aiden + mommy eight months update!

 (to give an idea of size, that is the same picture frame shown in my 28 week bumpdate)

eight MONTHS

I'll be doing monthly updates like this for Aiden's first year. Aiden is currently 38 weeks old! Things have been understandably a little busy the last while, so forgive me that I'm not on any kind of blogging schedule for now. (: 

Here's how our eighth month has been!

MOMMY

Body:
It dawned on me recently that if we have more babies in the relative/near future, my hair could start looking like I have all of these unintentional wispy layers. It'll be thick while I'm pregnant and fall out afterward and start growing back in between babies.  I'll have all kinds of lengths of hair and I'll have to somehow convince people I'm not crazy. 

Can we talk about my brain for a minute, too? Aiden has been sick over the last few days and so I've been getting less than 4 hours of sleep a night. This morning I was putting a pot of coffee on and let it brew while I went upstairs to change him. When we came back down, there was a slight burny smell  and exactly no sign of the wonderful smell of wakey-wakey juice wafting through the air. When I approached the coffee pot, I saw that the contents of the pot were clear. A lot like water. A lot like water that never got poured from the coffee pot and into the coffee maker to you know: make coffee. So there you have it. I poured my clear water into the coffee maker, folded towels and then I had coffee. 
I can do hard things.

(On Cyber Monday I made sure to take advantage of Starbucks' sale and stock up on instant coffee for the next 13 years. In hindsight this was a good idea.) 

"Mom, I'm going over the packing slip and it shows that all of the coffee is for you and none is for me."
Well,

Exercise/Weight loss:
Total pregnancy weight gain: 36 pounds
Total weight loss: 36.6 pounds
Weight to lose for pre-baby weight: 0 pounds
Weight to lose for wedding weight (last goal): 6.4 pounds 

I'm up 0.4 pounds from last month but to be fair and everything I have been a little sick and water-retenty. That and with pumping one time for the first time in a long time, I determined I was not eating/drinking enough which could also explain why Aiden still wakes up 3-4 times a night to nurse. So I kind of gave up the ghost and eat extra ice cream all in the name of making sure my baby is fed. It's torture. Sweet, chocolatey torture. See that sign behind us in the picture? It says, "Enjoy the little things in life for one day you'll look back and realize they were the big things." Little things. Like babies. And ice cream.

 If I don't lose the rest of the weight that I want to right away, it's no big deal. I'm still happy to have lost the baby weight. And now that we have snow, 'tis the season to get lots of outdoor exercise. Pulling a kid on a sled through fluffy snow is no joke, people. By the time we get back from taking the mail out my quads are on fiyaaaaaaa and then we walk and run a whole bunch more. By "we" I mean "me" because what 8 month old can run? And shoveling the decks and walkways is always a really good core and back workout! Deck the walkways with shovels of snow fa la la la la, la la la la! 

Emotions:

Things have been better for the most part. I still have my tough days and I have to remind myself that I have to die to self daily... There have been days where I wonder "how did they (other mothers, farther along in the game than I) do it?" And I remember that they, like I, have had hard days because going from a person to mother is an immediate shift that is not promised to come easy each day. Giving of yourself to be a mother is a choice that has to be made over and over again. Not every day, but every moment of every day. It is a fine balance between getting things done that you want to get done (so that you don't have to anxiously worry that someone is going to see your home and see you unfit because of how messy your house is even though you're trying so hard to make it look like you do have it together (somewhat)...) and caring for the children who need you 100% of the time (except nap time), when some days they don't take naps and some nights they don't sleep. Days like these are a refining fire that burn in a way I haven't felt in a long time. Maybe that's why this has been something I have been struggling with. God is refining me from person to mother. Oh, the refining fire burns, but I know God is using this to help me become a better mom and wife with every passing day. 

Aiden and I go on short nature walks and have prayer time outside almost every day and it does help for me to get out and of course Aiden enjoys it too. It's our special time together. Talking with Jason about what is going on in my head/feeling space when I have these tough days helps too. I have to remind myself too that people can't read my mind, so I have to actually explain things to help them understand. Like why the floor is sopping wet and why the child looks like a Swiffer mop and trying to convince people that the two instances are unrelated to each other, promise.* 

*He likes to play in the cat water fountain and if he gets there before me: wet floor. He has pajamas that are made out of towely material on the outside, so when he crawls all over the house...he really does look like a Swiffer mop because who has time to mop anyway.

