William – Page 7 – Peanut Smiles

William 6 Months

August 25, 2015 peanutsmiles

Dear William,

How is it possible I am writing your 6 month post? How are we already half way through your first year of life? In my mind, you’re still 3 months old and I’m shocked at what you’re capable of. This month felt like a game-changer in your development. You learned to sit up, roll over, fall asleep on your own and through the night and started baby food. You continue to be the happiest and smiliest baby ever. Seriously, when you smile, your whole face lights up and it is the best ever.

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Stats

Height

Weight

Head Circumference

Sleep

This month we bit the bullet and did some sleep training. It was a very random decision. I put you down one evening after lots of fussing and decided on the spot that we were going to sleep train you. After 20 minutes of crying, I went in, put your pacifier back in your mouth, rubbed your belly a little and walked out. You cried for another 20 minutes and then fell asleep. Then around 5, you woke up and I went and fed you and you feel asleep while eating. The next evening, you cried for 20 minutes or so. When you woke up around 4, I just let you fuss and again, after about 20 minutes you fell back asleep. I think part of your challenge with sleeping was you were on the cusp of rolling over from back to front. I would watch you on the monitor and you kept trying to roll and would get 98% of the way,give up and roll back. After 4-5 nights of this, you figured out how to roll over and would then fall asleep without crying as soon as I laid you to down. On average, we’re putting you to bed as close to 8 as possible and you sleep until 6 or 6:30. I can’t tell you what a big difference this has made in my attitude and co-coherence. I wish I would have done it weeks earlier. I feel like I can function again and am just more positive in general. Naps at home are better too. We haven’t swaddled you in a long time and you’ll fall asleep within 5 minutes of being put down and will sleep anywhere between 30 minutes and 2 hours. Although you’re able to roll onto your tummy, you usually just roll onto your side and sleep that way. Sleep at daycare is better but still a pretty questionable. You will fall asleep in your crib, but usually only sleep between 15-45 min. I think it is just too light and noisy in there and have assumed that you won’t sleep well there ever. I would love it if you surprised me though!

Eating

Eating is still great. You switch between bottles and nursing great. You’ve continued to show lots of interest in our food and over the past week or so seemed more hungry or that milk wasn’t enough for you anymore. So I dug out the highchair and mixed up some rice cereal and you loved it! You kept trying to reach for the spoon and would eagerly open your mouth for more. Because it is a glorified liquid, a lot of it fell out of your mouth and was all over your neck and bib, but you did finish the whole bowl. The following day, you tried some squash. You ate several bites and never turned it down or made a face of disgust, but didn’t seem to love it as much as the rice cereal. You’ve also had green beans, pears and bananas. Much to my surprise, two little teeth popped through your bottom gums at the very end of the month. Surprisingly, you weren’t too crabby or didn’t drool a whole lot more than normal!

Development

Two major milestones this month, both of which happened within a couple days of each other. First, you learned to sit up by yourself! Yeah! Such a game-changing milestone and new perspective of the world for you. Being able to sit up with a few toys in front of you makes you so much more content with life. Additionally, the length of time you can sit up without tumbling over has increased very quickly! The second milestone was rolling over both ways. These two milestones have mellowed you out a bit. You seem much more content with life and less of a squirming-worming whenever you’re being held. You continue to love your playmat and exersaucer. You enjoy this toy much more then Lexi ever did, but can still see through us as we often put you in there so we can get something. i.e. make dinner or clean up. Other favorite activities include peek-a-boo. You can be in a full out cry and we start to play peek-a-boo and you are all smiles and laughter. You also LOVE to be tickled, like Whoa! You’re ticklish everywhere and love to laugh. You do talk and babble, but I think Lexi overshadows you a bit in that department and it is hard to talk over all her chatter. You are definitely a mama’s boy. You’re happiest in my arms and am constantly looking for me or follow me around a room when I’m not next to you.

Other occurrences

We went to the cabin one weekend and you did a great job in the car for both rides as well as sleeping. I put you in the ergo several times and I was surprised at how well you did in it! You’re such a little cuddle bug and love to snuggle!

