Lenore at 11 Months

11 Months Old
(The best I could get because she was squirrely and the camera was acting up...)

Her stats this month (percentiles from BabyCenter):
Height: 30 inches [between 75th and 90th percentiles]
Weight: 23 pounds [between 75th and 90th percentiles]
Head Size: 19 inches [above 95th percentile]

What she's doing this month:

• She is walking (if a few steps at a time can be considered walking)! Only a few times a day and not great distances, but she is figuring it out. Her first steps were just this past Friday, September 25. 
• Lewis took a few steps December 7 and 15, which was right before/at 10 months, so he was a little ahead of her.
• She is sleeping better, overall. She takes two naps a day, usually around an hour and a half each. She is usually sleeping all night for me (around 11 hours), but there have still been a few nights with middle-of-the-night feedings.
• She nurses every 3-4 hours during the day, but I feel my supply starting to wane as she eats more solids. At bedtime, especially, she was having a hard time falling asleep after 'just' nursing, so I decided to make a 4 oz. bottle of formula a regular thing at bedtime after she nurses. There was one night she refused me, which was a pretty strange feeling (Lewis never refused me, ever), but that has only happened once. 
• Related to that, she does the sweetest thing after her bottle. Well, before her bottle, too. Once she's done nursing, she sits up and peeks over the side of the recliner to see if it's sitting down on the floor. I learned quickly that I needed to keep it out of sight because she gets so excited about it. So AFTER she's done with her bottle, I stand up and sway with her on my shoulder and burp her. She has started giving me the sweetest pats on my back as I pat her on her back. And she rubs my back in big circles like I rub hers to help her burp. She's going to be a good mommy one day. :)
• On that note, she so sweetly and quickly learned how to wave. We were sitting at the table one day, and I waved to her and said, 'Hi!' She laughed at me, and then she figured out how to say 'Hiiiiiii!' in the sweetest Southern accent, using every muscle in her little mouth, and she practically whacked herself in face, waving excitedly.
• She isn't saying much else new since last month. Just Hiiiii, Bye-bye, Bubba, and sparingly, Mama. She did notice a dog at the playground the other day and was saying something, like she was trying to say Dog, but it didn't sound like Dog just yet.
• She is still an eating machine! She has had a few meals where she's eaten more than Lewis has (granted, Lew eats like a bird at times). She still hasn't refused a food we've put in front of her, for now (I know that can/will change!). The pediatrician said (at her 9 month appointment, I forget if I've already said this...) we could try peanut butter since we don't have a family history of a peanut allergy, so she's had PB&J a few times with Lewis. She prefers to feed herself by hand, but she will accept food on a spoon, of course. I forget when they start feeding themselves by spoon, but she has shown no interest in it for now.
• She's getting into books. Kevin said she'll scream if he stops reading to her in the bath. [My sweet baby girl, scream? Never. ;)] I don't read to her yet as part of her bedtime routine, but I might start trying to see how she does. She likes the Touch and Feel books, which we have quite a few of from when Lewis was little.
• She is still a happy girl most of the time--if she's NOT happy, it's from the time she wakes up from her afternoon nap until bedtime. On those days, she will melt down unless I'm holding her on my hip, so there have been some nights when I'm making dinner one-handed. Overall, though, she is sweet.
• We haven't had any teeth for a while, so I feel like we're in for it soon!
• Current Tooth Count: still 6
• She is wearing size 12 months, but I'm noticing some things are getting snug. I think I've finally gone through and sorted all of Juniper's clothes that have been handed down. We won't need to buy anything for a few years! :)

A few outtakes from this morning:

We had a crazier-than-usual morning because it is Picture Day at school and it's pouring down rain. Lenore is only there Thursdays, so I took her in this morning with Lewis to try to get their pictures taken together. We'll see how they turn out--neither one of them were giving up many smiles for the photographer, but maybe we'll get lucky. :)

Lenore at 9 Months

9 Months Old

The best I could get this morning. There was another, probably better, session before this, but I didn't realize the memory card wasn't in the camera. I can't find the cable to pull the pictures from the camera memory to the computer, so this will have to do.

