Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Mama Bear
This week is dragging. I have three projects due in mid-April. Big ones. I’m at the point where I should be completely stressing out, but I’m strangely not. I think motherhood has calmed me down a bit. I’ve taken a more c’est la vie approach to things and I think it’s totally improved my outlook. Before Jude, these projects would’ve completely taken over my brain and life. Now, I’m able to put work and family into the two separate entities they are supposed to be and I think I’m the better for it. Granted, I bolted awake in the middle of the night last night thinking about a portion of a software upgrade that I felt I needed to work on asap. And then I looked over at my son (who was sleeping peacefully in between Phil and me since I didn’t have the energy for sleep battles last night. FAIL.) and stroked his downy, blonde little head and fell back asleep.
That’s not to say that I’m completely zen about everything. Motherhood has also awakened the mama bear that I apparently had sleeping within me. Convictions I never knew I had come out with their teeth bared whenever I feel Jude or any other child for that matter, is being threatened. When I hear stories on the news about poor, defenseless children being neglected or abused, I choke back the intense feeling of wanting to vomit and I just find myself wishing the worst things on the person that did this to them. Then I hug my baby just a little tighter. I can now spot an uneasy situation from miles away and can avoid it quick as lightning, no questions asked. I no longer have qualms about telling people that I still breastfeed and spouting off the million benefits whenever someone challenges me as to why he is still nursing (It’s amazing how I’ll talk about my breasts with anyone these days.) Or when I politely tell certain in-law family members who try to give my kid meat gravy and ice cream that they need to remove their fingers from my kids mouth before I bite them off. People who knew me before I became a mom knew me as the type of person that would totally let things slide unless I felt very strongly about them….then watch out. Now, I’m much more assertive when I initially feel that I need to be, rather than just waiting things out. I love the fierceness just one little angel baby can bring out in a woman.
All in all, Jude is making me a better, stronger person.
That’s not to say that I’m completely zen about everything. Motherhood has also awakened the mama bear that I apparently had sleeping within me. Convictions I never knew I had come out with their teeth bared whenever I feel Jude or any other child for that matter, is being threatened. When I hear stories on the news about poor, defenseless children being neglected or abused, I choke back the intense feeling of wanting to vomit and I just find myself wishing the worst things on the person that did this to them. Then I hug my baby just a little tighter. I can now spot an uneasy situation from miles away and can avoid it quick as lightning, no questions asked. I no longer have qualms about telling people that I still breastfeed and spouting off the million benefits whenever someone challenges me as to why he is still nursing (It’s amazing how I’ll talk about my breasts with anyone these days.) Or when I politely tell certain in-law family members who try to give my kid meat gravy and ice cream that they need to remove their fingers from my kids mouth before I bite them off. People who knew me before I became a mom knew me as the type of person that would totally let things slide unless I felt very strongly about them….then watch out. Now, I’m much more assertive when I initially feel that I need to be, rather than just waiting things out. I love the fierceness just one little angel baby can bring out in a woman.
All in all, Jude is making me a better, stronger person.
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Knock On Wood
I really hate to even "say" this out loud, but here goes. Jude has slept through the night TWO NIGHTS IN A ROW. Now, if you follow my blog or facebook, you will know that this is something we've been battling for quite some time. A quick background: Jude has never slept for longer than four hours at a time consistently. Sure, here or there he will go for maybe five hours, but these events are very few and far between. As I've previously stated, when we brought Jude home from the hospital, Phil and I both agreed that we weren't going to let him cry it out. I am not judging anyone who does, but we felt it just wasn't something we were willing to do, for multiple reasons. I naively thought that Jude would definitely wake for the first 3 or 4 months, but he would eventually outgrow it and he would sleep peacefully through the night. Wrong.
Once 8 months rolled around and I realized that Jude wasn't figuring out sleeping through the night on his own, I went to Borders (and didn't have a repeat breastfeeding/poopsplosion incident thankyouverymuch) and grabbed Elizabeth Pantley's No Cry Sleep Solution (NCSS). After Googling and reading what Dr. Sears (whose childrearing philosophies I have really gotten on board with) had to say, I decided this option would be the best for us. It basically teaches to attend to the babies needs at night so they do not cry, but slowly wean them off whatever association the baby has with sleep so they can eventually fall asleep without it. Jude had quite the perfect storm of elements needed in order to fall asleep. I realized that I had set Jude up to have sleep issues when all I thought was that these things were in his best interest.
First, Jude wanted to nurse before going to sleep. He would latch on and his eyes would roll into the back of his head in pure bliss. As soon as the sucking stopped, I would lay him down. His eyes would shoot open and he would wail. To replace my boob, I would put a pacifier in his mouth, which would suffice, and his eyes would roll back again. Then, I would place his lovey in his hands and he would roll to his side and fall asleep. Then, I would turn on his mobile that played classical music for twenty minutes and he would be out. This was all well and good except for the fact that once the music shut off or the pacifier would pop out of his mouth or he realized that my boob was nowhere to be found, it was all over. Sometimes this was two hours later, sometimes two minutes. Oy ve.
