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| Happy happy, joy joy! |
Lucy turned 7 months old last week! Here are some highlights from the past month:
- She weighs over 15 lbs and is now in the 20th percentile for weight!
- She's getting a lot more comfortable being on her belly (she even prefers to sleep on her belly now), but she's not crawling yet.
- She's a skilled little eater now. So far she's had sweet potato (liked), bananas (didn't like), zucchini (didn't like), avocado (loved), prunes (loved), and carrots (loved).
- She is absolutely obsessed with blowing raspberries and squealing. That's basically what she does ALL. DAY. LONG. It goes a little something like this:
- She seems to be teething like crazy. She chews on her hands a lot and drools all over the place. But we're still waiting for that first tooth...
- She is LOVING day care! She hasn't cried once when I've dropped her off. In fact, she smiles from ear to ear when she sees the caregivers. She really enjoys watching the other kids.
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| At day care. |
- She's sleeping much better these days thanks to a little sleep training. Putting her to bed used to be a huge production. We had to bounce her up and down (I'm talking full-blown squats and lunges), sometimes for up to an hour, in order for her to fall asleep. She would scream if we sat down, and sometimes she would still scream if we were bouncing. It was clear that she just hated the act of falling asleep. She would wake up several times a night and I would have to nurse her back to sleep. She would only eat a little each time so I had a feeling she wasn't waking up because she was hungry. Exhausted and desperate, I bought Dr. Ferber's book and learned a few things about how babies sleep and why it's important for them to learn how to fall asleep on their own. I never thought I would do Ferber's "cry it out" method, but the more I read about it, the more my gut told me it was the right thing to do. Not only were we exhausted, but Lucy also was tired throughout the day because her nighttime sleep was so disrupted. The Ferber method goes a little something like this: you go through your bedtime routine (bath, bottle, book, rocking, etc.), then put baby in the crib drowsy but still awake. The goal is to teach them that they can fall asleep on their own (that way they don't hate falling asleep so much, and when they wake up in the middle of the night they can put themselves back to sleep). If they cry you wait 5 minutes before going in. You comfort them, rub their back, etc., but do not pick them up. Then you go back in 10 minutes, then 15 minutes, and so on until they fall asleep. Each night you increase the time intervals a little bit. The method promises that you'll see drastic improvements in 3-4 days. The first night she cried for 45 excruciating minutes. The second night she cried for 20 minutes. The third night she cried for 10 minutes. And sure enough, on the fourth night I laid her in her crib and she rolled over on her side and fell asleep. My head almost exploded with joy and relief!!! Now she goes to bed by 8:00 and usually wakes up just once a night around 3:00 to eat. She's happier and more alert during the day, and mommy and daddy are (of course) happier too. :) As a parent it was the hardest thing I've had to do so far, but I am so happy we did it.
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| Lovin' her new shopping cart cover. |
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| Late-night DJ set. |
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| Going for a walk. |
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| Looking fabulous, per usual! |
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| The ingenue look. |
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