Noah @ 10 Months

We have been so busy these past few weeks I almost forgot about this.
Also, I feel like this is really long. Feel free to skim. I promise I won't be offended or even know.

NOAH:

• I guess the biggest thing is that he walks now. This started about a week and a half after his 9 month mark, but mostly just teeny Point A to Point B stuff. Like the edge of chair to couch. Now it is ALL OVER.  Within a 3 day period, he suddenly started taking small, steady steps and being able to catch himself before falling. It is crazy how fast things change. It is funny and fun to watch him. 

• He does the cheesiest smile with his eyes closed when he is amused by something or really excited. Sometimes it is even accompanied by a snorty laugh. We got him a stuffed dog that is about as big as he is and this will get a cheesy smile every time. He also will give it kisses if you ask.

• Loves to: drink from the bathtub faucet, play in the shower, go outside, watch cars, say hi/bye to Daddy getting on/off the bus, brush his teeth, open and close doors, look out the window

• He is really into reading books on his own. He likes to pull them down off his shelf and knows to use his thumb to open them and flip pages. You can tell what pages he likes by how long he looks at them.

 

• Has started sucking his thumb. We have no idea why and it is not a comfort thing. It seems like it's just something he does because he can. It might have started when he was pulling his hands to his chest to steady himself while he walked. This happens less often now, so maybe the sucking will stop too. 

• Freaks out excitedly when we offer him fruit – usually bananas and apples. He knows where the fruit bowl is in the fridge since I let him play in there while making dinner occasionally. And sometimes we find fruit that has little baby bites taken out of it.

• Finally finally starting to understand when we tell him no. He doesn’t like it. The other day we told him no about playing in the trash can (which he has heard many many times) and he just stared at us while slowly creeping his little hand back into the can.

• He is really good about going off and playing on his own and getting into things. But every once in awhile he likes to come check and say hi. Which is adorable when he pokes his head around the corner and says hi. So much fun.

• He is definitely starting to get the hang of his hello/goodbye wave but is selective on when he will wave. Sometimes he just randomly waves. He really likes to wave bye to the checkers we always see when we get groceries. 

• Climbing. He knows he can crawl over things (like our legs) but he is now starting to climb ONTO things. Or trying to climb OUT of the tub (not as fun...)

• He can use his spoon pretty well if we hand it to him with stuff on it. He knows to give it back when we ask, even though he won't do it sometimes. He also can drink pretty well from his baby cup. And still hasn't really turned down any food.  We have tried to get him to start sharing and he will do it as long as he has a bite of whatever it is first. If not, he will ignore you. 

• He likes to wave and say "hi baby" to his reflection in the mirror and sometimes to pictures of babies. He likes to see his picture on the phone, and if I ask him to say "hi daddy" he knows it's most likely because I'm sending David a video/picture. He recognizes when we say lots of food words (like banana, apple, cheese...) and if I ask him to go get his blanket or where his doggy is he always starts to turn and walk towards them. It is really fun to hear him imitate sounds that we make. David thinks it is nonsense sometimes, but I really do think he is trying to communicate with us.  Classic parental disagreement. 

• Basically, he is our busy, curious, sweet little guy. I wish you could all see how funny he is and the way he wants to know what is going on and be involved. And while he is still not a snuggler, he definitely has his moments where he needs to be held and loved. 

WE PARENTS:

• loved our vacation. They are probably my favorite thing to do, I'm sure I'll try to blog about what we did. (keyword: try)

• I'm also trying to catch up on learning how to edit photos but I am so so slow and my time is so limited, sometimes I can't justify spending all night sitting at the computer

• David is 3 weeks out from a BIG exam which has claimed all of his spare time. I think he gets maybe 30 minutes to himself each night after hours of studying. We will both be glad when it is over, even if we won't know if he passed for another 8 weeks (sheesh.)

• The end of the year is going to be busy for us and I am excited, but also trying to stay in the moment and appreciate each day instead of immediately counting down to the next big thing on our calendar. 

bonus:

Halloween costume courtesy of Grandma and Grandpa. I still laugh whenever I look at these.

