Sidney Loyd - 8 months

Believe it. Because I sure can't. Sid is 8 months old! It's crazy that more than thinking of him as a newborn these days, my mind keeps going to his 1st birthday - stop it brain!

Sid has been a ball of changes this last month. We've had so many fun times, but we've also had some trying moments as well. They say when babies are mastering a new skill they tend to be more fussy. The whole month I thought it was teething - and I'm sure his gums did hurt at certain times - but he has no teeth yet. This now makes me more inclined to think it was a leap.

He has learned to clap his hands! He does this when he's happy, if someone else claps, or if someone is singing - he likes to clap for them. It's darn cute! Sometimes I will look back in the mirror in the car to see him, and he's just hanging out clapping his little chubby hands together :)

Mama phase is no joke! There were a few weeks that I could not put him down. At all. He didn't want anyone. But me. Sweet, right? Yes - but completely exhausting!! My little man isn't exactly light weight. Though I don't know his exact weight, I can assure it is 20 pounds (probably more). Towards the end of the month though, I will say he started really reaching for his daddy. This made us all happy! Daddy needed it, and so did I (clearly for different reasons).

We think Sidney has started to wave! It's still yet to be determined, but he likes to flail his arm and let his wrist flap, and it always seems to fall at just the right time, as if he's waving hello! We are still trying to understand if this is just a fluke or if he knows what's going on!

Sid has never been much for being tossed up in the air. Probably because of his size. Lately, he's loving it! Let me be clear in saying there isn't much tossing happening - he's just too heavy! But just a slight toss up over our heads gets a good grin out of him. You have to search for it through the fingers that are constantly shoved in his mouth, but I'm telling you, it's there! He also looooooves dance party. Sometimes in the afternoons we will turn up the jams and I will dance with him in my arms. Again, you have to find the big grin through the drool and the fingers that are permanently stuck in his mouth. He usually squeals with delight and starts to kick his body up and down in my arms to dance along himself. I love it! And it's a good workout. Have you tried dancing lately with a 20 pound weight in your arms? Phew, it ain't easy!

He reaches for what he wants constantly. And even if he isn't sure what he wants, he just reaches for somewhere or something other than where he currently is. If we are in his room and I pick him up, he reaches towards the door, telling me he wants to go out of his room. If he is done playing with something, he reaches to be moved somewhere else. If he is tired, and we are in his room, he will reach for his crib. I'm telling you, this little one gets it.

One of the coolest things he has started to do is turn his own book pages. When we finish reading a page, I will barely hold the next page up, and he grabs it to turn it. Then he stops until it's time to turn the next page. He totally gets it, and that is cool! If he doesn't feel like reading, he skips all the pages and reaches straight for the back of the book to slam it shut. It cracks me up. I love that he is able to communicate in this way.

"Babababa", "Bububu", " Mumumuma" - the babbling has taken on a whole new sound! It is the best! He usually does this when he's laying on the changing table, or is getting frustrated and wants to make it known! He will just start blurting one of these sounds out! He says it with conviction, too. He really blurts it out there. What? I have a loud child? SHOCKING! (not really in the least)

In the last week or so, he has started playing is own version of hide-n-seek. He has been rolling for a while, but now he's seriously rolling all over the room! I've decided rolling is just as dangerous as crawling! He gets anywhere he wants to go. So far he's been almost under his crib, completely under the coffee table, and halfway under his nursery chair. Awesome. Don't worry, we were watching him the whole time. Looks like nap times are about to be dedicated to vacuuming :(

His schedule has sort of gone out the window. It's no secret that when I think I have him figured out, he changes on me the next week. Well, that's still going on, only now it's interrupting his night time sleep. I know. No bueno! Ultimately, I'm just doing what it takes to get him back to sleep. His typical routine is, we put him to bed around 6. Then if he doesn't nurse well, he might wake up a few hours later (not too often). But basically every morning - he wakes around 5. I go in, nurse him, then put him right back in his crib. Then he wakes up again at 7:20, pretty much on the dot. Sean gets up with him and plays until 8:30ish, when I'll then get up and nurse him again. This routine works, except I don't know why he wakes up at 5. Actually, this morning he woke up at 4:15 :( I know we put him to bed early, but even on the nights we've tried pushing it later, he still wakes up early, hungry! I guess I'm just lucky he will go right back to sleep. I'm hoping his sleep habits go back to sleeping a little later in the morning in this next month. We'll see!

