Elliot's 9 months stats

Weight: 20lbs 1oz
Height: 31 in
Head: 18 in

In the last month, he has started crawling forwards! (Finally!) Although he can get up on all fours, he's still doing the army crawl, just like his brother.

He is also starting to show signs of comprehension, and has started to babble.

He also got one bottom tooth (right) for Christmas.

Elliot is six momths

His stats:

Weight: 19 lbs
Height: 28 in
Head: 17 in

Elliot is 5 months

His stats:

Weight: 18 lbs
Height: 27 in
Head: 16.75 in

He is such a happy and social baby - much more so than his brother. He loves to smile at everyone. He is now able to roll over both ways, but he only does it when he's naked. The cloth diapers add too much bulk to his butt and hinder his mobility! The same thing happened with Josh, so I'm not concerned. Eventually, he'll do it with the cloth diapers on. And honestly, I'm in no hurry to have him roll over all the time.

He can now sit unsupported for a few seconds at a time before tumbling into the "tripod" mode, or falling over. He can also stand supported.

I started him on a bit of rice and oatmeal, and he's doing great with it. I mix it with BM. He's really only getting about 6 tiny spoonfuls at a time, but he is doing pretty well with it so I may increase his intake.

He's stopped taking the bottle, so he will only get his nutrition straight from the source. BUT, today, he successfully drank some water out of the sippy!!! So there is hope for him. I will probably skip the bottle all together now, and go straight to the sippy cup. Makes things easier.

4 Months

Elliot's 4 month stats:

Head: 16.5 in
Height: 26 in
Weight: 16lbs 12oz

Elliot: 2 Month Stats

Weight: 12lbs 7oz
Height: 24.5in
Head: 15.25in

Elliot is one month

Weight: 9lbs 9oz
Height: 22 in
Head: 14.5 in

Happy Birthday, Little One!!

15 Months

Weight: 23lbs 10oz
Height: 32in + (he was moving a lot, so it was hard to tell...)

New words:
Elb (elbow)
App (apple)
blublu (blue berries)
cooooook cooooook (cookie)
moooooooo (cow)
doot doot (anything that makes noise, like electronics)
Bud-de (bottle - although he's actually said "bottle" clearly twice)
dor dor (he uses this for things he doesn't know the name of)

One Year Stats

One Year Stats:
Weight: 22 lbs 6oz
Height: almost 32in
Head: 18.5in

Words Joshua can say:
Ba (bye)
Hey
Pa (Grandpa)
Nana (Banana)
Dada (Daddy)
Mama
MumMum (food/milk)
He can also say "baba" for sheep and "woo woo" for dog

Signs
"More"
"Milk"
"Quack Quack" (duck)
"Bye"

He also understands the word "zipper", and can point to his head.

10 months Stats

Joshua is 10 months (in another 3 days)!!!! Time really does fly when you're having fun.

Weight: 21lbs even
Height: 30.5in

He's well onto his babbling now, and can say babababa (first sign of "daddy"?), mamamama (although he doesn't associate this with me), rarararara, gooooooooooo and a whole bunch of other sounds only to be deciphered by him. He's still on the slow side in terms of motor skills. He can sit up, schooch on his bum, rotate 360 on his tummy, and sometimes push himself backwards. That's about it. We're now working on crawling, and being able to pull himself up to a standing position from a sitting position. (And to practice falling down on his bum.) Foodwise, he is doing very well with table foods and has perfected his pincer grasp. He will be starting cow's milk soon.

Almost 9 month States

Weight: 20lbs 6oz
Head circumference: 18in

He is not gaining as much weight as I thought, (not even 2 lbs in the last 3 months), but all's well, so I'm not complaining. He is still in the high percentiles for his age in terms of weight.

Josh has recently learned how to get from a sitting position to his tummy. He is also pushing himself up now into the "crawling position"... but he hasn't figured out how to move his arms and legs yet (this happened just today). I think I'll have a mobile baby pretty soon. He has also FINALLY figured out that he can roll back onto his back from his tummy. I suspect he knew how to do it a long time ago... but just never did.

He is well onto his solid foods now. I am starting to start him on finger foods now that his pincer grasp is much better.

And he knows how to clap!

Virus

As it turns out, the cause for his nightly wakings (every 2 hours the last couple of nights!!) are not teeth. He has caught some kind of a virus! He's got a fever, ugly red dots on his thigh and underarm, and a sore in his throat. Poor baby. He's cranky and won't even nurse. But he's a trooper. Hopefully, this will go away in a week's time, because I'm not too fond of going on a 16hr plane ride with a sick and cranky baby...

Grunty Video - Laughing

It's Josh's 6-month birthday and he had to go to the doctor's for his shots. He took it all like a champ and barely let out a whimper (according to Mommy). At home, he was happy as can be... certainly brightened up an otherwise gloomy day for Daddy (see here).

Here are two videos of him laughing at Mommy, Daddy, and Grandma:

6 Month Stats

Happy Half Birthday, Joshua!

