A Letter to my 8 month old

I found this on my computer...a letter I started to Anna on her 8 month birthday. The intention was to write letters like this monthly. That was almost a year ago and not another letter since...but lots of photos and the start of this blog. Anyway, here's the letter. It jogged some memories.

Nov 8, 2007:

Good morning, Anna! Happy eight month birthday! Sorry it has taken me 8 months to start writing to you. I hadn’t thought to do it, really because I’m just not a very sentimental person that way! But I thought now even though it’s late, it’s something. I can give you a quick rundown of your first 8 months, though.

The first night we brought you home from the hospital, you screamed for almost 2 hours, inconsolably! Nanee was here and tried to help but was stumped. Daddy ran out at 1am to the drug store to get some Mylicon! Not sure if it helped but you calmed down shortly after. We tried all kinds of pacifiers that night, and you hated them. I tried nursing, but it didn’t calm you. So we just bounced you and tried to shush you. That screaming episode carried over for about the first 3 weeks of your life, each night getting earlier and earlier. It made Daddy sad to hear you so upset so I would stay up with you, trying to soothe you. Nothing really worked, except lots of bouncing, so that’s what I did! Plus I made up a silly “everyone loves Anna” song to sing to you, even though I don’t really think that helped either! We just had to wait it out with you every night. At your 4 week doctor’s visit, you were diagnosed with acid reflux. That explained all of the crying, which became much more frequent, the choking during feeding, and arching the back while feeding. Those things stressed me out! But you were a beautiful, dark-haired baby, very alert, and gave lots of fake smiles along with little sighs you’d breathe while you nursed. You were sweet and loved to be bounced! You hated the swing but loved the rough bouncy seat, a rough stroller ride, and you’d love for mommy and daddy to stand with you under the noisy vent hood over the stove. That was the one sure way to get you to calm and sleep. We lived under the vent hood for about 2-3 months! Amazingly, though you were a horrible napper, you started sleeping through the night from 9 or 10pm till 5am very early, probably around 7 weeks old. I remember the first time you slept 7 hours straight was when we were visiting Nana in Austin. We were all surprised. I also remember the first time you let me put you down to play without crying to be picked up…that was around 7 weeks as well. You were fussy and so I put you down, which made you happy! Before that night, you didn’t like to be put down because you liked to be comforted from the reflux pain. But the Prevacid we were giving you was finally starting to work and you learned about a whole new world of floor-play! That night also was at Nana’s in Austin. You had so much fun there, then when we got home you were fussy again so I thought you must hate your home! Speaking of first times, I remember the first time you smiled and meant it, probably around 7 weeks old. We were having a horrible morning and I was leaning over you in tears. Then you smiled at me! What?! I smiled back, even with the tears. That is the same smile that still makes my day everytime you do it!

At 2 months old, you finally took a paci! Thank goodness! One afternoon you were fussing yourself into a nap and daddy tried again at one of the several different paci’s we’d tried in the past, but this time you took it, and fell asleep right on the floor all by yourself! Since then, it has been very helpful in getting you to sleep or better enjoy the car ride! Also, when you were 8 weeks old, you came to mommy’s PhD graduation ceremony, and then the next night you went with mommy and daddy to see Gwen Stefani in concert in the Woodlands. You did really well! We danced and you slept J. Also at around 2 months old you started to enjoy your swing and actually take long naps in it. You don’t use it at home anymore because by now you nap in your crib like a big girl. So we are about to put the swing away for good, even though you do still nap in the swings at day care. You started sleeping in your own crib upstairs like a big girl at 2 months old. At 10 weeks old, we took you to the swamp camp in Morgan City. Your first boat ride! You did really great! I remember you slept through till 5am and I was shocked. Also you played by yourself a whole lot in the Pack-N-Play when we hung colorful towels over the sides for you to look at. You were really happy. Again, I was stunned you played by yourself for so long! Aunt Kristyn and I took some great pictures of you playing in there. You were soooo pretty. By the way, you are known for being a pretty baby…no, beautiful baby. And it’s true…I’m not just saying that. Everyone says it, and they always qualify it as, “and I really mean it, not all babies are this pretty. Yours is REALLY pretty.” It’s the eyes you got from your daddy. I think you have my mouth, though! But everyone sees you as looking like your daddy, which is OK. I was hoping you’d have his eyes J But we never expected you to be so pretty, really!

At 3 months old, you started day care at G D. Johnna and Joy were your teachers. Mommy didn’t cry when I left you for your first day because when I left, you were playing and happy. Daddy had some tears J . They had so many fun things for you to do! Since you were happy, I was happy. Plus I was ready to begin life back in the real world J. You have done really great with G D since then. They moved you to Infant II when you were about 5 months old. I thought you were too little to go but you seemed to like it in Infant II. At 3.5 months old, you started waking up in the middle of the night…no more sleeping straight through! And you started going to bed earlier and earlier, until eventually you settled on a 6:30pm bedtime! Also at 3 months, you rolled over from tummy to back. A few weeks later, you rolled from back to tummy. Since then, even to this day, you are better going from back to tummy than from tummy to back. You still get mad when you get too tired to bother turning off of your belly and we have to do it for you. Sometimes you just get lazy! Tummy time was never your favorite thing, but you started enjoying the exersaucer Tami gave us. At 3 months old, you also got Ducky, which is a big yellow duck you picked out yourself. He goes with you to day care and you sleep with him at night.

At 4 months old, we started to feed you baby food. You started to like it, but then got a really bad cold, and then hated it from then on. Even day care was surprised you hated solids! It’s OK, solids were just for fun. But mommy had already stocked up on over $100 worth of baby food, thinking you’d dig in! The good news is that I got all that for $5 since I found some really good Target coupons! So we ended up donating it all a few months later when it looked like you’d never take to pureed baby food!

