Anyway, it definitely is more than teething and since then, they seem to have had good days and bad, but I started getting sick on Saturday, having to stay in bed most of Sunday (I honestly don't know how you can take care of your baby on your own when sick, thank God Dave was home). My cold is running its course now, mostly down to a cough and a tired voice. Poor William, who already has congestion problems on a regular basis, now is so stuffed, even when we try to clear his nose, that he can't breath out of his nose while sucking his paci, so he's been waking up at night. Luckily, it's mostly been between 7-10pm, though sometimes multiple times, but amazingly he's still been sleeping well during the night. Poor guy also has a pretty nasty cough. George joins in occasionally but seems to be doing much better overall. Dave has been Super Dad since Sunday, and as it's been 7 days without a nanny (BOTH of our nannies were sick too...), so everyone's excited to see Lolina.
8 months old!
EAT: They're continuing to get more and more efficient at milk feedings, and they're probably starting to eat less too. They're still eating at 7, 10, 1, 4 and 7 and while last month at this time, William was very predictable as to how much he'd take at a given feeding, now it definitely varies. He's still pretty good about taking almost all of the 6.5oz at the first feeding and will usually close to finish the 8oz before going down for the night. Throughout the day though, instead of the standard 6oz, sometimes it's 5, sometimes 3, but usually somewhere in between. George also has times where he's nursing a lot shorter, but seems to be done. Thanks to this natural decrease, but because I'm still pumping after ever feeding, just within the last week, I haven't had to use formula. We'll see if my body balances out and if we're done with it. William still isn't great at holding his bottle -- don't get me wrong, he knows how to, he just gets distracted, wants to play with it, etc, so usually I end up holding it for him. It is nice to have a bit more time in between feeding to be able to get out and do something. An hour used to be the quickest I could get us out the door from feeding time, but now, if I'm really efficient, it's about 40 minutes. I nurse George and feed William at the same time, then have all their clothes and diapers on the floor so that while I pump I can change them and get them dressed.
Solids - I would say that they're doing okay with solids. It's been a little less than two months and while they've tried tons of different things, they really only consistently do well at breakfast, which we serve around 8:15 (they have their first bottle around 7/7:30am). They've had a variety of fruits which I mix a little oatmeal cereal into. They almost always finish and generally get through it without crying. After this meal, they go straight into bed to take a nap. We feed them once more during the day, and have been doing dinner time, testing out different times between 5 and 6pm. They almost always end up crying and sometimes eating okay, othertimes, not eating much at all. I think it's clear they like fruits more and we have tried mixing some of their favorites, like pears, into dinner, but that only sometimes works. I mixed up plenty of tasty options but I know it may take them several times of trying something before tolerating it. It's also nice to know that they're still getting the majority of their nutrients from breastmilk so I'm not stressing about how much they're eating of the solids. I'm more concerned that they're at least exposed to plenty of different flavors now.
Really, what they seem to like best is whatever I'm eating. They'll eat pieces of fish, bites of oatmeal and various other nibbles, but if I offer the same thing pureed up (or even not pureed) later on, they don't go for it.
New foods tried this month: Carrots, Japanese eggplant, cauliflower, cantaloupe, falafal, turkey burger, lamb, cannelleni beans, black beans, tortilla, lavash, pumpkin scone, cheddar grits, tilapia, red lentils, tofu, spinach, raspberries. Some meals from this month:
-Rice and fish
-Pork and carrots
-Chicken tortilla soup
-Black beans, tofu and avocado
-Black beans, squash and pork
-Pasta, butternut squash and spinach
SLEEP: Still doing great here, actually even better. They are going down for the night by 7pm and have been getting better and better about sleeping until 7am. They used to be up and rolling around sometime between 6 and 7am, and occasionally I'll need to get up while pumping to give a paci, but that's rare. Dave, who wakes up with them most mornings, now says it's maybe once a week that they're up at 7, the rest of the week it's later. They've been sick the last few nights, so we have had to go in and give pacis occasionally during the night, but outside of them being sick, we rarely need to do that. I keep thinking that we'll be going down to two naps soon, but they actually slept even better this month, many mornings sleeping for 1.5 hours in the morning, then 30 minutes to an hour while we're out around noon and then at least 2 hours in the afternoon.



Both have sitting down and although I'm still a bit cautious and want to sit within catching-distance, they're probably to the point where they're pretty secure. Crawling (or creeping), check. Pulling up, not quite. George just yesterday was able to pull himself up on his knees to play with the activity table and then this morning pulled himself up for the first time. I haven't seen William do this yet. They are pretty strong when standing though (holding on to something, when someone has pulled them up), and they really like standing. We were at my parents house yesterday and George was able to crawl up the single step from the family room to the kitchen. We haven't been anywhere that had a step like this but he got it right away. William continues to be really focus, all the time, but when he's tired/cranky/frustrated, he babbles lots of syllables. Still hearing plenty of maamaas and daadaas but I'm not considering that any first word as he's not associating it with either of us. George continues to get more vocal and I have heard syllables here and there, but it's definitely more rare.
To my princes:




It was so sad to see you sick, you totally weren't yourself, but luckily it was short-lived. Generally, you're still really easy going and independent. I'd say that last month you were a better eater, gobbling down just about anything. This month, not so much.
William:
eyes: brown
hair: brown, and lots of it
teeth: 4
George:
eyes: still can't really tell. Definitely not blue anymore, but not brown either. Mostly they look grey, but look different in different light.
hair: Dave was telling friends that it's a bit red and I thought he was crazy, but in certain light, I now see what he means. Quite the cameleon, sometimes it looks blonde, sometimes brown and othertimes reddish.
teeth: 0
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