monthly update – Graceful Mommy

UPDATE: Month 9

Posted on April 1, 2016December 5, 2016 by Graceful Mommy

01
Apr

Happy 9 months Gracie! To me 9 months is a fun update (aren’t they all fun though), because Gracie was in my belly for 9 months and now she’s been on the “outside” for 9 months! That’s pretty cool!

Height/Weight

Gracie weighs around 18 lbs!

Routine

Gracie girl is SO easy going. I just love her personality. If I change something up, she easily adapts to the new schedule. Usually we keep things about the same each day, but some days you need to switch things up. Anyways, Gracie is usually up by 9am. She likes to play for a while, eat breakfast, and then takes a nap about an 1-2 hours later. During the day we love to do different things. I’m loving the stay at home mommy life of reading, mommy and me classes, walks through the neighborhood, playdates, shopping, visiting family, etc. So fun! I know not everyone likes staying at home, but I am truly loving it! Gracie takes an afternoon nap and then Daddy comes home! Gracie is at that age now where she know when dad comes home and her face just lights up and she gives him the biggest smile. It’s seriously the cutest. Gracie goes to bed around 830ish.

Sleeping

Gracie takes 2 naps in the day (USUALLY). One in the morning and one in the afternoon. This schedule seems to be working pretty good for us! One thing new in the sleep department is that Gracie actually has been falling asleep in the car sometimes! This is NEW. She usually cries if she’s tired in the car, but now she’ll just fall asleep. It’s amazing. But then… you run into the problem of… Do I wake her up and put her in bed? Do I keep driving? Do I take the carseat out and let her sleep in it? Usually I take her out and put her in bed and that seems to work. Sometimes she’ll just take a cat nap. And sleeping at night…. is still not happening. Well, it’s not terrible. Gracie falls asleep at 8:30pm then wakes up to eat about every two hours from that. It’s not the worst because she usually falls right back asleep (if I feed her). During this month I think I got a couple of 4 hour stretches, which was awesome. But let’s just say I am a total MOMBIE. Mom + Zombie.

Eating/Feeding

I’ve started noticing a change in Gracie’s eating! She definitely wants to feed herself lately. She has not been digging the purees like last month. She does love yogurt, which is new! And puffs!! I am still nursing and it’s still going great. I’m so blessed I don’t have any supply issues because I know so many women struggle with that. I just follow Gracie’s lead on when she wants to nurse. I am noticing that she doesn’t need to feed as frequently any more. We usually go 3-4 hours in between feedings now. I feed her solids kind of sporadically throughout the day. It usually ends up being a little something for each meal. Gracie loves food though so you can’t eat in front of her without letting her have some!!

Sizes

Gracie wears 6-9 month + 9 month clothes now! I remember before Gracie was born I was sorting all her clothes after my baby shower. I remember thinking how HUGE the 9 month clothes looked. And here we are. She fits in those. It’s just crazy.

Milestones

+Rocks on hands and knees

+Crawls backwards

+Does the downward dog! She watches mommy do yoga 🙂

+Has tried a lot more foods: mashed potatoes, turkey, chicken, cheese, sweet potato fries, yogurt, puffs, and so much more nibbles of stuff I can’t even remember!

+Waves hi and bye!

+Says mama!

+Became a brand rep (baby model) for 5 new shops (and counting…!!!)

+Had her first fever

How I feel

I love my life! For real, I’m truly blessed.
Thanks to Gramma for the cake and setting up the photo shoot!

And thanks to Crafting Pretty Things for the adorable headwrap and Little Standout for the cute diamond teether!

Happy 9 Months Gracie Girl! What a great journey it’s been so far!

Monthly Updates

UPDATE: Month 8

Posted on March 1, 2016April 2, 2016 by Graceful Mommy

01
Mar

Gracie is 8 months old today! Wow! Only 4 more months until she’s a one year old. That’s crazy. Scroll down to see the video update!

Height/Weight

Not sure how tall she is or how much she weighs! Doctors visit is next month :). She weighs enough to make my arms sore from holding her haha!

Routine

Our routine hasn’t changed too much from last month. Gracie has been waking up a little bit earlier. Most days she’s up by 8. I’m missing the days when she’d sleep until 9:30am, but it’s all good. I love taking Gracie on errands during the day. She really does love shopping (LOL- watch out dad!!!). She loves to look at the aisles and babble. So cute. I also have been loving taking her outside. Some days I’ll take her on a walk, throw a blanket down, and just play outside for a while. She loves being outside! I love how Gracie is so adaptable. If something changes in our routine, it does not usually throw her off. She kind of just goes with it. When we took her on vacation, she was super easy! I love that about her.

Sleeping

Same story, here. Gracie still likes to wake up a couple times at night. Some nights are better than others. And just when I think she’s got it down, something changes and she doesn’t sleep good. Who knows! I’m doing the more laid back approach this month. Just going with the flow. 🙂 During the day, Gracie takes two naps. Sometimes she’ll surprise us and take a mini nap around 5. But usually she takes a short nap in the morning, about an hour and a half after waking up. Then she takes another nap around 2 ish. This nap is usually longer- like 2 hours. But, again, it’s never really the same each day. I’m loving her sleeping routine though. She’s very easy to put to sleep now. I don’t have to rock and bounce her all around.