Just before his 8m birthday, he got a stuffy nose :( I only notice it in the morning and at night, and it doesn't seem to bother him one bit. But I hate it for him and I'm hoping it goes away soon. He probably caught it from me. I've been sick with a mean cold for a little over a week now. I am so thankful for Sean being around to help me. Being sick with a baby is no joke. We pulled through and didn't have to take Grammy up on her offer to fly down for the weekend. Thanks for the offer, Grammy - we love you for trying to help!

Sidney is learning every day. He is still insanely curious about everything! I watched him the other day sit with his little plastic cups. I would put one inside of the other, and he would sit and try every trick in his book to get them apart. And he did it! He still loves his food! He has started to grab the spoon from me to feed himself. I love it! We are going to try some super soft mushy finger foods soon.  Feeding him is sometimes challenging for me. Getting it made - heated - and in front of him at the right time now has been hard for me. I'm trying to get better at this. I've decided making a stash and then freezing a weeks worth is really helping me.

Sean and I both enjoy our baby so much. He's so fun these days, now that his grouchy period has seemed to have ended for now. We love you, Sidney Loyd!!

Weight: somewhere in the 20lb range I would imagine

Height: he hasn't been measured since his 6m doctor's visit
Medical Issues: We are still feeding him a little prune juice each day in a bottle to help with his bowels since starting solids. His eczema is doing much better since purchasing the doTerra Healing Hands lotion.
Naps: Around 9am for an hour and a half'ish. Then another between 12 and 2 - just depending on what we're doing.
Night Sleep: We start our routine as early as 5:15 some nights. But typically we are in the bath around 5:30 and in bed by 6. He has started waking at 5 to nurse, but goes back down until 7:20 (practically on the dot!)
Clothing Size: 9m & 12m.
Diapers: BG 4.0 w/ cotton or bamboo inserts during the day / nighttime brown edge workhorse w/ size 2 cover for night. He has leaked out of his nighttime a few times this month. So I have been trying a BG 4.0 w/ 3 bamboo inserts. That seems to work better.
Diet: Mama's milk!, sweet potatoes, avocado, pear, butternut squash, green beans, carrots
Favorite Baby Gear: Still loves Little Blue Truck Leads the Way and the Pout Pout Fish. he also loves his Tickle Tickle Peter book. Anything that is not a baby toy! His Baby Einstein Take Along Tunes, and anything else that lights up and plays music. He also LOVES to drum! If he can beat it, he will. Still loves his jumparoo.
Personality: He is so silly. He likes to stick his tongue out, making eyes and then smiling when nursing. Serious. Focused. 
Milestones/Firsts: clapping, waving, turning his own book pages, making consonant sounds, grabbing the spoon to feed himself, first airplane ride to DC!
Likes: Food, rolling around on the floor, listening to music, playing with all things on his bookshelf by standing and sitting near it.
Dislikes: Being told "you're finished" when nursing (he likes to latch/relatch a lot when he's done so I call the session over and he gets mad - for a second), getting his face wiped after eating
Nicknames: SidSid, little munchkin

OUTTAKES

Partaaaay! Times 4! In DC!

I think I might cry. I just wrote this entire blog post. It was a rather lengthy one. Then, somehow - it all got deleted. The program told me over and over again that it was saving. And it wasn't. Tears. Crying. Wahhhhhhh!!!!!! (ok not really - more like I want to throw something!)

I don't have the time to write as much detail this go round - I barely got the first one written. So here it goes the best I can do at this defeated moment in time...

We took Sid to DC! We had lots to celebrate! We had to meet his new baby cousin, Oliver Maxwell, we had to celebrate his Uncle Shawn's 40th birthday, and we had to celebrate his cousin Yasha's 4th birthday!

Sid did amazing on the plane! When we landed at DCA, the people on the row in front of us said they didn't even know there was a baby behind them! Go Sid!!

Grammy was on our flight both coming and going! We were very lucky to have her with us. We took up a whole row, so Sidney had a lot of laps to be entertained on :)

Waiting on daddy to park the car at DFW 

Yay! Grammy is here!

Sid didn't care about the toys Grammy and I had in our bag of tricks. He was way more interested in the things on the plane.

The empty plastic cup was a winner!

