7 month update!

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Tomorrow marks 7 months for the little guys, so I feel like an update is in order.  :)

Every night while rocking Colby to sleep I think of great update possibilities.  I think of inspiring words about his growth and Connor and life.  Or at least they seem inspired.  But I promptly forget all that I was thinking as soon as I sit down after he is in bed for the night so instead I wander aimlessly reading other peoples thoughts.

So, you have been forewarned.  This will not be inspired.  :)

Sleep

I was planning on talking about how wonderfully Colby sleeps.  He goes down every night at 8:15pm (sometimes earlier) and sleeps through until 2am is and then again until 5 or 6amish.  This is actually worse than it had been- he had a period where he was sleeping from 8pm to 4 or 5am, but we've regressed.  I think it's purely because he's soaking his diapers and is a little sensitive about that sort of thing.  (And I can't blame him.)  He had a period where he was soaking through his pajamas resulting in late night changes, but he's switched to just waking more often for changes.  Being all economical (ie cheap) I won't switch him to the next size up diaper until we use all the size 2's we have, so waking up is a sacrifice I am willing to make.  

A few nights ago he started sleeping in his own crib.  This has been hard for me!  When he was in the pack n play next to the bed I would wake every hour or so just to check he was breathing.  Even with him in the next room and with the monitor on I'm still waking just as often, only I have to go to the next room.  Why is he in his own room then?  I think he sleeps better.  He's a bit of a light sleeper and just walking into the room makes him stir.  He doesn't wake up, but instead thrashes around a bit.  I felt bad disturbing him like that- every time I wake up to use the bathroom or Johnny snores he just would thrash and I figured he couldn't be sleeping well.  Added to that is the fact that he's getting too long for the pack n play.  He sleeps the short way because the long way isn't totally flat and he's touching both sides when he sleeps.  So on to the crib!  He's doing well with it.  :)

Food

Colby still loves to eat.  Evidence?  On Monday of last week he weighed in at 15lbs 1.5oz.  Today- a week and a half later- he weighed in at 15lbs 13oz.  HOLY COW.  He's taking 5-6oz for his night time bottles and closer to 4oz every 3 or 4 hours during the day.  We started solids- rice cereal- on Sunday of this week.  He's doing great with it.  The first few days were slow, but yesterday and today he took the entire serving perfectly.  He's getting the handle of opening his mouth, keeping his tongue out of the way, and swallowing.  It's awesome to see him doing so well.  He's definitely enjoying it too.  In the next day or so we'll try carrots or peas.  

food

Milestones

Colby's been rolling over front to back since mid-December.  He still has a look of confusion when he gets to his back-- it's a "How did I get here??" look.  He's so strong and alert and a total flirt.  He laughs at his daddy and is SO smiley when daddy gets home.  I have a harder time getting him to laugh, but I can get him to smile easily too.  He's sitting pretty well.  He can handle sitting by himself for a second or two before he slowly slides sideways.   He loves his exersaucer and is getting the hang of bouncing around.

We're still waiting for some of the other milestones.  He's not reaching for things yet.  He'll grab anything that touches his hand or anything that he comes across as he swipes around, but he's not looking at things and grabbing with purpose.  I think that as soon as he realizes that he can grab things that he wants there will be no stopping him.  He just needs that motivation and then I have no doubt that he will be rolling back to front soon (he is definitely already strong enough) and I really think he'll be an early crawler.  (Well, probably "typical" age, but adjusted it would be early!)

Work

I'll be going back to work soon- just over a month.  I've mentioned it before.  I am SCARED to death about it.  I think I'm feeling a little guilty about it too-- guilty that I have to go back, guilty that we didn't "plan" better.  If given the choice I would definitely choose to stay home, but I don't have that choice.  So I'm slowly becoming okay with going back.  I talked to a friend the other day about it- she will have to go back once she has children as well.  I also have a few good teacher friends at my school that have gone back after having their babes.  I guess I'm just nervous about the balance.  I've always been someone to put 110% into everything.  How can I put 110% into everything though?  Colby, Johnny, work, school?  I'll have to find that balance where I can still be the mother I want to be (the best!) and the teacher my students deserve (the best!) and the best student I can be... you get the idea.

On another note, I'm almost looking forward to going back just because I like the idea of Colby knowing when he's growing up that Mommy works and is doing something that she loves.  I remember being little and being proud that my mom worked.  She and my dad worked hard so that my brothers and I could go on different vacations every year, so that we could have new clothes, so that we could do sports and take lessons, so that we could have birthday parties, so that we could take day trips to amusement parks, and on and on.  Despite the fact that they both worked all day, I NEVER remember feeling like we were missing out on anything.  They worked and they worked hard, but when they were home they were 100% there for us.  So, while I would love to be home, I'm slowly becoming okay with the idea of being a super working mom.  And really, what better job is there to have with kids than teacher?  :)

Cute face