Zoe's on the Move and Talking at 9 Months

Nine months is such a fun age. Zoe is talking and moving, her schedule is fairly predictable, she's eating more solid foods, and definitely knows her family.  Being more aware of her surroundings means she's got a little separation anxiety, but she loves her teachers at school, so the fussing is very short. We are finally getting more laughs and smiles on camera and while Skyping with family.

Smiley Zoe

So much hair on this blue-eyed, fair-skinned beauty

The major development this month relates to movement. Last month she would move from place to place on the floor, but it was not coordinated or directed in any way. Now she can get anywhere she wants to go very quickly. She uses one knee and one foot to "crawl," even after we've tried helping her use both knees. Sometimes, like on the concrete at the pool, she tries crawl-walking.

Zoe Walk-Crawling:

Zoe can pull herself up on anything, and she does often. She's not really cruising yet, just going from sitting to standing and back to sitting. I caught her debating the stairs one morning.

Thinking about Climbing Stairs:

The other big milestone is that she is starting to "talk" to us. So far, she seems to like to say "ah-da" to everything. We aren't sure what she's referring to - daddy, all done, etc, but it is so cute. She also loves making raspberries.

Crawling and Talking:

Zoe blowing raspberries:

As you can see in the first video, she can drink water from a straw. She's also fairly successful using a sippy or regular cup. We've started offering her more of the foods that we eat, though the girl still does not have any teeth! I'm starting to get a little worried because I don't see any emerging. It seems like she has experienced teething on and off for months, but it has not resulted in any teeth coming out. Because she doesn't have teeth (and our slight fear of food allergies) we've been slow to try lots of different foods and textures. She loves bananas, beef, chicken, oatmeal, and drinking water. Every now and then she will surprise us by eating something that we enjoy (like quinoa with sausage). We tried giving her some kefir milk as her first introduction to dairy and she was not a fan of the taste. Thankfully, she did not appear to have any reaction to the milk. There have been a few instances where her face has broken out in hives when she has eaten food, but it has been difficult to pinpoint the cause. One time, it happened at school when she ate hummus, but she had eaten hummus before that time and since that time without problems. Another time it happened with meatballs, which she has also eaten without problems. A third time was when we ate lunch out at the museum. That is more understandable since I don't know what might have been added to the food (oatmeal). My best guess is that she was reacting to something that may have contaminated her food, or utensil. Dairy seems okay, we still have to test eggs, nuts, and seafood. I'm not sure the best day to introduce these foods because I want to be able to call on a doctor if she does react.

On the topic of allergies, Zoe's skin has cleared up significantly. I'm so glad that stress is behind us and that we do not need to continue any topical medications! While she may break out in a small rash on her chin or cheek here and there (mainly when eating and touching her face with slobbery fingers), it occurs rarely now. Her skin loves the hot and humid weather, and even the chlorine in the pool does not bother her.

Sporting some slightly pink cheeks after eating at the museum

Pink chin and cheeks after eating at the park

If you didn't notice before now, we also got Zoe's ears pierced this month. The dermatologist we used for Rose will only pierce ears until a child reaches a year and then won't do it until they are 6. In our experience with Rose, we knew it was best to do it young, when I could nurse after getting it done and when it still just feels like a shot. Similar to our previous experience, Zoe gave an initial cry when the gun pierced the ear, but she was fine within a minute or two of completing both ears (even before I nursed her). Her ears continue to heal up nicely and all the teachers complement her on her new bling.

Zoe's eyes remain blue and unlike her sister, I do not see any hints of other colors. My expectation is that she will be our blue-eyed girl. As you can see in the pictures and videos, her hair is really coming in and is a light brown or even dirty blonde color. She's starting to outgrow a lot of her 9 month clothing. At her 9 month doctors appointment, she was a little over 18lbs and just shy of 27". She's at the 18th percentile for height and 32nd percentile for weight, which is starting to follow a pattern similar to Rose. Her noggin remains large at the 84th percentile.

My beautiful blue-eyed, dirty blonde girl

Over the past couple of months, we've also started seeing more of Zoe's personality. She is generally content, unless she's tired, hungry, or soiled with poop. Over the past month we've started seeing so many more smiles from our little girl. She loves watching Rose, singing songs, being tickled, standing up, and walking. She still doesn't completely trust Rose, with good reason since her sister loves squeezing her to death. At times their laughs echo, but more often Zoe is crying to be freed from Rose's arms. 

