Boyd photos

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First tooth!

Mr. Giggles here has sprouted his first tooth! It's his bottom right and I felt it a couple days ago when he grabbed my finger and shoved it in his mouth. Our boy is hitting all of these milestones and it makes me realize that he won't be a baby forever. Sometimes I get so caught up in the difficulties of day-to-day parenting, and I have to remind myself to slow down to enjoy this adorable little guy.

Other Boyd news:

• He has found his feet and is especially entranced by the left one. Grabs it every chance he gets. Also likes to grab his -ahem- boy parts when the diaper is off.  
• Just discovered he is ticklish under his arms - so funny! He giggles and giggles when we tickle him there. 
• D has been making sure Boyd and Drift spend more time together. Last night I held Boyd next to Drift - he was petting the dog's fur and face, and laughing. Really adorable. Drift seems to like Boyd a little more which is great. 

Don't know if I mentioned this but Drift seemed sick while I was pregnant and then the day Boyd was born the dog took a turn for the worse. Turns out he had prostate problems and then was diagnosed as diabetic! He has since lost his eyesight and is pretty much blind. He has no energy and sleeps all of the time. Poor puppy. So now we give him insulin 2x per day. He has started to gain a little weight back but it's really heartbreaking to see Drift as a shell of what he used to be.

Baby lifejacket

This is mostly just a reminder for myself to purchase a baby/toddler life jacket for Boyd next year before boating season. Just talked with a friend who says an Alaska outdoor expert recommended the Salus brand of PFD's for kids. They're very highly rated and will last more than just one season.

Found one here that should fit Boyd next summer: Salus Marine Wear Nimbus Child Life Flotation Vest (30-60 LB)

Boyd - 5 months

We fall more and more in love with this little goof everyday! By now he is beginning to sit up by himself for very short periods, reaching towards our faces, trying to eat my hair (!) and passing stinky gas like a 50-year old man. Twice now we've fed him rice cereal in a bottle of breastmilk at night to improve night sleeping. We didn't do it last night and he slept just as well (waking at midnight for a feeding, then up at 4 - no feeding - and up for good at 7 am. Definitely an improvement!

5-month photos:

Had a nice weekend with my in-laws. They took a break from their busy fishing schedule to visit with us and Boyd. AND they babysat while D and I had our first away-from-baby date since before Boyd was born! We went to the movies and perused our favorite book store, TitleWave. Pretty exciting stuff for us. :-)

New camo outfit from Uncle Doug!

Never too early to appreciate a cocktail as big as your head.

 

 

Ski update in July

Daddy has been back home for more than a week now and is a HUGE help. I'm getting a little more sleep now so I'm not so brain dead and frustrated. I figure I've been getting an average of 6 hours a night, in two 3-hour chunks - which is an improvement over one hour stretches!

Lets see, not too much to report - I bought a used Chariot Cougar from Craigslist. It was a screaming deal for the carrier and two attachments (bike & cross-country ski). These are so popular in Alaska because of the versatile nature of the carrier - you can also purchase stroller wheels, a jogging attachment and a hiking harness in addition to the ones we got. They're just ridiculously expensive - just the 2012 base model with no attachments is $550 - crazy! I got a really good deal on ours - it's from 2007 but in pristine shape and the 2 attachments. I did have to drive out to Eagle River way up in the mountains for it, but the trek was worth it. I may look at getting the jogging wheel but for now our BOB stroller is perfect for outside walks.

We won't be able to use the Chariot as a bike trailer until next summer probably - kids really get knocked around inside those things so it's best to wait until they're at least 1 year old. BUT, we can use the x-c skiing attachment this winter! I'm super excited about it.

Stole this photo from the internets - gives you the general idea of how it works on the trails. Kiddo gets harnessed in and sits cozy warm in the pod. My boss had one and would bundle her daughter up inside with a warm Nalgene bottle at her feet while skiing.

