7 Months

Fun Events:

• First trip to the hunting club in Carlowville

 Sitting up for the first time!

• Christmas! 

 chatting with Santa

 first Christmas tree

Milestones:

• Sitting up! On November 30th at the hunting club.  6 weeks and 2 days old.
• More bouncing
• Your first tooth! I still can't get a picture of it, you will not let me look at it for too long, but it's definitely there. And I'd say it's about 1/3 of the way through the gum. If you ever did have a fever with it, it was very mild. You were fussier than usual for a week or so, but that's about all the major symptoms you showed. It popped up sometime over the weekend of December 12-15 while Chris and I were in NYC. 
• We are practicing clapping, and being gentle with Bella
• You will mimic the sounds we make and we've heard mama, dada, gaga, hey (all obviously unintentional)
• I think you are so close to crawling! A few times I've seen you pull yourself/army crawl across the blanket on the floor. 
• Everything is in your mouth. Everything. 
• Sitting in highchairs
• Sitting in the buggies at the grocery store
• You have started to become a little clingy…I'm not sure if it's because you've been teething and not feeing great, or if this is the next stage for you but you've never been a cuddle bug before now so I can't say I hate it.

Favorite Books:

• Trains Go
• Trucks Go

Favorite Songs:

• Edelweiss
• Silent Night
• Up on the Rooftop
• Bringing Home a Baby Bumblebee

Favorite Toys:

• exersaucer
• ring stacker

6 Months

This post will be short, since I'm writing it and you are about to be 7 months…just a little behind…

Sleep: 

I don't recall any big changes during this month. You've stayed pretty consistent with sleep. 

Big events:

• Your first spend the night out party at Meme's. Chris and I went to Auburn for the AU v. UGA game in November. It was a really fun trip with some wonderful friends, but I sure did miss my buddy.

• Halloween! Against your daddy's wishes, I dressed you up as Kermit the Frog for your first halloween. And you were adorable, if I do say so myself.  And I figured, you will likely NEVER voluntarily dress as Kermit..

 The pumpkin patch at Old Baker Farm.

• Your Baptism. 
• Thanksgiving! 

Milestones:

• pureed foods- Avocado was the first one I made for you. You didn't really care one way or the other for it. Bananas you loved, sweet potatoes you loved.
• Sleeping on your stomach. Once you started rolling over you almost immediately started rolling in the crib and sleeping on your belly. 
• you.love.to.bounce. I mean, I've never seen anything like it. You are always on the move. Bouncing in everyone's arms, bouncing while you sit. Your little legs are solid muscle. And I was really hoping it would help make mama's arms solid muscle, but no such luck yet ;)

6 Month Checkup:

• 26" long (30%)
• 15.8 lbs (25%)
• Got the go ahead to start practicing with sippy cup
• First round of flu shot

5 Months

Although I'm sure I'll say this every month from now on, this is my favorite month so far. Christopher has totally come to life. I can carry him on my hip; he smiles at everyone-strangers, family, friends, Bella; and I really feel like he is soclose to consonant sounds.

We've had yet another busy month, surprise, surprise. You would think that I might be used to it by now and realize it's just "life" but some weeks I go to bed with my head spinning.

Beginning of the month was my 29th birthday. Blech. Then our 4th anniversary! My mom and Jim watched Christopher so we could enjoy a night out. We had a delicious dinner at Little Savannah and a nightcap at Otey's and we were still home by 10:00! 

Eating:
Earlier on I decided we would probably wait until closer to 6 months to start on solids and at our 4 month appointment, our pediatrician agreed. He is eating and gaining just fine right now, and I think it would have been a little too early for him.
Now that it's been a few weeks I think he's closer to being ready for "real food".
As far as nursing goes, it's much better than it was a few weeks ago. I'm not sure if we are just better at solving the problem before it starts or if those two weeks were a growth spurt, or just off.
Continuing to supplement a little formula here and there.

Sleeping:
Like a champ still. He is a very predictable sleeper, and I am now fairly confident that I can tell what he needs when he wakes crying.


He giggles at certain facial expressions and songs now. And gets SUPER excited when Chris walks in the door from work, which absolutely melts me...
The past 2 weeks have been all about daddy actually. Sometimes Chris is the only person that can calm him down.

We went to Jessica and John's house to watch the exciting Auburn v. Texas A&M game and they were like baby whisperers! Seriously, it's so rare to see a couple so comfortable around a baby not their own. Christopher loved, loved, them both.
And he even had one night at home with just Bogie! Chris and I had a young adult dinner with church so my dad came to babysit for us. I'm not sure who ended up doing the babysitting-Christopher or Bogie (maybe Bella..) but I think they had fun for sure.