Big sister Lexi still adores you, but is WAY too rough with you. Most of the time she is trying to be sweet, but her ‘love pats’ turn into hits and her hugs turn into laying on top of you. Good intentions, but we need to work on the execution a bit. There are also times, when she just straight up hits and kicks you or rips things from your hands. It often feels like these moments of yelling and timeouts leave me feeling depleted and like I’m speaking to the walls as she repeatedly does that same thing over again. In the grand scheme of things, there are probably more sweet moments than naughty as she really does love you and loves to take care of you. Just yesterday you were fussing in the exersaucer while I was making dinner and she ran into the kitchen and asks where your nookie is because you are crying. There was also a thunderstorm and she gave you her giraffe so you could be brave from the thunder. Then, she was dancing and spinning her windmill around and had you laughing hysterically. These are the moments that I hope to remember and not the yelling and timeouts that often get the best of me.

Happy six months little man! We love you to pieces and can’t get enough of your big smiles, sweet laughter and ticklish little bod.

Love,

Mama

Lexi, William

Thoughts on parenting two; 6 Months in

August 25, 2015 peanutsmiles

To my two sweet peas,

Daddy and I are six months into the parenting two small children gig and life is a roller-coaster. Overall, life is great and we are so blessed to have both of you.

//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.jsLexi, you’re determination for independence is in full swing. You insist on doing everything yourself and for the most part do a pretty good job of it, it may slow us down a little, which is challenging in the game against time everyday (more on that later) but I’m amazed at how capable you are of things. As part of that independence, I’ve noticed your ‘need’ for me is less. I can easily go upstairs or outside for more than ‘a moment’ and know you’ll be just fine on your own. Just this morning, I was showering and you came into the bathroom for a second, but didn’t insist that you actually be in there next to me like you would have six months ago. In fact, I asked you and you politely said , “No thank you.” Mostly, this gets me excited as it is a great sign you’re growing and thriving, but it is also a great reminder to soak in the moments where you still do want me or my help as there will be fewer and fewer in the near future. //embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.jsWilliam, you have really turned a corner in the past week or so. Now that you can sit up, roll over and sleep through the night you just seem much more content with life. You aren’t constantly squirming in our arms when we hold you and are observant smiling little dude. You smile with your entire face and grace everyone you see with that sweet little grin.

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We love you two to pieces and wouldn’t change anything but boy can days be challenging. I have never felt so disorganized in my life. I feel like I spend all weekend cleaning and organizing from the disheveledness of the week and preparing for the next, hoping it can go a little smoother, but no matter what I do, come Monday it feels like pancakes are flying off the fans. Everyday I feel like I’m racing time. I get up at 5:15 to get myself ready before you two munchkins get up so we can be out the door around 7, but are usually getting out closer to 7:30. By the time we sit in traffic and I drop each of you off at your classrooms, park my car and walk up to my desk, it is 8:45. I have an hour at my desk before I go down and nurse William for the first time, which is usually followed by another session over lunch and then again at 4. It is hard to get work done and be focused with these distractions not to mention the meetings I have between each nursing session. After the last nursing session, I head up to my desk for another 30 minutes or so and then head back down to pick you two up for the day to be on the road by 5:30. We sit in traffic for about an hour getting home at 6:30, rush to make dinner and eat between 7 and 7:30. By then, William is starving and exhausted from not sleeping all day at daycare and goes to bed for the night. We also head upstairs with Lexi to begin your bed routine (potty, brush teeth, read two books, look at our day and you usually throw a tantrum or two into the mix) and hopefully walk out of your room by 8:00, but 8:30-9:00 is more realistic. I then shower and will either open my computer and work for a little to make up the time I missed, maybe watch a little TV, clean up the dinner dishes and be in bed by 10:30. Very often, dishes get neglected for days and I’m only motivated enough to do them because all of my pumping parts are dirty and need to be washed for the next morning. I have this constant battle with time and feel I fail at meeting every ‘deadline’ all day long. I’ve tried to be more relaxed about it, and some days I am, but that usually just means I get to work late, we eat really poor meals or Lexi gets way overtired and makes that evening even more challenging. Sigh. As challenging as the days seem, I try and remind myself that:

Life is pretty darn good when the things I’m worried about are getting to work and putting Lexi to bed at a decent time.
Things change so quickly over three to six months and this morning in the shower was a perfect example of that.

