Miss D, 9 months

9 months is such a fun time. Miss D is crawling all over the house and pulling herself up to everything. She's just barely starting to cruise along the furniture, but she does like to let go and see if she can stand up without it. She doesn't last long, but she's more fearless than CB was. I won't be surprised if she walks earlier than her big sister did - she's fearless about testing her limits.

She's had a pretty good bout of separation anxiety this month, but she's finally coming out of it and starting to go to other people besides mommy without protest (sometimes). The other day CB was helping me fix dinner and we were kind of ignoring her, then I looked back and realized she was gone. She'd crawled down the hall and was peeking into Eric and my room looking for Eric. 

After my big anxious rant last month about not knowing what to do about D's sleep, I finally decided to actually read the Ferber book (Solve Your Child's Sleep Problems) and in the second chapter decided that probably the only reason D was waking up was that she was falling asleep in our arms every night and then when she switched sleep cycles she was waking up in the crib frantic. So this week we decided to help her change sleep associations, which meant some crying it out. I was DREADING it after my experience with CB, but I should have just read the dang book back then and I wouldn't have made CB cry so long for naps either. D cried for about 15 minutes (I went in for the 3 minute and the five minute check, but she was asleep before the 10 minute) the first night and woke up for less than 5 minutes a couple of times in the night. She went back to sleep before I even went in for the 5 minute check. She was asleep or at least quiet in less than a minute for her first nap the next day, and after about 10 minutes (one check, but quiet before the 10 minute check) for the second nap. At bedtime the second night I was heading down the hall for the first check at 5 minutes and she got quiet before I made it. I hope not to jinx it, but I am so encouraged. Now I just have to figure out how to get them to sleep in the same room, since we've been putting CB in our room for a couple of nights while we sleep train.

Miss D, 6-8 Months

Sigh. Poor, poor second baby. Sorry I stink at the updates. I partially blame my lack of laptop, but mostly it's just that when both kids are finally in bed I just want to watch cooking shows instead of sitting at a computer. It looks like soon I'm going to have better laptop access though, so fingers crossed for next month! (Luckily, I overgram like crazy on Instagram, so we have a full shelf of chatbooks with all of the best stories.)

Just a day or two after 6 months, little miss got her first tooth and started sitting up on her own really well. This pleased her greatly. A couple of weeks after that she got a second tooth and is now rocking the two bottom teeth look delightfully. She did great on our roadtrip to Lubbock despite the long drive and the car breaking down. After we got back, we moved her pack and play out of our room but didn't feel like she was quite ready to move in with CB (or that CB was ready for her) so we moved her into our big closet under the stairs (the "Harry Potter closet") and she mostly does okay there. More on that later.

Around 7 months she started to try to move, pushing back with her arms and usually moving away from whatever she wanted to get to. However, she was so much more involved and interested in things than she had been that there was a bit of contention with CB, who wasn't excited about sharing toys AND attention now that D had an opinion about which toys she wanted and could sometimes get to them. There were a few weeks that were just really hard because of CB constantly yelling at Miss D and taking things away from her and THROWING them so she couldn't have them.

Then a couple of weeks ago I was putting CB to bed while holding D because Eric was out late at a job, and D was reading for CB and just smiling and suddenly CB looked at her with utter delight and said, "You DO like me D!" It's been much better since then, with CB mostly celebrating D's milestones and enjoying her along with me. She loves trying to make D smile and always pulls her pacifier out if it's in when she starts making faces at her.

Just a couple of days before she turned 8 months, D got the hang of crawling forwards. It's so much different than CB, who army crawled for a long time before she got up on her hands and knees. D was always on her knees and sometimes even on her feet. She's always trying to get up and has already pulled herself up to a couple of things. However, just like CB, she can't resist crawling over to knock over a block tower,

Her favorite thing to play is "Where's D?" We put a blanket over her head and she pulls it off and laughs like crazy. She's a total mommy's girl right now, but she loves to smile at people from my lap. She loves anything she can feed to herself and has finally found some purees that she likes too, but she'll cruise across the room for those vegetable flavored baby cheetos.

With sleep, she's the exact opposite of her big sister. CB was an amazing night sleeper from the beginning and was a terrible napper. She gave up naps early and by 4 months was down to two that I had to let her cry herself to sleep for. D is a great napper and only recently gave up her third nap, but she's not great at night. I think part of this might be the fact that I learned how to nurse lying down last time, so I'd always fall asleep nursing her and just not put her back in bed, so now she likes to cuddle. Also, because of the second kid thing and the rough start we got off to with c sections and gallbladder, we didn't work that hard at putting her down drowsy but awake, and now we pretty much rock her (or at least hold her) to sleep before transferring her. Unlike CB, she transfers pretty well, so we haven't had much motivation to change things yet, but because CB was such an AWESOME night sleeper (10 hours straight  pretty much every night from 3 months on) I have a little bit of anxiety about what to do to get her to be a bit more independent, especially at night. Part of me isn't that worried because we haven't reached a miserable stage yet - she usually goes back down pretty well during the times she wakes up at night (usually 1-2 times but again - sometimes I just fall back asleep and she sleeps better with me, so who knows?) and we don't  spend hours putting her down unless she's WAY over tired. Having a set schedule has been so much harder this time, and I'm sure that's part of it. I also kind of enjoy snuggling her and know how quickly that snuggling can go away, so there's that too, but I still feel like SOMETHING will have to be done at some point, especially if we ever want to move her in with CB. Blah. Any advice on this would be appreciated. I'd rather not do cry it out this time unless it gets to be more dire, but all of the no tears ideas I've read have been kind of lame. So.