Today and all days

The most common thing I find myself wishing for is more. More time, more sleep, more sugar, more strength, more money, more appreciation, more justification. 

I wrote an email last night. I think writing this email was more impactful than anyone reading that email. It made me take a deep breath. A step back. A quiet look around. 

Last night I stopped wishing for more and looked at what I have. That list is long, my friends. Mostly made up of little things. The little things that are so easy to ignore or overlook. These little things are what make my life. 

I want to remember the little things. Not just today. But all days. I want to let acknowledgement and appreciation replace wishing and wanting. Because what I have should be enough. And it is.

Hey Wednesday.

Not exactly the calm morning we have normally......

After an hour of a smoke alarm going off upstairs, 911 was called. 4 trucks, 1 smoky apartment, and many, many firemen later, I had to put Noah down for a late nap--- so I have no idea what caused it!  But everyone/everything is fine.  I also learned our (other) upstairs neighbor has a pet ferret and that my child giggles at and loves to pet ferrets. #gross 

Now I'm re-thinking emergency preparedness plans and renters insurance.

....and going to take a LONG nap.  

Noah @ 9 months

It was so tough to wrangle this kid for pictures. Definitely a two-person job next time. Also, he was SO chatty and moving all the time, it was hard to catch a smile that wasn't crazy blurry. But that about sums him up these days --- a busy blur.

28.75 inches tall - 68%

 21 pounds 5.8 oz - 78%

18.5 inches head circumference - 86%

Definitely not little any more!

NOAH:

• learned how to go from crawling to sitting up at the beginning of the month. I noticed him trying once or twice in his crib. But then BOOM, all.day.every.day. Now mix that with standing. That same day, he also realized he can pull himself to standing in his crib (giggling while he did it). It's pretty much all he does in there now.

• laughs like crazy when he gets tired. So fun hear him laugh uncontrollably. And he will laugh at anything!

• demands whatever we are eating. He will come and beg at your knee if he sees you with something. He also started drinking from a cup and is slowly learning to use a sippy. But he is a pro with his little baby cup. He pushes away his bottle unless he is really hungry in the mornings or after a nap. Really seems to just want more regular food. Which he can eat and eat and eat.

• looooves the computer. If you have it out, that's all he wants to play with and all he cares about. He learned he can crawl out of rooms this month and is now fascinated by everything in the bathroom and kitchen now. He loves to open and close cupboard doors. He's already unrolled a whole roll of toilet paper.

• pulls himself up to standing on almost anything, can cruise around our furniture so quickly, and will even use the walls to walk around to get where he wants to go. He can't stand up on his own but he really only needs a tiny bit of support to go somewhere. He has been pushing off us more and more but still d oesn't have great balance. Except in the bathtub, oddly enough.

• really good about letting me run in the mornings but I'm not fast enough to go as far as I'd like before he wants out. 

• we took him to the playground last week and he learned how to climb stairs. It is always fun to watch him figure things out.

• can clap his hands (he learned that one all on his own!) and will play patti-cake. He will start clapping if he is excited or happy about something too. It's so cute to see. He used to wave hi and bye, but refuses to anymore. Also knows how to high-five and throw his arms up for 'touchdown'.

US PARENTS:
• not much to report here. David is busy studying. I'm busy keeping up with Noah. This summer was really low-key for us. We went to the BYU game vs UCONN and it was great. It was also the first time dropping Noah off at a babysitter's. Kind of weird but it was nice to go on a date. We have a great little routine around here and life is so, so good.

Buying for a baby. (8 months later...)

I didn't realize how much stuff you end up buying for babies. After reading many reviews and considering what we could afford with our budget, this is what worked for us and what we loved.  I'm sure I'm forgetting some. (Baby brain is real, people.)
[not sponsored... just loved.]

1 •••  aden + anais swaddle blankets -- I knew I wanted these and they are by far my favorite blankets. These work well for both cold and hot weather and also as nursing covers. I also heard RAVE reviews of the bamboo ones, so maybe next baby?

