Graham at 8 Months

Today is my birthday and it's fun sharing the date of the 22nd with Graham (he was born on April 22nd and I was born on December 22nd). Micah took the day off of work so that we could have some fun as a family, and so that the day would be a little more relaxing for me. This was great, but unfortunately the kids are getting over colds and coughs and Micah and I are still in the midst of the sickness ourselves, so we had a little less fun than originally planned. We didn't do any major housework, though, and I took Jack to Starbucks in the morning and the girls out for frozen yogurt in the afternoon (I would have taken them separately but they insisted that they go together, pretty much so neither one of them had to be 'last'). All six of us went out to lunch at Annapurna's, which is an allergy friendly restaurant in town, and it went fairly smoothly with the kids which is always a relief. We picked up Chipotle for dinner, so I successfully went all day without cooking or actually loading the dishwasher as Micah did all of that. So, overall, it was a good birthday. When I'm feeling healthy again I'll go for the run I missed out on and enjoy the glass of wine. But for tonight I'll enjoy sipping hot tea which is much more soothing to my sore throat and cough.

Not to be repetitive with previous posts, but how does time go so fast?! I feel like I'm going to blink and Graham will be a 1-year-old, so I'm going to try my best to enjoy these next four month with our last baby before he's a toddler!

Birthday mama and my 8-month-old

Age: 8 months

Weight: 15 lbs 9 oz (+4 oz)  I am so sad that he didn't gain much weight this month. His lack of growth has been very stressful for me as I'm not sure if this is due to a lack of supply on my part, his newfound skill of scooting around the house, the cold he's been fighting for a couple of weeks, a growth issue, or a combination of many of these factors. I am working with his doctor to figure out what needs to be done, if anything. He's honestly still on par with our other three at 8 months adjusted (10 months actual), although he was usually slightly heavier than all three and now he is the second lightest. Maybe we just have really light babies and kids?

Length: about 26" (I forgot to measure today, but that is what he was at the doctor's office 10 days ago)

Size Clothes: Since he hasn't really grown since last month, he is still in 6 month clothes and some 9 month clothes.

Naps: A month ago we were finally starting to settle into a nap routine, but Graham's naps still weren't very long. I am happy to report that in the last couple of weeks this has changed drastically! After finally letting him "cry it out" for a couple of nights (after much deliberation as I definitely don't enjoy doing this, but I was exhausted and nothing else was working), Graham started sleeping better at night and at naps! After a bit of a struggle, he figured out that he actually enjoys sleeping on his tummy, and since then he started sleeping SO MUCH BETTER. Most days he takes two solid naps of about 1.5 hours each, but just today he took one 2.5 hour nap in the morning and a 1.5 hour nap in the afternoon. I almost don't even know what to do with myself now that he's napping so well, but then I remember all of the household chores that need to be done. His morning nap is between 9:30 and 10:00, and his afternoon nap is between 1:30 and 2:30 (depending on the length of his morning nap). If he doesn't take a long enough afternoon nap he gets a cat nap around 4:30/5:00, but this has only happened once in the last two weeks. I'm so thankful that we are finally in a good nap routine as my life feels so much more manageable with long, predictable naps! The only downside is that I really don't want to sacrifice his naps, so most days the kids and I are stuck at home. The big kids have been on Christmas Break for the past week but we haven't done much due to Graham's naps, and we've all been sick with colds and coughs. Being at home all week with the kids has made me appreciate their being in preschool three mornings a week even more since that at least gives them some time away from the house while Graham is sleeping. 

Night Sleep: Like naps, we have seen huge improvements with Graham's night sleep in the last couple of weeks. I truly hope I'm not jinxing us by writing this down, but for the last week he has only woken up once per night around 3:00 a.m. He is going to bed around 7:30, waking up at 3:00, and then not waking up again until about 7:30 in the morning! I thought this day would never come. Ironically, he has been fighting a cold during this time and part of me wonders if somehow the cold is making him a better sleeper, but I'm really hopeful that maybe he's just developmentally ready to sleep longer at night. Like I said above, we did have him "cry it out" for a couple of nights and during that time he figured out that he likes to sleep on his tummy, so maybe that is helping him sleep more soundly. For several weeks he was waking up 40 minutes after falling asleep every night like clockwork, but I stopped intentionally nursing him to sleep, and that has mostly taken care of the issue. Many nights he still wakes up about 40 minutes after he falls asleep and makes a little noise, but then he is able to fall back asleep! What a difference a month can make in the life of a baby.

Nursing: Although Graham is waking up less at night, he is still nursing 9 times a day which is good because he definitely needs the calories! Since his nap schedule has gotten more organized we have fallen into a better routine with nursing too. Lately he eats once during the night, around 3:00 a.m, when he wakes around 8:00 a.m., before his morning nap around 9:30 a.m., after his morning nap around 12:00, before his afternoon nap around 1:30 p.m., after his afternoon nap around 4:00 p.m., and then we squeeze in a couple of more feeds around 5:00 and 6:00, and then he eats before going to bed for the night around 7:30. He is not a very focused nurser and is easily distracted by the big kids' activities. He also seems to get satisfied quite quickly, which is frustrating to me as I know he needs to eat longer. We might need to start supplementing with formula soon, but we'll see what his pediatrician says in the next week. Despite not growing much and not seeming that interested in eating, he is full of energy so I can't decide if I should truly be concerned or not.

