Month 7

 Our little man is officially 7 months old! The months seem to be flying by and I can’t believe that somehow we are actually closer to him being one than we are to him being brand new. It’s just wild! 

7 Month Stats

Weight: 20 lbs according to my home scale. A sweet and solid little guy. 

Height: No height this month because I haven’t managed to wrangle him to measure him at home. 

Likes: 

He loves to eat! He has been thoroughly enjoying trying all kinds of new foods and is always a pretty happy camper at meal time. He loves his little stacking “donuts”. He got them for Christmas and they’ve become a favorite for sure. He loves to chew on his teethers, or his toys, or anything he can get in his mouth. He loves when daddy comes home from work in the evenings. He likes to hold his toys in the bath tub and loves to squeal and shriek and make all kinds of noise. He likes to be tickled and making silly faces. He loves the wind in his face and watching Bo play with his toys. He likes to snuggle after nap time. He still loves Goodnight moon but is also starting to enjoy some other books too. 

Dislikes: 

Having his face wiped. Not a fan at all. I put that in his 6 month post as well, but he continues to be unhappy with our desire to help him have a clean face. But if you sing and make noise and act like it’s a game he will usually be tricked into letting you get a quick wipe in. Other than that he’s a pretty happy man as long as he’s fed and not getting too sleepy. He’ll fuss if he starts to get bored but is pretty quickly calmed with a change of scenery or a different toy to play with. 

Sleeping, Eating and Playing:

His sleep schedule is pretty much the same from 6 months. He’s still taking three naps. Usually the first one is his longer nap. Then the middle nap is a mystery- it could be an hour, and hour 15, 45, 40- who knows! And then the last nap is always a cat nap just to help him get to bedtime so it’s usually only about 30 minutes. He’s usually up for the day around 6 and then spends about 2.5-3 hours awake in between each nap. I love having a slightly more predictable schedule these days because even though it’s not exactly the same each day, I’m able to plan a little better based on how things usually go. 

He is still nursing about every 3ish hours, sometimes 4. And we’re adding in more and more solid food which has been fun (and a little overwhelming too!). He will usually eat breakfast about an hour after his morning milk and he eats his dinner when we eat dinner, usually eating some version of what we eat. Sometimes he eats lunch as well or a little snack in the middle but that’s not as consistent yet and kind of depends on our day. He loves to try new foods and I am trying to introduce him to as many things as possible. I try and pick up a few new things for him to try whenever I get groceries for the week. This week we’re trying spaghetti squash and mango for the first time! He’s been a champ and up for all kinds of things! A new favorite of his is salmon. 

Since we have around 3 hours of awake time between naps there is plenty of playtime! We spend plenty of time on the floor on his playmats Paying on his belly, on his back and sitting up. He plays with all of his new toys he got for Christmas and loves them all! We read books and try to take a walk when it’s nice out. Mealtime always takes up some of our awake time and he usually hangs out in his activity center while I get it ready or cleaned up. We take rides in his little wagon and sit on the porch when it’s not too cold. He helps me do chores around the house (well he joins me while I do them). We try to get out once a day too. Sometimes it’s to see a friend, other times it just for an errand but it’s always good to get a change of scenery and be out and about. He’s the best little buddy to hang out with each day! 

Favorite Moments: 

Christmas! I mean how could his first Christmas not be a top moment? It was magical and sweet and something I’ll cherish. I wrote all about it here if you want to read more. 

What I’m Looking Forward To: I’m excited for a lot of the milestones we’re getting close to like crawling (he’s trying so hard on this one), learning some of the baby sign language I’ve been teaching him, first words. It’s so fun to see what new thing he’ll do! 

Christmas Magic

Christmas with a little one is extra special and we jam packed as much of it into our season as we could. We had plans to travel for the week of Christmas and so we decided before leaving that we’d do our own little family Christmas at home just the three of us. No need to lug all the bigger gifts with us and it also gave us a time to enjoy the holiday season as our own little family outside of the craziness. 

