July 26, 2015 by Stephanie

George-11 Months

I am trying to come to terms with the fact that in a month George will be one. What the heck?

These pictures are going to be a little different because I attempted to do it by myself which was a horrible idea. Every time I would get him settled he would try to face dive off the rocker, so I had to improvise.

Weight: Little stinker is 21.8 pounds. He looks like a little boy now. I just can’t handle how big he is, and neither can my hips or arms.

Health: This has been a pretty good month health wise. He is teething so that has been a little rough. He does not have a fever or an ear infection like he did with his first two teeth. With these new FOUR, he hasn’t been sleeping the best and is really clingy. But other than that, he has been good!

Diet: This kid can pack the food away. I don’t know how he is eating the quantity that he eats. It’s really astounding. We get him his own kid’s meal now when we eat out, and he eats the whole thing. He is still at only three (4-6oz) formula bottles a day (morning, before afternoon nap, and right before bed), but we will be cutting the mid-day one here soon. He has three traditional meals a day, and several snacks throughout. His favorite foods are blueberries, bananas, pasta, and oatmeal. We have fully transitioned him to a sippy cup. When we moved, I packed all the baby bottles up! Ironically too, we have seen a little less spit up with moving to the sippies, but there are still days that he throws the whole thing back up. He drinks water and apple juice occasionally throughout the day as well.

Clothes: He is wearing 6-9 month and 9 month clothes. He is in size 3 diapers. I officially organized all his clothes that he can’t wear into tubs to put down in storage.

Sleeping: Sleep has been an anomaly this month. Teething is hard. We had one tooth break through this week, but there are three others you can see right under the surface, so poor thing has to be hurting. Naps have been hit or miss. He usually has one good nap a day, and the other one is kind of a crapshoot depending on the day. We have had to rock him to sleep a lot more this month, but even then he will scream like a bandshee when you first put him in his crib. He just doesn’t want to be alone. He also throws his stuffed animals out of the crib and then gets mad that he has nothing to snuggle with, so again screams his head off. For the most part, he is sleeping from 7:30/8pm until 5am, give or take some minutes. He has started scratching himself when he sleeps, so he always looks like he got attacked by a cat.

Likes: Food is still the closest to his heart. Now that we have all wood floors and more open space, he is loving his Jeep walker. He can whip it around pretty fast. He loves to dig in his laundry basket and throw all the clothes out. He also loves the dog bones and plastic hangers. He loves to be tickled. He loves being outside watching the dogs run. He also loves to feed the dogs and thinks it is really funny. He loves snaps, buttons, buckles…they are all interesting.

Dislikes: He is not liking hearing “no.” He is not fond of being in his carseat, which is super since we have a longer commute now.

Milestones: Well the big one is obviously that he started walking just a week ago!! He does this shuffle that is just too darn adorable.We aren’t talking in human language yet, but he apparently has his own language he likes to yammer on with.

Quirks: He has started banging his hands on the table. When we pick him up from the sitter’s, he just gets so excited and starts squealing and crawling as fast as he can to get to you.When we ask for a high five he pulls our hand over his own face. He also likes to put his pacy in our mouths. He thinks it is a fun game.

We parents are: tired. This has been a very little sleeping month with George’s teething and the move. But we are excited to be in our new house and watch George flourish here. Another thing, why did no one tell me about these awful baby hairs that would take over my head? I hardly ever have a good hair day because these crazy wisps of hair are every where and wont stay down partly due to humidity and partly due to the nature of baby hairs. I need them to get control of themselves.

The dogs are: LOVING the new house. They just love to be in our yard and RUN. We also have some great windows that they are just having the time of their life watching out of. Things are going to be getting a little more interesting around here with all three of them walking around now. We all took a tumble the other day in the yard because the dogs have no breaks, and George has no balance (and mom was not fast enough). I am loving watching them grow together.

You can see him developing his own personality. He is going to be a firecracker that is for sure. For the most part, he is really really happy (except when he isn’t getting is way.)

My heart is just so full from being his mom.

May 26, 2015 by Stephanie

George-9 Months

9 months of this guy. How is this possible?

