10 weeks (2 months!)

If I wait any longer to post, I'm going to have way too many pictures.  I've got to remember what has been happening lately so I can put it in some sort of scrapbook later!

Last week we were in Sacramento for a family baby shower. John was loved and adored and held by all. And my sister and I did some shopping, including finding this costume, which we actually ended up giving to someone else...but I coudln't resist a picture.

Here we are at 2 months on the mat...wearing 0-3m clothes still (although in the 9 days since I took that picture, we've retired that outfit!)

More 2 mo pictures. So smiley! And check out that giant tummy. Odd on a kid who is only 4th percentile.

 Not sure what to think about the pumpkins

Daddy tries to help get some smiles - but not sure what is going on in this pic!

John met a cousin on Sunday - further cementing in my mind that he isn't "small" anymore, because he looks like a giant in this picture! He didn't know what to do in this pic so he just held that pose while his cousin kicked (and screamed) and gave us all sorts of poses.

Road trippin' boy (No these did not stay on for long)

The beginning of a 2 hour nap un-assisted! We have ourselves a sometimes side sleeper. Mostly all other naps that long are being held.  I've given up on sleep training specifically, with the primary goal of 1) Getting my kid over 10 pounds, preferably 12 before trying again and 2) figuring out if there is any pattern to his sleep, when he is able to get it.  We've started putting him down on his side for naps and he can go 45 minutes.  Thats about the best we've gotten so far. (The boppy pillow was better!)

John is also talking a TON - mostly when he is upset - but making a lot of letter noises - G, M, N, D. He can sometimes put a couple letters together like "a-goo" but still mostly when annoyed.  He is very quiet when happy, just huge smiles.

I am back to work this week, yikes, a pumping machine and trying to make a new work/life balance happen. More updates to come on that.  I am exhausted from the travel and infection and who knows what else...oh yeah, only 5 hours of sleep per night.Well, more pictures to come with our actual Halloween costume(s) and anything else new that happens this week...

What to do about sleep training?

John is currently entering hour 3 of a morning nap. Glorious. I couldn't stay awake when he woke to eat this morning but Zach took a nap holding shift before school when I showered (yay!) and got breakfast so I feel like a new person.

I am totally confused on what sleep training is. Is it training your kid to fall asleep in their own? I is it establishing a sleep routine, regardless of how your child falls asleep? I'm thinking that I would prefer to conquer the latter part first, and once we know what schedule John likes, then we can move towards letting cry it out or whatever. Right now we put him down and it never works. We need a baby that is sleeping well to begin with to be successful!!!  So my first plan if action is to try to make sure he gets at least a 90minute morning and afternoon nap.  According to Babywise, he should have more naps, but he doesn't seem to be a Babywise scheduled baby yet (and still sleeps thru the night 6 hours)I honestly thought that ONLY Babywise sleep scheduled babies slept through the night by this age. Big misconception!!!!! Although I thought what I read in the book about schedules and sleep was very useful and I would like to have him scheduled in the future. 

The other thing I can't figure out is when to swaddle. John still swaddles at night and not really for naps. H figs the swaddle unless he is really drowsy so during the day when I try, he just gets too agitated and awake fighting it. So we haven't really been able to test a crb nap with a swaddle. I do try to tuck a blanket tightly around him and he does seem to flail a lot.  The books and Internet don't seem to clear as to what role the swaddle has in either of the above scenarios...obviously I am scared to stop the night swaddle because we are enjoying our sleep. 

Any advice out there???

8 weeks ish

8 weeks have passed!!! Wowser. I need to upload the newer pics from my camera (and/or figure out how to link to instagram.) But since 99% of you readers are also in instagram and/or facebook, I'm just going to get away with this one picture for now.

Last week was a doozy. the 7th week is my new least favorite (2nd in line was 3rd week.) But it is all behind us now, I really cant remember what was wrong now, probably something about eating or sleeping, or not eating or not sleeping. Since those are the only things we do.

I've used google dozens of times since John was born looking up random information. (New Moms- get a tablet for nursing...seriously.) I now know what CIO, STTN, EBF, EP, DS, DD, LO all mean, and probably more. Kinda crazy.

Um, so, 8 week marks so that I have something to look back on for the non-existent baby book...
John is smiley when he wants to be. He opens his mouth really wide when he smiles.  Its very cute. No real sounds yet though. I squish his cheeks while chirping "squish squish squishy face" in a high pitched voice and he loves it (most of the time.)  He also laughs in his sleep, which is more like a wheeze, but with smiles.

He is taking bigger boy baths in the sink now and likes it. I was waiting until he could hold his head up a little better.  He wasn't too sure about submerging his feet then bottom at first (still isn't) but once he is in, he doesn't complain.  The first time I took his hand and splashed a little bit -- a new sound and a new feeling - and he smiled for that. Must have been cool to hear that for the first time!

He likes going outside and looking in the backyard, although we don't do it every day because sometimes it is too hot. I need to do it more though, and go for more walks. He is 9 pounds 6 ounces and 22.5 inches (yes, still smaller than some newborns!)

He is tolerating the swing for up to 10 minutes at a time. Yay!

