wow.

I can't believe it's been over a month now since I posted anything. Yes, I am a slacker.

Nate is growing and thriving. He hasn't started crawling yet and that doesn't really seem to bother him. I can sit him on the floor with some toys and he will sit there forever entertaining himself. He is very loud and vocal and seems to enjoy hearing himself yell and holler. He also enjoys babbling all of the time. I swear he is the most vocal baby in his daycare class.

He's been on solids for about 2 months now and he is really enjoying them. In a typical day, he will eat 2 oz of cereal plus a 4 oz jar of fruit for breakfast, a 4 oz jar of veggies for lunch, and a 4 oz jar of veggies plus a 4 oz jar of fruit for dinner. All of that is in addition to the 3-4 bottles he drinks over the course of a day. Despite all of that, he is not a chubby guy. Which is surprising to me. But he doesn't really have any baby rolls. He's just a stout little guy I guess.

We've also finally stopped breastfeeding. It's been about a month or so now, but I am honestly glad to be done. I could tell he was ready to stop because he would fight me everytime I tried to get him to nurse. It got to be more hassle than it was worth to try and keep my supply up while he fought me on eating. So we slowly transitioned to only bfing in the morning and night, and I started giving him soy formula in his bottles for daycare.

Well evidently, he wasn't a fan of the soy formula. After all of our dairy sensitivity issues, I was very nervous to try him on regular formula. But after 2 solid weeks of him refusing bottles left and right, I finally gave it a shot. And we haven't looked back. He's been on regular formula for probably 2 weeks now and he's shown no signs of any dairy issues. Plus, he likes the taste so much better than the soy stuff, so he's drinking his bottles without a problem now. It's such a huge relief to me. I worried so much about the dairy issue when he was younger that it's been drilled into my brain that it's not good for him. Even now that he's on regular formula, I find myself scanning baby food labels or thinking about what's in the food I'm eating and about to give him a piece of. I have a feeling it will take me a while to stop thinking that way. But I'm just glad there are no long term effects for him.

We also made another big stride lately. You see, Nate has enjoyed being swaddled ever since he was born. I guess he just liked that warm, secure feeling. Most babies outgrow it by the time they're 3-4 months old. But not my little guy. So we kept swaddling him. All the way up until last weekend. I know, I know, he's over 8 months old now. Kind of late to still be swaddling him. But it worked, he never fussed about it, and he would STTN.

Well, I finally decided to just bite the bullet and quit swaddling him cold turkey. It's not like he can be swaddled forever. Plus, he has most definitely lost his startle reflex by now. So it really was just a matter of him getting used to not being swaddled anymore.

Imagine my surprise when he slept perfectly fine that first night of deswaddling. He woke up a few times the night after, but nothing crazy. And he's been sleeping perfectly fine since then. I think he struggles a little more with napping at daycare without it, but so far they say he's adjusting well. I had prepared myself that he would be up every hour those first few nights, but he really surprised me. And a good surprise it was! And he is just adorable in his little jammies now. I used to swaddle him in a just a diaper, since the swaddle blanket kept him warm enough. But he just looks so cute in jammies.

I've also discovered that he has some new likes. For instance, he really likes his weenie. He discovered it a little while ago and he will play with it any chance he gets. I know it's completely normal boy behavior, but it's still funny to see. He also REALLY likes cars. Not so much toy cars as the real life ones. He will whip his head around so fast if he sees one or hears one drive by. He is so much like his daddy in that regard. And he really likes toy drums. They make some baby ones that light up and play music when they hit them, and he will just go to town when I sit him down with it. They have one at daycare as well, and he will just bang on it non-stop. So cute.

Wow, this is a super long update. So I will stop now. But I guess that's what happens when you don't post for over a month! Lots of new things going on. And no doubt many more to come.