Weight: 18 lbs and 3 oz. Not sure of his height or head measurement. I feel like he really grew a lot this past month. I can definitely feel it when I pick him up. (all those carbs…)

Health: Earlier this month, he had a really bad cough. He sounded like a rattle can when he was breathing. I took him to the doctor because I was afraid of stuff settling in his lungs. She said it was a good thing that we did because he had a really bad ear infection. George however was not showing any of the typical signs of being bothered by an ear infection. On the plus side there was no mucus in his lungs. He actually liked the antibiotics this time around.

Diet: We are no longer feeding him purees at home. He still does purees at the babysitter’s purely because we have so many left over from people giving us food. I know it is easier for her to do purees to while we get him a little more used to real food at home. We are down to 5 bottles a day. Most are 4 oz, except the last bottle of the day is 6 oz. He is really good with feeding himself, so we just put something on his tray and let him have at it. He has pretty much mastered putting food into his mouth on his own. Although, he forgets when he has things in his right hand. He predominantly eats with his left hand. This month he has tried a lot of carbs: bagel, pancakes, beef, fish, peppers, watermelon, toast, angelfood cake, icing, corn on the cob, nectarine, ravioli, baked beans, banana bread, and alfredo. He pitches a full out fit after every meal is over. It is the worst when pasta is involved. (Which makes sense because Tom and I are both pasta lovers, so he got that 100%.) If you follow me on Instagram, I post some of the after-meal aftermaths.

Clothes: I just put away all the 3-6 month clothes this weekend. He still is ok in the 6 month stuff, but I did get out the 6-9 month stuff. He is filling those out nicely. He is in size 3 diapers.

Sleeping: I wrote the other day that he is a through the night sleeper! He will start out on his back, but within a half hour of being put down he moves to his stomach. He stays face down most of the night. This is terrifying for me because he likes to smash his face straight down. Fortunately though, he has gotten my sleeping traits for this month, and I can go in and move him so he isn’t breathing in mattress. He does not like to be rocked much anymore. It was a little sad to part with that routine, but we are getting snuggles elsewhere. Also I love to take pictures of him sleeping.

Likes: Food. Phones. Dancing; he loves to watch us dance goofy. He also loves to dance with you. We are already practicing our mother/son dance. He is enamored by straws, which is awesome at restaurants. He would rather play with the tags on toys than the actual toy. If you are wearing a watch, George will be your new best friend. He loves to be tipped upside down. He thinks it is the greatest game. Another great game is Peek-A-Boo. So much fun. Food.

Dislikes: Meal time ending. You eating food in front of him that he is not getting. Sleeping in on weekends. Not having the controller that you are holding. That above is his displeased face.

Milestones: We got a new carseat, and he is sitting in the front of the stroller now. No more infant seat! He started reaching for us to hold him. Best feeling ever to date. He did have a few big milestones this month. He got up on all fours! He just rocks back and forth, and when he tries to move his legs or arms forward he falls down. I still am convinced we may have a walker before we have a crawler. He stood on his own a little bit this weekend, and he does really well standing when he has something to hold on to like a bench or couch. He also officially has teeth! Two sprouted up right after turning 8 months. It looks like he may get ear infections along with the teeth, but honestly he has been super mellow considering all the teething horrors we have heard.

Quirks: He is ticklish! I just love his tickle giggles. He makes all sorts of noises and squeals. I feel like there is a new one each day. We are his jungle gym. He likes to crawl all over and pull up on us. He definitely remembers people now, and you get some pretty good smiles when you come back in a room. But he also gets sad if you are out of his eye-sight for too long. He also loves to twist around and belly up when his diaper is being changed or putting on his pajamas. It’s like a wrestling match trying to get his butt covered.

We parents are: doing pretty good. We have had a lot going on this month so this last weekend was pretty nice to both have some extra time off at the same time. We have been getting more serious about house hunting, so keep good thoughts for us. That whole process is nerve wracking.

