C crawling all over D's sisterBefore infertility I would only ever hold babies who were 6 months and older. They somehow felt sturdier and more solid, not like I could do much wrong and break them :)
And now I'm finding that I still enjoy this age with my own babies.
hey! get that camera out of here
Cute but still sassy
Cute but still sassy
At 6 months they started getting seriously cute and it hasn't stopped. They now
- smile ALL the time
- go get their own toys :) as they're more mobile
- they play together, sometimes
- don't cry as much (this is my best - I can't stand the crying)
- crawl all over me
- talk to and answer us
Rolling, sitting, playing with toes, grabbing spectacles, kissing my cheeks and chin with wet, slobbery goodness, crawling, teeth, etc.
I'm also seeing SO MUCH of D's personality in C it's frightening and cute, all at the same time.
But the absolute best thing ever is the independence.
My goal as a parent has always been (even when I didn't have children) to raise independent, well-adjusted kids.
I LOVE that they can hold their own bottles, that one baby can amuse him/ herself while I change the other's nappy/ clothes, etc. That they can play independently for some time (K more so than C). That they can lay in their cots in the mornings after waking, talking and babbling to themselves without SCREAMING for us.
Look how Zen I am despite their mesh feeders being on the carpet! And my MIL's house is a cat house!!!
It's fabulous.
D and I have been talking about going on holiday. He's a bit reluctant because we're so used to having Nanny V during the week and on the occasional Saturday morning.
When I reminded him that actually, we're not so knackered on Sunday evenings anymore, we realised that it really is getting easier.
Who would have thought?!
Yes, we're still waking about 2 - 3 times at night (total) - it used to be 3 times per baby - but they go down for naps and sleep like a dream. No fighting except if overtired but we're so vigilant we haven't had more than one or two episodes in the last month (C; K doesn't freak out when she's tired)
I can also say that I'm a more confident parent these days. 95% of the time I know what I'm doing and why I'm doing it.
This really is my favourite stage so far! I know it's short-lived until they're properly mobile but for now I'm loving it.
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Nanny V and I took them for their 8-month stats on Monday. I am loving Sister Carla more and more. This time the receptionist with the curly hair wasn't there so Connor didn't bother flirting with any of them.
Connor
Height - 70 cm
Weight - 9.09 kg
Head - 45.5 cm
Kendra
Height - 66 cm
Weight - 6.28 kg
Head - 43.7 cm
In a nutshell, C grew 2 cm and 620 g and K grew 3 cm and 520 g over the last month. I'm very happy with K's growth.
I asked about their feeding - a post for another day but C's off his veg - and also mentioned that he'd started waking before 11 most nights. She said he shouldn't and I should add protein to their supper. Also I should mix his night feeds with one less scoop than you're supposed to. Do that for a month (a MONTH!) and then reduce by another scoop.
I'm hoping he sleeps til after midnight soon because I have no patience for these itsy-bitsy baby steps. She said that if you do it too fast, they rebel and freak out.
Too true - we tried it before. The first night was fine but the second night Connor was like, "what on earth! WHERE is the real deal? I don't want this watered-down stuff! WAAAAAHHHHHH"
Next appointment with both nurse (for vaccinations) and paed (who was in one of our magazines this month!) at 9 months.
What's your favourite stage?
I'm loving this stage too ;) From the cheeky monkey personality shining through, to the talking, to the ability to play happily by herself, to cute chubby knees, trying new flavours and watching her form attachments to favourite toys. Yeah, it is a cracker :) Almost makes me want to do it again.
ReplyDeleteAs for the twins - go K on the growth!! Love the photo of her in the bath. Can't wait to see how she handles being 13 :) hehe.
I agree that this age is so much fun! Connor is SO CLOSE to Josiah's size, as always. Just one pound more than Josiah and maybe 1/4 of an inch shorter.
ReplyDeleteI don't understand why protein or watered-down formula makes a difference. I'm curious in finding out how this works for you. If you read my newest post, I mention that Josiah always has a bottle or two in the middle of the night (5 oz each time), which does add to our expenses if he's not really hungry. If it was more watered down, that's less cost to us. I just don't understand why those things make a difference. Did she explain?
Mandy, the idea is that he doesn't really NEED to eat even if he is "peckish" - like with grownups, we technically could eat in the middle of the night but we don't get up and make a sandwich because it's too much of a shlep :)
ReplyDeleteWe want to make it too much of an effort to wake up and have something watered-down.
For us, we mix 150 ml water (5 oz) with 6 scoops normally, which, when mixed is 175 ml. In the nights, instead of using 6 scoops, we're using 5.
So far so good - he went until after 1 on 5 of the 7 nights. Some nights he did really well and went all the way until 3 or 4 am.
We'll continue like this for at least 2 weeks (D says we should obey to the letter; I feel like a rebel LOL) to see how it goes...
The protein does fill him up more...
Seriously...Kendra is so photogenic! Not to say that Connor isn't, but she really looks into that camera!
ReplyDeleteIt just keeps getting better...so glad you're getting to an "easier" stage!
They are seriously cute!
ReplyDeleteAs I'm still a fairly new mom its hard for me to say what's my favorite stage. My little one just hit the 3 month mark and I'm loving this stage. She's as cute as a button, smiling and giggling and interacting and she's started sleeping through so for now I'd say this is my favorite stage, but who knows what the future holds!
Many moms reduce the formula and make it mostly water and/or reduce the size of the bottle. You know how I feel that he is growing great and does not need to eat - this is just habit! I loved this age, sleeping well, smiling, eating "solid" food, playing with toys. This is when we decided we were ready for another kid. If you asked me now... ;)
ReplyDeleteAs for holiday let me make a recommendation - if you decide to go on holiday for a week bring your nanny and/or another babysitter. We learned our lesson when we went to Martha's Vineyard this past summer. It was not relaxing for us until the kids went to bed each night. They hated the sand/water and all the things we thought woudl be fun (note they were 11 months old). It was nice to bring so much of our own stuff with us but next time we're making room for a mother's helper.