11 months!

Tonight I brought a meal to a new mom in my mother's group; she and her husband have 2-week old twins. They were so tiny and helpless, and my boy is now so big in comparison! It seems like eons ago that he was that small, and yet I can't believe there is only one month left until his first birthday.

He is actively teething again; one of the top teeth has broken through, another is right there on the surface, and two others are not far behind. This makes him pretty grouchy sometimes. But otherwise, he's a happy little guy who really enjoys playing with mylar balloons and walking around while holding onto our hands.

I often look at him in the morning before I leave for work and just reflect on the wonderful little man that he is. He brings me such happiness...I am so smitten. <3 Happy 11 months!

Six ounces

Six ounces is all that I have left of my freezer stash. It is enough for just one bottle: a fraction of what he eats in a day. And it will be gone tomorrow.

I have mixed emotions. Part of me feels fine about it, because I knew it would not last forever. But even though he does fine with the formula, part of me is still sad that I will no longer be able to give him 100% breastmilk on any given day if I so choose. (A small part, though. I'm more fine than sad.)

We have an appointment with the allergist next week, and hopefully we will shed some light on the hives that popped up from the yogurt and the regular formula. I'm still hoping that it's a reaction that he'll outgrow!

Yoga baby

I was laying on the living room floor with Cameron chatting it up before bedtime tonight.

I instantly recognized the "happy baby" yoga pose he struck when he reached down to grab his feet and pull them up toward his chest, rocking side to side. And as he stretches forward from a sitting position, his "pigeon" puts mine to shame.

Clearly, this boy is very advanced and needs no classes to tell him how to do yoga. ;)

Recent growth

Cameron is so much more mobile these days. If he's sitting on his butt, he can pick up his heels and rotate himself around in a circle. He's rocking forward from sitting to grab at whatever he's interested in. He's pulling up to stand on his superyard gate. He's rolling around on the floor. He's scooting backward when on his belly. And he's extremely interested in pulling up to stand on your hands and then walking around EVERYwhere.

A few days ago I found him sitting up in his crib in the morning when I went to feed him. I've never seen him go from laying down to sitting up by himself, but now I know he can do it, somehow!

Here's a picture showing one of the ways he enjoys spending time lately: pulling empty CD jewel cases off the shelves and making a big mess. It's lots of fun!

With the increased mobility, I've started to notice that he's beginning to lose his cankles. He still has arm rolls, though they are not quite as pronounced. But for now, he still has those cheeks. :)

There are other signs that he's growing up, too. He's showing less interest in bottles lately, and more interest in solid foods. He's very good at picking up foods and feeding himself now. He is especially into blueberries; he practically shovels them into his mouth. You can tell that he likes something by the sounds he makes while chewing. It's pretty cute. ;)

Rough week: update

So, the cough got worse before it got better. I took him to see the pedi a week ago Friday so she could listen to him breathe. What she heard was the cough coupled with the tiniest bit of wheezing, so she wanted to try using a nebulizer and some albuterol to get his bronchial tubes to dilate a bit and make breathing easier.

That seemed to work for the wheeze, so she sent us home with a nebulizer rental and instructions to do it 3 times per day for 10 minutes per treatment. We would put Cameron in his high chair and sit in front of him holding the breathing tube (since he can't hold it in his mouth, we held it near his mouth so he would inhale the medication as it left the end of the tube). He was a pretty good sport about it, really. We'd give him some toys to play with and he didn't complain at all. And I'm happy to report that after a week, the cough is finally on its way out. :)

We're still doing the antibiotics for the tick bite: only 1 more day to go. He's been really good about taking that medicine too; he's such a trooper!!

Rough week

Can we have a do-over? I think we need it.

On Sunday, Cameron woke up from his afternoon nap blazing hot. This boy had a fever and was a cranky mess! We took his temperature and at its highest, it was 102 degrees. After a call to the advice nurse, we headed to the after-hours clinic. The pedi that saw him said that his throat was red, so it was probably just an illness that he had picked up somewhere. Fortunately he showed no signs of an ear infection, which we were a bit concerned about. Cameron has been pulling at his ears more frequently lately, but it's most likely due to the teething (those top teeth are *so* close to breaking through!).

So, we gave him some Motrin and by that evening his fever was better. Whew! Then, on Monday, we discovered that what we thought was a small scab on his scalp was actually a tick! Eeeew! My baby had a tick in his head! Chris pulled it out, and we put in another call to the advice nurse. We then had to make the decision to put Cam on antibiotics to squelch out the remote possibility of Lyme disease, or do nothing. After debating it and talking to some of Chris's coworkers, we decided to go with the antibiotics. We can't be sure they are necessary, but the benefits outweigh the risks. But medicine twice per day for 2 weeks is no walk in the park.

And now, just today, Cam has started to develop a cough. His breathing is raspy at times, kinda like when you have a frog in your throat, but it doesn't go away when he does actually cough. Which he is doing with increasing frequency. Poor little guy. :(

Think healthy thoughts for him, would you?

10 months!

Cameron is becoming quite the young man! I can't believe he's 10 months already. (Nor that it's August and he has to wear long sleeves and pants, but that's another story.)

The top two teeth have *almost* broken through, and he's been feeling pretty icky for the past few days. Poor guy. He can be seen gnawing on his hand a lot.

