Oscars 15 Month Update

Good Morning, Everyone :)

I have literally lost the plot. I wanted to come over to the blogger website to finish my ''10 New Traditions to start this Christmas'' post and typed in homebase.com instead :S :D I honestly spend most of my days there....awkward, but that is what happened :) And then now I realised that I am missing a few pictures for the post, so I'm just going to postpone it for a while...like I do with most of the things in my life :D

But today I will be sharing a little personal post about Oscars update :) Because I love him so much and so much has changed since the last one...(I think it was his 9 month update) so it will be really good to do an update...update...I keep saying that word in my head :D Anyway it will be a 15 Month UPDATE...as you might have already figured out from the title of this post :) So here it is...enjoy :)

 

I shall do sections, just because otherwise I will, I WILL, forget something and then I'll get angry at myself :)

EAT

Oscar is now 15 and a half months old and he is having 2-3 milk feeds a day. We still use formula...because he refuses cows milk :D we keep trying, I keep putting it in his cup during his meals and I've even tried half formula half milk, but he gets it....he is just too clever. I don't think there is anything wrong with giving formula either, it's pretty much the same and honestly I think it's cheaper as well :D SOOOO...

He wakes up around 7-8am and then has his first milk feed. Then after that he has his breakfast around 10 ... 2 hours after milk feed. It use to be just weetabix with a mashed banana and COWS MILK, yes the only time he accepts it :D, but now I mix it up. Sometimes he has a bit of bread and cheese or anything I can think of. I would love for him to have porridge in the morning, because it sets him off for the day, but sometimes he is just not interested in it, so I don't really push him.

He only has one nap now and another milk feed just before it. Once he wakes up he has lunch. This is usually a toastie or anything with egg. If we go out for a meal it's usually for lunch, because he seems most interested in food at that time, so we get to eat our food as well. 

At dinnertime, he has whatever we are having. Sometimes I try sneaking something healthier for him when we are having a cheat day, but he just picks up on it and refuses to eat his food, so he still ends up having whatever we are.

He has snacks in between as well. It's either the organix crisps or cheesestrings or a few slices of sausage and now that it's clementine season he is having those as well. On a completely unhealthy note he is absolutely obsessed with Wotsits :D haha, he sees a pack and he will throw out anything he is holding in his hand or mouth and he will not give up until we have opened the pack for him. The wotsits packs are now being held on the top of out kitchen cupboards, but I don't think it's completely unacceptable for him to have a few every now and then. It's all about the balance just like with grown ups. He also doesn't really like sweet things, other than his juice, so having a few unhealthy crisps really doesn't worry me :)

SLEEP

I don't even want to start :D He has one nap a day, which is usually 2 hours, and then goes to sleep around 7-8pm but most night he still wakes up. And for a really long time he was still having some milk during the night. I think...it's because he is getting loads of teeth. I mean he only has about 7 at the moment so there are still a lot to come. BUT it is EXHAUSTING....I am so lucky to have D to swappies with me, because honestly I don't know what I would do if I'd have to do everything myself every day AND then night....So any tips for teething relief would be awsome :) (we are currently using Teetha camomille granules, because he doesn't like the gels anymore)

PLAY

Our little art session with paints :)

He loves playing with anything or everything. I just find him so clever ( I'm sure all mothers think that about their child, but really he is CLEVER :D)He just figures everything out and then does it and it's amazing. He loves the flap books still, where you lift a flap and voilaa something is under it. And he remembers what is underneath before we even lift it up. He has also recently gotten into Lego. I got him a Lego Duplo number train set for his birthday, but until now he played with it for like a second and then moved on to something else, but recently...he has figured out how to put the parts together himself and is loving it. So I also got him a Lego Duplo farm set, which he loves. So sucess in the lego area :D next up puzzles I think. 

He is also going to at least 2 playgroups a week. I go with him to a toddler group on Fridays and then we have a nanny coming on Tuesdays or Thursdays who takes him to a different playgroup. He also likes soft play centres and he is fearless. He will climb up the slides and come head first from ladders :D I mean it's good exercise for me to keep him safe :D

MILESTONES

Because it's been soooo long since the last monthly update I thought I'll just mention that he started walking just before 11 month mark or just after...I can't even remember...what a great mother I am. but I remember thinking ''does this ever get old'' every time I saw him walk  :D honestly. 

