Goldie's life at 7.5 months

This baby.
More than I ever could have dreamt up.

First of all, almost 8 months later, I still get this thought in my head..."I get to have a baby girl and I got to name her Goldie"...and I get butterflies in my tummy every time.

You are about to read some boring baby details so if you don't have kids, you'll probably just want to skip to the pictures. But if you're anything like me, you'll come back and find these posts when you're pregnant or have a newborn.  :)

I have to say that the last 8 months have been both easier and harder than I thought they would be. The responsibility for this precious young life weighs on me but then in the next instant her joyous gummy smile whisks it all away. Breastfeeding was very hard for the first 3 months. It was excruciatingly painful (my pain tolerance is high) and all consuming. As I'm sure you can tell by all her rolls, she ate A LOT. I'm not exaggerating...she would eat for 4 solid hours at a time. I stuck with it, never even considered using a drop of formula, and I feel very proud that I was able to give her nothing but the absolute best thing for her for 6.5 months. I'm not judging anyone, I'm just proud that I stuck it out and I want to encourage anyone that's having a rough start at it that it truly does get so much easier. It is such a breeze now and we love it. At 6.5 months she started eating some banana and avocado and we have since added a beautiful variety of fruits and veggies to her menu! It's been so fun to see her try foods for the first time. She loves eating with the family. If everyone isn't sitting down eating, she's not interested. Pretty much just like her mama. It's no fun to eat by yourself! I feel like carrots are her favorite so far and I've been giving her Baby Mums Mums so she can feel independent and snack. She totally loves them.

She unfortunately has started crying not only when being held by strangers, but crying when strangers talk to her. Oops! I feel so bad because if a baby cried at me I would just crawl into a ball and cry myself. Her family, on the other hand, makes her so very happy. She ALWAYS has a sweet smile for all of us and her little coos and squeals show how excited she is so see us.

She's been crawling for a few weeks now and is starting to cruise. I think she'll be an early walker like me (I was 9 months) because she's already trying to stand on her own.

I cut out a little snippet of her hair for her baby book and it's the same exact color as the snippet my mom has of my hair in my baby book.

Sleep. Oh, sleep. From about 6 weeks-4 months she pretty much slept 12am-8am every night. At 4 months everything kinda went out the window and she was up 10 times one night. Since then it's been up and down depending on her developmental leaps and she goes to bed around 7 every night and wakes up at about 6. She usually wakes up about 4-7 times a night. It probably sounds horrible but we're co-sleeping so it's actually pretty easy. If she was in her own room and woke up that many times I don't even know how I would make it through. Since she's right by me anyway, I barely even have to wake up and Gabe never has to wake up. It's great, but I won't complain when she sleeps through the night again. It's challenging getting her to bed at 7 every night but I'm willing to sacrifice anything to keep her happy and she definitely likes to stick to her early bedtime (Plus Gabe and I get our own time at night).

As far as naps go she's doing 2-3 a day at about 45 minutes to an hour each...usually around 9am and 1:00-2 pm. She does nurse to sleep 99% of the time. Everyone says not to get them into this habit but my mom nursed us to sleep...and it is only a short season...I can sacrifice a couple of years of my life to help her to sleep 4 times a day. Big deal! That's why I became a mom...to care for my baby. The major lesson I've learned from caring for a newborn is that every season is so short. Challenging times pass by so quickly. The most important thing is soaking up every single moment.

Anyway, I wanted to post this because I want to post what I would enjoy reading...and I love reading about the daily habits of babies. Call me boring. Call me crazy. Call me maybe. JK.

Love you Goldiekins!


(Sandals are from Zara and romper is from Baby Gap)

Goldie's first sandals! Ha ha. She kind of hates them...but they're so cute. ♥

Anyway, she's just the best. My precious angel.

XO, Coury