Seven Months and growing...

**One day, when I actually blog from my computer, I will post Kiff's "monthly" (more like month and a half) pictures.**

Height:  27 inches
Weight: 17 lbs 8 oz

Likes: Shoes, toys, car keys, cell phone, really anything he can get his hands (and mouth) on.  He has also found his voice and loves to hear himself SCREAM.  Yes, scream.  He talks, coos, and babbles, (currently says the da and ba sounds) but he will also let out a screech to let you know how he feels.  Sometimes, I think he just likes to see everybody's reactions.

Dislikes: Mom out of the picture.  He has suddenly become a very big momma's boy and does not like for me to be out of the picture.  If he sees me walk in the room, it's over.  He has to come to me or a meltdown will follow.  This is all very strange to me because he doesn't freak out when I drop him off at daycare or at least he doesn't when I walk away.

 
Sleeping: Not much has changed, he sleeps most of the night about 3-4 times a week.  **I refuse to say my child sleeps through the night when he is waking.  According to most peds, STTN is 5 or more hours, which is ridiculous.  Kiff was actually sleeping from 9 pm - 8 am before I started back work, with NO wake ups.  Now he will sleep 8-10 hours with 1 - 2 wake ups. 

Eating: 3 5 oz bottles at daycare, nursing on demand on the weekends.  Kiff is definitely digging more food now.  I try to take one day a week to make a week or more worth of food (in case I ever get behind in my food making).  It has been so quick, easy, and inexpensive to make Kiff's food.  We've bite size pieces of some fruits and veggies, but he is digging the purees right now.  I imagine next week I will start sending a cup of food for daycare as well.  For us the whole "feed your baby real food, he'll sleep all night" was a lie.  His sleeping has not improved (it actually digressed due to tummy issues with digesting solids) since the introduction of solids.

Playing:   Loving everything in his grasp.  He is starting to enjoy independent play a bit more.  He can sit on the floor and play with his toys for a little while before getting aggravated that mommy isn't right there.  Alex's cousins got us this AWESOME play mat for Kiff for Christmas, seriously one of our favorite gifts. Future parents, do not waste money on the small 3'x3' play mats.  This is a fisher price Discover 'N Grow Jumbo Play Mat.  I know the picture is small, but you can tell how much larger it is in comparison to most mats.  It has been awesome for our living room. 

Six Months and Growing

Height:  27 inches
Weight: 17 lbs 8 oz

Likes: Bath time.  Kiff outgrew his blue infant tub, but wasn't quite sitting up unassisted yet, so we blew up the ducky tub and he loves it.  He splashes and plays with his toys and looks up and grins.  I can't wait to get him in a pool next summer.   Mommy.  He is really turning in to a mommy's boy, which I love, but can also be exhausting.  He doesn't mind who holds him, as long as mommy is out of sight.  This often requires me ducking under tables, behind seats, or covering myself with a coat so he doesn't see me.

Dislikes: I still can't think of anything that he dislikes.  He's such a happy baby.

 
Sleeping: Doing better.  We have a full night's rest about once a week, but the night that follows is usually really poor sleeping.

Eating: 3 5 oz bottles at daycare, nursing on demand on the weekends.  Taking very little interest in food.  So far we've tried egg yolk, sweet potato, peas, and potatoes.  He seemed to enjoy the mashed potatoes from Outback.  He is also using a sippy cup when we eat.  He mostly just plays with it, but he will bring it to his mouth and turn upwards. 

Playing:   We are constantly saying (and being told) Kiff is nosy and it is so true.  He will not sleep or eat if there are things going on around him.  He is trying very hard to crawl, but mostly flaps his arms and legs around on the floor, but whenever he gets his belly off the ground I'm sure he will go go go. For now, he rolls anywhere he wants to go. 

Five Months and Growing

Height:  27 inches
Weight: 16 lbs 3 oz

Likes: Three words: Fisher Price Jumperoo. Oh. My.  Goodness.  Kiff gets so excited in his jumperoo.  He jumps and laughs and talks.  There is a jumperoo at daycare and one at the nursery at church.  I can usually pick him up from either place and he is in the jumperoo.  He likes his momma now.  He is starting to get clingy to me.  Someone else can have him and he is so very happy, until I pass his line of sight.  Then he is crying and won't stop until I go and acknowledge him.  This makes cleaning very difficult.  Kiff also is loving the dogs lately.  He'll grab Delilah by the face and "hold" her head in his hand (because honestly, can anyone really "hold" a Great Dane's head?).  He did the same thing with my brother's dogs and Alex's parents' dogs.  

