Will is 8 months! Where did the time go? Before we know it, we'll be celebrating his first birthday. I've said this before but I don't feel much sadness about the passage of time/our kids getting older. Maybe that will hit me when they are a little bit older? I've enjoyed the baby stage and soaked up TONS of cuddling/holding time since I knew he was our last but I like watching him get bigger and learn new things!
Growth: He was 16 pounds at 6 months - no idea what he weighs now - maybe 17-18? He wear a mix of 9 month and 12 month clothes. He had to move up in size due to length, not weight. So some 12 month stuff is pretty loose on him. If not for his length he would still be in a lot of 6 month clothes. I'm grateful for hand-me-downs because there is no overlap between what Paul wore during that first summer and what Will wears. Paul was mostly in 3-6m clothes during his first summer. I have a few 12m summer outfits but not all that many. But we do laundry so often that it is not a big deal to have a small inventory of clothes!
Likes:
He still likes to play with toys on a quilt. We work on tummy time but he does not love it... Paul started to crawl at this point but Will is not there yet. I was so sure he'd be on the move faster but he seems too content to try to move much? He is trying to figure it out, but moves backwards when he tries to crawl.
He loves to watch his big brother and is very interested in anything Paul is doing. He especially wants to play with the little cars that Paul plays with. That does not go over very well sometimes. ;)
He loves the water! He usually cries when I take him out of the bath. We've taken him to a couple of wading pools and he loved splashing around.
He also loves stroller walks. I have taken some hour+ long walks with him and he is so happy the entire time. The extreme heat/humidity and smoky weather has limited how much we've been able to have him outside but I look forward to lots of long walks during the fall. I have yet to run with him in the running stroller but might try that this fall. Right now it works better for me to run without the stroller but it would definitely add an extra challenge if I did some runs with him!
Dislikes: really not much! He is a very content, happy guy. The only time he cries is when I go from feeding him before bedtime to putting him in his sleep sack - and that's usually because he falls asleep when eating and doesn't like to be woken up. But he cheers back up when I read him his bedtime books.
Firsts:
He met more family this month! He had briefly met my brother and SIL in April but was so tired/cranky, they didn't get to hold him much. He was kind of cranky when we went to my brother's (overtired, 4 new faces), but my SIL got some baby-holding time in!
He then met my grandma when we were at my parents lake home in June. He did so well on her lap and she loved meeting him and getting to see how Paul had grown and changed since she last saw us!
And then he met my older sister and her 2 younger kids. He once again did really well when my sister held him! Maybe being outside is the key!
He'll get to meet my younger sister, her husband and their baby who is 2.5 months younger than Will when we are at the lake next week!
Feeding: We started to give him solids at 6 months. He wasn't sitting up independently at that point (a requirement for baby led weaning) so we gave him purees. It has taken him awhile to figure out how to swallow, but he loves yogurt and fruit/veggie and fruit purees. I tried giving him carrot and green bean purees and he literally gagged! But I tasted them and they were AWFUL. He liked sweet potatoes so at least there is one veggie he likes in puree form. Now that he is better at sitting up, we are starting to give him some chunkier things but he is not sure what to do with them!
Sleeping: We've turned the corner on this! I hit my breaking point after he went from waking once to waking 2+ times. So we did sleep training in July and he now sleeps through the night. Alleluia! It only took a couple of days to get him to sleep through the night. He'll occasionally wake and cry for a bit and a couple of times he's woken at 5:30 and cried for awhile but our rule is to not go in before 6 am. Paul did not sleep through the night until a year so I am VERY glad Will is a better sleeper. Not having ear infections/not needing to get tubes makes as big difference!
Mama: I'm doing pretty well overall! I see my pelvic floor PT tomorrow so it will be good to see how my increased mileage has impacted things. I haven't seen her for a month since I had been doing so well. I am excited to have a race on the calendar (a 10 mile on October 3rd - the day Will turns 10 months). I never would have registered for this if not for my neighbor. I've enjoyed running with her a couple of times a week! I try to run 3 times/week and then do 1-2 strength training sessions and walks on other days.
Breastfeeding is still going well but I sometimes struggle with feeling a bit chained to Will. He takes a bottle great at school but does not do well when Phil gives him a bottle. He's a smart kid, I guess! So I have only missed bedtime once when I had a work dinner in July at 5:30. But I know he'll drink less and less in the coming months so I'll have more freedom to be away from him during the day on weekends if need be.
My RA is much better as the new injection I switched to is working well. So I will be able to make it to 12 months of breastfeeding. I'm not sure how soon I will wean him - we will see how I feel as I approach December.
Pablo: All in all, Pablo has done really well with the adjustment to big brother. He has times of jealousy but is also very sweet towards his brother. He gets most upset if he sees me reading a book to Will. But I will just have him come sit with us and start over.
Overall, we feel lucky to have such a chill, happy little guy!
3 comments:
The two things that make me happiest here is that sleeping is improving and your new RA injection seems to be a help. YAY! He sure is a cutie and sounds like he's well on his way to being a smiley, happy little boy. I'm glad he likes the water!
So exciting that you're able to ramp back up with your activity and that your RA isn't acting up. That's great news all around!
It must be fun to see the relationship between Paul and Will blossom, even if it does come with some jealousy from time to time. I can only IMAGINE the battles my mom had to go through dealing with my brother and me, haha, as we were 14 months apart.
Glad to hear you are doing better with the RA.
Pablo and Will are just too cute :-) The jealousy is so normal. Christopher's brother was so jealous when Christopher came along that he started saying he was his "auntie's boy" instead of his mom's, lol. He grew out of it ... I think. Hahahaha.
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