Solids: I feel like I've failed Graham a little in the solids department since I haven't been very consistent with offering them to him. There are several reasons for this, though, besides the fact that it isn't always very convenient. It is difficult to feed solids to a baby with multiple allergies as it's hard to know if the specks of blood in his diaper are from the new food that he ate or something that slipped into my diet, which has happened a couple of times in the last couple of weeks when we ordered take out from restaurants that we thought were 'safe' for me. It is also hard to know if a strange diaper is from a food he tried,from a cold he is fighting, or even from teething. But his pediatrician suggested that we try avocado since that is high in calories and, although he gagged on it several times the first day that he tried it, since then he has seemed to start enjoying it and just tonight he ate a couple of teaspoons of mashed avocado. Hopefully his diapers are okay in the next couple of days! The only other new food he has tried in the last month was teething wafers, which he seemed to enjoy chomping on a little but he didn't eat much of it.

Food Intolerances: Nothing new to report since last month, although I am concerned that he could have an issue with applesauce since there were some specks of blood in his diaper after eating that. I'm hopeful that the issue was something that slipped into my diet and not the applesauce, as that seems like such a benign food.

Teeth: Graham has three new teeth since last month, for a total of four teeth! He cut his bottom right on 11/26, his top left on 12/15, and his top right on 12/21. Thankfully, teething doesn't seem to bother Graham much and I haven't even given him any pain meds yet (partly because I've read that babies with allergies can have adverse reactions). In comparison, Jack got his fourth tooth in his twelve month (10 months adjusted), and the girls didn't even cut their first tooth until their thirteenth month (11 months adjusted).

Likes: Graham LOVES to scoot around the house on his belly and get into the action. We are figuring out how much to let him roam vs. how much time he should spend in his playpen because the big kids get frustrated with him interrupting their play and I don't necessarily want him sucking on all of their toys for the germ factor and the food allergy factor. He loves bouncing in his exersaucer. He enjoys being outside and seeing all there is to see beyond the four walls of the house. And he really lights up when the big kids play with him, which is so fun to watch. 

Dislikes: He does not like being left in his playpen too long. He fusses when I first put him in his stroller, but he calms down when we start moving around.  He also does not like to have his nose wiped, which has been a struggle for the past week since he's had a cold.

Milestones: As of 12/7, Graham now scoots all over the house on his belly. Our other kids did this for a couple of months before they crawled on hand and knees, but Graham keeps getting up on his hands and knees so he might be full on crawling soon. He has gotten himself from the seated position onto his belly, but it's not very graceful and is more of a belly flop than anything. Graham also seems to be waving a little. 

Trying to figure out how to get out of the playpen. Right now the little plastic piece keeps him in without closing the gate, but I don't think this will last long.

Speech: Today Graham said "mama" when he was sitting in his high chair after dinner. He actually said it a couple of times, I was able to get him to say it again a couple of more times, and then he said it about an hour later when he was playing on the floor! I know that it probably doesn't mean much at this stage as that is a common first consonant sound, but it was fun that he said it today for the first time since it's my birthday ;).

Places he's been: Graham went with me to the dentist, which felt like an accomplishment since there is no way I could have done this with our triplets when they were babies. He also went to Denver for the first time over Thanksgiving and met his Colorado cousins. The drive to Denver was a little rough, but the ride home went much more smoothly. We also went to a climbing area called Luna Park for a day, which was a lot of driving since it was almost 3 hours each way, but it was fun to get out, see something new, and everyone in our family but Graham did a little climbing.

With Grammy and his cousin Oliver, who is about six months younger than Graham

Graham and Oliver

With Val and Peregrine at a climbing area called Luna Park

Staying warm and playing at Luna Park

Graham and Peregrine holding hands ;)

Graham at the dentist with me. The front desk person did pick him up and walk him around for awhile when he started getting fussy, but for the most part he was fine!

Things he does to make us smile: Scoot around on his belly. We are constantly amazed at how fast he moves around and it's funny watching the big kids move a toy a foot away from him only to have him move there and grab it again. Someday they'll learn that he is mobile!

More fun pics from the last month:

First visit with Santa

Exploring the leaves on the trampoline. I had to walk away for a minute to help one of the other kids (there is a net so he was fine) and the next day I found part of a leaf in his diaper...oops! So much for being extra safe with my allergy baby!

Bath! I can't believe how much less I bathe Graham than we bathed the other three. They got a bath every three days like clockwork and he gets a bath 1-2 times a week. He really doesn't get dirty, though :).

Hanging out in his playpen. He doesn't like to be in here for too long, but he is content for a little while playing with his toys on his own which is helpful because sometimes I just need him in a safe space.

Getting into the big kids' toys, which drives them crazy but all I can do is laugh. At age 4 they think the world revolves around them, so it's funny to see a tiny baby mess with them.

Happy guy at the park

Squeezing Graham onto my lap with the other three for my annual birthday photo wasn't a big deal, and he was happy to be a part of the crew!