The dogs are: still being a pain in the butt. Grace has stopped going potty outside. I will have just let them out or walked them, and then she will come back in and crap under the dining room table. We created a new schedule for them to hopefully help her out. God bless her. Tom also thinks a lot of it is because we have carpet and she has made certain spots “her” spot. George loves them though. He pets them and grabs for them. When he sits with Grace, he uses her ears as a chew toy. It’s adorable. She sits and takes it because she knows that he will eventually have something she can lick up. He also likes playing with Crosby’s paws and his toenails. It looks like they are holding hands all the time.

I just love him. He is such a happy boy, and he is definitely blossoming as he continues learning new things every day.

May 21, 2015 by Stephanie

How To (Sleep) Train Your Dragon (Baby)

We did it.

We finally have a through-the-night sleeper.

Happy Restful Dance!

Can I get a Whoop Whoop?

George is almost 9 months old (seriously can we pause time), so it has obviously taken us a long time to get here.

George started sleeping in his crib every night a little before 4 months old. Because of our move and his spit up situation, before then was not possible.

Our nightly routine was putting him down at 7:30, then waking him up for another bottle at 10pm, and then hoping he would stay asleep until I got up at 5:30. It was about 50/50 whether he would make it through that 10 to 5 stretch.

I was also noticing that he was having a hard time finishing that bottle at 10pm, and he would barf most of it up anyway.

So I got to wondering if he got restless more because I disturbed his deep sleep at 10pm, and obviously that bottle wasn’t helping him stay full.

This past month Tom was on evening shift meaning he would get home around 2 or 3 in the morning. So I felt like this would be an opportune time to cut out that 10pm feeding and see how he would do. My thinking was that if he got fussy it would be around the time Tom got home, and he would be able to tend to George’s needs so I could stay asleep. Selfish thinking maybe, but Tom wasn’t ready to go to bed anyway, so I think it’s more like using an opportunity and resources!

So how did the training go?

Well, I obviously already gave it away that he is now sleeping through the night.

So it is safe to say it has gone pretty well.

There have been some nights he has woken up between his 7:30pm bottle and my 5:30am alarm. I am chalking a lot of it up to his ear infection he is just getting over. Usually once I cuddled him up, he would fall right back to sleep.

He also is now sleeping on his stomach a lot more. Throughout the night he inches himself into the end of the bed, and he has woken himself up by banging into the crib rails. He hasn’t quite figured out reverse. It’s a sad funny when he wedges himself in the corner because he tried rolling out of his predicament…So we just have to scoot him down, and he is fine again.

I also noticed a huge difference now that I lay him down awake instead of completely rocking him to sleep like I have before. He is getting much better at soothing himself to sleep instead of us having to rock him. Usually, he will play with his elephant for about 5 minutes before he falls asleep.

I know that a lot of people may not have the schedule that we had this past month to take advantage of, but honestly that was a huge help. It made me a whole lot less nervous because I knew that a fully awake Tom would be checking on him in the middle of the night to make sure he was golden. (Which is a lot better than fully asleep Stephanie that needs the noise of a freight train to wake up.)

I also picked up on cues from George that that last bottle wasn’t really helping him sleep through the night. Him waking up had nothing to do with being hungry. He just wanted to be comforted.

So we found other ways to make sure he could be comforted on his own. He has his pacy and his elephant. He now knows how to reach and grab for things and knows his pacy is around even if it is not right in his face. So that has definitely helped that we don’t have to come every time it falls out. The elephant is also a great blessing. If you pull it’s tail it sings a lullaby, but it is still very plush that it is great for him to cuddle with. He also can chew on the tail ring or string “hairs,” which I have watched him do many nights to help those teeth pop up. He also uses it as a face mask…

Sidenote-We did not put the elephant in there until he was more mobile and knew he could move around it or push it off. So just note that when you add other things to the crib so they aren’t suffocating hazards. I still won’t put a blanket in there because it scares me. It’s a judgement call really. We tried the elephant a few times during day naps before we left it in there over night. Naps are a really good opportunity to try sleep routines to get them to sleep in the first place.

A routine is generally a good rule of thumb for everything. We have a pretty solid one down now for bedtime: Dinner, bath, bottle, story, songs, then sleep. He usually goes in the crib around 7:30pm.

