Aurelia Ann: 6 months

Aurelia crossed the half year mark earlier this month and I'm being a total sap about it. She's our last baby and I am soaking in every single minute of her babyness. I'm mourning that fact that the little baby days are gone. However, I'm thoroughly enjoying each new stage as it comes.

Right now Aurelia is an expert roller. She loves tummy time except when she's tired- she'll plant her face down into her hands and fuss until she's picked up. Since she started rolling we haven't been sleeping that well as she wakes frequently and is struggling to get back to sleep because she just wants to roll around or if it's in the middle of the night she thinks she needs to nurse. 

She is the smiliest baby I've ever met. She smiles almost immediately when anyone looks her way. My favorite smiles are when she's so happy that her little body can hardly contain the joy and she stiffens up and wiggles all over with excitement. She does this a lot for her daddy and her brothers. She loves to watch Malakai and Desmond play and they love to perform for her. I hope that lasts forever, it's so sweet to witness.

She recently went through a phase where she wouldn't let me put her down without a fuss. It lasted about 2 weeks and I'm so thankful for the Ergo carrier we were gifted a few years ago, total life saver...or at least arm saver. My big girl is growing fast!

We had her well check last week and she is weighing 17 lbs, 8 ounces and is 26 1/4 inches tall and believe it or not, that makes her our smallest baby at this stage. Malakai was 20lbs 28 inches and Desmond was 22lbs, 22 inches tall by 6 months. Sometimes I feel like she outgrows clothing faster than they did, but now I'm just realizing it's probably because she has more clothing than they did at this stage so we end up with outfits that I set aside or forgot about that she'll wear once or not at all. I've since gotten better at breaking out the next size so it's ready and waiting by the time she's grown into it.

Aurelia has been loving her jumper that we just broke out a month ago and she also sits in a high chair at the table with us now. She tasted her first food last week at dinner, mashed up avocado. She made a few questionable faces, but ate it up pretty easily! We gave her pureed carrots this week and she always makes a funny face at first but then eats it up like a pro!

I can hardly believe how quickly she's grown. I miss the tiny baby stage but am loving this interactive stage of watching her learn as well. She's developing such a sweet personality. 

Desmond: 9 months {8 days late}

July is one of the busiest months of the year for us. With the Independence day holiday (when we usually go camping but didn't this year), our wedding anniversary on the 7th (I'll try to post about how we celebrated), Malakai's birthday on the 16th, and it being one of the best months for weather where we live, we always have a full schedule. Needless to say, I am quite late on Desmond's 9 month post. I honestly couldn't even tell you if I did one for 8 months, but I think I'll save the next one for 12 months.

This child is doing everything entirely too fast. He took his first step last week and is constantly toying with standing on his own. He hasn't taken any more steps yet, but he loves to walk while holding someone's hands or pushing toys around the house.

{Malakai - April 2010. Desmond- July 2012}

A few days ago he decided to start climbing onto the bench of Malakai's little picnic table. Not cool with mama. It's now outside. His strength has earned him the nickname "Baby Hercules". When he gets grouchy or wants out of his seat he grunts and I like to call him "Baby Hulk".

He's also doing a lot of talking these days and a difference I noticed between he and Kai at this age is that he is already using the hard "g" and "k" sounds. He says "mama" and  "dada"very clearly and can mimic just about any other sound or word you throw at him, but doesn't have any other often used words.

He is an eating machine and recently graduated to cheerios in the finger-food category. He's teething like crazy with 4 big ones and more on the way. This has been an issue when it comes to sleep. He slept through the night twice in a row for a 7-8 hour stretch and it felt like heave. Before that he was doing some pretty nice 4-6 hour stretches, but then those teeth decided to interrupt our nights again and we haven't recouped yet.

Even still, Desmond is a very happy baby. He's quick to return a smile and laughs often. Nobody can make him laugh quite like his big brother Malakai. Seeing them play together and make each other laugh is one of the greatest joys I've experiences in life thus far. I love my boys and am so blessed to be their mama.

8 months: Desmond

I need to hurry and get this post out before Desmond turns 9 months...or a year. I swear I was just posting his 7 month update a few days ago.


In the last month Desmond has mastered crawling, he gets so fast, especially when he has his eye on something. He starts grunting or saying "yeah yeah yeah", which is one of his newest "words". He also has started saying something that resembles "hi".

