Quick Post

We've been seeing a LOT more of this lately: This is John asleep himself for a nap. I cannot emphasize how amazing this is, and how relieved I am that this has finally happened.  He will flip himself over (or I'll just put him down on his tummy if he is really tired) and he will bunch up his sheet protector (to spit and drool all over the sheet instead…) so that he has something by his face and then…passes out. Glorious. We are starting to work on CIO during the nighttime too. Its been easier at Grandma and Grandpa's house because the pack and play is right by the bed…I can snooze while he wails (yes, I can!) in relative warmth and comfort…not sitting by his bed or pacing the cold hallways of our home.  We'll see how this progresses when we get home. I'd really like to drop the feeding that occurs somewhere between 12 and 3 soon…

 Haven't uploaded much from Christmas yet (barely took any pictures) but John got a cute outfit from his great Grandma Betty and rocked it like a cute Santa all day.  Here he is with Auntie Amy and then Grandma Loni. I didn't take these…I was napping. I got 2 naps on Christmas. Merry Christmas to me!

In other topics (still related to John) his eyelashes have really grown. I am excited about this because they were STUBBY when he was born. I was worried. But they are pretty long and thick now.  He is getting more hair back too. After 3 months of taking his sweet time getting into 3mo size clothes, I'm not sure he will be in actual 3 mo size for much longer. His torso is long (like Daddy) so he may be in 6m tops soon.  He still has tiny legs though so I think we can wear our pants a bit longer. One pieces are getting tight really fast though…too fast!!!

John got a V-Tech light up ball for Christmas and LOVES the thing. It has a bunch of light up buttons and rolls around a bit.  He is already rolling around to chase it…great…I see some baby fence purchases in our future!

It was a really fun first Christmas with John (even though he slept through most of presents with his first …da dum…2 hour daytime nap in his bed!)  I will post more pictures when I get them, including his 4 month portraits!

Our kid

We are almost to 4 months, so I will call this our official 4 month post.

John has, for the last 2 days, successfully cried it out into naps in his bed. Wowser! The naps still only last exactly 45 minutes, but the 15 minutes of jabbering or crying plus the nap means an hour of time for me. I've been using that hour to nap, mostly, due to being really sick.  After some naps (he always wakes hungry) he falls back asleep while nursing or burping. I don't know what to do at that point but so far I've just held him so he could get his long afternoon nap.

I had a bit of an epiphany last night when I pumped (boys were at a party) and I only got THREE ounces instead of 6-7. I'm starving my kid at night! No wonder he eats every hour or two in the evening and needs to wake up at 1 and 4 to eat.  Previously a 6 hour night stretch was no problem...until 3 months when we had a few weeks of night wakes, which are gone now except the hunger wake ups. So last night, I nursed him and gave him 2 oz by bottle from our stash and...he slept til 4. Awesome.  I, however, only slept until 2 with this horrible cough.  When he did finally wake, I couldn't get him all the way back asleep (our nighttime routine) before putting him in bed due to all the hacking. So I put him in bed anyhow and I'm hoping the cry it out going works at night too. First he just jabbered a bunch but now he is pretty upset. 10 more minutes and I will go get him. (Yes, drafting this blog at 5am...doesn't everyone blog in the middle of he night?)  **UPDATED** CIO does not work at night. Woke Daddy up though, got hungry again, and by 6 mommy was back in bed and Daddy was doing baby duty

We've started "tickling" Daddy in the mornings (more like a dog digging a hole/scrambling at his arms or whatever is closest) but John seems to think it's somewhat amusing. He is also a pro hair grabber (well, we did teach him to grab stuff dangling in his face...he's just TOO SMART!) and just started this week grabbing at the table stuff while we eat. We are doomed! He doesn't like to play by himself as much as he used to, which is hard. I think he would prefer to sit up and play, but since he can't do that yet. He loves to be on his changing pad (sound familiar, Anna?) and talks a ton while we are there. Then I move him to his mat...over. This morning I moved him to the ground (memory foam mat) so I could go to the bathroom and he seemed to like that. Maybe the changing pad is just really comfy?