It may not seem like it, but he was fast asleep in this picture. As you can tell he does not have one solid sleeping position…

I also do think that breastfeeding babies have a harder time completely sleeping through the night. There are rarely any breastfeeding babies (under 1) I have heard that don’t wake up at least once through the night, compared to my formula feeding friends. So I think that has also helped George feel better through the night now that we have completely transitioned over to formula and he is used to not nursing. (This is obviously not based on research, just my observation from my mom friends. Sometimes breast isn’t best, in my opinion.)

His sleep is not perfect by any means. There was a night last week where I slept in the rocking chair with him on my chest because he just wasn’t having a night alone in the crib. There are also a few mornings here and there (like this morning) where we co-sleep for that last hour before my alarm goes off. However, the majority of our nights are unbroken. Which is great because, Tom is now on a new shift where helping out in the middle of the night is not as much of an option. If we get through 5 days a week without having him wake us up, I call this a win as far as sleep training goes.

Sleep training is not easy. What has worked for my baby, might not necessarily work for yours. There have been tons of tips that people have given us that George has basically laughed at (or screamed at). So I think you just have to be willing to experiment.

And have a lot of patience.

And prayers for said patience.

I am also lucky that Tom has been such a great comfort to George in the wee hours of the morning. So that teamwork was clutch for us.

We have made such a turn around in the past couple months. Going from the days where he refused to take naps and having to rock him for at least a half hour at night, now to this…

We have taken nuggets of wisdom from other families, but we also listened to what George was telling us along the way.

Here are my fast tips:

1. Have a nightly routine (I don’t think there is one way to do a routine, but I would just be as consistent as possible with your baby.)

2. Help your child learn to comfort themselves

3. Listen to your parent gut and what your kid is telling you (what works for others, may not work for you)

4. Have a good baby monitor (This keeps me from hovering over his crib too much. Because even if he is dead asleep, his baby senses tell him I am in the room watching and he will wake up.)

5. Be patient (This is not a one night fixed problem, unfortunately. At times, it is really hard. You will get there though!)

Sleep training is not an easy game, so if you are a sleep-deprived mama or papa, I tip my hat to you. Also I am here for morale support. While I can talk endlessly about what has and hasn’t worked for George, I would not claim to be a sleep training expert, nor do I have a wealth of knowledge on the subject. I’m just a George expert.

But sometimes I know all a parent needs to know is that they aren’t in the struggle alone.

Because sometimes at 2am, our kids can seem like a dragon that is hard to tame. But they are pretty cute little dragons that I don’t mind cuddling a little extra as long as they can keep that fire breathing to a minimum.

What are your sleep training tips? Isn’t a sleeping baby just the cutest thing? (Yes, yes it is.)

April 26, 2015 by Stephanie

George-8 Months

I feel like this was an extraordinary long month. So much has changed this month!

Weight: 16 lbs and 15 oz. His height is 26 inches. He is really starting to chunk up. I love baby rolls.

Health: He had his first real bout of sickness this month. He barfed any solid food he ate for that entire week. We still aren’t sure what caused it because he is back to eating the same things now, so we don’t think it was allergies. He also had a heart check up this past week to monitor the issues he had from being born a month early. The holes in his heart that we had been monitoring have all closed! So we are in the clear there! He does still have some extra blood vessels to his lungs which are common in pre-mature babies because of the lungs not being fully developed at birth. Isn’t it amazing what our bodies will do? The heart specialist said that these are nothing to be concerned about and eventually they will go away. We will be discussing with our primary doctor whether to get another check up in a year or so.

