Rachel Louise

Sweet, darling Rachel Louise is quickly approaching eight months old and I have yet to document anything about her life at six months.  So, here is a slew of things about this tiny, squishy, toothless, fluffy-haired girl that we all adore.

 

 

 

At six months:

Height:  25 inches, 15%

Weight:  13 lbs. 13 oz., 10%

Head:  42.4 cm., 50%

 

Basically she is tiny!  She only gained one pound between four and six months!  I was worried, but the pediatrician was not.  She obviously takes after her father's side of the family.  :)  Fortunately though, because she is so short, she still has rolls and rolls on those legs that I just absolutely adore. 

 

 

Eating wise, Rachel has come a LONG way since six months!  At six months she was nursing every three hours around the clock, even at night.  I was exhausted!  We tried re-introducing baby food just before six months, but she wanted nothing to do with it.  When she was 6 1/2 months old we tried giving her a bottle of formula, and she took it!  This was a good and bad thing for me as I was hoping she would take it so I could get a break, but at the same time it broke my heart.  She and I made it 6 months and 16 days exclusively on breast milk (yes, I am crazy and counted that out).  I take a little bit of pride in knowing that I am fully responsible for all her baby chub.  Anyway, she now gets one bottle of formula just before bed in hopes that it will fill that tummy of hers and she'll sleep through the night...no such luck yet, but its nice that Richard can feed her during the crazy evening hours.  By seven months we had made no more progress with baby food, but she was lunging at our plates during every meal.  So, in an attempt of desperation to get her to eat anything besides milk, we offered her some of our food, and she LOVES it!  So far she has eaten pancakes, waffles, bread, crackers, rolls, pasta, pears, apples, rice, and meatballs!  Just the other day I started dipping her puffs in baby food squash and she's been liking that so far.  So now she is still nursing every three hours during the day, twice during the night, and eating table foods at every meal with us. 

 

 

As these pictures illustrate, Rachel loves, loves, loves tags.  She can be entertained for a long time if something in front of her has a tag.  When she's crying I plop her down with a tag and she's as content as can be. 

 

She knows how to play peek-a-boo by pulling a blanket off of her face.

 

She loves to play, "How big is Rachel?"  Always guaranteed for some laughs.

 

She is ticklish on her tummy and on her chest, right under her chin.

 

She can sit on her own so well, but still cannot roll from back to tummy.  She is still very much a non-mover, which in all honesty, I am trying not to worry about, but I also like that I can put her down and know that she will stay there.  :)

 

Rachel's hair has really started growing in the last few weeks, so sadly, it isn't as fluffy anymore.  But, I try to preserve the fluffiness by giving her a good blow-dry after her baths.  It leaves her with some awesome hair styles!

 



 

For the most part she is still taking three naps a day and going to bed at 7:00 pm.  The last week though I feel like she's phasing out her third nap, so hopefully soon we'll be down to two.

 

She doesn't have any teeth, and doesn't show any signs of them coming in. 

 

She loves to put her forehead on yours and then she leans in and starts sucking on your nose.  Honestly, I love the feeling of her little gums on my face.  Gosh, I love this girl.

 

 

In just the last week she has gotten pretty good at getting these puffs in her mouth and she can grab anything off my plate in half a second.

When Rachel gets excited or mad her little wrists, especially her left wrist, turn circles like crazy.  It is so amusing to watch.

 

She is not a fan of her crib and I take full responsibility for this.  Bad mom!  From the time we brought her home from the hospital we had her sleeping in the Fisher Price Rock n'Play that Bridget also slept in as a newborn.  Bridget only slept in that for two months and then we moved her to the crib.  Because of Rachel's reflux we found she slept SO much better propped up a bit, so I just kept putting her in there.  In January I decided it was really time to move her to the crib, which I did for the most part, but then she got her bad cold and ear infections and sinus infection and the pediatrician recommended propping her up to sleep.  So, I put her back in the Fisher Price thing.  Now, I realize we could have just propped up the crib mattress like we have done with our other kids, but that is too much work.  :)  Well, now I am paying for that.  Rachel is almost eight months old and has hardly slept in her crib.  Yikes.  I need to get working on this.  :)

 

To sum it up she is simply adored in this house.  She is really so easy-going and is fine getting carted around in our busy lives.  We love this little girl dearly!