Dislikes: I can't think of anything that he dislikes.  He's such a happy baby.

 
Sleeping: Since the sleep regression, I upped his bottles from 4 oz to 5 oz at daycare, that took care of 1 out of the 3 wake ups.  We also moved his bedtime up to 7:30 instead of 8 (with the goal of a 7 pm bedtime) and that took care of another wake up.  He now only wakes once between 3 and 4 in the am, nurses quickly and his back to sleep until 6.

Eating: 3 5 oz bottles at daycare.  In an attempt to get him to sleep longer, we tried feeding him an egg yolk.  He seemed interested at first, but quickly changed his mind.  It did not help with the sleep and we have not tried anything else.  Honestly, it is so much easier just breastfeeding.  Food just complicates things; although, I'm sure solids will start sometime this month.

Playing:  Kiff is so interactive.  He talks all the time.  His favorite syllable is the "duh" sounds.  Alex swears he is saying "Da-da", but I know better.  Until he intentionally says something, it's just noises.  At least, that's my story and I'm sticking to it.  We've been putting him on the floor more recently to see if he'll try and crawl.  He either pushes his legs or lifts his chest, just not both at the same time, so he reminds us of a beached whale.

Kiff is growing so quickly and as much as I enjoy watching him learn new things and grow, it is so bittersweet.  We're having revival at church and the guest pastor told a story of butterfly hair clips in his bathroom and how he told his wife to tell their daughter to use the kid bathroom and not take theirs over.  The wife gently told him that before long, there will not be any butterfly hair clips on the bathroom counter because their little girl will be grown.  I was blubbering my eyes out.  I am really trying to cherish every moment with Kiff and find joy in the early mornings or late nights.

Four Months and Growing

Height: 26 inches
Weight: 15 pounds

Likes: Nana Fran brought home two old swings from work that were no longer used.  The fisher price kind that hang on an outdoor swing set.  We immediately set one up at Nana and Papaws and Kiff fell in love.  We quickly set up ours at our house as well.  If Kiff is being a fussy butt, I put on his jacket, grab a blanket, and put him in the swing; he's happy within minutes.  He's loving bath time more and more each bath, shown by more and more water on the floor than in the tub by the end of his bath.  Kiff has also found his feet, making diaper changes increasingly difficult.  I have a feeling his socks will not be staying on much longer.
Dislikes: Kiff still doesn't like being on his back, and he's starting to learn to turn over from back to belly.  He can get to his side and he throws his little legs, but hasn't quite made it to his belly yet.  Alex also makes this noise that sounds like he's trying to clear his throat, it makes Kiff cry.

 
Sleeping: Oh growth spurt and sleep regression, how I loathe thee.  About 2 weeks ago, Kiff started waking several times a night.  It has been zero fun.

Eating: I know he is taking 4 oz per sitting since that is how much I send in his bottles for daycare.  I feed him in the morning, he usually takes 3-4 4 oz bottles at daycare, and I feed him 3-4 times in the evening.  We have no plans to start solids for another month or so.
Playing:  Kiff is grabbing at everything with in his reach and quickly placing these items in his mouth: feet, oball, bib, paci string, Sophie, everything really.  Sophie is probably is favorite toy.  He's showing all the signs of teething, but we still haven't seen or felt any trying to pop through.

It is so special to pick Kiff up in the afternoons after a long day of work.  I enjoy taking him home and just loving on him sweetly.  He's such a sweet boy and time really is going by too quick.  Before we know it, it'll be Christmas and he'll by 6 months old.  I'm in no rush for him to grow up.

Three Months and Growing

2 month for reference

Height: 25 inches
Weight: 14 lb 8 oz

Likes: Kiff still loves being naked.  In fact, you will soon see him in his "I love being naked" onesie I bought him.  He's learning to splash in the bath tub.  He has decided he likes the swing at the preschool but not the one at home.

Dislikes: Being on his back.  Kiff is a tummy sleeper.  We always know if he is on his back when he wakes up.  Instead of being the typical happy wake up baby that he is, he will be screaming before we get into his room.

