9 Month Appointment

Evan just had his 9 month appointment today although at this point he's closer to 10 months old than 9! His doctor, Dr. S, is SOOOOO busy. He's definitely the busiest doctor at the office we visit. I kind of wish we had gone with another doctor from the beginning, but Dr. S is really nice and great with Evan, so we'll stick with him. We can always see him at well visits (just not always "on time") and thankfully Evan hasn't had many sick visits.

They didn't do any shots at this visit, but they did prick his finger and collect blood to test iron levels. Evan didn't flinch at all! I don't know if he couldn't feel it or what, but he stayed very still while the nurse collected the blood. Such a sweetie! Everything looks great, I have a perfectly healthy son at this point. :-)

Weight: 18 lbs, 15 oz (25%)

Height: 29 inches (75%)

Head cir: 18.5 inches (90%)

Dr. S confirmed that Evan can eat anything as long as Matt and I aren't allergic to it. That includes egg whites, which is good since I just scrambled eggs for Evan this morning and didn't separate the whites. ;-) Also my mom scrambled an entire egg for him a couple of weeks ago. My goal for myself and for Evan is to eat fish once a week. We ate a lot in New Orleans and since coming home we've done mahi mahi and tuna. I bought some sea perch today. Never had it, but I figure I'll buy whatever's on sale at the grocery store and we'll try some new things. Any suggestions on good fish or good ways to cook fish (especially perch, since that's what I have right now!)? I know i personally love tilapia with mango salsa -- yum!! I've never made it, but I'm planning on getting around to it one of these days.

Dr. S also talked about weaning Evan. He said anytime after 10 months I can just start giving him whole milk instead of nursing him. Crazy that I'm so close!! I'm planning on waiting until he's a year old, then I will start weaning. Hopefully I can get him to take milk in a sippy cup instead of bottle at that point. I think he'll wean really well. I know not all babies adjust so well, but Evan doesn't have a lot of interest in nursing. I actually think he prefers not to, but too bad. ;-) At this point I'm only giving him a bottle of breast milk in the afternoon or evening after he's nursed as a supplement.

Evan has been waking up in the middle of the night since coming home from New Orleans. He actually wakes up at about 5:30 - 6:30. I've been feeding him because I thought maybe he was hungry. But it's getting old and I don't think he's waking up hungry...I think it's just becoming a habit. I talked to the doctor and he thinks the same thing and said I probably shouldn't keep feeding him because it'll get to be a habit. So in the morning I am not going to feed him. I'll let him cry for 20 minutes then I'll go in and rock him and put him back down. Of course this is the night Matt is out of town, but I want to fix this ASAP. He's been such a great nighttime sleeper since he was 7 weeks old with the exception of growth spurts or traveling. I think being in NO for so long threw him off and that's why he started waking up.

Speaking of traveling, we're going to Asheville next week (over Father's Day weekend) along with my family to visit my brother. Then next month Evan and I will be flying out to San Diego, CA to meet Matt and have a little vacation!! It'll be Evan's first time flying and I'm nervous and excited that I'll be taking him on the plane by myself. Matt will be in San Diego all week for business and I'll meet up with him on a Thursday so we can spend the weekend there. I'm so excited!!

6-7 month schedule

I've changed Evan's schedule since the last time I posted about it way back in November. At the end of February Evan didn't have his dream feed since Matt and i were out and my sister was babysitting. He ended up sleeping a lot longer and I decided to just stop the dream feed completely. He also went to a 4 hour schedule which put his last feeding at 8:00 pm and then he went straight to bed. However, he started waking up early (6:30 am) every morning so we decided to move his last feeding (and bedtime) to an earlier time. So this is working for now and we'll probably stick with this schedule until he's old enough to go down to one nap a day (can't remember when that is).

7:30 - 8:00: Wake up, nurse, solids (1/4 cup of rice cereal mixed with fruit - usually apple sauce or bananas).

8:30 - 9:00: Nap (he will take a longer nap if I put him to bed about exactly an hour after he eats. I've tried extending his morning wake time several times and it never works.)

11:30 - 12:00: Wake up, nurse, solids (3 cubes of veggies, rice cereal mixed with fruit).

1:00 - 1:30: Nap

3:30 - 4:00: Wake up, nurse, solids (3 cubes of veggies, additional fruit if he still seems hungry).

6:30 - 7:00: Nurse, immediately to bed (we have a bedtime routine of nursing, family prayer time, read a book, sing a song, rock for a couple of minutes, and then he goes down in his crib).


Today is actually the first time I've given him rice cereal for his midday meal. He doesn't always eat much at his last meal (when he just nurses) and I think it's because I overfeed him at the 4:00 feeding. So now I'm going to try the cereal at the first 2 solid feedings so he won't eat as much so close to bedtime.