We stuffed James’ stocking and he wore Christmas jammies to bed and we brought him downstairs in the light of the Christmas tree to see what Santa and mommy and daddy had brought him. He also got to open some family gifts and hubby and I opened our gifts from one another as well. Our main gift to little man was this super sweet radio flyer push wagon. Eventually he’ll be using it as he learns to walk and as he gets older to cart around his favorite things but for now we’ll pull him around in it while he laughs and adorably holds onto the sides. 

He was of course a big fan of all the wrapping and mostly wanted to play with the paper and bows. So we enjoyed a slow and sweet “Christmas” morning watching him crinkle paper and chew on his new toys and loved every minute! 

The next stop on our Christmas tour was my in-laws. We headed there mid week before Christmas to spend a few days. There were more gifts, more wrapping to crinkle, old friends to visit and an aunt and uncle to finally meet!  Hubby’s parents had also refinished his rocking horse from his own childhood for JB and that was a special present. He enjoyed it for a few brief moments before the tears started but we know it will be well loved as he gets older. 

The final stop was my parents’ house where we spent a few days with them as well as my sister’s family. This included plenty of cousin time! We got to finally meet the newest member of the family who is the sweetest little thing and I am so excited for JB to have a. Cousin so close in age to grow up with. He also thoroughly enjoyed getting to spend time with his older cousins who he finds positively hilarious and the best entertainment. 

I took exactly one picture of JB on Christmas morning…mom fail. But I was too busy enjoying the morning, and keeping him from eating the wrapping paper. 

It was extra special to have my nephews there because Christmas is more fun with little ones who believe in all the magic. My mom did snap this photo of my sister and I with our kiddos on Christmas Eve in their matching jammies and it makes my heart so happy! 

This year will always be one of the sweetest Christmases for us and I’m glad we were able to stretch it out and make it last! 

6 Months

I’m behind on these pretty much every month but this month takes the cake! JB turned 6 months…10 days ago! As I said, I’m behind. But I think we all understand that, given the craziness of the holiday season. Trying to get everything ready for baby’s first Christmas, preparing for traveling, wrapping gifts and all the baking of course- it keeps you busy! 

6 Month Stats

Weight: So interestingly enough, he was 18lbs 8oz. This surprised me since he weighed more than that when we went in the month before for his ear infection. But I guess the fact that he’d been weighed with clothes (and apparently a full diaper) must have thrown things off at that appointment. Even still, being 18lbs 8oz does put him in the 70% for weight so he’s still growing, growing, growing! 

Height: His height curve isn’t moving on as steep of an incline and he measured in at 25.5 in putting him int he 35% for height. 

Likes

He loves his activity center and getting to sit up on the floor to play. He likes to chew on anything and everything he can get his hands on. He loves to watch Bo play and chase toys and is all around enamored with anything Bo does. (Bo is still undecided about him, but I think he’ll come around). He likes his toys that make noise and play music. He likes to drink water out of his special cup but really would like to drink out of whatever anyone else is drinking . He loves when his daddy gets home from work and getting to go out on walks. He’s enjoying trying solid food and so far loves hummus and broccoli best but he also loves puréed prunes! And as always…he still loves bath time!

Dislikes

He is still a pretty happy guy for the most part but we have discovered, with the introduction of food, that he does NOT like having his face wiped and his belly isn’t so sure about the change in food but we’re figuring it out. He has also started trying to crawl and is not a fan of the fact that he hasn’t actually figured it out yet. He gets pretty frustrated when trying to move and he doesn’t go anywhere. 

