9 Months Old!

James turned 9 months old on February 23rd! He is growing way too fast, I would like to push pause and just enjoy this time a bit longer.  He had his check up on the 28th.  His current stats are 18lbs 2oz, 27 1/4 inches long. I can't remember his exact head circumference, but it was a little over 18. He is in the 12-15% range for weight, 15% range for length, and 60% range for head.  The doctor was happy with his weight gain and said he is very healthy!

The doctor did say that he would like me to be feeding him 4 meals of food a day as well as his nursing, but I don't think we will be changing up his feeding schedule anymore.  Right now he is eating big people food for breakfast and lunch, and fruit at dinner time. I feel like it's an adjustment for him to start eating more, so I'm not giving him a full meal at dinner yet, but am working up to that. 

His current schedule is:
7-7:30am- wake up and nurse, eat breakfast after
9am- go down for nap
11am- wake up and nurse, eat lunch
1pm- nap time
3pm- wake up and nurse
5:30-6pm- dinner time
7pm- nurse and then bedtime

James started saying Mama just before turning 9 months old, and he says it all the time!! I love hearing him say it.  I think that he knows that I am mama, because if he sees me he says it.  Just this week he has started saying baba. I keep trying to get him to say dada, but he won't do it yet.  He loves to clap, crawl, climb, and dance.  He just started dancing while we were in GA visiting family. I need to get it on video, cause it's cute!  He loves to climb up into his chair and look out the patio door.  He has started walking behind his walking toy, so I think that walking is in the near future. 

We are having to start some slight discipline/redirecting. He thinks that the dogs water bowl is a toy, so we are working on getting him to realize it's not something to play in. It's hard to discipline a 9 month old, cause they don't fully understand what you are telling them. But he will learn over time. 

James update

James had his 6 month appointment today.  We are running a few weeks behind on them, but since he won't get shots at his 9 month we should be able to get back on track then.  The last time I gave an update on James he had lost weight. I took him to the doctor on Nov 19th, for a weight check and he was up to 15lbs 4oz, from 14lbs 3oz. He had gained 1lb in 2 weeks.  Well today he weighed 15lbs 3oz, and is 26in long.  His head was 17inches. 

The doctor is not concerned that anything is wrong with James, and thankfully is very supportive of me continuing to nurse him.  He has recommended that I start giving him fruits or veggies after each time I nurse him. He has me nursing him every 3 hours, and I have been giving him fruit or veggies twice a day.

A typical day for James has been:
7am- nurse, oatmeal and fruit or veggies. Nap at 8:30-10
10am- nurse. Nap at 11:30-1
1pm- nurse, 2 veggies. Nap 2-4
4pm- nurse. Sometimes nap around 5-6 if other naps have been short and he's tired
7pm- nurse, go to bed for night

Now the doc wants me to add the fruit or veggies after each nursing session, and also offer him oatmeal at least once more during the day.  I have to take him back in Jan to check his weight, and see what the next step is if he hasn't gained any. 

I'm not concerned that anything is wrong with him. The doctor confirmed that he is meeting milestones for babies of is age, and is very alert and active. He did say that he might have to send us to Cincinnati Children's Hospital to see a nutrition specialist if he doesn't gain weight. 

I've been taking a prenatal vitamin, and also taking Gaia Lactate Support. I know that James is getting milk, I constantly hear him swallowing. He never comes off the breast crying like he isn't getting anything. I think that if I could get him to nurse for longer it would be very good for him. I will have to figure out how to make him stay on longer.  Any advice on getting a baby to nurse longer is welcome!

6 Months old!

James turned 6 months old on the 23rd of November.  We were in GA and I had my sister-in-law take some photos for us. We met her at Piedmont Park and got a few good shots. James wasn't very happy, but it's ok.

James can sit up very well, and can get himself to the sitting position all on his own! I haven't yet witnessed him getting into a seated position yet, but have looked on the monitor and seen him sitting up in his bed a lot.  He is a pro at putting is own passie in his mouth, which is great for if he wakes up and wants it.

