The Zipps Family: 8 Months

We are one month closer to Ave's 1st birthday! It is just going too quickly! I feel like things have been falling into place this past month- definitely my favorite so far. Avery is able to do more, is a better sleeper, and is so much fun to be around!

Here's what she's been up to...

Sleeping- Again, we have made some major gains in this department. Before this month, any time that she would cry, I would jump up and go to her room to get her back to sleep. After one or two nights of craziness (she was up for around 2 hours and would not go back to sleep with my help) I decided to let her cry it out a little. This was extremely hard for me but I knew that it would be worse if I went in there. So, she started putting herself back to sleep after about 10-15 minutes. Now she has been sleeping from 8 to 5 with virtually no middle of the night wakeups, feeds, and then sleeps until 8. There have even been a couple of times lately that she hasn't woken up to eat! I hope this will be the new norm! Also, for naps, she will put herself to sleep. I no longer have to rock her to get her to go down. She may cry but it usually is not for more than 3 or 4 minutes.

Eating- I have tried to be a bit more adventurous in this department. Ave has eaten some new things like yogurt and pureed chicken. I still am so confused about when and how much to feed her. I've read that babies are supposed to be eating cheese, meat, veggies, fruit, and grains every day. If I feed her these on top of her nursing sessions, she is going to gain tons of weight and be huge! I feel like it would be easier if I was bottle feeding because I would know exactly what she was getting but I've got no idea how much she gets when she nurses. I know that it's not that big of a deal, and I'm sure that I will look back at this time and laugh at myself for thinking too much into it!

First taste of chicken with sweet potatoes

Crawling- Ave hasn't quite conquered this but she is getting close. She has her own special crawl at this point. Her arms push the top half of her body up. She will get on one of her knees and push off but her lower body goes back to the floor and gets dragged. Then she repeats. It's pretty funny to watch, but hey, she can move around pretty quickly this way. I keep thinking that any day she will figure it out.

Getting close!

Other news- We have been working with Ave to wave. She does it on occasion when she feels like it :). She also started clasping her hands together with her fingers intertwined. For some reason it looks really innocent and sweet. She also likes being rocked with her head on my shoulder now. She never would do this before. I used to rock her horizontally and always secretly wanted her to rest her head on my shoulder and fall asleep. Well, even though she doesn't need to be rocked anymore to sleep, I will do this sometimes just for my own benefit! I keep thinking that she is getting older, and I need to get this in while I still can. I have also been told that my child is very flexible. I thought that all babies were like this but apparently not. She will bend in some crazy ways!