We're Back!

Well, I've finally decided to get back on here and start posting about baby Aidan! :D  I've always heard that a baby is a full time job, but now I realized just how much of a full time job - but a fun job all the way!  But I think things are at a point now where I can slowly begin blogging again - my craft blog has been neglected for a full year!  But I'm excited to be back! :D

My intent was to blog about everything related to raising baby Aidan, but since I've been slacking, I'm going to go back a little and do a separate post for each month since I started recording his developments and milestones in my little note book.

So, see you in my next post where I talk about Aidan's 5th month!

6 & 1/2 Months Old

It's so cute how he's learning new things all the time. :D  Today he's exactly 6 1/2 month old.

He's now holding his milk bottle all by himself, he's started to sit by himself too, he's still a little unstable and falls over easily sometimes, but he sits well! :)  I let him sit as often as I can so that he can learn to get balanced.  He hasn't rolled over yet so that's one of the next goals - there are a few times when he's almost rolled, but then he doesn't go all the way - not sure if it's maybe cause he doesn't lay on his tum often - in the beginning he didn't like to be put on his tum so we didn't do it much, but he's ok with it now because he's neck and arms are stronger and he can play for a short time while on his tum, but then he starts getting irritated.

We bought him a walking ring a few weeks ago and at first he didn't move around with it, then he figured out he can move backward, and then later he learned he can move forward with it too, so cute. :D  It also helps him to stand, so he's getting strong leg muscles, hehe.

It also seems he's figured out he can make more use of his tongue when he makes sounds and tries to talk, so today (or yesterday?!) he's started to make "L" sounds.  I've been trying to teach him the word "hello" months ago, so let's see, maybe that's the first word he says.

I think he has also begun throwing little tantrums when he's irritated, hehe.  I'm sure those he'll outgrow.

Aaaand he now munches solids! :D  I tried solids just before he turned 6 months old, and I started off with rice cereal but he didn't really take to it, so I thought I'd move onto pureed baby food, but he liked those even less!  So I though ish, are we going to struggle to get this little one to begin eating food . . . Until one day when I was adding some avocado to our salad and I mushed up a small piece and put it in his mouth with my finger - WOW, he loved that, hehe, and he wanted more.  It was sooo cute seeing him eating, and he went "mmm mmm" while he munched - he still does that - too cute for words. :D

I also then tried some steamed butternut and banana and he loved those too.  Next on the list is sweet potato.  I tried giving him some rice cereal again after he got used to the solids and he seems to like it now too.  Oh yes, i trird giving him peas too but he didn't really seem to be crazy about those, so we'll try them again later down the road.

I also tried giving him rooibos tea a few times, but he only seemed to like it the first time and then not again for some reason - maybe I'll try it once more and see.  It's a very healthy tea and good for babies too. :)

I only give him organic foods as far as I can, including formula, cereals, pureed baby foods and fresh produce when I can find it - I'll write some more on baby food choices HERE soon. :)

That's all I can think of for now!  Just the other day I decided to start writing down when Sweetie Bum reaches new milestones and learns new things - I totally forgot to do that since the beginning, boooo!  Better late than never I suppose.

Baby Aidan at 5 Months & 11 Days

So Aidan is 5 months 11 days old today. :D  It went by so quick and I have to look back at photos to remember how teeeeny he was in the beginning. :)  He was toooo cute . . . still is of course! :D

And since he was born I've enjoyed watching him learn new things all the time.  :D  Reaching all the little baby milestones.  It feels like he learns something new every week or 2. :)  From looking you in the eyes, to looking at toys, to batting at them, to grasping them, to holding them, and now everything goes straight into the mouth, hehe.  And he now takes his milk bottle and brings it to his mouth, so cute. :D  (although he can't hold it up by himself yet).  And he tries to grab at words on a page or pictures on your T-shirt.  Cute cute. :D

And when he started making sounds was exciting too, and so is how his little sounds are advancing - how he tries to talk, all the little sounds he makes are soooo CUTE! And then the first smile, and then first giggle, all too cute. :D And now he likes squealing and high-pitched shouting a lot. :)

And then there are the personality straights that start showing too - like he'd sometimes get r-e-a-l-l-y annoyed when I wiped his face with a wet cotton ball, or put moisturizer on his face (little boogie has eczema), and he'd shout at me - toooo CUTE! :)

Somewhere along the way he realized he has hands, and now they're often to be found in his mouth too. 

He's also now showing a lot of interest in things around him - it's so cute how he studies his toys or his bib, or the washing instruction tags on them.  And he'll crane his neck to check out a cell phone lying nearby - not sure what's so interesting about that, but he finds them amusing! :)  He'll also make a cute little sounds and smile when coming face to face with kitty and when he sees himself (or us) in the mirror.

He loves to sit up, and it's so cute, when he's lying down, sometimes it looks like he's doing stomach crunches or something 'cause I suppose he's trying to sit up by himself, but he still needs help with that one, so at the mo I'm trying to let him sit up assisted as much as possible so that he can build up those muscles and sit up by himself soon.

 Oh, and he loves to sit outside!

