Wednesday, April 30, 2008

7.5 hours!!!

Apparently my dire predictions of sleeplessness were for naught. JJ slept 7.5 hours - and I had to wake him up just now because I'm not entirely sure he's supposed to. I mean, if he sleeps much longer, he'll "miss" a feeding. Not something I thought I'd have to worry about. I guess I better call the pediatrician to see how long is too long. It would be really cool if he says "let him sleep"!!! (fingers and toes crossed)

Tuesday, April 29, 2008

First full day at day care

Well, today was JJs first full day at daycare (we have him in our company's daycare 2 days a week) Since it's onsite, I have them call me when he's hungry so I can go down and nurse and have given them a frozen breast milk bottle in case I'm on a customer call/meeting/etc. as an emergency backup

He seemed to like the lady at the center just fine, but he absolutely *refused* to nap the whole time! He's on the sleep,eat, play repeat schedule, and I would feed him, then play with him a bit, hand him off to the caregiver, go back to work, and when I would check on him again, he would've slept for maybe 30 minutes or not at all. He took two 30 minute naps during the whole 8 hours. Everything I've read says that if he doesn't get enough sleep during the day, he'll have a hard time staying asleep at night. We're doomed.

First day back at work

You know, it feels like I never left. More or less, the same projects to work on in more or less the same state. Sigh. It's kinda weird not being at home - I'd gotten a nice routine down with the baby and household chores. I also got used to staying at home all the time - this is the longest amount of time I've been out of the house since JJ got here! I think that, all things being equal, I wish I could take a year off, instead of 3 months. But, you do what ya gotta do.

Wednesday, April 23, 2008

squealing and laughing

JJ started really laughing this weekend! John was making faces at him and he was squealing and laughing like it was the funniest thing he'd ever seen (come to think of it, he's only 3 months old, so it probably IS the funniest thing he's ever seen - it's not like he's a big Monty Python fan yet). What a great laugh!!

Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Airing ourselves out

Well, this is my last week before I'm back at work so I thought I'd venture out with JJ and meet Angela for lunch at the local Rice Boxx. I was having trouble getting JJ to nap and had hoped it would help (for some babies it's the car, for my little social butterfly, it's a noisy restaraunt, go figure). We had a great time having a little lunch then going for coffee at Starbuck's. Not much luck on the nap though - maybe I should've gone to PF Chang's!

Monday, April 21, 2008

Alternate, detatched delivery system

Someone recently posted on the Babyfit message board about what to tell people when they ask if you are breast feeding when you are pumping and giving a bottle. First - what a bizarre thing that anyone would ask you that in the first place (she said she was getting the question from total strangers - how wierd is that?!?!). So, I suggested she tell them she's using an alternate detatched delivery system with original source material :)

The fallacy behind "sleep when the baby sleeps"

Hah! The most common, most accurate, and most impossible to follow advice given to new parents - "sleep when the baby sleeps" Seems like sound advice when you realize babies sleep like 14 hours a day. Naturally, there's the inclination to finally get something other than diaper changes, feeding, brping, playing, and attempting to figure out what's wrong now - but that's not the biggest problem with this advice. No, the biggest problem s that the little booger only sleeps an hour at a time most times! I don't know about you, but it takes me a good15-20 minutes to drop off to sleep - longer if I'm wound up. By the time I'm actually getting into deep sleep, the baby wakes up again. And I feel worse than if I'd just stayed awake! Ugh.

Sunday, April 20, 2008

Ah, sweet elusive sleep...

Ah, for a night with more than 3 hours in a row of sleep... here we are at the 3am feeding again, and I am hoping he'll go back to sleep easily as soon as he finishes. I read the other day that babies have a different sleep cycle than adults - only 60 minutes with 20 minutes being in the "light, easily woken" stage. It's a survival thing, apparently - because they have such tiny tummies, they need to wake up whenever they're hungry (which for JJ seems like all the time - he is such a bottomless pit!). If they slept too deeply for very long, they might not get the nutrition they need. One more interesting factoid in the strangeness that is baby...

I've moved my computer to my bedside table so I can work online for these middle of the night sessions - might as well make use of the time, since I'm up! (besides, I'm out of trashy novels and my comprehension level for school texts at 3am is, shall we say, less than ideal ;) )

Saturday, April 12, 2008

smiling around his pacifier

Under the category of "too cute" - JJ will be sucking away at his pacifier when I'll catch his eye. He's so pleased to see me he'll get his big goofy grin around his pacifier! I've got to try to get a pic of it...

