theo at 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10 months :)

it was five months ago since i posted an update here in multiply about baby theo - jude and I's little bundle of joy who's making our lives now happily crazy as we often find ourselves shrieking at one moment and laughing at his antics or naughty smiles afterwhich.

from a squirming infant which he was theo is now near toddler stage and mind you, he's already quite terrible. hihi.

 theo at 6th month:  sniffle for the first time

blame it on the scorching heat last summer and the dusts which polluted our air when we moved into this apartment whil the other units were being renovated; the little boys and i all had upper respiratory problems (it's only now i learned that this means the infection is only viral) during and after holy week. if kuya inigo and i had coughs, poor little theo had cold and runny nose which made him quite miserable for more than a week. it was only after a consultation with their pediatrician and  taking  the  prescribed medicine that he got better. it wasn't really about the cold that i was really concerned of since i knew it was only viral  and will go away eventually, but it was the breastfeeding strike that he did for two days! he had a hard time sucking because of his clogged nostrils and the only way he could suck, but only for a brief moment, is to cradle-carry him before i give him his milk-source. because of this my milk supply also dwindled and the more i  became worried because i knew that it's breastmilk or any fluid that can help him recover from his malady. it was really a test of faith but eventually things went back to normalcy and my baby bilog was well again, :)

 

theo at 7th month:  his first taste of solid food

i followed our pediatrician's advice to introduce solid foods only after theo turned six months. it's also the recommendation of baby experts worldwide especially if allergies run in the family's health history, which is really the case in our family.

am also extra careful with what my boys eat during their infancy; no processed foods and all natural, as much as possible. so for his first meals, theo had fresh fruits, veggies, and root crops. among his favorites are sweet potato, papaya, and banana. when i say 'favorites' it means he eats them with gusto, with mouth wide-opened and eyes sparkling with delight whenever i feed him. while there are foods which are just 'okay' for him; he eats but he's not very fond of like broccoli, chayote, squash, and carrot.  he also has his own share of 'hate foods' like apple, avocado, and oats. the harder i shove a spoonful of these to his mouth the tighter he purses his lips. :D

 

okay... okay... i drafted this blog two months ago and things have changed now. theo now likes almost everything that i put in his bowl even my combo meals of rice cereal and broccoli, rice cereal and malunggay leaves, oatmeal and avocado, mango and applesauce, etc.

 

 

 

it's also at 7th month (theo was 6 months and 2 weeks to be exact) when he first crawled. i saw him one night on our bed pushing his body forward using his knees with his bottom stuck out on air, something i find so funny!

 

theo at 8th month:  great moves

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

since theo already knew how to maneuver his body, it was already easy for him to shift from one position to another, including sitting position. he also became comfortable with his crawling that he can now roam around our room using his arms and legs. this was even made possible when jude decided to put our mattress flat on the floor to avoid more--as theo already had--falls.

 

theo at 9th month:  those two front teeth...

 

it really took its sweet time before it erupted. his kuya inigo had his first tooth when he was seven months and one week old so i guessed that theo will have his first pearl around that age too. but theo turned seven... eight... and nine months and there's still no sign of teething except for excessive drooling and fussiness at night which i was no longer sure if it's indeed related to teething or just normal behaviour for babies. but it was our last visit to his pediatrician (3rd saturday of june) when we felt his lower gums were swollen and two teeth were ready to come out. finally our long wait is over and it only took a few more days when two teeth sprouted!  we were so happy for theo. gone now are his toothless smiles. :)

 

 

 

theo at 10th month:  he's all naughty and nice

 

he's now practicing to stand up with the help of anything he can hold onto - a skill which he discovered since the past month. but theo lately is making our hands full with his spirited personality. we sometimes see him being tossed by his big brother and he doesn't seem to mind as he knows how to fight back with his now fully-sprouted two front teeth. yep... we sometimes see him biting inigo when he gets pissed off. :D

 

 

but it's also those teeth i admit which make theo sooo adorable every time he giggles now or smiles...

 

 

 

other developments

- theo's weight gain wasn't as significant as before. he was weighing 8.4 kilos (from 7.9 kilos last february) during the time we brought him for his baby-wellness check-up last march. but it went down to 8.1 lbs after he had a cold and declared a nursing strike. though he regained the pounds he shed off but it took a while. theo was weighing 8.8 lbs when we went back again to his pediatrician last june. i wasn't happy about it but the doctor assured me that he's still on the heavy side since 9 kilos is already the average weight for one-year olds and theo was only turning nine months then.

 

- he's not afraid of the water! theo loves the pool and the sea. his first swim... err, dip in the pool happened last summer and lo and behold, he enjoyed the experience! :)

 

- his hair has now grown... do i need to say more? :D

 

 

 

what's new with us?

...quite a few but big and important.

fireworks display from another building on the eve of our lipat-bahay. the whole block is celebrating for our departure. hehe.

first, we have a new residence. we moved out last march 27th from the condo building which we rented for over a year. i thought we're already experts when it comes to lipat-bahay since the flat was already our fourth house within our four years of marriage (can you believe it?) but still, it was stressful. probably because aside from the things that need to be packed and unpacked, there are two kids which we also have to attend to. we also didn't hire any professional lipat-bahay service since we're just going to move to an apartment which is only a few kilometers away and we thought that our ever-dependable isuzu trooper can carry all of them, but not at the same time though. i just want to thank jude's bestfriend--dylan--who helped jude for two saturdays in transfering all our things (including the ref!) to our new abode.

i must also thank my family as they were also a big help to us during those times. my mother visited us on the first saturday of our transfer to help me in taking care of theo. after her, it's my ate who helped us in cleaning the two-storey apartment. actually, she almost did the entire job! :D

i really hope that our next transfer will be the last one since it's never fun but all stress. our current now as i've said is a two-storey apartment, the first unit in a row of four along chino roces ave. we're renting it again and as early as now we can already say that we won't renew the contract next year. we had bigger plans than that. the reason why we move to an apartment is mainly because we wanted a bigger space for the kids and also to have a garage or parking space which is very accessible for us. aside from that we also had a lot issues with condo living and that includes the exorbitant monthly water bill.

though i sometimes miss our old residence, especially my almost everyday troop to greenbelt/landmark/glorietta (hehe), am also beginning to like now our new house. it can  accommodate all our things including those that are still in our house in laguna, the kids can enjoy another room as their designated play area, i can also employ a stay-in househelp if i wanted to, and it's also  very near a major supermarket so grocery-shopping now is never a problem. in fact, i can even ask one of the male baggers to lug the grocery bags for me up to our house in exchange for a few bucks. :D

***

another one that's new with us is our househelp.--yey, finally! i was really adamant to have a helper as soon as we transfer since a bigger space means a bigger house to clean, right? our new househelp just started this week (that's why am now blogging) and so far so good .she was referred to me by one of the crew of the salon near our house and since she lives a few blocks away i agreed that she goes home every night as long as her tasks are finished. i actually like this set-up better so we can still have a little privacy.

i hope she's really good (in all aspects) AND she stays with us long. but i really don't expect it would be that long like more than a year since she has two small kids left in the province. but for now i will enjoy these moments that am not obliged to cook every meal time, press all our clothes, clean every nook of our house, and at the same time taking care of my little boys who really matter to me the most.