8 Month Milestones

This month has gone by really fast and you are getting stronger and heavier.

You’ve changed your sleeping schedule and have started staying up really late, sometimes until 10pm. By end of this month you started to fall asleep by 8:30-9pm.

You get very upset when I leave the room, before you would play in your crib and be fine. Now, only if you are exhausted do you fall right to sleep. This is the marking of an important milestone and shows you are now more aware and conscious of your surroundings and the people around you.

This month I’ve decided to blog about A Day in the Life of Ella Mae. 

Daily schedule

Wake up between 7-8am

Change diaper and come into bed with mom and watch cartoons.

Fall asleep for another hour.

Around 9 am dad comes home and scoops you up. Checks you diaper. Gives you a bottle and some baby food (bananas or vegetable medley)

Mom sleeps for a while longer or goes to work.

You have many adventures with Dad for the next 4-5 hours including:

Bouncer time

Walker time

Watching cartoons – especially Sesame Street, Barney, and SpongeBob.

Eating a zwieback cracker or two (if Dinah makes off with the first).

Sometimes running an errand.

Taking a short nap, or just rolling around in your playard for awhile.

Eating more food and having another bottle.

By the time mom gets home around 1-2pm you are usually trying to take a nap in your playard while Dad dozes on the couch.

Dad stumbles off to bed and Mom scoops you up. You are usually a little bit sour, with remnants of zwieback in your nose and the creases of your neck. Mom cleans you up and we get dressed (you are usually still in pajamas unless you ran an errand with Dad).

If you haven’t eaten for the 2^nd time, Mom feeds you and we play with toys on our high chair.

Then we have a bottle and watch cartoons, and maybe read an animals sounds story or play with your workbench that makes noises. Sometimes we watch Baby Einstein and sometimes we turn the tv off and listen to music.

You enjoy singing songs while motoring around in your walker.

 

Usually once a day, while in your walker or booster seat, I give you celery or jicama to chew on. When I’m not looking you share your food with Dinah and she takes off with it. Then you begin fussing because you have nothing, and I’ve got to get another piece for you to chew on, after scolding Dinah of course.

If it’s a nice day we’ll sit outside for awhile and you play with the grass and try to eat the leaves.

Usually once a day we run an errand – grocery shopping, diapers and other baby essentials or a trip to the baby consignment store. I take food with me and you sometimes eat while we are out.

We are normally home by 6pm and you are ready to eat again. You are also tired and finally just fell asleep in the car about 2 minutes before we were home. You of course wake up when I try to smoothly lift your carseat out of the car and into the house.

I typically run to the bathroom very quickly because I haven’t gone all day, and then run back to get you out of your carseat before you get really cranky with me.

We have another bottle and eat a little more food if you want it.

Then we check your diaper, put on pajamas, and depending on how tired you are we either go back into the living room to play with toys for awhile or I put you in your crib to play with your special toys that live there.

Sometimes you take a nap in the playard – I think you are comforted by having me and Dinah around. Then you wake up about an hour later very cranky and I quickly move you to your crib where you fuss a little and then fall fast asleep.

In your crib you have your very special blankets that smell sweet, your special down filled pillow from Grandma Robn with a blue Star Wars pillowcase, your favorite animal sounds book, your favorite counting book (for chewing on), your taggy book, your tiny stuffed giraffe, puppy that barks, Winnie the pook, hawaii fish from Grandma Janine, and a stuffed monkey that you Dad felt you had to have from the consignment store. I set everything up just so that you can reach it and you must handle everything and move it to a new place in your crib before you can fall asleep.

If you are very tired you’ll go right to sleep, but if you are not extremely tired then you’ll fuss when I leave the room and want me to stay with you. I’ll lay you down, then you’ll smile and situp, and we’ll do this for awhile. Eventually you are tired enough to sleep.

No matter what, you must have a blanket up around your face and touching your face. This and a pacifier are the two must-have items for you to fall asleep. As soon as the pacifier is in and the blanket is to touching your face the hands go behind the head and you start bouncing your butt up and down and moving your head side to side under the blanket. All of this so you can get in the right and most comfortable spot, where you sleep until morning.

Goodnight Ella Mae it was a very busy day!

You are a content, happy, and very busy baby all day long, with only a few cranky moments (especially right after you wake up from a nap). You love seeing other people and smile and show your dimples and everyone also remarks how beautiful and alert you are.

Love,

Mom

PS. Here is one of mine and Grandma Robn’s favorite pictures of the month! Look at those long panky toes!