leo is 9 months

I know I sound like a broken record, but there just isn't a better to describe you other than happy, happy, happy. You're happy when you wake up, happy when you're eating, happy when you're playing, and happy in the bathtub. You're happy to be crawling, happy to be pulling up, and happy to be exploring. You are not so happy when you are sick, and not so happy about bedtime these days.

You weigh 22 lbs (84%) and you are 30.5" long (99%). You are wearing 12-18 months clothes and some 18-24 month things too. There were a lot of firsts this past month. Two holidays, one time change, lots of big tub baths, one beach vacation, your first time in church nursery and also your first fever and first stomach bug. Whew.

On Halloween, you wore the carrot costume that Charlie wore on his first halloween. It was just too cute to not use again (also, the lion costume I ordered for you didn't fit because you're giant). Charlie went as peas so you could match. It was a beautiful evening, and you loved riding around in the wagon and chewing on a glow-stick while Charlie went trick or treating. The peas and carrot were a big hit!

We used the dreaded time change to move your bedtime by 30 minutes. It actually really worked in our favor. You now go to bed at 7:30, which is the same time as Charlie. You also graduated to the big boy bathtub. So now after dinner, you and Charlie take a bath together much to the delight of both of you. Charlie has taught you how to splash, and he loves to help wash your hair with what he calls "shampoop." You love the octopus bath toy, and you get mad when it floats away. Luckily Charlie helps make sure you always have it. After bath, I get you in your PJs and nurse you while Dada reads to Charlie. Then it's lights out for both of you at 7:30. It's been really helpful to have you on the same bedtime schedule.

This also means your wake times and naps overlap even more. You usually wake up between 7-8, nap from 10-11 and then from 1:45/2-4. Naps aren't a problem, and bedtime really isn't either, but you have definitely figured out the routine and you fuss as soon as you get out the bath because you know what's coming. You do like reading books - the peek-a-boo and lift-the-flap books are your current favorites. Once we put you down, you usually protest for 5-10 minutes and then sleep all night (you did have a few nights lately where you wanted to nurse in the early morning, but I think that was just a growth spurt. You were back to your solid 11-12 hours last night).

The time change has also allowed us to put you in church nursery a couple of times when we can squeeze in an early nap at home before church. The first time I dropped you off, you did great and made it the whole time without them having to call me. The second time was also smooth sailing. The third time was a bit of bust, but it wasn't really your fault. You hadn't taken a morning nap so you were just too exhausted and got a little cranky after the first hour.

Perhaps most exciting this month was our vacation to Turks & Caicos. We met Shi Shi and Papa there for a week of sun and sand. You were a dream travel baby. You did great on all the flights and during two long travel days. You slept in a crib in our room and didn't skip a beat. You went down for naps and bed like a complete champ. I don't think you ever even cried or woke up in the middle of the night. I would wake up in the morning and you'd be sitting in your crib next to me with the biggest smile. You did, however, have your first ever fever while we were there. You were just a bit out of sorts one day and sure enough, by that evening, you had a little temp. But it was gone by the next morning and you were back to your happy self. You loved being in the pool in your floatie. We took you for your first dip in the ocean as well. Like most babies, you were a little puzzled by sand and mostly just tried to eat it.

You have more than mastered crawling. You are so fast! On the last day of vacation, you finally conquered pulling up. You'd been so close all month, and I honestly think the airport in Turks & Caicos was your first time to really pull up on something taller than the little step in our house. You pulled up on one of those leather airport chairs and never looked back.

Of course all the mobility means you can get yourself into more trouble now. You love pulling on the knobs of our dresser and opening the drawers. Fingers have been caught. Getting up a step also means you sometimes go back down the step. Head bumps are numerous. You also love pushing doors back and forth and pulling on the pocket doors in our room. Again, fingers have been caught. Your other great love is electronic devices and power cords, which I'm constantly trying to keep out of your reach.

You still love swinging, and you also still love hanging out in your jumperoo. Charlie likes this too because it keeps you away from his toys. Now that you are mobile, you can get to whatever you want...including whatever Charlie is playing with. This has caused a few kerfuffles, which have occasionally resulted in tears for you and time outs for Charlie. We've been working with him on making sure you always have a toy to play with and this has really helped. He's usually happy to share a toy of his choosing if it keeps you away from his other things. 

Despite his hesitation to sometimes share with you, you and Charlie both still really love each other. Charlie loves to make you laugh and he always keeps a watch over you. He makes sure you always have enough puffs to eat and that you have a toy to play with and that you aren't about to fall down the step. He loves when I put you in his crib post-nap so you can both jump up and down and roll around laughing. Lately, he's been playing hide and seek with you by covering you up with his cloth hamper. Both of you just laugh and laugh when he does this.

Right before you officially hit 9 months was your first Thanksgiving. It was a bit of a doozy. Nana, Grandpa, Uncle Tad, Aunt Monica and your cousins Zachary and Isaac all came. Unfortunately, Charlie passed the stomach bug to you and mama (Dada, Nana and Isaac eventually went down too). We both spent Wednesday night throwing up, but we didn't discovered you had been sick until Thanksgiving morning. Dada went to get you up, and you were covered in vomit. Poor lil bubby. You bounced back pretty quickly, though - definitely faster than I did. By mealtime, you were happy to eat a plate full of turkey, mashed potatoes and rolls.

Speaking of eating, it's still a favorite activity. You eat everything and so far, no allergic reactions to anything. You really loved the turkey. Otherwise, it's hard to tell if you have any favorites because you seem to like whatever we put in front of you....or whatever you can find on the floor! You nurse 5x a day (first thing in the morning, before afternoon nap, after both naps and before bed). You are so good about eating solids that I hope you won't be too difficult to wean. But right now, I hate to think about giving up all the snuggles I get while you nurse. My favorite time of day is when I wake you up from your naps because you are so sleepy and sweet while you nurse. You do still bite sometimes when you aren't hungry so I've learned my lesson on trying to nurse when you aren't interested!!

You have a huge, toothy smile, the brightest blue eyes, and the best chuckle. You're hair is getting long in the back and a few curls have started to form. Your cheeks are still glorious and your neck lost in your rolls. You are extremely ticklish. You make all kinds of fun sounds these days. Lots of happy grunting and guttural noises. You also trill your tongue all the time. We're working on clapping - you love banging toys together so we'll see if you can catch on soon. No more signs of "mama" or "dada" - the serious campaigning starts now to see who can get the first word out of you.

While you are still smiley with other people, we are starting to see some shyness come out. Sometimes when people approach while I'm holding you, you'll shyly nuzzle into my chest and give just a little smile like you're playing hard to get. It's the cutest and very endearing.

I took you to your well visit today in a sweater that said "Never grow up." I know I'm losing this battle so I'm just trying to enjoy every little moment of this sweet baby stage. You make it so easy to enjoy. It's such a joy to watch you grow. Love you, mean it.

leo is 8 months

This month was SO much fun. I said in my last update that I thought everything would really take off soon, and I was not wrong. You are officially on the move, and loving every minute of it.

