10 months!

My baby is 10 months old today. My little, teeny baby is a standing, almost crawling, babbling little boy. Excuse me while I cry.

He has finally started attempting to crawl. He can't crawl yet, but he has started scooting/army crawling around these past few days. He cracks me up because he hates it, so he just cries while he scoots around. He can pull to stand now, but he's super lazy and gets mad if I don't help him. It's pretty exhausting, too, because he wants to use me to pull up all the time. He is into everything. He can have a million toys on the floor, but he will go for the cats, the wipes container, the crumbs, the trash can...anything he's not supposed to have! I'm also realizing how disgusting our house is. I feel like we just can't keep it clean enough!

He is still stuck on tooth #7. I don't think it's ever going to come through! This mama is so over teething. He can get by with just 6 teeth, right?

He still loves going to music class. His favorites are the shaker eggs and the big red maracas! He's a pretty reserved baby when it comes to other people, but I think he's finally starting to open up and it's fun to see him interact with the other babies. He loves story time at Joseph Beth, but his favorite part is when story time is over and we go feed the ducks. He could stand and watch them forever. He has started saying "duck" and "quack," but it's hit or miss.

He loves listening to Elmo songs. His favorites are the Usher and Elmo ABC song, the Wil. i . am & Sesame Street song, and the Elmo & Taye Diggs car song. He loves our cats, which is good...but it drives me nuts because he doesn't know how to pet gently yet. So if he grabs them before I can stop him, he ends up with handfuls of fur. He loves touch and feel books, puppet books, and the Little Blue Truck books.

We took him to the aquarium this past weekend. He was really tired, but he still loved it. He kicked his legs and bounced and pressed his face up to the glass. I can't wait to take him again when he's a little older.

This kiddo is such a good eater. We do a mix of homemade purees and pieces of soft food. He's had a ton of different fruits and vegetables. He's also had turkey, chicken, beef, and salmon. Some of his favorites are asparagus, roasted pears and bananas, blueberries, scrambled eggs with spinach, and salmon. So far the only things he doesn't like are red peppers and kiwi. He is so silly when he eats. If he doesn't feel like feeding himself, he will lean over the tray and pick it up with his mouth instead of his fingers.

He is such a sweet little man. He gives me hugs and these super sloppy kisses, which are the best things ever. He also tries to tickle me. If he's eating and you ask for a bite, he'll share. We go outside every day when it's time for David to come home. When Sawyer sees him pull in the driveway, he gets so excited. His legs start going and he starts grinning from ear to ear. It's so fun to watch. He still LOVES playing guitar with his daddy. I can't wait until he's old enough to learn how to play for real.

Everything is going so fast and I'm so afraid of forgetting it. I want to remember how he plays with his hair when he falls asleep, how he scrunches his eyes shut and smiles, the way he whispers when he's feeling silly. How his giggles turn to happy screams when I tickle his thighs and collar bone. The feeling when he buries his head in my neck when he's feeling shy. The moments he stops nursing and looks up at me and smiles. How he grabs my face and gives me these big sloppy kisses. The way his hair curls in the front. The way he always has to hold on to the lotion bottle while I'm getting him dressed after his bath. When he rolls over and grabs onto my shirt in his sleep. These are just a few of the things that I want to bottle up and keep in my memory forever.

These past 10 months have been exhausting. He still doesn't sleep very well. He still wants me more than anyone else. But they have also been the best 10 months of my life. He is everything. He's the most entertaining, loving, funny person I have ever met in my life. I've said it before and I'll say it a million more-- I am so lucky I am his mama!!

What Sawyer's Eating- Cherry, Raspberry, and Banana Puree

I had originally planned to share my recipe for the beef stew I made for Sawyer today, but decided to share one of the things I made this morning, instead.

Sawyer is at an in between stage with foods at the moment. He still eats purees, but he also loves to pick things up and feed himself. I typically give him a puree of some kind in the morning, a puree and a finger food at lunch, and pieces of whatever we are eating for dinner.

We are also experimenting with yogurt. If you've been reading my posts, then you know all about our supposed issues with dairy. I am still dairy free, but I gave Sawyer yogurt a few weeks ago. We thought that he had a reaction, but it was actually teething and a cold, so I tried it again a few days ago. So far so good!