He has been a bit slow on the talking side of things. He tries soooo hard :D but no words have come out until very recently. He still said ''emme'' (mommy in Estonian) ''dada'' and ''mommi'' (bear in Estonian) but other words were slow coming. He is now very good with words that start with a ''C'' like CUP and CAT and CAR and also DUCK and just short words. but he is getting better everyday and he tries to repeat whatever we say to him :)

SIZES

He is using pull up diapers and normal ones for night time. The pull up ones have been a size 5 for a while and we will be switching to nr 5 on the normal Pampers Dry night ones as well, as his belly is getting too big for the 4 :D 

He is in either 9-12 month old or 12-18 month old clothes now, depending on the make really. Tesco, which is where I get most of his clothes has smaller clothes for the sizes, so 12-18 month old clothes fit him perfectly. As H&M 12-18 is way too big for him. But he will grow into the clothes, so I'm not worried. And also it depends how many times I've washed something :D 

He is about 10.7 kg heavy, which is normal for his height, which was 78 ?? I think at his 1 year check up :) 

And I think I have pretty much covered everything :) If you have any questions, please, feel free to ask me anything. I am no expert in child care, but I can speak from my experience :)

Hope you enjoyed the post

And as always

Stay Tuned

xoxo

Meril

Oscars 9 Month Update

Hello, Everyone :)
Last month I didn't really do the whole update and routine post as it had stayed pretty much the same, but this month has brought along a lot of changes :) So I will fill you in all things baby :)

EAT

This past month brought a lot of decrease and increase. He is now only drinking about 4 bottles of formula during the whole day, so there has been a definite increase in the milk feeds. But this also means that he is now eating more solid foods. The foods actually haven't changed that much but he is definitely eating MORE. He has half a mashed up banana ( I switched from blueberries, because they stain so badly...in his poo...TMI...sorry :D but seriously it was impossible to clean) with an organic weetabix and almond milk. I haven't completely stopped giving him blueberries though. Every now and then I decide I'm a grown woman and can handle it, and then he has them with his porridge :D During lunchtime he still has fingerfood, and is loving that part. It's also the messiest of the meals :DI And I still cook his dinners. We have completely given up on pouches and jars...the only thing he has that is shopbought are the Organix snacks. He loves the carrot flavoured corn sticks and apple and cinnamon rice cakes. Another thing I will start doing now is giving him snacks in between meals...stuff like slices of fruit...he loves mango...or melon...I don't know what the difference is :D...EVER...drives D crazy :D

I also try my best to prepare his meals ahead of time and then freeze them in these awsome pots that are just the right size for him. I got THESE  from Amazon but I also recently purchased THESE. I just love that there are different sizes so there will be no waste. 

Food wise, I am pretty sure he loves all foods, but sometimes gets a bit fussy over egg :D He can't have boiled egg because he doesn't like the texture of the egg white on its own and the strong taste of egg yoke on its own. But when I scramble the egg and cut it into strips, he loves it....so go figure.

Also he seems to have a slight tomato allergy, but only when he has slices of it. He is fine when the tomato is cooked or there is tomato in the sauce. 

Usual dinner meals consist of 3 parts. There is either sweet potato or normal potato and carrot or pasta or rice. The second part is the meat...usually fish, chicken, beef. I haven't given him any pork just yet, but only because we don't actually eat pork ourselves that often. And the third part is the vegetable part. He either has a mixture of veggies or just peas and beans or I give him some avocado instead or sometimes cottage cheese. 

Another thing he absolutely loves and it's so easy to do and serve because it's an all in one dish is a chicken soup/casserole. I put all the veggies in there and chicken and the stock and then freeze it in the little fore mentioned pots. I'm pretty sure this is his favourite meal at the moment. But I can't blame him, who doesn't like a good chicken soup :)
And he also had a taste of chocolate. It's safe to say...He liked it :D

PLAY

He loves books now. He loves pulling them down from the shelves I meant to say. But he does actually look at the books now as well. So I think it has payed off that I kept going with the reading, even though he seemed to hate sitting down and listening to me at one point :D He really likes colourful books and the ones where you can lift something and find something else :D His favourites is RAA RAA THE NOISY LION and PEEP INSIDE THE ZOO. The zoo book made us also buy these fridge magnets. He was having a lot of fun with the touristy ones we had on there and he loved rearranging them. So this set of fridge magnets that has all kinds of animal magnets is a really good buy. It also allows me to either do the dishes or cook while he plays right beside me. 

He is also getting a lot more out of his old toys as he now knows what they do and how they work. He loves the piano and a sing song gadgety thing that my sister got him when he was 3 months old. It has all kinds of songs about animals in Estonian. I have to admit though, that the song lyrics make no sense :D But he loves pushing the button and then listening whatever animal song comes along.

