Melody was eight months old on January 25th! She has two teeth now, and she can say mama. She is such a happy baby, and we could not be more blessed!
All in Kids
Melody's Seven Month Schedule
So we saw a pretty big change from Melody in her 6 and 7 month schedules. The big thing is with her solids. She is still taking 4 bottles a day, but now she is eating solids 3 times a day. We debated for quite a while on how to time those 3 solids. When we were doing two solids a day, we would feed her between bottles. However, I talked with my best friend to see what she was doing. She was grouping two solids with bottles, and one solid between bottles. Her logic made sense. When we start removing the bottles, we don't want to have to also try and have her adjust to a new schedule too. So below is what we came up with. Oh, and her naps are more regular now too. We started nap training at 6.5 months, so that has helped with my time during the day.
Melody's Seven Month Pictures
Melody was seven months old on December 25! It is so hard to believe that seven months have passed since I had that precious baby! Here are some of the pictures of her:
4-6 Month Toys
A while back I did a post about toys we like for our 0-4 month old. I decided to do an updated post but with 4-6 month toys. You may notice some similarities, but I think because of their constantly learning brains, they are finding new ways to play with the same old toys. This isn't an all inclusive list. Believe me, Melody has way too many toys, but these are some of the toys that she tends to gravitate towards.
Melody's Six Month Schedule
I know this sounds like the same old song, but we haven't changed Melody's schedule a whole lot at 6 months. She is taking solids much better these days, but we don't intend on much changing until 7 months when we add an additional feeding and attempt nap training (wish us luck). However, you can check out the schedule below of what's going on with Melody at 6 months!
Melody's Six Month Formal Pictures
My aunt took some great pictures of Melody during her six month formal session. The purple smocked dress is for her panel pictures. The pink dress is a special dress. It is one my grandmother made many years ago. I actually wore it 30 years ago during my formal pictures. You will see a side by side version of that below too.
Our Trip to the Opryland Hotel
Brad was lucky enough to be able to take off almost the entire month of December to spend time at home with Melody and me during the holidays. We wanted to do some sort of small trip while he was off of work already. We had considered Disney World just the two of us, but then we hated to leave Melody at home. So we decided to go somewhere closer to home, but something that would still be lots of fun...Nashville.
Melody's First Christmas
Forgive me for being MIA for a few weeks. We have been caught up in all of the Christmas festivities and just enjoying that time with Miss Melody. Speaking of which, I wanted to share with you all of the fun Melody had over the Christmas holidays. We sure were busy. Check it out below!
Melody's Santa Pictures
My aunt took some gorgeous pictures of Melody with the perfect Santa Claus. Below are the adorable pictures. I can't wait to see her reaction next year!
Melody's First Christmas Stocking
I wanted Melody's first Christmas stocking to be something special. I wanted it to be a smaller stocking so that in future years we could include it on our Christmas tree. That is where Brad's mom keeps his and his brother's first stockings. I thought this was a neat idea. I also wanted something with meaning. Sure, I could go buy a stocking, and I did originally. We have a "First Christmas" stocking that I found at Hobby Lobby that works with our decor, but I still wanted something more. So I decided to crochet Melody a stocking. I found a very, very useful video on youtube. I did one stocking, but half way through it looked awful! So I started over. It took me about 3 days to finish it. That does seem like a long time, but I have a 6 month old! And I really only worked on it at night when she went to bed for an hour or so at a time. I am even considering making full size ones next year for all 3 of us! Check it out below.
Santa's Village
Last weekend we decided to take Melody to a local place called Santa's Village. It is an yearly event hosted by EarlyWorks Museum. We have never been to the EarlyWorks Museum, but we decided to try out Santa's Village to see what it was all about. We went with my best friend, her husband, and their 6 month old baby. The total cost for 2 adults was only $10. Melody was free since she is under 1. Below are some of our pictures from the night.
Melody's Six Month Pictures
Melody was six months old on November 25! How crazy is that?! Below are some of her pictures from her 6 month birthday! We will have formal ones later!
Melody's Five Month Schedule
So Melody's schedule only changed slights from her four month schedule. When she was around 4 1/2 months old, we introduced her to solids. So now we have two feedings of solids a day. Our pediatrician recommended one feeding of solids at first, then after about 2 weeks, we added the second feeding. I will admit, Melody didn't take to solids very well. So we actually took a break for about 2 weeks, then picked back up at 6 months. The goal is just to get Melody used to a spoon and eating. We haven't changed her bottle size either. I have updated everything we changed below.
Melody's First Thanksgiving
I am a little behind these days due to prepping for the holidays! Below are a few pictures from Melody's first Thanksgiving!
Melody's First Halloween
So Miss Melody isn't quite old enough to really enjoy trick or treating, but that didn't stop us from getting her dressed up (and us too)!
Melody's Five Month Pictures
Melody was five months old on October 25! Time sure is flying by! Check out some of her pictures below!
Pumpkin Patch
My best friend and I decided we wanted to take our babies to the pumpkin patch this year. Sure, they aren't really old enough to remember it or do much, but you can say that about almost everything we do with a 5 month old! Luckily with all of our crazy schedules, we were able to find a weekend we could go.
Melody's Four Month Schedule
When Melody was 3.5 months old, we removed one more of her bottles. She is now taking only four bottles a day. We are still getting our pediatricians recommended amount of formula, but Melody is going longer between bottles and taking larger bottles. The schedule isn't dramatically different from her three month schedule, but we had to change the times up in order to remove a bottle.
Halloween Happy
Brad's family loves to give little "happies" for just about any occasion. It can be a happy for a hostess that lets you stay at their house (think cookies or a cute coffee mug with hot cocoa), or it can be something cute and small for a holiday. Halloween is our first really good holiday to give Melody a small happy.
Hotel Stay with an Infant
Recently, Melody and I went on a trip with my mom to South Carolina. We wanted to stay at a Hilton to get points, so we investigated different options. I knew staying in a hotel room with an infant was going to be different and possibly a struggle. We narrowed it down to Home2 Suites and Hampton Inn. Because we knew we would be spending a lot of time at the hotel during the day, we opted for the Hampton Inn because it had an indoor pool (which we never ended up using sadly). The Home2 Suites did have a full kitchen, but the room itself was going to be smaller than the Queen Suite at the Hampton Inn. The Hampton Inn was also fairly new, and it had the necessities. Below are some tips and tricks I discovered helped us while staying in small quarters with a baby!