In the grand scheme of things, the challenges we’re facing today will quickly be replaced by new challenges, it is just figuring how to get through tomorrow.

For as many sweet moments we have like the photo on the left, we have just as many as the right. Take it easy on us, OK?

Love,

Mommy

William, William Monthly Updates

William 5 Months

July 25, 2015November 18, 2017 peanutsmiles

Dear William,

Five months old little buds! You are becoming such a fun and interactive little guy. Time is funny thing. In my mind, you’re still just a little baby. It blows my mind that you’re going to be six months next month and will start sitting up and eating food soon.

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Eating Nursing continues to go well. You nurse between 6 and 7 times a day; every 3 hours or so. I have no idea how much you eat each time, but my guess is between 4-5 ounces. You typically do much better in quiet environments with little distractions and rarely spit up or burp. If you do burp, it is usually 20-30 minutes later. You have started to show lots of interest in our food. You’re constantly reaching for my food or plate. I have given you little crumbs here and there and you spit them out. //embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js

Sleep

This month has been long and hard on the sleep front. You were sleeping great and even through the night about 50% of the time and then daycare started and you haven’t slept through the night since. Part of this it is from our swaddling inconsistency. We stopped swaddling at night to help transition to the lack of swaddle at daycare, but that didn’t go well, so we tried to swaddle at night. But, you got used to no swaddle and would try to break out of it while sleeping; which would wake yourself up. It felt like a lose lose situation. Then, you got sick and were waking up several times throughout the night and haven’t reverted back to your typical sleeping patterns of just waking up once or not at all. Hard times bud, hard times. Typically you go to bed between 8 and 9, wake up around midnight and 4:30. Naps very greatly between home and daycare. At home, you usually take a morning, afternoon and evening nap for 1-2 hours. At daycare, you usually only take a morning nap and we’re luck if you sleep for 30 minutes.

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Development

You discovered your toes this month. At the beginning of the month you would occasionally bring them up to your hands and by the end of the month, you were grabbing and rolling with them. When we change your diaper, you instantly bring those toes up and smile in pride that you’ve grasped them.

You haven’t figured out rolling over either way. You’re getting closer to doing so from back to tummy, but your arm still gets in the way. As a result, you often spin your body in circles all over the place. You really dislike tummy time. We are working on spending more time on your tummy but you just don’t like it. You have rolled many many times from tummy to back, but I still think it is a coincidence with the help of gravity as you never roll when you’re really ticked off.

You’re a master of reaching toys and grabbing them–particularly with your playmat and on your car seat. I love driving and hearing the little vibration from the frog that you’ve just pulled.

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You love to be held and carried around the house. I’ve tried holding you on my hip a couple times, but you’re not quite big enough and do much better being held outwards. Daddy is worried about you becoming a ‘hold-me-baby’; I like to think you’re just making up from not being with us in the day. You particularly like to be held during the witching hour, right when we get home each day, which is always challenging as I’m trying to get organized, make dinner and then get you and Lexi to bed. You wear size 3 diapers and 6 month and 9 month clothes. You still have your little bald spot on the back of your round noggin–but hair is starting to grow. Also, you hair is getting lighter by the month. Crazy to think you were born as a dark-haired little nugget. You recognize faces and light up in delight whenever you see me. You also respond to your name. When I call your name, you look up, lock eyes and smile. You’ve also started to vocalize a bit more. You love to coo and ‘talk’ to Mommy, Lexi and Daddy.