Eating/Feeding

Gracie has definitely gotten better at eating this month! She’s loving food! I’m still nursing every 2-3 hours, in addition to about 2-3 “meals” a day of solids. It’s really not meals, but I do feed her something for breakfast, lunch, and sometimes dinner. I’m following the Kelly Mom advice for feeding solids. Kelly Mom is an awesome website that gives great advice for all things baby. She suggests feeding a maximum of 2 meals a day until baby is around 9 months. I’ve also started giving Gracie water in a cup with a straw while feeding her solids. She loves drinking with a straw. It’s adorable. But, I limit water to just a couple of sips while eating.

Sizes

Gracie is wearing size 6 month and 6-9 month clothes. A few 9 month outfits fit now! It kind of depends on the brand. She is wearing size 3 diapers. It’s crazy how fast babies grow. Sometimes when Gracie wakes up, I literally think she grew overnight. She wakes up and her clothes are tighter and shorter, it’s nuts. It’s seriously like a magic trick LOL!

Milestones

+Pushes up with her arms (not quite crawling yet!)

+Can spin around on her belly!

+Has tried a lot more foods: Pancakes, prunes, apricots, spinach, strawberries, and blueberries

+Points to stuff with one finger

+PIGTAILS!!!!!

+Loves mickey mouse clubhouse

How I feel

I don’t know why I still include this category in the monthly updates. I’m so over-the-moon happy that it may be getting redundant to keep repeating? Oh well! I love being a mommy. I love seeing Dave as an incredible dad. My heart is so full that I think it may burst any second.

Thanks Gramma for the 8 month birthday cake! YUM!

Home, My Reviews

Month Six Favorites

Posted on February 5, 2016 by Graceful Mommy

05
Feb

Gracie has been in our lives for 7 months now. Oh my gosh! Seriously, what did we do without her? She brings so much joy to our lives, it’s crazy. Anyways, last month I shared our 5 month favorites. And these are our must haves for the 6th month.

1-Sit to Stand// This has been such a fun toy for Gracie and I to play with (yes- fun for me too LOL!). I seriously memorized all the songs + phrases in a day. Gracie does not seem to get sick of it. I’m also convinced this toy has helped Gracie to sit up on her own. She used this to balance herself as she sits. I also love it because it’s not a toy that will only be used for a short time. This toy will be useful when Gracie starts walking, too!

2-Baby Brezza// Ah, I love this thing. It’s a baby food maker that steams the food + then blends it all in one step. I’m working on a separate blog post to show how it works in more detail. But yeah, basically it has been a lifesaver for making Gracie’s food. I’ve been making all of her food in here. I know you can make baby food by just steaming on the stove, but this is way more fun. I love it because I don’t have to be constantly watching the food and stirring it and checking on it. I cut up the food, throw it in the machine, and then listen for the beep that tells me it’s done. It’s awesome.

3-Animal book// I’ve been reading to Gracie since she was a newborn. She has always loved books. But now, she is even more engaged when I read to her. She stares at the pictures and even tries to flip the pages. I love this animal book because the pages have awesome photographs of animals. They really stand out against the solid colored backgrounds. It’s just a simple book with a picture of an animal and the name of the animal, but for some reason Gracie LOVES it. It’s the perfect size for her to hold, and the cover seems tasty (according to Gracie).

4-Shopping Cart Cover// Now that Gracie is sitting up, she can hang out with mommy in the shopping cart! I love having a cover, not only because it helps keep Gracie away from the nasty germs on the cart, but more so because it’s more comfy for her. She still needs a little extra padding and support in the cart, and this cover is perfect for that! We’ve also used this in restaurants to cover the high chair. Another cool thing is that you can clip toys on it. There’s also a little pouch to keep toys in or her pacifier.

5-Nose Frida// Okay, yes this thing is kind of disgusting. You literally suck the snot out of your baby’s nose. But it’s actually the best baby invention ever. In the hospital after having a baby, they give you this bulb thingy that is supposed to get boogies out- except it doesn’t. It doesn’t work. The Nose Frida works every single time. In this last month, Gracie got her first cold :(. So sad. She was all stuffed up. Luckily, we had the Nose Frida. It’s not actually that gross because there’s a long tube so you don’t actually get snot in your mouth, but it also comes with a filter so you really don’t get snot in your mouth. Just stop thinking about what your actually doing, and just buy one.

6-Munchin Mesh Feeders// I talked a little bit about my love for these in my teething post. These are so fun for Gracie. She loves when I put frozen foods inside, but we’ve also done regular banana slices and she loves that, too! I love that it teachers her to feed herself (in a way) without the risk of choking. It’s also been great for when her bottom teeth were cutting through. I put a little breastmilk ice cube in one of these, and she was content for so long just sucking on it. They are kind of difficult to clean, so I recommend rinsing them out immediately after using them.

What are your favorites for the sixth month?

Read our month five favorites here.