Misha: 38 weeks

I think I mentioned this already but it bears repeating...Misha is a really happy baby. She is always ready to smile and laughs really easily. All I need to do is cover my face and play peek-a-boo and she laughs....or if I tickle her torso.
She likes to clap her hands a lot. Not sure if its claps or she's trying to sign 'more'. Since whenever I say 'clap' or 'more' she will bring both hands together.

Sippy cup
She is finally starting to suck (and not chew) the spout. Water is still spilling out though cos after she sucks and gets a mouthful...she doesn't swallow. Sometimes she will smile (like she is proud of herself) and the water will dribble out! LOL
I decided to try the straw cup again...and this time she succeeded straight away! I guess once she could suck on the spout, the straw was easy. I sat and watched her do it and maybe it distracted her cos she would suck, then smile and water could come dribbling out!
She seemed to really like drinking from the straw cup. I tried taking it away and she actually got upset. She also signed 'more'! It was like a fist bump with both hands.

Solids barley, rice porridge
Finally transitioned to porridge. So far she is accepting it quite well. I make it in the slow cooker so it's quite soft. She takes a bit longer between mouthfuls. I don't think she needs to chew but there is definitely more texture to it than the cereals she's used to. Whenever I gave her the cereals or purees I was practically shoveling it into her mouth with hardly a pause.
She seems to be eating less this week. I try to give her a veg cube with cereal then apple for lunch and dinner. Sometimes I have to start on the apple in between the veg to get her to finish it up. She doesn't seem to like most of the veg ones. Maybe she's bored with it.
Whenever we go out I will usually try to feed her from a jar...most times I add cereal to it. Usually apple or peach and she will have no trouble finishing it. 
Right now she is quite consistently having 3 meals a day.

Nursing
Somedays she only had 4 feeds in a day. But she still seems okay. I am very conflicted about her feeding now. Not sure if I want to start her on formula or not. I have already surpassed the 6 month mark but part of me wants to go to 1 year. The other part of me wants to stop stressing about whether she is getting enough....not to mention my pumping issues. Seems like I can't pump as much nowadays. It can't be the pump since I got a new one...and yet I can't seem to get as much as before. So nowadays I sometimes nurse her before bedtime and pump before I sleep. This way I can get enough for her bottle feeds. So her bottle feeds are 3-4 times a week only. Hopefully that's enough to keep her familiar with the bottle.
I need to keep reassuring myself that she is getting enough and not stress so much. I will decide once I go for her 9 month check-up . 

Signing
'More' seems to be used when she wants something....so maybe she has her own interpretation of it. I also sign milk and all done but haven't seen her use those. Sometimes she makes the sign for milk (open and close palm) but not in context.

Sleeping
I think she is ready to drop her third nap but I haven't figured out how exactly to do it. She usually wakes up around 3 pm so it's tough to keep her awake till 8. I also like how I can put her down in the evening and am able to cook and eat dinner while she takes her third nap. Still need to figure out the best timing for this.