Friday, May 18, 2012
Wednesday, May 16, 2012
8 months - Sleep regression?
Parker made his first step crawling (on all four, tummy off the floor) in the walk-in master closet of our new condo model on Saturday, May 5. :) Mommy was so proud! She took two videos! This also marked the beginning of a week of sleepless nights, for both, Parker and me. His poor little body wanted to practice crawling even in his sleep, so he not only had a really hard time falling asleep (crawling all over the crib, unable to lay still) but also would wake up several times a night on all four, totally freaked out. I had to pick him up, calm him down, and rock him back to sleep in the glider. This coincided with a growth spurt, so he wanted to eat pretty much every time he woke up. We both weren't getting much rest but I did enjoy snuggling with him so much during this time! He sleeps much better now (last night was second night when he didn't get on all four even once) and I already miss our cuddling time.
After a week and a half practicing he still is not crawling, really, but he is very comfortably standing on all four and rocking back and fort. He can also lift his arm to grab a toy, as well as go from laying on his back to sitting up (I witnessed this first time this morning!) He hasn't figured out the right hand left leg idea yet, though.
The same day, Sat, May 5, Parker also started holding his bottle when drinking his formula and water. He still doesn't do it all the time today and prefers when we hold his bottle. But he is getting better every day.
Parker is also slowly learning to pick up small pieces of food and put them in his mouth. He is having trouble getting the pieces off the flat surface of the high chair's tray but does much better when I hand him a piece. He then manages to put it in his mouth most of the times.
It's absolutely fascinating to watch him learn new things every day, literally. I feel that our lives were so empty before he came about.
After a week and a half practicing he still is not crawling, really, but he is very comfortably standing on all four and rocking back and fort. He can also lift his arm to grab a toy, as well as go from laying on his back to sitting up (I witnessed this first time this morning!) He hasn't figured out the right hand left leg idea yet, though.
The same day, Sat, May 5, Parker also started holding his bottle when drinking his formula and water. He still doesn't do it all the time today and prefers when we hold his bottle. But he is getting better every day.
Parker is also slowly learning to pick up small pieces of food and put them in his mouth. He is having trouble getting the pieces off the flat surface of the high chair's tray but does much better when I hand him a piece. He then manages to put it in his mouth most of the times.
It's absolutely fascinating to watch him learn new things every day, literally. I feel that our lives were so empty before he came about.
Thursday, May 3, 2012
The first tooth
My baby boy has his first tooth! At almost 8 months (4 days short), after four months of drooling. :) His first little tooth is not very visible yet, but you can feel how sharp it is very well.
I have been slacking off with the writing, I know. A lot has been happening. We sold our house, bought another and are waiting for it to be built. My mom is back home, my sister took her place caring for Parker.We went for a two weeks vacation (well, it wasn't really a vacation as I was working 90% of the time) at the beach. So yeah, we have been busy.
A little update on Parker.
1. He continues to grow. He is very "long and lean". :) At less than 8 months he wears size 12-18 months.
2. He is starting to take longer day naps. While he used to sleep up to 45 minutes, his standard now is 1-1.5 hour.
3. He still sleeps through the night, most of the nights. His last three (before last night) were a bit worse as he was waking up a lot but I think it was due to teething.
4. He loves his solids! Eats fruit, vegetables, rice cereal and oatmeal. He still drinks a decent amount of formula, although we tried to feed him solids only (during the day) and he did great. Only later I read that he should still be drinking more formula and went back.
5. He is not crawling on all four yet but he is very efficient in the "army crawl". He can et wherever he wants that way, and get there fast!
6. He started sleeping on his tummy.
7. He snuggles more.
8. He is still not on a schedule. Sleeps till 5 or 6 or 7 am (usually falls back asleep when get his paci at 5 am) and goes back to sleep around 8 or 9. Sometimes he will fall asleep in the big bed with us after his morning bottle. He stays awake for 2-3 hours at the time and has a bottle ever 3 hours or so. Solids in between.
9. He is a very happy baby, smiles all the time and has a great sense of humor.
10. He loves goofing out with daddy and snuggle with mommy.
11. He is my life.
I have been slacking off with the writing, I know. A lot has been happening. We sold our house, bought another and are waiting for it to be built. My mom is back home, my sister took her place caring for Parker.We went for a two weeks vacation (well, it wasn't really a vacation as I was working 90% of the time) at the beach. So yeah, we have been busy.
A little update on Parker.
1. He continues to grow. He is very "long and lean". :) At less than 8 months he wears size 12-18 months.
2. He is starting to take longer day naps. While he used to sleep up to 45 minutes, his standard now is 1-1.5 hour.
3. He still sleeps through the night, most of the nights. His last three (before last night) were a bit worse as he was waking up a lot but I think it was due to teething.
