Lauren on Living

A Lifestyle Blog about Simplifying Healthy Living

Reese’s Monthly Growth Series // 6

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26 inches long (53rd percentile), 15 pounds 2 ounces, (29th percentile), 17.2 inches head circumference (75th-90th percentile), smiles readily, sits upright without her hands, laughs almost exclusively for Bennett, started napping in her crib, finally moved out of her sleep regression, still only sleeps in 3-4 hour stretches, hair has started coming in, loves to suck her big toe, takes 3 naps a day, loves sleeping on her tummy

This little girl is FINALLY a smiley baby. She is definitely still more serious than either of her siblings but she’s really starting to smile and I love it. She’s still stingy with her laughs but for some reason, Bennett can have her in a fit of giggles by playing peek-a-boo with her and it is probably the sweetest thing on the face of the planet. Always grabbing at food that we have with us,

Reese developed quite the interest in people food this month. Always grabbing at food that we’re eating and since I’m SOOOOO late in posting this, she has started solids, but you’ll have to wait for her 6-month update to hear all about it, but let’s just say it’s been quite the ride.

The dreaded sleep regression is behind us!! I think the turning point was when I started putting her to sleep on her tummy. She can roll back and forth on her own anyway, but something about being put down on her belly as opposed to her back stopped her from waking up the second I placed her down. I also spent a lot of time this month working with her so that she would be able to fall asleep without nursing and that has also helped a ton. Reese now naps in her crib and sometime in the next few weeks, I plan on night weaning her, which I hope will result in her sleeping through the night (fingers crossed). I must admit, I have mixed feelings about moving her into her own bed at night. On the one hand, I know that once she crawls things will only get more challenging (she has already fallen out of our bed once in the middle of the night). But on the other hand, I’m really loving all the snuggles.

Reese developed a double ear infection and possibly strep this month, which needless to say was not fun. She did however finally kick the chest congestion that had been lingering for 2 months (halleluja!). The worst part about her ear infection aside from her obvious misery was getting her to take her antibiotics. If I could get her to swallow it without immediately spitting it out (which let’s be honest, was near impossible) then 2 out of 3 times she’d vomit it up in a fit of rage. Giving her medication quickly became the worst part of my day.

Reesey is getting stronger and likes to sit upright now, although she will still tumble over onto her face after a while, so I have to be vigilant. She loves to put her feet into her mouth and will often be seen sucking on her big toe, which is super adorable.

Asher and Bennett continue to dote on her. They love her so much and are so intent on demonstrating that love that poor Reese often has two sticky and loud people in her face, smothering her with attention and affection. She truly in the apple of their eyes.

Bennett’s Monthly Growth Series // 6

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17 pounds 12 ounces (78th percentile), 17.5 inches head circumference (95th percentile), 26 1/4 inches long (64th percentile), first international trip (visited Yap, FSM), went on 9 flights this month (making it 13 total), first boat ride, first time in a pool, first time in the pacific ocean, first time meeting her first cousins and uncles jared and evan and aunt sholz, sleep has been all over the place, super curious about eating.

I cannot believe that half of her first year is already behind us! I mean, seriously, what. just. happened?! I have been enjoying every second of this sweet time with her and she is an absolute delight. This has been an insanely busy and hectic month. We were literally traveling from August 1-28 and are still trying to return to normalcy. We spent 2 weeks in Eliot, Maine at my parent’s house. I took my first solo trip with two kids and actually survived it! My whole family, (parents, brothers and their families and us) flew half way around the world to the tiny island of Yap in the Federated States of Micronesia, where I grew up. The journey there was quite an adventure and features, a tropical depression, torrential rain, a mechanical issue, spending three days in the tropics with no luggage and more. So stay tuned for that epic tale. After that we spent five days in Hawaii with my older brother’s family before heading home.

Bennett has always been and continues to be a complete joy. For the past month the 4 of us have been sharing a room, which was really good in many ways because I think it helped prepare B and A for when they’ll share a room but the room sharing combined with the jetlag has resulted in Bennett’s sleep being all out of whack. However I will say that bed sharing probably made the jetlag so much more bearable because when she would wake up in the middle of the night she’d just nurse until she fell asleep again and I’d barely  have to wake up at all.

This sweet girl is probably at her peak chub right now and I’m loving it. She’s in the sweet spot. You know the one. The time when they are able to sit up and are very engaging but can’t move around yet. It’s glorious. She’s all smiles and flirty eyes 95% of the time. She has been incredibly curious about food and looks at us longingly whenever we’re eating. I did let her taste a little bit of fresh coconut but I don’t think she actually swallowed any. I think she may have had a tiny bit of hair growth. Nothing to really write home about, but it’s a start! FullSizeRender (9) FullSizeRender (8) FullSizeRender (7) FullSizeRender (6)

An Adventure in Solids

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We waited until Asher was 6 months old before feeding him solids.  I agonized over what to give him first.  I wanted it to be something flavorful and with a high nutrient content and the standard rice cereal just wasn’t cutting it.  I went back and forth between avocado and egg yolk.  Ultimately, egg yolk won out.

So I carefully boiled an egg, removed all the egg white and then blended the yolk with some breast milk.  Asher was more than eager for me to feed him this new and exciting concoction.  He had been studying us closely whenever we ate anything and was clearly excited to experience this intriguing process for himself.

I scooped out a spoonful of the egg yolk and as the spoon approached his mouth, he leaned forward and opened up as wide as he could.  He then closed his mouth on the spoon and a look of sheer befuddlement flashed over his face, to quickly be replaced with one of absolute disgust and indignation as he promptly began gagging in an attempt to expel the vial substance from his mouth.

