4 Months

It's amazing how quickly babies grow. Nathan has grown both physically and developmentally this past month. Where is my baby going?!?!

They say that the rate of growth will drop after this, but I know it will still be really fast. The big thing for us this month is rolling. Nathan is definitely rolling. He seems to prefer to roll from back to front. He doesn't really seem to roll from front to back. I just think he doesn't like to be on his back very much. He has been rolling to his side pretty quickly even at 3 months, when we put him on the floor, but now he most definitely rolls right away to his stomach, lifts his head up, and looks around.

Because of that we stopped swaddling at night cold turkey. I found him one morning flipped over and smushed into the corner of a crib and worried about doing that and not being able to breathe. That made for a very hard transition for us sleepwise. I hope that was the dreaded 4 month regression- it happened at about 3 and a half months. We'll see. He went from consistently waking up once per night to nurse, to waking up at least 3 times- every 1.5 hours. It drove me crazy.

Along with this leap he is also much more attentive, looks around a lot more, likes to play peek-a-boo, and grabs things with his hands now. He had discovered his hands a few weeks ago but now he will actually take toys in his hand. They go straight to his mouth (no surprise there).

Uh oh, already discovering the sticker

Nathan is trying to mimic noises and at the point that I can have a "conversation" with him. I say something or ask a question, and he babbles a little. Then I respond, he babbles more, and so on. I love this. I love this age. He's starting to get more alert but also cuddles and falls asleep in your arms.

He was getting tired of pictures

Sleeping wise, we still don't have a pattern yet, with naps or anything. On the weekends I now put him in his crib to nap but it's not on a schedule yet. It's just when he falls asleep; wherever he is I take him upstairs. Bedtime routine is a bit harder because we also have Neil, but Nathan seems to go to bed between 8-9 and usually closer to 8. I think he could handle an earlier bedtime but then that means I don't get to be a part of Neil's bedtime so we haven't moved Nathan up yet. I tried once to move Nathan up to around 7 but that was too much of a jump or something and it made him stay up even later than usual.

So bedtime "routine" if you can call it that, is bath (with Neil often) as necessary, then change diaper, then read with Neil as part of his routine, and there is sometimes nursing in there if Nathan is impatient. Then Nathan comes downstairs with us and we try to read cues. When it seems like he's not quite so alert, we put him in pajamas (used to swaddle, now we don't), I nurse him, and we put him in his crib. Some nights Dave holds him downstairs while I go to bed and others I just take him up myself.

It's hard to get him looking and whoever else is in the picture not looking bored. ;)

Nathan is a really happy baby. He loves to smile and laugh, and wow does he stick his tongue out. If you play peek a boo he seems to really like that. He's also drooling whole lot and chewing on things and his hands. We tried a wubbanub but he doesn't seem to care for it yet. It might not be a bad thing if he never wants it.

Sometimes when he wakes up he'll go back to sleep on his own.. That's why I assume if he's crying in the middle of the night that he's actually hungry and I nurse him. He consistently goes about 10 minutes (other than the regression I talked about above) and then I can get him back in the crib. So I shouldn't really complain. I have to say, I'm tired, but that mommy instinct is still there. I often am at his crib picking him up before I even know what I'm doing (i.e. I'm sleeping, hear him crying, and react without fully waking up right away).

I couldn't resist this one, both with hands in the mouth!

Eating wise, it's still nursing minus the bottles at daycare. I'm also ok with Dave giving a bottle but try to avoid that. This time around I'm much more comfortable nursing in public. However, Nathan is getting distracted so I nurse in the car at times just to get him to actually eat instead of looking around at everything.

Nathan prefers to stand at times. Sometimes he fusses but he just doesn't want to be laying down. So we either hold him upright or put him in the bumbo or jumper. We're also at the point we take the bumbo to restaurants to let him sit in it because he doesn't want to sit in the infant car seat.

Clothing: I am just now cleaning out his drawers for onesies and pajamas and moving him to 3-6 months or 6 months in Carter's brand. His pants are still 0-3 months although with the heat we're really going more with shorts or no pants.
Diapers: Size 2
Shoes: None yet
Weight: I will have to add this later
Height: I will have to add this later.

Weekly pictures 5/31 to 6/6

Onesies handmade by Colleen! Aren't they cute?

I saw this on Facebook and messed around a little. I hear how Neil is a carbon copy of his dad all the time,
but every single one of these had the % more me, for both him and Nathan. Maybe I picked bad pictures of us.

It actually was cool enough for some warm pajamas! Love these.

This was one of my favorite outfits with Neil. It has a matching sweatshirt as well,
but being born 2 months later in the year, Nathan doesn't wear a lot that Neil did. Surprisingly.

Neil has discovered the oustide keys

Going for a walk together

Lifting that head up really well!

