Sick Little Boo

Four months was going SO well! Viv was sleeping 7-8 hour stretches at night and then nursing once and going back to sleep. We were working on letting her fall back asleep without nursing. We were also working on letting her fall asleep on her own in her crib. And we were working on taking naps in her crib. All of this meant some form of crying it out for a few days and it was pure torture!!!!

Then she got sick!!!! Everything we had been working on went out the window. She was fussy for about four days and only wanted to nap in my arms. She was getting up 2, 3, 4 times at night to nurse, too! At first I was so mad about this because I had really been enjoying my own longer stretches of sleep at night. Then I learned that she gets up to nurse because my breast milk has antibodies that she needs to get better! Boy did I feel bad after realizing this!!

She is less fussy on day five, but still has a terribly runny nose which I squirt with saline and aspirate a few times a day. I have learned just how strong she is...it usually takes two people to hold her still or I have to put her in a head lock ;). If I don't do this, it is nearly impossible for Viv to nurse because she can't breathe through her nose.  Colds are not limited to daycare apparently. Unless this is teething....who knows!?!? We will find out soon enough, either the cold will end or a tooth will come through!! I am very proud of myself for not freaking out and calling the doctor-yet. Hopefully it doesn't get any worse and she starts to feel better soon. And I am praying that we don't have to start all over again with the night waking!!!!!

On a positive note, Viv is 5 months old today!! She is able to be awake for three hours at a time and nurses every four hours during the day. These are huge milestones in my book!! She is taking three (very) short naps during the day. Whoever said they will get longer is full of shit. She is rolling over, crawling (backward) and sitting up, but only to tip over! Mom and Dad could not be more proud of our little Boo!

She doesn't look sick!!!

A Tribute to SAHMs and My SAHM

FYI - I typed six different introductions to this blog entry before finally settling on this one... 

There was something Becca said to me this morning that made me further appreciate the fact that she is a stay-at-home-mom  ("SAHM") and my SAHM.

She asked me how I slept last night and then followed it up with "good, because if I'm waking up, you better be sleeping well since you have to go to work."

I have tremendous respect for stay-at-home-moms. And yes, working moms, you rock too. But think about this for a moment: generally speaking, how much harder are you going to work at raising your child compared to punching that time card from 8am til <insert end of work day hour>? While I don't get to take any naps in the office, I get breathers whenever I need. I can take a lunch break. I can go take a walk if I need some "me" time. I even get to visit the bathroom without worrying about where the baby needs to be.

But SAHMs? It's constant and never-ending. When you're a SAHM, you have at least two babies to take care of: 1) the adorable, breathing, pooping, peeing, eating, bundle of love... and 2) your house and all the crap in it. The only breaks in the action that she gets are the hour or two when I'm home after work before Viv's bedtime and whatever night(s) she can break away for girls night or book club.

She's been a SAHM for about five months and the five months have flown by. She's done an amazing job of raising Viv (healthy, growing and developing) and keeping our home life in more order than chaos. I probably don't do a good enough job of expressing my appreciation for the days when she's able to manage herself and all the various chores around the house. I know she has her good days and bad days (usually driven by Viv's napping schedule) but I can't imagine what life would be like if it wasn't this way. I have so much confidence and comfort knowing that the one person, the best person, to be raising our daughter is at home with her almost 24-7.

So cheers to my SAHM and any other SAHM who are reading this. Your work began when your baby was born and your work will inevitably never end. It's one of the most stressful jobs, but also one of the most important and fulfilling jobs. To the working moms who are reading this, cheers to you as well, for providing for your family financially in addition to all the time and energy that you need to put in at home.

We Have Movement...

Let me preface this entry with a very simple disclaimer: It is not our intention to brag about Viv, so hopefully this doesn't come off as boasting... But I am a proud papa panda and this is gonna happen, right?

This little girl continues to amaze us when it comes to her mobility and coordination. According to most websites I've read (including Parents.com), babies begin holding their heads up at around three months, start rolling over at five months and master the art of crawling around the seven to ten month mark.... Then there's Viv's development schedule.

Since birth, Viv always seemed to have really great head and neck control. I lost count of the number of times she's stammed her face or head against my face or chin. Our first documented evidence of her rolling over from her back onto her stomach was at the three month mark (also the first OSU home game).. A couple weeks later, Viv discovered how to roll back over onto her stomach...