Long story short, the NCSS did not work for us. We tried diligently for a month. The only thing that improved was that Jude started to sleep a longer stretch in the beginning of the night. He went from waking up within the first hour to sleep for 3-4 hours and then waking up every 1-2 after that.
People with good intentions had all sorts of suggestions for us. "You just need to shut off the baby monitor for a couple of nights so he can cry it out all night", "You need to stop spoiling him so much by carrying him around all day so that at night, he thinks he needs to be held then too", "Stop breastfeeding him and give him formula, you shouldn't breastfeed once they have teeth", "Put some cereal in a bottle and send him to bed with it". Again, not judging what other parents have done because we all make parenting choices that are best for our own family, however, none of the suggestions people had to offer felt 'right' in regards to what would work for Jude. Therefore, I resigned myself to multiple night wakings until toddlerdom.
So this post doesn't turn into a full blown novella, I'm going to try to speed things up. I decided to read Ferber's book, "Solve Your Child's Sleep Problems". The most I knew about Ferber was that his methods were associated mostly with 'crying it out', but someone told me that if for no other reason, pick up his book to read about all the information he has on infant sleep cycles and sleep associations. So I did.
Upon first picking up the book, I was surprised to see that he runs the Harvard Institue of Pediatric Sleep Disorders. Okay, totally giving this guy a chance, he probably knows a bit about what he is talking about. Holy moly. I was floored reading about all of the cycles babies go through and that night waking is a necessity, ESPECIALLY in the early months since that is a main prevention of SIDS. If a baby is sleeping TOO soundly and in a sleep cycle that is difficult to get out of, they can stop breathing. It was nice to read an affirmation that an early infant sleeping through the night just didn't sound right to me. Maybe Jude was more normal than abnormal. Also, I didn't know that Ferber doesn't call for straight crying it out, but rather letting a child cry in intervals and then going in to check on him so he doesn't believe he was abandoned. Ferber first states that you need to create the child's sleep environment into a sleep association- free environment. The reasoning behind this makes sense: because of the way a baby's sleep cycle is set up, they go through the multiple stages of sleep in shorter intervals than adults and have brief periods of waking. Upon these periods of waking, adults are able to fall right back to sleep if everything is the same as when they fell asleep. But say that you go through the brief wake period and sense that a light is on in the hallway that wasn't on when you fell asleep, you are instantly fully awake and investigate. Same as a baby. If Jude fell asleep with a pacifier in his mouth, with his music on holding his lovey and when he hits his wake cycle with the paci out of his mouth, music off and his lovey nowhere to be found, he is instantly awake because he feels he "needs" all three of these in order to go back to sleep.
Okay. Get rid of sleep assocations. We stopped with the music. I nursed him before story time instead of right before bed. I did lay him down with his lovey, but if he wakes up, he can easily find that so I didn't think that was an issue. I also made sure to leave the room while he was still awake, without rubbing his back or anything since that would also be another sleep assocation. It worked! Well, for a few hours. Basically, Jude would sleep from 7:30ish until about 11, wake up and want to nurse, nurse, nurse until it was time to get up at 5:30.
Cutting to a different topic that I think is the missing piece to the whole sleep mystery. I think I'm starting to develop milk supply issues. While Jude is at daycare every day, I pump 3-4 times a day at work to send breastmilk with him the next day. I've been pretty proud of myself that Jude is almost 9.5 months and I'm still able to give him breastmilk 24/7. (And it saves so much money!) These past few weeks, I've gone from being able to pump about 16-20 oz in a day, and it has tanked to being able to pump 10-12. I've done everything in an attempt to get it back up, I'm an expert. No dice. More to come another time. By the time evening rolls around, I don't produce much since prolactin levels are the lowest in a body at that time. I now believe that at least half of the issue is that Jude is seriously hungry in the middle of the night and since he isn't getting much milk before bed, he wakes up very often to "top himself off".
The last week or so, I've been giving him a 6 oz bottle of milk before bed and then I pump after he goes to bed. This, combined with getting rid of his sleep associations has provided the breakthrough we so desperately needed.
Two days ago, I put little boy to bed at 7:15. He briefly woke at 8, I settled him back down and he didn't wake up until 5:30 am. WHAT?!?! Of course, that didn't mean I got any sleep. I was checking on him hourly convinced that something was horribly wrong.
Last night, he went to bed at 7:30. Woke up briefly at 11:15 and settled himself back down and woke up at 4:30 am and I was able to settle him down again. Not as great as the night before, but a SERIOUS, SERIOUS improvement.
I hope the trend lasts and that I didn't completely ruin things by talking about them. I attribute this success to my education of sleep cycles for babies, getting rid of *most* of Jude's sleep associations, realizing my milk supply is starting to tank and finding alternatives for evening feedings, and the fact that Jude has cut 6 teeth in the two previous months and he is no longer waking up because of teething pain.
If you've made it this far, you're awesome. I mostly just wanted to record our sleep story (so far, as the issue is clearly tumultuous) so I can show Jude someday just how much he put us through when I tell him he can't stay out all night - my sleepless nights thanks to him are in the beginning only.