Her stats (percentiles from BabyCenter):
Height: 29 inches [between 75th and 90th percentiles]
Weight: 21 pounds [between 75th and 90th percentiles]
Head Size: 18.5 inches [above 95th percentile]

What she's doing this month:

• She is a wild woman, on the move! She takes off crawling with a vengeance--she puts her head down and clip-clops as fast as she can across the floor. Sometimes she crawls on one knee and with one foot (maybe it's faster?), but she's usually barreling around on all fours.
• She is also still mildly obsessed with climbing the stairs. I've been barricading them, but every once in a while, I'll catch her on the 2nd or 3rd step. (There have been a few times where I've been on the phone or distracted for 30 seconds, and I've found her up in Lewis' room. Hence the barricades now. I tried to install a gate, but the &%*# wall and banister don't line up, so I don't exactly know what to rig up at the bottom of the stairs.) 
• Once she realizes she's been caught on the stairs, she tries to scurry up even faster to get away from me. I have heard that she got red-faced and kicked and fussed at Grandma Sharon when she took her off the stairs at their house--I haven't seen that yet, myself, but I don't doubt it.
• She is starting to cruise. She will move along the coffee table a little bit and will reach out and move from couch to coffee table and vice versa. Sometimes she will let go with one hand while standing, when she's feeling extra brave.
• She eats like a beast. She's nursing every 3-4 hours, and then eating all three meals with us. Some days, she'll eat an entire container of yogurt and a piece of toast for breakfast (sometimes only half a container), some fruit and cheese for lunch, and usually a vegetable and some of what we're having for dinner (or cereal). We still spoon feed her yogurt, cottage cheese, cereal, etc., but she very much wants to feed herself the finger foods. Sometimes at dinner, she'll lay her head to the side and just shovel the food in her mouth. She is a big fan of meat--chicken is her favorite, plus turkey, ham, and hamburger, so far.
• If you are eating something that she wants (which is pretty much anytime I am eating), she will let you know it with an 'Mmmmmm!!!' sound (add grunting sound for the full effect).
• She hasn't turned away a food that I can think of (she didn't like apricots at first, but now she does). She will hopefully be a good influence on Lewis.
• Sleep is so close to being great, but not quite. She did sleep through the night a few times recently (like 8pm-7:15am), but 4:30-5am is her usual wake-up time. I go in and feed her, and she'll sleep until 7:30-8am, so I can't complain. She is having trouble falling asleep some nights (25% of the time), so that's been frustrating. I think it's probably teething-related, so I've been trying to be patient (teething is horrible, in case anyone has forgotten).
• She is napping twice a day, same as last month, really. Sometimes only for 45 minutes to an hour, sometimes much longer (around 3 hours).
• She isn't talking, of course, but she's starting to babble. I hear 'Buh' sometimes (like Bubba or Brother??) and 'Ma' (Mama??). And of course, Mmmmm!!
• She is recently interested in doors. We went to open gym the other day, and there was one of those big cubes with different activities on the top/sides. She sat and opened/closed the little doors forever. At home, she likes to close doors if they are open.
• She has also started pointing with her index finger. Not at what she needs/wants, but just in the air. Like, 'By George, I have a great idea!' I think I remember that being a developmental thing, along with picking up food and feeding herself.
• She and Lewis are playing together more and more. She's pretty happy to play with cars and trains or whatever is lying around, though she has taken to her baby doll that my mom got her, too.
• She is wearing 12 month clothes.
• Current Tooth Count: 4, and working on more.

Preschool starts back in a few weeks, and Lewis will be going 4 mornings/week. This year they are offering a Parents' Day Out, so Lenore will be going 1 morning/week, as well. 

