Thankful

The other day I was having lunch with some friends who have daughters Evan's age. The conversation turned to naps and I found myself complaining about my little boy. It hurts to write this and think back on it, because I love Evan so much and I'm so thankful for him. The other day I wrote a fac.ebook status about a messy mealtime experience that Matt wasn't around to help out with. A friend apologized and I realized that she must think I was complaining about it! It was a shock that anyone would think that (although I have to admit the status unintentionally sounded like that, but I actually found the situation humorous!). I thought, "why would I complain about something like that?" And then just a day later there I was complaining that Evan doesn't sleep enough during the day.

Yes, being a mother is hard. Yes, at the end of the day I'm glad Matt comes home to help out (unless he's on a business trip). But I LOVE being a mom. I was made for this. This is perfect. It's what I always dreamed it would be. Evan is amazing and him not napping much means that I just get to spend more time with him during the day. And I've really thought that before, I'm not just saying it now because I feel guilty for complaining about him!

Nobody's experience with motherhood is really perfect, but as for me, I have to be careful about letting myself complain about things that don't really matter in the long run. Sometimes it's good for moms to vent about things that are rough, but I don't consider our situation to be that bad. So my child only naps for 45 minutes. Some people have babies that only nap 15 minutes. And some people don't have a child at all. I'm so grateful for Evan and that God gave me this beautiful boy.

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!

diapers 'n' wipes

Diapers we like:

(Wal- Ma.rt brand)

The Pare.nt's Choi.ce brand is the best deal. I'm so impressed with these diapers and they are super cheap! Hug.gies we buy in bulk at Co.stco if there's a coupon. I've only used Pam.pers when our neighbor gave us some that her granddaughter had outgrown, but I really like them. However, not enough to spend money to buy them over one of the other brands.


Diapers I don't feel strongly about one way or another:

(Tar.get brand)

I liked the pattern on these diapers a lot. I was excited about using them because they feel and look nice, but they are SO wide!!! They were huge on Evan. We used a couple but then had to wait until he was close to the upper weight range. Then we used them, but they were getting too short for him and were still too wide. We had to overlap the tabs and unfortunately the tabs don't stick to each other well. However, these diapers fit my SIL's son perfectly and he's a thick baby. So I don't dislike these, but they aren't for us.

We haven't tried any diapers that we haven't liked yet!


Wipes we like:
Matt likes the Cos.tco wipes the best, but I think they are about the same. Either way, they are both nice and thick and soft.


Wipes we don't like:
I was so disappointed at how thin and slimy they were! You'd think they would make better wipes. We bought a jumbo pack because I had a coupon, but we only used one of the packages inside. I'm going to donate the rest to a crisis pregnancy center because they are more trouble than they are worth for us. I don't like to think of myself as a diaper or wipe snob, but I guess I am one!!

Anyway, these are the only brands of diapers and wipes we've tried so far.

Super yay!

Congratulations, Stacey, on your pregnancy!!!!

I've been praying for this for a year and a half and I'm so happy that God answered "yes." Stacey deserves this so much, and I have a feeling she will be holding her baby come September. :-)

Now when I pray for my other friends who are TTC, I just change my prayer for Stacey to ask that God keep her baby healthy and give her peace of mind so that she can enjoy this time. Go congratulate her and say a prayer for her, her husband, and her baby!

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.

White Christmas

Our trip to Arkansas went very well! Evan was great, didn't fuss at all. We stayed on our schedule really well the entire time. While we drove we'd stop at a fast food restaurant when it was time to feed him. I'd nurse him and then we'd put him on the table on his blanket and play with him for awhile. Then Matt would either order us a meal (since Evan's eating times line up with our meals) and we'd eat while Evan stayed on the table. Then we'd hold him for a little bit and then pack him up and go. By then it would be his nap time. His afternoon feeding wouldn't line up with our meals, but then we'd do the same thing except just order a snack or milkshake instead of a meal.

Evan also did really well while we were staying with my grandparents. He napped better than normal and he was really laid back. I was afraid he'd be super fussy like he was when we visited my mom's parents back in October, but he wasn't. The trip back wasn't so smooth, we had to make some unplanned stops (including pulling over on the side of a back road in the middle of nowhere in Alabama to change his diaper in the car!), but it could have been much worse.

Evan experienced his first snow and his first Christmas on the same day! How cool is that!? I couldn't believe that it snowed while we were there. The day we arrived it was great weather, very warm. But of course the temperature dropped that night and it rained the entire first whole day we were there. That turned to snow overnight and on Christmas morning there was a couple of inches of snow on the ground! I am not a snow fan AT ALL, but it was a fun experience for Evan's first Christmas and while we were on Christmas break since it didn't interrupt our everyday lives.

Evan received lots of presents of course. I can't even list them all, but most of them were clothes, little toys that he can play with now (and put in his mouth), and sippy cups (he got 3 of them, lol). Some other fun things were traditions that my mom started for him. My parents made a donation in his name to an organization that purchases and gives things to 3rd world countries. So Evan donated 5 ducks to a family in Africa. My parents are going to do that in place of a present every Christmas. He received his first Christmas ornament in his stocking from Nana. Every year he will also receive a Christmas book from Nana. :-) My parents also bought him an exersaucer that we have yet to assemble. I think he's about ready for it though, he's holding his head up really well.

Things that have been going on with him lately......

• His eyes are changing. At first I thought they were turning green in the middle, but now I think they are a light brown. The brown(green?) color is expanding and taking over more of the blue though! I'm so excited to see what they end up looking like!
• He is rolling over from his back to his tummy. He did it for the first time yesterday. :-)
• He is standing. I still hold his hands so he can balance, but he supports all of his weight. He can't do it for very long, but he just did it yesterday for the first time.
  

I hope you all had a very merry Christmas and a happy New Year!