Happy Halloween!

Finally, A Real Update

A recent family photo, taken just in time before a windy day blew away all our pretty leaves.

Holy crap, this month has been busy! As I mentioned before, we've had lots of family visits. My mom was here last week for an extended weekend and she had a blast watching Noah. It's always so nice to have parents in town, because they cook and clean! Lord knows I need the help! Work has also been insane. I am so busy every day that pumping regularly is almost impossible. The really hard part is that I often get called on to help out with issues in the school, like a kid melting down, or a student making suicidal statements, or a parent who showed up unexpectedly to talk to me. Sometimes I truly can't take a break to pump. As a result, my once overabundant supply is no longer keeping up with demand. It really bums me out to know that we need to start transitioning to formula soon. Mostly because I didn't plan on it, it's just become necessary. I wanted it to be on my terms, but life (work) is getting in the way. I guess I never really set a firm goal for myself, and I really wanted to stick with breastmilk exclusively until 6 months. So I did get that far. It's just hard to let go. What can I say, I have a nasty streak of perfectionism and a mild case of OCD (must make more milk!). My plan is to continue pumping as much as I can, and supplementing with formula as needed. We shall see.

Aside from all of that, Noah turned one-half year last Thursday. It's really hard to believe he's 6 months old already. Here's an update of his latest and greatest accomplishments:

• Still wearing size 2 diapers
• He's blown out of 3/6 month clothing, and mostly wears 6/9 month stuff. He's long and lean, so some 6 month stuff is too short for him, but roomy in the middle.
• He weighs around 15.5 pounds. We'll get the newest stats at his 6 month appointment next Monday.
• His beautiful, big eyes have the most amazing, dark, thick lashes. The color of his eyes continues to change. The center of his eyes are turning a vivid brown, but the outside is still a bluish, greenish, hazel mixture. If they stay this way, girls' hearts are going to be melting in about 16 years or so. (Mine already does, every single day.)
• His hair is starting to get a little longer, and much fuzzier.
• He drinks around 25 oz of BM per day. I make between 20-25ish. I only nurse him overnight because my supply is pretty crummy the rest of the time. I make the majority of my milk in the morning and late in the evening after he's in bed.
• Solid foods are hit and miss. Rice cereal doesn't seem to interest him too much. He'll never eat more than 1.5 tsp with about 4 tsp of milk. That's practically nothing! He has also tried sweet potatoes and pears. He seemed to like both, but again, he won't eat much at one sitting.
• With the introduction of sweet potatoes, his poo turned to the consistency of peanut butter. He also has been pooing WAY less. Not sure what's normal and what isn't anymore. Hmmph.
• He grabs everything that gets within reach. Mommy's hair is especially fascinating. (Ouch.) Once he gets ahold of something, he waves his arm wildly, thrashing like a mad man. Sometimes whatever he's grabbed gets catapulted a good distance from him. He'll often look for something he's dropped, but if he doesn't see it right away, it's out of sight, out of mind. Also, if it's in his hand, then it's in his mouth. He chews/sucks on EVERYTHING!
• When in his jumperoo, he jumps (and jumps and jumps), plays with all of the toys, and laughs. He loves his jumperoo!
• He can sit unassisted for short periods of time. When he gets excited though, he kicks his legs which makes him tip. He also tips over if he starts mouthing something. Which is all of the time basically. But he's made a lot of progress in just the last week, so I think we'll have this sitting thing mastered in no time.

Gilbert is very motivating... "Gimme that dog!"

• There's no such thing as "tummy time" anymore, because he spends all of his time there. Definitely not something we have to make him do.
• He still does the inchworm thing, but he doesn't seem to realize that it's actually getting him somewhere. However, he does seem to have some understanding that rolling can get him closer to something he wants. If someone lies next to him, he sometimes rolls in their direction to get closer.
• He is still absolutely in awe of Gilbert. Nothing can capture his attention like the dog. He has recently been reaching for him and grabbing his fur. Gilbert isn't too sure he likes any of this.
• Blowing raspberries with Noah is more fun than I ever thought possible. He mimics us, and all on his own (just yesterday) he decided it would be way more fun to stick his tongue out when he does it. It's a spitty, drooly, adorable form of entertainment for our whole family.
• One of his favorite games is looking at mommy in the bathroom mirror. He'll first spot me in the big mirror, then he'll look to the side and find me in the vanity mirror on the left wall. Then he goes back and forth between the two mirrors, always making sure he catches my eye and smiling a HUGE smile before he changes mirrors. It's the cutest game ever.

