A Road Well Traveled: 8 MONTHS!

My baby boys are growing and changing before my eyes! It seems like every single day they are doing something new.

The boys are somewhere in the 20 (Oliver) and 23 (Elliott) pound range! I even had to move Elliott to his convertible car seat a couple weeks ago because he exceeded the 22 pound limit on his infant carrier! He is a big boy for sure!

Elliott has two teeth that he got on the 21st and Oliver still doesn't have any teeth. Elliott started crawling for real just recently as well! Oliver still is not interested in rolling over, being on his tummy or back, and definitely not crawling. I've been trying to put him on his tummy more often, but he just hates it! He has started to push himself up though, so that's a good sign! This is something I will bring up at their 9 month appointment because I think he might need some sort of intervention since his development is behind.

They are both eating about 6 ounces 3-4 times during the day and at least once during the night. Elliott was sleeping all night, but just recently has started waking up for a bottle between 2-4 a.m. I'm not sure what that's all about, but I'm guessing its related to teething. Oliver is still up multiple times per night, but drinks his bottle and goes back to bed. They are generally up around 6/6:30 for the day since the time change and mama is not loving that!! I really did enjoy our 8:00 wake up time, but we will go back to that when we go off daylight savings time.

They are in size 3 diapers and wearing mostly 18 month clothes. They wear some 12 month clothes as well.... just depends on the garment! Different brands really run differently.

Its so fun to see the boys' personalities really coming out! Oliver is shy especially in front of strangers. When I take him for his doctor's appointments by himself, he sees someone new and immediately looks to me and buries his head in my shoulder. I think its pretty cute! He loves to smile and is really starting to find his voice. He enjoys imitating the girls and showing you his presence! Elliott is very outgoing. He's always crawling around and trying to figure out his surroundings. Both of the boys are really into anything with wheels.... toy buses, the girls' doll stroller, cars, etc. Elliott loves to figure out his surroundings by putting EVERYTHING in his mouth. Oliver... not so much, but that has to do with his oral aversion (I think.)

The boys love to play with their sisters too. The girls are great with interacting with them. I ask them to bring their bro bros a toy and they do! Usually it is a developmentally appropriate toy as well... not something for a 2 year old. Bead toys on the wires are a favorite for both of them as well. Its a good toy for Ollie to play with while he's sitting.... Oliver also really likes one of the girls' stuffed monkeys that they got from their Aunt & Uncle for their first birthday. Oliver doesn't chew on much, but he loves to put the monkey in his mouth! I'm trying to get him to "explore" with his mouth because that will help him with his sensory difficulties (says the OT person.)

As far as food goes, we are still moving pretty slowly with the solids. I just recently got Oliver to even take bites of his food. Apparently he didn't like what I was feeding him, so I had to figure out something he liked. I typically make their food myself, but did end up buying some pre-made peaches and pears just to try them out because they are sweeter. Turns out that Ollie loves those so I now mix that with their peas, green beans, carrots, squash, oatmeal, mashed banana or whatever else I have made. I find I can get him to eat the veggies if they are mixed with something a little bit tastier. I made a huge batch of baby food not too long ago and that's running out so I really need to start making some more! I haven't had any luck with peaches in the past because they are watery, but I'm going to have to try again because I really don't like buying the pre-made stuff.

Other than that, the boys are growing well and healthy as can be. They've had a couple runny noses here and there but nothing too terrible. We are heading into cold/flu season, so that's one of my motivations to keep pumping.... I know that my milk will help keep them healthy. I'm still pumping around 40 oz/day. Elliott quit breastfeeding last week, and I'm still pretty upset that it happened so abruptly but I will just need to get over it. I talked to my LC and she said to just keep offering the breast when he's sleepy.... she said some babies at this age will come back to it and some will move on. I guess we'll see what happens!