Sleeping, Eating and Playing

His sleep has been up and down lately. He’s had some good streaks of sleeping through the night but he’s also recently gone back to waking up around 1:30 and then being up for the day pretty early around 5:30 so we’re working on figuring that out. But he naps pretty well during the day which is great! He usually takes 3 naps- 1 a pretty long one and the other two around 45 minutes a piece. He usually up for the day by 6:30 at the latest and is usually down for the night by 7:30. Now that he’s older his feeding and sleeping schedules have spread out so it isn’t always sleep, eat, play, repeat. He tends to eat closer to 3-4 hours (but sometimes till more often). And when he isn’t sleeping or eating, he’s playing. He is usually awake for anywhere from 2-3 hours between naps- usually closer to 2 in the morning and closer to the 3 later in the day. 

Favorite Moments:

I think my favorite moment would be taking him to see Santa! I wrote a post all about that with some darling photos to go with it. But aside from or Santa excitement, getting to start on solid food has been exciting! It’s fun to see him trying new things and being excited about food. He takes after his daddy and loves red meat! His first thanksgiving was also this month! I’m also loving that he is sitting independently, it makes it so fun to play with him! And while I don’t know that I would say it was a favorite moment for me (it may have been for hubby) it definitely seems like a noteworthy moment, he spent his first night away from me this month. He had a boys weekend with daddy while I went to see a friend for one night. He loved the extra time with daddy! 

One half of a whole year feels monumental. It seems like he just arrived but also like he’s been here forever. I want to slow time down, but I also can’t wait for what’s coming. I love every minute with this sweet boy! 

Christmas Magic

A few weeks ago, we got to take JB to see Santa for the first time. Obviously he is completely unaware of all things Christas but I love getting to experience all of these firsts with him. Hubby and I often comment that even though he won’t remember this, we will. And that’s just as important. So I booked a 5 minute time slot at a local boutique that was doing Santa photos. And let me tell you, I think this man may well be the real Santa because he was a good one! 

We put him in a red sweater onesie and he looked like a very cozy Christmas baby. As we were headed in, they let us know that they find with the little ones it’s actually best to bring them in backwards so they don’t see Santa before they’re on his lap. Supposedly it keeps them from crying on the spot and at least means you’ll get one or two tear free photos. It definitely made me giggle as we reversed JB onto Santa’s lap but it turned out to be pretty good advice! 

We managed to get a few darling shots of him being extra curious about Santa’s fluffy sleeves and looking up  at hubby and I. 

Things started taking a turn when he looked behind him and realized who was holding him and he was none too sure about him. We did have some brief tears. Which honestly, he’s still adorable even when a bit upset.

He made a pretty good recovery though with his dad making silly faces and noises at him for some distraction. So overall I would say it was a huge success! 

We’ve had a delightful time putting up all the Christmas decorations, getting presents under the tree and showing JB all of the Christmas magic. 

 

Nothing makes me happier than my sweet little guy in his Christmas pjs (a hand me down from his older cousins) sitting (his favorite new skill) in the beautiful Christmas tree morning light! 

4 Months

I am running late with the monthly post this month…I seem to always be late with it but this month I’m extra late. But we had a busy weekend and a busy start to the week too! Our little guy did turn 4 months this past weekend though and it is shocking to me that he is getting so big! I mean I seriously can’t figure out where the time is going and each new phase we enter is even more fun than the last! 

Four Month Stats

Weight: 16lbs 13 oz…still a sweet chunky little guy! 

Height: 25.5 inches- This puts him in the 65th percentile for height which was pretty impressive to his mom and dad who definitely are not passing on many tall genes. 

Likes:

His current favorite toy is his plastic links that he likes to hold and chew on. I keep them in my diaper bag because they are guaranteed to occupy him if he gets fussy while out and about. He still enjoys floor time both on his back and his belly whether on his mat or just on a blanket on the floor. But his most favorite place to play is outside. He loves to hang on our outdoor couch and look at the sky. He’ll be rolling any day now too! He also has been enjoying his frozen teething toy and I’m wondering if we’ll be seeing teeth pop through pretty early with him. 

Dislikes:

Honestly he doesn’t have many dislikes and is an overall pretty happy baby. He gets fussy when he’s tired or hungry and can occasionally get overstimulated but is a pretty happy little guy otherwise. 