At about 5 1/2 months I started giving him food. This boy can eat!  He loves all the veggies I have given him, and loves bananas and prunes too!  Right now I feed him either a fruit or veggie and oatmeal at breakfast time, and then at lunch he gets two veggies.  I have made all of his food, other than the prunes. I buy those. He likes to scream at lunch time if I tell him "all gone" and he's not ready for the food to be gone.  I think he would eat his weight in sweet potatoes if I would let him.  The other morning at breakfast he ate a whole banana. I was shocked!

He has mastered the low crawl, and it won't be long before he is crawling on his knees. Nothing on the floor is safe anymore, if he can get to it he will and it will go straight to his mouth.  James has also started to try to pull up while in his bed. Just this week my mom asked if I had lowered his mattress since he is sitting up, and I said no. Her words to me were, "he's going to pull up before you know it." I told her we would lower it the following day. Right after getting off the phone I checked the monitor and James was sitting up holding onto the railing and was pulling up and getting his butt off the mattress. Needless to say, we went right in there and lowered the mattress that night.

He still doesn't have any teeth, but he has figured out how to bite me with his gums while nursing. It hurts, and I have been flicking him on the cheek and telling him "no bite". The first few times I flicked him he laughed at me. He is gonna be a trouble maker!

He isn't saying mama or dada yet, but he does say mmmma, it sounds more like Uma (as in Uma Therman). It's funny, cause he will say it when he sees me. I think that is his way of saying mama.

I can't get enough of my little guy. He is a mama's boy for sure, and it melts my heart. I want time to slow down, but at the same time I love seeing James grow and explore everything around him.  He doesn't go to the doctor until the 14th, so I will have to post his stats after that appointment.

5 months old!

James is 5 months old now! I can't believe how fast time is going by. He's trying so hard to sit up, and can do it for a few minutes at a time. But he's definitely got a ways to go till he's sitting up right. He leans forward still. He can roll over like a champ, and will get himself off any blanket I put him on. Since he was seen for his 4 month appointment on Oct. 9th I am going to take him to get weighed on Nov. 9th, just to see how much he has gained. 

I am thinking about starting him on some food, but haven't fully decided if I should yet. I will probably end up waiting till he is closer to 6 months old.  I do think that he is trying to get some teeth, although I can't see or feel any yet.  He is constantly "talking", and at times it seems like he is frustrated that he can't actually speak. It's so cute! I'm working on getting him to say mama, but he hasn't done it yet.

Moving on up!

We live in a two bedroom apartment. When we moved in we decided that based on the setup it would be best to put our cats things in the spare room. Well when we found out I was pregnant there was a dilemma as to where to put the crib.  I didn't want it in the spare room since the cat's litter box and food were in there. So we decided to put James' crib in our room.

Having him in our room worked out great when he would need to nurse in the middle of the night. Now that he is getting older and doesn't nurse at night we decided it was time to move him. We first had to move the cat out of the spare room. Now our front coat closet houses his litter box and he gets fed in the pantry/laundry room. He is pissed that we won't let him in the spare room any more. But he will eventually get used to it. 

We finally got the spare room cleaned and as fur free as possible yesterday during James' morning nap time. We moved his crib during his awake time after he nursed at 11am. He then took two naps and slept the whole night in there. He woke up around 1am and I gave him a passy and I think he went back to sleep. I was a bad momma and turned the monitor off....I remember doing it, but don't think I realized what I was doing. I woke up around 5am and turned it back on and he was awake and moving around. When he started to get fussy I went in and gave him his passy and he went back to sleep until 7am. 

Today he has barely made a peep at all 3 of his nap times! I'm hoping that he does not wake up at 5am tomorrow. He has done so well with sleeping until 7am, and I don't understand why he has started waking up early. I'm hoping it's just a phase, cause I really like sleeping till 7!

Question for the few that actually read this and are nursing mommas: Did your baby change their latch around the time they started teething? I've started having pain while nursing and can't figure out why.

4 month pictures!

James is 14lbs 12oz and 26 inches long! He took his 4 shots like a pro, and only cried for a minute.

4 months old!

