8 months

Ainsley is 8 months old today!

8 months old!

  

8 months old!

These last few weeks have been full of many changes.  She has started to get clingy and wants to be held more than ever.  That isn't a bad thing, but she's started squirming and wants to stand up and bounce, sit down and bounce, grab anything that's in sight (including my hair and glasses), cuddle, and do all of it right after the other.  Don't get me wrong, I love the cuddling and everything, but sometimes the helmet gets in the way.  I've been knocked in the nose numerous times by the hard helmet and it's brought tears to my eyes numerous times.  She also regularly hits my collar bone and mouth with the helmet.  I have to admit that the helmet has been nice over the last month.  When she falls over, I don't feel so bad about her hitting her head on the floor.  The other day I walked into the living and found her laying on her back under the rocking chair footstool (that glides) and she was taking the footstool with her hand and making it rock back and forth and everytime it would hit her helmet and make a loud thud.  I guess she thought it was a game, because she just kept doing it.

She's also started grunting really loud when she gets mad.  Her little face will turn red and she'll grunt for as long as she can before she has to take a breath and then do it again.  Two weeks ago after her helmet follow up appointment, I ran into the mall to look for a cardigan for Ainsley for Abby's wedding.   I was in Macy's when she started grunting.  When I say grunting, I mean loud!   At first, I thought she was just pooping so I continued looking for a cardigan, but she didn't stop.  I finally had to take her out of the stroller to calm her down.  I took her out to a bench and tried giving her a bottle, but she didn't want it either.  When I tried putting her back in the stroller, she started crying and grunting.  Since I was by myself, the only thing I could do was put Ainsley on my hip and carry her while pushing the stroller with my free hand all the way to the other side of the mall.  Please keep in mind that Ainsley has her helmet on while all of this is going on and grunting as loud as she can because she's still mad.  People stare hard enough when she has her helmet on, but having a baby with a helmet on who is loudly grunting all through the mall is a way to guarantee that everyone will stare at you.  I walked as fast as I could to get to the bathroom, but the more I walked, the more my pants (which were a little big) kept sliding down.  Needless to say, by the time I got to the bathroom my pants were pretty far down on my butt, enough so that you could see about an inch of my underwear.  I know we were a sight to see that afternoon in the mall!  Oh, and the best part:  Ainsley had pooped and all she wanted was her diaper changed......sigh.

Ainsley had her follow up appointment with the Orthotist a few weeks ago and everything was well.  She shaved some more off the helmet around her face and made the hole on top bigger.  We're still wearing the knit hat all the time under the helmet.  Last weekend she had another reaction to the helmet, but it was only a small spot on the back of her head.  I put the medicine on it and we left the helmet off that night and it was gone the next morning.  I've been noticing the side of her head sticking out quite a bit where the seam of the helmet is.  I called Hanger on Thursday and they had us go in that afternoon to make sure it was ok and to shave some foam out of it.  The bulge on the side of her head is a fluid pocket, which is common.  They said it will go away a few weeks after she gets her helmet off, and shaved some out of the inside by the seam so it wasn't cutting into her head as much.  It made me feel better just knowing that it wasn't going to permanently bulge out and it would eventually go away.  We go back in a few weeks for her next appointment where they will do a scan so we can see the progress she's made.  We can tell that the helmet has already helped the back of her head.  It's not perfectly round by any means, but it is starting to round out, especially toward the bottom.  One ear is sticking out farther than the other now, but the Orthotist isn't worried about it at this point.  

Waiting for them to bring her helmet back-at Hanger Orthotics



Wearing her hat that goes under her helmet

 She started getting sick late last week and slept in bed with us all night for the first time last Thursday.  About an hour after we put her to bed (in her crib) that night, she started coughing and choking on her phlegm.  Joel ran in to sit her up and picked her up and she immediately threw up all over him.  We were worried she was going to choke again, so we put her in our bed.  She was so stuffed up and I don't think any of us got a very good nights sleep that night.  She tossed and turned and our queen bed just isn't big enough for three people. 

She is literally into everything now.  It's so funny because she knows when she shouldn't have something and she'll hesitate for a few seconds before grabbing it.  Her favorite things are:  my glasses, hair, the phone, remote, my cell phone, laptop, keyboard, and my office phone cord.  When she's sitting in the kitchen while I fix supper, her favorites are the pumpkins out of my fall decorations on the island.  She'll grab one and play with it until she drops it and then grab another.   Here's a video of her doing it and below are pictures.

Getting into Mommy's pumpkins

Ohhh...I've got two!

I think I'll snatch another one!

When she takes her bottle she has to "play" with my hair.  My Mom says that I played with her hair while taking a bottle when I was a baby too.  Ainsley will squirm around and fuss until I let her get a handful of it and once she does, she'll start taking her bottle again.  She rolled from her back to her belly for the first time last night.  I got up this morning to get her out of her crib and walk into her room to see "Just fixin my melon" instead of her adorable little face looking up at me.  She was laying on her belly!  I couldn't believe it.  I don't know when she rolled over, but once I walked in, she started whining because she couldn't roll back over to her back. 

One of my favorite things from the last few weeks is that Ainsley has started saying "Mama".  She doesn't actually say "Mama", but instead mamamamamama.  She'll really do it when she's tired or mad, but if I prompt her she'll do it then also.   You can hear her saying mamamama in this video.

She has started to "spit", which isn't actually spitting but rather taking her tongue in between her lips and blowing so that spit forms and she drools all down the front of her.  One of the little boys at the sitter doesn't understand why Lisa lets Ainsley "spit" because you're not suppose to spit!  She can also turn the pages of a book and has started using her pointer and thumb to "pinch" or pick things up.  I'm worse than an animal (according to my brother) when it comes to shedding, and my hair is all over our house.  Ainsley will spot one of my hairs on her blanket and she will sit there and try for a few seconds to grab it.   She'll finally get it and once she does, she just stares at it in her hand.  I have no clue how she sees them and why she's started grabbing them instead of playing with her toys, but it's pretty impressive to watch her find a stray hair on her blanket and pick it up to examine it.

Helping Mommy with laundry

 

She loved playing inside the laundry basket!

Her first tooth popped through Thursday.  She's been a little crankier than normal, but not much.  I blamed that on her being sick for the last week, but now I'm thinking it may be the other way around.  She was cranky and had a runny nose because she was teething.  It wasn't too bad, though and I'm hoping the rest of her teeth are as easy as this one was. 

We also got her "big girl" carseat this week.  Joel hasn't installed it in my car yet, but hopefully he can get that done tomorrow.  It's been a sad week in the Freeman house with her getting her first tooth and switching car seats in the same week.  My baby isn't going to be a baby much longer!  She's started inching forward on the floor and she really wants to be on the move.  I'm thinking she'll be mobile in the next month.

Here's another recent video of her and Joel playing.  Have a great week!