!

M

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{letterboard: Letter Folk (Poet) // top: Burt’s Bees (old) // leggings: Target (old)}

{week 39} This last week we were in Boise, so while I tried to keep the routine as consistent as possible, there were interruptions and changes that we just had to work thru. Mostly the decision when we are out of town or have someone visiting (or every day I guess for me!) is whether to try an on-the-go nap in the morning and risk Daphne not sleeping or sleeping very little.

There was one morning (last Wednesday) that Grammie, Eloise, Daphne, and I ventured out to the Festival of Trees and I was hoping Daphne would snooze thru it. She fell asleep in the car on the way there, but then once I transferred her to the Ergo, she was awake! I don’t blame her since the entire Festival is huge rooms full of Christmas trees with Christmas music and lots of people milling about. At one point right before lunch she looked like she may fall asleep, but she moved thru that quickly and didn’t fall asleep until after lunch on the car ride home. We stopped at Target, though, before heading home and she did sleep (in her car seat) thru that entire trip! Every other morning we were in Boise though I made sure she was able to go down for a proper nap.

Afternoon naps are almost always regular because that is around the time that Eloise has “quiet time” and Daphne took good afternoon naps, for the most part. The roughest part of sleeping this trip was definitely nighttime! She slept thru without a peep for two nights, but every other night was up multiple times. We couldn’t really figure out why she was waking up (or why she was upset) but the last few nights, she wouldn’t let me leave until I rubbed her back while she fell back asleep. Yeah, that was super fun. I would think she was asleep so I would stop rubbing her back and stand up to leave and head back to bed, but then she would pop-up wide awake and cry until I started rubbing her back again. Grumble, grumble. Luckily she hasn’t seemed to continue that expectation now that we are home!

We were able to see almost all of my family that lives in town during the week, particularly on Thanksgiving Day, and while Daphne was pretty shy with stranger danger during the first few days, she seemed to warm up towards the end of the trip. It helps if she is well-rested and has just eaten (nursed and solid foods) when she is around new people, but sometimes Mama is the only one that will do.

Daphne did AMAZINGLY WELL on the car trip home on Sunday. As I mentioned in my weekend post, the stops for nursing, potty, gas, and meals all aligned and we made excellent time! Daphne slept a lot more than I anticipated and within a few minutes of being in the car after a stop, she was back asleep and had hardly any awake time while in the car.

We are happy to be home and getting back into the normal routine of things (I LOVE our mornings together while Eloise is at school) as we countdown the days to December 1st!

And here is Eloise’s 39 week update!

Happy 39 weeks Daphne!

M

{letterboard: Letter Folk (Poet) // top & leggings: Tea Collection}

{week 38} Happy Thanksgiving!

This past week or so Daphne has discovered stranger danger. She has always been a mama’s girl, but especially so right now. While happy to look at other people and interact with them, she only wants to do so if I am holding her. So, that’s been fun. I know it’s totally normal, but I am ready for her to be super social again!

We are at my parents’ house this week for the holiday and finally got a chance to weigh Daphne (our scale’s batteries stopped working…) and she is 19 POUNDS! I did not think she was that close to 20 pounds. She goes in for her 9 month check-up in two weeks and I am eager to see where she is on the growth curve.

We drove down to Boise this past weekend (as you may have seen in the weekend post) and Daphne did so well. She is generally good in the car and does well in her car seat. Her feeding schedule stretched out to 4ish hours when we were driving which was perfect for meal and wiggle breaks, though she varies between 3.5 and 4 hours between feedings now anyways. Daphne ended up napping a lot this trip which sort of surprised me. And it wasn’t until after lunch that she got upset about being in her seat. It was a 10 hour trip, so I don’t blame her, but she was acting a little funny after lunch when we started back on the road. Just overly fussy and a little warm but I thought her breathing sounded a little shallow. So I pretty closely monitored her for the rest of the trip and we made sure to let her get out for a while when we stopped for a feeding just to let her get a break from her seat. But we made it to Boise!

Sleeping has been pretty good while we have been here and Daphne is sleeping in a pack n’ play in the laundry room! Both of the girls typically sleep better when they are in their own space (and so do their parents!) and it has worked out pretty well. Naps have been really good but nighttime sleep has been harder. The time change has worked well for us because Daphne had been waking slightly earlier at home (just after 7 or 7:30) which puts her up at 8 here. She has been up a few times during the night and a handful of times just giving her a paci has not cut it (which is unusual). So it has been a few more wake-ups at night than we are used to, but all-in-all not too bad. On Tuesday morning she was up just after 5 am and pretty much didn’t go back to sleep after that (and was so upset). We couldn’t figure out what the issue was since even a feeding didn’t completely calm her down. But, she made up for it with a super solid afternoon nap (and two naps in the car while we were out for the morning) along with making me feel very thankful that I am not up with her at 5 am every day. Thank you Daph for being a (normally) great sleeper!

