Samuel: 6 months

Half of a year!  Has it already been that long...?  Samuel continues to be the most laid-back, fun chunky monkey.  I tell people that he is the easiest baby that has ever existed, and I truly believe it.

6 month stats

Weight 16 lbs 3 oz (24th percentile)
Length 26.5 inches (44th percentile)

Sam has dropped from the 90s percentile where he was born and has been hanging in the 20s the last few ped visits.  Dr. Z told us today that she is very happy with his weight and thinks the drop was him just finding his family curve (since we don't have any giant folks really in our family).  I'm so grateful, because of course I was worried I wasn't making enough milk and that's why he was dropping...  But now I know  we're looking good!

  

Nursing

As mentioned above, I have been nervous this month that my supply wasn't adequate for sweet Samuel, and we had a few weight check visits with Dr. Z.  He is almost always content while nursing and after he finishes.  He has stretched nursing sessions out to every 3-4 hours during the day (one day he went 5.5 hours and that was crazy!) and sleeps all night from 7pm-7am without nursing at all (most nights).  But with his weight dropping so many percentile points, I was just sure it was due to my IGT.  So, I started pumping once or twice every day to stimulate some extra production, and started taking Fenugreek (which worked really well for me to max out my possible supply with James until he quit nursing altogether somewhere around Samuel's age).  I'm also building up a nice little freezer stash for when Stuart and I head to the mountains without the boys for a whole weekend coming up in March (these past 3 months have been a doozy, so we are so overdue).  Anyways, breast feeding is going so well, and with Dr. Z's blessing on Samuel's weight, I hope to just carry on without the anxiety I've been holding on to!  I'm so grateful.

Solids

We started solids, and this boy loves to eat!  I haven't given him anything that he wouldn't eat.  He is still warming up to the texture of oatmeal (whole rolled oats ground into flour and then made into warm cereal), but he always eats all of whatever I offer him (recently that has been up to 2/3 cup of puree at a time!).  I'm trying something different than what I did with James, and that is to mix a little bit of fat into each food serving (so far it's either avocado, organic ghee or virgin coconut oil).  It makes sense that breast milk is high in fat, and babies need that!  I read this article on adding fat to baby foods, and with the encouragement of our pediatrician, that's what we've done!  His favorite foods are banana and avocado so far, but truly he seems to enjoy everything (even green beans!).



Motor development

We've been doing some sitting practice with the Boppy.  He can sit for a minute or two on his own, totally unsupported, before he topples over.  He easily sits in the Bumbo for a while (which was helpful when we started solids!).  Sam grabs at toys all the time with both hands, and usually they go directly in his mouth.  Though, if not in his mouth, he bangs the toys around on the floor or on himself.  He rolls over with ease, but is content to just lay in one spot and observe whatever is going on around him.

Sleep

Naps are still all over the place for little Sam.  His wake time isn't really consistent, either.  I suspect this is largely due to how inconsistent I am with a daily routine for him - it's impossible if I also choose to do things like go to the grocery, library, Bible study or church.  Ha!  This is largely because Samuel usually ends up awake for a large portion of James' single afternoon nap*, napping both right before and right after James' nap, so that's a huge chunk of time from lunch to dinner that we tend to stay at home.  Right now, Samuel is usually happiest if he is awake for about 1 hour first thing in the morning, and then goes down for nap #1.  This is odd to me, because when James was this age (or even a little younger), he was happy to be awake 2ish hours for all wake times!  But Sam really naps the best all day if that first wake time is shortened to 1 hour.  His first nap is often 2 hours, and then he'll alternate 2 hour wake times with 1.5 hour naps for the rest of the day.  Most days he'll end up with 3 naps, though sometimes it is only 2 naps if we are out doing a lot of things all morning (like Sundays with church or Mondays with my Side by Side Bible study), or 4 naps if naps are overall on the shorter side in length.

