7 months

Merritt! You are seven months old!

The past few months have become progressively harder with you. You may be one of the happiest babies ever, but you are quite demanding!

You are in progress of hitting multiple milestones- you are wanting to crawl and sit up so badly! You are always getting up on your knees and rocking, and sometimes you'll army crawl. If you're awake during chest percussions, you are trying to sit up the whole time. It makes percussions very difficult and frustrating. But you're so happy!

You've gotten 1 tooth! You worked really hard on it! We decided to try an amber teething necklace to see if it would help with pain. I'm not sure if it was a coincidence or what, but the day we got it, you took a 3 hour nap and woke up with a tooth!

The past month was a rough one. Your 6-month shots were miserable. You were achy and feverish from them, then you went straight into hardcore teething. Unfortunately your stools were very runny, which gave you awful diaper rash! We just couldn't get a break. :(

While everything has calmed down, you gained some new habits. With the teething pain, you would refuse bottles. The last thing we want for you is to lose weight. Every ounce is important for you. The only way we could get you to take a bottle was by feeding you while you were asleep. This has unfortunately continued. Because you weren't getting as many ounces in during the day you started waking up more during the night, too. Daddy kindly takes the night shifts. :)

You haven't nursed in weeks with all the fussiness, instead I've been pumping full-time. It's not ideal nor what I imagined our breastfeeding journey to look like, but we gotta do what we gotta do! You mostly receive momma's milk and then we supplement 2 bottles a day with a higher calorie formula. Adding the supplemental bottles helps me not stress out when I don't have enough milk for you, which was happening a lot.

You have moved up to 3-6 months size clothes and size 2 diapers. You are hovering between 13-13.5lb. Still tiny but so strong! You are the wiggliest baby ever! I would say you burn a lot of calories from all your moving. :)

We still swaddle you and I don't think we will be dropping that anytime soon. I've read that CF babies are more restless and we see that with you. You also pull your pacifier out continuously if your arms are free. And you grunt and moan yourself to sleep (while we are rocking you..). Most people think it's funny/cute, but it is SO loud!

We started solids briefly, then the whole miserable few weeks happened. When we initially introduced them, you weren't too sure and would push food out with your tongue. After a few weeks and everything was back to normal, you decided you were ready! I haven't had much time to make you any food (sorry.. you're the second child..) so you've mainly had yogurt and oatmeal combined. You love it though! We have to be careful if we hold you while we're eating because you are lunging and grabbing for everything! Much like Hartley, you will try anything.

We have a surprisingly busy schedule and so it's difficult to actually have enough time to sit you down to offer solids and have enough time for a bottle. I would like to be more consistent with this, especially since you require more calories. And you will gladly take yogurt over a bottle. :)

Mornings are time consuming, especially when we have places to be. You consistently start stirring around 8:15. I'll start breathing treatments then and can get you back to sleep. Usually you'll sleep through chest percussions and maybe even continue for another 30 minutes once we're finished. If you're asleep I'll either pump or take a shower. You're not very interested in a bottle in the morning, so figuring out when to give enzymes and offer milk is tricky. Enzymes are effective for an hour, so we usually let you play a little and then give enzymes and try to feed you.

You take 3 naps a day, still on the shorter 45-minute side. Sometimes we can rock you back to sleep. At least you sleep pretty well at night in your crib. I'll leave it at that. :)

We took two trips to two different beaches! We went to St. Simons to visit Daddy's aunt and uncle and attend a CF event with them. We didn't get you to the beach then because it was around the rough/teething/diaper rash week. The next weekend we went to Destin for Daddy's continuing education and we went down to the beach twice. I think you're gonna be a little fish like your sister because you already enjoy splashing in the water.

You were dedicated at our church and you were the cutest baby there. :) I'm so glad most of family and a few close friends were able to be there for you.

I saw a quote somewhere that said, "The days are long, but the years are short." I think about this often, especially because our days are time-consuming with treatments and little napping, crying from teething, taking care of two little ones, and trying to tend to the house. Not to mention trying to shower myself and have a decent lunch. The days are hard and long, but I know they are going to fly by before we know it.

six months

Merritt Moore! You are six months old!

