Oh, once again it's been too long. I apologize! I feel like we are almost fully adjusted to the move, although there are still a few things that we need to organize and we need to hang pictures. I bought some wall art for Nate's room and hung most of it today. It's the vinyl stick on kind and it really looks like he has a mural painted on his walls. I'll post pictures of his room as soon as I'm finished.
We have also been busy planning his first birthday party. Yup, that's right, the kid is almost a year old! We are doing a small party with a sports theme. I'm excited to make cupcakes decorated like baseballs and I bought I football and soccer ball cake pan. We are going to have a ball pit and a kiddie pool set up. I'll post pictures of that in a week or two, also.
So, onto new developments. It's been so long since my last blog that I don't remember what I've written about. I think the last time I wrote Nate was doing a pretty good army crawl. He is now officially a crawling machine. He is also pulling himself up on everything and today he stood for about a second without holding on to anything. He hasn't started moving himself around when he's holding on to something so I think we still have some time before he's walking.
Food has become a bit of a challenge. Despite being more active, he's eating much less. I'm not concerned about him because he's definitely still thriving (as the doctor always says) but he's now waking up twice a night for milk and I think it's because he's not eating enough during the day. I'm not sure if the decrease in appetite is because he's doing some pretty hard core teething or what; he's got a molar coming in on the right side and his fourth bottom center tooth coming in on the left. He has started spitting his food out and dribbling it down his chin when he either doesn't like something or is finished eating. At first I had a difficult time not laughing at it but now it's just frustrating. He has tried some new foods in the last few weeks. He has taken a particular liking to watermelon and peas. He tried an almond butter and grape jelly sandwich and enjoyed it quite a bit but the second time I gave it to him he wasn't interested. He is feeding himself quite a bit more and used a fork for the first time today. He was feeding himself little pieces of watermelon and did quite a good job!
He has changed a lot in the way that he plays, too. Liana has a music toy that he plays with at daycare and when we moved I realized that we have the same thing. He loves it! There's a button in the middle that he pushes to change the song (there might be six choices or so) and he seems to always switch to the same two songs. He still really loves playing with balls and his aim is impeccable! He has started hiding his balls, and his paci sometimes. He gets down on his chest and looks under the couch or the chair for good hiding spots. The other day he was playing in the kitchen while eating a cracker and hid it in the cabinet that he was playing in. It was pretty cute! And just today he was trying to shove a couple toys in the couch cushions. I think he was mimicking me hiding the remote in there. My Mom taught him Patty Cake quite a while ago and he started grabbing our hands and clapping them together whenever he wanted to play. He's been doing that for months but just recently he started playing what I like to call Angry Patty Cake. As soon as I start singing he opens his mouth really wide like he's screaming. I joked with Dan that Nate wants Death Metal Patty Cake when he does that and started singing the song like I was in a Death Metal band. And he's taken a liking to wearing my sunglasses. I have the most adorable picture of him wearing them on facebook but my computer is acting up so I'll have to download it and post it on here at some point.
Enough about play; Nate has become the most loving, snuggly little kiddo. Out of nowhere he will put his head on my shoulder when I'm holding him and just snuggle with me. And in the morning he always leans his forehead toward me for morning kisses. He has been giving kisses for a while. They are very wet, mouth-wide-open kisses but I love them anyway!
He is almost exclusively sleeping by himself in his room on his new full mattress on the floor. When he's a bit older and can get up and down we will put the frame and box spring together but right now he would go down head first. Sometimes I fall asleep in there when I go in to nurse in the middle of the night and I've realized that he fidgets more when I'm sleeping in there than when I'm not. There are some exceptions of course, like two nights ago when he was so congested that he couldn't breathe out of his nose so I slept in his bed propped up with him on my chest so that it would be easier for him to breathe.
I'm seriously hoping that the night feedings end soon. I am exhausted all of the time; I spill things, I run into things, I don't make sense sometimes. But I'm not going to deny him milk in the middle of the night when I know he's not eating enough during the day. We have his 12 month appointment on Wednesday so I am going to ask the doctor if she has any suggestions.
Speaking of 12 months, Nate is turning a year old on Tuesday. I am taking the day off and while he is taking his morning nap I am going to get a tattoo of his birth date in ancient Hindu-Arabic numbers (to commemorate my math background) on my wrist and then we are going to go to the Aquarium of the Pacific with a couple of his friends (from my New Moms Group) and my Mom. I can't believe that my baby is turning one! When do I have to stop calling him a baby?