I'm sort of back on my diet, just not as restrictive. It seems like Boyd still has a mild reaction (fussiness, gas) to some of the foods I eat, so I'm limiting certain foods again. Dairy, raw veggies and fruit, spicy stuff, etc. It's tough, especially since I thought we were in the clear! But if it's better for Boyd, I'll suck it up and deal.

He has started to bear weight on his feet - and likes to stand up! Really gets fussy when laying down like a baby.

Helping mama vacuum. I either stick him in the swing or wear him on my front in a Baby Bjorn.

So happy! He smiles all of the time.

Wanted to get one last photo in this hat - his noggin is getting too big!

Baby loves bath time (if he's not too tired). Otherwise it's a bad scene.

GO TO SLEEP ALREADY!

To say the very least I'm frustrated to have a baby that doesn't sleep for consistent stretches of time. With that in mind, I decided to sacrifice my own sleep to try some basic sleep training (without the full-on, all night cry-it-out portion because I think he's still too young for that). My goal is for him to get at least a 4 hour period of straight sleep every night, and nurse once (preferably between midnight-2 a.m.).

Thursday night was tough - Boyd kept waking after 1-hour stretches. But Friday night was awesome! I got a 6 hour period out of him and then a 2 hour nap on Saturday morning to boot. We've been getting up at 6 a.m., which is excruciating for me after limited sleep at night. He slept a little worse on Saturday night - 2.5 hour stretches, but then a 2 hour nap on Sunday morning. Sunday night (last night) was seriously awful. He got up 7 times between 8 p.m. and 6 a.m. And back to a 40 minute morning nap.

A big part of the problem is him wanting to practice rolling over from back to front CONSTANTLY. He wants to sleep on his side and then roll forward. And then he proceeds to get super mad about being on his belly. I don't mind if he sleeps on his stomach, but he usually just screams at night until I flip him over and then screams some more. I'm having my mom do lots of tummy time during the day so hopefully he'll just fuss and cry himself into rolling over the other way too. I lay in bed listening to him cry for at least 5-10 minutes before getting up at night, but most times he gets so worked up I'm afraid he's going to choke.

Everyone tells me that it's just a phase and will be over soon, but I've been hearing that for 4.5 months now! First colic and now this. It's pretty demoralizing. And I'm exhausted at work everyday. I know, lots of complaints in this post but I feel like I need to vent or else it'll just eat me up inside! I visit this site a lot: ASK MOXIE. It helps keep me sane. Good to know other moms are going through exactly the same thing as me.

I hope everyone enjoys Boyd because he is quite possibly the last baby I'll be having. 

Friday update

D and I have been married for 2 years as of June 26, 2012. We celebrated separately since he is spending time with his visiting family, and I am currently working and tethered to a squirmy little baby. So he fished on our anniversary and I went to dinner with Boyd, my mom, Risha and Gabe. We went to Little Italy - yum!

Tiny little baby feet.

Boyd has learned to roll over from back to front (but not the other way just yet) so on the few occasions the he is not screaming on his belly, I find him like this...

My friend Susie bought this pair of baby sunglasses for us and I've started to use them more often now that it's sunny outside. I want to get him used to them early and not rip them off! They are slightly too big (attached with a strap & velcro at back) but will be perfect when he's a little bigger. 

Enjoying our stroller walk to Grandma Ann's house!

Boyd - 4 1/2 months

Little Man had his 4 month checkup on Monday, although he is closer to 4 1/2 months now. He weighs 17 pounds 10 ounces (we could have sworn it was way more than that!), is 25 and 3/4 inches long, and I think his head circumference was somewhere around 43 or 44 cm. I'll have to double-check that one. Everything is good and he's still around the 85th percentile for growth. Boyd is a big, healthy baby!

Everyone's sleep is pretty awful around here. I'm single parenting again and nighttime always stresses me out when it's just me and and the munchkin. Had to call my mom to come over yesterday morning at 6 am so I could get at least an hour of sleep before work - Boyd had been waking up almost every hour for the whole night.

