Eliana {Nine} Months

Pictures became extremely difficult this month since she wanted to climb out of the chair, drop the sticker over the side, and tackle the bear. ;)

Date: January 13, 2016

Weight: 12lbs 2 oz to 13lbs 10oz (on the 15th)
Length: 25.5 inches (on the 15th)

Clothing Size: We finally put away the 0-3 month leggings! They still fit around her waist, but they were getting too short. She's mostly in 6 month onesies, but some 6 month dresses/shirts are still too big. I got out her 9 month clothes the other day just because I was ready to look at something different and I'm a little sad that she probably won't get to wear all the cute winter 9 month outfits... maybe next winter. ;)

Sleeping Patterns: Takes one consistent nap in the morning (2ish hours) and two cat naps in the afternoon. She goes to bed by 6:30 every night and usually sleeps until 5 (so about 10.5 hours even if it doesn't always seem like it since we go to bed much later than 6:30! Ha!) She had one week this month where she was fussy when we laid her down - we totally weren't used to this because she's always gone right to sleep without making a sound. She just needed a little extra comfort so one of us would rub her back for a few minutes and then she was fine. Her bedtime routine is short and sweet for now -- change diaper, put on jammies, nurse, pray, kiss her and put her in her crib. I can't wait until we can all read books together as a family, but right now that just doesn't work out in our routine with Trice. She is exhausted by 6:30 and stiff-arms me when I pray for her because she wants to be in her bed!

Eating Patterns: Still nursing about every 2 hours. If I'm not with her, she goes much longer but she just likes to be close to her mommy! She nurses before every meal so we are making sure that's still where she's getting most of her calories. For breakfast she still usually has a banana because I need to give her something quick before my 3-year-old enters full-blown hangry mode. Sometimes she'll have an egg yolk or blueberries. I just whipped up some healthy baby "pancakes" this week and she LOVES those! For lunch she continues to just graze on whatever we're having (as long as it's healthy which it usually is and something she can mash with her gums). She loves green beans, avacados, sweet potatoes, squash, peas and pumpkin. We also introduced chicken, pork, peaches, pears,  black beans, yogurt, mangos, this month .. she's a big fan of food. Honestly I don't think there's anything she doesn't like. It's still a little crazy to me that she's already tried that many foods because we didn't give Trice ANY solids until 8.5 months. I'm not sure if we would have started her on them so soon if she hadn't struggled with gaining weight, but it does make meal times much easier for us (Probably also a 2nd child thing). She's doing so well picking up food with her fingers. She loves sitting at the table with us! She'd prefer to feed herself, but I do occasionally feed her with a spoon. She loves when Trice feeds her, too, except he doesn't go quite fast enough. 

Likes: Basically everything -- she STILL thinks it's hilarious when people wear hats, still loves her monkey and blankie, Trice's toys.

Dislikes: Having to wait for food once she's in her high chair, when Trice takes toys out of her hands, when she can't get down from standing position.

Milestones: 
Waving (and SO proud of it!), pulls to standing on everything, climbs on top of things, inch worms everywhere in the house, one day I went to get her from nap and she was standing up in her crib holding on with the BIGGEST grin I've ever seen so now that's all she does when it's time to sleep, initiates peek-a-boo, drops toys and watches where they go, feeds herself with her fingers and starting to feed herself with spoon, loves playing the "drop the toy" game, puts things in front of your face to initiate peek-a-boo, climbs ALL of our stairs (seriously, how many calories does she burn doing that?)

Exciting Events: 
Mostly finished her room - we just need to take down the window box and put new knobs on the dresser, but she might be 5 before that happens. 

Trice's Thoughts:

While feeding her, he paused to take a bite of his own food and she screamed.. He looked at her and sternly said, "Eliana. Excuse me, but I have to eat my food, too."

I made a comment to Nick about it being weird having two kids... Trice said, "Well, I guess we could just get rid of one of them." .. "And which one would we get rid of?" .. "Well, I guess Eliana." .. "Wouldn't you miss her?" .. "Well, she can come visit us sometimes."

"Trice, what's the greatest gift God gave us?" ... "Eliana."
(We were reflecting on Christmas and I was looking for "Jesus," but Eliana was a very sweet answer!)

Loves climbing in her crib with her (but knows he's only allowed to do that if he asks first)!

Eliana {8} Months

Date: December 13, 2015

Weight: 11 lbs to 12 lbs 5oz to 12lbs 8oz
Length: No clue

Clothing Size: Still some 3-6, some 6, and some 6-9. I'm making her wear 6 and 6-9 because I don't have any 3-6 month warm weather clothes since I didn't predict she'd be THIS tiny. So she is mostly swimming in them! (Same as at 7 months!)

Sleeping Patterns: Takes one really good nap every day and then a couple shorter naps. Goes to bed by 6:30 every night and usually wakes up once. Sleeps in until about 7:30 if she wakes up once in the night.. otherwise she's up a little earlier. We love that she loves sleep (something we aren't used to!)

Eating Patterns: Nurses about every 2 hours. She usually has a banana or egg yolks for breakfast - probably the most adorable thing watching her work so hard to bring the banana to her mouth and suck on it until it's gone. For lunch I just drop a couple pieces of whatever we are eating on her tray to keep her entertained - we eat peas A LOT for lunch because Trice and I love them, so she's pretty good at downing peas.  For supper, she has whatever we're eating or avacado and egg yolk or sweet potatoes or whatever else I find to give her. She had homemade applesauce recently and loved it (of course!)

Likes: Basically everything -- she thinks it's hilarious when people wear hats, still loves her monkey and blankie, addicted to her binkie (uh oh), loves watching Trice and getting his toys

Dislikes: Poopy diapers (I mean, who wouldn't?), having things taken away from her, waiting for food once she's in her high chair, 

Milestones: Always looks when you say her name, reaches up for us to get out of the crib or off the floor or out of her high chair, starting to pull up on things, signs "more", blows bubbles (aka spits all over us!), starting to play the "drop the toy" game, waves "hi", really "talking" more -- babababa, dadadada, can pick up food but hasn't quite mastered letting go of it, gives kisses more, 

Exciting Events: Moved to her own room, Papa got to babysit her, Spent her first day away from mommy (like 13 hours when we hadn't been apart for more than 2 ever .. not really "exciting" but worth documenting, I guess)

Trice's Thoughts:
"Eliana, stop saying, 'Babababa.' You're a human, not a sheep."

He gets really frustrated with her for things like her not being able to do the Spiderman web shooting hand or not answering his questions. He always wants to hold her like a newborn baby and she is not about that. He's also really starting to play with her -- always bringing her toys, checking on her, making tunnels for her to crawl through. He likes to feed her if it's something she needs a spoon for. He also likes to be the first to tell her good morning and always asks if he can climb in her crib to talk to her after nap (I let him because it's so sweet!)

He still does NOT want to share papa with her and even tells everyone that papa is NOT Eliana's papa.