I'm so grateful that Zoe is such a good sleeper. She sleeps all night (8:30-6:30 or so), and prefers 3 naps per day (a short 1 hour or less morning nap, a longer 2 hour nap mid-day, and a short 1 hour or less pre-dinner nap). It has been so helpful to have both girls sleep on the same schedule at night. Sometimes we are fortunate to have both girls take their mid-day nap at the same time, but often Rose delays her nap at home so Zoe gets up when Rose finally goes down for her nap. It works out okay so we can spend some one-on-one time with Zoe. In addition to sleeping good stretches, she can also sleep anywhere. Within minutes of driving in the car, she is often asleep, and she has proven herself capable of sleeping in hotel rooms in the midst of noise and lights.

Our smiley girl on daddy's shoulders

We continue to cloth diaper another month, only using 1 disposable each night. And, I am so glad I can report another month where Zoe has received only breast milk. I stressed about having to travel to DC for a work conference, leaving the girls behind with daddy. Thankfully, I was able to pump at the conference, and transport breast milk back on the plane. Zoe continues to take about 1-2 extra bottles of milk than I pump, so I'm down to about 2-3 weeks of stored milk for her. I've started on fenugreek supplements, mother's milk tea, and power pumping to see if I can at least match her intake through the summer. Hopefully something works!

Zoe's Personality Shines at 8 Months

Zoe Lucia at eight months

April was a busy month in the Miller house. Zoe's seventh month started with a trip to Boone, NC to join mommy (and daddy, Rose and Darwin) for work. We extended the trip an extra day to see the mountains and check out things to do and places to eat in/around the NC mountains. Unfortunately, the trip corresponded with a cold spell, and record low overnight temperatures, so we took our time getting out there and limited the activities we had planned outdoors. Both girls did great (better than Darwin), though they had a very late bedtime the first night. Thankfully, they proved themselves capable of sleeping through the night with lights on and through each other's sleep noises. They did most of their napping in the car, but that was to be expected. Since I had to work one day, Colin was able to manage both girls and Darwin while I was busy.

Except for that one cold weekend in April, most of the month has been very comfortable temperature-wise. There have been several weekends that have called for high chances of rain, but few have been wash outs. We mostly stayed in and around the Triangle, getting to: check out some local farms one weekend with the Piedmont Farm Tour; going strawberry picking another weekend at a Cary, NC farm that also had some kid-friendly activities; visiting the Durham Museum of Life and Sciences (where we have an annual pass); going on train and carousel rides at Pullen Park in Raleigh; listening to music and bouncing in the bounce house at Park West Village in Morrisville; and having picnic dinners with some events at Waverly Place in Cary.

The Miller ladies on the train at the Durham Museum of Life and Sciences

I have lots of pictures to share from many of our adventures and will try to post some over the coming days and weeks. Most of the pictures and videos are of Rose because Zoe often falls asleep while being worn in the baby carrier. She's on a schedule of napping about 3 times a day and could take or leave a pacifier. Sometimes it is used to calm her, but she has no problems falling asleep without it. Her first nap is usually 9 or 10am for an hour or so. The second one is mid-day (1ish) for about 2 hours, and the third is usually around 4 or 5pm. This final one is difficult on school days because I am often picking her up just after she has fallen asleep, or she falls asleep on the 5 minute ride home. Thankfully, she continues to sleep through the night, from about 8pm to 6am (give or take 30 minutes). She wants to eat at 6am, and sometimes goes back to sleep with me (if I nurse her in the bed), or gets up and hangs out with daddy. They sometimes take Darwin for a walk together, and Zoe usually watches daddy make breakfast in the kitchen while I get Rose ready for school. At night, Zoe sleeps all night on her back, but it seems she sleeps on her belly at school and at home during naps. As she becomes more mobile, she has started pulling herself up in her crib. It's almost time to drop the mattress a little farther down.

