Baby Sullivan | Week Forty Five

I keep letting the weekend come and go before I get these posts written. We are on the home stretch....seven weeks to be exact...to when Sullivan will turn one. 12 months old. Holy cow. I did these posts for Marin as well, for all 52 weeks. After that, I let myself off the hook and only blogged occasionally. I would like to continue with our posts in some form but we shall see what they end up actually looking like. Anyhow....

This week I've really been thinking about what matters most in our lives. This is cliche...but life is short. We only have so much time here and I want to make the most of it. What that looks like for me: I'm still working on that. But, for the most part, that looks like time spent with my family and running after the things that I'm passionate about, living creatively. 

It's important to me to have a home for our children to grow up in and for us to come to as a place of rest. It's important to me to take better care of myself so I can care better for others. It's important to me to make time to be creative and live out that path in my life, the one that has been pretty silent over the past 4 years of my life. Family dinners. Getting outside and allowing our children to get messy sometimes. My clean house won't matter in the grande scheme of things. What will matter is if I experienced joy and learned something new with my children. That matters. 

Anyways...this week has been fairly normal for the most part. Marin graduated from her preschool class on Thursday and I can't believe we survived being a part of a co-op. We have to do one last clean up day and then we are done. I love that school but I didn't love the co-op requirements. Especially after my job change, it felt pretty unrealistic. Now Marin gets to enjoy the summer and it will be nice to have a break from rushing out the door twice a week to get her to school on time. She's going to a different school this fall across town and that will be even more of a rush I'm sure. Our preschool this year was pretty much across the street from our house. We are also already starting to research kindergarten because in all reality, that will be here before we know it. 

Sullivan still isn't crawling. I'm going to write those words until he starts moving. He will get it, I know he will. I'm ready now, little buddy! You can do it! He's growing leaps and bounds in every other area. He's becoming more vocal everyday. His expressions are getting super fun. He knows how to wave now. I just love him to pieces. 

I'm still nursing him once or twice a day. I nurse him early in the morning when he wakes up and sometimes again late afternoon. I'm just not ready to give it up yet. In many ways I am ready but in many ways I'm not. He is my last baby. I will never breastfeed again. That's a big deal. I know my supply has dropped a lot but for now it's our little moment once a day and I will soak it all in. My goal is one year and I want to make it. We are so close. I've already breastfed him a lot longer than I did with Marin. It's been pretty special for me. 

Here is Marin at forty five weeks.  It's crazy to me how different each child is. At this point with Marin, she was crawling everywhere and starting to say words but wasn't quite catching on to eating a lot of solid foods. Sully is the king of baby led weaning and loves food. No one child is the same and that's a good reminder. All in good time. 

Baby Sullivan | Week Forty Two

Sullivan has been living his best life the past few weeks. Everything is new and ready to be discovered. Family vacation was a whirlwind of fun for him as well. I'll blog about our trip to Estes shortly but for now, I wanted to to write about week 42 of Sullivan James. 

He still is not crawling. I've been trying to work with him as much as possible. We are attempting lots of tummy time, which he still really isn't a fan of. He will sit up and play for a long time but once he's on his tummy, he fusses and whines. Poor dude. If only he knew what adventures await once he is mobile. We are going to keep at it and I know one day it will click. I just don't want him to fall behind milestone wise. Crawling is also an important step in his development. Babies that skip crawling can face issues later on and I do not want to face that. He will be 10 months old next week and I'm ready for him to start moving around. It's time. 

He spent his first night out of town with us in Estes and did such a great job. I realized when we were there that he has only ever slept in the hospital when he was born and then in his crib at home. Marin has sleepovers with the grandparents fairly often, but we haven't tried that with Sullivan yet because he still wakes up pretty early to nurse. 

He slept in a pack n' play in our room where we were staying. He was pretty wiped out by the time he went down at night and slept decently well. The first night he woke up quite a bit though. He woke when I came in to go to bed. I picked him up to change his diaper and he was pretty confused as to where he was at. He realized that he wasn't at home. It was pretty cute. The second night he slept through the night without waking. 

He ate all sorts of fun stuff on the trip. He tried pizza. He had grilled cheese sandwiches and broccoli. He tried a little bit of pie. He was living it up, that's to be sure. He has been taking less and less formula and breastmilk lately. I know a lot of that has to do with how much actual food he is consuming. 

He had his first dentist appointment this week as well. He has four teeth and three more are swiftly on the way. We are now brushing his teeth as well. We found out that he has an oversized labial frenum which is an extra piece of gum flesh that comes down between the two front teeth. Once he is older, he will probably have to have it surgically cut so it doesn't cause issues later on with spacing and gum recession. It's pretty common in kids and a lot of time it causes the infant to not be able to latch well when nursing, like a tongue or lip tie. Luckily, we have had no issues with nursing from day one and I'm super thankful. 

Here's Marin at Week Forty Two. 

Baby Sullivan | Week Thirty Five

What a whirlwind of a week. Phew. I feel like we haven't had a moment of calm for many days in our home. We had our cabinets refaced and a backsplash done this week. They just finished yesterday and I am so excited with how it all turned out. But, we were without a kitchen for a week and resorted to eating breakfast in our basement and hanging out at other people's houses. My house needs a really good, deep clean because I feel like there's just a fine layer of dust pretty much everywhere. I've been sneezing like crazy since I woke up this morning and I'm ready to conquer the dust. I am also very ready to get everything put back into our cabinets and bring order into the chaos a bit. 

We also just went through a refinance and everything went smoothly with that. It was pretty comical last night though because they send an agent to your home to sign your final papers. I am knucklehead and decided to schedule this while we didn't have a kitchen and while our kitchen table was in our family room in the basement surrounded my music gear and kid toys. Bless the woman who came to have us sign documents. It was pretty much a hot mess from when she entered our home to when she left. Our living room was full of boxes, our kitchen was a mess. Our children were fussy and hungry. There was a weird smell in the basement. It was definitely not our shining moment as homeowners and as parents. I was looking very forward to getting everything signed and getting her out of our hot mess of a home. It's funning now looking back at it but at the time I wanted to crawl into a hole for a while. 

Sully is working on some new teeth and I can see them getting ready to poke through the gums. He's had a few rough moments this week. I think mostly teeth are to blame but we also were all over the place this week with meals and nap times. I'm looking very forward to getting some consistency back in our schedule this week and to normalize our naps and mealtimes. Both kids were troopers this week and I am thankful for that. Marin probably only napped one day out of seven this past week. I know she fights the nap and most of the time just entertains herself during quiet time. But, the kid still needs a nap sometimes, especially when the world around her is in such upheaval. We had a few rough tantrums this week from her and I know our schedule is to blame. 

Sully tried a few new things this week food wise, even with all of the meal craziness. I found that little dude loves hummus. He also tried a fruit and veggie pouch at the coffeehouse yesterday. He seemed to really like it and I would love the ease of a pouch. He's still been rocking the sweet potatoes and chicken. He love carrots and peas. He eats a lot of bananas and yogurt bites. 

Many things in our lives are changing. I realize that is fairly vague and goes beyond just getting our cabinets redone. I'm trying to grasp all of it and move through a season of change as best as I can. I do believe that the changes at hand are good and I am excited for what may come out of all of it. 

Today, I plan on focusing on the kids schedules and offering some normalcy in their lives. I want to scrub down the house and conquer the dust. I want to cook in my kitchen and clean out the fridge. We definitely need groceries in the next day or so as well. I probably won't even get out of my pajamas and plan to not leave the house unless absolutely necessary. 

I really need to catch up some blog stuff too this week. I need to post my February Portrait. My One Little Word Post. Lots of catching up to be done....

Week Thirty Five. 

Here's Marin at Thirty Five Weeks. 

Baby Sullivan | Week Thirty Three

I've been trying to get this posted all week but this week has been a doozy and now it's already Saturday. These photos have been siting in this post ready to go for days...Oh well. It's not Sunday yet. I'm still within the week. 

Sullivan is growing up so quickly. This time next week, he will be 8 months old! Eight months. I can hardly wrap my mind around it. I was just pregnant, right?!? Time is flying. He's going to be celebrating his first birthday before we know it. 

Sully has been a little fussy this week and I think teeth are still to blame. Most days, he goes through life with red, little cheeks and some drool. I can see the top two teeth just hanging out under his gums, so it's only a matter of time before those pop through. Hopefully, he doesn't resort to biting while nursing again. We faced that when his bottom two teeth came in and that was painful. I know he doesn't realize he's causing me pain and gnawing on something eases his mouth pain but biting while breastfeeding is one of my least favorite things in the world, especially at 5am in the morning when I'm not quite awake yet and ready to take on the day. 

He's been eating solid food for a few weeks now and will not longer touch the jarred food. My mom was watching the kiddos on Thursday and she had quite a scare with Sullivan so we are making some baby led weaning changes. There's so many options and opinions out there about how to approach baby lead weaning. Some people cut food up in tiny pieces, some in strips, some in little circular shapes. We were doing the circular shape with some roasted sweet potatoes and Sully choked on one at dinner. My mom had to do the Heimlich  Maneuver on Sully. I know that gagging is part of the BLW weaning process, but choking, not so much. I'm very thankful my mom was there and was able to act fast. I know it shook her up pretty badly, but Grammy was there to save the day. That being said....we are cutting stuff up pretty tiny now these days while he still learns how to feed himself. It's such a process and certain parts of it really freak me out! 

I am trying to do a lot more floor time with Sully in hopes that he will get to the point of crawling at some point. Right now, he is so content just sitting up like a big dude, playing with his toys. I'm not totally prepared for him to be mobile yet and need to dig out the baby gates. He just grows up so much every single day. 

Some changes are coming in our lives, regarding my job and how it looks on any given week. At first, I was super discouraged by it but I'm slowly coming to terms with it. Depending on how it all falls into place, I might be able to leave work at work. The past few years of my life have been spent juggling working from home and the office, always being on and connected to my phone. I would like to be able to just be with my family when I am home with my family. Plain and simple. We might be looking for some childcare options one day a week though and I am not a fan of that. But, we have been super lucky and blessed so far with not having to pay for childcare. It is so, so, so, so expensive...like the equivalent of paying a second mortgage expensive. But, we are talking through these changes and I'm hoping to get some more clarity on it soon. If you know me well, you know that not having all of the answers about how all of this is supposed to look is slowly driving me crazy. 

Here's Marin at Week Thirty Three. 

Baby Sullivan | Week Thirty Two

I find it hard to believe that I am preparing for Marin's 4th birthday party this weekend. The gifts need to be wrapped, the food needs to be ordered. She's been growing up so quickly right before our very eyes and time needs to slow down a bit. As of this coming Sunday, we will have a four year old. Four years ago at this time, I was super pregnant, quickly passing by my due date, and anxiously awaiting the arrival of our little girl. Now she's in preschool, lives life as a little sponge soaking up so many things. She also has been a great big sister to little Sullivan. Their relationship is continuing to really grow into something awesome lately. She likes to be near him. She likes to help me with him. It's pretty adorable. 

Arm rolls for days....

Sully is quickly moving away from the jarred baby food it seems. Over the past week, I have been trying some new baby led weaning recipes. It is weird to me that people use the term "weaning" for what we are embarking upon though. He's not weaning himself from breastfeeding, quite the opposite. Baby led weaning is pretty much the process of letting your baby feed themselves with solid foods that are prepared in a way that is safe and easy for them to handle. Sully loves to eat to begin with and he has embraced this new form of food with vigor. 

So far with BLW, he has had avocados, bananas, oranges, broccoli, green beans, roasted sweet potato, and his mum mums. I have been watching him closely when he eats and also watching for any reactions to any of the food. It is recommended to slowly start introducing foods so you can monitor any reactions to the food. 

We still have some jarred food that I will try to get through but he's getting to the point of not wanting to be spoon fed and just wants to dive right him himself. I'm a lot more daring this time around with what I have been giving him. Marin didn't try most of these foods until a bit later but I want Sully to have an expansive palette when it comes to food and not be so picky like his adorable sister. I think we are on a good path. He will eventually just eat what we eat. Granted, Marin doesn't even really do that but that's something I really want to work on. I would LOVE to not have to cook 3 different meals during one meal time. I also really want to share dinner together AS A FAMILY soon. Our schedules are so all over the place but someway, somehow...I want to make it happen. I think it's super important. 

Funny broccoli face. Derp. 

I am also currently shopping for new carseats for Sullivan. He is pretty much at the weight limit for his carseat. He actually might be above the weight limit...Little dude isn't so little any more. Lugging him around in that car seat has not been kind to my back either. I do like the convenience of carrying him around in the car seat but those days are going to be gone very soon. The crappy part about buying new car seats is that the new ones will not click in to a base like his current one does. What that means...every car he rides in needs to have a carseat. So, we are looking at purchasing two car seats for us and the grandparents need to get one too for Sundays. Budget wise, that's not ideal, but you aren't supposed to take those car seats in and out constantly. That's not how they are built. I'm researching like crazy for something budget friendly but safe and reliable. The one's we bought Marin are great but they are a little out of our price range at the moment. 

Week Thirty Two. 

Here's Marin at Week Thirty Two. 

Baby Sullivan | Week Thirty One

We've all been passing around a cold once more in our little home. I don't think any of us have all been healthy at the same time in a while. I know a lot of other families are facing that this season as well, but dang, this flu and cold season has been a bad one. A lot of it stems from Ryan and I bringing germs home from work and Marin bringing them home from preschool. Poor Sully gets caught up in all of our germs as well. I've been trying to make sure we are washing our hands, covering our mouths when we sneeze or cough, and trying to stay out of Sully's adorable face. Hopefully this all passes again soon and we can continue on with regular programming. 

Sully rode in a shopping cart again on Monday and is just as chill as can be. I think being able to see all of those people and things is a bit overstimulating for him but I think he enjoys not being stuck in his car seat. Ryan and I haven't gone grocery shopping together with the kids in a very long time aside from Costco. But, it made me realize of my enduring love for King Soopers Clicklist. I don't have to deal with all of the people, I get exactly what is on my list, and stay within my budget. On Monday, we bought a few too many extras that I hadn't planned on and it was just stressful. The King Soopers right by our house will offer Clicklist in a few weeks and I am thrilled to say the least. It seriously has made my life so much easier with two kids! Now if we could just get a Starbucks drive-thru near by, then I will never have to leave my van again. 

Sully has been eating great and seems to be taking a liking to solid foods. I'm getting ready to start introducing more baby-led weaning foods instead of purees. It will be nice once he can start feeding himself more instead of me having to spoon feed him all of the time. I am going to start incorporating some bananas, avocados, roasted sweet potatoes, and some other steamed fruits and veggies for him. He really likes picking up and eating his Rice Mum Mums so I don't think he will have any issues with finger foods. He's all boy and loves to eat. I'm hoping he doesn't grow up being pretty picky like his sister. Her palette is always a work in progress. 

We celebrated my mom's birthday this past weekend and it was super fun to have so many kids around. We actually have a need for a kids table! It feels strange to be at this point in our lives but I love it. I love the chaos of it all and I love that I can sit at the grown ups table and drink my glass of wine. Win win for everyone!

Week Thirty one. 

Here's Marin at Week Thirty One. 

Baby Sullivan | Week Twenty Seven & Twenty Eight

I am playing catch up.....I have fallen behind. So, we are going to do two weeks in one post. This will cover last week and this week. Week twenty-seven and twenty-eight of Mr. Sullivan James Hollen. I've been down for the count yesterday and today with a stomach flu and am just now starting to feel like a human once more. I think my body was trying to tell me to slow down a bit because I've been running at warp speed for what feels like weeks. Sometimes I need to be knocked down by a being sick to slow myself down a bit. That's probably not the best way to find some rest but here we are. 

Sully had his 6 month well check appointment last Monday. As predicted, he's growing a lot and is the 90th percentiles for just about everything. He currently clocks in at 20lbs, 10.9oz. He is 2'3" tall and his head circumference is in the 95th percentile for his age. He has a big head. He's growing like crazy. He checked out as a healthy, growing boy. He got a few shots, which is never fun. They definitely effected his mood and sleep for a few days and I always hate going through that with our babies. He's finally back to his normal, cheerful self. 

We have also been having solids at most meals in the day. He is such a champ. He's pretty obsessed with his spoon. We have been mostly feeding him purees with some solids that he can gnaw on like bananas and avocados. He also really likes Baby Mum Mum's which are a rice teething snack. So far we have tried carrots, sweet potatoes, banana, and apple purees. I don't think we will have any issues with him being a good eater. His appetite is growing as quickly as he is. 

One other milestone that we hit this week was sitting up well on his own. He has the nursing pillow behind him just in case, but he sits upright and plays to his heart's content. Now if we could just get him to roll over consistently. That's the one thing that he hasn't done a ton of yet. The pediatrician said since he's so big it might be tough for him to get the hang of it. I've been trying to do a lot of floor time still to urge him into rolling over. 

He's been waking up a lot lately throughout the night, at least once, if not twice. Mama is getting pretty tired....I'm wondering if he's eating enough before bed. He keeps wanting to wake up for a little snack. He also soaks his diapers and I think that is waking him up too. I'm just taking each night as it comes and trying to solidify a good bedtime routine. I also know that many babies go through a sleep regression at 6 months and that's very well what we may be living in at the moment. One night at a time. 

Phew. All caught up now. I'll try to not get so behind again! 

Here's Marin at Twenty Seven & Twenty Eight Weeks.