I am SO late on the boys' 7 month post! My computer died a few weeks ago, and I really didn't feel like typing out a huge post on my phone. So, here we are... just about a week away from 8 months.... but here we go!
The boys are growing and changing what seems like daily. Elliott has been army crawling for over a month now and is seriously mobile! He can make a few coordinated movements that seem like crawling, but no "real" crawling. Oliver is sitting up like a champion these days! He loves to just sit and watch what's going around him. Some days Char literally runs circles around him... she thinks its funny! Oliver (still) doesn't really roll over, but he is getting better about being on his tummy. He basically just tolerates it for short periods of time and that's about it. I'm not super worried about it, but if he still is hating rolling/being on his tummy at 9 months then I will talk to the pediatrician about an early intervention evaluation. Elliott also sits sometimes, but not as well as Ollie! I worry that he will fall back and smack his head so I don't let him sit too long by himself!
They boys are both wearing size 3 diapers (although I may have to move Elliott to a 4!) and wearing clothes between 9 months and 18 months. Some of the Carter's onesies are long so the 9mo still fit, but other things I am putting them in (Especially Elliott) are 18 months!! 12 month seems to be the right size for pants though! Elliott is somewhere in the 22 pound range and Ollie is in the 19 pound range. They are eating anywhere between 5-6 ounces at a time. We are really behind on the whole solids thing, and that's almost a story for another day. In a nutshell, Ollie refuses to eat his solids and Elliott loves them! Oliver will basically not even open his mouth and if I want to get a spoon in there, I would have to pry it open. The one thing I found he WILL eat is oatmeal with cinnamon in it. Strange kid! Elliott likes just about everything, but was not a fan of my chunky pea puree I made the other day. He was basically gagging on it... but who can blame him? It probably doesn't taste nearly as good as avocados, sweet potatoes, or oatmeal! I had only been trying to give them their purees every couple days, but I'm trying hard to do it every day now. Just this week I gave the boys some yogurt melts which they mildly enjoyed. At first I broke them up in tiny pieces and today Elliott got whole ones. Ollie was finally eating his oatmeal well so I didn't give him any of the yogurt melts.... the girls finished off the bag and Char had fun feeding them to Elliott. (With me watching like a hawk!)
Sleep is a thing of the past in the house these days. I'm really not exactly sure what's going on but Oliver has really regressed. I believe it was from about 3.5-5.5 months he was sleeping well (at least 8 hours) but is now getting up every 2 hours or so. He sleeps form whatever time I put him to sleep (around 8:00) until 11:30 and is up multiple times after that until he gets up for the day somewhere around 7-8am. He is super gassy at night and will wake up and poop sometimes three times! I have no idea what's going on! I had a couple of samples of the Similac Sensitive for gas/fussiness so I'm going to try supplementing him with those for a few days to see if it helps. Nothing else has really changed in my diet or his... except for the solids. It could be the solids that's messing him up, but I'm really not sure. He's recently been in for some tests (Upper GI) and I will be taking him to see the GI doctor in a couple weeks as well to see what they have to say. The first time he was up 5x one night I actually took him in to the pediatrician because it was super abnormal for him to be waking up that much. I didn't see his regular doctor and she said that I just needed to let him cry it out (CIO) but I didn't really want to follow that suggestion. My mommy gut tells me that "something" is up and that we just need to figure out what it is. Elliott sleeps all night without a fuss and I know Oliver can too.... he just isn't.... And I know I shouldn't compare, but its hard not to.
I am still pumping/breastfeeding the boys. I pump 5-6x/day and probably get about 35-40 oz/day. I have been breastfeeding Elliott about 2x/day but more for comfort than anything else. I've been slacking on my morning pumping and sometimes waiting until 7:30/8:00 for my first one. So, instead of breastfeeding Elliott in the morning I just pump and bottle feed him because its faster. If I get up and pump early (like 5:30/6:00) I wouldn't have to rush so much to get that 1st pump in, but I am so dang tired from being up literally half the night that I just don't have the energy to get up earlier than I have to. A couple nights ago I was up with Oliver from 12:30 until just after 3am. I believe that was the night I woke Brian up because I just HAD to go to sleep. Just after I woke him up, Oliver pooped and fell right back to sleep. I felt so bad that his tummy was hurting that whole time and he just needed to poop so he could feel better. Anyways, this lack of sleep is making things very interesting... its very hard to be a good mom on 3 hours of sleep for days on end. But, the best part of my nights is after I put the girls to bed, I can just lay on the couch, watch tv, and nurse Elliott to sleep. He loves the new side nursing thing we have been doing. The great thing about it is that I can rest and let him nurse as long as he wants. Sometimes after I put him down he falls asleep and sometimes he doesn't, so I get to nurse him again... which I have no problem with!
The boys have such amazing personalities that are coming out. Elliott is always willing to give someone a smile. He is very laid back and chill. He doesn't like to nap very much because he's afraid he will miss out on the action! He's a mover and a shaker and always trying to figure things out. I was pretty surprised when he was playing with one of the girls' cars the other day... just pushing it back and forth! He's a mama's boy and doesn't like it when mama leaves. Whether I leave the room, or go out for a shopping trip, I can tell that he knows I'm not there.
Oliver's laughter is contagious! One day while Elliott was napping, I took him outside with me to play with the girls. The girls were blowing bubbles, and he would not stop laughing! He thought it was the funniest thing in the world. This boy sure knows how to melt a heart with smiles... his just lights up a room. He is very into watching people and seeing how you react to things. He loves to "jump" in the jumperoo or even just on your lap. His legs are seriously always moving!!! At this point it seems like he will be walking and pulling up on things before he rolls over consistently!
As hard as things have been around here lately (especially with the lack of napping) I really do enjoy staying home with my kids. I don't have to miss out on their firsts... OH! Like the boys both saying MAMA yesterday!! I get to be the first one they see in the morning, and the last one they see before going to bed. I get to take them to the park, (rarely but still!) or to the grocery store, or just hang out with them all day long. Staying at home is way harder than I imagined, but I know its totally worth it.... for all of us!!
Someone told me that "The days are long, but the years are short." and that can't be more true. Some days I really have no idea how I will make it until my four darlings are sleeping, but somehow I do and the next day comes. My baby boys will be ONE in just four short months and the girls just turned two last week.
(I will have to add pictures to this post later.... I'm on Brian's computer and all the pictures are on my phone or my broken computer.)
