I don't have his pictures yet, but wanted to share the good news about Theo's growth. After increasing the amount he eats every day (including two bottles of formula a day), he has gained almost 2 pounds in less than a month, putting him back up at the 80th percentile, phew! He is 20lbs 1oz, just 3oz shy of a two pound weight gain from his 6 month appt. The doctor was very happy, and we are super relieved. More food and more sleep does a baby good!
I know giving formula isn't ideal, and some might judge us for it, but let me give some perspective-
Theo drinks 20-25 oz with the nanny every day while I'm at work. I pump 15oz, which is actually not bad for someone with a normal baby... But our baby is not normal. The baby we nanny share with eats around 10oz in the same amount of time that Theo eats 20-25. She is no tiny thing either, a 50th percentile little lady. She's normal, I could keep up just fine if she was mine. But Theo eats more than twice that amount... There is literally nothing I can do about this situation, my child is just a piglet who can't stop eating. I pump three times while I'm at work, pretty much every spare second I have, and a couple nights a week I do a power pump where I pump 10 minutes on 10 minutes off for an hour. I can't lose my last 5ish pounds of baby weight because I'm eating so many calories (including my famous lactation cookies) to try to keep my production up... It's just crazy. I've done the best I can.
The formula Theo's eating is imported from the father land, Germany, and is literally the best substitute for breast milk on the market anywhere. It's organic, from bio-dynamically raised cows. Simple and natural, and without any of the nasty crap they put in American formulas. I'll spare you the frightening details about that crap.
Anyway, I've found peace with our situation, so that's that!
Our sweet Theodor is the happiest baby ever. He was happy before when he was apparently starving, and now that he's well rested and well fed, he is pure palpable joy.
He is so close to crawling, it will happen any day now. He still can't be trusted to sit up on his own... He throws his body back randomly and tips over.
Theo is a pretty quiet guy, he is more of an observer. With a big brother loud and proud to be in the spotlight, I can't blame him. :) But his little personality is just the sweetest. His precious little grin just melts your heart, and the entertainment he finds in his brother is stinkin' adorable.
I'll try to get his 7 month pictures tomorrow, until then, here's our chunky monkey!
