Eight Months of Sully

Leigh Ann
May 27, 2019
7 min read

My smart Sully,

If Dad and I had a dollar for every verse of "The Ants Go Marching" that we've sang to you so far, we could fund your college tuition twice over! From the get go, it's been your song! When you crankily cry, that song calms you down. When one of us put you down for a nap, we report back, "It took 9 ants to get him to sleep." When sleep training through Taking Cara Babies, our pop ins consisted of singing you one verse of "The Ants Go Marching," patting your belly, and saying "I love you." The lyrics change almost every time we sing it because we've had to get creative with the verses to change it up.That is our family song, and we'll sing it for as long as you want!

Speaking of repetition, I want to talk to you about rhythms and disciplines we are building as a family. There are things that we do every day or every week that set the tone, make us more efficient with our time, and make space for memories. While some people say you are too young for us to try with you, Dad and I believe that these are your formative years and that the work we put in together now will reap benefits in the future. You are smart, independent, and are so very aware of what goes on, so working on rhythms, rules, and disciplines now sets us on a path to where we want to go as a family.

For example, the three of us will share as many meals at the table as possible. Mornings are my jam and hold a heavy weight for my day: I love the possibility of what a new day brings, and as the Bible says, "His mercies are new each morning!" So, starting the day united as a family at the breakfast table sets the tone of unity. The same for night time: bedtime routines are crucial for babies. It signals that it's time for sleep, but more than that, for us as a family, it's a time for us to reconnect because no matter how many different directions we all went that day, we can come back together before settling in. It's difficult to control the middle of the day, but by sandwiching the unknown with time spent together loving one another, it softens whatever bad may have happened and celebrates the good that did. Our morning and night routines may seem repetitive, but they are significant.

mornings on the deck are our most favorite!

Something else we do is build margin into our lives. In as many areas as we can, we function with wiggle room. This allows us space to say “yes” to friends or family and also allows for us to rest a little extra if needed. Your dad and I refuse to let busyness be our master, so we look at our calendars each week and weed through our activities. We also get up just a little earlier than needed every morning because that wiggle room may be needed if our morning didn't go as planned. It's a discipline and sometimes a sacrifice, but we do not want to function at max capacity; that causes burnout and stress.

This next one isn't as fun, but as much as we can, we follow the two minute rule. If a task takes two minutes or less and it needs to be done, just do it. No, emptying the dishwasher right before bed is not what I wanted to do, but if I didn’t, it would make our morning more complicated. If your toys are a mess, we pick them up: the time is minimal but it has a big impact on other areas of our day. Again, this goes back to margin. By having a small task completed, there is room for more of something else (i.e. fun).

Before every meal, before every nap or night time, and throughout the day, we say our prayers. Buddy, you are my most prayed for person in my prayer journal, but I realize that I also need to model prayer for you out loud. I want you to understand God's goodness and praise Him for it; I want you to grasp God's power and worship Him; I want you to see God all throughout your day and thank Him for His little winks. Prayer doesn't have to be this formal, one-sided speech; it's conversational and intimate, and He hears and speaks to us. So our repetitive discipline is modeling a real relationship with God for you.

Like I said, our work with you started the day you were born. The way we function will shift as you grow but our core family values will not. You are so perceptive, already copying us, already learning the meaning of "no," already attuned to the emotions around you, so we are planting seeds now that we will water throughout your life so that good can be harvested in time.

8 Months of Sully #1SE

Sleep:

Sleeping is still good! You had a span of a few weeks there where you woke up between 2:00-3:00 every morning, but I used my Taking Cara Babies phone consult, and their recommendation was that you are sleeping too much during the day. The max amount of time we let you sleep total is three hours, and since capping your naps, you're back to sleeping through the night!

Food/Eating:

Baby Led Weaning has been an amazing experience so far! In total, you have tried 35 different foods. Your favorites are avocado, broccoli, and watermelon. We've gotten some looks and questions about why we feed you whole food, but I've done the research. We serve you appropriate sized food, watch you carefully, and know when to intervene. Right now, we are working on teaching you to drink from an open cup. You can do it when I hold it, but you aren't quite sure how to slowly lift it to your mouth.

You've also learned "all done" and "milk" in baby sign language. Our next word to learn is "more."

The amount of milk you drink hasn't really changed much. You still drink a bottle when you wake up, and then another one about thirty minutes later; I'm not sure why you don't want one giant bottle, but I respect that you are a boy who knows what he wants and when he wants it! I've been a pumping machine to rebuild our freezer stash because some days you eat more than I can pump, but we are back on track!

Sheldon hasn't learned he's not the baby anymore.

Size/Growth:

You haven't had an appointment since last month, but you are growing and learning at a crazy fast rate! Your hair is what is growing the most! I'm thinking about getting it cut soon even though that makes me a little sad! Your jammies are officially size 9 months, as are most of your clothes. Shopping with you is easier because you fit in the buggy, and you love it!

My mind cannot keep up with how much you are learning! Literally every day, you do something new or improve something from the day before, and it is just a gift to watch you grow! You are an excellent copy cat and love to pretend laugh, and you've learned how to give hugs which melts me in a puddle! You study new toys or textures with your tongue out, and your favorite toys are those that you can bang together to make noise. While you haven't mastered rolling over yet, you sure are trying! Your upper half knows what to do, but that chunky leg just won't catch on. If I had to make a guess, you'll roll belly to back first. Even though you can't roll yet, you still know how to get around wiggling on your back! You're good at scooching!

Favorite Moments:

-Mother's Day was this month, and it was special! In our house, we celebrate occasions all weekend long, so I got to pick the activities from Friday through Sunday. Friday, I picked out a movie, and Dad made us wings. Saturday, your dad made us allergy free pancakes, and we all sat at the table together and ate them. It was truly one of my favorite moments, an answered prayer. Sunday, we went to church and then came back home for a la. We pulled out the bed in the couch and all snuggled and watched Moana. I don't have all of the words that I want to explain how special it felt, but just know it is a privilege to me your mom!

-We try our best to keep you at home as much as possible around nap time, but sometimes we just have to be out and about. If we do have somewhere to be and it's during your nap time, we leave early so that you can get a power nap in in the car. Dad and I consider these times miniature dates because you snooze in the back, and we get an hour or so in the car to talk and catch up on our shared podcasts.

-This month, we celebrated your cousin with the cutest shower! Everything was pink and girly and sweet! Your Uncle John and Aunt Lindsey are excited to meet Raylen, just like we are! Y'all will be about ten months apart. On this same trip, you participated in your first children's church with Shuga; you "sang" along with the choir; and you traveled so well!

-Being at home with you this month has been dreamy! We've played in dyed oats, snuggled, found new toys in the form of kitchen supplies, read so many books, and watched a movie. We also had several small outings like a neighborhood crawfish boil, Mrs. Emily's birthday party, Jett's pre-k graduation, Thomas' soccer game, and a trip to the nail salon. As much as possible we will involve you in our lives and activities; we love watching you learn and see new places!