7 months!

Honey Bear,

How has 2 months passed?!
I have kept a running list of your new developments on my phone. I type it in whenever you do something new, for the day that I can finally update this blog for you!
The biggest change in our life right now is that our home is for sale. We listed it on Feb 7th, so getting the house ready up until then, and then having our life upside down since then... that is my excuse for lack of updating here!
I never knew it would take so much effort. Keeping a clean house, and not only that, well, initially getting our house in to shape to be able to be listed, and then having SHOWINGS! Tidying up what needs to be done (making our bed, picking up the living room, kitchen, your room, vacuuming, sweeping, turning all of the lights on and lighting candles!), then getting you packed up and all that you need, and loading our two dogs in the back of my car. It's so crazy. CRAZY.
So we have now had something like 33 or so showings in the past month. Still waiting on that one perfect buyer! I know it will happen when the timing is right. Trying to keep patient!
You however, are a CHAMP! In the car during a showing, we just hang out and I get you out of your car seat and we play, or I feed you a bottle, and we watch the people parked in front of our house so I can see how soon they leave, and as soon as they are gone, we return home! You are so good waiting in the car. It's impossible to work around your regular routine for showings. I have to make our house available to the realtors at the time that they request. I have some say, within one hour, of what they request, but for the most part, I have to be gone and cleared out when they want to come. So needless to say, your nap times are fair game for showings and we either nap you as soon as we get back home, or try to get you to sleep in the car, or just whatever we can do!

On that topic, you have FINALLY gotten on a pretty strict routine (except when we are not home!!) of taking a nap at 9am and 1pm. You just put yourself on that schedule all your own! It's amazing how that happens. Now at 9am, you are yawning! As for the end of the day, there is no routine what so ever. Sometimes (if you are tired and cranky!) you take one more nap before bed, but that nap start time totally varies. Not only that but your actual bed time varies. You have no night time routine at all, and no set bed time. We just sort of go off of your cues and when you get fussy, we get you changed and ready for bed and then go in and rock you and you fall asleep! I would say it's usually by 8:30. Sometimes earlier! Though we have a church group we meet with on Thursday nights, so that night, sometimes you will fall asleep in my arms around 9pm at our friends' apartment, but sometimes you'll stay up until 10 or later! But, then you are so tired that you sleep through the night!   :)
We know we need to get more set with a bedtime and get you on a routine. I know some would say we are far too late in getting that set up! I think because we do take you out occasionally in the evening, that is why we've never been strict about a night time routine. It just depends on what is going on!
Even your morning nap at 9am, we have started attending a library baby time (so fun!) on Tuesday mornings at 9:30, so for that, I'll just keep you up until that is over and nap as soon as we get home, around 10:15 or so. I think it can't hurt to keep you flexible. In the future, sure routine is great for kids and they need it, but still, change and variety will arise in our day and I think it will be good if you can learn to roll with things and be easy-going when you are older.

Gosh, I feel like there is so much to update! 2 months worth!!

Let's start with food. You are a pretty good eater! Well, first of all, you are officially weaned! You nursed off and on during your 6th month. Sort of through out. But all during that time, you also received formula bottles mixed with breast milk in them. Then I gradually lessened the breast milk in the bottles and gave more formula. So then you go to where you would take a bottle of 100% formula, and you would also nurse! But of course the more bottles you received, the less milk my body was making, and it got to where my supply was so low that there was no way that I could feed you for one full meal. And combined with that, we started solids so you were receiving that food intake as well, so that was even less that you were relying on my body. It all worked itself out. It's amazing how your body (well, my body) just knows what to do, and goes off what I tell it to do. So now I have stopped making milk and you do nurse for comfort very very rarely. (can still eek a little out! Ha!) I only have you do that if you won't be calmed and it's nap time or bed time or something and it definitely calms you and lulls you to sleep. I know they say not to do that (to aid in sleeping), and we really only rarely do that, but you are still a baby, and *my* baby, and it's a sweet time between you and Mommy. I know these days are gone all too quickly!
So, I would say that by 7 months old, you were fully weaned. I miss nursing at times, but I definitely do not miss having to pump, and having to time my outings so I could get home and feed you because no one else could, or get home to pump, OR take my pump on the road with me!!
I'm just happy that you switched to formula relatively easy and are very easy going with a lot of things in life in general!

Want to be sure to document your stats! At your 6 month doctor visit, you weighed 17 lbs... plus some ounces. Will have to look that up! And you were 26.75 inches long. You have always been right around 50th percentile! Just a normal, middle of the road, happy baby!
When you are in disposables at your sweet babysitters, Miss Jessica, you wear a size 4 diaper (just a recent change a couple weeks ago from a size 3 because at her house, she was having to deal with your diaper blow-outs!).... Still LOVING cloth diapering at home! Though your solid food intake is making your diapers more interesting! Have to hose them off in the back yard! But that just takes a minute, and it still makes my heart happy to have my baby in cloth! Worth the effort in my book!
You wear only size 9 month clothing, and some 12 month. You drink 6 ounce bottles. You get about 4 bottles in a day, (morning, noon, dinner, and bed time).