Once 8 months rolled around and I realized that Jude wasn't figuring out sleeping through the night on his own, I went to Borders (and didn't have a repeat breastfeeding/poopsplosion incident thankyouverymuch) and grabbed Elizabeth Pantley's No Cry Sleep Solution (NCSS). After Googling and reading what Dr. Sears (whose childrearing philosophies I have really gotten on board with) had to say, I decided this option would be the best for us. It basically teaches to attend to the babies needs at night so they do not cry, but slowly wean them off whatever association the baby has with sleep so they can eventually fall asleep without it. Jude had quite the perfect storm of elements needed in order to fall asleep. I realized that I had set Jude up to have sleep issues when all I thought was that these things were in his best interest.
First, Jude wanted to nurse before going to sleep. He would latch on and his eyes would roll into the back of his head in pure bliss. As soon as the sucking stopped, I would lay him down. His eyes would shoot open and he would wail. To replace my boob, I would put a pacifier in his mouth, which would suffice, and his eyes would roll back again. Then, I would place his lovey in his hands and he would roll to his side and fall asleep. Then, I would turn on his mobile that played classical music for twenty minutes and he would be out. This was all well and good except for the fact that once the music shut off or the pacifier would pop out of his mouth or he realized that my boob was nowhere to be found, it was all over. Sometimes this was two hours later, sometimes two minutes. Oy ve.
Long story short, the NCSS did not work for us. We tried diligently for a month. The only thing that improved was that Jude started to sleep a longer stretch in the beginning of the night. He went from waking up within the first hour to sleep for 3-4 hours and then waking up every 1-2 after that.
People with good intentions had all sorts of suggestions for us. "You just need to shut off the baby monitor for a couple of nights so he can cry it out all night", "You need to stop spoiling him so much by carrying him around all day so that at night, he thinks he needs to be held then too", "Stop breastfeeding him and give him formula, you shouldn't breastfeed once they have teeth", "Put some cereal in a bottle and send him to bed with it". Again, not judging what other parents have done because we all make parenting choices that are best for our own family, however, none of the suggestions people had to offer felt 'right' in regards to what would work for Jude. Therefore, I resigned myself to multiple night wakings until toddlerdom.
So this post doesn't turn into a full blown novella, I'm going to try to speed things up. I decided to read Ferber's book, "Solve Your Child's Sleep Problems". The most I knew about Ferber was that his methods were associated mostly with 'crying it out', but someone told me that if for no other reason, pick up his book to read about all the information he has on infant sleep cycles and sleep associations. So I did.
Upon first picking up the book, I was surprised to see that he runs the Harvard Institue of Pediatric Sleep Disorders. Okay, totally giving this guy a chance, he probably knows a bit about what he is talking about. Holy moly. I was floored reading about all of the cycles babies go through and that night waking is a necessity, ESPECIALLY in the early months since that is a main prevention of SIDS. If a baby is sleeping TOO soundly and in a sleep cycle that is difficult to get out of, they can stop breathing. It was nice to read an affirmation that an early infant sleeping through the night just didn't sound right to me. Maybe Jude was more normal than abnormal. Also, I didn't know that Ferber doesn't call for straight crying it out, but rather letting a child cry in intervals and then going in to check on him so he doesn't believe he was abandoned. Ferber first states that you need to create the child's sleep environment into a sleep association- free environment. The reasoning behind this makes sense: because of the way a baby's sleep cycle is set up, they go through the multiple stages of sleep in shorter intervals than adults and have brief periods of waking. Upon these periods of waking, adults are able to fall right back to sleep if everything is the same as when they fell asleep. But say that you go through the brief wake period and sense that a light is on in the hallway that wasn't on when you fell asleep, you are instantly fully awake and investigate. Same as a baby. If Jude fell asleep with a pacifier in his mouth, with his music on holding his lovey and when he hits his wake cycle with the paci out of his mouth, music off and his lovey nowhere to be found, he is instantly awake because he feels he "needs" all three of these in order to go back to sleep.
Okay. Get rid of sleep assocations. We stopped with the music. I nursed him before story time instead of right before bed. I did lay him down with his lovey, but if he wakes up, he can easily find that so I didn't think that was an issue. I also made sure to leave the room while he was still awake, without rubbing his back or anything since that would also be another sleep assocation. It worked! Well, for a few hours. Basically, Jude would sleep from 7:30ish until about 11, wake up and want to nurse, nurse, nurse until it was time to get up at 5:30.
Cutting to a different topic that I think is the missing piece to the whole sleep mystery. I think I'm starting to develop milk supply issues. While Jude is at daycare every day, I pump 3-4 times a day at work to send breastmilk with him the next day. I've been pretty proud of myself that Jude is almost 9.5 months and I'm still able to give him breastmilk 24/7. (And it saves so much money!) These past few weeks, I've gone from being able to pump about 16-20 oz in a day, and it has tanked to being able to pump 10-12. I've done everything in an attempt to get it back up, I'm an expert. No dice. More to come another time. By the time evening rolls around, I don't produce much since prolactin levels are the lowest in a body at that time. I now believe that at least half of the issue is that Jude is seriously hungry in the middle of the night and since he isn't getting much milk before bed, he wakes up very often to "top himself off".