4. He loves his solids! Eats fruit, vegetables, rice cereal and oatmeal. He still drinks a decent amount of formula, although we tried to feed him solids only (during the day) and he did great. Only later I read that he should still be drinking more formula and went back.
5. He is not crawling on all four yet but he is very efficient in the "army crawl". He can et wherever he wants that way, and get there fast!
6. He started sleeping on his tummy.
7. He snuggles more.
8. He is still not on a schedule. Sleeps till 5 or 6 or 7 am (usually falls back asleep when get his paci at 5 am) and goes back to sleep around 8 or 9. Sometimes he will fall asleep in the big bed with us after his morning bottle. He stays awake for 2-3 hours at the time and has a bottle ever 3 hours or so. Solids in between.
9. He is a very happy baby, smiles all the time and has a great sense of humor.
10. He loves goofing out with daddy and snuggle with mommy.
11. He is my life.
Monday, March 12, 2012
Priceless donation
I donated my frozen breast milk yesterday. And now I am sad. It's like a part of me that belongs to my baby was given away, lost. I know the baby who got it will benefit from it. But I am still upset that I let my mom stop me from giving it to Parker. Maybe it would have prevented his UTIs! I read in many sources that breastfeeding is the main weapon against those early UTIs. I am still upset with my mom. I told her yesterday that the lady picked up my milk for her baby. I don't think my mom realizes how precious breast milk is and how very very beneficial it is to the babies! My older sister and I were both on formula from the first day, and doctors back then never mentioned that breast milk is so beneficial. So when I encountered breastfeeding trouble, my mom's natural advice was formula. Now, after living with her for 5 months, I know that she says stuff before she even thinks, and that only when pushed, she will re-think and sometimes even change her mind (although she won't admit it). But back in October, I just followed her advice, without much questioning. So when she suggested we stop giving Parker my breast milk because it may cause his fussiness, I just did. And I was too scared to bring up giving him my milk again. Now I know that it was stupid, I shouldn't have felt that way. But it's too late, my milk is gone.
I told my mom yesterday that a woman will be coming to pick up my milk. I was hoping she will realize that breast milk is not just another way of feeding a baby. That women give their babies someone else milk because of how beneficial it is. Why did I not give my milk to my baby? I still don't know. :( I feel stupid for giving it away. Parker is not allergic to the milk, we know it. And now it would have been beneficial to him just as much as any other time. UGH! I have to stop thinking about it because I am getting upset with myself!
I told my mom yesterday that a woman will be coming to pick up my milk. I was hoping she will realize that breast milk is not just another way of feeding a baby. That women give their babies someone else milk because of how beneficial it is. Why did I not give my milk to my baby? I still don't know. :( I feel stupid for giving it away. Parker is not allergic to the milk, we know it. And now it would have been beneficial to him just as much as any other time. UGH! I have to stop thinking about it because I am getting upset with myself!
Monday, March 5, 2012
Almost 6 months: Sleeping through the night
Parker is almost 6 months (three days short). Everything is falling into place. He started falling asleep in his crib a few weeks ago and now this is pretty much the only way he falls asleep, even for naps during the day (actually during the day it takes him shorter to fall asleep, for some reason). And he now is starting to sleep long stretches of time too! He slept from 7 to midnight on Sat night, ate, and then slept until 5.50 am! He stirred and called for a pacifier a few times but went right back to sleep. Last night he slept from 8.30 till 2.45, ate, and then woke up 5.45. And I only had to give him his monius (paci) once, right when we went to bed and made some noise. My baby is sleeping through the night! And we didn't have to sleep train him!
That's right, after all this talk, we decided not to sleep train P. I just couldn't do it. I couldn't bring myself to letting him cry at all, not even talking about leaving him to cry for several minutes! We didn't have to do it, though. I got inspired by some website and started thinking why is he waking up. We figured that it was because he got used to falling asleep with a bottle. And we were right! Once he learned to fall asleep w/o the bottle, he started sleeping longer periods of time, pretty much instantaneously. We would give him milk but when we saw that he was drifting off, we would take it away. He would wake back up and we would give him the bottle back until he was done. Then we would rock him to sleep. It was a bit hard the first two days, as he wouldn't fall asleep immediately, we had to rock him for 20-30 minutes at the time. But now he falls asleep really quickly and doesn't wake up at night but a couple of times!!
That's right, after all this talk, we decided not to sleep train P. I just couldn't do it. I couldn't bring myself to letting him cry at all, not even talking about leaving him to cry for several minutes! We didn't have to do it, though. I got inspired by some website and started thinking why is he waking up. We figured that it was because he got used to falling asleep with a bottle. And we were right! Once he learned to fall asleep w/o the bottle, he started sleeping longer periods of time, pretty much instantaneously. We would give him milk but when we saw that he was drifting off, we would take it away. He would wake back up and we would give him the bottle back until he was done. Then we would rock him to sleep. It was a bit hard the first two days, as he wouldn't fall asleep immediately, we had to rock him for 20-30 minutes at the time. But now he falls asleep really quickly and doesn't wake up at night but a couple of times!!