He loves to wave his arms up and down when he gets excited or is testing the sound of an object banging into another. Everything and I mean EVERYTHING he snatches goes immediately into his mouth. He has two bottom teeth that came in simultaneously. His top left is about to poke through as well. In fact it gave us quite the scare this evening when it started to gush blood. We've never had anything like that happen but the nurse on the phone acted as if it was a normal occurrence. (any other parents out there have this happen?)

Just over a week ago he pulled himself up to standing in his crib for the first time and every since he has been obsessed with pulling himself up and has already started cruising, making his way across the front of the couch. This kiddo is so ready to chase his brother down!

Now that he's so mobile he doesn't want much to do with being held, playing in his jumper, or being carried in the Ergo for very long. He gets antsy to move on his own. He even likes being put down in the grass to crawl (Kai refused to let grass touch his skin, especially when he was learning to walk).

Desmond is super friendly, quick to return a smile from just about anyone. He has taken to occasionally feigning shyness by smirking and burying his head in my neck or shoulder when approached by someone. He is super ticklish and loved to be bounced or danced with.

He has become quite the chatter box and will babble to himself endlessly. When Kai is around he's all ears. He loves to watch and listen to his brother. Malakai is better as soothing him when he gets grumpy in the car than either myself or Ben. Kai will quickly say "it's okay Desmond, it's okay, it's okay, it's okay" and Des will smile or relax and usually remain calm.

He has loved trying new foods but still prefers to nurse. So far he's eaten oatmeal, banana, avocado, mango, and butternut squash. We've been slow on introducing new foods because of how busy our schedule has been lately, but he doesn't seem to mind. Next on the menu will be yogurt.

Des is obviously a big boy for his age. Apparently Ben + I have average sized newborns that grow at an incredible rate. Kai has slowed down and is normal for his age, so we're assuming his baby brother will do the same. We're just glad they're healthy and happy.

I love watching you learn, grow, and laugh little Des.

7 months

{I wrote the following update and then let it sit as I haven't had time to add the pictures...Des turned 7 months almost two weeks ago on the 10th...May is about to disappear just as quickly as April did! Needless to say he is already doing much more since I wrote this post, changing way too fast!}

On Thursday Desmond turned 7 months...already. April sort of disappeared for us, which has me a bit worried about how May will go!

This past month Desmond has started to say "dada" all.the.time. He did (for the record) say "ma" first...but he really only says it when he's mad. Nice huh? He also says "ba" and recently started mixing them together a bit. He will even start practicing his new words in the middle of the night, cute.

He's crawling, albeit clumsily. But there is forward motion now instead of just ending up wedged under something because he's scooted backwards. His increased mobility over the last 4 weeks leaves nothing at floor level safe anymore. I've been sweeping and mopping like a crazy woman...as well as cleaning up spit-up every two seconds (see: happy spitter). He is very good at grabbing anything and everything. He has long arms and incredible aim. Jewelry and cutlery beware.


Des' sitting skills have improved as well. He was toppling over quite often because he'd want to try to go get something or he'd get really excited and straighten out, only to fall backwards. Now he's mastered rolling to the side to get on his tummy from sitting, as well as getting into a sitting position from being on his belly. All these things we take for granted until we see a little person struggle to learn them. He gets frustrated, but does fairly well.

The DAY he turned 7 months his first tooth broke through. The night before was obviously a rough one. Little tooth is on the bottom in the middle. It is sharp and I'm praying hard that he doesn't become a biter like Kai was.

He is still waking in the night to nurse, but typically only once which is manageable for the time being. Although, I'm thinking we'll try to wean him of that feeding soon since he doesn't need it and we all could use the continuous sleep. Easier said than done of course. He naps regularly and goes down easily for the most part, he is leaps and bounds easier than his brother was in the sleep department. Actually, he's still easier than Malakai is right now when it comes to going to sleep and staying asleep.

As you can see Desmond has a head full of hair and I'm not sure we'll make it to his first birthday before he needs his first haircut. Malakai had very short hair at the same age, but developed sweet curls that I became quite attached to. His first haircut was at almost 15 months old. Looking back at pictures of his little psuedo-mullet, I think it'll be easier to cut Desmond's when the time comes...as long as he doesn't go and sprout little curls anytime soon.

comparing my boys...

I never got around to posting the comparison photos I did of Des + Kai at 6 months and suddenly Desmond is 7 months...so here are both 6 and 7 month comparisons.

Whenever I look at photos of Kai as a baby, it truly makes me wonder what people are talking about when they see Des and say "he looks just like his brother!"

Desmond: 6 months.

