Thursday, April 26, 2012

BOTH my boys are graduates!!!

Ahhhh! I’m so excited! We have LOTS to celebrate around here. My hunny just completed grad school for his MBA and my little hunny just graduated from his Doc band! Woo hoo!

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Proud momma moment. *tear*

Today we went in for Eli’s final adjustment on his helmet (he can technically be done with it by the time we leave for vacation next week) and to have our “after” head shots. They do photos and also digital images like they did in the beginning to develop his head mold, aka “head on a stick” –I’m totally serious! I have his head mold on a stick. Here, I’ll show ya:

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“head on a stick”

They bust this puppy out each appointment for comparison to his head at the moment and make sure the helmet is doing its job. You are not going to believe the before and after shot! Yikes. I knew his head was “cone-y”, I mean it has been since birth, but I guess I didn’t want to believe it was that bad. I was more concerned about the flat spot on the side of his head. Are you ready? Drum roll please…..

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Left is before (obviously), Right is today. Yowza! What a difference!

These are the “digital molds” that they use to create the helmet and “head on a stick”. His face looks odd because he has his bank robber stocking pulled over his head, down to his neck. I’m pretty sure my jaw hit the floor when I saw this shot. Deep down I had feared that there would be no real change and I didn’t have it in me to have him wear the helmet longer, or God forbid, have to have another one made to wear for another 4 months! I love the “after'” photos they did because he looks tan when compared to his January pictures! Ha ha ha. I’m sure it’s lighting/flash but he looks like a little stud Winking smile. They were sent to me via email attachment and me being computer illiterate (Aaron’s at work) I can’t figure out how to save it and show you guys :/ Dang it. I guess you’ll have to take my word for it.

They have a photo contest for the calendar they put out each year and they encourage patients to submit the cutest photo they have of their kiddo in the helmet. Now I have to go through 1,293,929,444 photo’s I’ve taken of him and select ONE! I may need some help mom.

Well that’s all for now. I’m so giddy! Open-mouthed smile

-Linds

Tuesday, April 24, 2012

A parenting book review…

Alrighty folks, so did you complete your homework and finish the book? Winking smile

beyond the sling

 

I enjoyed it, mainly because I hoped it would give me insight into my mother-in-law’s world, ha! Before even having Eli, I would hear her talk about the importance of homeschooling, extended breastfeeding (going beyond the traditional 12 months), co-sleeping, and home birthing—all of which are discussed in this book. I thought “hey, she would LOVE Mayim as a daughter (in-law)!” Ha ha. I’m not gonna lie either, I thought she was a little “out there” Winking smile. Sorry Shay.

But, then Eli comes along and my whole outlook on life changed, as most of you mommies can relate. Suddenly little things became big things and the word “healthy” took on a whole new meaning to me. We naturally want nothing but the best for our children and to see them thrive and succeed in life. So far so good in seeing eye to eye with this book. I LOVED the chapter on breastfeeding because I’ve become so passionate about it (obviously if you’re a regular reader of my blog). I reeeeeeally want to continue to nurse beyond a year if I can because of how good it is for baby. I’m confident the only reason Eli’s had only one minor cold and knock-on-wood, no major sicknesses so far, (when the national average is 8-10, yes 8 to 10 colds a year during the first few years of life!), is because of nursing. My only disagreement would be on her stance of waiting a full year before starting solids. I don’t feel that’s necessary and a little overkill, but that’s just my opinion. I do believe you should not introduce any food (including rice cereal, well especially rice cereal) before 6 months though.

So the author, Mayin Bialik (aka “Blossom”) has a PhD in neuroscience. Because of this, she approaches parenting from the perspective of knowing how the brain works and operates and using this knowledge to meet the natural needs of a child to be loved, touched, and to form a secure attachment. Ok I’m following you Mayim. I was actually surprised that I could relate to way more of her parenting style than I thought I would. I concluded that I did, or agreed with about 50% if not more of what she was saying. The other 50% wasn’t because I thought she was wrong per se, but rather that there was an alternate way of doing things that would achieve the same results in a less exhausting/sleep deprived/total life consuming way. This alternate way however completely contradicted her beliefs. I parent using about 50% of “babywise” principles, which talks about getting your baby on a schedule and ultimately getting them to sleep through the night. Mayim disagrees with this style wholeheartedly. She comments how babies have no concept of “scheduling” and to “train” babies to be on a schedule would be more cruel than effective. I disagree. Why does Eli go to bed and wake up like clock work without crying then? I don’t shove him in his room at a bedtime I decided on and let him hysterically cry himself to the point of exhausted sleep like she claims moms have to do using a schedule! If he cries at bedtime I know something is wrong and I will go to him, hold him, talk/coo to him, burp him and/or rock him if needed. We all know babies have certain cries that tell us if they’re over-tired, hurting, mad, or hungry etc. Instinctively  we meet our child’s needs by deciphering these cries. But I believe without a doubt that kids thrive on routine and schedules from my own experience and with family and friends using babywise as well.

