Ephram at Eight Months

Yes, it's true.  My baby boy will be nine months old tomorrow.  Maybe I should stop fighting the fact that I will always be close to a month behind...  Maybe!  Or maybe next month will be the magic month that I blog about it sooner.

That picture above is of our Ephram on the day he turned eight months old.  And yes, he has a very runny nose in the picture.  Poor kid caught his first real cold... and it was a doozy!

The Stats
There is no eight month well child check-up, but I did try to measure him at home.  Here is what I came up with:
Height - somewhere around 27.5 inches
Weight - 20 pounds, 8 ounces

He gained another pound in his seventh month... this kid just keeps growing.  Several people have made comments to me lately about how muscular my arms look.  Now, I don't really know how true that is... but if they are, it has to be from lugging my little guy around all day long!

Milestones
Able to stand and lean on objects - 33 weeks
First illness - 34 weeks

Ephram spent most of the month mastering his crawl.  He can sure get to objects he desires quickly now!

Teeth
Ephram still has 6 teeth - 4 on top and 2 on bottom

Food
Everything he was eating before plus...
Peaches
Squash
Pears
Apples
Gerber Puffs

This month we worked on introducing fruits into Ephram's diet.  He absolutely hated them at first, but it didn't take long for him to learn to love some of them.  He really likes apples, bananas and pears now.  Peaches are only tolerated when mixed into cereal!  (Same with squash.)

Favorites
Song - The Wheels on the Bus
Book - That's Not My Monkey
Activity Center - Exersaucer
Toy - Fisher Price Shape Sorting Blocks

Nicknames
Little Bug
Ephroo (courtesy of his friend Tanna)
Boo-boo

As always, I pulled out the camera the day he turned eight months and had fun doing a mini photo shoot.  This is getting more and more difficult with his increasing mobility.  I hope that I can keep it up.  :)

In His Seventh Month...

... Ephram became more and more entertaining.  Every week his personality grew... and his cuteness seemed to grow too!

We had fun experimenting with some new toys.  Ephram got his first "computer" and loved it from the moment he saw it in the store.  His favorite part about the computer was his new found ability to open and close the display.  He also discovered Charlie's old airplane and quickly grew to love it too.  For his part, Charlie loved that he could push Ephram around on it... (slowly or mom would get too nervous!)  Another new favorite were his shape blocks - good for dumping, carrying around, and putting in his mouth.

Ephram became a skilled army crawler.  I loved watching him sight something that he was interested in, give it a smile, and then take off toward it with a new determination.  Sometime during the month he also started protesting if someone intervened before he got there!  Many, many things found new resting spots as we learned what peaked his interest.

Most of all, I loved how our play time developed.  Ephram is a fun-loving and giggly kid... it is so nice to know that he feels safe and secure enough to spend most of his time finding reason to laugh.

More Time with Liel

We had a fun few days with my sister while she was here.  Besides our visit to Seattle we also ventured out to see Despicable Me, which was a pretty funny movie.  Another highlight was our visit to the Snohomish Visitors Center.  I have never been there before, and on normal occassions would have kept driving, but it was actually a pretty fun stop.

Liel can be pretty silly when she wants to be.  When I was going back through my pictures, I kept finding pairings with one silly-faced Liel followed by a serious picture.  Here are two examples.

Liel can be quite entertaining... even a month later when reviewing photos.

Liel also spent a lot of time playing with Boone.  He really liked her, I think he was in mourning when she left.

She also spent time playing with Charlie and Ephram.  The boys like their Aunt Liel.  Charlie keeps asking when she is going to come back!

Seattle Center

Since the EMP is located at Seattle Center, we also spent some time walking around the other attractions there with Liel.

I took the obligatory picture of Liel in front of the Space Needle. 

We let Charlie ride a couple of the rides they have there.  There were only a couple of kids riding while we were there, so Charlie got his pick of what he wanted to ride and even got to choose which vehicle in each of the rides.  He liked that!

Ephram was there too, and someday will get to ride as well.  For now I just took a couple pictures of him watching Charlie.  I think he really wanted to be on a little plane with him!

We went into the little food court area and had some snacks... of the sweet variety.  The cookie that I had was pretty good and I think Liel had baclava.  Then we all saw Seattle Fudge and we couldn't skip it.  We left with two nice sized chunks of fudge to enjoy for the next few days.

Then we walked over to the fountain and enjoyed it for awhile.  We had a fun time at the Seattle Center and need to make an effort to go there more often!

Sleeping Like a Baby?

I am not sure where that phrase comes from.  My baby has not been a sleeper since he was born.  People always say someone is "sleeping like a baby" when they are totally out and peaceful looking.  Let me tell you, I don't want to sleep like my baby... restless, always waking up, cat napping rather than really sleeping...  The last eight and a half months have been filled with lots and lots of work to improve all of our sleep.

We transferred Ephram into his crib in his own room this past Saturday.  Yes, he's been co-sleeping with us until now.  Honestly, I would have kept him in our room longer because it was working.  Unfortunately, he's developed into a very active sleeper.  I've woken up a few times to find him crawling near the edge, and I don't really want to take the step to put guardrails all around my bed.  So, to the crib we've moved.

It's been a shaky transition.  I have been sleeping in his room on an air mattress because he has been so unsettled.  The first night he woke up every 30-45 minutes.  The second we were up to an hour between awakenings.  Last night we actually had a three hour stretch.  It makes me so sad to see him crying when he wakes up.  It seems like he thinks he is lost and is wondering where we are.  I wish I could explain it to him!  Instead I just keep doing everything that I can to teach him to self-soothe, and praying that he'll feel safe and have comfort in his little crib.

