7 months

Well, 7 months has come. Beckett is now 14 lb 11 oz. I don't think this is too bad considering his recent bout with the stomach flu. It took almost 2 full weeks from when it started for the poor little guy to get his appetite for solids back, plus for most of the first week he didn't even have much of an appetite for breastmilk or anything at all to drink. Thank goodness the vomiting is over though!! Of course, Bevan and I also came down with the same bug - I guess this is the start of new germs coming into the house!!

Beckett is doing a great job sitting up now - he loves to sit up and play with his toys, and plays well independently. It's so cool to watch him now with toys like his learning table and fisher-price walker because he is so much better at pushing the buttons. And he'll do something once, realize that it makes the toy react and then he'll do it over and over and over.

He loves to play peek-a-boo - I think it makes him laugh more than anything else. His love for blowing raspberries took a bit of a break, but it's back in full force now!! I think he forgot about it for a while!!



Still no teeth, and no signs of crawling yet. I'm trying to get him to spend as much time on the floor as possible, but every time he finds his way to his tummy he pretty much just freaks out!!

As for food, up until now he has had sweet potatoes, carrots, chicken, green beans, applesauce, pears, peas, acorn squash. We gave him his first organic baby mum mum this week and today he had toast for the first time - I just gave him dry toast cut up into strips. He mostly just gummed it and made it soggy, but he really likes feeding himself so I try to give him stuff he can practice with.

Beckett and I had a movie date again yesterday. We saw "Valentine's Day" - it was a really good movie, and Beckett was a wonderful date - he was very well behaved, no fussing really. He didn't even nap this time, but within 5 seconds of being in the car afterwards he was fast asleep!!!

We've started "The sleepeasy solution" to deal with overnight feedings. Since he is still under 15lb, I get him up twice during the night to feed him, but other than that he is doing a great job and not waking. We've been doing it for just over a week now and for the first few nights he would wake up and cry for a while, but now I think he's become pretty good at putting himself back to sleep. I was feeding him at 9 and 2:30 to begin with, but last night I fell asleep on the couch and missed the 9 o'clock feeding so I didn't get to him until 10:45 and he hadn't even woken up. His other feeding is at about 3 o'clock. Once I'm sure his weight is okay, I'll start cutting out the overnight feeds, but for now I'm more comfortable making sure he's getting as much milk as possible.

And to round things off, a few pictures:

A cute shirt he got as a gift a while back:


Cheering on the Canadian Olympic Team:


And some of his 7 month photos:



And his Valentine's Day Photo:

Sick Baby

Well, Beckett was sick for the first time this past weekend. On Friday morning after I fed him I put him in his car seat and he threw up. I suspected it was because I hadn't burped him well enough, so I didn't think anything of it. I gave him bananas at lunch for the first time, and he kind of gagged on them a little but, but I blamed the texture of the bananas, then he threw up again. A pattern developed throughout the day that everytime I fed him, he threw up. Through the night he seemed okay, but still didn't eat much. On Saturday, he didn't have much of an appetite, but didn't throw up as much, then on Saturday night I heard him cough in his crib at around 10:00, and went in and he had thrown up, lying on his back, so he was trying to catch his breath. I took him out and gave him a couple of good pats on the back trying to help him out...I wasn't nearly as calm as I make myself sound! After that Beckett spent the rest of the night in our bed so I could keep a close eye on him. The next day - more throwing up, but by Sunday night it had subsided. I still kept him in bed with us for some of the night. I watched him closely to made sure he didn't get dehydrated. He definitely peed less, but he seemed to be okay.

Today I took him for his H1N1 vaccination, and he also got a seasonal flu shot while we were there. He screamed, of course, but overall made out okay.

Tried bananas again this morning - mixed with his oatmeal this time, but he still didn't seem to be a huge fan. He still doesn't have much of an appetite for solids though, so I'll give them a few more good tries before I say he doesn't like them.

So Much Fun

Every night when it's time for Beckett's last feeding we take the dog and we all lay in our bed and I feed Beckett - we call it family snuggle time. Tonight while we were there we were talking about how much fun Beckett has become over the last couple of weeks. I know I've said before that he is so much more interactive, but now he is really, really interactive. He smiles and laughs so much more - sometimes all you have to do is look at him and he laughs. He's taken to reaching for my face when he's eating, and I've started pretending to eat his fingers, and he thinks that's pretty funny!!

Sleep has gotten a little better over the last couple of weeks...I've been hesitant to post anything about it because I don't want to jinx it. He went from waking at 11,2,and 5 or 6 to waking at 12ish and 6, and sometimes he even wakes only once - although this is rare.

Today was our second week attending a lapsit program at the local library. Beckett seems really interested. He looks around and watches what the other kids are doing.