*I was always afraid of this possibility - the baby being awake during the one time of day that James is asleep, when I am used to having the little bit of quiet downtime to myself that I desperately need to survive the evening hours (introverts unite!).  However, I don't know if it's due to Samuel's laid back personality, or if he's just still so young and not that needy over all, but I sort of love that he is awake while James sleeps!  It's truly the only one-on-one time I get with him, and it also gives me one-on-one time with James right before and after his nap, because that's when Samuel naps.  So, as it is now, I like the way this has worked out, though it does confine us to home all afternoon!



We like you, Samuel!  Happy half-birthday to our littlest boy (and happy actual birthday to our best friend Ezra)!

James' Snow Days

We had a few days of snow/ice last week, and since Samuel can't quite sit up on his own yet (much less go play in the snow), James has braved it on his own a few times.  I thought it was a good opportunity to pull out the nice camera to try and get some good shots of James.  Turns out it is impossible to get good shots of a 2 year old.  Cute nonetheless.  Even in his southern snow playwear (PJs and Crocs).

We awoke this morning to a sort of surprise snow, because we had heard that we might have some flurries overnight, but no accumulation expected.  False!  It's 11am and still snowing.  These are the best kind of days (though our firewood is running low, so we are having to ration... only that could make this day better).  Stuart's clinics were not cancelled (also surprising), so he did have to go in to work, but maybe he'll be home early to play later today.  We had to run out to Dr. Zimmerman's office for Samuel's 6 month check up (post coming later!), and on the way home we did an accidental donut in the middle of the road... Turns out those roads are pretty slick!  But we didn't crash, and made it home quite safely from there.  James wanted to play outside when we got home... until he refused to wear mittens and realized how cold the snow was.  He insisted on going inside (first time ever in his life) and was much happier snuggling in his cozy sweater and having a snack.  Happy Snow Day!

Lately

Here's what we've been up to lately!

Foster's Market date with the boys - Sam is 95% cheeks these days

Celebrating Canaan's 1st birthday (!) at Matthew and Meredith's house...













Sitting practice for Samuel



James playing Mama's flute



Hanging out in our tent on a snow day



Snow day snuggles



Sam can sit (sometimes)!  Grumpy, too.



New toys on snow days!

Snow Day 2015

We had a little, tiny bit of snow with some ice last night.  James thought it was a magical winter wonderland when he woke this morning, so he went straight out to play.  He lasted about 3 minutes, and now we're enjoying a cozy fire.  Supposedly, we are to have some more snow tomorrow.  We shall see! ❄️

James and his bird feeder

When we bought our house, we inherited this shepherd's hook that is perfect for hanging a bird feeder right off the deck.  James' chair for mealtime sits right next to the window that looks out directly at the feeder.  He has always loved to watch the birds, but recently it has really been kicked up a notch.  Not only is he learning the names of various birds (cardinal is one particular favorite), but the squirrels are also particularly aggressive in their attempts to steal the birdseed, and James thinks they're hilarious.

He performs this little monologue now during every meal time while he watches the birds/squirrels:

"Get down squirrel! Go nuts! Not you! Birdseed birds!"

Translation:

"Get down squirrel! Go eat your nuts! The birdseed is not for you. The birdseed is for the birds!"

I love how fast his sweet, little brain is growing and learning these days. 😊

James Younger Update

I decided to stop doing monthly updates at 2 years, but there is still so much I want to remember as my boys grow!  So I'll pop in with random updates on James (and hope to continue monthly updates for Samuel).

Favorite foods (this week at least... I believe there are no true favorites for a toddler!)

Cheese - cheddar only

Grilled cheese

Cream cheese

Blueberries (probably fleeting)

Black beans (but no other kind of bean)

Coconut

Cantaloupe

Honeydew

Graham crackers

Carrots

Our pediatrician heard a new heart murmur at James' 2 year check up, and then again 6 weeks later when we checked in about his weight and verbal development, so she sent us that same day for a cardiac echo.  Above is a photo of James having his echo done (just like an ultrasound - totally non-invasive).  He had a blast!  The tech was a pediatric specialist, so she made glove balloons and had stickers and even Thomas the Train playing on the TV (though he couldn't care less about that surprisingly).  It was actually quite fun.  And Stuart was able to join us for a bit, so it was just like a fun field trip for James.  Thankfully his echo looked rather normal, so the murmur is likely just a normal "growth" murmur and it should go away.