The last week or so, I've been giving him a 6 oz bottle of milk before bed and then I pump after he goes to bed. This, combined with getting rid of his sleep associations has provided the breakthrough we so desperately needed.
Two days ago, I put little boy to bed at 7:15. He briefly woke at 8, I settled him back down and he didn't wake up until 5:30 am. WHAT?!?! Of course, that didn't mean I got any sleep. I was checking on him hourly convinced that something was horribly wrong.
Last night, he went to bed at 7:30. Woke up briefly at 11:15 and settled himself back down and woke up at 4:30 am and I was able to settle him down again. Not as great as the night before, but a SERIOUS, SERIOUS improvement.
I hope the trend lasts and that I didn't completely ruin things by talking about them. I attribute this success to my education of sleep cycles for babies, getting rid of *most* of Jude's sleep associations, realizing my milk supply is starting to tank and finding alternatives for evening feedings, and the fact that Jude has cut 6 teeth in the two previous months and he is no longer waking up because of teething pain.
If you've made it this far, you're awesome. I mostly just wanted to record our sleep story (so far, as the issue is clearly tumultuous) so I can show Jude someday just how much he put us through when I tell him he can't stay out all night - my sleepless nights thanks to him are in the beginning only.
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Rub-A-Dub-Dub
What can I say? The kid loves baths. He loves splashing, shrieking, and giggling in the kitchen sink. It's crazy to think of how I used to bathe him in an infant bathtub and couldn't fathom ever having a baby big enough to sit in the kitchen sink. Now, his days are seriously numbered for baths in the kitchen before he's playing with sailboats in the bathtub. Time really does fly. But I'll save those thoughts for another day. Let's just look at the pure joy that happens when you mix a baby with bathwater.
Sunday, March 21, 2010
Adventures with nursing in public
Yesterday, we went to go visit some good friends of ours who have an adorable little girl about six weeks older than Jude, Avery. Avery's mom and I grew up together (more to come on that in a later blog) and it's been fun getting the kids together. Anyways, she and I both have plans to breastfeed for a year and were laughing last night at the many mishaps that accompany nursing a baby through their many stages. I thought it would be fun to blog about one incident in particular where, really, what can you do but laugh? Warning: if you aren't prone to a little TMI (too much information), you may want to skip this post and scroll down to older posts or wait for a new entry in a day or so.
Jude was about two months old. I was still on maternity leave and actually enjoyed leaving the house for jaunts during the day- it made me feel human to go out amongst the living and actually shower and put on clothes that didn't consist of unsexy pajama pants and an oversized spit-up stained T-shirt. At 2 months old, Jude and I had pretty much overcome our latch issues and I was somewhat proficient at getting him latched the first try. As long as I had my nursing cover, I was totally okay with nursing in public. I decided to go to Borders. Jude rarely cried and if he started to get fussy, I figured I would just curl up on a loveseat with a book and nurse him. Lo and behold, he started showing signs of hunger so I grabbed a book on cupcake recipes (so I could drool over the photos as sleep deprivation made it difficult to comprehend any reading material any more complicated than ones laden with pictures) and sat on a couch away from everyone. Well, as luck would have it, a lady came and sat right across from me and a few minutes later another man sat cati-corner from me. Jude was so tiny that they didn't even see any sign of a baby underneath my cover. What I neglected to consider was that Jude loved to take a nice, loud poo immediately after or during nursing in the beginning days. Now, if you've ever seen breast-fed baby poop, it really does challenge the laws of physics. And I'm not talking just a quiet poop, but a wall-shaking, earth-shattering, incredibly wet sounding poo. Not only did he let out one explosion, but three. In a row. I really wish I were kidding when I tell you that the sound reverberated all around the 2nd floor of Borders. I'm not sure what was worse, the sound of the 'poopsplosion' (as we lovingly call Jude's early poos) or the even more deafening silence that followed. I could tell that the two people were trying to pretend like they didn't hear it. Then all of a sudden, I had a realization: they didn't know I had a baby under my nursing cover.....and they probably thought it was ME! I was horrified. Then all of a sudden, the man couldn't hold it in and started turning red trying not to laugh. That was it. Jude was still happily slurping away underneath the cover, but I moved part of the cover to reveal his little feet and stated, "That was my baby, it wasn't me. Just in case you thought it was." The two 'spectators' started dying laughing and informed me that yes, they had assumed I was nursing.
It was somewhat of a relief to know that they didn't think I was sharting myself while reading a book on cupcakes.
