Berend: 8 Months

January 25, 2019January 25, 2019 nk3302 Comments

Happy 2019! Our new year started with illness… early on New Year’s Day, Gerrit started vomiting. We’re thinking it was a 24 hour bug, but it took him a few days to fully recover from it and get his appetite back. Right after that, he and Berend both started coughing and having a runny nose, which they passed on to me. We probably got a bug from being with family right after Christmas (several people weren’t feeling great). I always get nervous when one of my babies is sick, because there’s just not much you can do for a baby besides let a virus run its course. Thankfully, Berend didn’t seem to feel too bad.

Age: 8 months on 15 January 2019
Weight: about 21 lbs
Height: about 28.75″
Teeth: 2… with another coming soon
Clothing Size: 9-12 months and 12 months
Diaper Size: size 3 in disposable and one size in cloth
Milestones: army crawling, pulling up to standing, cruising around furniture, saying “baba,” developing his pincer grasp, standing unsupported for several seconds

Likes: being carried around, chewing on everything, playing with Gerrit, tickles, kisses, baths, eating food, grabbing peoples’ faces & hair, growling/grunting, head banging (he likes to bop his head into our heads or chests), and smooshing his face into my face

Berend wants to be involved in everything… which means he pretty much wants to be carried everywhere.

Chewing on a prize from a game at Christmas in Missouri

Berend terrorizing his big brother already.

Trying some French toast

Dislikes: getting his clothes or diaper changed, when Mama walks away, car rides, being told ‘no’, getting his sleep sack put on (he knows what comes next ha), bananas

I generally don’t take photos of Berend upset, but here’s one of us returning from our trip to Missouri. Holding his hand from the front seat helped a tiny bit.

Sleep: Fighting sleep continues! I don’t think we had any great nights this month, although Berend did have 4 days around Christmas where he slept in 2 hour stretches, and didn’t wake 5 minute after I put him back in his crib.

Berend handled sleeping in the Pack n Play pretty well while we were away from home. He didn’t sleep any worse than in his crib, but he didn’t sleep any better either.

Although Berend can’t/won’t stay asleep to save his life, he’s pretty consistent about going to sleep between 7:30 & 8:30 and waking between 7 & 7:30 for the day. Once in awhile we get an early morning, or he’ll surprise us and sleep until 8am, but he’s a pretty reliable alarm clock if you need to be up by 7:30. He sleeps roughly 12.25 hours a day.

Berend still takes 2-3 naps a day. Once in awhile we are surprised with a good nap day, and we’ll stretch his wake time so he can just have 2 naps. But most of the time he takes short naps (30-60 min) and ends up needing 3 naps. He’s getting increasingly difficult to get down for a third nap, so I suspect we’ll be dropping it completely by 9 months.

Eating: Berend continues to do well with breastfeeding. In the last 6 weeks or so, he has pretty much stopped choking during letdowns, started emptying the breast during feedings, and generally just made nursing fairly stress-free. He nurses every 2-3 hours during the day and all the time at night.

Berend continues to do well with solids too. He makes me nervous putting too much in his mouth sometimes, but he’s getting pretty good about maneuvering food around so he doesn’t gag too often. I think he still enjoys meat the most, but there’s not much he won’t eat. Sometimes it’s just hard to tell how much is actually getting consumed.

Mommy Update: I’m hanging in there! The holidays were a bit stressful, our trip to Missouri was a bit stressful… let’s just say I’m glad it’s January and things are getting back to normal.

It was really great for me to see my family after Christmas. The actual traveling to and from Missouri was not pleasant, but actually being with everyone was amazing. We all stay in touch pretty well through phone calls, texts, and social media, but nothing beats getting together as a family. I loved catching up with my sisters, playing card games with everyone, and watching Gerrit have so much fun with his cousins. It really makes me envy people who have their family nearby, and I tried to soak it all in as much as I could.

Memorable Events: It was a busy month! Berend got to see some Christmas lights at St. Bernard farms:

It was a drive through Christmas lights show, so Berend was not a fan, of course, haha. Since we were driving about 5 mph, I pulled him up into the front seat with me so we didn’t have to listen to him cry the whole time.

Berend got to experience his first matching family Christmas pajamas:

Andrew’s mom got us these, so we wore them on Christmas Eve! They were really cute, and it’s too bad the boys will outgrow them so quickly.

Berend’s first Christmas Eve… and both of my boys’ first sibling gift exchange! They got each other bath toys.

Berend also got his first Christmas Eve gift from Andrew and me: a Christmas book and new pajamas.

And then of course Berend celebrated his first Christmas!

