8 months of tess!

wow, can you believe it's been over 8 months since my sweet girl made her grand debut?? i can't! she turned 8 months on the 20th of this month, but i've picked up more work shifts and haven't had much time for blogging (or much picture taking! oh no!), or anything really - my house is a wreck, laundry undone, dishes in the sink, and sewing projects untouched since before halloween! eep! [above pic is tess at madeline's birthday party]
but baby girl continues to grow and change and develop! she's already crawling, pulling to standing, trying to balance while standing on her own, and walking across the room if you hold her hands. she's so advanced ;-)

[the progression of a stand]

she's now sleeping in her own crib in her own room upstairs (thank goodness for video monitors!). as of this week, she's going down to sleep on her own when we put her in there, and for the most part without many tears. she is able to soothe herself in the middle of the night, and most of the time, we're only having to go comfort her once during the night, and not even having to nurse then. the night before last, she went the WHOLE night, from 8:44 until about 5:15 without a peep! of course i woke up at 4:30 freaking out that she hadn't woken up yet, but i hear that's pretty normal. hehe. most nights, andrew goes to pat her back to sleep the one time she wakes up because when i go up there, she wants to nurse, so it's been working pretty well to have him go up, and then if she won't go back to sleep in a few mins, i'll feed her. however, at 8 months, she should be able to go all night without eating, so i haven't had to do middle of the night feedings for about a week. i'm so proud of tess the turtle!

naps are still a struggle, more so now that the crib is down so low. she hasn't yet figured out how to put herself asleep for a nap, so she usually nurses to sleep, and then trying to put her all the way down in the crib wakes her up. we're working on it, but it leads to many napless or short nap days.

[tess sitting with her new friend, vanessa]

she's also begun her separation anxiety phase, and gets upset when mom leaves and with change of routine, like when i work more than just mondays. now, i'm working mondays, all day saturday every week, and one more day (usually wed or thurs) every other week, so she has a rough time the weeks that i work 3 days, but my good friend elisa offered some helpful advice and empathy about difficult transitions, and i feel confident tess will do just fine. i'm very tentatively thinking of moving her to daycare once she's a year old, hopefully for a m/w/f sort of schedule. i think that would allow me to work 30 hours a week (and maybe back to every other sat? or just sat mornings? for 35 hours) and give her some good socialization with kids her age and other caretakers. we'll have to see how the money works out on that one, but i think it'd be a good compromise for everybody.

tess now eats 2-3 solid meals a day, but i think she still gets most of her nutrition from nursing and the occasional formula bottle (when mom's not around and neither is pumped breastmilk).

[i love big-girl food!]

we've tried the sippy cup for juice a few times with meals, but she doesn't really understand it and prefers to chew on the soft tip like a teething toy (spilling juice), but she DOES understand drinking from a glass, and tries to drink from EVERY glass mommy and daddy have, so she has had water that way before. not sure how this will translate over time, but i'm sure we'll find something that works, probably trying different cups, and once she's weaned i'm sure it won't be an issue. for food, i still make *some* but not much, and she eats a lot of fruits straight from the fruit itself, but we love ella's organic kitchen baby food because it's just the fruit (or veggie) pureed up with nothing added, not even water, and they taste GREAT! they make strange combos like broccoli, parsnip, pear, and prune (or something), which sound terrible, but taste yummy! so she's been exposed to lots of different foods and flavors. we've yet to start meat, but i have to research when/how "they" recommend that anyway. the american academy of pediatrics now recommends that mothers breastfeed until age 2, but we'll have to see about that.

tess also makes funny faces, sweet noises, and shrieks with joy - usually at inappropriate times. so we've decided taking her to a fancy french restaurant at this point is out, but she's so cute when she does it that i have a hard time not smiling and laughing... even last night when we were out at a restaurant - bad mommy!

and right now she's being so cute that i can't keep typing and must go hang out with her!

[at madeline's party, with mommy and my party hat!]

last minute stats:
weight - about 20 lbs, we think
height - per andrew's measuring tape, about 26.5 in

we have no idea how that measures up against the "percentiles" but i know she's just perfect!

turtle funnies!

ok two funny tess stories, really quick (like if i twittered, i believe these might be tweets).

last night, tess woke up several times during the night. the last time, it was about 7 am. she usually sleeps till 8 or 8:30, and i was exhausted, so i was going to let daddy handle this one, when the crying girl - who hasn't said any words AT ALL in like two months (i even double checked with the doctor the other day to make sure it wasn't a problem) - says, "aaahhhmaaaahh!" i turned to andrew incredulously, "did she just say mama?" he said it sounded kinda like it, and then, like clockwork, she says, "MAAAMAAAAAAA!" CLEAR AS DAY. no doubt about it. andrew laughed and said, "yep, that was definitely mama." HOORAYYYY! and also... crap! how can you let daddy take this one when she calls your name?? it was mama duty again. at least she's adorable :-)