Saturday, June 2, 2012
Saturday, May 5, 2012
More Teething, More Mobility
We have regressed a bit in terms of sleep because of teething. Nate has a third bottom tooth coming in and I'm hoping that fourth bottom is shortly behind so that we can get through this. His first two teeth were the bottom center and he had a very difficult time with it. He was fine during the day but slept terribly! After a bit of a break, he got all four top teeth at once and did fine. Now he's had quite a break from teething but the bottom one or two started coming about a week or two ago and one is clearly close to peaking through. For the last two nights he's woken up to have milk twice each night and didn't sleep well after his first waking. I am grateful that he has been so well behaved during the day but I am also pretty exhausted!
Today Nate was amusing himself by pulling himself to his feet using the ottoman and then plopping down onto his butt over and over again. I'm sure I mentioned that he has the army crawl down pat and gets on his hands and knees often. He took another crawl-step today and sometimes takes a few steps on his hands and feet. He's going to be walking before we know it; we have to get to baby proofing pretty quick here!
I think that all of this increased mobility will help him sleep better once those teeth pop through. He has been taking longer naps for the past few days (except of course today when I was home with him). He's still sleeping on the mattress on the floor and I'm debating on moving him to his crib converted to a toddler bed. I'm going to wait it out for another week or two and see what happens as those teeth pop through. It's still really convenient to hop onto the mattress with him when he wakes up for milk and sometimes stay there with him when he's in pain and can't sleep. Our bed is in a temporary holding pattern as well. In the new house, our bedroom is upstairs and Nate's is downstairs, fairly far away. So right now we have our mattress on the floor in the small room directly across from Nate's room, Dan's office. I'm actually sleeping really well on it but it's cramming Dan's space. Like I said, I'm going to wait it out for a little longer and reevaluate in a week or two.
We got the go ahead to give Nate whole milk a little earlier than usual. I had a couple days in a row of incredibly low supply so I called the doctor. I didn't see a point in trying to force the formula issue and then switch over to whole milk in a month when Nate turns a year old. I was expecting the doctor to suggest that we wait but they actually were completely on board. So we gave him his first cow's milk Thursday night, 1.5 oz before his usual bedtime bottle. He had about 6 oz spread throughout the day on Friday and only a few ounces today. I'm going to keep nursing and pumping for at least a couple weeks to see if his night feedings stop once those teeth break through (that's what happened last time he had the bottom teeth coming in).
I've come to figure out that things work themselves out. Right when I start to worry about something, it works out and then there's something else to worry about. So I've stopped worrying. He's not going to be waking up forever and he's only going to be little for so long. I'm going to enjoy it while it lasts!
We are mostly moved in, just have pictures to hang and a few little things to organize. My Mom, step Dad, and brother are moving in next weekend so there will be boxes all over the place again but I won't look at them with the pressure of knowing that I have to unload them. Once they are all settled we will start baby proofing and organizing the garage. Before we know it, we're going to have to plan Nate's birthday party. We already have ideas and a theme and I've ordered the invitations!
It's going to be a busy household with five adults and a baby but we definitely have the space and I'm going to enjoy having my little brother around so much for a few months before he moves in the summer.
Oh, and Nate's 11 months old today!!!
Today Nate was amusing himself by pulling himself to his feet using the ottoman and then plopping down onto his butt over and over again. I'm sure I mentioned that he has the army crawl down pat and gets on his hands and knees often. He took another crawl-step today and sometimes takes a few steps on his hands and feet. He's going to be walking before we know it; we have to get to baby proofing pretty quick here!
I think that all of this increased mobility will help him sleep better once those teeth pop through. He has been taking longer naps for the past few days (except of course today when I was home with him). He's still sleeping on the mattress on the floor and I'm debating on moving him to his crib converted to a toddler bed. I'm going to wait it out for another week or two and see what happens as those teeth pop through. It's still really convenient to hop onto the mattress with him when he wakes up for milk and sometimes stay there with him when he's in pain and can't sleep. Our bed is in a temporary holding pattern as well. In the new house, our bedroom is upstairs and Nate's is downstairs, fairly far away. So right now we have our mattress on the floor in the small room directly across from Nate's room, Dan's office. I'm actually sleeping really well on it but it's cramming Dan's space. Like I said, I'm going to wait it out for a little longer and reevaluate in a week or two.