This was our first introduction into solids.  Not to worry though, things steadily improved from there.  Although, admittedly, after such a start it could only get better.

As recommended by his pediatrician, we did single introduction, however I didn’t wait 4 days for most foods.  If I was giving him something that was more allergenic then I definitely waited longer, but otherwise I’d give him something new every 1-2 days.  Since we waited until he was 6 months old to introduce foods to him, his pediatrician assured us that we could give him anything and everything.

I was determined to make my own baby food and since we were gifted with a Baby Bullet by a dear friend it was such a breeze.  We used it for a solid 2 months and Asher was sucking food down like he was hollow, so I was using it a lot!  Whoever said that a baby will let you know when they are full by pushing food out of their mouth, obviously hadn’t met my son.  Asher would eat and eat until he had stuffed himself so much that he vomited all over the place.  After this happened once on Raf’s watch and once on mine, we quickly learnt that we couldn’t rely on him to send us any signals and thus adjusted accordingly.

Even though I made the majority of his food, I tended to throw a baby food pouch in my bag for when we were out of the house, because they were SO convenient and easy.  I really loved the ones by Plum Organics, but there are lots of different brands and they all come in TONS of flavors.  They also made introducing new foods super easy and simple.

When Asher was 7 months old I began tentatively attempting to give him food that was more textured but he flat out refused to eat anything that wasn’t pureed.  He even began smelling his food before deciding whether or not to open his mouth, in fact he would only eat certain vegetables if they had been roasted and seasoned (frankly I don’t blame him).  Shortly after he turned 8 months old I just decided one day that he was perfectly capable of finger feeding himself (since he was rather adept with the puffs), so I stopped blending his food and simply gave him small chunks of stuff that were on the softer side and lo and behold he happily fed himself!

Some of his first foods:  egg, avocado, banana, sweet potato, yam, multi-grain cereal, rice cereal, peas, squash, zucchini, cauliflower, broccoli, blueberry, pear, peach, pasta, chicken, beef, cheese, greek yogurt, hummus, black beans, watermelon, plum, quinoa, spinach, kale, asparagus, nectarine, carrot, bread.

He now eats whatever we are eating and pretty much loves it all.  We’re so lucky and I can only hope he continues to be such an easy going eater, especially considering that we have adopted a plant based diet, but more on that later.

Sleep Training // Part 2

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It’s happened.  It has finally happened.  I night weaned Asher and he now sleeps through the night (for the most part).

I was waiting until Asher turned six months old and started solid foods to see if he would sleep through the night on his own, and well, that kind of happened but he still needed a bit of a nudge.  At his 6 month check up, his pediatrician reiterated what I already knew and told me that he didn’t need to eat during the night.  However right around this time we had a lot going on, with a bunch of house guests, a wedding, a massive growth spurt and general chaos, so I decided to wait until all the craziness died down to night wean, which was really  good, because the aforementioned growth spurt hit which had him waking up every 2 hours during the night demanding to be fed. right. NOW.

So on Monday, June 24th, I told Raf that tonight was the night.  I was going cold turkey.  I wasn’t going to nurse Asher and he was probably going to be quite upset about it so we should brace ourselves for the sleep loss ahead.

We went about his bedtime routine as normal: bath, bottle, prayers, stories, song and bed by 7pm, but this time I told him that I wasn’t going to nurse him during the night and that it was ‘sleep sleep’ time and that he could nurse again in the morning.   He didn’t wake up (well, he did, but it wasn’t a real wake up and he put himself back to sleep before I had even fully awoken).  The next morning I was amazed when he woke up at 7am, but I told Raf that this was probably just a fluke and that it was likely just the tale end of his growth spurt so we shouldn’t get too comfortable because surely tonight we would witness his dissatisfaction.  Well, Tuesday night the same thing happened.  He slept through the night, with only the briefest of wake ups.  12 hours.  I couldn’t believe it and was now cautiously optimistic.  Maybe, just maybe, he had figured this whole thing out.  My little boy, so easy, so happy, so agreeable.  Of course he would sleep through the night with little else from me than just explaining to him how things would go down.  My sweet angel.

Wednesday night  he SCREAMED for over an hour between 3am and 5am.  He wasn’t crying, he was screaming.  He was MAD.  I went in when he first woke up and patted him and told him it was ‘sleep sleep’ time and that I loved him and that everything was okay, then I left.  I went back in every 20 minutes after that until he fell asleep.  I think it was 3 more times.  I felt terrible.  It was awful to listen to him screaming like that and thrashing his tiny body about in his crib, but the previous 2 nights had proven to me that he in fact did not need to nurse.  So I kept my head down and pushed on through.  The next morning he awoke at around 7am and was all smiles and babbles, which definitely helped eased the heart ache I was feeling.

Thursday night I was prepared for a repeat of the night before but instead he legitimately slept through the night without even a peep.

Friday night he woke up screaming around 2am. So I went in and did the whole thing: pat, kiss, sooth but as soon as I left he stuck his thumb in his mouth, rolled over and went to sleep.

And that was that.   He now sleeps through the night.  Of course, in the past week he has been trying really hard to learn to crawl so there have been several nights when I wake up in the wee hours of the morning to the sounds of him cooing and grunting in his crib as he attempts forward motion.  I just go in, put him on his back and tell him it’s time to sleep and he goes right back to sleep.  It is amazing.

I’m not sure if it’s because of the night weaning, or because he’s started solids, or simply because of the summer heat, but he seems to want to nurse 1 or 2 more times during the day.  I’m not complaining, I get to gaze down into these hazel gray eyes. There isn’t a sweeter view in the whole world.

photo (20)If you’re interested in reading about how we trained Asher to fall asleep on his own, check out: Sleep Training // Part 1.