New Skills: Isla can now sit up fairly well! She will occasionally topple over if she's chewing on something or reaching for something and this makes her VERY mad, but in general I feel good setting her down on carpet and knowing she'll be able to sit there for a while. Another fun skill is she can now find and put her pacifier back in by herself! I think she does this in her crib sometimes which is super nice. She can also put food into her mouth with some accuracy, although it usually involved her entire hand going into her mouth. Around 6.5 months, Isla started getting up on all fours and sort of floppy on her belly to scoot to things. She could move her legs in the crawling movement but didn't get what to do with her arms. Well, I'd say these last few days she's getting the hang of it! This morning she used her new skills to crawl across the family room straight to her mama. Lol - she is a BIG mama fan. Lastly, Isla now really really likes to "stand" with help from us. She even tries to only let me hold onto one of her hands. She's not at all very steady, but she is determined to move and be big. Our other kids didn't crawl until closer to 8 months, and then walked around 9/10. I'll be curious to see how quick this lady moves!
Eating: Isla still nurses before and/or after naps/bed. She wakes up to nurse 2-3 times per night (one of those is super early morning, like 5/6am and I nurse her to try to get some more sleep myself). It's a lot, but she nurses maybe 5 minutes and then goes right back to sleep so for now it's easier than trying to figure out how to not go nurse her. The few times we've tried to let her cry or just replace the nuk she gets mad QUICKLY. This lady can go from 0-60 in no time with her anger. She knows what she wants and will not take no for an answer. A little before 6 months, we started offering Isla baby oatmeal cereal mixed with EBM. She did pretty well with it so at 6 months we did some purees and she liked them, but was always trying to reach for our food. So for the past couple weeks she's been having a "breakfast" (to entertain her while the big kids eat) of banana chunks and puffs, a lunch puree, then "dinner" while we eat that is puffs and little chunks of what we're having or leftovers. Usually like blueberries, cooked carrots, shredded chicken, noodles, etc. She enjoys feeding herself more than you feeding her but it does make a big mess! Usually when we go out and about I bring veggie straws and graham crackers to entertain her and she LOVES them!
Sleeping: Bedtime lately has been around 7/7:15pm. We do PJs, nurse, read a book ("Just Like My Mommy" - she loves it!), song, and put her in bed. She goes down pretty well usually. We stopped doing a bedtime bottle which I may regret later but since we can't get a babysitter, it seemed pointless for me to be pumping/giving a bottle when it is quicker to just nurse her. She usually wakes to nurse around 11/12 and 3. Maybe around 5 again but not always. She takes three naps a day now, around 8:30, 11:30/12, and 3/4. Just depends how long they are - sometimes they are 1.5-2 hours, sometimes still only 30 minutes. Usually if the first is short, the next one will be long. She's able to be more content/happier between naps and the evenings now which is nice, and hopefully that means she'll be ready for two long naps soon!
Other: So like I said, Isla still has her moments but in general is a much more content and smiley baby lately. She LOVES watching Ben/Elle and when they talk to her - will smile and giggle and coo. She still loves being outside. I don't have to carry her around as much anymore, which is really nice! She still hates the stroller for some reason, but she does well in the Lillebaby carrier. So at the zoo yesterday she stayed in the stroller for maybe 10 minutes, then got mad but was happy in the carrier for 1.5 hours until it was time to go. Silly baby! She likes to be in the action and seeing everything I think. She also doesn't seem to be uncomfortable/refluxy/gassy anymore, so we have completely weaned off the Prilosec (as of yesterday), and I'm starting to eat things with dairy in it to see how she does and so far so good! I haven't had actual milk, yogurt, cheese or butter, but baked in things they don't seem to bother her. Isla is also much much better in her carseat thank goodness, and she seems to like being out and about and moving, so we've started going out and doing more things again. Sometimes I wish we could just sit at home and do nothing, but she seems to get bored easily, so we tend to go to the park, zoo, for walks, Target :), and play outside a lot. I still have never taken Isla and the big kids to the grocery all by myself and I don't know if I will until she can walk. I'm too nervous! So back to Saturday grocery shopping just like when I was working full time. :) So the one thing that is NOT better about Isla at this point is that she still does NOT want people to hold her who aren't me or Brad. So no babysitters and no church nursery for us! We did go out to dinner one night, but put her to bed a little early and then left the big kids for Uncle Robert to put to bed. I tried to put her in the MOPS nursery on Tuesday and she was content for like 3 minutes before she got upset I wasn't there. As soon as she was back with me she was fine. But MOPS meetings are going to be a little challenging I can tell, because she's not a huge fan of sitting still and quiet. And I'm leading it this year. So it could be interesting. On Tuesday I just kept throwing food at her and she did okay. :)
This baby sure has been a challenge, but we love her so much! As she grows, we can see her little determined, demanding and active personality coming out. And I've been reflecting on how having this challenge baby has been positive because it's been teaching me to let go of my to-do list and crazy Type-A personality a little bit. I've gotta be more humble and not act like I have it all together all of the time, because it's very clear I don't when I'm rocking a fussy baby constantly! I also have had to rely on others more...to help with the big kids, or take over some of the MOPS jobs I would have otherwise just done myself. So I can see God's hand in this all, but still.....a really laid back and chill unicorn baby would've been good too. :)
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