We try to eat as organically as possible in our house. Some things we go conventional on, but dairy is one of the things that must be organic. We get the organic, plain, full-fat greek yogurt from Whole Foods. If you've ever had plain greek yogurt, it's not amazing. I refuse to give him the yogurt marketed for kids, as it's full of sugar. The kinds that come with fruit in the bottom are pretty bad, as well. So I make fruit purees to mix in with his yogurt.

This puree is actually really good! I had to stop myself from eating all of it. It takes all of 5 minutes to prep and 10 minutes to make. I found it on BabyFoode. She included cinnamon in hers, but I left it out of mine. This woman has amazing ideas!

Ingredients

2 bananas, chopped
1 cup of raspberries
1/2 cup of pitted cherries (I used frozen)
Steam everything together for 10 minutes. Puree in food processor until desired consistency is reached. If needed, use some of the reserved steaming water to thin.

I let it cool, then portioned it into 1oz servings in an ice cube tray. Once they were set, I transfered to freezer bags. In the mornings, I thaw one cube and add it to Little Man's yogurt!

What Sawyer's Eating- Grain Free Banana Muffins

I love to cook and bake. When we found out we were having a baby, one of the things I was most excited about was making him baby food. Healthy, organic food and saving money are really important to me. Making Sawyer's food is so much cheaper than buying prepared food (especially organic baby food!) and I love that I know exactly what is in it. There is nothing wrong with store-bought food at all. These are simply the reasons why I've chosen to make our own.

We didn't introduce solids until he was 6 months old and have chosen to stay away from grains until he's a year old. We also suspect that he may have a slight dairy and gluten intolerance, so we are avoiding those things as well.

I've had a few people ask me for recipes/suggestions for homemade baby food, so I think I'm going to start documenting them here every week or so. Especially because we're almost finished with monthly updates (HOW do I have an almost one year old??).

You don't need fancy equipment or a ton of time to make your own food. I use a colander and pot to steam the veggies, then I puree them in my food processor or with my immersion blender. I typically take an hour on the weekends to make Sawyer's food for the week. It doesn't have to take that long, either. You can take some of whatever you are making yourself for dinner and puree it, too! One of the best pieces of advice I have is to plan your meals and your baby's meals at the same time. I try to use the same ingredients for both, to keep the grocery bill down.

Because I have a photo, I'm going to share a recipe for grain-free banana mini muffins. I found the recipe at Detoxinista. Normally, I like to play around with recipes and add my own touches, but since I'm pretty new to gluten free baking, I stuck completely to the recipe. Now that I've seen how it works, I'm going to try it next time with zucchini, carrots, and applesauce instead of banana.

Ingredients:
2 large bananas (the more ripe they are, the sweeter the muffin!)
1 egg
1/4 cup coconut flour
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
Preheat oven to 350*

In a small bowl, mash bananas with fork until relatively smooth. Mix in the egg, followed by the rest of the ingredients.
Since I made these for Sawyer, I used a mini muffin pan. Be sure to use cupcake liners, as these muffins stick. Spoon the batter into the liners (I filled them to the top) and bake for about 15 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Sawyer loves these! I wrapped them in plastic wrap, put them in a Ziplock, and stuck them in the freezer. I thaw one or microwave it for a few seconds and give it to him for his morning snack. I love that it's grain free and there are no added sugars!

Next up- Baby beef stew and Blueberry & Spinach puree!

9 Months!

Sawyer turned 9 months last Friday! We were at the beach, so this post is a few days late.

This guy is just non-stop these days. He still isn't crawling, but he really wants to! The only problem is that he gets on his belly and then gets so mad that he starts screaming. I'm hoping it's going to happen soon! The past few weeks he's been pulling himself up while holding onto my hands and while we were at the airport the other day, he held on to a seat and did it all by himself!

He knows how to wave bye bye, give high fives, cluck his tongue, and play peek a boo with his blanket. He has started to mimic me when I tickle him, which is hilarious. He get his fingers up by my neck and tries to tickle me back. In addition to dada, he can say cat and mama. He doesn't really know what mama and dada mean, but he definitely knows what cat means. He LOVES the cats. He'll point and try and pet them and say "Cat!"