It's sad to put him to bed so early (I miss him so much after a couple of hours!), but it's really better for him and us. We all get more sleep and are happier people in the morning! Matt is still able to spend time with him in the evenings after he comes home from work (that was my biggest concern). It isn't enough time, but at least he gets an hour to an hour and a half with him on the weekday evenings. Plus, he sometimes comes home for lunch and is able to see Evan for about an hour then too.

So this schedule makes it look like he always takes 2.5 to 3 hour naps. I wish! lol Some days he does take naps that long, but usually it's an hour and a half in the morning and then 1.5 - 2.5 hours in the afternoon. Sometimes he still does a 45 minute nap like he used to, but thankfully since cutting out the third late afternoon nap he's been sleeping longer for the other two. If he wakes early I just let him whine in his crib (or talk to himself or play, depending on his mood). Sometimes I put him in his swing and see if he'll fall back to sleep or at least lay there quietly). Sometimes I let him play on the floor for awhile. It just depends on his mood and my mood. But I try not to feed him too much earlier unless he's acting hungry or really cranky.

New Experiences

Tomorrow I'm taking Evan to Sea.rs to have his 6 month portraits taken. I have never done professional portraits of him before!! We didn't even have the hospital photographer do pictures just after he was born because the first morning I was way too frazzled to think about that and then the second morning we were in the hospital the photographer didn't show up because she was sick or something. I was so upset about that and we talked about taking him to a studio to have newborn pictures done, but it was too much to think about with a new baby.

Twice before my dad has set up his camera and taken better quality pictures of Evan (1 month and 4 month pics), but this is the first time I've taken him anywhere and had a "real photographer" take his picture! As a matter of fact, this will be one of the first times I've been in a portrait studio since I can remember. So I'm a little intimidated about the experience.

Another new experience...Evan's new food is carrots. He's not impressed, but still likes them better than avocados. Just now he's eating them mixed with green beans for the first time because I hoped he might like them better that way. Matt is feeding him and it sounds like Evan is being a goofball...something he only does when he isn't impressed with food. ;-)

And another new experience...Matt and I going out and leaving Evan with my sister and her boyfriend. In November we left Evan with my mom for a few hours, but this is the first time we've gone out and left him for 2 feeding periods and left him with my sister. Matt and I went to a casino night party for his office. His office did the same thing last year and it was a big hit. This year was just as fun (maybe even more fun since I could drink. ;-) Last year I was pregnant). Also, we won a $50 gift card to Lo.we's with the raffle tickets we earned at the "casino." Yay! It's perfect because we're using our tax return to do home improvements and the gift card can go towards new windows.

We returned home much later than I had expected (we called Melissa to let her know we'd be late!) but all was well. He did great and I thought it was cute that my sister and her boyfriend were waiting on him to poop before changing his diaper and letting him to go sleep. They put him in his crib at 7:30 (his bedtime) but they stayed in there waiting on him to poop! lol I don't know why they thought that was going to happen...I didn't tell them to do that. I actually could have told them it wouldn't happen at all since he pooped 3 times during the day. Anyway, after 30 minutes of letting him sit in his crib in the dark with a light up music toy to keep him awake (while they watched him), they went ahead and changed his diaper and then put him back in his crib and let him go to sleep! He was probably sitting in his crib thinking, "why won't these people let me go to sleep!?"

Anyway, Evan still has his dreamfeed at 9:00 every night, but I told Melissa not to bother waking him up and feeding him then. So I was concerned that his last feeding was at 6:30. I expected him to wake up in the middle of the night. But he woke up at 6:30 am! He went 12 hours between feedings and he slept great all night! I'm excited....now I'm more ready to get rid of the dreamfeed since I know he can make it 12 hours.

nom nom nom

Feeding Evan solids is going really well! I thought it was helping his acid reflux, but he wasn't spitting up as much because he wasn't eating as much (since my milk production was low). ;-) So I wouldn't say that it's helped that so much. However, he is sleeping better at night and he takes some pretty good naps since eating solids too! It isn't consistent, but before he would sleep 45 minutes MAX. Since i've started solids he sometimes takes longer naps. I'm hoping that he will keep that up!

Making our own baby food is going really well! I love doing it. It also isn't as complicated or as time consuming as I expected it to be. I've tasted the food I've made and compared it to the jarred food and I have to say, the homemade food tastes much better. I'm using organic vegetables and fruits. I wouldn't consider myself a big health food nut, but I figure since I'm making baby food so that Evan can have the "best," I might as well go all the way and make it organic too. Homemade organic baby food is still cheaper than buying the jarred regular food on sale! Oh yeah, if you have a Trader Joe's nearby, you should definitely go there. They have GREAT deals on their produce!

So far Evan has eaten:
Sweet potatoes
Butternut squash
Avocados
Bananas

His favorite is the sweet potatoes. His least favorite is the avocados (can't say I blame him, avocados don't taste so well without onions, tomatoes, chili powder, garlic powder, and salsa!). He still ate the avocados, he just wasn't nearly as thrilled about them. :-)

Today I mixed bananas in his cereal and tonight I think I'll mix them with some avocado. This is the first time he's had a combination.