Jude was about two months old. I was still on maternity leave and actually enjoyed leaving the house for jaunts during the day- it made me feel human to go out amongst the living and actually shower and put on clothes that didn't consist of unsexy pajama pants and an oversized spit-up stained T-shirt. At 2 months old, Jude and I had pretty much overcome our latch issues and I was somewhat proficient at getting him latched the first try. As long as I had my nursing cover, I was totally okay with nursing in public. I decided to go to Borders. Jude rarely cried and if he started to get fussy, I figured I would just curl up on a loveseat with a book and nurse him. Lo and behold, he started showing signs of hunger so I grabbed a book on cupcake recipes (so I could drool over the photos as sleep deprivation made it difficult to comprehend any reading material any more complicated than ones laden with pictures) and sat on a couch away from everyone. Well, as luck would have it, a lady came and sat right across from me and a few minutes later another man sat cati-corner from me. Jude was so tiny that they didn't even see any sign of a baby underneath my cover. What I neglected to consider was that Jude loved to take a nice, loud poo immediately after or during nursing in the beginning days. Now, if you've ever seen breast-fed baby poop, it really does challenge the laws of physics. And I'm not talking just a quiet poop, but a wall-shaking, earth-shattering, incredibly wet sounding poo. Not only did he let out one explosion, but three. In a row. I really wish I were kidding when I tell you that the sound reverberated all around the 2nd floor of Borders. I'm not sure what was worse, the sound of the 'poopsplosion' (as we lovingly call Jude's early poos) or the even more deafening silence that followed. I could tell that the two people were trying to pretend like they didn't hear it. Then all of a sudden, I had a realization: they didn't know I had a baby under my nursing cover.....and they probably thought it was ME! I was horrified. Then all of a sudden, the man couldn't hold it in and started turning red trying not to laugh. That was it. Jude was still happily slurping away underneath the cover, but I moved part of the cover to reveal his little feet and stated, "That was my baby, it wasn't me. Just in case you thought it was." The two 'spectators' started dying laughing and informed me that yes, they had assumed I was nursing.
It was somewhat of a relief to know that they didn't think I was sharting myself while reading a book on cupcakes.
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Nine months gone in the blink of an eye
It's hard to believe that today marks the day where my little boy has officially been in the outside world for just as long as I carried him inside me. The time has flown by in what feels like a second. When I look at him, he is no longer a "baby" to me, but this little person with a huge personality and an even bigger smile. I think for every month, I'm going to start listing his favorite things so I can look back and reminisce on these special and poignant moments before they slip by.
Likes:
Crawling
Turning the pages of books himself
The dogs
Clapping his hands at games - especially one where a ball goes down a ramp
Scrinching his face up and opening his mouth really big so his teeth stick out
The Very Hungry Caterpillar - especially the part where it lists all the food the caterpillar ate in one day: one sausage, one piece of chocolate cake, one slice of Swiss cheese, one pickle...
Dumping containers of toys out
Smashing toys together
Watching mommy vacuum
Peek-a-boo
Baths
Splashing bathwater everywhere
Walks in a carrier or stroller
Other babies and children
Waving at everyone
Eating fruit purees and oatmeal
When Mommy and Daddy sing songs
Nursing
Any sort of toy piano
Dislikes:
When Mommy leaves the room
The sippy cup
When Daddy gets up to tend to him at any point in the middle of the night - only Mommy will do
Getting into his carseat
Diaper changes
Getting into his pajamas
When you take a toy out of his hands before he's ready to let it go
Exersaucer
Green beans
Likes:
Crawling
Turning the pages of books himself
The dogs
Clapping his hands at games - especially one where a ball goes down a ramp
Scrinching his face up and opening his mouth really big so his teeth stick out
The Very Hungry Caterpillar - especially the part where it lists all the food the caterpillar ate in one day: one sausage, one piece of chocolate cake, one slice of Swiss cheese, one pickle...
Dumping containers of toys out
Smashing toys together
Watching mommy vacuum
Peek-a-boo
Baths
Splashing bathwater everywhere
Walks in a carrier or stroller
Other babies and children
Waving at everyone
Eating fruit purees and oatmeal
When Mommy and Daddy sing songs
Nursing
Any sort of toy piano
Dislikes:
When Mommy leaves the room
The sippy cup
When Daddy gets up to tend to him at any point in the middle of the night - only Mommy will do
Getting into his carseat
Diaper changes
Getting into his pajamas
When you take a toy out of his hands before he's ready to let it go
Exersaucer
Green beans
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
A rose by any other name...
Nothing really much to this post. As I was playing with my darling boy this evening, I thought about alllll the other names this little man gets called other than the one on his birth certificate. Hopefully the poor babe doesn't develop an identity crisis because we just can't stop calling him some of these. And like he needs a nickname, his name is four letters long! Regardless:
Jude
Jude Dude
Judebug
Bug
Buckaroo
Pumpkin
Pumpkin Head
Mister
Judecifer (when he's throwing a tantrum)
Booger
Boogs
JP
The J Man
Junior
Sweetie Boy
Mr. Snoopy
Jude
Jude Dude
Judebug
Bug
Buckaroo
Pumpkin
Pumpkin Head
Mister
Judecifer (when he's throwing a tantrum)
Booger
Boogs
JP
The J Man
Junior
Sweetie Boy
Mr. Snoopy
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Crawling Judebug
Jude started full-on fast crawling on Saturday.
He had been army crawling pretty efficiently for the past two weeks. It was pretty impressive how quickly he could get what he wanted without being on his hands and knees to get it. I was beginning to wonder if he was going to be one of those kiddos that has their own unique way of getting about before they actually just move on to walking.