I had a hard time reading about the constant-attached-to-her-breast 24/7 nursing she often did and the co-sleeping because she felt that was the only way to be successful in meeting her children’s needs of love, affection, food and touch. I went into motherhood knowing and expecting a certain amount of sleep deprivation but I was not about to let that become my life. I would be useless as a wife AND mother being sleep deprived with a baby attached to my excruciatingly sore/sensitive nipples 24/7! In fact my hubby would have divorced me and I would have needed to be commited if this were the only way!

Instead, I fed him on demand as long as he liked (but no sooner than every 2 hrs in order to give the pain center in my brain a reprieve) and focused on helping my son develop good sleep habits in between my loving on, holding, rocking and talking to him. I did have many, MANY nights of interrupted sleep, as expected, but it didn’t define me. I wasn’t ever “beyond exhausted”. I still showered daily, got dressed and out of the house often. She has 2 kids and lives as if getting them to sleep ONLY by nursing/holding/rocking to sleep is natural. If she stopped nursing/holding/rocking when they fell asleep and went to lay them down, they cried, so the cycle would start all over again. Baby would sleep at her breast in bed/couch/sling and that was ALL. But this is all “expected” and “natural” because being a prudent and caring mother, “this is just what you do”. Shoot me now! Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE spending time with Eli and cuddling him, but if I was chronically only half rested because I accepted that my child would be up every couple of hours nursing for the next 3 years of his life, I can tell you right now, I would NOT have another child. Does this make me selfish? Maybe. My husband and I felt our child(ren) would become part of our world, not have our world revolve around him. I’d say its working quite well. He sleeps through the night, he nurses like a champ, gets TONS of hugs and probably too many kisses, he has a sense of humor and loves people and interaction. That to me, means he’s thriving and my parenting “style” is working.

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oh, hey there handsome. Speak of the devil….

I found the chapter on “elimination communication” very interesting as well. It makes perfect sense for her to potty train her children from day one and to be successful at it because they literally are a part of her body for those first 2 years. She learned very quickly to read the signs her boys were giving her when they needed to go potty. She explains that infants are born giving mom and dad signs that they need to go potty and that it’s us who need to be trained in reading them.  “Babies instinctively do not want to eliminate in a diaper, just as animals in nature do not want to eat or sleep in the same place in which they have eliminated”. I’ll buy that. If I stayed at home most days and didn’t venture out & about and still care about having a semi-social life I might actually consider doing this. Eli ALWAYS turns beet red and grunts when he’s actively pooping. I’ve always thought, “man, if I had a baby potty I could totally put him on it right now and he’d probably get the hang of going in it.” This thought ran through my head from day one since he’s been so obvious about it. I guess its sheer laziness on my part not wanting to stay within feet of a travel potty so that he can “sign” to me that he needs to pee every 15 min (which is what she determined her sons did as newborns! Yikes! I couldn’t do it). I’m not gonna lie though, I did just buy a baby potty and plan to stick him on it when he starts with the “poop” face. I’ll keep you all posted on how this experiment goes Winking smile.

This book isn’t very long, only about 250 pages, but I feel I could spend 250 pages of my own discussing it! (I’ll spare you, I promise). So I’ll limit my opinion to one last point and that’s her stance of “not introducing academics in any form to our children in their first five or so years of life. This included no ABC books, no singing the alphabet song, no puzzles with letters or numbers, and we even went so far as to not ‘teach’ colors, to the dismay of my parents and in-laws”. Oh jeeze. Where do I even begin!??!?! Say whaaaaaat????? WHY??? I get the lets-not-pressure-our-sensitive-kids-to-not-do-anything-they-don’t/aren’t-ready-for stance but COME ON! Kids are sponges the first 5 years of life! If you want to avoid forcing learning on them fine, just don’t show judgment or disappointment if they can’t recite their numbers by a specified age. If they can’t show you which one is the blue car, so what, move on. No big deal. And then she wondered why both her kids barely spoke any words even well after age 3. Well, there’s your answer.

