Puffs

As mentioned previously, this week Ethan has really figured out Puffs. I tried them with him last week, and he just couldn't figure out what to do with them (other than gag). But this week, he's stuffing them in his mouth, chewing, and swallowing like a pro. He loves them! In fact, I have to dish them out one at a time or else he'll put another one in before he's swallowed, and I'm still too anxious to let him, even if he can handle it. Today, he ate 10 of them, even after his usual solids meal, and he probably would have eaten more if I let him. And since my mom can never get enough videos:

Mama!

Just for good measure:

Stair Climber

Ethan discovered yesterday that he can climb the stairs. He's probably been able to for a while, but we always kept him away from them since we don't have baby gates yet. After he climbed the first one, he burst into laughter and has been addicted ever since. So, in short, we're in trouble.

I got a short video of him this morning. He is such a ham for the camera, and I didn't get him to climb very far before he decided it was more fun to fling himself into Mommy's arms. You'll probably notice his amber teething necklace at the end of the video, but that's a topic for another post (and don't worry, Mom: it's completely safe and made FOR babies; plus, he never wears it without supervision, and there's not a strangulation risk). Enjoy!

Busy Week!

It's been an eventful and fun week so far! First of all, Ethan's Grandmama and Grandpapa came up last Thursday for a weekend visit. Much fun was had by all! Ethan loved showing off his new mobility and linguistic skills, and Grandmama and Grandpapa were more than happy to cheer him on. He even got his first upper tooth on their last day in town, which was much less happy for him but still exciting.







Monday was a quieter day, filled with cleaning and other preparations because on Tuesday, the local La Leche League came over for an enrichment meeting/tea party/goat petting. We had 6 adults and 11 kids. Ethan was apparently motivated by the bigger kids walking around because he decided to finally get up on all fours to crawl. He made it about 6 crawls before his 18-month-old friend Donna came over and touched him on the shoulder, causing him to drop back down to his belly. Silly boy! The goats were a big hit, and all in all, it was a very fun morning!

Wednesday was another fun time because yesterday afternoon was Ethan's first play date. Our neighbor has two boys: one is 2 and the other is one week younger than Ethan. We finally got them together, and the boys were so cute together! (I don't have any pictures of either event because I don't want to put pictures of someone else's kid online). Ethan decided to learn another new skill and began babbling "Mamamama" in earnest for the first time, which he's continued to do all morning so far! Plus, we learned the eerie coincidences between us and our neighbors continue. We were married within 5 months of each other, we moved to the neighborhood within 8 months of one another, we had children within two weeks of one another, both of our husbands are tax accountants, we were both born in April, and our husbands' birthdays are a day apart. Plus, her oldest is named Nathan, which sounds pretty close to Ethan. Too funny! Hopefully we'll be able to get together a lot more as the kids are better able to play with one another.

The rest of the week will be more low-key. My friend Presian, who is due a few days before Ethan's first birthday, will hopefully be coming over this weekend to see Ethan, whom she hasn't seen since January, and so that I can see her growing belly. Other than that, we'll just be resting up after our week of fun!

Eight Months

Dear Ethan,

Wow. Where has the time gone? I cannot comprehend how you could possibly be eight months old already. In just four more months, you’ll be a year! And that’s too depressing a thought, so let’s focus on all you’ve been up to in the past month instead.

Thanks to our friend Ferber, you’re finally sleeping well again. With the exception of last night, you put yourself to sleep by 8:30, and I don’t hear a peep out of you until 7! Unfortunately, you were up a couple of times last night due to a budding cold, but you still put yourself back to sleep every time. Mommy is so thankful to be getting sleep again, which makes her even happier to get you when you call in the morning.

As you get stronger, you are getting into everything. If you can grab ahold of it and it’s taller than you, you WILL pull up on it, from furniture to your Jumperoo to floor lamps. You even pull up on Mommy’s pant leg and then yank on it until you’re picked up! You cruise along furniture with ease, but you’re still a bit unstable if you’re not holding onto anything. One of your cutest new tricks is the result of some new toy storage Mommy put together for you. You crawl up to the cubbies and pull out whichever toy catches your eye. However, Mommy didn’t think about the fact that her office supplies are stored in similar looking cubbies nearby, so her notebooks and pens have become your new favorite toys as you stand to drag them out.