Next we'll do green beans (they are already made and in the freezer). I also have carrots in the freezer, but I'm going to wait until he's 6 months to feed him those since they have a stronger flavor and there's a (very small) risk of too many nitrates with those.

Oh remember how i was saying last week that Evan is fitting into his 3-6 month clothes perfectly? Well, about 2 days after writing that I started putting him in 6-9 month clothes!! It seems like he made the transition faster than the last time around. But I was happy to change him into 6-9 month clothes since I bought most of those whereas we were given all of his 3-6 month clothes. My little boy is getting so big....it's just amazing to think that at one point he fit in those itty bitty newborn clothes!

5 months old & first foods

My baby turned 5 months old yesterday! It's absolutely amazing that it's been so long since I had him. I can't even describe how I feel about it. Proud, a little melancholy (he's growing too fast!), excited, content....

(Matt and I took Evan to a free preview at a Gymboree class yesterday.)

We've moved into size 3 diapers. He's still in size 3-6 month clothes. I had estimated that he'd move into 6-9 months at this point, but the 3-6 months are still fitting well. His new favorite thing to do at this point is scratching on things with his fingers. Especially the sheets in his crib. He now sleeps on his tummy (we put him in on his back and he flips himself over...the doctor said it is fine for him to sleep however he wants at this point). So when he's really tired he'll lay on his tummy and aimlessly scratch the sheets. It's kind of weird.

Last Friday we started him on rice cereal which i think I already mentioned. We give it to him at his 11:30 feeding (2nd feeding) and his 6:30 feeding (4th feeding). I was going to do 3 times a day like the Babywise book says, but decided to follow the pediatrician's instructions of doing it twice a day instead since Evan is starting a little earlier than the Babywise books recommends (they want you to wait until 6 months if possible).

The bummer thing about this past week was my milk supply dropping a lot. I had noticed Evan was crying while eating and just after, but I thought it was his reflux acting up. I should have put all the signs together (less poop, crying, my milk not dropping for several minutes, him waking earlier in the morning...), but it wasn't until I pumped after feeding him one time and didn't get anything that I started to wonder. A couple of feedings I've pumped instead of feeding him and only less than 3 ounces would come out! We tried giving him formula when he'd cry after finishing, but he wouldn't take it. So he obviously wasn't starving.

Anyway, I've been drinking more and feeding him more often. I meant to go buy some fenugreek since a couple of people recommended that, but I never did make it to the health store. By the time I had the opportunity to make a trip there I felt like my milk was starting to come back. It's been letting down quicker, Evan isn't crying after eating, and he has milk around his mouth just after eating again. I feel like the reason this happened is because I wasn't drinking enough water.

Yesterday I made some sweet potatoes for Evan. I baked 3 sweet potatoes and then mashed them with some breast milk. They were still all stringy though so I put them through the food processor and after that they looked smooth like the pictures of homemade sweet potato puree I've seen. I put them in ice cube treys and froze them. It made A LOT. But the good thing about it is that I'll definitely use them and this just saved me some time. It's a good thing he liked them!

Actually, I think I can safely say he loved them. When we put them in his mouth I don't think he knew it was food. He sat there grinning with the food sitting in his mouth. When he finally swallowed he smiled again and immediately opened his mouth for more. He kept up the smiling and immediately opening his mouth after swallowing the whole time. He even laughed a few times! :-)

4 month appointment

4 month stats:
Weight: 14 lbs, 4 oz (25-50%)
Height: 26.5 inches (90-95%)

We have one tall baby!! Everything else is great with him. I was concerned about his back because his spine seems curved, but the doctor said it's the muscles and he'll outgrow it. If it's not better by his 6 month appointment he said he can do x-rays to make sure it isn't scoliosis, but he's pretty much positive it isn't at this point. That's a big relief to me because I was really worried that Evan had it, especially since I do. But infant scoliosis is very rare, only 1% of babies have it.

I'm not sure what I'm doing with my blog these days. Obviously I haven't been posting! I'm wondering if I should keep trying to post, if I should just quit but leave it up for others to see, or if I should completely take it offline. I don't know...

I enjoy blogging, but I don't have time anymore. I'm super super busy. I joined a playgroup back at the end of November and since then I've been meeting with them a couple of times a week. I've made some great friends through the group that I also get together with a couple of times a week. Then I have things like appointments, shopping, hanging out with our families, etc, that also take up my time. I can't remember the last time that I spent a day at home (I thought that I would on Wednesday, but then my mom called and asked if I wanted to go shopping with her, so I ended up going out for a couple of hours then too).

I mostly enjoy being so busy, but sometimes I wonder if I should slow down. My house is a wreck. When I come home in the evenings I have no energy to clean. If I have free time at home that's the last thing I want to do. I've noticed the past couple of weeks that I feel really down in the evenings once we're home. I wonder if I'm burned out and it doesn't set in until I'm at home. I don't know.... So part of me wonders if I should stop doing so much and then once I have more time at home I can blog regularly again.

