In just two days, on July 12th, it will have been a year since we found out you existed, and named you Beta. What a beautiful journey it has been with you over the past year. Nine months of carrying you inside me, (but only eight months that we knew), and four months of carrying you in our arms. We have always carried you in our heart.
Your major development this month is grabbing things and putting them in your mouth. You have transitioned from being entranced by toys that spin in the air above you, to enjoying toys designed for chewing (and chewing on things that aren't toys also!). You now love to be in your bouncer, or on your activity mat, because there are toys hanging at your level for you to grab onto and chew.
My favorite time of day with you now is nursing you to sleep at night. It is a peaceful, quiet time for both of us - something I need each day, and I think something you need too. Sometimes you are tired and go right to sleep. Other nights you nurse, then spend some time cooing, grunting, and looking around the room. Nursing a baby to sleep is one of a thousand things you're not supposed to do according to some people who write baby books. But nearly every mom I know, does it. And what these baby book experts don't bother to tell you, is that nursing your baby to sleep might be one of the most precious things that ever happened to you.
When we make eye contact, and you see that it is me, you always smile. I smile back at you, and say, "Hi. I love you."
I love when I change your diaper in the middle of the night, how toasty warm your feet are. Inside your pajamas, your feet get so hot and cozy. During day time diaper changes, your skin is a more normal temperature, so I don't really notice your feet as I'm changing you. But at night, I love touching the warm skin of your feet and ankles....
And I love how when we go outside, and the sun is bright, you turn your face into my chest, and hide your eyes against my shoulder. If you're in a carrier, you tuck your face into the corner between the wide strap and my skin, shielding your eyes from the sun. I love the little cuddle I get from you with this motion.
You giggle a lot, and "talk" to people who talk to you. You're getting more and more verbal. We can usually get you to giggle either by tickling your tummy (just in the last two weeks), or by slightly surprising you with movement and noise. Grandmama rattled a toy, then suddenly dropped it on your belly, and it made you giggle. I pretended to sneeze, or hiccup, and it made you giggle.
STATS: 18.6 lbs, 28 inches long. Wearing 6-9 month size clothes. I think your eyes are turning brown! Around the pupil are brown streaks which are slowly increasing and taking over the grey that still remains at the outermost edge. You are getting more squishy rolls every day that goes by!
You almost are big enough to fit into your first pair of Crocs! With socks on, they stayed on your feet. But socks and crocs is kind of a fashion faux pas around here.... You managed to look cute anyway.
BED TIME ROUTINE AND NIGHT SLEEP
Bath time: 6:30 pm
You no longer bathe in a baby tub. You are too big and too long for it, but you also don't sit up well enough yet to bathe in the regular bathtub. So for now, the sink it is. We started this when we were in Houston, and your aunt and uncle's delightfully enormous kitchen sink.
Story Time 6:45 to 7:00 pm
This is new for you. A couple weeks ago we ordered the Read Aloud Bible Stories series, which I loved as a kid. The books are large and simply illustrated, and the Bible stories are short but exciting. In the last few days, even if you're fussy at this time of day, you are happy in your bath, and happy when we're reading you this book.
Nurse to sleep, and you're asleep between 7:30 to 8:00 pm
You wake every three to four hours at night to nurse. Lately, you've been waking more frequently some times. It might be since we have spent a lot of the month of June away from home. Two weeks in Houston, and a week camping.... being in your own bed is suddenly abnormal!
You sleep in the co-sleeper until Benjamin goes to work (about 5:30 am), then you sleep next to me in bed.
We still swaddle you to sleep at night, just your arms. Your legs have always been free. One night while camping, you got SO mad when I swaddled you that I left you unswaddled. You slept fine that night, but the next few nights when we got home and I tried leaving you unswaddled, you were waking every hour all night long, so I swaddled you up again.
You wake up in the morning between 7 and 8 am.
DAY SLEEP
You've pretty much taken all naps this last month in a baby carrier on someone's body. You will take a nice 1.5 hour nap in the morning and afternoon, as long as someone is carrying you, to bounce and rock you back to sleep at thirty minute intervals.
DIAPERS
Still wearing cloth. You've moved up to the largest pre-fold size, but are still in medium size covers. While we were camping, you wore disposables. I didn't want to be washing your cloth diapers in the lake all week! The disposables did really well overnight, so I think I may continue using them at night. The cloth ones we were using at night could only last about six hours before they were saturated, and I really prefer not to change you in the middle of the night!