Hm...I need to upload some more pictures. Now that Zach's finals are over - I have my husband back!!!  Now if I could just get my health, we'd be on a roll...

John's First Airplane Trip

I'm hosting a gals craft day on Sunday and my house is a DISASTER. So what am I doing now that the baby is asleep? Blogging. Of course. What will I craft? Good question. Right now I have 3 interests: sewing one or more changing pad covers, sewing one or more quiet books (unfortunately, can't find a picture of them online - will post when done) or converting the last 2 years of Christmas Cards into an album or some other sort of collection so I can do the same thing every year.  Oh and of course feed and hold John the entire time if Zach has to study for finals. So I'll for sure get everything done.  I am secretly hoping some non-crafty girls will come and hold babies. :)

So reunion. We flew to Florida. John was pretty much a champ on the plane, except for pooping through his pants twice. (Word of advice: Using a blanket as a nursing cover? Same blanket for wrapping? Same blanket that gets pooped on? Uh-oh.)  He was a bit of a terror only for about 5 minutes twice (once was during boarding) but both times when he was very tired and over stimulated. In both cases we put the swaddle blanket over him and whichever of us was holding him to block out all the people and...sleep in 2 minutes. Awesome. Also, we travelled without any pump or bottles. It freaked me out a little. Next time I will at least travel with a bottle and some formula samples, just for emergencies. I'm a worrier. What if that quick trip to Walgreens became 3 hours because of traffic or an accident? etc. This was John's 3rd big trip but first by plane. I think this is the max age for easy traveling. They don't really need toys, sleep anywhere, etc. Even now in the car, John doesn't sleep if he isn't ready.  Before (early last month) he would just fall asleep every time we got on the road, very nice for 8 hours of driving in a day.  Now, its just screaming. Awesome.

At the reunion, John met his namesake, John Francis Doscher, a wonderful man, husband, father, grandfather, and great grandfather. Also a great story teller, author, has a good sense of humor and a way with words.  At 83, he just quit jogging, running races, and I think toned down his softball team participation. I hope our John is a lot like him.  Poppi (thats what we call him) wrote a poem for John. I'm going to post it here in case I lose our copy.

JD

We will probably never get to know each other,

Too many years apart.

With your loving family around you,

Your life will have a good start.

Stay close to your family, have a good heart.

Invite the Lord into our life, 

He will see you through trouble, sorrow, and strife.

The world could get rough,

So you have to be tough.

Stand up for what's right and don't back down.

Be merciful and kind, a good guy all around.

So John Francis, my namesake you are,

I just know you'll be fine, I know you'll go far.

When you start playing ball and I hope that you do,

Play fair, play hard, just be you.

I'll gaze down from Heaven and I'll hear and I'l see,

Now coming to bat...JD.

By JFD

TEAR! I love it.  I think I will also put a copy in his album and maybe frame the poem and a picture of them for his room.

Poppi and John. John is wearing Yankee apparel (ouch, I know) because Poppi is a fan. (Anyone want a 3m yankee outfit now that this photo op is over?)

On Thanksgiving, Poppi cooked the whole gang his famous invented meal, Eggs and Noodles. Yum.

Everyone getting a well posed picture staring directly at the sun. Oh well.

Dressy John on Thanksgiving with his cousin Brady.

The rest of the reunion was great, our spoiled boy was held, I think, the entire time by someone or another. (NO WONDER WE HAVE SLEEP PROBLEMS!!!!!!!!)

3 months and then some

Finally! I got my pictures uploaded to picasa. My IE is so finicky!  We have a 3 month old now, so here is what we've been up to.

Enjoying our last bits of 0-3m clothing, like this Old Navy Superman outfit. I went online to get the next size up in Batman and they were sold out. Tragic. 