Speaking of feeling "down," I realize I never really updated about my anxiety that I posted about in November HERE. It's a lot better now! I still have attacks every once in awhile, but not as often and they aren't as bad. I talked to my chiropractor about it and he wasn't as helpful as I had hoped. He didn't seem to get that I had this problem before pregnancy and childbirth. I told him that, but all he said is that I should make "me time" and relax and let someone else watch Evan while I go out shopping or read a book or something. I said that Matt does watch Evan most evenings and I get a break, but he said I need to completely get away a couple of times a week. haha. Anyway, not so helpful. My bad dreams have also declined, thank God. I still have them every once in awhile, but not every night like I was a couple of months ago.

We started Evan on rice cereal today! He was such a good baby! He did really well with eating it. Towards the end he started getting a little antsy like, "okay, let's get back to the real food," but he ate more than I expected. He also wasn't as messy as I thought. He only spit some out a couple of times and I think it's just because he had too much in his mouth. Anyway, this coming up Friday I'm going to start making baby food for him. I've decided to mostly use organic homemade food for him. I'll still use jarred food sometimes for when we're out or I don't have enough time to heat up the homemade food. I'm excited about it! I'll definitely write a post about that after we try it next week.

Firefly hasn't been doing so well and last night we finally discovered the source (I won't go into details, it's kind of gross). Matt took her to the vet this morning and she has a UTI. She's on antibiotics. We also need to restrict her diet because the vet said she's overweight. She weighs 14 pounds, 6 ounces! More than Evan! Anyway, I'm hoping the medicine will work and that she'll be okay.

Schedule

8:00 AM - Wake up & eat
Wake time - During this time I hold him on the couch for a little while, then put him on the floor to play for awhile. I also wash his face, brush his hair, and do any other necessary cleaning like his nose, ears, etc. We do a few minutes of tummy time and sometimes listen to music. I take the most pictures of him during this wake period. I don't have much energy to do anything else. ;-)
9:30 AM - Nap time (If I have time, I take a nap now too)

11:30 AM - Wake up & eat
Wake time - He spends some of this wake period alone while I get ready (wash face, contacts, get dressed) unless I had something to do in the morning and got ready during his first wake time. When he's alone I like to put him under his play gym or in his swing with the mobile on and music playing. He also spends some of this wake time on his blanket on the living room floor and does some tummy time.
1:00 PM - Nap time

3:00 PM - Wake up & eat
Wake time - Once again, he spends most of this wake time on the floor since that's what he loves the most. I try to hold him on the couch and walk him around the house a little bit. If it's nice we'll go on a walk outside with his stroller. This is the best time for visitors since I'm already up and about and he's awake.
4:30 - 5:00 PM - Nap time

6:30 PM - Wake up & eat
Wake time - Daddy is home to entertain baby. He usually spends some of this time on the floor or in his bouncer while we eat and watch some TV unless we eat after 8:00. Put on his sleeping gown just before his nap so that we won't have to wake him up any more than we have to after his last feeding.
8:00 PM - Nap time

10:00 PM - Wake up (kind of) & eat
Immediately goes back to bed and sleeps all night until 8 the next morning!

Obviously this is just a day that I don't go out, which is becoming quite rare. I plan outings around his feeding times and I try to spend some of his wake time at home before going out. I hate to feed him and then put him in his car seat to spend his entire wake time. If it's the beginning of a nap time it's nice because the car will put him to sleep and *hopefully* he'll stay that way when we arrive at our destination (usually if it's in the middle or the beginning of his nap time he will), if it's towards the end he'll wake up and if he falls asleep in the car seat when it isn't his nap time, he'll wake up at our destination and then be really fussy and not go back to sleep.

The next step according to Babywise is to eliminate the "dream feed," our 10:00 PM feeding. However, if we take that out, he'll be down to eating only 4 times a day....which is the step Babywise recommends taking after 4 months old. I guess we are ahead by only eating 5 times a day at this point. So anyway, I'm not sure what to do. It's recommended that they start sleeping 12 hours from 3-4 months and Evan is 3 months and one week old now and is going 10 hours at night. Anyone else run into this same situation? Most of the blogs I've read say that their baby started going to 4 feedings around 7 months...so it seems like 3 months is pretty early compared to what most people do.

This is what I think we will do. Start eliminating the dream feed by feeding him slightly early each night. Like, I will start to do the dream feed at 9:45 PM instead of 10:00 for a couple of nights. Then 9:30, then 9:15, then 9:00, etc, until we reach 8:00 PM. So at some point he will be eating at 6:30 PM and then again at 8:00 (does this mean that he doesn't have any naps in between feedings??). I may keep a 9:00 PM last feeding for a couple of months until he's a little closer to the recommended age for going to 4 feedings. After he's used to going 12 hours we can start the 4 hours between feedings, which would mean only 4 feedings a day.