You started army crawling pretty soon after hitting 7 months, and then you spent a couple of weeks doing a lot of planking in the process of trying to learn how to crawl.  At 8 months on the dot, you started real crawling on your hands and knees. It must have been your way of celebrating mom and dad's 10th anniversary. We knew you were *this* close, and sure enough, you just decided to up and do it one day. There wasn't too much easing into it. The day before you had taken one or two lunges forward, and the next day you were crawling across the room no problem.

Even though I knew this was coming, I still feel unprepared. Sometimes I'm still surprised when I find you somewhere quite far from where I put you down. To make matters even more complicated, your next move after crawling was to immediately find a way to climb the step from the living room into the dining room. It's almost like you were just chomping at the bit to get over there and figure it out. Needless to say, things have escalated quickly around here.

Of course, being mobile has huge advantages for you. You love exploring....and you love finding trouble. You really enjoyed picking up the air vent so we had to secure it to the floor. You also love licking the fridge. The upstairs landing is a bit of a problem because it has a step down. Naturally, you always want to head straight for it. The other day I found you halfway off the step with your brother helping you down so you didn't get hurt. It was both sweet and terrifying. Don't worry, we do have a gate, and yes, it was closed. Still, mama clearly ain't ready and I need to adjust more quickly!!

Somehow you've managed to become even more expressive. You have this cute little happy grunt that you do all the time. Perhaps it's because you are so delighted with yourself and your new mobility. You smile and laugh all the time, and we can tell you take great pride in your accomplishments. You are trying to pull up on things, and I suspect by next month you will have mastered that.

You are starting to do more babbling, and I've definitely heard a "mama" or two. I'm sure it's not intentional yet, but one of the most clear times you said it was right after I said "bye bye" and was walking out the door. I'm determined it will be your first word so hopefully we are on the right track.

You may have noticed I didn't start this update talking about sleep. I'm so relieved that's its a back-burner issue right now. You continue to be a great napper, and your are still sleeping through the night. I don't think I had to go in during the night one time this month. Hallelujah. Sometimes you'll cry before bed, but it's usually very short-lived. Waking you up is the best. I like to go in and take you to the chair for cuddles while you nurse. Since I don't nurse you to sleep anymore, it's my best time of day to get in my snuggles. When you wake up on your own, you hang out in your crib rolling around and chatting for a bit. Then when I go to get you, you always greet me with the biggest smile. It melts me every time. Sometimes Charlie joins in the fun and climbs into your crib with you. He likes to bounce up and down to make you giggle.

You are really starting to enjoy your toys. You like rolling the many trucks we have back and forth, and you seem to gravitate toward the O-balls. You love the toy piano and you crawl over to it all the time to just bang away. You love the mobile above your crib - it's a nice little distraction to get some smiles out of you before bedtime. You also really love plastic water bottles just like your brother did. The first thing that motivated you to crawl was a water bottle.

You took one bath with Charlie earlier this month. It was big fun, but you were still a little too unsteady and you kept wanting to lunge forward. You've pretty much outgrown your baby tub so we'll make the leap to the big boy bath soon.

You are incredibly ticklish - especially your belly and your neck rolls. Charlie still loves to make you laugh, and will often say "baby laugh" in addition to "baby silly" when you giggle. You have the best belly laugh that almost makes you topple over in pure glee. It's one of my favorite sounds in the whole wide world.

Charlie is still your biggest helper. He likes to make sure you have your water cup and keeps your baby puffs coming. I think you still like Charlie more than just about anyone. Of course, now that you are more mobile and starting to have opinions about what you enjoy and want to do, Charlie is having to learn how to adapt. Sharing has become more of a challenge. Charlie isn't always thrilled that you can now access whatever you want - including his toys. We try to head this off by telling Charlie to make sure you always have a toy. He is starting to sort what is a baby toy and will often bring something over to you to replace his toy that he wants to reclaim. This system seems to work for now, but it's only a matter of time before I'm breaking up fights over toys.

Every once in a while, Charlie will take out his anger on you. Luckily, Charlie is not an angry kid so this is pretty rare. It never has anything to do with you either - there is no doubt Charlie LOVES his baby Leo. Sometimes you are just the nearest target. One time he took a swipe at your face with his hand because he was upset he had to come inside when he wanted to keep playing outside. You just looked up at him and smiled. We were almost dismayed because it would have been a more helpful teaching lesson if you had reacted with tears.

But these instances are rare. For the most part, you are your brother do great together. I catch Charlie "helping" you all the time, trying to make you laugh, wanting to hug you, and even "playing" with you, or at least playing right beside you. Charlie also loves pushing you on the swing. Sometimes when you are napping, Charlie will talk about waking you up because I think he misses his buddy.

Solids are still going great. You love to eat, and shovel anything put in front of you into your mouth. I literally don't think you've rejected anything yet. Of course, now that you can crawl, we have to be really careful what's within reach. You managed to find a grape under the buffet and popped it into your mouth. Luckily, I saw it happen and fished it out before any harm was done. You do a great job of chewing before you swallow. You love drinking water out of your sippy. All your eating is aided by the help of your 4(!!!) new teeth. All four top teeth came in at once. You took it like a champ, though, and barely registered any discomfort.

In addition to solids, you nurse about 5-6x/day. You are super efficient (and also easily distracted) so it only takes 5-10 minutes to get in a feeding. You did bite me a couple of times while teething, but I've learned to pay attention to your signals so I can avoid that from happening. Ouch!

There is really only one thing that makes you really mad - when you run out of food on your tray. Otherwise, you might get grumpy when you are done with your meal, when you bump your head or maybe when you get really tired. Otherwise, you are a pretty darn content baby.

We went apple picking and to a fall festival this month. You rode around in the wagon taking everything in, and did great despite taking both naps on the go that day. The only time you aren't super expressive is when we are outside. I think it's because you are too busy observing everything. We've been playing outside a lot enjoying the beautiful fall weather. You love to swing, and you've been great about taking your morning nap in the carrier or stroller.

You bring us so much joy every day. One of my favorite rituals is after your last feed, as I'm walking you to your room, we go find dada and say "give him your smile." Every single time, your whole face just lights up. Thank you for being such an easy-going, happy baby. And thank you for having the fattest, most kissable cheeks!

leo is 7 months

We are officially in the second half of your first year! The 7-month milestone seems like a bit of a tipping point. Maybe it's all in my head, but it feels like things just really take off from here. You're definitely not my little baby anymore. Although, let's be honest, you've never really been that little.

You were back to being your fat and happy self this month. Thank heaven. Besides a growing desire to be entertained, you've been an easy babe lately and we've had a fun month with Dada being back in town and a visit from Shi Shi. You are wearing size 4 diapers, which somehow already seem a little snug, and you are mostly in 12 month or 12-18 month clothes.

But let's be honest, everything starts with sleep. A sleeping baby is a happy baby and a sleeping baby makes for a happy mama too. We worked HARD to get here, but you've become an A+ sleeper. You sleep 8-8 and take two naps from 10:30-11:30 and 2:00-4:00. It's almost like clockwork every single day, and there are seldom any tears when I put you down. Hallelujah. We always read Goodnight Moon and sing Jesus Loves Me right before night night time. You smile and giggle your way through the book and you often lay your head down on my shoulder while I sing to you. They are some of the sweetest few minutes of my day (with a naked Charlie yelling "Hey Mama!" from the shower being a close second).

Perhaps even more exciting, you rarely wake up to eat in the middle of the night now. I wasn't intentionally night weaning, but one night you just slept all the way through...and then you did it the next night and the night after that. Before I knew it, you had slept all night for several nights in a row. Since that stretch, you have woken up 2-3 nights, but I can almost always pinpoint the reason why (one morning you woke up with a new tooth!). The fact that sleeping through the night is the norm now is pretty been life-changing!

I think a huge part of your sudden night sleep has been your solids intake. Mostly out of convenience, I started putting you in the high chair for three meals/day because it felt rude to leave you out when we're all sitting down to eat. And you've made it very clear that if you're in your high chair, you want food. It feels like we went from 0-60 with solids. I remember with your big brother, it was much more gradual, and he wasn't eating 3 meals until maybe 9-10 months. But one thing I love about having a second kiddo is that we already have so many routines and norms established, and you just naturally fit right into them. It feels so much less overwhelming since we aren't starting with a blank slate on everything.

You eat whatever we eat. If anything, I have to make sure you don't each too much table food so you'll still nurse enough. You even have a pincer grasp rapidly developing. You pick up small pieces using the tips of 3-4 fingers. From the start, you never really raked food into your palm and smashed it into your face (like someone else I know...). That would have been expected, but you're an advanced eater. :) You really had no trouble picking up food, chewing and swallowing from the start. It's been pretty impressive actually. I thought there would be a little more of a learning curve, but I really shouldn't be surprised. We don't call you fatty fatty for nothing. So far, I think you've liked everything that has been offered. Cheese seems to be a favorite, and watermelon was a big hit too. I'm always shocked at how little food ends up on the floor or in your bib because you've managed to actually eat most of it!!

Helping you out with solids, are your very first teeth, which finally popped through on the bottom. I guess you really were teething after all. In addition to growing two teeth, you've also grown a ton of hair. I should have mentioned this last month, but between 5-6 months, it seems like you went from bald to a full head of hair. Jury is still out on the color, but it's definitely not red - more of sandy blonde. What is certain is that you have big, beautiful blue eyes. They light up when you smile. Some people say you favor me, but most often, people think you look like your brother.

You already have so much personality. You give the biggest smiles, and you're an incredibly easy audience. I swear a fly buzzing by could get a rise out of you. You're extremely ticklish - especially poking your belly and tickling your neck, which I believe is there buried under all of your chins. And yes, Charlie still makes you laugh most of all. I think you two already have a secret language, and I swear you've already plotted against us a few times.

Speaking of Charlie, he's obsessed with helping you these days. He loves putting the baby puffs on your tray and giving you your sippy cup of water. As soon as I get him out of his booster seat, he makes a beeline to your side of the table to hold the water cup for you to drink from. We had to put you on opposite sides of the table because he kept sharing with you and insisting on offering you more food and water. Sometimes, he's been known to pull himself around the edge of the table to get close enough to you to refill your try with food. I think he gave your babysitter quite a scare when she came out of the bathroom to suddenly see Charlie sitting next to you helping you drink your milk from the honey bear bottle.

Charlie loves to bring you toys and he pauses all the time to come over and gives you hugs, kisses and tickles. Now that you are older and doing more things, Charlie likes to be helpful with your routines. He knows what bib you wear, which cup is yours etc. and he never misses an opportunity to tell me if I've missed a step. He's pretty judge-y about my parenting and already very protective of you. Nothing gets by him. The other day you were sitting on the floor and I stepped away to grab something. Dada was trying to get Charlie to go downstairs to play, but he refused to leave you unattended (even though I was coming right back and you were perfectly safe where you were). Nevertheless, Charlie was concerned and it was about the cutest thing ever that he refused to leave you behind.

If you are crying and I don't get to you right away, Charlie will often try to comfort you by sitting down next to you and holding a chew toy up to your mouth. He's becoming more attached to you by the day. And yes, he still insists on pushing the stroller. And yes, I still have to subtetly help steer. He also likes to come over and help you play with the toys on your jumperoo. When you both get up from your naps, I often take you into Charlie's crib and you both roll around laughing, reading (& chewing) on books, and giving hugs and kisses (and some hair tugging by you - luckily Charlie doesn't mind). Watching your brotherly relationship grow is one of my favorite things in the whole world.

You are sturdily sitting up now, and you've learned how to transition back to your tummy without just flopping over. We still have the occasional tumble, but it's mostly when you lunge into something hard. You've been spending more time up on your knees when you rock forward from a sitting position, but you haven't learned how to move anywhere quite yet. I can tell you are frustrated by this, and I know it probably won't be long before you figure out some form of crawling. Almost as soon as I put you down in a sitting position you lunge forward onto your knees before falling to your stomach. I don't think it's because you don't want to sit as it is that you want to figure out how to navigate on your hands/knees.

You really love my necklace and pull on it whenever I'm holding you. You like being outside and riding in the stroller. We tried out the bucket swing and you were delighted. You love music and anything that plays music. Favorite songs include If You're Happy & You Know It and Smooth Road - both of which your brother enjoys too.

You are currently obsessed with an elephant stuffed animal that plays You Are My Sunshine. It was a toy I had when I was a baby, and you always find a way to roll over to it. You like hanging out in your jumperoo and anything that you can chew on. Poor Sophie the Giraffe gets eaten alive most days. Bath time is still big fun, but you are starting to try to climb out of your baby tub. It's probably time to ditch the little tub soon. You like post-bath time when you're wrapped up in a towel. We always get the best laughs out of you while were drying you off and putting on lotion. Then, of course, you fuss while we wrangle you into your diaper and PJs.

You still nap great on the go, which allows us to get out and about in the morning. If we go to a park or to MOPS or to church on Sundays, you sleep for 20-30 minutes in your stroller or carrier, which is enough to get you by until your longer afternoon nap. It's nice that you are flexible so we aren't stuck at home all the time!

You grew two teeth, lots of hair and started sleeping through the night this month, but perhaps most exciting of all - I left you with a babysitter! We did a few trial runs with Dada and Shi Shi, and everything went A-Ok. You drank your milk like a champ from the honey bear and went down without any fanfare even though Mama wasn't involved in the process. This gave us confidence to leave you with a paid babysitter for several hours while we went to a Packers/Redskins game. I'm happy to report that you were a dream. You took 3 "bottles", ate a good lunch, and went down for your nap like a champ. When we got home, both you and Charlie were happily playing with the sitter, Nargis. It's such a relief to reach this milestone and know that I can leave you in capable hands without any angst. 

And since I feel like I have to point out flaws too...the big one right now is how easily you get bored and demand attention. You've always liked being held (and you still do!), and your ability to sit up, roll and scoot backwards has helped keep you occupied, but you still get bored of each room/toy/activity pretty quickly. I don't blame you - babies aren't exactly known for having great attention spans. You can also have fussy periods in the evening. It's not every day, and I can't really figure out what brings it on, but some evenings you're just kind of a crank. You can also get fussy when nap/bedtime draws near.

We took 6-month/family photos earlier this month, but that's another story for another day. Let's just say that scheduling photos when it's still so hot outside and the day after your vaccinations was probably not the wisest move on my part.

