We did Christmas down in San Diego with Sharyn’s family. We had fun and it was nice getting the cousins together. Once Edward is bigger and can actually play with Hazel it will be a lot funner! I took half of these and my sister Jenni took the other half. đ
Stats: He is now up to 18#11oz and 28.75â long. That keeps him off the charts for height still but he has dropped down to 75percentile for weight. Pediatrician isnât worried because he is starting to be more active and move around a lot more.
Playtime: Same as the last month. Still playing with teethers mostly. He now prefers to be sitting up while playing even though he falls over a lot. He is starting to be able to correct his balance occasionally. We have given him some plastic containers and some blocks and he enjoys those.
Sleep: He is still sleeping through the night. He still occasionally wakes up between 4-5 to eat, but that has only happened maybe 5 times this month. The thing that has been getting to me has been that in the last two weeks he has been having nights where he doesnât want to go to sleep so he is up until sometime between 10-midnight. Even after these nights, he only sleeps until 7:15-7:30. Once he did this and then woke up at 5 to eat and then slept until 9:30. He is starting to adjust his nap schedule. Most of the time we seem to be on a 2-3-4 schedule where he is up for 2 hours, takes an hour nap, up for 3 hours, takes a half hour nap, up for 4 hours, goes to bed. Sometimes I will get the hour nap in the morning and two half hour naps in the afternoon. Occasionally, he really fights it and I only get one hour and a half nap out of him throughout the day.
Food: Still mostly breastfeeding. He has had a few more solids lately. We have tried carrots, cream of wheat, and green beans. He loves carrots and cream of wheat. We have still been trying the green beans, but they are definitely a no go for him right now. He gets about 5 bites and then spits it all back out. I know it is usually the texture that they need to get use to, so we keep trying every few days.
Teething: Still drooling and fussy, but no teeth yet.
Clothes: Bye-bye all of the 3-6, 6 month, and the smaller size brands of his 6-9 and 9 month. He still fits most of his 9 month clothes, but many of them are starting to get snug. Darrell actually put a 12-month onesie on him the other day and he fit it nicely. đ
Diapers: I finally did a strip clean of them and they are way more absorbent again! Havenât had a leak since (except when we were out and put a double microfiber insert on him for overnight instead of a microfiber/bamboo set up, but we expected that.
Playtime: He loves playing with his toys. We are mainly playing with teethers right now as he is drooling and chewing on everything. He gets plenty of tummy time and has recently started to roll from tummy to back shortly after I put him down. Of course then he gets fussy and only wants to be picked up. He has found his feet and loves to play with them and stick his big toes in his mouth. It seems to only be his right foot for now. Occasionally he will get his left foot up there, but he definitely prefers his right foot. He likes to bang on things and will go for our computer keyboards if we are close enough. We recently pulled out my keyboard and let him play with it. It is one of the first things he likes to do in the morning and after a bath. The other things he enjoys doing throughout the day is mirror time and visiting Daddy.
Sleep: We finally reached sleeping through the night! We had the sleep regression for about 4 weeks and he was in his co-sleeper. We slowly worked on the transfer to the crib. We would put him down in his crib in his room and move him to the co-sleeper in our room when we went to bed. For a few nights, that was when he was waking up anyways. Then we were moving him asleep and he would wake up shortly after the move. So we decided to just let him sleep and only move him if he woke up. A few days later, he was sleeping through the night. He has been doing it for about 2 weeks now and it is very nice. We put him down between 6:30-8 (depending on his cues) and he wakes up once about an hour after we put him down to eat one last time and then doesnât wake up until 8-8:30am. He might wake up and fuss around but he puts himself back to sleep so I donât actually wake up. There have been a couple nights recently where he wakes up around 5:30am to eat and goes back to sleep until around 9 but they arenât regular. He has also mastered the roll to his side since he prefers to sleep on his side. I lay him on his back and by the time I get downstairs and the monitor on, he is on his side.
Food: Edward decided he was ready for solids earlier than we thought we would give them to him. He was only eating every 2-3 hours and then he started working his way back so I was feeding him every hour. I was starting to get exhausted during the day so we started solids and he has worked back out to every 2-3 hours. We started with mashed up avocados and then have slowly moved on to other foods. So far, he has had avocado, banana, oatmeal, and applesauce. His favorite right now is banana. He doesnât like the texture of oatmeal so we are still trying it and he likes applesauce but is not a fan of the tartness. We will probably wait a week or so before starting another food (either sweet potatoes or green beans are next on the list). Right now we only feed him once a day but I think he is starting to want it twice a day.
