Seven months

So here we are at seven months. Time is still flying by! One of our friends just had a baby; he is 2 and half weeks old and even just looking at pictures of him around 2 weeks it's amazing just how fast they grow. You forget really quickly!

The big thing this month is moving around and eating.

I have to admit, I'm reading about other babies who are the same age or younger who seem to be doing more than Neil and reaching milestones and it makes me nervous. I did ask the doctor at the 6 month appointment if we should be concerned that he's not really rolling and the doctor said it's fine right now; some kids just don't roll/crawl whatever. But just recently I saw that a younger baby pulled herself up to standing from sitting and I'm starting to worry again.

With that said, though, Neil is really close to being mobile. Just the other day I wasn't paying a lot of attention and he was on the floor and twisted around. I started watching and he's definitely trying to crawl or do something. It's actually fun/amusing to watch. He's on his stomach, and pushing off on his feet, but ends up rolling to his back and just gets frustrated because that's NOT what he wanted to do. You can just tell looking at him.

Neil definitely has personality. It's so fun watching it develop.

Eating wise, Neil now watches as we eat and I'm just waiting for him to grab out of my hands. I can't drink out of a glass with him in my arms because he's grabbing it and trying to put it in his mouth. And this past weekend, my parents were here, and we went to Cracker Barrel. We had been out of the house all day so we didn't bring food for Neil (which we try to do now if we go out to eat so he has something to eat too). Neil was sitting in the high chair between Dave and me, with his hands spread out, opening his mouth and looking at us as we were eating, waiting for his own food. It was cute and made me feel guilty at the same time. It also reminded me of a baby bird opening its beak for food from the mother bird.

Neil does like to eat. So far he hasn't refused any food and he seems to eat as much as we will give him. This past week I started sending an ice cube worth of food to daycare for him for lunch and we feed him at least an ice cube worth most nights in the evening. He has had: avocado, green beans, carrots, sweet potato, pear, and corn. Most of that is homemade from fresh fruit or vegetables. The corn is kind of a pain so I'll probably use frozen from now on, and I bought baby applesauce in the store to try next.

Sleep for the most part is still good. We have our nights, and he seems to cry in his sleep at times, which wakes me up. But I'm used to that now so I don't even look at the monitor anymore unless it continues. I have heard that he is going to have another sleep regression because he's more active and will want to play instead of sleep. I don't think we've hit that yet though. We try really hard to be home in time for his bedtime routine and so far that's working well. Hopefully eventually though we'll be able to easily transfer him from sleeping in the car seat to the crib. But for now I still nurse him one last time before bed and I don't want to cut that out yet.

Sleepwise though I should mention we still don't get him down consistently for naps. He seems to make up for it in daycare and sleeps less during the day on the weekend with us.

Still no teeth. Every month I say he's drooling like crazy (still is) but no teeth. I'm not necessarily complaining though- I'm not looking forward to getting bitten while nursing him.

Neil is a good and happy baby. I don't know how but we were very blessed with that. We get comments all the time about that- people ask if he really smiles all the time, and in restaurants, stores, etc., we are always told he's such a good baby. If he's loud it's because he's squealing or laughing. The times he gets frustrated or upset are if he's hungry or if he's trying to crawl or move.

Neil is definitely saying ma ma ma ma ma but I don't think he's trying to say mom, I think he's just saying the sound. I keep trying to say how about da da da but he really likes the "m" sound. And he's taken to shaking his head a lot like he's saying no.

They did install a badge reader at work! I was going to write a separate post but I've been too busy to even write one up. The key still works and the badge reader is interesting but it is so nice to be parking at my own building again, and to be able to just go in and out without worrying about carrying a key. The only thing I really need that isn't already in the room is my cell phone to keep track of how long I've been pumping, so I can go from meetings into there if they go long instead of going back to my desk to get the key. I'm so happy about this. The day they installed it was hard because someone was in the room. I relegated a conference room on my floor and a female coworker (friend) helped out and made sure nobody tried to come in when I was using it.

Exercise wise I am still struggling. I really thought by this point I would be back into my clothes from before pregnancy. But eating I have to admit, I am not making very healthy choices, and I've been stress eating to some degree. I ran a 5K at the end of July and that is the last time I've exercised. I'm running another 5K this weekend so we'll see how that goes.

Sleeping Neil

I'm sure this is normal but I still find it hilarious how much Neil moves around at night. And considering my last post was a word fest, here are some pictures. These make me laugh every time I scroll through. Most of them are taken in the morning when I first get up so around the same time of day.

A day in the life of Jen: Post baby

A little over a year ago Colleen gave me the idea to blog just about a normal day for me. I had forgotten about that but reading it again I thought it would be nice to post a day that would be considered normal now just to see how much or little it has changed. Here's the pre-baby post. This was actually my day yesterday (8/12/13).

