Milo | 12 Months

WELL. HERE IT IS. Milo's very last monthly update. Once again, I apologize for the quality of the pictures but I had approximately 2 seconds between me positioning him and him rolling away with which to snap the picture, and that results in some slightly out of focused, blurry pictures. But I do what I can.

At one year old, Milo is a few ounces shy of 24 lbs. He's 32 inches tall and he still has a tiny head. He wears size 4 diapers and 18 month clothes fit him just perfectly. He has giant feet and giant hands. It can be a struggle to fit his hands through the arm holes sometimes.

Pretty sure I've written it in every. single. blog post. but seriously his current stage is MY FAVORITE. I am obsessed with him right now. He's more and more toddler every day but he can't walk yet, so I still feel like he's my baby. He's starting to understand speech and get such a deeper understanding of language lately, it seems. At the beginning of the month I taught him to say "GO!" and now he says it whenever we're going anywhere. In the car, the shopping cart, stroller, just crawling around and pushing his truck. He switches between "doh" and "go" but the sentiment is the same and it's adorable. He's also said "buh bye" a couple times and waved. He is very stingy with waving. Most of the time if you ask him to say bye or wave he'll just stare at you like you're an idiot. He does give out high fives pretty liberally, however.

He crawls like a champion and climbs up on e v e r y t h i n g. He's able to get pretty much everywhere he wants which I think is a big reason he hasn't explored walking too much yet. He's totally content with crawling. He has started standing up a lot on his own and not using the furniture as much when he's standing. The past week we've gotten him to take a couple steps on his own but he'll either fall down or chicken out and sit down and resume crawling. He's close though! I think within the next month we'll have a walker.

Milo has learned how to open doors and cabinets and drawers. He loves taking his toys and putting them in drawers, then taking them out again. Over and over again. He also loves playing peek a boo. He'll hide behind or under something and then pop out when we say PEEKABOO. He thinks it's just hilarious. His favorite toys lately have been trucks. He's got 3 of them now (thank you birthday!) and he is totally content to push them around the house. He takes them everywhere he goes, to bed, to the bath, outside... He always wants a truck in his hand. He even buzzes his lips as he pushes them around and will occasionally make a noise that sounds like "Ohhh yeahhhhhh" He looooves his trucks.

As far as food goes, he pretty much just wants to eat whatever mom and dad are eating. We can still get him to eat the pureed stuff, but only if there isn't "real food" around. If we're eating real food and he's eating pureed peas, he gets extremely offended. So mostly now we're just feeding him off our plates and cutting up whatever we're having. His favorites are chicken nuggets and mac and cheese, or really any kind of pasta. He also loves drinking grape juice from his sippy cup.

Speaking of food, a couple weeks ago he broke out in hives all over his body. He also had some mild eczema for about a week prior. We took him in to get some testing done and found out that he has a mild peanut allergy. The ped said he'll likely outgrow it and it won't be an issue later on, but for now we should avoid peanuts and peanut products. We hadn't really fed him much, but I had given him bites of my peanut butter toast before and he once snuck an entire Reese's cup when I wasn't paying attention. His eczema has totally cleared up since then so I'm happy we figured out what the problem was before it could get any worse.

Milo has 6 teeth now and 2 are verrrrry close to breaking through. He's got four on top and two on bottom. I feel like he's always teething, always chewing on something, and always in need of tylenol or teething tablets. Looking forward to this stage of life being over!

His favorite shows right now are Daniel Tiger and Curious George. He still loves Teletubbies but mom and dad needed a break from it for a little while :) He also LOVES watching videos of himself. Anytime he is crying or upset I just put on a video of him and he is immediately laughing and totally content. He watched videos while getting his blood drawn for the allergy testing, and didn't cry or wiggle at all! It was pretty amazing, honestly.

Overall Milo is just the happiest and easiest baby. I feel so lucky to have had him while I'm finishing up school. I don't think I could do it if he were a baby that screams and doesn't sleep and is super dependent on me all the time. He has made being a mom a breeze and I am just so blessed to have him. I seriously can't believe how much he's changed in just a year. He is just so so so wonderful. I can't say it enough.

Love you, Milo Benny. Happy One Year. :)

Milo | 11 Months

"Are you telling me it's that time of month again??"

Yep, sorry bud. Time to frantically snap away on my camera while shoving you full of cookies in an attempt to get a non-blurry picture before you crawl away.  Believe me when I say that it's absolutely as fun as it sounds. 

