Monday, July 29, 2013

17 Weeks

Arlo is 17 weeks old today, and he's the smiliest baby I've ever seen. Between the hours of 7 A.M. and 6:30 P.M., he's all grins. After that, he kind of falls apart until I let him go to sleep. I'm trying to push back his bedtime, in hopes that he'll sleep better at night, but he just spazzes out when he gets too sleepy.

Smiling on Grammy's couch.

Speaking of sleep, to say it isn't going well would be an understatement. I'm so tired that I'm not even tired anymore, and I'm actually starting to feel kind of drunk by the end of the week. Arlo wakes up five or six times a night. Each time, he eats a little bit and goes right back to sleep.

I started to wonder if maybe he needs actual food, and I know it's not unheard of for people to introduce their babies to solids at 4 months, so we've been feeding him oatmeal twice a day.

His very first bite of food. 

I know lots of people think this is too early, including the American Academy of Pediatrics, and I certainly never planned on starting him on cereal until 6 months—but I guess part of being a good, sane parent is being willing to throw plans out the window sometimes. All that said, the oatmeal isn't helping. He sure looks cute with it smeared all over his little face, though. I think he's probably swallowing about 25% of what we attempt to give him, but each attempt is a little better than the previous one.

Despite the look on his face, he's a fan.

Scooter's waiting patiently for his turn.

No major developments to report. While his babbles are still comprised mostly of vowels, he's added "bee, "ma," and "caw" to his repertoire, along with last week's "ghee." He still loves cranking his leg to make his bouncy seat bounce, and he can kinda-sorta reach the floor when he's in his jumperoo if he stands on one foot. He can also reach a couple of the toys on the jumperoo, which he thinks is just fantastic.

See? Kinda-sorta. 
He makes me so happy every single day, and it goes without saying that he's worth every tired, drag-ass minute—but something's gotta give, kid.

4 comments:

Ang said...

More often than not, I stop reading pregnancy blogs once they turn into mommy/baby blogs, but I keep coming back for more Arlo. I think I've said this before, but he's the cutest baby I've ever seen, bar none, and I'm not just saying that. I remember you saying in Arlo's birth story that you felt you'd been compensated for your pain. It remains evident that you know how fortunate you are to have him, and I love that.

Alice Anne said...

He is so squishy and cute! I'm a new follower, I've got some catching up to do! :)

Anonymous said...

I've been going through the same sleep thing as you since my son was 4 months old and he's still doing it at 6 months :/

Unknown said...

Did you try mixing a little cereal in his bottle? I know some people say it's a big no no, but it might work. It might fill him up more at night and you can squeeze a couple more hours of sleep in. It didn't help Hayden, but if I remember right, it helped Hunter. By the way- I think he has a future in modeling!