Transitioning to Solids

Our transition to solids has been relatively easy. I won't lie, weaning off the bottle made me a little lot nervous.

R had only breast milk/formula until he was almost 5 months old. We wanted to wait a little longer before moving to solids for various personal reasons. We briefly talked about doing baby led weaning, but I was too impatient and nervous about choking.

-Right around the five month mark (February 6) we fed him plain cereal once per day in the morning. He wasn't impressed. We moved to oatmeal. He liked it better. After about two weeks, we moved on to feeding plain oatmeal twice per day - in the morning and evening. At this point he was still taking about 30-32 ounces of formula per day. Eating a bottle every 4 hours.

-Around 6 months (late February/early March) we started to introduce fruits and vegetables. One fruit or vegetable was introduced every 3-4 days. There was no real pattern of introducing fruits/vegetables although I did try to alternate. The only thing that gave him a problem was carrots. So we took a break and introduced them again after a few months. He did fine the second time around.

- In mid march at his 6 month check up we were given the ok to feed him purees 3 times per day, so he started having breakfast, lunch, and dinner of purees. The doc said we could introduce a sippy cup. So we did. It's been a journey. At first he really only did well with soft nipples on cups. My very favorite is Nuby. That's the only one that doesn't seem to leak & he likes it best too. He just recently learned how to use a straw cup, but still has a tough tome with hard spout sippy cups. By this point he was still getting 5 bottles per day, but we started cutting back on the amount. He was getting about 28-30 ounces of formula per day.

- In mid April (around 7.5 months old) he started eating puffs. It took a few weeks before he figured out how it all worked. From there we moved to crackers and his Mimsy gave him cookies. The cookies were all the motivation he really needed to figure out how to put the food in his mouth. We began experimenting with some soft table foods, but really stuck with purees for the most part.


- Around 8 months he changed his bottle habits. This was definitely a Ryker led decision. But I figured we'd follow his lead on this. After about a month of fluctuating, he settled on 3 bottles per day. One in mid morning (7 ounces). One in mid-afternoon (7 ounces). And one at bed time (6 ounces). It was during this bottle fluctuation period that he also showed a genuine interest in eating table food. So we slowly worked toward eating only table food and cutting out purees. This all took place from early May early July.

- By ten and a half months (mid July) he ate strictly table food and mastered walking. It was a whole new world for him (and me). We cut bottles down to 3 6 ounce bottles per day for a total of 18 ounces of formula. We also began transitioning to milk. It took awhile for him to open up to it.

- After his first birthday, we cut out his afternoon bottle. By mid September we cut out the morning bottle. He also decided he liked milk in his sippy cup. The bedtime bottle stayed for a little longer because he got sick a lot in September and I knew that the bedtime bottle was a comfort to him, so we kept it. Once he finally got rid of all of his colds and ear infections, I switched from bottle to sippy cup at night (to make the weaning less abrupt). He refused to drink from his cup at bedtime. Following his lead, he doesn't get anything at bedtime now. It worked out so so much easier than I thought it would be. 

Twelve Months

August 7 - September 6

- You started daycare and I went back to work 5 days a week. This month has been such a transition for the whole family!
- Your teachers instantly loved you (at least that's what they tell me). Everyday I get to hear about how sweet and good you are.
- You've learned a lot this month. You are more vocal, communicate your wants (nonverbally by reaching), bite, pick your nose, and are very focused when you play with your toys.

- You've started bringing books to your daddy and me and crawling in our laps so we can read to you. I love this so much!

- You waver back and forth between being very "clingy" and very independent. It's so interesting to watch you grow!
- You like to be very helpful around the house. You push our laundry basket from the laundry room to the bedroom and you like to carry around the dustpan. You also love attempting to brush your own hair and teeth.

- You got a tummy virus after your first week of school & you got sick the weekend of your birthday. :( But you take it like a champ.
- Football season started! Which means you will spend a lot of weekends watching football with Mimsy and Pops. I can't wait to see you watch it now that you can understand better than last year. We've been working on your "Roll Tide" moves.

- We said goodbye to Uncle Fran, Aunt Neese, Shay and Adley in August when they moved across the world.

- We spent a lot of time over at Mimsy and Pops' house.

- We bought a new-to-us family car the day before your birthday!

- You somehow went from a tiny baby to a big boy who can run and communicate and feed himself. I know this happened over the course of a year, but it seems like everything happened in fast forward.

- You are loved more than you will ever know

Eleven Months

July 7-August 6

I really slacked off on pictures this month. And also, on posting since Ryker already turned 1 before I even got around to publishing this.

-We have a walker on our hands! You really figured out the walking thing while I was recovering from gallbladder removal. Your timing is definitely your own!

- You're pretty much eating anything and everything we give you. You now love eggs (as long as they're cheesy), bananas, cheerios, raviolis, grapes, mac & cheese, pb&j, bbq chicken. I haven't really run into anything you don't like yet.
- We've been trying to spend a lot of time with your Auunt Neese, Uncle Fran, Shay, & Adley before they move to Papua New Guinea in August.

- You now babble baba, mama, gaga etc. It's nice to hear your sweet little voice.