2  •••  Burt's Bees bed sheets -- these are super soft and comfy. We also have these from target which are nice to switch out and a lot cooler during the hot summer weather.

3  ••• Ikea crib -- simple, white, affordable. That was all I was looking for and this fit perfectly. Ikea actually released a new line of cribs after Noah was born that I'm loving. But we had a deadline to meet and couldn't wait for those.  We also bought this pack n' play (but from Walmart). It came with a bassinet which was perfect when Noah slept in our room. 

4  ••• Foscam video monitor  [+ baby monitor app] - It's really meant as a security camera. It runs over your wifi, and you can check it on a computer or on your phone if you get an app. It was cheaper/better reviewed than any official "baby monitor" we looked at.   *I love being able to look at my baby. Especially when we decided to sleep train him. Or when I wake up during the night. Or when writing a blog post in the living room.      here is what it looks like on my phone:

5  ••• Overstock chair -- We decided to get this in lieu of a glider, hoping  it will last long enough to be used in a family room. It reclines, rocks, and has cushioned arms - so nice when you hold your baby for long periods of time! I actually slept in it a few times at the end of my pregnancy when sleep becomes so elusive. Not in this chair. We also ended up getting an ottoman to put our feet on. It now holds extra blankets.

6  ••• Ikea shelves (seen in this post) -- we use these for Noah's books! Definitely helps add color to our white renter walls.

7  ••• Blackout curtains (seen in this post) -- we made our own (fabric+blackout material from Joann's). Noah's room faces east so these have been gooooooood for getting to sleep longer in the mornings and getting him to take naps during the day. 

[We skipped the changing table/dresser -- a) no room b) I voted to get a better chair with the money from not getting a dresser c) dollar store baskets, hanging cubbies, and hangers in the closet work just fine.]

8  ••• Solly baby wrap - Real life pictures! I bought this right after we were married, so unfortunately they are a little more pricey now. I loved it! It was fantastic when Noah was a newborn. However, Noah wasn't a fan of being wrapped up so we didn't last super long wearing it. 

9  ••• Ergo Baby Carrier (purchased through ebates from Target) - I'm kind of kicking myself over the Ergo. I love love love it because it has a wider base than some other carriers and you can carry them for a long time (age-wise), but if I had waited just 3 more weeks, I could have had the option of the 360 wrap that lets the baby face any direction. Which Noah would highly prefer because he likes to face out. I know there are some other good carriers that are up-and-coming that have good features too. It would be fun to try those out. 

10 ••• Ingenuity Baby Booster Seat -- works great for our glamorous apartment living. Our kitchen has no space for a high chair. This has been fairly easy to clean and we like that it grows with Noah (we just removed the insert a couple weeks ago! Mostly to have more access to the food he drops haha)

11 ••• Fisher-Price Bouncer -- (gift from a shower) It was FABULOUS. We used it so, so much when Noah wasn't as squirmy and mobile as he is now. I've seen lots of these show up at the consignment store if you're willing to wait for one. 

12 ••• We bought this Snugabunny Fisher-Price swing after multiple nights with almost no sleep. We got desperate. Maybe not our best purchase because it didn't help as much as we thought. Perhaps if we had gotten it sooner? Hopefully some day another baby loves it more than Noah did because it actually is a really nice swing.

13 ••• Turtle Bath Sponge (gift from a shower) -- It worked so well that we wore it out. It was easy, stored well in our apartment, and it was fun to watch Noah grow and to think about how small he was at first. 

14 ••• Cloth diapers as burp cloths ---  We got a lot of handmade blankets with matching cloths, but some of them didn't quite absorb as well as I hoped. Sometimes the liquid would roll off. But these baby cloth diapers -- They are magical and soak up everything.

» I also wish I had gotten a boppy/related item. I think it would have helped with multiple things. But I just never got around to it/didn't want to spend the money whenever I thought about it «

(I never thought I would be the mom that needs THREE strollers with only an 8-month old baby. But I do. They are all useful and handy and great in their own ways.)