A brief house update--we have had quite a series of unfortunate events this month. We had torrential rains and flash floods on two occasions (two nights apart), which flooded our finished side of the basement. We've had to move everything from that side to the unfinished side, in case it floods again, and we had to have the (new) carpet and pad removed so that we could dry everything out and keep it from getting in the walls and baseboards. Before we restore it back to a finished condition, we are working to resolve the bigger issues of why it floods. Through that process, we have discovered foundation issues that (we believe) were covered up by the seller, so now we are preparing to enter into mediation to try to get some of those expenses covered. Once we get through that, we can hopefully put our house back together.

There have been a few other issues, as well--chimney/fireplaces leaking, new front door warping, infested/dead ash tree that had to be taken down, driveway drainage issues (which we already planned to address), a new water stain on our bedroom ceiling (we are getting a new roof and gutters next week), etc. The joys of homeownership!

We are very much looking forward to a tropical beach vacation with lots of pina coladas and no stress!!

This Just Happened...

I hear that my faithful readers have noticed my lack of posting. I kind of forgot to try to post from my phone as I intended to many months ago, so here is a test post. 

We were just making dinner in the kitchen and Little Miss did this:

And then she rolled sideways and on the ground and bumped her head. And so it begins! She pulled up on a diaper box a few minutes before this and that must not have been a big enough thrill for her. :) 

[She is 6 months, 1 week, and 4 days old.]

Lenore at 4 Months

4 Months Old

Her stats (from the doctor's office, percentiles from BabyCenter): 
Weight: 17 pounds, 1.8 ounces (between 90th and 95th percentile)
Height: 24.88 inches (between 5oth and 75th percentile)
Head Size: 17 inches (between 90th and 95th percentile)

So she's not growing in length as much, but still packing on the pounds. :) Her appointment went well--the doctor said that she thinks the heart murmur sounds softer than when she first detected it (I'm not sure how she can remember such a thing--maybe there's a scale that she uses?). We go back to the cardiologist around 6 months for another echo to see for sure, so hopefully we do see improvement then. She had one oral vaccine and two injected ones.

What she's doing this month:

• She's rolling over, both from belly to back and back to belly. She will only go one direction from back to belly (over her right side), so that's helpful for knowing where to lay her down (knowing where to give her some extra room to land). She started doing this at around 3 1/2 months. I don't have a specific date, and I don't have video (poor Lenore). :) She really gotten the hang of it this past week, I know that.
• Sleep is slowly improving. She's had a couple of nights lately where she's only woken up around 2am and 5:30am. I'll put her back down after the 5:30 feeding, and she'll sleep anywhere from 6 to 8am. I've been staying up, so it feels like she only woke up once. She's still had some 1am/4:30am wake-ups, so I won't toot my horn/her horn just yet.
• Since I wrote this a few days ago, just as we were maybe seeing improvement in sleep, she has entered the 'HELP, I've rolled over and don't know what to do!!' phase. Also, the 'OMG, my arm is stuck between the crib slats!!' phase.
• She's settled into a pretty good routine of eat-play-sleep. She's been staying awake for about 2 hours at a time, followed by a 45 minutes to an hour long nap. I think that adds up to 3-4 naps a day, depending on what time she wakes up for the day. If we're out running errands, she might fall asleep for longer in her car seat. One day last week, she slept for 3 1/2 hours (after a normal morning and shortened mid-day nap)!
• Breastfeeding is finally going well. As it should be, finally. I do still have some Raynaud's pain sometimes, but it's nothing compared to what it used to be. She's still not taking bottles 'well,' but she has taken a few. Kevin's parents watched her last weekend while we took Lewis to Chuggington Live (for his birthday gift), and Lenore didn't really drink much from the first two bottles, but she took the third one pretty well, Sharon said. She did better yesterday with a bottle for Sharon, too. She did so-so for Kevin this morning. She's very active with  her hands and pushes the bottle away a lot, so Kevin has had some luck swaddling her while feeding. Still a work in progress.
• I might be biased, but she is just such a sweet baby. She smiles and giggles and just warms my heart, most of the day. She does have her moments, especially if she's hungry, but she's generally very sweet.
• She doesn't have any teeth, but she sure likes to gnaw on things as if she is teething. Blankets, thumbs, etc. And she slobbers so much and blows raspberries. I can't imagine what it will be like when she actually is teething.
• She's wearing 6 month clothes.

