Four Months

Hard to believe our little one is four months old already. What a difference a month makes. A month ago, he was giggling here and there, and giving some smiles, but still was riddled with plenty of cranky moments, erratic sleep patterns and still all too frequent feedings. Now, we have a little man on our hands. He sleeps on his own in his crib. He puts himself to sleep (with a binky/plug) and wakes up happy. He kind of sleeps though the night - sleeping long stretches without waking or with needing just a little encouragement to go back to sleep. He doesn't need to be swaddled. He really only eats every 4-6 hours. Aside for some unexplainable grumpy times, he really doesn't cry much, and when he does it is for good reason - he is either hungry or tired, and those are pretty easy things to deal with. He laughs out loud and man, if that isn't the sweetest sound. And he smiles all the time. As soon as he makes eye contact with either myself or Keith, his face lights up in the widest grin - melting our hearts every time. I could go on and on. I think we love this guy a little more every day. I had no idea I would enjoy being a mother so much.

So I went back to work on Feb 10. Over a month ago now, which doesn't seem right. Time is moving way too fast. It has been going fine. Largely because Keith has been staying home with Camden. He's not working right now, so we've been able to delay the dreaded daycare a little bit longer. The two of them have fun together, and believe it or not, they manage just fine without me home. I have even enjoyed being at work a little bit. It is nice to go do an adult thing and use my brain in a different way again. Again, I think my attitude would be totally different if I were having to rush off to daycare every day. Things will stay this way until Keith lands another project, then we'll need to start a new routine. The good thing about this crap economy is that there are plenty of infant openings at daycare so I don't have to worry too much about finding a spot a gillion years ahead of time. The other nice thing about my job, is that there are many nights that we don't have too many patients and I end up going home early - while that is not so nice on the paycheck, it is great for my morale.

I looked at my last post and saw that it was Jan 6, the last time I wrote here. So I suppose there are a lot of milestones to report, but I would say the biggest accomplishment we have made is that he sleeps by himself in his own bed and in his own room. We made the move in late January after some motivation of watching two other friends do it and knowing the trouble we would be in, if we didn't make the move soon. (That and he was getting too long for his co-sleeper.) So one night we just did it. We were still using the swaddle, so we just swaddled him, plunked him in his crib and went to bed in our own room. And he slept. And he was still alive in the morning. I will admit I didn't sleep much, but he didn't seem to know the difference. It is amazing how easily we both woke at every little cry. (Now I am surprised that sometimes Keith will hear him crying before I will). We did forgo the monitor as we figured that would be the same as him sleeping next to us, and would keep us up just as much. He is close enough that we have no problem hearing his cries, but far enough away we don't hear every grunt and groan.

And so it went - for quite a few weeks he did wake up every 3 hours or so either needing food or a reposition. But as of late, we have had some very nice long stretches. Last night, for example, he went down for good at about 11:00 and didn't wake up until 6:00. Hooray! Again, I always wake up still somewhere in between and have to check on him wondering why the heck he hasn't woken up yet, so I'm not sleeping through the night, but we're getting there. The other nice thing is that we have not used the spare bed since Camden started in the crib. Somewhere in there I stopped swaddling him as well, and now he lays in his bed like a big boy with no "baby bumpers", no swaddles and with nothing more than a blanket. And a plug. The only way we have had success at all this is that we have employed the pacifier (or plug as we like to call it) whole heartedly as it really does help him put himself to sleep. I used to rock him until he fell asleep, but now, if I see he is getting tired, I can lay him in his crib, cover him with a blanket and stick a plug in him. Sometimes he'll lay there and goof off for as long as 30 minutes, but he does it happily and eventually (with lots of re-inserts by me) will nod off to sleep.

The only "bad" thing I am still doing, is a little early morning snuggle in our bed. His pattern is pretty consistent in that he wakes sometime early in the morning between 5:00 and 7:00. Usually because it is time to eat, but sometimes, just because. Now one of us could just get up and start our day at this point, but are you kidding? These are the hours of some of my best sleep! So we (mostly I) bring the cute little guy back into our bed, wrap my arms around him, and we both sleep pretty hard until about 9:00 or 9:30. Am I creating a bad habit for him? Probably. But I love it so, and watching him shake his little head and nestle into the crook of my arm as he fades off, is just too much. I find myself looking forward to those couple of hours. I figure as long as he spends the majority of his night and all his naps in the crib, we'll be OK. I might be eating my words later.

