It's Almost Christmas!

Christmas is this weekend, we're leaving for Williams parents house on Thursday. It's hard to believe that in a few days, Christmas will be over, after weeks of preparation.

We've got a little table-top Christmas tree, and it is completely surrounded by presents. Finding the perfect gifts for everybody and then wrapping them up are my favorite parts of the Christmas prep. The not-so-fun parts are the stress, finding gifts for people who didn't give you any ideas for what they would like, not having the money for the gifts that you REALLY want to get for somebody. All in all, this Christmas is going to be a great one. :)

The past couple weeks have been fun. Chaotic, but fun. Decorating the apartment, shopping, wrapping gifts, MUMs Christmas party... I've also been trying to cram in time to get Ian's baby blanket done, which I'm not sure is going to be done by Christmas! Oh well. :P In between shopping, wrapping, and working on the blanket, I've had fun watching Ian using his new-found skills. He's sitting on his own, it's fun to watch him sit and wobble a little sometimes. He hasn't actually fallen over very often anymore! He's a lot more fascinated by his toys now, and he'll have several lined up in front of him and he'll go for one toy at a time. He's also trying his fingers with picking small things up. I've seen him try and get my bracelet last weekend and he was pinching it with his thumb and forefinger. It's so amazing that he is almost 7  months old, and I remember the day he was born like it was yesterday! He's grown so much already!

A few days ago, William and I got this idea to try and teach Ian how to clap. We said 'Clap clap clap!' while clapping our own hands, then would repeat the words while showing him how to clap his own hands. He's actually started to clap his own hands when he saw us do it, or excited about something. Today, I said 'Clap clap clap!' without clapping my own hands, and Ian clapped his hands!! Also, we got a package from my mom today containing gifts for us, and Ian saw that I was excited about getting the package and he clapped! It exciting to know that he is starting to recognize words, actions, and reactions more than he did months ago.

I think the cutest thing he did today was a couple hours ago when he fell asleep for his nap. He had been playing with his foot when all of a sudden he went quiet (he was whining and babbling while playing with his foot). I looked over, and he had fallen asleep, still holding his foot! It was so cute. :)

Well, time to close, he's woken up now and wanting attention. Thanks for taking the time to read. :)

Almost Done

For the past (almost) six weeks, I have been a single parent. I did have the help of Williams parents for half of it, but all in all, I was the only parent for Ian. William comes home on Friday, and I am so glad that this time apart is almost over. Time went by so slowly when I was by myself. The three weeks at my soon-to-be in-laws house seemed to have flown by. Being with other people while your significant other really makes time go by faster.

Ian has developed so much in the past 6 weeks. He's now sitting up on his own (a little wobbly still, but most times catches himself and straightens up before he actually falls over!), he's a lot more mobile, and a lot more talkative. He loves to babble and say "ba-ba" (sounds like a sheep sometimes when he does that :P ). Whenever he is on his tummy, he can either stick his butt up in the air, or push himself up on his arms. He hasn't figured out how to do both at the same time yet! But he's getting there.... my baby is almost crawling!! :) Then he REALLY will cause trouble! :P He also loves to be in his bouncer. Some days I'm just waiting for him to fly out of it with how violent he can bounce!

He's taken a lot more interest in his toys now. I'm hoping that he will get lots of good toys for Christmas to help him develop his motor skills. :) Right now, he'll see a toy that he wants and try and reach out to grab it. When he's sitting up and doing that, and it's a little out of reach, he'll tend to fall over before I can move it a little closer for him!

He loves to smack things. Windows, walls, arms, legs, floors, faces... you name it. He likes to hear the different noises everything makes. Give him a toy that makes noises to smack and he looks like he's in heaven. :) His daddy isn't terribly fond of noisy toys, but that's how babies learn! They won't really take much interest in a quiet toy. The noise catches their attention! Rattles, crinkle toys, musical toys, anything that he can make noises with, he loves them.

More updates.... He's learning how to hold his own bottle. His grandma got him a bottle that transitions to a sippy cup, complete with handles. With those handles, he's able to hold onto the bottle a lot easier, and learn to tip it up to get more. He is also starting to learn his name. A few times he has actually turned to look at me when I say his name. Exciting stuff! I can't wait until he learns how to talk back! Well, the good way of talking back, not the bad way. :P I love my baby so much and am so excited with how much he's developed in the past month. I remember that before William left beginning of November, Ian could sit for 2 seconds before toppling over. Now, here he is, sitting up without support!

Thanks for reading, and I'll post more updates as soon as I can. :)

Ian is Sitting

Here's a video and a few pictures for you to look at so you can see how well he has gotten at sitting up on his own. :)

 Sideways, but oh well. :P

 Cute. :)

 He's so excited!

 This has got to be the most adorable picture I have ever seen. :)

 The puppies wanted to come join us on the other side of the living room so bad!

He tired himself out! :)

Weaning

All breastfeeding mothers know (or will know) that at one point their baby will start weaning off of breast milk to eat other foods. Also, the key to weaning is to take it a slow or as fast as you want, whatever speed feels the most comfortable for you and your baby. If I had that choice, I think that the weaning process would have been a little easier on me. Since Ian didn't get as much food as he needed from nursing, I had no choice but to switch him to bottles. For the past month, I have been nursing him right before putting him to bed and first thing in the morning, but now, he is completely on the bottle. Today is the second day of no nursing. Nobody told me about the strain it would have on my body! Even though Ian has gained 2 lbs at his weight check two days ago, and he is perfectly happy with having a bottle, I still wish I could nurse him and keep him satisfied for longer than an hour. You may not want to know this, but on the second day of not nursing Ian, my breasts are so sore and full. I haven't had this feeling for months. I know that the easy way of solving this issue is to nurse Ian, but that would defeat the purpose of fully weaning him! Maybe I'll be able to wait it out... I just don't want it to get worse. That is probably going to happen anyways... everything gets worse before it gets better! Personally, I didn't think my breasts would feel this full. After a month of only nursing Ian a couple times a day instead of every few hours, I thought the milk production would have gone way down! Maybe my body has high hopes that Ian will nurse again. :P