8 Months!

 I'm behind, I'm exhausted, I feel bad, but I'm going to skimp on this month.  I took the pictures when she was 8 months at least.

-doing army crawl, particularly towards Winston's toys!
-LOVES, LOVES her solids and happy to say we're still breastfeeding.  Pumping is definitely getting old, but I'm still going!
-at 8 months she was comfortably fitting into 9 month clothing!
-we started letting her cry it out at bed time.  She's down to crying about 5-10 minutes before finally falling asleep.  It's progress.  Not quite consistently sleeping through the night, but more often than not now :)
-loves watching Winston run circles in the basement!

First ED visit!

This past weekend we had our first ED visit. Baby girl rolled over funny and dislocated her elbow. She had something called a nurse maid's elbow. It usually happens in older kids, but can happen in infants. After she rolled over funny Joe heard a "pop." We kept trying to convince ourselves she was using her arm, but she wasn't. :(  We took her to the hospital where I work.  The doc offered to let me try to pop it back in place.  I've done it on other kids, but I didn't want to on my own.  After a quick rotation of her elbow, she was using her arm again!

7 Months!

I'm getting bad with blogging.  I think the truth is I feel I have so little free time now a days that I prefer to spend it with R2D2 and Joe, catching up on sleep, or reading.

Baby girl turned 7 months last week!  She's growing and developing in leaps and bounds.  I'm not going to lie, I was a little bummed that she wasn't sitting up on her own at 6 months even though the pediatrician in me knew it was ok.  Well, I don't need to worry any longer, she's doing great sitting up.  She also is one big talker.  I can't wait to hear what she has to stay when she understands she has words and can make sentences.  I'm already fearing the calls home from her teachers that she's talking in class.

We didn't have a doctor's appointment this month, but based on weighing myself with her, I think she's about 17 pounds 13 ounces.  Gone is my 5th percentile baby.  She received a box of size two diapers as a gift, so we've been squeezing her into them.  I officially used the last one today, so I guess we have officially graduated to size 3 diapers.  Clothes wise she's straddling 6 months and 9 months.  Most of the 6 month pants are too short for her now, but some of the onesies are ok.  I predict she'll be in solely 9 month clothes by next week.

Once R2D2 turned 6 months she had two teeth erupt!  It's neat watching them come up even more and now I'm getting used to her smile with those two bottom teeth.

R2D2 is sleeping much better now. She's more consistently only waking once a night.  My call schedule has been almost every 4th night and the night after I'm gone she wakes up more often (I think to make sure I'm still home), but nothing like she used to.

I'm proud to say I'm still breast feeding.  She's transitioned to a fair number of solids that we haven't really needed to supplement for the past couple of weeks.  I can tell she's starting to wean and it's making me a little sad.  I'm going to miss our breastfeeding sessions.

Along with talking, I think baby girl's other favorite thing to do right now is play in her exersaucer.  She jumps, and jumps, and jumps, spins herself around, and just has a grand old time.  (Funny, so I reread the previous month's post to see if I miss anything and I basically wrote this same sentence in her 6 month post!)

Oh, her eyes are still blue!

7 months instead of 1 year

Here is my almost 7 month old (1 week shy in this photo)!

Today is a weird day of emotions for me.  Today is the one year anniversary of my due date for my first pregnancy, the one that ended in a miscarriage.  I could possibly be having a one year old running around right now.  However, if that was the case, I wouldn't have that bundle of joy above.  I love her so much.  I still love and miss her unborn sibling though.  When she gets older and sees that I'm a little sad on February 14th I never want her to think that I didn't want her.  It's just weird to think of these things.  Regardless, my love for R2D2 and her daddy is busting at the seams and I don't need a Hallmark holiday to remind me of this.

My New 'do

When I was pregnant I decided I wanted to grow out my hair and donate it again. Well, I had had enough of my post-partum shedding and chopped it off this past weekend! I'm donating to Pantene. I'm still getting used to it, but overall I definitely like it.