I've had so little sleep in the last few days.  His awakenings have been much longer.  They used to be just 3-5 minutes, because I'd roll over and feed him and then we'd both go right back to sleep.  So, even though we were waking up 7 times a night, the disruption to our sleep was short.  Now I have to get up, get him out, feed him and calm him.  That takes at least 10 minutes, usually 20.  And transferring him back to the crib has been disastrous at times.  Although, I have seen a lot of improvement in this since we started.  The first night every crib transfer took at least 30 minutes.  Last night there were four times that he just rolled over and went to sleep without a whimper.  Progress!

I keep telling myself that this is just temporary and that it will be better for all of us, that we'll all be sleeping better soon.  I hope it's true!  Tonight I'm moving back to my own bed.  Wish us luck.

EMP and SFM with Liel

Years ago, when my little sister Liel was still in high school, I remember having acronym battles over Instant Messenger with her.  We would send strings of acronyms to each other and the other person would guess what each letter stood for.  It was quite fun, actually.  Liel came to visit us in mid-August for a few days.  And although I hadn't actually recalled the acronym game until just a minute ago, I do think it is very fitting that we took her to the one place in Seattle that holds two museums known largely by their acronyms.

 Andy and Charlie in front of the building.  Charlie was excited because he'd just seen a helicopter and a monorail go by.

We started at the SFM (Science Fiction Museum).  The rooms of the SFM contain just about anything and everything you might want to see if you are a Sci-Fi fan.  (And not a SyFy fan... I am among those that think the network's name change was silly.)  They have a ton of Star Wars and Star Trek memoribilia.  But even better, they have the jet pack from that movie The Rocketeer.

Charlie was very disappointed that these controls didn't do anything when he touched them.

Andy with the captain's chair from Star Trek.

Liel, Andy and Charlie just outside the entrance to the SFM.  Charlie being a goof, Andy showing little emotion, and Liel attempting to show little emotion as she pretends to be a Vulcan.

Once we were done looking through the SFM we crossed the hallway that seperates it from the EMP (Experience Music Project.)  This is actually the first time I'd been to the EMP.  It opened shortly after we moved to Washington, probably about 11 years ago, and I've wanted to visit it ever since.  Pretty sad it took me so long... but at least we finally made it there!

This collection of instruments stands in the center of the main hallway of the EMP. 

There were two special exhibits on display.  The first was a Jimi Hendrix exhibit.  They had collections of his handwritten lyrics and some bits of broken guitars.  Of course, they also had a ton of information about his life and performance history.  The second special exhibit was on The Supremes.  It was pretty interesting - they had a collection of outfits that were worn during Supremes' performances.  Our favorite room was probably a sound lab that is upstairs.  There was a huge drum table that we all had fun using.  There were also several small sound rooms where you could play various instruments.  We spent a lot of time in there!

Charlie would have played on this drum table all day if it were possible.

 Liel on the drums with Charlie next to her.

 Liel also spent some time playing a guitar in one of the rooms.

After awhile I had to leave the sound room because Ephram was starting to fuss.  Liel, Charlie and Andy came and joined me in the hall.  I handed the camera to Andy briefly so that there would be photographic proof that I was actually there.  In the process I obtained photographic evidence of Liel's silliness.

We had a great time at the EMP and SFM.  We headed from there to enjoy a little bit more of the Seattle Center...  (more to come.)

Standing Up

Ephram has been interested in standing for as long as I can remember.  When he was just a month or two old, he would get so excited whenever we held him up to let him bear a little weight on his legs.  Then came the Exersaucer and the Jumperoo... which gave him a whole new appreciation for what his legs could help him accomplish.  Since he was about five months old we have spent a lot of time helping him stand up.

In August, I started letting go and in just a couple of days Ephram was able to stand and lean on objects all by himself.  He also spent a good part of the month trying to figure out how to pull up.  Lucky for me, he has not mastered this one yet.  Once he does, I know it's all going to be over!

One day Ephram was in his crib and I was playing with him.  He was sitting right by the rails and trying his hardest to pull himself up.  (He hit his head on those rails a few times in his efforts, and kept right on going like nothing had happened.)  He was so cute, I just had to help him.

Once he stood up he was so proud of himself and so happy that he couldn't stop giggling.  He stood there talking to me for about 15 minutes.  I love these learning moments with Ephram...  can't get enough of them!

Splash!

This is the look of a four year old boy that is completely soaked, a little cold, and beyond exuberant after a romp at the splash park.  We are so lucky to live only a ten minute walk away from a very nice park.  One of its features is a spray pad.  We enjoyed some summer days there this year, and I actually remembered my camera once.

Charlie absolutely loves running up to the different fountains and playing in the water!

He also loves running over to the water fountains to get drinks while he's playing.  He has been obsessed with water fountains lately.  Check out how he is filling up a pretend cup in the first shot.  Shortly after this he ran over and told me he filled up my cup too.  Of course, I pretended to drink it.  His imagination is awesome.

The spray pad also has some big guns that you can aim to shoot water at other things or other people.  Charlie loves using them, and has learned the art of waiting patiently until they open.  I think his favorite part is when the person at the other one decides to hit him with their water.  He loves to pretend that he doesn't like it.  And he screams and laughs all at the same time.

Now that Labor Day has come and gone, the spray pad is closed until next season.  I hope that we have as much fun there next year!