8 month update!

When asked if I can believe that it's been 8 months, I answer that I can and I can't.

I have felt every day of those 8 months at times when Nico is cranky, gets up multiple times in the night, or in some other way is frustrating.

But there are times when I haven't seen him all day, or when I am looking at older pictures of him when he looks so little, or even when I catch myself getting teary eyed on a blog update that I stop and realize that he is growing up so darn fast. I sure do love capturing all of these moments of this boy. I couldn't love him any more.

The clothing: 9-12 month outfits. Size 3 diapers.

The appetite:  He has good 'ol milk 4-5x per day every 4ish hours and 3 solid food meals. He's such a good eater and sits there with his mouth open when the spoon approaches him. We have moved onto some more exciting foods besides boring fruits and veggies, and he will bang his right hand against the highchair table as his signal to keep it coming! Peaches are the only food that he hates. He LOVES mac and cheese! He has also started eating pureed meats like chicken and turkey mixed with veggies. The biggest change is that he has somewhat mastered feeding himself by gripping with his two little fingers. The only finger foods we have given him are these little puffs (banana flavored) that are like cheerios but dissolve in his mouth quickly, and the "surfboard" mum mums that are like rice cakes for babies that also dissolve quickly.

 

The schedule: About the same as last month. Wakes around 7 and has milk. Breakfast solid food between 8 and 9, and he plays for a few hours. His morning nap varies from 1-2 hours. Then he wakes up and has milk, solid food for lunch, plays a little bit, and is back down for his afternoon nap! For bedtime, he starts rubbing his eyes and finding that little left thumb of his around 6:45 to 7.

 

The sleeping: Still not sleeping through the night consistently! Grrrr! Has been getting up 1-2x, but will go right back to bed if fed. Like I have said in the past, it's so tempting to feed him knowing that he will go right back to bed. He loves sleeping on his left side or his stomach.

Developmental milestones/other noteable things:

More teeth! We are so ready for this teething phase to be over! He is currently drooling like CRAZY.  Current teeth count = 5! (3 of those came within the last 2 weeks)

He moves around a lot more this month. He never sits still. When on his tummy, he will move around in a complete 360 degree circle so quickly and smoothly. He has recently started to curl his knees up to get in a crawling position, but then when he tries to use them, he ends up moving backward or just plopping down on his stomach.

 

He has also started to pull himself up into kneeling and standing positions on us, chairs, some of his toys, and even in the bathtub! He is constantly squirming around! He gets excited sometimes and whenever we are holding onto him by his arms in a standing position, he'll start to take a few steps towards us or a toy.

His fine motor skills are awesome. Here he is picking up his tiny little puffs to feed himself.

He is very curious and constantly tries to grab at anything in his reach, especially our faces. It actually kinda hurts when he tries to jab out my eyeball, scratch my face, and grab my lips! He has really shown increased interest in the dogs. Miley and him play tug of war with her toys.

He's gotta be a lefty. He does 99% of things with his left hand. The only exception is that he will repeatedly bang things with his right hand. That's one of his favorite things to do.

He's moved onto the real stroller seat, rather than staying in his carseat placed ontop of the stroller. He also has started sitting in highchairs at restaurants. He seems so proud to do so.

His first few highchair experiences. Chick-Fil-A for lunch, Ra for sushi, and The Pub for a drink/appetizer!

 

He loves bathtime and seems like he could stay in there and play alllllll day.

Fav moments: The newest fav moment is when I approach him and he reaches his arms out for me! Awwww. The other favs are the usual..... Morning smiles. Sound of his laughter. Holding on tightly when we carry him. Kissing my face.

Fav toys: Still defined by what feels the best to chew on.... bathtoys (especially the tiny books with plastic pages), little red teething ring, foam mat piece.

What he's like: Playful and fun. Happy and easy going. A wiggleworm that is full of energy. Chatty Cathy with his favorite and only word being "AH!" Curious and wants to get into everything. Always laughing and smiling. Very easy to get a reaction out. Incredibly tickelish. Communicates well and knows what he wants!

 

Making the decision to have a child is momentous. It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body.

-Elizabeth Stone

A Proud Mommy Moment

Babies are amazing. Especially Nico.

I watched problem solving at its finest today. With him being about 8 months old and at the prime age for beginning to crawl, I have made an extra effort to try to encourage him to move and get his toys rather than just giving him everything within reach. I really messed with him today and placed all of his toys on the opposite side of the playmat, about 5 feet away. I watched him struggle to stretch and reach with his arms and kick those little legs back and forth as hard as he could for a minute or so. Then, all of a sudden, he flipped onto his back, and he began to scoot so quickly using his legs to push him across the playmat! He kicked himself right up next to the toys and then quickly flipped back on his stomach. It was so impressive and seemed completely intentional. Go Nico!

We had seen him scoot that way a few times before, but it had never been with such a purpose. Very cool to watch. If I am this amazed over him getting to his toys, I can't imagine how proud I will be with other milestones and accomplishments in the future. Ha!

A killer bite: more teeth

Nico has another tooth that has come through... with a few more on the way! It's about time that they come through since he has been drooling and in obvious teething pain for what has seemed like a very loooooooong time! He's been so squirmy this past week- no wonder why! This looks like it would hurt...

Happy St. Patty's Day

Today, we had our best St. Patty's Day yet... even with no green beer involved! We played a lot in the newly painted playroom this morning...

