9 months!

I know I didn't write an 8-month post, but it's been unreal how much Soren has learned to do and develop over the last 1-2 months! It's crazy!

Eating: Soren eats 3 'meals' a day now, and has 3 bottles during the day, then nurses at night. His meals usually consist of a a combo of fruit, veggie, protein, and/or carb. The pediatrician said he can eat normal food now except for ice cream and nut products. He LOVES vanilla yogurt, and will often have that with a fruit for breakfast. For lunch we've recently been doing deli meat or chicken breast, a carb (rice, brown rice, potatoes, oatmeal), and a veggie. For dinner, he'll have protein (yogurt/meat), fruit, and a veggie. Soren's pediatrician recommended we let him essentially 'play' with his food so he gets used to feeling and tasting different textures; she said that the more textures he's exposed to now, the better eater he'll be as he grows up. He's a great eater and will take pretty much anything you give him. However, since he's been teething, he hasn't been eating the best. He only eats 4 oz. bottles during the day normally, and when he's teething he'll do 3 oz. or less. He is mostly holding his own bottle now, but often gets lazy and has us hold it.

Sleeping: Oh jeez, still not great. We FINALLY were getting him to sleep 7 hours at a time consistently but then daylight savings and teething hit, and he now sleeps 5 hours, then is up every 1.5-2 hours. It's also getting difficult to get him down for his naps, he doesn't like rocking, and when we put him in his crib, he sits, then pulls up to the standing position which really wakes him up and keeps him stimulated. The last couple days, we've literally held him down with his paci in his mouth and rubbed his back and he was out in a minute or two. When he wakes up, he is instantly awake, bright eyed, crawling around, it's the weirdest thing and I'm slightly jealous ;-). So far he takes a morning nap and 2 afternoon naps. Over the last week or so, his naps have lengthened so he's sleeping for more than 30 mins. at a time. Sometimes we get 2-hour naps out of him, and it's glorious! We are beginning to do some crying it out with him, but we do go rub his back while he's crying and try to keep him in a laying down position in regular increments. He has no self-soothing skills yet and doesn't really have an attachment object to assist him in helping him fall back asleep, except for the paci. He doesn't know yet to look for the paci when he wakes up and put it back in his mouth. He wants to eat to fall back asleep and we are working on breaking that. It's hard at 2am to not just give in and nurse, but for now we're starting to take him off feed-to-sleeps at bedtime and naps. One day we'll get there, right?

Time for bed

What he *thinks* is a good idea instead of sleeping

Development: Soren has made leaps and bounds in the past month. I swear he learned to sit, crawl, crawl-to-sit, and pull to stand in 1.5-2 months time! I'm guessing he will likely be walking in the next month or two. He's developing some object permanence now and when we play peek-a-boo, he looks for us where we were hiding. He unfortunately does not stop for even a second when we say 'no', so that has been a real challenge, he'll just keep doing what he's doing, and sometimes he giggles. He is a pretty social little guy and has not yet developed stranger and separation anxiety, except with my brother's girlfriend (silly silly boy). His pincer grasp is starting to get better, he's also beginning to be able to get ger.ber puffs from the highchair tray to his mouth with some concentration and effort. Soren is also 'clapping' now and beginning to wave (though not yet consistently, and not to say 'goodbye'). He is also babbling alot and just started using the consonant 'm'. His first two words have been 'mum' and 'yum'...both when he's eating foods :-). He also babbles alot in the car if the radio is playing, I'd like to think he's singing, as he makes many different pitches and volumes. Overall, we are mostly forgetting that he was 1 month early and he seems to be caught up now.





Likes: Bath time, swimming, food, electrical cords, cat food and water bowls, our kitties, my parent's doggies, touching daddy's beard, playing tickle games, newpaper or any kinds of paper on the floor


Dislikes: Getting his diaper changed, clothes, being restrained, not being able to roll over, not being able to have things he wants, going out to eat (man, will family dinners in restaurants be put on the backburner for awhile!), teething

Soren weighs 18.5 lbs (25%) and is 29 inches long (75%)...he's a long-and-lean boy and pediatrician says he's perfect, especially considering he fell off the growth chart a while back. He's transitioning to 12-month clothes. The elasticized waist pants don't actually fit around his waist and he sports the 'pants on the ground' look often. Length-wise for pjs and pants, he's needing 12 month pants though.