Nathan's in here too but covered

Trying to teach Neil how to hit the baseball

Return to work

So gee, uh, my blog has been pretty sparse hasn't it? Since returning to work I really don't have time. I'm sure this will settle. If you look at my blog when I went to work after Neil, I had a similar drop. I am hoping to pick back up soon though. I have a couple of problems. One is that I never have any time to myself. I am writing this on a Saturday as both kids are sleeping (I just jinxed that one) on a laptop I don't normally use. Speaking of that, the other problem is that our desktop is in Nathan's room. So I would have time at night but if the kids are asleep then I can't get on the computer. This laptop is Dave's work laptop. I try to avoid using it.

Here is my previous return to work post. I read it before returning to work but haven't since and am writing this blog post without re-reading it so this can be somewhat independent.

I think this time the return was easier. Neil was already in the daycare Nathan was going to so I was comfortable with the daycare itself. They also did "training" so I dropped Nathan off 2 separate times the week before I returned to work to test things out. The first time was just for an hour and the second was a trial run with a bottle. They both worked really well and I think the training is more for the parents than the kids, at this age. Nathan transitioned seamlessly and seems to be an easy baby for them just like Neil was for the daycare in Pittsburgh when he started.

I also somewhat knew what to expect returning to work- the big hardship is the pumping part. I at least checked out the rooms BEFORE I had Nathan, where with Neil I didn't even think I'd be nursing so I didn't bother. (STUPID on my part but whatever). I still have/had issues with the areas but I am starting to think that goes with the territory. There are 3 buildings where I work and they have a room in each building. The building I work with, that room is always busy. Most of the times if I try to go there it's occupied, and on the rare time it isn't, when I'm done another mom is standing outside the door waiting to use it. So I went to the next building over- I'm the one adding on so I figured oh well. Plus I was walking there anyways and taking longer because I was trying the room in my building first (it's two floors above my floor- the one in the next building over is 1 row below my floor). That worked well for a bit but then it turns out there were men using the room. Two were using it for praying, one was using it for insulin shots, and there may have been someone additional I ran into who really creeped me out. (He might have been the insulin guy, I'm not sure, but he made me really uncomfortable.) One of the other moms told me she has caught another woman sleeping in the room in my building. These people clearly don't understand how it can feel physically when you really just need to get in there and pump. But I digress.

So the rooms used to lock from the inside and were left open. Now they are locked 24/7 and the mom's have been given keys. I am still running into a conflict- another mom started a few weeks after I did and she and I are trying to use the room at the same time during my 3rd pump. There's another person who comes in one day a week at the same time so 3 of us are trying to get into the room and we need to work that out.

The rooms themselves are pretty good. They have a comfortable chair, a refrigerator and a sink in the room, except the room in the 3rd building (which is also why I haven't talked about it, plus it's quite a walk for me from where I work). I'm going pretty much every 3 hours, which is working.

Milk quantity wise. It's always touch and go at first, going back to work. The baby would rather nurse with mom than drink from  bottle so from a lot of women I've talked to, in the transition, the baby starts nursing more overnight. It seems to adjust though. I started out with 4 oz in each bottle and sent 3 bottles. Nathan only drank 2 at first, the time he was there. Now I send 5 oz in each bottle, send three bottles, and he does usually drink all 3 there. I also pump when I wake up before I get in the shower and Dave feeds Nathan about 5 oz before he takes him to daycare. Nights and mornings are very sporadic- Nathan gets up at least once but sometimes as much as 3 times a night. And Dave doesn't have a routine in the morning mostly because of Nathan .Poor Dave is scrambling to shower at times from what he's told me.

I am wearing my bigger work clothes from after returning to work with Neil. At least this time I'm not surprised I can't fit back into pre-pregnancy clothes. I am down to pre-pregnancy weight BEFORE Neil which is awesome but I guess even if you lose the weight it takes awhile for your body to actually get back into shape. Sometimes the pants feel a bit big but the next size down (which are my "normal" clothes) are still slightly too small. I'd rather wear something slightly too big than something slightly too small.

That's about it. I will try to figure out how to keep up with this blog but honestly right now my biggest struggle is trying to find "me" time. At least at work I get adult time but it's pretty rare for me to go just do something all by myself, especially now that we have two kids. Even if I go and leave one I'm usually taking the other with me.

Oh and one last thing I did want to say- I am so glad from a work perspective that I started a new job before having a baby. From a personal perspective it made things much harder but from a work perspective it made the transition a lot better for me. I already knew people; some actually stopped by my desk to say welcome back (I was very surprised about this honestly, because I was only there 6 weeks before having Nathan). I am very nervous about making a good first impression. I am definitely feeling the fact that I don't get a full night's sleep EVER. It's broken up and not enough hours. I am definitely not at 100% but people at work probably don't realize this. I try though to not worry, do the best I can, and hope it doesn't hurt me in the long run. This all is hard, people! I also really need to find some good friends but I know that will take time as well. I'm just not a very patient person.

3 months

Once again I started back at work after maternity leave and it's even harder this time to get on the computer outside of work, with two kids. I'm so exhausted at this point that after I get Nathan to sleep I literally crash in bed. I am hoping to write a separate back to work post but it may be a bit before I get to that.

