Baby Jett - 10 Months

First I have to record Baby Jett's 9 Month stats...for posterity sake of course!

Remember how I said I was sure he was no more than 18 lbs.

Mommy was spot on.

At  9 Months Baby Jett weighed 18 lbs exactly, still in the 18th percentile.
And is once again tall at 29.75 inches which is the 85th percentile.

And 3 weeks later at 10 months I'm sure he weighs no more than 18.5 lbs but I'm pretty sure he's over 30 inches which means WE NEED A NEW CAR SEAT.  I can't believe we need a new car seat.  Our car seat has a weight limit of 30 lbs but a height limit of 30 inches.  Crap.

At least this one lasts until he's 65 lbs!  He'll be like 8 by then =)

I feel like I've started 17 different posts over the last few weeks but have managed to post NONE of them, so it looks like I'll just summarize everything here.

Here's what's new this month.

• He waves.  He's been a 2 handed waver for awhile and he would wave for no reason but he finally "gets" waving, as in with one hand and it's when we see people or they're leaving...he really likes to wave at people's backs after they've already left.
• He dances...by shaking his head back and forth when he hears music.  Clearly he gets his dancing skills from daddy because that is definitely NOT how mommy dances.  Sometimes he sings along as well...so cute!
• He learned to go down the stairs, you know backwards as in NOT face first and throwing himself down expecting someone to catch him.  We've been working on this for awhile as there are A LOT of stairs in our house and you know...just lots of stairs in SF in general.
• He "shares".  He'll hand you things but then he wants them right back, sometimes he doesn't even really let it go before snatching it back.  But his face lights up when he offers something and you take it and say thank you.
• He has a new fake cry where he squishes he face up and squints his eyes...real cry the bottom lip sticks out, fake cry no bottom lip.
• He understands how things go IN things, so now everything goes in something, toys in his baby potty, cheerios in the bumbo, bowls in pots, spoons in drawers, booty in giant silver vase that no one would ever think to look for booty in etc etc.  I keep opening drawers to find things that definitely don't belong there and we're definitely starting to "lose" toys as they end up in drawers or cupboards or the above mentioned vase. 
• Had his first virus.  He was sick with rose.ola.  He handled it pretty well, though he was kind of miserable for most of a week, including when grandma and grandpa came to visit.
• Was the BEST SLEEPER EVER when he was sick...it was kind of amazing.  Long  1-2 hour naps twice every day and LONG stretches of sleep at night with only one waking.
• Promptly went back to SHITTY SHITTY SLEEP once he was better.  Although naps stayed awesome.  YES, NAPS ARE AWESOME NOW.  He went back to waking every 3 hours for almost a week.  But now back to one night waking again.  Sleeping seems to always be a work in progress.
• He is suddenly scared of loud noises, he bursts into tears when he's startled by loud noises now.
• Has been on a hunger strike.  He stopped eating meat awhile ago but then he stopped eating bread (which he loved) and then he stopped eating all the veggies that he used to love.  So basically he eats fruit.  Pediatrician said don't worry about it as long as he's still breastfeeding.  Just keep offering.  We waste a lot of food that he doesn't eat these days.
• He still nurses all day long, he basically never makes it more than 2 hours without at least a little snack. 
• Still only has the 2 bottom teeth...which he brushes every night in the bathtub.
• Has learned how to get under the bedskirt and has discovered the wonderland of wires we have hiding under there.

• Suddenly hates the bath.  He used to LOVE the bath...now he makes it about 3 minutes before he bursts into tears and tries to climb out...no idea what happened. 

Now get ready for the piccies of cuteness.

He is so over this laying on his back for pictures malarkey.  Good thing I only have 2 more months of these!

Breastfeeding - 9 Months

As promised in my last post, here's an update on breastfeeding at 9 months.

In a nutshell, we're still breastfeeding A LOT at 9 months.

I started out this nursing gig ready to go the whole nine yards, nursing for at least a year but weaning sometime before 2 so that we can get preggers again and start the whole thing over.  I realize one can breastfeed and be pregnant at the same time but I have NO desire to do it...only one baby using my body at a time please!

Breastfeeding has gone relatively smoothly for us.  I had WAY too much milk in the beginning that caused infinite amounts of stress as it took Baby Jett FOREVER  to learn how to deal with the forceful letdown and the gobs and gobs of milk that would spray into his mouth like a firehose.

But it was never painful (other than those first few days as the nipples adjusted!), we had no latch issues and I've never had supply issues...unless you count TOO MUCH as a supply issue.  So, all in all breastfeeding has been a pleasant experience for me.

At 4 months the boobs finally got the message that my ONE baby did not need enough milk for THREE and really eased up with the milk they were producing.

