Tuesday, September 17, 2013

7 months


Weight: I'm going to guess around 18-19. Carrying him around in his 15 lb car seat is quite the chore now, so it only goes in and out of the house. We just carry him in everywhere else we go unless he's asleep.

Health: Still rockin' it on the healthy train. He's had a runny nose and a small cough, but I'm 99.9% sure it's due to his mean tooth coming in. 

Sleep: IN HIS CRIB!!! Putting him to sleep has been getting better and easier every night since we moved him in there and taught him how to put himself back to sleep. Saturday night was really, really bad in the middle of the night, but I'm chalking it up to the tooth. He's even napping alright in there now. I'm weirdly proud of him. Oh. And he TOTALLY slept through the night two different times. It was like mom-heaven. 

Social: He celebrated his first Grandparent's day!




And he's been out and about more and more. He loves sitting in high chairs and "talking" to waiters when we're out to eat. The kid seriously doesn't know a stranger. Takes after his daddy.
Diet: 95% breastmilk. It's still mostly out of convenience. Solids take a while and I love how easy nursing is. I've started giving him pieces of what I'm eating though and he seems to really like it! The other night at Carrabbas, he ate a little of everything I had! He also loves black beans, yogurt melts, and banana flavored mummums. If you don't know what a mummum is and you have a little baby, check them out!


Clothes: I officially packed away all of his 3 month clothes. There was no more squeezing him into them. As much as I hate putting away some of my favorite outfits, it's really nice to know every thing in his drawers and closet fit him. No more digging through trying to find something big enough. I'm really excited about some of the 6-9 month clothes I got out for him. They're so darn cute!


Baby Gear Love: He's finally understanding his Johnny Jump-Up. Maybe not the actual jumping part, but he's loving to stand in it. And he could care less about this, but I'm LOVING his monitor! Having a video monitor gives me so much peace at night because I can see exactly what's going on.




Crying: A little more than normal this month. He's starting to realize I can leave him and he does this really whiny, fussy cry when I walk out of the room. Teething cries are becoming more and more common, too. Those things are really, really horrible.


Likes: Chewing on everything. I mean everything. Wearing shoes. Being tickled by my hair. Being thrown up in the air. Standing. Eating people food. 




Postpartum: I feel like I'm just about back to normal. Him sleeping longer at night is throwing my hormones for a loop, but physically I feel normal.
  
Milestones: He's got two teeth now! His smile with those little nubs is just too cute for words. 


And he stayed overnight with my parents while Clint and I were at a staff retreat on the other side of Nashville. He did SUCH a great job, but I was really ready to see him by the next day!



Reuben,
These months are FLYING by. I feel like I just wrote your 6 month note. Your personality is growing by the day. I can hardly stand how cute you are. You smile at the drop of a hat. You don't know a stranger. You bring incredible joy to me and your daddy. 

You've started to realize I can leave you. In a way, it's really sad to see you frustrated when I walk away, but in another, I love the smile you get on your face when I walk back. You've started reaching up for me when you want me and you leave my heart in a little puddle. You're finding your voice more and more and learning to make new sounds. I cannot wait for the day you finally decide to say "mama" and "dada" even if you don't know what you mean!! 

Mama and Dada love you more than you could ever know little man!


Love, 
Mama

Monday, September 16, 2013

like father, like son

If I had a quarter for every time someone's told Reuben, "You look just like your daddy," I'd be rich. Seriously. I hear it at least four times a day and it's commented on a picture another 2 probably. That's like $1.50 a day. So maybe I wouldn't be rich... but I could go out to a really nice dinner!

Ok, but seriously. Look at this.


Reuben quit taking his paci and will only fall asleep chewing/sucking on a burp cloth. It's like they're the same person.

Wednesday, September 11, 2013

6 Month Must Haves


1  2  3  4  5  6  7

1. Hylands Teething Tablets- These little gems have saved a small part of my sanity. I'm in no way above giving my kid Tylenol/Ibuprofen, but these things seem to seriously help him in the pain department. I usually give them toward the 3 hour after medicine mark when things start getting uncomfortable and he'll normally level back out in the moodiness department.

2. Sophie the Giraffe- I originally thought this thing was way over-hyped. I mean it's essentially a really expensive chew toy. But now I've seen the light. Reuben is obsessed with Sophie. He gets this ridiculous grin on his face when I make it squeak and will chew on it for a solid 30 minutes which is a really long time in baby-time. I love her. Like a lot.

3. aden + anias Burpy Bib- We got one of these as a hand me down and I've loved it! It wouldn't be good for a wear-around-the-house bib since it's so big, but it's perfect for catching all the drops of food that are inevitable when starting solids. Honestly, we haven't done a ton of solids so it doesn't get a whole lot of use in the kitchen, but it's Reuben's absolute favorite thing to sleep with. He sucks and chews on it to get to sleep in his crib and since it's muslin, I'm not afraid if it falls over his face for a little while.

