Liam: Ten Months

Likes: Tickles, people he knows, bathtime, food

Dislikes: Getting things taken away from him, carseat

Biggest Achievement of the Month: Eating on his own

Biggest Challenge of the Month: Sleep

Sleep: So this month has been weird, at the beginning we were fighting him on sleep, he wasn't sleeping through the night anymore and kept ending up in our bed because neither of us could get him down. And then one evening I go to the gym and when I come home, he was already asleep. No boob or mom needed. Since then (which was only last week) he will let dad put him to bed now (which hasn't happened for a couple months now) and he is back to sleeping through the night. OK that is sort of a lie, he does wake up a couple times but he puts himself back to sleep so we don't have to go in there so I count it.

Temperment/Personality: He is so happy. Everyone that meets him comments on what a happy baby he is and he seems to be warming up to people he doesn't know quicker now so that is nice. He loves getting paid attention to and making us laugh. I love when he is tired because he will just sit on your lap quietly and cuddle, it is awesome. He is still getting into everything and putting it all in his mouth but we have gotten better at making sure things that he shouldn't eat, he doesn't.

He never wants to be on his back (which makes changing diapers fun) and always likes to be exploring everything. I am working on when I take things away from him, I ask him if I can please have it and when he gives it to me (or I take it because he shouldn't have it) I tell him thank you. In my head if I start early he might get it ingrained in his brain. And he seems to get less upset when I make it seem like he has a choice to give things to me, maybe it is just a coincidence but it seems like that.

A funny thing he started doing this month. When he is done eating he likes to just play, well since I don't enjoy that I normally would just pull my shirt back down and he can't play anymore but this month he started doing something new. When I pull my shirt down he looks at me, pulls it back up and contiues playing, it is amazing to see that he now gets that connection. Also, I can ask him to bring me something he is already holding and he is doing that. And if we are moving rooms or something I tell him to like for example, pick up his ball and sometimes he does it, (sometime he needs more encouragement) and then hangs onto it. SO many new things he is getting now. He also reaches for people now, we hold out our arms to him and he will reach out for certain people.

Eating: He is still my big eater. Still on the boob, but sometimes he doesn't eat long because he gets distracted easily. I have been wearing a nursing necklace lately though and it seems to be helping to keep his attention. But sometimes he has long sessions and I think some of it is a comfort thing but he gets so excited when he sees me pulling out the boppy that it is sweet.

He is still on purees because I can't gaurentee enough is getting in his mouth to keep him satisfied with feeding himself. But he doesn't seem to mind and in addition to feeding him fruits and veggies we are also doing the phase 3 foods which are like actual meals.

We let him feed himself pretty much whenever we go out to eat. We order a side that he can eat (like fries or eggs) and just let him grab it and feed it to himself and judging from the mess on the floor, he seems to be doing a lot better. We are trying to let him try lots of new foods and when we cook, I try to just give him some of his own so that he can eat with us too. He doesn't like watching us eat if he isn't getting any.

We are working on getting him to drink out of a sippy cup but so far he doesn't love it that much. He would prefer we hold onto it for him.

The Superficial: He is so so pretty. And he is getting lots more hair although because it is blonde, unless we stick it up, you really can't see it. I am pretty darn sure his eyes are going to stay blue and I hope so because he gets lots of compliments on them. At his last docotor's appointment he was 18 and a half pounds and is 17 in tall. He did drop for his percentage but the doctor said that is normal and she didn't seem worried about it. He is still in 9-12 month clothes.

Milestones & Firsts: He is pulling himself up on everything and will move along the furniture or whatever he is holding onto. But he seems kind of cautious about letting go of anything although he is confident enough he will hold on with only one hand but when we try (and he feels like cooperating) he can stand up on his own and has done it for about half a minute. He is babbling lots now and I am pretty sure, to him, mama means food.

Quite a few firsts this month. He had his first professional photo shoot (we didn't do newborns). Although we do weekly pictures, that is just me and my mom, we actually paid someone to do a nice family shoot and it went really well and the pictures came out amazing.

