Happy 8 months!

Many things have happened since my last post! For one, Rob's mother and sister are here visiting. They arrived Thursday around 1:30 and they are pretty busy visiting and sightseeing. Hailey is really happy to have them here :) So am I! Plus it's always nice to have extra hands and extra entertainment for Hailey.
So far, we've been to Whistler and Pemberton area. Hailey did excellent with driving and napping on the go (except when we were coming home past her bed time she didn't sleep in the car). She quickly fell asleep once we got home though! The highlight of the day was when her auntie Alyssa "vultured" the baby swing until the mom got pissed and yanked her older child out of there. Come on seriously though, who hogs the one baby swing for like 30 min when there's tons of younger babies around who can't swing in a regular swing, when their child clearly can! Ah well, it was worth it cause Hailey loves the swing.
That same day her first little tooth erupted! Her 8-1, in other words her front bottom tooth (the one to the right). The funny thing is, she wasn't overly fussy and slept well all week. I was waiting for this explosion of crankiness all night with me holding her etc etc. Super happy about that, that's my girl!
Yesterday (Sunday)we went to the Vancouver aquarium. It was sooooooo busy. So many people.  I think at first it was a bit overwhelming for her as she was kinda wining a bit. After we got outside to the dolphin area and she had a bite to eat and some milk she was fine! She loved the dolphin show and the penguins were her favorite. I held her close to the glass and they were swimming up to her and she tried to catch them! It was the sweetest thing I've seen in a while! That being said, her grammy bought her a penguin stuffy from the shop! Little spoiled monkey! Oh and she also loved the butterflies in the tropical zone.
Today she is 8 months! My goodness. I have to say she is such a happy and fun baby! I don't for one moment regret any of the choices I've made. Plus firmly sticking to her routine really paid off in the end.

New developments:
Weight: still under 17 pounds at 16 lbs 6 oz. (she is steadily gaining and was a small baby so it's fine)
Height: 28 inches
New skills: can stand leaning on the couch, mastered the pincer grasp (she can grab my wedding band with a thumb and index finger), holds her own bottle, can drink from a cup (with my help but tries to grab it on her own)
Foods: plums, pears, banana, avocado (and a mixture of both), chicken, sweetpotato, squash, greenbeans, peas, carrots, mango, apple, peaches, mixed grains, and a little bit of watermelon. (sucking on the juice).

Play date with Jace

I got together with my friend Michelle and her baby Jace who is almost 1!! I can't believe how fast time goes. It was nice weather and good to see them again. Jace is pretty mobile now which is so cool to see.    Also it was hard to snap a picture together. Here's Hailey in the sand box and Jace walking along the sand box :)

EWW sand

Jace walking along

mmm sandy fingers 

Cute pair :)

Oh Hailey, I love you!

Nothing too exciting has happened this week. We switched her to a new formula (stage 2) and that seemed to really help her reflux but her little digestive system is taking a hit. She is starting to get used to it though! Basically stage 2 formulas come with the necessary vitamins/minerals for her age but they don't come in easy to digest form. I guess you could try and get special ones but that is the reason why we switched in the first place...1) Price, our wallets really took a hit with alimentum. 2) Availability. We had to buy online because we could never find enough supply for the week which meant me driving or walking around daily to buy it. NOT COOL. So, needless to say it was time to try something we knew we could get ample supply of!

Anyway, she is really getting good at holding her own bottle. There are other new things she has started but I will wait for her 8 month update which is coming up! Wow I can't believe it has been 8 months! Here's a pic of dada feeding Hailey. Well Hailey feeding herself, dada's just holding her :)

mmmmmmango!

Last week we were super busy! Everyday we had some sort of activity to be part of like swimming, playdates and park dates. Then on the weekend we cleaned our decks and window which took a while and really tired us out! So this week we are just taking it easy as next week we have family visiting!
Hailey however, isn't taking it too easy. She is really cranky lately and her naps are all over the map! I recently switched her formula because the one she was on before is very hard to get. So that may have made her gassy. That being said, she could also be gassy from green beans she was also trying for the first time. It's hard to tell. I should know for sure over the next couple of day as we're going to take a break from the green beans. (I hope that's what it is anyway)
On that note, we tried mango today. She loved it! She had quite the appetite at her dinner too because she ate a full serving of sweet potato and a full serving of mango! She even licked the spoon clean. It was so cute.
Developmentally she sits really well now on her own (including in the bath) , she holds her own bottle, is getting good at pincer grasp (grabs my ring with her thumb and index finger), and her new thing is clicking her tongue. She sort of stopped rolling like she used to. Still no teeth though! Ah well, it just delays having to brushing them lol. Anyway here is a photo of her after her meal today, she is actually leaning forward onto the table thus making her look too short for it haha.

Summer Fun!

This weekend was great! The weather was beautiful and Hailey was in a really good mood. I had a bit of a cold at the start but felt much better just in time (thank goodness). Saturday, we went to Waterfront park for a bit and read some books, play with toys and of course took some pics :) We later tried to go to Ambleside beach area but just as we suspected it was PACKED. No parking anywhere! So after driving around for a bit we decided that it would be best to just stay home for the rest of the day and go there bright and early the next day.
This morning bright and early we headed to the beach. Hailey loved it! I think she enjoyed the sounds of the water. After that, we went to the pool. It was nice that Rob had the opportunity to go and swim with Hailey too! She enjoyed it, and still really loves to float in those little floaters.

Dress up!

 So, I haven't had the chance to take her 7 month pictures before today. So, I added some costumes this time hehe. Tutu, feather boa, and hula skirts. All fun girly stuff. She's starting to catch a little cold, she had a runny nose poor thing! Was still in good spirits though :)

Hawaiian princess

                         

                             Summertime fun!

              
    

                              Princess

                    

Ballerina

Canada Day!

Hailey had great Canada day! We wanted to go to the parade but it started at 10, which was just too early for us haha. Even though Hailey was up and fed and napped, 10 am is the time where I'm getting ready/going for coffee etc. We went down to the waterfront park in North Vancouver around 11:30 as things were getting started at 12. First thing we did was get Hailey's face painted! The lineup was super small so I figured now or never. She moved a little so it wasn't the greatest painting, but after getting one myself I can see why. It tickled! 

Then we just walked around for a bit when this guy gave us a flag. Well Hailey loved it! I had to take it away though..a little too dangerous the way she was swinging that thing around!

We stayed for a quite a while and she listened to some drum players which we thought she would freak out to but she liked it!

As you can see in this last picture, her eyes were getting puffy. Time for a nap! She will not sleep in her stroller anymore, she does for little spurts but not a good nap. So we headed home. At this point, go figure the sun comes out and it gets beautiful lol. So Hailey and I went back out for a walk after her nap and she was still all pimped out in her Canada day attire. She got lots of compliments which she seemed to love haha. Then, while Hailey was nestled in bed for the night, Rob and I watched some fireworks from our balcony! The one good thing about our place at the moment :)

7 months

Hailey turned 7 months this weekend! I can't believe she's more than half way to a year old, time flies! I  didn't really get any pics as Rob had my camera along with his for a side project he was doing on Saturday. We will get some better pics at some point this month though!
As for her stats. I didn't visit the doctor yet, but I know she's still somewhere between 16 and 17 lbs, not sure of her length.
Her new discoveries include: sitting on her own..yay!! (she had mama worried there for a bit), not only does she sit unassisted but can play with her toys that way too for about 5-10 min:), (then she gets bored of it haha), lots of blabbering, more blowing raspberries, and twisting around in her activity bouncer.
She doesn't roll around as much as she did a week ago but instead started holding her feet again. She did this before but then stopped when she figured out rolling and now she went back to feet holding again haha (babies are interesting).
She is onto meats now. The pediatricians in North America are starting to recommend earlier meat/poultry introduction, which I totally agree with. It's pack loaded with the iron and protein for all that energy they are exerting right now. Not to mention all the good fats they need.
A little off topic but I recently watched a documentary on diets in North America. When I say diet I mean the foods we eat, not weight watchers lol. It went on to explain how we are totally mis informed about cholesterol and the food guides and how we are drilled to eat grains when vegetable oil and soybean oil is soooo bad for us but it's a huge multimillion dollar industry. It had lots of credible references and all the science behind it is exactly what they talk about to people with diabetes. It's very interesting and it definitely makes me think twice about what I want to feed to Hailey.
Ok, back to her feeding. So, we tried chicken. She, well...she liked it. It wasn't her favorite like bananas  or cereal but she ate it anyway. We also revisited carrots and no gagging this time! Another thing I noted about food was I think she had a reaction to apples. I'm still not sure. I noticed a rash behind her ears on her neck and my first thought was drool while she sleeps. Then I thought, maybe the amber necklace she has on all the time. Then I thought but why suddenly and not before. She got it at day 3 of trying apples...my mother has an allergy to apples. Coincidence? I will wait until the rash goes away (which by the way is clearing up when I stopped giving her apples), then I will try again maybe next month to see.

Anyway, here is the day before 7 months!
Here's the link to Fat head, the documentary. He has a wholes site. http://www.fathead-movie.com/