So what did YOU think of her book? Could you relate? Did you find it too far “out there”? Inquiring minds want to know….

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Sportin’ his first shiner. Poor kid.

End opinion.

-Linds

Monday, April 23, 2012

So I made Eli some jammies…

Why oh why can I NOT find a pair of jammies that I like for Eli that do not cost a small fortune and WHY sweet baby jesus, is there not a size 9-12m???
Sheesh. Maybe its me but I can’t bring myself to pay $20 for a pair of jammies that he’s going to outgrow in a few months. So that got me thinkin’, why not just try finding a pattern and making it myself? I can do this!
I was doing my hair the other day and when I raised my arms above my head, I noticed my brand new clearanced, oh-so-cute striped shirt from old navy had a hole in the arm pit. Not just a torn seam, but a nibble looking hole, above the seem and therefore not a simple fix. Dang it! Whelp I can’t wear this any more:
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Goodbye lova.
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The “nibble” hole Sad smile
I found a tutorial online with a pattern for a 2T pajama pant and just started cutting it down and “eye-balling” it size-wise. I’m not gonna lie, that’s a bad plan. I should have grabbed a shirt and pant that currently fit as a reference like a good seamstress would have and should have done, but I like living on the edge and living to regret it obviously.
Keep in mind I attempted to make a shirt AND pants out of a size extra small fitted knit shirt so I think I deserve some credit for making something that I was able to wrestle get on my son, even if he did look like a stuffed sausage (and I mean this in the most loving way possible, of course. Mommy loves you sweet pea).
Exhibit A:
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Ha ha! I love it! I'm still bummed the shirt was about a size 3-6m. The bottom just barely touched the top of his pants here so when he stood up his belly stuck out and I couldn’t stop laughing. This will go down in the mean mommy chronicals Smile with tongue out
My favorite is the back Smile:
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Sigh. I’m undeterred though. I will prevail! So back to the drawing board to get the size right. Anybody have any striped (gotta be striped-I’m obSESSED) stretchy knit shirts they want to donate to the cause? Hmmmmm?
Ok I gotta get to bed. Night night all.
-Linds

Wednesday, April 18, 2012

My little “walker” in his walker…

I had to post this video I took today of Eli in his walker. I forgot about this thing because daddy had it downstairs with him for when he had to watch Eli and work at the same time (those rare occasions). It dawned on me that Eli might actually enjoy it now that he’s taller and more mobile, and sure enough he used it to follow me all around the house! I swear I felt like I had a little shadow (and I had to be extra vigilant in protecting my poor ankles and toes from his reckless driving!)
LOVE that kid.
Sorry about the lack of posts lately. I’ve been in the middle of reading Mayim Bialik’s (remember her from the show “Blossom”???) new book “Beyond the sling: A real life guide to raising confident, loving children the attachment parenting way” that just came out in March. Ok ladies, go to your local library and pick this book up ASAP! Wow. I plan to do a little review of it when I’m finished and I’d love to hear YOUR opinion on it as well. First off, google “Attachment parenting” to get a general understanding of what that’s all about if you’ve never heard of it and secondly, go now!
Some of the things she discusses:
-exclusively breastfeeding until 12months (absolutely no solids before then).
-“Elimination communication”, aka potty training your newborn. Yes, I said potty training your NEWBORN. (This topic alone should have you curious about this book, amirite?!?)
-Not doing ANY educating of their children like ABC books, flash cards, numbers & colors BEFORE THE AGE OF FIVE YEARS OLD.
Ok, so I don’t want to give the entire book away but I did want to suck you in by sharing how “out there” this book sounds. So what’s the significance of this lady writing this book you may ask?? Well, she’s got a PhD in neuroscience for one, and two, she explains how she too once raised her eyebrows at these hot topics and how she thought other women were crazy for parenting the way she and her husband have committed to raising their two boys.
Interesting.
Ok good little students, meet you back here in a couple of days to discuss our book reportsWinking smile.
-Linds

Wednesday, April 11, 2012

Play date success!!!