 Teething: He is still really drooly and fussy occasionally. I saw a tooth for a few days but it went away again. He is starting to get a nice bite and his gums feel sharp so it hurts when he gnaws on our hands.
Clothes: He has slowed down his quick growth (yeah!) so he is still in his 6-9 month clothes. We still have some 3-6 and 6 month items out but it is only a couple. Most of what he wears are 9 month outfits. Maybe he will stay in them for a couple more months. đ
Diapers: We have undid the last vertical snap so they wonât get any longer. He is starting to be between horizontal snaps so we might have to come out another snap on that soon. It really depends on the diaper though. We have been having compression leaks so we have to make sure to change him every 1.5-2 hours otherwise he needs a whole outfit change. I need to do a strip clean of them and it might help with stuff but I havenât had a chance yet. Soon though.
This last week has been all over the place for me feelings wise. There have been a few big emotional changes and while they aren’t bad, they still hurt.
Sad & Anxious:
About a week ago, we transitioned Edward from the co-sleeper in our room to his crib in the nursery. I always thought I would have my baby in the room with me until he was at least 6 months old if not older. What changed for us was the 4-month sleep regression. Edward was getting up every two hours again after a few nights of sleeping through the night. He would wake up fussing and it would wake me up so I would feed him and go back to bed. It was definitely making one tired momma. I started just letting him fuss a little bit to see if he would put himself back to sleep and he would. But he was still fussing every two hours which was waking me up. We decided to move him to his crib to see if we would sleep any better. It definitely worked. The first two days, I only had to get up to feed him twice during the night. Then it dropped down to only once a night. Last night he finally slept all the way through. A full 12 hours. He did move and do a little fussing around 1am, but he put himself back to sleep in 2-3 minutes. I am hoping the sleeping through the night continues. It has been hard for me though. Now, instead of waking up in the morning and rolling over to see him, I have to turn on the monitor (we leave the volume on, but turn off the video part at night). We still have the co-sleeper set up next to our bed, but now it is where the monitor sits instead of where the baby lays. It makes me sad because it is a visual of the fact that he is growing up. There are still nights and early mornings when he has been sleeping quietly for awhile that one of us has a small anxiety attack and has to go into the nursery just to make sure he is still breathing.
Guilty:
October is Pregnancy/Infant Loss awareness month. Last year I spent the month of October doing the Capture Your Grief photo challenge. I did each day and it helped me be open and thinking of Pixel while I was starting my journey with Edward. I saw the prompt late last month for Capture Your Grief this year. I read through the prompts and none of them really called out to me. I felt as though I was handling my loss well and having Edward has helped a little bit. There are still times where I see things Edward is doing and I wonder how Pixel would have done them. The only prompt for the month that I was going to do was on October 15th when there is a wave of light and people light a candle for lost babies at 7pm their local time. That was something I loved to do. I enjoyed lighting Pixel’s candle and spending an evening looking at it and remembering my firstborn. However, I forgot. One of our friend’s had a birthday party for her little boy and so we spent the evening over there celebrating and hanging out. We got home really late and so we just went to bed. It wasn’t until the next morning that I remembered. And I only remembered because I got on facebook and a lot of the baby loss mom’s posted pictures of their candles. I felt guilty that I had forgotten one of the days that I want to remember and honor Pixel. A part of me thinks I am being irrational because I honor and remember him a lot (granted it has been a little less since Edward was born). I felt bad that I haven’t lit Pixels candle for him since Mother’s Day. We took the candle with us to the Birth Center for Edward’s birth, but we never lit it. It also melted a little in the car so it is a little lopsided right now. I am working through this guilty feeling by reminding myself that he is remembered and I do look at his photos occasionally and I cry for him. His ashes and mementos are in a cupboard in our living room but I haven’t gotten them out in awhile to feel and hold. I did Edwards footprints last month and was reminded of Pixels itty-bitty feet that weren’t as chubby.
Happy & Excited:
Edward has been hitting so many milestones this month and I am happy and excited to see each and everyone of them. He has mastered sucking on his big toe (only when he is having Nakey time though), he has rolled from back to front (but is still working on getting his arm out from underneath him), He has started to try a few solids, he follows the cats and people with his eyes, he interacts with other children (well… really just laughs hysterically at them), and is moving toys from one hand to another hand to his mouth. This little boy is growing up and is most likely going to be a mover soon.
