Miller: Month Seven

That was a big month! Within two weeks, he got two teeth, started soilds, started drinking from a straw sippy cup, and started crawling. Miller went from being a baby to a little boy it seems. We moved, which stressed him out majorly and then went to Knoxville for 10 days which stressed him out even more. Then we went to Oklahoma for a 5 days for my cousins wedding and now we are home for a few days. This weekend we are headed to Knoxville for a friends wedding and my cousins graduation and then to Memphis for Ben's best friends wedding and to see family. We will be home for about a week and a half before Miller and I go to Houston for another cousin's wedding.

Weight: 19lbs 8oz (+11lbs 6oz)

Height: 28" (+ 6.5")

Head: 18.5" (+3.5")- same as the last two months

Sleep: I still crave consistency but we are doing better. We have been out and about lately but when we are home and stick to a routine, he seems to have some patterns that he follows. About two weeks ago, Ben and I were awoken at 8AM by the alarm, and that was the first time since October 11th. Most nights he sleeps 6-10 hours. On the nights that are less than 10 hours, which are most, he has a feeding and then goes back to sleep until 8AM. As for naps, he takes one morning nap about two to three hours after he wakes up that is normal 1-1.5 hours long. Then early to mid afternoon he has another one that is 1.5-2.5 hours long. Depending on when all those naps fall, he might have an evening catnap around 6.

Eating: This darn kid is testing my patience! Since starting solids, he has had a little nursing strike some days, sometimes going 6 to 7 hours without nursing. It is become more rare that he does this but it makes me worried for him and my supply. As for solids, like I said before, we decided to do more table foods than purees. However, over the past month purees have been a comfort to me when we are home. It shows me that he is getting enough, but he is becoming lazy and stopped feeding himself. We are going to transition to giving him more table foods now.

Best Moment: It is really a joy to watch him play by himself and learn new things. I love watching his mind work to figure out something. Yesterday he was just staring at the table, trying to figure out where to grab on to stand up.

Milestones: He started crawling about two weeks ago. It is mostly an army crawl but it gets him where he wants to be. He does get up on his knees and hands and rocks back and forth but no movement in that position. He is pulling up in things.

Monthly Wisdom: Parenthood is just plain hard and chaotic. I have been struggling to find balance and I am starting to realize that there is no getting around the chaos. Just hold on tight and try to enjoy it.

Goals for the Upcoming Month:
- Giving Miller table foods rather than purees.

- Get him on a stable routine when we are home.

Things Miller is doing:
- Getting better at waving to people.

- He does this little thing where he raises his arms and waves his wrists when he wants to be picked up. It is so sad but when he is fussing to go to sleep in his crib and I got put his  paci back in, he does this to me. 

- Sleeping mostly through the night.

- As mentioned already, crawling. 

- He is pulling up on things, mostly us. He did pull up to the table a couple of times to  a full standing position.

- He can go from on his belly crawling to sitting.  

- He has this face, that you can see in the below pictures, where he scrunches up his nose, narrows his eyes, and makes a huffing sound. It is so cute!