The Owlster at Seven Months

Man this time of year is so busy.  I have had this post written for over a week now and just couldn't seem to get pictures put in it and publish it.  Ugh.

Weight-- 17 lbs 11 oz

Height-- 27.5 inches (or so.)  He really does not cooperate well for me to get a height measurement on him.  He likes to pull his legs back when I try to stretch him to see.  

Medical Issues--  Reflux but it is a lot better than it used to be.  The biggest most exciting thing I have for medical issues is that I can eat whatever I want again.  His food sensitivities are much better.  I have even been giving him small amounts of things that contain dairy or soy and so far so good.  I love cheese once again.  Oh how I missed you blessed cheese.

Sleep-- I don't know what this is anymore.  He still tends to go to bed between 7 and 8, wake up at 11, wake up between 1 and 3 at some point, and wake up again between 5 and 6.  Then up for the day around 8.  He takes two naps a day.  Typically a short hour long or less around 10 and then an hour or two nap around two.  

Clothes Size-- He can wear either 6-9 months (or 9 month) or 12 month which is 9-12 month.  6-9 is getting to be small though.  I am determined to shove him into a 3-6 month my first Thanksgiving onesie Destructo wore his first Thanksgiving.  I figure even if I can't snap it, surely I can just tuck it in like a tshirt.  I will make it happen.  

His eyes are so blue.

Diapers size-- He is on the second or third snap setting in his cloth.  He is still finishing up the size threes in disposables but I think we are down to our last few diapers and then it is size four from there on out.

Diet--  He eats anything and everything we give him and seems to love it all.  I mean he ate as much as I did at the Mexican restaurant.  I am still not giving him more than a small bit of dairy (and only if we are in a restaurant and it is more a cross contamination scenario.)  No corn yet.  He is actually being very fussy about nursing for the last week or so.  He is hard core teething and just has no interest in nursing.  Except over night of course.

Baby Gear I Love-- 

organic baby puffs  I am still holding off on giving Owl much soy and dairy since he is just getting over his food sensitivities.  These puffs don't contain either nor corn.  I love these for when we are at a restaurant and I need to tide him over until the food comes.  Patience is not his strong suit.
Fisher-Price Luv U Zoo Crib-to-Floor Activity Piano  I have this hanging on the side of his crib.  In the mornings, he will roll over to it and play with it buying me a few extra minutes of snooze time.  And that is precious when you have an eight month old who is still waking every 3ish hours all night long.
Fisher-Price Luv U Zoo Jumperoo  Yeah Oliver loves jumping in this and it keeps him contained when I need him to be.  Yay for containment.

Milestones-- He is able to creep backwards a little bit now and can roll to get where he wants when he really wants to.  But for the most part he isn't really mobile yet.  I love it.  He waved to Monk this month.  He is able to drink really well from a cup.  He celebrated his first Halloween and dressed up as an Owl.

Likes/Dislikes--  He likes eating, waking me up, his brother, father, and any chewy teething toys.  He dislikes waiting to eat, me sleeping, and well mostly me sleeping.  This hasn't changed since last month.  He has taken a new interest in our pets though recently and loves to pet the cat.

Things I Don't want to Forget--  How sweet it is to watch my two boys playing so nicely together.  How much Oliver loves to eat.  He gets so excited by food.  How he always plays with my amber necklace while he nurses.  How much of a momma's boy he is.  (I really need to cherish this in the middle of the night all billion times he wakes me since time really is too fleeting.)

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The Post I keep On Putting Off

I have started this post so many times just to delete it all.  And by all like three lines.  But I have always prided myself with keeping it real with my readers and this is something that is real.  And it isn't like I can't make it private at some time if I so feel the need so here goes.  So Monday we took Destructo to have him evaluated for behavioral/sensory/etc issues.  Since he was just a baby he has been super spirited as all get out.  But I always wondered if this was normal boy or if there was something "off" for lack of a better word.

We took him and for now they recommended occupational therapy and speech.  It wasn't until his regular pediatrician pointed out that he omits certain letters that I realized his speech was a little behind.  I for the most part understand everything he says lol.  I have known since 18 months that he has some sensory issues as he is a super picky eater, doesn't like certain textures, and really seems to be sensory seeking in a lot of way.  I figured he would eventually end up with a sensory processing disorder.  And he probably will if we ever actually see a occupational therapist.  (Insurance doesn't cover it without a medical diagnosis.  We are figuring out how to swing the expenses.  And working on seeing what he will qualify for through the public school system.  But that is another blog post.)

What I wasn't really expecting was that the doctor would tell us that while she wasn't highly concerned there were some markers/ warning signs of an autism spectrum disorder.  He is pretty social and friendly and very talkative so it never really occured to me.  But what I hadn't ever really known a whole lot about was Asperger's.  I can understand her concern now after reading up on it.  He does have some characteristics of this. But on the flip side, he has some characteristics that are the opposite of this.  He loves to play imaginary play for example.   He could just be a very spirited, stubborn wants his own way three year old.  Only time will tell on that one.

Either way this goes, I want to help him get any and all help he needs.  He is quite behind in his fine motor skills, slightly behind in his gross motor skills, and obviously as I said earlier needs a bit of speech (although I honestly think that will work itself out as he matures.)  So I hope to get all this stuff straightened out but also to work with him at home a lot as well.  What do you guys recommend for fine motor skills practice?  Or gross motor work?  

