Hi, all! I haven't posted to this group in several months; it's great to hear about everyone's experiences! Everyone's babies are so adorable!
MLog - wow! I'm so glad he's okay. It sounds like you handled a really scary situation really well.
Maryam - I know what you mean about birth trauma. I feel kind of bad saying that, in a way - I mean, I had a homebirth with a great midwife, nothing terrible happened, K was totally healthy and fine. But it was excruciating, and scary, and I threw up a bunch, and I pushed for 3 hours and thought it would never end, and at some point they couldn't hear the heartbeat (he was just too far into the birth canal, but yikes!) and I tore, and couldn't feel the local anaesthetic (so I sure as hell felt those stitches) and I could barely move for two weeks after...so yeah. It wasn't quite the beautiful, spiritual, triumphant experience I had imagined. I don't mind in the long run at all - I have an awesome little guy, and that's all that matters - but I agree with Astraia about looking at birth pictures. Looking at them makes me feel a little ill. And it probably is a good idea to address those feelings before I consider going through that again (which is not anytime soon).
Jynx - no teeth here either! I don't mind at all. K went through a stage of biting while nursing, but he seems to be getting over that - hopefully by the time he gets teeth, he won't try it anymore.
K is 8 1/2 months. He's HUGE - 22lbs! He isn't crawling yet, and I think it's because of his size - he gets on his hands & knees and rocks, but I think it's hard for him to hold his big torso up enough to move forward, and he slides down. He gets so frustrated; he pushes up on his hands and roars! He's very mobile, though; between rolling, turning and scooting, he was halfway across the room & on the teacher's mat at our yoga class when I looked away for a minute today. He babbles a lot, too. He says, "Dadada"; I'm not sure if he's referring to DH or not, although yesterday, when I repeated "Dadada?" he looked towards the door, so maybe! He has this whole routine when DH gets home from work; he beams, waves his arms, squeals, and then buries his face in his hands, as if it's all too thrilling and he can't handle this much excitement! He's also started clapping his hands when he's excited - so adorable. He's a very enthusiastic little guy.
He loves nursing. We kept trying food here and there from 6 months on, and he was never really into it. We tried purees, things he could pick up, mesh teether - nothing was interesting to him, or it was the first time and then he lost interest. At the beginning of this month, I decided to start offering different foods twice a day, every day, just to get him used to new tastes. He tries a little here and there, but is very ho-hum about it. He does enjoy his spoon, however. I'm not concerned - he's definitely not wasting away!
He is the friendliest little guy ever! He loves everyone. Other babies, kids, men, women, old people, scary toothless meth addicts at the bus station, you name it; he just beams at them, and jumps up and down for joy (in his carrier) when they respond! He acts like meeting each new person is the best, most amazing thing that has ever happened to him. I've had several people tell me, "Your baby just made my day!". I love how social & personable he is. I'm considering trying to volunteer with him, maybe in a nursing home or as a refugee mentor something; I've been wanting to volunteer again, and I know he'd love it. Any other suggestions for mama & baby volunteer situations?
Here's a picture of us on the Winter Solstice. We got up early to watch the sun rise:
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