Eight Months

 

Another month has come and gone and we are having so much fun with Lee!  Here is what is going on this month…

Weight: I think Lee weighs about 20-21 pounds now.  He has the chunkiest thighs (they are so cute)!  I think most of his weight is in his thighs and cheeks – ha!

Clothing: Lee is wearing 9 month clothing and he is still wearing a size 3 diaper.

Feeding: Lee is still breastfeeding – four times a day (7 am, noon, 4 pm, 8 pm).  Lee still has two solid meals a day too. He eats his oatmeal with a fruit in the morning (right before his morning nap) and then some sort of veggie in the evening (usually right before we eat dinner).  He also loves to snack on puffs, cheerios and mum mums.  It is so funny to watch how excited he gets when we pull out the puffs.  I think he would eat these for every meal if we would let him.  He has also been working on his sippy cup skills.  We give him water in his sippy cup (the kind with a straw has seemed to work best) and he drinks some of it and manages to spill it everywhere too. 

Sleep: Lee is sleeping great, but he is sleeping a little bit less at night.  Maybe 10-11 hours now. He is still taking two naps a day. He is getting more upset at times when we put him down for his naps.  I think he is just having so much fun playing that he doesn’t want to stop and slow down for a nap. 

Activities: We officially have a crawler!  Lee started crawling on February 8.  We were so excited when he figured it out, but man, did things change quickly!  The day Lee started crawling he was barely inching along.  By the next day he was all over the place.  It didn’t take him long to figure it out.  He also very quickly figured out how to go from crawling to sitting up.  A couple weeks after he was crawling, he started pulling up on things.  We have baby proofed the house and we have to keep a constant eye on him.  Lee is SUPER active and is constantly trying to get into everything…including Mollie’s water/food bowl.  Speaking of Mollie, one of the other activities Lee enjoys is torturing the dog.  He crawls around after her and when she lets him get close, he grabs her fur and pulls her hair out.  Poor Mollie – she has been a good sport, but she is over it.  Lee does love Mollie and gets the biggest smile on his face when he sees her come in a room.  Lee is also waving now.  His first wave was to the lady checking us out at Babies R Us, so I’m not sure what that means.  I guess he feels comfortable there, because we go a lot.  Lee is babbling a lot too.  We aren’t sure what he’s saying yet, but a lot of times it sounds like he’s saying “Hey”.  We haven’t heard anything that sounds like mama or dada, so we will keep working on that! 

Zoo Day

We took Lee to the zoo for the first time on MLK day since Cole and I both had the day off of work.  We got a season pass to the zoo for Christmas from G-Mom and Duke.  Lee loved the zoo and we are going to have a great time taking him some more this year!  We thought it was funny because Lee seemed to enjoy watching the other kids run around more than he liked looking at the animals. 

Looking at the elephants with Dad

The giraffe exhibit was so fun!  You could get so close to the giraffes and touch and feed them. 

My sweet boys!

Seven Months

Wow, how quickly our little guy is changing these days!  Lee is a ball of energy and on the move.  I got a little sentimental this month because I just felt like Lee was changing so much all of a sudden.  Of course, this is a good thing to watch him grow and develop the way he is supposed to, but I can’t help but think how seven short months ago he was just a sweet little 6 lb. baby who would only open his eyes for about an hour or two a day.  Here is what our big seven month old is up to now.

Weight:  Lee got an official weigh in this month when we went to the doctor one day.  He was fine, just another exciting trip to the doctor for no reason.  Basically, I called to ask about his teething because I thought it was what was waking him up in the middle of the night for a couple of nights one week.  They asked me a bunch of questions like does he have congestion, cough, etc.  I said yes, he had a little cough for a couple of weeks (although I think this was just a cough to get attention).  Because I said he had a cough, the nurse said that they wanted to see him.  So, off we went on a Friday afternoon at 5:00 – yay!  We saw the doctor and she said he looked/sounded great.  I think she was kind of confused (as was I) as to why the nurse had told us to come in.  But, I felt like I should listen to the nurse and better to play it safe than sorry.  So, the only interesting thing that came out of the appointment was that we got to weigh Lee.  He was 19 lbs. 15.5 oz. – just shy of the 20 lb. mark. 

Clothing: Lee is wearing 9 month clothing and he is still wearing a size 3 diaper.

