Our Guy

I keep saying this, but it's so hard to believe how fast Judson is growing and changing. These past seven months have flown by, and yet in some ways it seems like we've had him a lot longer. Here's what's going on right now:

Eating:
*He's still nursing fairly frequently, which continues to be quite the weight loss program for me.

*We have yet to find a food he doesn't like. We started him with rice cereal, but had some not-so-fun days of constipation, so we switched to just vegetables and fruits. That worked really well, and recently we started oatmeal. So far, so good. Anyway, after the rice cereal, Judson had prunes, and then avocado, carrots, sweet potatoes, butternut squash, peas, broccoli, and green beans (not quite in that order). Then, finally, it was time for fruit! So far, besides prunes and avocado, he's only had banana, which he loves. It was one of the first foods he tried that didn't result in an "icky face" to start with.

*I've made all of the food except for the prunes. I got a new food processor for Christmas and have REALLY enjoyed pureeing the different vegetables. (I have a little food mill for foods that don't have to be cooked and/or can't be pureed, like sweet potatoes, because they get gluey.)

Some of my colorful baby purees...frozen in ice cube trays, before being transferred to freezer bags.

Sleeping:
* Way back in January and February, Judson was doing a great job at night! He'd sleep anywhere from 7-9 hours before waking up to eat. Then he'd go right back to sleep. A few times he slept even longer (11 hours is his record.) Some nights he still does that, but others he wakes up every couple of hours all night long. Because I'm exhausted and I know what'll get him back to sleep, I generally just feed him and that's that...for a couple of hours.

* There have been a few nights lately where he's wide awake in the middle of the night and that is NOT my idea of fun. Eventually morning comes... **Since I started this post three days ago, we discovered his first tooth came through! Hopefully that explains all of the night wakings...**

* Recently I decided he needed to learn how to self-soothe, so he can get himself back to sleep when he wakes up at night. Though he's very easy to get to sleep in the evenings (usually between 7:00 and 7:30), we decided he needed to learn to cry it out. (We always made sure he was asleep or almost asleep before we'd leave him.) The first night was awful - an hour and twenty minutes of screaming (though there were quiet intervals toward the end of that time...before the screaming would start up again). I dreaded the second night, but he only fussed off and on for less than twenty minutes, and then he slept until 5:00! Woohoo! Though he's back to waking up at night (and I have yet to have him cry it out then), he's going down really easily and I've so pleased about that! The next step is dealing with the middle of the night wakings, but that's easier said than done, because our house is small and Nate needs to be able to function at work. We'll get it all figured out! =)

Other milestones:
* He just finally rolled from his back to his belly two weeks ago - shortly after he turned seven months. He'd been rolling to his side for ages, but never would go clear over. He hated being on his stomach, after all. Anyway, when he did it, it was like it was no big deal and the next day he was rolling all over the place. Apparently, he just likes to do things on his own timing.

* Now, when he's sitting up, he often lunges forward to reach things. I don't think it will be too long until he figures out how to get up on all fours.

*Like I mentioned above, we discovered his first tooth on Friday (June 4th). There really weren't many indications it was on its way. He's drooled and chewed on everything in sight since he was three and a half months old. And his sleeping hasn't been great for a long time. He was slightly fussier for a couple days, but I thought it was because the weather was so lousy and we weren't getting out as much. (Speaking of which, Judson's Auntie M {Mandy} and Uncle Justin gave him an outdoor swing and we hung it on our patio. He LOVES it and I've been so thankful it's in a protected area during these long, rainy days.)

Okay, I think I've covered the important things. =) For those of you who aren't on Facebook, you can click here to see a bunch of pictures from April and May. (Click on an individual picture to make it larger and then you can scroll through them all, if you're so inclined.)