Our little heartbreaker!
Thursday, February 14, 2013
Tuesday, February 12, 2013
8 months!
Another slacker mommy update that's coming almost 2 weeks late, but P-man is now 8 months old. That seems awfully close to being 1 year old...can time please slow down now??
Likes: cruising between furniture, walking/running with his push walker, speed crawling, eating, looking outside through the sliding glass door, Spencer, bath time, heating vent covers (yes, my kid is weird), drinking out of his sippy cup, getting in the middle of everything and exploring every single object in the house.
Dislikes: diaper changes, getting dressed, sitting still for more than 5 seconds
Milestones: He's taken a few unassisted steps and can basically run when using his push walker. He cruises between furniture like it's no big deal and pulls up on every.single.thing he can find.
Eating: As I talked about in my last post, Pres pretty much eats anything you put in front of him. He has a huge appetite and can easily eat a normal sized portion of whatever we are eating. Still loving bananas, peaches and puffs. He's also figured out he can feed Spencer from his highchair, so that's his newest meal time trick. She's obviously a big fan.
Schedule: Baby Boy has dropped a bottle, so he's drinking 4 eight ounce bottles a day. At daycare, they put all his formula into a sippy cup but we do a morning and bedtime bottle at home. He's still sleeping through the night most nights and is in bed by 7pm. He's been waking up anywhere from 5:30am (yuck) to 7:00am (yay). If he's home, we can usually get 2-3 good naps (2 to 2.5 hours each) from him. At daycare, he'll take 2 naps that are each about an hour long.
Personality: This has been a very giggly month. He's still a pretty serious guy, especially when he's focused on figuring something out or really into a toy. But he's not the kind of baby who grins at strangers or is super smiley in a new place - he takes a while to warm up. But at home and at daycare, he's pretty much laughing the entire time. My favorite time of the day is when Jake gets home from work and Preston hears his voice and then sees him walk in - he speed crawls over to him with the biggest grin and giggle. It makes my heart explode in a million pieces.
Other Development: We had our first bout of real sickness this month (pretty happy we made it all the way to 8 months without being too sick). Pres currently has a double ear infection that moved to his lungs, so we're currently doing nebulizer breathing treatments to help out with his wheezing. He started on amoxicillan to treat the ear infection and after taking it for 3 days, we learned he was allergic to the medicine thanks to an all over body rash. So it's been a rough few weeks, but we're hoping to turn the corner and get healthy soon.
I also think he's working on his two upper teeth because he's a bit crankier than normal and chewing on everything in sight. His babbling with consonants has really picked up and I think he's starting to associate words with objects, mainly ball and dog. He says those two words (baaaa and daaaa) when he sees them which is pretty cool. Still working on sign language, but he normally just grunts or screams when he wants our attention or when we ask him a question - a typical man haha!
I can't believe he's almost 9 months old - this entire year has flown by in the blink of an eye. Every day is fun (and challenging!) and I love seeing what new things he learns and does. Preston, I love you to the moon and back little boy!
Likes: cruising between furniture, walking/running with his push walker, speed crawling, eating, looking outside through the sliding glass door, Spencer, bath time, heating vent covers (yes, my kid is weird), drinking out of his sippy cup, getting in the middle of everything and exploring every single object in the house.
Dislikes: diaper changes, getting dressed, sitting still for more than 5 seconds
Milestones: He's taken a few unassisted steps and can basically run when using his push walker. He cruises between furniture like it's no big deal and pulls up on every.single.thing he can find.
Eating: As I talked about in my last post, Pres pretty much eats anything you put in front of him. He has a huge appetite and can easily eat a normal sized portion of whatever we are eating. Still loving bananas, peaches and puffs. He's also figured out he can feed Spencer from his highchair, so that's his newest meal time trick. She's obviously a big fan.
Schedule: Baby Boy has dropped a bottle, so he's drinking 4 eight ounce bottles a day. At daycare, they put all his formula into a sippy cup but we do a morning and bedtime bottle at home. He's still sleeping through the night most nights and is in bed by 7pm. He's been waking up anywhere from 5:30am (yuck) to 7:00am (yay). If he's home, we can usually get 2-3 good naps (2 to 2.5 hours each) from him. At daycare, he'll take 2 naps that are each about an hour long.
Personality: This has been a very giggly month. He's still a pretty serious guy, especially when he's focused on figuring something out or really into a toy. But he's not the kind of baby who grins at strangers or is super smiley in a new place - he takes a while to warm up. But at home and at daycare, he's pretty much laughing the entire time. My favorite time of the day is when Jake gets home from work and Preston hears his voice and then sees him walk in - he speed crawls over to him with the biggest grin and giggle. It makes my heart explode in a million pieces.