Feeding: Lee is still breastfeeding –  four times a day (7 am, noon, 4 pm, 8 pm).  During this month, we have started Lee on two solid meals a day too.  He eats his oatmeal with a fruit in the morning (right before his morning nap) and then some sort of veggie in the evening (usually right before we eat dinner).  He has tried all sorts of foods now and he loves everything except peas.  He does like his green beans and spinach which makes mommy happy that he will eat some green veggies.  Lee still spits up a ton.  Now that he has started solids, his spit up is a variety of colors which is really fun.  This makes for spending a lot of time getting stains out of our clothes and his clothes.  Also, he got his first tooth this month.  The bottom right tooth came in on January 18 and the bottom left appeared just a few days later.  It has caused him to be a little cranky at times, but he’s mainly just wanting to chew on Sophie the giraffe to make it better. 

Sleep: Lee is sleeping great  - still 11-12 hours a night.  He has moved to two solid naps a day now.  One morning nap for an 1.5 – 2 hours and one afternoon nap for about the same length.  We really worked on putting him down for his naps awake and letting him put himself to sleep.  He fusses a some and may cry before falling asleep.  This was hard for me at first, but it is working well now and he is really used to his routine. 

Activities: Lee is sitting up great and he is our little wiggle worm.  He is seriously all over the place now.  He prefers to be on the floor rolling and scooting all around rather than being held.  He is also getting in the crawl position, but hasn’t quite started crawling yet.  But, we figure we will be baby proofing the house very soon! 

Six Months

Well, I’m a little late updating on Lee’s sixth month, but at least I’m getting this all down before he turns seven months this week!  As I’m sure I will say over and over, TIME FLIES!  I can’t believe half a year has already passed us by in the blink of an eye.  Lee turned 6 months old on Christmas day.  It was such a special time of year, celebrating Christ’s birth with our sweet boy and our families.  I love this six month pic of Lee – he really is our happy boy!

Weight:  We went to the doctor for Lee’s six month appointment and got his official stats.  He weighed 18 lbs. 11 oz. (75%). 

Length:  Lee was 27 3/4 in. (97%).  We could definitely tell he had a growth spurt in length because his pants were all getting too short. 

Head Circumference:  Still in the 10th percentile!

Clothing: Lee is wearing mostly9 month clothing.   He is still wearing a size 3 diaper.

Feeding: Lee is still breastfeeding – about four times a day.  During this month, we started trying rice cereal/oatmeal and slowly started adding a few other baby foods.  He seems to like oatmeal better than rice cereal.  We just gave him carrots and sweet potatoes this month.  He likes the carrots the best – just like daddy!   

Sleep: Lee is sleeping great  - still 11-12 hours a night.  He is still taking 3 naps a day for the most part (sometimes 2).  Lee got another cold this month but luckily this cold didn’t interfere with his sleeping.  Of course I freaked out about his cold because I saw him grabbing at his ears a couple of times so I just knew he had an ear infection even though the nurse on the phone told me it didn’t sound like he did.  I took him to the doctor anyways since it was a couple days before Christmas – I was worried he would be sick and we wouldn’t be able to take him to his doctor over the holidays.  Luckily, he was fine and luckily the doctor didn’t make me feel like a crazy paranoid mom! 

Activities: Lee started sitting up so much better about a week before Christmas.  He is stable enough now where he can hold onto his toys while he is sitting.  Lee is so happy and just our laid back, carefree baby boy.  He gives us the biggest smiles and laughs.  This is such a fun stage to see his little personality start coming out!

Holidays in Review

Well since I have failed to write anything about some of Lee’s first holiday experiences, I’m going to do a quick recap starting all the way back with Halloween. 

For Halloween this year, Lee was a little monkey.  We thought this was appropriate since all of Cole’s guy friends refer to themselves as the monkeys.  Whenever they are around each other, although they are all over 30, they tend to act like a bunch of monkeys.

We had fun taking Lee to a few of the neighbor’s houses to “trick or treat”.  Lee did fall asleep in Cole’s arms while visiting with some of the neighbors.  I guess he was just cozy in his monkey suit and could only take so much Halloween fun.  We also went over to Rance and Kayla’s house and then down to Chris and Kimi’s house.  Lee slept through most of that too!

For Thanksgiving, our plans got changed up a little bit from past years because Duke had to have surgery unexpectedly the week of Thanksgiving.  We were thankful that he was ok and got to go home without having to spend Thanksgiving in the hospital.  So, on Wednesday, we went to Baytown and spent Wednesday and Thursday night there.  We had Thanksgiving lunch on Thursday and then Cole, Cody, Casey and I went to the A&M vs. tu game on Thursday night.  Since it was the last one ever, it was really exciting to be there.  G-Mom and Duke graciously watched Lee so that we could go to the game.  I think we all had a great time despite an Aggie loss!  On Friday, we drove to Arlington and spent Friday and Saturday night with my family.  We had a great time just hanging out and on Saturday we went to the Gaylord Texan to look at all the Christmas decorations. 