Diet: He has had such a big month food wise. I was still breastfeeding at the start of the month for his first feeding of the day, but right after Easter George decided he was done. He refused to latch and just screamed and pushed me away. So instead of trying to push it, we have moved to formula completely. He is eating three solid food “meals” a day now. His typical feeding schedule is as follows: 4 oz bottle when he wakes up around 5:30am, oatmeal for second breakfast with another 4 oz bottle, lunch is a side dish of fruits or veggies with another 4 oz bottle, 4 oz bottle around 4, dinner at 6:30 is a side dish of fruits or veggies and some of our dinner, at 7:30 he has a 4oz bottle before I put him to bed, then we top the night off with a 6 oz bottle at 10pm. I would like to get where we didn’t have to do as many bottles, but unfortunately we cannot give him more than 4 oz at a time. If it is anything more than that he spits it all back up. He still spits up with the 4 oz but it is not as much. So we end up actually going through even more formula but the same amount keeping him full if we tried do more than 4 oz.The only one he keeps down is the last bottle of the day which doesn’t really make sense but it is what it is. He is doing a mix of purees and baby led weaning with solid food. Sometimes he refuses to eat solid food and will only take a puree and other times it is the opposite. He loves to feed himself with the spoon with the puree but with real food he gets impatient and wants us to feed it to him. This month, he tried blueberries, oranges, broccoli, cauliflower, spinach, corn, french toast, watermelon, cucumbers, plums, pasta in the form of tuna and hamburger helper, and graham crackers. He does not like whole blueberries, but loves them in puree form. He also was not found of the broccoli and cauliflower. He is obsessed with graham crackers and plums!

Clothes: He is in 6 month clothes comfortably. He can still fit into a lot of his 3-6 month clothes, and we have been using some 6-9 month items as well. He is in a size 2 diaper and a size 2 shoe.

Sleeping: We have had sleep patterns all over the place. We will have days where he will sleep through the night no problem in his crib. Then other nights he wakes up every two hours and then ends up co-sleeping in our bed because it is the only way to console him. Sometimes though just putting the pacy back in his mouth and giving him his elephant will be enough to lure him back to sleep. We have been doing better at getting him to nap once in the morning and once in the afternoon. He goes to bed at 7:30pm and then we wake him up at 10 for another bottle to help him get through the night. Both of these times it is pretty easy to get him to sleep by a little rocking and my lovely rendition of the “Star Spangled Banner.” Tom is successful getting him to sleep by just rocking him for seriously a minute or two and then putting him in the crib wide awake. I have to have him half-asleep before I put him down, so my rocking takes a little longer. He does sleep with a pacy and a stuffed elephant now. If you pull the elephants tail it sings a lullaby so that is one of our go-to distractions to get out of the room while he is still awake.

Likes: Bath time! He just started splashing this last week. I felt bad because normally Tom has been in charge of bath time, and he has been waiting for months for George to play in the water. Literally the first day Tom had his evening shift and I had to take over bath duty, George started splashing like a mad man. He gets really mad when I pull him out too. He likes to bang and shake things. He loves our cell phones. He likes to see things move and swipes things around which can get a bit dangerous when you go looking for an app later. He is obsessed with peekaboo, and you get the greatest laughs out of this. He gets laughing so hard he starts hiccuping because he isn’t breathing. He also loves when you do anything with his feet. He is really fascinated by things that turn so wheels or knobs are a big hit right now.

Dislikes: He is starting to hate his carseat. I think part of it may be that we need to get a bigger one. He does not like cold food or drinks, so we have to make sure things are luke warm. He doesn’t like a sippy cup yet. He gives me a look like, “WTH is this Mom?” He still hates when you wipe his face and when feeding time is over.

Milestones: He is definitely getting better control of his hands. It is so cute watching his concentration. He is starting to try to mimic us. He smacks his mouth in the popping motion if you do it enough times to him. He also will put his hands together if you clap. He hasn’t got the clapping part down, but he knows to initially put his hands together. He is now rolling 360 all the time. He rolls from back to stomach and then stomach to back like it is no big deal. He is a really good sitting and he can sort of pull himself to this position and then standing. He pulls his knees up under his chest like he wants to crawl, but he hasn’t figured out what his arms need to do yet. He also celebrated Easter this month, albeit maybe begrudgingly.