So far you haven’t gotten any new teeth, but you have four upper teeth ready to burst through any day now. Hopefully they won’t cause you as much pain, and you’ll have an even fuller toothy grin by next month. I can’t even predict what all you’ll be into by then!

You’re such a mischief and such a happy boy! As much as I hate that you’re getting older, I love every moment I get to spend with you!

Love,
Mommy

You Are What You Eat

I figured it's been a while since I talked about this, so this will be a general update on all that Ethan eats (except for cat fur because that's not supposed to go into his mouth). We're still nursing at least five times a day, and he's taking three bottles of formula supplement and two meals of solids. So let's start with nursing:

We made it over a hump a month or so ago. He'd gotten to the point where he was refusing the breast in favor of the bottle, which really upset me. He would only nurse a couple of minutes on each side, and I worried about my supply. Finally, I just stopped stressing out about it. And gradually, he stopped popping off and crying until I gave him the bottle. He still often nurses only a few minutes on each side, but I put him on each side 2-3 times in the course of a feeding so I feel like he's doing enough. As stressful as it's been, I love nursing. Obviously, I wish we could just nurse exclusively, but my body had other plans for the past almost 7 months. However, as he continues to add solids, his need for formula supplements is decreasing (just as the lactation consultant predicted). Already, we've dropped one bottle due to his changing nap and eating schedule. I was very nervous about this, but the numbers on the scale continue to rise! As a result, I have a new goal. I'm going to add back pumpings and such in order to boost my supply, and with increased solids, I hope to be off supplements around 10 months. I don't know if we'll reach that goal, and obviously we'll continue with the supplements if his weight starts to stall, but it would be so nice to not have to deal with bottles and formula anymore. (Don't worry, Mom. I talked about this with his doctor, and she thought it was a great idea provided we continue to monitor his weight, which we will. I know you're going to worry anyway, but you know I would never do anything that compromises Ethan's thriving.)

Now on to those supplements. Around the same time as the nursing hump, we dealt with Ethan getting easily distracted when taking his bottle. It became a major production and required multiple bottle breaks and changes in scenery to get him to finish. We seem to have overcome that, as well, much to my relief! He gets a bottle after his second, third, and final nursing of the day, so even with my tiny stash, I only have to wash bottles twice a day and mix formula once. It's still a pain, but not as bad as when he had five (smaller) bottles a day.

And now onto solids. My freezer contains the following (in order of introduction):
- Organic sweet potato puree: Likes it now!
- Organic brown rice cereal: Not a huge fan unless mixed with banana.
- Organic pear puree: Loves it!
- Organic apple puree: Loves it!
- Sweet pea puree: Loves it!
- Organic asparagus puree: Loves it!
- Turkey puree: Tolerates it if mixed with pear, but he has a hard time swallowing it without a sippy cup of water
- Organic spinach puree: Waiting until 8 months to try due to Nitrates and Oxalates

In addition, Ethan still loves banana, still hates avocado (we tried it again last week... not good), and is obsessed with yogurt. We were using Stoneyfield Farms YoBaby, but then I decided to just get Stoneyfield Farms Plain Whole Milk yogurt and mix his purees in. Now I'm thinking about just making my own yogurt because it's actually quite easy! I'll let you know how it goes. He eats 4 oz. of yogurt every afternoon, which helps to make up for the lack of a bottle then since yogurt actually has more calories.

So all in all, we're both doing great!

My son is growing up too fast

He's already ready to start driving!



Sorry for camera-phone pictures, but that's all that was handy. The outfit was from church this morning. He's not usually that dressed up to just hang around the house!

A Final Ferber Update

I had hoped that by this weekend, I'd be well rested with a happy baby who could put himself to sleep. And for once, I was right! The past two nights have been great. On Thursday night, he fussed on and off for the first six minutes and woke up at 7. Last night, he didn't cry at all with only a couple of sporadic fusses before he put himself to sleep. He did wake up a bit earlier, at around 6:30, but he also went to bed later than usual last night, which usually leads to an earlier wake-up.