At 5 months old, you got better at going to sleep all by yourself at night, without needing daddy to help you. By the way, it was daddy who helped you get to sleep. He’d place you in your crib and “ssshhhhhh” you while stroking your hair and you’d cuddle your face into Ducky. You were usually pretty restless, but by 5 months old, you figured it out and went to sleep without much help from daddy, and without much flip-flopping around your crib. However, at this age you started waking up in the middle of the night realizing you were on your tummy and we’d have to go in, turn you over, and give you the paci or bottle to get you back to sleep J. At this time, you were usually up around 10pm for a paci, midnight for a bottle, and 3:30am for a bottle. Daddy had the shift till 2am, and mommy had 2am-wake up. That worked out well!

At 6 months old, mommy and daddy took our first trip away from you to Chicago so mommy could accept an award and give a speech. Nana came to stay with you and you must have had fun with her because when we got home you didn’t seem to have missed us! 6.5 months you also came to Colorado with us so mommy could speak at a CSU student conference. You were teething on that trip, but did a really great job other than the occasional crankiness with that tooth (although you were most cranky right before mommy’s presentation)! You did really great on your first airplane trip to Colorado on Southwest Airlines and even sat in the cockpit! You slept through your first boarding and take-off on mommy’s shoulder. You sat in daddy’s lap for your first landing. You enjoyed Colorado, and we went to all the places mommy and daddy used to go while we were students there. We were excited to show you everything! You even went to Estes Park with us and got to go inside the Stanley hotel and Rocky Mountain National Park. There, you got your first touch of a Colorado creek. We had so much fun with you! 6 months was the best month so far because everything was funny to you and you were sooo full of smiles. Even the first 2 teeth didn’t ruin your happiness! During that time, Nana was staying with us because daddy has just opened his physical therapy clinic and Nana was helping with that and with you! She had so much fun with you for the 6 weeks she was here. You used to make each other smile! You also started sitting up at around 6.5 months. Also during this month, you got such fluid build up in your ears from congestion that you lost your hearing! Mommy and daddy and your teachers were worried until the doctor told us it was just fluid build up, and 2 weeks of Benadryl cleared it up! Whew! It was such a busy month for you!

Month 7 came with a happy baby, but more opinionated baby. Nana went back to Austin after 6 weeks, and mommy went to Las Vegas for the weekend with some friends. Daddy called mommy telling me he was having tummy pain, and he was a little worried because nobody was around to help if it got serious. When I came back home, daddy went to the hospital to have his appendix removed! He was there for 4 nights, and we missed him lots. But you and mommy hung out and got through while daddy recovered. In the meantime, you were sprouting 2 new top teeth. Not everything was as funny anymore, and you demanded to be carried face-out instead of on my shoulder like I was used to! You also preferred to bear weight, which always made you most happy. You got better at sitting and playing on the floor with different toys, and putting them all in your mouth. We also realized that since you hated baby food, maybe you’d like grown up food. And we were right, since you attacked daddy’s home-made chicken noodle soup! So you started eating off the school menu at day care during this time and you’ve enjoyed everything from pizza to pancakes. We love it! Also at 7 months, you went to Louisiana for Aunt Kristyn’s baby shower and you had a horrible virus that caused terrible diarrhea for like 7 days, including while we were in La! But it didn’t make you cranky at all, thankfully. It just resulted in some diaper rash and lots of dirty diaper changes! YUCK!

And now we’re in month 8. Sorry the previous months are just a blur written on this page! Today’s your first day as an 8 month old. You passed out so early last night because of Day Light Savings Time change. We fell backwards last weekend, and you were already an early bedtime baby and now it’s worse J. You’re usually ready for bed by 6:30 but last night you barely made it till 6! Last night after your bath, you fell asleep on the bottle and I couldn’t keep you awake. You woke up at 4am for a bottle, then went back to sleep till 6:40. Wow! Daddy got home just 5 minutes after you went to bed and was sorry he missed you so he went upstairs to kiss you goodnight. These days you are starting to say mamamama, and I think you may be starting to mean it. You still say dadadada, which you’ve said since our vacation in Estes Park, CO in September (and you didn’t mean it then). You are enjoying to splash more and more in the bathtub, and you’re really enjoying your bath toys. There is one octopus in particular that you like when I use it to squirt water into your mouth! The first few times I squirted you with it, you laughed. Now you just want the water so you open your mouth and stick out your tongue. But really I think your favorite toy is still Temperature Ducky, even though Nana bought you a few other yellow rubber ducks. Out of the bath, you’re getting better about not fussing at me so much! You used to hate the drying and dressing part, and I don’t know why. But you’re doing better about it now. Speaking of dressing, you hate, and have always hated, getting dressed! Specifically the part of getting your hands into the sleeves. It’s even worse when you’re tired. We try little tricks to distract you, like giving you toys or sitting you up to put your sleeves through, which sometimes work. For now during changing time, you like to try to roll onto your belly and reach for the diapers and wipes. The wipes are your favorite, probably because they make a crinkly noise when you play with them. I always try to make you laugh to try to get a look into that silly mouth of yours. We noticed yesterday that you’ve got a 5th tooth coming in, on your bottom right. I knew something was going on in there because you’ve been cranky lately, but Daddy found the actual white bumps and he showed me this morning. Good girl! I know tooth pain really hurts! You are doing great with it, though! You get pretty cranky at school with Miss Polly, Kathleen, and Denise, but at least it doesn’t affect your sleep at home at night J. In the meantime, you’ve got this terrible cough that has lasted about 4 weeks now, and I am about to call the pedi to see if there’s something I should do here! You’ve also had a runny nose and you HATE it when I wipe it! Boy do you fuss me!