Darrell & Sharyn

Playtime: He loves playing with his toys. We are mainly playing with teethers right now as he is drooling and chewing on everything. He gets plenty of tummy time and has recently started to roll from tummy to back shortly after I put him down. Of course then he gets fussy and only wants to be picked up. He has found his feet and loves to play with them and stick his big toes in his mouth. It seems to only be his right foot for now. Occasionally he will get his left foot up there, but he definitely prefers his right foot. He likes to bang on things and will go for our computer keyboards if we are close enough. We recently pulled out my keyboard and let him play with it. It is one of the first things he likes to do in the morning and after a bath. The other things he enjoys doing throughout the day is mirror time and visiting Daddy.

Sleep: We finally reached sleeping through the night! We had the sleep regression for about 4 weeks and he was in his co-sleeper. We slowly worked on the transfer to the crib. We would put him down in his crib in his room and move him to the co-sleeper in our room when we went to bed. For a few nights, that was when he was waking up anyways. Then we were moving him asleep and he would wake up shortly after the move. So we decided to just let him sleep and only move him if he woke up. A few days later, he was sleeping through the night. He has been doing it for about 2 weeks now and it is very nice. We put him down between 6:30-8 (depending on his cues) and he wakes up once about an hour after we put him down to eat one last time and then doesn’t wake up until 8-8:30am. He might wake up and fuss around but he puts himself back to sleep so I don’t actually wake up. There have been a couple nights recently where he wakes up around 5:30am to eat and goes back to sleep until around 9 but they aren’t regular. He has also mastered the roll to his side since he prefers to sleep on his side. I lay him on his back and by the time I get downstairs and the monitor on, he is on his side.

Food: Edward decided he was ready for solids earlier than we thought we would give them to him. He was only eating every 2-3 hours and then he started working his way back so I was feeding him every hour. I was starting to get exhausted during the day so we started solids and he has worked back out to every 2-3 hours. We started with mashed up avocados and then have slowly moved on to other foods. So far, he has had avocado, banana, oatmeal, and applesauce. His favorite right now is banana. He doesn’t like the texture of oatmeal so we are still trying it and he likes applesauce but is not a fan of the tartness. We will probably wait a week or so before starting another food (either sweet potatoes or green beans are next on the list). Right now we only feed him once a day but I think he is starting to want it twice a day.

 Teething: He is still really drooly and fussy occasionally. I saw a tooth for a few days but it went away again. He is starting to get a nice bite and his gums feel sharp so it hurts when he gnaws on our hands.

Clothes: He has slowed down his quick growth (yeah!) so he is still in his 6-9 month clothes. We still have some 3-6 and 6 month items out but it is only a couple. Most of what he wears are 9 month outfits. Maybe he will stay in them for a couple more months. 🙂

Diapers: We have undid the last vertical snap so they won’t get any longer. He is starting to be between horizontal snaps so we might have to come out another snap on that soon. It really depends on the diaper though. We have been having compression leaks so we have to make sure to change him every 1.5-2 hours otherwise he needs a whole outfit change. I need to do a strip clean of them and it might help with stuff but I haven’t had a chance yet. Soon though.

This last month has really shaken things up a bunch. He weighed in at 17.5 pounds and 28 inches long at the pediatricians office this morning. That is still on track with where he was for his two month appointment. Off the charts for height and 90 percentile for weight. We are about ready to transition him from the infant carseat to a convertible carseat. That is a big change within itself but it might not happen for another few weeks. We have started to leave his carseat in the car and just get him out of it but I can’t do the grocery shopping by myself since he can’t sit by himself in the cart yet. So… close….

Playtime: He has started to use his hands a lot more. He loves to grasp toys and stick them in his mouth. He still isn’t rolling over, but we know it is coming. He does it occasionally, but it seems more accidental. He has rolled from tummy to back 4 times so far (and once was at the pediatricians office today). He is more focused on the toy and the feeling of it in his hands and mouth instead of just seeing it move when he swats it. He loves listening to music and watches Darrell play instruments all the time. He has even grabbed the chanter and stuck it in his mouth. He smiles all the time and we get a lot of giggles. They aren’t as allusive as they once were. Darrell definitely gets more laughs and giggles than I do.

Sleep: We hit the 4 month sleep regression a little early and are trying to recover from that. He did a little bit of sleeping through the night and then they slowly got progressively worse. It dropped down to 4 hour chunks (which were normal for him) and then 3 hour, 2 hour and finally one hour chunks. I was more exhausted than I had been since he was born. I felt like I was up all the time and my clock was all screwed up. He is starting to work back towards 4 hour chunks, but we will see where it goes.  His naps during the day are fine, it is just bedtime that we are having a hard time with.

Food: He has started to really focus on what we are doing when we are eating. He watches intensely and ‘chews’ with us. Darrell is excited for him to start foods soon but we don’t think he is quite ready. We make sure he sits at the table with us and we give him a spoon to play with while we are at the table. We have been dipping our fingers in whatever sauce we have and giving him a little taste and he is enjoying it and constantly wants more. We are thinking he will get his first food right around Thanksgiving.

Teething: We are pretty sure he is teething. The Pediatrician said that it is just normal for this age with all of his drooling and fussiness. He drools all the time but isn’t fussy every day. I have been running my finger along his gums and I am pretty sure I can see the little whites of his bottom teeth. They haven’t broken through yet and it can take quite a few more months before they do. When he gets extra fussy and running my fingers over his gums helps him, I have been putting a piece of ice in a mesh food feeder for him to suck on. He loves sucking on it and it stops the fussy. Most of the liquid usually ends up all over his clothes, but it does its job.

Clothes: He is now in 6-9 month clothes. There are a few 3 month items that still fit, but it is only the ones that were large to begin with. Some of his 6 month outfits don’t fit him since they run small. He has a few outfits that were 0-6 that Darrell and I love and put on him all the time. One of them no longer fits and the other one is getting close to being on its way to the box in the garage.

Diapers: His diapers are still at the same snap level. They are getting a little small so it is almost time to take them out another snap but when we do, he seems to have more leakage issues. We also prepped and started to use the bamboo liners. We only have 4 of them, but they work great for overnight. When we go to change his diaper before bed, we just add the bamboo liner to the microfiber liner and we are set. It makes his butt a little bit bigger, but he was soaking through his diapers halfway through the night and instead of just changing his diaper, I usually ended up having to either change his whole outfit or letting him sleep in just a diaper. With the added insert, he now goes 12 hours at night without leaking. This is great because he is getting to the age where he should be starting to drop to one nighttime feed.