Evan 10 months, Caroline 10 months, Lincoln 10 months

This is almost 2 full weeks late, but at least I’m getting it done before he officially starts walking, which I am pretty sure is going to happen in the next week. Maybe once that happens he’ll thin out a little bit, because right now he’s one big solid chunk and carrying him with my arms is terrible. I HAVE to wear him in the Tula even if we’re just running into Target because he can climb out of carts and I’m too weak to haul him around. It’s a real problem. Being an enormous squish is adorable though, so it’s hard to complain.

The fact that he eats ANYTHING is definitely contributing to his size. Meat, vegetables, snacks, seafood, cheese, dessert, anything he can put in his mouth he will eat. He’s got a whole mouthful of teeth too, so he can handle even crunchy stuff (he loves Cheetos) or chewy stuff (today he ate clam strips). I’m not super worried about keeping him away from junk food or sugar because, well, fourth baby. I’m more worried about keeping him from eating the soot in the fireplace or bird seed (both things he tried to eat today).

He’s in 12-18 month clothes at the smallest and 24 months/2T for coming months. I have no idea what size his feet are because he never wears shoes. He still does this funny half-crawl half-scoot thing to get around super fast, but he’s getting quicker with cruising. I’m hoping by the time it’s cold enough for shoes he can walk for real and I can just buy him some tiny Bogs, since those have been perfect for Lincoln.

After we got home from vacation, we moved Finnegan down to his own room. Well, Linc’s room, which Linc doesn’t use and it has the crib so now it’s Finn’s room. After just a couple nights he got the hang of it and now he’s sleeping through the night. He also lets E put him down for the night or for naps. It’s delightful. I love my baby 10x more now that I am getting sleep in blocks greater than 3 hours at a time. He likes napping too, although that’s less reliable with our summer schedules. Luckily he also likes being worn still, so I’ve been practicing my baby-as-a-backpack skills and hopefully he starts napping that way.

Likes include water, sand, grass, his siblings, eating food, eating things that aren’t food, the dog, the cat, animals, nursing, sleeping, cruising, biting things, making a mess, trying to fall on his head, mommy, daddy, strangers, smiling, and hitting me.

Dislikes include being buckled into his car seat, being too hot, being too tired, being told no, and being hungry.

10 Month Milestones 

Mastered Skills (most kids can do)
Waves goodbye – He can clap. I’ve never seen any intentional waving.
Picks things up with pincer grasp – Yes.
Crawls well, with belly off the ground – Nope. He crawls like my other babies have, scooting on one leg.

Emerging Skills (half of kids can do)
Says “mama” or “dada” to the correct parent – Meh. He says both things, but never really to anyone.
Indicates wants with gestures – Mostly just by screeching.

Advanced Skills (a few kids can do)
Stands alone for a couple of seconds – Yes.
Puts objects into a container – Sometimes. If he wants to. Mostly he likes making a mess.

{Lincoln 8 months, Caroline 8 months, Evan 8 months}

Finnegan had a rough day today. There was a lot of crying. Like, a lot. Way too much. He’s started crawling and pulling up on furniture, which is exhausting when you’re a super chunk. Then his sleep schedule got thrown off and it was too late for his nap but too early for bed, so it was time for lots and lots of crying. I’m hoping he might actually be tired enough tonight to sleep for more than 3 hours in a row. I would really, really love to sleep for more than 3 hours in a row.

USUALLY, Finn is a super cheerful baby. He loves people, he isn’t afraid of strangers and is happy to be carried around by anyone. He likes the stroller, he likes shopping carts, he likes when I wear him. He’s the fourth baby, he basically has no choice but to go with the flow. Except for now, when he’s working so hard to become a person that he forgets how to be chill.

The only thing he never forgets is eating. Finnegan eats so much he’s actually almost taking a bottle. That’s a huge accomplishment for one of my babies. He also eats: crackers, fruit, veggie sticks, rice, cheese, you know what, basically anything he can get into his face he will eat. Even if it’s not technically food. Paper is pretty high on his list of favorites. But all the solids haven’t slowed down the nursing at all, which is one of the reasons he’s up so many times a night and also why his thighs are so ridiculous. He wears 12-18 month clothes at minimum, and I’ve started taking stuff straight out of Linc’s drawers and put them on the baby.

Likes include food, nursing, standing up, crawling, knocking things over, the dog, the cat, his blankey, rolling, music, water, his feet, my feet, looking at new things, smiling, snuggles, dada, mama, his siblings, scratching me, pulling hair, laughing well you tell him not to bite.

Dislikes include being tired, falling on his face, getting stuck under the furniture, waking up alone, not being allowed to eat things he found under the couch.

How do you get an 8-month-old to stay in a chair for pictures? Physically push him down every 3 seconds. These are not all in focus because he is strong and fast.

Look at his filthy baby feet from walking around out on the porch. My inside floors are clean, but the porch is FILTHY.

