May 31, 2015
You arrived 10 days early! 8 lbs. exactly and 20″ long, you were perfect from the start. I was in utter disbelief that we actually had a little boy after knowing only little girls thus far. Hopefully I can do you proud. I love you so much, my little baby love!
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June 2, 2015
We came home from the hospital, and after your sisters took naps, we took the same celebratory first walk up to Sendik’s that they did. You seemed to love the stroller ride, as you didn’t make a peep.
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June 3, 2015
Your 2nd outing – over to Della’s Spring Sing. You were an angel and slept through the entire thing in your car seat on the playground. You even got a nod in the closing thank yous of the performance when the principal mentioned that someone had even brought a 2 day old.
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June 4, 2015
Your 1st bath at home. Because of your circumcision, we only have to give you sponge baths for the first 2 weeks, so I didn’t have to worry about controlling a tiny, squirmy, slippery little person in the kitchen sink just yet.
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June 5, 2015
1st doctor appointment. You were up to 8 lbs. 6 oz., but they didn’t measure your length. They did measure your head, but I didn’t get that measurement. Your next appointment is in a month, so I’ll ask for it then. You also didn’t have to get any shots yet. Hooray!
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June 11, 2015
Your belly button scab came off save for just a tiny little bit. Yay! I always hate maneuvering around those, thinking I’m going to catch it on something and make you scream.
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June 14, 2015
Your first more major outing. We went down to Garlic Fest at Braise, I wore you in the Baby Bjorn carrier the whole time, and you were a dream. Let’s hope this chill factor continues!
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June 18, 2015
You took your first bottle this afternoon with no problems at all. I tried giving you the dropper vitamins straight yesterday, and you were not a fan, so today I thawed a little milk and mixed them in a bottle for you. Easy peasy. I thought you might take the vits alone since you don’t have to have the nasty ones with iron in them like your sisters did, but you still didn’t like them. Fortunately the bottle was smooth sailing. Nice work!
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June 19, 2015
So far, almost 3 weeks in, and I’d say your sleeping is really good at night. Depending on when I put you to bed, you either wake up once or twice before morning. A typical night span is to bed around 10, wake maybe 1-2 and again somewhere in the 5-7 range, then you go back down for a solid morning nap for a couple hours. Thankfully with school out for the summer I’ve been able to sleep in once Daddy goes to work, especially if your sisters decide to sleep in past 6:30. But even if they’re up, they’re actually really good about letting us sleep and just playing and watching PBS in the living room. So I’m surviving much better than I expected with you! Trust me, that’s a good thing.
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June 21, 2015
You slept for 6 hours straight last night! Awesome!! I know it won’t continue like that, but I’ll definitely take it when it comes. And fortunately I had gone to bed right after you did, so I got almost 6 in a row. Della came in twice during that time, but not for very long. I couldn’t believe it when you woke and the clock said 5:00 and the bedroom was light. Unfortunately you pooped all over the place when I changed your diaper then didn’t want to go back to sleep after eating, but I just snuggled you on my chest like for a nap in bed so we all got a couple more hours. Yes, I know that’s frowned upon, but you sleep wonderfully on someone. So there.
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June 22, 2015
I had to do my first public breastfeeding yesterday, little dude. We walked to a beer garden down the bike path from our house, and of course you woke up as soon as we got there and wanted to eat. Thanks a lot, kid. Fortunately I had a big muslin blanket to use as a cover. Gheesh.
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June 29, 2015
You slept 7 hours in a row last night! We were at our friends’ Jeff and Kelly’s house in Lawrence, KS, on our way to Colorado, and I was amazed. I know it’s a fluke at this point, but hopefully it’s a good sign of future sleeping patterns.
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June 30, 2015
Happy 1 month birthday, Morrison! We celebrated by driving from Lawrence, KS, to Evergreen, CO, to spend a couple days at Auntie Mer-Mer and Unkie Cha-Cha’s house before Auntie Arianne’s wedding. You slept through your picture and everything.
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July 9, 2015
We had your 1 month checkup yesterday, and you are growing! You have been out of newborn diapers for almost 2 weeks now, and the 0-3 month sizes are starting to get tight in clothes. Fortunately you didn’t have to get any shots again – those come next month. Here are the stats from yesterday and your newborn appointment, since I didn’t get them then:
- Height: (6/5/15) 20″ (50%) (7/8/15) 22.75″ (84%)
- Weight: (6/5/15) 8 lbs. 6 oz. (75%) (7/8/15) 11 lbs. 8 oz. (73%)
- Head: (6/5/15) 36 cm (85%) (7/8/15) 38.8 cm (79%)
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July 13, 2015
Last night was night 2 of no swaddle, and you seem to be doing ok. Your sleep pattern is really no different so far without it, so I think we’ll keep you out of straight jacket jail. Also, to mark your 6-week birthday yesterday, you smiled at me! Just like your sister Lana, who smiled for the first time at exactly 6 weeks, too. Today you have been sleeping almost all day. Guess you’re making up for almost zero naps all weekend, eh?