Jealous:
There were a lot of pregnancies around us with Pixel and Edward. I read some birth boards because I get bored and need something to do while Edward is nursing. There are a few mom’s on the June 2013 birth board who are pregnant again and due either shortly before or after their little ones turn one. I know Darrell and I want another one and are going to try once Edward is weaned. It just makes me jealous that we have to wait until he is weaned so we can go on the fertility drugs again and we will never have an ‘oops’ baby. This is just fleeting jealousy. Just like my jealousy of those with twins. I feel as though I had the chance for twins and lost them. I am working through it and it isn’t where I can’t be around people who are pregnant or have twins, but occasionally I wonder what our lives would have been had both Pixel and Bit survived. Guess it is just the ‘what if’ game.
This last month has really shaken things up a bunch. He weighed in at 17.5 pounds and 28 inches long at the pediatricians office this morning. That is still on track with where he was for his two month appointment. Off the charts for height and 90 percentile for weight. We are about ready to transition him from the infant carseat to a convertible carseat. That is a big change within itself but it might not happen for another few weeks. We have started to leave his carseat in the car and just get him out of it but I canât do the grocery shopping by myself since he canât sit by himself in the cart yet. So… close….
Playtime: He has started to use his hands a lot more. He loves to grasp toys and stick them in his mouth. He still isnât rolling over, but we know it is coming. He does it occasionally, but it seems more accidental. He has rolled from tummy to back 4 times so far (and once was at the pediatricians office today). He is more focused on the toy and the feeling of it in his hands and mouth instead of just seeing it move when he swats it. He loves listening to music and watches Darrell play instruments all the time. He has even grabbed the chanter and stuck it in his mouth. He smiles all the time and we get a lot of giggles. They arenât as allusive as they once were. Darrell definitely gets more laughs and giggles than I do.
Sleep: We hit the 4 month sleep regression a little early and are trying to recover from that. He did a little bit of sleeping through the night and then they slowly got progressively worse. It dropped down to 4 hour chunks (which were normal for him) and then 3 hour, 2 hour and finally one hour chunks. I was more exhausted than I had been since he was born. I felt like I was up all the time and my clock was all screwed up. He is starting to work back towards 4 hour chunks, but we will see where it goes. His naps during the day are fine, it is just bedtime that we are having a hard time with.
Food: He has started to really focus on what we are doing when we are eating. He watches intensely and âchewsâ with us. Darrell is excited for him to start foods soon but we donât think he is quite ready. We make sure he sits at the table with us and we give him a spoon to play with while we are at the table. We have been dipping our fingers in whatever sauce we have and giving him a little taste and he is enjoying it and constantly wants more. We are thinking he will get his first food right around Thanksgiving.
Teething: We are pretty sure he is teething. The Pediatrician said that it is just normal for this age with all of his drooling and fussiness. He drools all the time but isnât fussy every day. I have been running my finger along his gums and I am pretty sure I can see the little whites of his bottom teeth. They havenât broken through yet and it can take quite a few more months before they do. When he gets extra fussy and running my fingers over his gums helps him, I have been putting a piece of ice in a mesh food feeder for him to suck on. He loves sucking on it and it stops the fussy. Most of the liquid usually ends up all over his clothes, but it does its job.
Clothes: He is now in 6-9 month clothes. There are a few 3 month items that still fit, but it is only the ones that were large to begin with. Some of his 6 month outfits donât fit him since they run small. He has a few outfits that were 0-6 that Darrell and I love and put on him all the time. One of them no longer fits and the other one is getting close to being on its way to the box in the garage.
Diapers: His diapers are still at the same snap level. They are getting a little small so it is almost time to take them out another snap but when we do, he seems to have more leakage issues. We also prepped and started to use the bamboo liners. We only have 4 of them, but they work great for overnight. When we go to change his diaper before bed, we just add the bamboo liner to the microfiber liner and we are set. It makes his butt a little bit bigger, but he was soaking through his diapers halfway through the night and instead of just changing his diaper, I usually ended up having to either change his whole outfit or letting him sleep in just a diaper. With the added insert, he now goes 12 hours at night without leaking. This is great because he is getting to the age where he should be starting to drop to one nighttime feed.
