Crosby at 8 Months

Poor, sweet third child. I just realized yesterday that I didn't even save the outfit that I brought him home from the hospital in. Nor can I remember which outfit it was. Whoops. I suppose therapy makes you a better person. 

I'm going to briefly cover months 4, 5, 6 and 7 because we are now past the 8th month mark and I can barely remember anything. 

Month 4:

Crosby started tripod sitting! He also was sleep trained this month and began going from nursing approximately 12 times a night to just once. I'm now a much happier mother. Crosby also officially rolls at this point and will not stay on his back for anything, including sleep. He's lucky he's my third child because I'm not nearly as nervous about this as I would have been with Maxton. 

Look at that cute baby. That's what we call him. Cute baby. Like... why won't cute baby stop crying? And, what shall we give cute baby for dinner tonight? 

Month 5:

I believe this is when we embarked on solids. Also, full time sitting! Tummy time and being put down ever is not enjoyable for Crosby at this age. Also, this was the time that we discovered that he wasn't really gaining weight. He also didn't love to eat solids, so that wasn't especially helpful. Lots of stress and worry about his heart since weight loss or no weight gain is a sign of trouble. He had no other signs of concerns at that point, but still. WORRY. You don't generally worry about things as much with each child (or I don't anyway) but when your baby has something that you haven't experienced with all of your other children, you worry like he's your first. Anyway, lots of weight checks and Dr visits and waiting and trying to feed him solids that he gags and vomits from. But we're still sleeping and sitting and having to hold him all the live long day. 

Rosy cheeked and darling. 

Sitting! 

Month 6:

Crosby remembered that eating all night long was glorious and fattening him up so he went back to waking frequently. I was feeling so stressed about his weight gain that I couldn't let him cry so I fed him every time he woke. That quickly spiraled into about every 1.5-2 hours. My timing is fuzzy on this though... I think this went on for about a month? Anyway, he was checked and he had lost weight right before all of this happened so I just know I was down to feed him whenever. We also started baby led weaning for feeding since he blatantly prefers to feed himself. He'll now eat beans and peas and rice and bananas and avocados and all sorts of things as long as he is in charge of putting them in his mouth. The inability to put him down is now in full force. I carry him ALL DAY LONG. I chant things like, "the days are long, the years are short" and, "he's my third.. I know this won't be like this forever" and, "one day I'll wish for this back" while I try to hold it together. Not putting a baby down ever is pretty much exhausting. But so is listening to him scream if I attempt anything without holding him, so usually I just hold him or sit next to him while he plays. Thank God he naps well. Two naps, one around 9 am for 1.5-3 hours and another one around 1pm for another 1.5-3 hours, depending on the day. He's starting to get up on all fours and scoot backwards. He's REALLY good at watching Christmas movies with me. 

This is because I'm not holding him. 

It got worse because I continued to not hold him. 

This one is because he likes to make a liar out of me. 

7 Months:

He had his heart checked and it was FINE! Well, not fine, but not any worse than usual, so YAY! His lack of fattiness was not due to his heart. AND, he had gained 1/2 a pound. It was a great day. So, we went back to sleep training and now he's back to just one feeding a night. We keep upping the solids and I feed him very frequently during his waking hours. He's trying really hard to army crawl and he squeaks and babbles and makes loud noises almost constantly. He's our loudest child and that is really saying something. 

Picking his pumpkins. 

Eating his broccoli! He LOVES broccoli! 

We don't call him cute baby for no reason. 

This is a picture of him being very very loud. Can't you hear him? He's saying, "fuggedabout it...."

Hot damn, I love this kid. Before I put him in bed I cradle him and sing to him and he is so calm and sweet and gurgles little baby loves at me and I think it's not possible to love someone as much as I love him. He is baby gold. 

What I Read: November

The Sea of Tranquility

I had a really hard time getting into this one until about page 75.. then I read the rest in one day. I could. not. stop. reading. And, it's one of those books where I'm going to be all depressed that it's over because I feel like I lost the people from my life when the story ended. I want to keep reading about them. If you like mystery, love, all with a bit of life is really effed up sometimes then this is for you. It's YA (young adult) just so there's no confusion. 

Station Eleven 

I really, really wanted to love this book. Or even just like it. It's about 400 pages and it took me until about page 350 to be interested enough to WANT to keep reading. It's post apocalyptic, which is generally not my thing but it's not exactly doom and gloom. It's probably beautifully written in a way that's super uninteresting to someone like me (read that as... I'm probably not smart enough to like this book). I've been starting to feel badly that the only books I enjoy are the ones that are so enthralling that I cannot put them down. I WANT to like more challenging books that I have to sort of work my way through. I want to savor books and enjoy them slowly. So, I tried very hard to enjoy this book. And, I just didn't. I'm glad I read it to sort of prove to myself that I could get through it. Go, me. 

Bossypants

After all that seriousness from "Station Eleven", I needed something easy and fun. This was definitely that. It made me want to watch 30 Rock and all of the skits of Tina Fey being Sarah Palin on SNL. I laughed and didn't cry. It was perfect.

Maybe someday I'll blog about something other than what I'm reading. Although, that would seriously cut into my reading time. 

What I Read: October

Delancey

I was SO excited to read this book. The story of a husband and wife opening a pizza restaurant in... Seattle! So, of course Ritchie and I went on a date there after I read it. Delicious and fun because I felt like I had the inside scoop. The writing for me was just ok and it's certainly not a gripping story, but it was enjoyable and easy to read. I found it interesting to read all about how they acquired the space and renovated it on a budget, etc. Fun read!

The All-Girl Filling Station's Last Reunion 

This was my book club book for October and I loved it! It turned out to be an awesome choice for discussion because there's so much in this book that leads to other topics. Anyway, such a fun, sweet story with rich characters. I love that it was a book I would have never chosen and I really loved it. I'd like to try "Fried Green Tomatoes" now because it's by the same author.

The Farm

What a creepy book. Riveting. I couldn't put it down. But... it was more of the NEED to know what happens than actually enjoying it. I don't think I liked it. I'm learning that I can enjoy an intense book, but there are certain issues that just register more with me and it's hard for me to read about those. This book had some of that going on. I'm being cryptic, I guess. I don't want to give anything away! If you like suspense and don't mind creep factor, give it a whirl!

The Husband's Secret

A few months ago, I read "What Alice Forgot" and I've been recommending it to everyone ever since. I loved it! "The Husband's Secret" is by the same author, so I was excited to read it.  It didn't grab my attention as quickly as "What Alice Forgot" did, but it was enjoyable and made me think a lot about life's path and how our choices play into the cards we're dealt sometimes. The epilogue is really important to read if you read this story as (for me) it was very redeeming. Without it, the whole basis for the story seemed far-fetched. Anyway, not my fav, but good enough.

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time

Another book that I had heard rave reviews about and was just "meh" for me. The narrator is a young boy with autism and it's essentially his quest to find out who killed his neighbor's dog. It's really interesting from the perspective of hearing the thoughts of a person who thinks differently than you might, but I just found it really hard to get invested. I'm not sure why. I think it might have been the wrong time for me to read this one. You know how you could pick up a book and struggle with it but then devour it and love it a few months/years later when you try again? I forced my way through this one, but I'm not sure it's the book's fault.