The weather is finally starting to cool down, and we're looking forward to all kinds of fun adventures this fall. You'll fit right in with all the round pumpkins (but you definitely did not fit in the lion costume I ordered for you so back to the drawing board for halloween costumes. :) We love, little buddy. We hope you're always as smiley as you are right now.

leo is 6 months

A whole half year. Praise be that we have all survived keeping TWO spawn alive at the same time for 6 whole months. If there was a theme for this month, it would be fat and fussy. Don't get me wrong, you still smile at anything that comes near you, but you were also a big ball of fuss this month. Your nickname got a little longer as I dubbed you fatty fatty fusspants.

Speaking of nicknames, I overheard Charlie repeat "Fatty Fatty" the other day so I suppose it's time for a new term of endearment. I'd really hate for that to be used out of context. Yikes! You actually have a lot of nicknames. You rarely just get called Leo. It's either Baby Leo, The Baby, Fatty Fatty, Lil' Bubs or really whatever tumbles out of my mouth.

You are wearing mostly 9-12 month clothes. Some 6-9 month things still fit, and we've also pulled out some 12-18 months things that are a tad big, but workable. You are still in size 3 diapers, but Amazon is delivering size 4 diapers this month because I suspect you'll be ready for them as soon as we get through your current box of size 3s.

I'm not sure if it was developmental leaping, sleep training, teething or just general baby angst, but you were certainly more demanding this month. It made for a long month - especially with Dada being gone for most of it. But I do see light at the end of the tunnel. The last few days you've gradually been getting back to being your happy, content self.

The other theme for this month was sleep. It was high time, and I finally just ripped the bandaid off. Nursing to sleep just was not working anymore because you kept demanding more and more comfort nursing. It was going on for 1, 2, or even 3 hours every. single. night. I knew it would be challenging to break that cycle (it has been!), but I also knew it was best for all parties involved. So we set a bedtime, nailed down nap times, created a solid bedtime routine, and then just let you work it out from there. That's a really nice way of saying there were tears...more tears than this mama would have liked.

The first night was definitely the hardest. As soon as you stopped crying and finally went to sleep, mama had a good cry herself. I knew all of your needs were met, and I knew it would only be worse if I tried to go in and comfort you (been there, tried that, you just got more mad unless I gave in and nursed), but even though I knew it was the best decision, it was still rough. Luckily, you improved every day and save a few bumps in the road when we got off schedule (or, you know, the direction of the wind changed), you've done really well.

You now take two solid naps in your crib - about 1-1.5 hours in the morning and 2 hours in the afternoon. One of the best parts about this schedule is that you and Charlie both nap at the same time in the afternoon, which is so necessary for mama's sanity. You go down for naps no problem and fall asleep on your own without any fussing. You still protest at bedtime, and honestly, I think you're the kind of baby who just needs to blow off steam for 10 minutes or so before falling asleep. I can deal with that. Once asleep, you do great - waking up just once to eat around 4-5am. You sleep 8pm-8am, and it's been life-changing for this mama!

You still have glorious rolls (and those cheeks!!), but I think you're starting to level out on your weight gain. You get so distracted while eating! It feels like I'm always feeding you because you eat all the time but only for 3-5 minutes before you start looking around. We'll find out how much you weigh this Friday when we go in for your 6-month checkup. We've played around with solids a little bit, but haven't started in earnest yet. You grabbed a piece of naan bread out of my hand at dinner a couple of weeks ago and stuffed it into your mouth. And that's how you started solids.

We got the high chair out of the closet, and we do put you in it during dinnertime. It's mostly just to keep you happy and entertained at this point, but also so you can munch on some teething crackers or pieces of bread. I promise we'll graduate from carbs soon - that's just the easiest and least messy option right now before I'm ready to really ramp up with table food.

You started sitting up like a champ just after hitting 5 months. You went from tripod sitting to sitting up unassisted for several minutes in a matter of a few days. You learned so fast! And it certainly has made you happy to be sitting up and reaching for whatever you want. You also use rolling to get where you want to go. You haven't started propping up on your knees yet - thank goodness - but you are starting to push with your arms to scoot backwards. Of course with sitting up comes tumbling down. Although you can sit for a long time, you still haven't quite learned how to dismount so eventually you kind of just topple over. No matter where I put you or how many soft pillows I arrange around you, you always manage to bonk into something. It never fails. Luckily, you're pretty tough and hopefully you'll learn how to catch yourself soon.

The other big development this month was learning how to use a straw! There was no hope for the bottle, but I felt you were finally big enough to try a straw. I ordered a special training cup and within the first try, you were happily sucking milk out of the straw. I mean, who is this baby who HATED the bottle for so many months?! It took a few tries to get the hang of actually sucking AND swallowing the milk, but now you can down 3-4 oz no problem. It's pretty cute to watch you sip through the straw with such delight.

When we were in the throes of sleep training, we realized you did better on the nights where we had practiced with your honey bear (the straw training cup looks exactly like those plastic bears that hold honey) before going down to sleep. So now it's just become part of the routine. I think you must really like being stuffed full of milk before nighttime - hence the reason you were demanding so much nursing before! I pump before I go to bed and then we use that milk the next evening to help top you off before bed. It's a little unconventional, but I'll do whatever it takes to have a baby who will sleep.

Because you can now drink milk from a straw cup AND fall asleep without mama, the real test is coming soon - can mama leave you for more than 2-3 hours??? We need Dada to be home so he can be the guinea pig for that. From there, we'll see if we can graduate to a babysitter. :)

You've been enjoying your jumperoo more each day. Books are also more exciting to you these days. We read Goodnight Moon every night. I love our cuddle time before bed when we read together. You still like music, and it's become part of our routine for me to sing "Jesus Loves Me" to you as I'm putting you down. Bath time still earns 5 stars - you laugh hysterically when we put the bath cup on your head and you watch it tumble off. You love being outside and having lots of things to look at. I'm excited for cooler fall weather when we can be outside for longer stretches of time.

You are quite ticklish and you love playing peekaboo or just watching us make silly faces at you. You welcome all forms of attention. Charlie still entertains you most of all and gets the biggest laughs out of you. You like any toy you can put in your mouth. I swear you are *this* close to getting some teeth, but I've been saying that all month and nothing has popped up yet so who knows?!

You've been happier riding in the car these days, and you're pretty great about sleeping on the go. If we go to the park in the morning, you'll happily snooze in the stroller or carrier. Of course, you are always happy to be held - especially while walking around. You spent a lot of extra time being held during all your fussing this month.

I'd say Charlie has been more interested in you this month. He likes to bring you toys - especially your watermelon teether. He'll also bring your baby gym over to you and turn on the musical star. Before we leave the house, he'll gather a few toys to put in your car seat with you. I think he finds you a little more interesting now that you can sit up and grab toys. On the downside to his renewed interest is that he thinks its funny to push you over. It's not overtly malicious, but he sees you tumble over while sitting all the time, and he apparently thinks it's funny when "baby fall down." It doesn't happen very often, but we've instituted time outs to hopefully help curb that behavior. Again, it's a good thing you're tough. I suspect this won't be the last time you'll have to learn how to hold your own against your big brother.

