C Update

Well, since I have WAY more pictures of my kid than I do the upstairs rooms of my house, this will have to do for today. If you hate babies, look away!!! If you love my house, come back another day!! Otherwise stay and check out my cute kid.

I was going through photos last night and sort of lost track of time looking at C's newborn pics (taken by Leah Profancik Photography). I think babies are like a black hole to their parents: all sense of time is lost playing with them and looking at them. Isn't that what happens in a black hole? I know normal time at least slows there.... My brilliant seester Jo would know since she is IU's Physics Club PRESIDENTE!!!

So tiny!! He was 3 weeks old here only about 9 pounds:)


And now he is nearly 8 months older and 21 pounds!! This is C trying hard to get to me and the big black camera.


C loves to eat food. ANY food. ALL the time. And he's NEVER gotten full. We have to stop him from eating as much as we do because surely he doesn't REALLY want that much, right? We'll work on getting him to notice that "I'm full!" cue his stomach sends him. Right now I think he ignores it... PS- This picture is one my mother in law took over Easter weekend.


C also loves chewing on non-food items such as: the coffee table (minus the glass top! gone for a few months!), small pieces of trash, sticks, bark, toys, dandelions, faces, adult fingers, grass, chair arms, diaper covers, dirt, plates, knees, laundry baskets, any baskets, and muchmuchmuch more.


C has a variety of faces: happy, tip-head-to-the-side when he's happy/shy, surprised, scrunchy pig face, and drool-leaking-from-a-vacant-stare face are my favorites.


C has turned in to a very content and happy baby since he started crawling and standing about 3 weeks ago. He'll spend 10-30 minutes just exploring a room while talking to himself. Of course this exploration involves me dashing to him and telling him curtains are not for climbing, adult books are not for sucking, plugs are not for fingers, fireplace shovels are not for mouths, Sadie's toys are not for ingestion, etc.... We're going with the "Keep small things put away but leave the house basically the same" approach to babyproofing. Although we do need more plug covers for that HIDDEN outlet C discovered behind the curtains...


C will tear apart the orderly playroom in 20 minutes. I'm patiently awaiting the "putting things in containers" phase that I hear often accompanies the "pulling things out of containers" phase. Also, he likes sitting on his knees like this!


Whenever we go to get togethers or meetings, C enjoys watching the group speaker. He'll play with all the other babies or kids but occasionally stop to study whoever is talking at the moment. Tipping his head and smiling follows, then a little confusion as to why Speaker didn't drop everything and coo at his adorable-ness. Poor eldest child.

Sleeping is getting better thanks to asked for advice from my Attachment Parenting and La Leche League groups:) C goes to bed in his crib around 8:00 PM, wakes every 30 minutes for about an hour (patting, walking, or more nursing get him back to sleep), then is conked out until midnight-ish. He'll wake then, nurse, get a diaper change (mainly to wake him up again!), nurse more, then sleep in our bed until 5:00ish. That's when he would love to wake up but it's still too early for him (AND ME) so I nurse-sleep for another (hopefully!) hour or two. Then he is a HAPPYMOMMYILOVETHEWORLD boy.

EC is also going well! During that crawling/standing beginning 3 weeks ago, he wanted NOTHING to do with the toilet, so we backed off. Sitting still for even 1 minute was way too much for his superdeveloping body and mind. Now he's back to letting me hold him over the toilet to poop and pee in the morning. Yay for not scraping/spraying off poopy cloth diapers! Noticing when he pees during wake time is more hit and miss bu catching after nap pees are easy.

So that's C's life lately. He's such a sweetie!!!

There Are Times...

My sweet and happy SIL posted a "There are times..." status on Facebook today that made me think. This has been a kinda awful week for me in a few ways that I won't ramble on about. Oh wait, I probably will. This week makes me want to wallow and I probably will after I get done writing this supposedly upbeat post.

• There are times when I feel like a truly sucky mother because my 8 month old STILL doesn't sleep through the night. Sometimes I get so frustrated repeatedly helping him fall asleep that I want to let him scream himself to sleep and I hate that feeling. Makes me cry and rush to him after only a couple of minutes. Which leads to:
• There are times when I want to smack anyone who gives me any kind of parenting advice when I don't ask for it. I should also stick to this and sometime smack myself. Also:
• There are times when I want to stop listening to and reading what other people have done successfully with their kid and go live in a cave so no one will contribute my already "is this how I raise my kid right?" feelings.
  
• There are times when I feel like a lazy ass when I find a damp load of clothes in the dryer smelling nice and musty. Wonderful. Now I only have 12,000 loads of laundry to do today.
• There are times when I read the news and National Geographic and I lose faith in humanity. We are so divided and unthinkingly destructive.
• There are times when I want to be emotionally immature and hold a grudge or get angry for what someone has "done to me". I have to fight this to be accepting of others and look at the big picture and remember I LOVE/LIKE THESE PEOPLE. And no, I'm not talking about you, don't worry:)
  
• There are times when I want to spend time with my hubby, just me and him. And then I tell myself shut up, think how lucky you are to actually HAVE him.
• There are times when I wish I wouldn't tell myself how good I have it. Even lucky people deserve to wallow sometimes, right?
  
• There are times when I wish people and relationships didn't change with distance, age, and time.
• And there are times when I wish people would just grow up and grow a pair. This applies to me as well:)
• There are times when I hopehopehope I will be a good mama. When I plead/beg whoever/whatever to please let me do this parenting thing right. I want my kid to know I love him unconditionally, no matter anything. Which is what I whisper to him as he screams and goes through this "Sleep is for the WEAK!!!" phase.
  
• There are times when I wish everyone would think EXACTLY as I do. And then we'd all be so dull that we'd collectively explode and actually implode, simultaneously.
• And last, the one that bothers me a little: There are times when I gleefully murder the ants that crawl on my counters. What is wrong with me???

PS- Please return to your normally scheduled life.

C Sleep Update

Ignored C when he woke squirming beside me at 6:22 this morn. Continued sleeping.

Ignored that sweet happiness and joy of his at being awake (he's young and naive and didn't stay up with himself at random times last night).

Unswaddled his arms so he could at least suck on his hands and kept sleeping.

Ignored his funny, sweet noises of glee.

Got smacked in the face and forehead was sucked on but continued sleeping.

J came and took the little Booger Boy and I continued sleeping. Until 6:55 :):)

!!!Yay for sleep!!!

I might love it more than food. Nah, they are even. :)

Each night I think about that coming soon day when my baby starts sleeping without me and I know I'm going to so so sosososososo miss cuddling with him all night. In fact, I really should put him in the crib each time he falls back asleep in the middle of the night but can't stand parting with him. Maybe this has to do with our "waking every 1-3 hours" sleep issues??? Hehe. Maybe, but really my boy is not an awesome sleeper when it comes to length. Easy to put to sleep (IMO) (compared to other babies, no, not easy to put to sleep) (compared to C 3 months ago, YES, easy to put to sleep!). In fact, C used to wake only twice a night until DUDUDUM: the 4 month regression hit;)

Back to the point: my babe sleeping not with me. So at 2:34 AM, when I get C nursed and settled back to sleep, I am presented with The Choice: plop him in his crib 6 inches away or curl up with him in the crook of my arm- warm, slumbering, delightfully amazing. And EVERY time, I ignore the crib. And we go to sleep. And we are both ever so happy:)

Upon reflection- my babe wakes every 1-3 hours no matter what- crib, swing, bed, in my arms. It's just him for now. This lovely baby phase we're living through.

Back to sleeping with C- no one ever told me if I bedshare/cosleep, I'll never WANT my baby to leave my bed. It's so unsafe, a bad habit to start, don't do it! was what I read and heard from most people. So I wasn't going to because MY baby would of course sleep easily, DUH! Those babies who didn't sleep well? Well, that was Mom's and Dad's fault. Poor silly parents not knowing how to get a tiny baby to sleep!! My baby would be fine!! I KNEW WHAT I WAS DOING!!! Before I had him....

Then I got him:)

And he is the most lovely person that ever existed but we found early, he is very particular about sleep. So I fearfully bedshared since that was the only way to get him to stay sleeping, talked to my SIL about my worries, and researched how to make it safe.

And NOW it feels very unsafe to have my kiddo in the other room, or even that 6 inches away from me! I get worried (granted, sleep quickly erases this fear!) when he's far from me. When he's near, I KNOW he's fine. I know he's breathing, not smothered in blankets, crib rails, the roof hasn't collapsed on him, spiders aren't eating him, the the trillions of other things out there to get my unguarded babe.

When he sleeps with me, I'm calm. His food (me) is within easy accesses. He is safe and easily comforted. He needs me, I need him. It's this beautiful arrangement that might disrupt our sleep a tad bit but feeds our souls much more. Goofy, I know:) But he's happy and safe and I am so in love and grateful.

And So: We co-sleep to sleep.

For now. End of discussion.

And on a side note, C is now napping in his crib, not his swing:):) Swing are for losers!!! And that's what we were when he slept there 8 till midnight last night. Crib wasn't working for him at bedtime;) Mind you, we are the loers, not our baby. I think he got the best of both of us and the combination blended to perfect for him.

