Hope Still Flies

I was running around doing errands yesterday and realized that I hadn't even thought about this blog post or the fact that Atti was going to be 7 months today. Definitely snuck up on me this month.


I feel like a lot happened this month too. Brought up last month's post where he was only kind of able to sit up. Well, now he sits great, goes from sitting to hands and knees, scoots around (as long as there's something he wants waiting for him), has gone from tummy to sitting a few times, and goes from sitting to one knee and one foot pretty easily. Standing is by far his favorite thing, and I'm glad we invested in his walker toy early. He likes standing and chewing on it, and sometimes taking a few steps. It's crazy.

Still no teeth. I keep thinking one might pop through one of these days, but there really isn't much sign of them on his gumline. He's been fighting a mild cold for about a month, but a few days ago got a bit more congested and then started running a fever. So I took him into the walk-in clinic yesterday and the doctor said both of his ears were pretty red and we got started on an antibiotic. Unfortunately, the one dose before bedtime didn't help much. I was alternating fever reducers all night to keep his fever down and he can't really breathe through his nose at all, despite my snot-reducing efforts. As a result he was pretty restless all night. I got a few hours of broken sleep, but spent most of the night walking him around. A little zombie-like today.

Otherwise though, he's been doing great. Learning, growing, all the things. He still thinks Thad is hilarious. Some of us are turning out to be pretty funny, too. His stranger danger is slowly starting up. He's not a fan of lots of people around (me neither). But does pretty good at giving out smiles if he feels comfortable.

Thad's doing well. Getting smarter and sassier by the day. I'm doing pretty well. Michael's... a grad student. So stressed. But he'll get through it.



(I got these pictures taken this morning right when we got up so he wouldn't be grouchy.)

• At 6 months he was 15 pounds 6 ounces, and he weighed in at 16 pounds 9 ounces yesterday, just shy of 4 weeks later. He hasn't gained much length - maybe 27 to 27.5in.
• Size 3 diapers during the day, 4s at night. 9 or 12M onesies, 6-9M pants, a couple 6  month shirts
• He drinks four 6-7 oz bottles during the day, and one 4 oz one at night. Solids 3x/day. Still doesn't like most green veggies. Sweet potato or avocado might be his favorite. 
• Oh, sleep. He still doesn't sleep great at night, and that's basically all there is to that. Goes down very easy, but the second half of the night he's usually pretty restless.
• Spitting up more since he's been sick, but overall gotten a little better. Stopped his reflux meds (yay!)
• He's started leaning into me/my shoulder when shy. If he's just the right state of tired he'll fall asleep that way too. I love it.
• Scooted to me when I picked him up from daycare the other day. <3 li="">
• Such a happy camper most of the time. He completes our little family so well.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
   

• Our well visit isn't until next Tuesday, so I don't know specifics, but if I had to guess... over 15 pounds and maybe 27 inches? He's switched to the convertible car seat in the car I usually drive.
• Mostly size 3 diapers. 3-6 month clothes are about done. 6-9 and 9 month fit best. His short little legs are still mostly in 3-6 month pants.
• His formula intake has decreased since we started solids. He drinks somewhere between 24 and 30 ounces a day now in the form of 5 6oz bottles (ish)
• Eating 3 "meals" a day. He gets oatmeal with a couple/few oz for breakfast and lunch at daycare, and then whatever veggies I try to force into him for dinner. He likes sweet potatoes, carrots, banana, apples, blueberry, avocado, pear, peach. He does NOT like squash, green beans, and peas. I tried to feed him sweet corn with green beans last night and his face... it was very much "there is something not right about this situation. I do not approve."
• Sleep is just... not right now at night. He usually sleeps from 7 to sometime after 11. And then after that until sometime after 1 and it's kind of a crapshoot. For the past week he's wanted to be awake for 1.5-2 hours sometimes between 1 and 3. I'm ready for that to be over.
• Getting into a nap schedule (thank you, our amazing daycare teachers) during the week with naps at 9, 12, and 4. The weekend, we're not nearly as exciting so he usually naps more like 8, 11, 2, 5. Bedtime is a hard 7.
• He's kind of everywhere now and I love it. He rolls onto his stomach and will play for awhile and then get bored and we'll switch around to his piano mat or exersaucer. And now we're adding in sitting and playing with toys.
• Soooo close to scooting around. He gets really upset and does that horrible Superman exercise. Then puts his hands down again and kicks his legs. Poor guy.
• Still spitting up a lot... something I'll ask his doctor about next week. He keeps food down pretty well, but any amount of formula just... it comes back. 
• Laughs the most at Thad and Michael. Go figure.
• Loves watching Thad play with anything.

