Day to Day with my 8 month old.

I am always searching the web to see how much other 8 months are sleeping, or eating. What they are doing, or enjoy. I hope this can help someone else. It will also help me remember what 8 months was like when our next child is this age.

Monday-Friday:
*I get Alex out of bed at 7:25am. If he wakes up before this time he just plays in bed with his bears, until I come in to get him. I change his diaper, and get him dressed. Then he lays in the boopy and has a 6 ounce bottle while I finish getting ready. We leave for work at 7:45.

*From 8-9 Alex plays with the girls, or crawls around trying to keep up with them. He loves all the space at work, and all the furniture that he can use to cruise with.

*Next comes his morning nap. It's never very long and always falls somewhere between 9 and 10:30.

*When he wakes up he gets a diaper change, and a 4 ounce bottle. As long as it's nice out we all head out as soon as he is done. Most days we take a mile walk, and then come back and play outside with the girls next door until noon.

*For lunch Alex has been having a half of a stage 2 fruit or vegetable mixed with cereal, a few puffs, and a sippy cup of water. When everyone is done with lunch Alex gets another diaper change, and a 4 ounce bottle. Then he gets to play with Megan while I put the other 2 girls down for a nap.

*Between 1:30 and 2 Alex takes his other nap. Yesterday was a big shock because Alex slept from 1:15-4:15! He has never had that long of a nap before! Most days he has a 2 hour nap somewhere in the middle of 1pm-4:30pm.

*When he wakes, again, he gets a diaper change and a 4 ounce bottle. If it's not too hot we go right back outside until it's time to head home at 5:30.

*If it's been a bad nap day Alex likes to sleep in the car on the ride home. If it's been a SUPER bad nap day I will put his car seat in his room with the fan on and let him sleep for a little while. We have not had to do this for awhile though.

*So when we get home he helps me let the dogs out, and then he plays while I make dinner. For dinner he gets half of a stage 2 vegetable, and half of a stage 2 fruit both mixed with cereal. He also gets to have his sippy cup with water. He gets puffs when he is done, and we are starting other finger foods like diced banana. When we are all done he gets another diaper change and a 4 ounce bottle.

*For the rest of the night we all play together. Alex isn't really into toys right now. He would much rather like to work on standing, walking, and crawling. We also like to take the dogs for a walk on cool nights.

*Around 8:30 we start to get him ready for bed, or earlier if it's a bath night. He gets a clean diaper, lotion, and his pj's on. Then dad feeds him a 6 ounce bottle, and I do prayers with him before I put him down for the night.

The only thing that is really different on the weekends is that we are gone a lot more. His feedings pretty much stay the same, but he tends to take more short naps. Maybe it's because he ends up falling asleep in the car while we are out, then he thinks he has had a nap even though it was only for 10 minutes.

In two weeks 1 of my nanny kids goes back to school, and one of the other kids will be in preschool so I plan to add some solids for breakfast at that time. Right now it is just to crazy here in the mornings, and I don't want to have to wake Alex up any earlier then I do now. As it is I feel bad having to wake him in the mornings!

Happy Baby!

Alex is a whole new baby! Last week was just short of torture. It broke my heart to see him so unhappy, and not know why. Close to nothing, made him smile. It's hard to see your baby that sad, and it hurts a Mommy's ego when she can't even comfort her own baby. Last week was rough, but this week is new, and last week is a part of the past!