You're welcome for that very long foray into how my child sleeps. Since I can't get real focused for this entry, I think I'll just make a random list of things he does/did/tries to do and some of my favorite and not-so-favorite moments of the last couple months and of being a mother in general. For a reference, he turned four months old on March 12th.

• Today, he rolled over for the first time from back to belly. He had rolled from belly to back in early February, but no further action until today.
• I love how he now wraps his arms around my neck when I pick him up.
  
• He does this funny thing with his hands - opening and closing them ferociously - scratching whatever surface he is feeling. It's cute, but a lot of times the surface is his head and I'll pick him up from a nap and see all these new little scratches on his head.
• He still doesn't have any hair.
• If you blow on his belly or neck and make ridiculous "nom, nom, nom" noises, he will laugh out loud.
  
• He has the sweetest smile and there is nothing better than coming home from work, having him turn his head toward my voice, and break out into a huge, silly, open-mouthed grin.
• While nursing when he is super hungry and super tired, he kicks his legs, wriggles his body, half closes his eyes, and makes sweet little satisfied gulping noises.
• He can read already:

• Or maybe he's just at that stage where everything goes in his mouth:

• He is finding his voice and does so with loud, shrill shrieks and squeaks.

• In the middle of nursing, sometimes he will let go, and lay back on the boppy pillow, smile and gaze at me for minutes at a time with those beautiful blue eyes.
• In the middle of nursing, sometimes he will scream for no reason. Repeatedly. (Well, I'm sure there is a reason, but I can't ever figure it out).
• He has the most beautiful blue eyes I've ever seen (I am just slightly biased).
• He often wakes up from naps like this:

• He wakes up at least once in the middle of the night, and while I may curse him under my breath as I rouse from my deep sleep, as soon as he is in my arms, I forgive him.
• He tolerates his baths, but he doesn't really like them yet. I am hard pressed to get a smile during the process.
• I am overcome with how precious he is whenever I watch him sleep.
  
• Rocking him to sleep used to be a nightly ritual that I enjoyed. Now that he kind of puts himself to sleep, the occasions that he does fall asleep in my arms I cherish. The crankiness and restlessness as the tiredness sets in, then the head flits back and forth ferociously as he rubs his eyes on my collar bone, then his eyes grow heavy as he fights off sleep, and finally the surrender as his head relaxes on my chest, tips back a little and the mouth opens in a deep slumber.
• He is very impatient and intolerant of tummy time.
• He spits up a lot. Especially when he has his cutest outfits on.
• He is starting to take a very keen interest in other babies:

• He grabs for things (and rockets them straight into his mouth) and if you hold out your hand, he ever so gently touches your fingertips.....then grabs hold and shoves your finger in his mouth.
• He slobbers on everything.
• We are bad, and when we want him to sleep a long time, we put him on his belly. Sometimes when we go in to check on him we find him rotated 180 degrees or clear on the other end of the crib. He is becoming stealthily mobile.
• When he's tired at night, he'll just lean his head on my chest and stare off into space.
• I am continually amazed at how many nonsensical noises, songs and words I can create on a daily basis....and in public too!
  
• He follows people with his eyes around the room.
• When in new places, he'll look around quietly and stare intently at his new surroundings.
• I love, love, love how much Keith loves him and how he can't get enough of being around him.
  
• In general and as Uncle Carl says, he's the "best baby in the world".
  

Not much other news. I turned 35 a while ago. And while that is starting to sound a little too old, I did have a very nice birthday weekend in Sunriver with Jenn and our dear friend, Kelly, who flew up from San Diego to see us and meet our kiddos. We had a very nice babies and ladies weekend only and did manage one very tame (yet challenging all at the same time given two infants were involved), walk in the snow.





Please note the adult sized gloves on Bea's feet.


A couple more pics and videos to leave you with.

Family portrait.


Playdate with Bea.



Those eyes:


Keith babysitting.


Baby dance class:



Coffee Talk