Yay! Finally Jac and I got the boys together for a successful play date! Woo hoo! They were both awake from their naps at the same time and now Eli is of an age where he can start to “play” with his buddy. They were pretty cute together. I just can’t get enough of that kid Parker. He’s always waving and saying “hi” or “gur-bye” with the BIGGEST cheesy grin that is guaranteed to melt your heart (or confirm that you have no heart and are therefor not human.) He also was very generous with the kisses. He kept dishin’em out to the dog, his momma, and the top of Eli’s head! I even managed to get one! He has a toy that plays music and demonstrated a few dance moves for us (he looked like he was in a marching band, sooo ca-uute!) but I couldn’t catch it on video, dang it! I DID however capture him giving kisses. Needless to say, I was thoroughly entertained by these two Smile. Here’s the video:
That’s her dog Manny in the video. He’s got to be the most lovable, cuddliest dog EVER. He’ll curl up right next to, if not on you to snuggle, lovesnapping in the sun, and being petted. So basically he’s the dog version of me. No wonder I love himWinking smile.
I sat down in his sunny spot in the playroom and he didn’t get angry with me, he just joined me:
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He crawled right into my lap and made himself at home Smile
I remembered at the end of our play date how badly I wanted a group photo of us and of course waited until the minute before Eli was due for his nap to attempt to get it. Not smart. For example:
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“Somebody burp me and put me to beeeeeeeddd! Waaah!” Ha ha. This photo of him makes me laugh. I’m so mean.
Sigh. Jac, remind me next time to get it at the beginning.
As I was pulling away, they were all standing there waving “gur-bye”. I thought “what a cute little family”:
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Love them Smile
So Jac, do you think our boys will stay put and play monopoly jr from morning until dinner time in a boat in your garage like we did?! Ha! Yeah right! Gosh, we were so easy peasy to keep an eye on. All your mom had to do was look out her kitchen window and see we were exactly where we said we’d be, doing exactly what we said we’d be doing—lame sauce Winking smile J/k. Hope they take after us and not our hubbies.
Can’t wait for warmer weather and wagon time!
Ok, time to spend time with my hubby who just submitted his LAST MBA project last night and now has time to spend with me! Happy dance!
Toodles!
-Linds

Sunday, April 8, 2012

Eli’s first Easter…

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Like my artwork? I got skillz Smile with tongue out
What is it about dressing our little baby boys like old men or even “big boys” that is so fun and hysterical?? Ahhh I can’t stand the cuteness! Surprisingly, when I showed daddy Eli in this outfit he couldn’t stop saying how cute it was. Daddy approved, bonus! An even bigger bonus was when I decided to get my butt in gear and make this outfit the day OF our family gathering (he took 2 great naps), that I had all the supplies on hand. I found this plaid fabric in the remnant bin at Joannes a while back and it literally cost me next to nothing. The onesie I just pulled out of his drawer. I can’t say I really followed a pattern, mainly just wung it using the knowledge I had from previous projects. I was pretty excited to see my “vision” come to life though, surprisingly. My little gentleman. Sigh.
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I’ll point out my little get-him-to-smile-for-the-camera trick, See my hands? They’re pinching his highly ticklish inner thigh. Sneaky, sneaky Winking smile
In one attempt at getting the above shot, he was crawling away from me off the step, head down, butt in my quickly losing-my-grip hold, and I had this startled concerned, mouth agape face that totally looked like I just birthed him! Ha ha ha, not even kidding!. Steph and I had a good belly laugh at that one. You can thank me for sparing you. You’re welcome.
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My tall guy!
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You gotta watch Grandpa Terry closely. This was post cherry pie bite. Naturally he was a happy camper.
Well we had a lovely Easter eve with the Diede great grandparents and as usual stuffed our faces with tons of delicious food. Today we’ll be heading over to grandma Marilyn and grandpa Terry’s house for more Easter fun.
Hope you all are enjoying this beautiful Easter with your families as well. Take care.
-Linds

Saturday, April 7, 2012

Naked baby on the loose. Hide yo’ women!

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….And he’s off!
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Dang red eye.
Who doesn’t like naked reading time??
Hope you all have a happy Easter tomorrow!
-Linds