EATING
About every three hours during the day, sometimes as short as every two hours. You get distracted a lot while nursing, and I have to keep getting you back on. Sometimes you will only want to eat for ten minutes, then play for five or ten minutes, then realize you're still hungry, and nurse another ten or fifteen minutes. While we were camping in the hot sun, you nursed in short bursts pretty frequently, to quench your thirst from sweating.
PHYSICAL skills
You've begun attempting to roll over, but haven't accomplished it yet. You are getting used to tummy time and will stay on your tummy longer before starting to fuss.
You're really good at kicking your feet. When you're on your tummy, you can kick them enough to scoot yourself forward a bit. On your back, you can kick yourself around in a circle, like a pinwheel. When you're in bed at night waking up, you do little crunches, then flop your feet down loudly on the bed.
You can grab things and put them in your mouth, chewing happily. We still have to put them in your hands much of the time, but once they are in your fist, you hang on and play with them. I went to a couple yard sales and found a bunch of little toys that are perfect for you right now.
You can grab so well that you can pinch my skin (ow!), pull my shirt down, and twiddle with my necklace or clothing while you're nursing.
This turtle (part of a finger puppet set from Ikea) is one of the first toys you successfully held onto and put in your mouth repeatedly.
VERBAL skills
You still make happy grunting sounds when nursing, but not as often as you used to. I will be sad when this stops, because it makes me feel proud to be feeding you such a yummy meal.
You are making new sounds almost every day. I will be in the room with you, working on something else, or in the next room over, and you are vocalizing, playing with your voice, playing with the sounds and pitches you can make. You will make a noise and I'll think, "Wow, I've never heard that one before!"
THINGS we did
Wow. This was a busy month. We spent only about a week of it at home!
We finished up our trip to Houston with your cousins. This is the bedroom we slept in while we were there. You slept swaddled on the bed, about two feet away from me.
We celebrated your Daddy's first Father's Day. At church on Sundays, he usually carries you while you nap during the service. He has nicknamed you "Awesome." He comes home from work, and says, "Hey there, Awesome! How was your day? How's my awesome son?"
I helped you make your Daddy a painting for his first Father's Day gift. I squirted paint on the page, then held you over it while you kicked your feet, swirling the paint around. Then, while I tried to take a picture of your painted feet, I felt wetness down my stomach, and you had pooped all over us. I still tried to get the photo. Then I felt wetness again. You had spit up all over my arm. I managed to get the photo, but then you and I had to get cleaned up for church all over again!
When we were on Facetime with your Daddy (while we were in Houston), and when we Facetime called your Nana Rose, you look right at their faces on the screen. It taught you to enjoy looking at the phone, and now, whenever I have my phone out, or my real camera out, trying to get pictures or video of you, you stop whatever cuteness you were doing, and stare intently at the screen. Yes, my phone is a toy. No, you can't play with it ;)
But that means it's easy to get super cute photos of you staring right at the screen. Making silly faces. And smiling.
We also took you on your very first camping trip! We spent a week at the lake, boating and being with our family. You loved it in the boat, and fell asleep almost immediately. When the boat stopped, you would cry until we started up again. Here you are sleeping under your hat.
The first day, you weren't too happy about floating in the water. But each day we stayed out a bit longer, and you got to where you loved it! I kept you in your life jacket in the water, because the water was so murky I was afraid if I dropped you, I wouldn't be able to find you fast enough. But I never dropped you.
It was good that we had my parents' RV for you and to sleep in, because the sun is out until almost ten p.m. these days! The first night, it was nine o'clock, and you were still wide awake because of all the day light! As soon as we got inside where it was dark, you fell right to sleep. You woke up about six thirty each morning when we were there, because that's when the sun woke up. It's a good thing I'm a morning person too! These photos were taken around 6:30 a.m.!
Both in Houston, and on our camping trip, both your Daddy and I spent a lot of time "wearing" you.
Your cousins Isabel and Aidan must have been watching us closely. A few days after returning from our camping trip, this is what they were doing!
Now that we're home, I've got to figure out how to get you to nap in your crib again! I have a feeling it's not going to be easy. Luckily, we don't have any trips planned for out of town this month.
What an adventure it is to be your Mama! Your Daddy and I are so happy you came into our lives.
