The other day I complained to Maia’s dad saying “Maia is getting so independent!”. He looked at me as if I’d completely lost it. In fairness it does sound a bit funny because our little girl isn’t exactly a low maintenance “I’ll just mind my own business”-kind of baby but what I meant is that she wants to do things on her own and she can do things on her own! Yesterday our baby Maia turned 7-months old.
I’m still obsessed with her and I think she’s the most beautiful and perfect little thing (which mum wouldn’t think that way of their baby?). But rather than going on and on about this rather subjective topic (lol), I’ll focus on what has been up with Maia lately. One of the reasons she feels like such a grown up – in relative terms – is that she sits up well enough to do things simultaneously rather than just focusing on not falling. For example Maia has rediscovered her baby gym, which has been collecting dust in the corner of the room for awhile. She is quite happy sitting in the middle of it with her toys, mainly trying to eat them one by one. I still arrange cushions around her to soften that inevitable topple over. Maia has recently learned to turn onto her tummy from sitting without landing on her face every time. She still actually dislikes being on her tummy and starts crying every time but as soon as I sit her up, she’s back on her tummy again (crying)! She doesn’t crawl yet but I suppose some natural instinct is telling her to get on her front despite not even liking it. Quite peculiar how it all works…
Another big girl skill is of course sitting in her highchair which she’s been able to do for about a month. As the weaning has progressed Maia has gotten more skilful with sitting up and picking up things simultaneously. And then dropping them making a huge mess.
Side note, I have stopped using the harness of her highchair because of safety reasons – I do mainly baby led weaning and in case she chokes I want to be able to pick her up within seconds! In my mind the risk of her climbing out of the chair at this point is much smaller than her choking on a piece of carrot (*shivers*).
During our first month of gradual weaning, aka playing with finger food and making a mess, Maia has tasted steamed carrot, banana, avocado, cucumber, watermelon, cantaloupe melon, strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, steamed broccoli and roasted sweet potato. She’s also chewed on bread crust, had porridge and some potato & beef baby purée. Maia’s absolute favourite has been sweet potato! Clever girl getting into those complex carbs young!
Nothing beats mummy’s milk though and she’s still primarily breastfed but I’m offering her 2-3 little “meals” of solid food per day. The contents of her nappy reveal what’s been swallowed…
Something I absolutely love is Maia reaching her arms up to me to pick her up, although this skill usually presents itself in a not-so-fun situations. But it’s just so cute and totally melts my heart. Needless to say I pick her up every time. Even if she’s covered in porridge.
Another place to sit up on her own is her new travel buggy. We will be travelling a lot this summer and so we’ve purchased the lightweight Babyzen YoYo+ travel buggy. Maia seems to love the forward facing buggy but I have to say I prefer to see her and chat to her during our daily (solitary) walks and still use the Joolz as the main buggy. But it bodes well for our trips though that Maia enjoys the YoYo!
Overall Maia is a very happy baby and we have had some good times together. She’s given me funny chuckles but still no proper giggles but I’m sure she’s having a good time anyway. 😊 I can’t believe I’ve been at home for nearly 8-months already! I have absolutely loved being at home and so grateful for having the opportunity to spend this time with her.
While we spend a lot of time together and get along well, Maia is still a bit reserved with other people (than mummy and daddy) but depending on situation she’s now courageous enough to let others hold her for a bit. Still not amazing but slightly better than a month ago when she’d go hysterical if I was to leave the room. With other children she’s a bit shy but curious and gets chatty and touchy-feely once she’s gotten to observe the situation/children a bit. The first child syndrome I suppose: Maia is just used to the calm atmosphere at home and just me as her company (despite our outings and baby classes).
I haven’t gotten her weighed this month because she’s growing well in my opinion. She’s now wearing “3-6 months” size clothes and number 3 nappies. Sometimes I think she looks very small compared to babies of the same age but then I remember to compare only to how she was before. She’s more than doubled her birth weight in 7 months! (2.55kg at birth and I’m assuming 6.5kg now). And look at those rolls oh my world!
Maia has slept in her own nursery for three weeks now, ever since we moved into our new house. Honestly she probably didn’t even notice the difference. I didn’t sleep for a week though. I felt so silly but I couldn’t help the separation anxiety from not having her at arm’s reach. After the first week I got used to it however, and I’m happy to have our bedroom and bed to ourselves with Maia’s dad, after sleeping in separate rooms most of the first six months after having a baby. It’s good for our relationship.
Sleeping has varied from terrible to great. May and June were amazing weather-wise in London (can you believe it?) but the end of June heatwave was, and still continues to be, tough on babies and their parents. The temperature hasn’t been to blame when it comes to the nightly wake ups I think, but it definitely makes bedtime harder. I’d like to keep the windows open but at summertime people stay out late and make jolly noises which isn’t ideal for the baby’s 7pm bedtime. But neither is +28 degrees in the nursery…
On a good night Maia goes to bed at 7pm, I pick her up for a dreamfeed around 10pm and she sleeps until the next feed at ~4am. After 5am she’s usually in our bed because she no longer sleeps but just “plays” with me; sticks fingers up my nose and her toes in my mouth and gives my boob the occasional nibble. Maia’s dad often gets up with her after 6am giving me a chance to snooze. At 8am I give her porridge before she gets too tired to be interested in it. By 9am she’s down for her first nap.
A bad night could be anything. Waking up 4-5 times a night still happens occasionally and it’s a killer! But then we snooze together in the morning. Luckily Maia’s dad no longer wakes up when I get up to go to Maia’s room. At least I can stay at home and be a zombie if the night’s been bad while he has to go to work no matter what. For the 100th time I wonder how working baby mums deal with sleep deprivation.
We’ve still been going to weekly baby sensory and baby swimming lessons which Maia really enjoys. They are really good activities for her I think – lots of stimulation, socialising and practising motor skills. We are leaving for Italy this Saturday for 11 days and will also be away 2-3 weeks in August so we’ll take a break from baby classes but I’m sure the travel will provide even more stimulus and excitement for her! Not to mention us who are getting married in 10 days!!
xoxoxo,
Sini