 I believe that day sleep begets night sleep, so my mom is really trying to make sure he takes longer naps during the day while I'm at work. I want to limit his 4th nap, which occurs anywhere from 4-7 pm, and start sleep training him to go down for the night between 8 and 9 pm. It's so hard! He just is a bad sleeper and has regressed from going to bed drowsy but awake, to needing to be rocked to bed. Darn sleep regression. I like our pediatrician but he wasn't too helpful with Boyd's sleep issues, so I spend a lot of time reading books and scouring the internet for advice.

Boyd update

Lots of progress for Boyd these past couple of weeks! He can sit up, unassisted, in the Bumbo seat. Not sure how much longer he'll be able to fit in it because of his chubby baby legs! He's such a chunky monkey, our boy. I'm glad I found the Bumbo for cheap on Craigslist - would have kicked myself for paying full price when he'll only fit it for a short time.

I've said it before, but it's pretty amazing to see the changes in his abilities from week to week. Just in the last few days he's been blowing raspberries with his mouth. It cracks me up to hear him doing this! I try to imitate him and blow along with him so he keeps doing it. I read that this is an important milestone - it means he's on track for speaking and communication skills. He's ahead of schedule for rolling over on to his stomach from his back - he's supposed to do this after rolling the other way (front to back). And he's much stronger at pushing up on his arms/lifting head high during tummy time. He doesn't hate it so much anymore.

Last night he slept for a 3.5 hour stretch and again for 4 hours. Not totally ideal but better than it has been! I hope the sleep regression is waning a bit. Teething seems to bother him a little too. Still loves to laugh and giggle when we play around.

We have his 4-month appointment on Monday - immunizations, track progress, height/weight/head circumference, eating & sleeping habits, etc. I'm pretty curious to see what his official weight will be. Our pediatrician enters all of the info into the computer during the appointment so we can see where his measurements fall on a nifty progress graph.

Yum, monkeys for dinner.

Mischievous look

Tough boy.

I swear he has bottoms on - the Bumbo covers his onesie! Look at those fat legs! I have to pry him out of the seat.

Boyd - 4 months

The munchkin turned 4 months old on June 14 - I can't believe it! He has definitely found his hands - he's been grabbing everything within his field of vision and then putting those things in his mouth. Everything has baby drool on it! Just a side effect of the teething process, I guess. He loves playing around with his activity mat and interacting with people. I love that Boyd is such a smiley, happy baby most of the time. He is really friendly to everyone and likes being held - I hope this continues!

We have him on a 4-hour eating schedule and while that has worked out fine, the nap/sleep schedule is turning out to be more difficult to nail down. And sleep issues have reared their ugly head again. Beginning a couple weeks ago Boyd would wake up multiple times in the night, refuse to go down easily and generally drive us crazy with sleep deprivation. I think it's a combination of 4-month sleep regression and him trying to roll over in his sleep, with a helping of teething thrown in for good measure. Lately all he wants to do is sleep on his side - he gets so mad if he ends up on his back.

Last night he went down at 10:45 pm and then woke at 1 am for a feeding, after which he was up for 2.5 hours. I was exhausted. Finally I remembered that D had swaddled Boyd for a nap to get him to sleep - I tried it along with the pacifier and little B was out like a light in under a minute. At 7 am I found him grunting and fussing after he had rolled over on his tummy by himself. It's the first time I had seen that!

Birthday wishes

Happy birthday to my sweet mother-in-law, Mim! She and Don are currently waylaid in Canada but we hope to see them sometime soon.

When they and my mom finally arrive in town, I'm thinking we should do a big combined Mother's Day/Father's Day/birthday celebration.

Baby sign language

We've are hoping to teach Boyd some basic sign language so he can communicate with us before he learns to talk. Most of my friends have done this with their kids and it's amazing to see them ask for milk or signal that they're all done with lunch or want more water, all without saying a word!