On Thursday, he started sloooowly crawling to get something. The sort of crawl that I would have to tap my fingers and look at my watch. I believe they call it creeping? Anyways, I thought to myself that this was indeed crawling and how crazy it was that there were so many different baby safety items on the market. "I can totally catch my kid before he gets into something dangerous. The majority of parents just must be pretty lazy and not want to watch their baby every second." If motherhood has taught me anything, it's that I sure eat crow alot.
Cut to Saturday.
Dear God, I can't babyproof this place fast enough. Mr. SpeedDemon is ripping all over the place at breakneck pace. By the time I've realized he's tipped over his entire plastic container of pop-link blocks, he's halfway across the room, empty container in hand (you read that right, he crawls with things in his hands!) and heading for the rocking chair. Sometimes the only thing that saves me is if he takes a pitstop on his mission, if only to smash a couple of things together, giggle at the glorious sound, and then proceed on his merry (breakneck speed) way.
This little boy is so proud of his accomplishments. As he passes by me scooting along, he gives me the biggest, toothiest grin he can muster, as if to say "Hey, look! Did you know we can get to things on our hands and knees??? Not even kidding, come on, follow meeeeee!"
He had been army crawling pretty efficiently for the past two weeks. It was pretty impressive how quickly he could get what he wanted without being on his hands and knees to get it. I was beginning to wonder if he was going to be one of those kiddos that has their own unique way of getting about before they actually just move on to walking.
On Thursday, he started sloooowly crawling to get something. The sort of crawl that I would have to tap my fingers and look at my watch. I believe they call it creeping? Anyways, I thought to myself that this was indeed crawling and how crazy it was that there were so many different baby safety items on the market. "I can totally catch my kid before he gets into something dangerous. The majority of parents just must be pretty lazy and not want to watch their baby every second." If motherhood has taught me anything, it's that I sure eat crow alot.
Cut to Saturday.
Dear God, I can't babyproof this place fast enough. Mr. SpeedDemon is ripping all over the place at breakneck pace. By the time I've realized he's tipped over his entire plastic container of pop-link blocks, he's halfway across the room, empty container in hand (you read that right, he crawls with things in his hands!) and heading for the rocking chair. Sometimes the only thing that saves me is if he takes a pitstop on his mission, if only to smash a couple of things together, giggle at the glorious sound, and then proceed on his merry (breakneck speed) way.
This little boy is so proud of his accomplishments. As he passes by me scooting along, he gives me the biggest, toothiest grin he can muster, as if to say "Hey, look! Did you know we can get to things on our hands and knees??? Not even kidding, come on, follow meeeeee!"
I can't have a bad day around this kid, I seriously can't. For the first time in my life, the stresses of work don't follow me home. The minute I walk into daycare and he beams and scurries toward me, the previous events of the day just melt away...
Motherhood rocks hard.
Sunday, March 14, 2010
Nostalgic over retired new baby items
Our neighbors recently had a little girl and we went over with a big care package for them of everything we found completely necessary during the first six months. Infant Tylenol, Vick's Baby Rub (um, that stuff smells so good I often smear it on myself. Not kidding), saline drops for stuffy noses (essential for any daycare-going babe, Jude has an eternally dripping nose), Fold & Go diapering kit, big box of Pampers Sensitive wipes (if you're going to do disposable wipes, these are the gentlest, the next little one we have, we will be using cloth wipes I think), a package of baby hair bows (SIGH- love my little boy but hairbows on baby girls are just TO DIE), and Trumpette Mary Jane socks (:::squeal of cuteness:::).
I guess we still use all of that stuff on Jude, but slowly we are putting some new, new baby stuff away.
The Boppy. My breastfeeding companion that saved my arms and sanity during the early days. Jude is so efficient at nursing now that he's done in ten minutes. He can support his own weight so I don't really have to hold him. Since he started sitting unsupported at 5 months, we haven't used it for extra support for him either. Thank you, Boppy, and I commend you for a job well done.
The bouncy seat and the swing. Both retired. I remember reading on the manuals for both of those items that you couldn't use them once baby exceeded 25 pounds. I remember thinking "Oh, well that's awesome, we'll probably be using these for well over a year." Um, Jude was squirming and scheming ways out of them by 6 months and 16 pounds.
The Bumbo chair. He catapulted himself out of this at 5-6 months as well. It served its purpose for a short time I suppose. In retrospect, I think I would've saved the $40 (ridiculous pricetag in my opinion) and skipped it or bought a used one off Craigslist. It's a rubber/plastic chair for God's sake, buy it used and wipe it down with a sani wipe.
My trusty Lansinoh ointment. I couldn't have lived without it in the early days for our awful latch issues. Now that we're such a great breastfeeding team, I never have pain or "injuries" anymore. So I guess the only use I have for my previous favorite baby item is for when Jude's lips get a little chapped from the cold weather.
The Moby. Ahhh, the Moby. The ONLY way Jude would nap during the first three months. We're big fans of babywearing in our house (a long post about this will happen this spring- my favorite babywearing season, I'm sure) and this one was absolutely wonderful for the newborn days. We do still use it occasionally and I'm sure will continue to this summer. The only complaint I have is that for a bigger baby, the material stretches out after wearing him for awhile. I buy this for almost every baby shower. If I am invited to your babyshower and you're reading this, sorry for the spoiler. :)
I guess we still use all of that stuff on Jude, but slowly we are putting some new, new baby stuff away.