4. Gerber Yogurt Melts- I picked a pack of these up on a whim when we were in Louisville for a wedding. I figured if I could keep his mouth busy, he wouldn't make noise during the wedding. My plan failed, but at least I found out he likes these! They're pretty tasty and have kept him entertained since then in church and at restaurants.

5. Where is Baby's Belly Button?- Reuben loves this book. Like L-O-V-E-S it. The colors are vivid, the flaps are entertaining, and it's a great way to start introducing him to different body parts. We normally end a reading with a fun game of peek-a-boo which is always a hit.

6. Baby Einstein Take Along Tunes- We don't actually own this toy, but it's been a gigantic hit in the nursery at church. He's in there for an hour on Sunday mornings and a couple hours on Tuesday mornings while my mom goes to a bible study and plays with it all the time. He loves the music and the lights. And from a mama's perspective, classical music coming from a toy is a lot easier to handle than some of the other songs I've heard come from baby toys. This is on my to-buy-for-our-house list.

7. Carter's Cotton Zip-Up Sleep and Play- Now that little man is in his own crib, we're breaking out the footie pjs again. He got too hot sleeping in bed with us so he'd only sleep in a onesie. He's always cute, but a baby in footie pjs makes my heart pitter patter just a little harder. I especially love the cotton Carter's pjs because they fit him perfectly right now. Not baggy, but not tight. Just the right amount of snugness to show off his little round belly and chunky thighs. And a zipper is almost a must. Dude is in an "I hate to have my clothes changed" stage so the quicker and easier, the better.


What about you? What got you through your kiddo's 6th month of life?

Tuesday, September 10, 2013

Sleep. Sweet, sweet sleep.

I've written about it in the last few monthly updates, but in case you don't know, for the last three months of his life Reuben has slept with us. We have a king size bed and he's an itty bitty baby so it's not like he took up a lot of space. It really hadn't been all that bad, but there was something in me that was SO ready for him to move on. So I decided to start sleep training.

Let me preface the rest of this post with this: I don't write this wanting to start a big debate on sleep training. I did what I was comfortable with and what worked for both of us. Did your kid sleep in bed with you until they were 10? Good for you. Did you let them totally cry it out? Great. To each their own. :)

First off, I probably didn't choose the absolute best time. Little man's second tooth has been working its way in for the last week or so and he was at the tail end of a Wonder Week leap. But it had to be this weekend. Clint was out of town. Clint hates, hates, double hates to hear Reuben cry. It's like it scrambles his brain. So I knew this was the time, even with the leaping, teething baby.

I decided to start it Thursday night. I didn't have anywhere I had to be the next morning, so if it was a major fail I could sleep in with him the next day. We started his new bedtime routine with a bath. If you knew how little I bathed that boy, you probably wouldn't want to hold him anymore. So making baths a more regular thing isn't bad for anybody.


After that it was PJs, nursing, crib. This kid is like one of those dolls whose eyes close when you lay them down, but the total opposite. I rocked him to sleep -like deep sleep- and the nano second I started to lower him into the crib, his eyes popped open and the crying started. He's decided he's over pacifiers so I couldn't use one of those to comfort him. I'd noticed him chewing/sucking on my clothes when I rock him to sleep so I figured it was worth a shot to put a burp cloth in there with him.

After the disaster that was the last time we tried this, I knew he needed to cry longer than 5 minutes. I decided to start with 15. I shut his door, went downstairs, and turned up Project Runway. I had the video monitor by me with the sound turned off. I went up there two different times. About 10 minutes into the third 15 minutes, I realized I didn't hear anything. I looked at the monitor...


VICTORRRRYYYY!!!!

He woke up a couple of times in the middle of the night, but it wasn't horrible. I brought him to bed with me when he woke up at 5:45 because I figured he wouldn't actually go back to sleep. Look how dang cute he is when he woke up the morning after his first night alone.


The next night was harder. It took almost an hour and a half. I was sure it wasn't worth it. I was ready to quit but I got some encouragement from a mommy group I'm in.

It works, y'all.

The third night it only took him 7 minutes to go to sleep and last night he just sighed and wiggled when I put him down and was back asleep before I left the room! It's like a miracle. I don't even know what to do with myself with all the free time I've had. I LOVE IT!

So there ya have it. It only took 6.5 months to do it, but Reuben is out of our bed.

At least at the beginning of the night. I kinda love cuddling with him in the morning. One day he won't like it so while he does, this mama is soaking it up!

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