Out of Whack

We had a great weekend up in Dublin, OH, with the Okrzesiks! Kevin took lots of pictures of Lewis and their son Colin playing together, and I will post those after a recap of Lewis' Majorly-Out-of-Whack Week.


I thought he had caught a cold, but then I definitely suspected teething (after some very painful-sounding cries and mouth grabbing). He has been slobbering and snotty (but not congested) and not eating much of his regular foods at all. We've been resorting to Goldfish and Cheerios and bread a lot as he's really been refusing to eat anything else (turning his head away, pushing food off his tray, etc.). He did take in some mandarin oranges and blueberries over the weekend, but not much else besides Goldfish. He ate more of his cereal/fruit/yogurt this morning (maybe half) and 3/4 of a banana, so that's an improvement. I'm just working on keeping him hydrated and figure he'll eat normally when he feels better--he's still nursing, and I'm working on getting him to take a cow's milk/breastmilk blend in a sippy cup, plus water. I haven't seen or felt any new teeth, but I'm wondering if it's either a) molars or b) a couple of teeth at once since he hasn't reacted this much with previous teeth.


SIDE NOTE: Last week he figured out how to tip the sippy cup up himself! It's very freeing to not have to tip it up and hold it for him!


Onto the pictures:

 Cruising around the driveway on his trike (from Gma and Gpa Thompson) with Dada

See all of that drool on his shirt? And maybe even the shine of snot running out of his nose?

 Vroom, Vroom
Kevin's taken him around the block and across the street to the school's parking lot a few times--he said he thinks Lewis likes the different vantage point he gets on the trike (vs. the stroller). Right now, we push him around in it, but eventually we can convert it so that he'll be able to push the pedals and control it himself. 

 Fingers in my Mouth

Ready for swimming lessons in my new flip flops 
(Mom, will you make sure Dad sees these?)

We left about halfway through the lessons because they were a semi-disaster. The things he normally loved and did very well, he was fighting and fussing at. Kevin figured it was probably all of the going under the water + runny nose that made him uncomfortable. Sooo, we cut out early. We'll try again next week!

Despite the picky eating and uncharacteristic fussiness over the past week, he has still been sleeping pretty well (thank goodness). After his waking-up-four-times night last Saturday at the Butts, he slept well Sunday night and then woke up once (in pain) Monday night and went back down. Then for his first nap on Tuesday he was running a fever and must have finally been catching up from the wild weekend because he napped for THREE HOURS! And he only woke up then because I woke him up. I figured he wouldn't nap again that day, but then he surprised me again and slept another 1 1/2 hours for his 2nd nap. He's pretty much gotten back to normal since then (and hasn't had a fever since then, either).


The first video is just him sleeping (I love that sweet little booty up in the air). The second is when I finally woke him up.

Lewis's 1st Haircut

Lloyd Christmas
(from Dumb and Dumber)

That just about sums up how Lewis's first haircut went this morning. :)

By the end, I decided it wasn't that bad and put my scissors down. However, after his bath it DRIED and it seems to have gotten progressively worse as the day has gone on. You know how haircuts are--you have to let your hair remember how to lay 'normally'...maybe it's just temporarily bad. Or maybe I'll be trying to fix it tomorrow. Either way, at least I know it will always grow back.

BEFORE

 Check out my awesome sideburns and bangs, dude.

 It is time. Enough of the over-the-ear shag.

 A big party in the back.


AFTER

 Getting my hair cut makes me CHEESE!!

(And see my 7th tooth coming up on the bottom, there?)

 Hack Job

 What are you, Ma? Some kind of amateur?

 Looking very handsome afterwards, until...

It dried funny. :) Like Lloyd Christmas. Oops.

Here is some video Kevin took:

In case you can't understand me, I said "That's going to take some cleaning up" after I attacked the back. Most definitely. Kevin also pointed out that he captured the exact moment when the Hack occurred--right before the 0:40 mark. :)

Well, Look What We Have Here!

