We are still nursing 4-5x/day with solids 3x/day (purees). He loves food. It's hard to say what his favorites are because he is happy to eat anything. He tried mango mixed in with his oatmeal, banana and coconut this morning. Loved it. Other interesting foods that he eats include beets, quinoa, almond butter, chicken and ground beef (interesting to me because I never pureed meat for James because it kind of weirded me out, but now he doesn't like meat, and I'm determined to change that for Samuel!) and recently I've tried flavoring some of his foods with things like lemon juice (loves) and some herbs (fresh basil soon! Yay summer!). This week I pureed some steamed zucchini with kale, and he's happy to eat that with a little lemon (like his daddy). I'm trying to have fun with his food - with James it was hard to think of foods to feed him, so with Samuel I just puree something that I might eat myself! Still no salt or added sugars (including honey), but pretty much anything else is fair game! We'll try eggs soon and see if he has any allergies like his brother and daddy...
I remember with James around this age, I tried to do special activities for him all the time. With Samuel, he pretty much tags along with us wherever we go, so there is something new, fun or special every day! At the grocery store, I still put James up in the toddler seat and he rides in the cart, so Samuel rides in the Moby wrap or the Ergo carrier, and is happy as ever to snuggle with mama while I shop. He's able to sit in a high chair now (as long as the buckle isn't broken), so I can easily feed him solids when we go to lunch at Whole Foods or Foster's Market (the two places that James always picks), and they both even have a microwave, so I can warm Sam's food for him! We also go to the library and park regularly. He either rides around in the Moby/Ergo or I'll take him out to play on the ground depending on what James is doing. He's been going to nursery at church on Sunday mornings and does great there (sometimes he actually naps there if we go to the early service! James never did that...).
(This is Samuel drinking a bottle of BM while I'm at work - my mom has taught him to hold his own bottle. Big boy! I've never actually seen him take a bottle in person.)
His favorite things are tickles, snuggles and James. Like most second babies, I guess, he loves to watch and be noticed by his big brother. He also loves to play with toys, and just recently we pulled the Pack'n'Play back out and set it up on the deck while James and I were working in the garden. Samuel played in it for an hour! Such a happy, content little dude.
Samuel officially naps twice a day - I pretty much use the 2-3-4 routine for him, like we did with James (first wake time is 2 hours long, first nap, second wake time is 3 hours long, second nap, third wake time is roughly 4 hours long, then bedtime at 7pm). He usually wakes right at 7am and nurses first thing before James gets up at 7:30am, so his first nap is typically around 9am. But if he wakes up earlier or later, his naps adjust depending on that time. I usually fudge the second wake time so that I can put him down around 1:30pm, so that I can lay James down shortly after him, and they both nap at the same time! Sometimes it doesn't work great, but most days I can get them asleep at the same time and I fold and put away laundry and prep dinner (woo for my sanity!).
As mentioned with the high chair above, Samuel sits pretty well now, though sometimes he does still throw himself back or lose his balance and bonk his head, which makes him sad. He wiggles and swivels around a little bit when he's on his belly, but he mostly rolls to get places. I remember James doing a sort of unique army crawl/swimming-type motion, using his head as leverage to get across the floor, but Samuel really just rolls over and over again to get places or is content to pretty much stay in one general area.
We *almost* have a first tooth in on the bottom. His poor little gums have been red and swollen for weeks it seems like, and I can feel the very tip of a little tooth poking through. So different from James' first teeth, which just appeared one day. Stuart says Samuel's are taking so long because they are having to fight through his obese gums ;) Speaking of, not sure about his weight or percentiles... our next check up is at 9 months with Dr. Z!
Still going strong with our BumGenius pocket cloth diapers. For Sam, we are using one infant insert (vs. newborn insert) during the day, snapped over, and at night using one giant hemp flat with a newborn insert on top to help with wicking. I think pretty soon we'll have to double up during the day, and I'll add a newborn insert back in along with the infant insert for some extra absorption without adding too much bulk until he is up and moving a little better.
We are grateful to have such an endearing, sweet little man as our second baby. Samuel, you bring so much joy to our little family!
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