Levi: Week 38 Summary

Overall, it was a pretty good week in our household! Levi was pretty happy and smiley all week and he slept really well. Here is the recap.

FEEDING
As I mentioned last week, I began pumping and bottle feeding Levi to see if he preferred that over nursing. But I just couldn't keep up with how much he was wanting from a bottle. So early last week, I tried nursing him again for every feeding. I did a bit of research on ways to keep a "distracted baby" nursing, and some of those tips definitely worked. He is now nursing again just fine as long as we are in a quiet room where no one else is present. I also cannot be on my phone anymore when nursing, will look him directly in the eye to keep him focused, and at times when he is very hyper or overly distracted, I'll sing to him. It sounds silly and high maintenance, but it has really started to work. I figure if that is what it takes to keep him nursing for 3 more months, then that is what we'll do! I don't at all think that giving him formula for a few months is a terrible thing--but honestly, I just can bring myself to spend so much money on formula, when I just need to show a bit more effort to keep him nursing. And I've actually enjoyed that time with him! It's so nice to give him my undivided attention for those times each day, and I'm starting to get weirdly sentimental about when we won't have that time together anymore.

Solid feeding is still the same! We bought about 40 jars of food on sale at Babies R' Us last week and Levi has been loving them! For my reference, the jarred food ended up costing about $0.18 per ounce. Most of the homemade baby food I've been making is anywhere from $0.08-0.15 per ounce, so it is a bit more expensive. But I have yet to add any meats, grains, or yogurts to his homemade food (which would increase the cost), so we decided to try jarred food for a while. It is definitely nice not having to worry about making food or thawing it. We'll reassess once we run out of the jarred food!

NAPS
Levi napped pretty well this past week--we were pretty much back to "normal". He did begin consistently waking from his morning nap at 10 AM (1 hour before his feeding time), but he still ended up sleeping about 1.5 hours each time, so that was fine with me! If he seemed happy, I would leave him in his crib for a while to play. If he is out of his crib, it is very hard to keep him occupied for a full hour before he is supposed to eat.

NIGHTTIME
Almost every night last week, little man slept from 7 PM to 7 AM. Yay! I bought him some new PJ's last week! He is officially in 9-12 month PJ's now (mostly because he was too long for his 6-9 month footy PJ's), but most of the 9-12 month ones that we currently have are fleece for the Fall and Winter. It is still pretty warm here, so I went to Target looking for a few pairs of cotton ones for him. The ones I bought for him are "big boy" two-piece PJ's--so yes, I was a bit emo about that. Naturally, they didn't have "feet" attached and he woke the first night he wore them, so I wonder if his feet got cold. I might need to put some socks on him at night now. Here is my sleepy guy in his new pajamas.

MOTOR SKILLS
Our baby boy is definitely growing up and definitely getting ready to crawl. He now will rock on his hands and knees--I've gone to get him from his crib several times and found him doing this. If he is sitting up, he has also started lunging himself forward onto his hands to get something in front of him. He hasn't quite figured out how to get from a sitting position to a crawling position, but we can tell he is super close. Oh, and he's now a pro at scooting himself backwards and getting stuck under our couch or his crib. Seriously.

TEETHING?
Levi was grabbing at his mouth and feeling his gums a bit more last week, so we are wondering if he will be cutting some teeth again soon. We are not looking forward to that!

SIPPY CUP
We also bought Levi some sippy cups this week to start getting him used to those! I know there are some controversial things about giving water/juice to a baby under one (basically that it can replace their desire or need for milk), but I just wanted to get him acquainted with it. I just fill it with a super tiny amount of diluted juice, so that he can get the idea of how to use the sippy. If we continue breastfeeding until he is 1 year, I would prefer just to transition him straight to a sippy cup (instead of to a bottle and then to a sippy), so I figure this might help with that transition!

He didn't quite understand how to use it yet (I got him one with a straw, since he loves straws), but I know he'll pick it up eventually.

OUTINGS/EVENTS
It was a really fun week with several activities and adventures! Levi and I went on a "picnic" together on the lawn of our apartment complex. It was a pretty impromptu decision, so nothing fancy. Fruit puffs for him and PB&J for me! He discovered grass while we were outside. He would yank it straight out of the ground and try to eat it. I let him taste it, so that he could figure out for himself that it was gross. He loved to sit outside and enjoy the breeze and watch the neighborhood kids playing. I look forward to doing this more with him in the Fall! He is such a fun age for picnics now.

Brian's new schedule is in full swing and it looks like he will be off work every Thursday and Sunday (for the most part). So this past Thursday, after he got out of his afternoon class, we made it a family day! We went to the Christian Book Nook and a super cute little coffee shop downtown called, Please and Thank You. It was nice to spend that time together doing something a bit different than "normal".

That's all for this week! More next week when I share about my big 9-month-old. *Sigh*