
Weight/Length: Believe it or not, I actually have exact measurements this month! Weight: 24lbs and Length: 31 1/4″. This means he’s around 40 percent for weight and 45 percent for length. So a little on the smaller side which is odd considering how much he was always in the 90th percent for both the first few months of his life. The doc said she thinks he’s due for growth spurt so pile on the calories!
Sleep: Same as last month: Goes to bed between 8 and 8:30 most nights, ends up in our bed once or twice throughout the night, and gets up for the day around 7:30. He’s started dropping his morning nap, or rather, pushing it back until 11 or 12 so that it ends up being his ONLY nap. This makes for a very tired and very cranky baby whenever momma gets home. And even though his co-sleeping habits are a result of our own weakness, we’re going to try forcing him to sleep in his crib ALL NIGHT starting very soon. The doc told us to be prepared for him to cry for maybe an hour at first. AN HOUR OF CRYING. I don’t know if I can handle that. Either way, it doesn’t sound like we’re going to be getting a full night of uninterrupted sleep any time soon.

Cuddles with mommy
Feeding: Mostly table food that we still cut up into tiny pieces. Lots of grapes, bananas, strawberries, blueberries and lately, apples. He used to love his little maple syrup crunchies in the morning, but most of the time, we find them stashed in the seat of his high chair. He does that quite often actually. If he’s not super hungry or really into whatever he’s eating, then he’ll take it and slyly slip it to the side of him so that it’s in the bottom of his chair where we can’t see it until we take him out of it. He does this a lot with peanut butter sandwiches and most veggies/meats/cheeses. Yet he’ll eat his peanut butter crackers, no problem. So it’s no wonder this kid hasn’t put on the poundage – he pretty much lives on fruit!