How has half a year already flown by??

You bring so much joy to this family. While we were waiting for the hopes of being pregnant many years, my heart constantly sought joy in the midst of heartache. All those many months, my heart was waiting for you. My joyful little girl. Your sweet chuckles and big grins bring insurmountable joy to us. Even when we have rough days of teething or coughing, screaming through breathing treatments, and just plain exhaustion (from all of us!), you brighten up the room with your joyful disposition.

You are incredible loved by all, but your sister is your biggest fan. The two of you are sidekicks already! I'm worried about the mischief you two will get into and the frustrations y'all will cause your parents. :)

You giggle the most for Hartley! Everyone else has to work hard at getting you to chuckle, but Hartley barely does anything and you think it's so funny. I love the bond you two have!

You are very attached to your bottles. If you're hungry and you see it, you will fuss for it! Even if I'm nursing you and you get a glimpse of it.. you would rather have it. I enjoy the moments you actually nurse and pray that one day you'll choose me for comfort over a bottle or pacifier. :(

While I wish you nursed more, it's also nice being free to pump and have bottles prepared for friends and family to have the opportunity to feed you too. Hartley rarely took a bottle!  

Your feeding schedule is pretty consistent, but somewhat flexible. Because you take short naps (still!), you're happy eating every 3 hours. However, you can go 4 hours too! You tend to hover between 3-3.5 hours taking 5oz of precious, pumped milk. We've started supplementing you with an extra few ounces of formula. This was a pride issue for me, wanting to be able to feed you with my own milk. But you need the extra help. We were also blessed with some donated milk from a sweet friend!

You prefer to cluster feed from 5/6-9pm. We administer your vitamins, salt, and human milk fortifier in the evening bottles. The first time you eat you take 2, maybe 3oz. Then hopefully less than an hour later, you might take 2 more ounces. Enzymes are only effective for an hour, so we have to squeeze in as many ounces as we can during that time, otherwise you get another dose of enzymes. We plan on talking to your dietician about this, maybe we need to do half a dose with these smaller, spread out feedings. But with cluster feedings come sleeping longer during the night!

For a few nights you were sleeping past 6am. We thought you finally got into a routine, but that was short-lived. Four and 5am wake up calls started again. However, sometimes you'll surprise us and sleep past 7am. We never know. But we appreciate the hours of sleep! After you nurse during the early mornings, I keep you in bed between me and Daddy.

We do breathing treatments twice a day still. And you do great! If you fuss, it's during the nebulizer part. If you're asleep during percussions it goes smoothly.. if you're awake I'm trying to keep you contained on the bed. You are the wiggliest baby!

You are rolling every where and even trying to crawl! Your legs know what to do, but you're still trying to figure out how those arms need to work. You're supporting yourself much better with your arms. You'll get everything worked out before we know it and we'll be chasing you around the house soon!

You love playing with your feet, too! Not only does your forehead taste salty, but your feet also. I wonder if that's why you like sucking on your toes so much! By the way, Hartley was the one that realized your feet are salty...

No mama yet but we hear a lot of mmming and I think I hear some bbbing recently. I looked back at Hartley's 6-month post and y'all are surprisingly similar. Imagine that! Your hair is growing in like hers, only yours is strawberry blonde! Eyes are still bright blue! You wear a few 0-3month clothes but we slowly getting into 3-6months. You wear size 1 diapers. We haven't started cloth yet! I'm so scared that your poops are going to ruin them. :(

We go for a CF appointment tomorrow, so I will update this with your new weight and length.

Oh, Merritt. We can't believe how quickly the past half year has flown by. I feel like we still baby you so much- like rocking you to sleep, rushing in every time you cry, holding you, and holding you some more. I think because you're so tiny makes me feel like you're still a newborn, too. We haven't let you cry it out any either!

And ya know, we wouldn't have it any other way. Except for a cure for CF. That would be nice. :)

five months

Merritt! You are five months old!