Looks like someone is on his way to the world of walking!! Yesterday he took a few steps instead of just one. Today he has pieced together 3 or 4 and seems to really be working on balancing himself and taking very deliberate steps. Look at our big boy go!

And I'm throwing this last one in, not because Lewis is walking, but because Peter wanted to join in on the fun!

Was that a step?!?

Look out world, Peter, Hattie, etc. He is getting braver and closer to stepping off into the great wide world of the walking!

Kevin caught this last evening--he's been doing it since the weekend, where he gets to the corner of the furniture and sort of continues out in a straight line (I think Mathilda rubbed off on him!). :) Seems like he is on his way. When Kevin is home this weekend, we can work on trying to get him to walk from one of us to the other.

Some Updates

Getting Outside

Last week we made it to Cherokee Park here in Louisville--they have a 2.5 mile multi-use loop road that winds through the woods (full of leaves just beginning to change color) and past a few really beautiful outlooks. We did hear the interstate a few times, but otherwise it was hard to believe we were in the middle of the city. Also, I didn't get lost, which I consider a small victory! The park is notorious for being confusing because the loop is a one-way with many in/out points.

I'm going to try to get us out on a longer walk at least once a week as a way of semi-training for a 5K coming up in mid-November. Kevin is running the mini marathon, so Lewis and I signed up to walk the 5K with Lewis in the jogging stroller. The once-a-week longer walk will be in addition to the mile and a half morning walk we've been doing for the past month or so.

Here is Lewis at one of the overlooks in Cherokee Park. I can totally see us there in a few years, chasing him down this huge hill. It's one of those hills that makes you want to log roll down it or run really, really fast.

Pulling Up/Falling Down

Lewis is becoming much more graceful and daring with his pulling up/falling down. He has figured out that landing squarely on his butt hurts a lot less than the butt-back-head combination. He still falls, of course, but he has greatly improved and refined his method in just this past week. The worst is when he falls and hits the shelf around the bottom of the coffee table. His black eye was JUST about gone, and he fell and got a new bump this morning on his eyebrow. And a bump on his forehead. And a bruise on his cheek. And he flipped head first into the laundry basket for a few seconds--butt in the air, flailing his legs.

He likes to (if given the chance) pull up on the coffee tables, floor lamp, toilet, entertainment center, laundry basket, chairs, couches, and Peter's elevated dog bowl frame. He is keeping me on my toes, for sure.

Sleep

Last week, we officially dove into the world of sleep training. The book we are using (The SleepEasy Solution) teaches Lewis to fall asleep on his own, without me nursing him, without being rocked, without having a pacifier, etc.

I can't believe we waited this long to do it.

The first night was rough, I admit. Since then, he has 'gotten' it and he has been falling asleep better and better each day/night. He's had a few hiccups, but overall we are all very excited about the change in just a week's time. What a difference an uninterrupted night of sleep makes after almost 8 months without it!

The problem was that we were sending mixed signals. If he cried, we might go in and shush him. We might give him a minute to see if he would fall asleep. We might go in and pick him up and bounce him. We might try the pacifier. We might sit and rock him. I might nurse him. We would take turns, get frustrated, get annoyed with each other, get laughed at (that was Kevin's favorite), and we finally decided it was time that he learned how to fall asleep on his own.

While it has been hard to hear him cry it out, we do go in at specific intervals to let him know we're not far and that it is okay to go to sleep. So far, so good. Before going away for the weekend, he was happily falling asleep at every naptime and bedtime without a peep. We went to Indianapolis this weekend where he made it all night (yay!), but he had some trouble falling asleep for his afternoon nap today here at home. And he woke up 45 minutes earlier than usual this morning, too, so he's a little bit out of whack--we'll just stick with the plan, though, and hopefully he'll get back to happily sleeping again soon.

Consignment Sales

It is the Fall/Winter consignment sale 'season' around Louisville...I have been to two so far, and I have two more to check out--one this week and one next. I am hoping to find some childproofing supplies to try to lessen the bumps and bruises--I saw some at the first sale, but Lewis wasn't mobile then and I didn't think to buy any. The second sale didn't have very many, but I did find a good variety of toys.