The Boppy. My breastfeeding companion that saved my arms and sanity during the early days. Jude is so efficient at nursing now that he's done in ten minutes. He can support his own weight so I don't really have to hold him. Since he started sitting unsupported at 5 months, we haven't used it for extra support for him either. Thank you, Boppy, and I commend you for a job well done.
The Bumbo chair. He catapulted himself out of this at 5-6 months as well. It served its purpose for a short time I suppose. In retrospect, I think I would've saved the $40 (ridiculous pricetag in my opinion) and skipped it or bought a used one off Craigslist. It's a rubber/plastic chair for God's sake, buy it used and wipe it down with a sani wipe.
My trusty Lansinoh ointment. I couldn't have lived without it in the early days for our awful latch issues. Now that we're such a great breastfeeding team, I never have pain or "injuries" anymore. So I guess the only use I have for my previous favorite baby item is for when Jude's lips get a little chapped from the cold weather.
The Moby. Ahhh, the Moby. The ONLY way Jude would nap during the first three months. We're big fans of babywearing in our house (a long post about this will happen this spring- my favorite babywearing season, I'm sure) and this one was absolutely wonderful for the newborn days. We do still use it occasionally and I'm sure will continue to this summer. The only complaint I have is that for a bigger baby, the material stretches out after wearing him for awhile. I buy this for almost every baby shower. If I am invited to your babyshower and you're reading this, sorry for the spoiler. :)Actually, I think I need to do a few "my favorite/unfavorite things" post. More to come!
Saturday, March 13, 2010
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
He never ceases to amaze me.
I'm moved by my son every single day. I love looking at the world through his big, soulful eyes. I guess I never realized the beauty and wonder in the littlest things like Jude does. He is making me see the world as I never saw it (or remember seeing it). I always thought it was the parents that teach their little ones, but I feel like I'm the one doing all the learning.
He's discovered his tongue and all the lovely sounds he can make by moving it in different positions. He is so excited about all the doors he has opened in terms of "language" that he wakes up in the middle of the night to practice. He talked and chattered away from 1:15 am until almost 3 am this morning. And the thing is, I didn't mind. Sure, I tossed and turned as he had a conversation to everything in his vicinity, but I loved listening to him revel in his discovery of words. My husband is convinced that he is saying "Daddy", but that would be him learning the "D" sound. If we are going to play that game, then Jude said "Mama" at three months. :)
He is cutting his four top teeth. The top two erupted yesterday. It was a painful few weeks. His upper gums have been swollen for the past month and you can see four prominent bulges where the four teeth are coming in. I'm so glad the front main ones have finally cut. Poor guy, he's been miserable. Restless, fever, diarrhea and even a little vomiting. He doesn't like to eat solids when he is cutting a tooth, so he promptly vomited up his food at daycare and they sent him home and said he couldn't come back until he was vomit free for twenty-four hours. So, I had to take another day off work to stay with him today. Not that I mind spending time with my sweet baby boy. I love every second spent with him.
Jude waves now. It is the cutest wave in the world. He raises his hand in the air, fingers spread, and then bends his thumb up and down while keeping all his other fingers straight. Hilarious and adorable. I want him to wave like that forever. He is just so darn pleased with himself.
This age is awesome. I love him so much.
He's discovered his tongue and all the lovely sounds he can make by moving it in different positions. He is so excited about all the doors he has opened in terms of "language" that he wakes up in the middle of the night to practice. He talked and chattered away from 1:15 am until almost 3 am this morning. And the thing is, I didn't mind. Sure, I tossed and turned as he had a conversation to everything in his vicinity, but I loved listening to him revel in his discovery of words. My husband is convinced that he is saying "Daddy", but that would be him learning the "D" sound. If we are going to play that game, then Jude said "Mama" at three months. :)
He is cutting his four top teeth. The top two erupted yesterday. It was a painful few weeks. His upper gums have been swollen for the past month and you can see four prominent bulges where the four teeth are coming in. I'm so glad the front main ones have finally cut. Poor guy, he's been miserable. Restless, fever, diarrhea and even a little vomiting. He doesn't like to eat solids when he is cutting a tooth, so he promptly vomited up his food at daycare and they sent him home and said he couldn't come back until he was vomit free for twenty-four hours. So, I had to take another day off work to stay with him today. Not that I mind spending time with my sweet baby boy. I love every second spent with him.
Jude waves now. It is the cutest wave in the world. He raises his hand in the air, fingers spread, and then bends his thumb up and down while keeping all his other fingers straight. Hilarious and adorable. I want him to wave like that forever. He is just so darn pleased with himself.
This age is awesome. I love him so much.
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
My son doesn't sleep.
Jude has sleep issues. Big time.