And PS- before you tell me/think this isn't safe, please do realize, as moms, we all think differently. I don't believe in giving my child more than 1 vaccine every 2 months, I think my babe should be responded to each and every time he cries (ie- no crying it out for bed or anything), kids under 2 shouldn't watch TV (C doesn't!), and that boys should not have part of their penises cut off. I try to keep those thoughts to myself when others are raising their kids according to their beliefs. We all love our babes differently, right? We all do the best we possibly can as moms:)

C Sleeps

Yesterday my baby C turned 3 months old, weighing in at 16 pounds and drooling like a faucet (cause we all know faucets drool).  It's pretty hard to believe I've been a mom for only 3 months. It's been the best 3 months of my life, I have to admit:) Having a baby has helped a few things bloom in my life:

• I love and appreciate my hubby so much more.
• I feel very fulfilled as a woman and happy in my new career as Mom.
• My marriage is better than ever.
• I give and receive more love than I knew was possible!

ANYWHO, this is supposed to be about C's sleep habits (as much as I can figure them out!). Two weeks ago, I set out to get Charming Bambino to nap regularly AND to sleep NOT in my arms. The second goal was the most important since we're buying a new (to us) house and it will need much of my time soon! Plus, C had gotten quite attached to sleeping on me after our move the end of September, when his little life melted in to chaos. Actually, considering he'll have lived in 3 houses by the time he is 5 months, he's done pretty well! 

So Sleep Training Week 1 was a fun week of this: Swaddle C, nurse him to sleep, lay him gingerly in swing, withdraw arms ever so carefully, watch him wake and fuss (inside I would scream NOOOOOOOOOO), pick up, rinse and repeat. One day I repeated that sequence for 2.5 HOURS. Yep, I sure did. I don't know if that was stupid or smart. Probably it wasn't all that smart.

SLW1 then became this: Understand when C is tired (learned how to do this after talking to brilliant sister Leah about reading baby cues better), QUICKLY swaddle him, nurse to sleep, lay him in swing, turn it on high, dance happily away, and let Darling Little Man sleep for 2-4 hours. 

Now C naps 3 times a day, about 3 hours each nap. 

YAY!!!!!!

Evening naps are generally harder and involve more cuddling but I gotta let him sleep in my arms at least once a day. How can I not?!?!?! And at night we co-sleep, during which C sleeps about 12 hours straight, eating 3-4 times but never really waking up. This is MAGIC to me:):)

Last week, SLW1 morphed into SLW2 when I realized C was going to have to sleep around crazy-loud-funny family for Thanksgiving. You think he'd be used to it by now with me as his mama but NOOO. He's not. 

So while my sister packed and moved last week, I helped her everyday (except Tuesday) and by Saturday, C was sleeping so marvelously at her old and new house. And sleeping with tons of different people around! 

Moral of the Story: As long as Baby C is swaddled and has a swing (or Mommy or Daddy holding him) he'll sleep excellently. 

Now watch him change how he sleeps tomorrow. Just in time for Thanksgiving!!

Monday News

Calm C

Frantic C

C gets so bored with Mommy's constant kisses that he falls asleep.

Forlorn Sadie needs attention

C sunning (he was jaundiced) in normally unused crib, rollsrollsrolls, and viola!!! He falls for The Baby Trap!!

My baby is sleeping and I already got a 30 minute nap this morning so I cleaned the house, am eating lunch, and writing this. Lucky for you!!!

This is what our days are like Post Baby Jarvis (PBJ): I eat, C nurses, nurses, poops, nurses, plays, pees, nurses, sleeps. I eat, C nurses, nurses, poops, nurses, pees, plays, nurses, sleeps. I eat, C nurses, nurses, plays, poops, nurses, pees, nurses, sleeps.

In the evening we like to mix it up: we dim all the lights, C nurses, nurses, nurses, I get ready for bed, C poops, nurses, we sleep, sleep, sleep, he eats, we sleep, we wake.

4 nights in a row now he's slept 6-8 hours and only wakes up once or twice a night. I attribute it to his mad nursing skillz during the day. Each night I brace myself for no sleep but then I get to sleep awesome stretches like 4 hours and it is HEAVEN. My legs get so relaxed, my hips don't ache from a giant baby between them, and I don't get heartburn!

I USE ONE (1ONE1) PILLOW WHEN I SLEEP!!!

Plus I get a squishy baby to cuddle all day. How score-alicious is that???

So, news other than The Light of the Universe Who Happens to be My Child: Tomorrow is J's birthday and C's first doctor appointment. We are also going to attempt to go to a restaurant for an early family birthday dinner. Those of you who have actually eaten out with a newborn, please don't laugh, we'd like to at least attempt it. It'll make J's birthday a great adventure! Super fun!!

House News: We met the person who is buying our house at Saturday's inspection and I'm pretty sure he'll take good care of my first home. We move in 26 days and close in 32 days!!! EEEK! The fact that we have no house to move to isn't phasing me too much. We'll live with my mom till we find another place and are looking at a few houses on Thursday. I'll commence with panicking in about 2 weeks I'm sure. 

Well, this is a LONGGGGG post. I should fold laundry (babies make tons of laundry, especially when you are using cloth wipes and diapers), attack my To Do List, and go look at my baby. Probably I'll only look at the baby and the do the laundry. That To Do list is a bit daunting.