.:Andrus Family:.: .:Jabren

Jabren is ten months old now. Ten months old. That is double digits and I am dying. These months just keep turning over way too quickly!

While Jabes decided to start napping again, his teething definitely got the better of us for a few days this past month. His pediatrician warned us that he would probably get a bunch of teeth all at once and that is proving to be true! As of right now, his two bottom teeth and one top tooth are through, along with a third bottom tooth. His second top tooth is right there and I expect it will break through any time now. There have been some rough days, but we survived and hopefully once this first push of teeth is done, the next ones will come in a little more easily.

Along with his teeth came an end to nursing. He bit me and I told him no - I was firm but not upset or angry. His little lip quivered a bit but he kept nursing. He nursed one more time after that, but then that was the end of it. Honestly, it has been a lot harder than I ever expected it to be. Jabren is our last baby, so as I've said numerous times, I've been trying to savor every little thing with him. I knew that he was going to need to be weaned soon - even within the month - but I wasn't ready for him to do it on his own so abruptly. I continued trying to get him to nurse for about four days, but he would just get immediately upset the second I tried. He has happily been taking pumped milk and formula from a sippy cup ever since. It was a weird feeling, I almost felt disconnected from him for a couple of days. It was very odd and not a happy feeling. But now we are okay again! My pump does not like me and makes me bleed, so I will probably be done with that soon as well. I've been mixing small amounts of my milk with larger amounts of formula to get him used to it. We'll probably switch to cow's milk once he hits 11 months. In all reality, he has done me a favor by switching to a sippy and weaning so easily! I just wish I would have had a little more say on the timetable.

Jabes is crawling all over the place. He loves to follow me and his sisters around and get into whatever he can. He is starting to take an interest in the kitchen and the cupboards. Jabren loves to pull up to standing! He is even getting a little more stable with his balance; we've been able to get him up to 5-6 seconds standing unassisted. He hasn't totally figured out the cruising thing yet, but he is starting to take a few steps and I'm sure it will be happening tons soon! We're working on really teaching the girls what he can and can't have, and how they have to be more careful with what they leave out now.

Jabes learned how to clap this month. He loves it! It doesn't happen super frequently, but it's really cute when he does it. He is still babbling a ton. He says mama all the time, but I'm not sure the association is really there. But I don't care, I still love hearing it!

Jabren is back to taking two solid naps during the day. It is fantastic! One is usually longer than the other, but it is nice to be on a better schedule. We also dropped the 11:00 feeding! It happened totally on accident, I just stayed up too late talking to Dani while she was here, and he slept through the nite. We haven't looked back since! Now he is sleeping 12-14 hours every nite. If only I could get myself to go to bed a little earlier now!

Jabes is a huge eater now! I swear he is a bottomless pit. He loves to eat anything. He loves to eat my food, but still really likes baby food. His favorite is to have the baby food pouches that he can hold and suck the food out of on his own. We do a pretty good combination of baby food and table food. He also loves to have his sippy of water. Jabes is definitely one of us; he loves carbs! Bread, crackers, anything like that is always good. But he still eats his fruits and veggies too, so I figure it's okay. He also really enjoys oreos.

We're about ready for haircut number two with Jabes. His hair appears more red as it grows out, but blonder when it's cut short. It's going to take some getting used to to have to cut his hair all the time. None of the girls have ever had more than two or three haircuts in their lives!