Eden is 8 months!!!

Here is my baby 8 months old!!!  The picture in the bottom corner is from today (I didn't have very much luck getting a smile out of her), the rest are from yesterday (the 13th).  Purple is probably my favorite color and she looks adorable in it!

 

This is one of my favorite so I separated it out from the others to make it bigger!  Love her sweet smile!

 

 

This month is going to be pretty brief and listed...I have been keeping track of some things but in a list form so it isn't going to flow as nicely!

Eden started sweet potatoes 7/15/12. (not a huge fan but did ok).  I kind of feel like they were sour for her tummy...she spit up a lot after.

We tried green beans next and she seemed to love them.

Next we tried bananas, again not a huge fan.

Next we tried sweet peas and she didn't seem to mind them.

We did apples at the same time and she loves apples.

Then we tried carrots with a little oats mixed in and she loves them!

We have also tried putting apple in the mesh bag thing that they chew on and she doesn't like that.  I then tried bananas and she didn't like that either.  She just sat there and squished it in her hand!  I think it's the texture of the mesh bag that she doesn't like.  Oh well, she will just eat them mashed.

Eden started sleeping in her crib all night on Friday 7/27/12.  Prior to this she was napping in her crib but sleeping next to me in the pack-n-play in my room.  And even now that she is sleeping in her crib upstairs I have been putting her to bed in my room after her 7:00 feeding and then when I wake her for a dream feed before I go to bed I take her upstairs and nurse her in the recliner before laying her in her crib.  This will soon end as I am sure she is ready to do without the dream feed.

At 7.5 months here is Eden's schedule:

Between 6:30/7 Eden wakes and nurses

Eden goes down for a nap at 9ish and sleeps until 10/10:30

Eden nurses around 10:30/11

Eden sits at the table while the girls and I eat lunch and she eats a half of a container of #1 veggies.

Eden nurses around 1/1:30 and usually almost falls asleep on me.

I have started swaddling just her arms as doing no swaddling was causing her to wake often.  So I swaddle her arms and lay her in her crib.  When I wasn't swaddling her for a few days I would always lay her in one spot in the crib and she would wiggle herself to another.  So now I just lay her in the spot I know she likes.  She is pretty particular about this as she will use her legs to adjust herself perfectly if I don't do it just right.  She loves to have her head shoved in the far left corner of the crib and the rest of her body coming out at a 45 degree angle!  She is sleeping so much better since I started swaddling her arms.  I think for the week that we weren't doing any swaddling she was up 3 times in the night and always woke at least once during a nap or would take a much shorter nap. One thing I have noticed about Eden is she doesn't quite have the sense of something dropping and where she might be able to find it.  When her paci would fall out she wouldn't think to just grab it from beside her head.  It's like she just thinks it disappears.  And with her arms out she would grab onto her paci when she was upset and then drop it and not be able to find it.  It is just easier to have her arms contained so she doesn't get a hold of her paci.

Eden wakes around 4/4:30 and nurses. 

She will sit at the supper table with us and have the other half of her veggie jar around 5:30.

Eden nurses again around 7/7:30. 
And then nurses again around 10/10:30 before I go to bed.

 

Here is a video of her in her exersaucer.  We just recently discovered that she loves it in there!  But this video is mostly of her interacting with the girls...they make a burp noise and she just laughs hysterically!!

 

Here is another physical therapy photo.  "The Ladies" brought these rice bags this month to help support Eden while she is strengthening her core for sitting up.  They have been a tremendous help.  I now feel like I can put these around her and leave the room for a couple minutes at a time...and she is getting a work out in the process!

Eden is 7 months old!

Eden is growing so much!  She had some major growth spurts this month in length especially!  Eden is able to roll over from her back to her tummy over her left shoulder.  She can continue onto her back from tummy rolling over her right shoulder.  She can't seem to get it going the other way though.  If she tries she just ends up scooting herself and you can tell that frustrates her!  She isn't able to sit up yet but definitely has the trunk support needed for it.  She doesn't panic when she starts to tip over meaning she doesn't put her hands down to catch herself. We haven't started any other solids yet but are really thinking about it as Eden is not a happy camper if we are sitting at the table eating and she isn't.  She is watching our every bite and I can tell she wants to do what we are doing! Eden is sleeping through the night and still getting 6 nursings a day with her last being right before I go to bed (I am still waking her for a dream feed).  She wakes between 6 and 7, takes a nap by 9, sleeps for an hour or two and then up until 1ish.  She will then sleep sometimes 3-3.5 hours for her afternoon nap.  She is able to stay up until bedtime at 7:30.  It is so nice to have her on a schedule, especially when you have other little ones in the house.  Speaking of the other littles (and big boy), Eden absolutely ADORES her siblings.  She squawks and squeals at them with the biggest smile every time.  I love it!  She will turn her head and instantly stop nursing if she can even hear their voice from anywhere in the house.  That can sometimes be a bit frustrating!
Eden continues to be healthy and seizure free.  More updates on that in other posts.  God is good!  Enjoy the pictures!

Eden enjoying a little bouncing at Gma and Gpa Uglum's house!  She can't get enough of these bouncers.  All smiles!

We started Eden on cereal 6-30-12  She wasn't sure at first but did better as the days went on.  Now two weeks later we have backed off as she is showing less interest.  I think we are going to try veggies soon.

I don't talk much about Eden's physical therapy, but here goes...

Here is Eden in her fashionable 'hip helpers'.  They are basically just shorts that have a seam sewn down the center to keep the hips together.  She surprisingly doesn't mind them.  They are helpful when she is both on her back and tummy but mostly when she is on her tummy.  They help her use other muscles while she is moving around and playing.  She is still able to roll in them too.  And the obvious is that it helps keep her legs from going into that frog leg position which is a huge problem for her!  We love our physical and occupational therapy ladies.  Whenever we are scheduled for a visit the girls know them not by their names but by calling them 'the ladies'.  They are so good with Eden and always have a positive and uplifting attitude.  Not to mention that they are excellent at what they do.  They do a great job of teaching me ways to work with her (besides being tolerant of being bombarded by Kez and Adah!).  We are currently working on Eden putting weight on her arms, sitting up, tummy time and lifting up on her arms, a side sit position, reaching for things, and of course learning to roll to the other side and not just the one side.  We are finding that Eden is comfortable reaching over her body with her right hand and that is why she is able to roll over that way but she doesn't like to reach over with her left.  I would be surprised if Eden became a lefty someday!  Eden is also more comfortable when she has support.  She is very strong but is scared.  If she can feel your touch and know you are there to catch her if she falls then she will do so much more then if you have her try to do it herself.  Sitting up, for example, feels so scary to her and she will wobble all over if you don't have your hands by her because she is almost shaking with fear but if you put your touch on her hips or under her arms she will reach out for toys and sit up tall and strong.  Same with on her belly.  She isn't comfortable with voluntarily getting up on her hands but will do it with your hands under her chest or even just on her sides.  She is amazing and it is so fun to watch her learn.  I think her success will come when we learn how she learns best.  For now occupational therapy comes with physical therapy once a month but physical therapy is coming twice a month.  I am so thankful that we have these services offered to us as not everyone does.  They both come because of the diagnosis of Agenisis of the Corpus Collosum.  I will try to post more on her progress as the months go on!