Wednesday, April 4, 2012

Adventures in breastfeeding…

***Disclaimer, if you aren’t currently nursing, or planning to nurse in the near future, you will find this post entirely too long and boring and quite frankly, a huge waste of your time. I’d recommend stopping right here. Don’t say I didn’t warn you. Oh, and I am by no means an expert in this category. I’m certainly not a lactation consultant either so always check with your pediatrician when in doubt, pleaseandthankyou**
With that said, here’s to the blind leading the blind, ha! I kid, I kid! (Well sorta). And since this is a loooong post (sorry) I thought I’d throw some random Eli pics in here to break up the monotony Smile. You’re welcome, mom.
So I like to think I’ve learned a lot in the short time I’ve been nursing my son. I am by no means an expert but I would like to share the wisdom I’ve gleaned over the past 9 months. Now as you read yesterday, I mentioned how I was bummed by my noticeably diminishing milk supply and that I had a talk with my son’s pediatrician about it. Well for you to understand where I’m coming from, I think I ought to give you a little background first:
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Look at that head rounding out nicely. Thanks helmet
So during the day, I nurse on demand, roughly every 2-4 hours depending on if he’s had big boys foods and what we are doing at the moment. What I have always done from the moment he slept longer than 4 hour stretches at night (after putting him to bed at 7pm) was pump right before I went to bed. This was the only time I’d pump while I was at home with him to build up a freezer supply for when I returned to work. (I know some moms who pump in the morning after nursing their babies since we produce the most milk first thing in the morning, but I tried it once knowing I’d get nothing because this kid can SUCK! Sure enough, that never worked for me. He seems to get every last drop Winking smile). In the beginning, I’d be able to pump a bottles worth each night (4oz), and then over time I’d only pump 2-3oz and it would take a few nights of pumping to be able to freeze a bottles worth (which I had heard was normal because we “dry up” by the end of the day), until very recently I was lucky if I’d get even an ounce. Just last week I wasn’t getting anything because my pump wasn’t able to stimulate my let-down Sad smile. I was alarmed because I rely on these nightly pumping sessions to provide me with the 2 bottles he drinks each day now that I am back at work 2 days a week. Lately, pumping during the day at work, I’ve only been getting like 1-2oz at a time (I used to pump 4-5 oz each time when he was 3 months old and I had first gone back to work.) At this point, I’m starting to get upset thinking I’m unintentionally starving my child because I’m not ready to give up nursing yet and that maybe I should be supplementing him with formula (because after all, that’s all HE must be getting at the boob while nursing too, since the pumping measurement is all I have to go off of. Forget the fact that he has never NOT seemed full/satisfied after a nursing session. But, alas, this is what we do. We worry.) So many doubts! So many questions! Ahhhh! Why can’t I just freakin’ KNOW how much he drinks while he’s nursing???
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I’m his personal jungle gym
This brings me to my doc appointment. You know what she said? She said “most woman give up pumping by 10 months because this decrease in pumped milk is normal. It no longer is needed. As long as he eats well during the day, if you wanted to, you could just nurse him before you go to work and then right when you get home and that would be fine too. He wouldn’t even need the bottles in between. You can give him water in a sippy cup but you don’t have to.” Seriously?? I was shocked! Here I was thinking he was unknowingly being starved by me when all along this is a natural progression as he starts eating solids. Phew! She said it’s mainly a problem for babies that don’t eat solids due to being picky--then they NEED the breast milk. Why do we doubt ourselves?? Then we pick our fellow mommy’s brains and compare our stories with theirs and think since they aren’t identical something must be wrong.
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Mmmm, hmmmm.
**Just an FYI, our pediatrician is super pro-nursing and is a certified lactation consultant so she’s very knowledgeable. I feel very confident in her recommendations and judgments. I KNOW that if my supply really and truly was an issue, she’d help me do what I needed to do to increase it.
So MY lessons learned so far:
1.) Babies eat a lot in the beginning, hence the ton of milk we produce in the first 3 months.
2.) By 4 months, babies can go longer in between feedings because they are more effective and efficient suckers and they still get what they need. Our bodies are in the process of learning their needs and regulating it’s milk production—aka, no more breast pads because we’re leaking! Woo hoo! (I thought I’d be buying these things until I dried up!)
3.) At 6 months, our bodies have our babies schedule down. This means our boobs “learn” they don’t need to go into overdrive producing milk during the hours the baby sleeps. They aren’t hard as rocks if we go longer than normal in between feedings. (This also means we can’t gauge how much milk is in there based on how full they feel. They will start to feel softer more often now). We also start to pump less because our babies are better at stimulating milk production and sucking it out of us than the pump now is. And they nurse much quicker, 5 minutes each side can be completely normal, again they’re efficient!
4.) After 7 months, when they start taking in solids regularly like us with 3 solid meals or more a day, their demand for milk has lessened significantly. Our bodies just keep adjusting. Our breast pumps just don’t compare to the hoovers our babies have become in the sucking department. This is ALL OKAY! This is how its SUPPOSED to go!
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His new summer kicks!
I suppose if I had gone to the la leche league meetings like my mother-in-law insisted I do (Sorry Shay!) then I may have known this before I let worry wreck havoc on me :/ I hope this post saves you the trouble.
Oh and if you want to know when you should be worried about your milk supply, it’s more likely to show up or be an issue in the first few months and you’ll know it because your baby isn’t having very many wet diapers, the urine might be dark yellow/orange instead of clear or straw colored, s/he isn’t gaining weight (after the 3 month mark it’s normal for the baby’s growth to start slowing down and not being so dramatic as it was in the begining) and you may notice s/he gets frustrated, fussy and/or starts crying at the breast or right after because s/he isn’t getting enough and is still hungry. If the baby is older than 6 months, eating solids, and you still feel like you may have “completely dried up”, use the last criteria just mentioned to determine if your baby is getting enough. Is s/he fussy or frustrated after nursing? Does s/he still seem hungry and is a poor solids eater? Then I’d worry.
Just remember you have resources out there, starting with the le leche league and your nearest lactation consultant. YOU nurse however long suits YOU and your baby, don’t base it on when other woman in your life have stopped for whatever their reason was.
We’ve ALL doubted our supply at one point or another, I hoped this relieves those doubts and gives you renewed confidence in your ability to nourish your baby adequately Smile.
That is all. You still with me??? You deserve a treat.
-Linds