I'll end with my favorite moment from the month. One evening you were being particularly fussy during dinner. I was trying to clean up the dishes so I turned some baby lullabies on my phone and set it down next to you on the floor in an attempt to keep you happy. Soon enough, you rolled over onto my phone, managed to call the pediatrician's office and left a 30-second voicemail of yourself crying. I went to pick you up and saw what was happening. What are the chances you managed to do that with just one roll?! I can't imagine what they thought the next day when they got that voicemail. 

I hear you stirring from your nap so it must be time to wrap this up. We love you! Happy half year!

Charlie is two and a half

I think it's high time we check in on Charlie for a little update. It's been almost 6 months since I wrote about his happenings. I know I'm biased, but to sum it up, you're just plain adorable. Your red hair (and probably mischievous look) still gets attention all the time. You're especially popular with grandmas who once had little redhead boys themselves. It also doesn't hurt that you are sweet boy who can charm the socks off anyone (once you get to know them, of course).

You weren't such a fan of charming the pediatrician and nurses at your 2.5 yr appointment, however, but we did manage to get you weighed and measured. You weigh 35 lbs (92%) and are 39.5" tall (99%). No wonder most people think you are older than you really are! You wear 4-5T clothes right now.

Luckily, you were fine at the doctor's office once they were done with the poking and prodding. You also didn't shed a tear during the shots. You just don't love other people touching your head. Hats and sunglasses are still a hard no even though you HATE the sun in your eyes. Putting on sunscreen is not your favorite either. Haircuts have also become a disaster. We've literally had to hold you down to get through the last two. No amount of snacks or Elmo could make it better. You hate seeing the hair fall off your head - for some reason it seems to scare you.

You are affectionate and generous with hugs and kisses with people you know, but you are initially shy with unfamiliar people. It doesn't take you long to warm up, but it's not immediate. You can also be a little hesitant at first in new situations and skeptical of new places. While we were in Oklahoma, Abby took your hand to lead into nursery at their church. You are fine if you have a buddy by your side! You can also be scared of things that really aren't too scary - like noisy car toys, haircuts or Papa's tractor, which you talked about non-stop but refused to go near. These things don't send you into a meltdown, but you just kind of back away slowly and won't get too close.

You have made so much progress in the language department. At your yearly evaluation this spring, they determined that you are only behind in your expressive language - what you can actually say. Everything else is right on target! You are rapidly adding words and putting together more and more sentences by the day. The way you pronounce things is pretty darn cute. You have a sweet little cadence that is often pretty quiet or timid. I love the way your voice gets a little high-pitched when you repeat things, and how you always nod your head when you say "yesssss". Dada and I understand most of what you say, but we have to interpret for people who aren't around you as often. Some of my current favorites are "tank you" "baby weee-o" and "waffle."

With more words, comes more demands. Recent new sentences have been "Mama eat it" as you handed me a chicken nugget, or "Charlie push it" when you wanted to push your blue car all by yourself. "Chase, Mama!" has also been a favorite lately. I'm getting my exercise these days. Everything is about "owies" these days. Even inanimate objects cannot be saved. If you drop a piece of food, for example, you usually exclaim "Oh no! Owie." We are trying to harness the power of this into teaching you to be gentle and/or not to throw things that can cause injury.

We have the same conversation all day, every day. It's all about riding in someone's car. "Ride in Mama's car.....Ride in Dada's car....Everything is Papa's tractor and whenever we Facetime with Shi Shi the first thing he says is "Shi Shi's car." After we went to see the fireworks on July 4, you said "Ride in Mama's car *gibberish* Fireworks!" You always start and finish strong, but you don't always string together real words in the middle. So Mama's car was all about fireworks. Meanwhile, it was "Ride in Dada's car *gibberish* ice cream or donuts or air in wheel (because of the time you went to fill Jon's tire with air...the ice cream and donut associations need no explain - just envision me rolling my eyes right now).

The words you choose to say always makes me raise an eyebrow. For example, you knew the name of every construction vehicle before you could say milk. Washing machine, apple pie and vitamins were also added before more useful things like "thank you." For some odd reason, you call bugs "bunnies." You are adding words so quickly these days that it no longer surprises me when he says something new. You will also try to repeat just about anything we ask you to say.

You know how to fold your hands to pray before mealtime, and we're working on learning how to sing Jesus loves me. So far, you're got the "Me!" down and you like to flex your muscles and say strong too. You can name all the letters in the alphabet and count to 10.

You generally don't care what you wear if I don't make a big deal about picking out your clothes while you are distracted. If you take notice, however, you always insist on wearing your teal shirt with the banana on it and your yellow shorts. At bedtime, if given a choice, you always want to wear your Dory pajamas. You can help put on shirts and pull up your shorts/pants. You can do zippers, but not buttons yet. You like to pick out your shoes too, which you name by color. You can also put shoes on, but we generally do it for you for the sake of time.

You are still a champion sleeper. Going to bed around 7 (it's been a little later over the summer months) and getting up between 7:30-8. You nap from about 1-4. The first thing you like to do when you get up is stand on your fire truck and look out the window. It's kind of your own personal neighborhood watch program. You also like to give us the weather report and announce if it's raining, cloudy or sunny. You are still in your crib and sleep sack and I have no plans to rock that boat anytime soon. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. Potty training is also a long way off. Some things just don't seem like they are worth the effort right now. I'll fight those battles later when we're both ready.

Things haven't changed much on the food front. You eat a lot of a limited number of things. Lots of fruit, yogurt, and carbs. Breakfast for dinner is a favorite. You love bacon, and often request waffles. You also really like sauces these days. I've seen you dip some ridiculous things in Chick-fil-a sauce, which you would eat by the handful if left to your own devices. As you've learned more food words, you have a little more of an opinion about what you want. "Snack, animal cracker, ice cream, waffle, donut, and fruit snacks" are all favorites to say, and eat, but only on occasion. At least you also finally learned to say many fruit words. Sometimes you go foraging for your own snacks. Within the last week, I've been upstairs with Leo and you've brought me a popsicle and animal crackers to open before 9:00 a.m. Mama said no.

You still love all things boy, and spend most of the day covered in dirt, mud, water, chalk, food, paint...you name it. We keep laundry stain remover companies in business. You love anything that involves transportation and/or construction. You like to point to things in books and ask me what they are (your "what's that" sounds more like "uhhhh-nat?"). You love all your trucks, trains and cars. You love lining them up and getting them organized just right. Nothing is more delightful than seeing these things out in the wild. You recently watched through the fence as a forklift delivered some shingles next door for a solid 30 minutes. You still like puzzles and can do multi-piece interlocking puzzles with ease.

You like anything that involves a ball, and you take to athletic things easily. You have pretty impressive hand-eye coordination for a toddler. You can swing and hit the ball, and you have learned how to catch. You also love being in the water and can "swim" around without any help with your floaties on.

Elmo still has a place in your heart, but your current obsessions are Finding Dory and Finding Nemo. You ask to "watch fish" almost every morning and you get to watch for about 30 minutes while Mama gets ready and/or feeds baby Leo and gets him ready.

You're a funny kid. You have the best laugh and can really get going while being tickled or playing a game of chase or even just making funny faces at the dinner table. Yet, you are also very serious. You can't be bothered when you are concentrating on something. It takes some work to get you to smile on demand. Yet, you'll be sitting quietly at the table and then all of a sudden you'll yell "Pickle!!!" with your arms up in the air (it started after Aunt Mae Mae used that technique to try to get you and Abby to look up and smile for a picture...somehow it stuck and you do it at random all the time). So it's really the tale of two Charlies. Quiet, methodical, and somewhat shy vs. silly, energetic and curious.