Lastly, D is still just a little ball of sunshine. She's SO easy going and cheerful most of the time that it's really easy to forgive her for things like making me occasionally frustrated at night still (what, they couldn't all be magical unicorn sleeping babies?) I need to baby proof a little more, which turns out to be harder when there's another little person leaving delightful tiny things all over (you know what D loves putting in her mouth? Pom poms. Which CB loves to leave all over the house) but I'm excited to watch her become more interactive and independent all the time. She's such a sweet, loving baby girl and I love her.

Miss D, 5 Months

Poor Miss D. I'm so behind. Everyone has been sick and we were staying with Papa and Mama on her actual five month birthday. I took pictures a few days later, and then I haven't done anything with them, plus they weren't that great and I didn't have the energy to keep messing with it. But time marches on and Miss D is older and gets better and better, so. Here are a few things.

• First, how on earth did I take all of CB's pictures on that little backdrop? Miss D was ALL OVER THE PLACE, wiggling, grabbing the backdrop, eating her feet, etc. It was really, really difficult to get a good picture this time, and I'm thinking of switching it up next time. 
• Miss D is so, so smiley and happy. She's so sweet. She gets more interactive all the time. She loves the squeaky giraffe and the crinkly frog and everything goes directly in her mouth, which distresses CB greatly since we're ALWAYS telling her to get things out of her own mouth. 
• She's getting much more purposeful about grabbing things - toys, my face, blankets, anything on the table. I'm looking forward to introducing solids next month, although she's TERRIBLE at taking medicine, so I'll be interested to see how she does. CB was really good at it and solids went really smoothly, but Miss D does seem VERY interested in sitting at the dinner table and stares at all of us, so we'll see. 
• She loves playing with her feet and is getting really close to rolling from her back to her stomach. 
• She's still not sleeping through the night, but I've finally got my act together and have been helping her get a little more scheduled, which I think she appreciates. She's getting more predictable and even made it through the night without nursing the other night (she woke up, but a quick pat or a pacifier and she went right back to sleep), so I think we're getting closer. Hooray! She's still going pretty strong with the pacifier, which is LOVELY, and I'm hoping that it will continue. It's so crazy to me that by this time I was trying to sleep train CB. I can't even imagine doing that with Miss D yet, and so far she's a much better napper than CB (knock on wood!) It's so crazy how much less worried I am about all of that than I was with the first baby. I rock her to sleep when I need to, but she fall asleep on her own occasionally and we're just going with it. She sleeps, no screaming, everyone is happy so far. 
• She still has a really funny growly laugh that I love, and CB gets as many laughs as anyone. You still have to work for it a bit, but she gets in giggly moods and won't stop. 
• She kicks her legs like CRAZY, especially when she's sleepy but not calm yet. Sometimes in the morning I'll wake up to this really loud "THUMP THUMP THUMP" of her legs before she starts making other noises. 
• Generally she's just such an easy-going, smiley little soul, even when Clara is squishing her face and brushing her hair and generally pestering her. We like her a lot.
  
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  The background was all wonky on this picture, but her face was cute so I cropped it terribly.

Miss D, 4 Months

Miss D's update is coming a couple of days late because CB has been really sick, and now she's starting with it too. Luckily, she's still been really cheerful despite her coughing, and CB is coming back nicely from what the doctor thought might be RSV on Monday. If we can get Miss D through it as well, we'll be breathing sighs of relief.

Miss D, you have been such a sweet, chill baby that I haven't feel like I've really gotten to know you that well, but this last month you've really stolen our hearts. You have a hilarious deep growly laugh that just kills me every time. You're ticklish under your chin, so sometimes I get a surprise giggle out of you while I'm snapping up your jammies. You give smiles readily, and you always make me feel extra special when I walk past you and you give me a big grin.

You love being sung to - especially by your big sister. We started having CB sing to you when you were upset - in the car, at the store, etc. - because we didn't want her to be upset by your crying, but now when CB busts out the ABCs (which she tells me is your favorite song) you almost always calm down and smile at her. You two already have such a special relationship, and I hope it continues throughout your lives. The other day you were lying on the couch while we were getting everything on the table for dinner and you started crying, so your Daddy went to get you and said in the high pitched voice we use to talk for you, "Why did you leave me? Nobody loves me!" And CB quickly piped up, "I love you, D! Mommy loves you all the time!" It's so clear that you love each other, even though you're both so young.

You still usually wake up a couple of times a night (although last night it was only once and it was very nice), but you always go right back to sleep. The problem is, sometimes so do I, so I'll wake up with you snuggled against me two hours later and you don't want to go back to your bed because by then it's cold! I've been much less concerned about getting you on a firm schedule, which is probably why, but honestly, CB really seemed to need one and you seem to be much more able to go with the flow, grabbing naps here and there and everywhere. You often just zonk out sitting on your Daddy's lap, which is hilarious.

I'm so grateful for you, sweet girl. Your calm spirit is such a happy influence in our home, and I love you.