AIDEN

Below: Swiffer baby.

Height/Weight:

At eight months, Aiden is 28 inches long and weighs 18 pounds 7 ounces! This puts him in the 42nd percentile for height and the 30th percentile for weight! And his cranial circumference is in the 95th percentile! haha (: (In other words, he had a big head (: )

Refresher course:
+ At seven months he was 27 1/2 inches long and 17 pounds 13 ounces

+ At six months he was 27 1/4 inches long and 17 pounds 6 ounces

+ At five months he was 27 1/4 inches long and 16 pounds 13 ounces

+ At four months he was 26 inches long and 16 pounds

+ At three months he was 25 1/2 inches long and 14 pounds 10 ounces

+ At his two month check up he was 24 1/4 inches long and 13 pounds 7 ounces

+ At one month he was 22 inches long and 10 pounds 8 ounces

+ At birth he was 20 1/2 inches long and 6 pounds 14 ounces

2 weeks / 7 weeks / 15 weeks / 20 weeks / 24 weeks / 29 weeks / 34 weeks / 38 weeks

Hair/Eye color:
I'm pretty sure at this point that Aiden's eyes are going to be permanently blue! (: This is Aiden's 8 month update but he will be 9 months old in less than a week and from what I've read that's usually the time when babies' eye color is set and decided. So I think we have ourselves a little blue eyed boy! (: They're a dark gray blue, they basically just lightened up from being a very dark gray blue from when he was first born. It's still hard to pinpoint exactly what color his hair is. All in the same day it can look like his hair is sandy blonde, brown, or red, just depending on the lighting of the room/outdoors, or if his hair is brushed or messy. His hair is getting long enough in the back that we can see he has very tight curls forming! But the curls are only that tight on the back and sides of his head and his hair there is still very short. If his hair is like mine, the curls will open up as it gets longer. The curls on top of his head are looser where his hair is longer (: His hair is usually pretty frizzy in the back since it's so short and from nap time it gets messed up easily. I call this the little duck phase. Because he looks like a cute little duck with little duck fluff on the back of his head. (:

Routine:
His routine is pretty set, but we are thankful that he is a bit flexible that if his routine gets disrupted it usually isn't too hard for him to bounce back. It's usually only tough if what we're doing prevents him from getting enough nap time throughout the day - then the days following he can be a bit cranky and less willing to take naps. Seems a bit counterintuitive. haha. Usually his routine only gets messed up really bad if we are out and about a lot on the weekends, driving places where he falls asleep in the car for only 20-30 minutes and wakes up when the truck stops in a new place with new people, etc. He usually only naps at home too, so if we are away from home all day it can be hard getting him to sleep. He wakes around 8am now, then takes his morning nap between around 10:30 and sleeps until shortly before noon. Then he will take another nap starting soon before 2 and if he takes a really good afternoon nap he will be down until 3:30/4:00pm. And then sometimes he has a short 20-30 minute cat nap in the evening. He goes to bed for the night around 11pm and wakes 3-4 times in the night to nurse. He's been waking up more in the night because he is teething like crazy! In between nap times, he nurses, plays with me, and plays by himself while I work or do house work.

Sleeping:

Not much has changed except now it has started to become more common for him to take a short evening nap after Jason gets home from work. But it has also become more common for him to fight sleep during the day so sometimes he doesn't take naps at all. This kid is a go-getter. I mean what baby doesn't sleep at all, all day? This led to me inventing a great invention where mom could take a nap and baby would be safely confined in the room with mom and all would be well. Marshmallows and the remainders of my sanity were involved in the making of this idea. I pitched the idea to Jason and he only half-thought I was crazy before I asked him if he thought I was crazy and that if he does, he's the one who married me and I have his signature to prove it. But for what it's worth, I never take naps. That whole nap when your baby naps thing is impossible unless you have a maid, a chef, and twelve nannies, just for good measure. I have taken approximately 3 naps since Spring. Coffee, anyone?