Daycare Oh William, you are adored at daycare. Mrs Laura and Mrs Heather just love your huge open-mouthed smiles. You are so good-natured and are getting more and more vocal. You need to work on your napping there though. When you do actually nap, it is usually in the swing or a bouncer and rarely transfer to the crib very well. For as a hard of a time as I had the first couple of days, I’m really loving you being there. I absolutely love being able to come down and nurse you, get in my cuddles and then not have to deal with some of the more challenging aspects like the poopy diaper blowouts and the crying. I really feel I have the best of both worlds and feel so blessed to have you in such good hands at work. On the flip side, you have pretty much been sick since you started. You caught your first cold 4 days in and it really hasn’t gone away. At the end of this month, you also got sick; had a stuffy nose, watery eyes, cough/sneeze and a fever for 3 days. //embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js

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You love to constantly move, smile, be held and have our attention. We love you to pieces William.

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William, William Monthly Updates

William Month 4

June 25, 2015 peanutsmiles

William,

Oh sweet babes, this has been a very eventful month for our family. The two most notable events include your baptism and daddy’s new job, which means the beginning of daycare for you and Lexi. I have been a roller coaster of emotions, but know it is a really good thing for all of us; we just need to get through the transition. Although I’ve felt like this for a while, I feel you’re officially out of newborn stage and into fun baby stage. We’ve learned each other’s rhythms, you aren’t quite as fragile as you used to be, aren’t having blowouts multiple times per day, go longer stretches without eating and the biggest is pretty good head control. You’re still a little bobble head from time to time, but it makes such a difference when I can carry you around upright opposed to cradled in my arm.

Sleep

Pre-daycare sleep was going pretty good. You would sleep anywhere from 6-9 hours at night and take 3 naps that usually lasted between 1.5 -2 hours. At night you were swaddled in the sleep sack with the Velcro flaps and naps were with the muslin blanket. You loved to try and sneak those arms out, which usually resulted in shorter naps, but when we got you really tight or had you lay on your hands you would pull some 2+ hour naps. Heaven!

Once daycare started sleep went to the wayside. There are a lot of noises, distractions and they can’t swaddle and you wake when you flinch from a noise. You went from sleeping 4-6 hours a day in naps to about an 1.5 total You’ll often fall asleep in the swing or in Mrs. Heather or Mrs. Laura’s arms and then be put into your crib only to wake up 10-20 minutes later. You are so exhausted by night, you’ve been going to bed around 8:30. Length of sleep changes every night. Some nights you’ll sleep until 1 or 2 or all the way to 6. It is really different every night. Hoping this next month brings us some more consistency!

One positive benefit of the lack of sleep you’ve been getting is you’re turning into more of a snuggler. You love to rest your head on my shoulder and just snuggle. I can’t help but kiss and squeeze you 700 times, especially because you’ve been a pretty independent sleeper for the past 4 months.

//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.jsEating Nursing For the most part nursing is going really well. You very from these times but for the most part, you nurse at 6:30, 10:00, 1:30, 4:30, 8:30 and 2:00. You continue to be a mover while eating, especially those little hands. You give them all sorts of exercises, as they are moving all over the place. One of the best benefits of having you in the daycare center at my work is the ability to go down and nurse instead of pumping. Two built in excuses to give you extra snuggles and cuddles everyday and not feel like a milk machine. It is amazing. I have two times scheduled on my calendar everyday and if you’re hungry before, they’ll just send me a message to let me know you’re ready. Truly, no words to describe how wonderful that is to see you multiple times throughout the day and still be able to work. We are so blessed that this all worked out so well. //embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js

//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.jsMilestones//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.jsNear the beginning of the month (June 5th) you were baptized at the same church as Lexi and where Mommy and Daddy got married. Lots of important moments and memories for our family here. I couldn’t have asked for a better celebration. You wore a family heirloom gown that is 60 years old and were the 30th baby baptized in it! You did an excellent job during the ceremony with a minor whimper and then snoozed in my arms for the rest of the service, which was all about love. Your grandparents and great grandparents, Godparents (Uncle Joe and Aunt Teresa) and Aunt Sheila were all there to help you celebrate and then came over to our house for dinner and cake.

