Luka Anya - 8 months old!

Wow I would've blinked and missed this one!

Luka and I have been sick as of late and all my time has been focused on getting ourselves better.
We both have a bad cold, runny noses, chesty coughs and poor Luka hasn't been eating much (or nil) solids and has been vomiting up mucus (which is kinda good, gets more of that bug out of her system).
Nights have been hard because Luka goes into bad coughing fits, then I use that time to comfort her, give her fluids, wipe her nose (and mine! I actually fell asleep with a tissue in my hand the other night) and give her pain relief. She's still getting up and down temps poor thing, I really hope this is over soon!

Downside to being sick is that we may be missing Luka's first concert at her daycare this Friday and quite possibly our friends baby boys first birthday if there is no sign of improvement (sharing's not caring) :-(
Also she hasn't been eating much or at all. Happy to say though she had a small bowl of food this morning and managed to hold it down. I'm hoping this is the start of her healing.
On the plus side, it's the first time I've been sick all year, I think this is also Luka's 4th or 5th cold this year too so that'll be good for her developing immune system!
Also Spring is literally around the corner, I am over Winter and ready for Summer. This year we are definitely hitting the beach, last Summer we didn't get a chance because I was so close to giving birth and Luka was too small.

Anyway, apart from sicknesses this has been quite the month!
A huge milestone has been met, you can keep scrolling down for that one :D

Starting to get more hair!



We made a trip into town last weekend and got some ice cream, Luka had a small taste and loved it!
Like mother like daughter :D

Dream car! Luka crawling towards a Merc that was on display for New Zealand Fashion Week

Weight: Luka had a trip to the doctors the other day for her cold and I think weighed in at 7.11kgs?
I can't quite remember, but her last weigh in was at around 7months and she was 7.1kg. She's filling in 00 clothing comfortably and I think we'll be moving her to 0 soon enough.

Sleep: Since she's been so sick lately, and teething, she hasn't slept a whole night. Since she was born she's only had 2-3 nights of uninterrupted sleep.
I really hope this improves, I know it's something that were not doing because she has a good routine down and gets plenty of food and stimulation during the day.
I guess it'll just be something she'll grow out of. Eventually.

Diet: Luka is now on Stage 3 solid baby foods which are less pureed and more chunky etc consistencies. We like her try different foods and have her even eating from our plates sometimes so that her taste buds develop. It's still very healthy, wholesome foods, she only has a small to nil amount of processed food once a week to try I.E. a small taste of ice cream but other than that it's all natural :-)
At dinner time I like to cut up kumara, carrot and potato into cubes, boil them and then serve them to her dipped in some sauce from her baby food jars. She loves it and it teaches her some kind of self sufficiency.

Routine: I've changed Luka's old routine from every 2.5hour wake cycle then a nap to every 3hour wake cycle then a nap so she's getting the most out of her day. It does change while were out cause she does tire more quickly and with her being sick she only stays awake 1.5hours and sleeps for maybe 2hours which doesn't bother me as she's healing.

Social: Luka is very sociable! She still tends to give people the 'I'm still sussing you out' stare, but once she's been around you long enough she lets her personality shine :-)

Likes:

• avocados, bananas and sliced up apples for breakfast
• putting pretty much anything she can grab into her mouth
• her bottle
• my water bottle
• going outside
• crawling into the kitchen to see what I'm up to
• looking at herself in the mirror (uh oh!)
• Baths!
• Having rides on mine or Andrei's shoulders

Milestones: The day that I posted her 7months update, later that night she started sitting up all by herself!
Then the other week she started crawling :D It was after I finished vacuuming the house and she crawled right up to it, it was amazing. She started off doing the whole grasshopper crawling movements and now just goes for it.
Plus, she's been pulling herself up on objects such as her cot, on us, the coffee table etc. She's had a few slips and bumps to the head but she's so determined and I've noticed her feet starting to flatten towards the ground from her usual tippy toe stand.
I think she'll be walking or just starting to by her first birthday :-)
She now visible two bottom teeth, they're so cute especially when she smiles cause she kinda scrunches up her face aww! But man are they sharp! She's always chewing on my shoulders and neck and has given me a few hickeys LOL!
I think her top teeth are starting to come through too which has been adding to the stress of her current sickness, she's been handling it well. I can't wait to see them pop out :-)

She's so curious of everything.

Postpartum: Nothing new for me I'm afraid apart from starting to go for jogs with Luka (it's on hold at the mo because of being sick) as I've noticed my belly starting to sag so I've started working on my abdomen muscles to stop that. I can't wait to start taking Luka swimming so I can start to tone that area back up.
But as I mentioned in her 7month update I wont really start focusing on getting my body back till the new year once I start getting more shifts in at work and from there I can increase Luka's time at daycare.
Work has been amazing, I'm getting back into my old mojo before I fell pregnant and I'm meeting all my selling stats plus have picked up a few extra shifts, I'm really looking forward to my next bonus at this rate which I'll put towards Luka's birthday and maybe some pampering for myself and of course storing some away for savings :-)
Breastfeeding is starting to become less and less. After I had my pump fixed I never really got back into having the breastfeeding teas and getting into a routine so Luka only has about 2 beastfeeds a  day now and is mostly taking the bottle. I hardly have any let downs anymore so I'm coming to terms with the fact that my breastfeeding journey will be over soon (sigh).

Until next time!

XOXOX