Seven Months

Seven Months

 

Wyatt has really blossomed in both personality and physical ability this month. I know I say this every month, but I just can’t believe how fast he’s growing.

 

His month started out with a doctor’s appointment at 6 months and 1 week. He weighed 14 pounds (3^rd %) and was 27.5 inches in length (75^th %). He’s very healthy and doing great! We got the go-ahead to introduce more foods into his diet including meats and yogurt. The pediatrician also ask that I read more to Wyatt to help develop his language skills, which I have been incorporating more into our daily routine. 

 

I really wanted to concentrate on making foods a little thicker this month by not completely pureeing food to liquid consistency. I’ve made some chunkier foods for Wyatt such as chicken, quinoa, orzo, carrots, and green beans. He also started on snacks such as baby rice cakes and fruity yogurt melts. We did have a backfire on the quinoa (a self-induced gag with vomit resulting in a bath and new outfit) so we’re holding off a little while on that. He loves apples, pears, oatmeal sweet potato and the baby rice cakes.  He will eat the chicken on his terms (meaning that I crumble the chicken and place on his tray for him to pick up and eat himself). He’s also reaching for my food more often. This past weekend he was reaching for my cup and plate at the Atlanta Bread Company during a play date. I ended up letting him sip from my cup and eat very small pieces of fresh made bread. He loved it! He’s still not crazy about the sippy cup but he does love drinking from a cup or straw. Every time I get a cup out of the cupboard, he goes crazy trying to hold it. I’ve been pouring myself more water lately so that we can share.

 

On exactly 6 months and 1 week, Wyatt sat for 17 minutes and played by himself on the carpet while I folded laundry. This day marks the first time he’s ever sat by himself for an extended period of time. He started off the month being a little wobbly and now, at the end of the month, he’s a professional sitter. He will sit anywhere without toppling over, which makes life a little easier. We packed away the bouncers because they recline too much for him and we encourage more floor play. In addition to sitting, he’s now moving all over the place! He’s rolling, army crawling, pushing back, rocking and stretching to his location of choice and on his 7 month birthday, he took 3 actual crawling steps forward. He’s also grabbing things that are up high and trying to lift up, although hasn’t been quite successful in that department.

 

My son is obsessed with our fireplace and gravitates towards it. I swear, if I had a giant, padded room filled with amazing, fun toys and a chain saw in the corner, he’d crawl to the chainsaw. I think they much know where the dangerous things in the room are and are compelled to touch them. The very first time it happened was when he nonchalantly rolled across the living room to the corner of the fire place, lifted himself up on all fours, and chomped on the stone covered, pointy corner. Ever since, we tend to barricade that area with blankets and pillows.

 

Bath time has really changed for us and now Wyatt is fully sitting up in the bathtub for his baths. He likes to play with the bubbles and splash the water. He also loves sucking on the washcloth while I bath him. He coos and talks to his ducky as he inserts the poor ducky head into his mouth and splashes so hard that he has to close his eyes from the splash back. Yup! I think I’m going to have a water loving fish on my hands! 

 

 

 

One last incredibly cool milestone that I wanted to share was Wyatt’s very first word! Yes, it’s official, he said a word and I have three witnesses to prove it. While we were having some play time on Thursday evening, Wyatt went from the all fours position to a sitting position and out of excitement, I said “YAYYYYYYYYY” and clapped my hands. Wyatt then looked at me and said “YAYYYYYYYY” right back. We then went back and forth saying Yay to each other several times. Wyatt seemed so happy and proud of himself and was just overcome with excitement. This was such a special milestone and I’m so happy that I was there to witness it.

 

Wyatt’s personality has really blossomed. He’s a very social, happy baby. He smiles and laughs at people and is a total flirt to old ladies who stop to ohhhh and awwww at him. I don’t know any baby his age that smiles quite as much as he does. He likes to be held, especially in new surroundings where he may be unsure. He does tend to get startled by large noises or strangers if they get too close. He might get upset or get jumpy around new people from time to time. He’s also very sensitive. When he sees another baby cry, he always gets upset too. I think he feels sad when they are crying. He loves music and one-on-one playing.

 

In other news, I’m booking photography shoots left and right and working on building my children and babies photography portfolio. Shooting adults who can fake a smile and stand still is a completely different experience that shooting children who are not always happy and are running around everywhere. I’m getting in as much practice as possible and starting to become the type of photographer that I want to be. Hopefully with practicing and opportunities I can continue to grow and hopefully someday I’ll be more satisfied with my art.