The other major milestone that occurred this month was the beginning of daycare. Dada took a new job opportunity and when there was an opening at the daycare at work, we jumped on it. I had lots of anxiety about this transition as I knew it was going to be challenging and from my perspectives there were so many perks to him being home. But there were also a lot of challenges for him so we thought we would give it a shot. Two weeks in and you are doing great, which I had no doubts about. Mrs. Heather and Mrs. Laura adore you and love how you are just a happy little baby and can’t get enough of your big smiles. I have to agree. Your whole face lights up when you smile and your joy radiates. Truly, the best little guy! The biggest challenge for you has been sleep. You went from two 2-hour naps a day to three 20-minute naps. You have a hard time staying asleep as you flinch and wake yourself up. Fortunately, you do a pretty good job falling asleep. You are often put down in your crib awake and you’ll play and look around for 20 minutes or so, but eventually you’ll fall asleep on your own without a whole lot of whimpers or tears. You did also catch your first cold after week one. I took you to the Dr. to make sure you didn’t have an ear infection, but you looked very healthy aside from the cold. I fully anticipate a lot of sickness this year—but trying to recognize the positives of building up your immunity now verses later. And like I mentioned above, the ability to nurse and cuddle you several times throughout the day really makes me feel like I have the best of both of the stay at home mom and the working mom roles.

//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.jsDevelopment At the beginning of the month, you started reaching for toys and would successfully grab them about half of the time. By the end of the month you can grab toys at each attempt. You love to lay on your playmat and watch your star and play with toys on your car seat bar. In line with your fine motor skills, you love to take your nuk out. As soon as it goes in your little hands are up there and ready to take it out, which of course makes you upset. Learn to keep it in bud. You enjoy standing ( of course with help) You have great head control and do a good job in the Bumbo chair, but we have a feeling, you may start to squirm out of it pretty quickly You love to play peek-a-boo and it usually results in some good belly laughs. We need to do a better job of reading more books to you, but when we do, you really seem to like it You are able to roll both ways, however, I think they have been unintentional because there are a lot of instances where you are pretty upset, but don’t roll over. We also haven’t seen you roll from back to stomach, but there have been a few times where we put you on your back and come back to find you on your stomach. //embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js

Notes:

weight: 15 lbs 13.6 oz (58%)
height: 25 1/2″ (65%)
head circumference: 16 1/2″ (58%)
wear size 3 diapers and 6 month clothes with some 9 month PJs
You’re still battling some acne on each of your cheeks. Blemishes will come and go, but there never seems to be a point where there isn’t anything
Poops about once a day

We love you William!

Love,

Mama

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Lexi, William

First Day of Daycare

June 16, 2015 peanutsmiles

To my two little munchkins,

Today was your first day of daycare and you two blew away my expectations. To say I was nervous was a complete understatement. I was nervous about waking both of you up in the morning and how difficult it was going to be to get out the door. You both woke up super cheerful and were cooperative in getting ready and out the door. The drive in was a little long as there was some bad traffic due to an accident, but the carpool lane was A-Mazing and reduced our ride in by at least 15 minutes. I will gladly take that perk!

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Once we arrived to school, we dropped William off with his teachers and Lexi was very shy, just looking at the floor and hugging giraffee and not really talking, which is what made me so nervous.

Lexi, you are such a shy, sweet and timid little girl I was scared you were going to be terrified that I was leaving you alone, that you wouldn’t make any friends and would get plowed over by the more aggressive kids as I’ve seen happen at parks or with other kids. I was literally a blubbery mess all morning while dropping you off. You totally blew my socks off with how brave you were and how quickly you adjusted. Initially, you clung to my leg a little but you got comfortable really quick and were OK while I left to go check on William.

Little William, although you are my little baby, I was only worried a pinch about you. You are such a happy and content little dude, I knew the teachers would love listening to you talk and die over you huge and frequent smiles. I was a little nervous about how you would do with the sleeping as we have been swaddling you for the past 4 months and they aren’t allowed to swaddle at daycare and you can get pretty worked up if you’re over tired. Fortunately, you did great and will just need to slowly ease into the new sleeping arrangements. Also, I need to mention how awesome it is to get messages throughout the day letting me know what you’re doing and when you’re hungry and I can just come down and feed you and then head back. I’m really hoping you start to get on a more regular routine so I can block my calendar to come down and feed and not have to pump! When I came down to feed you the first time, you saw me and instantly lit up and gave me a huge smile and it was the best feeling ever. It was just the reassurance I needed after I had been a nervous and crying ball of emotions for the past 4 hours.