He showered for the first time with me. I was sitting at home with him on my day off and needed to shower and thought, couldn't I just bring him in there with me? I looked around online and grabbed the stuff to bathe him, put him on the floor in the corner (I have a stand up shower), did my normal shower routine while he sat and played with a shampoo bottle and when I was done, I just held him and bathed him, so much easier and I am not constantly looking outside the shower to make sure he is OK.

He went to his first bonfire. We had our monthly bookclub outside this month and had a nice fire, he didn't seem to interested in it. He also went to his first baby shower (his first one outside of me that is). One of my good friends is due in October and had a coed baby shower to which we brought him to and he provided some entertainment for us.

Liam: Nine Months

Likes: Getting tickled, eating, swimming, standing, crawling, getting into everything

Dislikes: Going to sleep, getting things taken away from him

Biggest Achievement of the Month: Starting finger foods

Sleep: So there were a couple really bad days at the beginning of the month that were on the tail end of his teething (which produced no teeth, just awesome) but once he seemed OK again, he went back to his own bed. He is starting to get more aware of everything going on around him and I am now having to go into his room, turn off the thlight and rock him to get him to sleep, which really isn't that bad but he will only let me do it, which does kind of suck. But he is back to sleeping through the night again so all in all he is doing well

Temperment/Personality: So much more personality now. He gets so delighted when he sees people that he knows or people play with him. You can creep up on him (in plain sight so he can see you) saying I'm going to get you and even before you get to him, he is giggling and squirming, knowing that his is going to get tickled and it is hilarious. There is another, I call it a trick that he will do sometimes for me, I look at him all serious and say "Boobies" and he start smiling at me.

He is very cuddly when he is tired, which is awesome but when he is awake, he just wants to be moving and everywhere. He is still very happy in general though. He is definately recognizing people now, and nothing is better when I get off of work and he sees me and just lights up.

Eating: He loves to eat. We are still breastfeeding, on days I am home, around 4 to 5 times a day. He is a big fan of the boobie but I am not sure how much of it is just comfort feeding but I don't mind. He is also still having purees but a lot more of them and we have these squeeze things that have purees in them and he can feed himself with them.(we have used them on car trips and things)

We are working with finger foods, and feeding him more kinds of food. He really likes scrambled eggs and certain fruits but we aren't confident enough that he is eating enough

The Superficial: He is getting more hair now, which I love, someday I might let my mom try to style it for the weekly pictures like she keeps asking me to do but for now I like it laying down but you can definately see bed head and things like that now which is awesome. He is still in 9- 12 month clothes and because they are mixed in, sometimes he gets a 6-9 month one that is a bit tight on him.

I still get lots of compliments on him but I get it from people that I wouldn't expect, like kids and guys. I find it really odd (as a kid I would have never said your baby is cute to someone but maybe that is just me). But I also get told that he seems really small for his age (?!), and someone has even gone so far to ask if he was a preemie. He doesn't seem that small to me but maybe I am just crazy.

Milestones & Firsts: So he is definately babbling. He says mama, dada, lala, hi, and yeah (I realize that I say that to him a lot so it makes sense) but we are now working on attaching meaning to what he is saying. He is standing up lots and almost has stood on his own and can crawl really fast when he wants to. He grabs everything and of course puts it all in his mouth.

So for firsts, first time trying to eat a penny. It really wasn't that bad, it was just blocking the front of his throat in his mouth, not actually his ability to breath but because I didn't want to push it farther so I just took him upsidedown and gave him one shake and out it came.

He managed to get his hand in dad's enchilada sauce and we weren't fast enough to get it off because he promptly rubbed his eyes and then screamed because obviously it stung, and we were out in public, it was embarrissing but we managed to grab a wipe pretty fast and got it out. He had his first sitter that wasn't a close friend of family and he was fine. First night in a hotel which we found out that having other people in the room with us was not a good idea because he slept like crap :(

Liam: Eight Months

Likes: Swimming, being tickled, crawling, pulling himself up, watching iPad

Dislikes: Getting teeth, not getting what he wants

Biggest Achievement of the Month: Actually crawling

Biggest Challenge of the Month: Teething

Sleep: So after last month and having issues with sleeping this month was going so much better. He was going down pretty easy and staying down until Cody woke up (6:30 to 7) and then he started teething at the end of the month. Then it all went to hell.

