Molly at 10 Months

Moo Moo, are you even real? I love watching your little personality emerge lately. You are still pretty chill, but going through a clingy phase the past few weeks. You're not content to hang out without someone being very close to you. 

Weight:  Guessing somewhere around 17-17.5 lbs. Such a tiny thing, especially compared to how giant she first came out. 

Medical Issues: A lot of snot and coughs this month, plus a touch of viral pink eye. Also a lot of poop blowouts, but maybe that's because she's headed toward a bigger diaper size soon. 

Sleep:  Still hating naps! I think she only takes 2 naps a day at school. She fights to stay awake. On the weekends, she'll take a few catnaps on my lap while nursing. I don't have it in me to nap train her. She does have an earlier bedtime (around 7/7:30) and wakes up around 6 (opposed to the 7:30 she was giving me months ago.)

Clothes: Mostly 9 month, but we're starting to do 12 month sleepers. I'm hoping she fits into her 12-18 month summer clothes at some point. 

Social:  Starting to let other people hold her again which is a relief! She loves being out and about, especially sitting in the front part of the grocery cart. She babbles, dada, mama, and even does Lucy's old Gladys laugh and noises. Lucy makes her actually laugh, something I can't seem to get her to do a lot. 

Food: Still mostly on purees, though the gagging has slowed down a bit. I think she's just my vomit kid. :( She still loves her Puffs so much, but is really appreciating Cheerios too. 

Crying: Mostly cries from when she's tired. 

Play: She loves little plastic toys in her hand. I have to shove one in her hand while I change her diaper in the hopes she stays put. She also likes to pull the wipes out and pretend to clean things. 

Molly at 9 Months

Oh sweet baby, you continue to amaze me with everything you are. I constantly hug you close to me, wondering how you can be real. I think back to a year ago when I was starting to feel you kick inside of my belly, wondering who you'd be, what you'd look like. And now you've been earthside for 9 months, making everything brighter.

Weight:  Down half a pound to 16 lbs as of last week. Thanks to a double ear infection, tummy bug, and newfound crawling, she dropped weight. Little peanut is now 17th percentile, down from her normal 20 something percentile. The only thing in a high percentage is her big noggin.

Medical Issues: I think another cold is coming on. It's been a crappy first winter, but that's to be expected. 

Sleep:  She hates to nap -- her frequent catnaps have gotten worse. She'll fight through a nap at all costs, and when she does submit, it's not for long. Once in awhile, I can get her into her crib for a weekend nap for over an hour. At night, she sleeps almost 12 hours straight through. 

Clothes: 6-9 for the most part, though I'm sure she can fit into her 6 month clothes too. She wears one piece pajamas all the time, even to school. 

Social:  She's still a really good traveler -- she loves being out, looking at things. But she's now doing this yelling thing. Like screams (not out of anger-- more like testing her lungs/voice.) She has had a good case of stranger danger for over a month now. While she's happy to engage with people, she'd much rather do it from the comfort of her parents arms. Oh -- new this week. Babbles, including "dadada." I did hear a random Mama in there too.

Food: She loves all food, but she's not the best at swallowing table food, so I've been sticking to purees and Puffs for the most part. The gagging doesn't scare me that much anymore, but she often will throw up from the gagging. I think Molly's my vomit-y kid.

Crying: Mostly cries from when she's tired. 

Play: Her favorite toy seems to be clapping stacking cups together. She's started to get interested in Lucy's old Zany Zoo, but she seems happy enough to be rolling around on the floor with a few small toys. 

Molly at 7 Months

Dear Molly,
Time, please slow down! You are growing too quickly right before my eyes. I am trying to soak in every rub of your fuzzy head, your milky breath, the way your face looks when you smile with your eyes closed, your tiny fingers grabbing on to mine.

Milestone-wise, you just cut two more teeth (top middle), for a total of four. You are not sitting unaassited yet, but you are trying to crawl! You just started solid foods a month ago and eat like your mother -- ferociously. :) While we give you mostly purees, you're likely to snatch a fry off my plate and try to down it. Pizza crust was a hit. Since you started solids you have been spitting up less!

leepwise, you're still catnapping, but you sleep good at night - about 9/10 hours. You are wearing both 6 and 9 month clothing though you're still a peanut. 15 lbs at your 6 month appointment, and 15 lbs 8 oz. a month later. Socially, you love everyone. Big smiles wherever you go -- very easy going unless you're tired.

You are very amused by your sister, and especially love when she dances and cheers around the house. You also love your toys, jumperoo, and a good bag of wipes. I'm so excited for your first holiday season. I never had a baby this age this time of year. :)

I love you so much, sweet baby of mine. A year ago we didn't know if we were even having a boy or girl, and now here you are -- our dream baby.

Molly at 23 Weeks

Weight: After a 2 weeks growth spurt, she has had about 2 weeks of non growth spurts, so I'm really not sure! I'm guessing somewhere between 15-16. She seemed to chub up for a minute, but is lengthening out again. She has her next well visit in a few weeks. 