(these faces of his kill me, such a goof)

 A Day in The Life of 11 Month Old Milo: Milo wakes up every morning around 7, sometimes 8 if I'm lucky. I make him a bottle and he drinks it in bed while I attempt to get a few more minutes of sleep. Verrrry rarely he will fall back asleep after drinking his bottle and sleep for another hour or so. Those are the best days. But most days he is up and ready to play by 7:30. We go out to the living room and watch a show or two while I get ready, eat breakfast, or snooze on the couch (let's be honest, that's usually what happens) He goes back down for a nap around 9 or 9:30, depending on when he wakes up. At that point it's usually time for me to get ready for school, so I pack up all my stuff and his diaper bag and whatever else he might need while I'm gone. Then I get him up from his nap, change him, buckle him into his stroller, and wheel him off to the babysitters. 

Three-ish hours later I pick him up and bring him home. By this point he's ready for another nap so I give him a bottle and stick him in his crib. He usually falls asleep without a fuss. Then I've got about an hour and a half to myself, wherein I sleep, do homework, clean, eat, shower, read, write, or some combination of them all. Nap time is never long enough. 

Milo wakes up around 3:30 and then we play in the living room basically the rest of the night. haha Sometimes we go outside and watch the cars. Usually we'll watch some more TV (he loves Daniel Tiger, Teletubbies, Baby Genius, and Kitten Party) I'll feed him (bananas, cookies, yogurt, scrambled eggs, crackers, applesauce, squash), which usually then requires bathing him and we basically just hang out until Andrew gets home. Milo's super independent so he just crawls around and plays with whatever random object he's obsessed with that day and I keep an eye on him and intervene when he inevitably puts tiny objects in his mouth (like every 5 minutes). 

I usually try to get Milo out of the house once a day, whether it's driving Andrew to school or going grocery shopping or going to visit a friend. Sometimes we'll just drive around and listen to music. Our house is super tiny and he gets suuuuper stir crazy, especially in the evening when it's getting close to bedtime. So I'll load him up, give him his frog pacifier, turn up the car jams and drive around for 15 or 20 minutes. It does wonders for us both. :) 

He goes to bed between 8 and 8:30, depending on how cranky he is, and then he's out for the night and Andrew and I have a party.

--

As far as new additions to this month go: Milo is definitely waving and I swear I've heard him say "bye-bye" a couple times. He's still got two teeth on bottom and his vampire teeth on top his top middle teeth are going to pop through any day now... 

He got his first cold last month and it was the saddest thing ever. Babies with stuffy noses are no joke. Luckily it went away after 3 or 4 days and we're all back to our healthy selves now!

Milo is about 24 lbs. and 31 inches. He's in 12-18 month clothes now and size 4 diapers (although pretty sure he's gonna need to upgrade in the next couple weeks). His hair has started to get really long and thick in the back but he's still super bald on top, except for one stripe right down the center of his head. His baby mohawk, if you will. 

He hasn't really showed much interest in walking yet. He'll walk if we hold his hands and walk with him, but otherwise he hasn't made much of an effort. He just recently has started standing for a few seconds without holding on to anything, but usually he chickens out and sits down as soon as he lets go of something. He says "mama" and "dada" still and a whole lot of other babble in-between. He's gotten to a point where he'll start crying if we take something away from him or if one of us leaves the room and he's all alone. He thinks it's hilarious when Andrew and I laugh, and when I pretend to eat his fingers. (he's always shoving his fingers in my mouth) He still loves animal noises, playing his cat keyboard, and his guitar. He's learned how to look under things and behind things and basically preposition any object he thinks might be hiding something. 

He has such a sweet and hilarious personality and he is endlessly smart. Andrew and I can't believe how smart he is and how quickly he catches on to things. 

I CAN'T BELIEVE I ONLY HAVE ONE MORE OF THESE UPDATES LEFT. I'M GOING TO HAVE A ONE YEAR OLD NEXT MONTH.

Brace yourselves for extreme amounts of emotion on my end. Lots of throwback pictures, guaranteed.

Milo | 10 Months

TEN MONTHS. TEN. I'M GOING TO HAVE A ONE YEAR OLD IN TWO MONTHS.

I also need to mention that the only way I could keep Milo on his back for longer than 2 seconds was to stuff him with puff cereal and yogurt bites so that's why he's got food on his face in some of these pictures. Also that very bottom picture, I am actually sitting on him to get him to hold still. THE THINGS I DO.

Okay, so what you actually came here for. I think Milo is still in the 22 lbs range. The biggest thing I've noticed this month is that he's gotten really long and tall and lost a bunch of his chunky little baby fat. He's really thinned out, I'm sure largely due to how mobile he is now, and he's looking more and more like a toddler every day. 

He's gotten SO good at standing, although he's still too scared to try it without holding onto something. But he stands all day long, and walks along from furniture to furniture, and very very rarely will attempt to let go for a split second. He's also become a really good climber. He can climb up on the couch now without my help and if we had stairs, I'm sure he'd climb those too. 

