You still don’t like your robot friend, SkyNet. You’re becoming more vocal about your opinions on everything. Right before you pushed SkyNet over on his face, you told him ‘No’! It was really funny.
So you’re officially too big for 12 month clothes… and it seems like only yesterday we stared buying you 12 month clothes. Your eye has gotten a little worse, but we expected that. It doesn’t seem to bother you or slow you down!
Yesterday was an odd one. You were exhausted for most of the afternoon, taking a 3 hour nap at school and sleeping for an hour at home. Then, it was like you got your second wind. I played with you, dad played with you, you played in your jumper (which you’re taller than already), and you played on the floor. FINALLY, you went to be around 8pm. I don’t like this staying-up-past-your-bedtime stuff!
You had your 4 month checkup today. Guess what, you’re huge! Well, you’re tall and skinny; quite svelte as far as babies go. You’re 27.5 inches long/tall and 17.12 pounds, which puts you at >99% for height and 88% for weight. You’re perfectly healthy, and the doctor said that your congestion should get better once you sit up more. Your head should start to round out in the back since you’re starting to sleep more on your tummy. He wants us to work on sitting and baby proofing the house.
You got shots today, too. Your second set of boosters. You took them like a champ and didn’t run a fever at all. You weren’t fussy at school, but you didn’t eat very much. Doctor said no more eating in the middle of the night, and I’m not supposed to rush to your bedside when you fuss in the night. That will take some training on my part!
Well, dad did great at his golf tournament today. He and uncle Justin came in 8th place out of 35 teams!
Meanwhile, you and I had some quality snuggling time. Like, all day long. 🙂
Dad was so excited about his great finish at the tournament that he went out and got me a brand new set of clubs. The weather is supposed to be really bad tomorrow, but I’m pretty sure that we’re still going to be at Top Golf.
We finally retired all the 6 month clothes, like these cute little leggings with the fox on the butt. So now all your clothes are either 9 or 12 months…
Saturday, 12/27/14; aka date night for mom and dad. We left you with Grandma Recer and went to see the final Hobbit movie in the series. We went to the Look Theater and ran into Beck and Noreen. They have a daughter, Zara, about your age who I’m sure you’ll meet one day.
Grandma said that you were not a happy camper while she was watching you. Aunt KK even stopped by, and she wasn’t able to get you to calm down, either. Grandma said that shortly after we left for the movie, you were chewing on your hands and pacifier violently, like you were starving. Gosh, kid, it’s like we don’t feed you or something. She’s been talking to us about putting cereal in your formula, but I want to talk to the doctor about that first. Grandma finally got you to sleep around 9 and we got home shortly thereafter.
You love your new play mat. Dad and I got you the Baby Einstein play mat at Buy Buy Baby today. We figured that since you’re staying awake longer and longer between feedings, you need to be able to entertain yourself. I think it’s working!
You’re 13.2 pounds already. I think I’m developing carpel tunnel. And you’re almost too big for the size small sleep sack. I think you’re starting to learn what communication is… you’ve been cooing and shooting me these looks lately, like you know what’s going on and you have something to contribute.
Dad and I definitely have our roles established with you; he’s the protector and entertainer, and I’m the comforter and nurturer. Dad holds you and you instantly want to play, then I hold you and you want to fall asleep. Note to self: letting dad play with you right before bedtime is a bad thing.
Day 34… it’s hard to believe that you’ve been here for 34 days already! In some ways it feels like time has just flown by.. and in other ways it feels like 34 of the longest days of my life.
Fortunately, we’re sleeping better. Every night for the last week you’ve slept for at least 5.5 hours at a time. Keep it up, buddy! We increased your bottles, too. Now you’re eating about 5 ounces pretty regularly, so we’re making 6 ounce bottles. We don’t want you to waste away to nothing 🙂
When we were buying clothes for you (before you were born), we decided to get bigger clothes starting at 3 months because we knew that you would be long. We also decided to get footed outfits and onesies because your birthday is in a winter month. Well, you don’t like footed outfits. So all the cuteness that we had planned for you in the form of footed outfits is going to waste… like this gem with the raccoon on the rear end and feet. You were so much happier after I took you out of this outfit and put you in a long sleeve onesie.