Here is a video I took (before my memory card filled up, of course) the other night of him playing with a highchair toy I found--I didn't know they existed, and I'm so glad I found this! I tend to cram in unloading the dishwasher or washing dishes while I have him in his highchair, waiting to eat. So it's really nice to be able to give him a toy to play with while I take the extra 5 minutes. He loves it, too!

Craftiness

Friday we went to JoAnn's to shop their Columbus Day sale. They had a lot of items that I've been sort of waiting to pounce on, on sale, plus I received a 20% coupon in my email for regular and sale-priced items, which never happens. So, I bought $125 worth of fabric, batting, velcro, and (four!) throw pillow forms for only $75. Yay!

I need to get started on the sewing projects like YESTERDAY. The biggest project I have planned is a crib rail guard to protect the finish on his crib, but I need to find some time to make it! He now totally pulls up in his crib and stands there waiting to be picked up--it is only a matter of time before he starts gnawing on it and messing up the finish. A race against his sharp little teeth!

First Football Game, First Time Pulling up, and (Subsequent) First Black Eye!

Hello, Fall! I love you. I love the changing leaves. I love the cool air. I love football. I love bonfires. I love sweatshirts. I love pumpkin-y stuff. I love it all.

We had a great weekend--we (Kevin, Lewis, and I and Kevin's brother, Scott) went to the Louisville vs. Marshall football game on Saturday. Louisville lost, but we had fun tailgating and being out in the perfect football weather. Today we had a laid back day around the house where Lewis pulled up to standing for the first time (!!!), we took a nice walk around the neighborhood with the dogs, and then tonight we cooked dinner over a bonfire.

Thanks to the Campfire Cooking cookbook that you got me a few Christmases ago, Mom, we made some tasty taco pockets. They consisted of crescent roll dough in a pie iron, filled with taco meat, beans, and cheese. A-men. Since we only have one pie iron, we put them in the oven after Kevin was finished cooking them (one at a time) over the fire--I didn't think of it until afterwards, but the extra oven time helped the dough puff up even more and they were delicious! And my hair smells like bonfire--even better. :)

We also turned our heat on for the first time this weekend--we woke up Saturday morning and the house was pretty chilly (overnight lows were in the 40s), so we decided that we should probably go ahead and turn it on for Lewis' sake.

Here is his game day outfit. We got the jersey for him at a consignment sale right after he was born, so I'm glad he had a chance to wear it before it was too small! I couldn't get him to stay still for very long, so the pictures aren't the greatest, but you get the point.

Go Cards!

I pulled his pants down a bit so you could see the Cardinal on his booty.

Ready for the big game!

First Time Tailgating

Trying to steal my Pumpkin Blue Moon (so tasty) :)

Bundled up and NOT napping (who could?)

We had planned to start sleep training after the game, but his afternoon nap didn't happen until the drive home (close to 7pm), so we decided that was not the best time to start it. Today got away from me and I felt unprepared, so we aren't starting it tonight either. I will try to finish my preparations tomorrow--I have a little bit of rereading I would like to do and a little bit more wrapping-my-brain-around-it to do before I feel comfortable committing to it. I just need a little bit more time.

The next set of pictures/video are from this afternoon when he all of a sudden decided to start pulling up! He's been looking and reaching upward for a few weeks now, but he's just started trying to pull with his arms the past few days. He has been getting to his knees and hanging out like that for a while before giving up, moving on, etc. Finally today he figured out that he could also push up with his legs! We were totally shocked (and maybe a little teary-eyed) when he pulled up to standing today. It has been so neat to watch him figure it out--I'm also so glad Kevin was able to see it with me for the first time!

Cracking himself up in his orange fleece pants.

We are a fleece pants-loving household.

Yum, lead paint.

We had Multi-room DVR installed last week, and they left the old DVR remote, so we took the batteries out and let Lewis play with it since he is constantly eyeing our phones, remotes, etc.