Friday I put Alex back on solids. I think this helped kick start the turn around. I think he started out grumpy because of the rash, but I think taking solids away made him very angry! We had a pretty good day just working around the house and playing. Saturday we went up north to meet with our priest, and to spend the day at my parents. The meeting went well, and Alex is all set to be baptised next month. It was a fun day at my parents. My niece and nephew were there, and all 3 kids played together and had a lot of fun. It's always fun to go up there. I love living in the city, but it's always nice to go back home and enjoy the quite too! Alex loved cruising, and crawling all over grandma and grandpas house, and playing in the walker in the driveway. Sunday was another good day. We went shopping, and for a nice long walk. Alex did not want to nap, and only ended up with 2 very short ones, but he was in a good mood despite not having much sleep. He was playing games with us at nap time, and I hope this is not the new norm! He will lay in his crib while we rub his back but the second you stop he pops up. If her rub his back again he will lay his head right back down. When he is asleep we try to sneak out, but if he notices he stands up and cries! 15 minutes is my limit. If he cries, or stays up for 15 minutes he gets to come back out. This is why he got to skip his last nap, which he really could of used. He did end up going to bed early. Monday was a really good day. He was super happy all day at work. He ate well, and took a long afternoon nap. It helped to keep him happy until bedtime. It looks like Alex is back to being Alex! He is also getting really good at getting down from standing now. This is really helping his mood, as now he does not fall nearly as much. Tuesday was another good day. Alex did not take as good of a nap, so he was pretty wore out by 8pm. He ended up having to go to bed around 8:30. Tuesday night pictures did not go so well, but I like that not every Tuesday night picture is going to be all smiles. Wednesday Alex got up too early! I am sure it was because he went to bed so early Tuesday night. He was up well before my alarm went off. Most mornings I would leave him to play, but then Baxter was scratching on the bedroom door to go out, and I could tell by Alex's cry that he wanted me right then. I was right, he was all wet from a leaky diaper. Poor babe! He ended up having a good day again. He is eating well, and taking great naps. Today for dinner he even got to try Cheerie.os, diced pear, and wheat bread. He is still not using his pincher's very well, but he does get the food into his mouth. Joe even let him take the spoon and put his baby food in his mouth. He did really well with that.

Poor Baby!

My poor baby has had such a hard week! It started Friday the 13th. He was pretty grumpy that night. During bath I noticed some tiny little red dots on his tummy and chest. It was as if some one took a red pen and dotted him 30 times. We thought maybe it was from the heat. It has been nasty humid here lately.

By Saturday it started to get worse, and spread. We were at my 30th birthday party, and people started asking about it. After his dinner nap he looked really bad. It had become large red dots all over his face, and he was really warm. Everyone at the party was sure it was chicken pox. But as the night when on it started to go away again. He did a a low fever of 101 late that night though.

By Sunday Alex was still a little dotted, but not as bad as Saturday evening. His fever was gone, but he was a little grumpy.

Monday I decided to go to work, but the family knew I may need to leave if it got worse, or his fever came back. He seemed fine, but then we had lunch. Within minutes of eating lunch the rash flared up on his face again. I took him next door to see what their caregiver thought, but she was clueless. I started to search online and kept coming up with "vira.l ras.h". It really looked like that might be it. But I was also having thoughts that it might be a food causing the reaction.

Tuesday I decided to stop giving him solid foods and puffs until it cleared up a little more. I added a 6th bottle back to his day because I had taken away lunch and dinner foods. That day he was pretty grumpy. He was not sleeping well, and would sob for what seemed like no reason.

Wednesday was a nightmare! He cried a ton. Even when I would hold and rock him he would cry. When I would get him calmed down and happy something would happen to upset him again. First he was standing up to the tv stand, but forgot to hold on and he ended up falling and hitting his cheek pretty hard on the way down. Later he was standing up to a chair in the kitchen, and the chair moved to fast and he slipped and hit the side of his head near his ear pretty hard. It was breaking my heart seeing him so upset, and hurt. That night I gave him a larger bottle and he was much happier than he had been all day. I think he was not getting enough to eat.

Today he is doing much better. He is no long allowed to stand up to things in the kitchen, and I am staying close by when he stands up in the living room. He has fallen once today, but it was not too bad. I am also giving him larger bottles today and he seems much happier. He is also taking better naps again which will help his mood as well. Tomorrow I am off work, and I plan to work solid foods back into his day. I hope if I introduce them slow enough then I can catch the food that is causing the rash. If the rash never comes back then I will know that it must have been something else.

I have a feeling we are going to have a lot of rashes to worry about with Alex. He has very pale skin and seems to get marks very easily.

Oh, and the food that I think might be the problem is Strawberries! Saturday before the flair up on his face he had baby strawberry yogurt, and strawberry puffs. He also had the strawberry puffs on Monday right before the second flair up........but I could be wrong.

30!

Today I am 30!

(Alex, the gift that keeps on giving)

The kids I nanny for don't know how old I am, nor do they care! I am trying to do the same! What they do care about is cake! :) The family I nanny for are all very sweet. Today I got to work and was greeted by 3 little girls screaming "surprise" and "happy birthday". They also had a cake, 2 balloons, a dozen white roses, and banners hung up that said "happy birthday". I feel very loved today! Tonight my husband is taking me out to dinner, and this weekend he is having a big party for me. Today I will try not to stress about turning 30, and just take in all the love!