The day after Christmas, we packed up for a road trip to Missouri. It was Berend’s first big trip since we moved to New Mexico when he was only 2 months old. He did slightly better than he did in July. We were all thrilled to be out of the car though! And then Berend got to meet a LOT of people for the first time: all of his aunts and uncles (other than his Aunt Becki), his four cousins, and one of his great grandmas.

Berend had a pretty uneventful first New Year’s Eve (we were on the road), but he sure looked cute!

Once we were back in New Mexico, we had a nice day and Berend enjoyed his first time swinging! He loved it, especially when Gerrit pushed him.

And last but not least, here is Berend’s January photo:

Berend, you are something else! The older you get, the more we see your stubborn, strong-willed personality. You are very vocal about what you don’t like and full of smiles and giggles when you’re happy. You push me to my limits with your sleep-fighting stamina, but then I see your sweet sleeping face, and all is forgiven. Everyone comments on your adorably big cheeks — they are irresistible! You constantly keep us on our toes, little bear, but we love you so very much.

Daily living

Summer Family Photos

July 23, 2015August 18, 2015 nk3304 Comments

I absolutely loved Gerrit’s newborn photos, and I was hoping to get photos done around 3 months, 6 months, and 9 months to remember his first year. But moving to another country kind of threw a wrench into those plans! We hadn’t gotten any proper family photos done since Gerrit was less than a month old, so I have been itching to get some done.

Well, I came across someone local who is starting up a photography business and was offering FREE photo shoots for a small number of people. Heck yes! I jumped on the opportunity and had us scheduled for a weekend in July. I figured that even if we only got a few nice photos, you really can’t beat free!

I was thrilled to receive quite a few cute photos of the three of us, plus some cute daddy-and-me and mommy-and-me photos. And some cute ones of Baby G, too, of course! He wasn’t very smiley, but that didn’t surprise me much; he’s been pretty wary of strangers for the past month or so. We still got some cute shots!

A few of just Gerrit:

Doesn’t he look proud of himself sitting in that little rocking chair? Haha… I love him.

He just loved this furry blanket! Gerrit really enjoys his super soft blankets at home too, but this was just too much fun for him to pull on.

My good-looking guys!

A few mommy-and-me photos with my cutie!

Overall, I really like the photos we got! I’m surprised I didn’t look like a sweaty mess by the end, haha. These North Carolina summer days are HOT!

Are you in the area and looking for some new family photos? Check out Blue Birds Photography on Facebook!

Daily living · Parenting

Gerrit: 8 Months

July 14, 2015 nk33010 Comments

Wow, this month seemed to fly by! I felt like we had just done Gerrit’s 7 month photos, and here we are doing the 8 month ones.

Age: 8 months on 27 June 2015
Weight: 21.2 lbs
Height: 28.25 inches (a rough guess… he was very wiggly while I tried to measure him!)
Teeth: 1 — it started coming through right before he turned 8 months
Clothing Size: 12 months
Diaper Size: size 3
Milestones: actually sleeping through the night (9+ hours!), sleeping in the crib all night, creeping, standing with less support, saying “Mama”

Sleeping: First of all, yes, Gerrit slept through the night!! Once. One single night. But I took it as a very good sign! I was not expecting him to keep doing it, since that just isn’t the way Gerrit works, haha.

I started playing around with his naps this month. I wasn’t sure if he was ready to transition down to 2 naps, because he usually fought me hard on that last nap of the day. He mostly took 3 naps during this month, although there were some days of only 2 naps. It usually depended on how early he had woken up that morning (5:15 was our earliest morning) and how long his naps were that day. Gerrit & I still usually napped together for the first nap of the day, since I was still needing the extra zzz’s! Naps ranged from piddly little cat naps (half an hour to 45 minutes) to fantastic 2 hour naps (usually with me). His worst day of naps was a 1-hour morning nap and a 45-minute afternoon nap. Seriously… how was he functioning on that little sleep?! He slept great that night though, which is why I considered dropping the 3rd nap. Other days with only 2 naps resulted in frequent night-waking though. As did days with 3 naps. I’m telling you, this kid is not consistent!

At night, Gerrit’s sleep ranged from no night wakings (can I get a hallelujah?!) to 5 night wakings (shoot me now), although 3-4 was the norm. His nights with only 1 waking were the nights he slept 6+ hours during the first stretch, 7+ hours in a stretch, and then the night of 9.5 hours of sleeping bliss. That amazing night was June 17, and I keep waiting for a repeat of that night. 🙂 It was about a week after that that Gerrit was probably teething, so I shouldn’t be surprised that he was a bit more restless.

