9 months

I missed 9 months post earlier. But recording his development milestone for 9 months now.
Earlier i have never forced him to sit with/without support much. So I didnt realize when he was able to sit without support.
Yes he is able to sit without support easily :)

10 months

Its been long i have not updated here. I went to mum place last month. During that missed the routine of updating here. Yes he is 10 months now, 2 months short of big one. 

He had started standing with support, but now he is getting better at it. He quickly pulls himself up for standing and is very careful now while going down to sit. 

He has started waving bye. Claps also sometimes randomly. Makes sign as if signalling somebody to come. 

Crawling

Yes he is crawling now. Its almost been a week. He is doing properly with bottom shuffling. He is all over the place and liking exploring. He was doing caterpillar crawling earlier, but never came out of his play area. Last Friday i went to his daycare in afternoon. After feeding, i was playing with him. He came to me properly crawling. At first i didnt notice and then gosh he is crawling nicely. I was so proud as if he has conquered the world :D
Now at home he follows me till kitchen. Goes and holds on to dining table and chairs. Plays with kitchen trolley, picks onions potatoes from it. 

Baby food for 8 months

Here are food that i started at 8 months:

• Suji/Rawa halwa
• Salt and Turmeric
• I started putting pinch of salt and turmeric in one of his feed daily. 

Baby food for 7 months

Here are the foods that I started for him around 7-8 months.

• Beetroot
• Gourd
• Green Peas
• Grapes
• Raisin water

He doesnt like water as it is tasteless. So i have started giving him raisin water daily morning, that will fulfill some of his water requirement and it is good source of iron as well. I soak 4-5 black raisins overnight in half bowl water. In morning, i mash it and strain it. He is taking it happily.

• Fruit Juice

I have started giving him fruit juices, again mainly to fulfill his water requirement. I have started watermelon, pomegranate, orange juice till now. I will put recipies in separate post.

8 months

He is making many more sounds now. Incomprehensible and totally random but seems as if he is getting how the conversation is done.
He tries to pull himself up to sit. When he is on his tummy, he will lift his chest quite up, bring one leg forward and does something something and he is almost in sitting posture. He falls also many times in attempt to sit.
He had his first fever (earlier he had got fever because of vaccinations). His body was very hot, it lasted 3 days.  His sleeps were very disturbed and he was quite cranky as well.  I had planned to not give any medication. I had to give him one dose one of the night as he was very cranky. And continued with regular breast feed and diet. He was fine in 3 days.

First few months

First few months of motherhood are very overwhelming. It is not easy to manage. You feel that are you going to do this whole of life. Time flies and it gets better and you tend to forget about it. 

I had csec. My mom was there for first month. First month was all fine, just sleeping and feeding the baby. My mom took care of rest all household work. After that i was on my own. Good thing is my son started sleeping in the night from 1.5 month onwards. I was able to have decent sleep in the night, so i was able to manage the day. I had maid for utensils and basic cleaning, washing machine for laundry. I used to do cooking and taking care of baby myself. i used to get up at 6, cook breakfast and lunch before hubby leaves to office at 9am. Cook dinner after he is back at 7pm. In between whole day with baby. Another good thing was he used to take two naps in daytime 2-3 hrs each. At any given point if more than one task is pending, I had set the priorities in order (1) baby’s feed (2) My food (3) My sleep (when baby is also sleeping) (4) massaging/bathing baby (5) household work/my bath.   During his first nap i also used to sleep. During his 2nd nap, i used to have my food/bath/wash nappies etc. I used to cm online/make calls while feeding him.

At the end of the day, i am content that i am doing it myself. Moreover i knew i have to resume work at 5 months, so probably these were only 5 months that i get to be with my baby 24x7. 

Sterlization

Babies immune system is very weak. It is strictly recommended to sterlize all the feeding utensils, bottles etc till 6 months, good to do till 1 year. Nature has taken care of sterlization for breast feed. You know breast areola secrets some liquid which keeps nipple sterlized. But for top feed/ solids we need to take care of it.

This is how i do sterlization for A.

• I boil water in pan for 5 mins. Then put all the feeding utensils like sipper, bowls, spoons and keep for 5 mins.

• Then I pour it in colander and collect water in another big bowl and let utensils cool down for few minutes.

• Then i put other utensils like strainer, masher, big spoon etc that are used in preparation of food in strained water. I call it secondary sterlization.  

Vegetable puree

Here is the step by step recipe of carrot beans beetroot puree. I make all vegetable/fruit puree in this way. I use stainless steel pressure cooker, as steel is most non reactive metal.

• Cut vegetables in small pieces and put it in cooker with water. Quantity of water depends upon the puree consistency you want. Pressure cook for 5-10 mins. Amount of time again depends upon vegetables. Apple takes only 2 mins. Veggies like beans take more time.

• Once boiled, mash it with masher or blender.

• Strain it well with strainer, so that there is minimum wastage.

• Puree is ready. I dont add any extra salt/sugar/jaggery. I mostly put apple or carrot in all the purees that gives it sweet taste.

Cloth diapering story

Here are the modern cloth diapers that i use for A. 