All in all, I'm thrilled. As hard as it was to hear him cry, the first night was really the only truly miserable one, and it's definitely worth it to not have to get up all during the night. In the past week, I haven't had to go in there during the night once (the two diaper changes were both handled by his daddy), and I've gotten to sleep in my own bed all week!

If you're having sleep issues (and if your baby is old enough), definitely give Ferber a try!

One screaming baby and a $10 copay later...

((Warning: This gets somewhat graphic, so if you're not ready to read about baby poop, perhaps skip this post))

Yesterday was a rough day. Not the entire day, but as a whole. The day started out as usual. Ethan ate, he napped, he played. It was after his second nap that things took a turn. To begin with, I let him crawl around while I got ready to feed him, and he bumped his head on the coffee table. Not the end of the world, but he cried, I comforted, he nursed. After eating, I put him back down to play, and I started to make some strawberry bread. He crawled into the kitchen, happily chasing Toby. All of a sudden, he stopped and started crying. At first I thought maybe he'd bumped his head again, but there was nothing he could have hit it on. Then I assumed he just wanted to be held, so I picked him up while I continued cleaning strawberries. But, for once, being picked up didn't help. He continued to cry and even scream. All kinds of theories came to mind. Did he really hurt himself when he hit the coffee table? Could he have a headache? Do babies get headaches? Maybe it's a bad gas bubble? I did eat a lot of broccoli for lunch (thank you, CSA!). Could it have affected my milk that quickly when it's never done so before? Maybe it's his teeth? While I tried to figure out what was wrong and comfort him, I stood him on the dining room table and handed him his sippy cup. He happily sucked on in for a minute before his entire face contorted. He strained like he was trying to poop and let out a horrible scream. He cried uncontrollably and buried his face in my shoulder.

At least now I knew the culprit. I brought him up to his nursery and laid him on the changing table. Sure enough, he had pooped, and there was a decent amount. I'd noticed the past three dirty diapers had been smaller than usual, but they were also fully formed so I figured it was just a result of the solids transition finally occurring. I was actually thrilled since this meant no more scraping diapers in the toilet before washing them! Now, watching my baby scream, I was less excited and more concerned. He began to scream more as he pooped again. It looked normal, though formed, so I couldn't figure out what was causing him such pain. As soon as he was done, he went back to playing with the toy I'd handed him, perfectly happy. But when I wiped his bottom, he began crying again. I noticed the slightest tinge of blood on the wipe, but there was none in his stool, at least.

I decided to put in a call to the nurses at the pediatrician, just to see if there was anything I could do to help him in the future. I figured his body was just adjusting to more formed stools, and the pain and tinge of blood was just the result of his straining. However, when I called the nurse, she wanted me to bring him in immediately. Begrudgingly, I rushed him in, even though he was ready for another nap. Thankfully, the doctor agreed with me that it was unlikely to be constipation, and she didn't see anything more serious, so she agreed with my diagnosis. We're to limit his intake of bananas, sweet potatoes, and other binders and give him more pears and other fruits, which thankfully he loves. He flirted with the doctor and nurses the entire time and seemed to be in great spirits. So basically, I paid $10 and dragged Ethan out during naptime in order to get the same information I'd hoped to get over the phone in calling. At least, if it happens again, we know for sure nothing serious is wrong.

Within 7 minutes of getting home, Ethan was asleep, but I still had to wake him up after a bit to make sure he'd sleep that night. As a result, he was already a little cranky. He nursed OK, and then I mixed up a batch of pear yogurt for him. In order to get the plain yogurt sweet enough, I had to add 7 cubes of pear puree, but even then, after a couple of spoonfuls, he began refusing it. He drank water out of his sippy cup just fine, but if I even picked up the spoon, he began to fuss. I was relating this to my mom on the phone and picked up the spoon so she would hear him. And of course, he grinned, grabbed for the spoon, and ate his pear yogurt happily. He polished off the entire plate, in fact. What a mischief!

