Baby Nora: 8 Months

Weight: Nora weighs around 17 pounds and is in 9 month clothes now, with the exception of a couple 6 month jammies. I'm not sure how tall she is, but we've lowered her crib once and will soon lower it to the final setting! 

Activities: We have a crawler on our hands! Last month Nora used her forehead to get around, but within a couple weeks she grew strong enough to hold her weight up with her arms. Before that, though, she mastered pulling up in her crib and sitting back down again within a matter of 3 days - thank goodness because she just stood and screamed until she figured out how to sit back down! 

Nora can wave goodbye but doesn't always do it on demand. She finally has begun showing some more emotion!! Up until now she's been pretty serious the majority of the time, but this month her silly side has come out with lots of giggles, sticking out her tongue, and dancing. It's the best :).

I can't keep up with tracking her verbal developments. Basically she has her own little language and talks all the time now, sometimes it even sounds like she's singing!

Food: Oh my goodness, this little girl will eat anything! I'm so thankful that she has (yet) to refuse any foods. She's such a great little eater. She loves a variety of textures, from smooth purees and chunky mashes to gnawing on spears of raw veggies and tiny chunks of cooked zucchini and squash that she can pick up herself. She has even been known to devour whole chunks of watermelon (her current favorite) and peaches. We're working on signing "more" and "all done." I'm not sure how much sign language we will try, but we anticipate meal time signs being useful for us. 

Sleep: Three naps a day are pretty typical still when we are home, but I think we're about ready to transition into two because they keep getting shorter. Nora has been waking up early lately (we're talking 5:30am), and does not go back to sleep, so an early morning nap necessitates midday and afternoon naps as well. We're still trying to start bedtime right around 7pm, which also consists of brushing those teeth now!

My sweet Nora, you're growing up SO fast!

We love you!!

+, Lauren Aiken

Life Lately

The high today is 93 so we're staying inside and getting settled after a fun weekend with Matt's family.

It rained most of the weekend, but we squeezed a tiny bit of (first) pool time in :). 

The weekend was fun-filled and would have only been better with Great Grandma and Grandpa Aiken there. We miss you guys!!

Linking up with Blair today :).

+, Lauren Aiken

Baby Nora: 6 Months

Well, there are only three days left until Nora is 7 months so I decided I should finally post the 6 month update that has been sitting in my draft posts for a couple weeks now. This month has been a whirlwind as we moved again! ...Don't worry, we're still in Nashville this time. We moved to a house in Franklin that I hope we will call home for a while.  

It was fun to read and finish this post because so much has changed in the last month. I'll save that for next week though :).

Also I slacked on photos this month... 

She will probably be upset about this one someday :).

Weight: Nora weighed 16 pounds at her 6 month appointment. I can't remember her length, but she is following right along the same growth percentiles (50th for weight & head and 75th for height). She has outgrown some of her 3-6 month clothes so she's wearing a mix of 6 month and 9 month now.

Activities: Sitting, standing, rolling - anything other than lying on her tummy or back for more than a minute! Nora's first word was 'da-da'. She repeats it over and over and over again, and it's fun to hear her say "daddy," even if she doesn't associate it with Matt just yet. 

Food: Nora is nursing about 7 times a day and has only had apples. Since her high chair has arrived, we plan to let her experiment with food this month! Next month, I am certain Nora will have at least one tooth! The bottom teeth are so close, and I can feel bumps along her top gumline also.

Sleep: Our nightly routine begins around 7. In the past, I have been unaware of growth spurts, but this time she certainly let us know, waking up FOUR times per night for a few nights! After those nights she resumed to her normal self, sleeping about 9 hours and waking up around 4 or 5 to nurse, then going back to sleep for a couple more hours.

Social: After Easter Nora started going to the nursery at church. She was having so much fun the first week that I actually left her about 15 extra minutes because I didn't to take her away.

The rest of the photos were taken about a week before the 6 month mark. Nora did not want to look at the camera, but I'm still glad we have a few shots of the three of us. 

I'll be back with more updates very soon :).

+, Lauren Aiken