Hunter's 9 Month Update!

Height/Weight:

The last time we weighed him, maybe a week ago, he was 23 lbs! 

I haven't tried measuring him, so I don't know how tall he is. 

Routine: 

You can put an "ish" after all these times... Nothing is ever at a specific time, but this is a pretty close estimate. Oh and there's breastfeeding in-between everything whenever he wants to nurse.

8am: Wake up, change diaper, make coffee, sweep & play

10am: Breakfast.. We used to do breakfast closer to when we would wake up, but I found he just didn't have the patience to wait for me to cook, and then he would barely eat... I think he needed to work up more of an appetite. 

11am: Change clothes, then nap

1:30pm: Lunch

If we do anything for the day, after lunch is our prime time of the day to go out. He's usually the happiest & most patient in the early afternoon!

3pm: Nap

5pm: I start making dinner

5:30pm: Potential nap. This nap is a hit and miss. He is always SO tired around this time but always refuses to go down for a sleep. If he does, he only naps for about 20 minutes... but those 20 minutes make all the difference. 

6pm: Eat dinner

6:45pm: Bath, jammies + read books and play. 

While Hunter's in the tub, Bo watches him while I quickly sweep the kitchen and living room.

8:00pm: Daddy takes Hunter to bed. 

Mommy then gets to clean the kitchen, do dishes, pick up all Hunter's books and toys, etc. 

9:30pm: Hunter has been waking up about an hour after he falls asleep for the night. Dad will go in and bounce him back to sleep & then he'll sleep for 2-3 hours. 

12am: Wakes up & then comes to bed with mom and dad & dream feeds all night :) 

Sleeping: 

There really hasn't been much change in the sleep department. He goes to bed at the same time every night and wakes up every 2-3 hours to dream feed. He takes 2 sometimes 3 naps a day. 

Eating/Feeding:

He breastfeeds probably 4-7 times a day. It changes depending on many factors.... His mood, teething, how much solids he's had, etc. 

I try to give him breakfast, lunch and dinner every day. Sometimes we skip lunch. Sometimes we just have small snacks all day. It really just depends on what we have, or what/when I'm eating. 

Some of his favourite things to eat is pasta, any kind of meat, butternut squash and yogurt.. Oh and he stole my pizza crust right out of my hand the other day, and he seemed to really enjoy it. Haha!

Sizes:

His clothing sizes are still kind of all over the place. I would say he's mainly in 12 months.  

Size 4 diapers.

Milestones:

*He started walking TODAY! It was so amazing! Head over to my Facebook to see the quick video!

*He has cut his 2 top teeth! Which brings him to a grand total of 4 teeth! 

*We got to experience his first Christmas! Ah! Words cant describe how great it was. Christmas morning was so exciting!! 

^^ "Look mom! I'm planking!"

^^^ Hunter's face in this one absolutely killlllsss me! So funny!

^^^ Here's how this month's update photo went. It's a miracle I got what I did! Lol!

Christmas Wish List!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas! It seriously is my most favourite time of year. We've been listening to Christmas music non-stop for a week now. Hunter is absolutely obsessed with Jingle Bells & he loves the sparkly ornaments! He's going to be obsessed with Christmas just like his mama! We're not going big on Christmas gifts this year, if we even get any at all! Just a few small things for Hunter to open so we can have that wonderful "first time" opening presents on Christmas morning memory! 

Having said that, here are some things this mama would definitely have on the Christmas wish list!

1. Dr Seuss 20 Book Gift Box Set!

I mean.. For obvious reasons! Who wouldn't want this! Hunter is obsessed with books and reading & we (mom & dad) LOVE Dr. Seuss! 

2. Over the Knee Wide Calf Boots

There are no words to describe how sad it is to have huge calves. Finding a great pair of over the knee boots is near impossible! I had a pair that I found at Charlotte Russe that were incredible, but they got worn down and ruined so I had to throw them away :( Wa wa wa.

3. Grizzly Sleigh

Yes! We have so much property here & looootsss of snow! Hunter would love this!

4. Long Loose Sweaters

Mom pouch for life!

5. Portable Dishwasher

Who likes washing dishes by hand 2-3 times a day? Not this guy. 

6. Sealy Posturepedic Pillow Top Mattress

Bo moves around so much in his sleep. Hunter and I are always being bounced all over the bed! I'm such a light sleeper now as it is, so any movement he makes, wakes me up. 

7. Sectional Couch

Because I think it's time my living room has a couch! Yes.. you read that right. I do not have a couch Haha! We have a La-Z-Boy & a rocking char. 

8. Shellac Nail Polish

I rarely do my nails because I never have enough time to do then plus let the dry. I gave myself a shellac manicure the other day and I forgot how convenient and amazing they are! 1 problem, I need WAY more colours. I only have 3!

9. Bath & Body Works 3-Wick Candles

A life time supply of these candles please. 

What's on your Christmas wish list this year?? 