Reflux update- we will SLOWLY be weaning Soren off the Prev.acid soon. We can either start now and have him weaned by 12 months or wait until his 12-month appt. then start. It will be a very slow weaning, because cutting cold turkey will make his reflux terrible, and for that, we are in no hurry! His spit-up is finally getting better, most likely due to him starting to eat more solids. He still does spit-up, but not too much in frequency or volume.

Soren's hair is really coming in now and is a bleach blonde color, sometimes strawberry blonde in natural lighting. We will likely need to get his hair trimmed soon. His eyes are very interesting, they're gray on the ouside with brown on the inside like bicycle spokes...very dark and beautiful! He now has 2 teeth (the first one came in on March 24th, the second came in a week later on April 1st) , and I imagine more are on their way!

Daddy has been a stay-at-home dad and both Soren and daddy are developing a strong attachment and liking to one another! The other day Brian was holding him and I tried to take him, and Soren turned and nuzzled his head into Brian! It's so fun for me to watch my husband as a fun-loving, caring, involved daddy! He really is the light of our lives and brings so much love and joy!

Life Lately

Life has been very busy lately, and as I sit typing this, I realize I forgot to write Soren's 8 month post...woops. Work has been very busy for me lately, I've been putting in overtime and picking up shifts. I was also asked by my supervisor to be part of a committee that looks at internal policies and procedures to find strengths and areas for improvement... her invitation reasoning was because I have been able to identify 'system issues' quickly and work to improve them...lol. Hey, anything to get some brownie points with the boss, eh? I am excited and see the invite as an indicator that I'm doing well and am valued.

Along with my work being busy, the hubs has been completing orientation and such with his new school and is gearing up for registration in a couple weeks here. We're still working on getting some things figured out for getting it funded. For now though, he is stay-at-home daddy and is doing a great job! I think initially the change was difficult for him, especially given he's had pretty much no experience working with infants. There were a few S.O.S. calls I got at work, but since then, we've come up with a good plan and so far it's been working. I think the biggest thing was that Soren was getting bored in this environment and likes to be out and have a change of scenery (just like his momma). Once we've figured that out, Brian has been taking him shopping, on walks, to the YMCA, etc., and this has helped immensely. It's so fun for me to watch this amazing attachment forming between the two of them:



The last month has been CRAZY with the amount of things Soren is learning to do! On March 17th (8 months, 12 days), Soren was being a huge stinker in the bedtime hours. After a couple minutes of letting him cry (after 1 hr. of trying everything else), I went in his bedroom, and found this:

He pulled up on his crib for the first time! The next night Brian lowered the crib. Now Soren's been pulling up on anything and everything. He also has an attraction to any kind of cord. Because of this, we've had to build a barracade-of-sort during the day:
We're really needing to buy some baby gates, but funds are tight, so this works in the meantime.
We're finding that now he's mobile, we're quickly outgrowing this space. We won't be buying a house for a couple years, so we'll have to see what we're going to do when our lease ends in December.

Soren is also now using his walker, and I will guess that in the next 1-2 months he will be a walker.



We have also graduated from his baby bathtub, to filling up our regular bathtub. We bought a non-slip mat to put down, and so far he is loving all the extra space and bigger splashes ;-).


On March 24th (8 months 19 days), Soren cut his first tooth on the bottom. He's been pathetic since then, but today I'm noticing a little bit better mood. Baby tylenol has been our friend lately :-).

There's so many more things to update about with his growth and development, but I'll have to save some things for his 9-month post. 9. months. Wow!