6 Months!

Ok, yes, she's about 6.5 months now that I'm posting this, but I wanted to wait for her 6 month check-up!

On January 31, 2013, she weighed 17lbs 4 ounces (66%) and was 25.5 inches long (25%).  To think I was worried she was a small peanut when she was less than the 5% at 2 months old.  She's still primarily breast milk, taking about 5 ounces every 3 hours during the day.  She gets a formula bottle about once every other day.  I mentioned in her 5 month post that I was going to try to cut out pumping a little bit.  I have stopped staying up just to pump, but I'm still finding myself pumping in the car quite a lot.  I still have a not in my shoulders/neck, but it's such a good use of my time to pump and drive.

I don't want to jinx anything, but I think R2D2's eyes might stay blue.  I hope so because they are such a beautiful color of blue!

In terms of sleep, we're getting there. As most babies are, she's very attune to my schedule.  Since I'm a resident physician, I don't quite have a great, consistent schedule.  Just when we get to sleeping well, my schedule changes.  She has ranged from sleeping 6-10 consecutive hours. She sleeps in her crib at night, but man, we're going to miss the swing for her day-time naps.

R2D2 is rolling around back and forth, it's quite entertaining seeing her use rolling as her mode of transportation.  She's starting slowly to sit up on her own.

Oh man is she a talker though!  We don't have mama or dada yet, but she will sing her heart out.  I love listening to her in the mornings.  She wakes up and talks to herself for a good 5-10 minutes before crying to be picked up.

With her growth spurt, some of her 6 month clothes are getting a little snug on her.  She's not quite in 9 month clothes yet though.  We have a whole box of size 2 diapers left that we received for Christmas.  She could probably move up to size 3 but for now the size 2 is working.

Along with talking, R2D2's favorite activity is the exersaucer.  She jumps, and jumps, and jumps.  Then she spins herself around, plays with another toy, then jumps some more!

Moroccan Beef Chili

I reaching the tail end of residency, woo hoo, but I have had a heavy schedule.  It was nice to ease back in after maternity leave, but I definitely made up for it these past 2 months.  I've been trying to make a meal at least every other weekend that I can freeze and heat up on the days I don't have time to cook, which is basically everyday now a days.  I found this recipe in Clean Eating Magazine and I will definitely be adding it ot my favorites!  The flavors blend so well together and with the chickpeas it makes a hearty meal!  I didn't use a crock-pot and used my Dutch oven instead, but that set off our carbon monoxide detector, so crock pot it is next time!

From Clean Eating Magazine, Jan/Feb 2013, pg 49

INGREDIENTS:
Olive Oil
1 lb sirloin beed, trimmed of fat and cut into 1/4 inch-thick strips
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 yellow onion, coarsely chopped
1 tsp ground tumeric
1 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp fresh ground black pepper
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
3 cups low-sodium beef stock, divided
2 sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1-2 inch chunks
1 1/2 cups jarred or boxed unsalted diced tomatoes, with juices
1 1/4 cup dried chickpeas, soaked in water for 24 hours (or boiled for 1 hour until al dente, then drain and set aside)
1/3 cup chopped dried apricots

DIRECTIONS:
1. In large nonstick skillet on medium heat, heat 1 tablespoon oil.  Add beef and cook until browned and cooked through, about 3-5 minutes.  Transfer mixture to a slow-cooker.
2. Return skillet to medium and heat 1 tablespoon oil.  Add garlic, onion, turmeric, cumin, cinnamon, black pepper, and pepper flakes and cook, stirring constantly, for about 3 minutes.  Add 1 cup stock and stir, scraping up browned bits in bottom of skillet with a spoon. Transfer to slow cooker.
3. To slow cooker, stir in remaining 2 cups of stock, potatoes, tomatoes, chickpeas, and apricots; cover and cook on high for about 4 hours.  Season with salt if desired.