15 ••• Snap 'N Go - purchased from a consignment store (I will forever sing the praises of consignment stores and Craig's list for strollers!) We use it almost every time we go anywhere. It stays in our trunk, collapses so easily, is light and compact, and it is super easy to hook/unhook the car seat. Completely worth every penny. We will use this until Noah outgrows his car seat.
16 ••• Chicco Echo -- this has great reviews for being a pretty basic "umbrella" style stroller. Noah liked it right away, it's easy to fold, locks shut, seat adjusts to laying down and sitting up and in between. We got it on sale with a coupon code and already used it a ton. This was our walking stroller until I got the jogging stroller. This will be used way more when we are done with the snap n go. 

17 ••• BOB Revolution - I decided I wanted to be really picky about a jogging stroller. These are pricey, but my trade off was that I was going to find a good used one. This stroller is just great.It had everything I was looking for and I'm so glad I was able to be patient. I searched craigslist for many many weeks and ended up going with a used one that is older for a steal! (2006? 2007?) I cleaned it and we pumped the tires up and it functions SO well.  My motivation to exercise showed up when this stroller did. I really love it.

18 ••• Dohm Sound Machine - You can hear everything in our apartment. And in our upstairs neighbor's. And next-door neighbor's. This machine is our lifesaver. Based on this article, we keep this across the room just to be safe. I kind of want one for me.

19 ••• Crane Cool Mist Humidifier - This really helped Noah when he was stuffed up in the middle of winter and couldn't sleep because he couldn't breathe as well. This had great reviews and we have been happy with it.

Okay, that was longer than I thought. I'm done. Anything you got that you loved? Or hated? 

I'm always open to trying new things. And getting more stuff!

While I was pregnant, I loved these:
••• Vitamins listed from Grace's blog --- these are totally worth the pennies. (mini-backstory: Saved me big bucks.)
••• Books to read (re-read):
   Eat, Sleep, Poop - modern-yet-conservative take on parenting advice from a pediatrician who is also a recent dad.
   Nursing Mother's Companion - this was very informative.
   What to Expect...  (kind of an obvious one, but I really did like it.) I need to start reading the ones about your baby growing up too.

Noah's room!

I still have artwork from my elementary/middle school days that I want to hang above his crib.
But that is a project for another day.

Noah @ 8 months

8 months is my new favorite.

NOAH
• Babbles to himself on the floor, usually while gnawing on a toy (or a remote, yay). It is so fun to just listen to him and laugh at his goofiness. He also has the cutest little voice when he starts talking. 
• Loves the air conditioner. He stands in front of it and makes the most gleeful screams. 
• Will eat anything we put in front of him. He has been loving the blueberries we picked. He is not afraid to grunt to tell us he wants what we have. He also is really interested in drinking from our glasses (and water bottles) but absolutely ZERO interest in a sippy cup. (If you have a sippy you loved, what was it? I'm curious to see if another brand will do the trick.)
• When he wants to be, he is pretty mobile. He's not fast, but he is a determined little guy. He still army-crawls because he isn't patient enough to learn the traditional way, but he is working on it. He has started realizing he can follow me out of the room. 

• He already liked to 'walk' but now he has realized he can pull himself up to standing in the bathtub. SCARY. And now that is usually all he wants to do. He also likes to grab for the faucet and has turned the shower on more than once.
• He can happily jump in his jumperoo for quite awhile which is helpful for me cleaning up breakfast.
• He is so good for me when we go out on our morning jog/walks. I'm not fast, but he loves to look around and watch cars so win-win, I guess?
• Loves to watch videos of himself, and will smile and grab for the phone as fast as he can. We have some pictures on the wall of him from a few months ago. We like to show him them and say "hi baby" sometimes. And a couple different times, both David and I have been carrying him in the room and thought he made sounds that sound like it. SO CUTE. 
• Randomly shudders. It is hilarious and we have no idea why he does it. But we laugh every time.
• Still loves dogs. We spent yesterday with friends who have a dog and by the end he was squealing and trying his best to crawl after it. He tries to follow bigger kids too. 
• Gives theeeee BEST kisses right now. No more open mouth sloppies (which I kind of miss already). These are the soft, lean-in kisses where he presses his face to yours- sometimes even holding your face in his hands. My heart melts every.single.time. And bonus: he will give them to David too.