He usually sleeps from around midnight until around 6:30. Mommy is a fan of this, even though it means getting up to pump for a few minutes at 5:45 just to make sure my supply is OK. (That was one of the problems last week.) He doesn't sleep well during the day (still) unless held and even then its iffy. I am trying sleep training off and on, but since I don't always know if he needs to nap (he doesn't nap after ever feed/wake cycle), I don't know if we are failing because he isn't tired...or because he can't/won't fall asleep on is own.  We've let him CIO (see...there it is! cry it out) a few times but caved after 15 minutes or less. He gets very worked up and sweaty.  I figure when I go back to work at the end of the month, there will be more reason to suck it up and get over it. Until then, I'll take all the snuggles I can get!

7 Weeks

Its a good thing I took that smiley happy baby picture last week because I haven't seen him for a few days!  We had company for the weekend (yay! and he smiled for them...) but in the wake of it, I'm exhausted. Zach and I are also trying to get him to sleep more in his bed, unsure if that means we are immediately making him fall asleep by himself and cry it out (really hasn't worked so far...worked once for 5 minutes) or just managing to put him into bed when he falls asleep on us first.

Last night he slept 1-7a (I went to bed at 11:30 - Zach got the late shift) but after a good sleep, he skipped his next 2 expected naps and didn't go down til nearly 12.  I think I'd rather have the 5am wakeup call! Yesterday he ate at 5, 7:30, 9:30 but conked out immediately after each time.

So I guess the bottom line is, this uber organized, schedule loving mom is going to have to wait a little longer to define her baby by numbers or a clock.  I go back to work in 3 weeks (a very, very busy 3 weeks!) so this makes me a little nervous.  But since every week is different, I'm just trying to survive every day.

And for the baby...he can stick out his tongue when you suggest it (and model it) (in retrospect, perhaps this wasn't the best behavior to teach) and now we are working on making a circle mouth face and trying to clap.  He seems to reach for his playmat toys (more left arm than right) but since he doesn't love playtime every day, its hard to tell if he is trying or just successfully flailing.  Doesn't like tummy time, but can lift his head. Spends the whole time trying to push his butt up in the air and kicking his legs. This morning, though, he practiced a great Superman pose, both arms and both feet off the air - great abs on this guy! His favorite way to be held is UP (don't eve think about holding him in the cradle position in your arms) and likes to go outside.  I think that is all for now...8lbs 13oz last thursday, too.

6 weeks!

My, how time flies. I've been dreading this week - fussy baby and big growth spurt.  The fussiness actually started LAST week until we realized part of it was that our ittby bitty baby boy has grown out of being held "all" the time.  He wanted to lay down and kick on his play mat! Awesome. Of course this doesn't last for ages or anything, but long enough to get to the bathroom and maybe make a lunch.  Often around dinnertime I find that my lunch is still in the microwave and its been nuked 2-3 times then I forget about it or have to feed *someone.*

The growth spurt hit this week with crazy amounts of eating every afternoon. But he slept a lot better every morning for it, so for that I am glad.

Still doesn't sleep well during the daytime in his bed, but yesterday he gave us a blessed hour and I napped to. I resorted to something I said I would never do. "I'm not going to warm up his bottles, unless I have to. I'm not going to get a wipes warmer, unless I have to. I'm not going to put his blanket in the dryer unless I have to."  Well, I've caved on #1 and #3.  The warmer blanket worked yesterday (who knows if that was actually it?) and again this morning...to be fair, it was kind of cold! I just got him asleep again and tried putting him down...6 minutes ago. The fact that he is still asleep is a good sign.  I had to hug him until he was all the way down in his basket (which is on the floor of the living room where he "lives" right now.)  Not an attractive picture, Mommy bending over the basket with her hiney in the air making sure the first couple thrashes that occur when we put him down were soothed.

But it worked, so thats one step closer.

And onto more fun things.

Squirmy Worm for sure here. I was trying to get a picture of how gigantic 3mo pants were on him. The waist was huge! He is doing his favorite activity - kicking. (Practiced that a lot in the womb, too.)

So I got to buy some more clothes since I only had the 1 pair of 3m sized pants. These have little shoes as the feet. So adorable. Of course trying to photograph a kicking baby...not easy. At least he isn't laying in his own spitup for this picture. Victory.

Here is another new development. Sad face / bottom lip. He does this right before he sad-cries.  This is the best I could get, since he only does it once or twice before the full on bawling begins.

This is my second favorite discovery of baby items (after Aden and Anais swaddle blankets.) These are called "Sock Ons" and they...keep socks on. (Or in this case, they keep feet in the footie section of pajamas.  They wouldn't stop a determined baby from taking them off themselves, but the do prevent the common slippage of socks. Big fan. New shower gift for everyone!

S'more Rolls

Ok, if you made it this far, you've got to make these S'more rolls. So easy, a mother of a newborn can do it. 1) Crescent rolls 2) Chocolate chips - 5-10 in each one. 3) Marshmallows - 5-8 minis or a big one  4) Cook per normal directions. (Do not burn!)  These taste a-maz-ing.  They are wonderful right out of the oven but if you can't serve them for a few more hours, they are still fine. And if you were given a bunch for dessert and you put the few that were left in a plastic bag until the next day, they are still perfect for breakfast. TRY IT.