The problem with the 4 hour schedule is that then Matt will never be able to see Evan awake during the week. He'd have a 4:00 feeding, nap time at around 5:30 or 6:00 and then go to bed right after his 8:00 feeding. Matt usually comes home around 5:45 - 6:00. So he might be able to see Evan just before nap time, but still, it wouldn't be for long. Kind of sad to think about....it's one reason why I haven't even started to eliminate the dream feed yet.

So I have things to figure out and if you know any of the answers to my questions please answer them! And if you have any questions for me I'd be happy to try my best to answer them as well.

Our Babywise Experience

First of all I just want to say, I know that Babywise isn't for every parent and is not for every baby. Secondly, I don't appreciate any negative or unhelpful comments or opinions. If you don't agree with schedules, fine, but this post isn't the time to tell me that. Maybe you tried a schedule and it didn't work or aren't a schedule/routine type of person, that's fine, you can tell me. I just don't want to hear that I'm wrong and you're right, etc. Third, I'm not strictly following Babywise (obviously...Evan still sleeps in our room in his bassinet!). I believe that Babywise has great scheduling guidelines and that with some aspects you can pick and choose what is right for you and your baby. That's what I've done and it's worked great so far.

We started Babywise from "day 1." The first week we didn't worry about a schedule at all, we fed Evan when he was hungry, no more than 3 hours apart during the day and no more than 5 hours at night like his pediatrician told us to do. Unfortunately those first few days he went more than 3 hours several times because of our problems breastfeeding, but he made up for it after that. :-)

The second week we loosely started the schedule. We started out by just trying to get him to stay awake for awhile after he ate. I think that was the most important thing. We also started feeding him every 3 hours during the day (most of the time we had to wake him up and keep waking him up as he ate) and at night would let him go longer (but no more than 5 hours) if he could. We didn't have long wake times, but they gradually got longer and longer each week.

After he was a month old we let him go longer than 5 hours at night if he could. His wake times were about an hour long after he ate. He really started getting into the routine at this point. He would wake up at exactly 3 hours to the minute wanting to eat.

At 6 weeks we went to from 3 hours between feedings to 3.5 hours. The way I knew he was ready to go longer between meals was because I'd have to wake him up to eat almost every time. Babywise says you can go to a 3.5 hour schedule between 5 and 8 weeks and sure enough, that's when Evan was ready.

At exactly 7 weeks old he slept through the night for the first time and has done that almost every night since then except for the week the time changed and for a few days that 7th week (growth spurt). I'm not sure if it was the time change or the fact that I was deviating from the schedule that caused him to start waking up during the night again the week of the time change, but after I got back into the exact schedule he started sleeping all night again!

Helpful things I learned:

• Feeding/naptime at the same time everyday is more important than the time increments. For some reason I was under the impression that feeding every 3.5 hours was the key. So if we accidentally slept late, I'd keep feeding him every 3.5 hours. However, the time is more important. So if you accidentally sleep half an hour late, you should then feed the baby again after 3 hours instead of 3.5 so that it's at the same time as normal. Sometimes if you get way off you can't completely get back on track until 2 feedings, but keep trying to extend or shorten the times between feedings (I usually do this in 30 minute increments) until you get back to your normal times.
  
• It's not imperative that you do things at the same time to the minute. I usually try to do it the same time, but don't mind feeding/nap time 15 minutes before or after the usual time.
• It took about a month to get Evan really into the schedule. Now he knows that wake time is after he eats. Occasionally he'll doze immediately after eating (before I even take him off my breast) and I'll let him for a couple of minutes (usually because I'm reading), but after I change him he's awake and will stay that way at least an hour.
• Evan has to sleep after about an hour and a half or he gets overtired. At the hour and a half mark I put him down for a nap even if he doesn't seem sleepy. I just rock him and walk him around and put his pacifier in until he starts getting drowsy.

Obviously I still have some work to do with the nap times. As far as I know, Babywise doesn't say what to do if your child just doesn't want to nap. Well, it does say to let them cry it out, but so far this hasn't really worked with Evan. I feel uncomfortable with him crying for more than 15 minutes at this point though, so I'll admit I haven't tried it much. But the thing is, he'll usually go to sleep just fine, but wake up after about 30 minutes and fuss. After that he'll only doze while the pacifier is in his mouth, after it falls out he'll start with the thrashing around and fussing again.

Next post I'll write down our schedule at this point and my plans for changing it to exclude the "dream feed" (last feeding of the day) and extend his nighttime sleep and to change his day schedule to eating every 4 hours instead of every 3.5.

3 Months Old

Thanks for your encouraging comments on my last post. I was feeling awful and I thought that maybe writing about it would help. And it kind of did. Want to hear something weird? My chiropractor mentioned in passing that he treats some kids for anxiety. I asked how he did that and he said there's a certain adjustment of the mid back that helps anxiety and that he also recommends a special diet to help. I never even thought about natural treatments for anxiety, my doctor just suggested meds that you can't take while pregnant or breastfeeding. I didn't tell my chiro about my anxiety, but maybe I'll bring it up next time. The whole thing seems weird to me though. Thoughts?