- You started daycare 8/4. It's definitely been a transition for our family. But I think it's going pretty well. 

- You definitely have a temper & get frustrated easily. 

- You are a wild man who loves to climb & enjoys looking down from whatever you've managed to scale. You don't stay still for long!

- You are getting really good at clapping & throwing balls. And you love robots, trucks, and playing outside. 

 

Goodbye Gallbladder

I spent most of April with several bouts of what I thought was the stomach flu. In all fairness I went to the doc in a box and was told it was just the stomach flu. Turns out I had several gallbladder attacks. After a month, I went to see a specialist. The GI doctor thought it was either gallstones or ulcers. Turns out pregnancy can really wreak havoc on a body and many postpartum women have gallbladder issues. Once an ultrasound confirmed gallstones they sent me straight to a surgeon and I parted ways with my gallbladder on July 16. So long! It's been a pretty good 26 years, but it's time we went our separate ways. 

This was my first real surgery so I was a little nervous but honestly everything went smoothly. There was pain immediately after (obviously), but it wasn't unbearable. My stepmom stayed with us for a few days to help with Ryker. I wasn't allowed to lift anything for a week. And since technically my discharge papers say no strenuous activity until the 3 week follow up appointment... I'm taking a break from the gym. :)

Recovery wasn't terrible. I was fortunate enough to have a great support system in place so R didn't have to go without all the attention he needed. I did "overdo it" the day after my surgery by making my stepmom take me to Target. BUT we needed to get out of the house! The walls were closing in, J was sleeping (he works nights), and R was screaming just because he's a boy. So the rest of recovery was a little more painful than it probably should've been. But it's over now. We're two weeks out & I can finally wear pants again! Up until now everything would rub against my incision & it was so tender that I couldn't take it. Now we're fine. Here's to the rest of my life without a gallbladder!

Ten Months

June 7 - July 6

- At your 9 month check up on June 19, you weighed 20 lbs and were 28 inches long.
- You started feeding yourself crackers & "Cheetos." We're also starting to wean you off purees and formula and move on to finger foods and sippy cups. Right now you love bananas, fries, watered down apple juice, and cinnamon toast and don't care for cottage cheese, mandarin oranges, or eggs.

- We said goodbye to Grammy & Grandaddy when they moved out of the country for a year.

- You're spending lots of quality time with Mimsy at the pool. And now that Daddy's working nights you get to spend some good manly time with him.You like to go out to breakfast and Lowes and play outside with him. 

- You're so, so stubborn. Just like your mama. And you like to pull up on, crawl/cruise to, play with all the things you shouldn't... like stairs, fire places, electrical sockets, remote controls, cable boxes, plugs/cords, salsa (or whatever else is in the fridge) etc. But you are definitely learning the meaning of "no" even if you don't always listen and sometimes have to have a time out.

- You've become very attached lately. To your daddy, Mimsy, Uncle Joe, and especially to me. Like if I walk past you and don't pick you up you might have a mini melt down. Or if you can see me and I'm not holding you (and you're not distracted) you might have a mini meltdown. Part of me thinks you're going through a clingy phase; but another part thinks maybe you're nervous because this summer has been kind of inconsistent as far as your child care is concerned. And no two babysitters are alike, obviously. But you will go to a daycare in August and have a consistent routine every day.
- You have 6 teeth now. I'm not sure how often I update the blog on your teeth, but right now there's 6 and possibly 2 more coming in over the next month or so. You're drooly and chewing on things, but there are no white bumps yet.

(You're getting pretty good at mimicking my "silly mommy" smile.)

- You love to play with your toys. Right now your favorites are your walker, your "i-pod" and "i-pad" (you like to push the buttons for lights and music and then scoot it across the floors), your remote control, everything previously mentioned as dangerous, trucks, and you're really starting to like books.

- You're a little behind on your speech development, but the doctor isn't worried yet.
- You've accidentally taken a few steps on your own and can balance pretty well if you're already in the standing position.

Nine Months

Seriously. I am so behind on updating this blog. It's easy to take notes as you grow, but to sit down and add pictures... It's killing me. Because you are so busy and I spend all day trying to keep up with you!

May 7-June6

- started sleeping well late. As soon as I write this you will stop doing it.
- went to Uncle Dillon's graduation. Everyone talked about how well behaved you are. Keep it up, buddy.

- visited new churches

- saw Mimsy every day for a whole week

- first Mother's Day weekend

- discovered a love for cords, plugs, cable boxes, and all things dangerous. (And you laughed at me when I told you "no.")

- play time with Eli, Shay, & Adley

- crawling & cruising like a champ and keeping everybody on their toes.

- starting to display the stubborn/determined aspects of your personality. We are in for some trouble. Lol. 

- first pool day. You are definitely a water baby. You laid back in your float like you've been doing this for years.

- finally decided to break out the 9 month clothes. Originally, I would've said "it's a million times easier to get you dressed in the morning," but I'm pretty sure you've gone through a little growth spurt because a lot of the 9 month clothes are a little tight on you.
- eat some finger foods as long as we put it in your mouth for you. You don't like to put things in your mouth (which I'm thankful for in most scenarios...). You love sweets, which I try to limit; but you don't like bananas or avocados too much. Probably because of the texture.