Sleeping, Eating and Playing:

He is still eating like a champ! And typically eats roughly every 2.5-3 hours during the day. We have been a bit all over the place with sleep lately. We’ve had a few nights that he hasn’t woken up to eat at all and has slept straight through from about 7 until 5:30 which is amazing! But we’ve also had a few nights of being up every 2-3 hours which isn’t as amazing. For the most part he’s somewhere in between that but it’s exciting to be moving towards sleeping through the night. 

He is definitely an early riser and likes to be up no later than 6 but usually around 5:30. I’m getting used to it though! We’re still in our sleep, eat and then play routine for the most part and as he’s gotten older the more play time we get to have! Usually right now after he eats, we still have at least an hour sometimes closer to an hour and a half of playtime. Sometimes its tough to occupy a 4 month old that long but I’ve gotten really good at making silly faces and singing all the best songs. 

Favorite Moments:

We took him to the pumpkin patch this month which was precious and a fun start  to some holiday traditions! I wrote and posted all about that here. We also are still getting all the smiles and laughs which I can’t get enough of. This past weekend  he got to go to his first Oktoberfest and on the day he turned 4 months we had him baptized which was a delightfully joyful event with our families. It really seems as though each new stage is my new favorite which helps the sting out of how fast he’s growing! 

3 Months

Three months? Are you sure? Time is literally flying! This month was so fun because his personality is coming out more and more. I could watch him smile and laugh all day and not lose interest it is just the sweetest thing there is. And as he's settling in to himself more, it's becoming easier to be out and about with him too. He's a bit less fussy in the evenings and he's awake a bit more during the day so it's easier to be a bit more flexible with our outings. 

Three Month Stats:

Weight: He is now 15 lbs. We haven't been in for a well check but we did get his weight checked just a few days shy of the 3 month mark when we were in for a sick visit :(  But it was exciting to get to see his weight. He's growing, that's for sure

Likes: He loves his mat and is starting to interact more with the different pieces -grabbing at them and noticing when he kicks them. He also loves to just be outside and look around and enjoy the breeze. He loves laying on his back so he can kick his legs as fast as possible. He loves to "stand" and also likes to practice sitting up (with help obviously). He definitely loves to be part of the group, and still prefers to be held upright in a sitting position where he can check out what's going on. He likes music and making faces at mommy and daddy. He likes to chill in his bouncer while mom folds laundry or unloads the dishwasher and is also enjoying his carrier especially now that he can face outwards. 

Dislikes: He does not like to miss out on anything so he has started to fight sleep time a bit. He's too worried all the fun is happening during nap time.                               

Sleeping, Eating and Playing: He is still eating every 2-3 hours during the day and we're still getting longer stretches at night. We seem to have a hit a bit of a growth spurt so he's been waking up a bit earlier than usual in the night- after about 5 hours to eat. But I'm hoping that's just a phase and he'll be back to doing an 8 hour stretch soon. Daytime sleep still isn't his strong suit but he's been doing better, taking naps closer to 40-50 minutes instead of 30. He usually takes about 5 naps a day still since they're not super long. Lately he's been up for the day around  7 and he usually goes down for the night around 7:30. It's been great to have a slightly more set schedule although it's never exactly the same it's nice to have a bit of predictability. Usually he's awake, then eats and gets a diaper change before we play and then down for nap. Right now he's usually awake for about 1.5 hours between naps which has given us lots more time for playing in this phase. 

Favorite Moments: A few of my favorite things about this month have been the increase in smiles and the real, actual belly laughs we're getting. He also had his first trip to the pool and swim in the lake which while not his favorite was super cute for the rest of us. I also love that his nighttime fussiness is dwindling. The witching hour was tough and it's so nice to see that fading and have him be a bit more pleasant in the evenings. Dad loves this especially since it's the time of day that he's at home and gets to spend with him. 

Oh how I love watching him grow! 