Milo loves bananas, apples, grapes,  orange creme yogurt, and CHOCOLATE. I can't tell you how many times after Christmas I found him with an entire chocolate, wrapper and all, in his mouth. He cries and cries when we take them away. 

He's learned how to take off his pants, and chooses to do so frequently. I take full responsibility for that one. :)

Milo loooooooves music. He's always been attentive to it, but lately he wants to play it so bad. If Andrew or I are playing any sort of instrument he crawls over and bangs on it, or strums it, or tries to contribute in whatever way he can. We bought him a little kid Mickey Mouse guitar and he carries it around with him and strums on it all day. He loves percussive noises and banging on tables, or chairs, and especially on the djembe. The djembe is his favorite. 

Milo has been mimicking us a lot more. Whenever Andrew or I laugh, he'll start doing this fake laugh that kind of sounds like he's coughing. It's honestly the worst fake laugh in the world, but he thinks it's hilarious and so do we. He's been obsessed with putting his fingers in my mouth and trying to feed me his food. He just wants to be involved in everything I do. (I say this as he's currently trying desperately to type on my keyboard) He also has started waving a little bit. (I've never seen him do it, but Andrew swears that he has) 

Milo says "mom" "dad" "aaaaaAAAT" and "yeeeeee" on a regular basis.  He sleeps 11 hours a night without a peep (usually...lately he's been sleep talking). He's as sweet as he always been and cries so rarely that when he does it doesn't bother me at all. He's always laughing and smiling and talking and acting more like a toddler every day.

He's my favorite little person in the whole world. 

Milo | 9 Months

Okay I just have to say that taking pictures of a 9 month old while he is on his back on the floor is probably one of the most difficult things I've ever done in my life. You should all be really impressed with what I managed to get.

SO. The Milo B is about 22 lbs now (give or take, i used the good ol' weigh yourself, weigh yourself with the baby trick and then did some very complicated math) and he's about 31 inches. He's in the 95% for height and 55(ish)% for weight and head circumference. He's wearing mostly size 12 month clothes now, although a few 9 months still fit him. He's in size 4 diapers. 

He's gotten so much better at pulling himself up on furniture and not falling over, and he loves walking while holding onto the furniture. He is a climber. Always trying to get up on the couch or the lovesac or up the attic stairs whenever the door is open. If I'm standing up he will almost always crawl over to me and pull himself up using my legs.

He's been really clingy this month. He doesn't cry if I'm not holding, but you can tell he has a strong preference for me and if I'm in the room he usually won't let anyone else hold him, or at least not without a good fight. I don't really mind. :)

He has 4 teeth now, although the top two are still working their way in. I was really surprised when his top canines came in and not his top middle teeth. But I don't think the middle teeth are far behind. The top teeth were definitely a lot more difficult for him coming in than the bottom ones. Thank goodness for baby ibuprofen.

Milo started clapping this month! It's the cutest thing in the whole world, but he will only do it on his terms. He also loves grabbing my hands and clapping them together. He gets this crazy smug smile on his face like he's doing the coolest thing in the world. 

His favorite foods are still bananas and applesauce. Lately I've just been giving him little bits of whatever I'm eating, which he really enjoys. He also LOVES cheerios and these banana flavored wagon wheel..puff...things. 

Milo's favorite toy is his cat keyboard. He's figured out how to work all the buttons and change the songs to the ones he likes. His favorite thing in the woooorld is when we let him play in the recording studio. We'll put a drum on the floor and let him bang on it or let him strum Andrew's guitar. Whenever I play piano in primary he crawls over and pulls himself up to bang on the keys. I also noticed in the past week or so that he has a real affinity for Vivaldi. We watch baby genius shows and listen to a lot of classical music and while he likes all the music (except for that one clarinet piece, can't blame him there though) he really really loves Vivaldi. It's the only time where he is absolutely still and just stares at the TV and won't be distracted by anything. 

He is so smart and independent. He'll play by himself for hours while I work on homework or cook dinner. He never cries unless he is tired or hungry. He sleeps 10-11 hours a night and takes 2-3 naps a day. Usually 2 long naps and then maybe I'll squeeze in a short 3rd one.

His frog pacifier is still his best friend. He loves bath time. He loves mirrors and taking selfies. He hates when I pin him down to change his clothes or change his diaper. And he hates getting out of the bath.

Andrew and I were talking yesterday about how we are in the twilight of his babyhood and it is fading fast. I feel like he's going to be walking in the next couple months and he'll be 1 so soon. He seems like a such a toddler these days and it makes me so happy and sad and excited all at once. I am so so so blessed to be his mama.

Milo | 8 Months

Well Milo Benny... here we are. Another month later. You continue to change so very much month to month. I am constantly surprised by you.