James turned 4 months old on September 23rd. It's hard to believe he is growing so fast.  He is going to the doctor on Tuesday for a check up so I don't have any stats yet.  I do know that he is over 15lbs though...I stepped on the scale and then got back on it with him. lol!

He can roll over like a pro, from belly to back and back to belly. He had a fascination with his tongue at the beginning of the month, and then decided that spitting was fun. Now he is constantly making a "MMMMM" sound. I think he's practicing  that sound so he can say mama!

He can hold his bottle!

The fact that he can hold his bottle amazes me since he rarely gets one. I was shocked when he started holding it one night while we were in GA.

He's gonna break some hearts later in life!

Holding his bottle again

 Modeling an outfit his grandma bought

 Playing in his exersaucer

 Daddy says he doesn't really agree with this shirt

Holding onto the foot of his pjs while sleeping

Ready to cheer on the Falcons!

 My lil Falcon

Sweet boy after a good nap!

 

 

Schedule

I should be packing, and getting ready for our trip to GA but I'm a procrastinator. Football is on, and I'd rather be in the recliner watching it. So I figured I'd multitask and put in writing the schedule I have James on, so I can look back at it when baby #2 comes WAY down the road.

Typically James will wake up right around 7am. I'm not strict when it comes to his wake time. I do have an alarm set on my phone, and if he is stirring around when it goes off I will get him up. But if he's still sound asleep I let him sleep longer.  Normally we are up no later than 8am. He eats every 4 hours, so after he eats I will put him on his play mat, or a blanket on the floor.  I don't have to initiate tummy time anymore, as he will roll over himself and do it! 

I have some trouble with getting him to nap well for each nap time. I have not done Cry It Out at all yet, but am considering it.  I will not try it until we get back from GA. I don't think it would be good to try something new when we are out of town. 

I was putting James to bed every night around 9:30 or 10, but he would always wake up around 2am. He doesn't want to eat when he wakes up, he just wants to cuddle with me in my bed. Bad habit I know!  I asked The Baby Sleep Whisperer on facebook about him waking in the night and she mentioned putting him to bed earlier.  So now I will always nurse him between 7-7:30 and put him to bed by 8.  I haven't noticed a difference in his night time sleeping yet, but hopefully he will start to get much better at staying asleep through the night. 

I do not normally put him in his Woombie for naps, and just today he took two naps on  his belly. Normally he's on his side or back.  So I'm not sure if he will continue being able to be in the Woombie at night. If he starts going to the belly at night I will have to give it up, or get him the convertible version so that his arms can be free. 

Here is what a typical day looks like for us:

7am: Wake up/diaper change, nurse
7:30-8:30 or 9: playtime
9am: Nap- sometimes he will nap for 2 hours, sometimes its much shorter
11am: Wake up/diaper change, nurse
11:30-12:30 or 1: playtime
1pm: Nap
3pm: Wake up/diaper change, nurse
3:30-4:30 or 5: playtime
5-6: Nap
Around 7pm: Bath time (depends on how tired he is on the exact time of the bath, could be pushed earlier if he is acting really tired)
7:30pm (sometimes 7pm): Nurse
8pm: Bedtime

I normally won't nurse him again, unless he wakes up crying, which he sometimes does at 11-11:30pm. Which would be his normal 4 hour schedule. I don't mind feeding him then, cause then I don't need to pump before I go to bed. 

I do not try very hard in the middle of the night to get him back to sleep in his bed. It's something I really need to work on.  I will try for a few minutes, but just end up putting him in bed with me. He sleeps so good with me, and I get decent sleep. So it works out for the both of us.

 Snuggled up in my Woombie

 

I just started the earlier bed time over the weekend, so I'll have to update in a few weeks on how that is working out for us.

He's a mover

James can now roll over like a pro. He started doing it on Sept. 5th. He will roll from his belly to his back and from his back to his belly.  I have video of him doing it from belly to back. I can't ever catch him doing it from his back to his belly.

Ignore my annoying voice!

Update on the Woombie

I  bought a Woombie swaddle on Saturday and have been using it for naps and at night since.  It's definitely better than regular swaddle blankets. James can not get his arms out of it, so he will sleep longer at night in it.  It is taking some time for him to get used to it because it's not as tight as he was used to. I would swaddle him pretty tightly so that it would be harder to get his arms out.  I ended up getting the leggies woombie.

