[+] weighs 18# 9oz based on our scale at home. He is getting so big so quickly, I can't believe it.
[+] is wearing 6-9mo & 9mo size clothes and I have officially washed, folded and packed away all his clothes that no longer fit. Cue the tears! And also the shock that he really was that small at one point. I am impressed with myself (and everyone else in Mark's life) that we only have one storage bin for everything size Nb to 6mo. He's also in size 3 diapers and size 4 overnight diapers for nighttime. Now that he is such a belly sleeper there were a few mornings where his jammies were soaked in the morning along the front and the larger size seems to be stopping that.
[+] has his second bottom tooth and goodness are they sharp! He's gotten me a handful of times as well as biting himself a few times too. He's starting to learn how to use those bad boys for good eating. No signs of the top ones yet but we shall see.
[+] is moving and grooving all over the place and seems so much happier because of it (see below). He's tasted some freedom and isn't looking back! In a matter of a few days he went from struggling to really hauling and it's so much fun but way more work. Occasionally he'll pull himself up on something (toy bin, his play piano, our legs) and just figured out how to go from belly to sitting too. What a fun stage.
[+] still eats 6 times a day but this will most likely be changing sometime soon (see below for part of it) and I'm not sure how much longer his nap schedule will stay the same which will change his feeds too. He also eats solids twice or three times a day with a mixture of the purees I have left and baby-led-weaning feeding himself. He's getting really efficient and it's so fun to watch him pick and choose which items on his tray go in his mouth. He's also tried squeeze pouches as a trial for when we're out of town and so far so good.
[+] is really smiley when he's awake and it's so much fun. He loves playing peek-a-boo with a blanket or when you crawl around a corner and pop out at him. He's really ticklish especially when I nibble with my teeth on his upper arms, palms and feet. He lights up whenever Ollie walks by or pays attention to him and he'll usually flash a silly grin at female waitresses/baristas/check-out clerks etc when we're out. He also loves birthday songs when we're at restaurants which is adorable.
[+] nicknames: Marky, Stink-stink, Love-B, Boo, Buddy
[+] likes: mobility, door-stops, jumping off the couch, feeding himself
[+] dislikes: a stern "no", not getting his way, car rides
[+] am done breast feeding and pumping. After a few horrible nursing sessions (that happened to correspond with J being out of town) I decided to throw in the towel on his 8 month birthday for good. My original plan was to get him to 6 months on some BM every day, which got revised to "as long as possible" after my supply took another hit but we were still succeeding with our new plan. But those last few nights of tears from both of us and overwhelming frustration at myself and my boy on top of just plain inconvenience of pumping so often for not that much milk was when I decided to call it quits. Thankfully since then our nursing sessions have been back to normal. I'll still pump throughout the day and call that milk "bonus" but I won't be driven by a 3-hour schedule anymore and won't actually nurse him anymore which means a bottle in the morning and no more dream feed. I knew this day would come eventually but I'm much more at peace about it knowing that I'm choosing to end when I am as opposed to just quitting in the thick of it.
[+] have one more month until the dreaded Board exams which means things are going to get worse until they get better. I spent basically the month of May out of the house at prep classes during the day which was such a bummer to be gone from my boy so much. Thankfully the next month will mostly involve studying and practice questions at home but still lots of time "away" which I'm not looking forward to.
[+] am starting Whole30 on June 1st and plan on posting entirely about the motivation, process and journey as I go. I wanted to wait to do smoothing like this along with any type of exercise program until I was done breastfeeding and now I can't wait to start feeling more like myself again instead of just Mark's mom/food source.