 

I’m also really changing from a party girl into a domesticated, crunchy house Mom. This change has really happened over the past three years but I haven’t really noticed until it was brought to my attention recently. I love to cook and bake and make almost every meal from scratch, I love to clean and keep things tidy (other than my car, that’s a totally different story). I’m a smart shopper and use couponing, ebay, craigslist, consignment, and swaps. I’ve also turned somewhat crunchy, which means that I make a lot of natural decisions on behalf of my child. Think of the term crunchy like granola/hippie Mom. It’s questioning everything you do instead of what you’re told to do and doing things a little more natural such as breastfeeding, cloth diapering, buying organics, co-sleeping, etc. I’m not quite sure when I made this switch. I have never really been environmentally aware or concerned so much about another person in my life. I’m not sure how to explain it, and hopefully this doesn’t offend my readers, but if I had the choice to hang out and drink or spend time with my son, I’d pick my son over drinking and partying any day. I genuinely find it more enjoyable. Also, I may be more inclined to decline an invitation somewhere if I can’t bring my son (unless he’s in bed for the night). My new life may seem pretty ho-hum to most people but I’m having the time of my life.

 

Even though I love to spend all of my extra time at home with the baby, I am really looking forward to a June beach trip without the baby. I’m working extra hard and even on the weekends to save up for a really fun trip with my girlfriends. I plan on going all out with a new bikini and pedicure (which under normal circumstances would never purchase). This will be my one and only opportunity this year to get crazy and have loads of baby-free fun.

 

My sister is now living on the East Coast and has been sharing her free weekends with us. I helped her go shopping for civilian clothes (aka normal clothes to me) and we got to spend lots of sisterly bonding time together. We then took care of her sweet puppy, Lizzie, while she was getting her new DC life in order. She even stayed home with the baby one night after he went to bed and allowed us to go bowling. We plan on meeting her at the end of March in DC. It’s really nice having her so close to us. 

 

 

We also had a nice visit from my Dad and Step Mom this past month. They came down and spent the day with us and took us out to lunch. Wyatt loved spending time with them and he was all smiles. Here are some photos from that day. 

 

 

 

The time has finally come when my Mom will no longer be watching Wyatt and he will be attending daycare. Although we are sad to see her go (and I’m extra sad that I’m losing my live-in maid) we are so ready for this daycare adventure to begin. I really think that Wyatt will excel at daycare socially and physically. We can’t thank my Mom enough for watching him over the last few months. She’s been an unbelievably big help and we wouldn’t have been able to manage without her. Wyatt will definitely miss his Grammy, but it’ll just mean that the time they do get to spend together will be even more special. 

 

 

Mmm, Blueberries

 

 

Randomness

 

Trouble Maker

 

Pre-crawler

 

Hanging out with Daddy

 

 

Crabby Outfit 

 

Play Date with bumpies!

 

Six Months

 

 

It’s February 10^th and we are celebrating Wyatt’s ½ birthday. I can’t believe that I only met him for the first time just six months ago. How can someone I just met 6 months ago make such a huge impact on my life? So I finally refer to Wyatt as my baby and not my infant because sadly, those days are now gone. I don’t really quite know what I’m feeling right now. A big part of me is so sad that my little newborn infant baby is all grown up. But on the flip side, I’m so proud of him and how far he’s come both physically and mentally and I really enjoy watching him learn, discover and grow.

 

Just this past week he started to sit by himself very well for more than just a few seconds at a time. Actually he does very well until he gets distracted by his foot and leans over to grab it. We practice sitting a lot and building his strength. We started the month out sitting with a boppy pillow and now we no longer use it because he does just fine on his own.  So I guess I can say that I officially have a sitter.

 

Another thing that Wyatt is working on is crawling. He hasn’t quite got it down yet but he’s determined to be mobile. I’ll often sit on the floor with him with a toy just out of arms reach and taunt him with it (while I encourage him, of course). He will snake and sliver over to it while kicking his legs and doing baby pushups. Sometimes he will move his right leg up to move forward but because he doesn’t know how to control the left leg, he mostly goes in a circle. If I had to guess, I bet he will be semi- crawling in another two weeks.

 

Wyatt really started to recognize the people that are so involved in his life. He smiles at Daddy when he gets home from work, cuddles with grammy and reaches out to me to be held. If he wants up he reaches up when you put your arms out. He will also show affection by giving out hugs and kisses. Something I noticed quite recently is that if I say “Kiss” he will put his hands out on my face and bring my face in to slobber on me. This could all be coincidental, of course. It’s really hard for me to determine if he really understands what that means, It’s still cute though.

 

 

 

We have an expert roller on our hands. He rolls everywhere and when he sees a toy he wants, he just rolls over to it and picks it up. Along with rolling he also does well with picking items up and is now fascinated with watching them drop or roll away. I can give him something to hold and he holds it (or will intestinally drop it to watch it fall). He holds his own bottle now and even holds it up at an angle to ensure good flow. 

 

The great thing about having a six month old is how self sufficient they are starting to get. I’m actually starting to feel spoiled! I no longer have to find a bouncer to place him in, he’s perfectly happy and safe being on the floor. Although I’m still nursing, I no longer have to constantly feed him and he will take and hold his own bottle. He keeps himself occupied with his many toys so I have the freedom to do things that I couldn’t do before like help with dinner or use the bathroom without holding a baby.

 

Wyatt has now been on solids regularly for a month. He eats twice a day; once in the afternoon and once in the evening. He’s doing really well although he really isn’t a big fan of vegetables. Who can blame him? So Wyatt has now had avocado, oatmeal, sweet potato, squash, banana, peaches, pears, prunes, green beans, carrots, sweet peas, and blueberries. By far his favorite is still sweet potato but he also loves pears. Sweet peas and green beans were both tried 5-7 times and it has been confirmed that he hates both. This next month I’m going to continue to try different vegetables, make some combinations, and introduce yogurt into his diet. As a result to eating solids, Wyatt has been sleeping better and his poop has been more solid. It was actually quite shocking the first time Wyatt passed a “grown up” poop. Something that happens but I guess I wasn’t expecting. I know that you’re all so interested in hearing about my son’s bowl movements.

 

We finally transitioned Wyatt to his crib and everyone has been sleeping better. Really, it was very hard for me to let go and allow him to sleep in his crib at night. I was very nervous to do so and still get up several times to check on him. He sleeps so well in there and is typically only up once a night and then gets up for the day between 4-5am every day. Eventually I’d like to have him sleep until 7am and that is definitely my goal before he starts daycare in March.

 

This past week was the very first time I really did something for myself and I went to the salon and had a haircut! It’s so hard to find the time to do little things like this but it feels good to be pampered once in a while. I also had a nice baby-free breakfast with my bestie, Jen and her beautiful daughter, Zoey. It was so nice to get out of the house and visit with them and we discussed our 2012 girls trip which will take place at the beach this year in late June. Jen and I love going to the beach and swimming in the Ocean. My other two girlfriends, Dawn and Sunita don’t like the ocean quite as much but they do enjoy relaxing on the sand and we can often convince them to join us in the ocean for a little bit. I’m really, really excited for this and it’ll be happening at a perfect time. I’ll be done nursing and I’ll definitely feel secure enough to leave my little guy behind at 10.5 months old.

 

Oh, and speaking of nursing, I have officially met my goal! I never thought I could do it and I really wanted to give up so many times. It was really challenging for me to continue nursing but I’m so glad I did. I don’t think I’ve ever had as much willpower in my life and I’m just really proud of myself for making it this far. I plan to slowly ween over the next couple of months and stop completely by May.

 

Glen joined a new band and so far it’s going really well. He’s finally able to write and play the music he’s always wanted to and he’s working with a great group of guys. Glen doesn’t want to be tied down and totally committed right now so this is just something he does on the side when he does have time. I encourage him to get out once in a while and play music because he loves to do it and I don’t want him to give that up.

 

Our friends, who we met in baby class, invited us over to share Superbowl Sunday with them and we had a really great time. There was a total of 5 adults and 2 babies but there was enough food for a 20 person party. The babies interacted with each other and we ate, chatted and watched the Superbowl. Madonna played the halftime show (for those living under a rock) and she did a fantastic job. We did have to leave immediately after the half time show in order to get Wyatt to bed but those couple pre-game hours were very nice.

 

Our lives have become so consumed by our son that it’s somewhat challenging to have much of a social life outside the house of Charron.  We do try to schedule one thing every week that gets us out of the house with or without the baby and that seems to be a realistic goal for the time being. Hopefully as Wyatt gets older and on a better schedule we will have a little more flexibility. 

 

Cutie in a blue Sleeper

 

 

Mama and Me

 

Playing with cupcake silicone holders

 

Play date with Mason

 

Red Sox