I've avoided doing any sort of sleep training this entire time for a few reasons. For starters, I never believed that they were necessary. To me, sleep training has always implied that this is purely for tired parents' sake and not in the child's best interest. I'm now retracting my former thoughts on this. Sure, I'd love a full nights sleep. But to be honest, I'm so used to 6-7 night wakings (you read that right- and this is on a good night) that they don't bother me much anymore. I guess my mommy adrenaline isn't 100% depleted. I'm honestly worried about Jude. It seems like he always has bags under his eyes and is so cranky at the end of the day, that he just isn't himself.
First, a background.
In the very beginning, we started off with Jude in a bassinet next to our bed. When he would wake, I would nurse him or change his diaper or attend to whatever need he had. During the first four months or so, I never gave his multiple, often hourly, night wakings a second thought since that is what newborns do. Once Jude outgrew the bassinet next to the bed, we decided we wanted to cosleep and have a family bed until he was a year. I'm a fan of Dr. Sear's Attachment Parenting principles and thought this was ideal for us. Being as I'm a fulltime working mom, I love that I can spend all my time with Jude when I'm not working by sleeping next to him. The night wakings continued. From four months on, all Jude really wanted when he woke up was to nurse himself back to sleep. That's fine. Bedsharing makes this very easy to do. Once six months rolled around and he was still waking up about ten times a night, I decided that we would try Elizabeth Pantley's No Cry Sleep Solution. I was not willing to let my son Cry It Out, but this seemed like an answer I could definitely go with. It was all about weaning a baby off the suck to sleep association, which Jude clearly has. After a few weeks of doing this, the only improvement I've seen is that he doesn't fight initially going to sleep like he used to and will actually sleep for a three hour stretch in the beginning. It was also around this time that we put Jude to sleep in his crib initially and then upon the first night waking after we go to bed, we bring him into bed with us.
Now we are at the present. Jude is 8.5 months and he has now decided that naps aren't for him. Daycare is lucky to get two twenty minute naps out of him. He comes home cranky, tired, rubbing his eyes, and ready for bed at 6 pm. I know this is all because Jude cannot self soothe when he wakes up for whatever reason. The littlest noise in the world will startle him awake and he cannot get himself back to sleep without a breast or a pacifier. I'm at my wits end. I've heard things about Ferber and really mostly associated his methods with crying it out. Someone who practices Attachment Parenting told me to pick up his book because it has really great information on baby sleep cycles and sleep in general and I can put other bits of his philosophy into action without resorting to cry it out. So, this is where we are at. Updates to follow. If anyone has any advice, I would LOVE LOVE LOVE comments.
This parenting stuff sure is hard.
I've avoided doing any sort of sleep training this entire time for a few reasons. For starters, I never believed that they were necessary. To me, sleep training has always implied that this is purely for tired parents' sake and not in the child's best interest. I'm now retracting my former thoughts on this. Sure, I'd love a full nights sleep. But to be honest, I'm so used to 6-7 night wakings (you read that right- and this is on a good night) that they don't bother me much anymore. I guess my mommy adrenaline isn't 100% depleted. I'm honestly worried about Jude. It seems like he always has bags under his eyes and is so cranky at the end of the day, that he just isn't himself.
First, a background.
In the very beginning, we started off with Jude in a bassinet next to our bed. When he would wake, I would nurse him or change his diaper or attend to whatever need he had. During the first four months or so, I never gave his multiple, often hourly, night wakings a second thought since that is what newborns do. Once Jude outgrew the bassinet next to the bed, we decided we wanted to cosleep and have a family bed until he was a year. I'm a fan of Dr. Sear's Attachment Parenting principles and thought this was ideal for us. Being as I'm a fulltime working mom, I love that I can spend all my time with Jude when I'm not working by sleeping next to him. The night wakings continued. From four months on, all Jude really wanted when he woke up was to nurse himself back to sleep. That's fine. Bedsharing makes this very easy to do. Once six months rolled around and he was still waking up about ten times a night, I decided that we would try Elizabeth Pantley's No Cry Sleep Solution. I was not willing to let my son Cry It Out, but this seemed like an answer I could definitely go with. It was all about weaning a baby off the suck to sleep association, which Jude clearly has. After a few weeks of doing this, the only improvement I've seen is that he doesn't fight initially going to sleep like he used to and will actually sleep for a three hour stretch in the beginning. It was also around this time that we put Jude to sleep in his crib initially and then upon the first night waking after we go to bed, we bring him into bed with us.
Now we are at the present. Jude is 8.5 months and he has now decided that naps aren't for him. Daycare is lucky to get two twenty minute naps out of him. He comes home cranky, tired, rubbing his eyes, and ready for bed at 6 pm. I know this is all because Jude cannot self soothe when he wakes up for whatever reason. The littlest noise in the world will startle him awake and he cannot get himself back to sleep without a breast or a pacifier. I'm at my wits end. I've heard things about Ferber and really mostly associated his methods with crying it out. Someone who practices Attachment Parenting told me to pick up his book because it has really great information on baby sleep cycles and sleep in general and I can put other bits of his philosophy into action without resorting to cry it out. So, this is where we are at. Updates to follow. If anyone has any advice, I would LOVE LOVE LOVE comments.
This parenting stuff sure is hard.
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