Getting ready to have breakfast

On the topic of being mobile, Zoe is getting very close to crawling, and is fairly sturdy at pulling herself up to standing. Sometimes she forgets that she can't stand on her own and she'll grab a ball or toy with both hands while standing (and let go of whatever is holding her up). Sometimes she cries at the fall and other times it doesn't bother her. She is able to crawl "backwards" where she gets on all fours and can go in reverse, but hasn't figured out how to coordinate hands and knees to move forward. A few times she has tried crawling forwards with one knee down and pushing herself with her other foot. She often gets from point A to point B through a series of maneuvers, but it is not yet efficient.

A few days after our trip to Boone, Zoe developed a spotty rash all over her belly that did not look like her typical ezcema. When it didn't go away after 3 days, we took her to the doctor, who was baffled by her lack of itching. Since the rash did not spread beyond her belly, she didn't have a fever, and she didn't scratch at it, the doctor assumed it was viral. But, there was a possibility of it being chicken pox, and all we could do was watch it to see what it did at day 5 (when it was suppose to blister, or "pox"). On day 5 Zoe did develop a fever and her appetite was pitiful, but the spots never changed or spread. When they didn't go away after 10 days, we were back at the doctor. He had to bring in a colleague for a second opinion and both doctors thought an antibiotic cream was the best course of action. They believed it still was viral, but it is uncommon for a viral rash to last more than a week. Thankfully, after just a day or two of the antibiotic cream, Zoe's skin cleared up. At the same time Zoe had the rash, Rose was also battling a rash on her bottom. My suspicion is that one of them picked up something on our trip and passed it to the other. We had to keep Zoe out of school for a week (on what would have been her second week of school) but thankfully she has been back since it cleared and hasn't had further problems.

Once we got her past the belly rash, her entire skin has looked much better. It seems the weather is the #1 factor. When the weather turned warmer and more humid (which it has been for most of the second half of April and early May), we noticed the eczema improved. I've even brought dairy and food baked with eggs back into my diet (yay for cheese!!), and she has remained mostly clear. She's even been more smiley (even for the camera).

She's so happy her skin is less dry

For most of her seventh month, Zoe was pooping once a day, except for the week she had her rash. During that week, we went 5 days without a poop, which has been the longest she's ever gone. With her eating a combination of solid foods and breast milk, her poops are smelly, soft and sticky (sorry for the description for those who'd rather not know). We continue to cloth diaper, and this is the phase when a diaper liner works well to provide a barrier between the diaper and the poop. Some people like the diaper sprayer, but we've pretty much given up on that. Zoe wears a disposable diaper at night, and cloth diapers the rest of the time.

The solid foods Zoe now consumes include soups (with onions, carrots, celery, beans and a meat like chicken or sausage), chicken, beef, hummus, carrots, cauliflower, lentils, oatmeal (plain or with fruit like bananas, raisins, or strawberries), sweet potatoes, and avocado. She loves bananas, and does pretty good on her oatmeal, carrots, cauliflower, and beef.  We basically blend what we are eating and try to introduce a new food item every few days. At school she broke out in a rash after eating hummus on two separate occasions, but we did not notice it happen at home. Both times, the rash cleared as quickly as it came. In addition to foods, Zoe can also drink from the straw on our camelbak water bottles, drink from a sippy cup, and she can drink from a regular cup (with one of us holding it). A lot of the water lands on her shirt, but it's good for her to learn.

During my work days, Zoe continues to drink more milk than I pump, so I am going through my freezer stash of pumped milk, but not yet stressing on it getting too low. She takes about 3 bottles of 5-7oz each, and sometimes a 4th bottle with 3-4 ounces. I'm hoping we can introduce more solid foods this month and get her to eating fairly well by 10 months so I won't stress when I get close to the end of the frozen milk. Occasionally, I will have an opportunity to pump an extra bottle of milk on the weekends to store for future use, but it isn't enough to make up for the extra bottles she takes during the week. In addition, she still has not cut her first tooth. She rubs her gums all the time, salivates often, and acts like she is teething, but I don't feel any teeth coming through her gums, nor do I see any starting to show.

As Zoe grows and phases out of a the infant stage, her personality continues to present itself. She is a very shy girl and often hides her face in my shoulder when new people greet her. I've started seeing a few glimpses of separation anxiety at school, especially at the start of a new week. She is startled by loud noises and I can tell when she's unsure/afraid of something because she will cling to me. She is extremely tolerant to her sister's roughness, and will protest when someone tries taking away something she wants. Just about every evening at dinner, she tells us she is ready to be done and to get in her pajamas. Once she is changed and ready for bed, she's a happy girl again.