My alarm went off at 5:00am. This is actually a little late to get to work when I want to but I have a hard time getting up earlier. Last night Neil was coughing a lot; he has a cold. So we left the video monitor on so all we had to do was lift our heads to see how he's doing. He threw up a lot yesterday, mostly in the morning but once in the evening. I think it's more from being congested and the coughing than anything else so we decided to send him to daycare and see how he does. (Not allowed to send them to daycare if they are vomiting. But he didn't vomit this morning according to Dave.)

The first thing I do now when I get up is pump and then prepare a bottle for Dave to feed Neil. Then I took a shower (weighed myself beforehand although my weight seems to fluctuate more now in general). Since it's a Monday I wanted to make sure I got everything I needed- I have all my pumping stuff for work to take in and we changed from 5-6 oz bottles at daycare to 8 oz bottles, which worked well the first week. So I am shifting my work pumping schedule from 3 pumps a day to 2 pumps a day and I need bigger bottles. This is more for me to remember. So today is actually a trial with the bigger bottles, a different cooler bag, and fewer pumping breaks.

Because of that, my routine was a bit off, but I blow dried my hair, checked work email really fast, fed the cat, and kissed Dave goodbye. I was out the door around 5:45.

I got to work around 6:20am, which is pretty typical at this point. It's a longer walk to my desk though (to get the key for the mother's room from a different building) and I stop in the mother's room on the way to my desk to drop off my pump parts and cooler. I do have two pumps so I leave one pump at home but I take the tubing home on the weekends to wash it, as well as the hands free pumping bra (to wash). So I need to remember those in addition to the normal bottles, pump parts, and ice pack. I always feel like I'm forgetting something. I try to remember snacks as well.

Workwise the morning was quiet. My manager was holed up with other management; some big decision are being made and it's been even more meetings than usual lately. I brought some snacks so even though I was hungry I waited until my first pump to have anything to eat. I did drink water though- I try really hard to stay hydrated to keep my milk supply up. Anyways, so I sat at my desk and caught up on work email, which I'm sorely behind on. I keep getting notifications that my mailbox is too full and I've been trying to delete things for a few weeks now. I also watched Dave get Neil ready in the morning- just the diaper change and giving him some medicine (reflux and then cough medicine because he's been sick) which is one of the highlights of my day and a reason I'm so glad we have actual video cameras for a video monitor. I can watch from my computer if I know the IP address and have the password.

At 9:00am I went to the mother's room to pump. It takes me about 15-20 minutes of actual pumping and less than a half an hour total away from my desk. It used to be 15 minutes but now if I do only two pumping breaks, if I think I need some more milk then I let it go a little longer. Today it was 18 minutes and I got almost 10 ounces. I need to get 16 total for the 2 8-oz bottles the next day. If I don't get everything at work though I usually have a little extra from my first pump in the morning.

I got back to my desk and had a bunch of emails and started remembering tasks I have to do that I had forgotten. So much for being a relaxed day.

Because I take breaks to pump I don't take a lunch right now. Most of the time I grab something in the cafeteria downstairs and whatever I eat, it's either in the mother's room (while pumping) or at my desk (while working). Today I was hungry so I grabbed an Italian hoagie in the cafeteria but ate it at my desk.

My second pump session was at 1:00. I pumped for 15 minutes because I got there late and had a meeting at 1:30 and got 5.5 ounces. Usually I get less the later in the day it is.

Once I hit 1:30 I was in meetings the rest of the day. That's pretty typical for me at work though.

I did leave the office around 3:45- I usually aim for between 3:30 and 4:00. Some of this is to get Neil from daycare but it's also really because I need to keep myself on a schedule pumping/nursing.  If I pump at 1 I'm due around 5 again. Sometimes it can take me an hour to get home so I have to account for that. Today it took me about 40 minutes to get home; traffic was really light.

I picked up Neil at daycare on my way home and talked to the woman who cares for him in the infant room in the afternoon. I like to communicate with her a lot and with him being sick and the transition to the bigger bottles the week before, I wanted to see how things were going. She said he did fine and didn't cough too much. (He seems to cough more in the evening and at night anyways right now.)

When we got home Neil wanted to eat even though he had just had a bottle at 3:15 according to the daily sheet I get. He always wants to eat and I think it's more of a bonding thing than anything else (although I know he gets milk too). It's gotten to the point that I even have a hard time changing out of my work clothes. I put him on our bed and he used to be fine with that and look at the fan but now he just starts crying. And I used to change his diaper and give him reflux medicine but he's so impatient he just cries. I can usually calm him down by singing to him but not right after work when he decides he wants to nurse. :)

Neil fell asleep while eating, content. When he was done though I tried to put him in the crib and he instantly woke up. So I carried him around and did my typical things- loaded the dishwasher because I'm out of bottles to take for pumping, got the rest of my stuff ready to bring to work (I usually get all the bottles, lids, and pumping gear ready, set out my clothes for the next day, and get the pump ready for in the morning since I'm so bleary eyed when my alarm goes off, etc.). By that time Dave was home. He cooked on the grill for dinner. I wanted to make Neil some carrot puree; I've been trying to make his baby food instead of buy it at least to start out. So I put him in the exersaucer right next to me and started peeling and chopping carrots to steam them. Neil handled that for a little bit but ended up fussing and wanted one of us. Dave finished the hot dogs as I finished the carrots, so we took turns eating, watching the carrots in the microwave, and holding Neil.