We took our first vacation with him last week. We flew to Naples, Fl. He did great on the plane, but the trip was kind of stressful with a 9 month old. He doesn't sleep at home and it was even worse there. He would catnap for 30 minutes, we'd get him all sunblocked up, get to the beach, and then he would scream because he was exhausted. We ended up doing most of our beach trips in the evening so that we didn't have to worry about the sun. I was able to wear him in the evenings since they were cooler, which was pretty enjoyable. He loved swimming in the pool. He is most definitely a water baby. He splashed and splashed and had a blast. He didn't mind the ocean, either, but he hated the sand. He couldn't figure it out and did not like it on his toes!

Our flight home was a nightmare, but Sawyer was a trooper. We sat on the plane on the tarmac for 2.5 hours with no air conditioning. He broke out in a heat rash, so we stripped him down to his diaper. 2.5 hours sitting still and then 2 more on our actual flight wore me out. Sawyer wanted to stand on my lap and laugh at the people behind us the hold time. I'm super thankful that he didn't get upset and have a meltdown, though!

He is still a great eater and I hope that it stays that way! He currently loves blueberries, mangos, and corn on the cob. He still loves asparagus, too. He has also tried black beans and watermelon, in addition to all his old foods. We have a check up tomorrow and he gets to try some yogurt! I'm so anxious to see if he has a dairy allergy. Please send some thoughts our way! I'm so worried he'll have a reaction and dairy takes forever to leave your system!

I can't believe our little boy is going to be a year old in 3 months. Time is flying so fast and I feel like we can't catch our breath! I'm doing my best to enjoy every exhausting, thrilling moment!

Little man, you are such a ham these days. You are so incredibly smart and I love watching you discover things and learn how things work. You melt my heart when you grab my shirt and pull me close to you. You bury your head in my neck and snuggle in close. You love standing at the door and waiting for daddy to come home from work. You love looking at pictures and videos of yourself on my phone. There is a video on Youtube of Usher singing the alphabet with Elmo and it cracks you up. It's my go to when we are in the car because, surprise, you still hate riding in your carseat! You love to turn the pages of books, play with water bottles, and the remote control. You have a pretty big temper. If you aren't happy or you don't get your way, you let us know in a heartbeat. I think we are in for it when you're older. You also "whisper," which cracks me up. I joke that you are speaking parseltongue. One day I will introduce you to HP and you will know what that means!

I just love being your mama. You are hard work. You are exhausting, because you never sleep. You are frustrating because you only want me. But you are without a doubt the most amazing person I have ever met. You are funny. You are sweet. You are so smart. You are worth every missed shower, missed movie date, and sleepless night. I love you so so much and am so thankful you are ours!!

8 Months!

Little Man is 8 months old today!

In 4 too short months, we will be celebrating his first birthday! How is that possible? David and I were looking back at all of his newborn photos the other day and it's crazy how different he looks.

Where did this teeny little baby go?

I feel like I can't blink because I'll miss something. He is changing and learning every day. My favorite part of being a mom is watching him experience something new and learning new things. I never would have thought I'd get so excited to see someone learn how to use a sippy cup or blow raspberries, but I do. I stand there and smile and clap and he probably thinks I'm ridiculous, but I can't help it!

We're still introducing new foods and so far he has loved almost everything. He LOVES asparagus. I gave him some pieces to chew on the other day and you would have thought he was eating lobster and filet mignon. He also really loves broccoli & apples, eggs, chicken, and frozen pears. I love making his food. I'm hoping that by making him food and giving him healthy choices that he won't be a picky eater like I was when I was little. Fingers crossed! I mostly still spoon feed the baby food to him, but I always try to give him something on his tray to play with. He's started putting his fingers in it and then putting them in his mouth. Again- there's that ridiculous excitement and pride!

He said his first word a few weeks ago. We were in Target and he started going "dadadadada!" So I pulled out my phone and started videoing it and saying it back to him. People probably thought I was nuts. I'm ok with that. He also gives high fives and is starting to try and wave. My mom is better at getting him to do it than any of us.

He's still not crawling. He'd much rather just roll on the floor. I'm excited for him to crawl, but I know my world will get so much harder once he's mobile! He has started "dancing" a little bit. When he's sitting up, he'll bounce up and down. It's probably the cutest thing ever. He can also stand by himself if he's holding on to something.