Health: Another cold -- this one has been waking her up several times a night! Development wise, she's really mastering grabbing and using her hands. We're close to finding our toes! And she really loves her mama's boobies; it's lately her favorite place of comfort. My supply has been on the lower end the past few weeks which has me nervous that it may be slowly going down. 

Sleep: Bedtime is now around 9/9:30 and she is in her crib as of two weeks ago! While she handled the transition rather well, we're now waking up several times a night -- hopefully because of the cold and not because of a regression. She sleeps in her zippadee zip swaddle and rolls from her back to belly. She'll somewhere roll herself around to bang on the sides of the crib. Still catnapping. 

Clothes: 3-6 really solidly. 

Social: Still really happy.

Crying: Hunger and fatigue. She fights naps like crazy anymore unless she's nursing. 

Molly at 19 Weeks

Weight: 13 lb last week at her 4 month well visit. Dropping in percentile to 24th, but pediatrician is not concerned. She's 80th percentile for height. I'm trying not to stress about it. 

Health: She developed a little cold the past few weeks, and we have cut two teeth already which is way earlier than Lucy did. Unfortunately she uses those little teeth to bite during nursing. Eep! 

Sleep: Still a catnapper during the day. About 5 naps a day. Sleep is more unpredictable these days -- can I blame four month sleep regression and teeth? She sometimes won't go down until 10:30 again, and sometimes a 3 am wakeup to nurse. She did pull a few 7:30s the few days after her four month vaccine.

Clothes: 0-3 can still fit, but I'm moving her up to 3-6. 

Social: Loves smiling at people, and especially loves her sister who is constantly entertaining her with dances and cheers.

Crying: Hunger and gas pains, though that seems to be fewer now.

Molly at 12 Weeks

Disclaimer: Writing this at 13 weeks! OOPS.

Weight: 12 lbs 2 oz last week. I keep bringing her in for weight checks to keep the gain in order. She's gaining on the lower end, which has me an anxious mom -- especially as we're 90% breastmilk.

Health: Jaundice gone! I'm so relieved we didn't have to go to the Pittsburgh specialist. She looks like a different baby. Now just anxious about weight gain. Such a spitter still! But she's a happy spitter so we just deal with it.

Sleep: Still a catnapper during the day. About 5 naps a day. Bedtime has bumped up during our first week of daycare to about 9:15 ish which I'm not sad about. For most of the week she woke up a little before 6 am which is perfect.

Clothes: 0-3

Social: Started our first week of daycare, and she's doing great. She's such an easygoing baby, so I wasn't too worried about how she'd do.

Crying: Hunger and gas pains, though that seems to be fewer now.

Milestones: Very early stages of grabbing things. A lot more aware of her surroundings. Once she locks eye contact with someone huge smiles. Lots of chatting. And even though we don't have structured tummy time she holds her head up so well and pushes up with her legs when we hold her up on the couch. 

Molly at 8 Weeks

Weight: We haven't had a weight check for two weeks, but I'm guessing she's somewhere in the low mid 11 lb range. I've been starting to stress that she's not eating enough based on pumping output and how much she takes via the occasional bottle.

Health: I took her to the pediatrician about 2 weeks ago because she's been spitting up so frequently. While they weren't concerned about the relux, the PA noted her jaundice and requested another lab check with CBC, so we took off to the lab where they had to take it from her arm. She was still showing pretty elevated levels so they wanted us to take her to pediatric GI doc in Pittsburgh. Ultimately her color started improving, so another lab check just a day before our scheduled appointment showed her levels went down by a lot and we have to get it re-checked in two weeks. Praying they continue to go down and she finally kicks the jaundice totally. I was so worried thinking she had some sort of liver disease, but it seems like it was just a very prolonged cause of breast milk jaundice.

Sleep: Her first nighttime stretch still sits around 5-7 hours with bedtime around 9:30/10 pm. She's gotten better about being quicker with her MOTN feeding, but her second stretch of sleep is still very light especially when it starts to get light and the damn birds start chirping right around the same time. I added another layer of white noise last night which seemed to help and she slept until 8 am. We have less than 4 weeks to figure out a wake up routine that will let me maximize my own sleep and get myself ready before she wakes up. Fingers crossed we can pull it off!

Naps are a wreck. Frequent 20 minute naps are her jam.

Clothes: 0-3 are fitting decently now. Still gowns at bedtime, and some sort of romper for day/going out.

Social: We try to get out when we can -- now mornings we hop in the car to take Lucy to summer camp. The friends visiting have obviously slowed down, so we try to get out when we are able. Luckily there are outdoor festivals and things to go to that help get us out of the house.

Crying: Hunger, overtired. And gas pains make her so upset it breaks my heart. Fortunately it doesn't happen a lot.

Milestones: First social smiles have happened this month. A lot more aware time though she's not that interested in things for very long.