Eating:

He still doesn't each much solid food. I'm lucky if I can get him to eat two bites of anything. The other night, Jason fed him with him sitting in his lap and he ate about 3 ounces of taco soup! That is by far the most solid food he has ever eaten in one sitting! The next day I tried the same thing, but all I got was taco soup all over his face. I have to wonder if it's a thing similar to how breastfed babies will often only take a bottle from anyone except mom and that maybe that's why he would only eat solid food when Jason feeds him.
So then Jason tried feeding him a second time, again in his lap, and all his got was a turned head and exactly no food in his mouth. So I am back to square one and still totally confused.
Pictured left: Swiffer baby.

Clothing sizes:

It's so hard to believe it's getting to that time where I need to switch out his clothes for the bigger size again! Some of his 9 month clothes are getting a little snug, but that's still the size he's wearing for now, along with some 6-12 month clothes. I'm kind of glad that clothing sizes start being a little more spread out after 1 year. It's a lot of work switching out an entire wardrobe every 3 months. And how in the world do baby clothes take up so much space! I have two large storage tubs filled with his clothes from newborn to 6 months. I had to buy a tub just for when I go to put his 9 month clothes away. Ay yi yi.

Developments:
+ He has been teething like crazy! There have been some tough days where he cries and cries from the pain :( And they are all top teeth so I think they hurt more than his little bottom teeth did when they came through. He is teething four teeth and three of the four new teeth have cut through. He now has a total of five teeth! The new teeth he has include one of his two top front teeth and his two outer incisors. (His upper lateral incisors, if you want to be fancy.) And he has his two bottom front teeth from when he was 4 months old. His other front tooth might come in just in time for Christmas! haha
+ His separation anxiety has been increasing as he gets older. From what I've read it's supposed to peak around 10 months. I have proof of this because Santa came to our town and I honestly thought that he would not cry sitting in his lap because so many people hold him at church and he does fine with people holding him. (Until he gets tired and just wants to sleep, anyway.) So to my surprise, when we saw Santa the second we put him in his lap his face wrinkled up and he started crying! :( Thankfully there was a guy at the Santa booth that was taking pictures for people that suggested we take a family photo first before handing him to Santa. (Before the crying could begin.)

 Here I am in this picture, naive and thinking, "Guy, I appreciate it but you don't know my kid. He's not going to cry." And then he did. 
+ He still crawls on his belly, but he has gotten so much faster! Jason says it looks like he's swimming with the almost gliding motion he does across the floor. He has gotten up on his hands and knees and made a couple of wobbly crawls forward though! (: But then he decides he's not going fast enough and flops back down onto his belly haha
+ He can easily pull himself up to a standing position onto any object and rarely plops down. He has also begun to learn how to gently sit back down from standing. 
+ He can furniture walk a bit, but if you try to tell him to come to you and if he's more than one or two steps away he will usually just stay where he is haha

+ He has stood a couple of times completely unassisted by anything, but it's very brief. The longest was maybe 5 seconds.
+ He has taken up yodeling! Well. That's what I call it. It's so much more fun sounding. His most common yodels are "too-da-loo" (Yes, too-da-loo.) and "Yo-da-loh". See? Yodeling. He is part German. Now he just needs some Lederhosen and a goat. I will name the goat Güstaf.
+ He has discovered his tongue and I think this is my favorite discovery of his! He will stick his tongue out anywhere from just a little bit, to letting it hang out all over the place. He has made more than just Jason and I giggle over it! It's just the cutest thing to me. 
+ He has started playing "baby games" where he picks up a toy and drops it. You hand it back to him. He drops it. Repeat this over and over and over. Those kind of baby games, haha. 

General Preferences: 

+ Being snuggled is still his favorite thing. He snuggles up to everyone unless he's feeling separation anxiety-ey.

+ He loves being outside and playing in the snow. He almost always comes along with me to take the mail out in the mornings and so I pull him along behind me in his little saucer sled. (: If there are a lot of packages to go out, he carries them for me in his little helper bag. He's like my little winter mail-piece carrier (: He enjoys the snow so much that he will often cry a little when it's time to come inside!

+ He likes playing with his truck and anything that has wheels (his high chair, other toys with twisty knobs on them, etc) and making truck noises.

+ He is still a huge fan of bath time! Now he gets so rigorous with splashing I think I end up just about as bathed at the end of his bath as he does.

+ He loves it when Jason and I laugh and smile, especially if its from something he did.