He is still incredibly attached to me. He will let 3 people hold him consistently: me, David, and my mom. Everyone else is hit or miss. Most of the time he will just melt down and cry until I take him back. I hate it because I want him to be ok with other people, but I don't really see it changing any time soon. He still has problems sleeping. 30 minute catnaps during the day, and up every 1-2 hours at night. It's exhausting. I feel terrible for him because he's so tired, but we've tried pretty much everything to get him to sleep and nothing works.

Things he loves: Going to music class, playing in water (his baby pool, the bath tub, the water hose... you name it, he loves it), anything that shakes, Jake and the Neverland Pirates (I'm not a fan of letting him watch the tv, but I let him watch long enough in the morning for me to get my breakfast made), being worn in the Tula at dance class, other babies, playing daddy's guitar, jumping and bouncing, being outside.

Things he hates: Wearing socks or having his feet covered with a blanket (just like me), sitting in the grocery cart, being on his belly (unless he's sleeping), when mommy coughs (this terrifies him for some reason).

He weighs 18 lbs and 2 oz. He has 4 teeth and #5 & #6 are starting to poke through. He has started this incredibly cute habit of hiding his face in my shoulder when people talk to him. He smiles all the time. He has a temper. He plays with my hands as he falls to sleep and it makes me so sad to know that one day they'll be bigger than mine.

He is turning into such a unique little person with this amazing personality. There are times I look at him and can't believe that he's mine. I'm so lucky to be his mama!

7 Months!

How is my baby boy 7 months old today?? Everyone has told me that I need to savor every moment because it flies by and they are so right!

I'm not really sure where to begin as this past month has been a blur of teething and sleepless nights. He now has 4 teeth. He cut his top two last week and they came in one right after the other. I never thought that teeth could be cute, but they are seriously the cutest teeth I've ever seen. I think his bottom two spoiled me because he didn't have any symptoms except for a little fussiness. The top two made him super cranky, he didn't sleep (not that he ever sleeps), he didn't want to nurse or play. I'm not looking forward to the next set!

He's eating homemade baby food once a day. So far he's had avocado, banana, apple, pears, peas, green beans, spinach, sweet potato, butternut squash, carrots, and a mix of red pepper, apples, and spinach. His favorites are avocado and squash. He hated the spinach until I mixed it with pears. He's not super crazy about the beans and apples. I'm really excited to start mixing more of his foods. I found an awesome site, www.babyfoode.com, that has amazing recipes that I can't wait to try. I don't know if it's every mom, or just me, but giving him food stresses me out! As excited as I am, it worries me that I'll give him something that will upset his belly or make it too thick and he'll get choked. We have the additional worry of his tongue tie issues, and that makes it worse. He still can't move his tongue around very well, which means he can't really mash food up the way he should. We have to take him to speech therapy appointments to correct it. Hopefully he'll get the hang of it soon!

He is rolling both ways now and sitting up all the time. He was a late bloomer when it came to standing assisted, but he's finally locking his knees and standing up when we hold him. He loves bouncing in his exersaucer and he's just started bouncing up and down when he's seated, which is super cute. He gives high fives (although I think it's an accident), reaches for me, and will lean around to get in your face if you stop paying attention to him. We took him to the park and put him in one of the baby swings. I thought he would hate it because he's hated all the swings we've bought for him, but he loved it! He actually fell asleep in it, which was hilarious.

He's still not sleeping. He cat naps during the day and is up almost every hour at night. It's exhausting. We have side-carred his crib to our bed and have started a bedtime routine now that dance is over and I'm home at a decent hour. We do a bath, books, a song, and then nurse and sleep. It works in the sense that he goes right to sleep, but getting him to stay that way is a whole other story. Keep your fingers crossed!

Sawyer Penn, you are such a ham right now. Your personality is bigger than you are. It's so easy to make you smile and I live to hear your laugh. You are so ticklish. Your ribs, collarbone, back, and thighs are the best spots to guarantee big belly laughs. You've started to get a little shy around people and if I'm holding you, you hide your face in my chest. It melts my heart! You love things with lights and you would chew on my phone all day if I would let you. You love to splash in the bath and mommy and daddy end up soaking wet! You like to rub your hair or your blanket when I put you to sleep. You love when we say, "He's a bad cat!" Your daddy is still the only one who can rock you to sleep, and that makes me a little jealous. You'll only go to sleep for me if I nurse you.