You definitely like routine and knowing what to expect, yet you can also be adaptable when necessary. Once you've made a connection, you think that has to happen every time. For example, when Miss Molly our speech therapist comes every other week, you head straight for the basement door because you know we always play downstairs when she is here. And the other day, we were going to the ATM when you spotted the frozen yogurt shop and declared it ice cream time. We have to be careful now what we say out loud to avoid you thinking it's about to happen. Cheers to practicing our spelling! :)

You are becoming more helpful all the time. You like to do chores. You help Dada gather the trash every week and pull the cans to the curb. You also like to help Mama put clothes in the dryer or bring in the groceries. And once you start something, you have to finish the job. We can never leave a room until all the cars are stacked on the carrier or you've flipped through every page in the book, etc. Every task must be completed before you can move on. Mama is learning to be patient about this.

You got a new play set this spring that is a big hit. The swings are your favorite part. You like riding in both of them (bucket swing and regular), and you've learned how to properly use the big boy swing. You just recently learned how to climb the rock wall and had no trouble climbing up it as soon as you decided you were willing to try. You like the stairs and slide too, but utilize them more when other kids are around to play with you. You went down the slide without abandon at first, but now you insist on holding someone's hand or having someone at the bottom to catch you. But, if we are at the park or someone else's house, you'll follow the other kids and climb, jump, slide without hesitation. You might be more timid on your own sometimes, but when you see other kids, you join right in without fear.

Speaking of other kids, you like to interact more and more with your friends. You know the names of some of your friends. You love chase, and will often jump right in with whatever other kids are doing or playing. You generally share pretty well and are willing to take turns or move on to something else until the toy is freed up. You even have a furry friend. You love when my friend Lindsay comes over with her dog Gilbert. You are always a little fearful at first, but it only takes a few minutes before you are playing ball with him or gently petting him. Just the other day, you learned how to ask to shake his paw. We gave you a treat to give to Gilbert, but you tried to eat it first. Lol!

Your adjustment to Leo has been mostly painless. We're so proud of how you've handled such a big change with ease. I'd say you had a little period where you decreased independent play a little bit, and you've had a few rare moments where you showed some signs of annoyance at his presence. But otherwise, you seem to really like him...when you decide you want to pay attention to him that is. You like to make him laugh and sometimes want to hold him or give him hugs/kisses, but most of the time, you go about your day without paying him much mind. It's nothing personal, you're just too busy playing. I think you're ready for him to grow bigger so he can play with you.

You do like to push the stroller, but that's always an adventure because you don't like us to help so we have to work to subtlety make sure you don't crash. Lately, you have asked me to put baby down when you want to read or sit in my lap, but you have been fairly patient with me and him. You are still always ready to let me know when the baby is crying (as if I don't hear him), and whenever he laughs, you say "Baby silly!" I'm so excited to see your relationship develop and grow.

I'd say you've had a much harder time lately with the amount of travel Dada has been doing. It's no secret that you are a mini Jon, and it's hard on you when your partner in crime isn't home. Probably because of him being gone a lot this summer, you've developed a little separation anxiety. I tried to drop you off at church nursery last Sunday, but you completely melted down upon arrival. They had to pry you off of me. I assumed you would calm down once I left (you've been perfectly happy to be there for months and months), but you did not. They had to call us back to get you. And then at playgroup this week, you were not thrilled with Dada leaving. He had to sneak out while you were distracted. The supervisors reported that you were sad for a minute when you realized he was gone, but otherwise did just fine. We are hoping this is just a short phase that you'll overcome when this busy travel season is over. And really hoping this isn't still a problem when you start preschool in September!

For a 2.5 year old, I'd still say you are incredibly easy-going with a pretty mild temperament. Full blown tantrums are still pretty rare and short-lived. But, of course, none of us are perfect, and you have been testing boundaries more often. When you aren't getting the attention you want or if you are upset, you will throw things. We've worked really hard to learn appropriate ways to ask for attention (if I had a penny for the number of times I now hear "Mama!" or "I need help" every day....), and to learn the difference between things that are hard vs. things that are soft vs. balls that can be thrown.

Your other fun behavior is when we have to force you to cooperate. For example, leaving a place, going upstairs for bedtime routine, or picking you up because you won't willingly walk to the car, etc. you like to express your displeasure by taking swipes at us. Of course this usually happens while you are being picked up against your will so the swipes generally hit us in the face. Lovely. We haven't come up with a great discipline routine for this yet, but we try to offer choices as much as possible so you have the opportunity to obey before we have to force you.

You also have a tendency to run away. In which case, we force you to sit down and be still until you agree to hold our hands and stay with us. Safety first. I'm sorry we are such mean parents that don't let you run wild in the street.

I do see our consistency starting to pay off in some ways, and you've just recently started to show remorse. When we have to be stern with you, a minute or two later, you usually give me an unprompted hug. Empathy is setting in too. You teared up the other day when Dada bumped his head and said "ow" and your little lip quivered and tears welled up in your eyes when you were playing with Leo and he started to cry (it was no fault of yours).

This could really go on and on. I keep thinking of things I want to remember! Every day you do, say or understand something new. It's such a wild ride to watch you grow and learn and discover. You bring us so much joy. We love you!

leo is 5 months

This will be known as the month your ankles disappeared. Happens to the best of us. If I had to sum you up in two words, it would still be fat and happy. And yes, I still affectionately call you Fatty Fatty. Your cheeks are still glorious, and a big hit wherever we go.

I would guess you weigh 19 lbs now, give or take. You wear 6-9 month clothes, but are rapidly outgrowing this size. Unfortunately, my clothes-sharing plan isn't working out so great. Your big brother stayed in 3-6 months for a while, and you barely spent much time in that range. We have a few warm months left, but you've started to outgrow all of your summer outfits because Charlie's 9-12 month stuff is mostly fall/winter. The other day, I put you in a 12-18 month Thanksgiving shirt - besides the sleeves being too long, it fit perfectly. I don't think you'll be wearing it come turkey day at this rate. I had to get out the box of Charlie's 12-18 month clothes to scavenge for anything we could make work. Oh well, this just means Mama will have to do some shopping. :)

You are desperate to be on the move. You roll both ways easily now, and I rarely find you in the same spot I left you these days. You easily grab toys, and you like to put things in your mouth. You have discovered your toes, and you've managed to overcome your fat rolls to stick them in your mouth too.

Sleep remains a mystery. We had a little stretch where you would roll onto your stomach and get mad because you couldn't roll back. I had to go on more than one rescue mission. Luckily, you finally learned to just roll back or better yet, be ok with sleeping on your stomach. Most of the time now, you do end up asleep on your stomach.