You go to Jessica's every Monday and Wednesday from 9-3. She loves you and is so SO wonderful with you. She has two boys, Dean 5 yrs, and Drew 2 years, and they love you too! They make you laugh out loud. You watch them and love to interact with them! Drew wants to hold you every single time you arrive, and as soon as you arrive. He holds you on the couch for about one minute, then he is done. But every time we get there, he requests to "hold baby Isaac"! It is more of an investment to have you go to a friend's house as a private babysitter, rather than taking you to a Mother's Day Out program like we were planning on, but the personal attention and love you receive is worth 10 fold of any amount we could pay! Babies require love and attention and I have zero qualms about dropping you off every Mon/Wed. I know you are in WONDERFUL care! Makes my heart happy and I can focus on work at home without you and without worry!

So, that trip that Daddy and I were going to take next week is now put off. We decided with selling our home that it would not be wise to pack up and leave for 4 days. I honestly thought our home would be sold a long time ago and that we would be packing by now, but at least now we will be home to get the house ready for showings at the least.

Oh! Shortly after I wrote that in your 5 month post, about swaddling at night, we broke you free of the swaddle! It was HARD. You did cry. A lot. But like with a lot of parenting, I forget what it was like and it was only 2 months ago! It's crazy to think that now we lay you down in bed, with your arms free, and with just a blanket, and you are fine all night! I think with the swaddle I just had to get rid of it all together. I think I tried one arm out a couple of times, but that made you just as mad, so we just got rid of the whole thing.
You are SUCH a mover in bed! On Feb 22nd, we lowered your crib to the lowest level (skipped the middle level!) Because you were still on the top level and you inch-wormed around your crib so much, it made me so nervous that you would figure out a way to pull up and fall out! I feel SO much better having you way down low. Our safe little boy! In the past couple weeks, more and more you roll from front to back to front all night long. You'll sleep on your back, your side, and your stomach, just however you end up after moving around!
It's amazing how AMAZING your lovey is! (your little red and white lovey from Auntie Kim!) You will cry sometimes in the middle of the night, and I'll look at the monitor, and in your sleep, watch you reach around and find your lovey and snuggle it and fall back asleep quickly on your own. Just that comfort item! A GOD SEND! It's so small and portable and goes EVERY where with us! If you get crabby in your car seat, I just put lovey right up against your cheek, give you your pacifier, and you quiet right down and get sleepy!
*That is an easy trick to get you to sleep faster, to put your lovey, or a blanket, (or a pillow when you are in Mommy and Daddy's bed for naps) right up against your face. You love to snuggle, and if you have something to rub your face on, that is all the faster you will fall asleep.
In your crib, you constantly have your face in your bumper. When you were younger, well, for 1 you did not move as much! But if your face was in your bumper ever, I would risk waking you up and move you away. But now I leave you be.
I took your bumper out one night just to see, and you are so used to it, that you quickly woke up crying because your head was in the corner of your crib, bumping against the rails on either side, and that just plain hurt!  :(
So the bumper went back in and it helps you sleep!

So, back to the crying in your car seat. Lately, maybe the past month or few weeks, pretty much maybe 80% of the time that I either put you on the changing table for a diaper change, strap you in your car seat to go, or strap you in your high chair to eat, you get so so fussy! I would say it's more like 95% of the time when I put you on the changing table! I just know to expect it! I have decided it's just because you don't want to stop what you are doing. In all 3 of those locations, you have to stop playing, and do what I want you to do, and you are not in control (or having fun!) It's really just lately since you have become more independent and love to sit up on your own. Maybe we are in for it with you wanting to be super Mr. Independent!! You just don't like to be strapped down! This is all new because none of those things used to bother you not that long ago! It's sort of made my day dreading (and having to plan out the order of events) of when to change your diaper or feed you! Obviously you have to get changed and eat, and go run errands with me, so.... you will always lose! Sorry, Charlie!  (can say that since you are Isaac Charles!)
:)

So, the sitting! You are totally a pro, and a bonafide independent sitter! However! You did fall back on me once on our wood floors.  :(
Sitting up and fell straight back on to your widdle head. That was sad. You were sad. It does still make me nervous to walk away from you when you are sitting, but really, you are pretty much there with being a perfect sitter.
I was slow to have you practice sitting. You just seem like my little baby, that it didn't even occur to me to try and see if you could sit on your own earlier than around 6.5 months! It was like one day, you could just do it!
Sometimes you will lean forward and then just catch yourself and go in to a laying on your tummy position!
Which leads me to your scooting! Just a few weeks ago (around the end of February) you got up on all 4's for the first time and rocked back and forth! Now you do it all the time! You push up on your arms and then get your knees up. You also have a way of scooting in a circle when you are on your tummy. You find ways to scooch around, without officially crawling! You scooch forward and backwards sometimes! You also will get your arms out in front of you and push up, then put your face on the ground and put your butt up in the air and just roll around that way. Sort of makes you inch-worm forward! You rub your face on the ground a lot! And then roll from side to side!
Needless to say, you find ways of getting around and you will be crawling way too soon for my liking. I know that will REALLY change my work days at home! We'll just have to bust out the playpen to contain you!