No exaggeration here. After I dropped you both off and went to my car, I sat and tried to make myself presentable but kept welling with tears at every thought of you two kiddos. I finally managed to walk into the office, only to well up 7 more times as I thought about you or someone asked how I was doing. Honestly, couldn’t even get words out. So I went downstairs, got a mint hot chocolate, my fav., and worked on this post until I was able to feed William.

After feeding William, I peeked on Lexi quick and she saw me and excitedly yelled, ‘MAMA!’ came over and gave me a big hug and was jumping up and down and telling me all the fun she was having, which again made me feel 1000 times better. After a quick hug, Lexi sat down for lunch waved goodbye and were as happy as could be.

Those were just the interactions and reassurance I needed to help relieve some of my anxiety and quit becoming a puddle of tears.

The end of the day was just as good. Lexi was overjoyed to see me and was bursting with energy for the rest of the evening talking about the fun things she did.

I pray that tomorrow and the next several days go as well as today did.

Love,

Mama

William, William Monthly Updates

William 3 Months

May 25, 2015 peanutsmiles

Mr. William,

Three whole months of life on this earth with us and you are a charmer. This month brought us laughter, more sleep, the beginning tendencies of a schedule and the return of work for mama.

Sleep

We’re still working on what ‘normal’ is for you as it will be similar for a couple of nights and then you’ll change it up. I lost my notes on how you were sleeping at the beginning of the month, so unfortunatly I don’t have anything to report there, but I have a feeling you really won’t care. Over the last two or weeks or so, I swaddle you, feed you and put you to bed around 11:30. You would typically wake up somewhere between 4:00 and 9:00–hows that for specific? For any of the 4-6:30 wake ups, you ate quick and went right back to bed. (We quit doing middle of the night diaper changes about a month ago). If you woke up anytime after 6:30, you would eat, change your diaper and then come downstairs and play for an hour or so and then be ready for another nap. For the past 5 nights or so, you’ve slept until 8 or 9 which has been heavenly. The 4:30 feedings were pretty difficult on work mornings, because that meant I was up for the day. One night, you even slept until 10:15 for daddy! 11 hours little bud, wahoo!

Similarly, you’re not consistent enough to have regular naps times yet. Most days you take your first nap about an hour or so after you wake up. You start to get winey and fussy and get very heavy eyed when you’re ready for a snooze. Once this happens, we typically take you upstairs swaddle you in an aden + anis muslin blanket lay you down, put your pacifier in, turn the sound machine on and close the door and you almost always fall asleep within in a minute or two. You also love to stare at your ceiling fan which helps you fall asleep. You’ll sleep somewhere between 30 minutes and an hour and 15 min or so. Occasionally, you’ll sleep for 2+ hours, which is amazing, but also very rare. You’re not a huge carseat sleeper. You will fall asleep in it, but only if it is close to your nap time and usually wake up within an hour or if we bring you in the house or change your environment (i.e. leave the car to go in a store). In addition to your morning nap you’ll also have one in the afternoon maybe around 2:00ish, another around 6:00ish and then again around 9:00ish. You almost always are put to sleep awake and are very happy when you wake. You’ll whimper a little but rarely do you have angry crys. There are occasions where you get overtired and are too fussy to be put to sleep awake, in which I’ll put a blanket around your face and then walk and bounce you, shush in your ear and hold your really tight and you’ll calm down and fall asleep within 2-5 minutes. You’re not a huge fan of the rocking chair and only fall asleep nursing before bed or middle of the night feedings. So crazy how kids are so different.

Eating

You are a fantastic eater little bud. So glad we got over that first month hump. I was honestly thinking I may not be able to breastfeed you. Before heading back to work, you ate every 2 hours on the dot–with the exception at night when you would sleep longer stretches. Upon returning to work, Daddy has been able to stretch you out to 3-4 hours between each feeding, with lots of help from sister. For bottle feedings you’re usually downing 4 to 5 ounces and take 2-3 bottles while I’m at work.