Grammy helped me change his diaper on her lap, but before putting his pants back on, he enjoyed a nice foot rub from her. It seriously put the boy in a lethargic state. He loved it, and nothing could've bothered him for these few minutes in time.

I gave him a bottle during take off and then I nursed him for the landing. He fell asleep while nursing and was able to get about a 30 minute power nap. He woke up refreshed and ready to move! (thankfully we had landed and it was actually time to move!)

I might fly more often if it means I get to hold this sleeping angel :)

I couldn't wait to get my hands on that sweet squishy new baby, but I of course had to let Grammy hold him first. It was the appropriate thing to do ;)

The day we arrived was Shawn's actual birthday. He wanted to fry chicken for his birthday dinner! I'm so glad because it was freakin' delicious! Sean helped him do the chicken while Grammy helped me get Sid bathed and ready for bed. Oliver isn't sleeping in his room yet, so Sid had his own nursery, complete with a crib, rocker, and changing table! It really worked out great and he really took to his new room. I was afraid it would take him a while to adjust being in a new environment, but he did awesome!

Can you tell who these plates belong to? Poor Oliver, he has No Signal, ha!

Making a wish!

Shawn bought a Port from 1975 - the year he was born, making it 40 years old. Here he is teaching us  all about it. It was really good, especially with that chocolate cake! 

The next day was Yasha's 4th birthday! He woke up that morning and darted out of his room like a lightening bolt, still rubbing his sleepy eyes. He was so patient having to wait to open all of his presents that were sitting in front of him. We played games with him while we waited on Oliver to finish nursing, and for Uncle Adam and Uncle Sean to make it upstairs. We played eye spy and what's in the box! Then he let us know what order he was going to open each gift. So cute!

Victor and Natasha brought over crepes with caviar, chocolate, greek yogurt and preserves for breakfast later that morning. I love it when Natasha makes them - especially with chocolate!

Sid wanted to eat some, too!

Yasha's favorite toys right now are his Rescue Bots. He gave me an advanced course in how to transform them. Thank goodness I passed, because he was not letting me go anywhere until I knew how to transform each one with no mistakes. This kid is serious about this.

He wanted to teach baby Sid, too. But when Sid would play with them Yasha wouldn't like it because naturally, Sid put them in his mouth and drooled all over them! Yasha would say, "ew, yuck!", HA!

Papa and Uncle Adam were very involved in putting together the neon race car that Grammy gave Yasha for his birthday! 

Lots of playtime!

We had Yasha's favorite, SAUSAGE PIZZA, for his birthday dinner!!! He might be a picky eater, but this kid can put down some pizza as long as there is sausage on it. Oh, and did you know he doesn't like cheese? Silly kid! It throws him off when you try to tell him there is cheese on his pizza! He just ignores you and says he wants sausage. So funny!

Saturday was crazy! We had to make jambalaya and party punch for Shawn's birthday party that night, and begin getting things ready for Yasha's birthday party on Sunday! It was a whirlwind, that's for sure! Thankfully we all pulled together and got it all done!

For lunch on Saturday Sean and I had to sink our teeth into one of these lobster rolls that we had last time we were in town. They are seriously amazing! They might cost half of your last paycheck, but I can assure you - it's worth it!

That evening was Shawn's High Fidelity Listening Party at a private club. It was tucked away in a warehouse in Virginia somewhere. Pretty obscure, but he is friends with the owner and it was definitely right up his alley. It has a sort of speakeasy feel. Dark wood panelling and a few small rooms with some serious speakers. Shawn brought his records to play all night. The idea was that he would have the music progressively get louder as the evening went on. It was cool. Different than anything I'd ever seen or done. But definitely perfect for him and his 40th birthday.

The guys went early to get the place set up. Grammy, Victor, and Natasha took Yasha for the first hour of the party, while Nastya and I stayed back with our babies. We enjoyed the quiet time for a minute before we had to start getting ready. We drank hot tea, chatted, and then got showered. We were laughing at ourselves because we were both a little rusty in applying eyeliner! #mommyproblems

We left for the club around 10pm. Grammy stayed with the sleeping little ones, and Yasha went home with Baba and Deada to spend the night. All was going smoothly on the home front. Anastasia left my mom with a bottle for Oliver, and I did the same, full of prune juice. Juuuuust in case Sid decided to wake up before we made it back home. He has been going through something lately and needing to nurse sometimes during the night. He hadn't done it the entire trip so far, so I was confident he would be fine and not wake up :)

The brothers

I knew Sean was going to dress up in some way shape or form. It would just be too unlike him to not. I had just walked in and was talking to their neighbor Steven and an old childhood friend of Shawn's, Adam. I was just visiting, chatting, happy to be out - when all of a sudden this dude comes and stands right next to me. I didn't recognize him, and had to do a double take. It was then that I realized this dude was my husband. In black frames with no lenses, and a large sequined bow tie that he got from a silly costume bag my mom put together for a game at Yasha's party the next day. OhMY! This man of mine...