These are the best bear pictures I can get. You refuse to sit still. Ever.

You tumbled head first off the bed after this... So that was the end of the pictures.

Working Mom Time

It occurs to me that as much as I love reading about working moms’ (or stay at home moms) schedules & routines, I haven’t documented my own. And I want to record all of the aspects of this journey… and I’m sure that on the next go round I won’t remember what a typical day was like. This isn’t like the posts in October where I documented everything. This is more of a general “this is kind of how we operate on Self Lane” post. So…

5:00 - J’s alarm wakes us all up. J gets up & gets ready. I stay in bed & try to read my daily devotion email.

5:30 - I get ready. Sidenote: showers are not an everyday thing, but fixing my shorter hair takes forever… so ready for it to be long enough for a ponytail again. J leaves around 5:45 - 5:50ish.

6:00 (ish) - R wakes up & plays in his crib for a few minutes.

6:20 (ish) - R gets breakfast (1-2 jars of baby food). He still doesn't put food in his mouth, so I have to feed him. I love to feed him, so it's not a huge deal; but the morning would be a lot more productive if he would feed himself.

6:35 - I pack up our bags & make my food for the day while R plays. He has a diaper bag, I have my purse (with makeup bag), breakfast, and lunch.

6:45 - We leave. I drop R off & put my makeup on at the 4 stoplights I ALWAYS get stuck at on the way to work.

7:00 - 4:30 -  Work. My office closes at 4, so I try to leave as close to 4 as possible, but it’s usually 4:30 before I get out the door. My boss is amazing and lets me work pretty flexible hours as long as my projects are all completed on time. A full time week at my office is 35 hours, so as long as I work 9 hours/day (& get everything accomplished on time) they’re fine with me on the 4 day work week. I cannot say enough wonderful things about my boss. If there are errands to run I try to get them done on the way home or take a lunch break to do them.

5:00 ish - I get home & hang out with J&R/start dinner/clean up the house a little.

6:00 - R eats dinner (1-2 jars of baby food)

6:30 - J&I eat dinner

7:00 - playtime with the baby!!!

7:45 - We start bedtime routine. J & I try to tag team this. One does the lotion/pj change & the other does bedtime story & bottle. While J does pj’s I get the bottle & nursery ready for bed; while I do the story J either cleans the kitchen or works on the computer.

8:30 - I usually get in the bed and watch some tv and catch up on fb/blogs/pinterest until I fall asleep (by 9:30 or 10). I don’t sleep well at night lately, so I’m usually exhausted by this time.

Wednesdays & weekends are obviously a different story altogether. But this is a typical work day for me.

Eight Months

Just need to take a minute to acknowledge the fact that this post is almost a month late. And I'm kind of phoning it in. R learned to crawl recently and he's really good and really fast and I'm really exhausted. So, here is the post from April7-May 6.

During your eight month, you:
- spent a day at mommy's office

- love sucking your thumb, but you don't put all of your toys in your mouth (you prefer to pass toys between your hands.)

- got 2 new teeth on top (total of 4 now)
- had play dates with Eli

- can get from lying down to sitting up. Started pulling up & rocking back and forth when on hands and knees. Not crawling yet, but love to walk with assistance. 

- experienced your first Easter

- have a predictable sleep routine. Wake up around 5 (sometimes 430, sometimes 530) 1-1.5 hour nap around 8 & 1. Half hour nap around 5:30 (just enough to help you stay awake til bedtime) & bedtime at 8-830. 

- don't love sippy cup
- ate and love (puréed) meat

- went through your first tornado season and slept through all the bad storms. We were fortunate not to have any tornadoes, but there was definitely a scare one night.

You didn't get your way. 

Seven Months

Already seven months?! You're on the downward slope to one year.

It's getting more difficult to take your bear pictures. You are so much more interested in anything (and everything) else!

At seven months you:

- Weigh 17.11 lbs & are 27 inches long and sleep through the night (mostly). Although you are definitely an early bird. You tend to wake up somewhere between 4:30-5:00 am.
- Celebrated Mimsy & Pops' birthdays on March 10 & 11.

- Met your Uncle Jordan (we missed Aunt Hannah and your cousins Soly & Grace so much. But you get to meet them next year.)

- Had a lot of sleepovers with Mimsy & Pops.
- Were dedicated. We had a very eventful baby dedication on March 16. I'm still working on writing that post.

- The weather has been nicer, so you've been on more walks. Your stroller seat is reclined and you try to sit up. It's adorable. You look like a little old man in his little old car.

- You love to stick out your tongue & can blow raspberries now. It's hilarious. 

- We learned that carrots upset your tummy, so we've put those away for now, but will try them again in a few weeks.

- Have mastered sitting up and started reaching forward, so we're preparing ourselves for you to be mobile.

- A stomach virus took our whole house down the week you turned 7 months old. I got it 3 times, you and daddy each got it once. We sanitized the heck out of the house during the last round and hopefully it's gone for good!