NURSING
I did have a bit of a scare this month and thought I might be at the end of the road with breastfeeding. When I got the flu my milk supply went down because well, for one I was barely conscious so I missed a couple feedings and also because I didn't eat for two days. So we had to supplement with formula for a few days to make sure he was getting enough. I didn't know if we would be able to continue on but we did! My supply seemed to go back up after I was back to normal but I still worry he's not getting as much as he was before though because he hasn't been sleeping as good at night now. I am just going to do my best to press on and we'll see how this month goes. And for the record, he was a bit less distractible this month as long as it's just me & him in the room.
SOLIDS (BABY LED WEANING):
I feel bad because I wasn't really focused on baby led weaning this month. Normally I am always giving him new foods to try, making sure he has a variety of foods each day, AND making sure he eats lots of healthy food. But this month with how busy it was, Noah didn't try a whole lot of new things. And I didn't cook as much veggies as usually do. He did enjoy eating at all the holiday parties we went to. We took him to several restaurants this month and I liked being able to just put him in the high chair and give him some of our food. Right now it seems like his favorite food is cheese.
CRAWLING:
Literally the day after Noah turned 8 months, he started trying to get from his tummy or all fours to a sitting position. This basically kick started everything. In the process of mastering this, he figured out how to crawl on his knees and stay on his knees, rather than going up & down. So after a little over a month of doing his walrus crawl, he started crawling the "normal" way. He started doing this about mid-month. So now he can basically get into any position, which he absolutely loves. And he is super fast now with his new crawl. I really need to keep my eye on him. He is getting into everything! He just crawls and climbs around the whole house and makes silly sounds while doing it. He recently started trying to crawl up the stairs.
PULLING UP/STANDING:
He really started pulling up on everything this month! A couple weeks ago after I put him down for a nap I heard him crying so I peeked in his room and surely enough he was standing up in his crib! Even though I knew it was coming, it still really took me by surprise to see him doing that for the first time. I went in and helped him down even though I know he knows how, and he went to sleep. But ever since then he has been doing that all.the.time. Lately he won't go to sleep right away because he just keeps standing up in his crib. I'll go in and lay him back down and he just does it again so I am really going to try not to keep going in and putting him back down so he learns that he just needs to do it himself. But this is totally his personality, he has to keep doing the new thing over & over again even though he knows he's tired. He did the same thing with rolling during naps, he would roll over and cry but then kept doing it over and over. Just another phase we need to push through I guess. He really loves standing up on every piece of furniture possible. He also likes to walk while holding onto your hands.
PERSONALITY:
He is such a little adventurist. He needs to touch everything, climb everything, play with everything, gnaw on everything, see everything! I love his curiosity and determination but it can be dangerous. If he wants to explore something and I pull him away from it he will instantly go back and he does not give up! Even if he gets hurt playing on something, he continues to try and explore it. I don't think one day goes by lately where he doesn't fall and hurt himself. I feel bad, he's gotten a couple bumps on his head. But I guess that's just what happens when they become very mobile. Now that he can get around so much he has been much happier and less frustrated. He still has his moments, and days, of whininess but overall, less whining this month. He is clingy towards my mom, but it's because she totally babies him! Noah likes to be silly and he makes us laugh all the time. He still blows lots and lots of raspberries which gives him a slobbery chin all the time, hah. He still gets a kick out of watching and hearing things fall onto the floor. Me and my mom call him mischievous because he always makes a sneaky, mischievous face. For a while now he has really disliked being changed, especially at bedtime when I'm putting his pajamas on.
SIGNING & COMMUNICATION:
He hasn't signed back yet. I added a few new signs this month but I don't want to add too many until he is pretty solid on the basic ones first. I know he understands the ones we do very frequently but he just doesn't seem to even try to sign back. It's only been a couple months though. It does still sound like he tries to say "all done" (after nursing) but it's hard to tell because he says "dada" a lot which sounds similar to "a da". I'm not sure if he is starting to know that Derek is "dada" because he is just babbling, but lately it seems like he's starting to put the two and two together.
PLAYTIME:
Once he was able to go from his tummy to his bum he started playing so much better and longer by himself. For a while he would only play in his pack n' play for a few minutes at a time before starting to get fussy. But now he's back to being able to stay in there for a while. I'm trying to be more consistent with giving him independent playtime in the pack n' play every day after breakfast. Some days he can stay in there for up to 25 minutes but I'd like to lengthen it. I think it teaches them a lot of good things, like how to entertain themselves, and how to focus for a while on just a few toys. He likes to play with and watch other kids but he's at the age where it's possible he could try to pull hair or pull a binkie out of a baby's mouth or something like that, so I just need to teach him not to do those things.