Apparently if he is in pain the only way he will sleep is if he is with mom so I have had (since it has just started it has only been for 3 nights so there will probably be some in next months post too) 3 nights of falling asleep with him in bed with me, one night of him being there all night and one night of him being there from 4am on.

So he is a bit attached right now, there has been lots of feeding to get him down and some use of baby iboprofun but we are surviving. He won't even take naps without me right now (which means I have up to 3 hours of just sitting there with him in my arms). And just screams when dad tries so it is up to mostly me. Hopefully it will be over soon and we can go back to having a baby that sleeps again.

Temperment/Personality: Very happy although not with everyone anymore. If he doesn't see someone on at least a weekly basis he seems to forget who they are and will just stare at them with a blank expression. No crying, not even if they hold him, he just stares and doesn't smile.

He is starting to get into everything so I am really keeping an eye on him and he is starting to cry when I take things away that he shouldn't be playing with (garbage cans, papers I need, things that he can choke on) but I don't do too much when he does that. It normally makes me laugh and I just give him the binky and tell him that it doesn't matter if he cries, he is still not getting it back (I do talk to him with full sentances because of course he can understand me).

Other then that he loves to play with us now. He grabs our faces and laughs when he pulls my hair (oh yeah he is going to be a fun toddler) and is much more interested in us now. We can intereact with him more now too, he will play peek-a-boo, and a fun game where we put a blanket on his head and he pulls it off. It is getting really fun to play with him.

Eating: He is a boy that loves to eat. We are still doing three main meals a day (breakfast, lunch and bedtime) and he has a variety of vegetables, fruits and cereal. We are starting to try finger foods and he won't eat the cereal puff things at all for some reason but have recently found out that we can get him to eat yogurt melts (and he feeds them to himself).

He is breastfeeding (or having a bottle depending on where he is) 4 to 5 times a day so he is still going strong on that too. And because of the teething thing, it seems to be a comfort thing right now too so there have been nighttime feedings for the first time in a long tim.

The Superficial: He is getting so big. He is probably around 18 lbs now so it is getting fun to carry him around. He is still in 6-9 month clothes and in size 3 diapers (something that I have not been recording but I should have been). He is still getting more hair and depending on the light, it is either blonde or strawberry blonde.

Milestones & Firsts: He is saying dada and mama now. He is crawling and has gone from doing an army crawl to crawling with one leg kind of up, to normal crawling to crawling with his butt in the air. He is pulling himself up on everything, he loves to stand.

He has had his first finger foods and feeding himself. His first falls, once when in his rock and play at night (obviously we are no longer using it) and the other off my mom's bed but it was onto carpet. There were no major injuries from those, just some bumps but since he is so pale, we thing everything shows really easily.

Liam: Seven Months

Likes: Moving around, being tickled, swimming, being held, chickens (he has loved those for quite awhile now but I keep forgetting to mention it)

Dislikes: Green beans, not being able to see people, sleep,

Biggest Achievement of the Month: Almost sort of crawling

Biggest Challenge of the Month: Sleep

Sleep: So sleep has been hard this month.  It started out like normal with him doing well and then it started going downhill.  We were having real problems not only getting him down to sleep but keeping him asleep once he is there, and this isn't only for naps, night is included.  One of the major problems was that he decided that he hated his father at bedtime and wouldn't tolerate even being held by him so either I had to get him down by the time I go to bed (which is decently early because I have to work at 5 in the morning) or let him scream with dad until he passes out from exhaustion. 