More recently, the crawling began... We officially have a four month old baby who will prop herself up and crawl backwards. Two nights ago, she propelled herself forward. Not. Even. Five. Months. She propelled herself about 8-12 inches... We haven't seen her do it again just yet, but we know she's trying.... And she's about 60 days early. Oh, and of course this propelling method isn't one of the core crawling styles.. Why would it be?

The downside to all this? We can't just lay her down on the ground and go do anything anymore. She's gotta be strapped into a bouncey seat or plopped into a pack n play.... It also means that baby proofing begins soon. Crap.

Any guesses for when she's going to start cruising or walking? I'll set the over/under at 7.5 months.

Putting your baby on a schedule

is not possible. Or at least it wasn't for me. I read the books, blogs, and websites. I laid out sample schedules to follow each day. I drove myself crazy writing everything down from the minute she woke to the minute she went to bed. What a waste of time. Babies have a natural clock inside of them (we all do). It takes the 4th trimester (the first three months) for them to work it out.

Viv naturally started going from 5-7 naps a day to three (sometimes four) all on her own. It seemed like this happened just as she hit four months. Since she doesn't wake up at the exact same time every day, her schedule isn't perfect, but is pretty predictable.

A good day looks like this:

7am- wakes up and nurses
8:30-nap
10-nurse
11-nap
1- nurse and rice cereal
2-nap
4-5-wakes and nurses
6:30-7- get ready for bed and nurse

This schedule is very loose and always depends when she wakes up in the morning and how long her naps are. In between sleeping and eating we do a lot of playing!! Viv loves the jumperoo, anything that lights up and sings, reading books, and practicing her crawling. Yes, crawling...we will leave that for another blog entry. It is still difficult to make plans but that is getting easier. We always bank on being home in the evenings now so we can get her to bed early. 7pm-7am is another blog entry as well....

Wasn't It Just May 27th?

It's not hard for me to remember how anxious Becca was to go into labor and have the baby already. The weekend prior to Viv's arrival, she did her best to keep herself preoccupied but there are only so many things a pregnant woman CAN do without putting herself into an exhausted state. I kept myself busy, especially on the golf course.

It's also not hard for me to remember Viv's birthday and the labor that preceded her arrival.  I took notes. 10.5 hours of labor. 17 minutes of pushing. Hello Viv!

But if you ask me if I can remember how deathly exhausted I felt in the weeks and month following Viv's birth, I don't think I can really tell you with any accuracy right now. The sleepless nights for the first couple weeks are mostly a blur. How many diapers did I change? I lost count, but part of that is because I quit counting.

What I do remember and can tell you is that it's all worth it. So many moments are lost just staring at the new life you've brought into this crazy effing world. You don't focus on how tired you are. You learn to cope and manage through the exhaustion. You hope people that see you in public or at work don't think you have suitcases hanging from your eyes. You don't focus on how loud, hard, or often she's cries. You learn to embrace the sound because it's your baby's cries, not someone else in seat 22C. You just know what you're there to help her stop crying. #DontShakeYourBaby

Now that we're in the fourth month of parenthood, we have a happy, lively and active baby that only wakes once (sometimes twice) at night.. It's as if switching from one extreme (full night of sleep) to the other (erratic, limited sleep) conditions your mind and body to fully function on something in between. I never thought it would happen, but I actually feel like I can be a productive human who makes it to the gym 50% of the time on reduced shut-eye. It's quite incredible, really.

What's more incredible is how fast these last four months have flown by. I've taken over 2,000 photos and a dozen videos (wish I would have taken more) and somehow it all feels like it's happened in just a flicker of the camera shutter...

I totally take back all those times...

 

Before I begin this post, a quick thank you to Lindsay M. R. for her thoughtful gift that includes the quote above. Becca and I will undoubtedly be passing it along to Viv when she gets older. #Keepsake #Heirloom

There are four essential things that babies do: eat, poop, pee, and sleep. The baby we've been blessed with is excelling at the first three. The latching problems aside, she's doubled her birth-weight; successfully projectile pooped at me several times (yes, AT me); and is a constant visitor of the "blue-lined" diaper (yes, you know what that is, don't you?).

Then there's this 'sleep' thing. 

I've read enough (in books but mostly online) stating how often and frequent our 4 month old should be sleeping and napping. Viv's taken that book (and name-that-website) and slobbered all over it. After she grew out of the newborn "coma", as I've heard it referred to, she's been on a more random and volatile sleep schedule than a college kid taking no-dose. Her disdain for naps can best be described by the text messages I get from Becca on an almost daily basis which recently have included a picture of Miss Grouchy Pouty Face mid scream-cry. (Scream-cry: defined as the uncontrollable, eyes-shut, tear-laden cry magnified by a loud scream, usually from a young child or infant). I can hear the scream-crying from my cubicle.

