A few weeks ago I had an essay published on Her View From Home, which is a lovely site! I’m so grateful they accepted my work. If you’d like to read it, you can find the essay here.
Tag: baby
Charly is 10 Months
Ten! Already?! I’m only a month behind, oops. I didn’t take very many photos this month either…
Weight: 22lb 5oz. 29.5″ long at his last check up. He’s heavier than Riley was at this age, but not as long. He’s wearing some 12 months, lots of 18-24. I was just thinking today he needs some more shirts. His tops don’t cover his little belly! We haven’t really put shoes on him, but with crawling the tops of his feet are chapped, so I try to keep socks on him but socks in the summer is lame.
Health: All good here! I think we’re all still adjusting to the allergies up here, and the pollen. He’s sneezy and has a runny nose some weeks but nothing every comes of it. He’s got tooth 8 finally. He handles teething really well though. Just a little sensitive and crabby.
Sleep: He sleeps until 6:30am/7am, and bedtime is 6:30pm or 7pm. Sometimes earlier if he didn’t nap late enough. He goes down for his morning nap around 9:00am and then take another nap around 1:00 – 2:00. Both naps are around 1.5 hr. Sometimes longer. I hear something really great yesterday, about keeping a 2-3-4 schedule. Put them down for their nap 2 hours after waking, then 3 hours after they wake from their morning nap for their afternoon nap. Then 4 hours later is bedtime. We follow that schedule, but I didn’t notice until someone else pointed it out, ha!
Nursing: Still pumping 3x a day and he’s taking 4, five or six oz bottles for between 20 – 24 oz of breastmilk a day. He had a week where he was eating a lot of solids, not interest in the bottles, then he got “stopped up” which caused him to not want to take his bottle which made it worse. I was stressing, it was 100+ in Phoenix and I was worried he was going to get dehydrated. It worked itself out and he’s been fine since, but I’m starting to think about what weaning is going to look like. Since Riley didn’t take a bottle this is going to be a new experience.
What Charly is up to: Crawling all over the place. He really got the hang of it this month! He had his first swim in Aunt Leslie’s swimming pool and he loved it! He likes to splash and play in the bath too. He’s working on waving and using a spoon.
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Eating on the patio at the new house 
Checking out his new room! PostPartum: I was a really emotional this month. Probably from the moving and stress of that, but I’m also getting really close to the 1 year mark and that makes me happy and sad. I love seeing the boys grow, but it’s also a little bittersweet, knowing that it’s always going to be changing.
Baby Gear: Wooden “busy box.” Stacking cups. Shapes. Spoons. Clip on high chair. Ergo 360. Pack N Play with Crib mattress.
Thoughts: So thankful for an easy month staying at Aunt Leslie’s house, and excited to move into our new home!!! Can’t wait for the boys to have their own rooms again. And to have our stuff back. I didn’t think I would miss my toaster, but I do!
Charly is 8 months
Eight going on Nine.
Weight: We had a little dip in weight this month – but got that corrected and at his last weigh in he was 19lb 14oz. He’s wearing 12mo and 18mo clothing. We switched him to a convertible car seat this month, since we moved Riley up to a Booster Harness Seat. Everyone is happy with their new seating :)
Health: Healthy! Got FOUR teeth on the top. That wasn’t fun for anyone, and now he’s got a total of 6.
Sleep: Between teething and everything his sleep has been a little off this month. Since we moved and we’re in a temporary housing situation both the boys are sharing a room. It’s actually going much better than I thought. Riley normally wakes them both up (and us) at 6:00am, which used to be 7am :( but their room gets a lot more light here. Charly takes his morning nap at 8:00am or 8:30am depending on if he sleeps through Riley waking up. They both take an afternoon nap at 12:30 or 1:00pm and sleep until 3:30pm or 4:00pm. Sometimes Charly wakes before Riley, and I go in to get him, and Riley sleeps longer. They both go to bed around 7:00pm. Recently Charly’s been waking at night, sometimes he’ll cry for a minuet and then go back to sleep, sometimes we need to go in to check on him. I think he’s getting to the nightmare stage? A few nights ago he was clearly having one – flat asleep on his back screaming. I picked him up and talked to him to get him to wake and then he calmed down.
Nursing: So, we’ve had a big change in this area. Earlier this month he was so fussy and crabby when I would try to feed him. He would arch his back away from me and scream. He was getting all 4 top teeth and when he would latch he was having trouble, and I got a plugged duct. After refusing to nurse for several feedings and a few bottles I took him into the pediatrician to rule out an ear infection or anything else that might be bothering him. We found that he wasn’t gaining weight like he should – so we worked really hard to get calories into him. Pumping, formula, nursing. In 4 days he gained 10oz and all was well – except he still didn’t want to nurse much at all. First thing in the morning, or late at night he would. This all happened in the middle of us packing to move, so I was stressed about that, and about him not nursing. He’s easily distracted, which is normal at this age – and having a very loud toddler brother doesn’t help. At this point I’m exclusively pumping 4 times a day for 30min, and that provides the 24oz a day he normally eats, in addition to solids. I cried about this a.lot. I wasn’t ready for it at all. And the stress of moving made it so much worse. Pumping is so much more difficult than nursing was for me. I feel trapped and confined by pumping. We’ve found a pretty good routine, and I’m determined to make it to a year of breastmilk. I’ve always admired pumping moms, and never imagined that I’d be one – Riley nursed until we weaned at 15.5 months, and I was more than ready. I hold out hope that we can go back to nursing, maybe when all the dust from moving settles, but he happily takes a bottle, and I don’t have anxiety every time I sit down to feed him.
What Charly is up to: First crawl happened the last night we spent in the Burbank house. He was army crawling like an alligator, and now it’s more crawling and less scooting. He can go from sitting to crawling, back to sitting. Sits in a highchair and sits in the big bathtub. He has the best giggle, and sweetest smile. He’s very laid back and content. He wasn’t 100% happy on the long drive up to Flagstaff, and cried for some of the drive, but overall did really well. He’s all about food and will eat anything and everything we give him.
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PostPartum: The nursing change and stress from moving sent my hormones all out of whack. I feel much better now, but it was a rough few weeks. My eating is terrible, and I don’t feel well at all. Need to make that more of a priority. Now that the dust is settling I can get back to better eating and working out.
Baby Gear: We got a new carrier this month, the Ergo 360 Cool Air and I love it. He likes facing out sometimes, and the mesh material makes it much more comfortable for both of us.
Thoughts: It was a big, emotional and stressful month. We sold our house. Moved. Came to a new state where we don’t have a new house. We switched from nursing to pumping. The thing I’m trying to keep front and center in my mind is that Charly’s first year is almost over, and I want to soak up as much of his sweet babyness as I can.
The Merfett 