We've somehow managed to land on a schedule without much effort, but it's not exactly the schedule I would have chosen. Your day looks something like this:
8:30-9: Wake up
10:30-12: Nap
2:00-4: Nap
5:30: Nap
9:30/10: Bed

Naps have been great, and I'm thankful for that. You take three naps a day going down every 2 hrs or so. We've even had some success getting you to fall asleep independently in your crib. Sometimes even if I try to nurse you to sleep, you almost demand to just be left alone so you can fall asleep on your own. You sleep 1-2 hours each nap, but usually I have to wake you up after 1.5 hours to preserve your next nap. Whoever said you should never wake a sleeping baby, has obviously never known the joys of a baby on a schedule. Sure, it would be great to let you sleep 2-3 hours in the morning, but then you won't sleep all afternoon. Not worth it!

Nighttime, however, is another story. Partly because you are such a great daytime napper, you've become a bit of a night owl. You basically refuse to go to sleep until 9:30-10 p.m. No matter when I start your bedtime routine, you resist until you get so tired you finally give in. And there is no independent sleep at night - you always insist on nursing to sleep. The good news is that we have had a handful of nights where you've slept an 8+ stretch, and the late bedtime does mean you wake up late in the morning too (or rather I have to wake you up by 9:00 am!). The bad news is that bedtime turns into a marathon nursing session every night. And because you still (STILL) refuse to take a bottle, Mama basically can never, ever leave you. I see what you're doing here....

I'm not totally sure what the answer is, but we probably do have some sleep training in our future. We need to work on moving your schedule up to a more reasonable bedtime, and you need to learn to fall asleep without nursing. Of course, these things are easier said than done, and I'm still not sure how I want to tackle everything...or in what order. And on one hand, I kind of hate to rock the boat and potentially lose our late morning wake-up and it is pretty nice that your afternoon nap coincides with Charlie's nap.

Speaking of tackling things, one reason I have left well enough alone is because Dada has been traveling a lot lately. In fact, he is gone for some part of every single week in both July and August. Every. Single. Week. Mama is just trying to survive so enjoy your late-night partying while you can. It won't last forever, little buddy.

Charlie has taken much more of an interest in your lately.  He likes to make you laugh (and he definitely makes you laugh the hardest of any of us). When he succeeds in getting you to chuckle, he always says "Baby silly." He is happy to show you things when prompted - holding out his trucks for you to see or driving his tractor over to you. One day, you were getting fussy at the dinner table, and when I said it was because you needed to eat, Charlie held out his fork for you. The other day he brought me a book while I was holding you and said "Read a book. Baby down." But he was patient to wait until you were done nursing before climbing in my lap.

He's even been receptive to photos lately, happily holding you or laying down next to you when asked. One morning, when you were asleep in the pack n play in our room (after an early morning feeding when I was too lazy to put you back in your crib), Charlie went into your room looking for you, saw the empty crib and exclaimed, "Oh no! Baby Leo!" Apparently he thought Mama done lost the baby. It's so so sweet to see you smile, laugh and interact with your big brother. I think he's really excited for you to continue to grow up so you can be his play buddy.

You've spent a little time in your jumperoo, and you enjoy it for a few minutes before it gets boring. This could be said about all of your toys, playmats, etc. You probably still need a little time to grow into it to truly enjoy the benefits of jumping. You don't seem to have any favorite toys or books yet. You like anything you can easily hold or chew.

You love being naked and bath time never disappoints. Your drool game is strong, and you love chewing on my fingers and your own fingers and/or toes. There are still no teeth or immediate signs of any teeth.

You are quite ticklish. You like when we sing to you. You wiggle all the time. You still smile at anyone who smiles at you or gives you any amount of attention. You're happy whenever you are being held. You've pretty much outgrown your mamaroo and rock n play, but I still stick you in there every once in a while when I need to contain you somewhere.

This month, you went with Mama and Dada to the Home Run Derby and All-Star Game. Back to back nights out late - and perhaps the cause of your recent late bedtime preference. You did great both times. You were a big hit in your baseball gear and headphones. You slept through most of the events in the carrier.

There isn't a whole lot that makes you mad - maybe just being tired, going to bed at night, and anytime you just aren't getting enough attention. I always think this 4-6 month stretch is hard on Mamas and babes. It's not because you are difficult by any means. It's just that time when all babies start to develop ideas about how, when, and where you want to sleep, eat and play, yet aren't quite able to control any of that. You're just over the laying around phase of babyhood. You want to be up and on the move. We are working on sitting up every day because I think you'll be even happier and more content when you can entertain yourself and be a little more part of the action. Right now, you can tripod sit for a minute or so.

We've officially applied for your passport, and you're all cheeks in the photo. We're hoping there are many adventures in the future for you and your cheeks!

leo is 4 months

We're super late this month, but I have a good excuse. We spent the last 2.5 weeks in Oklahoma visiting Shi Shi, PaPa, Aunt Mae Mae, Uncle Boo and Abby. Today was actually my first day home by myself with both boys in about 3 weeks. I forgot how much harder this is without all the extra hands to help!

We had a crazy travel day getting home. We dealt with a delay, having to sit on a boarded plane for about 1.5 hours before takeoff, and a missing bag. You did pretty good on all the flights - only getting a little fussy at the tail end of a few legs, but man, those 15-20 minutes with a fussy, crying baby feel like an eternity. It wasn't a total meltdown with solid crying, but it was taking all my effort to keep the cries to an intermittent level. You could have been better, but you could have been worse. I don't blame you, though. Even the adults were pretty fed up when we arrived late in D.C. to find out we had to keep waiting because our gate still wasn't ready for us.

To make things even more fun, we woke up the next morning and went as one big happy family to the pediatrician - the 4 month visit for you, and the 2.5 yr visit for Charlie. It should come as no surprise that big brother was a bigger problem at said appointment.

You, on the other hand, were a perfect angel - spending a good portion of the time sleeping on mama. You got a perfect bill of health and bonus points for being extra strong. Your only demerit was for your continued rejection of the bottle. To no one's surprise, you are still quite the chunk, and you would probably look even chubbier if you weren't also so long. You weigh just over 18 lbs (90%) and are just under 27 inches long (96%). And yes, that head is still a giant. I affectionately nicknamed you "Fatty fatty" while we were in Oklahoma. It's no secret that I LOVE fat babies, and I'm pretty much obsessed with your wobbly cheeks - that literally shake at the slightest head movement - your chubby thighs, and those arm rolls. It's just the best, and all I ever want to do is squeeze you.

This update (and really all the monthly posts) will pretty much just cover the last one-two weeks or so. I honestly can't remember what was even happening at the beginning of this month...which is exactly why I write these posts. All I know is that your Dada went to trial in Charlotte and Shi Shi came to help us stay afloat, and we survived... barely. I think the second half of this month was much better. And luckily that's the part I can remember for purposes of this blog. :)

Let's start with sleep. Before leaving for Oklahoma, we had worked up to an 8:00 p.m. bedtime with an 11:00 p.m. dream feed, but you were still waking up to eat around 3:30 a.m. and sometimes again in the early morning (6-7ish). You basically did the same thing when we were in Oklahoma (save two nights when you just wanted to party from 2:30-5. Thanks for that, buddy!), but the last several nights I started to have trouble getting you to go down. From about 8-11, you just want to be eating. I nurse you to sleep, but you either wake right up when I try to put you down or you only sleep 30-45 minutes before waking up again. It feels a little like being back in the cluster feeding newborn days (although not quite that drastic). So that's been a bit frustrating BUT, on the plus side, all this extra feeding before bed has resulted in better sleep. The last two nights in Oklahoma, you only woke up once around 4:30-5, and then the first night home (after our epic travel day), you slept through the night for the first time EVER. I woke up at 8:00 a.m. shocked that it was that late and you were still sleeping. That's nine straight hours of sleep...and it couldn't have come at a better time. Of course, you haven't repeated that since, but you have been sleeping until 5-6 a.m. before nursing and going back to sleep until 8-9 a.m. I'll take it.