Other Development: We had our first bout of real sickness this month (pretty happy we made it all the way to 8 months without being too sick). Pres currently has a double ear infection that moved to his lungs, so we're currently doing nebulizer breathing treatments to help out with his wheezing. He started on amoxicillan to treat the ear infection and after taking it for 3 days, we learned he was allergic to the medicine thanks to an all over body rash. So it's been a rough few weeks, but we're hoping to turn the corner and get healthy soon.
I also think he's working on his two upper teeth because he's a bit crankier than normal and chewing on everything in sight. His babbling with consonants has really picked up and I think he's starting to associate words with objects, mainly ball and dog. He says those two words (baaaa and daaaa) when he sees them which is pretty cool. Still working on sign language, but he normally just grunts or screams when he wants our attention or when we ask him a question - a typical man haha!
Wednesday, February 6, 2013
What Preston eats at 8 months
I thought I would do an updated post on how Baby Led Weaning (BLW) is going for us at 8 months. Oh yeah, and I guess at some point, I should do Preston's 8 month post!
Anyways, Preston has been eating solid food for over 2 months now and it's always interesting and fun to see what new things he will try (pretty much everything!) Jake was a bit skeptical about giving him whole food, but now that he's seen how well P does with it, he's totally on board and loves it now. I mean, how cool is to go out to a meal with your 8 month old and have them eat exactly what you are eating. Even my parents, who were really, really skeptical about giving him straight table food now eagerly watch him eat an entire tray of pasta with meat sauce and veggies.
For the first month or so of BLW (starting at 6 months), we started off pretty slowly and just gave Preston only veggies and fruits, in big, stick size pieces he could pick up and get in his mouth easily. He picked it up right away - it can take a few weeks before babies actually understand putting the food in their mouth, but Pres was noming on everything right from the beginning.
We did sweet potatoes, broccoli, carrots, butternut squash, banana, pears - all the standard "baby's first foods". We also still did some purees on a loaded spoon because Preston got sort of frustrated with not really swallowing the whole food and has a big appetite - I wanted to make sure he was actually getting some food in his stomach. But he's always fed himself with the spoon - we never spoon feed him.
By 7 months, I could tell he was actually swallowing a lot more food (as evidenced by his diapers!). It was at this point, we started offering him more varied foods and trying new things. We also pretty much stopped purees at this point because he didn't really need them - he does still spoon feed himself oatmeal (regular Quaker oatmeal, not baby oatmeal) and sometimes in a pinch, we will give him a pouch of purees that he also just feeds himself (holding the pouch and sucking).
I started meal planning meals that I thought he would like and would be easy for him to eat. Typically I will send leftovers from our dinner the night before as his lunch the next day. He tried plain whole wheat pasta and really liked it, so I started making pasta salad with a ton of blanched veggies (just so they are easier to eat then raw veggies) and a light olive oil dressing and keeping it in the fridge for quick meals/snacks for all of us. I try to also have homemade sweet potato fries (his favorite!) in the fridge so he can snack on those. He also LOVES fruit and eats a sliced banana for breakfast pretty much every morning. I keep those little cups of mandarin oranges or peaches packed in water in the pantry as his "dessert" after a meal.
At 7.5 months, he had his first taste of meat. It was a Sunday afternoon and I put a pork shoulder in the crockpot to make shredded pork BBQ while we were watching football. We were all eating together so I decided to see how he liked the BBQ. Well he LOVED it - the shredded meat was easy for him to eat and obviously it was a bit sweet from the BBQ sauce. I was a bit worried on how he would be able to handle digesting it, but he had no issues at all with it. So we kept offering him meat and started with shredded meats since he did well with them and it was easy for him to swallow. I made chicken enchiladas and kept out some of the shredded chicken before adding the spices and he loved it too. From there, we did pot roast, chicken parmesan, chili (not super spicy), tacos, lasagna, etc.
The biggest thing I watch for is sodium because I know his little body can't handle too much. Doing baby led weaning has actually made us eat healthier because I'm more cognizant about making sure we're eating more veggies, less processed foods, organic meat, etc. I also like having a variety so he tries new things and learns new flavors/textures. His pincher grasp has really developed and he can pick up puffs, peas and other small items and get them right in this mouth.
