Little Lermas!: Aubrey 8 Months

Pretty much daily I forget that I have an 8 month old, and think she's about 12 months. But alas, despite this little one trying to grow up way too quickly, we do indeed have an 8 month old on our hands! You are still the happiest baby I know, and smile SO easily which we adore! You also can turn Angry Elf on a dime, but that just makes you that much more endearing : )

Happy 8 Months Aubrey Lynn!

8 Month Highlights:

-You have gotten quite active this month and are crawling at a very high speed all over the house. You love to pull up on anything and everything and just explore. You started trying to cruise and mostly fall over, but it doesn't phase you at all...you get right back up and try again! You are getting into everything, and trying to even climb the stairs. Look out world...Aubrey is mobile!!

-You celebrated your first 4th of July this year keeping it low key. We had a family day and spent some time at the park, which meant you crawled around on the blanket and just enjoyed the warm air.

-We had a fun pool day with the Lefler ladies and Katie & Maggie. You didn't love the water this time, and pretty much cried every time I tried putting you in your floatie. So you just enjoyed the warm weather, and were content being held by Mimi, or sitting on the towel out of the pool.

-At 7.5 months, you started doing your bedtime and most naptime routines without your paci, mostly because you started to sing along with our songs! It is one of the cutest things that you do. You seriously just sing and babble along the entire time that we rock you! I absolutely love it!

Sleeping: I still can't say we have found a consistent schedule with you yet regarding naps, but bedtime is a little bit more routine. You generally go down around 5:30 pm and get up for the morning around 7:30 am. Your first nap of the day is about 2 hours after waking, and is your longer nap, anywhere from 45 minutes to 1.5 hours, although lately it's been a solid 30 minutes (urgh!). The second nap is 2-3 hours after you wake from the first and is mostly 30 minutes, but sometimes I get lucky and it's 45 min to an hour.

I will say this month you really started fighting naps and bedtime. In the past we'd be able to put you in your crib "drowsy awake" and you may fuss for a couple minutes, but you'd quickly fall asleep. Most morning naps you never made a peep. At the beginning of this last month, you started Angry Elf screaming at the top of your lungs when we put you down. We tried rocking you to a drowsier sleep, putting you in more awake, and rocking all the way to sleep a few times (and then realized this wasn't a good long term solution, and didn't work anyways b/c the second you hit the mattress you were screaming). So we had to do some cry it out with you this month which was hard, but helpful. You now still have your moments, but for the most part if you do cry it's only for a minute or two until you roll around, find Lambie and get really settled in.

Breastfeeding: Breastfeeding was all over the place this month. The first two weeks you ate 6-8 times a day, then the next 2 weeks cut back to 5 or 6. I think this is a combination of you eating a bit more solid food, and maybe not going through a growth spurt so you aren't quite as hungry. Either way, I wouldn't really say we have a feeding schedule with you b/c most days aren't consistent. At the very least, we eat 1 early morning feed which can range anywhere from 4 am to 6 am, then again around 10am, and then throw in some afternoon feeds, a pre-bedtime feed (around 5 ish), and the occasionally 9:30 or 10 pm feed (which I stopped waking you up for this month, but you still wake up on your own at times).

Eating: You tried quite a bit of foods this month, and while I wouldn't say you love any one thing (other than sweet potatoes), there are days you eat a decent amount (1-2 Tbl). You tried: Butternut squash, peas, broccoli, green beans, veggie medley, blueberries, & spinach/zucchini/pea blend. I'm not the best at being consistent with feeding you solids just yet, but we try to feed you oatmeal for breakfast, and then veggies or fruits for 2 other meals, although I will say we are lucky to get 1 other meal in most days.

Aubrey Loves:
-Crawling, pulling up, moving all around and exploring

-Musical toys (pianos and Puppy)

-Watching Bella play, and trying to do everything she does

Aubrey Hates:

-Being held down or contained to one spot
-Rocking and being held before sleeping : ( (she now just fights it completely bc she knows what's coming...so sad!)

8 Month Stats:

Height: 26.5 in (25th percentile)

Weight: 16 lb 9 oz (25th percentile)

Teeth: You got 3 new teeth this month...all on the top! (total of 5 teeth now)

*Wearing 3-6, 6 and some 9 month clothes (that are still a bit too big, but too cute to pass up wearing this season)

Aubrey's Firsts this Month:

-Pulling up to stand (30.5 weeks)
-Cruising in her crib and on playroom futon (34 weeks)

This Month In Pictures: