The Kavanaugh Report

I can't believe my sweet girly girl is already 7-months-old. Nora is just this amazing little thing. She's so completely herself and I just am so in love with getting to know her. At this point, Nora is pretty little. She's still wearing 3-6 month pants and 6-9 month tops/pjs. She's in a size 3 diaper and was 16 lbs 8 oz at a sick visit check a couple weeks ago.  This past month has been tougher for Nora. There's been a lot of sickness and very little sleep. I think maybe in the month we've had 5-6 days total where Nora didn't have a runny nose or cough. It's certainly contributed to a crabbier girl and sleep disruptions.  This month we've been lucky to get a 1.5-2 hour stretch of sleep at night or even a 40 minute nap during the day. Usually, she's waking 5-8 times a night and getting harder and harder to put down. (I hope these days are behind us now that we are working on better sleep habits.) 

Nora is finally to that fun age where we are introducing food. We are taking a very different approach than we did with Henry. This time, we are jumping into Montessori-style weaning.  As I've mentioned before, in Montessori even the smallest babies are treated as capable beings. Therefore, babies are not isolated to high chairs but eat at a weaning table. Additionally, babies aren't given sippy cups, or kiddie plates. Instead, they use smaller versions of real cups, plates and silverware.  For Nora, we've chosen to follow these principles. Right now, food is just about exploration for her, so we don't really care if she eats much of it, just that she is exposed to flavors, smells and the ritual of eating as a family.  Introducing the weaning cup has been a process, one that we are still working on. At first, it was all about exploration. Showing Nora the cup { we're using this one }, letting her feel it and explore it. I kept the low pressure

Just when you thought holiday photo dump posts were over...I return to blogging! Sorry about my sudden big absence. It's been a month of serious illness with a couple holidays thrown in.  First it was the flu for Nora, Henry and I. Then, Christmas. Then, New Years and a weird fevery virus for Henry. Then, traveling to visit family. Then, 8 day plague of doom for Nora. And, boom, it's the middle of January.  We're on like day 3 of no one being really sick right now, which means we have about 4 days left before someone has a snotty nose again... Anyway, the holidays were wonderful! We chose not to travel this year on Christmas and loved being in our home.  We had all the food, all the candy, all the cider, all the fires, and all the love. It was the perfect way to celebrate Nora's first Christmas (and the first one Henry really understood). I hope I always remember the matching pajamas, the laughter, the excitement, and the pu