It has been a busy few months? A busy spring? Summer? I'm just bad at updating lately.
I spend my days trying to keep the littles fed and watered, enough to quell the two year old crying and whining, so that I can have a minute to use the bathroom, or do other normal things which I have forgotten are actually normal things. Then I stay up late watching tv or reading into the middle of the night for some "me time", which just causes me to lose more sleep and be tired again in the wee morning hours that my toddlers deem necessary to wake up (and then wake the rest of the house up as well). Don't they know that genetically they should also be night owls? I'm wondering if this stuff skips a generation and they're actually morning people, who take instead after their grandma. I'm guessing it's payback from my own childhood. That has got to be it!
Our littlest Smeltz turned four months, then five, then six and seven months! Where is the time going? He has gotten quite big (really big) and started doing all kinds of new things in the last few months.
At four months old we celebrated Tanners first Easter at Grandma & Grandpas house. The kids all got chocolate and toys, and were quite spoiled. Grandma & Grandpa gave the kids clothes and toys from their recent trip to Australia. (We still have Easter candy three months later...)
Five months and he was crawling! (What?!) He did this bear love where he would get up onto all fours like a little bear and try to move forward. Then he tried being an inchworm, but it was really slow. So finally he devised a plan to move like a seal, using his arms like a seal would use their flippers, to push himself up and then violently throw himself forwards. He got really quite fast at it and it's still his quickest way to move around, although now at seven months he has strayed to crawl in the normal hand to knee alternation.
At five months, we visited Grandma & Grandpa at the lake for the May long weekend. We also got a visit at the beginning of June from Grannie & Grampa, so it was a month full of grandparents and cuddles for our little guy. Which I know he loved, because he never stopped smiling.
He had his six month vaccinations on June 20th and he is a big boy! He weighed 21lbs 6.5oz (97th %) and he was 26.5" long (50th %). His height to weight measurement was off of the charts at well over 100%. I'm certain he will slim out once he starts moving around more. There's a reason his nickname is Tank.
We now are giving him baby oatmeal and trying out new foods. He has had orange, peach, banana, blueberry, raspberry, strawberry, bread, bagel, chicken, cheerios, fries, cake, icing and marshmallows. (Notice how that list went from fruit to junk food? It's because of camping season. We do not give him junk much at all really.) At first he didn't seem to enjoy eating solids as he pushed them out of his mouth with his tongue when using a spoon. We tried his mesh baby feeder and that went over well, but it was nearly impossible to clean, so we just started giving him tiny bits of foods we were eating, along with baby cereal and finger foods like cheerios.
He also went camping for the first time last month, over Father's Day weekend June 13-15, and seemed to really enjoy it. We went camping again in July, out to Banff and that's when he got all of the sugary foods. It was his uncles birthday.
He also went to the Drumheller Dinosaur Museum for the first time on June 19th. And he played at the splash park all by himself on July 16th. (He kept crawling towards the cement pad and the water from the blanket, which was about ten feet away. I kept bringing him back but he was very determined so I let him explore and I'm certain there were other moms there who we're wondering who in heck would let a baby play alone at the splash park. But he loved it.)
At some point in the last few weeks, he has also started manoeuvring himself from crawling to sitting to crawling again, so he's now fully mobile and is ninja fast. He also has a grip on anything he can get his hands onto and does not let go. Overall his disposition has never changed and he is still the. Happiest baby I've ever seen. I only hope that he will stay this way throughout toddlerhood. For my own sanity really.
We love him beyond words and are so very thankful to have him in our lives. I can't believe how close he is now to 8 months old. That's 3/4 of a year already! It seems like he was just born and should be tiny, but he's 23lbs & 27" (as of today) and a healthy big guy. I can't remember what life was like before he arrived, but it feels like he has always been here.
I will add pictures as soon as I find the time! (So when he is in university perhaps...) or you can check out my Facebook page for up to date photos.
