8 month update

Louisa is 8 months old!

Height: somewhere around 25 inches.  Maybe slightly taller.  She is a shortcake.
Weight: 16 pounds
Size: 3-6 month.  She is wearing some 6-9 and some 6-12 because that is what we have for summer clothes.  Those are large on her, though.

Development: Louisa is starting to be able to sit, as long as you put her in a sitting position and sit behind her to catch her when she pitches one way or the other.  We are working on hands and knees with her (crawling position), too, which she enjoys doing.  Both these things tire her out.  She enjoys rolling to her side now, too.  (Not rolling over yet.)  Diaper changes feel like a wrestling match now. 

Her fine motor skills are great.  She enjoys using her developing pincer grasp to rip people's leg hair and chest hair out.

No teeth yet, but they are coming.

Medically: I will cautiously say that she is doing alright.  The biggest battle we are waging right now is with food.  Louisa dumps, which is a relatively common side effect of the fundoplication surgery, especially in children.  To help with her dumping, we have been adding medium chain triglyceride oil to her bottles.  This has been helping to slow her system down.

Solids remain a frustration.  We tried solids when Lou was six months old.  She was on a restricted diet designed for babies who are likely to have severe food allergies.  It didn't go well.  She didn't tolerate anything we gave her.  Dr. S further modified the diet (taking her dumping into account) and we started again right before she turned 8 months.  Again, it went horribly, well, at least the first food has.

Here are the foods we can try to feed Louisa:
oats (fail)
turkey
veal
lamb
spinach
 

She is on a high protein / low carb / medium fat / severe allergy diet.  No sugar, no grains, no fruit.

Mommy milestones: I have replaced Louisa's g-tube by myself.  Twice.  The first time, the balloon shredded and the whole thing came out.  Of course it happened while LJ was having a bottle.  Picture a Baby Alive, only with the liquid squirting out a hole in their stomach.  Horrifying.  The second time Louisa decided that her button was a fantastic plaything and yanked it right out of her belly.  This also marks the first time I have said "NO" sternly to Lou and the first time she has cried because I told her no.  It had to happen sometime.         

7 month update

Louisa is 7 months old.   (She will be 8 months old in 4 days....  Like I said, I do these in bits and snippets.)

Height: 25 inches
Weight: 15-1/2 pounds
Size: 3-6 month

Favorite things: Alice, Tim, and me.  She is firmly in her stranger danger phase.  She also enjoys her wooden keys and chewing on Sophie the Giraffe.

Developmental Stuff: Not much new to report.  She is babbling more and experimenting with volume, both loud and soft.  We were joking around with her the other day because one of the medicines she takes is used as a supplement for body builders.  We said, "Louisa, are you a beefcake?" and every time we asked her she made this strange growling noise in response and tensed herself, like a wrestler showing off their muscles.

She holds her bottle herself now all the time.  She likes to pat your face while you hold her, which is one of the most heart-melting things ever.  She also loves to pull hair while screaming like a yeti, which is not the most heart-melting thing ever.