Something had to change. The next day I did a bunch of research and found out that the fact that my child barely napped at all had a lot to do with why he slept like crap at night, and that we were thinking that putting him to bed later meant he slept later (like a normal person) which is also wrong.  So I talked to my amazing babysitters and asked them to try and get at least an hour of nap time when they had him (if they can, I get he can be difficult if he wants to be) and then always on the way home from the sitters he falls asleep in the car, so I figured if I could get him out without waking him up, that would be his second nap of the day.

So he has now been napping 2-3 hours a day and is going to bed earlier and is sleeping so much better not only through the night but going down too. Granted sometimes it means napping for an hour and a half on mommy but if that is what it takes for him to sleep at night, I guess I will just have to hold the cute sleeping baby.

Temperment/Personality: He has the best personality. And he is so happy like 90% of the time. All it takes is the right person smiling at him and he is grinning like a maniac.  He still only cries normally when he is tired (he is more on a schedule to eat now so he doesn't really cry much anymore when he is hungry).  He is still so cuddly too, which I adore and I hope it is something that never goes away but he is a boy and I am pretty sure he will outgrow it sadly. He is still sticking everything in his mouth and is so curious about everything.

Eating: He loves food.  It is hard to believe that I had issues getting this kid to start solids because now he loves them so very much. We were having him eat cereal in the morning and then fruit or veggies at night (I read somewhere that is how you are supposed to do it) but when we started having sleep issues hubby suggested we swap it (so that he gets carbs at night and it will make him sleepy) and it really has helped. And then he gets the boob after his food.

I have not gotten my act together yet and am still buying packaged baby food but it is hard to get the time together to even get started.  He is having one 2nd foods size thing of fruit or veggie in the morning and 5 TB of cereal at night now. The only problem with feeding him real food is that it is screwing up my milk supply for when I am pumping (he seems to get plenty when he is eating straight from the source) so that is something that I am trying to work on.

The Superficial: He is still cute.  He is getting more hair and depending on the light, it is either strawberry blonde or just blonde (and it isn't just sunlight it is one color, it depends on the day too, it is really weird).  I am 90% sure his eyes are going to stay blue, yay!  He is still nice and chunky which is awesome.  He is still in the 6-9 month clothes and they seem to be fitting nicely.  I am trying to keep his nails short and keep an eye on them, that way he doesn't always have scratches on his face and I'm not always having to explain to people why they are there.

Milestones & Firsts: He has said dada, he was babbling and so I try saying mama to him a bunch (I was ever hopeful) and then clear as day he said "dada" and I was like, well crap. But he is saying it easily now.  He had a stye on his eye, which isn't that big of a deal except that it seemed to hurt him and it looked weir because one of his eyes looked red when it was closed.  He is sort of crawling.  Well my mom looked it up and apparently crawling now is a generic term and it includes army crawling which seems to pretty much be Liam's style but he is still trying to crawl on all fours but he seems to get bored of it easily and goes back to what works for him.

He got to see his first fireworks and it was way pas his bedtime so he saw about half of them and seemed fascinated and then got tired and fell asleep.  It was adorable.

Liam: Six Months

Likes: Getting tickled, being held, his feet, sitting up, standing, his bouncer, swimming

Dislikes: Getting changed

Biggest Achievement of the Month: Sitting up on his own

Biggest Challenge of the Month: None really

Sleep: Going so so well.  We put him in his own room and to sleep in his crib this month and I was really nervous about how it would go (I had been told that we would have a couple bad nights while getting him used to being in his own room and in the crib) but it went so well.  He didn't have any problems and it lets us use our amazing video monitor. 

He still gets up once or twice some nights but that is expected and most of the time we can put his binky back in and he will go right back to sleep.

Although because he is now in a big open crib instead of his confined rock and play he now loves to sleep in the weirdest positions   I found him once on his stomach (which I know is bad), at the edge of the crib with his arm hanging out the side.  In general we put him to bed on his back and he normally ends up sleeping on his side.