• He measured in at 12 pounds 8 ounces, and 25 inches today. Still in the 4th percentile for weight, but he's following his own little curve so we're still doing okay.
• Mostly doing size 2 diapers, which he is too scrawny for. But he's too tall for size 1s. Most clothes he's in 3-6/6 months. 0-3 shorts. I put him in a 9 month onesie the other day and it wasn't huge? And the onesie he's wearing in the pictures up there is a 9 month onesie. Very long torsoed. 
• Struggled a little bit with feeding when he was on antibiotics and a little after. Then we had some reflux issues. Finally the past week he's starting to eat better again. 4-5 oz every 3-4 hours. Trying to push it closer to 6 oz so we can take out a feeding or two. He's still eating twice at night, and waking up for the day between five and six. Cue tired mama.
• Still going to bed between 7 and 8. Absolutely no rhyme or reason to his naps yet, and that's okay. Sometimes fewer longer ones, usually lots of shorter ones. Sleeping on his tummy.
• Becoming more attached to his paci.
• Definitely a cuddler. Loves holding onto burp rags or blankets. Cuddles with his paci holders. Also likes to shove all of these things into his mouth.
• Wiggle, wiggle, wiggle. Everywhere. 
• Finally figured out rolling front to back. Hooray!
• Baldie.
• Is great at holding his oballs and other rattles or toys. Not really reaching out far to get stuff, but if it's near or on him he can grab it.
• Hating tummy time a little less, and he's getting stronger. He has a giant head so doesn't look like he's going to be an early sitter like Thad was. (That's fine! I want him to take his time growing up.)
• Battling thrush AGAIN. Third time. Skipped taking him into the doctor and am trying a few things at home that seem to be working. 
• Bath time is his absolute favorite thing in the world. I love it.
• It's kind of crazy... he's built differently than Thad, but kind of the same too. His arms, legs, and feet are shorter and stubbier. But he's still tall. And Atti's head is bigger and shaped differently, but they have the same nose and mouth I think. Definitely the same smile: 
   
  
  
  Huh. From there his legs don't look that much shorter...

For once, it seems like it's been an eternity since I've updated.

In the middle of it all, months are flying by - I can't believe it's almost June. Atticus is growing and changing ridiculously quickly, and becoming more fun each day.

I started back at work May 1st. I was hoping to ease in, but kind of got thrown right back into the thick of it. It's quieted down since, but it was a crazy way to start. Atti started daycare on May 8th. As it would, it's taking some adjusting for him. He's still having trouble napping there. I'm hoping that'll change soon... as he's not getting enough sleep (though not really showing it).

Otherwise, not a whole lot going on. Michael's off school for the summer and I am VERY MUCH enjoying having him home to help in the evenings, and I know Thad is too. Mike's a huge help even when he has a ridiculous amount going on, so it's nice that he's a little less stressed now.

We leave tomorrow morning for our trip to Pittsburgh. My dad's side is all getting together for the first time in a looong time, so everyone is making the trek out. I was trying to decide how to get us out there... there was taking a plane... Memorial Day weekend, in the middle of severe weather season in the midwest, with the possibility of flight delays, etc. Plus, not knowing how Thad would react to the plane. Then there was driving... 13 hours in a car (no stops) with a 3-year-old, and then a 3-month-old that despises being in the car 60% of the time. That sounded a little like torture. In exploring I found that train is actually an option. It takes a ridiculously long time (22 hours), and we have to hang out in Chicago for a bit, but... no security lines to get through, we can bring our own food, extra leg space, Thad can get up and walk around as much as he wants. You can take an insane amount of luggage. So, train it is. The second half of the trip there (and first part on the way back) is overnight, and we splurged for a family sleeper room, so hopefully we don't disturb too many people when Atticus cries. Hopefully Thad will really enjoy it; I'm kind of looking forward to the scenery, and being able to walk Atti around if he's cranky. I'm sure I'll have all kinds of stories next month...

The only other thing that I can't remember if I reported on, is that we saw a pediatric opthamologist about his hemangioma, since it grew so quickly. She checked his eyes, and they're doing great, so we held off on medication last month. We see her again in a few weeks and I might push a little harder to start it then, we'll see. It doesn't bother him at all, I'm just worried about it ulcerating before it starts to fade.