So far since using it James has only woken up once each night. The only issue we have had is that he won't go back to sleep after waking up, so I end up putting him in bed with me. I'm gonna work on that though and hopefully in the next week he will start going back to sleep on his own.

I wish I had purchased a woombie before James was born and started using it from day one. For the next one I will definitely have a woombie from the beginning!

Bamboobies

I found another great product that I figured I would pass along! They are bamboobies nursing pads.
http://www.buybamboobies.com/Breast-Pad.php

They are made of bamboo fabric and are so soft! I suffered from dry cracked nipples in the beginning, and these pads were a life safer.  I have the overnight ones and actually use them all the time. I love that they can go in the washer and dryer. I highly recommend them to anyone who is searching for the right nursing pad.

The Woombie

I love to swaddle James, and he sleeps better when he is swaddled.  I hate it that he constantly breaks out of the blanket though.  We use the Swaddleme blankets, and I like how soft and thin they are. But once those arms are free James is awake.  I was at a little store we have here in the town I live in and they carry a brand called Woombie. I looked them up on the web and love their swaddle design. 

http://www.thewoombie.com/convertible_leggies.html


They have many more types to choose from, but this is my favorite. I like that you can eventually let the arms free but he would still feel "swaddled" because of the design.  I really wish that I knew someone who had used these before so I would know if they really work well or not. I would hate to spend money and have them not work well.  But I might just bite the bullet and buy one and see how it goes. I think it would help James sleep through the night and I would finally get a full nights sleep!

My "nursing journey"

Before I was even pregnant I knew that I wanted to breastfeed. To me it was the only option of nourishment for my future babies.  While I was pregnant I made sure that Joshua knew that I did not want to give our baby any bottles of formula. Thankfully he agreed with me and is 100% supportive of my decision.  I’m three months into my “nursing journey” and wouldn’t change my decision to do it for anything!

I did have concerns while pregnant that I might not be able to nurse. I wondered if I would produce enough milk for the baby. I have heard of women who want to nurse but for some reason beyond their control can’t.

James was born on a Wednesday and the nurses weighed him at 2am Thursday and he had dropped from 8lbs 3oz to 7lbs 11oz. The nurse made sure to tell me that if he lost 10% of his body weight I would have to supplement with formula. Again Friday morning about 2am the nurse came in to weigh him and this time he was down to 7lbs 6.2oz. The nurse immediately said that I was going to have to supplement and I told her that I wanted a pump; again she said I would still have to give formula. I started to cry instantly because I wasn’t going to give him formula, that wasn’t an option to me. The nurse realized I was crying and said that she would check on the computer and hopefully it wasn’t 10% of his weight lost so far. I got lucky that it 9% (I think). I told her that if a doctor said he wasn’t getting enough to eat and needed formula that I would give it to him, but not before then. 

The pediatrician came in on Friday morning and checked James out and said that he looked great. He wasn’t overly concerned about his weight loss. He did want his weight checked the next day so we scheduled for a nurse to come to the house and check it.

My milk came in on Saturday morning and James started gaining weight after that. By James’ two week appointment he was above his birth weight, and has been gaining steadily since. He normally nurses around 10 minutes a side. He will take bottles of breast milk every now and then.  I have been pumping since a few days after my milk came in, and sometimes will pump before a feeding so that Joshua can feed him.

I do not plan on going back to work anytime soon, but I still pump at least once a day and put it in the freezer so that I have a supply built up. Right now I have over a day’s worth of milk frozen!

I enjoy feeding James, and love that I am his source of food. Early on when I was very tired in the middle of the night there were times I wished that I was just giving him formula and that Joshua could just get up with him. But I know I have made the best decision for James in not giving him formula. I plan on nursing him until he is a year old. I’m not gonna be one of those crazy people who nurse the kid until they are 3.

I know that breastfeeding isn’t for everyone, but it has definitely been the right decision for me and my baby. I plan on breastfeeding any future babies that we have.

 

Monthly pictures