And then quite often he gags himself. :::shudder:::

But despite the teething, he is very happy most of the time and continues to charm strangers when we're out and about. I know he charms me on a daily basis. :) Love you, Mr. Man!

Haircut, take 2

Cameron's hair was getting long again, so we decided to take him to the Panda Room for a trim. I don't think he was very happy about about it this time, though!

He tolerated the scissors, but started crying and yelling when the electric clippers came out. :( I don't know how those people cut hair when the clients are so upset and wiggly! Despite all the drama, though, the cut turned out pretty well, and he looks pretty cute.

Pulling to stand

Chris and I both got to witness this for the first time today; how nice that Cameron waited until a Saturday to begin showing off his new skill!

Chris lowered the crib mattress just in time! :)

Lately

Some of the things Cameron has been doing lately:

• saying "ma-ma-ma-ma", not in reference to me...but it's a start!
• waving
• clapping
• almost pulling up to stand

He's doing well with the supplemented soy formula, and we're going to get him allergy tested between 11-12 months so that by his 12-month checkup we will have answers and develop a plan for future foods.

We're still waiting for the top 2 teeth to appear, but he seems to be feeling them. He's rubbing his fist across his upper lip a lot. :(

He's wearing 12-month clothes, but has just moved into 18-month sleepers. They're still a bit long on him, but fit around his thighs and arms much better!

Young and younger

Meghan and almost-4-month-old Aiden stopped by to say hello today. I think the boys had a good time; they seemed content staring and grabbing at each other, at least. :)

Thanks for visiting, guys! We'll have to do it again soon.

He stands!

And boy is he proud of himself! :)

In just the past few days, Cameron has become much more interested in pulling himself to stand. He's not *quite* there when it comes to pulling himself up on objects (like the coffee table), but he will grip your hands and pull up all on his own.

And once he's up, he's quite content to stay up for a good while. He's even interested in taking steps as you hold his hands.

This is all going so fast!

9 month stats

Cameron's 9-month stats

Height: 28.5 inches (60th (or 65th? I can't remember) percentile)
Weight: 21 lb 10 oz (70th percentile)
Head circumference: 47 cm (92nd percentile)

Apparently, he is tracking his curves well. Yay for a growing boy!

Some of you may have heard about our uncertainty about giving Cameron dairy. The first (and second, and third) time we tried giving him yogurt, he got a contact rash on his face anywhere the yogurt had been. He got little hives, and while they disappeared within an hour and didn't seem to bother him much, it made us wonder. The next time we saw the hives was when we tried giving him oatmeal mixed with formula. Same hives, anywhere on his face that the formula had touched.

So, the bottle that I brought with us to the pedi appointment today contained both breast milk and some formula. We fed him some of it, and sure enough, out popped the hives again. I'm glad the pedi was able to see what we were talking about! So, she said that she is going to contact an allergist and will get back to us.

For now, to be on the safe side, she says we'll just proceed as if he has a dairy allergy. We'll switch to soy formula for supplementing and see if that helps. Hopefully he really doesn't have an allergy. But we'll get him allergy tested at 12 months to find out for sure.

Otherwise, he is in great health!

A day of firsts

We signed Cameron up for 4 weeks of Sunday swim lessons (he's a green guppy), and today was the first one. I wasn't quite sure what he'd think of it because he dislikes getting water on his face during bathtime, but it seemed like he had fun!

Getting sunscreened up:

In the pool with Daddy:

Having a good time!:

Then, after swimming, Cameron got his first driving lesson, which he also seemed to enjoy. He particularly liked leaning against the steering wheel and blaring the horn. :)

9 months!

I can't really believe that Cameron has been here for as long as I was pregnant. And even more unbelievable: in just 3 short months, I will have a 1 year old. Wowsers.

Lately, Cameron can be found playing with his ball, or his rattle (or both!). He has discovered that he is capable of banging cups together or shaking the rattle to make noise, and this provides for a lot of entertainment. He also loves to put his arms up above his head, as seen here:

He's not yet crawling around or pulling up to stand, but he is practicing standing when someone else is nearby.

We have his 9 month checkup on Monday, so stay tuned for an update on his stats.

Teeth are both good and bad

I have been anticipating the day that Cameron would discover that he could bite...and that day has arrived. :(

The first time, it caught me by surprise and I exclaimed, "Ow!" and then he started to laugh. Punk. His laughter made me want to start to laugh, but I tried very hard to keep a straight face while telling him "no".

Then today, when he did it again, I again got very stern and told him "no". But this time I guess I scared him, because he started to cry. I felt so bad! He was over it quickly, but I know the message still has not been communicated.

I've discovered that he really only tends to bite when he's finished eating and is just playing around, or when he's frustrated because there is not enough milk.

The not-enough-milk scenario is unfortunately more of a problem these days. We have started to supplement with formula on occasion because I'm just not producing like I used to. This has been a very frustrating and challenging time for me; part of me felt like I was failing, and using formula would be like admitting defeat. I hate the thought that my body is just not able to do what it is "supposed" to do. Now, logically, I know that none of this is true, and it's totally normal for milk supply to drop, but it was still a very difficult realization for me. I really expected that I would just be able to breastfeed for as long as I wanted to.

I do know that, no matter what, he's healthy and happy. And I'm thankful for that. I will just continue to do as much as I can, for as long as I can. But now if we could just do something about the biting, I'd be much happier! :oP