Yep, it's been another month and suddenly Desmond is 1/2 a year old (as of April 10th) and yes...I'm thinking about his 1st birthday celebration already. It'll be here so fast I have to at least have it on my mind and on my pin boards now!

At 6 months Desmond is super active. He is sleeping much less during the day which is a lot of fun for both myself and Malakai. He absolutely loves his big brother. My favorite part of the day is after Kai has been up a while and Des wakes, I'll bring him in and it's like they are reuniting after being apart for days. Kai says "Desmond! He's awake, I wanna see 'im!" Then comes right up to his face and says hi. Des lights up, giggles and wiggles his whole body with excitement. Every.single.morning.

{these look posed, but Kai totally just came up and did this on his own}

Des has been a drooling machine for the past couple of months, teething like crazy but nothing has popped through yet. He loves to blow raspberries and is babbling more and more every day. Lately he has been kind of growling/shouting and it sounds like he's angry but he'll be grinning and laughing all the while. We call it "testing his voice". Kai used to do something similar but he did high pitched squeals.

We just had Desmond's 6 month well-check this morning. According to Dr. B he's perfect...confirming what we already thought. He's 27 inches long (tall) which puts him in the 75th %, 22lbs 1oz. which is off the charts as he has been since about 2 days old. His head is 18 1/4 inches, big ol' noggin just like his brother.

At just 6 months he's growing out of 9 month clothes and fitting Kai's hand-me-down 12 month clothing which just boggles my mind. For those of you who don't know, Ben's younger brother is actually quite a bit bigger than him (Ben is 6 ft. tall and David is 6' 5") so we often wonder if Des and Kai will be the same in that regard.

At the end of March he started pushing up on to his hands and knees and sometimes onto his toes, lifting his whole body off the ground! He is one strong little man! Then he started trying to crawl towards toys but ends up scooting backward which really frustrates him. Late last week he actually crawled a tiny bit forward on his knees for Grandma Debbie + I! It was so exciting, but whoah it seems too early to already have a mobile baby.

He is also sitting upright really well, but I always put a boppy or other pillows around him because he'll randomly get excited and fling himself backward. He almost instantly figured out how to move from sitting to a crawling position on his tummy without any issues.

Unfortunately he has started crying more. He never really cried when he was upset, just got a bit fussy. He's been a good sleeper since he got over his first bout of colick around 1 month old. BUT once he started learning so many new things he started to wake more and get more crabby. The other night he woke up at 4am and wouldn't go back to sleep, which was a first. Big bro has always been our difficult one when it comes to sleeping, I'm hoping Desmond doesn't follow in those footsteps! Last night he did sleep unswaddled all night, but he was nursing pretty frequently and ended up staying in bed with us from 4am-7am. After chatting with Dr. B we'll be trying some no-cry solutions to get him sleeping longer and more independently.

We started him on "solids" over Easter weekend, just doing some baby oatmeal cereal and breastmilk once a day. We'll ease him into my homemade veggie and fruit purees soon and more frequent solid feedings by 9 months per his Dr's recommendation.

About once every week or two he had a couple of days of almost constant spitting up, but it never bothers him. When I mentioned this to Dr. B she laughed and said that "happy spitter" is a actual medical term, we all laughed. It was good to know that it's common enough to have a term and that it's not something to worry about.

Des is still quick to smile and easy to get laughing. He is so friendly and snuggly. He was smiling and babbling to the Dr and nurses during the whole visit. After his vaccines he quit crying as soon as I picked him up and nursed to sleep. He only recently is able to stay asleep during transitions from car seat or mama's arms to his crib, which has been really nice.

Overall he is a happy healthy big baby boy and we are enjoying the journey of watching him grow, both in body and in skills and personality.

Desmond: 5 months

Oy. It's almost painful when I realize how quickly babyhood is escaping us. I often say that with how fast Des grew after birth, we didn't get enough time in the teensy baby stage. You know...this one...

{photo by Davee Blu Photography}

That was just a week after he was born. 7 days old and oh so little. Why can't it last? I digress...

Desmond is now 5 months old as of the 10th. His favorite past time is to spit and blow raspberries. He loves it so much that he can be found doing this instead of going to sleep during many a nap or bedtime. 

He is a drooly mess most of the time as well. Partly from the spitting and raspberries, but mostly from the furious teething he has been experiencing for the past month. We NEVER had to deal with drool when Kai was a baby so this is new territory for us. Most days I'm not sure if I should put a bib on him or just change his clothes. 

I started a bit of a tradition (if you can call it that) during Kai's baby days. On the exact day he was a month older we would do a little photoshoot. It hasn't gone as well with Des but I always get a few pictures. This month I got more than usual and we let brother join in for the fun. 

Speaking of brother, Desmond LOVES his big brother Malakai. Kai has discovered what makes Des laugh and will do what he can over and over to get him giggling. 

We recently introduced Desmond to his activity jumper. He loves to play with the toys and jump up and down. Kai also likes to join him, connecting links to it for him. He's also been caught trying to climb into it...while Des was in it too. yikes.

Little guy enjoys tummy time and has been pushing his entire belly up off the floor. He can also scoot enough to move 90 degrees from where he had been originally facing. I have a feeling he'll be mobile early.

He is the happiest baby I have ever known. It is a breeze to get him to smile, showing off those great big dimples. He's super social, always looking for a face and lighting up when he finds one looking back at him. He's growing up too fast and I'm enjoying every minute of it. 

Malakai + Desmond: growing boys

It's been a while since I've done a comparison of my boys, and since I have to share Desmond's well-check stats from his 4 month in contrast to his 2 month appointment, I might as well see how he compares to Malakai at this age.

First, one small thing that I love about our pediatrician's office is that they take a photo at every well check. I take my own photos all the time, but for some reason it's just so great to have their photos to compare. Here are Desmond's photos so far...

Talk about a quick change! In 2 months his head grew an inch, he grew 3 inches in length, and gained 4lbs! Here are his 4 month stats: height 26 1/4 (85%), weight- 18lbs 15.5oz ( above 95%), head- 17 1/4 in. (85%). 

And Malakai's at this age: height- 24 3/4 inches (43%), weight- 17lbs 8oz (88%), head- 18 in. (99%).  

Kai was seeing a different doctor, so we don't have the well-check photos for him. When Kai was 4 months his pediatrician had us all worried about his growth and development. I'm glad to have switched doctors and to know that both my boys are healthy and well without jumping to conclusions and being given the worst case scenario at every visit. 

Ben + I were just realizing last night that it has been 9 months since Kai's surgery. It seems like a lifetime ago, and we are so glad to have that behind us!

Anyway here is Kai at 4 months in November of 2009 and Des at 4 months now.

We get a lot of comments about how Des looks "just like his brother!" but I really don't agree. They have some of the same features, but each has a look of their own. Well, except for the fact that Malakai is an exact replica of Ben.

This week Desmond has been teething like crazy and Malakai is learning to use the potty. It's been challenging and I surely wouldn't have planned to start potty-training with Kai while sleep deprived because of Desmond's teething and my having a cold...but he was ready so I went with it. The kid totally gets it, but doesn't really care to go unless I remind him that he gets a sticker, then he's all about it, but would rather put a diaper back on than a pull-up or underwear...I have a feeling it's going to take a while!

Desmond: 4 months

At 4 months Desmond is a very social baby. It's so easy to make him smile and laugh, I spend most of my day being a goof ball just to hear him giggle. He wakes up in the morning talking and cooing away, just completely happy.

He loves to watch other people, especially big brother Malakai. Kai has also just noticed that he's being watched and takes to entertaining Desmond. He's also been much more gentle, affectionate, and helpful with Des. He'll grab a burp cloth, or the boppy when I need it. The other night he grabbed Desmond's bottle from the counter after Ben finished feeding him, and said "I feed him!" and put it in Des' mouth. It was too sweet, and of course Des thought it was hilarious.

Desmond is growing faster than I can keep track of. We already have two full storage bags of his newborn, 0-3, and 3 month clothes. He is quickly getting too big (long) for his 3-6 and some 6 month clothes and fits really well in most 6-9 month things already! I find myself sorting clothes out of his regular rotation every time I do laundry.

He has been an amazing sleeper. Besides the colic he experienced early on, he goes down fairly easy at night and doesn't cry when he wakes to nurse. There are occasions when he keeps waking up just after we put him down, usually it's because he wants to keep eating. Once he's down for the night, he really only wakes up once or twice.

The bottle has been an interesting challenge for Des. He took to a binky really well, which is why we were so shocked he wouldn't eat from a bottle. My mom discovered a technique that works (holding him facing out while bouncing) and between her, Ben, and his mom we're getting him to eat from a bottle in more comfortable positions week by week. For now, he still refuses to take a bottle being cradled like when I nurse him.

