Nine Months Old!
Malachi is nine months old! He has five teeth now and is finally interested in eating something other than milk! He is cruising along the furniture like a pro and crawling all over the place. I think he’s figuring out how to wave the last couple days and when I throw a blanket over his head he pulls it off and giggles. He also likes to play “tickle fingers” and starts giggling as soon as he sees them coming for him. Unfortunately for me, he is still nursing through the night, waking anywhere from 3-6 times. I would try to break him of this habit, but because his weight gain hasn’t been very good, I feel he probably needs these night nursings when he isn’t distracted. I am looking forward to the day when I can sleep eight straight hours without waking! He is a pretty happy baby, especially recently it seems. I think he gets less frustrated because he is able to physically move to the place he wants now. It also seems that just within the last couple weeks his little mind is absorbing so much more. We’ve been reading the pop-up book, “The Wheels on the Bus” every night. After just a couple days, he recognized the book when I got it out and smiled real big. He smiles now every night when I pull it out. He also likes our little candle lighting routine at bedtime. He loves the candle. He also recognizes the word ‘daddy.’ When I ask him, “Where’s Daddy?” he turns his head to look at him. I think now is the time to really start concentrating on teaching sign language. He also has recognized “No” for a little while and when mama says “no” he knows that means ‘don’t touch that” and is usually quite good at obeying. Can’t wait to see what the next month brings!
Seven Months
I’m savoring these days. Every giggle, every belly laugh…I savor. Watching him learn to pull himself up, smiling at the goats and trying to pet them, rocking him to sleep, and then watching him sleep. He’s got two teeth now. He hasn’t been terribly interested in eating solids, but has tried zucchini, carrots, sweet potatoes, nettle soup, pureed chicken, steak, and salmon. He did really go after the chicken yesterday, opening his mouth for the next bite. He also started drinking from a sippy cup a couple days ago. He’s got the crawl postition down but hasn’t figured out how to go forward yet. He mostly gets frustrated when he’s on his belly and prefers to stand holding on to something. I did a day of focused E.C. a few days ago and he went in his potty eight times before 3:00. Not bad for seven months old : ) I never would have believed it if I hadn’t tried it myself. There was a newborn baby at the house a few days ago. I couldn’t believe how tiny he was. Suddenly Malachi seemed huge! The time truly does fly. He will be 21 before I know it. But I don’t want to stop time. I don’t want him to stay this way forever. I can’t wait to see the man this little guy grows up to be.
Changes
Malachi has changed so much this past month. He can sit up although still a bit wobbly (i don’t know how to spell wabbly…wabbaly…hmmm). He is really reaching for things and he has begun to eat oat cereal. It’s so hard for me to believe that before long he will be a little boy running around and talking. Unbelievable.
I was thinking today back to our very first post on here. It was and is Adam’s and my desire to know God so that we might be living examples to Malachi of what a living relationship with God is like. We want God to change us, to make us into the best teachers we can be for him. It’s interesting how God has been answering this prayer in our lives, but He has. We’ve been digging deeper into the Word than I ever have before. I am depending on Him in ways I never have before. He has exposed so much of my heart to me. Teaching me to fear Him, obey Him, trust Him, and love Him. He is so good. So, so good.
Holding onto Daddy’s Ears.
We went for a walk today at Chestnut Ridge and forgot to bring the baby carrier. So…not too far into our walk, Adam puts Malachi up on his shoulders. I was really not very excited about this, although Malachi didn’t seem to mind. The funny thing was that he grabbed onto both of Adam’s ears like they were handles. It was so cute! I wish I’d had my camera.
In other news, I’m dabbling with the idea of putting Malachi on a schedule. I’ve been reading about this book called My First 300 Babies. I’m starting to wonder if routine is what Malachi needs. The idea that having a predictable routine provides security for a baby and therefore results in a more content baby makes sense to me. And apparently the book must be special. One site was selling it for over $1,000.
