This Is How I MomSolving the puzzle of motherhood one piece at a time

Since Logan has been developing a pretty good pincer grasp, we’re finally moving away from purees. Yay! I still feed him yogurt, and when he has grains (oats, cream of wheat, barley, etc) I usually mash it up with a puree, but other than that, he now feeds himself.

Loves: Cheerios, Plum Organics Little Cremes, cheese (except sharp cheddar), tomatoes, yogurt, purees, broccoli, carrots, grapes, watermelon, strawberries, cherries, blueberries, rice, bread
Dislikes: Eggs, meats (except bacon), cream of wheat, beans

This boy is not yet fond of the protein. But we’re getting there. He still eats a little, but yogurt is definitely his favorite protein source so far.

I’m making more of an effort to provide whole meals now that he’s approaching 8 months, and we’re up to 2 meals and a snack per day. I’ll be introducing him to fish and pasta and peas sometime this week.

Logan has been sleeping elevated since he was a newborn. Back then, he seemed to sleep the best (and longest) in his rock’n'play sleeper, so we just kind of.. stuck with it. We’ve made several attempts to get him into his crib since, but they always failed. I think several factors played into that. For one, the crib was in his own bedroom, but he wasn’t really used to his bedroom. We’d go in there when he was already asleep or close to asleep, and he never got a chance to get comfy with it. Obviously, the elevation change takes a lot of getting used to as well. So, previous attempts to get him into his crib ultimately ended in hours and hours of crying sessions. We got a 40-minute stretch of sleep out of him, once.

So, through a combination of laziness and busy life, Logan’s been sleeping in his rock’n'play that he has long outgrown. I’ve been thinking that some of his sleep issues have to do with him no longer liking to sleep in it. Two nights ago, little man started wailing loudly out of the blue at about 8pm. I went upstairs just to find him on his tummy. In the rock’n'play. Not good. Not comfy for him, either. Or safe, for that matter.

That was the last straw. We set up the crib the day after, and last night was Logan’s first night in his crib. I want to say it went.. better than expected. I put two blankets under his mattress to help with the elevation change. At 7:40pm, after giving him his bottle, he pulled his lovie over his face and just kind of passed out without further complaint.

At 9pm, he woke up. Not unhappily at first, but eventually disoriented and unhappy about his change in circumstances. I was there to help him, giving him a little more milk, rubbing his tummy, but to no avail. Then, out of the blue, he figured out he can roll on his tummy. Cue instant sleep.

Dumbfounded, I went back downstairs. He slept until 12:30am (!), which is much longer than usual. However, at about 12:30am we hit a rough stretch where Logan was pretty convinced that it was in fact play time and not sleep time. He fell asleep once but woke back up quickly, and we did the whole spiel again. The whole thing lasted til about 3:30am. But, what baffles me is that he was not actually upset, he was just exploring.

He then continued to sleep til 5:20am.

On the whole, I was expecting much worse. I obviously was not happy about the 3-hour awake stretch, but I’m sure that once he really gets used to the crib, that won’t be an issue anymore. I am happy we finally took the plunge, since it’s been something I’ve put off for too long.

On an unrelated note, we also have… teeth! The two bottom front teeth came in, and little guy now has an actual chomp. He’s pretty fascinated by his new acquisitions, while I’m kind of scared of putting my fingers anywhere near his mouth now. Terrible picture – he doesn’t exactly let me get too close to them – but here you have ‘em.

Daytime is becoming really, really fun. Little guy has a blast exploring and playing and I only wish we had more nice summer days so we could go outside more. On the few occasions that it doesn’t rain, we’ve been making good use of the sun.

and feelin’ good! The move really took a lot of energy out of me this month, but I’m happy it’s over. I’m still working on feeling “normal”, but it’s a little better every month. Once I get those last pesky pounds off, I think I’ll be much happier. I know I’m not defined by my weight, but I just don’t feel quite right in my skin when I’m not at a certain weight, if that makes any sense.

Weight loss has been slow this month. I weighed in at 133.7, which means I only lost one pound in May. Still, I DID lose weight and my size 6 pants are getting more loose, so I’ll take it.