• He's 11 pounds, 5 ounces, and 24 inches. Barely holding onto 5th percentile for weight. So he's five pounds and four inches bigger from his birth stats.
• Still mostly in size 1 diapers, though I'll probably switch to size 2 when we run out. I force him into his 0-3/3 month clothes, but 3-6/6 month fit a lot better at this point.
• He's eating four ounces basically every 3 hours. After he goes down for the night he'll sleep 4-5 hours, which is nice, but I don't go to bed until he's about halfway into that stretch. Oops. 
• He goes to bed around the time Thad goes to bed. Gets put into his swaddle up, bottle, and conks out. Still doesn't need his paci to fall asleep initially, which is great because he's the WORST at keeping it in.
• He's sleeping in his crib most of the night. I try to make him sleep on his back for part of it, to try to get him used to it, but he fidgets and fidgets until he wakes up, so I put him on his stomach and he's out cold.
• He's happier and awake for about an hour after he wakes up for his bottle. He plays, watches what's going on around him, then is ready for cuddles and his paci, and a nap. Unless he's at daycare because why sleep there.
• Still such a cuddler. But on his terms. He likes holding onto blankets, and during the day when he's ready to sleep he prefers to be held basically facing you, with his arm around your side. But at night when I bring him into bed when I just can't stay awake, he no longer wants to be contained.
• He is also a giant wiggle worm, like his brother was. Has started kicking a ton. The other night I put him to sleep on his stomach and when I woke up again he had managed to turn 180 degrees and was at the other end of his crib. WHILE swaddled. Just. How.
• Becoming ticklish, talks mostly to his big brother.
• He is ALL ABOUT ceiling fans. And differing contrasts. But seriously I can put him on the floor of our living room and he just talks and laughs at the fan. If it's not going he seems concerned.
• He still has a patch of hair on the back of his head (hello, mullet), but the rest has kind of disappeared... but it's growing back in blond.
• Not quite grabbing things yet, but I'm sure that's coming soon. I usually go by his adjusted age for milestones still since three weeks can make quite a difference at this point.
  Looks like he's putting on most of his weight in his cheeks.
• He's still approximately the size Thad was at the same gestational age (about 2 months for Thad). He was about a pound heavier and 0.5 inch longer.

• As of Friday, he was 9 pounds, 13 ounces, and 22.5 inches long. Growing, growing! Up 3 pounds and 2.5 inches from birth.
• In size 1 diapers, and 0-3/3 month clothes. Still have a few newborn things out, but he's mostly too tall for them. His socks are finally fitting!
• In addition to Atti, you can hear him be called Little Bit, Ty-Ty, Growler
• Because of his reflux, we have to cap his feedings, so he's getting between 3 and 3.5 oz every 2-3 hours. Even at night. I haven't gotten more than 2.5 hours of sleep in a row since he was born. 
• I've mostly integrated him into Thad's bedtime, because I have no choice on nights when Michael isn't here. He gets jammies, swaddled, and then a bottle while we're reading or playing games with Thad. Once he's asleep he does his first sleep stretch in his crib.
• Still sleeping on an incline. Working hard to have him sleep in his bassinet that we've inclined, so we don't have a repeat Thad situation with hating the crib.
• He doesn't handle the traditional swaddles very well. He'll sleep in them at night for a bit, but eventually gets super mad and wants his hands by his face. So we've been using Swaddle Up swaddles, which are awesome. 
• He would really rather sleep on his stomach. I think sometimes because it helps his tummy feel better. So we're working on tummy so he'll get to rolling over one of these weeks. 
• Morning is his best time. After I release him from his swaddle he's usually got some smiles and is awake until his next bottle. The rest of the day he eats, hangs out a little, and sleeps. Until...
• After about 4 or 5 pm he gets cranky. Not sure if it's overstimulation or what, but until he's swaddled up for the night it's almost easier to just put him in the carrier and lug him around.
• Thad was very expressive as a baby. Smiled early and often. Made lots of faces. Atti is much more reserved. Have to work hard to get smiles, has plenty of judgmental and angry faces, even though he's not really an angry baby.
• Loves, loves, loves looking at lights. More than anything else.
• His hemangioma keeps growing. It's getting closer to his eye, so we're going to ask about that at his appointment. It doesn't bother him, and to me it's just what makes him, him. Chances are it'll grow for the next year before starting to go away.
• He prefers to be just in his diaper, as long as it's not cold.
• His new hair is definitely coming in blond. Another fair haired boy.
• Loves holding onto whatever is near when cuddling - burp rag, shirt, blanket, paci holder, hoodie strings.