Figuring out my Baby and Potty Training
This post will be extremely boring to pretty much everyone other than myself. It will also be choppy because it’s 11:30 at night, and I’m thinking about sleep, not grammar or eloquence. It’s mostly here for me. Read if you so desire, but don’t read it and wonder if I actually thought that would be interesting reading to someone. : )
I cannot figure out my baby. The majority of the time he needs a little assistance falling asleep. Sometimes I rock him, sometimes nurse, and sometimes I put him in the crib and pat his bottom. Not usually any big deal. But when he gets overtired it can be a real task getting him to sleep. Easter, for example. Overstimulation pretty much sums it up. A hundred people in his face and wanting to hold him. Not a happy baby at all. Getting him to sleep that evening was a two hour job. I have discovered a few tricks to use in such situations. The first is that there is an art to “the bounce.” If I know he needs to get to sleep and someone else is holding him, it pains me to watch their attempts at accomplishing this. There is a special bounce…they have to be smooth big bounces best done barefoot and Malachi has to be held upright, not sideways. If you hold him sideways, there is a different bounce. I can’t describe it, only demonstrate. Another trick that I use if all else fails is his Magic Sleep Suit. Actually its just a super padded winter outfit with bear ears on the hood and enclosed hands and feet. Put him in that and he’s usually out within 30 seconds.
But here’s what gets me. Occasionally, he will put himself to sleep. I love it when he does this. But tonight was weird. We went to a banquet with about 600 people. He was the only baby there. 600 people, probably somewhere around 300 women, and ONE baby. What does that spell? OVERSTIMULATION for baby. So about half way home he starts crying. Screaming is more like it. So I’m expecting a repeat of Easter. And I can’t use the sleep suit because its 75 degrees and he would roast. So we get home (he has stopped crying now), I get his wet diaper off and put him in the bedside crib on his tummy. (Yes, I let him sleep on his tummy). No crying. He has his head up looking around a bit, but looking very sleepy. I straighten up the bedroom. He’s still looking around. I straighten up some things in the living room and come back in to check on him. Still looking around. A few minutes pass and I check on him again. This time his head is down, but his eyes are still open and he is just staring ahead. I want to pick him up so bad!!! He looks so sad, so forsaken. I’m worried because I think he should be crying. Why isn’t he crying? I simply cannot figure out why he will sometimes go to sleep like this, but most of the time wants arms to get him there.
He’s the same way with a bottle. I had given up on giving him a bottle because he refused it so many times. Then out of the blue, he takes it from my mom the other night. I thought he had forgotten how and she said he didn’t even hesitate. So the next day I give it a try. Sure enough, he CHUGS three ounces without hesitation! I couldn’t believe it. I try it again later that afternoon. Refusal. So I’m thinking perhaps I’m just pushing it too much in one day. So I waited a couple days and tried it again. He drinks one ounce and then refuses to take any more. Stinker!
In potty news, Malachi has managed to acquire a fungal infection and I have been unable to get rid of it. The cloth diapers seemed to making it worse, so we temporarily went to disposables until we could nip it in the bud. It seemed to be gone, and when we went back to cloth, it was back that same day. So, back to disposables. Anyway, the point is, it has motivated me to experiment with the whole EC thing I posted about previously, so he’s been diaperless a lot too. The amazing thing to me is that when I hold him on his baby potty, he goes about 80% of the time. That whole theory that babies don’t have bladder control has been blown out of the water for me. It can’t possibly be coincidence. I set him over his potty and he will immediately start to pee or poo. Sometime I have to wait 10 or 20 seconds but still. So why don’t I just always do this you ask? Because even though he goes on the potty, he will still go 20 or 30 minutes later when he isn’t on his potty. It’s all very interesting and I’m really looking forward to seeing if it’s possible to do potty training as early as one year old.
That’s it. Going to bed.