We got the go ahead to give Nate whole milk a little earlier than usual. I had a couple days in a row of incredibly low supply so I called the doctor. I didn't see a point in trying to force the formula issue and then switch over to whole milk in a month when Nate turns a year old. I was expecting the doctor to suggest that we wait but they actually were completely on board. So we gave him his first cow's milk Thursday night, 1.5 oz before his usual bedtime bottle. He had about 6 oz spread throughout the day on Friday and only a few ounces today. I'm going to keep nursing and pumping for at least a couple weeks to see if his night feedings stop once those teeth break through (that's what happened last time he had the bottom teeth coming in).
I've come to figure out that things work themselves out. Right when I start to worry about something, it works out and then there's something else to worry about. So I've stopped worrying. He's not going to be waking up forever and he's only going to be little for so long. I'm going to enjoy it while it lasts!
We are mostly moved in, just have pictures to hang and a few little things to organize. My Mom, step Dad, and brother are moving in next weekend so there will be boxes all over the place again but I won't look at them with the pressure of knowing that I have to unload them. Once they are all settled we will start baby proofing and organizing the garage. Before we know it, we're going to have to plan Nate's birthday party. We already have ideas and a theme and I've ordered the invitations!
It's going to be a busy household with five adults and a baby but we definitely have the space and I'm going to enjoy having my little brother around so much for a few months before he moves in the summer.
Oh, and Nate's 11 months old today!!!
Tuesday, May 1, 2012
It's Been Quite a While...
...but life has been pretty insane for the last five and a half weeks. We accepted an offer on our house at the end of March (I'm sure I've written since then) and a few days later I realized that we started escrow four years to the date after we closed escrow when we bought our house. We started looking for a new place to live pretty quickly. And we searched, and searched, and searched. We didn't end up signing a lease on a new place until a day before we closed escrow. Fortunately we built in three days after we closed to move out. We are now residents of Newport Beach, very close to Hoag hospital. The move has added about 10 minutes to my commute, less than I expected.
Anyway, now I'll write about the kid because I know that's why you're here. Nate has perfected the army crawl and moves around pretty quickly. He's also beginning to pull himself up to his feet. He's taken a few crawl-steps and gets up on his knees really well but isn't great at crawling on his hands and knees. He has a lot more space now in the new house so he's going to get even better at getting around.
He has started doing some funny, cute habits. He really likes playing with my locket necklace. Dan bought it for me for our anniversary right after Nate was born; it says "Nathan" on one side and his birthday on the other. I have a picture of him in it and plan on putting a locket of hair when we do his first hair cut. I have worn it or had it with me (in my pocket on a busy day when I forgot to actually put it on) every time that I've been away from him for more than a short time. I plan on giving it to his future wife.
He is also obsessed with rubbing eyebrows, most often when he is dozing off. He will put his hand to my face and rub my eyebrow over and over with his thumb. He also likes playing with my eyelashes at times, which worries me about getting my eyeball scratched but I always squint pretty hard to be sure to avoid that.
Nate was sleeping in our bed for the majority of the time that we were in escrow. He had started waking up in the middle of the night in his crib and not going back to sleep unless he was in our bed. We figured there was no point in sleep training if we were going to be moving and getting him adjusted to a new room and a new house. Since we've moved, Nate has been sleeping on a mattress on the floor in his room. I slept with him for the first week. The next two nights, he slept alone until about 1 am, woke up to eat, and wouldn't sleep without me so I stayed in that bed until I got up for the day. Last night, I fed him, he fell asleep, and slept in his bed alone until he woke up in the morning. I'm not holding my breath for that to happen again tonight or anytime soon but I'm glad that we are seeing progress!
He's been waking up for one nursing session as long as we've been here. I'm not sure what's going on but I know he's actually drinking a lot. He has also stopped drinking much of anything during the day so I think that he's making up for it in the middle of the night. He has only had one bottle for the last two days at daycare. Liana tries to give him milk but he has no interest. He's still got wet diapers and his poops haven't been changed so I'm not worried. But I'm thinking of calling the doctor and asking if I should offer him cow's milk or almond milk to see if he'll drink more of something else. He's usually pretty good about drinking water or watered down juice but Liana said he hasn't even been doing much of that lately.