Evan is 3 months old! It's amazing how fast time has gone by. I meant to write a special 3 month post on the 23rd, but obviously didn't do that. I also want to write a post about my L&D experience...like more about my thoughts and feelings about it. I've had a lot of time to think about it over the past 3 months and I want to record my thoughts. I also want to write a post on "what to do next time" and my suggestions to people wanting an all natural delivery.

New things with Evan....

• He weighs 13 pounds!
• He's starting to grab things on his own, without me holding them up to his hands.
• The other day he grabbed his rattle and put it in his mouth.
• He's "talking" and smiling all the time!
  
• He shows his recognition of me by smiling. :-) I love it when he smiles at me the first time I see him in the morning!
• He is still sleeping through the night and is doing an awesome job! He rarely wakes up before 8:00 and if he does he goes back to sleep on his own. Also, when he does wake up he'll lay in his bassinet and just coo or move around for a long time before he fusses (usually I get him up to eat before he even gets to that point).
• He's still sleeping in the bassinet, but I think tonight will be his first night in his room.
• He stayed with my mom for many hours on Friday night so I could go to the movies with Matt and a friend for my birthday. My mom gave him a bottle and he did really well all evening. It was the longest I was away from him and I missed him SO MUCH, especially since we ended up sitting next to a girl with a 4 month old boy in the movie. I watched him a lot and missed Evan even more.
  
• I'm starting to figure this child out! He only wants to be held a little while during his wake time, then he wants to be on a blanket on the floor. Then after about an hour to an hour and a half he has to take his nap. He'll usually fuss just a little to let me know it's time. At that point I have to cradle him and walk him around the house, jiggling him a little. Then he'll either calm down enough that I can put him in his bassinet and he'll go to sleep, or he falls asleep while I'm walking him around and then I can put him down.
• He's independent. Like I said, he doesn't like to be held much when he's awake. He likes me to be in the room with him, but not holding him. If I hold him too long while he's awake he'll start squirming and then he'll fuss, then he'll outright start to cry if I don't put him down. Kind of the opposite of a lot of babies.
• So far he doesn't mind strangers, he smiles for other people and doesn't mind them holding him (unless they hold him for too long while he's awake).
• He still doesn't like his naps very much. A lot of times he sleeps great for 30 minutes, then wakes up and either won't go back to sleep or will keep crying every time his pacifier falls out. Some days he hardly sleeps at all. Like yesterday when he only napped for about 45 minutes total the entire day. -- I know there are different opinions on this subject, but what do you do when a baby wakes early in his nap and isn't hungry, but is crying? Let him cry it out, put the pacifier back in, take him out and hold him until he falls asleep again, check him all out to make sure he's clean,etc?
  
• I think he's ready to start eating every 4 hours and only 4 times a day. The book I take guidelines from says there's no rush to do this (and not to do it before 15 weeks), but I think he's ready and I think I'll go ahead and start changing our schedule to fit that next week. It makes me kind of sad to think about nursing less often, but I seriously think he's ready (I often have to wake him to eat and sometimes it's really hard to wake him for the 10:00 feeding) and maybe, just maybe, this will help with the whole napping thing? Of course, that may be why I have to wake him so often, because he doesn't nap for as long as he should. Hmmm... what do you think? Maybe I better work on his nap situation before changing his schedule??

Oh well, that's all for now!

One Month Checkup

Evan had his one month doctor appointment on Monday the 28th. He weighed 9 lbs, 5.6 oz. Big baby!! The pediatrician was very pleased with his weight gain. He gained over 2 pounds in just 3 and a half weeks! He's 22 inches long, 2 inches longer than he was at his last appointment. Everything looks good with his development, no heart or lung problems or misshapen head. ;-)

I talked to the doctor about his spitting up and while he did assure me that spitting up is normal, he also said that if it looks like Evan is in pain (arching his back, screwing up his face, crying, etc) while eating, then there could be a problem with acid reflux. Well, that pretty much completely describes how Evan was acting during nursing times. So the doctor prescribed him some medicine to take that will hopefully help. He's been taking it for 3 days and already seems to be doing better.

For a couple of days we had a lot of problems with Evan being very fussy in the evenings and early nighttime. Not fun! We've been so used to a good baby that it was hard to listen to him fussing and crying. The other night he also had gas pains in the middle of the night and started screaming. I've never heard him cry like that before. :-( Needless to say, that was rough, but last night he was MUCH better and I only hope he'll go back to normal now. I don't know if it was gas problems or a growth spurt that caused all of the fussiness, I just know that the one middle of the night screaming episode was gas because after he passed gas he immediately stopped crying and went to sleep. Whew!

