6 Months Already?!

Note: We've got a new blog name and look!  I thought this change would be more appropriate for the change in our family.  The old blog redirects to the new blog at http://adventuresofconnorandliam.blogspot.ca. All the old posts can be viewed here on this new blog, too.


It's hard to believe that Liam is 6 months already! The time is whizzing by so much faster it seems than it was with Connor. Here are some updates on his progress.

• Weighed in a couple of weeks ago at 17.5 lbs.

• Liam is working hard to crawl. He can do mini-push ups and then be on his knees for a short while and wiggles his bum! So cute!  He can also do a push-up onto his toes! I don't recall seeing this much with Connor but I guess it must have happened. Liam can roll and wiggle his way around quite a bit, so we have to be a lot more careful now when leaving him on a bed or on the floor.

• He has his two front bottom teeth! They started coming out a few weeks ago. The two teeth are about the same in height, and about 2 millimeters show through the gums. Other than one night at 4 months when he got a fever, Liam hasn't been much more fussy at all.

• Liam is eating solids!  We started about two weeks ago with homemade brown rice cereal, avocados, bananas, pears, oatmeal, and peaches. Making this stuff is time consuming, but it feels good to give Liam fresh homemade foods and I'm sure it must taste so much better. The brown rice is tough to get a non-lumpy smooth consistency, even with a small food processor. The oatmeal is a bit easier, but the problem is both take a long time to boil down soft enough. My second batch of hot brown rice broke my hand-held mixer (a rubber seal broke off at the base of the mixer. It still works but it is very dirty there and the inside is exposed, so I can't use it). Bananas an avocado are easy enough to mash down with a fork; same with the cooked pears and peaches, but then it takes time to cook them. So Liam has been eating slightly lumpy food and has been doing very well with it. It is easiest to make a smoother rice or oatmeal cereal if you grind it into a powder first. Since my old grinder is broken, I bought a new smaller Cuisinart Chopper/Grinder. It still won't pulverize the rice down to a fine powder, but it does get it into small pieces for faster cooking and a smoother result.

One of his first solid meals - rice cereal with breast milk.

We are also glad that Connor loves his little brother soooo much. I always tell Connor that they will be brothers forever and they need to love and take care of each other.

Connor loves to play with Liam, and hug and kiss him. Sometimes Connor gets a bit carried away though - he can get a bit rough or not-so-gentle, so we have to keep an eye on them.

Connor loves to pick Liam up and sit him up (to my dismay!).

Connor loves hugging Liam.

Connor's Latest Weigh-in

Just a quick update on Connor. He finally got weighed at the doctor on March 30 and he's now 15.5 kg (34 lbs) and 37 inches (94 cm) tall. Here his is a few weeks ago looking cool and posing for me.

I found an easy play dough recipe too.  Connor loved it and played for 3 hours with the dough! Recipe below, which I found at http://www.craftbits.com/project/baking-angel.

Dough Recipe 

• 3 1/2 cups of flour 
• 1 cup of salt 
• 1 1/4 - 1 1/2 cups of water

 Mix the flour and salt. Slowly add the water to the flour mixture and mix with a wooden spoon or plastic spatula until you get a stickier batter. Once the batter is stickier, use your hands to knead the mixture until it becomes dough.  Recipe makes quite a large lump of dough. The picture of Connor shows half the amount the recipe makes.

You are supposed to use the dough to create things and then bake it. I didn't do this, but the instructions are to place it on a baking tray and into the oven at 200 deg Celsius for around 20 minutes or until firm and hollow sounding.

Liam, Week 3

Liam had his third doctor's visit today and he weighed in at 10lbs 8oz! He is in the 85th percentile for boys - this means that 85 percent of 4-week old baby boys in Canada weigh the same as or less than Liam, and 15 percent weigh more. He also gained 1.5cm, his length is now 54.5cm.

I was surprised he is already over 10lbs - no wonder he seems SO heavy to me now (weakling that I am...). He doesn't seem to feed more than what I might think is a lot - it is still changing quite a bit, it ranges from every hour, 2 hours or 3 hours. But he doesn't feed for more than 10-15 minutes usually. He is a good sleeper most of the time. He will actually sleep on his own in his bassinet or in his bouncy chair. He's in Size 1 diapers and no longer fits the Newborn size for about a week now. The NB size sleepers no longer fit him either. He is noticeably chubbier too!

Here are a number of random photos, as I have not posted any for a while here on the blog. The first one, in the car seat, is from today. There is also with Uncle Andrew, who visited us last Friday.

Sleepyhead Liam

Liam had his second weigh-in at the doctor yesterday and he is doing well. Last weigh-in he was 7lb 12oz, and yesterday he was 8lb 3oz which according to the doctor is right on track - she even predicted that, if he gained accordingly (1oz a day, I think she said).

Here is a video from March 4th of Liam being very sleepy and I'm trying to wake him up. This little guy is a GOOD sleeper. No complaints there, but I do have to wake him up to feed every 2-3 hours to keep the milk supply up (the body produces as much as is needed). Note how his legs are crossed and one arm is again near his head. I think this must have been his regular position when he was inside me, as every ultrasound I saw did have one hand near his face and it would make sense that his legs are crossed when he was all curled up inside me.

Liam at 10 Days Old

Liam has been eating and sleeping well. It took a few days for him to really catch onto this business of breast feeding (had some trouble latching on each time and he always gets his little hands in the way), but he finally got the hang of it and I think he's starting to plump up! The photo of him sleeping here is from Friday, his one-week birthday!

After a feeding, Liam sleeps in his bassinet or in his crib without crying. This is such a new thing for us since Connor would never let us put him down to sleep when he was a baby.

We've been doing a lot of laundry too since Liam is very good at relieving himself right when we are changing his diaper! That plus the occasional diaper leak, milk spit-up (rare so far), and a few cloth diapers makes for lots and lots of laundry.

Connor has been excellent with Liam, thank goodness. He's always kissing Liam's head and petting his hair and saying "I love you, Liam". Connor decided to use his bear Keswick as his own 'baby'. He put a diaper on the bear and pretends to feed it breast milk from his own nipple!  It's so cute. Here he is posing for some photos with Liam and he's all smiles.

Connor recently had a growth spurt. He looks much bigger now, his thighs and arms are much larger. I had not been lifting him up for the past month or two while pregnant, and now I feel he's SO heavy I can barely lift him up (keep in mind I am still recovering though plus I'm a weakling!). We weighed Connor yesterday and he's 32.5 pounds, which is in the 50th-75th percentile according to this percentile calculator http://www.justmommies.com/articles/childrens_growth_calculator.shtml.