So Big, yet So Small

At 7 months, I thought Dylan was so big, and in so many ways he was.  He was comfortably sitting, dressed in his 12-18 month jeans and T-shirt and eating three big meals a day.  He looked older than his months and compared to that helpless little newborn, he had come so far.  I moved him from his infant car seat to his group 1 as he was far too tall and well over the weight requirements for his 'big boy seat', and I watched him take in everything in awe and wonder.

Everything is different the second time around.  Rather than comparing Archie to the tiny baby he once was, I compare him to his older brother, who walks and talks and is a little boy not afraid to speak his mind.  Compared to him, Archie is still so small and so fragile still.  He is not yet crawling and his smile is still gummy.  He hasn't mastered any sounds other than blowing raspberries and he is as reliant on me as ever.

Although the months are flying by, and all the signs show me how much Archie is growing, I am reluctant to let go of the baby mentality.  Archie is still nursed to sleep, he still wears sleepsuits all day long when we are having a quiet day and his porridge in the mornings is still fed to him on a spoon.  I am ignoring the fact that the 6-9 month vests are slowly being packed away as the 9-12 month hoodies come out of storage.  I am ignoring the fact that Archie is quite content to feed himself, and is busy mastering his pincer grip.

I am ignoring the fact that today I noticed a change in his laugh.  It no longer sounds like that newborn giggle that I loved for so long, but it is now the big belly laugh of a small child.  It is louder, longer and just as beautiful but it is different and bigger and more grown up.

Archie still needs me and there is something so heartwarming about being needed that much, even if it is hard to remember that during the night feeds.  When he cuddles into me in the dark to fall back asleep, he is just so tiny and so fragile that I bring my knees up to warm him and protect him as a natural instinct.  

My little man is so big in so many ways, 7 months have seen so many changes and so many milestones but he is still so little, so precious and my baby boy.

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7 Months In

Archie is now 7 months old and despite him having come so far from that precious newborn he was only a few short months ago, he still seems so little.  This month has seen the 9-12 month clothes start to come out of hiding and many are a comfortable fit on him.  As Dylan was so much bigger, his 9-12 clothing is the right season (even though hDylan was only born in the August), which is making things much easier and cheaper.

Archie is now having three meals a day and we are almost exclusively baby led weaning.  I do still have puree in the house for those days when I am too lazy to cook anything nutritional for him but he is generally eating the same as we are and is much happier for it.  This month he has been loving the introduction of meat and fish, and his favourite foods seem to be pasta in tomato sauce and sweet potato.  

Archie is also having water from a beaker quite happily now, although he has decided that he is not so keen on the milk.  I attended the MAD blog awards last week and Archie refused to drink milk from a bottle during my absense, making leaving him very hard work at the moment.  We are going to attempt it soon from a beaker or cup and see if he will be happier with that.

Sleep has been all over the place and after getting into a brilliant routine with just a 4am wake up, we regressed to feeds every 3/4 hours through the night.  I am hoping it was just a growth spurt as the last couple of nights have been much better, but he has been waking up ready for the day at 5:30 some days and I am not budging from my viewpoint that this is, in fact, the middle of the night still.  At this age, Dylan was happily sleeping 14 hours through the night without a feed so I am finding it difficult still being up so much with Archie.

Dylan and Archie are still getting on so well, and Dylan is desperate for Archie to play with him.  He will often turn down all of his toys, insisting that he only wants to play with Bubba, and he will spend the afternoon giving Archie toys and over enthusiastic cuddles.  Archie is desperate to be on the move and follow Dylan as well and I can't wait to see where they are at in a couple of months.

Archie is still rolling all over the place and would be out the door and across the road given half a chance.  He is really trying to move but so far no crawling (thank goodness).  He certainly won't be still sat immobile on his first birthday like his big brother though!  Archie's favourite pastime at the moment is definitely bouncing and you will mostly find him in the Jumperoo.  He won't stay still (which is making getting a good photo of him on my camera phone very difficult!)

7 months in to life as a family of four, and new adventures are about to begin once the littlest gets more mobile

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