The "5-Year-Plan"

Since hubs is now laid-off, we've been thinking alot about our future and what it may hold. One of the perks of such a big layoff (if there is such a thing) is that his company received a grant for a displaced worker program that has funds attached to provide education, job training, etc. to those who want it. Hubs and I have had many discussions prior to this point in our lives about him possibly going back to school to earn a second major in something a bit more promising (music education... bad.idea.). So now the plan is for hubs to start a Bachelors in Computer Science this Summer which will likely be 2.5-3 years before he's finished. Hopefully he can find work in the meantime while going to school. Although we view this layoff as a setback in many ways, our future will hopefully look so much brighter because of it and the Hubs will hopefully have more self-worth doing something he's interested in for more than 'just a job' factor. So for now, a house, a second baby, it's all on the back burner. And I'm okay with that...we're okay with that. We have a tough couple of years ahead of us but we're trying to be 'glass-half-full' around here while also trying not to be naive like our younger years. To have hope again...it's an amazing thing.

Things Lately

Lots has been going on around here this week and I've been too busy to sit and write until now. On Monday I started my job orientation, and have been doing that every day this week. I've been doing considerably well, although I did have teary moment on Sunday and last night. I'm still trying to figure out how to balance everything, making new routines, and remembering everything. I have temporarily lost many things this week, including my name badge on only the third day! Luckily it was recovered at church. I think the change in routine has somewhat been affecting Soren, though not in any terrible way. The first day he wouldn't take a nap for daddy until the late afternoon while in the grocery store...Brian said he had a sad, sullen, defeated look on his face while shopping then finally fell asleep. He's been going to bed around 9:30-10 and every morning this week has woken up at 6:00 to eat! I need to get up around 6:15-6:30 so this has been working out perfectly. After he wakes up to eat, I bring him into our bed and nurse him, then keep him laying in our bed after he dozes off again and I get up and get ready. Then he wakes up again from 7-7:30 and Brian gives him a small bottle and he'll go back down until 9-9:30. It's working out pretty slick, I hope it stays that way. He's my little alarm clock, and I LOVE being able to nurse and cuddle him for a little bit before I have to go to work.

When I leave in the morning, I wear my pumping bra and pump in the car on the way to work. Sounds crazy I know, but no one would ever really know and it's a nice, efficient way to use my 45-minute drive time. While at work I pump once during my lunch break, then after work I will either feed him or pump right away. Not gonna lie, the girls are a hurting unit waiting that long, but it's what's feasible right now. It's a pain in the arse to pump, remember the parts, cut my lunch break short, but it also feels good knowing I'm providing for him even when we're apart.

Brian has been a rock star, despite a bit of a jump-in-head-first approach. It's been a new learning and adjustment period for us all. It's not easy giving up sole care and control of Soren but he's been handling it well and I have become more flexible and supportive. I honestly think working part-time is going to make me a better mother. Before I started, we just went about our routine; now I love coming home and squeezing and cuddling him, and playing whenever we get the chance. I love how he gets a HUGE smile when I get home. I also am starting to really enjoy nursing more...like I said, before it was just part of our routine, but now I am really cherishing that closeness I feel with him... I think he likes it too as it's often one of the first things he wants to do when I get home ;-). It sure beats pumping, that's for sure!

Well, I think that's it for now, I need to hit the sack but I'll update more this weekend. We managed to take some Christmas pics, so I need to design our cards here soon and find the time to mail them out...eeek!

3 Months Old!

Soren was 3 months old on Wednesday! A week ago he weighed 10 lbs. 12 oz. at the lactation consultant's office, and a few weeks ago he was 24 inches long. He's really starting to fill out now, and has gained thigh, arm, and wrist baby fat rolls...they're too cute for words! This last month Soren has changed quite a bit in his development and characteristics, I really love this age!

Soren is still eating every 2 hours during the day. He almost always nurses, but usually once a day he'll receive a bottle and will take 4 oz. At night he'll usually do a 5 hour stretch, then will eat every 2 hours.