Notable Moments:

• almost rolling back to front-by the time I post this on the 28th I bet you will be doing it! (Update: You did, on the 27th!) 
• fitting in 6 month clothes since about 20 weeks old
• only occasionally naps between 4:30 & 7:30 feedings
• enjoying your activity bouncer
• favorite books: Max's Halloween, White on Black, Trucks Go
• favorite songs/rhymes: Five Little Pumpkins, Patty Cake

4 Months

This has been a super. busy. month.
Over Labor Day weekend we took Christopher to Auburn and spent Sunday at the lake with my dad's family on the way back home.
Auburn was an absolute wonderful time. We stayed the weekend with our sweet friends Ashley and Conner who are expecting a little baby boy of their own in November, so maybe it was some good practice for them!
It was the first time we used our BOB stroller without the car seat adapter and I was a little hesitant with Christopher being only 13-1/2 weeks. But since we were only leisurely walking around campus it worked perfectly and was even better than I expected because he would have ROASTED in the car seat. Taking him in the game I switched to our Ergo carrier.

                                                                Visiting KB & Gray

                                                                        Aunt Feld!

                                                     At my first Auburn game! War Eagle!

                                                  At the lake with cousin Xander and Meep

The next weekend was a very special one. Christopher finally met his other great-grandmother, my Nana! She is 96 years old, and in an assisted living facility so I wanted to wait a little while before taking him around somewhere that might be pretty germy..Anyway, she love, love, loved him to pieces. Just as I expected.

We also made it to church for the first time! Anticipating a nap from Christopher, I didn't take him to the nursery. Instead, we let him sit with us throughout the service. Welllllll...he was a chatterbox. Tried to talk to everyone in the row behind us. I think he liked the way his voice echoed. Needless to say, we made it about 20 minutes and just decided to call it a day. 

But at least we beat the church crowd to brunch!

The next weekend we went back to Auburn, just for the day this time, for the Mississippi State game. We had our usual tailgate this weekend so it was a lot of fun to see our friends! He did even better in this game.

    This cracks me up.

we have a drooler.

Our next weekend was spent in Destin for some sweet friends' engagement party. I did not take ONE picture, but we had a great time. It was Christopher's first night with a babysitter. And we he did well :)

4 Month Stats:
Length 25-1/4" (50%)
Weight 12lb 13oz (25%)
HC 16-1/2"
You are a string bean little boy!


*On a not-so-positive note, I've started supplementing some formula. Around 15 weeks at almost every feeding Christopher would pull away and become super frustrated after 4-5 minutes of nursing. Sometimes I could calm him and he would be fine, other times I really just felt like he was still hungry and the frustration was because he was not getting enough from me. So, we started supplementing a formula bottle at 7:30 pm on the days that I felt like my milk supply was low just to see if that helped. Now I give him formula after nursing first if he still seems hungry, and always at 7:30 pm feeding. I really wanted to continue to exclusively breastfeed him until 5 or 6 months but I am trying not to be discouraged by this. And I'm thankful that I was able to go 3 1/2 months exclusively.

**At 14 weeks we dropped the 10:30 "dreamfeed". This went so much smoother that I envisioned. Honestly, I think the boy just likes his sleep!! Which I am ever so grateful for.


Other milestones and highlights:
13 weeks-Stroller with no car seat adapter
Almost rolling over  Rolled front to back a day shy of his 4 month birthday
Talking, talking, and more talking
Loves the Bumbo seat
Itsy Bitsy Spider and Chicka Chicka Boom Boom are two new favorites
Smiling at Bella
Sleeping 11-12 hours
Getting the paci back in his mouth
Moved up to size 2 diapers

 Bumbo!

Visit with Austin 

(Southern boys in their monogrammed gingham)

 Cheering on the Saints!

 Christopher meets Dana

Dinner with Aunt Court

A few from our 4 month pics at home. In an outfit that Ricky and I wore!


Happy 4 months baby boy! We love you to pieces!

3 months

Well, this month has been a blur. And mom needs to slow down and take it all in. I finally posted the 2 month blog update and now I just hope I can remember the important things from this last month!

Christopher turned 3 months old yesterday, on the 28th. First of all, the fact that I have a three month old just amazes me. We officially no longer have a little newborn.  But, this has been such a fun month. He's experienced many new things these last 4 weeks.