Here's a picture I took of him today - I think it's one of my new favorites:

Green Beans....

were a hit!! He liked them and ate the whole cube. I must say I was surprised, I was expecting the chicken face again.

Chicken - Take 2 & 3

Well, days 2 and 3 of chicken went slightly better, but only because I disguised the chicken and mixed it in with a vegetable I knew he liked - sweet potato yesterday and carrots today.

And Beckett is sitting up now!!! Last night he managed to stay sitting up for a minute or so, but today, he sat up on his own for at least 5 minutes!!! Then he fell backwards and bumped his head and cried and broke my heart!! I think it just scared him more than anything, but it didn't take long for me to scoop him up and hug him.

Here's some pictures of the first day of chicken:




And here he is sitting up:

Solids, etc

We had Beckett in for his 6 month check up at the doctor - he weighed 14lb 1.6oz, and is 65cm (25.6").

Solids are going pretty well. We introduced rice cereal first, on Jan 5th, then on Jan 16th, we gave him oat cereal. On the 23rd we gave him veggies for the first time - starting with Sweet Potatoes. He LOVED the sweet potatoes. At that point I started giving him Oat Cereal in the morning, sweet potatoes at lunch, and Rice Cereal for supper. The next vegetable was carrots, on Jan 27th. Carrots were a hit as well. On January 30th we decided to try meats, and gave him pureed chicken - yum! Chicken wasn't such a hit - there were lots of scrunched up faces and a couple of little gags. Today, I mixed his chicken with some sweet potatoes, and it went MUCH better. So for now, I guess we'll mix the chicken with a veggie to get that extra iron into him.






On Wednesday, we went to a library lapsit program, and then to a breastfeeding group. Beckett was a very well behaved boy at both programs. The lapsit is a 6 week program, so 5 more weeks to go. He seemed interested at the lapsit, but no laughing or smiling this week.

Beckett and I also went to his first movie on Thursday, January 28th. We went to see "Toothfairy" I was worried about whether or not he would sit still for an entire movie. It was a Mom and Baby movie, so there were lots of other babies there to keep his attention. He watched the movie for a little while, then looked around at all the other babies, then I fed him and he fell asleep for the last half hour or 45 minutes. He was a very good boy, almost no fussing at all. He's a baby who really thrives in public - when people see him in public I don't think they even believe me when I say that he can be a fussy baby at home.

He really starting to enjoy his jolly jumper. He's starting to get the jumping thing. He also really loves to play with Milo when he's in it. Milo walks by, Beckett reaches for him, then Milo starts to rub against him and move him around.



He's starting to sit up much better now, too. Today he sat up on his own for about 1 minute. He does best if he has a toy to concentrate on. We still sit next to him to catch him because he falls over a lot.



He LOVES giving raspberries now, too. Over the last week, he has certainly perfected the art of the raspberry.

Long Overdue Update

Well, today is Beckett's half birthday...that's right he's 6 months old already. We go for his 6 month check up on Tuesday so I'll have a new weight/height to post then.
-He's still not sitting up on his own, but the other day he did pull himself up to sitting from leaning against me, but then he just continued to fall forward.
-During tummy time now he kicks his feet like crazy, and has put his bum up in the air a couple of times, and he can spin around, all good steps towards crawling I think.
-Still no teeth!
-Beckett's still waking up to eat about 3 times a night, lately at 10, 3 and 6.
-For the last week or so Beckett has been wearing size 2 diapers, but they are still a bit on the big side.
-Naps: well, after Christmas, naps went quickly downhill again, but I feel like we may be getting back on track now, finally. He does seem to be going a little longer in between now. He goes about 2 hours after he first gets up before he gets tired, and can go up to 3 hours after that. I'm trying to just read his tired cues better. He seems to really cuddle into you when he's tired, plus he sometimes starts chewing on his thumb, and gets cranky and cries with no tears.

We gave Beckett some rice cereal for the first time on January 5th.






For the first week or so we gave him just a teaspoon once a day to get him used to it, and more ended up on his bib and his face than in his belly. Starting on the 11th, we were giving him cereal in the morning and evening.

Last night, on the 16th we gave him oatmeal cereal for the first time.



I've been having a hard time finding cereal to give him, as many of them contain milk ingredients, but so far PC Organics cereals seem to be working well. He seemed to like oatmeal much better than rice, but I've smelled them and I can see why!! I'm going to cook him up some chicken to try today or tomorrow.

Beckett had a great first Christmas. He was spoiled rotten. He got a leapfrog learning table, tons of fisher-price toys, a sled, a rocking chair, a glow worm, etc.... Far too many things to list.




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And finally, a family picture from our first Christmas: