7 Months Old

My little man is 7 months old today! I know that people say it all the time, but I just can't believe how fast the time flies. I can barely remember what it was like during the first few months of sleep deprivation and nursing struggles. And no smiling or laughing! Although there are still sleep and nursing issues, they're fairly manageable. Noah's naps are somewhat predictable, and we can usually expect him to go to bed some time between 7 and 8pm and then wake up some time between 6 and 7 am. Sometimes he'll wake up in the middle of the night crying for about 10 min then go back to sleep and sometimes he'll wake up at around 5am, nurse, then go back to sleep. About a week ago he went through a "phase" of crying for about 30 minutes before every nap and bedtime. I don't really know what was going on, but I'm glad he's moved on from that for now. As for nursing, he doesn't always nurse very well because he always wants to look around and move around, but I think he's getting enough. Some days he has a lot of milk, other days (like today) not as much. Since he's also eating more solids now I'm not that worried about him starving. I am a bit concerned about him not getting enough nutrients though, because I don't think the relatively small amounts of fruits and vegetables that he eats are really nutrient-rich, but I guess all I can do is keep trying. I just make sure to push the cereals, which are fortified with vitamins and minerals (if there are any moms feeding, I welcome any tips/thoughts in this area). I had originally planned to wean him from breastmilk at around 6 months but when he finally turned 6 months, I was reluctant to let go. I really don't think I can make it to a year, but maybe I'll try to keep at it until he starts eating meat. To be honest, I think the idea of washing all of those bottles everyday is really what turns me off from weaning.

In my attempts to provide more nutrients through solids, as well as broadening Noah's palate, I've been trying to make baby food at home. I got the Beaba Babycook as a gift (thanks Sarah!) and it is awesome. Above is a mixture of leeks, spinach, peas, and sweet potato. I'm trying to expose Noah to a lot of green foods in the hopes that it might help him eat more vegetables when he gets older. I hope it works! When pureed, it is basically a dark green color. It doesn't look that delicious, but it smells good and Noah seems to enjoy it. I found the recipe in Top 100 Baby Purees by Annabel Karmel. A bunch of her recipes involve making your own chicken or vegetable stock which is kind of a pain (and I haven't tried them), but so far I like the less labor intensive recipes.

Noah doesn't have any teeth yet, but he's been gumming on just about everything. Whatever he can get his hands on, he tries to stuff into his mouth or wave around. He also has recently started putting his toes in his mouth and sucking on his thumb (it took him a while to find it). Noah continues to enjoy rolling around, and even has started rolling to his right as well as his left.

Here he is, mesmerized by the TV, while doing some kind of leg workout because he doesn't like to just stay still. Like father like son, I guess. Dad says that he used up all his energy when he was young; now he just wants to sit around all the time and do nothing.

Finally, swimming pictures!

Swimming, Sitting, & Sleeping

Last week we started "swimming" lessons with Noah. I forgot to bring a camera the first time, when Peter came with us, so all I have is a picture of Noah in his towel/robe/onesie in the parking lot. Noah seems to like the pool. After the initial entrance into the water, during which he cries because it's cold, he is pretty happy. He likes splashing around and doesn't seem to mind getting water on his face.

While it's fun to get in the pool with Noah, the class is kind of stressful for me because of all the preparation and changing. I need make sure that Noah is napping by at least 9:30 so that he can get a good hour of napping before waking up at 10:30 so that I can get him ready to leave the house. It usually takes about 15 min to get out the door. We leave home at 10:45, get to the pool at around 11, then we need to get changed and ready for class at 11:20. There's only one changing station in the locker room so I either need to wait or change him while holding him. Because there's no where to put him down, I also need to wheel the stroller around. Class ends at 11:50 and by this time, Noah has been awake for almost 1.5 hrs; he can only really be awake for about 2 hours without becoming overtired. By 11:50 he's also hungry because it's lunch time and also because everyone's hungry after swimming, even if it's "swimming"! So I have to feed him quickly, then get him home so that he can take his nap. As a result, Noah's swim trunks got left behind this week. =( I was sure that someone would turn it in to the lost and found, but as of yet, it's still missing. I suppose this seems naive, but I'm hoping that maybe one of the other moms picked it up and will bring it to class next week. For some reason I'm having a really hard time accepting the idea that maybe someone just took it home and kept it. Who takes swim trunks from a baby??? Anyway, now that I've gone through the whole process by myself, I think I will be better prepared for next time. No more lost swim trunks!

Noah has made progress in sitting! I helped him out by spreading out his legs a bit, but he's able to stay sitting like that for a little longer now.

While Noah has made progress in sitting, he is making negative progress in sleeping. It's 7:40 right now and Noah has been crying, crying, crying since about 7. I know that he's tired because he's been yawning, rubbing his eyes, and overall has been pretty cranky but he's been crying for about 40 minutes already and I just don't know what to do. In the past, I've gone in there after about 15 minutes of intense crying, calmed him down, then put him back in the crib (still awake). That usually did the trick and he would fall asleep soon after. Most of the time I didn't need to even go in there because it never got to that point. But this past week there has been intense crying at almost all nap times and bed times. My neighbors must think I'm torturing him. I'm starting to think that going in there to calm him down is counter-productive. It may have worked before, but now I may just be conditioning him to cry until I go in (I think he just fell asleep!). Perhaps it's time to really let him cry it out?

6 Month Check-up

Band-aids on his legs from his shots. :(

We went to Noah's "official" 6 month check-up this past Wednesday. He is now 27.5 inches tall, 18 lbs 4oz, and has a head circumference of 17.5 inches. He's basically grown about 2.5 inches every 2 months!!! I'm excited about his growth and development, but it also makes me so sad when I think about how quickly it's all going! He'll never be this small again! :( On Wednesday the Dr. asked us if we were still giving him Prevacid for his reflux and we'd totally forgotten that he even had reflux.

Noah also got more vaccinations on Wednesday - one oral and three injections. Since he's over 6 months old, we also ended up getting him the flu shot because the Dr. said that they're still seeing lots of cases of the flu right now. I'm convinced that the taste of the Rotavirus brings back painful memories of the ensuing shots, but I'm sure babies can't actually remember. Noah sucked down the Rotavirus vaccine the first time he went, like it was the best thing he'd ever tasted. Then he got 3 shots in a row. The second time he was a bit more tentative, and then he got 2 shots in a row. This last time he took the longest to drink it up, even though he's become very proficient at taking the vitamin D drops and drinking from a sippy cup. Is that not compelling evidence? I think so. Hahaha..

One last update - Noah has conquered the activity mat. He rolls around while he's underneath it, and if the foam poles get in the way, he just powers through and takes them down. He also rolled out of the Bumbo seat earlier today while trying to reach for my phone. He still hasn't made much progress with sitting, but it seems that he's become quite the bulldozer.