This handsome little man is seven months old! I can honestly say that this last month has been the BEST one yet. Austin is so happy and cheerful and sweet and lovely to be around. The weather has been warming up so we've started venturing outside more and it's been good for all of us. I love watching him learn new things and observe the world around him.
No official stats, but he is is 6-9 month clothes and size two diapers. No teeth and not much hair, but we are starting to see some peach fuzz growing on that bald-baby head of his.
Some things I want to remember about this month:
--One of the funniest changes from last month to this month is that where he used to be stick straight all the time, now he is sooooo bendy. It's like he figured out that he could bend his legs up to his chest and now he wants to be in that position ALL of the time. If he is laying down and I scoop him up in my arms, I have to be careful that he won't fall through. I'm used to putting one arm under his shoulders and the other under his legs and picking him up that way because he was so rigid. Also, when I'm nursing him, he bends his little body almost in half instead of laying straight across my lap.
--He still has absolutely no desire to roll. Instead he puts all of his efforts into trying to pull himself to a sitting position using only his ab muscles. Seriously, those crunches are paying off. If he is slightly inclined, he can easily pull himself the rest of the way.
--If I put my face close enough to him, he'll reach out with one hand on each of my cheeks and smile the biggest cheesy grin and try to pull my face toward him. I love it so much. He melts me.
--He is such a social little guy. He loves being around people and observing them. He's usually pretty content to just watch, but when he realizes that someone is looking back at him he gets the biggest grin on his face and waves his arms up and down (often followed by him tucking his head into his chest and bending over, like he is so happy he can't contain it). He's happy to watch you, but all you have to do is engage with him a little bit and he'll be your new best friend.
--Austin does really awesome while letting me carry him around places. I wear him whenever we go to the store, each week at church, and pretty much everywhere else we go. He's content to watch whats going on while we walk around, and often will fall asleep against my chest as we are walking. I don't wear him very much at home, but I'm glad that he likes being worn while we are out and about because it makes it so nice for me, and I love having him close.
--He likes to stand. Whether he is in his bouncer or you are holding him on your lap, he loves to stand and bounce his little legs around. One night we were in Lydia's room and I had placed him sitting in the crib while we were cleaning up. I glanced over as I watched him start pulling himself up on the bars of the crib so that he was standing on the edge. I excitedly called for David to "Watch! Watch!" which startled Austin and he fell back. I was so impressed that he is already pulling himself up. (Who needs to roll when you can stand, amiright?)
--So the binky thing. Sometimes it's really really awesome. Most of the time he's just not interested. He does best with the pacifier in the car or in the baby carrier. Occasionally (and I mean, really rare) I can transfer him from nursing to sucking on the pacifier after he's fallen asleep and lay him in his bed. I still think it's probably worth the hassle of the pacifier for the few times that it's really helpful - but man, it's a fight to keep track of them! We even bought a new package this month (so we have about... 5?) and I now know where one is. And so the battle continues...
-He doesn't like loud sudden noises. Banging cupboards, a yell from Lydia, or anything else like that will illicit tears in an instant. One of our favorite friends, Emily Cooper, (who is just a few weeks older than Austin) loves to try to communicate with him by squawking very loudly. It usually ends with Austin crying and Emily wondering why he won't play with her. He's easy to console and calms down quickly, but you can tell that it startles him and he doesn't like it.
-He's got quite the reach on him! He can lean over to grab things and then pull himself back up. He's constantly getting a hold of things that I would have thought were out of his range.
-This month we transitioned him out of his Woombie and started him sleeping in his Zippy. It's really a balancing act because he falls asleep better if his hands are swaddled, but when he wakes up and can't move he gets really upset. So far the Zip has been doing okay, although I wish that we were one of the success stories they have on their website. "After one week of putting him in his ZipadeeZip he is now sleeping all the way through the night!" Sigh. Not us. Even his good stretch from 7-midnight has been shrinking on both ends. Now we are lucky if he sleeps from 7:30 to 10:00 without waking up. At one point this month I completely gave up trying to get him back in his bed after that first stretch and I would bid David goodnight and just fall alseep holding him in the chair. We'd wake up every hour or so, readjust, nurse, and fall back asleep. I knew that it wasn't a great situation (obviously) but when you are just. so. tired. It's hard to find the motivation and energy to make sleep changes. However, I think we reached a peak. Austin's started to get grumpy because he's uncomfortable and it's really been wearing on me. So we are trying to make a bigger effort to get him to sleep in his bed and are starting a little bit of sleep training. So far it's been going decently and I have high hopes for the future. (Honestly, every day I think "It's got to get better! I'm sure that tonight will be the night that, magically, we all get to sleep!" I can't complain too much though. Austin is such a sweet and happy baby during the day that even our rough nights are worth it.
-He twists his hands when he's nervous or upset. He waves them up and down when he's excited.
--We started solid foods full force this month. He kept fighting the purees that I tried to give him, but if I ever offered him some solid food on my finger he would open up his mouth and lean over to get it in faster. I'm learning that he just really doesn't like to eat with a spoon and that real-people-food is what he wants. (He eats baby food better when David is feeding him, but even then he doesn't eat a ton). I've done a lot of research into babyled weaning, and I like the concept, but it is SO hard to come up with good, healthy, nourishing, and easy food ideas. I finally cooked some strips of sweet potato and he loved those. Bananas, sweet potato, avocado, and cheerios are staples. I got some easy dissolve baby crackers which he likes, but don't really fill him up. I try to just give him things off our plate, like black beans and such - but a lot of the time we are eating things that I don't really want to give him. (Hello pepperoni pizza.) I've spent a lot of time scouring the web, but am still at a loss for what to feed him every day. He eats table food really well though. He likes to eat pretzels and bread and lots of other things that many other babies aren't even thinking about eating right now. He just holds it in his hands and gums away at it until he's eaten it. I cut things up into little pieces for him and he can pick it up and get it into his mouth by himself. He doesn't have the pincher fingers down (one finger and a thumb) but he does a claw motion where he traps the food between his thumb and the tips of all his fingers to bring it to his mouth.
The laughs that this baby gives are the sweetest in the whole world. After a month of playing with toys, baby giggles, toothless grins, and sunshine - we can't wait to see what next month brings!