Nighttime is a game of roulette. She has her good nights (sleeps from 8pm until 4am) and she has her bad nights (sleeps from 9pm til midnight, then 1am til 3:30am, then 4am til 6:30am). So far this week we've had one good night, one tweener night, and two bad nights. The silver-lining is that we've finally discovered a routine that sort of works for us and it involves her falling asleep in our bed, then being flown to her crib.

What does this all mean? No idea. All I know is that we have what's categorized as an active baby. Active babies apparently can go longer between naps and can go on without as much sleep as the baby in the book. She doesn't want to sleep because she doesn't want to miss anything. She'd rather be awake.

And here I thought that all babies liked sleeping. 

Not a newborn anymore

It seems like Viv woke up on her 4 month birthday and knew she was not a little baby anymore. She has no patience for laying down too long, she would rather sit up. But she can't sit up on her own yet so this is where the bumbo, high chair, exersaucer and bouncy seat come in handy. She despises the infant car seat. Waiting in line at a store results in her crying until I pick her up and let her out of the stroller. A very nice lady in Michael's offered us her spot in line and I said thank you, but she just wants out. And when I got her out, everyone in line laughed as she stopped the fake tears and began to smile and laugh at all of them. She much rather prefers the baby bjorn when out and about running errands (my back does not). She increased my milk supply that week as well, eating every hour for 2 1/2 days!!! She now eats every three hours instead of 2- yay!!! We won't even get into sleep. I have no words for her sleep. Except that my doctor made me feel SO much better when she said babies this age shouldn't be on a sleep schedule yet and that they don't need night feedings when they have doubled their birth weight-yay!!! So far, 4 months is my favorite! Viv giggles and laughs when you tickle her neck or take clothes off over her head for that matter. She thinks when she sneezes or when I sneeze, it's super funny too. She wants to know what is going on now more than ever and is so much fun to hang out with all day!

I have toes!!!

Dairy Allergy

I am posting this because I think it is important for new moms to be aware of. Dairy allergies in newborns can present themselves in different ways. For some it is crying, vomiting, diarrhea, or bloody stools. Viv had a bloody mucus in her diaper and since I was going to the pediatrician that day, I asked about it. They told me to avoid products with cow's milk for three weeks and watch her stool. It took about 17 days of me not eating dairy for the bloody stool to disappear. After all I had been through with breastfeeding, I was not going to let this stop me! I was officially going dairy free. No more cheese pizza (or cheese for that matter), no more milk, cream, butter, ranch dressing. :( Luckily there are lots of dairy free options out there. Almond milk, coconut milk coffee creamer, soy lattes, oil based butter. The only thing I would not recommend is vegan cheese...it's disgusting!!!  The best part of this new diet is the five pounds I have lost! I had already lost all the baby weight and was back to my pre-pregnancy weight and now none of my pants fit!? I really missed chocolate so I tested the allergy (sorry Viv) and had a few half a bag of candy corn M&M's and the diarrhea came back with the next diaper. Looks like I will be on this diet until Viv is weaned.

The good news about breastfeeding

It gets easier, it gets better, if you stick it out you and your baby will become pros!!! At my 6 week postpartum check up, I was still having pain on the left side. This was after a month of going back and forth with pumping and nursing and lots of Dr. Newman's nipple cream. My OB/GYN convinced me that I needed to take two days off of nursing on the left side and you know what? IT WORKED!!!! I am pleased to report that Viv and I are now professionals and we can nurse anytime, anywhere! I am so thankful I stuck it out the first 6 weeks even though it was nearly impossible some days. We have come through the to other side and I could not be happier!!! My advice is don't give up and get help early!

*****Side Note*****

If you ever plan on giving your baby a bottle in her lifetime, make sure she takes one at least once a week, starting by two weeks old. After my nipples healed, I took a break from pumping and bottles and Viv missed a week or two and then began refusing bottles. We had a long month of trying EVERYTHING to get her to take a bottle again. We bought new bottles, new nipples, new people feeding her, feeding her in new places, feeding her water, feeding her formula, etc. It took a few nights of me leaving the house and Eric distracting her in the bouncy seat while she ate. Very thankful for my wonderful friends who took me out and kept me distracted while my baby learned to take a bottle again!!