I am an eight-month-old mama today. What an amazing journey it has been. First of all, I am very thankful that my son has a very good temperament. As he is turning 8 months old today, he is now teething again, this time his upper teeth are about to come out and his gums are swollen. His two bottom front teeth came out when he turned seven last month. Despite having colds and slight fever he is still a happy baby and all he wants to do most of the time is to play.
I am so lucky that Riley, my son, doesn’t give us tantrums. The only struggle I have with him right now is giving him his vitamins. He hates taking his vitamins, he just spits it out or shuts his mouth so I won’t be able to put the drops in. I guess babies just get wiser and wiser each day. Two months ago, I found a way to give him his vitamins easily by letting him watch his favorite movie, Finding Nemo. As he is watching the movie with his mouth open (coz he smiles a lot on his favorite scenes) I slowly drop the vitamins under his tongue little by little. But now, he completely shuts his mouth while watching the movie. So, now it’s a struggle again. Does any of you moms out there have the same struggle? And how should we deal with it? I’d love to hear from you mommies, hope you can leave a comment down below.
Anyways, looking back the past couple months of my mommy journey, it has been nothing but wonderful. It was the fifth month that Riley started to interact and respond with smiles and giggles every time we play together. And his love for reading books has become solid. I actually started reading books to him when he was still three months old. I’ve read somewhere that babies recognize your voice even when they are still in your tummy so how much more when they are already out.
Book reading has been one of our favorite daily activities together. He even has three favorite books now and one time he let me read one of his favorite books five times. He just kept on picking the book up and opening it and doesn’t let me put it down. I guess he loves listening to the stories, the words and to my voice. He just sits on my lap during our reading as he touches and feel the pages of the book and sometimes help me flip it too.
At six months, Riley had his first taste for solid food. The first meal I gave him was mashed sweet potatoes with a little milk and he liked it. His pediatrician said to give the same food for 5 for 7 days and so I did. The next meal for him was avocados with milk and it’s his favorite. I also tried giving him squash, banana, apple, strawberries but he doesn’t like it. So far he eats, chayote, pears, broccoli, and quinoa aside from sweet potatoes and avocado. You can check out my IG stories #RileyEats to see videos of him eating.
At seven months, he already started teething as I’ve mentioned above. It was sometimes hard for him to sleep at night so I gave him teething gel to soothe his gums. And teethers also helped him so I actually bought a lot of teethers for him so I’ll have a lot of extra every time he drops one on the floor. But you can also use a teether/toy strap to secure it. He actually had colds during his teething time and it was such a struggle to see him having a hard time to breathe because of his clog nose so I had to use a nasal cleaner and saline spray aside from the medicine that his pediatrician gave him. He also got a cough and we had to nebulize him. It was one of the most difficult times of my mommy journey to date. Seeing Riley sick was heartbreaking, I think every mom feels the same way.
Making sure all his teethers are properly washed with the mildest cleanser in the market, Cradle baby bottle, and nipple cleanser. And Cycles sensitive Premium water wipes to wipe off clean when on-the-go.
Now at eight months, he is more active than ever. He loves exploring his room with the use of his walker (with close supervision of course). He rolls around his bed and playpen nonstop. And here’s the thing mommies, is it just me or all babies just want to play with us even during bedtime? If I am the one putting him to bed, he sleeps at 10 PM, but when his nanny puts him to bed, he sleeps around 8 PM. Riley just wants to play when I am around. He is getting heavier and heavier each day so I really feel like I am having a full body work out at home.
Photos by Sparrow Foto Studio
Riley is growing up so fast and I wanna make sure that I am there with him for each milestone. Motherhood has been one of the greatest blessings to me and I thank the Lord each day. I may not be the perfect mama, but who is anyway? But what’s important is that I make sure to give my son proper care and attention. His safety and his health is my top priority. Enjoying every moment of motherhood.
That’s it for today’s Mama Diaries guys, hope you like today’s post. I’ll be sharing with you guys more about my motherhood journey here on my blog, so stay tuned and follow me on my Instagram @sheiladytiu for updates. Thank you for reading! God bless you guys!