Overall, Noah is a happy, easy baby. I never knew I could love anyone this much, and every day I love him even more. My heart, my life, is so very full.

6 Months!

Life is keeping me WAY too busy! I have a mini Fall break coming up, so I will try to update later this week. For now, here's an overdue 6 month photo. Man I love this kid!

Inchworm

Noah astounds me with how quickly he develops new skills. Within the last two weeks he's gone from never wanting to be on his tummy to being on his tummy all the time. Then he started pulling his knees under himself and waving his butt around in the air. Now he's getting his knees under himself and trying to push up with his arms. His head pushes into the ground, and he wobbles side to side until he falls in one direction. When doing this, he looks like a little inchworm because he slowly moves himself forward with each butt raise. It's getting him into a little trouble in his crib. Last night he woke crying and I found him with his head crammed into the corner of the crib with his right arm sticking out the slats. Poor little guy. He's still working on sitting. He can lean forward and support himself with his arms for seconds at a time, but that's about it. I'm sure one day soon he'll floor me again and master it completely.

Eating cereal has been another skill we've been working on. At first, he was opening his mouth well but letting most of the cereal drip right out. Now he's keeping most of it in. He appears to be quite excited about venturing into the world of big boy food. He waves his arms and kicks his legs when he sees me getting it ready, and gives me a HUGE smile with the first bite (which doesn't help to keep the cereal in much). He also is starting to grab the spoon so he can chew on it. Up until now I gave the cereal to him with his second to last bottle of the day. Today I decided to give him cereal in the morning as well. He seemed quite pleased to be eating breakfast with mommy. We'll keep this up until the 6 month appointment (yet to be scheduled, I keep forgetting to do that), and then we'll look into more exciting foods to try. Bring on the yucky poop!

October has already been very busy with visitors! My in-laws were here the first weekend. It was a great visit, and all of their cooking, cleaning, shopping, and helping with Noah led me to be the most relaxed I've been in a while.

Playing with Gamma Wendy

My dad came into town Wednesday night and will be here until tomorrow. Then my mom is visiting from the 21st-24th. I guess that's what happens when you have a grandchild 900+ miles from his grandparents! Don't get me wrong though, we LOVE the company! It's fun to share Noah with our family!

Grandpa feeding Noah

Change Isn't Always Easy

What a week. Where to start? On Monday I decided that Noah didn't seem to be eating well with nursing. Tuesday afternoon I pumped and bottle-fed instead of nursing, and then Wednesday I pumped and bottle-fed exclusively. Can I just say to all those moms out there who have been pumping exclusively for a while, YOU ARE AMAZING! What a lot of work. I definitely wouldn't be able to keep that up for long. And it seems that Noah won't let me. Within days of trying it out, he became extremely fussy and had some major crying spells which is really unlike him. Friday night he woke up early and was inconsolable until I put him to the breast. He quieted down and fell asleep quickly. I guess he's just not ready to be completely weaned. And that's fine, because I don't think I am either. I still worry that he's not getting enough, but even with a bottle full of BM, it's hit or miss whether he'll eat much. I must just have a fussy eater (probably payback for how picky I was as a kid, right Mom?).

In his 5 month update, I mentioned that he's not into rolling to his tummy very much. Well, you can scratch that now. As soon as he's put down in his crib, he flips right over so he can sleep on his tummy. When we play on the blanket, he likes to turn over so he can look around (mostly at the dog). Apparently tummy time is where it's at now. I also said he's still eating breastmilk exclusively. My goal was to keep that up until 5.5 months, but we decided to start solids about a week early. Last night was his first attempt at rice cereal. He definitely has no idea how to swallow. Instead he makes tongue movements like he's trying to nipple feed, and more of the cereal ends up on his bib than in his tummy. (Maybe he was just upset that we had him in such a girly bib.) But he opened his mouth well for the spoon and seemed like he was truly interested in trying something new. We shall see!

Finally, this morning Noah sat unassisted for a few brief seconds. And when I say "sat," I mean he leaned forward, propping himself up with his arms, until he pretty much folded himself in half. But he didn't immediately fall to the side, and that is major progress! Yay Noah!