Developments: At the end of this month, he finally took his first steps! The first one was at my grandma’s house a couple of weeks ago, but she was in the other room and totally missed it. Then he took a few consecutive steps at my parents’ house this past weekend. My mom got to witness it since he was walking toward her. We’ve been taking him for walks at the park almost every day and he loves it. He’s no longer content to just sit in the stroller though so we almost always have to go as a family so that one of us can hold his hand and walk and the other can push the stroller that he’s abandoned.
Even with one of us holding one of his hands, I’ve noticed that he’s still really unstable on his feet. I worried that maybe he had an inner ear issue that was making him lose his balance, but at his check-up today, the doctor confirmed that no, he just has very flat feet. Which means that his feet and ankles turn inward a little so it’s almost like he’s trying to walk on a ball, which completely throws off his balance. Guess who else in our family has very flat feet and walked at a late age? His daddy. So when the doc said, “It’s just genetic.” I knew exactly who to blame. ha!
So we have a few options: Do nothing and he’ll probably walk on his own in another month. Buy premade arch support inserts and better quality shoes. Or take him to physical therapy and get fitted for inserts and/or shoes. Since our insurance covers the physical therapy and this is what our pediatrician recommended, we’ll be doing that. We don’t want to risk him overextending something in his feet and battling pain, so best to play it safe and get him properly fitted.
Firsts This Month: First steps (as noted above), first time blowing kisses, first time hanging out at the church nursery without his parents hovering around, first time at a jazz festival, first time saying “HI!” and first time eating his first, from-the-tree, apple.
Likes: Baths, books, dogs, balls, Mickey Mouse, shoes, the iPad or our iPhones, music, swinging, being outside, playing in sand, and clapping, especially if you’re clapping for him.
Favorite Songs: We took him to a jazz and blues festival earlier this month and he was bopping up and down to the music. He also does it to the Little Einsteins opening theme song. Babies dancing might possibly be the cutest thing ever. Sadly, other than those couple of things, we haven’t attempted to expand our musical horizons lately. Our playlists are woefully out of date.
Favorite Toys: Balls and books are his favorite toys, but he will sit and play for half an hour or more with his VTech Touch & Teach Turtle. I don’t think he quite know what he’s doing, but he presses the buttons and flips the pages and it keeps him entertained for a very long time.
Dislikes: Getting his diaper changed. I wouldn’t say he’s ever loved it, but if he’s in the middle of playing and he’s interrupted for a diaper change, LOOK OUT! Those feet will start kicking the moment you lay him on his back. He’s also going through a phase now where he doesn’t know if he wants to be held or be put down. He’ll pull up on our legs and act like he wants UP but then as soon as we pick him up, he’s lunging for the floor again. And then wants back up. Down. Up. Down. Ugh. MAKE UP YOUR MIND, KID!
He’s also taken to doing this awesome (read: not so awesome) thing when he’s told no. He’ll bang his head on the nearest table or floor, or even take the nearest toy and hit it on his head. I don’t know what this is about but I hate it. Fortunately, after the first couple of times he did it, he realized he shouldn’t do it so hard, but he still does it and it drives me bonkers. Where do they learn these things? No one around here goes banging their head on stuff when they don’t get their way so why does he do it?!
And lastly, strangers. We’ve been concerned about his social skills for awhile but when we took him to the church nursery and he took off for the toys among the other babies without even looking back at us, we thought that maybe we were just overreacting. Then the last couple of weeks, we’ve noticed that when there aren’t toys around to distract his attention, he will straight up BAWL when a stranger or someone he just hasn’t seen in awhile tries to interact with him. He used to be this sweet, lovable baby that went to anyone to now just all-out hysterical crying if anyone looks at him funny. And even though he loves to watch little kids on TV, if another baby his age stands too close to him, he gives them the evil eye or pushes them away. Really hoping this is a very temporary phase or else we won’t be too popular at any play-dates.
What I’m Thankful For: A super awesome hubby who is also a super awesome daddy. Very rarely does he ever act like he needs a “break” from watching D all day. Occasionally he’ll take time to go work out, but those two are seriously the best of buddies and never get sick of each other. Which is especially great for me because when I get home from work, and feeling as crappy as I have been these last, oh TEN WEEKS, I’m not always able to be a solo-parent, even if it is just for a few hours in the evening. So even though the hubs has beenon daddy duty all day long, he still usually has to help me out quite a bit in the evenings and on weekends too.
What I’m Looking Forward To: The next stage. Don’t get me wrong, this month has been tons of fun, but toddlers (even ones that aren’t quite walking yet) are WAY harder than infants. Notice I say infants and not newborns. Because newborns are super hard when they have to be fed every 2 hours and your boobs are just DONE, but infants/babies are so easy compared to toddlers with opinions that make no sense. He’s got an attitude and is head strong and I’m terrified that I’m going to wake up one day soon with a very spoiled little man on my hands. I mean, what if my kid turns into “the biter” on the playground. Or “the pusher”. Or “the tantrum throwing kid that lays down in the middle of the store and kicks his feet and flails his arms because we wouldn’t let him have a toy.” I can’t handle that. But how do you teach a toddler to be nice? Ugh, this stage is hard.
How Mommy’s Doing: I’m not quite as tired as I was last month, but the indigestion has been relentless. This doesn’t make for a super pleasant mommy or wife when I get home. And since I’m not hungry, I have zero desire to cook dinner, eat dinner, or do dishes. So we go for a lot of walks and we don’t spend much time in the kitchen. I keep waiting for this wonderful second trimester feeling to hit and at 15 weeks, I’m still waiting. So I do my best, which isn’t much, and we wake up in the morning and do it all again. But as boring as I make it all sound, the days and weeks seem to fly by at record pace and I can’t believe it’s already October and there are only 3 months left in the year. Fall is here, the leaves are starting to change along with our wardrobe, and we have two big trips to take plus a party, a family weekend, and the holidays to look forward to. So other than the normal pregnancy gripes, I have to admit that life is pretty fantastic right now, so mommy is doing just fine.
And now a couple of my favorite pics from our apple-picking adventures this month.



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