I never thought that Pres would be such an adventurous eater at 8 months old. There's really nothing he won't try and he seems to like pretty much everything we've given him. I made vegan sweet potato, black bean and quinoa chili for dinner last night and he devoured an entire bowl of it. His teachers at daycare joke when we drop him off in the mornings over what sort of food he'll be eating that day. I know there will be phases when all he wants to eat is macaroni and cheese and chicken nuggets, but for now, I'm loving my healthy eating 8 month old!
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| Always a mess |
Anyways, Preston has been eating solid food for over 2 months now and it's always interesting and fun to see what new things he will try (pretty much everything!) Jake was a bit skeptical about giving him whole food, but now that he's seen how well P does with it, he's totally on board and loves it now. I mean, how cool is to go out to a meal with your 8 month old and have them eat exactly what you are eating. Even my parents, who were really, really skeptical about giving him straight table food now eagerly watch him eat an entire tray of pasta with meat sauce and veggies.
For the first month or so of BLW (starting at 6 months), we started off pretty slowly and just gave Preston only veggies and fruits, in big, stick size pieces he could pick up and get in his mouth easily. He picked it up right away - it can take a few weeks before babies actually understand putting the food in their mouth, but Pres was noming on everything right from the beginning.
 |
| Beef Stew - his favorite part is the carrots |
By 7 months, I could tell he was actually swallowing a lot more food (as evidenced by his diapers!). It was at this point, we started offering him more varied foods and trying new things. We also pretty much stopped purees at this point because he didn't really need them - he does still spoon feed himself oatmeal (regular Quaker oatmeal, not baby oatmeal) and sometimes in a pinch, we will give him a pouch of purees that he also just feeds himself (holding the pouch and sucking).
 |
| Thinking about what to eat next |
I started meal planning meals that I thought he would like and would be easy for him to eat. Typically I will send leftovers from our dinner the night before as his lunch the next day. He tried plain whole wheat pasta and really liked it, so I started making pasta salad with a ton of blanched veggies (just so they are easier to eat then raw veggies) and a light olive oil dressing and keeping it in the fridge for quick meals/snacks for all of us. I try to also have homemade sweet potato fries (his favorite!) in the fridge so he can snack on those. He also LOVES fruit and eats a sliced banana for breakfast pretty much every morning. I keep those little cups of mandarin oranges or peaches packed in water in the pantry as his "dessert" after a meal.
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| Waffles for Sunday breakfast |
Friday, January 25, 2013
A boy and his dog
I think I've mentioned (a million times!) that Preston and Spencer love each other. Like a lot. As soon as P was crawling at 5.5 months, Spencer all the sudden became very interested in him and wanted to play. And Preston loves chasing her and cracks up when Spencer does pretty much anything.
I took this video like over a month ago and meant to share it earlier - I can't watch it without smiling. Nothing like a boy and his dog!
I took this video like over a month ago and meant to share it earlier - I can't watch it without smiling. Nothing like a boy and his dog!
Preston and Spencer from Kim Ermer on Vimeo.
Tuesday, January 15, 2013
7 months!
Preston celebrated New Years by turning 7 months on January 1st (and again, slacker mom is late with the post!) I look back at my 6 month post where I talk about how active P was and want to laugh - we are on a whole new level of activity at 7 months! The theme of this month - cruisin' baby!
Likes: speed crawling, pulling up to stand, cruising on any piece of furniture he can find, chasing Spencer, climbing everything in sight, trying to stick his hands in the dogs food bowl, playing peek a boo, reading books, speed crawling over to anything that's "off limits"
Dislikes: being confined in his exersaucer (we'll be putting that away this month), diaper changes, wearing hats, sitting still for more than 5 seconds
Milestones: He learned how to climb up our basement steps (with Jake as a spotter and me looking on trying not to have a heart attack). We're still working on getting back down the steps. He basically is only happy when he's standing up and cruising/trying to walk (or speed crawling - he does this hilarious laugh while he's crawling towards something). His issue is balance and once he has that down, I think he will be walking (or more likely running) in no time.
Eating: Preston has hit a major food loving stage! His favorite food hands down in bananas. He will eat an entire banana for breakfast most days. He's also loving pears, sweet potatoes, peaches, avocado, apple, carrots and zucchini. He's coming around to broccoli and cauliflower. We also introduced meat and he's had chicken and pork BBQ and loved them both.
He also has gotten his pincher grasp down and can get puffs into his mouth with no problems (his favorite puffs are sweet potato flavor). He eats a slice of toast for breakfast that we cut into strips - he sucks on them until they are soft enough to swallow...it's quite hilarious to watch. Honestly, there's really no food we put in front of him that he won't eat at this point and it's really cool to see him try all these new things. Still taking 4 or 5 bottles a day of formula (8 oz at a time).