The plan had been to start some sleep training when we got home, and I do still think that needs to happen, but we might see how this plays out for a bit. I hate to rock the boat when I'm finally starting to get more consistent long sleep stretches.

You are no longer swaddled. We made that change right before leaving because you really just didn't fit in the swaddles anymore, and you were also starting to break free pretty easily. It was becoming more of a distraction than anything. Thankfully, we had already been working on taking naps sans swaddle so it was no big deal for you to sleep at night just wearing your woolino blanket. We didn't even have to use the magic merlin suit as a transition. And it's a good thing we pulled the plug because you started rolling over pretty consistently right after we ditched the swaddle. And no, we don't need to talk about how it pulls at my heart strings to no longer have a little burrito sleeping next to me.

The other big news is that you have also outgrown the bassinet. Do you see a theme here? You just did not fit anymore. I squeezed you in there for the last couple of nights at home, but then you slept in a pack n play in Oklahoma and enjoyed having all that extra room to stretch out. Now that we are back home, I've set up the pack n play in our room. We plan to move you to your crib at night soon, but we needed to get settled back into a routine at home before making that leap. Also, mama just ain't ready yet. I like having you close by at night.

One of the many great things about being in Oklahoma is that I was able to focus on your naps because there was always someone around to help out with Charlie. I made some great progress, and learned some valuable intel. For example, you like a really dark, quiet room and the sound machine is a big help. These seem pretty obvious - especially when this isn't my first rodeo - but you'd be surprised how hard it is to focus on all those things when juggling the needs of two kiddos. Also, it's only within this last few weeks that you've became more aware of your surroundings, and therefore, easily distracted while trying to fall asleep. We have definitely transitioned away from that newborn baby that can fall asleep anywhere at any time.

I also learned that 2 hours is about your max amount of awake time between naps. We aren't on a schedule per se, but the clock starts for the day whenever you wake up and I know that you'll need to be going down for a nap roughly 1.5-2 hours after that. I've been nursing you to sleep for naps, and so far it's working - although I know it won't work forever (and will eventually be part of your sleep training...but we'll tackle nighttime before naps). You go down easily as long as you are tired, but not too tired - hence that magic 2-hour window. You'll sleep anywhere from 1-3 hours. Whenever you wake up from nap #1, the 2-hour countdown starts again. By the end of the day, you've usually taken 3 naps.

If we aren't at home where I can nurse you to sleep and put you in your crib, the next best thing is standing and swaying or walking. You can imagine that my back is not a fan of this method, but on a plane or at church, etc. it's the easiest way to get you to fall asleep. You also love napping while I'm wearing you. Of course, even though it kills my back, I do secretly love having you sleep all cuddled up next to me. But when I can't keep holding you, I can put you down and you'll stay asleep. On the 4th of July, we went swimming, and you even stayed asleep when I laid you down on a towel on a beach chair. Even though you can be bothered by noise or light while trying to fall asleep, once you are out, you do sleep pretty hard.

You enjoyed your time in Oklahoma, which is not the least bit surprising considering there was always someone around willing to hold you. You are a pretty happy, content little fellow, but you definitely prefer to be held over anything else. You are also at that baby stage where you get bored easily because there's just only so much you can do right now. Every 10-15 minutes, you like to change locations or have something new to see. Like most babies, I think you'll be pretty excited when you can sit up and be a little more independent.

You've started grasping objects and can reach out and grab things as well. It's only a matter of time before you grabbing whatever you want and sticking it in your mouth. We've also discovered that you really love music. We have a little star that lights up and plays music and it's really helped to keep you happy in the car. You also like when Dada whistles for you, and a few times during your all-night parties, the only way I could get you to fall back asleep was by playing lullabies on youtube.

You smile at anyone or anything that will look at you. It's of no surprise that Papa was able to get the best smiles and biggest giggles out of you. Your big brother used to attract attention because he stared into people's souls. You attract attention because you're just so fat and happy. People love your cheeks, and you eat it right up by playing to your audience with big smiles and lots of chattering. For someone who is so smily, your resting face is quite the opposite. Your other expression is a look of mild concern like you just aren't too sure about us.

Speaking of those cheeks, you are outgrowing things at a rapid pace. While Shi Shi was in town, we got out the 6-12 month box of clothes and discovered several things in there were already too small or barely fit. Apparently Charlie was still wearing 3-6 months stuff past the 6-month mark so several things ended up in that box. I've put you in so many hand-me-downs already that are a solid "one and done" because it's a tight squeeze. I think you also had a growth spurt while we were in OK because by the end of the trip, you didn't really fit into any of the sleepers I had brought for you. You wear size 3 diapers, and are rapidly outgrowing 3-6 month sizes in favor of 6-9 month stuff.

You are drooling all over the place and chewing on your hands (or my hands!) in earnest. We'll see if this means any teeth are trying to pop up. I've learned that the only way you really know if a baby is teething is when you can see an actual tooth. ;) Still no pacifier, and still no bottle. I'm losing hope, but the pediatrician said there was no harm in trying sippy cups and/or just letting you cry while I leave the house. I'm hoping we can eventually find a happy balance where I can at least be able to put you down at night and know you'll stay asleep so I can leave the house in peace.

You went for your first swim in OK, and had a grand time. Even though the water was pretty chilly, you loved floating around. Oddly, you didn't really smile a ton, but you seemed to enjoyed it nonetheless. You still love bath time. You also like laying on your activity mat and playing with all the funs things hanging down. We tried out the bumbo seat for the first time today. I had to squeeze your thighs in, but you did like being able to sit up and lasted for a few minutes before starting to slump over.

As mentioned, you are rolling now. The first roll was back to front at the beginning of the month, but it seemed pretty accidental. Soon after that, you went from back to front, which seemed much more intentional. Since then, you've really mastered back to front, but have only gone front to back one other time. It takes a lot of momentum to get all those rolls to roll.

There isn't too much you don't like except maybe not getting enough attention or not getting to be held as much as you would like. You've been doing much better in the car thanks to your star music toy. You do get cranky if you get overtired, but otherwise, it's not too difficult to keep you happy.

I'm afraid to say that Charlie is losing interest in you. He doesn't seem to dislike you, but he also doesn't seem to particularly like you either. We've settled on complete ambivalence. He likes to point out things that belong to you (baby's sound machine), and he never fails to tell me when you are crying (as if I don't already hear you), but otherwise, he's indifferent. We have to bribe him to agree to hold you or sit next to you for a photo. I think he's waiting until you can play with him a little more or perhaps he's just finally realized that you're here to stay.

We, however, are not losing interest in you. Quite the opposite, in fact. It's so fun to start to see little glimpses of your personality come out. It only gets more fun from here, and we can't wait to continue to watch you grow.

why would i want this, mom? 

no more room in the bassinet