Then we went to the park near our house for the first time! Nico seemed to love watching all of the kids run around while he was in the swing.

We went to our fav spot for lunch, Twisted Root Burger, and sat outside in the beautiful 70 degree weather. Nico ate every drop of his mac and cheese. Then we went home to watch some of the March Madness games!

 

Can't ask for a much better Saturday than that.

Nico in action: video clips

I'm trying to take more video clips of Nico since he is changing so fast. I was looking through my phone at a few video clips from his first few months and those memories are long gone from my mind.  Such basic things such as the way he moved or the noises he made are details that I've already forgotten even though it was only a handful of months ago. I'm so in love with this boy, and I want to be able to always have moments from each phase of his life to look back on.

Here's one of him going crazy in his stander this week. He sure is full of energy and fun to watch...

 

And here's our little Chatty Cathy talking away! This clip was from about a month ago...

Lucky #7 month update

Nico turned 7 months old last week! There weren't too many major changes since the last monthly update.

The clothing: The chunker moved up to size 3 diapers. Wearing 9 month outfits.

The appetite: He has increased his food palate and has gone through all of the main fruits, veggies, and oatmeal. He also started eating these rice cake things called "mum mums" last week and has gone through a whole box already. It's like a rice cake that dissolves in his mouth within a few seconds of chewing. I think they feel good on his teeth too. Still going strong with the breastfeeding!



Try to watch this without laughing...

The schedule: We have the schedule down!... well sort of. He wakes up as happy as can be, babbling away, around 7-730ish. The rest of the day consists of having milk every 3-4 hours, and having his solid food within 30 min to an hour of that. He takes a morning and an afternoon nap that vary from 45 min to a few hours. He usually signals to us that he is tired by scratching his eyes or sucking his left thumb! Bedtime has been around 645-730ish, and he usually passes right out after having a little more milk.

Tuesdays are special because that's Nico's full day with daddy. They walk to Walmart and buy groceries for dinner that night, and then David cooks amazing meals! Fridays are special too because it's our family day! We have been going out for lunch (our new fav spot is Twisted Root Burger), spending time outside, and running errands.

The sleeping: Now once bedtime hits is another story. Within the past week, we have seen him sleep a full 12 hours through the night as well as get up once, twice, 3x, and yes, even 4x! We don't know what is going on.  I realize that I've probably started a bad habit by feeding him in the night. That's gotta come to a stop soon, but it's hard to break that habit when you're half asleep in the middle of the night and you know that will help him go back to bed right away!

Developmental milestones/other new notable things:

His curiosity is really what has changed the most this past month! He whips his head around whenever he hears a noise and will grab for anything within a few feet of him. You really have to hold onto him when you are holding him or he will nearly flip out of your arms trying to dart at any object that he can grab and put in his mouth. He loves to hit his hand down repeatedly on things!

 

He has become a little more mobile in that he easily rolls over and transitions from sitting to on his tummy more frequently and smoother. His favorite move of the week is rolling from his back to his stomach, always on the left side. He does it about 50x a day, even in his crib. Still no sign of crawling... yet! I have a feeling that this new month 7 may bring about some significant changes in his movement! He sits up really well and we let him play in the middle of the floor with his toys without us needing to be right there incase of a sudden fall. He still loves his stander/bouncer and goes crazy in that thing sometimes.

In other non-Nico noteable news, David has had some health drama going on for the past 2 weeks that has fortunately been resolved! We were in the ER 2 Saturday's ago questioning if he was having a heart attack, but extensive cardiac testing, including a stress test the following Monday, all yielded normal results. An appointment with a GI doctor led him down the road of having an endoscopy (camera down his upper GI tract) with biopsy. Long story short, he has a hiatal hernia and dysplasia/inflammation. He's on a medication now that has him already feeling better. Blood work tomorrow will determine if he has the gluten condition and if so, will have to tweak his diet in order to treat the issue. All in all, it has been a stressful few weeks of keeping our fingers crossed with his health!

On a positive note, I accepted a full time position with my home health PT job! I really have enjoyed this job, plus I get a company car and great $/benefits. This was a move I was hoping to make eventually and the timing worked out really well. I'll still have a decent amount of time to devote to family too, since "full time" in this job doesn't compare to the hours of other jobs. I'll pick up Nico mid afternoons 2 days a week and still have a majority of the day Friday off! Assuming I can figure out this new juggling act, I really want to keep the outpatient orthopedic job too. Couldn't be happier with the situation... or the beautiful flowers David brought home for me that day :)

The fav moment: Alright, had to go with last month's moment too. His babbling and smile at us when he wakes up. A close, new second is when I'm holding him and he flings his mouth towards my face and tries to suck it/bite it. It's about as cute and funny as it gets.

What he's like: He's so happy! He smiles, laughs, and makes noises a lot of the time. He is very easy to get a reaction out of. He has an adorable shitty grin that has troublemaker written all over it. He really has increased his "talking" and seems to like to play the back and forth game of making different noises with us. He is such a wiggle worm. He also flaps his arms around a lot like he's trying to fly, especially when he gets excited. He has started to become more of a mommy's boy, and sticks his arms out for me sometimes when he's fussy. It's such a joy to be so wanted at times.

The fav toys: Still anything that goes in his mouth, especially the giraffe and foam playmat pieces.