Here are a few videos of his new skill--still pretty rough, but he is determined to figure it out! And, like Emily said, I know there will be lots of bumps and bruises as he is learning.

His first black eye

He got it while trying to pull up onto the Rock Band drum set. He face-planted onto the base of one of the legs and hit it at just the right angle.

Oh, and you can't see it in these pictures, but he has a FOURTH tooth coming through!! Just spotted it peeking through the skin today--it is in the same position as the third, on the opposite side. I believe they are the ones directly next to his top two middle ones--I told Kevin we should ditch the frog idea for Halloween and do either a vampire or a Jack-o-lantern since he'll have such a great, toothy smile by then! We'll see--we still have a month, so he could get more between now and then.

I love you, Lewis Pete. :)

Workin' On the Crawl

Somebody has decided it is time to make forward movement! He isn't full-on crawling just yet, but the foundation is there. Seems like he gets more coordinated by the hour.

Apologies for the second one being so dark. I plopped him down and started recording before turning all of the basement lights on.

Six Months Old

Correction: I apparently misread Lewis' percentiles...a 7 was actually a 9, so he is, in fact, in the 95th percentile for head size, not 75th. My bad.

It feels like we were just at the five month mark! I guess this past month has gone by a bit more quickly, although overall I feel like he is where he is supposed to be. Not too fast, not too slow. We just had a pretty busy month!

Six Months

His stats:

Weight: 19 pounds, 5 ounces or 19.3 pounds (75-90th percentile)

Length: 27.5 inches (75-90th percentile)

Head Size: 18 1/8th inches (95th percentile)

BMI: 17.95

Doctor's appointment went well--though it took forever! I keep forgetting a) to expect to wait a while, no matter how early we get there and b) I need to eat beforehand and c) I need to time it so that he is far away from naptime/feeding time. We got there at 9:15 for a 9:30 appointment. We went back to the room just before 10am, saw the doctor around 10:30am, and were finally leaving just after 10:45am. That's ridiculous. He usually starts his nap around 9:15 or 9:30, so by the time it was time to see the doctor, he was getting pretty fussy, understandably.

He had an oral vaccine and two injections again, like at his 2 and 4 month appointments. The last injection seemed painful, but he fussed for just a few seconds. He's a tough one, that's for sure. We go back in November for his 9-month check-up, and the nurse said he only has to get one injection then.

What he is doing this month:

• Vocalizing (aka screaming/shrieking) - I've caught myself asking him to keep it down a few times and to use his 'inside voice.' He doesn't understand what that means yet, unfortunately. He usually isn't screaming out of anger, but rather joy, so I guess it's just a phase? I've had to take some deep breaths this past week. The boy is loud.
• He has started to roll with a purpose and is becoming quite efficient! He saw some small Rubbermaid-type storage boxes across the room the other day, and the next thing I knew, he had flipped, spun, and flopped his way over to them. (And subsequently put them in his mouth, of course.) He also scootches backwards sometimes and has lifted his butt up in the air just a few times.
• He has ridden in a shopping cart a few times now. Twice with the strap I bought, and once with just the provided buckled strap. He seemed to slide down at first with the buckled strap, but by the end of the spin around Target, he kind of got the hang of it. Kind of. :)
• He is back to sleeping well, for now.
• He is wearing mostly 9 month clothes at the moment.
• He loves to pet Peter! He would also love to pet Hattie, but she runs away. Peter will tolerate it for a little while--eventually he runs away, too (due to too big a handful of hair or Lewis pulling too hard). Lewis just lights up when the dogs come around, though. I love it.
• Speaking of, he can become very distracted these days during nursing time. Dog noises, Kevin noises, sirens, me turning the page of a book/magazine, the overhead light, a ceiling fan, dogs laying on the rug next to us, etc. He becomes fixated and takes a while to refocus.
• He has started to throw his toys. He will get a grip on a toy and jerk from straight arm to bent arm to straight arm and so on. Sometimes he bops himself in the head. Sometimes he lets go.
• Current Tooth Count: 2. I have a feeling that is about to change. He has been awfully fussy the past three days or so and drooling like a maniac and seems to have some sensitivity in his mouth, so I think the next ones are on their way. It has affected him at bedtime the past few nights (a little Orajel, a little extra nursing), but eventually he did go to sleep and stayed asleep. His naps haven't been the best the past few days either. I'm fairly certain it is all due to teething. Or possibly a growth spurt? This too shall pass. :)
• And, finally, we are starting solids! He has made it six months on nothing but breastmilk alone--unbelievable. If my 4-5 day postpartum self could read this now--I was so doubtful back then that I would be able to make it (breastfeeding) to 6 days, let alone 6 months. I'm pretty happy about it--we did it, buddy! We are planning to start out with cereal for a week or so and then start in with his first vegetable. We gave our first taste of rice cereal last night--here are some pictures and a video!