He has officially grown out of his newborn clothes and is in 0-3 month clothes. It makes me feel kind of sad that he's growing so fast. Part of me is excited, but part is melancholy to think of my baby growing up and getting bigger. At the doctor's office the other day I saw some very new newborns. I was like "Wait! MY baby is supposed to be a NEWborn too!" But it's obvious now from looking at him that he has grown out of that teeny tiny stage.

We're getting more and more comfortable with each other. I don't feel like I'm going to hurt him or do something terribly wrong all the time. I don't constantly worry and wonder if he's too hot or too cold or uncomfortable, I just know.

As for me...I went shopping the other day for some clothes. I'm actually officially back to my pre-pregnancy weight and fitting into my pre-pregnancy pants. But I still wanted to buy bigger size pants (one size bigger) and larger shirts. It's fun to have new clothes! I also had my hair cut today. I'm still trying to grow it out (remember my boy haircut?), but it needs to be trimmed to make it look less ragged as it grows. Now it has more of a style and I'm pleased with it although I can't wait to have long hair again!

5 Weeks Old

I'm too lazy to upload pictures now, but they are coming!

This has been another event filled week. Evan has been having problems with gas/acid reflux. I've stopped drinking as much milk the past couple of days and that actually seems to be helping. For awhile earlier in the week I was drinking more milk than usual, so I think that's what caused it. Anyway, the acid reflux has resulted in a lot of spitting up and fussiness. :-( My mom assured me that that's normal behavior for a baby, but it's new for Evan and so of course it's upsetting to me. Evan has his one month appointment at the pediatrician tomorrow so I'm going to ask about it then. My theory is that the milk made his stomach more upset, but what causes the spitting up is him straining so much because of the gas. He tenses his whole body up, arches his back, and his face gets all red. Shortly after that he'll spit up big time.

He is definitely smiling for real now! Not as much as I'd like, but several times a day. It's so precious, I can't describe how I feel when he smiles at me. :-) He's also definitely imitating faces now. Mostly he imitates sticking out his tongue, but the other day he was imitating my big grins. He played that game with me, my mom, and my sister. It was driving Matt crazy that Evan wouldn't play it with him after he came home from his trip. But on Saturday morning they finally played the game together. I wish I could have captured that on video!!

Evan is holding his head up longer and longer. It's amazing how much he's developed in that area in just a week. I don't know when babies start to creep around and crawl, but Evan wants to be moving NOW. He works his arms and legs and does end up moving around, but obviously he doesn't have much control over it now. I have to watch him to make sure he doesn't launch himself off my lap these days.

He went to his first wedding last night. Matt and my dad stayed home and my mom and I talked to him. All of my friends from high school were there and able to meet Evan. I saw one of my old best friends from high school that I haven't seen since graduation! It was nice seeing her and I found out she now lives nearby, so I can see her again hopefully.

We've been going out almost every day. Usually on short trips, but it's nice to get out of the house some. I get discouraged by the fact that breastfeeding isn't smooth enough to do in public yet, but I have to keep in mind that even 2 weeks ago it would have been impossible. We've improved so much since he was born. It went from me dreading feeding times and absolutely hating it to being able to lean back on the couch and read a book or watch TV while nursing. I can only hope that it will continue to improve! The nursing cover helps a lot, I even nursed at my parents' church last week (in the nursing room).

Not much else is going on in my life, just baby Evan stuff. I'm working on editing the pictures my dad took last week so hopefully I'll have them ready in a day or 2!

Infection

I have pretty bad mastitis. Yesterday I visited the midwife and as soon as she looked at my breast she said, "That's definitely major mastitis." Ugg!! I'm allergic to the antibiotics that are normally prescribed to treat it, so the midwife had to prescribe a less effective antibiotic. She's afraid it may not work. If I don't see improvement in 24-48 hours I will have to go to the emergency room right away since it's the weekend and their office isn't open, so I wouldn't be able to go there first to be checked.

So far I haven't seen any improvement, but it's only been 21 hours since I started the antibiotics. Please, please pray that this will get better - quick! I really don't want to spend tomorrow in the emergency room, especially with a newborn. Plus, this is painful! My breast feels like it's on fire.

That being said, Evan is nursing much quicker, now our nursing sessions take about 20-25 minutes. He went through a growth spurt and for half of a day was nursing about 25 minutes total instead of 10-15. He had another appointment with the pediatrician yesterday and he's gained even more! He's now 7 pounds and half an ounce, almost back to birth weight. The doctor is pleased and we don't have another appointment for him until he's a month old.

All last night he woke up every 3 hours, when he was sleeping 4-5 hours at a time. I don't know what's up with that, but I think it might be a blessing in disguise because I'm supposed to keep "emptying" my infected breast. Not that he eats out of either for very long, only 6 minutes at the longest, so that's why I'm thinking it's good that he's eating every 3 hours even during the night.