Sleep: Sleeping at night like a champ...we do bedtime around 6:30/7:00pm and he sleeps through until typically around 6:00am. Sometimes a bit earlier, sometimes later. He naps well on the weekends (we loosely do the EASY method so he's usually taking 3 naps a day). Naps at daycare are still all over the place, but he has so much fun there, so I think he just doesn't want to miss out on anything (FOMO!)
Personality: He continues to be a pretty intense, serious guy but is definitely becoming more smiley and giggly, which I love. He's started with a bit of stranger apprehension (he got a new teacher at daycare and apparently wouldn't let her hold him for over a week!) and takes a while to warm up in new situations. When we go somewhere new, he sits and takes everything in for a while before becoming his crazy, explorer self. But he has started this new thing where he gives us "kisses" and it seriously melts my heart. He also loves crawling over to me or Jake, pulling up so he's standing in our lap and then cuddling his face into our neck - it's pretty much the cutest thing in the world.
Other Development: He finally has 1 bottom tooth that has popped up and the other one is starting to come through as well. His babbling has increased, but not really saying any words at all. We are starting to hear more consonant sounds ("duh, guh") vs. vowel sounds ("ah, oh, eh") so I guess we will be hearing dada pretty soon. His teachers at daycare have started teaching him sign language and we are hoping to continue that at home for basic signs (more, all done, etc.).
Basically, when I think I cannot love this little boy anymore, he just becomes so much more fun, cuddly, interactive and all around awesome that my heart pretty much explodes on a daily basis. 7 months is my favorite age so far, but I know I'll be saying that in about 2 weeks when he turns 8 months. LOVE him!
Likes: speed crawling, pulling up to stand, cruising on any piece of furniture he can find, chasing Spencer, climbing everything in sight, trying to stick his hands in the dogs food bowl, playing peek a boo, reading books, speed crawling over to anything that's "off limits"
Dislikes: being confined in his exersaucer (we'll be putting that away this month), diaper changes, wearing hats, sitting still for more than 5 seconds
Milestones: He learned how to climb up our basement steps (with Jake as a spotter and me looking on trying not to have a heart attack). We're still working on getting back down the steps. He basically is only happy when he's standing up and cruising/trying to walk (or speed crawling - he does this hilarious laugh while he's crawling towards something). His issue is balance and once he has that down, I think he will be walking (or more likely running) in no time.
Eating: Preston has hit a major food loving stage! His favorite food hands down in bananas. He will eat an entire banana for breakfast most days. He's also loving pears, sweet potatoes, peaches, avocado, apple, carrots and zucchini. He's coming around to broccoli and cauliflower. We also introduced meat and he's had chicken and pork BBQ and loved them both.
Sleep: Sleeping at night like a champ...we do bedtime around 6:30/7:00pm and he sleeps through until typically around 6:00am. Sometimes a bit earlier, sometimes later. He naps well on the weekends (we loosely do the EASY method so he's usually taking 3 naps a day). Naps at daycare are still all over the place, but he has so much fun there, so I think he just doesn't want to miss out on anything (FOMO!)
Personality: He continues to be a pretty intense, serious guy but is definitely becoming more smiley and giggly, which I love. He's started with a bit of stranger apprehension (he got a new teacher at daycare and apparently wouldn't let her hold him for over a week!) and takes a while to warm up in new situations. When we go somewhere new, he sits and takes everything in for a while before becoming his crazy, explorer self. But he has started this new thing where he gives us "kisses" and it seriously melts my heart. He also loves crawling over to me or Jake, pulling up so he's standing in our lap and then cuddling his face into our neck - it's pretty much the cutest thing in the world.
Wednesday, January 2, 2013
2012 in Review
So 2012 was the most amazing, rewarding, crazy, challenging, fun and wonderful year of my life. It flew by in a blur and I cannot wait to see what 2013 has in store for my little family. Here's a quick recap of what we were up to the last 12 months...
