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Category: Kids & Parenting

8 Months

Dear Zachary,

When I think of you these days only one word comes to mind.  Amazing.  You amaze me on a daily basis.  Every time I turn around you are doing something that I didn’t know you could do.  You are eight months old today, 2/3 of the way through your first year, and I can’t believe how quickly it has passed.

s41101cb103617_4_0It has been so much fun to watch you grow and learn this month.  You started crawling last month, but this month you really perfected it.  You can move faster on your hands and knees than I can on my feet most of the time.  We had to invest in some baby gates to keep you confined to the living room.  If I put you down and turn around for even a second you manage to get into something you aren’t supposed to be in.  I decided that you must really like to hear mommy yell because everytime you manage to get into the kitchen you go straight for the cat food bowl and dump it out.  You also have quite a fondness for mommy’s book shelves and computer cord.  They seem to be your favorite toys.

When you aren’t crawling around wreaking havoc, you are usually pulling yourself up and reaching for things that I thought would be far out of your reach for some time yet.  It is officially time for all of my pretty stuff to be put away, as well as anything else that falls below the three foot level that you can get your hands on.  Pretty much anything that you can touch will end up either in your mouth or on the floor.  The word “no” is becoming much more frequent in my vocabulary and I think you are starting to learn what it means even though you usually just turn around and laugh when I say it.

s41101cb103617_18With Alicia’s help at day care you are finally taking more consistent naps and going to bed much easier.  Instead of nursing and rocking you to sleep, I now just have to put you in bed, turn on the mobile and in about two minutes you are asleep.  Sometimes you cry a little bit, but the last few days you haven’t even cried when I put you down. 

I still haven’t figured out how to get you to sleep through the night though.  It will seem like you are making some progress, sleeping 5-6 hours before you wake up, and then you’ll start waking up every two hours again.  You did sleep all the way through the night one night.  I woke up in a panic at 6:30 in the morning because I hadn’t heard from you all night.  Just so I didn’t worry too much you woke me up at least once every hour the next night.  I can’t even tell you how much I appreciated that.  I’m not sure what I did right that one night that you decided to sleep, but if you could clue me in that would be great.

s41101cb103617_10The other area where you have me completely flabergasted is when it comes to food.  You have always been a very good eater since you started on foods.  I recently started giving you some soft table foods and finger foods.  You really seem to enjoy feeding yourself.  You have become a lot more coordinated over the last few weeks and whatever is in your hand almost always gets to your mouth now.  You are also finally figuring out how to drink from a sippy cup.  What I can’t figure out is that sometimes you want to feed yourself and other times you get mad when I don’t spoon feed you every bite.  Sometimes you just don’t want to eat at all, which I really don’t understand because I don’t think I’ve ever experienced that feeling of not wanting to eat.  Momma and Daddy love to eat and we just assumed that you had inherited that from us. 

Some of your favorite foods that we have discovered are spagetti and meat sauce, goldfish, Gerber veggie crackers, mashed potatoes, broccoli, and pretty much any kind of fruit.  You have grown really tired of eating oatmeal for breakfast so we started exploring some other options.  Your favorite breakfast these days consists of Cheerios and about 1/3 of a banana.  You love it and it makes it much easier on me because you can feed yourself.

s41101cb103617_16You really seem to enjoy learning about your mouth and all of the fun things it will do.  You started clicking your tongue last week and laugh whenever someone clicks back at you.  You also have started to smack your lips together like you are kissing which I find to be absolutely adorable.

I haven’t mentioned it yet because I wanted to save the best for last, but my heart totally and completely melted when you finally started saying “Mama” last week.  You started saying “Dada” just before Christmas.  Then somewhere along the way you figured out how to say “bubba,” then “Mama,” and just in the last few days you are working on “nana.”  You seem to really know what Dada and Mama mean and when you get mad you usually scream “Mamamamamamamamama” which is ok, but could you please yell at Dada a little bit too?  I’m sure it can’t always be my fault!

s41101cb103617_14I still can’t believe how fast you are growing.  At 8 months old you are already wearing 18 months size in clothes.  You weigh 22 pounds now and have definitely surpassed your cousin Ryan who is almost 7 months older than you.  People are always surprised when I tell them how old you really are.

Daddy and I have been talking lately about how we wish we could have another tiny little baby to hold.  You are growing up so fast and we already miss those days when you would just cuddle up in our arms and sleep for hours.  Each day with you now is a completely new experience.  You are constantly changing and it is so much fun to watch.  I am so proud of you and everything you have accomplished already.  You are truly my inspiration for everything these days.  I love you so very, very much.

Love,
Mama

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The Word That Melted My Heart

Sometimes you just don’t know how things are going to hit you.  I headed home lastnight as usual, picked Zach up from day care, drove home, went inside, and started getting ready for dinner.  I put Zach in the highchair with some snacks while I got his food ready.  I was talking and playing with him as I moved around the kitchen and stopped by to give him a little kiss on the cheek.  As I turned away from his chair, he belted out "Mama!" 

I turned back around to see him and he proceeded to yell out "Mamamamamamamamama!"  Seriously, the kid has been saying "Dada" since Christmas and I was getting a little tired of it all.  He did say "Mama" a couple of weeks ago, but I think it was purely an experiment with sounds.  This time, he knew what he was saying. 

I know they say that babies don’t associate words and meanings, but my kid is smart and he knows what he’s saying.  When Hubby walks into the room he says "Dada" and this morning every time I walked away from him he would say "Mama". 