Fun words/phrases (shortly after he turned 2, James suddenly started talking up a storm, stringing two and three words together at a time.  He wasn't doing this right at 24 months, but our ped was willing to give him a little time, and sure enough by our 6 week follow up he had no problem)

Hippo (it's just a really cute word when he says it!)

God shut door (in the story of Noah and the ark)

SamSam (a little lisp - "tham tham")

Weepies ("eepies") - his favorite band right now 

I love you ("luff" or sometimes just "I you")

Favorite home activities

Playing cook (his new toy kitchen)

Reading

Playing in the garage (balls, Cozy Coupe car, balance bike, broom and dust pan)

Crafts: paint, markers, crayons, stickers, glue stick

Snuggling Samuel on the couch or in one of their cribs

Building with Duplo blocks

Drilling all.the.things. with his toy drill

Favorite books

1,2,3 To the Zoo (and most other Eric Carl books)

Before We Eat: From Farm to Table (Pat Brisson)

You Can Go to the Potty (Dr. Sears)

Read-Aloud Bible Stories (Ella Lindvall - especially volume 3 - Noah, Moses, and The Good News)

The Day the Crayons Quit (Drew Daywalt)

Snowmen at Work (Carolyn Buehner)

Favorite outings

-Sunday school/church (by far the outing he gets most excited about)

-Story time, music class or just a general trip to the library (they have a train table, coloring and puzzles)

-Lunch at Whole Foods or Foster's Market (I've started letting him pick and he always chooses one of these two)

-Indoor playground at Southpoint mall, though we haven't gone recently because it seems like flu central to me

- Grocery stores, Target or Lowes (all of these stores have pictures of dogs and cats that he likes to visit... He is also starting to tell me what food to buy when we grocery shop ☺️ thankfully so far it's only fruits and cheeses that he's requested)

Lately

The flu and/or bad colds have been going around our house (the urgent care doctor told me I had the flu proper and started me on Tamiflu... So much for the flu vaccine this year.  Anyways, Stuart has been the last one to get hit, but he always does the best out of all of us when we get sick.  He's recovering!  Here's what else we've been up to lately...

Eating brownies for breakfast and being encouraged :)

Breakfast out at Elmo's with some favorite friends on MLK day last week.







Casey and I went to a paint and pour class that my mom gifted to us a year ago (before she knew I was pregnant with Samuel... so we waited until I was no longer pregnant and we finally went)!  It turned out to be a private class because all the other folks cancelled last minute.  We drank wine and painted gold fish.  It was fun!



Snuggling in matching PJs.





Saturday visits from PPaw.



James playing in his new Sunday school class.  He calls it "class" and he loves it.  Other than playing with new toys, they also do a Bible story and James actually remembers enough to tell us about it later.  And he gets to eat goldfish crackers... a new experience for him because I don't buy them!



James took this photo of Samuel hanging out in the Bumbo.



We had our first trip to the allergist for James... It lasts 3.5 hours!  They tried to warn us, but I really didn't think it would be that long.  They did some skin testing and drew some labs.  Confirmed allergies to eggs, peanuts and dogs.  Waiting on some labs to help determine if there are some other allergies that have caused the wild, mystery, systemic reactions he has had a few times.  They did determine that he doesn't have any other environmental allergies (besides dogs) - not grass, trees, mold, etc!



We haven't been walking as much because it has been cold, windy and rainy a lot.  But we did bundle up and head out one day and it was great!  Always worth it.



Samuel just being the cutest baby in the house.





And James being the cutest 2 year old!