The first few days of his 8th month, I was still bringing Gerrit to bed with me between 4 & 5 in the morning, because he refused to go back to sleep in the crib at that point. But then he started doing better with going back to sleep in his crib, and it continued almost every night! It was really weird for Andrew and me at first, haha. We woke up and the sun was up, but there was no baby in the bed. Crazy! I’ll admit, I kind of missed it at first, but I think that’s why I continued napping with Gerrit for that first nap of the day: I needed that snuggle time with him.

Eating: Breastfeeding is going well. I feel like since he turned 6 months, breastfeeding has been a fairly low-stress activity. Gerrit eats well, takes solid feedings before sleeping, and has gotten really good at latching back on quickly if he comes off and realizes he’s being sprayed in the face with milk. 🙂 He also started handling my boobs more. What I mean by that is, he would position them like a baby with a bottle might. It just seemed like he was gaining more control with his hands and fingers this month.

Just as a side note, I now know why moms enjoy breastfeeding so much. When a child nurses well, drains a breast, and stays latched on, breastfeeding is wonderful! I had no idea what that was like until the past couple of months. I was seriously dreaming about the day Gerrit would be done nursing, because it was a chore for both of us. But if things continue like this, I’ll be happy to breastfeed past 12 months if he wants to.

Gerrit + solids = play time. I felt like the finger foods I was giving him were just being used as teething toys for the most part. Occasionally, I would find bits of food in his diaper, so I knew he was eating something but you could see he was still primarily breastfed. Which isn’t bad, of course, I just figured that by now I’d be seeing more solids in there.

So I started offering purees and rice cereal mixed with fruit puree. No luck there either. He would make a face and spit it out. Every time. I had a little success getting purees into him if I let him use the spoon, but that spoon usually got flung at the wall or on the floor at some point, so that got pretty messy.

I’m trying not to get discouraged or worry about it, but it does disappoint me a little. I just thought he would get the hang of things more quickly than he is. He genuinely seems to enjoy the finger food though. Nothing seems to taste bad to him, and he likes to mash things around in his mouth, but most of it just comes back out again. We will get there though!

Mommy Update: I’m doing well! Still at about the same weight, but I have no interest in trying to lose any weight while breastfeeding. I have a great supply right now, and I don’t want to mess with that while Gerrit is still almost entirely consuming breast milk.

(Did I seriously not get a picture of the two of us this month?!) 😦

Best Moments: I think one of the best moments was hearing Gerrit say, “Mama.” At first, I was sure it was just babbling, because he would just repeat the “ma” sound all the time: “mamamama.” But he smiles when I say “Mama” back to him, and he’s more likely to say it when he’s upset and actually wants me.

Another best moment was that night that he slept through the night! Seriously, it feels so good to sleep like that after getting used to sleeping in 2-3 hours increments all the time.

Likes & Dislikes: Gerrit still likes standing & walking with help. Sometimes it seems like that’s all he wants to do! He’s often trying to crawl on top of me to stand on my lap, and he will fuss and whine if I don’t help him out.

Gerrit likes practicing his crawling to some extent. He will get up on all 4s and rock back and forth, then drop down on his belly and try to move. He gets frustrated fairly quickly though.

He still really enjoys sensory activities, especially anything to do with water! He splashes around in the bath and makes quite a mess, haha!

I also introduced “sand play” with Gerrit:

It’s just white cornmeal, not actual sand. I’m glad I did cornmeal, because one of the first things he did was grab a handful and put it in his mouth! It’s messy though (the powder gets everywhere), so we usually do this outside.

Here is a sensory box I made for him:

It has a different texture on each side. His favorite side is definitely the one with bubble wrap!

Gerrit still dislikes being left alone for any extended period of time. But he is getting better at playing by himself:

He also dislikes when you don’t help him walk around when he wants to! I’ve tried letting him try out his walking toy, but he doesn’t have the balance for that yet. So I’m usually either stuck with sore knees or a sore back from helping him walk around the house.

Memorable Events: June was pretty low-key for the most part. Andrew celebrated his first Father’s Day though! Gerrit and I made a picture for him and framed it:

I also got another shirt set like I did for Mother’s Day:

Other than that, I just made a special brunch for the three of us. I made honey-ricotta pancakes with blackberries and oranges. I let Gerrit have some, but left out the honey-ricotta topping. I didn’t take any photos of our brunch, but here is the recipe I used if you want to try it! We thought it was delicious!

This is not actually a memorable event, but this IS one of my favorite outfits on him:

I think the worst part about baby clothes is that they grow out of the cute ones so quickly! Gerrit is definitely getting more wear out of his clothes now that he isn’t packing on the pounds so fast, but it still seems like I am packing up a too-small size too often.

So that was Gerrit’s 8th month! Like I said, it really seemed to fly by, and part of the reason is probably because Gerrit is so much more fun to play with now. As we head into month #9, we will be baby-proofing things, I’m sure!