baby girl: 8 months

So, with only 4 months until MacKenna turns 1 year, do I need to start thinking about planning her birthday party?  Seriously, are we really getting that close to the end of the newborn/infancy period?  Please, time.  Slow down!

Accomplishments + Milestones

MacKenna is still clapping up a storm.  The clapping is still probably my favorite thing she does so far!  It is hilarious!  Especially when she adds in some screaming to imitate our “Yay MacKenna!”

She still is not crawling yet, but she has the army crawl down.  And man, can she move fast with that!  She pulls herself with her arms and then pushes with her legs.  I can’t imagine it would be too much longer until she starts crawling – I definitely don’t think she’ll be skipping that stage.

I am finally comfortable enough with her sitting ability to put her in a high chair at a restaurant or in the shopping cart.  Now, if only I felt comfortable enough to let her sit on her own without needing to be there just in case she falls over.  (Yes, I’m entirely too overprotective.)

She is now saying “mama” and “dada”, but not specifically to either one of us.  She goes through stages of which consonant sound she wants to use.  Currently, it’s “mama” – my heart sings a little every time she says it.

We started swimming lessons last week and MacKenna LOVES it!  She kicks like crazy and smiles and laughs and has such a good time.  It’s not too structured, mostly letting them kick on their backs and tummies, and she’s gone underwater a few times for just a split second each time.  Her favorite part is playing with the toys at the end.

She is getting more animated every single day.  Her smiles are bigger, she laughs a bit harder/louder, and is definitely a little ham.  She LOVES being the center of attention.  This will definitely be a problem when she gets a little older.

What We’re Working On

Our biggest struggle still is solid foods.  I thought breastfeeding was hard; feeding solids is harder.  She’s definitely not excited about solid foods and hates the high chair.  She will occasionally eat something, but the next time I try it with her, she refuses.  It’s so frustrating.  I feel like we’ve tried just about everything:  baby-led weaning, spoon feeding with purees, different times, different foods, breastfeeding her less, etc. etc. etc.  I’m trying just to go with the flow, but it’s hard.  I know eventually she will get it and this will be a thing of the past, but as of right now, these have been the hardest 2 months as a parent thus far.  I might have to dedicate a whole post to this at some point because there is so much to say about it!

Other things we’re working on:

• crawling
• taking a bottle (which she suddenly refused now that I am a temporary stay-at-home mom)
• preparing for multiple car trips and a plane ride
• playing with her own toys, and not Mom + Dad’s shoes, remote, phones, etc.

Mama’s Miles

I’ve taken a step back on my training right now.  With it being the summer and running with the cross country kids and having a few trips coming up, I just decided to put speed training aside for right now and just focus on maintaining and getting some miles in.  If there is a day I feel like heading to the track, sure, I’ll do some repeats or a good tempo run.  But, otherwise, I don’t want my summer to revolve around training for anything in particular.  I’m not worried about my speed changing as I still will be doing some runs at a good sub-8 minute mile pace.  I can’t tell you how freeing it is to not worry about fitting in certain workouts right now.  I’m loving this laid back approach!

I ran a total of 106 miles this past month, my farthest being a 7 mile long run (I’m only doing 60 minutes for long runs currently) and my fastest being the Chandler Hill 5K with a 7:13/mile pace.  I ran 2 races:  the Chandler Hill 5K and the Run for Your Life 5 Mile.

Random Tidbits

• Doctor’s visits:  one really unnecessary one last week.  We’ve been so worried about her eating + weight that we went in to talk to the doctor.  She’s fine, by the way…
• Current weight:  and with the doctor’s visit, we were able to get a weight check on her.  Last month when Matt took her, she weighed 12 lbs 6 oz.  This month, she gained a whole pound (with clothes + diaper on), weighing in at 13 lbs 8 oz.  Yes, she’s still a peanut.
• Current clothing size:  Mostly 3-6 month clothes, though she can still squeeze in to some of her 0-3 clothes still.
• Breastfeeding:  pretty much exclusive now that she’s no longer at daycare until August.  Which also means, she’s not really taking a bottle.  We’re working on that.
• Loves:  tags, anything Mama + Daddy have (remotes, phones, water bottles), drinking water out of a straw, clapping, the exersaucer
• Dislikes:  anytime Mama + Daddy take away ANYTHING that we don’t want her to have, most solid foods, the bottle

Does anyone have any advice on flying or road trips with a baby?  I think my biggest worry is breastfeeding on a 14 hour road trip without taking a lot of long stops.