Marshall: Seven Months

We went from infant to person this month! Marshall is so involved in everything now and on the move.

He weighs 18.4 pounds and is approximately 27.5 inches long. (Vander was 21 pounds and 27.75 inches long for comparison)

This little guy is on the move. He started army crawling on a Monday and by the weekend was doing his in between crawl and army crawl moves. He is pretty fast!

He is excellent at sitting. Unless he sneezes and falls over, which is mostly just hilarious.

Vander has started getting mad at Marshall getting into his things, so the whole sibling thing really begins now.

We have introduced all of the stage two gerber baby foods at this point, as well as puffs, graham crackers, ritz crackers and cheerios. He loves food and is less of a fan of the bottle. He has to be in just the right amount of hungry and tired to eat a bottle. I think this is pretty standard since he would rather be exploring the world instead of being held to eat food. He will hold his own bottle when we do diaper changes though.

His sleep was better this month. We had a couple nights of sleeping through the night, or 8pm to 5am at the very least. We had a couple nights of getting up twice and most often he would get up once. Mostly one week is good and one week is bad.

I am astounded at his dexterity. He is so good with picking things up and moving them around.

Marshall has started discovering cause and effect and loves to knock over a tower of blocks.

He has gotten really into bath time and loves feeling the running water.

He is so so busy and wiggly ALL THE TIME. His demeanor is really happy and laid back still, but he is always kicking his feet when you hold him.

We brought out a lot of new toys this month too. Now I am just trying to decide what, if any, new things to buy for him for Christmas that Vander would also like too.

Marshall enjoys books a lot. I should say Marshall enjoys eating books a lot.

He also loves playing the piano. I was on the phone with Dylan while Marshall was playing and he legitimately was "singing" (yelling) in time every 3 seconds. It was awesome.

Per Grandma, Marshall was asking for "mama" while she was babysitting. I have heard a couple "mama"s but nothing definitely connected with me. But I will totally accept that as his first word :)

Marshall: Six Months

When I mentioned to Dylan that Marshall was officially six months old, he was shocked. Dylan said with Vander, it felt like a true six months, but with Marshall it seems much less. When I estimated four months he said he felt that was high. Guess that goes to show you how much more time flies when you have two kids, are getting older and summer happens.

Marshall grew by absolute leaps and bounds this month. He weighs 18  pounds and is just over 27 inches long, unofficially since he doesn't have his appointment for another week.

He can sit up on his own, but not for very long and I don't quite trust him since he gets mad when he falls on his face. He really seems to enjoy being able to look around more. He still loves standing up too and is trying to stand up holding on to things like tables and the couch.

Marshall can roll from tummy to back and back to tummy, I am not sure if he can go to the left and right or not, but he sure manages to get around now. We have witnessed him on all fours a couple times this last week, which means crawling is right around the corner. I hardly have to take my eyes off of him and he has moved several feet already. Feels like we need to go find those baby gates soon!

He is also really enjoyingnow. He was not a huge fan of baby food until the last two or three weeks, when it finally all clicked for him. He constantly wants to eat our food too (especially toast) so we have been giving him some real food in his little food pouch feeder thing for him to chew on. We have been through pears, peaches, bananas, and apples for fruits, and sweet potato, squash, carrots peas, green beans, and real mashed potatoes. We have also given him Ritz crackers, graham crackers and cheerios. We haven't been 100% on the one new food every four days rule, but we really don't have any allergies I am aware of in our immediate families at least and as long as he is interested I figure why not?

We still have no teeth. I am totally shocked since Marshall has been teething forever and is so drooly, but I have now decided he doesn't have teeth since the won't show up.

We started working on sleep training some more since we were through the new found rolling stage. He have had a couple nights (maybe three?) of sleeping through the night, but he has gone until like 5 am quite a few times without waking up at all. I hear him quite a bit since he bumps into the sides of the crib when he sleeps, but I will make sure he is really awake before I get him at night.

He is much more interactive and insistent on things now. He is grabbing and reaching for everything and he has a solid grip.

This is the second month he has been really into his feet. He grabs them all the time and eats them.

Firsts this month included his first swing ride, which he totally loved. He now gets to sit facing out on the carrier, so that makes his life much more interesting.

Marshall has been such a fun baby and I can't wait to see what get to experience next!

Marshall Five Months

Oh about three weeks ago Marshall turned five months old! I do at least prepare most of the post right around his change in month, I just can never make blogging a priority to actually put it all together any time near then.

Marshall was 26 inches long and weighed 16 pounds.

We tried baby food this month! He was really not a fan. Marshall tried rice cereal, sweet potatoes, squash, and carrots. Otherwise he eats around 30-35 ounces of formula (mixed with my frozen breast milk stash) per day. I officially stopped pumping at work at about 4 1/2 months and made it to just past five months old for breast feeding at night.

He woke up usually just once a night, but he did not sleep through the night at all. This was totally expected with all the new learning he had this month.

Marshall is very chewy, but still has no teeth.

He is basically smiley all the time. Even at daycare they said he is the happiest baby. Now he looks at the new kids and wonders why they are crying.

He is very determined and vocal when he wants things, but 90% of the time he is totally laid back. This has worked out really well this summer so we can still do a lot with Vander.

He has developed so many new skills! He is doing really well reaching for and grabbing things. He can pull on the music on one of his play gyms.

His core is getting really strong too. He can turn himself all around in the exersaucer. He is not quite sitting but getting close. He had a chance to try the umbrella stroller and totally rocked it.

He will roll over from tummy to his back. He thinks it is hilarious to do this when mommy has to put both him and Vander to bed when daddy is gone.

We had one really distinct time when he "worm crawled" and rolled over to a toy. He has done some pretty good scooting otherwise as well.

He is in nine month pajamas and 6 month clothes.

He has started enjoying peek a boo.

Marshall is getting very into Vander and enjoying watching what Vander is doing.

He is already a ham for the camera (I train my kids well!). He also loves being tickled and of course being sung to.

Another great month and he has already changed so much!