11 months!

11 months!

oh man, baby-- you are almost 1 year old! i keep trying to think about what to do for your birthday party, but i think i'm in denial because i can't seem to think of Anything to do. i just remind myself and think...noooooooo...surely it's not May already? i've got plenty of time. but that's not the case!

this month has flown by! the first two weeks you were your happy self, but these past two weeks you've hit a rough patch. i'm pretty sure you're going through a growth spurt, you are teething your top teeth, AND you caught a cold. so! you are understandably cranky. when you sneeze, you think it's the funniest thing-- you sneeze two big sneezes and then look up with snot all over your face and SMILE!!!!! it's momma's new favorite.

you are sitting up better and better every day! momma is trying to introduce you to more solid foods, but you aren't too interested and gag everytime she puts something in your mouth. you're not much for purees right now either-- probably because of your growth spurt. but momma is trying to keep feeding them to you anyway. nowadays, you eat oatmeal+prunes for breakfast, and sweetpotatoes+quinoa+broccoli for lunch and dinner. you seem to like them all okay, but then again, you've never been a picky eater. you still Love your bottle. momma's going to be In For It at the end of the month when she tries to wean you. the trees are all leafing now and you love to look at them when we go on walks. you are "talking" more and more now and smiles and flirt all the time. you have started hitting your tray when momma puts you in your high chair. you pick up lots of things now and examine them-- momma sets you in your bumbo next to a bowl of fruit and knick-knacks and you pick things up out of that when she is cooking. your current favorite item is an unopened bag of arrowroot powder. haha. you are so interested in the world around you. you get excited by just about everything-- widen your eyes, smile SO big and gasp!!!!!! when you see something you like. 

right now, you love playing peek-a-boo with momma and will play back when you want to. you have also started occasionally bobbing your head when we bob our heads to you. and! you have started to "fake cough" to get us to look at you- such a funny little boy! 

you are still a skinny little man-- you wear 9 month onesies-- though the legs in the pants are always a little short. what a long baby you are! your hair is filling in nicely. we think you have momma's hair color and daddy's hair type. which is good!

:::

we finally decided to take S to get a PT eval. it is this friday. what a hard decision that was. we are both Very nervous about it, but are hopeful that a PT will be able to give us more ideas/exercises to try with S to encourage him to situp/crawl/walk. i know that for the most part, S will get there when he is ready, but i am getting Exhausted waiting for him to be more independent. i think that, before baby no.2, i'd like for solomon to be sitting up on his own and able to eat on his own. right now, those seem like Lofty goals. especially the eating-- because at present he is not even the least bit interested in picking something up and putting it in his mouth.

we are thinking that we will do something small and simple for his birthday. with some friends and maybe birthday pudding (or icecream?) since S doesn't like to eat solids. we thought it would be good to tell the story of his birth and then open it up for other people to share thoughts/prayers for his life. no presents this year-- just some good memories.

10 months!

10 months!

so i am super behind on posting this month! life is too full of things to spend time blogging, but i have to make myself sit down and record all of this so that i won't forget, and so that you will remember.

you are in the double digits now! ten months... it's crazy. you have had a busy month! after four weeks of being a crankypants and being miserable and Inconsolable, two little teeth erupted on the bottom of your mouth! you are so cute with your little teeth-- you will run your tongue along them and put your hand in your mouth to feel them.

you have started being much more observant of the world around you-- and i think you are understanding more about how things work. when you are interested in something, you will lean in really close to take a look (and go a little cross-eyed!). it is so sweet to watch-- but sometimes it's hard to get you to focus on eating, when you are looking all around everywhere at the slightest movement or noise!

you are becoming more animated by the day! still no consonants yet, but we get lots of noises and squeals. we bought you a sippy cup and you have been grabbing it and shaking it about with one hand. you haven't figured out how to drink from it yourself, yet, but will drink milk out of it if momma or daddy feeds you. you have a brand-new highchair that granna&papa got you while they were visiting-- you love the extra room on the tray for toys and food. and you look like such a big boy sitting there in it!