+ He loves peek-a-boo and being tossed up in the air, blocks, and toys with knobs and lights. (By this last part I mean the washer and dryer)

+ Speaking of baby games, now Aiden doesn't intentionally go to the cat fountain to get soaking wet the way he used to - now he will start crawling over there and when I see him getting close, I race after him and he starts cracking up. Sometimes he still makes it there before me and he will get soaking wet when he does, but sometimes he will even wait right in front of the fountain just long enough for me to notice and have to chase him. Haha

+ He loves his Jolly Jumper, especially if I tickle him while he's jumping. Then he really gets going!
+ He loves standing up. He will try pulling himself up onto anything. Even if I'm sitting with my legs on the ground, he will try to pull himself up to a stand using my legs. And of course he hangs on me when I'm standing too. (:
+ He loves music and making his own music! He sometimes tries to sing along when we sing to him and he loves musical instruments!

+ General preferences. Can I have a general preference? Track suits - Baby.tracksuits. They are the best thing ever invented. I am going to make a calendar with a picture of Aiden in a different track suit for every month and send them out to all of my family and friends. It's all necessary.

What we've been up to:

+ The bathroom is still not finished. I keep telling you! Give it six months. Anyway, I finished painting it for now, and most of the trim has gone up, but there is still one wall that needs to be painted. It was the wall with wallpaper on it, and the wall itself is seemingly...unfinished, so if I would paint over it it wouldn't look all that great. I mean there's uneven mud lines and everything. We  I have talked about putting a window in that bathroom because the room hardly gets any natural light from other rooms as it is, and it's so dark and dungeoney so the drywall on that wall would need to come down to put a window in anyway. But we have a ton of other projects we need to finish and it's also winter so cutting a big hole in the wall to the OUTSIDE WORLD seems a little silly at this juncture. Like I keep saying. Six months. Oh, and I also want to add a frame around the mirror in that bathroom and to do so, we need to move one of the outlets in the existing wall. Hi, my name is Marlyssa and I don't have a tendency to make anything more complicated than it needs to be, ever. Denial is the first step to acceptance, isn't it?

+ Going along with the house project theme, we finished making our baby gate for the top of the stairs! It's given me a lot of peace of mind and we've only had it finished for a week or so. Our stairway is big and open, so it echoes. And my little Aiden, lover of all things sound and music-ey, always crawls to the top edge of the stairs and makes his baby babble noises so he can hear it echo. He's never tried too fervently to make any moves that would cause him to tumble down the stairs, but we don't need to try or start now. Now with the gate there, he can still make all his baby babble and hear it echo without me having to worry and constantly chase after him when he goes that direction (which he always does!). We built it in a way so that it matches our stair banisters except that we spaced the spindles apart the same distance as on a crib. This way no one's head will get stuck. And let's face it: in our house that probably would happen.

+ On the eve of finishing the baby gate with Jason, I stared at the stairs (Celebrity Homonym, anyone?) and thought out loud, "Now all we need is one of those gym mat slides that folds out going down the stairs for Aiden to slide down on."

Jason: "Oh, so like an indoor sledding hill."

Me: "...or, you know, like, a slide."

(one of these)

+ We finished the pocket door for the laundry room! Here's a little sneak peek - we still have work to do in there so yes there is still construction stuff laying around. (: The door was a Craigslist find from over a year ago and was not originally meant to be used for this project. You never know when stuff will come in handy!

+ We also finished the "lift kit" for the washer and dryer. Originally our washer and dryer were on those neat drawer type things, but ever since being pregnant I cannot fold laundry that high up because it hurts my back way too much. So we took the drawers off, but then I was squinting like an old lady trying to read what the dials said because they were so low. So we did a happy-medium type thing and lifted them a few inches off the ground. Now I can read what the dials say and the washer and dryer aren't too high up for my back. We plan on building a table top over the washer and dryer so that I have a really nice folding area and we want to put some cabinets in as well. I'm also going to be sewing some curtains for the laundry closet since we took the bi-fold doors out. But, one thing at a time. Right now it's just been really nice that our washer and dryer and piles of clean and dirty laundry are out of sight from the front door!

