Ava is taking a short nap, so it’s post time for us *smile* We are both feeling a bit spaced out today because we haven’t slept much the last couple of days.

The trip to Taiwan was cool. Nobody fell sick while we were there, which was great. We had taken an umbrella stroller with us, which proved immensely useful while we were there, as Ava loved it, and we would take her for a walk in it when she got cranky,and she would fall asleep in it half of the time. The trip home was a little more interesting – 12 hours with a baby is not the easiest of tasks, but she was pretty good, slept on our shoulders for about 4-5 hours and then sat / played with us the remaining time. We took turns taking her around the plane and showing her stuff and she was happy. She is very curious and did great with all the new experiences. We were impressed with how well she is handling all these changes, new people, new place, new things around her and she’s just taking it all in.

We were pleasantly surprised to find that she is almost on the mark with all her milestones. She’s 8 months old and already crawling, she can sit without support, and has started babbling over the last couple of days. She hasn’t been introduced to many solids, but she loves anything new, we tried Gerber pear the other day, and after an initial face, she wolfed down the whole thing.

She is happy most of the time, but has a problem going to sleep. The first few days, she would cry inconsolably before going to sleep, for about 30 minutes to an hour, and no matter what we did, lay with her on the bed, walked with her, put her in the crib, it didn’t help. We had a few days where she slept more easily though, so hopefully we will figure it out together. We are all learning what makes each other tick, so we’re hoping to come to a happy compromise on the sleeping issue soon. Right now, she is still in jetlag mode, so she gets up every 15-20 minutes in the night, and we have to pat her to go to bed. Hopefully, she should be over the jetlag in a week or so. She is also teething and has a slight cold, so that doesn’t help with going to sleep either.

All in all, it’s going good. We are already noticing differences in her – she has started babbling since yesterday, and now smiles a very mischievous smile when she’s up to something naughty (like pulling our glasses!) She also loves to be held, which works well for us, as she is very warm and cuddly and like a little koala bear *smile*

Anyways, as I said, no sleep but it’s going good. We thought it would be a lot tougher. The main issues for us now are figuring out what foods work with her and getting her to sleep every night without crying. And helping her through the cold and teething and possible ear infection. After that, we can cross the next bridges.