you have started to pull your legs up under yourself occasionally during tummytime. you will also push up well on your arms when there is a blanket under your arms. daddy discovered that you can hold yourself up with your arms if you are placed that way with your arms locked-- which is a grand discovery! you have started standing some in your exersaucer, but get tired pretty fast. it's not your favorite toy. but i keep thinking back to when you Hated your bumbo and i thought you'd never be able to sit.

the most exciting thing that you have done this month is play with your stacking ring toy. it's a wooden stick with colored wooden rings that layer on top of each other on the stick. we will take all the rings off and show you how to put them on the stick one at a time. you very clearly understand the concept, because you will grab a ring and hit the stick with it. but just the other day, you actually put a ring on the stick! momma was so excited she shouted YAY! and scared you and you cried. haha.

right when you turned 10 months, granna and papa came to visit. it was a nice visit, albeit rainy. you had your first shopping mall trip in your stroller and granna bought you all the things! you had several naps with/on papa and many fun times and smiles while they were here. you were cheesing it up.

right now you take two naps a day-- one in the morning and one at night. and you eat two meals of solids/purees. we are getting ready to transition you to three solid meals a day (with your milk still) and a snack, dropping the last before-bed feed. you're almost on a big person meal schedule! yay!

:::

i have good days and bad days with hoping things for solomon. i think more good days than bad this month, though. a family member was asking me about considering PT for solomon since "you know he won't be crawling by one." and though it's probably true, it was really hard to hear. right now, i would be amazingly happy to see him sitting up unassisted and playing on his own by 1 year. i can't even imagine him crawling. C is very positive and keeps saying he really thinks solomon will get there, just in his own time. i think i'm too close to it to see his progress. it's hard to see his slow slow progress when so many other babies are learning so fast. but i am glad that at least there is progress.

i've mostly stopped sharing about my worries with his development at our tuesday morning group, even though i still struggle regularly with it. i just feel like a broken record. and i don't want anyone to feel sorry for us. or for solomon. so it's hard to share my fears. C and i have been learning some things about family and culture lately that i want to share on here soon. but i think that's a post for another time.

9 months!

height: 27 inches

weight: 17 lbs 8oz

happy innie-outie birthday, baby! i cant believe that you have been with us just as long as you were in my belly. you are such a joy!

this month has been a rough rough one- mostly because you were sick for the very first time. you caught your first cold and have been sick all this past week. it makes me so sad to see you so stuffed up and miserable and to not be able to help you. you are also Teething.... dun dun dun....we've been hard pressed to work with you on any of your exercises, mostly because you are so tired and crankypants & because you are in pain. momma is hoping that she hasn't indulged you too much, since you've worked so hard to get this far already. but we're just hoping to get you well first, then we will see about sitting up unassisted. 

you had an appointment with the Children's neonatal doctor and also your neurologist this month. they are very encouraged by your progress and are hopeful for your continued recovery.  they were so happy that they said we didn't have to get another MRI for you! your 9 month wellbaby appointment was great! your doctor said that you are a little behind in your gross motor skills (ie, arm movement, sitting up, raising up off of your belly, etc) and seem to be about on par with a 6 month old. he doesn't seem concerned, mostly because you are still making progress, albeit slow.

:::

this month was so hard. scratch that, IS hard. solomon is still sickly (a whiny pitiful angry sickly at that), so it's been a pretty discouraging week, with no end in sight. something i read said that colds can last up to 14 days?! it's only been seven. and then the teething on top of that. ugh.

i've been getting more apprehensive and discouraged about solomon's slow progression to meet his milestones. i mostly feel anxious about wanting him to be able to sit and play on his own-- and then also to be interested in eating little bits of food. he loves eating his mushed food, but is happy to be fed. he doesn't reach for the spoon much. and while he is Super interested in watching us drink things, he isn't interested in picking things up and putting them in his mouth. i'm sure i'm just borrowing trouble-- but how will i ever get him on solids (so that i can stop pumping, please Lord?) if he won't pick things up off his tray???? ack.

so i am left to navigate the confusing road of how to teach my baby how to do all these things that so many babies do naturally. and i have no idea how to do that or where to start. it's overwhelming.  and i feel very ill-equipped. i suppose that's what physical therapy is for?