Hunter's 8 Month Update!

Height/Weight: 

I tried to measure him myself and I got 73cm.... How accurate that is, I don't know. I can't even remember how long he was at his 6 month appointment! 

We just weighed him and he weighs 21.2lbs. Considering how much he eats, I'm quite surprised he's only gained a pound in the last month!

Routine:

It's basically the same as last month... but here are approximate times to our daily routine with play time in-between everything!

7am-7:30am: Wake up + breastfeed

8:30am: Oatmeal + fruit breakfast

12pm: Nap

1pm: Breastfeed + lunch

3pm: Nap 

4pm: Breastfeed

5:30pm: Possible nap...... This one is hit or miss. If he's not in his crib napping by 5:30 at the latest, we kiss this nap goodbye & work on keeping him entertained until dinner.

6pm: Breastfeed + dinner

7pm: Bath & books

8pm: Bedtime

Sleeping:
He takes every nap in his crib + when he goes to bed for the night. He'll wake up sometime before midnight to breastfeed, then I'll bring him back to his crib if I'm awake enough. If not, I'll keep him in my bed with me. I'll almost always keep him in bed with me the second time he wakes up though.... Simply because I fall asleep nursing him.

Eating/Feeding:

He breastfeeds the same amount, if not more then he was last month. He eats breakfast lunch & dinner and possibly another snack at some point in the day.
Click here to see a blog post I did of what Hunter ate in a day :)

Sizes: 

His clothes are anywhere from 6 months to 18 months. I would say he's mostly in 9-12 month clothing though. 
Size 4 diapers.

Milestones: 

He hasn't made too much more progress in the walking game. He's taken a maximum of 2 steps but now he seems to just be practicing standing for long periods of time. Fine by me!! 
This is such a fun age. He's doing things like, flipping the tabs in his flip books, or changing the page when I'm done reading it (without me telling him to) or he'll grab his favourite book (Brown Bear Brown Bear) off the shelf, or crawl over to me when he sees me getting his high chair or bib out. He's so good at making connections. He's also starting to repeat what he's doing if we encourage him or if he notices that we think he's being funny. It's so cute! 

^^^ This smile... I can't even^^^

^^^Highly recommend this bath seat for parents with wiggly babies who like to move and splash in the tub!^^^

^^^Munching on an apple from the tree... Those are sun/water spots.. Not rotting spots^^^

Keep an eye out for the rest of our Christmas photos!

What My 8 Month Old Ate Today!

Alright, so he'll be 8 months old in 2 days... Close enough! 

You know what that means! An 8 month update! So be sure to keep and eye out for that because I feel like there's going to be some really cute photos up!

Today I thought I would do something different & document what I feed my son in a day, besides breast milk! He still nurses a bunch of times a day. At the minimum, he nurses after every nap, which is usually 3 naps a day & then maybe 4 times a night. He's also been nursing quite a bit more lately in between naps. He usually doesn't nurse for very long, I think it's just for a quick comfort... Sometimes it's not even long enough for my let down to happen, but he INSISTS on it anyway haha! Fine by me!

So in the morning he semi-wakes up and breastfeeds before he is actually ready to wake up for the day. Then about 30 minutes later I get his breakfast ready. He always gets oatmeal cereal + 2 cubes of fruit puree. I'm not one of those moms who's all serious about organic, all natural, all homemade, yadda yadda food (sue me). I do prefer oatmeal cereal as opposed to rice cereal & if I had the patience to pump, I would use the organic oatmeal that's in the cupboard.. but I don't.. So here it is.. "Just add water" oatmeal cereal.. In all it's glory. 

Let me tell you... This apple & cinnamon stuff is actually so good. I use 2 tablespoons of the cereal plus I added 2 apple purees to it, then I add enough water until I get a good consistency. He always eats the whole thing.

For lunch: 1 piece of whole wheat bread with coconut butter drizzled on top. I also gave him 2 cubes of avocado/kiwi puree & 1 pear puree.

 I spoon fed him this puree & he ate the whole thing. 

He eats his toast on his own though. He looooves toast. Especially with peanut butter. I actually do use organic, natural peanut butter though when I give it to him, haha! This was his first time trying coconut butter & I don't think he was the biiiiiiggest fan... We'll have to try it again and see if he'll give it another shot. 

And lastly, for dinner: 3 cubes of purple carrot/cauliflower puree. He only ate maybe 1/3 of this. 

Then he had roasted butternut squash & some ham!

He much prefers to have his food cut in small pieces as opposed to strips [other then toast]. He had his pincer grasp down at like, 5 months, so he never really grabbed big smushy handfuls of anything. Can you tell he prefers the butternut squash over the ham? Haha it's definitely a favourite in this house! This is when I really love baby led. He munches on dinner while we munch on dinner. It's so convenient!