 Once he started staring at things intentionally, I busted out the books. (We did have a black and white thing by the changing pad and we noticed he would stare at that.)  He does seem to enjoy reading.  He initially really liked the Sassy books (still does) for their great patterns and colors. He seems to tolerate the fun Sandra Boynton books more now too (if heavy breathing is any indication) which I realized I have a bunch of from my storybook shower.  I'm greedy though, I already want more. I want them all!

 Every baby needs a bath robe, right? Or that is what I thought 4 months pregnant.  Turns out, not so practical. Good thing it was only $4. But cute, and goes up to 9mo...maybe we'll enjoy it a bit more later.

 I couldn't resist these 2 pc jammies for Christmastime. He looks so grown up! (Also, the pants are huge on him, you just can't tell. I guess we are a 3mo on top and still NB for bottoms. Oh well.)

 Seriously, how cute is this picture? This is Zach "driving" with John. John sits back and Zach makes motor noises and moves John's hands to shift. Its like his own ride at an amusement part, that type that make you puke because the seats move.  Well, obviously John LOVES it. Gales of giggles. So cute.

We travelled to Florida for Thanksgiving, which will be its own separate post. Both because I have travel experience I want to document for future reference and because John met his 83 year old great-Poppi (great grandpa) whom he is named after, and Poppi wrote a poem about it, and...I will save all that for later. For now, I have a baby that went to bed so I will be heading that direction SOON!

Stats: at 3 months - 10lb 13 oz (around 2nd percentile.) Still our tiny little guy. Big tummy, chicken legs, but he loves to stand! Grabbing at toys a lot more too. Drool city. Might become a thumb sucker, not sure yet. The end.

12 week old baby!

After this week...I'm only going to count ages in months. (And probably half months...)  But here are some updated pics. This will be fast because someone (guess who?) is crabby in their bed when they should be sleeping (yes, sort of attempting a bit of sleep training today.)

Kiddo is rolling over and holding his head up high on the play mat! He can roll from tummy to back in either direction.  He usually has to be kind of mad about being on his tummy though.  If there are too many interesting things to look at (the play mat is suddenly fascinating, as are the patterned burp cloths) then he won't bother rolling over.

 Remember this post? The sailor hat fits a LOT better now. Its super cute. I will have to get another pic of him in the entire outfit this week before he outgrows it!

 And lastly...baby hair loss. Zoom in.  This is after only a few nights of sleeping.  Kind of cracks me up and makes me nervous he is going to have a giant bald spot...

This week has gone much better than last week.  We are back to nursing well after last weekend's embarrassing public meltdown, although still spitting up a lot (after he weaned himself off his nipple shield, we've had a lot more spitups and burps. I may [yuck] consider a break from dairy to look for improvement.)  I'll have a weight update at the end of the week, but I'm thinking based on his previous weight gain, he is no more than 10.5 pounds. (A friend has a 1 month old that already weighs more!)

Stuff (picasa not working for pics)

Changes
John John is changing fast. (Yes, he is mostly called John John. I've always wanted kids with a long name that I would shorten for a nickname...John kind of defied that goal and instead of calling him by his actual, short name, I double the length? Oh well.)

New: rolling over, giggles, grabbing his hands, and drool.
Same old: evening screaming, zero sleep schedule

Took the babe on another road trip last weekend. I'm a sucker for punishment. But, he was a champ. Slept in the car the entire time again! And the night sleep was pretty good too. I'm glad we had chances for some if these visits while we still have a good traveller. I'm hoping the trend continues through Christmas.

Going back to work has been tough. Nursing after bottles has been tough. Overthinking milk supply has been tough. Being refused by your infant child feels devastating. But, it's way too soon to quit, so I'm going to keep trying. I've shed a lot of tears lately, and so has John. Luckily, a few hours later we are both smiling at each other again. Just being real...it's not all fun and games over here. I am so thankful for Zach in all of this. I don't know how single parents do it!

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...