Monday, November 20, 2017

Baby at Eight Months

I am so sorry about no posts this past month! If you're still following my blog, I really appreciate you sticking with me! 

It has been a very busy time. We went on an out of town trip...take a just crawling baby and a 2-year old on vacation, it will be fun...said no one ever! But we all survived! In case you were wondering, yes, my toddler still gets carsick... Also before, during, and after the trip my kids and occasionally my husband and myself have been sick with a persistent cold which has had us all trying to get some extra sleep.

Time has been flying by though so on to eight months, including Lucas's current schedule!










Baby Update!

Lucas is doing really well. He has mastered the art of crawling and there is nothing stopping him now! He is even planting a foot and pushing up to stand! I joke that he is like a toddler to me. Henry crawled and walked very late, so Lucas crawling across a room, sitting up, and digging through a bucket of toys seems so unbelievably grown up to me.

The brothers are playing well together most of the time. Henry has a fair amount of patience with his baby brother, but when Lucas is there trying to grab the toy from his hand, he will sometimes push him away...we are working on that.





And just one more...don't they look cute in their matching hats?! My mother-in-law is a great knitter.




Lucas stayed on his three nap schedule during our week vacation to the beach. The following week he was sick and sleeping well, so I left him alone. But just the past week, he has started taking a long time to fall asleep for his naps. He's not crying and he will go to sleep eventually, but I think he is ready to transition to 2 naps. 

I had decreased him to 5 milk feedings a day and his schedule was solid on the eat/play/sleep:

7:30 Wake and Breastfeed
9:00 Nap
10:00 Wake and Breastfeed
11:30 Lunch
12:00 Nap
2:00 Wake and Breastfeed
4:00 Nap
5:00 Wake and Breastfeed and Dinner
7:00 Breastfeed and Bed

At 8 months now, he should be staying up longer between naps. Daylight savings didn't do us any favors though! My first son turned 9 months when we sprung ahead and I used that to transition him to 2 naps which worked wonderfully...going the other way is much more difficult!

We were driving back from the beach on daylight savings so it was actually a fairly smooth transition for my kids. They both took late naps which allowed us to put bedtime at the usual time and allow for a later/on time (however you want to look at it lol) wake up the next morning. Sunday is usually a little out of sorts, but my biggest daylight savings tip is, on Monday try to put nap times on the new clock schedule. If nap times are on schedule, then bedtime will be as well, and usually wake up the next morning will also fall in line despite the time change.

Lucas is currently trying out a modified version of Henry's eight month schedule:

7:30 Wake and Breastfeed
8:30 Breakfast
9:30 Nap
11:00 Wake and Breastfeed
11:45 Lunch
1:45 Breastfeed and Nap
4:00 Wake and Breastfeed
5:15 Dinner
7:00 Breastfeed and Bed

The times are definitely still being tweaked and I may change things up more! 

Lucas has started eating some meat and I'm kicking myself for not going to grab my camera for some pictures. I made him ground pork with sweet potatoes and he is a big fan! It goes great with a cube/scoop of apple or pear puree. 

Ground Pork + Sweet Potatoes for Baby
Peel, slice, and steam 3-4 sweet potatoes until very tender. Cook one pound ground pork (I like Trader Joes Antibiotic-Free) in a pot or skillet until no longer pink. I use a cast iron pot for the pork so I can use my immersion blender in it, but you can always transfer to another bowl. Do not drain the pork, add the sweet potatoes and mash it all together with a fork. Then use an immersion blender (I like the Cuisinart) to make a smoother, but still chunky, puree. Freeze into cubes or in 4 oz glass jars. (This same process also works great with ground beef or ground lamb and regular potatoes can be substituted for the sweet potatoes. I don't favor ground chicken or turkey as it tends to be very lean, it cooks up okay but some additional water is needed to get it to combine into a puree.)

Mom Update!

I'm doing pretty well. I've not been eating as healthy as I would like, but it is the season for it I suppose and at least I am not taking a glucose tolerance test this year right after the holidays! I am only 5 pounds above my pre-pregnancy weight (yeah!) but I still notice I have much more of a mommy stomach than I would like. I remember with my first pregnancy, right around my son's first birthday my stomach was feeling nice and flat. So I think partially that a little more time is in order, but also that I need to keep on track with my workouts and challenge my ab muscles!

My personal happiness project planning and use of my ink+volt planner has definitely fallen by the wayside this past month! I don't really have a good excuse...but I'm going to play the illness card. Around a month of intermittent cold symptoms has taken its toll on my family. Lucas had a short-lived stuffy nose, but then Henry got sick and Lucas developed a much longer-lived stuffy nose. My husband and I just suffered mild but recurring symptoms. It seemed like every time my sore throat cleared up, two days later it would be back again. Thankfully, we all seem to finally be really on the mend. On my to-do list - a post about Baby's Medicine Cabinet!


Toddler Update!

Henry has been enjoying the fall weather and spending a lot of time exploring outdoors!



He is a big fan of leaves and weeds lol...





We had many more difficulties on our recent trip than I would have liked. Once the photos are done, I'll do a post. A lot of the difficulties just came from new situations. Henry has been a homebody since the end of my second pregnancy. We've been out for a few lunches, play dates, etc. But everything was close to our neighborhood and these were short outings. We hadn't taken him on an overnight trip since we went to Norfolk for a family vacation over his first birthday. Alas, toddlers are interesting with change. They can be very resilient and quick to move on, but can also be so incredibly stubborn. 



I suspect this is my last post before the holiday...so a very Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family!





2 comments:

  1. I love the pictures of your two little ones together, so sweet :) Those hats are beautiful too! My (nearly) 14 month old is still taking two naps and I'm in no hurry for that to change! It feels like a nice schedule, with plenty of time to go do things, but some nice breaks built in to the day. I'm sorry to hear everyone has been sick, that's no fun. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

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    1. Thanks! It is so great to see them interacting with each other. Henry didn't go to 1 nap until 20 months. My friends with kids in daycare all were on the 1 nap much earlier, but Henry just wasn't ready. He would be nodding off during lunch if he didn't get his morning nap! Personally I liked the 2 nap schedule because we could go out and do things over lunch time and it wasn't a big deal to push back that afternoon nap. I hope your family has a great Thanksgiving too!

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