Caedmon is 7 months old today. It's going by way too fast. He's in such a hurry to be big like his brothers. Here is a little of Caedmon at this age:
- 15 lbs 13 oz (taken 4 days early)-10%
- 28.75 in - 96%
- Wears anything from 3-6 month clothes to 9 month, to 6-12 month sizes. He's very long and so if something is one piece it needs to be a bigger size. He's TINY, though, so the smaller stuff fits well in other items.
- Wears size 2 diapers. I'm still hopefull one of these days I will get my act together and start using our cloth diapers more. Life is just so busy and on the go with the other boys lately, that keeping up with just the regular laundry is a challenge right now. Also, last night we tried a disposable swim diaper on Caedmon for the first time. We bought him the smallest size and it was huge and loose on him. Not sure how effective it would be.
- We're still monitoring Caedmon's growth with his doctors. We're doing monthly weight checks (in addition to be tracking it at least every couple of weeks at our mom/baby group) at the pediatrician. He's somewhat following a growth curve now with his weight, but he is still very clearly underweight. The doctors are okay with it as long as he keeps gaining. However, the fear is that if he gets sick, he has no cushion and might be quick to get dehydrated. The GI says that if this happens, we may have to use an NG tube temporarily to get him through any tough illnesses.
- Caedmon still only takes about 2 oz per feeding, 7 times a day. I still pump 4 times a day and give him at least 5 oz extra throughout the day in bottles. This is why dehydration is a real fear if he gets sick, as he is taking in just over half of what is expected at his age. We are both still on a dairy/soy free diet. He no longer has blood in his stool, so this is clearly what is needed to keep him healthy.
- While getting enough milk in him is a challenge, he loves solids. He's tried avocado, bananas, sweet potatoes, chicken, salmon, apple sauce, pears, asparagus, gluten free waffles, turkey, dairy free/gluten free mashed potatoes and gravy, carrots, and little baby snacks that are gluten/dairy/soy free. He loves to try new foods, but when he eats a lot he does not do well later in the day. He screams and has bad gas if he eats too much. He still doesn't seem to tolerate large meals whether it be with milk or solid food.
- Still on 3 mL of Prilosec 2X a day. Most days he seems to be doing great. Sometimes he has days, though, that are full of spit up, especially if we've pushed him to take more. At 9 months we're supposed to start reducing the amount of meds and see how he handles it.
- On 2 tsp of miralax a day. It's needed. Otherwise he's miserable.
- He finally almost outgrew his reflux wedge and tucker sling (max weight is 16 lbs), so we moved his crib into our room. He immediately rolls to his belly when we lay him down. He sleeps well at night as long as he's warm enough. He kept waking up at first and was so cold even with a long sleeve onsie, fleece footed pajamas, and a fleece sleep sack. When he was in the tucker sling we could wrap him up in blankets, because he couldn't move around in his sleep. Now, without the blankets he was freezing. I added a fleece sweater to his night time outfit and got a thicker sleep sack and he's been much more comfortable. He's definitely not too warm in all that, but he's no longer freezing.
- Caedmon has to nap on the go a lot with life being so busy. Some days he naps great, and other days he doesn't. He hates to be in his car seat around bedtime at night. When he's tired he only wants me.
- Caedmon is all over the place! He crawls extremely fast these days. He pulls up to standing on everything. He's cruising furniture. He pulls things out of the pantry any chance he can get. He can stand with just one hand against the wall for balance. He can go to standing to squatting and back up with just one hand for balance on something.
- He copied us and said, "ball" this month. He's learning a lot of new sounds and is trying to talk. When he's upset now he frequently cries out, "Maaa." I think he's trying to say mama to get me to pick him up. He strings sounds together and makes one that kind of sounds like "dadadada"
- He loves the dog and cat, but tries to pet and cuddle with them by grabbing on or crawling on them.
- He gets very excited to see his brothers. If they are downstairs in the playroom, he will sit at the gate at the top of the stairs waiting for them.
- Caedmon is loud and full of giggles and personality. But when he sees a new person he will get very quiet and just watch and study them for a long time. We've had some appointments for his big brother and Caedmon will sit a good 15-20 minutes in my lap just studying the face of the new person.
- Caedmon was baptized on December 4th.
- He had his first Thanksgiving and loved all the people and food