SLEEP:
Naps were better this month. They are lengthening out a bit now but they are still shorter than they should be. We're still in the process of dropping the 3rd nap but his naps still need to stretch out before we can successfully and consistently do that. But his wake-times have lengthened out quite a bit, which makes things SO much easier. However nighttime sleep has gotten worse. You would think that as they get older that nights get better, but nope. It's been the opposite for Noah! He's now waking 2 times a night pretty much every night. Sometimes he still wakes up around his dream feed time too if he was overtired. He was doing really good and started sleeping through the night again some nights until we took him to the airport to get Jared, ever since then he has been having rough nights. Plus me getting sick and my supply going down didn't help either. The other day I tried giving him formula at night after his nursing to see if it would help him sleep better but he wouldn't even drink it. Maybe this coming month sleep will improve :) Oh and he started sticking his arm between the crib slats and hanging it down the side of the crib every time he sleeps, I think it's really cute.
And a few more pictures.. This little stinker bug is just the love of my life. Hopefully he won't be grossed out by all my kisses once he gets older, because I don't think I will ever be able to stop :)
On the go!
Little rascal
PULLING UP/STANDING:
He really started pulling up on everything this month! A couple weeks ago after I put him down for a nap I heard him crying so I peeked in his room and surely enough he was standing up in his crib! Even though I knew it was coming, it still really took me by surprise to see him doing that for the first time. I went in and helped him down even though I know he knows how, and he went to sleep. But ever since then he has been doing that all.the.time. Lately he won't go to sleep right away because he just keeps standing up in his crib. I'll go in and lay him back down and he just does it again so I am really going to try not to keep going in and putting him back down so he learns that he just needs to do it himself. But this is totally his personality, he has to keep doing the new thing over & over again even though he knows he's tired. He did the same thing with rolling during naps, he would roll over and cry but then kept doing it over and over. Just another phase we need to push through I guess. He really loves standing up on every piece of furniture possible. He also likes to walk while holding onto your hands.
PERSONALITY:
He is such a little adventurist. He needs to touch everything, climb everything, play with everything, gnaw on everything, see everything! I love his curiosity and determination but it can be dangerous. If he wants to explore something and I pull him away from it he will instantly go back and he does not give up! Even if he gets hurt playing on something, he continues to try and explore it. I don't think one day goes by lately where he doesn't fall and hurt himself. I feel bad, he's gotten a couple bumps on his head. But I guess that's just what happens when they become very mobile. Now that he can get around so much he has been much happier and less frustrated. He still has his moments, and days, of whininess but overall, less whining this month. He is clingy towards my mom, but it's because she totally babies him! Noah likes to be silly and he makes us laugh all the time. He still blows lots and lots of raspberries which gives him a slobbery chin all the time, hah. He still gets a kick out of watching and hearing things fall onto the floor. Me and my mom call him mischievous because he always makes a sneaky, mischievous face. For a while now he has really disliked being changed, especially at bedtime when I'm putting his pajamas on.
Silly faces
My sweet boy
SIGNING & COMMUNICATION:
He hasn't signed back yet. I added a few new signs this month but I don't want to add too many until he is pretty solid on the basic ones first. I know he understands the ones we do very frequently but he just doesn't seem to even try to sign back. It's only been a couple months though. It does still sound like he tries to say "all done" (after nursing) but it's hard to tell because he says "dada" a lot which sounds similar to "a da". I'm not sure if he is starting to know that Derek is "dada" because he is just babbling, but lately it seems like he's starting to put the two and two together.
PLAYTIME:
Once he was able to go from his tummy to his bum he started playing so much better and longer by himself. For a while he would only play in his pack n' play for a few minutes at a time before starting to get fussy. But now he's back to being able to stay in there for a while. I'm trying to be more consistent with giving him independent playtime in the pack n' play every day after breakfast. Some days he can stay in there for up to 25 minutes but I'd like to lengthen it. I think it teaches them a lot of good things, like how to entertain themselves, and how to focus for a while on just a few toys. He likes to play with and watch other kids but he's at the age where it's possible he could try to pull hair or pull a binkie out of a baby's mouth or something like that, so I just need to teach him not to do those things.
He is growing out of his bouncer but he still likes to play in it once in a while
SLEEP:
Naps were better this month. They are lengthening out a bit now but they are still shorter than they should be. We're still in the process of dropping the 3rd nap but his naps still need to stretch out before we can successfully and consistently do that. But his wake-times have lengthened out quite a bit, which makes things SO much easier. However nighttime sleep has gotten worse. You would think that as they get older that nights get better, but nope. It's been the opposite for Noah! He's now waking 2 times a night pretty much every night. Sometimes he still wakes up around his dream feed time too if he was overtired. He was doing really good and started sleeping through the night again some nights until we took him to the airport to get Jared, ever since then he has been having rough nights. Plus me getting sick and my supply going down didn't help either. The other day I tried giving him formula at night after his nursing to see if it would help him sleep better but he wouldn't even drink it. Maybe this coming month sleep will improve :) Oh and he started sticking his arm between the crib slats and hanging it down the side of the crib every time he sleeps, I think it's really cute.
And a few more pictures.. This little stinker bug is just the love of my life. Hopefully he won't be grossed out by all my kisses once he gets older, because I don't think I will ever be able to stop :)
Love you Noah!
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