Catching Up

Has it really been over a month since I last posted?!

So... life got busy. Apparently. But that's usually how it goes with the holidays, right? Looking back, I actually started at least 3 other posts, but never got around to finishing any of them. Oops.

So here's a quick recap of the past month (in bullet points because I'm feeling lazy):

• We survived Wonder Week 46 and lived to tell about it! His sleep schedule over the holidays was kind of crappy (mostly as a result of all the non-routine activities and people around). But now we're back on track and doing really great. He's even had a couple of 13-14 hour nights!
• We ditched the pacifier cold-turkey in the midst of the WW46 sleep regression. Sound crazy? It was, but at the same time, it was kind of perfect. I mean, we were already at rock bottom (sleep-wise). It wasn't nearly as rough as I imagined it would be, and I'm now very glad we did it. This is one of the posts that I started and never finished... maybe I will go back and work on it again?
• We started weaning. I was feeling sort of stressed about my supply over the holidays with trying to pump and stay on schedule (and of course, the stress wasn't helping). So we started transitioning Nathan to a blend of breastmilk and vitamin D milk. He was 11+ months so that made more sense to me than switching to formula and then switching again to cow's milk in less than a month. He's done great with the transition, and we've slowly adjusted the ratio so that he is now getting about 1/3 breast milk and 2/3 cow's. Meanwhile, I've scaled back from pumping 3x per day to 2x per day to (as of this week) 1x per day. This is in addition to the one time he still nurses (early morning before I go to work). We've also been decreasing the nursing time so that we can eventually drop that feeding as well. I'll have to write more on this as it progresses... I'm feeling a little bit sad about it all, but I'm also ready. And he's ready. And it will be good!
• Nathan has been standing on his own with good balance (reaching for things, bending over) more and more lately. And he's even taken a couple of steps on his own! The first time was during the week between Christmas and New Year's. He was standing and did kind of a step-step-lunge towards me. And then, just this past weekend, he took a couple more steps (no lunge). I wouldn't call him an official walker yet, but he's super close!
• We are continuing to explore and experiment with new foods. He is really good about trying everything we offer him at least once. He's definitely getting more and more independent with eating though, so that's kind of a challenge. I'm constantly on the search for  new and interesting finger foods that also provide the appropriate amount of nutrition he needs.

I'm sure there's other things, but that's all I can come up with right now. And it's late and I have to work tomorrow so... I guess that's it for tonight!