Aviela is 7 Months Old!

Aviela is getting so old!  Pedro and I were just saying that time has flown by with her.  She really is such a happy child.

The only "issues" we have are that she still doesn't love eating.  Feeding her is kind of a long event.  She drinks 4 ounces and then eats food, followed by 4 more ounces.  Bottles are spaced out before and after meals, so sometimes this process is about 1.5 hours!  She loves food.  She has tried sweet potatoes, bananas, carrots, toast, waffles, pancakes, rolls, apples, cheerios, puffs and crackers.  Avi also gets purred foods too and her favorites are the green vegetables (peas, green beans, mixed green veggies) and sweet potatoes and squash.  She doesn't seem to love fruit.  But she LOVES pumpkin spiced waffles and sweet potatoes!

Zuri also likes to help me feed Avi and frequently will tell me that Avi needs something.  "Avi wants some of my yogurt!"  I'm glad she asks me before feeding her, I sometimes have to tell her things like "Avi DOES NOT want popcorn!!!"  Just in case she decides to give her some without asking me.

Avi can also drink from a straw cup now, although it might take days for her to drink a bottles worth from one.

 Sleeping on the go is hit or miss, she much prefers her crib.

Late night at the zoo lights and she was awake the whole time and didn't cry once!

Who needs a double stroller?  ( I would like one, but this is our current method, not to last too much longer as Zuri was squishing Avi's legs!)

Avi has reached the stage where she knows if she has been left alone and sometimes she cries until someone returns.  Usually, Zuri runs to her and says "It's ok baby sister, I'm here!"  Very cute.

Avi sits very well and likes to lunge forward to try and grab toys, which frequently makes her fall over.  When this child starts to crawl she will probably be a trouble maker because she wants to grab EVERYTHING.

This is what happened as soon as Zuri left her pumpkin alone!

Part of our new routine is that both kids take a bath together in the "big girl tub" and then they get to watch one tv show together before bed.  After they watch the show together I read them books together and then they go to bed.  Currently, Zuri will ask for sister to come and watch a show with her.  I will probably have to remind her of how much she loved her sister when sister can crawl and steal all of her toys.  Zuri also asks me to put her horse away when they watch a show because she says sister wants to take it.  Other than that Zuri will share with her the toys that she wants to share at the moment and will frequently grab them back when she wants them back.  However, Avi doesn't cry she just tries to lunge forward and steal it back again.  Luckily, she is pretty easy going right now.

Size:
Height..no idea!
Weight..no idea!
Clothing size: 6 to 9 months.  I would say 9 months are a little big but pants that are 9 months fit better than 6 months, onesie's can go either way.
She seems to have big feet right now, shoes may come soon!


Likes:
Real food
Vegetables
Going for walks
Wind blowing on her face (giggles)
Stella
Sitting
Her mobile on her crib (she wants to grab it)
Her blanket
Her crib
Wheels on little cars
Crinkle sounding things
Jumper
Pumpkin spiced waffles, sweet potatoes

Dislikes:
Falling on her face
Not able to reach what she wants
Waiting in her high chair without any food on it
Not being able to pick up food and get it in her mouth
Sleeping on the go
People leaving the room (sometimes)
When her mom tries to hold her and she is tired, she really wants her crib and blanket

Photo comparison Zuri and Avi 6,5 and 4 months

At 6 months Zuri weighed 2lbs more.  Zuri was .25 inches taller and her head was .5 inches bigger.  So besides the weight they were about the same size.

Aviela is 6 MONTHS OLD!

Time has FLOWN by with Aviela.  With her, I do wish time wouldn't go so fast.  I know I love her new milestones but I know soon she will be a big girl like Zuri and not want to be held or kissed!  She loves my kisses!

This last month she has learned to sit very well.  She can even reach for things now and not fall over.  She does still occasionally fall over, but for the most part she is sitting really well.  Apparently, in the last few days she has learned to roll from back to front and back again.  I had commented to Pedro that she had moved a lot on the play mat and he said "Yeah, she has rolled over a few times."  What?  I didn't believe him.  A few minutes later he said "There she goes."  So I went and looked and she had rolled over.  A few minutes later she was back on her back.  I guess I missed this milestone but she just started moving a bit more on her play mat so it must have been recently.

Aviela is loving her food now. She has had sweet potatoes, carrots and squash.  I mix it with oatmeal and she seems to love it.

Avi loves to watch Zuri run around and play and I can see that soon she will be chasing her down.  Otherwise she seems quite content to just jump in her jumper or lay on her play mat playing.  Sometimes she even falls asleep while jumping!

Sleep and nap times have gone pretty well I definitely have no room to complain about much of anything.

She went to the doctor yesterday and here are her stats:
Height:  26.5 inches tall--80%ish? (doctor wrote this and told me this, but put on her official sheet 26.25..which is 75%)
Weight: 14lbs 8.2oz.  20%
Head:  16inches 30%ish? (same situation, doctor said and wrote 16, but put 16.5 in file-40%)

Yes, the nurse clearly does not pay attention to detail.

Her 4 month stats were:
24.25 inches tall (grew 2.25 inches)
Weight: 12lbs 1oz (gained 2lbs 8oz)
Head: 35%


6 Month Likes:
Jumper
Sister
Scratching things
Tags
Giraffe
Play Mat
Wind
Walks
Sitting
Food
Bath
Stella


Dislikes:
The time before bed when mom is trying to get Zuri to bed first
Laying flat on her back-when she wants to sit
Doing anything for too long


Here are some fun pictures!

Zuri was singing "The wheels on the bus."  She told me she needed to drive Avi!