Anyway, I'm going to sign off for now and expect to log on once a week again now that things are settling down.
Anyway, now I'll write about the kid because I know that's why you're here. Nate has perfected the army crawl and moves around pretty quickly. He's also beginning to pull himself up to his feet. He's taken a few crawl-steps and gets up on his knees really well but isn't great at crawling on his hands and knees. He has a lot more space now in the new house so he's going to get even better at getting around.
He has started doing some funny, cute habits. He really likes playing with my locket necklace. Dan bought it for me for our anniversary right after Nate was born; it says "Nathan" on one side and his birthday on the other. I have a picture of him in it and plan on putting a locket of hair when we do his first hair cut. I have worn it or had it with me (in my pocket on a busy day when I forgot to actually put it on) every time that I've been away from him for more than a short time. I plan on giving it to his future wife.
He is also obsessed with rubbing eyebrows, most often when he is dozing off. He will put his hand to my face and rub my eyebrow over and over with his thumb. He also likes playing with my eyelashes at times, which worries me about getting my eyeball scratched but I always squint pretty hard to be sure to avoid that.
Nate was sleeping in our bed for the majority of the time that we were in escrow. He had started waking up in the middle of the night in his crib and not going back to sleep unless he was in our bed. We figured there was no point in sleep training if we were going to be moving and getting him adjusted to a new room and a new house. Since we've moved, Nate has been sleeping on a mattress on the floor in his room. I slept with him for the first week. The next two nights, he slept alone until about 1 am, woke up to eat, and wouldn't sleep without me so I stayed in that bed until I got up for the day. Last night, I fed him, he fell asleep, and slept in his bed alone until he woke up in the morning. I'm not holding my breath for that to happen again tonight or anytime soon but I'm glad that we are seeing progress!
He's been waking up for one nursing session as long as we've been here. I'm not sure what's going on but I know he's actually drinking a lot. He has also stopped drinking much of anything during the day so I think that he's making up for it in the middle of the night. He has only had one bottle for the last two days at daycare. Liana tries to give him milk but he has no interest. He's still got wet diapers and his poops haven't been changed so I'm not worried. But I'm thinking of calling the doctor and asking if I should offer him cow's milk or almond milk to see if he'll drink more of something else. He's usually pretty good about drinking water or watered down juice but Liana said he hasn't even been doing much of that lately.
Anyway, I'm going to sign off for now and expect to log on once a week again now that things are settling down.
Tuesday, April 10, 2012
So Much to Write!
I'm not feeling a long post in me tonight but I'm going to try to write about as much as possible because my list is long. And I still have "b, r, w" on the list and still have no idea what it was supposed to mean!
Nate has been growing longer and leaner. I looked at pictures from shortly after I went back to work and I can't believe how much of a chubbers he was! He definitely still has baby fat but is much leaner than he was. He still has his pterodactyl yell but doesn't use it as often. The other day I put him on the floor right before we went out the door so that I could grab something and he was getting frustrated and yelling. I couldn't figure out what was going on and then I realized that he was only able to move backward because he had socks on and couldn't get any traction with his feet. He is also still doing his silly little lip blowing where he sucks his lower lip in and then blows it out. It's pretty cute!
As I mentioned above, Nate is getting around quite a bit. He's able to completely get up on his knees or his hands and feet (if he doesn't have socks on) and is pretty adept at army crawling. He can turn around completely on his butt or on his tummy and is pro at sliding backward to get where he wants to go. He is also very good at getting up from laying down to a sitting position, either from laying on his tummy or his back. He took his first crawl-step on April 4; he got completely on his knees and took one knee forward before he went to his tummy.
I've noticed that he uses his feet kind of like hands. He tries to grab things with his feet or move things around with them. It's kind of funny! I guess we grow out of that once we get longer and it becomes easier to reach things with our hands?
The other day when I was putting him to sleep he grabbed my hand, moved it to his face, and made me rub his cheek. It was so adorable. He often rubs his tummy with my hand when he has a tummy ache but this was the first time he did it to his cheek. And speaking of adorable, about a week ago as I was walking Nate up to daycare I told him that I had to leave him there later than usual and he put his head on my shoulder. Liana answered the door and usually he turns his head from wherever he's looking but he kept his head down until I spun him around to see her and even then, it took him a few seconds to raise it. I don't know what the chances are that he understood what I was saying but maybe he understood that I was sad to be leaving him. He was such a snuggler!