I love this age. Zoe is the chubby baby that can sit up and stand holding on to things. When I nurse her, she fits so perfectly in my arms and feels solid, but squishy. She reacts to us, and knows who we are. She loves laughing with her sister and giving mommy and daddy big smiles. One of her latest favorite things to do is to make bubbles and lip-flapping noises with her mouth. She gets very excited and squeals with delight when she is successful. She likes flipping through books, figuring out how to make noises come from the various toys in the house, banging utensils on the table, and putting everything in her mouth (including sticks and sand). The silicone water bottle mouthpiece is one of her favorite things to chew on. She also loves petting Darwin and grabbing at his paws.

Rose pushing Zoe in a cardboard box

Rose loves taking her picture with Zoe

Rose and Zoe seem to love each other, though I often have to teach Rose to be more gentle. Rose also likes to be the mommy and be the teacher. Sometimes it is helpful, like when she comforts Zoe and plays with her. Many other times, however, she tries to discipline Zoe or take toys away. We try to encourage and praise the positive behaviors. It is really hard to discipline and/or correct the negative behaviors. Rose sometimes gets very jealous of Zoe, especially when I need to care for/nurse for Zoe (which happens often in the evening). We strive to model good behaviors and actions, hoping they are picked up by the girls.

We don't have any new stats for Zoe's growth from the doctor. They didn't do height and weight measurements for her visits this month. Her next checkup will be in June.

Stay tuned for pictures and short recaps of our spring fun adventures and an update on Miss Rose!

Rose is Eight Months!

Over the past month I have noticed with amazement how rapid the learning curve is with an infant.  Rose started out the month still hating being on her belly and not wanting to tip onto all fours and by the end of the month made the complete transformation to crawling with ease.

Check out Rose's 8 month photos and some videos from this month below.  It doesn't look like she has much hair, but she does. It's just very light colored on top. I'll have to take a picture from the back where you can see lots of brown hair.

This week, I received an e-mail from thebump.com that gave me my baby's 35 week update. It said eye color is fairly permanent at this point. It's hard to say what her eye color is because it seems to change in different lights and depending on what she's wearing. They are mostly a blue-gray, with hints of brown and hazel mixed in.  Her eyes are the feature most people praise when they see her.

Here's Miss Rose's 8 Month Update:

The big milestone this month was that Rose started crawling on September 23, 2014 at 7.5 months. In the first two weeks of this month, she moved from hesitating while tipping forward onto her hands, to getting on hands and knees (rocking to music), to moving those little arms and legs in an efficient crawling motion. By 8 months she became a speed demon. Her main targets are wires/cords, mommy and daddy, her toys, Darwin, and the table or couch.

She still loves to stand and with her new mobility she now pulls herself up to standing in more places.  We set up pillows all along the coffee table, so that the table is a safe area for climbing.  She'll also try to climb up her crib, our legs, the kitchen island, the couch, and Darwin. I frequently leave Rose standing in a fun area at school when I drop her off to help with the transition.

Speaking of dropping Rose off at school...we are still dealing with a little separation anxiety, which is absolutely normal.  When the teachers are busy, I usually hold Rose a little longer or play with her a little bit before I drop her off. If they are free, one usually takes Rose and distracts her while I leave.

Since this was the first month of school, it's also meant our first visits to the doctor because of illness.  Right off the bat, Rose started with some congestion that really hasn't gone away all month. Most days she was fine, but she did have a fever and a couple of rough nights this past week.  We also had to take a trip to the doctor after a few days of diarrhea.  Thankfully, neither visit was serious or required any medications. They were both for piece of mind (and advice on how to take care of little Rose).

Despite the separation anxiety and colds, Rose has done very well at school. I think watching the older kids prompted Rose to make the step towards crawling.  She's also extremely attentive when I pick her up and put her in the car seat to go home. I think she's still in learning mode.  She has also started clapping when she hears music or when we clap and celebrate something exciting. I managed to get a video of it (see below). It's so cute!