second funny - this morning, i had gotten in the shower (since andrew was still home, and i don't know when i last showered! eep!), and i encouraged andrew to try setting tess on the potty when they got out of bed. well, he begrudgingly brought her in and set her on the little potty. no pee. he encouraged, i encouraged from the shower, and he gave up and picked her up. i looked out from behind the shower curtain just in time to see a 3 inch poo hanging off her bum, and andrew about to stick his arm in it! "THERE'S POOP HANGING OFF HER BUTT!" i nearly shouted. andrew had her back on that potty so fast, and we were all laughing and shocked. poor tess looked a little scared, so i hope we didn't scare her from using the toilet, but holy poo! poop in the potty?! at 7 months?! my child is a prodigy. hehehe :-) i know she isn't *really* potty trained, but seriously, how cool is that??

and yes, i took a picture, but no, i won't be posting it... unless you want it!

rashes, and diapers, and potties, oh my!

we went in to the doctor's office today (to an appointment i almost missed because i was having so much fun chatting on the phone with christin!) to check out a bit of a diaper rash, that apparently could be caused by... our well water?! ugh, this never ends with the water! so we'll have to see if that is actually the cause or not. we got a prescription for "magic butt paste" - yes, that is what it says on the prescription pad, so we may go get that and see if it works... or we may not, since the rash was mostly gone by the time we got to the appointment. it's like your car, never makes the noise when you're at the mechanic!

but anyway, the diaper rash looked sort of like a yeast infection (on the skin, not an internal one), so we followed dr.google's recommendation and used the lotrimin af on there twice a day for a few weeks. i figured this was ok since it's what they had me use when they thought i had a yeast infection on my breast, and it was ok, but i don't know that it did anything - either time. with tess's rash, we tried lots of things, no disposables at nana's house, using disposables in case it was the cloth, using the lotrimin, and the most recent recommendation by nurse jennifer, going nakey-butt all day yesterday and using just water to wash. that was a blast! i'm serious, it was so adorable to see her little naked butt crawling all over the floor all day.

i laid towels down so i wouldn't have to shampoo the whole floor, and we had a great time. we had several bird baths in the sink to rise the diaper area, not using soap, and she even took a nap with no diaper on. the interesting thing about that was that she didn't pee in the crib! so, i thought, i should sit her over the potty when i pick her up and see if she pees in there. well, when i tried to hold my sleepy little girl over the big person toilet, she got confused and started to cry, so i decided i'd just hold her while i used the rest room and i'd try again when she was more awake. well, as soon as i sat down and peed, she peed... all over me... and the toilet... and the bathroom floor! it was hilarious. i had to strip down, and we both took a bath!

at the end of the night, her diaper area, which had been open to the world all day, looked WORSE than before! i decided i'd take her in to the doctor. first thing this morning, before even getting out of bed, i made an appointment. however, last night i had an idea to try having her use her own potty after waking up from sleeping, especially if she's not peeing [much] in her sleep. so i got her very own little potty, and this morning, first thing, i walked her straight to the bathroom and undid her little diaper, and set her on her tiny potty. i said, "ok, go pee-pee!" AND SHE DID!!! right in her tiny little potty! [image from her post-nap pee this afternoon!]
it was the sweetest, cutest thing i've seen (relating to a bodily function). so perhaps we'll try doing this after naps just for fun. don't worry, i'm not deluded and somehow thinking my 7 month old is "potty trained", but it's fun, and why not get a jump start?

so as i took her to the changing table to put on a diaper... the rash was GONE. but i kept the appointment, because i knew if i canceled it, the rash would come back, and i'd be mad. so, we went in, and she weighed in (with clothes on) at a whopping 17 lbs! what a big girl! and we got the prescription for magic butt paste. :-)

hallelujah, the election crap is over! ...for now.

i rarely get political on here, or even much in person, but i just have to say a few things. this election was ugly, as most of them are, and i'm glad it's finished now. the repercussions will be with us for the next two years, and that may or may not be a good thing. i believe hatefulness is never helpful, and although my views are opposite of many of my friends and even family, i don't feel like either being hateful or being silent is the right thing. so today, i'm puttin' it out there. like it or leave it, this is how i feel.

i love our president. i think he is intelligent, well-spoken, and has done incredible things for this country that we've been crying out for. i think his many positive advancements have been overshadowed by a struggling economy, which, if you have read any of my blog, you also know has affected us greatly. however, i don't believe the economy is his fault, nor do i believe that with some magic wand or god-like finger he can instantly restore america to economic prosperity. i believe thinking like that is ignorant, especially given any understanding of economics.

that said, i am resolved to be optimistic with the republican wins because i believe that once we've voted and we've gotten people elected, we need to do the best we can to succeed regardless of the results. plus, who knows, maybe they'll cut my taxes! who can't appreciate that :-P

and for the record, i am not a democrat. i am not a republican. not a libertarian or a green party or a teaparty member. i am an independent, and i vote for and support those whose ideologies best match up with mine.