Monday, January 23, 2012
A 4 month old sleep (or lack thereof)
Parker is growing like crazy. Last time (about two weeks ago) he was 27" (96th percentile for length) and 14 lb 6.5 oz (25th percentile for weight). Our long and lean baby. :) He will be getting his 2-moths shots this Friday (at 4.5 months, lol). Assuming his urine test comes clean. We had him tested for urinary reflux (NOT FUN) last week due to his two UTIs earlier. He doesn't have it, which is great, but I still want to test him for UTI, as the last test showed some bacteria (not enough to call it a UTI though).
Parker started waking up every 1.5 hours at night. It's been killing us! We are looking into sleep training (Ferber and such). I would like to wait another 2 weeks until he is 5 months but I am not sure we will be able to.
We also ordered a mini crib for P as we want him to continue sleeping in our room and he is outgrowing his co-sleeper. A mini because a full size crib won't fit in our bedroom (would block a closet door from opening). After I ordered it I realized that it's not going to come until next week and decided I get a cheap IKEA crib instead and take off my closet door. :) Anyway, we will be transitioning him from a co-sleeper to a crib, and hope it won't interfere with the sleep training. Although it shouldn't be so bad, as it's going to be the same room. Plus, since I am now buying the crib, I can probably get it on Wednesday and we can start the sleep training the next day.
We have been playing with the idea of introducing solids for P for a while but haven't done much yet. He got an apple a few days ago, a piece in this mesh "sucker", and he loved it. I think we will continue with this for now. We gave him rice cereal in his night bottle twice before, hoping he would sleep longer, but nothing changed. He isn't really waking up because of hunger; he takes three sips of milk and goes back to sleep.
P also got used to eating small quantities but very often. He eats every two to two and a half hours, plus he takes a bottle before sleeping. He now gets fed a bottle about 10-14 times a day!!! More than a just born baby would! It's exhausting, really. At 4 months he should be having 4-6 bottles. During the day he eats 4-6 oz every two hours and sometimes even 4 oz is a challenge. We tried to hold off his bottle for 3 h or so but since he drinks before nap, it's just not possible (he sleeps every two h or get really cranky). I guess this all may change once he starts falling asleep w/o bottle, which, I hope, will be soon. :) My mom says neither I nor my two sisters were good sleepers and that's probably why P is not either. He not only looks like me but also has my stubborn character! LOL! I will get mine! LOL! I wish he took at least sleeping after his dad, we would have been golden then! :)
Parker started waking up every 1.5 hours at night. It's been killing us! We are looking into sleep training (Ferber and such). I would like to wait another 2 weeks until he is 5 months but I am not sure we will be able to.
We also ordered a mini crib for P as we want him to continue sleeping in our room and he is outgrowing his co-sleeper. A mini because a full size crib won't fit in our bedroom (would block a closet door from opening). After I ordered it I realized that it's not going to come until next week and decided I get a cheap IKEA crib instead and take off my closet door. :) Anyway, we will be transitioning him from a co-sleeper to a crib, and hope it won't interfere with the sleep training. Although it shouldn't be so bad, as it's going to be the same room. Plus, since I am now buying the crib, I can probably get it on Wednesday and we can start the sleep training the next day.
We have been playing with the idea of introducing solids for P for a while but haven't done much yet. He got an apple a few days ago, a piece in this mesh "sucker", and he loved it. I think we will continue with this for now. We gave him rice cereal in his night bottle twice before, hoping he would sleep longer, but nothing changed. He isn't really waking up because of hunger; he takes three sips of milk and goes back to sleep.
P also got used to eating small quantities but very often. He eats every two to two and a half hours, plus he takes a bottle before sleeping. He now gets fed a bottle about 10-14 times a day!!! More than a just born baby would! It's exhausting, really. At 4 months he should be having 4-6 bottles. During the day he eats 4-6 oz every two hours and sometimes even 4 oz is a challenge. We tried to hold off his bottle for 3 h or so but since he drinks before nap, it's just not possible (he sleeps every two h or get really cranky). I guess this all may change once he starts falling asleep w/o bottle, which, I hope, will be soon. :) My mom says neither I nor my two sisters were good sleepers and that's probably why P is not either. He not only looks like me but also has my stubborn character! LOL! I will get mine! LOL! I wish he took at least sleeping after his dad, we would have been golden then! :)
Tuesday, December 27, 2011
Reflections
I love feeding my baby in the middle of the night. He wakes up and cries with his eyes closed. When I pick him up, he clings to me with his whole little body. I love feeling his tinyness. His little hand squeezing my fingers as he is drinking his milk. His teeny little ears and chicks. I love watching him and kissing his face. It's my time with my baby. And nobody will ever be able to take it away from me. I hope this feeling will stay in my heart forever.
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