 Outfit made by Meme!

 Attempting to pull the lamb over and toss the burp cloth around at the same time. Multitasking.

Highlights from Month 3:

• Chatting. This is hands down my favorite thing you do. You love to solve all the world's problems during our conversations on your changing table. 
• Crib. We moved you into your crib at 10 weeks. It was 4 nights after we returned from our 10 days at the beach and honestly I think it was the perfect way for us to transition  me you. Since you were already getting the hang of sleeping in new places it seemed to make it easier. Plus, you had really outgrown the Moses basket. You have been such a sound sleeper in there. The second and third nights we found you, asleep, laying sideways, with your legs propped up on the side rails :)
• Sleep Sack. You also outgrew your newborn size Swaddle Me! We noticed at the beach around 9 weeks it was pretty tight so I planned to buy the next size up when we got back home. Well, I never got around to it and we had been given a sleep sack as a gift so I used that one night and never looked back. It's probably better anyway, you've always slept great with your arms un-swaddled. You would fight until they were free and once they were you would almost immediately fall asleep!
• Diapers. We went up to size 1s at 81/2 weeks. I really wasn't expecting it to be so soon. In fact, it took an entire day of leaky diapers for me to realize that maybe you needed a bigger size?! ;) 
• Wubbanub. So, you have more or less won the battle of the paci. We still don't give it to you constantly, but more than we did before. Again, mostly when we are in public and you fuss, or when you have a hard time going to sleep. You had it at the beach a lot because I made myself so anxious over worrying about your cries bothering others. But now that we are home if it's in when you fall asleep it usually falls out of your mouth and you are okay with that, or you try and put it back in (successfully a few times!), or you toss it around the crib.
• Spit up. This one's fun. You started spitting up at about 10 weeks. Of course, you had done it before then, but it has become much more regular. 
• Tummy time. You really despise it. *Scratch that. I wrote this yesterday and spoke those words to friends today, only to get home and have you not cry a single tear every time you were on your tummy this afternoon! You've always been able to hold your neck up very well, especially if we have you on a shoulder, so I knew it was only going to be a matter of time before you would tolerate being on your belly again. It sure would make it more enjoyable for the both of us...
• Sleep. You are now sleeping through the night. Not up to 12 hours yet, but you sleep soundly from 10:30-6:30/7:00am. Since you were only waking once in the middle of the night anyway it really wasn't that bad to begin with. In fact, I honestly miss those middle of the night feedings, they were my favorite.  
• Reaching & tracking. You started reaching for things a few weeks ago. And now on your activity mat you usually have 3 different toys in your hands at once. :)You also started really tracking us when we were at the beach, now you will watch me walk across the room!
• Standing. Holy cow, if my arms are not in rock solid shape by the time you are walking...your favorite position is standing up, facing whomever is holding you, and having them lift you straight up and back down just so your toes touch. It's quite the workout after a while, little buddy...
• You smile when I tell you I love you. I'm sure it's my tone of voice but I like to pretend it's because you know what I'm saying.
• You smile when your daddy gets home and picks you up. 
• You smile when we sing.
• You smile even when I'm not looking at you, which is my other favorite thing you do.
• Still exclusively nursing. Now that we've been home for an extended amount of time our plan is to supplement a bottle of breastmilk for a feeding at night. 

Other fun things from this month:
Morrow family beach trip to Dauphin Island. It was such a fun and relaxing week! We are so thankful for all of our family beach trips that left us feeling like spoiled beach bums.

Dauphin Island Sea Lab with Uncle Scott and Uncle John

New Schedules:
No more middle of the night feeding as of 11 weeks 6 days old.
Now you are eating 6 times a day, still napping between each one. You've started stretching out the morning nap a little bit longer which is perfect for both of us. You have been even happier and it gives me some time to get some things done around the house instead of you waking up while I'm in the middle of folding clothes.
This week we've fallen into a nice consistent schedule of
7am first feeding
8:20 nap
10:30 eat
12:15 nap
2:00 eat
3:45 nap
5:00 eat
7:00 nap
8:00 eat
10:30 dreamfeed

In other events, my 10 year high school reunion was this August! VHHS Class of 2003. We had a wonderful time. Chris says our group of friends didn't need an official reunion because we have one at every wedding, shower, or when "out of towners" come home. And that's what I love about those friends - both guys and girls- I made in high school, or earlier, we continue to have amazing friendships 10+ years later.
Here are the only pictures I took on my phone..