Milo is around 20 or 21 lbs now. Still guessing he's about 27 inches, but I could be wrong. He is a constant mover. Getting these pictures was so painfully difficult, you have no idea. He crawls on his hands and knees every where now. None of that army crawl stuff anymore. And he's so fast. He's also been really into climbing lately. Pulling himself up on everything, standing there for as long as he can possibly handle it before toppling over it and (usually) hitting his head on something. That's pretty much my whole life now. Nothing is safe anymore. Andrew and I have been talking about buying him a playpen, because we really don't have a ton of space in our house to put things, so it's been a challenge to baby proof. But Milo is just so fast and strong and determined to get what he wants. He learned how to crawl up on our lovesac and sometimes I'll find him just chillin' in there, chewing on the remote or my phone. Those are his two favorite toys as of late. Basically give him anything that's not an actual baby toy and he will love it. Especially if it can kill him. 

Milo is mostly formula fed now. It makes me a little sad because I loved breastfeeding him. It's just something that has gotten really hard to continue since I've been at school full time. He's just so used to taking a bottle while I'm gone and now he has zero attention span or patience for breastfeeding. But I feel really good about the fact that I did basically exclusive breastfeeding for 6 months. I do hope that I'll be able to breastfeed my future kids longer though, since I won't be in school and therefore have no real excuse not to.  I will say, it's nice to have a break from the food thing however. Just stick a bottle in his mouth and get a little 5 minute break from life... that is a very nice thing :)

Speaking of food, Milo continues to eat just about everything. He loves any and all fruits. Especially bananas, apples, peaches, pears, and mango. He's a bit picky with the veggies. Nothing green will get past his mouth. (Looking forward to that when he's 4...) He does however love carrots, sweet potatoes, corn and mixed veggies. We also started trying some meats this past month. He loves apples with chicken and sweet potatoes with chicken. His favorite snacks are banana puffs, yogurt bites, and whatever he can swipe from my plate. We went to Tucanos on Halloween for Andrew's birthday and he managed to snag a fistful of mashed potatoes. :)

Milo has two teeth now! The first one took aaaaages to pop through, but the second one came in literally overnight and I couldn't believe it. He's got the cutest little grin now. 

He's still sleeping about 11 hours a night, although in the past week or so he's started waking up hungry around 4 am. So I usually make him a bottle and then he'll go back to sleep again until 7ish. And don't get me started on daylight savings. Ugh.

Our favorite games lately are pat a cake, if you're happy and you know it, peek a boo, and especially the wheels on the bus. The other day I started singing the wheels on the bus, except I would sing it with animal noises. "The puppies on the bus go woof woof woof..." Milo LOVED IT. That kid loves animal noises so much. He laughs so hard whenever I meow or quack or bark. I don't know what's so funny about it, but he could seriously laugh at animal noises allllll day.

Milo has gotten a bit more clingy this month. He doesn't cry when I leave him or anything too extreme, but whenever I'm in the room he always crawls over to me and climbs into my lap. He says "mama" and "dada" allllllll the time. For awhile I didn't think he really associated it with us, but I'm almost positive he knows I'm mama now. He uses it whenever he's sad and wants to be picked up, or when he's just woken up from a nap. It basically makes my heart melt every single time. 

He continues to be exceptionally sweet. He rarely cries, he is easy to please, and he smiles at just about everyone. I can't believe I've had him for an entire eight months. Time sure flies with these little guys.

Milo | 7 Months

GUYS, I have been such a slacker with this blog thing. Like, really really bad. But the good news is that I have been documenting lots in my brain, and on my phone, and with my camera, so I have lots and lots to say in the coming posts! I just have to somehow find the time to do it. Bleh.

BUT THIS. THIS IS IMPORTANT. Milo turned 7 months on the 5th! He continues to be my favorite little person ever, despite the fact that it was almost impossible to get these pictures this month. At his last appointment, about a week ago, he weighed 19 lbs. 10 oz. and was 27 inches long. He actually decreased quite a bit in size, as far as percentages go, but the pediatrician told me not to worry because a lot of babies start slowly down a bit once they become more mobile. So hopefully he keeps a pretty steady pace, even if it's not quite as consistent as it used to be.

Milo is officially a crawler! He still mostly army crawls everywhere, but as of today actually he's started getting on his hands and knees and taking a few steps (crawls??) forward. He's almost there! Now that he's fully mobile he gets into everything. His favorite is our printer. He loves to sit there and pull every sheet of paper out of it and throw them all around until it's a big crinkled unusable mess. He also loves chewing on everything, but especially power cords which is, ya know, not great. Currently we've got our living room conveniently set up so that I can stick him in the middle and he's surrounded on all sides by things that are relatively safe. I have all his toys and books in a basket there and for the most part he's happy to sit there and play with those for awhile. His favorite toys are his cat keyboard, anything that squeaks, and socks. 

