7 months

I had hoped that I would be better at blogging and writing more of Coen's early months down. But he keeps me so busy that when I finally have a free moment I'd rather eat or sleep or shower. At least I keep track of his happenings on the Calendar that hands in his room. It's like a daily baby book.

1. Coen's first Christmas was a success. He got a lot of toys and a lot of things that he needed like a high chair and a pack n play. He mostly loved the paper and would get mad when you took it away from him. He loves all paper. He eats the mail before I can get it home and the church bulletin when I'm carrying him to the car.

2. He's getting close to crawling. He'll reach for a toy that's out of reach and go onto his belly and then reach his little arms out for it. He can scoot and turn but it seems to be more because he's squirming. I don't think he's really understood that he can move his whole body to get to places. He's almost there though and then all hell will break loose.

3. He's starting solids slowly. I don't really know what approach I want to use, whether to give him purees or follow Baby Led Weaning (pretty much skip purees and give them real food to give themselves). He isn't really good at feeding himself but he really wants it. If I eat something in front of him that he wants he gets really mad until I give him some. So I guess I'm kind of blending the approaches. I don't really give him purees but will put the food in his mouth. He loves bananas and sweet potatoes. He didn't like applesauce. And he had his first french fry today and he really liked those.

4. He lost two of his toys yesterday when we were shopping: his rattle ball and his hedgehog. Luckily he's young enough that he didn't know they were gone. But I was bummed, even though they both could be replaced. Luckily they were both at the same store so we were able to recover them. I know this is just the first of many lost items. So much to keep track of with a baby!

5. He still doesn't have teeth. I think he has had real teething days, they just haven't popped up. Although I feel like whenever he has days that he's cranky and we're not really sure why we just blame it on the teeth. Yesterday at the store he was doing his "Mmmm mmmm" moaning sound and a lady comes around the corner and goes, "Oh, he's teething, that's the teething cry." I thought it was kinda funny because it wasn't at all, it was the sound he makes when he's really tired and he's fighting sleep. I felt like, "Why are you telling me what my kid's cry means? You don't know him..." I know she didn't mean anything by it at all, and she was really sweet. Five minutes later he was asleep in my arms.

6. Coen loves skin. He loves pulling on faces and arms. Sometimes it's really cute and sweet and sometimes it makes me cry out in pain. He also loves to pull hair. To Doug it feels really good so he lets him play with his hair. However, it does NOT feel good to me and is really painful. Whenever he pulls my hair I have to remind myself that I can only blame myself at this age for wearing my hair down.

7. Coen still loves books and is starting to enjoy them more sitting up. I'm starting to run out of books that I remember as a kid and we've read through most of the Berenstain Bear books. There's a lot of books at the library but a lot of them are dumb. I know once Coen can pick them out himself I will be reading a lot of books that I think are dumb, so I'd like to read books that I enjoy now.

8. Coen is starting to babble consonants. He goes "daadaadaadaadaa." It's super cute and smiles real big when you do it back. It's like he's saying, "You get it!" I keep meaning to teach him sign language but I haven't had a chance to look into how to teach it. All in time I guess.

9. We went out of town for Christmas and Coen slept horribly. It was the first time he'd spent the night anywhere besides home. The first night at the hotel I ended up sleeping with him in one of the beds. The second night we ended up on the couch of the house where we were staying. And then when we came home he wouldn't sleep anywhere besides with me. For a night and a half he was in our bed. But I just can't co-bed. I'm so torn on the whole thing. But I really need some time to myself to unwind. And I don't sleep well with him right next to me. I love cuddling with him and love holding him when he's sleeping, but I'm not able to get the rest that I need. And I feel like I can't be an effective and good mom when I'm exhausted. So by the third night we had him sleep in his bed. We had done some sleep training at the beginning of December so we did some of that again. It worked a lot better than I thought and he stayed in his crib after ever feeding throughout the night. I could write a whole blog on our sleep adventures (and probably will in the future).

10. As Coen gets older we keep being like, "This is the best that you've been." Don't get me wrong, there are some things from when he was a newborn that I miss and won't get back. I loved how he would sleep for so long during the day. I loved cuddling up and watching movies and sleeping. I liked holding him and reading for hours. But I love learning more about him. I love watching him play with his toys. Watching him notice a different toy that he wants, drop the one that he's holding, and go after the new toy. I love watching him problem solve. I love making him laugh. Sharing my life in little ways (like sharing a banana or a muffin). I like that he likes going for walks in his stroller. I love seeing him sit in the bath and splash and play with his toy boats. As he's getting older he's more interactive and more aware and it's so rewarding. I'll miss having a newborn, but every day the adventure gets a little bit sweeter.