Malachi’s Milestones
Malachi has been strong since he was born, especially impressive since he was early. His head control has been ahead of the expected norm and he’s been bearing his weight while held really well for a month now. No worries in the motor development department. But we’ve been waiting for the smile. I knew I should be giving him some extra time since he was born early, but I’ve been getting paranoid anyway. About a week ago it looked like he gave daddy a smile, but then nothing until yesterday. Mama was sticking her tongue out and apparently that was funny because it elicited a smile. Then this morning mama was again trying to get a smile and puffed out her cheeks and made a funny noise and this time… undeniably a smile. Then he did it again for dad. I cried. I love it. So precious.
Malachi’s Birth Story
My midwife encouraged me to write my birthstory. If you don’t like details, skip this one.
December 8 - My midwife comes to the house to do our home visit. My urine test comes out with a +2 for protein and my blood pressure reads 145/??… up from 112/70. Not good. Looks like PIH (pregnancy induced hypertension). They put me on a HIGH protein diet and a BUNCH of herbal and natural remedies hoping to stave off preeclampsia. As long as I remain asymptomatic they will go ahead and deliver me. However, knowing that the condition cannot be reversed and that I still have three weeks until my due date, I’m not particularly optimistic. So we start praying for healing or for an early delivery. Towards the end of the week, my protein and BP have shown no improvement and I am getting really worn out on trying to get enough protein down every day.
December 15 (3 weeks before due date) 7:30pm - I get up from lying down and my water breaks. I call the midwife. She is on her way to another delivery. She tells me to take a shower, get some rest and call her when contractions start. We’re both thinking it could still be a little while since this is my first. After finishing my shower my contractions have started. This time she tells me to call her when they are five minutes apart. They are sporadic but I am surprised by the intensity of some of them, thinking that I thought they were supposed to be mild towards the beginning.
9:00pm - We decide we better hed over to my parents (where we planned with the midwife to have the baby) because this baby may just come sooner than we expected.
9:30pm - We arrive at my parents and find out that my brother is leaving at 5:00am for a week long mission with the national guard. He had planned the trip so that he wouldn’t miss the birth. I tell him that I seriously doubt this baby is going to be born before 5:00am. But I start praying that he will anyway.
10:00pm - I call the midwife again because although my contractions are still about 7 minutes apart, they are quite intense.
11:05pm - The midwife delivers the other baby and placenta and heads over to our house
12:00am - Midwife arrives and Adam and mom help her with setting up the back-up pool. ( I end up never using this because the house ran out of hot water and by the time they got it ready we decided it was best not to use it anyway)
12:45am - I’m really not sure if this was the time she first checked me, but when she did she was shocked to find I was already 8-9 cm dilated. I think it was also about this time that I went from about 6-7 minutes apart down to 3-4 minutes apart.
1:30am - Pushing begins. At this point the time between contractions is simply a time of dread waiting for the next one. My whole body has been shaking for a few hours now. My thighs and back are burning intensely. The midwife informs me that my outlet is tighter than average and they were also quite concerned about me tearing for other reasons. So they encourage me to take it slow with the pushing. I was then totally freaked out that I was going to rip wide open and was really hesitant about pushing. So I started praying that God would protect from tearing.
3:04am - Malachi Adam is born. The most beautiful thing I’ve ever set eyes on. Also I had no tearing. A very intense 7 hour labor, but totally worth it. And Uncle David got to hold his nephew before he had to leave! Praise God!
Malachi has arrived!
Malachi Adam Leu made an early entrance into the world Monday morning at 3:04, weighing just 5 pounds 14 ounces! He surprised us all with his timing, his size, and his gender! Sunday evening my water broke at 7:30 and labor started just a half hour later. I called to notify our midwife and she was on her way to another delivery! She delivered that baby at 11:00pm and made it to our house by midnight. After just seven hours of labor, Malachi was born! Malachi is doing great, eating and sleeping great! We are enjoying every minute and praising God for his provision, timing, and wonderful gift!
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