Quirks: He has found his balls. Changing his diaper is a chore now because he feels the need to stick his hands down there. Tom tells me this doesn’t stop for a long time. He “sings” at church. This is really the only time George squeals along to music. We have music on a lot around him, and it doesn’t seem to interest him like it does at church. But he is always vocal during the hymns which makes our family crack up. Just singing his praises! You can tell when he is really tired because he starts to rub his eyes or put a toy over his face. I can tell that he is about to fall asleep when he pulls his stuffed elephant to cover his face. He needs a baby sleep mask I guess.

We parents are: doing much better after the academy ended, and Tom officially started his new job. I will say that this is the first month since last summer that I have not worn a sports bra to bed. It is sooo freeing to let them breath again and not worry about liquid coming out at random times! Work has been a little nuts for me with the end of the year winding down and one of my co-worker’s last day is during finals week. So we have been working like crazy to get everything squared away for her departure. Tom and I haven’t seen each other much this week though because our schedules have been pretty much opposite so that has been a little stinky, but it meant he came to have lunch with me once this week so we could at least see each other not sleeping!

The dogs are: a freaking mess. I don’t know what is going on with them, but they are having some major issues. We have had puke and/or poop almost every day in the house. They also have gone through the trash on more than one occasion and almost destroyed another couch cushion. And it is when we are IN the house with them. You would think this behavior would happen when we aren’t home, but no they do all this craziness while we are sleeping or sneakily do it when we are on a different level of the house. It is really hard to reprimand a dog when you don’t catch them in the act. And Crosby has started barking every 10 minutes between the hours of 8-10 when George is asleep. They do seem to still love George for the most part, even more now that we are exploring more with food. Perpetual snack time in their eyes. Grace has gotten really clingy in the past week since Tom started his shifts. It’s like she is my little shadow in the mornings.

All in all, George is a really happy baby. His personality is really starting to come out as a sweet fun little boy. Each day is a new adventure as he is so curious, and you can just see his mind growing as he explores his surroundings. I have a feeling this next month will be even more fun as he grows!

It’s hard to believe that 8 months ago we started our journey as parents with a child on the “outside.” This month was momentous considering we finally got the all clear that all his early birth issues are no more. Today we are participating in a March of Dimes event because of our personal experience with the NICU. It is kind of special that the event ended up being on a “birthday” of sorts. We have so much to celebrate, and we want to give other families who have risky pregnancies or early births the same opportunity. If you would like to support our walk, please consider donating here. Let’s help all the babies!

March 26, 2015 by Stephanie

George-7 months

Weight: 15 lbs and 15 oz. He is in the 11th percentile for weight. His height is 25.75 inches, which is also the 11th percentile. His head circumference is 44.5, and is in the 80th percentile. He doesn’t look disproportionate, but his head is huge.

Health: He had an ear infection this month. He didn’t really seem any different or fussy, but we found it at his 6 month appointment. He just got the all clear yesterday! He had a really runny nose around that time too, but it hasn’t seem to bother him too much.

Diet: He is only nursing one time a day now. I said goodbye to the pump before our trip this last week. I don’t know how long I will breastfeed him for his morning feed, but it probably wont be much longer. He was still at 50% breastmilk until this past Monday. I am glad that I took the entire month to wean him off because it has meant I have had very minimal pain. I have had no engorgement by only cutting out a few minutes out every couple days. (It has been great wearing real bras and dresses this week since I didn’t have the pump attached to me at all!) This kid and food though. If you didn’t see on Instagram, he throws absolute fits when there is food around and he isn’t eating. We cannot eat in front of him and leave him out. It’s both funny and obnoxious at the same time. He will scream when we get to the end of a bottle or bowl of food. He knows that when we put an his SnapBib that it is time to eat and he starts grabbing at everything and whining until we have the food in front of him. So at least he has a good appetite. He has tried a lot of new things this month: bananas, cantaloupe, kiwi, apple, mango, pizza crust, ice cream, eggs, oatmeal, crackers, and tomatoes. He didn’t like the cantaloupe because it was too slippery, and he couldn’t keep it still. He liked it if I held it for him. The tomato however he did not like at all, but there are some adults that don’t like tomatoes so that wasn’t too surprising. He eats solid food three times a day: oatmeal for breakfast, veggie for lunch, veggie or fruit for dinner. He does purees a lot through the week, but he is getting better at holding the spoon on his own. He can’t figure out the dipping part so as soon as it is gone off the spoon he will drop it on the floor unless I am quick enough to catch it. We do a lot more exploring of solid solid food on the weekends, but he does have real oatmeal (not the baby stuff) every morning now. He prefers the purees because he knows he gets the food faster. He gets really frustrated if he sees the food in front of him and can’t figure out how to get it to his mouth. Plus I think he may just expect us to put it in his mouth still at this point. It is really fun watching him explore food. It is also making me rethink what we eat too so we ensure that he is eating healthy from the get go.