Height: 29in
Weight: 18lbs 13oz
Head: 17in

He's such a happy and well behaved baby. He is very serious and curious and loves to take in everything around him. He can almost sit up now, but still needs to learn to roll back over from his tummy to his back. He (finally!) sleeps through the night most of the time and always wakes up with a smile.

5 months

Josh turned 5 months last Saturday, and we had our regular check up on Monday. He is now a whopping 17lbs 11oz, which is apparently what a certain 13mo girl weighs... eek. He had his second hep B shot and took it like a pro. He didn't even cry! What a champ.

He rolled over for the first time a week or so ago, but since then he has been unable to do it again. :( I usually help his butt over, and then he can roll over the rest of the way. No sign of being able to do it from his tummy to his back. He is showing signs of wanting to crawl though. When he's on his tummy, he'll "swim" with his arms and legs and then get frustrated when he can't move. Too funny. :) He can now sit unassisted for a few seconds (longer if he's staring at the TV) and he loves to stand on the couch by himself, holding onto the couch back. He can only do this for a few seconds though, before his knees buckle.

He's going to start oatmeal tomorrow!

4 Months

Josh survived 3 needles today! (We added Hep B to the mix.) He cried (more like screeched at the top of his lungs) only for a few minutes and is now asleep in his carseat. Poor baby. Hopefully, he won't have a bad reaction tonight.

Height: 27in?? (Not sure as he was really squirmy and wouldn't stay still.)
Weight: 16lbs 2oz (on the doctor's scale - there is some discrepancy betweeen that and the scale at the Ella Centre.)

He is perfectly healthy and I'm really loving our new doctor. :)

Grunt for the Camera, J!

We've been trying to catch J's grunting on video so that we can show the doctor on Wednesday. Unfortunately, I think J has turned the whole task into a game. It seems that as soon as we turn on the camera, he stops grunting. We have a pretty good idea on when he is most likely to grunt (after being fed), but even with this knowledge, he has been throwing us off.

GERD... or no GERD?

You make the call...



It seems that he makes these funny grunting sort of noises especially at night. J is especially bothered if we try to lay him down shortly after feeding. He would tuck his legs up to his chest and make a fist with his hands. It looks as though he is in pain. He has thrown up on Daddy three times already (and not once on Mommy). As soon as we prop him up or sit him up, then he seems to be much better.

Grunts and the art of one handed typing

Mommy's mastered the art of one handed typing since the only time Josh is actually quiet is when he's sucking on my boobs. What a great time to check email and blog.

Parenthood, as I'm finding out, is wrought with worries. First it was his congestion (and yes someone told me to MOUTH aspirate his nose!), and now, on week 3, we have a little old man in Josh. All day long, he's making these throaty grunts and whines. When he's feeding, he would stop all of a sudden, and emit this huge grunt. And when he is sleeping. He would be sleeping, and then suddenly, there would be this loud grunt and whine. Which wakes us up. (= bad Josh!) And it wakes him up.

Will we ever get more than one hour of sleep at a time again?

EDIT: We're now thinking J has GERD...

Crying Devil

J has been a really bad baby these past two days. It seems that something is bothering either his throat or nasal passages because he would grunt and snort as soon as we put him down. He has also been crying for food every 1.5 to 2 hours, but then only feeds for 20 to 30 minutes each time. Most of the time, it seems that he is just sucking and not swallowing. Mommy is getting really frustrated because she does not know what to do, nor can she control/comfort J. I am just thoroughly confused about what we can do to quash this behaviour. Needless to say, neither of us have been getting any meaningful rest. I am worried that we are getting to the end of our whits here...

... J really needs to behave well tonight or we are going to go nuts.

Lactation Consultant (Part Two)

Yesterday, we brought J back to Mt Sinai for a follow-up consult with the lactation specialist. At our first visit, the specialist was worried about J's lack of weight gain. As it turns out, J has started taking off and has put on a little more than an ounce per day, which is on the high end of the spectrum. We are greatly relieved that he is nuring well and that he has regained all of the weight loss since birth (It typically takes a week or two to regain the ~10% average weight loss).

Once of the things which the specialist had recommended during the first visit, that we should supplement each feeding with either expressed breast milk or formula via a bottle, did not work for us. After about a day of supplementing, we noticed that J was exhibiting "nipple confusion". What happened is that he got disinterested in feeding from the breast, mostly attributed to the fact that flow from a bottle is much easier. So, in essence, he got lazy. It took us a few feedings for him to realize that he was no longer getting the bottle and now he is happily feeding from the breast again. We now limit bottle feeding to once or twice a day (at night when mommy is extremely tired and wants a few extra winks).

Lactation Consultant

Today we returned to Mount Sinai Hospital for a follow-up with the lactation consultant. Letty feels that breastfeeding is the most difficult part of preganancy, labour and raising a child. It requires a lot of energy and dedication. Josh has old gained 0.5 ounce in the last 5 days and that is causing some concern. It is discouraging because we have been feeding him 8 to 9 times a day (for 40 minutes each). So now, we are going to have to supplement Josh with expressed breast milk or formula.