You have just in the past few days started saying "MAMAMA!" Okay, I totally realize you do not know you are saying that, and I don't think it is directed at me, but you are still saying the consonant M sound and one day it will be directed at me!
:)

Back to your food! I LOVE being able to cook your food. It's totally all thanks to how easy my Babycook machine makes doing it. SO EASY. But it's just oddly rewarding, to get to make the very food that my baby eats, and to know it's super fresh and 100% just straight food and water, no additives! Blah, blah. I know that is 1st time mom speak, but it just makes me a happy momma to prepare and provide for you all from my own 2 hands. (and again, THE MACHINE!)
A list of foods you have eaten that I make:
green beans, sweet potatoes, carrots, pears, apples.... I think that is all that I have cooked. But then I also mash up raw bananas and avocados for you. You have also eaten baby yogurt, (in strawberry, peach, banana, blueberry, and pear flavorings. Pear is your favorite, I'd say!)
Then because I have not made peas yet in the machine, I have bought a couple jars of peas for you, just so you get those in your diet. (not sure if I could cook peas. I guess I'd just buy a frozen bag and steam them that way... haven't done it yet!)
When you love a food, you raise your eyebrows when I put the spoonful in! CUTE!
You will only eat green beans if they are mixed with either bananas or pears! Your 2 favorite foods! I pretty much mix most things with pears or bananas! You won't eat carrots with out being mixed, or sweet potatoes by themselves. I think you don't like that the texture of sweet potatoes is somewhat thicker/pastier. And carrots are gritty.
You prefer most of your food warmed. If I try to give you something cold and you won't take it, if I warm it up, 90% of the time you'll take it much better!
You do not love any food with chunks! I gave you some packaged food that I received from a friend that it clearly said the food was for 8 months + , but I thought what the heck?! It was somewhat chunky and you gagged and threw up in the high chair! So.... laying off the chunky foods for now!
***One thing that is A-DOR-A-BLE that I must remember (I have it on video!), is if you do not want a food I'm trying to feed you, you scrunch up your nose and eyebrows, pucker your mouth, and make a snorting sound! Like a repulsed 'get that out ma face' expression!!! It's so funny, and so chock full of personality, it blows my mind that you already have an opinion on things and that you are expressive of what you do not want! (in a way other than, and much cuter than crying!)

After eating, you know it's coming. The wet cloth to wipe your face. You wince when you see it coming, even before it touches your face! You HATE it!

Something we are currently dealing with is that your cheeks are very red. Not only that, but you regularly have a diaper rash that is not pretty! (not many rashes are!) At first I just thought your red cheeks were because of wind burn. They are dry, chapped, and red. But today Birdie mentioned it could be because of a food allergy! Which is very likely! (which could also lead to your diaper rash!) So I don't know how I'm really going to narrow that down..... I also think (and this is an easier fix!) that it could be because of the type of formula (Gentle-ease) that we have you on, so I bought a different type tonight to start mixing that with your current formula to switch you over. Doesn't hurt to try! I am also, per Kim's suggestion, going to stop giving you yogurt to see if it might be a dairy allergy. I also bought some good ointment tonight to start putting on you, so hopefully that will help as well! In all of your pictures, your cheeks are so rosy!

Our GORGEOUS rosy-cheeked boy!
(these were taken on your 7 month birthday!)

Love a topless baby, love baby pudgy rolls, and love plaid shorts on baby boys!!!!  :)

This was a particularly bad day for your cheeks. I think they already look better than this. (just put Lanolin on your cheeks the past few days).

2 more quick things to write, wrapping up this epic post!:

You try to hold your bottle! It's so cute! You grab at it and get your hands on it and we can let go and you totally support it! You have a hard time (if you pop it out of your mouth) getting it back in, but sometimes you do get it in! You definitely want some control with it. You bat at it and push it away sometimes, and just try to interact somehow with your bottle!

Also, lastly, a few days in a row last week you totally slept through the night! A break through! It's not all the time, but sometimes, if you do wake, I let you fuss for a minute and you get yourself back to sleep on your own (thank you lovey!). Or like last night, you fussed for a few minutes so I actually got up and walked across the house, and by the time I got to your room, you had fallen back asleep!
I would say at most, you wake up once in the night. So we're getting there. Slowly, but it will happen one day!

As I write this, you have scooched your body to the top of your crib, your body is pressed against the bumper, you've rolled to your tummy and your butt is sort of in the air! You are all over the place!

There is much more to write off my ongoing list, but I'll have to back track and catch up another day! Just happy to get something written and documented from the past 2 months!

These are the happiest days of my life! For realsies, little boy.