Unfortunately, his fussiness continued to a lesser extent for the rest of the evening, and the events of the day led to the worst bedtime since day 1. When I put him down, he did his new fake-out of snuggling up to sleep, but this time when he lifted his head, it was to cry, not to grin. He cried fairly constantly for 23 minutes before finally conking out just when I was getting ready to go in and check his diaper.

Thankfully, this morning has been off to a better start. He didn't stir all night and woke up at 7. Plus, he woke up with a dirty diaper, and it was completely unformed, which meant no pain for him. I don't know if the past two days were just anomalies or if the extra pear did the trick. And while it meant I spent another morning with my hand in the toilet, I'll gladly do it if it means no more pain for him.

Ferber Update: Fake-out Edition

Ferber is still going pretty well. Ethan has discovered the fake-out, however, whether intentional or not. Both nights, as soon as I put him down in his crib, he gets into his sleeping position and lays his head down. He stays that way for a few seconds, raising my hopes that he'll just go to sleep immediately, then he lifts his head and grins at me! Adorable, but not what I was hoping for, son. The good news is that he's not crying when I leave the room. The bad news is that he then starts crying a few minutes later. Let's break it down by night:

On night four of Ferber, I put him down in his crib at 8:11 PM and didn't hear a peep from him except for sporadic babbles for the first ten minutes. Then at 8:21, the crying began. It was fairly constant and more crying than fussing. I went in to check on him once, and thankfully he put himself to sleep at 8:31. So only 10 minutes of crying, but 20 minutes total. Not what I was hoping for on night four. He did sleep through the night, though, except for a random cry around 5:30 AM and woke up around 6:30 AM, I believe.

On night five, I put him down in his crib at 8:09 PM. Again, he did his initial fake-out, and then I didn't hear anything at all from him for a few minutes so I thought maybe he'd actually gone to sleep after all. Then the crying began around 8:15. I went in to check on him after a few minutes and noticed that he had a wet spot near his diaper. Could this be why he was crying the night before, too? After debating whether or not I should change him, I decided to go ahead, and boy was he thrilled to be cuddling with his mommy again. He grinned and grinned at me, and this time, he started crying immediately when I put him in his crib. However, within a minute, he'd stopped and put himself to sleep at 8:28 PM. 19 minutes total, including several minutes of crying, but also including a diaper change. He didn't sleep quite as well, waking at 3:30 and going back to sleep and waking again at 5:30 and needing a diaper change before waking for good at 6:30, but that also could have been due to some strong thunderstorms.

I'm not sure where this leaves us as far as Ferber. According to the method, he should be done with crying by now. However, he's been crying later instead of at the beginning, perhaps in response to a wet diaper, so does that count? Also, how do we avoid having the diaper become an issue every night? We wait a long time after he eats to change him, already, so how much longer can we wait? I guess we'll just have to keep trying and see how it goes.

Ferber Update

We've had three successful nights so far of the Ferber Method! I already covered the first night in the post below, but here's a recap of the last two nights:

On night two, I put him down at 8:01 PM. He began crying as soon as I started to lower him into the crib, so I feared for another long night. However, after two minutes of crying, he began just fussing intermittently. I went in once to soothe him, but at 8:21 PM, he stopped entirely. So only 20 minutes of periodic fussing! He did wake up at 4 with some fussing and wasn't able to put himself back down. After a quick diaper change, he was put back in his crib, fussed for less than a minute, and went back to sleep until just before 7! I considered that a win!

I really had my hopes up for night three since many babies fuss less than 10 minutes by the third night. I put him down at 7:57 PM, and he stopped fussing as soon as I closed the door. Then he started back again with his intermittent fussing. Unfortunately, this time he also did some crying, too, and sometimes it was more constant than others. I checked on him every 10 minutes, and he was finally silent at 8:19 PM. So 22 minutes of fussing and crying. Still good and totally doable, but not quite what I'd hoped. However, he then proceeded to sleep until just before 7, again! He let out a couple of fusses during the night, but immediately went back to sleep.

Ferber definitely works! And hopefully tonight will be even better and soon we'll have no crying or fussing at all. I just cannot express how thrilled I am to get to sleep in my own bed all night long. And I still get happy baby grins from the crib in the morning!