+ In the last update I had said it had looked like the snow we had gotten was there to stay for the Winter. Nope! It all melted again over the couple of weeks following that post and we could see our entire yard in all of its green-grass-ness in mid-December. Mid-December! It was only in the last week or so that we got snow again. It's been a really nice Winter so far because it hasn't gotten so awfully cold like it normally does. I don't mind Winter so long as it stays above 16 degrees or so. And for sure as long as it's not 40 and 50 below zero I mean come on.

+ We celebrated Aiden's first Thanksgiving with friends from our church and Aiden got to wear his "first Thanksgiving" onesie!
+ On the same note, we got to start a new Christmas tradition for Aiden which is putting on flannel Christmas sheets in his crib once Thanksgiving is over while we await Christmas Day. I think it's safe to say he loves the cuddly flannel! 

+ We've been going out and playing in the snow most days and we have our nature walks and prayer time too. Aiden loves watching the snow fall from inside the house too! He could just sit and watch it for hours! (ok, not hours but baby "hours" is equivalent to about 20 minutes). When we go outside I'll knock snow off the trees and he laughs so hard! It's the cutest thing and I have no idea what makes it so funny, but I love seeing my baby boy laugh! (: So we do that to every branch we see!
+ Playing with the neighbor-dog when we go out sledding in the yard. Jason is the one who mostly gets into it and I just try not to get my face licked. 

^Not our dog. We just play with him like he is.

+ Spending time at Grandma and Grandpa's house, learning to play guitar!

+ We saw the town's annual Christmas parade. I didn't dress up warm enough so I was FREEZING but thankfully in this case we live in a very small town so the parade lasted all of five minutes.

+ We had our third annual Krahn Christmas Tree Hunt. It's so hard to believe we're on our third Christmas together already (since being married). It was Aiden's first tree hunt though and I think he wondered why we were wondering around a forest (: When you live in the middle of nowhere, there's no such thing as Christmas tree farms. So you just wander around a forest and find yourself a good tree and you cut it down with your bare hands (just kidding we brought a saw)

+ Making paper snowflakes - I haven't done this since I was a kid so mine looked pretty plain....Jason's on the other hand looked like professional paper snowflakes if there is such a thing. I told him that he had the Canadian advantage due to the fact that he probably spent 15% of his childhood making paper snowflakes. He responded with "more like 20".

+ We've been watching our favorite Christmas movies together like The Grinch and Home Alone (:

+ We put up an Advent Calendar with fun Christmas activities to do each day and I think we have done a solid 5 out of 23 so far. 

+ We've recently had a wandering cat come by our house - he has no collar but I haven't seen anyone looking for him...and he is so friendly I think he must have an owner he goes back to, so I've been hesitant to take him to the shelter all the way on the other side of town... but in any case, he comes by once a week or so and he is so friendly and practically jumps up into your arms to be petted. We've named him Henry because he's proper and dignified like a king and we usually call him in a French accent like Onrrrrri. Aiden likes to pet him and it's fun when he comes around except when we have to come back inside and he sits on the porch wanting to come in with his big puppy dog eyes. But apparently if we kept him we would have "too many cats" and would be "overrun by cats" and probably "eaten alive by cats". -Jason
Okay. Maybe he only said one of those things.

+ Aiden finally got to wear THIS onesie. (See right.) I have only been waiting my ever loving life for him to wear it. Last December when Jason and I went to Minneapolis to do baby gear shopping, we bought tons of baby clothes at thrift stores and I mean tons. I spotted this gem and obviously Jason gave me the look. I know, I know. A green onesie with a pug on it in a sweater with reindeer antlers. INSANE. Like your grandma hollering at the paper boy accusing him of stealing no less than three of her porcelain cat figurines while standing on her front lawn in her bunny slippers and robe insane. I had to have it. It's even a 9 month size which is perfect for Christmas since he was born in March. Also, is there even such a thing as "paper boys" anymore? Do they still do that? Am I getting old? Where did my porcelain cat figurines go?
+ Aiden has been being such a good helper! He loves to watch the laundry tumble and turn in the washer and dryer and when I empty the dishwasher, he hands me one utensil at a time to put a way. THE SWEETEST. I think my heart could implode and explode simultaneously.