8 Month Milestones

Mastered Skills (most kids can do)
Says “mama” or “dada” to parents (isn’t specific) – Is this really a skill most kids have at 8 months? He can say “mama” and “dada” but they don’t mean anything yet.
Passes objects from hand to hand – Yes

Emerging Skills (half of kids can do)
Stands while holding onto something – All the time now, and he can almost always sit back down again
Crawls – He can crawl. He mostly does a one legged monkey scoot, like his brothers before him. But he isn’t as fast or as adventurous as previous kids.
Points at objects – No pointing.
Searches for hidden objects – Sometimes

Advanced Skills (a few kids can do)
Pulls self to standing, cruises – Yes, mostly successfully
Picks things up with thumb-finger pincer grasp – Does it fit in his mouth? Then he will pick it up.
Indicates wants with gestures – No, he mostly just cries

(Lincoln 4 Months, Caroline 4 Months)

Finnegan had his 4-month checkup today on his actual fourth monthday. The nurse asked if I had a guess on his weight, and I said “Oh geeze, he’s really chubby. Probably 18 pounds.” Then I sat him on the scale and it said…exactly 18 pounds. That’s almost four pounds more than his 2-month check-up. He’s not technically off the charts yet and still on the normal curve considering he was huge at birth too, but he’s only average for height so the chunk is real. He comes by it honestly too, because he nurses so much. SO MUCH.

The combination of cold weather, his tendency to spit up after eating, and a 2-year-old brother who often runs away in public means poor Finn doesn’t get out as much as I would like. We’re homebodies right now. Pretty soon we’ll master nursing while babywearing (he just needs to be a tiny bit taller) and hopefully he won’t throw up on my so often and then we’ll go on a lot more adventures. For now most of his social life is his siblings and trips to Target. Which is most of MY social life as well.

Finn is wearing size 3 diapers but when this box runs out we’ll buy size 4s. He’s far too big for any 3 months clothes and almost too big for 6 month clothes. Most of his pajamas are actually 12-18 month sized because we roll the cuffs. His head is also too big for all the cute baby hats I bought so he got a nice new toddler sized winter hat from his sister for Christmas. He’s tall enough now that his feet touch the bottom of the Circle of Neglect (aka the exersaucer) flatly, so he’s started to spin himself around a little bit. It’s such a nice baby holding device when I am simply no longer capable of holding him myself. Not that I might holding him most of the time. The days when he just wants to nurse and sleep and nurse and I can sit on the couch without feeling any guilt for not getting house stuff done is going to end sooner rather than later.

He’s my last baby, and as last babies go, he’s doing an excellent job of making me both love having a baby and also being glad I won’t ever have to go through all the newborn stuff again.

Likes: Biting things, music, tickles, cuddles, smiling, meeting new people, nursies, his siblings, mommy, daddy, the baby swing, being awake at night, socks, being carried around everywhere, the exersaucer, his blankie, standing up.

Dislikes: Shots, teething, bad dreams, being alone.

The band-aids are from today’s shots, which happened only an hour before the photos so I didn’t want to yank them off. Besides, they match his 4 month sticker! The ankle marks are because his legs are too chubby for 2T socks.

4 Month Milestones 

Mastered Skills (most kids can do)
Smiles, laughs – He loves to do both
Can bear weight on legs – One of his favorite activities
Coos when you talk to him – He’s very vocal when he’s happy, lots of squealing

Emerging Skills (half of kids can do)
Can grasp a toy – Yes, but often drops them. He’s working towards being able to hold things in his mouth.
Rolls over, from tummy to back – Yes, pretty reliably now

Advanced Skills (a few kids can do)
Imitates sounds: “baba,” “dada” – No, just coos and giggles and loud noises
Cuts first tooth – TWO BOTTOM TEETH. But how is this a skill?
May be ready for solid foods – No one advises solids at 4 months anymore. He’s all milk.

I have no idea. I’m not sure why this is a thing, but I saw maternity photos like this in one of my photography groups and I’ve been dying to recreate them. I suppose it makes as much sense as pregnant women standing around in a field or on a beach or anywhere that isn’t Target or the grocery store.

Most of these are slightly out of focus, or at least nowhere near as sharp as “my” photos usually are. That’s because it’s impossible to stand in a creek AND stand behind the camera, so I had my husband take them. He did an amazing job, but I failed to double check my settings before passing over the camera and made some rookie mistakes. Life has been too crazy to go back and try to re-do them (and honestly, I doubt that’s going to happen before I give birth and I didn’t want to be in labor shouting “WAIT NO FIRST WE HAVE TO STOP AT THE CREEK”) so I edited them the best I could to fit my vision and you know what? They’re super. This is what a crazy pregnant woman who wants to climb around a creek in 90-degree weather at 37 weeks pregnant looks like.

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I feel like E needs extra credit for the above photo – Linc was just sitting there, waiting for me to get out of the water and E looked over and was like “Wow, that light!” and took a picture. I must be rubbing off on him.

And this photo of Evan is the one right before he pees in the creek.

Why yes, Caroline and I DID both bring multiple outfits to wear in a creek.

Super soon that baby on my back will be the big kid and a new baby will be the baby. I’m feeling a little sad about it, since Linc makes such a nice baby. He is cuddly and loves to be worn and still barely talks so it’s super easy to THINK of him as a baby. (As a sidenote, I’ve resubmitted him to Birth to 3 so hopefully this time we qualify for speech therapy because I have NO IDEAS left on how to get him to say real words.) But since he understands every single word I say, has started showing interest in the potty and sleeps in a real bed with no problem, he’s not really a baby. I’m pretty excited about having an actual real baby again. Or maybe I’m just really excited not to be pregnant anymore. DEFINITELY that last thing.