Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Jude is 7 Months Old!

My sweet baby man is 7 months old today. It's hitting me that Jude is now officially closer to being a year old than he is to a newborn. So crazy! For me, it's been so different having a second child. With Aubrey, I was never really sad that she was "getting old." I was excited and couldn't wait for the next milestone that she would reach. It's just a little different with Jude. While I am definitely excited for him when he reaches a new milestone, I feel like I'm a little more sentimental about him "growing up." I'm just trying to hold onto and cherish his babyness, because I know how fast it goes away. Like I said, though, I do love watching him grow and make new discoveries everyday, so here are some things that Jude does at 7 months old:

-He eats two solid meals a day now! We have been introducing new foods since he turned 6 months old, and so far, there haven't been any that he doesn't like. He's had sweet potatoes, apples, green beans, pears, and bananas. Carrots are next on the list :-) He also still enjoys his rice cereal mixed with fruit.

-Jude is still a good nurser, but we have had some issues with him being too distracted to eat lately. He is just so curious about what is going on around him that he can't stand the thought that he might be missing something while he eats. Going into a dark, quiet room with minimal distractions just isn't really possible with a loud big sister running around. Haha! I've just had to realize that when Jude gets hungry enough, he will latch on and eat and not worry too much about what's going on around him ;-) I've also noticed that he seems to want to eat less now that he's eating two solid meals. I know, duh, right?! We've always just kind of fed "on demand" rather than on a strict schedule. That's just my personality and what works for us, so I just follow his hunger cues and guess he will eat if he is hungry!

-Speaking of eating, it isn't like he is missing any meals! We found out at his 6 month checkup that he is in the 75th percentile for weight and height. He probably weighs 19 or so pounds. He wears 9 month clothes and a size 3 diaper. He wears a size 2 shoe :-)

-Jude is doing great with sitting up! He can sit by himself for a good while without falling over, which is amazing since every time I try to let him practice sitting up, Aubrey immediately tries to grab him and put him in her lap. Ha! In other words, Jude doesn't get a TON of practice sitting up. Ha!

-He loves playing in his exersaucer and will entertain himself in there for quite a while... as long as I'm in the room with him. He has gotten to the age where he cries when I leave the room. It's kind of sweet :-) It does make it more difficult to get things done around the house, though.

-Jude is still a sweet, content baby. He is good about sitting in his bouncy seat or playing in his exersaucer while I get ready or clean the house, etc. He is wanting to be held more lately, but I think that has more to do with his age than his personality.

-He LOVES his big sister. She really is his favorite source of "entertainment." He just finds Aubrey hilarious, and it is the cutest thing I've ever seen.

-I can't end this without talking about sleep. Oh, sleep. This continues to be our biggest challenge. Jude's naps are spotty at best. He usually takes a couple of 20 minute catnaps, but that's about it. If I hold him or lay down with him, he will sleep for hours, but I just cannot do that everyday, especially with another child, even though I really would like to some days. I have tried everything to get him to nap in his bed. The only thing I know to do is to just keep trying and pray it clicks one day. As far as night sleep, Jude still wakes up about once a night. Sometimes he will go back to sleep with his pacifier, but I usually end up feeding him. This is mostly because I'm sleepy and want to get him back to sleep as quickly as possible and not because he is hungry. Some nights I just accept the fact that this is how things are right now, and other nights I want to cry when he wakes up because I'm just SO ready for him to sleep through the night again. I'm not going to lie and act like I have a great attitude about our sleep issues all the time. Is it frustrating to feel like I never get a break during the day where both kids are asleep? YES! Is it hard to not have an uninterrupted night of sleep for months and then take care of two kids the next day? Definitely! But I have to remind myself to put it in perspective everyday. Yes, I'm sleepy a lot of times, but I have two children who I love dearly, and they are HEALTHY. And I know that getting up in the night and having young babies and toddlers is just a season in my life. Sometimes the days are long, but I KNOW that I'm going to look back on these days and feel like they just flew by. I already feel that way about Aubrey's baby days. These crazy, napless, ordinary days are SUCH a blessing, and I want to be constantly aware of that. Even when I'm on the verge of pulling my hair out ;-)

It's always a little hard to end these posts, because I feel like I'm so repetitive every month. But I just feel like I cannot say enough how much I love my two babies. We are so so thankful that Jude has been part of our family for the past 7 months. It's still so amazing to me the way you can love one child so completely and feel so content with your family with just that one child. And then you add another child, and it's like suddenly, they are as much a part of your family as if they had always been there. I can only imagine that it's the same way no matter how many children you have. Jude is supposed to be a part of our family because the Lord chose to give him to us -- it's as simple and as beautiful as that. God entrusted Jude to us, and we are so very humbled and thankful.

1 comment:

Genevieve said...

I love this post. Happy 7 months Jude! Your updates are great, he and Parker do so many of the same things so it is very fun to read. You also have such a great attitude about the more challenging issues like sleeping and napping.