Since Sebastian's birth I have been keeping a regular journal of Sebastian's development and daily activities. Not only have I been doing so as a means to provide Sebastian with a record of his childhood, it also ensures that I don't forget some very important moments as I have now caught "mommy brain". Again... this is something I wish I would have known I could get! Supposedly it never goes away either. Heh... and to think I used to once strive on being organized!

Anyways, since it has taken me so long to develop this blog I figured that I would backtrack a bit and share what I had written in my journal to date. Enjoy!

5 Weeks Old
Sebastian is now 5 weeks and two days. Since turning 1 month there has been a noticeable difference in his development. Sebastian is now holding his head up high (has done this since birth), staying awake/alert for longer periods, noticing things i.e., bright toys, listening to music., lying on his back contently for longer periods, cooing and just beginning to follow things with his eyes (followed his dad dancing around the playpen on Oct. 26th, 2006)

Oct 27th - napped successfully in his crib!
Oct 28th - followed orange mobile bird with his eyes! Beginning to smile.

6 Weeks Old - Oct 31st
- 10lbs, 2oz, 22.4" long
- smiles back when smiled at
- has his first cold
- lies on his back, kicks his legs in the air
- content in playpen

2 Months!
- 11lbs, 4oz, 23" long
- Nov 2, 2006 - first snow!!!
- smiling and cooing a lot
- says "arrr" so we call him our Pirate Boy!
- likes tummy time
- rolled from belly to back
- playing on activity mat, kicking ball
- reaching for objects - still in co-sleeper
- listens to our sing-a-long cds
- schedule is as follows: eat, awake for a bit, then nap...repeat
- great focus
- likes new swing we bought for him
- smiles at the lights
- Niles is our new guard cat. She gets up in the night and lies in the nursery during our feedings and sleeps near Sebastian
- grabbing at soother
- squealed for the first time on Nov 21st
- has begun to rub his eyes when tired
- enjoys watching his mobile
- laughed for the first time on Nov 29th while having his chin washed by his dad during bath time!
- Dec 1st; first snow that actually remained on the ground!
- Dec 10th; pulled orange fish on his swing that made the lights and sound go off
- loves staring at his hands and placing them in his mouth
- lots of drool!
- Dec 17th; slept for 6 hours! Yippee!

3 Months!
- 12lbs, 15oz
Sebastian is cooing all the time, very very smiley, lies to sit in his bumbo seat and on laps, interacting more with his toys, likes to watch the tv when it is on (which is hardly ever), rolls from side-to-side, tolerates tummy time but only for approx. 2-4 minutes, content, looks in the mirror at himself and smiles, lies on his back on the blanket with his toys and is able to move around while on his back. We also went to our post natal classes at the hospital, where we met a nice group of mommies and babies that we are hoping to keep in touch with. - Dec 21st; peed in the tub! - Dec 22nd: turned on his fisher price aquarium all by himself! - Dec 25 & 26th: slept 7 hours both nights!! Yippee again!

4 Months!
- 14lbs, 3oz, 26" long
Sebastian laughs all the time, sits with support, enjoys tummy time for longer periods, grasps and reaches for toys, puts on the aquarium in the crib, has begun teething, will pull to a standing position if we are holding his arms/hands and sits in his exersaucer.

5 Months!
- 15lbs, 2oz, 27" long
Sebastian moves himself around in order to get toys that I have placed around the room, likes to play in his exersaucer, laughs when I make him smell my feet and his own, laughs when we say "Ah-choo!", rolls from side-to-side, starting to enjoy peek-a-boo, likes his cereal, almost rolling from back to belly, hardly rolls from belly to back, loves to kick his feet and his favourite toys are his crinkly butterfly and Uglydoll "Sourpuss".