Milo is still sleeping a wonderful 11 hours a night. I put him down between 7:30-8 every night and he usually wakes around 7 or 7:30 in the morning. Honestly, that has been the biggest blessing for me because I don't know how I could manage school and being a mom if he still woke up 4 times a night. 

One huuuuge change this month is that Milo has almost zero interest in breastfeeding. I think a big part of that is because he spends lots of time during the day with babysitters and they feed him formula in a bottle. So I think he's more used to bottles now and gets really impatient that breastfeeding isn't as...fruitful as a bottle. Ha. I still breastfeed him every morning and night, but during the day he's too distracted and active to breastfeed. Usually I give him a bottle and he'll drink it over the course of an hour, taking breaks to play and roll around. 

He also looooooves solids. He started eating finger foods this month. I got some banana puffs and berry yogurt bites and he loves them so much. If he ever gets cranky when we're running errands I just give him a handful of puffs and he's good to go.  We've tried just about all the baby foods that walmart has to offer, and then only ones he really can't stand are the green veggies. Peas, green beans, and sometimes squash. Everything else he gobbles up in mere minutes. He's always interested in what mom and dad are eating and always begging to hold and suck on whatever we have. I'm pretty lenient with stuff like that, as long as I'm close by. He's chewed on pizza crust, crackers, pita chips, popsicles... anything he can get his hands on. Yesterday we found a piece of chalk that had been in his mouth for who knows how long...??? We are stellar parents.

I ALMOST FORGOT! Milo has a TOOTH! After a couple terribly sad and clingy days, we finally saw a tiny little tooth pop through, right in the middle on the bottom. Milo handled it well, all things considered (thank goodness for tylenol) and that little tooth sure is a cutie. 

He is growing up too fast, but I sure love that guy. He gets more and more fun every day. He is so smart and charming and happy. Everyone always comments on how sweet he is. Also, he has the most perfect hair/eye color combination. And those eyebrows?? Ahhhh. I got lucky with this one.

Milo | 6 Months

Milo has been around for HALF A YEAR, YOU GUYS. I can't believe it. This has honestly been the fastest and happiest six months of my life.  He grows so much every day and it is so much fun to watch it happen. 

We went to his 6 month check-up and couldn't believe that he was only 18 lbs! All along we've been thinking he was about 20. He's 27 inches long and he still has a teeny tiny head. He's in about the 75% for weight and height, but his head is only in the 35%. 

The biggest thing that's changed this month is Milo's mobility. He can't crawl yet, but still finds a way to get from one end of the room to the other in a matter of minutes. He rolls all over the place, and has figured out how to spin himself in a circle so he can roll any direction he pleases. Let the baby proofing begin! He's so content to play on the floor with his toys and the only time he gets really upset is when a toy is just out of reach and he can't figure out how to get to it. He wants to crawl so badly but just can't figure it out, poor thing. He's getting so close to army crawling and I'm sure as soon as he figures that out, he'll never stop moving. 

Milo also learned to sit up this month! I noticed about a week and a half ago that he was sitting pretty much unassisted on my lap, so I plopped him down on the floor and he sat there for a few minutes before toppling over in search of a toy. He loves sitting up, especially when he's playing, so that's how he spends a good majority of his time nowadays until he falls over, and then it's back to rolling all over the place. 

Milo talks allll the time. He usually gargles and purrs and he loves blowing bubbles. He's been trying to say "Mama" lately. He'll study my mouth while I'm saying it, and then try to move his mouth in the same way- but he can't quite figure out how to make sound happen at the same time. He loves sitting on our front porch and watching the cars go by and he loves going on walks in his stroller. He's such an observant baby and is always looking around and taking stuff in. Also, I think Milo finally recognizes his name when I call it, but a lot of times he's too distracted to respond (either that or he's ignoring me...) 

This month we sleep trained! It was glorious. Milo has never been a bad sleeper, but after his 4 month sleep regression he picked up a few bad habits- the worst being that he had to be nursed to sleep, which is especially annoying at 2 am. He would wake up and I knew he wasn't hungry, he just couldn't fall back to sleep on his own. So I decided do sleep train. I started him on a bedtime routine: nursing, 3 stories, 1 song, and into his crib with the white noise machine on. The first night I went in after 5 minutes and calmed him down, and then again after 10 minutes and after that he was out for the night. The next night he cried for about 5 minutes and was asleep and it's been that way ever since, for the most part. On occasion when he's woken up for nighttime feedings I always wait 5 minutes before going to him and usually he'll fall back asleep in that time. If not, I'll give him his pacifier and rub his back and then wait another 5 minutes. It's been about 3 weeks since I started sleep training and now he sleeps from straight through from 8 pm - 8 am, usually. He takes 3 naps every day around 10, 2, and 5.  They usually last about an hour and a half. Honestly, when it comes to sleeping, he is a dream baby and now that I've weaned him off night feedings he's sleeping a lot better during the day and wakes up a lot happier. So.. SUCCESS!