January:
We celebrated knowing that the baby was a BOY! I started brainstorming boy nursery ideas. We started taking our hypnobirthing class. My bump had a massive growth spurt:
February:
We 100% decided on a name for baby boy. I got a very clear idea of what I wanted for the nursery, we started by clearing the room and I convinced Jake to paint navy and white stripes. We decided to do more day trips while we still could and took a trip out to Mt. Vernon (George Washington's home):
March:
We turned a closet in our basement into my office, which is still one of my favorite spaces in our house. The wall stripe painting in the nursery happened! My wonderful friends threw me an amazing baby shower
April:
I celebrated being 8 months pregnant. I sewed the crib skirt and almost lost my mind in frustration. The nursery was 90% done. We went to an amazing engagement ceremony for good friends from college and I got to catch up with girls I hadn't seen in forever, including my friend A who was due 2 weeks after me (and ended up having her son 4 days after I had P!):
May:
We got some interesting news that baby boy was breech and I started doing anything I could think of to get him to flip. I finally gave up and accepted the c-section. Surprise - he flipped all on his own the day before my scheduled c-section! My due date came and went without a baby. We took a walk on my due date and documented my huge bump:
June:
The month kicked off with our precious baby boy arriving! We settled into being parents and didn't get much sleep. We had newborn pictures taken of Preston. Jake had his first fathers day:
:
July:
Preston turned 1 month old! He celebrated his first 4th of July by attending his first party (and looked very festive in his patriotic tie!). He became a smiley and fun little guy. We took our first overnight trip to Jake's parents river house in Virginia:
August:
We got comfortable with cloth diapers. P turned 2 months old! I enjoyed snuggles with my baby boy. I started back at work and Preston started daycare on the 27th (and we all survived - but it still sucked!). Preston had his first visit to the pool and seemed to like it:
September:
Preston turned 3 months old. I talked about a "normal" day in our life. Preston got baptized (and I was very late with blogging about it!). We took another trip to the river house and enjoyed the sunshine and fresh air:
October:
Preston turned 4 months old. He dressed up as a fish for Halloween (and fell asleep during the Halloween parade at daycare). We visited a pumpkin patch and Preston wasn't quite sure what to make of pumpkins:
November:
Preston turned 5 months old. He started eating solids and we had a fun and messy adventure. We celebrated our first Thanksgiving as a family:
December:
Preston turned 6 months old (and became super mobile baby who is into everything!). I talked about our sleep training success. Preston met Santa and wasn't a fan. We had a wonderful first Christmas with our very curious little boy!
Bring on 2013!!
January:
We celebrated knowing that the baby was a BOY! I started brainstorming boy nursery ideas. We started taking our hypnobirthing class. My bump had a massive growth spurt:
We 100% decided on a name for baby boy. I got a very clear idea of what I wanted for the nursery, we started by clearing the room and I convinced Jake to paint navy and white stripes. We decided to do more day trips while we still could and took a trip out to Mt. Vernon (George Washington's home):
We turned a closet in our basement into my office, which is still one of my favorite spaces in our house. The wall stripe painting in the nursery happened! My wonderful friends threw me an amazing baby shower
I celebrated being 8 months pregnant. I sewed the crib skirt and almost lost my mind in frustration. The nursery was 90% done. We went to an amazing engagement ceremony for good friends from college and I got to catch up with girls I hadn't seen in forever, including my friend A who was due 2 weeks after me (and ended up having her son 4 days after I had P!):
We got some interesting news that baby boy was breech and I started doing anything I could think of to get him to flip. I finally gave up and accepted the c-section. Surprise - he flipped all on his own the day before my scheduled c-section! My due date came and went without a baby. We took a walk on my due date and documented my huge bump:
June:
The month kicked off with our precious baby boy arriving! We settled into being parents and didn't get much sleep. We had newborn pictures taken of Preston. Jake had his first fathers day:
July:
Preston turned 1 month old! He celebrated his first 4th of July by attending his first party (and looked very festive in his patriotic tie!). He became a smiley and fun little guy. We took our first overnight trip to Jake's parents river house in Virginia:
We got comfortable with cloth diapers. P turned 2 months old! I enjoyed snuggles with my baby boy. I started back at work and Preston started daycare on the 27th (and we all survived - but it still sucked!). Preston had his first visit to the pool and seemed to like it:
Preston turned 3 months old. I talked about a "normal" day in our life. Preston got baptized (and I was very late with blogging about it!). We took another trip to the river house and enjoyed the sunshine and fresh air:
Preston turned 4 months old. He dressed up as a fish for Halloween (and fell asleep during the Halloween parade at daycare). We visited a pumpkin patch and Preston wasn't quite sure what to make of pumpkins:
Preston turned 5 months old. He started eating solids and we had a fun and messy adventure. We celebrated our first Thanksgiving as a family:
Preston turned 6 months old (and became super mobile baby who is into everything!). I talked about our sleep training success. Preston met Santa and wasn't a fan. We had a wonderful first Christmas with our very curious little boy!
Bring on 2013!!
Sunday, December 23, 2012
Merry Christmas!
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| Our Christmas Card this year (with the name blurred out) - I'm completely in love with P's expression. He was looking at my mom who was trying to distract him while my dad took the picture. |
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