He also had a clogged tear duct the other day, which was stressful to me (especially at first before I knew what it was!), but it's a harmless condition. I just had to keep wiping his eye throughout the day. It's still a little messed up, but not nearly so bad. Of course I called the nurse to ask her about it, but she said it's common in newborns and that there's nothing to do except wipe his eye with a warm washcloth.

I hope all of you are doing well, I feel bad that I'm not commenting on your blogs as much. I'm trying to read as many as I can during my free time, but I don't always have time to say anything. I'll keep y'all updated

1 Week Old

I can't believe it's been a week already! The time has flown by. At the end of the day I wonder how it went by so fast...and then wonder WHY it went by so fast. It doesn't seem like I do much. Of course, I live 3 hours at a time. That's how often I nurse Evan and each feeding takes at least 45 minutes. Most of that 45 minutes is spent trying to wake him up to eat more. The past few days most of his actual eating times have been 13 minutes. And yet it still takes 45 minutes to complete that process.

Breastfeeding has been incredibly rough. I don't mind waking up during the night, I don't mind spending all of my time with him, I don't mind my life being consumed by motherhood and nothing else. But breastfeeding has made motherhood hard for me. He wasn't latching properly for a couple of days. I was bleeding and sore and dreaded nursing times. I was SO close to giving up. He was also nursing every 2 hours at that point, probably because he wasn't getting enough due to the latch. On Wednesday I ended up driving myself to the midwife's office to get checked because the lactation consultant I talked to on the phone said I should because I might have an infection (which I didn't, he just wasn't latching properly). I got a last minute appt and we didn't have enough time to get Evan ready, I walked straight out the door. After getting in the car and driving a little ways down the road I realized that I really shouldn't be driving. I drove so carefully all the way though. Later I actually read my discharge instructions that said not to drive until approved by the midwife. lol

Things have been CRAZY. This is only the second day that I've been home the whole time. It's also only the second day that I've taken a nap. Just last night I realized that I am drained and healing is actually going to take longer if I keep going like I have been. So today I was determined to relax. We still had visitors (my family), but I've made a point of laying back on the couch and not doing any bending, squatting, sitting cross legged, etc. Needless to say, last night I was very sore down there, I think I was doing too much moving around.

Evan has had 2 doctors appointments so far. One on Thursday. He had gained .4 oz, not enough for them to be sure he's really gaining. So we had to go back yesterday to make sure. He gained an ounce! When we were discharged from the hospital he weighed 6 lbs, 10 oz. Now he's 6 lbs, 11 oz. That's good news and his pediatrician (who I really like!) said that he's obviously doing fine with his feeding, even though he doesn't spend long actually eating. He said to go ahead and just let him eat for 5 minutes on one breast and then as long as he will go on the other. He's still having A LOT of bowel movements and he's peeing A LOT too! lol So I guess it's all good, although it worries me that sometimes he only eats less than 10 minutes total.

Nights are actually going really well. We don't wake him up every 3 hours between 9 pm and 8 am, we wait until he cries to feed him. So sometimes he'll go about 4 to 4 and a half hours between feedings. This child almost never cries. The most he cries is sometimes when we're changing him (cold wipes!). He doesn't even cry when he's ready to eat, he just makes fussy noises. It's actually kind of hard to read him. The doctor said to wait until he screams at night to feed him, but I don't think he ever will scream. I just wait until he actually cries. And usually he'll only cry for a couple of seconds and then stop and whimper or make fussy noises. I go ahead and feed him though because I just don't think he is a screamer or much of a crier. I'm SO BLESSED, I know! My mom is miffed, she said that after all the trouble I gave her when I was a baby, I should have a difficult child too. ;-)

Nursing is still hard, but I think I can make it. I'm starting to accept the fact that he just doesn't eat for long, so I think that will make things easier. I can stop spending 30 minutes plus trying to wake him up. I have to pump about every other feeding time to keep my breasts from becoming too full. Sometimes he won't eat unless I do that first. That's a bummer because it just takes up more time, but I'm hoping I won't always have to do that. We still have a lot to learn about feeding and things are only getting better, so maybe someday we'll both get the hang of it.

I feel very weak a lot of the time. I'm not all that tired, because I've been getting quite a bit of sleep at night (more than most mothers of newborns!), but I'm just weak. I'm going to try to relax more the next few days, but the nurse I talked to the other day said that if I don't feel stronger in a few days that I should make an appointment, I might be anemic. Matt has been a HUGE help, he changes most of the diapers, helps wake Evan up during feedings, swaddles him (I'm going to have to learn to do that better before Matt goes back to work!), cleans, does the laundry, cooks, etc, etc, etc. Plus he's just encouraging, especially about the breastfeeding. He's very involved in every aspect. He'd be the perfect stay-at-home dad. I only wish we could both stay at home all day with Evan! Matt is going back to work on Wednesday, he'll be out of vacation days by then. :-(

Okay, I promise I'm going to end this huge post! It's feeding time. :-)