11 months, holy cow!!!

My baby boy is officially 11 months old! Ive been slacking on the monthly posts,  and that makes me so sad.... he's grown so much these past few months and I wish I had kept better account of when the changes happened. But I can only go forward now so without further ado...

11 month old stats :
Archer now crawls so fast, and loves being mobile

Stands himself up

Cruises furniture

Loves playing with cars of any shape and size

Loves stacking cups

Builds up toys then knocks them over

Makes zombie sounds to indicate "crash"

Says dada,  ra ra, ya ya, ba ba, and a whole host of other sounds... but no mama.  He does say MA! If he's upset and crying... lol

Has taken 1 very small step without holding on.  He's not as interested in walking as I thought he'd be.  But I guess it's because he's a good crawler.

He's started bringing us books to read.  His favorite are the Hello Bugs and Hello Animals,  which are both black and white with some small color spots.  He also loves to turn the pages. A lot.  He'll hand me the book over and over and over to flip through and by the end doesn't care about the story,  lol. 

Archer now has 7 teeth,  with the 8th just barely poking through. He got his first 2 bottom front teeth at 3 months,  them nothing until about a month ago when 5 teeth all started coming through at once!! Now that last little tooth is getting ready,  and its so crazy to see him with all those teeth!

He had eczema when he was little,  and I'm wondering if it will come back with the colder weather. He's had a few spots recently,  but nothing like it was.  I'm hoping it'll stay away so we can introduce some milk next month.  Speaking of,  my baby will be ONE in a month.  Holy cow!!

Archer seems to have a food sensitivity, but I can't narrow it down very well.  He's been fine with all the whole foods I've given him,  but anything from a pouch had made him have what I amount to tempt tantrums.  Bad ones.  I know it isn't a tantrum in the traditional sense bc he's just a baby,  but it's the closest thing I can compare it to.  And it is just awful when it happens,  crying , full out  screaming, and nothing will comfort him.  It goes on for over an hour, and usually happens about an hour after bed.  It is just awful,  and I feel so helpless.  But thankfully I've got it narrowed to the prepouched food so he doesn't get those anymore.  I just don't know what in them makes him react like that.  It's organic and foods he's had... no dyes,  but there is either lemon juice or citric acid ... so maybe that.

He's had all kinds of solid food,  and we are starting on him eating pieces instead of me spoon feeding him purees. He loves feeding himself  but now finds it incredibly more fun to drop food on the floor for snacking on later. 

He still sucks his two fingers,  same 2 as Abi did.  But I think he's going to be left handed.... oh boy! Lol

That's all for now,  hopefully I'll get another post up for his 1st birthday!!!!!

8 months old

Baby Archer is 8 months old (August 1st) and holy cow what a ride this has been!

What sucks about being done

You know, my husband and I have decided we're done having kids.  I'm mean done done... like he's already had a vasectomy done.  And I'm totally on board with that,  even tho in my heart I'd still welcome an oopsie. I love this baby phase.  But I struggled with infertility and getting pregnant so long that I think it would be nearly impossible to have an oops. Then there's today.  I've almost never had the good signs of ovulation,  not even done
While on medication to make me ovulate.  But yesterday and today I've had glaringly obvious ovulation signs.  Today just for fun I took an opk and it was positive.  Now I'm having the WORST ovulation pain!  It's ridiculous,  and while I know we are done... its making me want to try for another.  I mean,  I'd been tracking this stuff for years and now finally my body is doing something it's supposed to be doing,  something I'd been waiting for and I can not do anything about it.  Nothing but sit here and be in pain knowing that egg will not become anything... its such an odd thing.  You don't think about it though Any cycle most of your life,  until you ttc... or try not to.  I'd be crazy to have another baby so soon. I'd probably lose my mind with the hormones.  I know I'm done. It's just hard to accept.