Grandma Chapman came over today to get her baby fix. Dad got his new golfing irons. Since the weather was bad, we spent the night at home watching the Austrian edition of Booze Traveler. We decided that we want to live in Austria… or anywhere with pretty mountains… but that’s always been a dream.
We saw the pediatrician today. Update: you’re 23.5 inches long and 12 pounds. You’re in the still in the upper 90th percentile of all babies your age! And, you’re perfectly healthy and developing just fine. You were doing great at the appointment until you got your second HepB shot 😦 You slept most of the day after we came home from the doctor, but you were screaming and crying when you weren’t sleeping.
Once dad came home, we went to the mall and got some exercise. We had some great ideas to get your picture taken with Santa, but the line was pretty long and wasn’t moving. Dad decided that we would run some errands and come back, and then we noticed that more people were in line and it was still dragging. We even got you all dressed up cute! We’ll have to see if we can get your picture made another day 🙂 Dad doesn’t want you to miss out on this.
T’was the day before Thanksgiving, and we had a ton to do; and then the washer broke so we went appliance shopping, too.
We had such a hectic day! First we had an appointment with your pediatrician for your 2 week check. You’re still perfectly healthy; 9 lbs. 14 oz. and 23″ long. You’re in the 97% of all babies your age… not surprising. After the pediatrician, we had to go back to the hospital where you were born to have your second newborn screen performed. You were a champ with the heel stick; you didn’t cry or fuss at all. Contrastingly, you still have bad gas and cry all the time with that. Dad got some Little Remedies gas medicine that we feed to you… maybe it’s helping, but it’s hard to tell. We’re going to try switching your formula to the sensitive tummies and see how that works.
After our busy morning, we came home and started preparing Thanksgiving dinner/lunch. While we were doing that, I was taking care of you and dad was doing some laundry. Dad noticed that the washing machine had stopped, so he fixed it. Then, it happened again… and again. Our washing machine that we’ve had for the last 14 years had finally decided to die. What horrific timing; right before a huge holiday meal where we host family, and we have you now (a newborn, and you go through a lot of laundry). Dad had to wring out all the clothes in the washing machine by hand and toss them in the dryer, and then he had to empty the washing machine with a large cup. We packed you up and headed out to the home improvement stores to shop for a washer. This wasn’t exactly how we wanted to spend the night before Thanksgiving, but at least we were productive.
So kiddo, now this blog is just for you and will be addressed to you from here on out. Today was your birthday, 11/13. I have to say that your dad and i aren’t really excited about having your birthday on the 13th for the simple fact that every few years it will be a Friday the 13th… but whatever; we’ll live with it. Not like we can change it now 🙂
The events of your birth were pretty scary for me; your dad can fill you in on some details that are fuzzy for me. After having contractions consistently since 1am, we arrived at the hospital around 10:30am. I was in so much pain from the contractions that I was crying all morning. I don’t remember much about getting to the hospital and getting situated in the labor and delivery room because of the pain and crying. I can tell you for certain that we got to the room, I got hooked up to monitors, my doctor ordered some drugs, and I started to feel better. The short, short version of how you were born is simple: after a full day of drugs not working to speed up the labor process, we all (me, dad, and the doctor) decided that a cesarian would be the best option to keep everyone healthy. So, that’s what we did. You were born just a few minutes after we made that decision.
You weren’t as big as we thought you would be, but you were still pretty big. 8 lbs. 10 oz. and 22″ long. You were almost 2 feet tall at birth! The first thing I said when I saw you for the first time was, “He has a full head of hair”! Your dad and I were really hoping that you would take after him with the hair (your mom was bald until she was over 2 years old). You also had huge feet with long toes, long arms, big hands with long fingers and fingernails, dimples, blue eyes, no jaundice, and pale pink skin. You cried to prove that your lungs were healthy… and that you didn’t like the cold (of course it was freezing in the operating room). Once you were out, they stamped your feet to complete your birth certificate, they put your feet imprints on your dad’s scrubs shirt, then they took you away to the nursery to get cleaned off. Once I was back in the room and alert, the hospital staff brought you to me and I fell in love. Your dad and I were so proud to be your parents, and we gushed over you all night long! Your grandmothers were there to welcome you into the world, and so was your Aunt Karin. That’s about where my fuzziness kicks in, so Dad will have to fill you in on anything I missed.
Around the Mother 'Hood 