This was another big month for Mr. Noah. He's just getting cuter and cuter, we love him so much!
Sitting:
So last month Noah had no interest in sitting. The week after he turned 6 months my mom was playing with him, put him in a sitting position with a toy in front of him and he was so distracted by the toy that when she let go he was sitting up all by himself without even leaning on his hands. I was so happy. So we knew he had the physical strength to do it. But as soon as he realized what was going on he toppled over, haha. We kept at it that day and then I think it clicked, like, oh this is kind of fun, I can sit here and play and have a better view of the room! Within a few days he was already sitting for a long time by himself. I love how fast they can learn. It's really nice to be able to put him on the floor without having to always put him on his back. It's also nice that I can just sit him in the shopping cart when I take him grocery shopping, it was a hassle to bring his car seat or strap him in the Baby Bjorn carrier.
Rolling:
Still rolling lots and lots. Rolling has been his way of getting from point A to point B for a while. I just wanted to mention something he does when he rolls that people keep freaking out over. As he is rolling, his arm gets pushed underneath his back and it looks very painful and people are always like "Watch his arm! Ouch!" And then I inform them that that's just how he rolls.. get it? I guess his arms are pretty flexible, because it doesn't bother him.
Crawling:
Let the crawling begin! He has been trying and wanting to crawl for a long time. Poor little guy would push up on his arms with all his might thinking it would somehow move him forward. And he would get so mad that his plan wasn't working. A couple weeks ago he started getting up on his hands and knees and rocking back and forth but he wasn't that good at it yet, especially on the hard wood (on beds or the couch it was easier for him). Just 3 days ago he finally figured out what he needs to do with his legs. He was on his tummy on the couch and Derek was playing with him when he suddenly bent his knees up and pulled himself forward! Since then he has not stopped practicing this (just like he didn't stop trying to roll). So he's pretty much doing a "zombie" crawl I guess where his tummy isn't completely off the floor. It's SO cute! I love it! He is going to be much happier when he can explore. I might have to start baby proofing this house soon!
Personality:
Noah's personality really started to show this month. I see a lot of myself in him. He is EXTREMELY curious. He definitely gets that from me. I need to know the "why's", "how's" and "what if's" of everything. Naturally, he has to know what is going on at all times. He tries to grab
everything and anything! He seems to be especially curious about phones and remotes. He's also very interested in people, what they're doing, what they're saying. Also like me, he gets frustrated easily. If he can't reach something, have something, or do something he gets so worked up over it. He doesn't have a lot of patience either, he wants
what he wants
when he wants! Oh brother. I'm really going to have to work with him. He laughs at the most random things that aren't meant to be funny. For example, one time I was reading a book and as I turned the page he started laughing. Every time I would do it he would laugh so hard. Another time I pulled out a box of diapers and plopped it on the floor to open it and he thought it was hilarious. His sense of humor reminds me of his daddy's. Derek frequently puts Noah up on his shoulders and he makes the funniest faces. But he is starting to pull Derek's hair pretty hard. I'm wondering if we shouldn't allow him to do that in case he starts pulling random people's hair thinking it's a game. They probably wouldn't enjoy that. Overall, Noah has definitely gotten fussier and more difficult the past couple months. During his earlier months if he wasn't hungry or tired (or in pain) then he wouldn't ever fuss and was SUPER easy. Now, he will have full days where the whole day he is just mr. whiney pants. But I do contribute a lot of his irritability lately due to the fact that he hasn't been sleeping as good as he used to. He's perma-tired! Noah absolutely LOVES my mom and gets really excited when he sees her. He also loves to go outside. He gets bored when we stay home all day. He loves going to the park, going for walks and even just looking out the window or coming with me to get the mail.
Nursing:
Still exclusively breastfeeding. I stopped pumping this month because it wasn't making a difference in his sleep, he was still waking at night. Now I know my supply was/is fine. He is just waking out of habit. I even gave him some formula one night after I nursed him to see if it made a difference and he still woke up 3 hours later. So no more extra bottles at bedtime, he just nurses. I hate pumping so it's a relief. It's still hard to feed around other people or with any distractions.. he'll eat for 3 seconds, pull off, sit up to look around and continue doing this. Even if there is just something in his view that he wants like a piece of paper he will do this. So lately feedings have become dragged out. He still has 6-7 feedings in a 24 hr period - 5 during the day, 1 dream feed & 1 possible night feeding.
