Ian Free - 7 months

Sorry about the blurry and grainy.  I'm not known for photo skills.

Weight: 17 pounds

Height: No idea!

Eating: 7/11/3/6:30 or 7:00 before bed (the difference depends on whether he has a third nap or not.)

 

A note about his bottles:  He eats 6-8 oz at each feeding, usually closer to the 8 oz mark.  I still get (very mildly) sad sometimes that he wasn’t able to nurse, but bottle feeding definitely has a few perks (aside from the cost--good grief!!!!!)  He has just begun having an interest in holding his own bottle, and I think it’s so cute!  He did it a little bit before his surgery, but with having his arms restrained for 6.5 weeks afterwards, he hasn’t really gotten much practice.  I don’t want to take advantage of that though, and I still want to be the one to feed him the majority of the time so that I can have the same special times with him that I had with the other two boys who were breastfed and had no choice but for me to be the one to feed them.  He is pretty picky about me being the one to feed him.  He will eat for other people, but only enough to take the edge off of his hunger. That is most especially true at bedtime.

Solids: After being cleared at his appointment with Dr. Yu I began his real food food.  He has had roasted sweet potato (with skin on to make it easier to hold), banana, avocado, pancakes, eggs, broccoli, and pears so far.  He loves it all, and hasn’t made a face at any of it yet.  The avocado and banana are hard for him to grip, but he’s working on it and getting better each time I serve it.

 

Waketimes: 2 hours before the morning nap, 2.5 hours before the afternoon nap, and 3 hours before bed.

Sleeping: 2.5 hours for the morning nap, 2 hours for the afternoon nap, and 12-13 hours at night.

Dropping the 3^rd nap: He is in the process of dropping the third nap.  Most days he doesn’t need it, but if one or both of the other naps are short for some reason, then he will need a 30-45 min catnap.  On catnap days, bedtime is closer to 7:30 or even 8, and on non-catnap days bedtime is closer to 6:30.

His newborn hair is almost completely gone now.  He still has 2 clumps (I can’t think of a better word to call it!) of 3 inch hair in his crown that lays flat so it’s not noticeable most of the time.

Squeaky G. AKA Sophie the Giraffe.

Eczema: It is so much better now.  He still has it behind his knees and in the front crease of his ankles.  Sometimes it flares up in front of his ears.  There is a direct correlation between the frequency with which I lotion him and the severity of each flare ups spot. I still use Curel Itch Defense for him and really like it.

Vaccines: I have been becoming informed about vaccines.  Right before Micaiah was born I was just beginning to learn about some of their controversy.  It was extremely overwhelming and in praying about it, I just felt like I shouldn’t be concerned.  So I wasn’t.  Fast forward to Ian, and I have been feeling the need to learn more about them.  I’m not sure if it’s the Holy Spirit stirring me to it or just me, but either way I am working my way through several books and loads of other information about them.  And yes, it is still very much overwhelming.

I looked back at Caeden’s 7 month post and realized that he had 3 teeth at this point with one more about to break through.  I have to say that I’m glad Ian doesn’t have any teeth yet; I’m a sucker for a gummy baby grin.

He his super happy to be reunited with Squeaky G and chew on him again.  He still loves the jumper, the swing outside, anything that shakes and makes noise, and chewy things.  We just brought out our gumball machine toy and he has really taken a liking to that lately as well.

Ian wants to move along the floor so bad.  Again, having his arms straight for 6.5 weeks didn’t help.  It took him 3-4 weeks post surgery just to master being able to roll over fluidly with straight arms.  He can sit up for a little while on his own before flopping over, and LOVES to stand up (I guess it goes without saying that he needs help with that).

 

Ian is so giddy and joyful most of the time, showing his joy by kicking and squealing.  He is still very social and does not hesitate to engage almost anyone.  He loves nothing more than to be included in family happenings.  He will grab anything that is in his path, and has knocked over drinks on more than one occasion when I've been holding him and looking the other way.  He loves bathtime as long as he’s not overly tired.  He is very much a wiggle worm and, unless he’s sleeping, he is in constant motion. 

Micaiah asked for his shoe to be in the picture too.