The Pacifier Chronicles

Oh the pacifier.  So many views and so many ideas regarding this small item.  I never had any issue with pacifier's with Zuri, except that she would never take one!  This was an issue on it's own because she cried all the time and I tried many times and many different pacifiers to see if she would take one and calm down.  Then after finding out her tonsils and adenoids were huge and blocking her airway, I am pretty sure that is the reason for her never wanting one.

Aviela is a whole different person.  From day 1, Avi took a liking to the pacifier.  I didn't mind because I didn't want her attached to the human version all the time.  I was thinking she wasn't hungry but instead needed something like a pacifier to soothe her (however, apparently she is/was a baby that doesn't really care to eat much).  It worked brilliantly.   Any time Avi was tired or grumpy I would give her a pacifier and she would be happy.  If she was tired the magical tool made her go from wide awake to sound asleep.  I could actually lay her down awake and she didn't cry or whine at all!

Then around 3.5 months or 4 months my amazing sleeping baby started waking multiple times at night SCREAMING!  I would run to her room to "plop" the pacifier back in her mouth and head back to bed.  I was so worried her screaming would wake up Zuri, which is something we definitely have no interest in doing (that kid NEEDS her sleep..remember when I called her my little DRAGON, this is still the case).  I was getting tired.  Tired of waking so many times a night.  I knew my little Avi wasn't eating enough during the day so I was thinking maybe she was hungry, when she woke the 3rd time in 2 hours.  So, I tried to feed her.  Some nights this seemed to be the answer.  By about 5 months the wakings were happening every night.  I was soo tired.  I decided it wasn't hunger all the times so I gave her the pacifier and if she woke around 4, I fed her.  The theory was good, but she was NOT hungry.  She was very unhappy that I would pick her up and try to feed her.  She wanted her addiction...

The miraculous pacifier became my worst enemy.

What to do?  This child does not cry or fuss much at all.  With Zuri, when she cried I never really thought twice about it because she cried ALL the time.  I let Zuri cry it out around 4/5 months.  I wasn't against crying it out with Avi, but the concern is waking Zuri too.  So, I finally made the decision...

No more pacifier.

My logic was simple.  The pacifier was keeping us up at night.  She couldn't self soothe.  I read that babies can start finding their own pacifiers around 8 months, so the sleepless nights would get better then.  I read that you can throw 20 pacifiers in the crib and make it easier to find one.  Really?  So, if I keep the pacifier she MIGHT be able to find one if I throw 20 in the crib and she learns to pick it up.  How long would that take?  Could I handle months more of sleepless nights?  Then I started thinking, when do you take a pacifier away?  Family and friends say their kid stopped "using" when they were around 3 years old, maybe older.  Oh my goodness.  I cannot imagine trying to take a pacifier away from Zuri now (nearing 3 years old), she is so determined, possessive, obstinate that it would have led to massive fights or negotiating.  And negotiating with a 3 year old does not sound like something I want to do and we have enough fights that I don't need to add another reason for fighting.

So the decision was made.  To quit cold turkey.  Just like any addict, the pacifer addict was real.  I took her addiction and my magical calming device away.  What would happen?  Would she be like Zuri and cry for 4 HOURS at a time, when I let her learn to sleep?  I took the pacifier away at her first nap.  She cried.  I went in at about 10 minutes and just rubbed her belly.  She stopped crying, but then started crying again.  Her withdrawal symptoms were real.  Crying, shaking, if she could talk she would have been saying "Give me my PACIFIER!"  My addiction to the device was also kicking in "go give her the pacifier and she will go right to sleep!"  AHHH!  I went in again 10 minutes later.  Then I remembered that the method of checking on the kids during cry it out does not work, at least for my kids.  So that was it.  No more checking on her.  It was kind of difficult since she is really a happy child and doesn't cry much.  The miraculous pacifier sat by me begging to be used.  I know that she was safe and not really able to go anywhere and that she would eventually get tired. Or would she?

After about 10 more minutes Avi went to sleep, sadly we had an appointment so I had to wake her up 30 minutes later.  The next nap she didn't cry at all!  Could it be that easy?  Or was she just so tired from the crying and short nap?  At bedtime she again didn't cry at all.  She slept until about 530am!  This was a first!  Not to jinx it though.  The next day she cried for about 10 minutes during her nap time.  She cried again for her afternoon nap and at bedtime, but never for more then a few minutes.  And her sleep was so much better.  And so was mine.

With that the pacifier addiction has been cured.  I have kept it in case of emergencies (airplanes, restaurants...) knowing that if we use it very sparingly when the public is being disturbed that her full blown addiction shouldn't return.

I'm happy to know that I won't be negotiating with my 3 year old about giving me her pacifier.  It's not to say we don't have random night wake ups, but all in all, I'm glad to have done it now before she can sit up in her crib, look for it, climb out of her crib or do anything that would have made me worry!

Aviela is Sitting!

She has been working on her sitting skills for the past few weeks.  She could sit, but not for more than a minute or so.  She can now sit for a good amount of time!  She can't play "vigorously" but she can definitely sit and play some.

A whole new dynamic!  Love to see Zuri trying to help Avi learn to do something.

Zuri even shared her cards with her...until Avi started chewing on one.

Happy to be sitting!

Avi enjoyed sitting in her bathtub (aka "boat" as Zuri calls it).  Zuri was NOT happy that Avi was sitting in the tub and threw a tantrum because she wanted Avi to be lying in the tub.

Both kids happy to be sitting together.  Don't mind that Zuri is eating baby wipes.  She had just helped change Avi's diaper.  Luckily that was a clean wipe!  However, she proceeded to put multiple wipes in her mouth and put them all back in the container.