I’ve had little appetite lately and some nausea after dinner, so I’ve automatically been eating less. My sweet tooth has been pretty kind and less prominent too, which helps. My exercise still primarily consists of lugging Logan around, lugging Logan up the stairs, lugging Logan down the stairs, taking walks with Logan and running errands with Logan. Oh, and then there’s situps and pushups. Pretty bland, but as busy as life has been lately, I don’t feel at all bad about lounging on the couch with my family instead of running in the rain.

In June, I’m aiming to get at least one or two good hikes in. Seeing as this is my bedroom window view, it shouldn’t be too hard…

Little bugger is still doing great, and I can’t believe how big he’s getting!

I do think getting more sleep would help a lot with my physical well-being, but I know that eventually things will get much better. For now, I just try my best not to fall asleep on the nursery floor for our 2am playdates.

This month went by REALLY fast. I’m sure the move had a lot to do with it. Even though we officially moved in on May 11th, we still had to drive an hour back and forth for 2 weeks to finish up everything back in our old home. This Wednesday, we have a final inspection with the manager, and then we’re finally completely done. As a result, Logan has had to spend a lot of time in the car and a lot of time with a grandmother. Not bad things, but I’ve had less time to monitor and help him with his progress. Not that the bean seems to have minded, since he’s pulled off some cool stuff this month.

We’ve got the sitting thing down! Last month, he was still very wobbly and would only sit by himself for a few seconds, with his hands on the ground to support himself. This month, he sits for minutes and has the balance thing down really well. He picks up toys and looks in all sorts of directions without falling over.

Logan loves to stand, bounce and jump. Sometimes he’s still wobbly on his feet, and he’s not doing any sort of pulling himself up onto objects, but it’s a fun game to him and will usually make him happy even when he’s otherwise crabby. I don’t expect this to progress very far for the next couple months, but we’re having fun with it when we can.

He’s not yet crawling, but he has the mini push-up down and sometimes raises his entire chest off the floor. He also rolls in both directions easily, though he prefers back to tummy. I expect his 8-month update to be a lot closer to crawling (if not full out crawling). We’re getting there! Time to baby proof.

I’m not sure why, but he’s been a lot more joyful even than normal this month, and Logan’s always been a very happy baby. The past few weeks though, almost anything will send him into a laughing fit. Dropping toys on him, splashing water on him, his dad or me yawning, making funny faces at him, saying hi to him, tickling him… it’s incredibly fun and I love to watch how his hilarious little personality is developing!

The sleeping thing is still not going so well. I can’t exactly pinpoint the issue – I’m pretty sure a lot of his wakeups have to do with him being in some sort of pain, but I’m not sure whether it’s gas, teeth, or something else. We’re going to try a different formula for a week or so to try and see if he sleeps better with it. I wouldn’t mind if it was one or two wake-ups, but last two nights we were up to 6. That’s almost like newborn days again! This mommy misses sleep. If it is his teeth, there’s not much I can do… We might use tylenol every once in a while, but I don’t really want to keep my baby drugged up. I’d rather deal with sleep deprivation.

As far as bedtime goes, we’ve made a huge jump this month and are now giving his nite-nite bottle at 7:30pm. He’s usually out by 8pm, sometimes even earlier. That does mean that sometimes he’s up for the day at 5:30am, but usually he’ll at least make it to 6am. Well, and then there’s the night wakings that greatly vary. Sometimes he’ll be awake off and on for 1 1/2 hours before settling back to sleep, which means I am too. Greener pastures await sometime in the future…

I really think we need some more interactive toys. He’s getting to the stage where he’s kind of bored of stuffed animals and the like and wants to explore. I’m thinking I might go on a haul for some more “advanced” baby toys this coming month. His favorites right now are the TV remote, the X-box controller, generally everything with a cord, and everything else he’s not supposed to get into.

Solids are on a temporary hold to find out the reason for the night wakings, but in general he does amazingly with them now. He loves to feed himself, so we do a lot of baby-led weaning, but we also have him eat puree pouches from Plum Organics. He loves most flavors, and my husband freaks out less about choking potential. Still, when we’re out at a restaurant or eating dinner, he gets some chunks of vegetables off our plates and loves it. Most fruits are a hit, and of course oatmeal! He doesn’t have teeth yet.

That about covers Logan at 7 months old. He’s so much fun these days! I just wish we’d get a handle on some better sleep.