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July 16, 2015
I’m afraid you have your first little cold. You’re very snorty and stuffy today, and you had a bunch of little boogers around your nostrils this morning. At least it doesn’t seem to be affecting you too badly. You’re still eating and sleeping normally, so hopefully it goes away soon. You haven’t had any immunizations yet, so I just don’t want you to catch anything major before those begin at your 2-month checkup in a few weeks.
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July 28, 2015
You are seriously about to stand up and walk any day now. Yesterday, as you were not napping or eating well, I had you on your giraffe playmat to try to nap on your stomach, as you prefer. A few minutes later you had scooted yourself all the way off the top of the mat and were lying fully on the floor. WTF kid?!?! I put you back onto the body of the mat to see how you did this, and you started your scooting back up right away. You plant your little feet, dig in with your toes, then push yourself forward using your legs, almost like your jumping along on your stomach. As soon as you figure out how to get your arms and hands under you, you’re going to fly across the room. You also essentially rolled off that mat the other day. You did that same foot plant, pushed your buns up in the air, and flipped over onto your side, practically flipping right onto your back on the floor had I not been right there to catch you. Goodness sakes.
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July 31, 2015
Happy 2 month birthday, Morrison!
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August 4, 2015
So, youngster, I think I can officially say you rolled over, believe it or not. Yesterday you rolled yourself over twice onto the floor from your giraffe/turtle play mat combo. I put you on there on your stomach, went into the kitchen to do something, heard you start crying and went back to the living room to investigate, and there you were, on your back on the floor next to the mat. Stinker! So I put you back on there on your stomach, returned to the kitchen, came out a minute or two later because you were really quiet, and there you were again – lying on your back on the floor next to your mat, just staring up at the ceiling. Fortunately that time I had put one of your little blankets next to the mat so you didn’t just hit the hardwood floor again.
Then today I actually witnessed you do it in your crib. I put you in there on your stomach for a nap and decided to watch you for a while to see if you rolled. Sure enough, you squirmed around for a bit, dug your little toes in as you always do on your mat, and finally managed to flip yourself over onto your back after getting onto your left side. Your crib mattress is kind of sloped into the middle, though, so instead of staying on your back you just rolled back over onto your stomach in the middle and eventually fell asleep. This is, by far, the earliest any of you has rolled. I know Lana was 4 months, and I forget how old Della was, but apparently you wanted to win this game.
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August 5, 2015
2 month checkup stats:
- Height: 24″ (83%)
- Weight: 13 lbs. 10 oz. (72%)
- Head: 40.5 cm (82%)
You got your first round of real vaccines tonight, too. One was taken orally, which you certainly didn’t like, but you disliked the 3 shots in your legs even more. Just like your sisters, though, you screamed while they went in and for just a few seconds after, then quieted right down. I think the legs might be bothering you a touch tonight, though, because you’ve been very restless going down for bed. Hopefully you can sleep ok during the night.
We’re trying something new at bedtime, too. I’m going to try giving you a 4 oz. bottle of formula before bed instead of nursing you, in the hopes that it will help you sleep longer stretches at night. You don’t need to be switched fully to formula by any means, nor do I want to switch you fully, but I would love to have more consistent nights’ sleeps before school starts next month. I’ll have to be the first one up again come September, and if I’m still only sleeping in long nap bursts, I’m going to be even more of a zombie than I am now. So fingers crossed. I realize this probably wasn’t the ideal night to start this new routine, what with your shots and all, but no time like the present, eh? Your doctor said it was totally fine and gave us the first tub of formula, so here goes. I’ll still breastfeed you all other times, though.
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August 14, 2015
I think the bedtime bottle of formula may be starting to do the trick. You have not taken a full 4 oz. in it yet, so I’ve reduced the quantity down to either 2 or 3 oz. at a time so we don’t waste much. But since starting this, you’ve had mostly 7 and 8 hour stretches of sleep, which is fantastic. There were 2 nights at Grandma’s house earlier this week where you woke up around 2 am again, but then last night you slept another 8 hours. So hopefully things will even out soon and your sleeping through the night will continue.
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August 18, 2015
I switched the nipple on your bottle from slow flow to medium flow last night, thinking maybe you couldn’t drink enough fast enough at bedtime, because it’s been taking you forever to get even an ounce down. Sure enough, you drank 2 ounces pretty quickly then slept for 8.5 hours. Whether that was the reason or it was just a fluke, I like it. You’ve been so-so at this sleeping a longer stretch with the bottle of formula at bed – some nights it’s 8+ hours, others it’s back to 4. Hopefully this faster flow for your drinking will help you get up to 4 oz. at bedtime soon, which I think will definitely help you stay full through the night.
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August 27, 2015
Well the great formula experiment is over for now. What started as what I thought was a miracle cure to make you sleep through the night proved to not be so. Some nights you would sleep 8+ hours, but others you were back to waking up after 4, if not sooner. So before actually buying a tub of formula, I tried just nursing you at bedtime again last week, and that night you slept for 9 hours. Ok, done with formula. I also put the slow flow nipples back on your bottles, because you practically choked on your milk when I used the medium flow ones most of the time. So we’ll just let you figure out this long sleeping on your own. You’ve been pretty consistently waking at 2-2:30 and 5-5:30 all this week, which is doable getting ready for our school-day schedule starting next week.
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September 4, 2015
So, sleeping. Yeah, the formula was totally unnecessary, so at least we don’t have to worry about that anymore. A few nights ago, you fell asleep after eating around 7-7:30 and I put you on your stomach to nap on your blankets in the living room. I figured you would be up at your usual 9:00ish to go to bed, so I tucked your sisters in to bed, got myself ready for bed, then worked on my editing project I had this week. I finished that up between 9-9:30, then just went to sleep on the futon in the living room to wait for you to wake up and take you to bed. I heard you stir a couple times but no waking, then when you finally woke up crying it was 4:15! You had just slept for 9 hours! On your stomach! And you survived! (yes, lots of exclamation points because i knew you could sleep on your stomach no problem, despite all the warnings) Plus it was so hot earlier this week you were sleeping in just your diaper with a very light blanket on top. The next night was super hot again, so when you started falling asleep on the couch in just your diaper, Daddy put you on your stomach in your crib and you were out like a light. It was way too hot to swaddle you, and I knew your flailing helicopter arms would keep waking you. So stomach again it was, and you slept just fine. Last night was back to normal temps so I swaddled you on your back as usual, and you woke up twice instead of your normal once before morning. So who knows. Maybe you’ll start sleeping on your stomach all the time, or maybe I’ll just leave your arms out of the swaddle and keep you on your back for nights.
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September 10, 2015
Yes, you’re sleeping on your stomach all the time now. But little dude, you’re killing me at night here. The past 2 nights you’ve awoken 3 times to eat, and this morning you wouldn’t go back to sleep after 5:30 so I could get my glorious last 15 minutes of sleep before the alarm. What gives? Are you hitting the 4 month sleep regression already? Ugh.
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September 15, 2015
You must certainly be hitting the 4 month sleep regression. Now not only are your nights bad again, but you won’t take your nice long afternoon nap either. You nurse and fall asleep at your usual 11:30ish time, but then you only sleep for about half an hour. Then today you would not sleep again at all after that all afternoon and evening. Little turd. You were very close to being flushed down the toilet tonight with the nonstop exhaustion screaming. I finally got you to bed at 7:45 after nursing you at 7, putting you down asleep, then you waking and crying for the next half hour. You did sleep on your back last night, though, which I liked. But tonight I had to flip you onto your stomach to make the wailing stop.
Also, we’re switching diapers. The Seventh Generation ones we’ve used for years just aren’t cutting it for you. Plus they’re really irritating your one leg, so hopefully a switch will do you good. The brand I think we’re going to try is very highly rated, but it’s also pricier than our current brand. I’m going to try to order fewer shipments of them, though, to save some money, so hopefully we can get away with it. If not, I’ll have to switch again to a more affordable option. And you’re going to move up to size 3 with this change now, too. You’re already 17 pounds! Where are all my babies going??
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September 30, 2015
Happy 4 month birthday, sweet boy! You are getting so big – almost growing out of your 3-6 month clothes already, gheesh. I really need to work on getting you to sleep on your back now, because I’m getting quite sick of having to wake up just to flip you back over when you wake in the night and I know you’re not ready to eat. The fewer times I have to open my eyes and get out of bed the better, kiddo.
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October 6, 2015
Sorry, my love, but I’m already sick of playing the pacifier game with you to get you to sleep. So last night I put you to bed, wide awake, on your back, which I know you hate. You need to learn to do that, too. You were quiet in there for a pretty long time. At one point I went to check on you and you were just lying there, still awake, swatting at the little nightlight I put in your crib, which is just the base to the baby monitor hung over the side with the light on. Soon after, though, you started crying, and we just let you. After about 15 minutes Daddy went in, bounced you in his arms for a little while, then put you back in bed, on your stomach, but you continued to cry. Then he went in and propped a pillow behind/next to you so you couldn’t flip to your back, and you finally conked out after about another 15 minutes. So that’s at least progress – to sleep with no pacifier, but still on your stomach. We’ll work on the back sleeping part. Then you only woke once last night before morning, which is pretty good for you right now.
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October 23, 2015
You have finally discovered your feet, and you’ve been trying to get your right one in your mouth for about the past 5 minutes.
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October 31, 2015
Happy 5 month birthday! And Happy first Halloween, my beautiful little cow!
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November 1, 2015
First taste of oatmeal tonight, and you did pretty well with the spoon. You tried to gobble everything up, but most of it dribbled out and all over your bib. Maybe that little bit of food will help keep your belly full better tonight, though. I sure hope so, anyway, because your waking up 8 million times each night just to fuss and for no reason in particular is getting REALLY annoying.
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November 3, 2015
I just bought some baby food sweet potatoes, simply because I don’t have any here to make for you. I think the main reason you wake up so much at night now is because you’re too hungry and I’m not making enough milk for you anymore for some reason. So diving into food we go. I’m going to try to give you some sweet potatoes mixed with the oatmeal I made for lunch and dinner now. I also bought a small tin of formula to start mixing with the oatmeal so I don’t use up our whole stash of frozen breastmilk. I haven’t stored up nearly as much as I did with your sisters, mainly because I haven’t needed to since I’m with you all the time to feed you, so I want to try to make that last as long as possible for when we really need it. Fingers crossed here, because you were up well over a handful of times the past couple nights and have started waking up for the day at 5:00. No thank you!
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November 4, 2015
You did it! You finally rolled from your back to stomach tonight! It was absolutely adorable, because I just caught the very tail end of what I’m assuming was the first one. I saw you roll from your side on your arm all the way onto your stomach, but you were SO excited when you got all the way over. You pushed fully half your little body up off the floor on your arms and had the biggest drooly smile on your mouth I’ve ever seen. So I flipped you back onto your back and repositioned you in the middle of your blankets on the play mats, then just waited. Sure enough, a few minutes later you squiggled around, did a couple back arches, then rolled completely onto your tummy yet again. Followed by the same ecstatic baby grin and wiggles. I love it! Then I heard you grunting and squirming around in your bed when I put you down for the night, trying to master your new skill. You couldn’t quite get all the way over in there, though, and you finally passed out kind of on your side with your arms above your head and across your face. You were so proud of yourself! And so was I!
You also ate about an entire baby food container of sweet potatoes for dinner tonight, so I really hope that helps keep you full and sleeping better tonight. Last night was an improvement – I didn’t feed you all night until 5:07 this morning, just giving you a pacifier and soothing you to quiet when you would stir and get fussy throughout the night. However, I was still out of bed doing that at least a handful of times, if not more, so we REALLY need to work on getting those down. But the no eating all night was encouraging – I knew you could do that, as you have done it before. Now I’ll just make sure to keep that pattern of no night feeding going, and hopefully the stirrings/wakings will just naturally subside on their own. I hope. Maybe soon? Who knows.
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November 8, 2015
We have a tooth! And you are definitely not a fan. It’s your front lower right one, and I just saw it poking right up to the surface this afternoon when you were in the highchair to eat your lunch (which you didn’t want to eat at all). I had a feeling one was coming soon – you’ve been doing the little chewing mouth, you’ve been chewing on your tongue, and just today you seemed very sleepy and fussy. So I pulled your lower lip down to have a peek, as I’ve done a number of times lately, and sure enough, there was that little white line hovering just below the surface. I don’t know if rubbing against the spoon when you ate helped it break through a little, but after lunch I rubbed a little Orajel on it while you were on the changing table and I could definitely feel it. So could Daddy. Then you were really cranky tonight after dinner (which you did eat), so I gave you a dose of infant ibuprofen about an hour before bed. Hopefully it helps you sleep tonight.