The sound of the month has been the letter "f" and "th." Most mornings, while I'm getting her ready for school, she has been sounding out the f sounds. We proceed to work on the words they form...friends, family, fun, food, focus, etc.  Sometimes she gives me a "th" sound.

We haven't introduced too many new foods this month because of the week she had diarrhea and because we've been trying to adjust to the new schedule at home. Sweet potatoes continue to be a staple, along with carrots, green beans, cucumbers and oats. We had done salmon a few times and thought she didn't react to it, but she had the diarrhea right after eating salmon, so we've taken a break from it. To combat the diarrhea, we moved to bananas and oatmeal, but that worked too well and she was constipated by the third day. We occasionally do eggs - though she isn't a huge fan. She loves ground beef - which we've done a few times. And, I've been doing oatmeal mixed with prune juice for the past week or two, which she seems to enjoy, but Colin doesn't. He doesn't want to indulge a "sweet tooth."  I don't know if it is because I am a dietitian, or because we are just busy, but I'm finding the introduction of solids to be somewhat stressful.  It's hard to find the foods that give her good bowel movements, and sometimes her bum gets red and we worry it's a food allergy.

I wish I could say that Rose is sleeping through the night, but we do frequently get 5 hour stretches of sleep.  Unfortunately, we also frequently get 3-4 hour stretches. Some nights it doesn't seem too bad and other nights I'm just bitter and exhausted. I can't seem to cut out my morning coffee.

I have yet to give Rose any milk other than breastmilk, but I did finally break down and pick up a few bottles of formula to have on standby. We've been trying various things at night to see if it helps Rose sleep better. We tried using some disposable diapers instead of cloth thinking maybe she was waking because she was wet. Disposable didn't make a difference. As a side note, we actually didn't use any size 2 disposable diapers and skipped from size 1 to 3 because of our success with cloth. This month we used disposables a few nights to test our sleep theory and when she went through her diarrhea phase. In addition to the disposable diapers, we have also tried giving her more milk at night. My milk supply has dropped from 4oz every 3 hours to 3oz every 3 hours (during the day) and Rose completely depleted my extra in the first 3 months I went back to work.  The few nights we gave her an extra bottle, she did seem to sleep longer. The only problem is that I can't make the milk to cover the extra bottle.  Every time I would go to buy formula, I'd turn away after looking at the terrible ingredients. Corn syrup!?! Are you kidding me!?! Plus, I haven't been able to find small sample size and don't want to drop $25-30 on a huge can I may never use again if she doesn't like it, or has a reaction to it.  So, I found a good deal on Organic Similac ready to feed and picked it up. I haven't given any to Rose yet, but probably will very soon. It will be a sad day for me when I have to give it to her. For now, I'll keep pumping as much as I can to try and keep up with her demand. I really wanted to go straight from breastmilk to cow's or goat's milk.

Lastly, as another side note... an update on me...I have (not intentionally) dropped well below my pre-pregnancy weight. People are not kidding when they say breastfeeing helps mom lose weight.  I had a few extra pounds when I got pregnant, so I started a little high, but I am down to the thinnest I've been since high school. While this sounds like great news, it's problematic because none of my pants fit well (except a few jeans). They all hang loosely (and not in a flattering way).  I've been relying on skirts and dresses for work, but with the weather getting cooler, that is not going to be possible for much longer.  I love that I can indulge in more food, although this also means more preparation and grocery shopping.  I've actually cut back on working out (with the exception of playing soccer) to balance out my energy needs a bit more.

I can't believe I also forgot to mention that Rose is 17 pounds, 7 oz. While the doctor didn't give us a fancy printout of her stats on the growth chart, I've plotted her by hand right around the 50% percentile.

And now, onto the videos and images of my precious little girl!!

Miss Rose at 8 Months

Ready to go to school on her 8 Month Birthday

There was a cold day in October - we got to pull out a winter hat
Rose was sleepy on the way into school that morning.

 Here is Rose "talking" in her exersaucer after we spent a few days away from home.


Here is Rose dancing mid-September


Rose and Darwin enjoy the beach in this rather long video


Rose "clapping"


Rose is crawling!


Rose standing up


I welcome any feedback from other moms on introducing solids, building milk supply at 8 months post-partum, and/or exercising while nursing.