This past month has been quite a busy one! Hartley started Pre-K and I thought surely our schedule would slow down, but we've been busier than ever. Especially because you are such a busy baby! Hence the extremely tardy monthly post. :)

We've had a lot of issues with enzymes and nursing over the past few months. And there was no break this month. You take 4 capsules with every feeding. You've been a little better about nursing, but I still pump around the clock for you. You usually take 4-4.5 ounces every 3-3.5 hours.

Depending on when you nurse during the night, we start our days between 8-9am. If I'm good I'll knock out your morning breathing treatment before you nurse. Otherwise I'll start them midway through your morning nap. Treatments have to be either right before you nurse or an hour after, so you don't spit up. Our schedule works great with you having them right before you eat. Plus you always wake up midway through your nap and treatments get you back to sleep! :)

You now sleep in your crib!! We were hesitant to move you, but you did great! And we all sleep better at night. You cry out usually between 1-3am, but only needing to be reswaddled and given your paci. Anytime after 4am I will nurse you. Sometimes you surprise us by sleeping past 6 or 7am! You are not too consistent though.

You hover around 11-11.5lb. And depending on how wiggly you are during measurements, you are around 24 inches long. You are soooo skinny! Still wearing 0-3 month clothes and size 1 diapers, but I think you're getting close to start 3-6 month clothes.

You love rolling around these days, both ways! This has made breathing treatments more challenging. You really like laying on your belly during playtime. You enjoy holding on to and chewing on toys, scratching at the carpet or blankets, and squealing at the tv!

You are so expressive and always happy! You remind us so much of your big sister, and what a great big sis she is! We've been told a lot that God couldn't have chosen better parents for you, but I'm often reminded that He couldn't have chosen a better sister for you, too! She prayed and prayed for you and now that you're here, she's praying for a baby brother. :)

Hartley loves being able to help take care of you. If you're playing on the floor, she is right there beside you. The only time she gets upset with you is in the car. You love babbling in the car and she gets so frustrated because she's trying to talk too. It's pretty funny to me!

We have two sweet girls and they just keep getting sweeter and sweeter!

4 months

Merritt! You are four months old!!

Whew, little girl! You have maintained your sweetness but your spoiled and impatient sides have become well known around this house. You have become a handful with sleeping and nursing, or lack of sleeping and nursing.

We noticed the last month that you were becoming very distracted while nursing, so you would fuss until you were free to look around. At that time I started pumping multiple times a day to make sure you were eating enough. You became very attached to a bottle though! You got to be lazy and not have to work on getting milk out like you do when nursing. You were so impatient while waiting for let down!

Spoonful of applesauce and enzymes

We also had issues with enzymes and so you're weight has hovered right around 10lb. :( You are now taking 3.5 capsules with every feeding and that seems to be helping. We know when to increase your dosage by how often and what your stools look like. Other indicators are how many wipes I have to use and how many outfits you might go through.

The Hartley Stare

You continue to sleep in the swing, mostly with it reclined as much as possible and not swinging. You take 45 minute naps and to extend it the full 1.5 hours we get the swing going or hold you. There's a lot of holding actually.

You started talking yourself to sleep, but soon that turned into grunting and fighting off the Sandman. Once you give in you're out though!

We shouldn't complain too much since you sleep great at night. You usually nurse once between 4:30-5:30am, but sometimes you sleep until 7:30am!

You wear 0-3 clothes! And size 1 diapers. We haven't started cloth diapering yet, but I would like to try soon!

You have horrible cradle cap just like Hartley did, but I don't want to mess with it too much because it pulls your delicate baby hair out. The cradle cap is orange (Hartley's was that way too.. I'm not sure if that's normal for all babies) but at least it blends in with your dark strawberry blonde hair. Your eyes are a beautiful blue!

Although you haven't gained weight, your length has increased to 23.5 inches! It's funny when we meet strangers. They always comment on you being a newborn. I'm like, "Yeaaaah.. she's almost 4 months.." But they also notice how happy you are! You give big, happy grins. :)

You went to Columbus for the first time to see Momma's family. The only traveling you've experienced are the monthly trips to Augusta which take almost 2 hours one way. You did pretty well this trip, only fussing until we were about 30 minutes away from our destinations.

You met your crazy cousins and they loved meeting you!

