Merry Christmas from our family to yours. The Birchfields.

I don’t know why it still amazes me that Levi continues to age and grow… I guess it’s just because it happens so much quicker than I thought possible.  He is already 8 months old!  Wow.  Here’s what he’s up to these days:

He now has 8 teeth, 4 on bottom and 4 on top.  He loves to grind them together and make this horrific sound, although he doesn’t do it as much as he did at first.  I guess the novelty is wearing off.

He is sleeping really well.  He sleeps about 11 hours at night (7 to 6), and usually takes 3 naps during the day – a morning nap that is anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour, his main nap in the early afternoon that lasts usually an hour and a half (up to 2.5 hours), and an optional late afternoon nap for another 30 minutes to hour.  Almost immediately upon being put in his crib, he will roll himself onto his tummy and gently coo for about 15 minutes until he falls asleep, occasionally crying out once or twice.  The only challenge now is that he can scoot himself backwards and jam his legs through the crib slats, which awakens him on the wrong side of the crib, so to speak.

I really feared, um I mean thought, that he’d be crawling by now, but he’s not (yay!).  He still scoots backwards and in circles.  He rocks himself forward on his tummy like he’s doing “the worm” breakdance.  He gets up onto his knees like a dog and rocks back and forth, and has even brought his left knee forward to get him closer to his toys, but he has not officially crawled yet.   I would say it’s around the corner, but since I’ve thought that for awhile, maybe not! Who knows.

He can pull himself to standing when you take him by the hands.  In fact, he LOVES to do this.  When you try to sit him down on his bottom, he fights long and hard to stay standing.  He also loves to “bouncy bouncy,” when you hold him under his arms and he immediately starts jumping up in elation.  He thinks this is really funny. » More: 8-Month Milestones

Forgot to mention a few things in Levi’s last update:

1) His body has now caught up with his head. Previously, you may remember that his body was somewhere around the 45th percentile, while his head was in the 75th percentile. That’s quite a large noggin’, comparatively speaking (perhaps a future chess champion?). However, we’re proud to report that now his head circumference, body length and weight now all proportionately fall somewhere in the 60th-65th percentiles.

2) Speaking of weight, he now clocks in at just over 20 pounds. At least he did a couple of weeks ago. Five more pounds, and no more baby jumper! Anyone know of a high capacity bouncy device? We did eventually kick the swing, but we might be asking too much to kick this toy too.

3) He has a new “thing” – it’s grinding his upper and lower teeth together. It makes this horrible nails-down-the-chalkboard sound, but actually seems to calm him down. Everything I’ve read said it’s no big deal – they’ll grow out of it. If not, judging from the huge gap between his two front teeth, we inevitably have substantial orthodontic bills in our future anyway.

4) He seems to be developing a slight case of separation anxiety. The sad thing? It’s in relation to the nanny. On the weekend, he’s like “Who are you, and what did you do with my Susy?” Saturdays are now not so fun in the Birchfield household. I sure hope this doesn’t last. Seriously, this might be the single most depressing development in his brief little life so far.

…Starting with our big news for those of you who don’t know. Levi’s going to be a big brother. And no, we aren’t adopting another pet. Basically we defied certain aspects of nature and are now expecting kid #2 almost exactly one year after Levi’s original due date (2/18/08 vs. 2/21/07). It’s crazy, but we’re really excited nonetheless. We’re well on our way to those 4 kids after all. The second crib is already on its way, and we’re planning to shoe-horn #2 into the same nursery with #1. What a sad sign – we’ve already started referring to them by number.

I’m a little more tired and sickly this time around, but otherwise things seem to be good. I do think it’s true that you show earlier your second time around. I’m only a little over 2 months along and am already wearing maternity gear. Even last time I started showing early, but not quite like this.

This time they’re treating me as high risk because of our history, so that means I’m guaranteed lots of sonos and specialists. Bring it on – I’m all about it. Hopefully we won’t have any placenta previa, NICU, stroke, blood clotting disorders, apnea etc., although I’d be totally okay going into labor a little early again. That was kinda nice.

Next update: as I’ve lamented in previous blogs, bedtime seems to bring a myriad of ailments for Levi. I truly believed he didn’t feel well b/c he’s still experiencing various digestive difficulties that I probably shouldn’t describe in detail. Plus, we know he’s teething, which purportedly creates a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde effect on even the most placid young one. And at the end of the day, babies are tired and don’t have much fuse (especially when they’re poor nappers, like Levi). He’s not much of a fusser so it’s totally out of character for him to cry simply because he’s upset.

Well, one night about a week ago, it got really bad. We had already dosed the poor kid up with Mylicon, Tylenol, and were about to give him a chaser of infant Orajel when Brad finally made a breakthrough discovery. He could completely resolve all of Levi’s tumult by simply leaving the nursery. In the den or media room with us, Levi’s misery was completely and mysteriously eradicated. Upon returning to the nursery, apparent pain and suffering ensued. While holding Levi in perfect calm, Brad astutely observed, “You know what I think? I think he’s mad because he doesn’t want to go to bed.” Yep. Turns out that little booger has been taking us for a ride, for no telling how long.

As Brad later commented, Levi might be sophisticated enough to manipulate his parents like the saps that we are, but he isn’t cunning enough (yet) to fake it once he gets his way, to ensure we don’t catch on. The little guy couldn’t hide his elation and contentment at the fact that he “won.” Da ha. The tide has shifted, and the score went from Levi: 427, Parents:0 to Levi: 427, Parents: 1. How pathetic that a simple victory against an infant took so long, yet yields such a sense of pride. Let me tell you – this has officially spawned a new phase in the Birchfield bedtime routine. Our precious little almost-6-month-old got his first “stern talking-to,” which actually yielded a stop to his little tantrum, at least that night.

Things are getting a little better… slowly. We haven’t fully embraced any cry-it-out methods yet, but the no-cry recommendations (and/or the passing of time) seem to be helping a bit. Like a few nights ago – he fell asleep at 9 after 30 minutes of resistance, and slept until a 4 am feeding. Then, he awoke around 6-something (which is when we always move him to his swing…. I know, you don’t even have to tell me…), but after that he slept until 8:45! That’s been his best night yet. We’ll get there.

Last night I emailed a bunch of you the following request:

Okay – I’m entering Levi and myself into a photo contest for Similac. The instructions were to send a photo showing my favorite “mom job,” along with a brief caption that explains why it’s the one job you wouldn’t trade for anything. The deadline to enter is tomorrow, so please write me back ASAP if you want me to consider your vote.

So here’s the caption:

Our 4-month-old son had an intrauterine stroke, so my favorite and most important mom job is to feed his growing brain, whether by making his environment stimulating, reading and chatting with him, or feeding him lots of DHA and ARA. As you can see, he likes it too!

Now, please help me decide which photo to use. I’m trying to choose between the two that are attached. Trade-off: Levi’s cute smile vs. better angle of the nursery. Don’t worry – my original photos aren’t as blurry as these – I just shrunk them down pretty far for emailing to you.

Thanks to all of you for the great response! The results are in, and the winner is…… number one (with Levi smiling really big). So that’s the one I entered. Obviously the odds are slim that I will ever hear back from them, but if I do, you guys will be the first to know!