Anyway, so many new things have happened, I've probably forgot a few of them already!  But everything he does is too cute, and all his little expressions, we just never get bored of it, even the little sad facies when grammies or grampa hold him after not seeing him for a few weeks and he's probably wondering "who are these strange people??!!" hehe. :D

But I'm soooo glad to be a stay at home mommy, I'd never be able to leave him with any sort of baby sitter, other than with Noob Dad if I go shopping, or maybe a grammy if we absolutely HAVE to (sorry grammies, hehe. :)  So I'm grateful for this privilege! :D

And oh, I love shopping for him!  I'd go buy him new clothes and toys every week if I could. :D

Another Reason Why Baby Might Be Crying

Our little Sweetie Bum doesn't ever seriously cry for no apparent reason, so a while back when he was really crying while feeding, I tried figuring out what the problem was since he never cries like that at feeding time.

And I found out what the problem was, and as soon as I fixed the it he quit crying and happily carried on with his meal.  :)

Turns out all I needed to do was un-tie the buttons around his nappy area because it seems things were too tight down there!  I didn't realize it of course, I just thought it was a snug fit, but when the nappy got wet and it puffed up, it made things too tight and he didn't like it.  It was time to get some new clothes as he was definitely starting to outgrow his first set of clothes!  :)

Since that was the first time it happened, I wasn't sure if it was what I did that made him feel better or if he just stopped crying at the same time by coincidence, so I didn't think much of it afterwards, but when the same thing happened again the other day (with a different outfit!) I was convinced I did actually solve the problem.

So next time your baby cries and you dunno why, remember this!  :)

How We Soothe a Crying Baby

Little Aidan is almost 2 months old . . . how did time go so fast?!?!  Anyway, I'm glad to say that we've figured out this soothing thing pretty good.  :)  It's seldom that he cries for more than a few minutes because we always manage to fix the "problem".  Here's how we do it!

• First we check if he's hungry.  Usually we know more or less if the crying is because of hunger because we know he eats about every 2 - 3 hours on average, but to make sure we pat a finger on the area between his mouth and nose and he'll open his mouth as if to grab a teat.  You can also touch his cheek on either side of his mouth and he'll move to that side and open his mouth also as if to take a teat - it's called a rooting reflex.  Usually before he starts crying for food he'll also show us he's hungry by making a cute little fist and swooshing it past his nose or making a cute little pouting thing with his mouth - yes, EVERYTHING he does is cute!  I don't know if these last 2 things are something all babies do or if it's just Aidan that does it, but we've recognized them as his way of saying "I'm hungry!".

• If we don't see any sign that he's hungry, and he's just recently finished feeding, then we'll try to burp him.  We put him on our knee and gently bounce him quickly for a little while and then pat his back for a bit while he leans a little forward and then go back to bouncing etc until we get a burp. Sometimes when we just sit him up after a feeding he'll burp on his own, but mostly we have to work a bit to get that burp.

Trying to get rid of that burpie:

 

• If it's neither of the above things, then we change his nappy (provided he hasn't *just* had a nappy change).

•  Sometimes he still cries and then it seems all he wants is to be held and then he calms down or falls asleep.  If he also seems to be crying for no reason that we can tell, or he's crying while he's waiting for his food to be prepared, then we put him up over our shoulder and that seems to keep him happy and cry-free for quite a while.

•  If he's laying down and there's no obvious problem like hunger or burp or dirty nappy and we're trying to get him to stop crying and get to sleep, we turn him on his side and rub his back - this usually works pretty well if there's none of the above issues!  Soon he'll calm down and fall asleep.  Patting his bum also seems to do the same trick while laying on his side.  Sometimes we'll also make a loud "ssshhh" sound to calm him down and that has worked really well too!  Apparently they find it soothing because it sounds similar to what he hears inside the womb.  What Noob Dad has done is download sounds like white noise or rain etc and we'll play that to him to help soothe him to sleep as well.

• Another thing that really works to calm him down is swaddling - to snugly wrap him up in a blankie.  This is to make him feel secure so that he doesn't get disturbed by the little jerks babies make (called the startle reflex), or to comfort him so that he calms down or falls asleep, because he's all snug like he used to be in the womb and that makes him feel secure.  You should use a light blankie, not a thick one so that he doesn't overheat (swaddling should in any case not be used as a way to keep baby warm, and you shouldn't wrap him too tightly so that his circulation is cut off, or that his legs are pinned straight out as this may cause hip problems - his legs should be bent up as he naturally lies and he should be allowed to move his legs slightly.  Some babies don't like to have their arms tucked in, so you can swaddle him under his arms, and some babies don't like to be swaddled at all.  And one needs to make sure that his face isn't covered up so that he can breathe freely!  Swaddling should also be discontinued once he reaches about 1 month of age as it may interfere with his movement and development.  Here's how it's done:

Cute little bundle!

• On the odd occasion when he's a little whiny we'll give him a dummy (pacifier) and that'll keep him quiet and sometimes he'll soon fall asleep too.

•  And if there's nothing really big bothering him, holding him and swaying with him calms him down too.

All in all his a pretty good baby and doing the above things have always helped to quieten him and calm him down!  :)