In some ways it is such a short amount of time, and in others it is a very long amount of time. I am still home and have given work notice that I will return when BG is 1 year old. I can return earlier and as usual I haven't made any hard decisions about it.
This month has been fun, BG has started making a funny Terradactyl noise that always makes me laugh. I can't describe it accept it really sounds like a Terradactyl. If I put her into a sit, she may fall but for the most part doesn't mind it and can hold herself in a sit for a while. I can even put her into a crawl position and she will rock back and forth and stay up for a little bit before attempting to move forward or reach for something which of course results in her flat on her tummy and swimming on the carpet.
Just recently she has started making an extremely clear DADA noise, and says it all the time. It doesn't appear to be any sort of word association, but she loves making the noise and as we encourage her to say it all the time I'm not sure when she will relate it to the husbeast. We go out almost every day to our local mommy meetup or to visit other friends in the area with babies. BG just recently started crying when strangers hold her, in particular men. She love to look and see people but if they try to hold her, she can get upset. When we went to the hospital for husbeasts surgery this week, the anesthesiologist wanted to hold her and she started to cry.
For the past month we have used the ferber method to get BG to sleep each night. It has involved about 15 or 20 minutes of crying, every single night. During all this we have traveled to a hotel for a wedding, had the whole emergency room debacle with the husbeast and various other life events which probably haven't helped her learning to sleep. The ferber book said it can take 1 week or 1 month. So tonight I gave in and gave her the pacifier after she had cried for 5 minutes. It worked, she went right to sleep. I felt like shit, wanting to beat myself up for not trying it weeks earlier. I've heard so many awful stories of parents having to go in over and over again to replace the paci so I was trying to avoid it entirely and also I was trying to train her not to have a suck-sleep association which the books say you can change. Well BG must really be stubborn because after 1 month she still clearly has that association as it worked like a charm. I hate letting her cry, but it has meant the world to my sanity this last month being able to get more then 3 hours sleep at a time.
it's funny because in the beginning she slept so well (once she got to sleep). I always think back on those nights she slept 8 to 10 hours straight and have to smile at the memory. I wonder when I'll get 8 hours sleep straight again. It's not really that bad though, and I nap with her in the morning if I stayed up to late the night before having "me" time. We still co-sleep for 3 to 4 hours in the morning after the 4am feeding and a part of me doesn't want to ever let that go, but when it's time I will.
I find it difficult to fall asleep before 11pm, which is ironic because when I co-slept with her all night I could easily fall asleep at 8pm. I suppose because if I didn't I would just lay in bed bored and if I got up she woke up so I suppose I adapted because I had to. It seems all I think or talk about is sleep. She is eating baby food, we started just before 6 months and she adores sweet potatoes above all else.
She still finds the dogs highly amusing, and will sit for a long while entertained just to look and laugh at willow. It's one of my best tactics if I want to answer e-mail. She is starting to look more like such a little person, so much taller and less "chubby-baby" then before. I would like to write more but it's 11pm again and I need to force myself to go to bed :)