Do you have any idea how hard it is not to just swoop him up and smother him in kisses when he calls out to me?  Maybe I’m making a big deal out of it, but every time I hear him say it, it just makes my heart melt.  It is so nice that he now has a word to use instead of crying when he wants me!

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7 Months

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Today Zachary turned seven months old. In the last month it seems like he has changed from a helpless infant into a very charming little man. In no time at all he learned to sit up, crawl, talk (well, he can say “dada” over and over and over again), pull himself up to a standing position, and even grew two teeth. He has learned to communicate when he wants to be picked up and when he wants to be put down. He responds when spoken to (usually with “dada”) and looks up when you call his name. And seriously, this kid has the most amazing laugh I’ve ever heard. I could sit around for hours tickling him just to hear him laugh. I am so in love with him and even though I’m not sure it is even possible, I think my love for him gets stronger every day.

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Developmental Milestones Galore

I really should be working and getting caught back up, but I really just want to be blogging.  I haven’t written anything in over a week and it is about to drive me nuts.  I didn’t realize just how much I missed it until today when I actually sat down in front of a computer again.  So, I figured I could just write something short and sweet and get it out of my system for a little bit.  Plus, I really wanted to share some exciting new developments.

Zachary turned 6 months old yesterday.  Can you believe it?  Half a year has already raced by.  I just cannot believe how quickly the time goes when you have children.  Three days before he hit that 6-month mark (Friday) he said his first word, which of course was "dada".  His daddy was awfully proud but I had to bring him down a little when I told him that most babies do say that first and that Zach most likely has no idea what it actually means.  It is still pretty exciting anyway.  Then, on Christmas Eve as we were sitting in church I discovered that he has two little teeth just about ready to pop through the gums.  My boobs are definitely not looking forward to the teeth, but I am looking forward to him being able to eat some real food (that baby food is expensive!) once he gets a couple more teeth in.  Also, he is really close to being able to sit up by himself.  As long as he has a toy or something he is interested in he will sit up.  If he doesn’t have a distraction, he flops right over.  It is kind of funny to watch.

Anyway, there is my baby update.  I was just dying to get that out.  Now that you all have been informed, I will go back to work.  Hopefully tomorrow I will have pictures.

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Just When I Needed You Most

Zachary is one sick little baby. I got an e-mail from the baby-sitter halfway through the day on Tuesday saying that I didn’t have to come pick him up, but that if I could or wanted to come get him he wasn’t feeling very well. He had been coughing for a couple days but there weren’t any other symptoms and it didn’t seem to be bothering him too awfully much. So, I went and picked him up and he was just miserable.

Yesterday I called in to work and stayed home with him. Yesterday morning it started snowing. All day long, it kept snowing. Hubby came home from work early, which allowed me to actually get a little bit of work done that I had brought home the day before. We kept watching out the window and it kept snowing. This is what we woke up to this morning:

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We ended up with about a foot of snow. Since hubby got the ok to go into work late today, he set out to shovel the front circle drive. I think he spent about an hour outside shoveling. Then he shoveled the driveway just enough to get my car out of the garage and park it in the front (we always do this when it snows because our driveway is a bitch when it gets icy. we can’t even get out with the 4-wheel drive!).

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I was a good wife while he was out there freezing his butt off and fixed him a nice big mug of hot chocolate to warm him up a bit. Shortly afterward, he set out for work. Last I talked to him his truck had already gotten stuck twice in the snow.

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Since it is yucky out and Zach is still sick, I got another day at home today. I hate that my baby is sick, but the last two days have been absolutely wonderful for me. I have been so busy lately and really needed a couple days to wind down. So, Zach and I have been doing lots of snuggling and laying around. I have also taken the opportunity to get a few Christmas gifts wrapped. I’m pretty sure Zach thought I was going to wrap him up too!

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I finally got him down for a nap IN HIS CRIB so that I could get some blogging time in before I have withdrawls. I need to finish wrapping up a few more gifts and then fold some laundry before he wakes up, so I should get going. My mom is going to come over tonight to hang out because she’s tired of being cooped up in her apartment by herself so I need to clean up a bit too.

But, before I go, I can’t resist posting this photo:
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Poor baby

What’s worse than having to stay home cause you are sick? Having to stay home because your sweet little helpless baby is sick.

I took Zach to the doctor yesterday for his 4-month check-up and immunizations. He did really well at the doctor’s and then ended up staying with me at work the rest of the day. He was a little fussy after the shots, but not too bad. As the night progressed, he started getting more and more fussy. I could tell he wasn’t feeling too good. He had a bit of a runny nose and was coughing every once in a while. He fought me when I tried to put him to sleep, but I finally got him in bed around 9:30.

He woke up about an hour later and I brought him to bed with me to snuggle for a bit. He didn’t wake up again until about 1:30 but he was burning up. I fumbled around and gave him a dose of tylenol and he went right back to sleep. The tylenol helped knock the fever down a bit and at 7:00 this morning it was 100.6 degrees. I’m not sure what it was during the night, but he was much hotter.

So, I called in to work and told them I had a sick baby and had to stay home. All day long today he’s gone between sleeping and crying and then sleeping again. When he’s awake I can put him down for only about 5 minutes before he starts screaming again. I know he’s just miserable and I can’t stand it that I can’t fix it.

I just hate knowing that there’s nothing I can do to make him feel better. All I can do is hold him and snuggle with him and hope that it helps just a little bit. It just breaks my heart to hear his pathetic little cry and know how miserable he is. I really hope he is feeling better tomorrow.

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