Oh my goodness Austin’s 8 months and he’s EVERYWHERE. This month has brought some big changes and he’s been doing a ton of development (probably why he’s been sleeping like absolute crap).
We knew in order for him to start sleeping better, he needed to crawl. He’s been working so hard on it, along with sitting up by himself, and we knew his sleep would not get better until those things happened.
Stats
Nicknames: Little Man, A.J., Austy
Weight: ??
Length: ??
Diaper size: 2
Clothing size: 6-9 months, 9 months
Teeth: 0
Eating
After a slow start to eating, he’s now a big fan of food. He started out the month mostly just playing with the food, but he’s now sampling some of it, and his gagging has gotten a lot better. The day after he turned 7 months, he tried toast with butter for the first time.
My favorite thing he does that the two girls never did is this over-the-top shuddering when trying new flavors. Like, he’ll put said food in his mouth, give A Face, and then close his eyes and his whole body shudders, like he just ate a Warhead or something only it was like, shredded cheese.
New foods tried: Strips of chicken, fettuccine noodles, yogurt drops, steamed broccoli, spaghetti and meatballs, Caesar salad, toast with butter, peanut butter toast (I was worried about him reacting to this, but he did great).
Sleeping
Sleeping. It sucks. It’s been really difficult getting him to go to sleep for the night, and most of the time, after I’ve nursed him and put him in his crib and he starts wailing. Chris has been walking him until he falls asleep. It’s been rough around here at night.
Not long after moving him to his own room, we ended up getting a cheap monitor that’s audio only because the Nest cam on our phones doesn’t make a noise to alert us and I realized one night that with all the doors shut, I couldn’t hear him when he was crying.
There was one night last week where he was awake for two hours AFTER he was initially up nursing with me. After two hours, and putting him back in his crib where we collapsed into bed, Austin started crying again. That night, at 3 in the morning when I was exhausted beyond all reason, had nursed him, ensured he hadn’t pooped, and wasn’t thinking he was sick or teething, I shut the monitor off so I could just barely hear him cry from down the hall. And I got in bed, threw the covers over my head and finally fell asleep feeling like the worst parent in the world. I have no idea how long he cried. The next morning, he was happy as a clam, and didn’t seem like he hated me. But still. That guilt of letting him cry it out was intense.
Milestones
This has been a big month for milestones, as I said above. On Dec 5th, he pushed himself up to sit independently. He was so proud of himself and now tries to sit whenever possible. His physical therapist has been happy with his progress and wanted to see him in 3 weeks to see if he was still on track. He does have some head flatness, which doesn’t concern his PT or his provider, and his PT said we could get a helmet, but the window for it was closing and it meant he’d probably need to wear it for longer. She said we could do a referral to see a craniosacral therapist for an opinion.
It’s hard, the choices you have to weigh as a parent. I took a lot of things into consideration, the main one being—I was practically the only one who noticed it. Not Chris, not my mom, and even his PT and provider hadn’t really said much through these last months. The head measurement that really mattered, the one where it was on one side of his head and was a big reason for PT in the first place, had resolved.
This was all simply cosmetic. And that it would improve, but she couldn’t guarantee if his head would round out to be completely normal. And since he’s a boy and boys generally have shorter hair, it might be slightly more noticeable on him than if he had longer hair. I also factored in the time—having Chris in PT, me in PT, and Emelia starting speech therapy—that was a lot of appointments already. Plus, having a helmet on for possibly up to six months, wearing it 23 hours a day?
I thought about it, but in the end, decided to opt out. The PT was fine with it. After all, she wasn’t concerned about his head and brain growth, which was the most important thing. I feel good about it and when I told my mom, she just looked confused and said she didn’t notice anything, so I figure in the grand scheme of things, it’s not that big of a deal.
He crawled for the first time on December 17th. I was playing in the family room with him and Emelia while Chris was out getting Olivia from school. He was really interested in Emelia’s slippers of all things (I swear I have memories of enticing Olivia to crawl after a pair of dirty socks that she REEEEALY wanted) and I told Emelia to move away and see if he’d crawl after her to get the slippers. And sure enough, he got up on all fours and studied the faraway slippers for a moment, before moving his baby legs and crawling over to them. There was a lot of cheering.
Two days later, I took him to PT and he graduated that day. Actually, we have an appointment set up for next month as a just-in-case, but she said we’ll cancel it if he continues to be on track and be symmetrical with his crawling.
This crawling, however, has made him more curious about exploring and he’s getting into everything. One evening, when Chris had taken Emelia with to Olivia’s karate, I was doing the dishes and I saw him looking strange and gagging. I ran over and fished out a tiny rubber band, something of Emelia’s of course and now geez. The constant surveillance of tiny Legos, other toys, and lint has begun. Goody.
Personality
He continues to be fussy in the evenings, and if he doesn’t want to be put down, he’ll let you know, but overall, he’s still a really happy baby. He loves to give a huge smile to his favorite people, but others he’s warier of. I don’t know if he’s starting his stranger danger phase yet, because when we’re out and about, he’s actually really curious about other people and loves it when they pay attention to him.
Health
Since his bout of suspected RSV last month, Austin has gotten over his illness and has been pretty healthy ever since. He’s had some congestion mid-December, but luckily, it hasn’t gotten any worse.
However, he loves to get bumps and bruises from his constant exploring. He’s always smacking his head or face, or my personal favorite, crawling so fast, his arm catches under him and he biffs it and smushes into the carpet face first before getting back and frantically crawling again.
Still no teeth to speak of, and doesn’t seem like he’s teething or anything.
Likes
Playing in his exersaucer, sitting up, crawling, watching his sisters, being held, nursing, sleeping on me, when Grandma comes to visit, trying new foods, chewing on his toys, and being upside down on my lap.
Dislikes
Sleeping, apparently. Being put down when he’s feeling vulnerable.
Undecided about
Strangers, naps, sleeping in his crib.
Looking forward to
I’m definitely looking forward to him sleeping better, and I hope with his new crawling and exploring, his brain settles down some, and he’ll be into a better sleep pattern.
Oh my, Austin is such a cutie! Bless his little heart. I so enjoyed reading his 8 month update. He seems to be reaching every milestone that he needs to at this time. Thanks for all the recent updates. Your girls are so sweet. Beautiful family.
A gorgeous baby! Growing so well and learning so much about mobility and food. Impressed by the variety of his diet too. You all are doing so well and clearly he is super secure and well loved. What a wonderful babyhood he is enjoying. And what a busy family you have. Happy his grandmother gets such a joyful greeting. I do remember thhe everything goes in the mouth and elder siblings leaving things within accessible space. And in retrospect that stage goes by fast though on the daily slog constant attention has to be normal. THANK YOU for these posts. I have one more waiting and shall hold off to save it as a reward for a day I need rewarding. Austin is a joy worth all the breath-holding prior to his safe arrival. Take care of yourself too!