My letdown however never eased up at all and I can still spray milk across the room. Luckily this isn't a problem for a 9 month old...he doesn't seem to mind gobs of milk spraying down his throat anymore.

So for 6.5 months Baby Jett was exclusively breastfed, I don't even think he had water until 6 months.

Just before 7 months we took the leap and began introducing solid food into his diet.  And now at 9 months he is up to 3 meals and one snack of solids a day...but he still enjoys some boob every hour or so, SERIOUSLY.

Even after the introduction of solids he continues to rely heavily on breastmilk for nourishment as well as comfort.  Some days I feel like I nurse him more now than before we started solids.

For instance, it's 10:30 in the morning as I'm writing this and I have nursed him 4 times already this morning.  Yeah...we do a lot of nursing.

I am eternally grateful to the boob and feel very blessed to be able to breastfeed my baby...I don't know what I would do without it.

There are so many circumstances in which the boob is MAGIC.

Baby only slept for half an hour and needs to sleep more?...boob him.

Baby is being picky and won't eat any of the solids he's offered but is still obviously hungry?...boob him.

Baby falls down and bumps his head?...boob him.

Baby getting shots?...boob him.

Baby won't calm down for any number of different reasons?...boob him.

I have discontinued the use of the boob to PUT my baby to sleep as that was causing all sorts of problems, but to put him BACK to sleep?  Still magic.

Ok that's a lie, I just put him down for a nap an hour ago with my boob...but as long as he's not waking up after half an hour anymore I think it's OK!

As I said in my last post I honestly can't imagine in just 3 months weaning him off the boob, so more realistically I'm thinking breastfeeding will continue until 18 months?  But hopefully still less than 2 years! 

 I used to be able to nap with him NOT attached to my boob, he was just a few weeks old here...

 Not anymore!  But look how big his head has gotten!

Baby Jett - 8 Months

I seem to have fallen off of the edge of blogging planet...I guess I've run out of things to talk about as of late!

I realize it's been a whole month since I posted anything but lately Baby Jett's been sleeping better and apparently I don't have anything to write about when sleeping isn't an issue.

So let's do Baby Jett's 8 month update.

He's still skinny, with all his clothes on at the pediatrician's office he weighs 17 lbs. 11 oz.  That's the 25th percentile...with his clothes on.  Not sure what to do about that as we're eating solids 3x a day now.

As to the solids he's eating like a champ and he's got the poop to prove it!  Ugh, I hate the new poop! Cloth diapers with solid food poop = yuck!

He will still try anything that you put in front of him but he definitely has some preferences.  He loves pears, strawberries, asparagus and carrots and he's not a huge fan of meat or eggs.  Who really needs protein?  Oh right, the baby does!  I've been giving him almond butter to try to get some protein and healthy fats into him.

We've tried most of the most common food allergens and so far so good, no allergies as of yet...you know other than the milk protein thing, which I STILL have not tested.  I just can't bring myself to do it, I don't want my baby's belly to hurt!

His personality is really coming through, he is...ahem...determined.  Some might say stubborn, we're putting a positive spin on it and using words like determined and persistent.  But holy shit this kid is PERSISTENT.

When he wants something he NEEDS it and puts in A LOT of effort to get it.  He's actually becoming quite the accomplished climber this way.

I put stools and laundry baskets and whatever else is in the room in the walkway in front of the cat food to keep him away from it but NO OBSTACLE WILL KEEP HIM FROM THE CAT FOOD.  He goes up, over, around or just pushes the damn thing out of the way to get there.  I am both proud and annoyed that he JUST WON'T GIVE UP.

He has 2 very stubborn parents...I see many fights in the future for all of us...sigh.

He "talks" to the cats.  One day I noticed he seemed to be whimpering a lot, I thought he was FINALLY going to cut a tooth as he was just generally really fussy, a few days later he wasn't fussy anymore but he was still whimpering.  Then I noticed WHEN he was whimpering...when the cats are around!  He whimpers at the cats, he's mimicking their meows!  CUTEST THING I'VE EVER SEEN.

AND

Sleeping is getting better!

Sometime in the last month he just started sleeping more.  I think he just wasn't ready before and now he is.  He's done 7 hour stretches several times and when he doesn't do 7 he still does 5 or 6 most nights.  It's not perfect and there are still nights where he's up every 3 hours, BUT IT'S GETTING BETTER.   We're down to only doing 2 feeds at night MAXIMUM, which means that some nights we only have one middle of the night feeding and that I've actually slept for longer than 3 hours in a row!

Truth be told I don't necessarily feel more rested.  Sleeping in longer stretches is overrated.

Boo.

