Austin Family and Children Photographer, Magan Blasig

Tags: 8 Month Old First Halloween, Books 8 Month Olds Like, Cupcake Halloween Costume Infant, Eight Month Baby Eating and Sleeping Routine, Eight Month Baby Likes and Dislikes, Everett Eight Months, Everett Hayes, Everett Month By Month, Everett's First Halloween, Switching to a Convertible Carseat at 8 Months

Feb 24 2015

Everett: Month 8

Things Everett Liked/Did in Month Eight:

She became quite a speedy crawler and followed after me as I walked between rooms. She seemed to be just fine with crawling and wasn’t overly anxious to walk, though she did like pushing her new walking toy and cruising behind it.
She sprouted a whole mouthful of teeth; her sixth popped through a few days before turning 8 months so she now has her bottom two and four uppers.
She had a reaction to pineapple, but we figured out she LOVES blueberries. (The pineapple, one measly frozen piece in one of those mesh teething feeders, gave her bad, bad diaper rash. The acid is too much for her right now so we’ll hold off on this until later.)
She began “dancing” by shaking her head and bopping/bouncing to music.
She laughed at her own babbles.
She was doing a great job of going to KIDS at church or the daycare at my gym, and had a few friends that like seeing her each time. (Makes my heart happy!)
Everett’s favorite book was The Wheels on the Bus because the pages have cutouts of the bus and she likes touching it. We “sing” the song instead of just reading it.
She clapped and waved often!
She quieted and would start dancing when she was upset in the car and heard music (though not all the time).
One big new thing is she wanted to be put in her bed without rocking or cuddling beforehand; she reached out an arm for her blanket so she could tuck it under her. (This should be filed under Things That Make Mommy Sad. How can she not want to cuddle anymore?!)
She loved watching kids and tried to keep up, especially with H, our former foster daughter that we still get to see quite frequently.
She did a great job of being passed around to people, but wanted me when she was sleepy.
She finally moved up to size 6-9 month clothes!
She giggled at our dog, Camy, and tried to crawl after her, but didn’t particularly love when Camy walked by or sat down next to her.
Everett loved playing peek-a-boo and popped down and back up so quickly there was barely enough time to say “Where’s Everett?”
Another big, positive thing was her transition to a convertible carseat. Though she hadn’t really, completely outgrown her infant carseat, we felt that if she were able to sit upright a bit more, she might enjoy car rides a little more. Though she’s still not a fan of being strapped in, this has really been an improvement over her attitude to the car before switching. We got her the Diono Rainier.

Things Everett Disliked/Was Uncertain of in Month Eight:

The freedom of standing on her own and taking steps unassisted seemed to freak her out.
She rarely sat down to cuddle and tried to mock sounds, but refuses to say “mama” anymore. Dada was definitely her favorite word to babble over and over. (Though it hit me how little she babbled as the teeth came through. When she started up again, I realized how quiet she had been!)
She didn’t transfer well from the car to her crib if she fell asleep in there before nap time. She would end up playing and tossing pacifiers over the side.
She definitely knew the hallway leading to her room and she got upset when we walked there to for a diaper change, to fold clothes, nap time, etc.
Everett was very sound sensitive; she cried when she heard my blowdryer or the vacuum.
She was very easily distracted when she was nursing so we had to find boring places that were also extremely quiet.
She was a cupcake for her first Halloween and didn’t love wearing her costume. We called her Grumpy Cupcake (because she protested her nap that afternoon and got SO sleepy while we passed out candy). Needless to say, we ended up with a bucket full of candy we didn’t pass out and a little girl who went to bed a little early because she was sooo exhausted.

Her Eating/Sleeping Schedule:

She ate three meals a day (of “real” food) and continues to nurse as well.
She slept on and off okay as she got her teeth; I tend to realize after a tooth has popped through that this is why her sleeping routine was interrupted.
She slept 11-12 hours at night, 3-4 hours total for her two naps (protested naps a lot this month while teething), dropped down to nursing 3x a day + one bottle of pumped breastmilk before bed. I continued pumping 2x/day as well.

Personal Notes:

Nicknames: Daddy calls her “Tidbit” and I call her “Bitsy” because she’s on the smaller side.
We visited Sweet Berry Farm in October and it was SO MUCH FUN. There were so many things to do we could have broken things into multiple fall trips. We took H and Everett and had a blast! The girls were positively exhausted when we left (and truth be told, so were we). One thing I keep forgetting every single time we go: Bring a back-up pair of clothes for the kiddos and maybe extra shoes for myself.
We celebrated Everett’s great-grandfather’s (PaPa) 90th birthday with a big family get together. There’s a photograph below of her with her two cousins, A & H, and the great grandparents. I’m so glad they’ve gotten to know them and will have this photograph to cherish. I think I always underestimated the value of family before having H & Everett.
Our friends/neighbors host an annual pumpkin carving get together. There used to be a lot more carving before we all started having babies. This year the dad’s did a lot of the carving/decorating and the mommas caught up and talked. I remember there being times in my life that I prayed so fervently for good friendships and I’m just so thankful for the support system that Dustyn and I have. It was by complete chance that we landed in this neighborhood with so many friends walking through life in a similar fashion as we are and I am so excited to see all of these kiddos grow up together. (And maybe get married one day.)

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Tags: Everett Hayes, Everett Seven Months, Seven Month Baby Eating and Sleeping Routine, Seven Month Baby Likes and Dislikes, Toys and Games My Seven Month Old Liked

Dec 16 2014

Everett – Month 7

Things Everett Liked/Did in Month Seven:

Pulling my hair intentionally. (I wore my hair in a bun 99.9% of the time.)
She responded to music by rocking up and down and patting her hand. She liked “drumming” on surfaces to make noise.
She said “mmmm” when she saw a Mum Mum.
She began babbling “mamama,” “dadadada,” and “nananana” though I still feel they were sounds and not completely associated with Dustyn or myself.
Everett took a strong liking to everything involving our 12 year old dog, Camy. She liked playing in Camy’s water bowl and tried following her everywhere. She became a speed crawler!
She loved swinging electrical cords. Hiding and tucking these away is a special talent because she would figure out exactly where something was even if I thought she wouldn’t notice. (This was one of her scarier interests for me so far.)
Everett cruised around furniture and occasionally would let go to stand without support until she wobbled and quickly grabbed onto something.
She snorted at people to get their attention.
She randomly waved hello. (In particular to strangers in Target.)
She willingly laid her head on my shoulder and wrapped her blanket around her when we read books before nap time.
Playing peek-a-boo was an all-time favorite.
Everett thought snack time was necessary all day long. If she so much as thought I had a mum mum or puffs, she would make squeaky sounds to get my attention.
Her favorite place to hang out became amongst our kitchen table chairs. She liked sitting under them and pulling herself up. We have tile under the table so I was a bit nervous about her losing her grip and bonking her head, but thankfully she’s been so careful and that hasn’t happened.
One of her favorite toys became the Fisher Price musical table; she loved that she could pull herself to stand, hit buttons, and bop along to music!

Things Everett Disliked/Was Uncertain of in Month Seven:

She was a very impatient eater and didn’t understand if I had to blow something off to cool it down before it could go in her mouth.
The car seat was her worst enemy again because she hated being tied down. Her theory was “Why sit when I can stand?”
-She didn’t sit still in shopping carts, and hated being strapped in.
Though she could drink out of a straw, she spit the majority of the water she drank back out.

Her Eating/Sleeping Schedule:

We had a lot, lot, love of wakefulness throughout the night again. She would usually be laying down, but would cry out a few times throughout the night. I would watch her on the monitor and it never really seemed like she was waking up, but was just making sounds that would be loud enough for the monitor to catch. In hindsight, maybe this was teething related?
She would go down for bed at night so, so easily, but nap times were more of a struggle. She didn’t like when I left the room.
She took two naps a day, and began eating solids twice a day, too.
She loved yogurt, but overall hasn’t really shown disinterest in anything she’s tried so far.
We introduced butternut squash, zucchini, eggs, yogurt, a bit of bread, and pancakes this month.
She transitioned to nursing three times a day, with an additional pumped bottle of breastmilk before bedtime. I am always extremely apprehensive when we change our nursing schedule. Now that we’re on the weaning out phase of nursing with the hope of making it to a year, it feels like I have to be super careful so I don’t lose my supply. I don’t really feel like I know what I’m doing, but everyone keeps telling me to listen to her cues and she will kind of guide me.

Personal Notes:

She got two teeth this month, and made funny little faces when she would realize they were there! I was completely unaware she was even getting her first tooth. She was a little crabby and everything made sense after I felt the tooth, but I’m a) going to be thankful she seems relatively mild when she’s getting a tooth, and b) I am a firm believer in the Baltic Amber necklaces. She hasn’t drooled much at all. Her teeth have been big surprises because it wasn’t weeks and weeks of crankiness. She would want extra snuggles, but since she’s moving around so much now, who am I to deny that? This momma wants that snuggles, too!
She got her first cold this month. Boo.
We began trying to teach her sign language for “more,” but sometimes that got confused with her clapping (I guess if she’s getting more of a snack, that’s reason enough TO clap) which she’s beginning to do as well.
We got a little more settled in our home and unpacked a lot more once we made a few changes to our closets to make them more efficient. Bringing our former foster daughter to this home has been really fun because she’s got her own room, but she still has a few questions about when we’re going to the other home. It’ll take a few visits for her to grasp the change, I think.
Everett’s bedroom got painted so it’s not plain and off-white anymore. My father-in-law helped us out a TON by painting for us. He started with the girls’ rooms and I absolutely love the color. It feels so cheerful. Everett’s other bedroom was more of a mint green and the more I saw the color, the more I detested it. If I’m pregnant again, I think I’ll try to pick a color I’ll love or be more patient about it.

Everett crawled to my FIL, her Poppy, while he was painting under the desk area. Note: since we couldn’t paint before we moved in, we purchased paint from Sherwin Williams during their 40% off sale to get the no VOC paint. Our house didn’t smell fumey at all. Expensive, but good stuff! (Wait for a sale if you can…)

These were back to back frames of Everett playing peek-a-boo with me. At first, I don’t think I realized what she was doing and then it clicked that she was playing! I thought maybe she was ducking or moving to another part of her crib. Silly girl!

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Tags: Austin Family Photographer, Children Laughter, Family Photographer, Georgetown Family Photographer, Laney and Ben, Real and Honest Photography, Young Children Sibling Portraits

December 16, 2014 - 7:57 pm

Pam - I love your recap of her life. The pictures bring me so much joy too.

Dec 11 2014

Sibling Love | Laney + Ben

They’re silly. They make each other giggle. They’re animated and goofy.

They’re each other’s best friend.

I’m working on this entire session right now and boy, oh boy — it couldn’t make me happier. I looooooved getting to spend an afternoon with Laney and Ben (and the rest of the family!). My heart is exploding with this sibling love!

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