Dress: H&M | Sunglasses

Eight Months with Sasha:

Before having Sasha, I was very honest about being unsure whether we were going to have another.

I was nervous and scared for a number of reasons. The question “are you having another?” was not one I had an easy time answering. Eventually, after deciding we would go for baby #2 and getting pregnant, my fears did not go away. I was scared shitless.

Now, our baby girl Sasha is almost eight months and as the old saying goes, your heart expands and you simply cannot imagine life before them.

With everything going on in the world, it’s been an intense couple of months. However, the one thing I know for sure is that Sasha has bought us so much joy. It also helps that I’m way more confident at this whole parenting thing, making everything that much better.

Here’s where we are with everything from feeding to sleeping:

Breastfeeding, Bottles & Food:

I’ve officially stopped breastfeeding. With Nate, when I stopped, I suffered from PPD after abruptly weaning. I felt so guilty and felt like I made the biggest mistake by stopping. One night, I stayed up till 2AM researching “can you resume breastfeeding if you’ve stopped for a few days?” The answer is: anything is possible with a lot of work.

Well,  the beauty of having another child is that you take all of that wisdom from your first and apply it to your second. This time around, there was zero guilt with stopping. Our time was up and I was damn proud of myself for doing the best that I could.  I knew that no matter what, Sasha would be fine.  Once we stopped, I continued with HIPP HA formula. Before that, I was supplementing, so it was an easy transition.  With Nate, we used Holle, another German formula, but Holle made Sasha very constipated, so HIPP HA was recommended and it solved that problem.

For those wondering why Holle or Hipp (both German):

I did endless research on formulas when I was pregnant with Nate and I was a bit more comfortable with the ingredients that were in European formulas than American. Now, I’m not knocking anyone who gives their child American formula. In the end, you have to do what you’re comfortable with. Zero judgement, but just sharing what I based my decision on.  I get our formula here. They’re based in Brooklyn and the shipping is always incredibly quick.

At around 5 months, we started introducing food. We’ve been doing a mix of different things like avocados, bananas, peaches, baby oatmeal (usually mixed with fruit) and a variety of other things. I wish I was comfortable with Baby Led Weaning, but it just makes me nervous, so I’ve been sticking with this.

For the days or moments that I’m too busy, lazy or tired to prepare food from scratch, I’ve also given pouches. I also recently started giving her Yumi, which we’ve been loving. It’s definitely a bit pricier, but I appreciate how fresh the ingredients are. At the moment, she eats real food about 2x a day. We’re using Nate’s old OXO highchair, which I love!

Sleeping:

She’s still sleeping in our room, in the Baby Bjorn travel crib (it’s the best). At this point, I really should have her in the crib, but I’ve been holding off. Mainly because until recently, she was either waking up once in the middle of the night or at 5AM. Since her and Nate are going to be sharing a room, I didn’t want to put her in there until she was fully sleeping though the night. However, I don’t want to jinx anything, but for the last few nights, she’s slept from 6:30PM to 6:00 AM.  I was putting her to sleep around 7PM, but Jess from Sleep Shop, recommended I put her to sleep a a bit earlier.

While it sounds counterintuitive, she explained that it causes babies not to go to bed overtired. I’m sure you’ve heard of the term ‘sleep begets sleep.’ Well, as of now, it’s been working! Crossing all fingers that this continues to be the case.

Currently, she usually naps two times a day.

Usually three hours after her first wakeup, so if she wakes up at 6AM, she’ll go down at 9AM and sleep till about 10:30AM. Then she’ll take her second nap around 1:30 and sleep till about 3. Now, it doesn’t always work out this way, but that’s an idea.  There’s so much information when it comes to sleep, so I highly recommend finding something that works for you! There’s the E.A.S.Y schedule (google it – so much comes up!) which is kind of what I used with Nate, mixed in with Baby Wise. With Sasha, I needed a bit more guidance, so I had Jess help me out. She has so much valuable information on her Instagram, so I highly recommend checking it out. If you need some personalized guidance, reach out to her. She’s the best.

The main thing to ensure everyone is happy: get your child on a schedule!!! It’s the key to everything.

Hat: Eugena Kim (old. similar) | Tank: Mango (wearing the XS/S) | Shorts: One Teaspoon (I went with my usual denim size) | Sneakers: Keds | Stroller: Citi Mini Baby Jogger Double

Strollers, Carriers & Getting Around:

It feels like we have 15 diff options for getting around. Before Sasha was born, I wasn’t 100% sure what our stroller plan would be. I was kind of winging it as we went along, mainly because I already owned several strollers from Nate. Our main stroller for Nate was the Bugaboo Cameleon3 which served us incredibly well. Four years later, I’m still using it. Initially, I thought that the Bugaboo + the addition of a footboard (for Nate) would be fine, but quite honestly, the footboard is not the most comfortable. Nate is someone who still likes to be in a stroller rather than walking with us, so I knew we needed another plan.

It took me almost seven months, but I finally broke down and got the Baby Jogger Citi Mini Double. I was pretty hesitant about getting a double, convinced that we wouldn’t need it, but it was the best stroller decision we made. It’s the most comfortable, easy-to-push and gives the smoothest ride. Aesthetically, it’s not the prettiest, but I went for it based on the feedback of several friends and all of the positive reviews out there.

I also use my Artipoppe baby carrier quite often. If you’re interested, I wrote an entire post about it.

For our carseat, on-the-go days, we’re still using the Doona. The Doona has made our life so much easier and something I wish we had with Nate. She’s going to grow out of it in a few months and at that point, we’ll put the Nuna carseat in.

Romper: Pehr | Bow: Kind Ribbon

Sasha’s Eczema:

Some of you may be following along on stories, but if you’re not, Sasha has had some mild eczema on her cheeks and her body. We have ruled out food allergies, so other than that, it wasn’t clear why she was getting it. Apparently, some babies just do and eventually, most grow out of it by a year.

Right now, it never fully goes away, but I can keep it pretty contained. We’re having the most luck with Eucerin Eczema cream, Honest Eczema Balm and Babo body wash.  When I posted about it, I got an incredible amount of recommendations and I’ve learned, different products work for different people. I tried so many recommended things, but most didn’t work that well for us and I was trying to avoid a steroid cream.

PJs: Clover Baby (using code ‘Otis20 for 20% off) | This collab is with my friend, Kim, of EatSleepWear who struggled with three years of infertility and multiple rounds of IVF. The rainbow print represents her rainbow baby, Otis and all the other rainbow babies out there. 

How it’s been going from 1-2:

This is something I want save for a bigger post. It’s such an important conversation and a worry that like myself, so many mothers have. In short, it’s been incredible. Seeing Nate become a big brother, especially as an only child, has been so special to watch. I know a lot of it has to do with his age (they’re 3.5 years apart), but he’s been patient, nurturing and now that she’s developing such a personality, he always wants to be around her. I know this will change or we’ll go through ebbs and flows, but so far, he’s all about her. Whenever she wakes up from her nap, he enthusiastically tells me “lets go get her!” It’s really cute.

I also know that not everyone can plan a specific age gap and that some parents prefer their kids to be closer in age, but their age difference has played a huge part in making the adjustment easier. Nate is self sufficient enough and we’re not worrying about taking care of two really small children.

Again, I want to make this a bigger conversation so if there are any specific questions you’d want me to answer, please let me know in the comment section.

Baby Favorites:

I’m finalizing a ‘Sasha Favorites’ post, but in the meantime, I saved most of the baby items we love in my Amazon shop.