As far as solids go, Milo's tried all the basics- and then some. His favorites include: apples, bananas, pears, peaches, carrots, and rice cereal. He tolerates chicken and rice, sweet potato, and squash. He hates green beans and peas. He likes attempting to drink out of water bottles and cups, but it usually doesn't go so well. He loves sucking on ice cubs. Oh, and he may or may not have gone crazy over my ice cream cone at Chik Fil A the other day. I mean... crazy. Like... threw a full-blown tempter tantrum when it was all gone. Definitely taking after his daddy there. I'm pretty easy-going when it comes to trying new foods. I'll pretty much let him gnaw on anything that he can't choke on. He got quite a thrill turning my fortune cookie into a big soggy mess the other day. The kid loves food, you guys.

He still loves his lion, things that crinkle, things that make noise, and things that roll. He looooves books and chewing on them, and sitting in my lap while I read to him. He loves looking at all the pictures and touching every page. He'll play with anything he can get his hands on, which unfortunately includes power cords. Ugh. Baby proofing, indeed. 

I am seriously so lucky to have a first baby like Milo. I remember being so terrified before he was born that he would cry all the time and be really fussy and that has never ever been the case. He's the healthiest happiest little boy and the past six months of being his mom has been the biggest blessing in my life. I couldn't love him more (yet somehow, I think I'm going to).

Milo | 5 Months

Once again, I don't even know where to begin. He just changes so much every single day. Here's the basics: he's roughly 20 lbs, 24-25 inches?, wearing 6-9 month clothing, and size 3 diapers. 

So this past month was actually one of the hardest yet. That four month sleep regression everyone talks about is a real and terrible thing. The day he turned 4 months, right on cue, he started getting really fussy during the day, would only nap for 20 minutes or so, and he started waking up in the middle of the night (!!!) This was super frustrating for me because Milo has been sleeping 10-12 hours every night since he was 5 weeks old, so for him to all the sudden be waking up every 3-4 hours was just brutal. On top of that, when he would wake up I'd feed him and rock him back to sleep and the the second I put him down he would wake up and start kicking and giggling. Infuriating, I tell you. But finally, on July 22, Milo rolled over for the first time! And that night he slept for 12 hours and took a 2 hour nap the next day. So I guess his brain was just going crazy trying to learn how to roll over that it just wouldn't shut off when it was time to sleep. We've had our ups and downs since then, but for the most part he's back to a fairly normal sleeping schedule, which I am most grateful for. :)

In addition to the sleep issues, he also started having some gnarly teething pain. He was crying and chewing on e v e r y t h i n g and gnawing my fingers until they were covered in bruises. We bought some baby tylenol, orajel, and teething rings and that has helped a ton. We haven't seen any teeth yet but I wouldn't be surprised if some popped through in the next month or two!

Like I said, he rolled over for the first time! He can only roll from back to front on his right side, but he's working on front to back. The only problem is that Milo haaaates tummy time with a burning passion, but he loves rolling over. As a result I spend most of my day watching him roll over, waiting for him to start screaming, and them pushing him back to his back. It's a real party at the Streeter household, let me tell you.

Milo has become a much more efficient nurser lately. He used to nurse 20 minutes on each side and just take his sweeeet time, but now he does 5 minutes on each side and he's done and ready to play. He also gets so distracted when he's nursing now. He loves Andrew's voice and literally cannot concentrate on eating at all if Andrew is talking. Similarly, anytime music comes on he smiles so big and pauses just to listen to it. It's my favorite. 

Milo discovered his feet this month and loves grabbing them, talking to them, and shoving them in his mouth. He loves his frog pacifier (as usual) his lion, and his duck (chicken? we don't know) rattle. Lately he's been reaching out and grabbing everything. Hair, glasses, shirts, the food off my plate...He's shown such a huge interest in the food we eat lately. Anytime there's food out he stares at it and watches me bring it from the plate to my mouth. I decided to try and give him a little applesauce yesterday, since we had some, and he went nuuuuuuts. At first he wasn't sure what to think but before long as soon as he saw the spoon he would reach for it, grab it, and pull it towards his mouth where he proceeded to slurp it clean. I was worried about giving him solids before 6 months but he did really well with the applesauce so maybe I'll go out and get some more for him. 