Each morning, I pump both sides before leaving and get 7-8 ounces on the right side and 2-4 ounces on the left, depending if you slept through the night or not. While at work I pump twice, once at 10:00 getting 3-4 ounces and again at 1:30 and get about 5 ounces. One thing to note is how much you move while eating. You’re constantly moving your hands and kicking and popping on and off, which makes it difficult to know if you’re done or just taking a break. You also dispise being burped. We try and burp half way through a feeding and you almost always cry and get upset that your precious food is being taken away from you.

Development and personality

You found your hands this month and love to suck on them or really anything. You continue to love your pacifier but often choose to spit it out and suck on your hands instead.

Tummytime can be a hit or miss. If you’re in a good happy mood (i.e. slept, fed and changed) you do great and love to push your self up and look around. About half of the time you’ll roll over onto your back. We’ve also started to hear little giggles escape from you. They are seriously the best! These sweet noises are usually an outcome of Lexi being in your face or us tickling you. And, oh my stars, are you ticklish, I love it! Specific spots include your belly, on your side right behind your arm, your feet, your neck and the chunky little rolls that are starting to develop on your legs. You also adore your star on your play mat and will happily just listen to the music and watch the light flash. While doing this you’ve started to reach for toys or you accidentally hit them with your reflexes–either way you’re discovering new things. On that note, daddy says you love music. You regularly listen to ‘rock in roll’ while he is working and it usually mellows you out and you just sit in your bouncer and enjoy.

Overall, you are just a happy little guy and such a good baby. Whenever you see mine or daddy’s face, you gleam in excitement and give us the biggest open-mouthed closed-eye smile. You’ll be whining and fussing and I’ll come over to check on you and give you your pacifier and you light up in delight the moment you see our face and just want to be played. Melts my heart sweet boy!

Other notes

You wear size 2 diapers and mostly 3-6 month clothes. Although, the length of the 3-6 month clothing is starting to get a little tight–especially outfits with footies.
Your name seems to be a topic of discussion among most people. We hear lots of positive remarks about what a good, strong and regal name it is, quickly followed by ‘What are you going to call him’? So far we are sticking to ‘William.’ It may change as you get older, but for now we’re calling you by your full name.
You do a great job in the bath. I’ve started to get in the bath with you as the little baby tub is just awkward. You love to lay back and float and kick your little legs.
You love your mama and seem to sense when I’m around or when I leave, and I secretly love that. You do fine with daddy and others, but I can calm you down better and faster than anyone.

Happy 3 months little guy! I miss you so much while I’m work but so happy your at home with Daddy having fun! Can’t wait to see what this next month brings us.

Love,

Mama

Day to Day, Uncategorized, William

Thoughts on the end of maternity leave round 2

May 13, 2015 peanutsmiles

Dear future self,

I have one day left before maternity leave ends and it hit me like a sack of potatoes today. Yesterday, I felt the wind up, but today I was hit. There is a part of me that is sad that these cute munchkins aren’t going to see my face in the morning, nor do I get to see theirs or smell their morning breath or hear William’s little cries or Lexi rattling our door open. I have truly adored our lazy relaxing mornings when we all snuggle in bed together and get a few more minutes to sleep while Lexi watches videos of herself. Which is followed by a leisurely breakfast and staying in pajamas until noon. And staying in pajamas until noon sounds cliche, but really, to get out of the house anytime before 11 was really challenging.

Most of what I feel is anxiety about what is too come. There is the fairly trivial questions racing through my mind at any given moment, What will our new schedule be like? Will I continue to leave the house before eyelids have lifted? Will Bill and I have 2 minutes of time for ourselves? But, a big part of that anxiety is fear. Being a working mom was challenging; how much harder is it going to be to have two? I fear the pressure to be more proactive about meal planning. I dread going back to grocery shopping with crowded aisles and picked over produce and running errands with the rest of the world on the weekends. I dread the pumping and the cleaning of the parts and the bottles and the mental checklist of making sure it is all ready for the following morning. As I type this all out and process what I’m really feeling, I guess what I fear is the constant rush of life that is about to ensue again. Evenings and weekends are consumed with prepping and planning to help make tomorrow a little bit smoother, I don’t get to just enjoy the time with Bill, Lexi and William the way I have for the past 6 weeks.