Also, we set up a diaper changing station in front of a mirror in my old room and Daphne is OBSESSED with that baby in the mirror. It is amazing because it keeps her distracted while we are changing diapers (because she generally wants to flip over and crawl around) but it is also so impossibly cute! And once she has a new diaper, she will sit up and then high-five herself and give herself kisses. It’s the BEST! We should probably get her a big mirror at our house too. (She also has been doing this on the oven which I shared over on my Instagram stories the other day!)

And here is Eloise’s 38 week update.

Happy 38 weeks Daphne!

M

{letterboard: Letter Folk (Poet) // sweater: babyGap (old) // leggings: Target (old) // quilt: made by Amanda}

{week 37} Guys, Daphne is on the move. Like big time. I know I mentioned it in her monthly update (and probably every weekly update!) but it’s so true. Every day I think she gets faster and more confident in her ability to move. Crawling is her preferred method of travel and she is starting to pick up some serious speed. She hasn’t gotten close to the stairs yet, but I think we will need to be putting the second gate up soon (we will put it in the short hallway upstairs).

And along with always moving, Daphne does not like to be flat on her back. So I am surprised we can even get any weekly pictures at all. And if you saw the outtakes, it is all of her rolling around and crawling away! Even during diaper changes, Daphne crunches her head up and doesn’t want to lay flat.

There are lots of giggles these days, especially for tickles or for Eloise. We also got some giggles when I brushed Daphne’s teeth the other night. She has the sweetest little laugh!

Daphne is working on sounds and currently says: mama (but not in context), mimi, and nang nang (when she is hungry and bangs on her tray for more food). We are also working on signs with her (eat, more, milk, all done, please, and thank you) and Eloise has been really helpful in teaching her.

This girl loves food. Seriously loves. She eats anything and everything, and will eat until we cut her off. We keep a plate of her food on the table and then move pieces to her tray (or else so much of it will hit the floor) and she will bang on her tray and whine if she sees something on the plate that she wants to eat. But really, she loves (roasted) brussel sprouts and cauliflower as much as she loves kiwi and blueberries.

And here’s Eloise’s 37 week update.

Happy 37 weeks Daphne!

M

{letterboard: Letter Folk (Poet) // onesie: babyGap (old) // jeans: babyGap (old) // socks: Cat and Jack for Target // hat: Etsy (old)}

{week 36} This week marks Daphne’s first cold. It was inevitable with a seemingly early and bad cold season along with Eloise in school with other toddlers. Germs. So many germs.

But, even the runny nose, cough, and raspyness, Daphne is still in pretty good spirits. We started running a humidifier in her room last night which seemed to help with her (small) cough, but even before then, she wasn’t up much more (like once or twice) in the night. Other than the constant wiping of her nose (thank goodness for Boogie Wipes guys – these are the best!) Daphne really only seems “sick” because she gets fussier when she would already be fussy. Does that make sense? Like she is much more frantic and fussy right before a nursing session and then also right before bed time when she is ready for her bottle. Those are times when she would be fussy anyways, it just seems to be slightly more since she has this cold. All-in-all not so bad and I am hoping we can get thru it this week!

Daphne, as I have been mentioning, is all over these days and scarcely where you leave her just seconds after putting her down. She is crawling (at rapid speed) over to the coffee table and couch where she then tries to pull herself up. She can always get to her knees, but can sometimes get to her feet too which is slightly terrifying… And just yesterday she started cruising along the coffee table with Aaron, holding on and walking her feet. Yikes! Guys, I am not ready for walking yet. Not even close.

And there is also pulling up happening in her crib once she wakes up. I think she gets stuck though and once she is up on her knees, she can’t figure out how to get back down into the crib, so there is often some hollering that happens. Plus, she is still wearing a sleep sack at night, so it makes crawling and pulling up slightly more difficult, though obviously doesn’t prevent it! I am just glad we lowered the crib mattress a few weeks ago.

Since we got winter weather starting on Friday (snow and freezing temps already!) I pulled out all of our cold weather clothes and accessories. Luckily, I saved so many of Eloise’s old coats and hats, so we are pretty good on that front. However, Daphne does not like keeping a hat on her head. She will immediately pull it off, so I am amazed that we got this week’s photo with her hat on! It should make this fall and winter interesting…

And lastly, clothing. I get so many questions about Daphne’s (and Eloise’s too) clothing. I always try to link the things the girls are wearing in their updates, but with Daphne you may have noticed that so much of what she has says “old.” That is because she basically is wearing all of E’s old clothes, so three years later, that particular piece of clothing isn’t available. But, to answer the question of where I shop, mostly it’s babyGap (always a sale!), Old Navy (runs small and also always a sale), Cat and Jack for Target (obsessed!), June and January, and Hanna Andersson (for jammies). I (really) try not to spend too much on clothes for the girls (hence using all of Eloise’s old clothes) because we are in the phase still where Daphne is just growing out of everything! I hate to spend money on something she will only wear once or twice. But, it’s so hard because there are so many cute things out there! I also love shopping small and supporting (mostly) woman-owned clothing lines, like The Dress Shop, Hadley Girl (bows), and Childhoods Clothing. In terms of style and just my preference, I stay away from anything branded, love anything with stripes, and try to get things that can be mixed and matched, so pretty neutral. (This is basically how I try to dress myself too.) And for shoes, at least when the girls were little, it is Freshly Picked moccasins all the way. Daphne has inherited all of Eloise’s old gold moccs and until she is really walking, I won’t get Baby D any other shoes. And for Eloise, we love See Kai Run, Old Navy (for boots), Bogs (for rain boots), and Cat and Jack for Target.