+ On the same note as being my little helper, I recently built some simple craft storage for my craft room. It makes me feel yay and Aiden helped build! (: He helped me the most by not putting any of the little screws in his mouth! haha

+ We started watching Last Dad Standing and its sort of the greatest for a sitcom. There was this episode where the grandkid gets taken to day care and the day care leader teacher says "Oh we don't use that word ["normal"] here, it implies that there's an abnormal." And so our family motto was born. I'm going to have it printed on a board and hang it inside our front door right next to a nice family picture of us and another sign that says "We can do hard things." Just to let the world know that we are go-getters and normal and things.

The look on his face says it all. Click the picture to see his face all big and up-close like. 
You won't regret you did.

--

Yesterday I posted this picture on instagram and there is a good story to go along with it. By "good", I don't mean inspirational or feel good-y like those movies that have a moral of the story at the end and get those one-word fancy quotes about them in "CAPSLOCK." -By All The Different Magazines printed on the DVD version. I mean it's a "good" story because it's the kind I'm going to tell for generations to come. Or, I mean I'll tell his wife about it one day or something. By "good" I mean it's messy and funny and tmi and there may have ben some shrieking between bouts of hysterical laughter. It sounds a lot like motherhood anyway.  On with the story.

I had just lowered Aiden's crib mattress because he is standing and he is getting big enough that if he would lean over the edge of the crib far enough, it would be a safety hazard. I snapped the picture, changed his diaper, but since he was so hungry and needed to be fed right.now. I didn't bother buttoning up his little one piece jumpsuit that you see in said picture. Not that that's what caused the coming dilemma, but it is important information. I nursed him and rocked him, but instead of falling asleep he sat up and looked around, wide awake. "No big deal, he's just not ready for his nap yet." He sat nestled between my legs. I had one leg outstretched, the other leg sitting on the edge of the rocking chair bent in half, supporting his back. I began typing a well thought out caption for the above picture. When I heard it.

The Grumble.

Remember how I said that Aiden has been sick? 

Immediately following The Grumble was The Explosion. 

"EXPLOSIVE." -The New York Times. 

Except this isn't one of those stories.

I thought, "Well, I just changed your diaper but at least The Explosion came after the diaper was put on." 

That makes it all easier. 

But then I felt it.

Something warm. Something wet.

Something running UP my bent-in-half leg.

I nervously - cautiously - lifted up his unsnapped jumpsuit and saw The Explosion - coming out his diaper, going up his back, on his clothes and Ah - on my pants soaking through to my rear and on the chair.

The following are texts my husband received while I frantically sat in wait, determining my next move:

"Oh nice." "I bet you wish you were me right now" "With hot poop running UP your leg" "Toward your butt" "Meanwhile, I'm trying to execute the best way to get out of this rocking chair" "Oh I feel it" [there were pictures of a poop covered back here] "Here I am just trying to instagram a cute picture of him" "When this happens" "Well." "Time to stand up" "This could be squishy" "Ahhh yes" "This is good" "This builds character"

on my tombstone it will say "Daughter. sister. friend. mother. pooped on." with a quote below it that says "it's running up my leg, i feel it."

"Now there's poop on the bathroom rug" "This is all good"

"what level of motherhood have you reached when there's poop on your butt and it's not yours?"

And straight into the tub both Aiden and I went.

--

And now, an ode to my people. 

As  always, you can check out more of our adventures (with frequent updates)

by following me on instagram - @marlyssa

Happy eight months, Aiden. In just a couple short days you will get to experience your first-ever Christmas. I keep telling people I am more excited for Christmas this year than I ever was as a kid, and it's true. Seeing you play in the snow and delighting in the Christmas season is like getting to live like a kid again through your eyes. Knowing what you are getting as gifts from your daddy and I has been making me so anxious - anxious to see your face light up as you enjoy your new toys...but what we want the most for you isn't something that can be given by simply being handed over - we want the best for you and we want you to be happy! And the things that are best for you and the things that make you happy aren't always things that can be bought in a store. The older we get, the more your daddy and I realize this. We hope to lead you well in knowing the true meaning of Christmas is Jesus' birth and the beginning of His ministry here on earth. That He would walk among us so that we would have life to the full and life eternal after His death on the cross - you are precious in His (and our!) sight! (Isaiah 43:2-4). We love you so much baby boy. We couldn't be more excited to spend our first Christmas with you!