Sitting and Crawling and Standing - OH MY…

Astral (standing) & Defy (sitting)

32 weeks

30 weeks old

26 weeks old

Carrots & Apple

Asian Sweet Potato

Asian Sweet Potato

Sweet Potatoes

Bobby

Malcom

VegFest DC

Astral and Defy are 7 months old (32 weeks tomorrow) now and their warm spirits and vibrant personalities are shining through more than ever. They are immensely bright and are both sitting unassisted and crawling, though Defy still prefers the army crawl as his mode of transportation. They are both already holding on to furniture to brace themselves to standing position. They will stand up holding on to just about ANYTHING including us, baby gates, headboards and each other. These kids are amazing. There have been a lot of falls and bumps with their new mobility, which just comes with the territory. Big brother Astral seems to hit most of the milestones first, with baby brother Defy following right behind…

Defy has 4 adorable bottom teeth , Astral also has 4 adorable bottom teeth and one on top that is coming in. My nipples live in constant fear. I have been bitten numerous times, but I guess after the shock of the first few times my reactions have been a lot calmer. The first time I let out a high pitched scream that definitely startled the little culprit (I can’t remember who did it first). They seem to only bite when they are comfort nursing and falling asleep. It is very important to me that I nurse them (as much as I can produce) until they are at least 1. I pump during the day while at work and mostly nurse in the evenings, but the bond of nursing them is irreplaceable. I guess I’ll probably revisit this when they have both rows of teeth and one isn’t all gum. With the appearance of teeth, they boys now have their first toothbrushes and so far they seem to love having their teeth brushed (without any paste) each morning and evening. They seem to be doing well with teething and haven't taken any drugs.

The boys are eating more foods now. Just like their clothing we are doing all organic foods for the boys. Astral will eat anything, but Defy is still on and off with solids. Defy never turns down his favorite mix of strawberry, avocado and rice cereal, that is our easy go-to if he is in the mood to refuse. Astral eats so much more than Defy that in the past month he has increased the gap between their weights. Of course, all babies are different and accept solids at different times. We refuse to force Defy to eat; he will eat more when he is ready.

They have eaten a variety of home-made yummy organic veggies and some fruits.

Sweet Potatoes

Asian Sweet Potatoes

Acorn Squash

Butternut Squash

Golden Potatoes

Turnips

Carrots

Avocados

Apples

Bananas

Strawberries

Next month we will start introducing greens vegetables, the pediatrician said to wait until 8 months. We have this wonderful baby food gadget that steams and blends the food. It is absolutely wonderful and makes making our own baby food easy and fun. I can make fresh food every night because it is so quick. I often have extra and just freeze it and then thaw it out and reheat it in that same little gadget. We don’t use microwaves so being able to reheat the frozen portion is a great benefit. We will also be introducing pulses (lentils, peas, beans) and sippy cups to the boys this month…EXCITING!

At their 6 month appointment back in September (Unfortunately, I missed blogging the whole month of September) Astral weighed 19 lbs 2 oz and Defy weight 19 lbs .5 oz. So Astral was only an ounce and a half more than Defy. Now only a month later Astral is weighing in at 20 lbs 5 oz and Defy is at 19 lbs 12 oz. So the gap has grown to 9 oz. We chalk it up to Astral being a total greedy little vegan gumdrop! Defy is more of a picky eater like his mommy.

We had our first trip to the doctor’s office where we had to go in through the sick baby entrance instead of the well baby entrance. Defy was feeling warm one night and had a temperature of 100.7, so we took him in. For babies their age it isn’t considered a fever until it is around 102-103, but we took him in anyway. The doctor checked him out and he was fine and she said he was probably just fighting a virus. He had no other symptoms, no runny nose, no sneezing or coughing, though he wanted to be held more than usual instead of being down on the floor roughhousing with his bro. His temperature never rose above the 100.7 from Thursday morning until a Friday night and then he was fine.

That Saturday we noticed a slight rash on his face and then on Sunday we noticed it had spread to his neck, chest and back. We took him back in to the doctor on Monday and she said it was something called Roseola and that he was going to be just fine and no treatment was necessary. She said that it was a virus that manifests as a fever and then a rash. It usually starts as a really high fever and accompanies other symptoms, but for some reason that didn’t happen to our little guy. The rash disappeared in 3 days and Defy is totally back to normal. The doctor said it could take up to a week to go away, but thankfully it didn’t. Though she did say it was slightly contagious and passed through bodily fluid like saliva, Astral didn’t catch it. We were freaking out a little because they share everything, but Astral was spared. I am assuming that Defy picked it up at the park while playing on the swings. You never truly know, but since they don’t go to daycare and aren’t around germy little kids often I figure the park was the place. Who knows, I am just glad that it is over and was only mild.

In September we took the boys to VegFest DC at George Washington University. They were too little to enjoy all the yummy vegan food, but we didn’t hesitate to indulge. We also made our first journey to Poplar Springs Animal Sanctuary in Maryland a couple of weeks ago. It was an absolutely wonderful experience for all of us. The stories of all the different animals are heartbreaking to say the least. It was emotional to see all of these beautiful animals living life without the imminent threat of slaughter, etc. Watching the chickens, roosters and turkeys wander freely totally got me choked up. We signed up to sponsor one of their many goats for the year. I think the boys will really love building relationships with all their other animal friends. I am so glad we live fairly close to a place like this, so they can utilize established relationships to increase their understanding of why we don’t exploit other animals…