New High Chair

After we had such a good experience using our little red chair as our feeding chair, we decided that we didn't actually need a big freestanding, space-hogging high chair for Abigail, and looked into seats for bigger babies that still strapped to an existing chair.

As a refresher, here is Abigail eating in the little red chair:

We found a great "booster seat" and thanks to my parents, Abigail has been eating happily in it for the past week:

Last week, she even ate a piece of pizza in the new chair--we couldn't believe she ate so much food, even though some fell on the floor.  

So far it is working out great and is nice for our smaller space!

More cute outfits

As Abigail has been getting bigger, we have been able to try on some of her 9 and 12 month outfits and she looks so cute.

Here are some highlights:
This adorable outfit from my friend at work

a cute dress from JP's grandma

a cute dress from my grandma

Cute pants from my Aunt Peggy

So much fun!

Pulling to stand

Abigail has been doing this for quite a while too, but this is the first time it was captured on video:

 In case you thought that was impressive, she is just beginning to crawl, and over the weekend managed to make her way from sitting to a crawling position to pulling up just like this on one of the couches to a standing position.  She is going to be all over the house before we know it!

Water baby

Since Abigail enjoys bath time so much, and since it is so hot here during the summer, we have been going to the pool in our complex a few times for Abigail to cool off and practice getting wet in the 'really big bathtub' as JP calls it.  The bonus part is that our cloth diapers work as swim diapers so we don't have to worry about having extra supplies for pool time.

Here are a few shots of Abigail and JP in the pool this weekend--she had such a good time!

 

Scooting baby

I mentioned that Abigail is scooting around in our monthly update but I didn't get anything on video until this past weekend.  Here is evidence of how she can move around when she spends time on her tummy, even though she would prefer to be standing at all times!

Abigail: 8 months old

 Nicknames:  My most common this month have been Sunshine and Munchkin; I am using Abigaily less, and JP is still consistently using Sweet Pea as his favorite
Temperament: more opinionated all the time, but overall happy and very curious, continuing to be very watchful and observant, happy and chatty most of the time

Item/Toy We Love The Most: the new jumper, books, the new stroller, the rubber ducky song, everything that helps you stand up

Item/Toy You Love The Most:   anything that will help you stand up! this can be the couches, the coffee table, the dining room chairs, the bookcase, the wall, the footstool in your room, etc., the tiny hole in one cushion on the couch, the carpet fibers, and some actual toys, like the jumper, the spinning blocks, and the rock and stack, the rubber ducky song,

Things We're Loving Most Right Now: seeing you figure out a few more things every day about standing and walking with help and problem solving how to get toys and pick things up without having to sit down, anytime you laugh, seeing you figure out how to pick up little things with a developing pincer grasp,helping you walk all over the house and stand up whenever possible, hearing you say babbled phrases that sound like real sentences, singing with you

 Things You’re Loving Most Right Now: nursing, standing up and cruising and transferring, eating, jumping in the jumper, walks in the stroller, playing with the mirror baby, getting dried off with your ducky towel after baths 

As a side note, our monthly photo shoots have gotten more challenging as Abigail has gotten more mobile:

Eating: This month Abigail began eating two meals a day, one at school in the middle of the day and one at home before her bedtime nursing session.  She continues to enjoy a wide variety of foods and we are gradually working on more finger foods.  Abigail is continuing to have six milk feedings a day, although they may be a little bit shorter.  She continues to finish her bottles at daycare and usually gets up once at night to eat.

Sleeping:  Sleep has been a little all over the place but improved the last week of the month.  Abigail got two more teeth this month, which seemed to have some connection with her sleep difficulties.  Abigail falls asleep pretty easily at night but then had a pattern of waking up 2-3 times after a few hours of sleep. We rarely had to pick her up but it often took a few tries to get her back to sleep.  Then she would stay asleep until she woke up to eat later in the night.  The last week or so, she was more likely to stay asleep the whole night except waking up to eat.  Her naps have been about the same--short and infrequent at daycare--but her mood continues to be pretty good so we have not done too much to change them. 

Playing:  Abigail is so much fun right now!  She continues to really enjoy jumping in the jumper and is curious and interested in things.  She has started scooting on her tummy, a precursor to crawling, but is not that interested in crawling. Instead, she is totally interested in being vertical, and loves to stand up and cruise along the furniture or walk holding on to our hands. She gets better at picking things up all the time without having to sit down, and can sometimes sit down carefully from standing. She falls on occasion but recovers nicely.

She continues to enjoy looking at books and playing with balls and her rock and stack and animals, although one of her favorite things to do with all her toys is knock them off the table onto the floor. 

Growth:  No doctor's visit until next month, but we can see Abigail getting bigger and longer and stronger all the time.  We have retired most of the 6 month clothes for Abigail's baby cousin Laura and we have moved into mostly 9 month and some 12 month clothing.  

As I mentioned before, Abigail also grew two teeth this month! They are her two top front teeth.  We didn't notice the first one coming through until I was nursing Abigail one day and heard a clicking noise that sounded like teeth clicking, and once I pried her mouth open, there it was poking through!  We were not so lucky with the second tooth, which we could see pushing on her gum, but took a solid week to finally break through.  Other than her sleep possibly being disrupted, Abigail didn't seem too bothered by the teeth. She still likes to click her teeth together, and sometimes make little grinding noises, which drives JP crazy!   

Abigail also continues to chat more and more, and is saying lots of consonant sounds. She is also starting to say little strings of sounds that have the same cadence as sentences, although they are still clearly in baby-language.  

A comparison:

Cruising on the bookcase

We keep finding more places for Abigail to practice her standing.  For example, she likes to support herself on our little bookshelves and practice taking the books off.  She then gradually made her way closer to the photographer as she cruised along the shelf.

Splish Splash

How cute is Abigail splashing in the bathtub???

Drinking from a cup

We had read that Abigail could start drinking water with her solids to help her digest, so we dutifully went out and bought a basic starter sippy cup for her.

She was somewhat interested in chewing on the end but rarely actually got any liquid out of it.  We even tried juice in the sippy cup in an effort to treat constipation but even the extra sugar did not get her to like it.

Then last week, while my Mom was here (I was too busy to get pictures!), Abigail was eating something starchy, like a piece of tortilla or pizza crust, so we tried having her drink a little from an open plastic cup.

She seemed a little confused when the water kept coming out, and a lot ended up on her bib and chair, but she definitely reached out for more, and got the hang of it little by little.

At the end of the week, Abigail came back from a walk with my Mom and seemed a little sweaty so we decided to try giving her some water in the cup.  She liked that, then tried some water from my water bottle, then we decided to try a straw cup--and she liked it!

So we now have a straw-sipping, water-drinking baby!

Meeting the newest cousin

A few weeks ago, we went up to Phoenix for the day to hang out with our relatives up there.

One highlight was getting to have Abigail meet her new baby cousin Laura--look how tiny she is!

We didn't think Abigail would be very interested in baby Laura since she was so little, but she seemed intrigued. She definitely noticed when Laura cried or fussed and would look over to see what was happening with her.

We also saw some moments of stranger anxiety with Abigail and her relatives, as she hasn't seen them in a little while.  It was interesting because she was a little slow to react, as she would inspect the person holding her and then we could see her face start to crumble as she decided they were not acceptable.  However, once JP or I took her again, she was able to calm down and was pretty interactive when she had us as her safety net.

Abigail also got to eat her food at the highchair at her grandparents' house--look how little she looks in the big chair! We don't have a highchair so it was fun to see her there.