Clothes: We are mostly in 3-6 month clothes, but there are some 3 month and 6 month items he is in. He is still a size 2 diaper. He can fit into size 2 and 3 shoes depending on the brand.

Sleeping: This is still a work in progress for us. It seems like he changes every day. We are trying to get into a routine but again he can’t decide when to be awake and when to be asleep. We have found the key to getting him to take naps. We have to take one with him. Not ideal, but on the weekends we take full advantage of sleeping more through the day. He is doing better sleeping when we put him down at 7:30pm. For the past week he has stayed asleep until we wake him up for his 10pm feeding. Our problem now is that he either wakes up every couple hours during the night or will be up around 3am for the day. Either we have to feed him again or we bring him to bed with us to finish out the night. However, last night he slept through the entire night on his own for the first time in months! The night before he was up every 2 hours, so I will take any full night we can get. We do the same things each night, so I am not really sure why his behavior is so unpredictable. Also, we are able to have him sleep on his belly at home now, but that means he rolls in the crib. A couple nights ago I found him with his arm through the bars playing with the baby monitor cord.

Likes: Oogaa teethers! He actually likes a lot of his toys. One of his other favorites is a small blue stuffed elephant with bungee legs. He is grabbing things a lot better now so he actually turns wheels and shakes things. He is mesmerized by my hairdryer. He loves his feet. George loves seeing his dad come home. He also loves the two little girls that go to the same babysitter. He just giggles and smiles at them when we get there every day. So cute! He also likes pens. He holds them really well when he isn’t trying to eat them. He drew on paper for the first time this weekend.

Dislikes: Socks. He will pull them off as soon as I put them on. Ending a feeding session. He HATES when I try to wipe his face clean. He will throw back his head and yell in a rage at the wipe touching his face.

Milestones: He has rolled over from his back to his stomach just one time. He can hold a bottle on his own. He sits up really nicely. However, he wants to stand more than sit most of the time. In fact just yesterday, he was sitting on my lap facing me and he pulled himself up to a standing position by pulling on my jacket. He has no inclination to crawl but this kid wants to stand on his own! He also took his first big road trip to NC this past weekend. He met many new friends, and he was the best little wedding date.

Quirks: He is talking a lot more. I feel like everyday he has a new squeal. If he is sleep cranky, George will pull my hand to cover his face and put his hand over mine. He does this a lot in the car when I put his pacy back in. He just grabs my hand and holds it over his face. It looks like I am trying to smother him, but I swear it is his soothing mechanism. (and that I am not smothering him)

We parents are: doing ok. We have 3 more weeks until the Academy is over so we are going to be happy about that. I do feel a sense of freedom not having to pump anymore. I have sooooo much more time in my evenings now that I am not pumping at night or cleaning the bajillion pump parts. I have actually gotten to watch some of my TV shows live! It has completely changed our nights. Tom and I sat on the couch together last night (on a weeknight) for the first time in ages. This is a game changer.

The dogs are: tearing up our couch, but that is a story for another day. They are so sweet with George. I have found Crosby laying in front of the crib a couple times. My emotions couldn’t handle that sweetness. George thinks they are the funniest creatures. He just laughs and laughs at them. I just love watching them interact.

George’s personality is definitely coming out more and more. He is such a sweet sweet boy. Most of the time he is all smiles. It is so fun to watch him learn and grown every day. It is so hard to believe though that he is closer to being 1 than he is to being 0. Crazy!