Alright, I'm going to be done for now. Hopefully I will write again soon but I have a feeling things are going to be hectic for several weeks. We are in escrow on our house; the buyers are supposed to be removing the appraisal, loan, and inspection contingencies today or tomorrow and we should close on April 20 with three days after that to move. But... we don't have anywhere to move to. We have been looking at rentals regularly but there's not a lot on the market and nothing that we've seen has been what we're looking for. We are both a bit gun shy about buying again. So between house hunting, packing, and moving, I don't know how much time I'll have to blog.
Nate has been growing longer and leaner. I looked at pictures from shortly after I went back to work and I can't believe how much of a chubbers he was! He definitely still has baby fat but is much leaner than he was. He still has his pterodactyl yell but doesn't use it as often. The other day I put him on the floor right before we went out the door so that I could grab something and he was getting frustrated and yelling. I couldn't figure out what was going on and then I realized that he was only able to move backward because he had socks on and couldn't get any traction with his feet. He is also still doing his silly little lip blowing where he sucks his lower lip in and then blows it out. It's pretty cute!
As I mentioned above, Nate is getting around quite a bit. He's able to completely get up on his knees or his hands and feet (if he doesn't have socks on) and is pretty adept at army crawling. He can turn around completely on his butt or on his tummy and is pro at sliding backward to get where he wants to go. He is also very good at getting up from laying down to a sitting position, either from laying on his tummy or his back. He took his first crawl-step on April 4; he got completely on his knees and took one knee forward before he went to his tummy.
I've noticed that he uses his feet kind of like hands. He tries to grab things with his feet or move things around with them. It's kind of funny! I guess we grow out of that once we get longer and it becomes easier to reach things with our hands?
The other day when I was putting him to sleep he grabbed my hand, moved it to his face, and made me rub his cheek. It was so adorable. He often rubs his tummy with my hand when he has a tummy ache but this was the first time he did it to his cheek. And speaking of adorable, about a week ago as I was walking Nate up to daycare I told him that I had to leave him there later than usual and he put his head on my shoulder. Liana answered the door and usually he turns his head from wherever he's looking but he kept his head down until I spun him around to see her and even then, it took him a few seconds to raise it. I don't know what the chances are that he understood what I was saying but maybe he understood that I was sad to be leaving him. He was such a snuggler!
Alright, I'm going to be done for now. Hopefully I will write again soon but I have a feeling things are going to be hectic for several weeks. We are in escrow on our house; the buyers are supposed to be removing the appraisal, loan, and inspection contingencies today or tomorrow and we should close on April 20 with three days after that to move. But... we don't have anywhere to move to. We have been looking at rentals regularly but there's not a lot on the market and nothing that we've seen has been what we're looking for. We are both a bit gun shy about buying again. So between house hunting, packing, and moving, I don't know how much time I'll have to blog.
Thursday, March 29, 2012
So Excited! Hoping My Hopes Aren't Up Too High
Today I finally looked into going part time next year. I had been under the assumption that if I went down to working 50%, I'd have to pay 50% of our health benefits and I had no idea how expensive that would be. I checked with the district and found out that as long as I work at least 50%, I get full benefits and don't have to pay anything. What?!?! Really?!?! That can't be right. I literally emailed the lady at the district office a second time to make sure that I understand what she said. So what it boils down to is that my salary will be cut in half. I've already figured out that we can afford that with the price of rental homes that we are looking at. In fact, it won't affect the way we live at all.
The only reason I am worried about my hopes being too high is that the union has mentioned that we may not be able to keep our amazing health benefits next year because of the potential continued cuts to education. I have emailed somebody on our negotiating team to find out what the chances are that they will change the 50% = full benefits policy and am anxiously awaiting a response.
If I can cut down to 50%, I'll be able to work from 8-11 am or 9 am to noon. I don't know which will be better but right now I'm leaning toward 9 am to noon because Nate is happiest first thing in the morning and also because I will have to offer some kind of additional help for my students; if I work until noon I can stay for lunch a couple days a week and offer help then.
Keep your fingers crossed for me!
The only reason I am worried about my hopes being too high is that the union has mentioned that we may not be able to keep our amazing health benefits next year because of the potential continued cuts to education. I have emailed somebody on our negotiating team to find out what the chances are that they will change the 50% = full benefits policy and am anxiously awaiting a response.