Nathan is now 3 months and growing so fast. He's got the chubby cheeks and legs. It's really funny what you forget- things I thought Nathan did that Neil didn't, I go back and read Neil's 3 month post and realize I said the EXACT same thing. Not everything is the same but I'm surprised at how much and just how much you do forget. That's why it's nice to write this down.

Nathan loves to smile and stick out his tongue. He's been sticking out his tongue since he could. He also really likes his mobile in the crib so hopefully we are going to have two kids who love music! I sing songs to him too and so does Neil. Nathan is sucking a lot especially on his hands and doesn't really take a pacifier (yet, we told daycare it was ok if it was necessary- they have 2 adults for 8 babies and I just can't imagine how they do it).

The drooling has picked up as well but there are no signs of teeth yet.

Nathan is doing mini crunches- he really wants to sit up. Sometimes he fusses and what he wants is to be standing (held during of course). I have started to put him in the Bumbo for a few minutes at a time and that seems to make him really happy as well. At daycare they are putting him in an exersaucer so I'd like to pull out our jumper for him.

He also really likes the activity frame but rolls to the side immediately and circles around, so we walk away and come back into him facing the opposite way.

Nathan is not really on a schedule but we're working on it. I've found that he goes to sleep somewhere between 8-9pm. The only real bedtime routine is swaddling; we put his pajamas on often when Neil is getting ready for bed (around 7pm). I do nurse him to sleep and then hand him off to Dave who puts him in bed. I was wondering if he shouldn't be swaddled because he seems to struggle in it at times but we tried it once (ha here's a "see Neil's 3 month post" because I said the exact same thing) and I do think he still sleeps better when swaddled even though his startle reflex has gone away. With that said though he really gets his arms out by morning.

Sleep is sporadic. He has slept through the night but it's not predictable. We'll have one night where he'll go 8 hours straight sleeping and then the next he's up every 3 hours. This has made especially going back to work hard on me. I'm really tired, especially because Neil is always up at the same time so even on the weekends there isn't any catching up on sleep like I was able to do with Neil.

I have to say though that Nathan does go to sleep for the night by 9 (for his "long" sleep however long that is). Neil did not do this- I would go to bed but Dave would put him in his crib but that never happened until at least 11. So when Neil was 5-6 months we did sleep training and then were able to move his bedtime up. I think that spoiled me- I actually got more sleep with Neil when I went back to work than I did with Nathan. I guess they are probably both sleeping about the same amount but I counted it as sleeping through the night with Neil because I got a full night's sleep most of the time. Nathan though is much more sporadic and doesn't consistently sleep a certain number of hours.

Nathan is also able to go to sleep somewhat on his own. At daycare they make sure he goes in the pack n play partly awake so hopefully that will help as well. We are trying to establish a nap and feeding schedule but we're really only a week and a half into being in daycare so we aren't there yet. I wasn't able to establish a schedule before other than bedtime.

The shadows in this picture are awful but I love the looks on both of their faces so I'm posting it anyways.

So work/daycare wise right now I am sending in 3 bottles with about 5 oz of milk to daycare. I pump around 4:30am and then give Dave a 5 oz bottle to feed Nathan whenever he wakes up (and I also nurse whenever he wakes up before 4:30am so my output from that first pump changes based on that). Then daycare gets the 3 bottles but so far Nathan seems to only be drinking the first two. I do pump 3 times at work, 3 hours apart, and am consistently getting 15-16 ounces so I'm thinking that's what Nathan should be drinking but he also gets the bottle with Dave so maybe he doesn't need the 3rd bottle at daycare. Also, I nurse him at daycare when I pick him up around 3-3:30 (closer to 3:30 most days). They hold him off for me so that he's hungry when I get there. Nursing in the evening there is defintiely not a routine right now.

Pirates game number two

While we were visiting Pittsburgh we made it to 2 games. The 2nd one we were in club level and it was a day game. It was surprisingly crowded for being a day game during the week while school was still in session. We were glad to be in the club level; it was pretty warm out, and especially Nathan wasn't ready for being out in the sun very long. We can't use sunscreen on him and trying to cover him up just made him hot. So I ended up inside with him a lot of the game. We also of course made an effort to see the Pirate Parrot and the Perogies, for Neil.

Eating lunch in the club lounge

View from our seats

Chilling in the a/c

The whole family with the Pirate Parrot

Giving the perogies high 5's

Walking the club hall

With my friend who sat with us

The babywearing family!
Dave using the tula with Neil and I'm using the ring sling with Nathan

All tuckered out as usual

Weekly pictures 5/24 to 5/30

Cousin time, Neil loves his older cousin

Checking out the chicken coop

First time by himself in a big swing!

Trying to get the 4 cousins to all look at the same time.

Nathan smiles a lot more at us

Our friends' dog taught this to Neil

He climbed through the banister over and over

This is how the start of our night usually looks.
I went up to bed and Dave put Nathan in the pack n play.
On our trip the first sleep tended to only last 3 hours. YAWN for me.

Watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse in the morning

We went to a 2nd Pirates game, this one during the day. Separate post to follow.

Because sometimes a big box is the best toy