Now onto Christmas…we started off on Christmas Eve Eve going to my Aunt Susan and Uncle Larry’s house in Denton.  We spent the night there and celebrated Christmas Eve at their house.  There were about 35-40 people there for Christmas Eve dinner.  My dad and Aunt Susan did most of the cooking for the big dinner.  It was delicious as always!  Since the celebration was going way past Lee’s bedtime, we left early and headed back to Arlington.  We did Christmas morning at my parent's house and it was so much fun this year watching Lee with his presents.  He got lots of new toys to play with.  It was great timing for some new toys because he is sitting up now and really grabbing for toys. 

On Christmas day, we packed up and went to Fort Worth to Cole’s PawPaw’s house.  We had a great time celebrating with G-Mom, Duke, Casey, Cody, Polly, Sam, Samuel and PawPaw.  We missed getting to be with Chris and Kimi though!  On Christmas night, Mary Kay, Barry, Corky, Jan and Adam came over to meet Lee since we didn’t get to see them Christmas Eve night.  We stayed in Fort Worth until Tuesday and had fun just hanging out and playing with Lee.  We had a great first Christmas with Lee!  This Christmas was so much fun and I know that it will get even more fun in the years to come when Lee really knows more about what is going on.  Also, along with celebrating Christ’s birth, we got to celebrate Lee turning 6 months on Christmas day!  What a big boy!

Lee’s Baptism

Sunday, December 18 was a very special day for our family.  Lee was baptized and our family was there to witness this wonderful day.  We took vows as Lee’s parents and the congregation took a vow as well. 

Parental Vows:

1.  Do you acknowledge your child’s need of the cleansing blood of Jesus Christ, and the renewing grace of the Holy Spirit?

2.  Do you claim God’s covenant promises on their behalf, and do you look in faith to the Lord Jesus Christ for their salvation, as you do for your own?

3.  Do you now unreservedly dedicate your child to God, and promise, in humble reliance upon divine grace, that you will endeavor to set before them a godly example, that you will pray with and for them, that you will teach them the doctrines of our holy religion, and that you will strive, by all the means of God’s appointment, to bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord?

Congregational Vow:

Do you as a congregation undertake the responsibility of assisting the parents in the Christian nurture of these children?

As I write out these vows, I am reflecting on how beautiful they are and I pray that Cole and I will reflect on them often.  Lee’s baptism meant so much to us as we stood in front of the Church body and accepted the Lord’s covenant promises on behalf of our son.  We are thankful and praise the Lord for His faithfulness and we pray that Lee will know Christ as his Savior one day and have a personal relationship with Him.

 

Pastor Bill Lamberth baptized Lee

Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?”  And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.  For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.”  Acts 2: 37-39

We had everyone over to our house after Church for a lunch to celebrate!

Five Months

Weight:  I’m thinking Lee probably weighs about 17-18 pounds by now.  He is really growing and getting longer.  He is getting heavy to carry and he’s helping me get a good arm workout in everyday!

Clothing: Lee is wearing mostly 6 month clothing.  He can still wear a few of his 3-6 month outfits and we have gotten him in a few 9 month outfits too.  He is wearing a size 3 diaper.

Feeding: Lee is still breastfeeding.  Not much has changed here this month.  He still eats 5 times a day and is a good eater.  Although, I have noticed that he gets much more distracted now when he eats. 

Sleep: Lee is still sleeping great for the most part – about 11 hours at night.  He is taking three naps a day.  His morning nap is always his best nap.  We had a couple of rough patches with Lee’s sleep schedule this month due to his first cold and daylight savings – both happened at the same time – ugh!  Lee’s cold wasn’t bad enough to go to the doctor, he didn’t have a fever or anything.  But, it did take a toll on all of the family’s sleeping schedule.  Poor thing was waking up at all hours of the night.  I knew he didn’t feel well because that hasn’t happened in a long time!

Activities: Lee is so happy and “talking” (babbling) all the time.  He also started sitting up this month.  He’s still pretty wobbly, but he can hold himself up while seated by using his hands (we call this the tripod).  Lee loves his jumperoo and laying on his blanket playing with his toys.  What a sweet little boy we have!