MOMMA:
• forced David to go blueberry picking (twice!) so I could stock up on supah cheap ($2/lb!!!) blueberries. We also picked way too many peaches - I sense a peach pie in our future - and ate dee-licious homemade ice cream and blueberry fritters. I'm actually tempted to go back today but I know they only have fritters on the weekends. Maybe Saturday? 
• Planning on sneaking in some more pool trips before they close (in 2 weeks, whatttt?? where did summer go? I miss Dallas pools.)
• AUDIOBOOKS are apparently the secret to getting me out the door to run. They keep my attention so much better than music. Especially when they are 6+ hours long. If only my library had more that are on my list.  
• I typed Noah's birth story while still in the hospital with him but finally got around to actually writing it in my journal. It's been good to remember some of the small details I forgot already.
• Noah and I have a great bedtime/nap routine down and I love, love, LOVE every minute that he lets me snuggle him. And when he does fall asleep in my arms, I snuggle him for as long as I can soaking up every tiny second and trying to keep my baby little. So grateful to be his mamma. 

And some of the goodies from this month's iphone storage overload! 

 

 

 

» 7 months «

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Baby, you're a firework.

(I didn't notice that my phone never published this. Oops.)

It rained on the 4th and the (very few) celebrations that were supposed to be that day got postponed. We tried to go on the 5th thinking that Noah would like the fireworks. We debated not going because it was going to be late and Noah REFUSES to sleep anywhere but his bed and at only at bedtime. We thought we could get him to fall asleep in the stroller. 

Nope. 

We ended up just playing with him. And he was mostly fine. He was really chatty and loved watching the other kids. Even when the fireworks started.  I think we were too far away from them (we had an escape route planned) and he didn't even notice them. So we left about 10 minutes into it and took him home to sleep. 

David and I discussed how, as a parent, you want your child to have new experiences and see new places and new things. Like Noah seeing fireworks. We tried to make it happen. However, you can't force your child to have the experience you want them to have. They have to do it on their own, in their own way. 

But that doesn't mean you stop trying. 

So maybe next year, kiddo. 

Baby Led Weaning (BLW).

Just posting this in case anyone wants to know more about a real-life BLW experience.

We got the okay to start Noah on solids at his 4 month check-up. And he liked them! However, with the purees came diarrhea. We had just gotten over 4 weeks of unexplained diarrhea, so when it started again the purees stopped.  A month and a half later when he was really into trying to grab our plates and was staring every time we ate, I decided to try BLW. (side note 1: our doctor gave us the okay at 6 months to let Noah eat whatever.... except the usual trifecta of cow's milk, honey, peanut butter/nuts, etc...  My family also has no food allergies that I'm aware of, so I was pretty confident in letting him try anything.)

Cucumber stick.

What BLW is:  Basically, you let your baby feed himself starting around 6 months because that is when he has more developmental skills. The whole idea is to let the baby decide what and how much he wants to eat and it introduces him to a variety of tastes and textures very early on. (Playing with food is highly encouraged.)

How you do it: Start with "sticks" of food (cooked to where they are soft) and then let the baby go to town! And he will do it with mucho gusto! Seriously. I was nervous that Noah would spit it out or throw it away because the texture was bad to him or the taste was too unfamiliar. But noooooooo. This kid loves food. He dug in right from the beginning.
   
   The hardest part of the whole process is making sure you don't panic when your baby uses his gag reflex when learning to swallow. The book goes in-depth on how babies have a different gag reflex than adults and that gagging is not the same as choking. After CAREFULLY (read: staring and hovering and minor panicking) watching Noah use his gag reflex many times, it really is crazy-amazing. He just spits that piece out and then will try to pick it up and eat it again! But we are there every time Noah is eating for the entire time. (And I read this and watched this multiple times to re-familiarize myself with infant choking rescue procedures.)