We also got him this graco walker toy and although he is now able to actually take steps with it he enjoys playing with the buttons and balls/shapes a lot more :D

But like I said he gets so much more out of the toys now because he is just so observant. He will see us do something and then just copies us :) It's very cool to see.

He also loves hoovers :S honestly 

SLEEP

This is the moment every parent waits for...sleeping through the night. It has happened :D He is finally sleeping through. He goes down around 7/8 PM and doesn't get up until the next day 6/7 AM. There have been a few early morning wakenings as in 5.30 AM and a few mid night feeds, but honestly it doesn't even bother me now because I've had enough rest. I also have the luxury of having D working at home some days (read ''most days'') So our morning routine usually involves me waking up at 6 then spending about 2-3 hours with Oscar. Then he goes for his morning nap and when he wakes up next D gets up and feeds him his morning porridge while I have a longer snooze. I mean we have the curse of the ''sleeperinners'' or shall I say ''longlatesleepers'' :D anyway we love sleep, so getting that 3 hour nap in the morning is bliss. Sometimes D takes him first and we swap our morning roles. 

He has a second nap around 1-2PM and then when he wakes up he will have lunch and then he won't go down until his last sleep.

If you are wondering if we did anything different to get him to sleep through the night, then NO. We just stuck with the routine we had established at when he was 6 weeks old. And I'm so glad we did. I'm not the one to judge on other people and how they raise their children, but the one thing both me and D agreed on was that we will not try out the ''cry it out'' method. There just isn't enough proof on how it affects the baby in the long run, and the main point for that method is that the baby knows you will go when he cries...call me crazy but I want my baby to know I will help him when he needs me. Otherwise how else will he communicate. Anyway enough of that. I'm just glad we survived the crazy 8 months of waking up 2-3 times a night :D 

MILESTONES

• He is crawling
• climbing
• taking steps with a bit of help
• he will stand up on anything
• he can climb up small steps, as in I have found him in the fireplace :D We have a mirror on the back of the fireplace and he loves looking at himself.
• He will notice anything that is not meant to be there. Every little crumb and piece of food
• He will use a spoon to feed himself
• He has 3 solid meals a day
• He is sleeping through the night
• HE HAS NO TEETH :D
• He is very vocal and now babbles along with us
• He says mom and ''emme'' which is mommy in estonian
• He has kind of forgotten how to say ''daddy'' :D I think he has just kind of moved on to other words that interest him like ''boo'' or ''boaboaboaboaboa...etc :D''
• He is so super fast it takes him about half a second to come from one room to the other.
• He remembers where things are. As in things that are put and also things he has seen and wants to go back to...he will just know where they are :D
• he has about 5 poos a day (I know it's not a milestone :D but going from 1 easy clean to 5 with a wriggly baby, I just though it needs to be mentioned)

And this is all I can remember for now :D I'm sure there are loads of more things, but I'm having a block :S Anyway, if there is any more information you would like to know, or have some funny things to say about your own baby then leave a comment below. I'd love to hear other Mommy stories :)

As Always, Hope you enjoyed the post 

Stay tuned

xoxo

Meril

Oscars 8 Month Update

Hello, Everyone :) Here is Oscars 8 month update

What a lovely day it has been. It has been super sunny for a good 2 days now :D and I have taken what I can take from it. Yesterday we went for a picnic in the park and today I stayed in the garden sun for a good 2 hours. I might have a bit of a red nose now and that sun tiredness you get...you know the one where your eyes are tired but you are not? But all in all it has been really lovely.
Oscar is now 8 months old. Which means he is only 4 months away from being 1 YEAR OLD....I can't believe it (hope you enjoyed that I did the math for you there :D)
He is just such a cool dude I can't even comprehend and start to think...what? What am I saying :D What I was meant to say is that I just can't believe he has turned out to be so cool even though his parents are a bit of losers...or massive losers shall we say :D haha, just kidding. I keep thinking though, that I am just so lucky to have him in my life and he is so good to us and I'd like to think it's because we are good to him :) I mean it is, you get what you give, right :) SO I know it's not really the case with babies, but I do believe that staying calm, happy and positive has helped to turn this little man into a little bundle of joy...a little moving all the time bundle of joy.
And I'm not saying that it's perfect all the time. I have moments when I feel like I'm going to lose my mind and moments where I think I just don't have any energy in me to do anything....but I just take a step back and get out of the room....take a minute to myself and rant on my own so he wouldn't be subject to that...and I think it has worked. I'm not an angel by any means, I get angry and sad, but I try not to let Oscar see that. And you might think here, that I'm overprotective, but don't. He gets his share, because you know, sometimes there is just no time to go out of the room :D
Funnily enough though now that he is moving around and going places and grabbing and tasting? :D we do have to set a harsher tone, just so he would realise if something is forbidden or bad. But because he just hasn't heard us raise our voices and be angry at him, he just chuckles at us :S :D And then I can't help but chuckle as well :D Ok, so he either gets amused or he just ignores what we are saying. But I guess sometimes it's good to let them learn themselves as well. Like the radiator in the bathroom that is hot all the time...not the best idea to touch that...so now he stays away....sometimes.
It is hard work though and most of the days I do wish I had some help from my family :( but they live so far away. I'm just glad I've got D, who is very hands on and helps a lot with everything. But going out with just two of us is pretty much impossible, because there is no one to babysit. And I don't think that would be the case when my family would be here, or I would be where they are :) Rant over :D Here are a few pictures and a little more of his little achievement for the past month.