I received some books and cd's as gifts that help teach baby sign language, but this cute little illustration is a great visual tutorial of the most basic signs. 

Sleepy time

As you can imagine sleep is a big issue in our household. Over time, Boyd has improved his sleep habits. We used to have to swaddle and rock him to sleep for every nap and at nighttime, and then sneak out quietly. Now we get him good and tired before laying him down sleepy but awake.

The first nap of the day is usually the easiest - once he went down within a minute! In the evening he still gets a little fussy (no colic anymore, thank goodness!) so I feed him before bed. Last night it took a few hours before he fell into a deep sleep at 11:45 pm. He woke up around 4:30 am to nurse for 1/2 hour and then back to bed until 8:15 am. I try to be up by 7:15 but was so tired this morning and slept until 8. Hope to catch up on sleep this weekend!

Boyd - 3 1/2 months

Our little man is showing signs of wanting to roll over. Lots of movement and drawing his legs up to his chest. His neck is much stronger and now he has been pulling his upper body forward when sitting up. He can sit in the Bumbo now for short periods of time by himself. His legs are powerful too - he kicked my tummy the other day, ouch!

Hee hee, I think he looks like Uncle Fester from the Addams Family in this outfit!

I looked on Craigslist and bought Boyd some warm Patagonia and Columbia outerwear/bunting for use this summer and into the fall/winter season. Baby outdoor gear is expensive! He'll only wear the bunting for one season so I don't mind going used and cheap(er). I splurged on his polyester base layers from REI since cotton is horrible for wicking away moisture and practically all baby clothes are made with cotton.

He's still growing like crazy - unofficial measurement is 26 inches long and at least 17 or 18 pounds. The next pediatrician appointment is at the end of June. He was in the 85th percentile for height, weight and head circumference and I expect that will continue.

Two nights ago Boyd slept for almost 8 hours straight! Thank you baby Jesus, I needed the sleep. Last night he slept for 2 four-hour stretches. I think he would have slept straight through but he seemed quite gassy and it was obviously bothering him. If I can get at least 4 hours at a time it helps me function a little better at work - these 2-3 hour wake-ups are ridiculous! Still on the colic diet - am trying to keep it going until he turns 4 months and can theoretically handle gassy foods better. I have no evidence that my diet is even the cause of his gassiness but it's helped me shed the pounds!

Boyd is the happiest, sweetest baby! Sometimes we have daytime fussiness which is usually due to being overtired or hungry (or having a huge diaper blowout!), but normally he has a lovely disposition. We've heard A LOT of giggling and full out laughter from him lately - it's hilarious to make him laugh and see his face light up. It's great to see his personality emerge little by little.

Back to work

The end of my maternity leave has finally come and I'm back at work full-time now. I plan on submitting a proposal outlining a reduced workweek for myself - first choice is Mondays off (4-day workweek) and second choice is 6-hour days (5-day workweek). My boss already has Fridays off, which would have been my first choice.

Please send positive thoughts my way! I really miss Boyd and it has been difficult to leave him in the mornings before work. I wake him at 8 am, get him changed, nurse for 30-40 minutes and then leave so I can be at the office by 9 am. I feel like having Mondays at home will make me a better mom and employee - I can totally focus on Boyd for 3 days and then still be fulfilled professionally 4 days a week.

While I was out on leave, my office was moved to a smaller space down the hall with no personal bathroom (bummer!). But I have a much bigger window now that I can look out of - my other one was behind me so I couldn't enjoy it as much as I wanted to. I'm still in the process of organizing everything and need some work done on the walls but so far I'm ok with the move.

In positive news - I put ALL of my maternity clothes away last week! I've been wearing my old clothes for a few weeks now and it feels so good to have lost the majority of the baby weight. My goal is to lose 5-7 more pounds to weigh less than I did pre-pregnancy. And of course my belly is still a bit poochy, but I'm making progress!