Solids (Baby Led Weaning):
He is doing really well with solids! He has gone through a few different phases. At first there was a lot of gagging, but it stopped after about a week. After that he started chewing and swallowing some already! I was pretty amazed. He went through another phase, for about a week he was getting really frustrated if he couldn't pick something up right away, anything slippery (like bananas and avocado) he would get so mad because it would just slip right out of his hand. But now he has more patience with it and he has learned how to handle slippery things much better. So he was getting pretty skilled and I didn't worry about gagging anymore for a while. But then it was like he got really confident about eating so he started stuffing his face! So some more gagging when he did that. Then he started sticking all the food at the roof of his mouth. Before I get him out of his high chair I always check his mouth to make sure he isn't hiding food in there and I kept finding all the food stuck at the top! He stopped doing this so much but still does it once in a while with food he can't completely chew down, like meat. So far, he has not showed a dislike for ANY food! In fact, I bought one of those squeezie apple sauce things and was squeezing it into his mouth but letting him hold it. And after a few times he started closing his mouth tightly and turning away like he didn't want me to help him. So I let him do it himself and he enjoyed it much better. One of the reasons I chose this way of doing solids is because I'm nervous that our kids are going to end up being the pickiest eaters in the world thanks to mommy & daddy. Supposedly baby led weaning babies are less likely to be picky eaters, so we'll see! We have tried a variety of foods from string cheese, to roast beef & mashed potatoes and he loves it all! I usually give him at least 3-4 different types of food for each meal. And I will give him water in a sippy cup some days (we've tried diluted juice a couple times too). It's not as messy as I thought it would be. At least not yet, he hasn't started throwing food or anything like that. But I don't know what I would do without the Ikea poncho bib things, they are awesome! It's so nice to have Noah eat dinner with us. He just eats what we eat at the same time we eat. The last thing I have to say about this is if you don't think you could be so grossed out by your own baby's poop, wait until he starts solids!
Breakfast: rice cracker, toast sticks, & banana
Sign Language/Communication:
I started signing to Noah this month. I'm mainly focusing on these ones for now: "more", "all done", "eat" (for solids), "milk" (breastfeed) but I've also been doing the signs for "mom", "dad", "no" and "come". He hasn't signed back yet of course, but it seems like he's starting to understand. I only say no if he's doing something he's not supped to be doing, but he's starting to look at me like he knows I'm being serious. I also started teaching him "kisses" but not the actual sign, just saying "kisses" and then kissing him. He actually started doing it back! He has done it a few times, he leans his head in and gives you a big, slobbery, open-mouth kiss, haha. And once he even grabbed my face and did it. I loved it of course. But he has to be in the mood to do it, he can't be distracted by something. We'll keep working on it :) I LOVE signing, and I'm super excited for him to be able to communicate this way before he can actually talk. He talks and makes sounds a lot but technical "babbling" he only does a little. Sometimes it sounds like he's trying to be a dinosaur or a monster, he makes a roaring sound. Oh and he seems to know his name pretty well.
Cold:
So poor little Sophia (Finch) came over with a runny nose about 4 weeks ago. And sure enough, a few days later Noah's nose was dripping like a faucet. This was his first cold. It was only bad for a couple days and then it seemed to be getting better. Same with Sophia. But it was still kind of lingering on. Then they got me sick but it was only for a few days then I was fine. And then we got Derek sick for a few days as well. Sophia and Noah both now have a really bad, deep chest cough. Noah sounds like he's going to throw up when he coughs, poor baby. I'm just fed up with this sickness though! It's never ending. So I started giving them essential oils this week (Thanks Jessie & John!). I guess I'm just going to have to get used to cold & flu season with kids.
Naps:
The sleep paragraphs are mostly for me as I presume most people don't care too much about Noah's sleep habits. The first half of the month his naps were pretty much perfect. Then things changed. Again. His morning nap has always been 2 hours, but he suddenly was waking after 30 minutes every day. So I kept trying to keep him awake for different lengths of time but he is so dang sensitive it's hard to get it spot on. But at least I know if he falls asleep crying, sleeps 30 minutes, then wakes up crying, he was over tired. If he wakes up after 30 minutes but is happy then he wasn't awake long enough. It's like a science equation figuring out this kid's sleep! But I'll get it! It's just really hard because once he doesn't get a good morning nap, the whole day is guesswork and dealing with a cranky baby. It's hard to get anything done. He still needs 3 naps a day. He is able to stay awake happily much longer than last month.
Still sleeps on his tummy 100% of the time
Night-time Sleep:
He was still waking once during the night this month. Usually I try to just pat his back while he's laying in the crib to help him fall back asleep because I know he's not hungry, but lately I'm like screw it I'm too tired for this crap, and I just nurse him. But there was about a week and a half where he was sleeping through the night most nights. So I know he can still do it! It doesn't make sense that he slept through the night for months and suddenly can't even go 6 hours. I could try to let him cry it out again but I just don't feel right about it right now. This last week he has been waking up around 3 am. I read in The Baby Whisperer book that if your baby is waking out of habit you can do a technique called "wake to sleep" where you set your alarm an hour earlier than they usually wake up and go in their room and jostle them around a bit - not fully wake them up though. Then leave. Apparently that resets their sleep cycle so they won't wake up at the habitual time. So last night I woke up naturally at around 2 and thought hey I should try that. I did it and he slept all night! So I'm going to keep doing it the next few days and hope that he gets over this because I'm exhausted. I was telling Derek I don't know how mothers get up with their babies waking several times throughout the night. I hear about some babies waking every 1 or 2 hours.. WHAT! When I'm feeding Noah at night I literally am praying to God to help me stay awake because I'm SO dead tired. So THANKFULLY Noah only wakes up once a night. He has never woken up more than twice a night in his life. So props to all you moms who cope with babies not sleeping.
Time Change:
I thought the time change was really going to mess things up. I tried to adjust his schedule in advance to prepare but to no avail. The first day, Sunday, he did wake up an hour early, around 6:15. But the next day it was closer to 7 and the next day he slept until 7:45! So it really wasn't that bad. However he has been getting tired at night earlier so he usually needs to go to bed between 6 & 7 depending on how good naps went that day.
I love my little baby and wouldn't trade motherhood for the world!
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