You still don't sleep very well. You would sleep all night if I held you, and I'll admit, sometimes I do. I know that I should put you down, but I'm a little bit selfish. As tired as I am, when I'm holding you in the middle of the night and you trust me enough to sigh and drift off to sleep in my arms...there's nothing that can compare. I know one of these days you won't need or want me to do it anymore, so I'll take it as often as I can get it.

I want to tell you to slow down and stop growing so fast, but man, it is so much fun to watch you grow! I love seeing your little mind work and watching you discover new things. I never thought that lying on my back watching the ceiling fan could be fun, but doing it next to you while you giggle and babble is the best. Speaking of babbling, you are making so many new sounds! When you're in the carseat you talk up a storm! I would love to know what you think you're saying!

In 5 months, you're going to be a whole year old. That seems crazy to me. I know that it will be here before we know it! I love love love you Little Man. I can't wait to see what this next month brings us!

6 Months!

It's Sawyer's half birthday, today!

I say this every month, but how is he 6 months old already?? That's half a year, people. Before I know it I'll be planning his first birthday party.

We took Sawyer to see Dr. Notestine in Dayton 3 weeks ago for his tongue and lip tie revision. It's incredibly frustrating to have had so many medical professionals miss what was such an obvious diagnosis. If this had been taken care of when he was a newborn, so many of our problems wouldn't have existed.

David stayed in the room during the procedure. It took less than 2 minutes and once it was over Sawyer calmed down and nursed right away. That afternoon was awful once the numbness wore off. He screamed for almost 3 hours straight. It's heartbreaking to be a mama and not be able to console your baby. Once his meds kicked in he started feeling much better.

Overall, we've seen a huge difference with him. He's gone from nursing every hour to nursing every 3. He's getting more hind milk because he's actually able to suck, which means he's gaining weight. I'm not having supply issues anymore, which is a huge weight lifted from my shoulders. And just in general, he's so much happier and laid back.

As far as food allergies go, I mentioned last month that the allergy tests showed that he wasn't allergic to any of the things we thought. I've been adding things back in and so far egg, fish, and rice seem to be ok. I added gluten and he had awful reflux, so he probably has a gluten intolerance. We haven't tried dairy or soy, yet.

All of that stuff aside, Sawyer is growing and changing like crazy! He is developing such a happy and fun personality. He has his 2 bottom teeth now, which may be the cutest thing I've ever seen. He can sit up by himself, which seemed to happen over night. My favorite thing is that he's imitating us now when we make faces at him. He is starting to blow raspberries at us and he'll jabber and talk to us all day. He gets really excited and lets out these squeals which are so stinking cute.

We started giving him a little food last week. Typically you are supposed to wait until they are 6 months, but he started following our forks when we ate and would smack his lips together. It broke my heart! So we decided 5 months and 3 weeks was close enough! I have been looking forward to making his baby food since we found out we were having a baby. For his first food, I picked avocado. After doing research we decided to skip the oatmeal (we tried it twice a few months ago and stopped) and go right to something that was pretty nutritious. I puréed the avocado with some water and he went to town! I couldn't get it in his mouth fast enough. I can't wait to start giving him other foods! Although it's a bit bittersweet, as I've been his food source the past 6 months. It's like he doesn't need me as much! Sleep is still an issue. I think his body is so used to waking up every hour, that he doesn't know how to actually sleep. Fingers crossed that we figure it out soon!

This past month has been a whirlwind.

Sawyer, right now you love to sit at your little piano and smack the keys, although you prefer to use your feet! You love touching our faces, eating milksicles, chewing on tags, and watching mommy and daddy sing you silly songs. You love books and toys that crinkle. You smile all the time and still prefer your mommy over anyone else. You have just discovered the cats and you think they are the funniest things ever. Your thighs, back, ribs, and collarbone are so ticklish and you squeal and laugh whenever we tickle you. You still love baths, although you weren't a fan of your first sink bath. You like being outside, but so far you have hated sitting on the grass. You love to sit in your chair and throw all your toys on the ground. You love when your daddy's beard tickles your hands and face.

Little Man, you are everything! You change every day and it amazes me how smart you are!

Happy Half Birthday, sweet boy!!