Depending on the night, if he wakes up around 3 or 4, on hubby's nights he will pull him into the rock and play in the room just to make sure if he starts fussing he isn't running across the house a ton.  On my nights, if he wakes up after 5 I will pull him into bed with me so that I can sleep later (if he is with me, he normally lets me sleep until at least 8).

In general though, he isn't even eating at night, probably fed him 3 or 4 times total at night all month so I am so proud of him.

Temperment/Personality: Still so happy. But I can see his personality developing more.  He is so interested in everything.  He tries to grab everything, stick it all in his mouth.  I can see hubby in him, he kind of does what he wants.  And if you are not doing what he wants he lets you know.  If you are having him sit and he wants to stand, he will arch his back and fuss until you stand him up and then he will be all happy again.

His crying face is the most adorable thing ever. He is just so expressive and he shows everything he is feeling, it is the most awesome thing.  He is also very cuddly, like you do something to make him smile, and he smiles at you and then hides his face in your neck/shoulder.  I know he won't be like that with me forever so I just treasure the time that is he like that.

Eating: Breastfeeding is going wonderful.  On days I work he eats about 3 times with me and on my days off around 5 so that is going well.  On eating cereal, he is doing great with that too.  He has 4 TB of rice cereal mixed with pear juice in the morning and evening.   And he just chows down on it.  We have given him a couple jars of baby food and I am starting to get everything together to make his baby food myself.

The Superficial: He is freaking adorable and pretty much everyone compliments him on how cute he is.  He is starting to get very chunky, so so many rolls on him now.  He is definitely getting hair now and you can see that he is going to have a widows peak.  The problem is that it is so light colored that unless you are close up and looking, it still looks like he is bald.

His nails grow so freaking fast, I tend to notice they need to be cut once Liam has scratches on his face from scratching himself.

So my mom pointed out that his clothes might be a bit too tight and that I should try a bigger size, and that he needs to stop wearing pants in the summer heat.  So I tried a 6 to 9 month outfit and it fit nicely. Crap.  In case you didn't remember, he was still in 0 to 3 month outfits.  So apparently we have mostly missed the 3 to 6 month size.  So I went through the boxes of lager clothes and pulled everything that was in the right size and for appropriate for summer. 

Most of them were 6-9 months but there were some 3-6 month ones that worked.   I don't know why I wait so long to change his outfit sizes, it is so fun that every few months he gets a brand new wardrobe.  We also picked up some more outfits from Costco but we still need some more shorts for him and then he will be good for awhile.

Milestones & Firsts: He is sitting up on his own now, sometimes he does still fall but in general he is doing really well with it.  He is trying to crawl, he has got the position down and gets in it and rocks, sometimes lunging for whatever toy we have put out of his reach to try to encourage him to move for us. He rolls over both ways and always wants to be on his stomach, which is making changing him so much fun. He is very vocal and does baby talk conversations with us.  He is starting to recognize people, he definitely knows his family and our close friends verses strangers or acquaintances who he doesn't smile immediately at.

He had his first out of town trip (went went about 2 hours away for only one night to visit my hubby's brother) and it went really well, he slept on the car trips both ways so we had no issues like that but he didn't sleep well at night.  I'm guessing he figured out he was someplace different and even trying to have him in bed with me, he still didn't sleep very well. 

He also slept in his own room and in his crib for the first time.

Favorite Baby Gear:

My amazing video monitor that I have had since my baby shower and have not used because why did I need to use a monitor on the baby that is right next to me?  I had hubby mount it on the wall and it makes it so nice.  It beeps when he makes a sound (it also beeps whenever anyone closes a door nearby but that isn't that annoying) and then we can watch him to make sure he is actually waking up versus just fussing a little.  I know it was from Target and the picture and link are the ones that look closest to it that I can find.

A toy that he loves right now is his Bright Starts Lights and Sounds FunPad.  It not only lights up but it sings to him which he loves.  It is also light enough that he can easily hold it himself which he loves because that means he can eat it.  I love it because it is easy to take in the diaper bag and it isn't so loud that it is annoying when it keeps going off.