Baby's First Cold

It's been a week over here. The little man has had his first little virus this week. On Monday morning, the little guy seemed to choke on some milk after eating and had this big ole' coughing fit. It scared me to death but he got himself together after a while and I was finally able to get him back down. But once he was up for the day, I noticed that he was still periodically coughing and his breathing sounded pretty junky to me. Being the over paranoid first time mom that I am, I was convinced he had aspirated some of the milk into his lungs causing the cough. So I called the pediatrician and after I shared my observations they said I should come in to get him checked out. So off to the pediatrician we went for their last appointment of the day! Hubby met us a the pediatrician which always makes me feel so much better. He is the absolute best dad, always wanting to be there for his little man. 

The pediatrician told us his chest sounded great, they looked in his ears and didn't see any cause for concern and gave him a little once over for anything else that might be the source of his troubles. She decided he was most likely coming down with something viral and it was just an unfortunate coincidence that it coincided with his little feeding episode but that the cough was probably unrelated to that. So to be cautious and since it's going around, she decided we should test for RSV. Y'all. He hated it and it was so so sad. The swab they use for RSV is basically a covid test. Now if you've had a covid test, you know they are not known for being comfortable. And our poor little baby boy did not like it one bit and made the saddest cry you've ever heard! But, the test was negative! Phew! So they sent us home with directions to watch out for a fever, and to let them know if the couch got worse or new symptoms developed. 

Well bedtime rolls around and we decided to check his temperature before starting our usual bedtime routine and were surprised and sad to see he had a little fever! I called the pediatrician after hours line (I mentioned I'm a bit over paranoid right?) just to get some guidance for the night. She assured me that now that he is a bit older a fever isn't the emergency that it can be when their younger. I was able to give him some tylenol and put him to bed. My pediatrician actually called me back about an hour and a half later..now that is some quality bedside manner if you ask me...and after we talked through what we were seeing at home she encouraged me to bring him back in in the morning to check a few other things. That night when he woke up to feed he had just the worst cough and it made it so hard for him to go back to sleep. It was positively pitiful. He did manage to get some sleep, although I don't think I did, and I was glad we were headed back to the doctor because he was pretty puny the next morning. 

This time we checked for the big C virus which meant another swab up the nose. He was much less upset by it this time thank goodness and it was negative which was a huge relief. They also ran a little blood panel just to be on the lookout for infections which came back clear. And his chest and ears still sounded/looked great so they reassured us it was most likely just a cold virus and would pass in a couple days. So him and I have spent the last few days, laying low, trying to take plenty of naps and stay hydrated. I'm hopeful that today might be a fully fever free day since up until now it has been coming and going throughout the day. It's weeks like these that I think having one stay at home parent isn't even enough, but I'm also so grateful that I'm able to be home with him when he needs me. 

Even sick he is the sweetest little guy and we've still been getting plenty of smiles and giggles. But I will be so happy for him to be feeling 100% better hopefully soon! 

Little Fish in a Big Pool

We took our little man swimming this weekend and it was the cutest thing ever! It is so fun getting to do new things with him. It was so hot on Sunday and hubby had been out doing yard work. He mentioned how it would be a good day for the pool and we both decided we would give it a go! 

So we loaded up the pool bag with a baby bathing suit, swim diapers, towels, his sun hat, fan, and float. Gosh babies need a lot of things to go places! Mom and dad got our suits on as well and we headed up to the pool. Well of course as soon as walked out of our house we noticed a very dark cloud over us but decided to go anyways. Pretty much as soon as we got there the rain started which meant we had to kill about 10 minutes under the umbrella before we could actually get to the swimming part. 

That gave me time to get him zipped into his too cute bathing suit and strap on his sun hat. I don't think I'm being biased at all when I say I have never seen a cuter little swimmer. Hubby got the float blown up and the shade attached and we headed into the pool. 