He's also started napping better.  Again, it's like he just wasn't ready before and now he is.  I've put him down awake in the crib for morning naps and he puts himself to sleep for an hour or more.  IT'S CRAZY AWESOME.

He got his first cold this week.  He made it 8 months without being sick and luckily even this was pretty mild, with just a slight fever and a runny nose, but he gave it to me!  First time I've been sick since he was born too!

And then there's the standing.  Standing, standing and more standing.  His favorite thing in the world is to pull himself up, find something to pick up, bend down pick it up, stand back up then bend down and set it back down and stand back up and REPEAT SEVEN MILLION TIMES with different objects.

He's also a huge fan of pulling everything he can reach off the pantry shelves, just so it's on the ground and he can bend down and pick things up and put them down again.

He also does this with the tupperware shelf.

Ok, he does it with ANY shelf he can reach.

He also opens and closes drawers and cupboards and anything with a handle!

And last but not least he STILL HAS NO TEETH.

I'll leave you with these piccies.

 Right after taking this picture I turned to set the camera down and he basically dove head first off the chair.  Luckily I was there to catch him, but this kid is fearless!

 Enjoying a plum in the park.  I brought cut up pears for him to eat, the plum was for me but once I took a bite he wanted it for himself and he basically devoured the whole plum!

 First time in the swing!

Watchin some Baby Mozart.

 Just grabbing a cold beer out of the fridge after a long hard day of standing...and squatting...and standing some more.

Baby Jett - 7 Months

Ok, 7 months, we're 7 months already!

This has been an active active month for Baby Jett.

• He started crawling...
• ...and climbing...
• ...and pulling to standing.  This baby is on the move! 
• He also sits up completely unsupported now which seems unremarkable with the crawling...but it happened at almost the same time as the crawling and is still new this month. He literally one day was a wobbly little baby and the next day was a moving, climbing, trying to walk almost toddler.  It's been non-stop every since!
• He slept through the night, if 6 hours counts as through the night, exactly once.

Little update on the sleeping, as of Jett turning 7 months yes he only slept 6 hours once, BUT THEN, this week he slept 7 hours in a row for 3 NIGHTS IN A ROW!!!!  And is now back on his every 3 hour schedule, BUT IT HAPPENED and I have hope that he will do it again now.

• He continues to sleep in 3-4 hour stretches...sleep training did not work as well as I had hoped.
• He continues to suck at napping, though every once in awhile he'll sleep for an hour or an hour and a half in his crib.
• He started solids.  He loves food, give him anything he'll eat it.  We've gone the Baby Led Weaning approach and so we just give him french fry size pieces of food and he goes to town!
• Weighs 16 lbs. 6 oz...that's the 10-25th percentile...he's kind of skinny, the pediatrician recommended feeding solids more than once a day so we've bumped it up to at least twice a day that he gets real food now.
• Height 27.75" which puts him in the 75th percentile.  Tall and skinny.
• Is one busy little baby, we now have toy boxes set up in each room and we just plop him down in front of his box and he happily sits there pulling toys out, putting toys back in, crawling away from the toy box as soon as he sees a cord, or a cat, or the cat food, or anything dangerous or heavy or sharp or something to pull himself up on and we just pick him up and sit him back in front of the toy box and he starts all over.  GOOD TIMES!
• Still loves his baths.
• Is chatty, he blows raspberries and babbles incoherently.  But says 'mamamamama' when he's upset, SUPER CUTE.
• Is in 6-9 month clothes, except pants he's in 9-12 month.
• Is such a social butterfly!  He loves other people and other babies and is so content when he's around others.  He is such a showoff when we take him to hang out with friends or have people come around.  Over and over again I hear "what a good baby you have!  He's so happy and content!"  Of course he's upset as soon as we leave and he's overtired from all the showing off he's been doing, but it makes me happy that he's so content and unafraid of others!
• Still has blue eyes, they haven't turned gray like I suspect they will yet.
• His hair is half light brown and half blonde.  All the original baby hair is light brown and everything new growing in is blonde, it's like a patchwork quilt of brown and blonde.  I'm very curious to see what happens with his hair in the coming months! 
• He "waves" with both hands...I don't think he knows what he's doing, but it's super cute, he looks like he's a bird trying to fly.
• And he still has NO TEETH.  I'm perplexed by the lack of teeth, surely they should be coming in soon, no?!  He doesn't seem to be teething any more than normal, no extra drool or fussiness...who knows when those bad boys are gonna show up!

 

 

A comparison of 1 month to 7 months.  Such long legs!

 And a demonstration of our standing.  The crib has been lowered ALL THE WAY to the bottom to keep him safe because the moment he wakes up be it after naps or in the middle of the night he assumes this position.

And this one just because it's cute! 

And what Baby Jett is doing right now as I type this: