Sleeeeeep!

Let it be known that Elijah officially began sleeping through the night at 7.5 months.  It's been nearly 2 weeks CONSECUTIVELY!  I am a new [well-rested] person!

Elijah's physical development continues to skyrocket forward.  He went straight from crawling to pulling up on everything.  He can now pull himself up to a complete stand.  Once in a while he even lets go of one hand (and gives me a heart attack in the process)!  He is an amazingly happy boy.  I think that has a lot to do with his new mobility, and his much better sleep habits.  Our evenings and nights, and mornings for that matter, are so much more peaceful.  We almost never see the tired, clingy, cranky baby in the evenings that used to visit once a week or so.  Most evenings he is content to crawl around the house, chasing Jackson or following us around as we wash his bottles from school and start preparing dinner.  His bedtime is now closer to 7pm so we have time to do things like take a walk to the park or stop at the store on the way home.  He loves to play with anything that isn't an actual toy.  Recent favorites include plastic bags, shoes, Jackson's dog bowl, any speck of dust or dirt he can find, and Jackson's bones.  It's really fun to watch Jackson and Elijah interact.  A couple nights ago, Elijah crawled after Jackson and picked up his bone.  Jackson very gently bit the end of the bone that Elijah wasn't holding, and turned around and walked to the other side of the living room.  Elijah crawled after him, smiling and babbling away.  He grabbed the bone away from the dog.  Jackson had this startled look on his face, and then gently grabbed the other end of the bone again.  This went on and on for 30 minutes!

Bath time is quite the adventure these days.  We had to move to the big bathtub because he was getting much too big and mobile for the little one in the kitchen sink.  It took him a few days to adjust, but now he loves it just as much as before.  He crawls around and around the bathtub, splashing and babbling.  He loves to use the side of the tub to pull up.  Most of the time he can only get onto his knees, but that is scary enough for me.  I grab his arms and gently sit him back on his bottom.  Over and over and over again.  Sometimes he even pulls up to standing.  And then he lets go with one hand.... and I die from shock.  Not really.  He also loves the hollow ringing sound of the side of the tub when he hits it.  Bathtime has turned into Elijah's drumming time.  We filled the tub a little fuller than usual last night, and Elijah loved the extra splash he got.  I was soaking wet by the end.  We've evolved our bedtime routine so that I pump around 6pm, then I do Eljiah's bath and bedtime routine while Daniel cooks dinner.  It's usually ready shortly after I put Elijah into his crib, around 6:50pm.

He has gotten very good at falling asleep on his own.  It is such a relief.  And once he's asleep, we can relax knowing that we are off-duty for a full 12 hours.  He sleeps all night long without crying.  I imagine he probably does wake up occasionally, but he must go back to sleep without making enough noise to wake me up.  Sometimes I hear him around 5:45am, right before my alarm goes off, but somehow by 6:00 he is back to sleep.  Usually he wakes up on his own between 6:30 and 7am.  He hasn't been eating nearly as much milk lately.  Since he's sleeping through the night, it's 24-25 oz each day.  And his first bottle of the morning has been a struggle lately.  I push him to finish, even if he doesn't seem interested.  Even though my supply is still a little lower than it used to be, I'm making more than enough milk.  I've frozen enough to replace the couple I had to thaw a few weeks ago, plus some!  I wonder if I should start cutting back on my pumping to match his appetite.  If I don't, I may end up with Elijah fully weaned but my body still producing a full supply.  That sounds horrible.  I can't believe we've made it almost 8 months breastfeeding.  I'm still happy to continue until the 1 year mark.  We'll see if my supply makes it that long.  So far it seems that I will have no problem!

At that 1 year mark we may have a good reason to stop breastfeeding.  Daniel admitted this weekend that he's starting "to feel more than 5% ready" for another baby.  He wants Elijah to have a playmate.  So I think right now we will shoot for another little Rosen around Elijah's 1st birthday.  I think finances are our biggest hurdle to overcome.  We could make it work, but we may not be able to meet our other financial goals (like moving into a nicer house by the time Elijah starts Kindergarten).  The biggest reason I want another child is because I just loved that newborn stage so much.  I want to experience that again.  I'm sure it will be completely different the second time, but I'm excited to see what that will be like.  And I really want to give breastfeeding another shot.  I think that the second time around I can really do it.  Not exclusively pumping, but actually nursing.  I think it will be so much easier than what I'm doing now.

Spring and Summer have been a long time coming, but I think this weekend is it!  We had a big snow this week, but it's supposed to be in the 70s Saturday, so I'm hoping that we are done with snow until the fall.  I am so exited to do a bunch of fun summer things with Elijah.  Go to the farmer's market, let him crawl around in the grass, go to a baseball game, and go up to Estes Park!  It's going to be a great summer!