He looooves to play and be tickled and to dance to music. When he laughs really hard he'll close his eyes and shrug his shoulders up to his cheeks and kick his legs. It's the cutest thing, really. He loves to talk and he loves having his head rubbed. He loves to watch Baby Genius on Netflix, especially the Carnival of the Animals one, which I think is interesting because I played that in symphony when I was pregnant with him. He loves being read to and sung to. Nothing makes him fall asleep faster than his daddy singing Fleet Foxes to him. He loves to play airplane, blowing bubbles, and staring at himself in the mirror. He gets sweeter and cuter every single day. I can't believe he's going to be half a year old next month! Where does the time go??????

Milo | 4 Months

Oh Milo. Where do we even begin this month? I so wish we had a measuring tape because I feel like he's gotten so long recently. I would bet he's 26 or 27 inches. I think his head has also grown too, which is good because his head has always been small compared to the rest of his body. He recently moved up to size 3 diapers and his 3-6 month clothes are getting snug. I can't believe it. My guess is that he is around 19 lbs. We might be in trouble because I didn't think he would outgrow his 3-6 month clothes so fast so I didn't bring anything bigger with us to San Antonio. Whoops. 

Lately I have seen a huge growth in Milo's cognitive and motor skills. He has been much more interested in toys and reaching out to grab them. He is really good at grabbing large things like stuffed animals, his frog, my hand/shirt, etc. He loves pulling his pacifier out of his mouth, and although he hasn't figured out how to put it back in yet, he is getting closer every day. It's so exciting to watch him figure stuff out. He's also started rocking from side to side, trying to roll over. I think it'll take another month or so before he gets there, but he's definitely starting to show interest. 

Milo laughs all the time now. He loves being startled. If you make a loud noise or a sudden movement he'll jump and his eyes will get really big and then he'll start cracking up. It's the funniest thing in the world. He smiles at everyone and rarely cries. In fact, if he's upset he'll mostly just squeal and scream until I feed him or pick him up. Oh and that's another thing. He's discovering all the things he can do with his voice and how I react to different things. For example, if he suddenly starts screaming as loud and as high as he can, I will always come running. And if he's bored and wants me to play with him, he'll pout his lips and start whimpering like he's about to cry and then as soon as I pick him up he'll break into the cheesiest grin. He kills me. 

He goes to bed at 10 every night. Andrew usually gives him a bottle to calm him down, and then takes him in the bedroom, sings him a couple songs, puts him in his crib and he is out. (This is the time where I eat cookies, aka: the best time) Then he is out for the night and doesn't make a peep until 7. Sometimes even 8. He takes two 2 hour naps during the day, usually from 10-12 and 2-4 and then a few cat naps here and there. Lately he's been taking all his naps in my bed, which at first I was worried about but he's still sleeping just fine in his crib at night, so as long as that doesn't change I don't really mind.

Life is so good with Milo right now. He has gotten to a point where I feel like I can play with him and rough him around a little without breaking him. He goes anywhere and everywhere with me and doesn't fuss. He doesn't scream in the car, the bath, or during diaper changes. I mean... he's kind of the greatest. OH AND I weaned him off the nipple shield! Which is something I haven't talked about before but I've been using it to breastfeed him since day one because he was having trouble latching. At first it really bugged me and I hated using it, but then I got used to it and I was just so grateful I could breastfeed- cause that's truly one of my favorite things to do. But now!!! Now he is no longer using it and I'm feeling pretty awesome about that. 

So yeah. Month four was a good one. Onward to number five! 

Milo | 3 Months

What we've learned this month: This month we learned that Milo could not care less about the sea lions or penguins or dolphins at Sea World. In fact, he'd much rather sleep the whole time. We learned that he loves "If You're Happy And You Know It" more than just about any other song in the world. Also, we learned that he loves TV. Which, maybe is a bad thing. I don't know. But there's this baby genius show on Netflix that plays Mozart and Bach and has weird videos of llamas and I am totally not above plopping him in front of the TV for 30 minutes so I can take a shower or eat some food. 

The Good: Milo is probably close to 15 pounds now, so he's one healthy chunky little boy. I feel like he's finally getting more regular with his feedings and not just eating around the clock anymore, which is nice for me. He's still sleeping 8-10 hours every night (bless) and we've been able to bump his bedtime up to 9 instead of 10 now. I gotta say, having a baby that loves to sleep makes everything 1000000% easier. I take all the credit for that glorious sleeping gene he got. :) OH AND he started laughing! He's only laughed maybe 3 or 4 times and it's always really random and I can never get him to do it again, but he has absolutely laughed and it's the sweetest thing I've ever heard.

