Wiedeman Littles: Jonah: 8 Month Update

How are there only four more months till he turns 1? I've been trying to focus more on just enjoying my baby as a baby because one day soon he won't be a baby anymore! Whenever I hold him and dance around with him, I think about how one day he won't let me do that anymore. And that the next time I'll dance with him will maybe be at his wedding someday. I'm definitely not a fan of time moving so quickly!

not super cooperative for pictures this time

Height and Weight: Standing him on the scale he weighs about 14 1/2 pounds, which isn't any weight gain from last month. But I'm not sure if he weighs enough to measure accurately. Either way, I'm going to need to work on getting more calories in him! And not sure on height right now.

Sleep: Two weeks ago we had 3 or 4 nights in a row where he slept through the night! It was absolutely amazing, and made my 5 a.m. wake-up time a little more agreeable. Then he had some nights this past week where he cried 2 or 3 times, but then went back down to one time a night. I would love to get him more consistent with sleep, and a friend recommended the Baby Wise book, so I've started skimming through it when I can to see if it might be a helpful method for Jonah. I think he would benefit from being on more of a schedule, but it would definitely be an adjustment to our very relaxed, go with the flow life-style. But he's only this little for so long and eventually won't need naps anymore.

He still naps twice a day, usually 1.5 to 2 hours (occasionally longer) in the morning and about an hour nap in the afternoon. He goes to bed usually around 7:30 and usually wakes up around 7, but occasionally earlier or later. He still does not nap when we are out and about so I try to make sure we can be home after a few hours to get him down for a nap.

Eating: He usually nurses when he wakes up, a little bit before each nap, when he wakes up from his naps, and before bed. It's definitely become more of a struggle to get him to focus on nursing. Any little thing seems to make him turn his head to look around and see what's happening. I'm a little worried that my supply is really going to go down even more since he doesn't seem to make much of an effort at nursing. We're still supplementing so he gets three bottles of formula, which I just upped to 6 ounces in each bottle. I only give him the bottles after he nurses, but it's almost like he knows they're coming so he doesn't make as much of an effort to nurse.

He gets 2 to 3 meals of food each day. He loves carrots, sweet potato, banana, pear, and apple. I've been doing a mix of store bought baby food and making baby food. He's good about eating the mixed veggies that are from the store, so hopefully I can continue to get him to enjoy his veggies, unlike his sister.

Diapers/Clothing: He's still in size 2 diapers and doesn't really seem too close on growing out of them. Clothing-wise he's wearing mostly 6 month and 6-9 month stuff. I can tell that his 6 month sleepers are getting a tad snug so I'll have to put those away soon. So crazy how fast he's growing! And of course he has 4 Christmas pajamas that we've been cycling through for the past month. And will continue to wear as long as they fit!

Social/Milestones: This boy is a charmer! He smiles at strangers who stop to talk to him when we're out and about, and they are only encouraged to talk to him more when he gives them that big two toothed smile! He does some babbling- mostly dadada, but also some bababa and occasional mamama. He's pretty much a pro at sitting, and will go from sitting to his hands and knees, and then laying down on his belly. When's he's laying down on his belly, he can scootch himself around in a circle, and will occasionally have forward or backward mobility, but no all out crawling or army crawl yet. He's now giving us the challenge of rolling over to his stomach whenever we are trying to change his diaper. And when he's sitting he will pull himself up to kneeling or standing on Noelle's bed rail or on a toy.

We've left him in church nursery twice, and both times I've been called to come get him. He is definitely a mama's boy and calms down once I get him. We're going to have to work on that so that I'm able to sit through an entire sermon. Someday I'll be able to. He loves smiling for daddy and watching Noelle, especially when she's moving around.

Likes: He likes standing with assistance to hold on to the coffee table or the table toy that we have. He also seems to prefer being in the ergo when we are out, but also sometimes does well in the front of the shopping cart. He still likes being outside- even if it's cold. Sometimes in the morning he'll start to get cranky, but when we go to take my friend's kids to the bus stop, he becomes all smiles and happy. He also loves sitting up and splashing in the bathtub.

Dislikes: He definitely dislikes being away from mommy. He doesn't like being left to play with a toy by himself for very long, and some days he does not like being put down unless he is being played with.

Fun things we did: We celebrated his first Thanksgiving! It was special having the whole Wiedeman family together for it, and he got to spend some time with his Aunt Hannah and Uncle Josh, who he has only seen briefly. He had a bunch of Christmas parties and a Christmas cookie baking extravaganza to attend. We went to MOPS and had a couple of play dates, all of which he did pretty well at.

Some pictures from the month: