It happened again! Another week come and gone. How is the time going so quickly? Baby is 13 Weeks today. Tomorrow he will be 3 Months old! My little goober is growing up!
He is always so happy in the mornings. He smiles and talks to me during his first feeding of the day and while I'm getting ready for work. Speaking of which, I returned to work last week. It was no where near as bad as I expected. The days seemed to go by quickly and the evenings were filled with Jack/Mommy time. While I did miss my baby, it was so comforting to know that he was safe at home with his Daddy. I cannot be thankful enough for a husband I trust to care for our child all day on his own. I have absolutely zero fear that he will neglect or abuse our child. I'm sure many mothers out there wish they had a Daddy like Matt in their child's life.
Baby has been hard at work too. He is learning so much! He plays with toys now, and play is the work of children. I bought him a crinkle giraffe (since Mommy and Daddy love giraffe toys) and Jack loves it! From the first time he held it, the giraffe was an instant favorite. He looks at it when he moves it with his hands, listens to the crinkle sound, chews on the feet, ears, and tail, and loves to hug it. Definitely a worthwhile purchase since he likes it and it engages all of his senses (sight-bright colors, hearing- crinkle, smell- the fabric and rubber, taste- fabric and rubber again, touch- different textures).
Jack plays with so many different toys now. He still like black and white patterns, so he stares at Mommy's new sheets (see the below picture of the bed) and his panda stuffed animal. He gets a death grip on rattles (of varying sizes and shapes) and has learned to shake them to make noise. He loves the sassy ring links. I use the links to attach his gummy keys to his carseat, but he also has some that I just linked together. He likes to wave them around, hold them, and chew on them. He also loves his o'ball (below). These are the best balls! They jingle when shaken and have lots of grippies for him to work with. The one downside, it won't fit into his mouth- which is where everything has been going lately. He loves to suck and chew on things (burp cloth, his shirt, Mommy's shirt, fingers, toys) and that makes him super drooly.
Along with his floor time and tummy time, we have been working with him on sitting. He will sit on our laps while we hold him under his arms. We also sometimes just have him hold onto our hands for support. He can sit by himself propped up by the boppy and he can even sit in his bumbo by himself! He is getting so big and strong. Mommy and Daddy are sure proud of him! Now that his neck muscles are more developed we want to help him develop his back muscles. It'll be so nice when we can sit him on the floor surrounded by toys to occupy him. Of course, the bumbo is a great first step! For now we sit with him while he's in the bumbo since he's still a little wobbly. Once he has control we'll attach his tray and let him play with his toys to amuse himself. That will be helpful when it comes times to do dishes or put away laundry.
Feeding: Jack did great his first week away from Mommy! He hasn't had any trouble with bottles, which is good since there would have been no alternative since Mommy was officially away. He still enjoys to nurse, which makes Mommy so happy! I nurse him in the evenings, at night, and on weekends. I am so thankful for an office that has a lactation room so I am able to pump at work. I would be so sad if I had to feed him on formula just because I returned to work. We have mastered a few new holds for nursing that make it easier for baby and Mommy. I can now hold him in the crook of my elbow and he does the rest. At night we can lie in bed while he nurses, which is easier for both of us since we're not fully awake. While I'm not sure how much he eats when we nurse, he eats 4 oz. meals from a bottle and 1 oz. snacks throughout the day. We let him eat when he's hungry and don't keep him to a set schedule. Generally he eats every 2-3 hours during the day and every 4-6 hours at night. I have discovered that one cup of coffee doesn't seem to affect my milk at all. This is such great news since one cup is the perfect pick-me-up at work. I find that if I have a cup when I first get to the office I get refreshed and am able to stay bright-eyed all day. I am thankful it doesn't make Jack fussy, upset his tummy, or keep him awake all night. Plus, I really love the taste of coffee.
Sleep: I have begun reading from his Bible before bed and praying with him. Even though he's too young to understand, I want this to be a normal part of his day. I love the Bible we got from church. It has great Bible stories in it. Once he is a little older we'll look for a more in depth children's Bible and also read to him from the regular Bible. I generally read part of a children's book to him also at bedtime. He fusses after a handful of pages so we read as much as he wants then stop. He loves to rock and I love our recliner in his nursery. Matt would have preferred a glider chair, but I like the recliner. I rock him and sing to him and he settles right down. His favorite song seems to be Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. We'll see if that changes. Mommy needs a refresher on her lullabies, but she has a good amount of songs she sings through each night. I also have been giving him a paci if he's more fussy than usual at bedtime. He likes to suck on things and sometimes his nommy fingers just don't cut it. The paci helps him to settle down.
He prefers to sleep in my bed as opposed to him sleeper. I can usually get him to fall asleep on me and then transfer him to his sleeper. He loves to be up with Mommy though. Sometimes he's curled up right next to me. Sometimes I move him to the center of the bed and push the pillows and blankets away from him. I know, it's a big no-no to have your child in bed with you. The way we sleep keeps him perfectly safe. There is no chance of his rolling off the bed, rolling into a pillow, or getting smothered by Mommy. We are very careful and I wake at the slightest movement or sound from him. When I'm asleep I often wake up because I can hear him breathing, he will probably inherit Mommy's snoring! It's very reassuring to have this be a part of my reflexes now. He has been sleeping in 4-6 hour intervals, which is so nice for Mommy! This picture shows him sleeping in my bed before I went to sleep. I keep him closer then so he'll settle into a deeper sleep before positioning him the middle of the bed.
I caved on Saturday and got my "mom cut". It has been in the 90's in Lynchburg, which is like living on the sun for me. I dislike hot weather and would be perfectly content if I lived in perpetual 50 degree weather. So with the heat and being a mom, I decided I'd give short hair a try. I wanted it cut to collar bone length and all my layers taken out. Below is the result. I was apprehensive about it on Saturday right afterward, but I did love how light it was. Sunday I was able to style it and I liked it more, right after it was cut it was flipping out which made me look about thirteen years old! Today I liked it even more. I may keep it "short" for awhile. The next few haircuts may be actual cuts and not just trims. There's plenty of time to grow it long again, but this is nice for a change. I was mostly worried it would make me look younger, but people at the office said it made me look older. Looking older when you're 5'1" and have a young face is always a good thing.
I'm still getting used to the short hair and I honestly miss Jack holding onto it. He never pulled it, but held onto it for security. That made me feel close to him. I generally hold him close to my shoulder so he'll be able to reach it still. Jack and I skyped with Grammy and Papa who are in Mexico. I was able to see my hair in the webcam, which really helped since I was moving and talking like normal as opposed to just holding still awkwardly in a mirror. Jack seems to enjoy skype, he fixates on the screen, but hasn't figured it all out yet. He doesn't smile when Grammy and Papa talk to him but he does stare at them. He may still be a little confused since he loves to smile at people when they are in person.
Some other fun facts from this week: I ordered an umbrella stroller for him since he's learning to sit up on his own now. I still plan to use his jogger when we go for walks, but this umbrella stroller will be nice for when we're running errands and traveling. I had picked out a beautiful green Chicco stroller (his carseat, carrier, and pack n play are all Chicco) and then noticed that it looked like his cousin, Waverly, had the same one in red! I checked with her mommy and sure enough, it's the same one! Great minds think alike and Aunt Jamie and Mommy do have similar tastes in a lot of things. I am so excited for it to get here. Daddy and Jack will visit Mommy for lunch at work and this stroller will make it so convenient for Daddy.
We are still loving cloth diapering. Daddy says if financially it were equal he would prefer to use disposable since it's so convenient. He knows this will save money in the long run and that it's better for baby, so he doesn't mind. During the day he saves the dirty diapers and I spray them off when I get home. He can spray them, but I have a good system for spraying them that makes little to no mess. We wash them every 2-3 days now that Jack is going through less diapers daily. I would say he has an average of 5 dirty diapers a day. He has been sticking to one diaper all night and have between 4-6 during the day.
Jack's nails grow super quickly! I have to trim his fingernails at least once a week and his big toenails the same. His other toenails I can usually go two weeks between trimmings. It is amazing how fast those nails grow! Thankfully, I am pretty good at trimming his nails without too much fuss. I've only nipped him the two times I mentioned last week.
Jack is learning so many new sounds. He still does goo, ah, and ha the most. He has added gong, mmm, now, hee, her to his vocabulary. He has a bunch more that I either can't remember or can't figure out how to spell the sound. He is a little babbler and Mommy and Daddy have so much fun talking to him.
He has also learned about kisses. When we kiss his cheeks he does his "kissy face", which is a specific open mouthed motion. When I kiss his lips he does this also. This is pretty typical baby, I think, as most babies give open mouthed kisses when they are learning. While this means he slobbers all over my lips as opposed to a quick peck like I mean to give... it is so sweet and I love it! He smiles after kisses and knows that means Mommy and Daddy love him. Well, I don't know that he knows that... but it sure seems like it!
Jack has always has very big yawns! I have been taking his weekly picture in the morning before work to ensure I get a good one. I figure that since he's so happy in the morning I can probably get a good smile out of him. This morning I got him dressed and propped him up in bed and he let out a big ole yawn. What a little cutie!
Another week down. First week of work, done. Work certainly makes me appreciate my time with him more. I eagerly await the day I can stay at home with him all day every day.