The Struggle: I'm assuming Milo hit his 3 month growth spurt some time in the last week or two. He was totally and completely fine until the second I put him down and then he'd get so fussy and angry. He doesn't really cry most of the time, he just yells and growls. It was a little bit exhausting but we're over it now and he's back to his usual happy self. Also he got sunburnt yesterday on his arm and I can tell it's hurting him a lot which makes me so sad. But we got some baby tylenol and aloe vera and they seem to be helping a lot. 

Milo's Milestones: Laughing is probably the biggest thing. He's getting better at tummy time and at controlling his head. I can set him in his Bumbo for 5 minutes or so before he gets tired and wants out. He's discovering his hands and is always sucking on his thumb if his pacifier isn't close by and he will occasionally reach out and grab things. 

Looking forward to: More laughs because I don't think anything is more satisfying than making a baby laugh. Rolling over! I'm especially excited for him to be more interested in toys so that he can start to entertain himself.

Milo | 2 months

What we've learned this month: This month we learned that we are so so blessed to have a baby as sweet and mild mannered as Milo. Last week we left Orem, drove 5 hours to Vegas, stayed 16 hours in an airport as we dealt with flight cancellations and delays, flew to Philadelphia, drove 9 hours to North Carolina, drove 9 hours back to Philly, flew back to Vegas, and drove back to Orem. All within 7 days. And you know who only complained once? That's right. My deliciously chubby baby. After hearing so many horror stories about traveling with babies I was so worried that we were overly ambitious and were going to hate ourselves by the end of the trip, but he made it so easy and so fun. I just love that baby.

The Good: Milo has gained 3 pounds this month, clocking in at a hefty 13 lbs. (He also officially outgrew all his 0-3 month clothes and is comfortably wearing 3-6 mos.) He's an amazing eater and is still averaging 8-10 hours of sleep a night. In the morning he'll wake up and just quietly lay in his crib for a good 30-45 mins until I come and get him. And as soon as he sees me his face lights up into the biggest heart melting smile you ever did see.

The Struggle: At the end of our trip Milo got super fussy and cranky and kept crying out like he was in pain. We figured out that because I was supplementing with formula to save time while we were driving, he got pretty constipated. Usually he'll only have a couple bottles a week while I'm at school and during this trip he had as much as 3 bottles in a day. SO that resulted in lots of snuggling and nursing and bouncing and him being the saddest little baby. I didn't get a smile at him for a good two days, which was just the saddest thing. But early this morning he had the most massive poop, which resulted in the most massive smile and we're all feeling a lot better now. 

Milo's Milestones: Milo has changed SO much in the past month, I can't even believe it. He smiles all the time now. All I have to do is smile at him or talk to him and he'll give me the biggest grin. He's also cooing all the time and seems like he's trying so hard to communicate with people. His movements have gotten a lot more controlled and he doesn't just randomly hit himself in the face anymore. He is also going to sleep without being swaddled no problem. Oh and he's working on his laugh. I bet he'll have it down by next month.

Looking forward to: Laughing!!! That is seriously going to make my day. I'm really excited for him to be able to hold his head up better so I can start setting him in his Bumbo during the day. Also I can't wait for him to start being interested in toys and start grabbing at things. He's got a daddy who is dying to play with him.

Milo | 1 month

Milo turned one month on the 5th! I know this is about as cliche as it gets, but I seriously cannot believe it's already been that long. He is already getting so big (10 lbs say what??) and changing so much and I just love every single minute of it.

What we've learned this month: This being Milo's first month, we've learned a lot. We've learned that he hates baths and diaper changes (although he's getting better at both). We've learned that sometimes he gets so excited to eat that he forgets how to latch on, which is both hilarious and frustrating. He loves to be snuggled and swaddled and he loves his frog pacifier. Heaven forbid we try to give him a different one.

The Good: Milo is just the best sleeper. I cannot be more grateful for that, especially since I am still in school. Since day one he's been a marathon sleeper, usually only waking once in the night around 3:30 and then again around 8. He's also great in that I can lay him down awake and he'll fall asleep on his own. Gosh, I love that.

The Struggle: Speaking of sleeping... haha The past couple days Milo has decided that his usual 4 hour daytime naps are not for him. He's also decided that he wants to eat every hour. I'm pretty sure he's just going through a growth spurt, but man it's exhausting. Most days I don't eat until Andrew gets home from work because I only have 30-40 minutes between feedings which means I almost never have time to make food. My greatest solace is that he still sleeps really well at night so I know I just have to make it to 11pm and I'm good to go.

Milo's Milestones: The past couple days we've started seeing Milo's first real smiles and it is the cutest thing ever. I will pretty much do all the stupid faces and voices that I swore I'd never do just to get that kid to grin at me. 

Looking forward to: More of those smiles and laughing. Basically anything from him that acknowledges that I'm a real person that he knows and loves and not just a milk machine.