He started reaching for and grabbing toys a couple weeks ago. Now he's a pro and is also grabbing at my hands while he nurses, my hair and for faces of whomever is holding him. He still loves to "stand up" on his legs and doesn't mind tummy time for 5 minutes here and there. He can roll over from tummy to back, so if he gets tired of it he just rolls to his back.

{visiting with Aunt Kristi}

Sweet Desmond is growing up much too fast, but it seems that's how all of the babies are doing it these days. It kills me that I hardly remember Kai as a baby anymore. Thank goodness for home videos!

Malakai 2.5

Today Malakai is exactly 2 and a half! It's amazing what a difference 6 months has made. He looks so much different, so much older to me already. He has learned a ton over that time as well and his personality develops more and more everyday.

Malakai is hilarious, always making others laugh, especially his parents. He says and does some of the most random things. However, at the same time he is a creature of habit. I suspect that this is something he shares in common with many other two year olds. He could eat PBJ and yogurt for lunch every single day and be perfectly content. He likes things to be "just so". I don't dare find out what would happen if I gave him a sandwich without first cutting it into 4 triangles (this mama leaves the crust on though).

He is much taller and a bit thinner, although he's surely hanging onto that sweet round baby face. He still has the bluish vein between his eyes, and people have finally stopped asking if it's a bruise. His hair grows so quickly I can't keep up and he's already due for another trim. I (not so secretly) love the shaggy look and the little curls he gets in the back. His eyes are a greenish hazel, almost exactly like daddy's. He loves to jump and attempts somersaults more often than I'd like. He is bashing his head into things much less and while he always has bruises they are not as numerous as they had been just half a year ago. He must be more stable these days.

Lately he has taken to giving us a bit of a mean look when he doesn't get the response he wants. He's just as persistent as ever, but if he doesn't want to comply with what is being asked of him he'll just repeat "I can't" over and over again. A close cousin to "I don't like that", and one of his first sentences "I don't want it". When you do something "wrong" he says your name with a bit of a whine as if to ask "what were you thinking mama?!". This is much too close to a teenage reaction for me. He can be a bit bossy, we're working on that...

He says "I love you, too" when you tell him you love him though. Just last night he asked me to "snuddle" before bed. He has always been a pretty independent kid, wanting to play on his own and do it his way. Lately though, he's been asking us to join him in his play and he plays really well with other children. He has also been trying to interact with Desmond much more. Today he tried to pick him up and lay him on a pillow. He constantly tries to put the binky in Des' mouth for him, and he has a strange fascination with brother's tiny hands.

Malakai has always had some issues with sleep. He hasn't stuck with a pattern for more than a month, unless it was a pattern of not going to bed easily. He has been skipping at least one and sometimes two or three naps a week. He'll get into EVERYTHING in his room (and there's not much in there) or just stay awake tossing and turning until he cries to "come out". We're suspecting a bit of anxiety when it comes to sleep as he's had some pretty severe reactions to bed/nap time.

His biggest obsession is numbers (nuh-muhs) and letters (yetters). While he says some things a bit incorrectly, his pronunciation of most words is actually really good. When it comes to the alphabet, he knows it all. He has been able to sing the entire thing for a long time now. He can also point out any letter and name it no matter what the order or if it's upper or lower case. His latest thing is letter sounds. Kai knows the sounds of almost every letter. He loves to make up games where he takes the letters out of his puzzles and then looks for them to put them back, narrating the whole time: "Where's the 'a'? There, there, there's the 'a'!" We're pretty sure he got this from the PBS show "Super Why".

When it comes to numbers he can correctly count up to 13 and then there's an 18 and an eleventeen in there somewhere before he gets to 20. He correctly counts items though, pointing at each while he counts.

He loves to explore, indoors and out. He'll go through all of his toys or investigate things at Grandma's house. He is fascinated by every leaf and rock in our yard. He's so adventurous that he's already climbed the rock wall at the park to get to the big slide.

{we had snow today!}

As long as I can remember I've referred to Kai as "strong willed" and that hasn't changed one bit. He knows who he is, and what he likes/dislikes and isn't afraid to let you know. He's also quite sweet and over the past few months has become a much better listener. He always says please and thank you and is sometimes coy with new people, even if he was the first to say (shout) hello. He is such a happy kid.

When I look at him compared with little Desmond I can't believe that just 30 short months ago Malakai was a brand new little baby. I wish I could remember the details of every single day that has passed since then, it's going much too fast for me.










Don't forget to keep up with our day to day at my Project 365 blog!