Braelyn Updates
How Old: 6 Months
Medical Updates: She weighs about 14.8 lbs when they weighed her at daycare 2 weeks ago. She'll get weighed again this Friday at her 6 month checkup.
Sleep: She was a champ at night time sleeping for all but about 1 week this past month. That 1 week, she was teething and it was just not easy. I was miserable, and so was she. But alas, we got through it and each time I'm learning some more soothing techniques for her. This past time, I used Punkin Butt oil on her along with the Hyland's Teething Tablets after reading some suggestions from a mom group I follow on Facebook.
Clothing/Diapers: She's wearing her 6-9 months clothes for the most part with a handful of 3-6 month pieces. She's still tall, but we'll find out how tall in comparison at her Dr. appointment this Friday. I ordered the cloth diapers I was obessing over in her last month post and I just got an email saying they have shipped - YAY! I can't wait! We're still really loving cloth. My father and his wife even commented about how it was so much easier than they thought it would be when they came in last month to help out with her while Neal was in Seattle for work training.
Milestones: She's really getting ready to roll from her back to her stomach. When she really wants something, she'll roll onto her side from her back. If I'm holding her when she's on her belly, she can then lift up onto her knees and put her weight onto her arms. She then rocks and moves her little knees a tiny bit...crawling around the corner!? She's really grabbing everything in sight. She has a favorite toy, her lion, that she will grab if she has the option between a few toys. She also likes to grab onto my water or coffee cup and put her mouth on the rim. I bought her the next Avent Natural design cup sippy cup and have put water in it for her try when she's eating solids...oh yea...she's eating some solids! About 1 week before she officially turned 6 months, I started feeding her (she was 5 day's over her due date, so really it's her 6 months gestational). We started with baby rice cereal (didn't care for that), butternut squash (loves that), and now we're trying peas (she's okay with them, but not in love).
Mommy Updates
Postpartum: 6 Months
Weight: Right around pre-pregnancy weight.
Waist/belly My diastasis recti is about 1 finger width apart. I didn't work out much at all between 5-6 months postpartum due to sickness, then lack of sleep from Braelyn teething, but I did get in my Knocked Up Fitness Postpartum DVD's and have done some of the workouts and am really loving them because I do not have to think twice about if they are okay for my diastasis recti. Erica is a great instructor. I highly recommend her DVD's prenatal and postpartum as she's great at reminding you to work your deep core muscles and pelvic floor - keeping you safe pre and post natal.
Best moments as a new mom: Just seeing her grow and become more and more interactive. It's the best.
Hardest moments as a new mom: Nap training. This has been so hard and sad. We are trying to get her to nap in her crib rather than on mom and dad during the weekends. During the weekdays, daycare is trying to get her to nap in her crib rather then in a bouncer or swing. I know, I know, we should have started this MONTHS ago, but I LOVE TO HOLD HER. I do notice a big difference in her attitude when she sleeps in her crib for naps vs sleeping on me or in a swing/bouncer. She really is so much nicer, happier, and just content.
And for me, harder than nap training is milk supply. My supply goes down easily if I am sick or stressed - both of which happened a lot this last month. Work is legit killing my supply. It's terrible. I've never had more work since being with the company. I even put Lively Happenings on Etsy on vacation because I just need time in the evenings to complete work that I can't get done before getting Braelyn from daycare. It's just nuts. I've never been more unhappy than I was last week because I was SO stressed about my milk supply going down, and that stress was coming from work stress and it was just an all out nightmare. We survived, my supply is back up and I didn't go too much into my freezer stash of milk. But gosh, it's just hard. I really hate worrying about pumping and if I'm pumping enough and then crying each time I do because I'm not getting as much as she needs me to send to daycare. I even ate tons of oats, drank lots of mother's milk tea, and tried to de-stress, but I just couldn't de-stress. Today's not much better, but I'm consciously trying to not let all of the tasks piling up on my plate overcome me as much as I allowed them to do last week. My supply, thankfully has been amazing these last few days, so I'm hoping that will continue...now if only work could be amazing and not so hard :)
And some photos from the month of February where she went from 5 months to officially 6 months (HALF A YEAR!) on March 1st :)
She LOVES the bouncer!
Such a cutie :)
Practicing sitting up and playing with toys using our boppy
Taking as many selfies as I can with her while she still lets me :)
TRYING FOOD FOR THE FIRST TIME
She loved butternut squash
She'd rather eat her bib than her rice cereal
Taking her 6 Month Photos:
Daddy's Valentine's Day Gift
First time sledding...she hated it!