And a cute Destructo story for you.  While doing the evaluation, the nurse asked him to stack blocks in a certain way.  He did it backwards.  She said that is really great effort, but can you try to do it the way I asked.  He replied "Nope.  Some people just do it differently."  We had to stifle our laughter.  That is our Destructo.  Blatantly refusing to do something that is asked of him and cracking us up all the while.  

Gah I love this boy

Skype

You know Skype really is a wonderful thing.  My bestie that lives in Italy and I are able to keep in touch and actually see and hear each other.  This wasn't possible a few years ago.  I imagine I would have lost touch with her eventually like I did so many other people over the course of my 32 years.  (And yes, I have to do the math a lot of time to figure out how old I am.  Kids eat brains I tell ya.)

I also use Skype a lot to stay in touch with my family in Michigan.  We moved in 1993 ten hours away.  600 long miles.  When we moved we could send letters in the actual mail.  Oh how I looked forward to getting letters on fancy stationary with stickers decorating the envelope from my grammie.  (Heck I still look forward to getting the occasional letter from her.)  We also could call them occasionally.  But you know you could never talk too long because it was a long distance call.

My sons will never know what a long distance call is.  Heck for the record, there will never be a time when my boys aren't able to immediately receive a phone call no matter what they were thanks to cell phones.  I remember using pay phones.  I can't remember the last time I saw a pay phone to be honest.

Source

I think it is a great thing that modern technology has come so far.  I don't have a whole lot of super close bestie friends that live where I do.  But because of cell phones, skype, and Facebook I can stay just as close with them as if they were here.  Trust me my friend Trish sure knows I don't hesistate to call her.  Each and every evening when Mr. Destructo is at work and I am losing bits of my sanity by the minute.  Gah I love modern technology.

Rumps Around Thirsty Rumps Diaper Review (and Giveaway)

I was given a Rumps Around Thirsty Rumps diaper for review and one to giveaway.  This diaper was adorable first and foremost.  And that is what is most important isn't it?  I mean zoo animals.  Be still my heart.

Look at the zoo animals (and his stunning blue eyes)

This diaper will fit from 6.5 pounds to 40 pounds.  I can say I agree with that.  Ollie is 17 pounds in this picture and I just moved it to the second snap setting.  There is four different size settings.  I put this diaper on Destructo to see and it fit although at 36 pounds he was definitely at the far extreme.  I really like the cut of this diaper as well.  Even when I forget to check it sits more on his groin and not on his chunky legs (which causes him to get horrible red marks that don't fade for weeks.)

This has four snaps (two on each side) for the wings.  I had no problems with wing droop.  I also love the snap wrap feature to store poopie diapers in the wet bag when out and about.  The outer of this diaper is PUL and I had no problems at all with leaks.

Fits well on his chunky legs 

The inner of the diaper is organic bamboo cotton and is so very soft.  It reminded me of sweatshirt like material and has double gussets which was awesome to contain breastfed baby poop.  The inserts that came with this diaper were three layers of 100% bamboo and were very absorbent.  They are so thin that even stuffed with two the diaper is super trim.  

Overall I really love this diaper and there wasn't a single feature I didn't like.  I really wish I had a few more of them in my stash.  The price is good for a bamboo diaper as well at 16 each.  Great news!  One lucky reader will get a chance to get a free Thirsty Rumps diaper.  Be sure to enter the giveaway below.

Entry-Form

I can't sit on my couch and a pioneer I am not

I went to sit on my big comfy couch to put the finishing touches on a cloth diapering review and giveaway post (watch for it tomorrow.)  I realized that my entire couch is covered in stuff.  Clothes, toys, blankets, pillows, stuff everywhere.  Stuff stuff stuff.

So then I sat on my bed.  The stuff was too much to deal with.  And why should the stuff stress me out.  I pawned Destructo off on my youngest sister and actually was super productive today.  But obviously not productive enough since my couch is unsittable.  I managed to clean both boys rooms, change their sheets, make their beds, vacuum and dust both rooms, even move dressers and get all the toys that accumulated under them.  Yay me.  But I still can't sit on my couch.  

This got me to thinking about pioneer women.  They didn't have all the stuff we do.  I wonder if they were happier?  I mean other than when life was super hard.  Were they happier with less material things and a simpler life.  I do think I would be happier with far less stuff.  I hate the clutter that resides in my life and house.  And I am working on taming it.  Each and every year since I have had kids it has gotten better and better but there is still a lot of clutter.

My ceiling fan is dusty.  Like growing a fuzz coat dusty.  I see this every evening as I am about to go to bed.  I am going to clean it tomorrow if I do nothing else.  Then I will change my sheets since they will have dust on them from cleaning it.  All that to say that maybe the forward progress in my cluttered master bedroom will continue this week.  That was a tangent.

Source

Pioneer women probably didn't have to clean bathrooms very often since they didn't have them.  I mean can you clean an outhouse?  Of course they had to do far more work than I have to do just to have food to eat and clean clothes to wear.  But speaking of clothing, while there laundry was far harder to wash than mine is, they also had far less of it so it probably balanced out.  But they had to cook all the time.  I hate cooking.

So long blog post to come to this conclusion.  I would suck as a pioneer woman.  I hate cooking, am not particularly good at killing chickens or any animal really, can't bake bread, or sew, or use old time cloth diapers.  Yeah probably best I live in this era.  Oh and my couch is still cluttered.