If I can cut down to 50%, I'll be able to work from 8-11 am or 9 am to noon. I don't know which will be better but right now I'm leaning toward 9 am to noon because Nate is happiest first thing in the morning and also because I will have to offer some kind of additional help for my students; if I work until noon I can stay for lunch a couple days a week and offer help then.
Keep your fingers crossed for me!
Saturday, March 24, 2012
Sleep, Food, and Poop... That's All I Talk About These Days
Probably in that order; sleep and food might be tied when it comes to the frequency that they come up in my daily conversations.
So let's start with sleep. This week, we have been having trouble. For some reason Nate has taken two hours to get to sleep four of the last six nights. Three of those nights I gave up and brought him downstairs at 8 pm and he fell asleep laying on my chest and then I transferred him to our bed. He then slept all night without waking up. For the last two nights (not including tonight) he fell asleep easily but woke up in his crib after 20 minutes three times. He'd wake up, we'd either pop a paci or rock him back to sleep then put him back down, and then he'd wake up again. Usually by the second wake up but sometimes the third, he wouldn't let us put him back down in his crib. Two nights ago I just brought him downstairs and again, he slept all night. Last night I decided to try to put him in the bed upstairs with towers of pillows on either side of him. He slept up there until 2:45 am. I don't know what was going on but he was awake until 4:45 am despite me bringing him to our bed. I wonder if he would have slept in the bed upstairs all night had he not been having whatever issue it was that kept him up for two hours. And tonight we were back to a kiddo who couldn't fall asleep. I really think that the reason is that it's too stinking hot in his room. It's so aggravating! The sun is beating on the windows up there right around the time that I'm trying to get him to sleep. Tonight it was 78 degrees up there according to our monitor. His cheeks were pink and I could just tell that he was hot. He finally just fell asleep so we'll see how it goes with him in the bed upstairs.
I just can't bring myself to cry it out or Ferberize him. Sometimes he can't sleep because he's in teething pain. Sometimes he can't sleep because he has a sensitive stomach. And sometimes he can't sleep because he wants us nearby. All of these things are short term and he will outgrow them. Also, being able to explain to him that he has to sleep in his own bed is so much more appealing than letting him cry all by himself when he's too young to understand what's going on. Maybe I will live and learn and do things differently when we have a second baby. Or maybe I'll have to do things differently just because of the craziness of having two babies. But right now, I just can't do it. It would break my heart!
Alright, on to food. I am seriously having so much fun watching Nate learn to eat. There's something so funny about the way he picks up his puffs with his forefinger and thumb, puts it partway in his mouth, and bites on it. Watching him nibble on kiwi and broccoli for the first time was so much fun. And seeing him devour yogurt makes me hope that he has the same love of food that I do.
A little more than a week ago we started supplementing his bottles with formula because my freezer supply of milk was diminishing so quickly. Nate DOES NOT like formula. I tried 2 oz of each in the first two bottles and he wouldn't have any of it. After some more experimenting, we discovered that 2.5 oz of milk with 0.5 oz of formula was the most he would take. After doing that for a week I think I will try to increase the formula to milk ratio tomorrow. The funny thing is that in the last wee, I've pumped far more than he's been drinking. My supply didn't increase but he's been drinking less. I think that he is just switching to eating more food and needing less milk. If I have more milk than he needs next week, I'm going to stop using formula for the time being.
He is so close to crawling and is getting around pretty well. He scoots on his butt and also works his way around on his tummy, moving backward and turning around when he runs into something and gets stuck. Right now, he can get onto his knees but they always slip out from under him. He is also pulling himself up to a seated position from laying down and is able to pull himself up to his knees. He is working on pulling himself up to his feet.
I know I am biased but I really think he is smart for his age. There are so many examples I could give but I'll just list a couple. We play this game where he stands up in my lap and then quickly falls to his butt and I say "Bonk!" and he laughs. Now I can ask him if he wants to play "Bonk" and he immediately falls to his butt. Also, my Mom has been playing Patty Cake with him sitting in her lap facing forward. Now, whenever she sits him like that, he grabs her hands and starts doing Patty Cake. He even knows how to "roll it".
He is also very aware of his body, I think. There have been several times when he's been up at night with tummy trouble that he pulls my hand to his tummy and makes me rub it. Tonight he was playing with my hand as he was trying to fall asleep and pulled my hand over his face as if he wanted it to be darker in the room or something (he goes to bed long before the sun is down after the time change and with daylight getting longer).
On a different note, we went into escrow Thursday morning. We got more than we thought we would get for the house before we met with our agent but had to drop the price quite a bit from where he suggested that we start. We had to sell for less than we bought for but will easily be able to cover the mortgage and come out with a little bit of money. I'm really hoping that everything goes well because I am pretty desperate to get out of here. But at the same time, it makes me really sad to leave. I love this area so much and this house has so much sentimental value to me. But we need more space and we need Nate in a room that doesn't hear every single noise in the house.
If all goes well, we close on April 20 and will have three days to move out afterward. The timing is actually good because we will close on a Friday and have until Monday to be out. We are both on the same page that we don't want to buy again until the market goes down more. We feel a little burned by the market; everybody told us four years ago that we would be able to sell for what we purchased the house for after five years and now we are being told it will be at least another five years before the market hits its bottom. Also, since I want to work less we want to keep the bills down. In five years or so when I'm ready to go back to working full time hopefully we will be ready to buy the house that we will stay in forever. Neither of us wants to buy again until we are able to do that.
I'll spare you on the poop talk.
So let's start with sleep. This week, we have been having trouble. For some reason Nate has taken two hours to get to sleep four of the last six nights. Three of those nights I gave up and brought him downstairs at 8 pm and he fell asleep laying on my chest and then I transferred him to our bed. He then slept all night without waking up. For the last two nights (not including tonight) he fell asleep easily but woke up in his crib after 20 minutes three times. He'd wake up, we'd either pop a paci or rock him back to sleep then put him back down, and then he'd wake up again. Usually by the second wake up but sometimes the third, he wouldn't let us put him back down in his crib. Two nights ago I just brought him downstairs and again, he slept all night. Last night I decided to try to put him in the bed upstairs with towers of pillows on either side of him. He slept up there until 2:45 am. I don't know what was going on but he was awake until 4:45 am despite me bringing him to our bed. I wonder if he would have slept in the bed upstairs all night had he not been having whatever issue it was that kept him up for two hours. And tonight we were back to a kiddo who couldn't fall asleep. I really think that the reason is that it's too stinking hot in his room. It's so aggravating! The sun is beating on the windows up there right around the time that I'm trying to get him to sleep. Tonight it was 78 degrees up there according to our monitor. His cheeks were pink and I could just tell that he was hot. He finally just fell asleep so we'll see how it goes with him in the bed upstairs.
I just can't bring myself to cry it out or Ferberize him. Sometimes he can't sleep because he's in teething pain. Sometimes he can't sleep because he has a sensitive stomach. And sometimes he can't sleep because he wants us nearby. All of these things are short term and he will outgrow them. Also, being able to explain to him that he has to sleep in his own bed is so much more appealing than letting him cry all by himself when he's too young to understand what's going on. Maybe I will live and learn and do things differently when we have a second baby. Or maybe I'll have to do things differently just because of the craziness of having two babies. But right now, I just can't do it. It would break my heart!
Alright, on to food. I am seriously having so much fun watching Nate learn to eat. There's something so funny about the way he picks up his puffs with his forefinger and thumb, puts it partway in his mouth, and bites on it. Watching him nibble on kiwi and broccoli for the first time was so much fun. And seeing him devour yogurt makes me hope that he has the same love of food that I do.
A little more than a week ago we started supplementing his bottles with formula because my freezer supply of milk was diminishing so quickly. Nate DOES NOT like formula. I tried 2 oz of each in the first two bottles and he wouldn't have any of it. After some more experimenting, we discovered that 2.5 oz of milk with 0.5 oz of formula was the most he would take. After doing that for a week I think I will try to increase the formula to milk ratio tomorrow. The funny thing is that in the last wee, I've pumped far more than he's been drinking. My supply didn't increase but he's been drinking less. I think that he is just switching to eating more food and needing less milk. If I have more milk than he needs next week, I'm going to stop using formula for the time being.
He is so close to crawling and is getting around pretty well. He scoots on his butt and also works his way around on his tummy, moving backward and turning around when he runs into something and gets stuck. Right now, he can get onto his knees but they always slip out from under him. He is also pulling himself up to a seated position from laying down and is able to pull himself up to his knees. He is working on pulling himself up to his feet.