Last night you surprised me – you woke around 5:30 this morning, which is normal right now, but instead of feeding you and putting you back down since it’s the weekend, I just gave you the pacifier to see if I could get you to wait just a few minutes longer to get closer to 6:00. The next time I woke up, it was 7:45! So you went over 12 hours without eating last night. You still fuss during the night and need the pacifier for soothing, but that long of a stretch overnight with no feedings is encouraging.
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November 12, 2015
We might be making progress on this sleeping through the night business. You’ve been going to bed so early (some nights as early as 6:00ish), which I don’t like because I assume it just means you’ll be up that many more times during the night, but you’re so sleepy. I’ll just chalk it up to a lot of new stuff going on in that little body – rolling, teeth, food. So anyway. Last night you went to bed between 6:30-7:00, and I didn’t hear you fuss until 4 a.m.! That was awesome. Then you didn’t wake until close to 6:00 this morning, by which time I was already up, so I just brought you into the bathroom with me while I finished getting ready. You’ve already squawked a couple times tonight so far, though, so who knows. At least I know you won’t be eating during night when you wake anymore, so taking you out of your crib isn’t even an option.
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November 13, 2015
Tooth #2 has arrived! Front bottom left, right next to his brother. And you don’t like him either. Hopefully now that it’s breaking through your pain will subside. Tonight you could barely take any bites of your oatmeal – I think maybe the spoon was hurting your gums. It was another early to bed night, too, with you going down just after 6:00. We’ll see how this one goes.
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November 30, 2015
Happy 6 month birthday, sweet boy! You are smilier than ever, and I swear you are just days from crawling. You barrel roll all over the floor, and you push up on your arms and scoot yourself backwards. I’m pretty sure Lana did that same thing shortly before she started crawling. Look out! We just got home last night from your first Thanksgiving celebration with my family, and you had so much fun. You loved seeing your other little baby cousins and playing on the floors with them. Yesterday at Grandma’s house, you and Amalie were lying on your stomachs on a quilt in the living room just laughing at each other. So cute!
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December 9, 2015
Why, oh why, won’t you sleep, lovebug?!?!? Ugh. The past 2 nights I’ve tried finally letting you cry when you wake up during the night. 2 nights ago it worked – it took a long time both times, but you did manage to put yourself back to sleep. Last night it didn’t work at all. You screamed and cried for a full hour before I finally got up and gave you your pacifier, primarily because I had to get up to go to the bathroom anyway. Cut it out already.
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December 10, 2015
First finger foods. The doctor said you could go ahead and have Cheerios, so we gave them a shot. Not so good. They are too hard for you to manage with those 2 tiny half teeth on the bottom. So Daddy got you puffs this afternoon and those worked much better. You can easily mush and swallow those. You don’t really know how to get them from your hand into your mouth, though, without dropping them into your bib or in your seat. And when you do manage to get them in your mouth, they usually come right back out on your tongue. At least it’s a start.
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December 11, 2015
Ok, the not sleeping at night is getting to be too much. I’m trying a new food routine – nurse for first feeding in the morning, nurse for mid-morning feeding, 5 oz.-ish bottle of breastmilk plus solids at lunch, 4-6 oz. bottle of formula mid-afternoon after nap, larger serving(s) of solids at dinner, 6 oz. bottle of formula at bedtime. I’m going to shove you full of food to see if that helps keep you quiet all night. I put a little humidifier next to your pack n play bed today too, in the hopes that maybe you won’t wake up screaming if your throat isn’t so dry in the middle of the night. We’ll see. I might simply be grasping at straws at this point, but I’m getting desperate here. And turning into a zombie.
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December 16, 2015
Kid, you’re killing me. Why will you not sleep at night?? After I started your new feeding pattern/combo last week you did great – 2 nights in a row of sleeping from bedtime (between 6-7 p.m.) until morning (5:15-5:30 a.m.). So I thought we were getting somewhere. But the past 2 nights have been back to terrible. Last night you at least got yourself back to sleep after almost an hour of fussing around. You never started your full-on continuous screaming, so I didn’t bother touching you, giving you a little bottle of water, or even getting out of bed, which are my normal tricks to get you back to sleep. I just reached over the edge of your bed (I turned it around so your head is close to my side of the bed, but you can’t see me over the changing pad that’s folded over on top of the side of your bed) and put your pacifier back in, and I could tell you were crying and fussing with it still in your mouth. So I just stayed in bed and you eventually quieted, then made it until 6 a.m. before I fed you. But damn, could you please grow out of this already?!?
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December 31, 2015
Happy 7 month birthday, little one! I can’t believe we’re already ringing in a new year with you!