Lily has picked up so much in the past few weeks, from crawling to eating to talking, that I’ve put this update together for 8 and 9 months, seeing as she will be 9 months next week (how?!?!)

What Lily likes:

Music – gives the biggest smile when I put the radio on
Crawling around the flat, following Tyler around
Sitting in the window
Watching Peppa Pig and Oddbods
Anything Tyler does
When Dada comes home – oh the excitement!
FOOD – literally ANYTHING we eat
Sleeping on her side
The Curve, music time and crawling to the windows
My phone, my camera
Tyler’s cars, duplo lego, her Noah’s Ark boat
Also chewing duplo blocks, silocone cake cases, cars
Watching Tyler’s Thomas trains go down the track
Nana’s house (at last!) and she likes Agee’s house too
Anything shiny – bangles, handbags, shoes – she crawls to other mum’s things at the library
Playing in the bath with Tyler
TV Remote controls
Being picked up from the floor and whooshed

What Lily dislikes:

Having her nose wiped
Waiting for food and not being fed quick enough
Us eating without her
Pureed food
Putting her jacket on
Tyler going into another room, leaving her behind
Pooey nappies – she has to be changed asap!
Changing outfits
She can put a proper strop on when she wants to be picked up.

How is Lily

Weight/Size – She still fits in 6-9 months clothes, but her new clothes are now 9-12 months. Nappies are still Size 3.

Food – She has weaned herself off baby purees and on to real food, even though she has no teeth!

7am: 6oz milk, though she only drinks about 4 oz, and then she has Shreddies with her milk (copying Mummy)
9.15am: after the school run, she usually is asleep, but if she is awake I give her a snack, like a biscuit or waffle.
11.30am: lunch – finger food like pasta, brocolli, green beans, cheese, doughballs, toast, tinned spaghetti, pizza fingers. Then a Petit Filous. Water from a beaker.
Lately if I have leftover dinner in the fridge, I warm it up and mash it, such as spaghetti bolognese, veggie paella and the other day she had rice with spinach and chicken curry!
2.30pm: 6oz milk
5pm: dinner and water (same as lunch)
7pm: 6oz milk

Sleep – Lily is sleeping in the cot next to our bed, and Tyler sleeps on the other side of me. I feel like I am supposed to move them into their own room (which is where my other half is sleeping, because Tyler hogs our bed!) But I love sleeping in the same room as them. One day they will be older and not want to sleep next to their mummy, so I am cherishing these days. I love seeing my cute babies’ faces in the morning.

Lily falls asleep around 7 to 8pm. She wakes in the night about 3 times lately, very loud cries and I think she is teething. She has to have a calpol to soothe her back to sleep. Last night she cried at 3 am going “ta ta” as in water, so I gave her some water and dummy back to sleep.
She wakes for the day at 6- 6.30am usually. She just starts babbling to herself.
Morning nap (long nap) 8.45 – 10am with the school run
Lunchtime nap (short nap) 2.45 – 3.15pm with the school run
On weekends, the morning nap is 10.30-11am, and then the lunchtime nap is longer.

Development – She started crawling at 34 weeks, the week before she turned 8 months. It’s been amazing, she has been such a happier, content baby since then. Now she can get to whatever she wants without crying, life is so much better now!!! This week (38 weeks) she has started kneeling up to get things off tables. She shows all her emotions well. Anger – clenching her fists, being on her knees and growling at us
Happiness – the biggest smile and the funniest laugh, a bit like Janine off Friends
Sadness – when other babies cry and especially when Tyler cries, she looks so concerned
Jealousy – when we pick up Tyler, she started shouting at us, arms out to pick her up
She is talking too – Da da da da, mum mum mum mum, ta ta (water)
No teeth yet!

What we have done

We’ve been doing our regular activities of Rhymetime at the Curve, our Salvation Army toddler group, Storytime at Windsor library and visiting the grandparents. We ventured out into London on the train and tube, first time on our own, meeting a friend at the Royal Festival Hall in Southbank. She loved that adventure and I was so happy to have made it into London after so long! On a couple of sunny days, we have gone on afterschool dates with one of Tyler’s school friends – that has been fun too!

How am I

Happy! I mean, I am exhausted, and most days I can’t say awake after 9pm. But the days with Lily are enjoyable, and now that she eats whatever I eat and that she is crawling, it does make life easer. Not having to make purees is great, one less thing to do 🙂 Some nights are hard, with the teething, she can really cry loud and when I’m half asleep, I can’t think  straight. It’s not every night, so it’s just something we have to get through I guess. I am enjoying taking her to the baby groups, though sad some of my new friends’ maternity leaves are ending so they are going back to work – wah! I am looking forward to the coming months, and all the sunshine-y days out we will be able to have soon. I don’t mean to rush the baby days, but am so looking forward to when Lily turns one. I just remember that’s when all the fun days with Tyler started, when he was toddling about with his dolly pushchair – good times!