Our first picnic. He loved pulling the grass :D and was really interested in all the dogs :D But mostly he just made a complete mess of the blanket that we sat on.

He loves all kind of food. He drinks water from a sippy cup and I think his favorite fingerfood is cucumber.

He is teething so badly lately. There is drool everywhere and he will literally chew on everything :D like this padding on our tv table :D

 And he is definitely crawling and sitting up and is now saying dada, but not really mama :D He does make a sound that sounds like mum, when he is upset, but he blabbers about all the time, so I think it's just a coincidence :D

Hope you enjoyed the post :)
If you have any questions about his 8 month progress that i didn't cover, then ask away :)

Stay tuned, everyone

xoxo

Meril

Oscar is 7 months old

Good evening, everyone :)

This month just flew by. I don't know weather it was because Oscar was being a little sweetheart or it's because there has been a lot going on, but it seems that the month was shorter than usual :D Or maybe it's because the days are getting longer and brighter and nicer and there for I am happier and nicer and better at dealing with everything life being a mother throws at me...I mean throw it at me, I can do this shit.

All and all this month has brought us a lot in the baby field. Oscar just seems to be more of a human. He laughs and smiles and talks and squeals (This is his favourite way of communicating :D)and something we kind of always seemed to miss, but have definitely witnessed this month is him moving about.

He can now turn on his stomach, depending on which side he finds things that interest him and he can also move backwards very well. I mean very well, he has mastered the backwards crawl :D He can also kind of move forward if he is on a soft surface. It needs to be soft because his way of getting forward involves him smashing his face/head down and then pushing forward :D He also uses the half way flip over to get about. All in all he is just very good at moving... definitely can't leave him on our bed unattended for more than a few seconds. And when he is on the floor playing in the living room and I leave...9 out of 10 times I come back a minute later with him squealing of either joy or frustration under the sofa with only his head sticking out :D Just like that :D

I have kind of started on giving him 3 meals now as well. But he has been on two solid meals a day for a good 2 months. The 3rd meal that I have started is the lunchtime meal. I am just not quite sure what to give him :D So I chose this time to start finger food and little bits and bobs that he can pick up himself rather than me feeding him. I think this is probably the best time for it as he is usually happy and rested and ready for action and new things. He has tried bread and little cheese and tomato and raspberry puffs. He doesn't like anything slimy :D Like a banana or a slice of avocado, he will pick up and then put it down in disgust :D he doesn't mind the taste though. He just doesn't like the feel of them in his hands :D He also has water in a sippy cup as a drink on the side of his solid meals :)

He has every solid meal sitting in his high chair (I'll link the OXO tot one as an amazon app, if you want to check it out :))I chose this chair over the Stokke Trip Trap that I initially wanted to get as it just looks more kid friendly and just like the trip trap I can convert this to a toddler chair, which was one of the main points. I figured that if I'm going to spend this much money on a chair it should at least last us for a good few years :)

Another change I have made in his food this month was that I switched from the creamy baby porridge to weetabix with almond milk. And I have also cut down on using the Hipp Organic/Ellas Kitchen fruit puree pouches. Instead I bought massive packs of frozen blueberries and raspberries and I use them in the weetabix porridge :) This just means I know exactly what goes in his little tummy and it's also a lot more cost effective :D 

Like I said earlier, this month has been a very packed month. I decided to plan more and do more. So now I plan our meals with D and also Oscars. Most days he just has whatever we have, because I try to be quite thoughtful in what we have for our meals and make sure we are healthy. This just makes life a lot more easier and efficient. We have our dinner together sitting at the table now, which I was really looking forward to doing :) I just think it sets the right tone for the evening ahead. 