I know I am biased but I really think he is smart for his age. There are so many examples I could give but I'll just list a couple. We play this game where he stands up in my lap and then quickly falls to his butt and I say "Bonk!" and he laughs. Now I can ask him if he wants to play "Bonk" and he immediately falls to his butt. Also, my Mom has been playing Patty Cake with him sitting in her lap facing forward. Now, whenever she sits him like that, he grabs her hands and starts doing Patty Cake. He even knows how to "roll it".
He is also very aware of his body, I think. There have been several times when he's been up at night with tummy trouble that he pulls my hand to his tummy and makes me rub it. Tonight he was playing with my hand as he was trying to fall asleep and pulled my hand over his face as if he wanted it to be darker in the room or something (he goes to bed long before the sun is down after the time change and with daylight getting longer).
On a different note, we went into escrow Thursday morning. We got more than we thought we would get for the house before we met with our agent but had to drop the price quite a bit from where he suggested that we start. We had to sell for less than we bought for but will easily be able to cover the mortgage and come out with a little bit of money. I'm really hoping that everything goes well because I am pretty desperate to get out of here. But at the same time, it makes me really sad to leave. I love this area so much and this house has so much sentimental value to me. But we need more space and we need Nate in a room that doesn't hear every single noise in the house.
If all goes well, we close on April 20 and will have three days to move out afterward. The timing is actually good because we will close on a Friday and have until Monday to be out. We are both on the same page that we don't want to buy again until the market goes down more. We feel a little burned by the market; everybody told us four years ago that we would be able to sell for what we purchased the house for after five years and now we are being told it will be at least another five years before the market hits its bottom. Also, since I want to work less we want to keep the bills down. In five years or so when I'm ready to go back to working full time hopefully we will be ready to buy the house that we will stay in forever. Neither of us wants to buy again until we are able to do that.
I'll spare you on the poop talk.
Wednesday, March 14, 2012
Quick Morning Post
I figured I'd hop on and write a quick post to let Nate sleep a little longer. Sunday he went to bed an hour later after the time change, as expected, so I slept a little later Monday morning. He then woke up early and my morning became hectic. Monday night he went to bed as if the time change never happened so I woke up extra early Tuesday morning... and then he slept late. Last night he was back to remembering the time change for bed time and it seems he's sleeping a usual length of time.
Nate's pterodactyl scream has gotten more intense. It is clear that he thinks it's his primary way of communicating. Danielle came over on Saturday to take me out to lunch for my birthday. Afterward we were hanging out at the house and feeding Nate some peas. I was talking to her while feeding him and he kept screaming his little high pitched scream, asking for attention, so I looked at him while talking to her and he stopped.
Speaking of peas, he is really learning to feed himself faster than I expected. He's pretty adept at finger foods. He still sometimes misses and the food ends up hitting his cheek instead of going into his mouth but for the most part, he'll just pick something up and eat it. He's not great with texture still though. He's not eating purees anymore; I'm either mashing things or making sure that there are still little bits in them. But I gave him the tiniest little bite of cottage cheese and he immediately gagged... and gagged... and gagged... until he threw up his apples. I don't think it was about flavor because there are things that he hasn't liked the flavor of but he's still able to get a bite of it down and then he just turns his head to refuse future bites.
Well, I've been on here three minutes longer than I had planned so I've got to get going!
Nate's pterodactyl scream has gotten more intense. It is clear that he thinks it's his primary way of communicating. Danielle came over on Saturday to take me out to lunch for my birthday. Afterward we were hanging out at the house and feeding Nate some peas. I was talking to her while feeding him and he kept screaming his little high pitched scream, asking for attention, so I looked at him while talking to her and he stopped.
Speaking of peas, he is really learning to feed himself faster than I expected. He's pretty adept at finger foods. He still sometimes misses and the food ends up hitting his cheek instead of going into his mouth but for the most part, he'll just pick something up and eat it. He's not great with texture still though. He's not eating purees anymore; I'm either mashing things or making sure that there are still little bits in them. But I gave him the tiniest little bite of cottage cheese and he immediately gagged... and gagged... and gagged... until he threw up his apples. I don't think it was about flavor because there are things that he hasn't liked the flavor of but he's still able to get a bite of it down and then he just turns his head to refuse future bites.
Well, I've been on here three minutes longer than I had planned so I've got to get going!
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