Soren's reflux seems to be improving a bit, we're having less projectile activity which is nice. We're definitely still dealing with lots of spit-up but based on his great weight gain, we just wait until he'll outgrow it. He is still taking Prevacid solu-tabs once a night and doing the Pulmicort nebulizer to keep his airways calm in hopes of reducing his chance of getting sick. Soren's pediatrician has been working hard on getting him qualified for the Synagis RSV vaccine, and he's been approved! A children's home health care nurse will come out to our home once a month from November-March and administer the Intramuscular vaccine. I pray that we can keep him out of the hospital and healthy this Winter...it breaks my heart just thinking about the possibility :-(.

This last month has been a little bit more low-key for us. Soren, my mom, and I went camping for a weekend mid-September, and had a great time! Soren was also baptized this last Sunday, and we had a great celebration with family and friends! I will include more details in a separate post. I have also been working hard at applying for social work jobs, hopefully I'll be able to find one soon.

One big thing we've been working on lately is starting to get him used to his crib. I'm not ready to have him sleep in there all night yet, but I do want him to start getting used to it for when the time comes to transition him. We've started to incorporate crib time into our nightly routine. Currently, around 9pm, I'll give Soren a bath, get him dressed, sit in the glider in his room and give him his meds., do his nebulizer, and read him a book. I try laying him down in his crib and cross my fingers that he'll fall asleep/stay asleep but that has only happened once so far. What HAS been working is holding him in the living room after his routine, and wait until he's in a deep sleep, then put him in his crib. One night this week he went 3 hours without waking up, but usually he'll go an hour in his crib before waking up. I try to go back in there and put his paci in his mouth, but he doesn't fall back to sleep... it's almost like he needs to be held or in his swing to fall asleep. I'm not sure how to break this, he's been like this since the day he was born. I'm definitely not one to let him cry it out, so hopefully when he gets older he'll be able to just fall asleep on his own.

Soren is becoming much more vocal and alert now. He squeals, coos, and today he made a 'ma' sound for the first time...momma secretly hopes his first word is 'mama' ;-). He has also learned how to make a pouty face, curled bottom lip and all! Soren is becoming more content under his playmat as he enjoys looking at all the colors and toys. Also, we have mirrors in our cars so we can see him in our rearview mirrors, and he loves looking at himself in his mirror. He's not a smiley baby all the time, he likes to do things on his own terms ;-). He does have more alert, happy periods during the day when he will interact with us a lot.

Soren is often sucking on his fist now, I'm pretty sure he'll be a thumb-sucker once he figures out how to get it in there. His fists are still mostly clenched, but occasionally he'll open up his hands and grasp my finger. He does not hold onto toys yet, but I have a feeling that's just around the corner. Also, Soren can tolerate tummy time for just a bit longer now, but he still hates it. He kicks his legs a bunch so he will kinda move around but has yet to roll over (except that one fluke time when he was 6 weeks). Because his reflux seems to be improving, he enjoys laying on his back more, and will kick his feet non-stop.When holding Soren, I can usually sit him upright on my lap, bracing him with one hand on his tummy and one on his back (or side-to-side), and he will sit up straight and balance his head. Today I bought a jumperoo for him, which he's still too little for, but he did okay just sitting back in it without tipping.

This week I have started to read to him at bedtime, and he really seems to enjoy it. Also, him and daddy have lots of fun time together talking, singing, and playing on the playmat. When I (finally) get him to sleep at night, Soren will instantly wake up when he hears daddy's voice when he gets home from work. It is kinda sweet, not gonna lie :-).

Soren is just starting to grow out of his 0-3 month clothes, and is starting to wear some of his 3-6 month clothes. He is wearing one-size and Fuzzibunz perfect size small cloth diapers. Currently, our favorite cloth diapers are Fuzzibunz Perfect size smalls and Softbums. At night we add a Hemp babies doubler to his diapers because he pees a lot! We sure do love cloth-diapering, let me know if you have any questions about them!

Well, that's all I can remember for now, toota-lou

"I See a Purple Cat Looking at Me"

I need to do Soren's 3 month post, but I captured these pictures tonight, and they were just too cute not to share. I started reading "Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do you see?" to Soren before bed this week, and he seems really interested in it! Tonight, Daddy got home early so he got to read it to him while momma snapped some photos!

My Loves