Sunday, May 5, 2013

Nine in; Nine Out

I wrote this at the beginning of April and kept coming back to edit and add just a little bit more. Of course the days then got away from me and here we are, two weeks past his 9 month birthday. Better late than never...

Our sweet smiling boy is turning 9 months old in less than two weeks. Sebastian Gabriel has brought so much happiness to our days. He's my son and boy am I lucky.

During the time that I was pregnant with him I often wondered what type of baby he would turn out to be. Amélie was such a sweet and relatively easy baby in every way, that I thought my next baby would end up being more challenging. You tend to hear stories of families with one easy and one difficult baby and I figured with my first being the "easy" one, the next would have to be the "hard" one. Up to this point, I have to argue against that point. Sebastian is just the sweetest boy.

I keep thinking about the 9 months that I was pregnant with him now that we're approaching the 9 month mark of his life. My pregnancy was easy, exciting, and went by so quickly. Before I knew it, here was this little bundle that has since grown unbelievably fast. Although our babies have been very similar in many ways, there are definitely differences between them. Along with this, it's really interesting to see what each of them has been like during different stages on their lives, but at the same time of year since their birthdays are only a week apart. The most obvious difference between them has been size and weight. My itty bitty 5 pound, 5 ounce baby girl has made up for her initial size, but since Sebastian started out over two pound heavier, he had a major head start. At his last doctor appointment Sebastian was exactly 18 pounds. That was at 7 months. There are pieces of clothing that fit Amélie up until she turned one, that haven't fit Sebastian in months. Our almost 9 month boy is wearing 12 month clothing and this makes me sad to see my baby grow up so fast, but also excited to see who he will become.

Our boy has a smile that spreads throughout his entire face and a contagious little giggle. When we're out and about, he gets so many smiles and greetings from strangers, especially now that he has those darling little bottom teeth (and the top two are peeking out). He is irresistible and he uses that to his advantage. He is most definitely a fan of the ladies and will often stare them down in order to get a smile. He's bashful when he wants to be and will snuggle up to my neck to hide. Sebastian is downright adorable; from his spiky little fluffy head of hair down to those little chubby tamalito feet. I just want to eat him up! He's my perfect little boy and I'm so very lucky that he's a fan of mine.

We did start off rough with the sleeping, but we've gotten into a groove and he's doing amazingly well. He's down to two naps and a 7pm to 7am night time schedule. He'll every so often sleep through the night, but more often will get up to nurse once around 4 or 5am. At first I was hoping that Sebastian would follow the same sleeping habits as Amélie and sleep through the night at 7 months, but I know not to compare them and take it once night at a time. It very well could be bad, but right now I get to snuggle with my boy in the darkness of the night.

As I hold him up while holding on to his hands, I have a feeling this almost-nine-month old boy will be walking in no time. Just like his sister, he's not a fan of being on his belly and shows NO interest in crawling. But get him on his feet and he's happy as can be. He's been taking small steps and showing us how strong his little legs are while holding onto the side of furniture and standing for a very long time. I can't lie that I am nervous about the day he actually begins walking because Sebastian's got a desire to touch and investigate everything in site. Our baby-proofed, or should I say, "Amélie-proofed" home will need to be reviewed for our inquisitive little guy.

If it's not obvious already, I'm in love with Sebastian. He's our Sebi, little papa, baby boy, chiquito, hermoso, sweetie pie, and snuggie little bug. He's completed our family. Getting to see my two babies together, smiling, and laughing just makes my day and I can't imagine life without those giggles and sweet faces. As I sit here remembering the hardest of days, just waiting for Sebastian to reach the six week mark so his sleeping habits would improve and thinking how long those weeks felt, it baffles me that we are now so close to his first birthday. Slow.down.time! It seems like it was you know, "just the other day," that I was nursing, nursing, nursing and counting the hours till nap time for both. Now, baby girl isn't napping anymore(boo hoo) and Sebastian is only nursing 4/5 times a day. The daily challenges now have to do more with a certain dramatic(diva!) and opinionated toddler and trying to find opportunities to give Sebastian more one-on-one attention. How life has changed.

Some notables on our little boy:
  • has four-ish teeth. the top two are out, but not completely.
  • wears 12m- 18m clothing. 
  • already enjoys the carseat more than Amélie did at that age.
  • will put anything within reach in his mouth
  • hates pacifiers
  • is literally a bouncing baby boy. he loves bouncing.
  • makes a lot of baby sounds; sometimes very loudly.
  • has great sense of style. hehe
  • loves his sister so much.
  • uses a straw/sippy cup to drink.
  • feeds himself. it's the cutest thing. he pinches to grab then rolls it into his palm to push it into his mouth.
  • likes everything when it comes to food. except avocado. what is it with my babies not liking avocado?!
  • can hold onto something and stand for an indefinite amount of time. strong little legs!
  • has always loved trees. they fascinate him.
  • is a fan of large trucks and noisy vehicles. what a boy!
  • is in the "i need to be able to see mommy at all times" period.
  • he really likes being held or carried. he prefers the ergo to the stroller.
  • really wants to walk. will take steps if you hold on to his little chubby hands. 
I wanted to add some photos, but at this point it'll take me another month to get those the way I'm getting along with blogging. Let's just imagine his cute little smiling face. Love him.