Sunday, October 02, 2011

7 months old!

Even though Inga is my third baby, every new milestone is just as exciting. She smiles! She sits up! She gets teeth! Since my last update two months ago, Inga has learned how to sit up by herself, how to push herself up on hands and knees (or hands and feet in a perfect downward facing dog), and how to move herself all over the place. She hasn't technically crawled, but has done everything else short of that.
I can't get enough of her. She is seriously the most easy-going baby ever. She's content to sit and play with toys for long stretches of time. Thanks to this we've been able to get lots of home renovations done.
She puts up with quite a bit of abuse love from her siblings.
I'm holding off solids for as long as possible. Zari was 10 months before she had any foods, while Dio was just over 6 months. (Very typical of his personality--I could not hold him off any longer). Inga has ingested grass, leaves, and the occasional pea scavenged from underneath Zari and Dio's chairs, but otherwise she's on a strict breastmilk diet for as long as possible. I'm all about lazy parenting and nothing is as easy as nursing. Once a baby starts to eat food, you have to deal with feeding and cleaning them, finding something for them to eat, and nasty stinky diapers. Plus I want to hold off my fertility for a while longer. So lazy parenting = good all around.
When I updated two months ago, Inga was waking once, occasionally twice, a night. Now she's back to 3-4 times a night. This has happened with all three kids at around the same time. I have no idea why. If Inga follows her siblings' patterns, I'll have another 6-12 months before she genuinely sleeps through the night. As much as I like that idea, I also like keeping my fertility at bay so I'm fine with the more frequent night nursing.
Today, Eric discovered two little bottom teeth poking out! She hasn't been crabby so the teeth were quite unexpected. (And that dot on her forehead is something on my camera lens.)
I don't know how I'll ever be able to say I'm "done" having kids. I love, love, love the baby stage and the thought of never having another laughing, smiling baby makes me so sad. I think 5 kids sounds about right--probably because I came from a family of 5 siblings--but what if I have 5 and still feel the same way? Hmmmm, probably best to just focus my energy on the ones I have right now and not worry about the future.

6 months!
Anyway there's lots of happiness chez les Freezes.

14 comments:

  1. I see Dio in the first photo and Zari in the second! I also love that you have lots of photo of Inga just by herself, especially being the third child. She's just lovely!

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  2. Wow, everything you wrote here is EXACTLY where I am at in my life as a mom right now. My third is 7 months old, and also just went back to waking a lot more often in the night. Well, I say waking, but I mean nursing. I call this stage the "boob buffet" era! Haha. He gets free range over the food supply all night :)

    I also can identify with wondering if I will ever feel "done". I think 4 sounds about right for us. But I guess only God knows, and only time will tell.

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  3. Gosh I loved this post so much :D Laughed at "lazy parenting" that is exactly what I say too. Always lovely to know of another Mumma who delays the solids as a matter of course. Sounds like my second and your third are kindred-easy-going-spirits. I could feel your love for her through the screen, so lovely that it's still as exciting and love-filled 3rd time round as 1st and 2nd :)

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  4. What a cutie patootie! I can't believe how big she's gotten... keep up that good breastmilk, mama!

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  5. I totally identified with you when you said:

    "I don't know how I'll ever be able to say I'm "done" having kids. I love, love, love the baby stage and the thought of never having another laughing, smiling baby makes me so sad."

    The idea of never having another baby is sad. When we got married, we said 4-6 children; I think largely because we knew we wanted a lot and that didn't seem too unreasonable. Now, we have six children, and I can't imagine choosing to be done.

    Of course, we came to a decision years ago that we'd leave the how manys and whens up to God, so it won't be in our hands. I just found out that I'm expecting #7, and I'm in my late 20s. So, there is plenty of opportunity for me to have more, but we'll see what God has in store for us. :-)

    Heather (mom to 6 children, ages 10 years down to 1 year, and baby #7 due in June)

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  6. Just like I will never say "this is the last time I breasfeed this baby" I prefer to look back and realize it came to an end on its own.. I think I will have to be the same about saying this is my "last baby"... once when I thought it was my last baby that sentiment caused such strong post partum baby blues. I've had two since and I'll now never say I'm done. One day I'll just look back and realize that was my last. Just like breastfeeding.

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  7. Rixa, Inga is so adorable. My daughter is about 5 1/2 months old and she's nowhere near as chubby as Inga! It's true about the developments though--she's my third child and I love seeing each new milestone like it's my first. I love this baby age!

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  8. Sweet baby girl!!! Love all the pics thank you so much for sharing them!! Babies are so much fun! :)

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  9. People are always commending me for co-sleeping, extended nursing, baby-wearing.... but it's really just the path of least resistance for me! We delayed solids for 10-12 months with our son, mostly because we lived in Egypt and I didn't fully trust the food, but also because nursing was easy and I was lazy! And after that, his first "baby food" consisted of bits of falafel and koshari. He now is 2 and eats EVERYTHING. Kid has no aversions. I think even if we don't live in a foreign country with the next, I will still delay solids and start right on table foods. It worked so well for us! I did have many a WIC dietician get on my case when we got back because of delaying solids... they want you to start right at 6 months, whatever!

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  10. I love your energy and passion for being a mama. It resonates with me so much. Each and every little personality to get to know and help to nurture to be everything they are able to be. Thank you for this post. Its so refreshing!

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  11. Hi! I have a 7month old too, he was born 3 days after Inga. He is my first, and I have been following your blog since i became pregnant. I must say I have learned a lot reading your blog. Usually you seem to take an approach I never even thought of. My latest shock was that you are holding off on feeding solids. Its funny because I started a bit late with my little guy and I feel like I need to catch up...i guess I don't really. Each child can have their own pace.

    It is WAY more work with feeding him too. I have been breastfeeding exclusively. I've been back to work since May, part time. He would usually take a few bottles of breastmilk while I was gone for 6 hours. We just got back from a 5 week vacay (nursing only) and now he won't take the bottle! He drank water and ate fruit only on my first shift back! Any suggestions??
    Thx.
    Nicole Zacharias

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  12. Nicole,
    I'm not sure if I have any good suggestions, but just keep pumping and offering but don't worry too much if he won't take the bottle. (Don't blame him anyway--he knows what's best!) I wonder if he'd take a sippy cup better than a bottle when you're at work? Might be a bit too young for that, though.

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  13. Thanks for your suggestion. He does drink water from a cup so my husband tried breastmilk in the cup but it was a no go! We may just bring him to work during my break to feed, thankfully I work about 5 minute drive away.
    Nicole

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