They've been drinking way. too. long.

Ever since we 5 have all known each other, we tend to get a little crazy together from time to time. And when we do, we like to document it :)

Shawn, get it together - you are acting a little too normal!

More civilized

I made sure to keep my phone on me while there. I checked it often to make sure my mom wasn't trying to reach me. About an hour into Nastya and I being there, around 11:30, I checked my phone and there it was. Not only a text, but a missed call. From Grammy. I knew it immediately. Sid woke up and wouldn't go back to sleep. Ding ding ding!!! Oh, AND Oliver woke up, too. So 2 screaming babies at one time, and one Grammy. You do the math. Poor Grammy, her worst nightmare coming true! Thankfully Oli took the paci and went back to sleep, where as my sweet little misbehaved fella had other plans. He knew mommy and daddy weren't home - so he decided to put up a fuss until one of us got back home. One of us, meaning ME! 

I ran back into the room to tell Nastya I needed to go - either by cab or her car! We had planned on leaving at midnight, so we weren't too far off from our original departure. We quickly sang happy birthday, did cake, said our goodbyes, and were gone!

When we pulled up to the house, I saw my mom and Sid in the front window. She was swaying him and they were just watching cars go by on their busy street. I nursed him, and right back down he went. I know my mom did everything she could to try to get him back down, but my guy is a bit picky when it comes to being put back down. No amount of rocking or bouncing or shushing seems to do the trick. One thing and one thing only. Nursing. I know this probably wouldn't work for some mothers, but for me, I don't mind one bit. After that, we all went to sleep. Gosh the bed felt good! The guys rolled in around 3ish. I was actually surprised! I didn't expect them until the sun came up! Good job boys, way to be grown ups(ish).

Sunday was Yasha's Formula One Racing birthday party! They were expecting around 40 people to come to their house! Oh my gosh. We had so much to do to get ready! Much less snap out of our late night comma. Geez! My feet hit the ground at 6am when Sid woke up, and I didn't stop until bedtime! Grammy was up with me, and Nastya wasn't too far after that. I was making pigs in a blanket at 7am! 

We had balloons to fill, snacks to make, men to wake up, and a very messy house to clean! All before 2pm!! We were still shoving sandwiches in our mouths at 1:50! Ah! Regardless, we made it happen! It took the entire village, but we did it! And Yasha had the best time at his party!

Sumi and Yasha are smitten!

Sid was a trooper during the 3 hour party! The old house was way too loud for him to get a nap. It was killing me that he couldn't get his nap, but he hung in there and did ok.

After the party, we were all beyond exhausted. I think if we could've all gone to bed the second that last party guest left, we probably would have! Instead, we ate some homemade boudin that Shawn made and Sunday Sauce Spaghetti! THEN, with full bellies, we crashed :)

Monday we all said our goodbyes and headed back home. It's always so hard to say bye to the DC bunch because we never know when the next opportunity will be to see them again. They live so far from the rest of us. We try to make the best of our times spent together. 

Sid was already starting to get fussy before we even got the airport that morning :(

I was a getting nervous for the flight because I was so scared he was going to be unhappy the whole time. We each took our turns keeping him occupied while waiting to board. It wasn't easy...

Check out that look on his face!

Thankfully, he pulled it together, and was able to get a short nap after takeoff. He fell asleep nursing again :) Then he was a happy camper!

We had such a nice trip. We are thankful for the family time we got. We are thankful that Grammy was on our flight that allowed us to have a few extra hours with her. And we are thankful to be home, safe and sound. 

I came home and got a cold and now Sid has a little stuffy nose, but we'd go back right now if we could (ok, maybe not RIGHT NOW, but you get the point :) )! Love you family! Thanks for such an awesome weekend!