He was not too sure about it. We're not sure if it was the float he didn't care for or maybe the temperature of the water which while pretty warm for a pool it was definitely not as warm as the bath water he's accustomed to. He spent a little time in the float and a bit of time in our arms testing the waters but all in all only wanted to stay in for maybe 10 minutes at the most. 

So after all that...we got back out, put him in a dry diaper and loaded everything back into the stroller to head home. It may not have been a long adventure but it was a cute one! 

Two Months

Two months in and we maybe, sort of, kind of, might be getting the hang of things around here? I say that knowing that each time I start to feel like that inevitable something changes and I'm back to figuring it out all over again. We love it though! It is so fun getting to see him do new things and feel like his little personality comes through a bit more each day. I think he's going to be hilarious and feisty but oh so sweet. We've recovered from our two month appointment with the pediatrician that involved a few shots or as my precious nephews call them- some pokey medicine. He was a champ but was absolutely not a fan! He is growing well and developing right on track though which is great!

Two Month Stats:

Weight: He is now 13lbs 2oz. He continues to eat well and it shows :) 

Height: He is 22 3/4 inches long so he's grown almost 4 inches since he was born which is crazy to me! 

Likes: He is a huge fan of bath, it immediately calms him during his fussiest time of day and I'm pretty sure he'd stay in there for hours if I let him. He loves to play on his mat on the floor, we can tell he wants to grab the hanging toys but just can't quite figure out how yet. He still enjoys to be outside and is still a big fan of being in motion rather than sitting still. He likes to be able to look outward when being held and enjoys a ride in the car- he even took his first road trip to Nana and PawPaw's house this month! He loves to eat, likes to rock before nap time and is starting to actually enjoy being in his swing some too. He's also discovered his hands and loves to chew on them!

Dislikes: He does not love to be held "like a baby" unless it's naptime. He prefers to be held upright where he can see what's going on. He is super picky in general about how he is held and we do a lot of moving and rearranging to find just the right spot for him. He does not like being buckled into his carseat or sitting in traffic. He is not a fan of the hours of 6:00-8 pm but we're working on it.                                  

Sleeping, Eating and Playing: During the day he is still pretty much eating every 2-3 hours but more often than not it is closer to 2 but it seems like maybe he's starting to spread them out a bit. At night he eats before bed and then sleeps a long stretch before waking up and going back to the 2 hour schedule. But that means we are getting some pretty good night sleep for which I am so thankful! He usually goes down between 8:30 and 9:30 for the night and will sleep for somewhere between 5-8 hours before waking to eat. It's more often than not closer to the 8ish mark than 5 this days which is phenomenal and we hope he keeps trending that direction. After he eats, usually somewhere between 3:30 and 5:30 he goes down for a shorter sleep until somewhere between 6:00 and 7:30. I much prefer the mornings that we start our day at 7:30 but am getting used to some more frequent 6am starts. Daytime sleep is still a bit tricker for him than nighttime sleep and he usually needs a bit more encouragement to go down for a nap but with lots of rocking and shushing he'll take a crib nap= usually on the shorter side or a nap on mommy in my arms or the wrap for a longer time. I'm getting used to the shorter naps and trying to use my time well, getting pretty speedy at things I want done when he's asleep. Once he's awake, he's usually up for anywhere from an hour to an hour and a half including his time eating, a diaper change and then some playtime. He loves his floor mat so we spend a lot of time playing there but also like to go outside and mommy likes to try and read books with him too, although he's not so interested in those just yet.

Favorite Moments: My favorite thing about this month has for sure been his little smiles coming out. A baby smiling back at you has got to be one of the world's sweetest things and I have been loving it! He's smiling more and more and just recently we even started getting some attempts at a giggle and some sweet, sweet coos. I could just eat him up! He also got to meet several new family members this month which  has been fun! He got to meet both of his great grandmother's and two sets of aunts/uncles on my side of the family, my sister- his aunt Shannon and her two boys, as well as a great aunt/uncle from my hubby's side. So it's been busy but full of joy!