What we started with: plain cooked carrots, steamed apples, cucumbers, and broccoli. Then added squash, toast sticks, and sometimes cheese. Not a lot of actual eating happened. But he really seemed to enjoy the whole process -- picking the sticks up, gumming down on them repeatedly, and just trying new foods!

Broccoli was a BIG hit.

Where we are at now: Again, this kid loooooves food. He really enjoys it. It's at the point where we can't eat in the same room with him unless he can have some of it. I was trying to eat a pear this morning sneakily while he was drinking a bottle. Didn't work. He pushed his bottle aside so he could eat my pear. When/If we use a spoon, I just put the food on it and let him put it in his mouth.  At night, he mostly just eats what we are eating. (Side note 2: we really don't eat any "processed" foods and hardly ever go out, so we pretty much know what is going into each dinner we make.)

For example, from what we had this week:

• red curry soup - Noah ate potatoes, chicken, green beans, rice balls, and chewed on a slice of lime (which we thought he would hate, but nope. He kept trying to put the whole thing in his mouth.).

• homemade pizza - Noah got slices of fresh whole cheese, pieces of crust that had tomato sauce on them, and mango slices.

• this dish from Rachel's blog -- Noah eats EVERYTHING from it - the sweet potatoes, chicken pieces, black beans (all with spices on them and some melted cheese and cilantro and made with chicken broth), sometimes he gets an additional mini quesadilla and/or some fruit.

Here is everything else he has eaten so far that I can remember: squash, bell pepper, tomato, hummus (homemade), cottage cheese, hamburger, pasta, a little sausage (we added the spices to ground pork), toast, bagel, plum, peach, pear, grape, watermelon, apple, lime, banana, black beans, avocado, strawberries, cucumber, mango, scrambled eggs, french fries (He and I were in the airport. Just the two of us. And it was necessary.) 

a la airport with his french fries.

What I liked about it:

It is FASCINATING to watch his development. He was terrible at picking up food at the beginning and even worse at being able to get it to his mouth. Fast forward a month and a half. It is a completely different game. He knows what he wants and he can grab it so quickly.

 He is starting to use his thumb and first finger in a pinching motion, has significantly improved on chewing his foods and is still getting better at that, can now swallow with minor occasional gagging (usually on the tiniest of pieces which I don't understand, but hey...), and can even successfully scrape the "meat" off a piece of fruit and leave the skin with just his two teeth. He devoured almost a whole plum one day (not cut into sticks -- I just took a bite of it and handed it to him and he went to town). We were left with the pit and a little bit of skin.  

He started with only eating teeny tiny amounts; now, he is really starting to want more. But he still drinks his bottle every 3 hours and gets all the nutrition he needs from that. This is purely just exciting fun for him.  Now if we are going out, all I have to do is bring a bag of fruit or veggies. Or we have the option of just letting him eat food from our plates, which is fantastic too.

from a couple nights ago (during a world cup game, in the living room...)

The hard part: Your baby is going to gag no matter what. It doesn't mean he's choking. But the panic is still there. It's really hard to watch this happen and you worry every time (part of being a parent, right?).
• We still have to make sure certain foods aren't too big (grapes - because he likes to swallow those without chewing. yay.) and that the food we make for dinner has pieces that are a good size for him.
• He drops his bottle for our food. Which means we have to be willing to share and also really have to watch what we are eating. No more jelly beans or bowls of cereal in front of him.
• You do it on their time. It is best when they decide when they are done. Sometimes Noah liked to go slow and play around more.
• It is messy 98% of the time and not just him. The chair. The table. The floor. Trying to wipe him up is a bit of an effort and he sometimes gets an extra bath if it is really bad.

But I really love it. It feels like a normal family dinner time for us and I think Noah likes it too. So for me, the benefits >>>>> cons. I know this has been a rather lengthy post, but hopefully(!) it was informational for anyone interested. This was definitely the best way for us to go, but to each their own, right?

*I was totally not paid for this post. I think maybe 5 people read this blog and heaven knows I have no sponsors or anything like that. No, this is purely because I wished I could have read someone else's experience before starting ours. Just thought it would maybe help someone some day.