Spring is here, and Abigail is 7 months old! We are excited for warmer days ahead and more time spent outside with our sweet little girl.
Abigail weighed 13 pounds at her checkup 2 weeks ago, so I’m guessing she is somewhere between 13 and 14 pounds now. She is officially wearing size 2 diapers now as of a few weeks ago :) She can still squeeze into her 0-3 and 3 month clothes, but most of them are getting a little too short. She has worn a few 3-6 month and 6 month outfits, but all of those are summer clothes, and it’s been a little too chilly to wear them all the time.
Abigail is nursing about 6 times/day, usually every 3-4 hours. One of those feedings is still usually in the middle of the night. I’ve noticed that she isn’t as quick of an eater as the other girls were, but that’s okay. It just gives me longer to read to Brooklyn and Savannah while we’re waiting on her to finish :) We STILL haven’t started any solids yet…mainly because I haven’t gotten around to making anything for her to try. I’m thinking I’ll start with rice cereal like I did with the other girls. Dr. Dudley said to just treat it like dessert for the first month of two and not to drop any of her nursing sessions yet, so that’s what we’ll plan to do. Hopefully she’ll take to it well.
Big news: Abigail is now sleeping in her crib for her naps and at night! It’s about time, right? :) It was an abrupt transition after I noticed MOLD growing on the Rock n’ Play fabric…whoops. I assume she must have spit up and the fabric stayed wet for too long? Anyway, once I saw that, we haven’t used it since…and the transition to the crib has gone surprisingly well. I mean…she never consistently slept through the night in the Rock n’ Play, and I can’t tell much difference in the crib :) She occasionally sleeps until 5 AM or later before waking up, but more often than not, she wakes up between 2 and 4 AM, nurses, and goes back to sleep for a few more hours. Naps are going better in the crib than they used to, which is nice. She will usually sleep for at least an hour for naps…sometimes longer. I’m not very good at keeping an eye on the clock to know exactly how long she’s napping (something about too many distractions from her big sisters…haha). Abigail sleeps with her paci, and she’s my only baby to really use a “lovey”. It’s a little lamb that was actually given to Brooklyn, but Brooklyn never really used it. Abigail seems to like having something for her hands to hold while she’s going to sleep, so I usually give it to her when I lay her down :)
The biggest area of development I’ve noticed in Abigail this month is that she has gotten a lot better at using her hands. She has gone from mainly batting at toys to being able to pick them up and hold them in many cases. Last week, she picked up her paci off my lap and put it in her mouth correctly! She has also started grabbing the burp cloth off my shoulder and trying to grab my face and hair too. She has a pretty strong grip! She has definitely noticed her feet lately and has started grabbing them sometimes too. She is still really unsteady, but sometimes I can get her to sit up unassisted for a couple of seconds before toppling over, and she is super close to being able to roll over all the way from back to tummy.
This month, Abigail has also really gotten better at jumping in the doorway jumper. She will jump pretty high sometimes! Brooklyn and Savannah enjoy watching Abigail jump and helping her go higher, of course :)
While I would still characterize Abigail as a pretty chill baby overall, she has definitely seemed fussier in the last month for some reason. She’s not showing signs of getting any teeth yet, so I’m not sure if that’s the problem or if it’s something else. Right now, she is definitely most happy when somebody is holding her. She likes being around people even if she’s not the center of attention. Since she’s our last baby, I’m trying to soak up all the cuddles while she’s not on-the-go! Abigail is also pretty ticklish, and tickling her is the best way to get her to laugh. Hearing those cute giggles never gets old!
Savannah has always been the big sister who is most interested in Abigail, but lately Brooklyn has been giving Savannah a run for her money. Brooklyn has spent more time holding Abigail, talking to her, and trying to make her smile and laugh than she has any other month. I’m sure that is partly because Abigail is getting more interactive every week. She enjoys her big sisters and is never short on getting attention from one of them! One day recently, Brooklyn wanted to work on a craft right near Abigail so that Abigail could watch her. It was sweet!
On the medical front, Dr. Dudley recommended going back to using the prescription scalp oil for Abigail’s cradle cap issues after she saw how bad it looked at her last checkup. I’ve been using it again for the last couple of weeks, and Abigail has completely stopped scratching her head! It obviously must have been itching pretty badly. I felt so bad because she was constantly scratching her head and making it bleed, so it’s been nice to not have to worry about that lately. We are also going to see a pediatric dermatologist about it on Wednesday, so we’ll see what he recommends.
We also saw an ENT earlier this week after Abigail failed 2 hearing tests over the last few months. The good news is that her left ear is fine! The bad news is that her right ear is still not working very well. The doctor looked in it and said it was full of fluid, so we are trying 2 medications to see if they will help clear it up. We are supposed to go back in 4 weeks, so hopefully her right ear will have improved by then! If not, we may be looking at getting a tube placed in her ear at some point down the road.
We love you, Abigail, and we couldn’t imagine life without that sweet smile of yours!