Tuesday, April 3, 2012

My baby is NINE months old!!

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And what a ham bone he is! I absolutely LOVE this gummy grin! Nice little shot of his toofers too Smile.
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Excuse me momma, I’ve got places to go and people to see…
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Yep, he just stood right up and balanced for 3 seconds before lunging head first into my waiting arms! Crazy kid!
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He’s just showing off now. He started to think it was a game to stand up and lunge into momma’s arms, over and over again.
I’m now just a jungle gym with boobs. Sigh.
So here’s the good stuff:
Size: Well as you can see from the pictures, this kid is a string bean which blows my mind because he can EAT! At the doc’s office he weighed in at 17lb and 9oz and 27 3/4 long. The doctor said he’s doing well and that he’s right on his usual track. He’s still fitting into his usual clothes of a mixture of 6-9m and 12m clothes. The waist fits good with the smaller sizes but the length is better on the larger sizes. We’re still fitting nicely into size 4 diapers.
Likes: Standing! Anything that involves pulling himself up into a standing position. Crawling all over his visitors and/or momma, smiling, the remote, cellphones, watching the cars go by out the window while jumping in his jumper, people, stroller rides, playing peek-a-boo and receiving undivided attention.
Dislikes: Being laid down to have his diaper changed, not getting to chew on paper, taking too long to give him his food, having his hands and face washed after eating, naptime.
Feeding: Still nursing regularly, (although my supply is noticeably decreasing which was a major bummer to me, but I’ll tell you what his pediatrician said about this in tomorrow’s post) and he is now eating 3 big boy meals a day with snacks if needed. He still eats anything I give him but particularly gets excited if it’s a finger food and he can do it himself, (He looooooves his puffs) so I can’t say he has a favorite food. If it’s eatable, it’s his favorite Winking smile.  I’ve bought 3 different kinds of sippy cups and he hasn’t taken to a single one so still using bottles when I’m at work. I just picked up another brand today, so fingers crossed! If anyone out there has an awesome sippy cup you recommend, this momma is all ears.
Sleeping: Like a champ. I thank God for this because for those of you who know me, I LOVE my sleep. He never did adjusted to this latest time change so we’ve altered our schedule ahead an hour. So now he typically goes to bed at 8pm (unless he fought and skipped his afternoon nap, then he’s in bed by 7pm) and wakes up for the day around 7ish. This month he’s been routinely sleeping through that early am feeding he was stuck on, and can go until he wakes up for the day now. Even if he gets up earlier than 7am, he happily entertains himself in his crib until I go and get him around 8-8:30am (Some days he’s a little more tolerant of momma sleeping in than others Winking smile). He’s down to 2 naps a day, at 11am and about 4pm, averaging 2hrs in the morning and 1 hr in the afternoon.
Milestones: Gosh I feel like he’s grown by leaps and bounds in this area since last month! Last month he was “scooting” not even crawling, and now he’s an expert crawler, stander, and balancer. He pulls himself up with ease into a standing position, can raise his arms in the air when asked “how big is Eli? Soooo big!”, and he can give high fives. He just had his third bottom tooth pop through and I’m pretty sure a fourth bottom tooth is on it’s way in shortly.
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This was an action shot. He certainly didn’t stay here long!
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Come back here mister…
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My pride and joy
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The good ol’ remote, getting him to smile for the camera
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Ta da! There’s my lovie in a nutshell Smile.
Night night all,
-Linds