7.5 Months

Our little Mason Man is already seven and a half months old!

Favorites: The little baseball toy Auntie Kari got him for Christmas. If he spots it, he will stare at it until someone gets it for him and will happily sit and play with it for quite a while. His exersaucer. Watching Little Man and Kiwi play, listening to music, having songs sung to him, when Daddy tickles him, taking baths, riding in his stroller, being carried in the Bjorn and Mommy. I love how excited he gets when I walk into a room and how he almost always can be calmed by simply being in my arms.

Dislikes: Rice cereal, sweet potatoes and carrots. For such an easy going baby, I can't believe how fussy he can be about food. He literally gags every time we try to give him carrots and will spit them back up and then refuse to open his mouth anymore. He also dislikes having his nose wiped, when Big Sissy (as she calls herself) hugs his head to tightly, being alone (if I leave the room for a minute and there is no brother or sister to entertain him he's almost immediately upset) and being buckled into his carseat.
Food: At six months, Mason was starting to get the hang of solids, but a week later he got sick, running his first fever and then dealing with a cold that turned into an ear infection. For several days, he wouldn't eat any solids at all and would only nurse. When he was feeling up to it, we started trying solids again twice a day and it was like starting all over again. He has been much more resistant to this change then my other two children. At times I feel like I am going to have to send him to school with a bottle of pumped milk in his lunch box. He's getting it though and now eats oatmeal and baby food for breakfast and dinner. He eats very slowly and feeding him adds about a half an hour onto the breakfast and dinner routines.

Sleep: He's kind of all over the place with the sleeping at night. Sometimes he'll go all night, other nights he wakes up at midnight. It's usually only once a night, but I am just ready for him to sleep through the night. I read all the books and the articles when Little Man was a baby and I know about all the sleep training stuff. But I don't want to let him scream and I don't want to sit in a rocking chair in his room moving it a couple of inches farther from his crib each night or go in and pat in him every five minutes, I just want him to sleep through the night on his own. Hopefully, within a couple of months he will do it on his own, but for now I usually go in at night and often feed him so we can both get back to sleep as quickly as possible. He does go to bed really easily at night which is so nice.

Mason continues to amaze us with his sweet temperament. He is adored by his brother and sister and of course Mike and I. He really does add a lot to our family and I am so thankful to have him our lives.

Showing off one of his many talents. He can actually get his toes into his mouth and will suck on them.

Bath time

His half smile. He gives this one a lot when he's not quite sure of what is going on (like why Mommy's face is behind the big black box with the flashing light).