I started with 2 diapers (2 covers and 2 inserts). Currently I use these jn daytime. 9 to 7 when he is in daycare. Cotton nappies/undies at night. Almost 5 diapers daily. I do laundry daily, machine wash, quick 30 cycle. I have total 10-12 diapers. I have got wet bag to carry soiled diapers. For long travel, flight etc I use pampers only.

Inserts need to be stripped once a month.

Its a challenge

Blogging is a challenge for me. There are so many thoughts and memories in my mind that I want to record. But I am not good in puting these to words. And I am not good in writing as well. I always keep postponing writing, I just spend my online time on Facebook and chatting etc.  I need to face it and put more sincere efforts to it. Wish writing will become very comfortable for me some day.

7.5 month

He is crawling. Yes he is. Like a caterpillar. He comes up on all the fours, then throws himself forward. It is so sweet to watch him doing this. When he gets up from sleep then also he directly gets up on all fours. He just doesn't seem to be getting enough of it. He has not yet cracked proper crawling by bottom shuffling. Feels he will do it soon.
His two white pearls are coming out. Very clearly seen when he smiles or opens his mouth.
Till now he was making single sounds mainly like aaaaaa, heyy, aagu. Now he is trying how to make words and sentences. Few times he said some incomprehensible 3 word sentence.  We were like 'what was that? Say it again'. But they say na golden words are not repeated ;)

7 month

Yes he is 7 month. And he is big boy now. Does not feel like calling him infant or baby. His cheeks, legs, bums are not as baby-soft now. Its so much fun playing with him now. I hug him tightly and he laughs and enjoys. He reciprocates it back by touching or patting my face.
That white dot is tooth shape now. It has come out little from gums, will come out full in few days. And seems 2nd one is also on the way.
He is able to cruise and move 360 degrees easily now while on her tummy.
He has taken first step to crawling.  Earlier he used to  raise his head high while being on tummy or raise his hips. Now he tries and raises both together, gets on all fours and tries to move forward. He moves one step and falls.

Weaning food

I started solids for A when he was 5 months. I was to resume job soon. His paed was against bottle feeding as bottle is prone to infections, hence didnt want to start bottle. I was to leave A in daycare or with nanny, they won't have motivation to spoon feed milk. So starting solids was better. His paed recommended to start it.
I started one new food at a time and increased quantity gradually over 4-5 days. I started with fruits/veg first because they are easy to digest than cereals.  Here is the order I introduced. I will post the recipies in separate post.
*Banana
*Apple
*Rice
*Carrot
*Yellow moong daal
*Sweet potato
*Chikoo
*Green Beans
*Ragi

Creche bag

This is what I pack for his creche bag:
* One pair of clothes
* 4 cloth diapers
* 2 disposable diapers (in case he runs out of cloth ones)
* wet bag (to keep soiled cloth diapers)
* changing sheet
* cloth wipes
* bed sheet
* light blanket
* face towel
* any medicine if needed like nasal spray
* cap n pair of socks
* 2 lunch box (he takes 2 solid feeds)
* sipper
* 3 spoons (one extra in case spoon fells down while feeding)

My 24 hrs

Being a working mum and in nuclear family is not easy. I am always running by clock. But i like it. At end of the day I feel content that i am able to do it. Here is how my day goes:
6am Getting up
Freshen up
Prep for breakfast and lunch, Wash veggies/daal to be cooked
6.30am maid and cook both come
Brushing
Drinking water/honey lemon water/ fruits
7am A gets up anytime by 7am. Bf him and check mail/fb/watsapp while feeding
7.30am Breakfast
Oil massage and bath to A
8am Maid and cook both leave by 8.
Sterlize lunchbox, sipper, spoons etc for A
Prepare 2 feeds for him and boil drinking water for him
Pack lunch for me and dh
8.30am Bath and getting ready
9am Leave for office/daycare
Bf on the way
Email/fb while feeding
9.45am Dropping A to daycare
Reach office
11 / 11.30am A takes his first lunchbox
1am Going to daycare to bf him
3/4 pm A takes his 2nd lunchbox
6pm Leave office
Pick him up
Bf while on the way
7pm Reach home
Freshen up myself and A
7.30pm Put his laundry for washing
Prep for dinner
9pm dinner over
Put washed laundry to dry
Pack diaper bag
10-11pm bf
Playing with A
Putting A to sleep
Sleep by 11pm

6.5 month

In past 2 weeks I can see so much development.  He is able to bear weight on his legs for few mins. He is able to sit unspported for few secs or a min without slouching in front. When on tummy he likes to tap with his hand. Dh has got drum app on ipad for him to play. He hits so hard, makes sound and enjoys it.
Most of all he has cut his first tooth. Yaaaaayy. I can see small white dot on his bottom gum. I see it from past 10days and I am so ignorant (call me first time mom) I thought he had got white boil because I gave him onion juice (to cure cough) which has got heat. After few days I realized it is white pearl. Till now teething has been total trouble free. I have got teether also for him.
He has become more mobile. He tries to escape out of our hands and try to grab anything that fascinates him especially food items or anything bright coloured.

My first post

My baby is 6.5 month today. So its been 6.5 months since I have been thinking of starting this blog. And lo here is first post today. They say good start is half the work done. Now I will post regularly, atleast once a week, having weekly update of my little one.
Happy blogging to me :)