State of Our Household [Month 9]

I can’t wrap my head around the fact that Kaiden’s 9 months old – the same amount of time he was in my belly!  Woah!  As excited as I am to see our baby grow and show us who he is, I desperately want time to slow down.  I mean, how is it already almost April 2018?!

Anyways, enough chit chat.  Let’s take a deeper dive into month 9.

STATE OF KAIDEN

First and foremost, Kaiden’s short vacay in Atlanta with his grandparents was a huge success.  From what I heard and all the pictures/videos I saw, he truly had the time of his life.  After we got back from Costa Rica, my mom shared that day one was a bit of mess and full of tears, but after that, he was living the good life.

Speaking of grandparents, month 9 also brought with it tons of boding time with his amama (paternal grandmother).  My MIL stayed with us for three weeks, which was a huge blessing in so many ways.  Especially because Kaiden got hand, foot, mouth disease.  But I’ve talked about that enough on here!

Another huge win this month included Kaiden finally starting to sleep through the night.  All it took was one night of crying it out (CIO).  I know the CIO method is controversial, but goodness it worked for us, and thankfully, it didn’t take days or even weeks to ‘train’ him.  [KNOCKING ON ALL THE WOOD!]  As of right now, K goes down around 6:15p, falls asleep on his own by 6:45p at the latest, and wakes up at 5a for his first feeding.  Vishnu and I are currently trying to figure out how to push the 5a wake up call to the 6 o’clock hour.  Don’t get me wrong.  We know how lucky we are to get a full night of sleep (finally), but with both of us working and trying to get out the door by 7a, it would be nice if K woke up a little later.  Even if it doesn’t happen, I’ll take this new situation any day!

In terms of food, Kaiden is now eating chunkier meals, as I want to transition him to table foods soonish.  I’ve noticed a little more interest on his part this week in grabbing food and putting it in his mouth.  It’s a VERY messy but fun process!  We’ll see how it goes.

K’s also on the verge of crawling.  He’s scooting for sure, and rocks back and forth on all fours all the time, but it may take a few more weeks for him to put everything together.  But once he does, Vishnu and I are in for the time of our lives I’m sure!  K also regularly tries to pull himself to standing.  It’s to the point where if you try to position him a different way, he’ll fight it by stiffening his little legs.  So cute!

My favorite new development which is also the most frustrating at times is how active Kaiden is when we’re getting him ready for bed (post-bath time).  He literally wrestles with us and won’t stay still – twisting, turning, flipping over, getting on all fours…and then eventually whining when we get him back in position and continue with the process.  It cracks me up!

This month also brought out more of K’s personality.  If I had to pick one word to describe him at this age, it would be curious.  Boy loves to be in the know with everything.  You can’t get anything past him.  Once he sees/hears something, he has to know more.  He definitely gets this from Vishnu, and I’m so glad because it’s one of the things I love most about V.

While month 9 was pretty great (aside from the HFM), it’s not all rainbows and unicorns.  One example of this would be Kaiden’s need for company at all times.  He does not like to be left alone and has no problem letting you know.  I don’t think its separation anxiety because he’s fine when we leave him with other people.  I honestly think he just hates being alone, which obviously creates some interesting situations, especially when one of us is home alone with him.  But we’re working on it.

Overall, this is such a fun age!  So much yelling, babbling/talking, giggling, smiling, and JOY!  I can’t imagine it getting any better than this.

STATE OF MAMA

Overall, I’m feeling pretty good.  This month was certainly stressful at times, but having my MIL stay with us taught me it’s ok to ask for help.  This doesn’t mean you’re any less of a mom.  In fact, I felt like the best mom over the past few weeks.  This mayyyy have something to do with getting more sleep…just a thought!

I’m also happy to report that I survived leaving K with my parents for six nights.  There was a little bit of sobbing at first on my part (in the middle of the airport no less), and it was weird to have some much independence for so long, but looking back, I can honestly say going to Costa Rica was good for all three of us.

Other than that, I’m really looking forward to spring – better weather, visits to the park, exploring different parts of Chicago, etc.

STATE OF DADDY

This past month was full of weird work shifts for Vishnu.  He covered for a few different people, which meant things were constantly changing for us.  And the next two months are also pretty intense.  He has three tough back-to-back rotations.  When I think about this and get ahead of myself, I feel super overwhelmed.  That’s when my mama motto comes into play – one day at a time.

Vishnu also faced his own sickness this month – strep.  Ugh!  Although, the other day he mentioned how it could’ve been a version of K’s HFM.  We’ll never know, I suppose.

And you guys, you should’ve seen V in Costa Rica!  He had the time of his life.  This alone made my heart smile.  I’m pretty sure we need an annual family vacay (I want to bring K with us next time) during the winter to a warmer place.  It’s good for the soul!

Other than that, Vishnu is looking forward to life as a family of three again!

STATE OF VISHNU AND PAR

You guys, I went ahead and started Dark Places without Vishnu!  I’m hoping he catches up soon because I’m not letting myself read more until he does.  I wouldn’t say it’s Gone Girl good, but it’s pretty decent so far.  More to come…when we get through the whole thing…together.

Costa Rica was good for Vishnu and Par.  We needed a vacation, and it was starting to show.  Now we’re working on scheduling other activities and planning things out in advance.

Putting aside our bucket list, our real goal is to stay as connected as possible.  And more than anything that means really listening, talking, and making quality time for each other.

And that’s month 9 in under 1200 words!  On to the double digit months…ahhh…and all the fun to come!