After I ate, Neil seemed hungry again and the carrots were a little too warm (but ready and pureed) so I nursed him. When he was done he was still wide awake and I put him in the high chair. Dave fed him and I forgot what I did but I know I was still just doing little things.

When Neil was done, it was time for me to run an errand. I counted my frozen stash of milk a few days ago. To my surprise I had about 450 ounces! Oops. You aren't supposed to be making that much extra. The milk content varies based on the time of day and age of the baby. But there was someone on Facebook who had asked for milk to help with her baby so I offered mine. I packed up about 150 ounces in a cooler and drove it over to her. She was willing to pick it up at our house, but that wouldn't be until Friday and she didn't live too far away so I offered to just drive it over.

I drove the milk over to the other mom, got gas on the way home, and when I got home Dave had started the bedtime routine and was reading Neil a book. I need to disappear while Dave is reading a book or Neil decides he's hungry and won't pay attention to Dave or the book (and fusses a lot). So I went downstairs and checked work email. Neil was actually falling asleep while Dave was reading to him, so Dave never finished the book anyways and I took over and nursed him. Tonight Neil went down REALLY well in the crib. He didn't even wake up when I put him in. Sometimes he will cry but it's not for long since we did sleep training. I was a bit nervous just because he's been sick, that he would be more clingy. But everything was fine.

By this time it was almost 9pm and I'm just tired. I wanted some me time though so I played some Sudoku and Scramble on my phone (love both of those games) and then I put my phone on the charger and went to bed around 9:45.

So this is a long post and I don't know if anyone will really read it- no pictures either. But wow yeah my life is different. I hope it illustrates just how different it is and how busy we are. And this is also why I have such a hard time fitting in exercise. It's a lot better though now that we do get Neil to bed around 9ish even though I usually go bed myself around 9:30 or 10.

Wordless Wednesday

Six Months

I can't believe Neil is already 6 months. They say time seems to stand still and fly at the same time, and I'm really seeing that.

Sleepwise, things are a lot better. We used the Ferber sleep training method (also known as cry it out) and Neil now seems to go down in his crib on his own. We also have gotten his bedtime moved up to a reasonable time. Where it used to be around 11:30 to midnight each night when we finally got him into the crib for the night, it is now around 9:00-9:30. And instead of that being when we finally get him down (after trying for hours), that's when we put him in the crib and he seems to be going to sleep on his own. If he cries, it's just for a few minutes and then he might be awake for awhile but he goes to sleep by himself. Nap wise, he was taking a nap around 7pm but we're trying to keep him awake to make sure he will go down and be tired around 9. If he does take a nap, we try to make sure it's no later than 7:00 or 7:15.

Neil still isn't rolling really- sometimes he will go from front to back when we have him on tummy time. But he just started sitting on his own. You can see him balancing and he's learning to put his arms down to catch himself. He also has been really good about "standing" from the beginning and a few times now I've let him hold onto the Ottoman or a new toy we just got out (for ages 6 months to 36 months) and he can do that for less than a minute at a time without one of us holding on. He looks a little drunk though and it's hilarious. I guess maybe he'll just skip rolling altogether?

Neil has been looking at his hands and feet a whole lot more. It's amazing how flexible babies can be, he is always putting his foot in his mouth. He also really likes to stare at his hand as he moves his fingers back and forth.

Neil is drooling like crazy but still no teeth! He's really gnawing on things but nothing has popped through, and we keep checking.

Neil seems to really love animals. He especially loves dogs and literally squeals in delight around dogs. Just wait- when he can talk he's going to be asking us to get a dog. (And I'll say, yes if you walk the dog every day and pick up the poop haha.)

We also gave Neil his first solid the day before he turned 6 months old. It was carrots and he seemed both to want it and not like it. I made a separate post about it here.

I don't really have much of an update at work. They STILL haven't installed a badge reader on the mother's room. I know it takes time to get a quote, etc., but this just shows why it's frustrating. I have been back at work now for 14 weeks and they haven't been able to take care of that yet. Knock on wood, I have only locked myself out of that room once. But I park by the other building and just sign out the key on the way in and out of that building. It will be nice to park at my building again.

Exercise wise things are pretty dismal. Just because I still have a really hard time fitting in the exercise. And when I do I feel really guilty because Dave does a LOT for Neil and I feel like I'm dumping on him to watch Neil while I exercise. But we did run a 5K (Dave walked, I ran) and that got me excited about running. It made me want to sign up for a race every weekend just to get out there and run.