Like I said, this is just one day. We have all sort of snacks and meals. He also eats out of squeeze pouches on his own as well as popsicles I make for him. I'm not making any more purees since my freezer still has a ton. I went kind of puree crazy after I got my new steamer and immersion blender. Ahh exciting. But anyway, yes, working through what we have left and then he'll just eat all food cut in small pieces or as a whole, depending on what it is. 

He also gets a sippy cup of water at dinner. We use the Nuby No Spill Flip n Sip Cup & love it! We had purchased a standard sippy cup first... you know, the ones with the big plastic mouth part with the 4 or so holes in the spout and you have to tilt it upside down to drink from it. Yah well, Hunter just wanted to chew on the end and couldn't get the whole 'tip it upside down' thing. When we got the Nuby, he figured it out right away and loves it. It's so cute to watch him eat. He'll just be munching away on dinner, stop, take a couple sips of water, then put his cup down and continue eating. I don't know why I find that so friggin adorable, must be a mom thing.. Ahhh my little human <3

Hope you enjoyed this post! I thought to myself "I would love to know what mom's feed their children in a day!" So I thought I would make my own post! 

Thanks for reading, see you soon with an 8 month update!

Hunter's 7 Month Update!

 

Height/Weight:

Not too sure about height, as we won't have an appointment until 9 months, & I don't want to try measure myself because he's never willing to lay still haha! We just weighed him the other day and he's 20lbs!

Routine:
This is an approximate time of his schedule. Times will vary, but it's usually somewhere around these times! His naps are like, maximum 1 hour. They usually tend to be around 40 mins.
7am: Breastfeeds himself awake
8am: Breakfast - Baby oatmeal with fruit 
9:30am: Nap
10:30am: Wake up & breastfeed
11:30am: This nap is a hit or miss and usually sets the tone of the day haha! He used to always take his 2 morning naps close together but then he started kind of phase it out & push it until the afternoon. It seems like it's coming back now.. We'll see.
12:30pm: Wake up & breastfeed
1:00pm: Lunch - 2 cubes of puree. I like to do something like fruit with quinoa or chia seeds, or a protein that isn't meat, like chick peas or black beans. 
3:00pm: Nap
4:00pm: Wake up & breastfeed 
5:00pm: Dinner - I like to give him a meat & sweet potato puree or another protein, then a veggie or veggie/fruit combo for dessert. 
6:00pm: Bath time
6:30pm: Play and read like 10-15 books before we lay him down for the night. No joke, he loves reading. 
7:30pm-8:00pm: Bed time
Then he wakes up maybe 4 times before morning to dream feed!

Just hanging out, watching 101 Dalmatians

Sleeping:
Well, were back to somewhat of a schedule. He had a week where everything was sooooo messed up, sleep wise. We had a night where he was wide awake at 3am & waking up for the day at 5am some other mornings. Gah it was terrible terrible terrible. 
Now were back to about the same schedule as before. Waking up at 7am for the day, 3 naps, then down for the night at about 8pm. 
I still bring him into my bed when he wakes up for the first or second time after he's gone down for the night, but when he wakes up to nurse around 5am, I usually bring him back to his crib. He doesn't seem to want to go back to sleep in my bed at that time, but if I put him in his crib, he'll pass right out! It's kind of nice, but it's also a little frustrating because I tend to stay awake and not fall back asleep for a long time!
One day, we'll get a good system going that we both like. Maybe one day he'll even sleep through the night, in his crib! Haha.. Wishful thinking. 

We were having a rough day & Bo took over so I could shower... When I came out of the shower, this is what I saw. 

This literally never happens. It's so extremely rare that he falls asleep on me like this. I think it's happened maybe 3 times since he was a newborn.

Eating/Feeding:

He still breastfeeds every time he wakes up from a nap, and sometimes before he goes down for a nap. He usually only does that if he's missed a nap and has been awake for a long time. He nurses probably 4 times a night still too. 
I have a huge stock of bagged homemade purees that I froze in ice cube trays. Fruits, veggies, grains, proteins. It's quite a nice variety I'd say! He loves fruit, obviously... But he'll literally eat anything I give him. I made him a black bean/avocado puree with chill powder, cumin, and garlic, & I thought "he is going to hate this", but he gobbled it all up! 
I always breastfeed before I give him solids.
I'll give him 2 cubes of fruit mixed with baby oatmeal in the morning.
Then 2-3 cubes of something for lunch. I'll usually try do veggies mixed with fruit, or a fruit & grain or bean puree. 
Then he has 2 cubes of meat or some other protein for dinner and then 2 cubes of veg or fruit puree for "dessert". 
*He's also done baby led with chicken parm, toast, banana, apple and pasta!

Sizes:

For clothing he is anywhere between 6 months and 12 months.
He's in size 4 diapers.

Milestones:
HE TOOK HIS FIRST STEP!
He has also grown 2 teeth so far!
He's also learned how to flip pages in a book.
He knows to sit down when I tell him to sit down. [Always when he's in the tub! Little monkey!]

He also had his first Halloween! My second favourite holiday :)