Another thing why I like that Oscar is already having what we are having is that it will probably make the transition of having food easier. It should also be good for making him like food and not becoming a fussy eater.

I got this planner from Amazon and it was only like 5.99 :) the good thing about it is that it has magnets at the back, so it's perfect for the fridge.

He still eats milk, but those feeds have definitely decreased. He will now have about 100ml max and has a milk feed around every 4-5 hours. Apart from the night feed. He still gulps down the whole 200ml :D I don't know if it's because he is actually hungry because he does last a good 5-6 hours after his last feed, or because he usually falls asleep during feedind and just does it in his sleep. But he still eats it and I still give it for him. I'm not sure if I have mentioned this, but I make his milk warm. I even do this during the night by having hot water in the thermos. And I think that one way of getting rid of the night feed in time is to stop doing this, as he really does not like cold milk :D 

And the night feed brings us to the night time :) He sleeps a lot better these days. He fusses a lot still, but because we have the camera, we can just see that he is very good at putting himself back to sleep. Something we didn't really know before getting the baby monitor, as I used to run every time he made a noise.  The camera just gives a lot of confidence in having him upstairs. He actually notices the camera as well, which is quite funny at times. And I know that I have to go up when he looks at the camera and won't close his eyes, as this is my cue, he is awake and needs attention :D

He still sleeps in the co-sleeper next to our bed. And this month I have been so good and completely stopped taking him next to me at night. I used to do this when he would fuss before his feeding time, to make him last a bit longer. Because he is just so active and won't stay put even when he is asleep, we would both be uncomfortable if I would take him. Plus he doesn't need it :) Which is great for me, as I do feel like I get a better night sleep now. I have also noticed that I have grown a bit deaf to his little cries during the night :D Which in result has given me a few tiny heart attacks when I have woken up and he has managed to flip himself over and is sleeping with his face smothered in the mattress :D Obviously not completely. He did start sleeping on his side quite early and now is going that bit further with it and sleeps on his stomach every now and then. Freaked me out the first time he did though.

Since the days do seem longer I have managed to go out for walks a lot more. And he is just so different now. He likes to sit up and look around and be a little charmer when old ladies start talking to him :D We also went on out first swim session in the swimming pool the other day, and he absolutely loved it :) He was squealing and splashing about and just loving every second of it (unless he inhaled some water...then he wasn't really happy :D)And since I have signed up to use the pools for 3 months, this will definitely be something we will continue doing and hopefully with a little help he will learn to swim sooner rather than later. D still can't swim and he is over 30 :D 

Because he needs so much more attention and stimulation I have also signed up for sensory classes, which should be interesting. I'm still in the waiting list though, which is slightly annoying. Mostly because they have these classes in different locations, but my unability to drive means I could really only go to the one that is closest to our house. I could take a taxi or the bus and venture a bit out, but I'm still a bit vary of that option. I'll let you know what I'll decide :)

Size wise I am not quite sure how much he weighs or how tall he is, I will get that checked at the baby clinic on Wednesday. I think he is around 9 kg. He is now wearing 9-12 month clothes. He still fits in a few 6-9 month ones, but they are becoming slightly too short for him now.

I'll shortly go over his daily routine and then that will be it I think :) Tomorrow I will continue with the baby theme and do his nursery update as another patch of furniture has arrived :)

06.30AM - wakes up (this time doesn't change. Either we put him down at 7pm or 9 pm, we tried :D)

08.30AM - First milk feed of the day and then he goes down for a nap (So do I, I can't do 6am morning :D)

10.00AM - We wake up and then have breakfast. 

12.00PM - Milk Feed and short nap

14.00PM - lunch time. Fingerfood and sppy cup

16.00PM - milk feed and somewhere here, he has a longer nap.

18.00PM - dinner time. We all have dinner at a table :)

19.00PM - Bath time and little play before bed

19.30PM - bed time and last milk feed in bed

Hope you enjoyed the post. I tried to write down everything that I can remember for the reason that I will then have somewhere to refer back to when I need to :) Hopefully it was also a bit useful. If you have any questions then don't hesitate to ask :) I'm no expert, but will give advice based on my experiences.
Also I will be travelling with him for the first time in a few months. So I have a question for all you formula feeding mummys. How do you do it the airport and plane, with all the liquid restrictions??

Stay tuned everyone :)

xoxo