We are right now taking postnatal yoga, which is okay but I spend half the time feeding Sebastian as opposed to actually doing yoga! After yoga we go to Beanies, the local coffee shop, with the yoga mommies for coffee and lunch. We also started attending a Public Health group called Baby & Me where we have met up with some of the mom's from our post natal group at the hospital. During group Sebastian enjoys lying on his stomach and looking at the other babies. We've also had to install our 3-in-1 car seat in the car as Sebastian was already too tall for his infant car seat! I was hoping the infant seat would have at least lasted until he was closer to a year!! Oh well, lesson learned: short people can have tall babies!
- 25 weeks: guiding spoon to his own mouth, crying when something he wants is taken away and has begun eating barley cereal

6 Months!
- 15lbs, 12oz, 27" long
Sebastian is now rolling independently from his back to his belly and he sits for longer periods without support. Sebastian continues to be very vocal and very smiley with lots of laughter. We are no longer going to yoga but we continue to meet up with the mommies at Beanies.

7 Months!
- 17lbs
What can't he do? Sebastian is 17lbs, sitting with limited support and rolling everywhere. He transfers toys from one hand to the next, bangs toys together and figures hot how to get toys he wants if they are placed away from him. Eats a variety of foods; cereal, banana, pear, sweet potato, squash, yogurt and his favourite, which is avocado. He is a great kid; lovable, likes to play with other children and just starting to develop stranger anxiety. Sebastian is also no longer co-sleeping with us and is now sleeping in his crib in his own room. As such we have had to do some sleep training with him but as a result, he is now sleeping through the night from 7 p.m. to approx. 7 a.m.! This is such a big improvement from him waking approx. 2-4 times a night wanting to feed and he is so much more content now during the day!

8 Months
Sebastian is now eating lots of different foods - avocado, pear, apple, banana, mango, peas, broccoli, beef, sweet potato, squash, cereal, and mum-mums (baby crack as I like to call them). We've started giving him cheerios but right now he only picks them up. He is also moving everywhere but not yet crawling per se, preferring to commando crawl instead. Sebastian sits without support but still needs to be watched. Also started saying "Da-Da" but has not yet made the connection. As of yet he has no teeth and he's as cute as pie. Sebastian also likes swimming and he finished attending our guardian swim class in early June. During our classes Sebastian was dunked underwater a number of times and didn't seem to mind! We continue to get together on Thurs. with the mom's from the public health group we took in Feb. Sebastian won't let me out of his sight and he gets very excited when his daddy comes home from work. He loves his musical toys and anything he can shake, including his cups. When he drops a toy he will look for it and he is now up on his knees in the "crawl" position. We are still breastfeeding and this was the first month that I can remember that I wasn't worried about having his weight checked! It's only taken me 8 months!!

Brilliant, lovable, amazing.


9 Months!
- 18lbs, 13.5oz, 28.75" long
Sebastian continues to amaze me daily. We keep ourselves quite busy by meeting up with friends for playdates at the park and we have started going to one of the Ontario Early Year Centres in the neighbourhood after his morning nap. Sebastian continues to be a good eater, eating approx. 6 cubes of food (in the portion of an ice cube) per meal and a number of finger foods now that he can actually place the food in his mouth (last month he was able to pick up the food but couldn't coordinate placing the food in his mouth). Sebastian is still toothless but that's okay... I don't have to worry about being bitten when breastfeeding and he looks so cute toothless! Sebastian is also learning how to pull himself to a standing position using other objects, such as his crib, where as before he would pull himself up when we would grab his hands and has been doing so since he was approx. 4 months. He has always been such a good boy while we are out in public and he continues to do so. He is constantly gabbing and loves the attention he gets from strangers. As for crawling; I'm thankful that it really isn't considered a milestone as he still prefers to commando crawl everywhere and he is quite fast at doing so.
- July 5th; Sebastian marked his Uncle Dan's birthday by actually crawling on his hands and knees!

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Ta-Da! There you have it, the last 9 months in a nutshell and to think, I was able to do this all in the span of Sebastian's afternoon nap (and he's still napping!)

Hope everyone is staying cool and enjoying the weekend!
Cheers,
Kim