Nine months on.

Taken in Sandycove and at home, between 26 September and 5th October

Weight: TBA

Height: TBA

Adjusted Age: 33 weeks.

Ups:

Is moving himself around on his belly like a snake. I'm convinced he could get around the world like this and just might never walk because, hey, why not slither?

Had his first Irish fry. Mushed.

Taking swimming lessons.

MORE TEETH!

Waves goodbye to fictional characters on the TV. Looks blankly when mama leaves the room.

Pulling up to a standing position with people.

Downs:

Has zero interest in crawling and we can officially label him a "late crawler", you know, if he ever actually crawls.

HATES swimming lessons. The first one was great, second was less so. Third was a near disaster and the fourth, well, he's THAT kid.

Is becoming more and more frustrated with his inability to move freely. Expresses this with tantrums.

Eight months on.

Taken in NJ, 1st and 6th September

Weight: 20 pounds, 6 ounces

Height: Bigger than a bread box

Adjusted age: 29 weeks.

Ups:

Rolls all ways all the time. Is this really an "up"?

Is eating solid food that are actually solid and not soft, mashed or puréed.

Took his first flight and we both survived. Barely.

Enjoys pools and swimming. Move over Michael Phelps.

Is holding his arms up to signal he wants to be picked up. And I repeat, is this really an "up"?

Downs:

Since being abroad has given trouble when going to sleep at night. Worried this might carry over when we get home.

Isn't holding a bottle on his own and has no real interest in a sippy cup.

Finds being away from his mother for more than four seconds something to carry on about.

Misses his daddy desperately. I suppose this is only a "down" depending on who you are.

Seven months on.

Taken at home, 6th and 8th August

(Because of the amount of adorable that this month's picture presented I had to include more than usual. I'm sure you understand.)

Weight: 19+ pounds (last weighed 29 July at 19 pounds even).
Height: 28.5+ inches (last measured 29 July)
Adjusted age: 26 weeks, 1 days.

Ups:
Rolls from belly to back, going ONLY to the left, consistently.
Sits on his own for more than 10 - 15 seconds before face-planting.
Finds a tremendous amount of joy in most of his toys, now. Namely, if he can fit it into his mouth, it's a winner.
Has curly-q. Turns people into puddles. (See below)

Downs:
Teething is bothering him. We assume it's the top teeth and they are biggest so understandably more painful. When they come in we're all having a steak to celebrate.
Naps less. Sometimes considerably less. As in, sometimes not at all.
Has discovered lungs and how to use them. I suppose this is good and bad -- he's learning how to make sounds, brill. He's learning to make those sounds loudly, not so brill.

Just a note: Month eight will be written from the US! That's right, Liz and Baby in Dublin are making their first transcontinental flight together at the end of August. Wish us luck!

Aforementioned Curly-Q

I am motivated by the fates, he is motivated by his hatred of tummytime.

There are two things about myself that I really don't like:

1. I have always had thunder thighs. Always. Even when I was seven I had sizable thighs.
2. I am irrationally superstitious.

Ah, superstitious. I usually pride myself as a rational person. I can normally separate myself from a situation enough to know whether or not I am taking the rational steps to a conclusion, and not the emotional steps. I wasn't always like this, but tried to become like this to be less annoying. When you're the most dramatic person you know, and YOU KNOW you are the most dramatic person you know, an improvement needs to be made. Since becoming a mother this has waned a bit a lot. I often can't stop myself from reacting because of THE TIRED. Yes, THE TIRED is still happening, six months on. I've come to accept it.

However, something that has never left me is my superstitious nature. I have tried to shed it. I have tried to walk under ladders and refrain from knocking on wood, but it never happens. If I say something I must knock. Not just once, but about 10 or 1000 times. When James started sleeping through the night* I didn't tell people for months. MONTHS. I knew that as soon as I said something he would start waking up at hourly intervals, mocking me and my proud nature. This is why I tell you of this next milestone with great trepidation.

Yesterday, after a lot of worrying, internet searching and the consulting of other mothers James rolled. It was just the once and from tummy to back (the easy way) but he did it. He decided that being on his tummy was just not acceptable and he rolled. He just did it. Like that. Without any hoopla or fanfare, he rolled over and then smiled up at me because he didn't have to be doing evil tummy time anymore. He knew, from that moment on, he had an out of that awful activity. And I was screwed.

So, here we are, watching Gilmore Girls before breakfast and I'm debating whether or not I should put him on his tummy again to see if he'll roll over, or just wait for him to roll to his tummy from his back and not test my luck until I realized that luck had nothing to do with it. My little boy is growing.

*KNOCK ON WOOD

Six months on.

Taken at home, 9th and 11th of July

Weight: 18 pounds, 7 ounces
Length:: Long
Adjusted age: 21 weeks

Ups:
TEETH! TWO TEETH! And they came in out of nowhere overnight. He had no bother at all.
Still absolutely fascinated by his feet. Where are they? What are they doing? What do they taste like?
Puts his soother in his mouth by himself. After a few hundred tries.
Not only has his American passport but now his Irish one, as well. He is truly an "Irish-American".

Downs:
Still hates tummy time but needs to keep it up until he can at least roll.
Randomly waking up at night after months of sleeping through.
Starting to dislike the bottle but still too young to properly use his sippy cup.

I can't believe six months flew by so fast, and at the same time I still can't believe he is only six month old. Does that make sense? It seems like I have known him my whole life and he should be older. He should be talking to me. He should be taking me out for beers and thanking me for raising him right. Unfortunately, the drinking age in Ireland is 18, not 6 months.

Time has whizzed past us here in a flash. I remember thinking all those months ago in the hospital that he was never going to drink out of a bottle, and then that he would never show interested in toys or sleep properly. And we have surpassed those things completely and on to new and bigger challenges. I just hope he is having as much fun as we are.

His father taught him this.

17 pounds of pure cuteness.

Shocked baby says, "Did you say 17 pounds? I've let myself go."

Today we had Mister Man's 4 month adjusted appointment with his pediatrician at the hospital. While we didn't get the answers to some questions, we did walk away with a feeling that we are doing something right for our little man. Here are the updated stats:

Height: 27 inches
Weight: 17 pounds, 5 ounces
Head: um, large?

Likes:

Sweet potato

Pear

Carrott

Apple

Rice

Dislikes:

Water

Tummytime

Being in the same place for more than 10 minutes

Bedtime

He gained exactly what we wanted him to in the past two weeks, going up from 16 pounds, 8 ounces. We were worried he wasn't gaining because of his intake of solids has decreased his intake of liquids. However, he is thriving and the doctor was more than happy to give us the all clear to keep on with his solids and to cut out his 10pm bottle, which we have been working towards for the past two weeks. So, I guess it was nice to get a thumbs up since we took our own initiative. See! We can be doctors too! I got my degree at WebMD.com.

Once thing that has confused us is the doctor's preoccupation with a possible gymnastics background in our families. Why? We don't know. She mentioned that his hips are very relaxed (and apparently this is common if there is a gymnast in the family, or something) but we don't know if this is good or not. We should have asked, I know, but I thought she was impressed by his...limber'ness? and Bub thought she was concerned so neither of us asked for an explanation. If anyone has any idea what the hell this woman is talking about, please let us know. If you don't, well, she didn't seem too concerned about it so we'll let it slide. However, if I have said it once, I've said it a thousand times -- why pay professionals when we can all be online doctors? Get on it.