Happy Baby

Archer is the happiest baby ever. He really doesn't cry unless he's tired/hungry or having a clingy day and I walk into the other room. While that seems like a lot, it's really not. He's pretty happy go lucky and is quite often quietly observing everything around him. He loves to smile at us and love love loves his sissy. She's pretty head over heels for him too, it's cute.

Archer has gone through a growth spurt lately and is getting so big! I don't know specifics at the moment but I do know he no longer fits on my lap the way he did just a few weeks ago. He's sitting up and playing with toys, and I've even seen him scooting backward just a little. I cannot wait to see what else he will be doing next!

7 months!!

2 weeks ago baby boy was 17lbs 12oz 27inches long and had his very first shot. He did great! Archer is such a happy baby and loves me and daddy and sissy so much! He giggles, rolls front to back and back to front, is eating lots of different solids but still taking about 4oz bottles every 2 hours or so. He sleeps in his crib and is, for the most part, sleeping through the night.  We went to the zoo for the first time the other day and even though it was really hot he did super well. He's starting to sit up on his own more and more and it looks like he'll be army crawling/scooting here soon. He loves to blow raspberries and stick his tongue out. He's had the same 2 teeth since 3 months and while I think he's teething now, there's no obvious sign of teething coming in yet. I love this little guy just oh so much!

I've been dealing with post partum depression and anxiety and have been put on a low dose medication for it. Can't say it's made things perfect, but it certainly has taken the edge off. I've gained back all the weight I lost and so I've decided to start the Keto diet here soon. My husband lost over 50lbs since Jan/Feb on it, and I'm hoping that I can have even remotely similar weight loss. I know that I have to go low carb anyway so this will hopefully work out pretty well for me. We'll see. I've been on and off so many diets it's crazy.

6 month update!

Wow, have I been lacking in the update department! I cannot believe my little man is 25 1/2 weeks old (almost 6 months by date!!) He's rolling over now, back to front but while he has gone front to back, will not currently. He'll just lay there and scream until we move him back or pick him up. Silly little guy! He's taking 3-4oz of milk every 2-3 hours and sometimes sleeping through the night. But lately has been waking every hour or so until about 11pm. He is eating his first solid food this week... Avocado! The same food we started Abi on. He LOVES it! He has been ready to eat solids since about 4 months. He was showing all the signs but we were not comfortable starting so soon, especially with his eczema. So we waited. I'm glad because now he just devours his yummy food! Not sure what's next but it will probably be met with the same enthusiasm as the avocado. He didn't even really make any funny faces!

13 weeks / 3 month update

Archer is now officially 3 months old, though he turned 12 weeks last Friday. Odd how that works. Anyway we have finally seen our new pediatrician, and I'm hoping this will be a better fit for our needs. Here are a few stats on our little man!

14lbs 13oz and 24 1/4 inches long. He's my little chunk!

Smiles and cooes all the time now, and it just melts my heart!

Has started to laugh (an advanced milestone I understand) but only in the bath tub.

Head control is getting much better, he can hold it up for a minute or so before getting wobbly.

Loves his swing, bouncer seat, jungle mat, Christmas lights... not super big on snuggling excet at night.

He enjoys smiling and cooeing at mommy and is starting to find his hands and watch them with his eyes. He sucks on his hands a lot, he just hasn't really noticed them until now.

He likes his sleep and will nap 3-4 hours in his crib if we let him, but his night time sleep is still up in
the air. Lately he's been going a few days of waking every 3 hours then a few days of sleeping a full 6 hour stretch before waking. I never know what's coming!

Hates being swaddled but will allow me to put him in the Halo sleep sack for his naps. I'm convinced if we were to put him in his crib at night in that thing he'd sleep 8 hours. I'm not really ready for that yet...

We are switching him from a size 2 to size 3 diaper and he is in size 3-6 month clothes!

Hates tummy time on the floor but will tolerate it modified on mommy. He also hates being in his car seat when the car is stopped. He has screamed himself hoarse on several occasions.

I think that's it! I'm still very much in love with my little man and I am so enjoying learning everything about him and watching him grow!