We visit Mema and Grandaddy a lot! Hartley loves going over to swim in the new pool and you've joined us a few times. It's ridiculously hot so we have to be very careful not letting you sweat too much.  Too much sweating means you lose salt! You're forehead is usually salty (normal for CFers) and I often kiss it just to see how salty you are. We usually take turns watching you in the house and letting Hartley swim. 

Daddy's family got together for our "vacation" picture! You have so many cousins that love you!

You and Hartley love love love each other! We have to get on her a lot about getting in your face, but you love when she talks to you and lays with you on the floor. You have rolled over a few times but you are mostly content rolling to your side. And you love kicking around to get a good view of the tv. :)

Keep growing, Merritt!! And nurse better! And sleep longer!

3 months

MERRITT! You are three months old!

You've always been a happy baby, but you've really started showing how sweet you are! You love to smile and coo. We love those big grins that we get all the time!

This past month was rough and surprisingly challenging. You went for a few weeks with little interest in nursing. It would be time to eat and you would show all the signs you were ready. We would give you your enzymes and sit down ready to nurse. You might nurse for a second, sometimes a few minutes, but then you would pull off fussing. I eventually gave up after a good week of the fussing and let you nurse however long and pumped the rest to feed you from a bottle. I actually don't mind doing that since I know how many ounces you're taking.

I was so concerned because the last thing you need to do is lose weight. You hover around 9lb but I especially don't want you dropping below that. We looked for symptoms of an ear infection, thrush, teething, etc. I decided to check Hartley's 2- and 3-month posts to see if she had anything similar. And sure enough! She did. She went through a distraction phase right around the same time. While it's very frustrating, it's a reminder that you're a normal, developing baby!

Sleeping through the night has become consistent! Depending on what nursing schedule you're on (because it's really been off with all the interrupted nursing!) you usually nurse around 7-8pm and then we wrap you up for bed the swing or hold you on the couch. We watch The Walking Dead and around 10-11pm I give you a dreamfeed. You are asleep for the most part and rarely do you need a diaper change or need to be reswaddled. So back to the swing you go! We don't hear a peep until after 6am. You nurse for 20-25 minutes, diaper change, swaddle and you're back asleep. If we have a morning that we need to be somewhere, I get ready after you go back to sleep. Some mornings I'll pump if you don't nurse much.

We usually do your morning breathing treatments right before your second nursing of the day. You usually wake up around 8-8:30am anyway so that gives us about an hour before you need to nurse. Sometimes you go back to sleep! The nebulizer seems soothing to you and the air tube vibrates across your body. You've starting wiggling through the chest percussions! You don't cry too much anymore during them because you love smiling at us so much! Your evening breathing treatments vary depending on our schedule. For the most part we have them right before you nurse around 8pm. You are usually awake anyway. If we are going out to eat or over to someone's house I'll get them in before we leave, between 5-6pm. We prefer to not do them too late because albuterol is a stimulant!

Chest percussions with Daddy

Just like with Hartley, naps during the day are challenging. You will sleep great for 45 minutes to an hour. Then you need help going back asleep. We usually hold you for the second half of naps. You're so spoiled. You are also attached to your pacifier and if it falls out you wake up crying for it. This happens a lot and we have to put it back in.. over and over and over..

Newborn clothes are getting a little snug, but those 0-3months seem a lot bigger and look so baggy on you! You are hot natured so I usually keep you in onesies or bubble outfits. You sweat a lot and we don't want you to. CF causes you to sweat more salt than normal and losing that extra salt is not good! 

To compensate for the salt loss, you get one bottle everyday that has your 1/8 teaspoon of salt plus A, D. E & K vitamins. We've tried rationing out the salt in the applesauce and enzymes mixture, but adding it to one bottle is easier. With your vitamins, the bottle is also easier since it's diluted and it doesn't stain as badly. It's bright orange and not very tasty! It smells horrible too. :(

You absolutely love your sister! She can always make you smile! It's funny how much you girls look alike- but you're my recessive one! You've got bright blue eyes, strawberry-blond hair.. and cystic fibrosis! Not only do look like her, but I see so much of Hartley's personality in you already. You're a busy baby just she like she was- which scares me because she is a busy little girl now!