 
Sleeping: Still awesome.  He has started going to bed between 7 and 9, since he wakes up at 6:30 each morning.

Eating: I know he is taking 4 oz per sitting since that is how much I send in his bottles for daycare.  I feed him in the morning, he usually takes 3-4 4 oz bottles at daycare, and I feed him 3-4 times in the evening.

Playing:  Takes everything around him in.  Loves to look around and see what is going on.  Although he can't reach the floor, he likes to play in his jumperoo (we put pillows under his feet).  He has started to swat and grab for things above his head.  He'll follow me with his eyes if I'm in the room and smiles when I return to his line of view.

We love Kiff more than anything and can't believe he is already a quarter of a year old.  Time needs to SLOW DOWN!

Two Months and Growing

Just for comparison

Height: 24 inches (88th percentile)
Weight: 12 lbs 12 oz (57th percentile)

Likes: Kiff still enjoys being held and loved on.  Loves sleeping on his belly.  Also, has begun to enjoy the bouncer we just bought him.  He's beginning to find and learn that his hands and feet are attached to him and is constantly trying to chew on his hands.  Oh, and being naked.  The child will go from screaming and crying to smiles and giggles as soon as you lay him on his changing table and strip him naked.

Dislikes: I can't really think of any dislikes.  He's such a content baby.  I'll have to ask Alex if he knows of any dislikes.

Sleeping: Kiff is a champ at sleeping.  The last two weeks Kiff has slept 9-11 hours, closer to 11.  We've tried several times to have his bedtime early, like 7-8ish, but he wakes up every 3 hours if we try putting him down that early.  We keep a consistent 10 pm bedtime with a wake time of 9.  I know this will change when I go back to work, but I'm enjoying the sleep.  Even though he's sleeping till 9, I'm still having to wake around 5 to pump as I'm working on a freezer stash for when I go back to work in *gasp* 2 weeks.

Eating: Again, a champ.  No problems latching or eating.  Gaining good weight.  Easily changes from breast to bottle.  He's an awesome baby.

Playing:  Definitely more alert now.  He kicks his feet to make his bouncer bounce and has even managed to hit the spinning animals above his head.  He just giggles and smiles.  He's a pretty awesome kid.  

Kiff is growing more and more each day.  He's also learning new things each day.  We are so blessed to be his parents and are so thankful that God granted him to be our child.

My husband is my hero

It has really been on my heart to express my love for my husband up here.  I posted the following facebook status shortly after giving birth: "Ladies, there is nothing sexier than watching your husband love your child". While that is still true, I would alter that statement to you don't know how much you love your husband until you watch him love your child.  Alex has been amazing.  I am so gracious that he was able to take several weeks off with Kiff and I as we started our family of three.

There was never any doubt that Alex would be an amazing father.  He's always had a special way with kids (and if anyone knows me, I do not have a special way with kids).  Kids flock to him.  I partially believe because he's a big kid at heart still.  There is nothing Alex hasn't done to help with Kiff (except breastfeed, but I'm sure he would if it was possible).  He refused to leave Kiff and I at the hospital (even though I tried to get him to go home and take a shower).  He caught me when I passed out before my blood transfusion.  He helped me out of the bed to go to the bathroom.  He would bring me Kiff so I could feed him and then hold him when finished.  When we got home from the hospital, he did everything possible to make me comfortable to make my recovery easy.

We have been very blessed with a child who likes to sleep at night.  As stated previously, Kiff has slept 4-6 hours at night since we have brought him home.  This time has slowly been stretching to 8 hours.  Alex has made nights so easy for me.  I usually give Kiff his last feeding around 9 or 9:30 and then Alex will hold him and rock him to sleep (Alex does a much better job of getting Kiff calmed down than I) while I get in bed and sleep until his early morning feeding, allowing me an average of six hours of sleep each night.

He's also been so understanding of me and the crazy hormones that I've been having.  He's rubbed my sore muscles and aching back and feet.  He's loved my son unconditionally.  He's my rock and I don't know what I would do without him and would not know how I would have gotten through Kiff's first month without him, and I'm not looking forward to him going back to work (on nights) next week.

Alex's first father's day.

Kiff post-bath with Alex

Caught sleeping.

Sleeping in the hospital (probably why Kiff falls asleep on Alex so well).

Kiff's first bottle.

Real men wear babies.