Ready for Rice Cereal!

Or not...

Eh, maybe it's not so bad.

We started with just a teaspoon of cereal mixed with four teaspoons of breastmilk. Even though he made funny faces throughout, he accepted it all. We will just try cereal once a day for a week or so, then think about introducing a vegetable once he seems to get the hang of the whole eating-off-of-a-spoon thing.

:)

Ready to see what new things he will learn and do in the next month!

Some New Firsts

First Teeth!

First Marketing/Promo Video

(for the Mom group that he and I have been going since he was born)

There is a close-up around the 2:07 mark.

Baby care from A to Z from Norton Healthcare on Vimeo.

First Time Riding in a Cart

(with some help sitting from a strap I ordered)

First Hotel Stay

(unless the Conference Center at Waycross counts...)

First Flight

First Time in Maine

First Time in a Lake (Lake Millinocket)

First Hike

First Time on the Appalachian Trail

First Time Seeing/Touching a Live Lobster

First Time on a Mountain Peak (Cadillac Mountain)

First Time Visiting a National Park (Acadia N.P.)

First Time in the Atlantic Ocean

And while I'm at it, here he is at lunch on our way to L.L. Bean, letting off some steam. It was a loooong car trip, but he was such a trooper!

Lewis Rolls Over!

He figured it out! He rolled over yesterday 3 times, and now today he's doing it like crazy! I put him down this a.m. to go start my coffee--came back, he's on his belly. I put him down to let the dogs in--came back, he's on his belly. Just a little while ago, he rolled over onto his belly, then back to his back, then back to his belly. I think we'll be spending some time in the (carpeted) basement the next few days so he can have PLENTY of room to stretch out and practice.

My sister (mother to 1-year-old, Juniper) says, "And so it begins...next thing you know, he'll be into everything!!!" I am afraid.

If you're in a hurry, go ahead to the :50 mark.

Rainy Days

The other day during one of our MANY recent rainy days, Lewis decided to roll over from back-to-front for the first time! I looked over and saw that he was up on his side like this--next thing I knew, he was on his belly with an arm pinned beneath him. I let him wriggle for a few seconds, and he figured out how to get his arm out. He's only done it one other time since then, but it is still pretty exciting!

If I could just...reach...a...little...farther...(plop)

Lewis and his chins wanted to wish his cousin Juniper a happy 1st birthday last week!

Speaking of being 'all growns up,' when did Lewis start looking so grown up?

(Thanks for the Batman and Spiderman shirts from Reed, Maria, and Clara.)

And this is how Peter and Hattie spend the rainy days...they make me want to take a nap!

We had briefly talked about signing up for a 5k in a few weeks, but the rain has made walking (me & Lewis) and running (Kevin) not happen. The entry fee is also a bit high to not put forth a solid effort, so we're going to pass on this one. If it would stop raining ever, we'll get back out walking with the dogs in the evenings at least. Hopefully Lewis and I can also start a regular walking routine out in 'nature' (as nature-y as the suburbs can be)...maybe we can find a few stroller-friendly trails in nearby parks. And before the nasty summer heat/humidity sets in. We need to move.