Speaking of pacifiers, those things are great. JJ has a *really* strong need to suck, and they do a great job of helping him stay calm and happy. He tries to suck on his little fists and fingers, but is a) a little to enthusiastic about it and b) not sufficiently coordinated. As a result, he often ends up accidentally gagging himself when he shoves his fist too far down his own throat. On the other hand, he may simply be training for a career as a sword swallower!

Thursday, April 10, 2008

How to wake a sleeping baby

Babies (at least ours) seem to be able to sleep through all sorts of things: being moved around, major construction, house cleaning, and other loud noisy things that would wake the average adult. However, there are some very specific things that will guarantee the baby will wake up.
To wake your baby:

1) Put him in his crib (baby will fall asleep anywhere but will wake up as soon as you try to put him some place safe and convenient)
2) Contemplate having sex (baby will wake up while you are undressing)
3) Take a shower (baby will wake up while you are washing your hair)
4) Eat. (baby will wake after you have prepared food, plated it, and sat down with a cold drink - but before you actually take a bite)
5) Watch a movie (baby will wake in the middle of any important dialog or complex plot development)
6) Make a phone call. (if you made the call, baby will wake when the person on the other end picks up. if you answered the phone, baby will wake when the person on the other end finished the pleasantries and is about to tell you why he/she called.)

Monday, April 7, 2008

2 month appointment

JJ is now 22 inches, 10lbs, 11 oz.

He got his 2 month immunizations - 4 shots, 2 in each thigh. I did a lot of research on giving him the shots and decided that the benefits outweighed the risks for him. He'll be attending daycare a couple of days a week and has no counterindications, healthwise or from a hereditary standpoint. He took it pretty well - he's napping since he doesn't feel good. A little infant Tylenol seemed to help quite a bit.

Friday, April 4, 2008

Breastfeeding Soapbox

BFing is certainly more time consuming and challenging and emotionally charged than I imagined! I still remember the frstration and pain as we struggled to get a good latch, the wracking sobs while the doc told us we had to supplement for the first 2 weeks because my milk was slow to come in... Feeling like a failure and at the same time feeling angry because everyone at the hospital had pushed so hard (each with a different opinion) and I had suffered through a lot of pain and then being told I still had to supplement....

Things are working great now (we've made it 2 1/2 weeks with no formula as of today), but tomorrow it could all change. 2 days ago, JJ went from feeding every 3 hours to feeding every hour. Who knows what will be next?

I applaud each and every one who has tried, regardless of the results. We are having to learn a skill that is more art than science while dealing with sleep deprivation and the guilt from the well-meaning "armchair boobs"( who may or may not have experience or even the right equipment) around us telling us that we're not "doing it right." It is ironic that our culture today is all about "breast is best" while at the same time not providing the necessary environment to make it easy. I mean, for goodness sakes, there's a whole PROFESSION in telling women how to breast feed (enter lactation consultants). What does it say about our culture that such a profession is necessary?!?! And believe me, it is very necessary - it is a rare and fortunate mom in today's US that has the childhood and adolescent exposure to this art form such that it is second nature rather than a strange and some what foriegn concept. Yet, we are quick to judge and hand out guilt to those poor mothers who can't for whatever reason, manage to learn to do this.

Wednesday, April 2, 2008

Blow out!

May I just say ewwwwww... we had our first blow out. Or as my sister would say, an "ears to ankles" poo. Poor little guy. He was just hanging out in his duck chair, minding his own business when KABOOM! He started fussing (who wouldn't?) and when I went to pick him up to check on him, he was verschmutzed with poo. It took a good 15 minutes to get it all off of him. I swear, next time I'm just putting him in the sink and hosing him down.

For anyone wondering, Pampers Swaddlers size 1 - not so good at containing the big ones...

Tuesday, April 1, 2008

PP weight -the jiggle factor

OK, so intellectually, I totally expected that my belly would be "loose" - I mean, let's face it, it's been stretched rather alot to accomodate a whole new person and accoutremonts, which have then been removed rather abruptly. However, I was not prepared from a practical standpoint about what that really meant. The jiggle factor. In recent years, I've had a little pooch, but it's never been jello like! Talk about wierd - you laugh and parts of you move independently of the rest of you - ewwwwwwwwwww!!!! I don't really mind the stretch marks or even the fact that my belly button is way bigger (another "who'd've thunk it" thing). But the jiggling...that's just plain freaky. I'm so glad breast feeding is supposed to help tighten that up! I'm going to end up being the crunch queen with this type of motivation.