Happy 36 weeks Daphne!

M

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{letterboard: Letter Folk (Poet) // top: Cat and Jack for Target // leggings: Cat and Jack for Target // BOO sign: The Petite Flag Shop}

{week 35} Be sure to check back later today for Daphne’s EIGHT MONTH update!

And here is Eloise’s 35 week update.

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{letterboard: Letter Folk (Poet) // tee: June and January // cords: babyGap (old) // bib: DIY from Rifle Paper Co. fabric // toy: Manhattan Toy Company}

{week 34} This week seems like Daphne has grown leaps and bounds. Maybe it was because we didn’t give her free rein of the hotel room in Mexico to just cruise around, but these past few days it seems like Daphne is just on. the. move.

Crawling (as I mentioned last week) is a definite thing now and she is becoming more confident in her ability to move while up on her hands and knees. Though army crawling is still way faster, so she is still doing that too. Daphne also does a lot of planking still and is practicing her forward-fold (bottom up in the air, on her feet and hands on the floor). It amazes me to see how much she can move around!

We also noticed in the past few days that Daphne is getting more teeth. We can see all four top teeth (the two front teeth and the ones right next door) all coming in and starting to break thru the gums. And I suspect there is also a bottom tooth (or two) coming in as well. I have noticed a few more wake-ups in the early part of a nap or nighttime which I would blame on teething, but mostly it has just been an increase in drool. Holy saliva, it’s crazy. Within a half a day of me noticing her increase in drool we found tooth buds coming thru. If Daphne isn’t wearing a shirt, like after mealtime, within minutes her chest is soaking wet like she just got out of the bath! So I have gotten the bibs back out again to keep her from soaking thru all of her shirts.

Also, Daphne has started sitting up in her crib at the end of her nap time or in the morning when she’s up, but has also started reaching out of her crib if she’s close to the side. So needless to say I had Aaron lower the crib mattress before she starts pulling up to standing (which I anticipate will be sooner rather than later)! It is really sweet to come into her nursery to get her after a nap or in the morning and have her sitting up and smiling. Such a sweet babe!

Finally, I haven’t noticed Daphne sucking her thumb nearly as much these days. Maybe it has something to do with teething? And as cute as it was to see her sucking her thumb, it wouldn’t be the worst thing if she gave that up! And, on a completely unrelated note, Daphne is also using her right hand much more these days (rather than her left hand which she was doing there a lot for a while) so my theory of her being a lefty is a bit up in the air!

And see Eloise’s 34 week update here.

Happy 34 weeks Daphne!

M

This post contains affiliate/referral links.

{letterboard: Letter Folk (Poet) // onesie: Gerber (old) // peplum sweatshirt: Old Navy (old) // leggings: Target (old)}

{week 32} 32. A week into her seventh month and I still can’t believe it. The days are long and the weeks are short!

Now that Daphne is sitting up so well on her own, she is enjoying playing on our play mat much more. We have “Daphne safe” toys out for her, though everything on that side of the living room has to be safe since she is definitely not stationery. She can go from sitting to lying on her belly and then to her side and then sometimes can find herself back sitting again! It is amazing to watch her move around. I am always so amazed by how quickly babies learn to move, considering just a few months ago she couldn’t even control her own limbs! There is still lots of rocking on her hands and knees, but as soon as she moves forward, she slips down onto her belly. I say it every week, but crawling is just around the corner!

Daphne enjoys eating very much. Way more than I remember Eloise enjoying it. And now that we are doing solids for three meals per day, she pretty much demands it after finishing up nursing. It has been so fun to see her explore foods and learn to feed herself, but boy is it so much work. I am chopping and roasting and prepping food (seemingly) all day long, and then cleaning up after mealtime. It’s seriously a full-time job, just cleaning up from three meals at the house! We are still offering some purees (mostly fruits mixed in with yogurt*) but Daphne has a huge preference towards finger foods and really just wants to feed herself. Which is great, but makes for long and very messy mealtimes.

On Friday Daphne got her flu shot (the first booster and will have a second one at her next check-up) along with a single dose of MMR. We are leaving the country for a trip this week and our pediatrician recommended she get that specific vaccine, even though the course of MMR doesn’t start until around 1 year old. Apparently much of the research points to international airports as sources of introduction to infection. Daphne did really well for her shots and cried for about a minute, and then was fine. She didn’t sleep as well as I expected (normally shots knock her out!) but she also didn’t have any other symptoms (like fever) so I was relieved.

*Our pediatrician suggested that we introduce plain, organic yogurt right before we travel to help with any tummy issues that can stem from traveling and introduction to new foods. Plain yogurt is pretty sour so I have been defrosting some of her fruit purees and adding them in (and also because any flavored yogurt you buy at the store has SO much added sugar…why?!)

Happy 32 weeks Daphne!

M