To me, it is fascinating to compare my thoughts on the end of this maternity leave from the first one. Overall, Lexi’s was fairly relaxing. She was sleeping great and because it was so cold, we spent a lot of time inside just relaxing. This time, I would describe it more as fun. That first month was rough for all, but once we got over that hump we were able to enjoy our time and do fun things. We went on lots of walks, went to MOA several times, got together with friends, played outside lots, went to parks and the zoo several times. At the end of Lexi’s leave, I was consumed by saddness and remember nearly refusing to put her down as I needed to soak up every last moment with her. I feel like I have grown so much from those days. Granted, lots of things have changed, including 3 different jobs since then. But for the first time, I feel like I have a job that I like enough that I’m kind of looking forward to going back. I’m curious to see what has happened (or hasn’t) while I’ve been out and get re-engaged into something that is bigger than contemplating the best time to make a Target run between feedings and naps.

To wrap up my thoughts, I am so grateful to be blessed with these two amazing and healthy little firecrackers that make me flutter in delight at a mere thought of them and the opportunity to even have a maternity leave. I give thanks that I have a job that pays well enough to give me this time and that I actually want to go back to. And a husband who works very unconventional and undesirable hours to watch said firecrackers, which makes me feel so much more comfortable and confident in going back to work. Lastly, as Lexi and I have been doing together every night, I prey for a smooth transition for the whole family as we embark on this next step. It is funny how I feel like I’m doing more nesting now than I did before William’s arrival. I’ve been making lists and crossing things off, ensuring the bathrooms have all been deep cleaned, everyone has clothes to wear for the next 3 months, meals are ready and available and projects are all wrapped up to make the evenings and nights as enjoyable as possible.

Cheers to my 12 week fairytale and our new reality.

Kristin

William, William Monthly Updates

William 2 Months

April 25, 2015 peanutsmiles

Dear William,

What a difference four weeks can make. This month has been so fun and much easier than your first month for all parties. You’re GI issues have gotten much better, you started smiling all of the time, sleeping for long stretches at night and are just more content. You have lost that newborn look and transitioned into a cute little baby! This has been a fun month, we celebrated Easter, went to Mall of America twice, took Lexi to the farm to see baby animals and went on many many walks.

Stats

Height: 24.5 ” 95%
Weight: 13 lbs 2.4 oz 65%
Clothes: Right around 6 weeks, 3 month outfits got too short–especially the sleepers with the feet. I still try and put you in a few 3 month outfits because they are just too cute and you only wore them once or twice, but the legs do scrunch up on you.
Diapers: We just used up our last Size 1 Diaper today, but could have easily transitioned into Size 2’s a week or two ago.

Sleep

The big kahuna of babyness and sanity for mama! Let’s tackle night time sleeping first. The first week and half of the month you would wake every 3 hours or so for a feeding and a diaper change. The longest you had ever gone was 5 hours. Then out of nowhere you slept through the night. Mind blown. But it didn’t continue… whah wha for mama. However, you did start sleeping for longer stretches, about 6 hours, every other night or so. By about 7 weeks or so, you were consistently sleeping at least 6 hours during the night for the first stretch. So depending on when I fed you last was contingent on whether you woke up during the night. Part of me liked having you fall asleep around 9 and waking up around 3 so I could go back to sleep and get a couple more hours before your sister woke up. If I fed you at midnight when Daddy and I usually went to sleep, you would wake up around 6 and by the time you were done eating, your sister was up; and those days felt long and exhausting. I digress. For the past several nights you have been going to sleep between 9 and 10 and waking up around 6:30. I’ll gladly take those 9 hours and just pray this is the new norm! I also pray in thanks for the amazing invention of swaddles. We swaddle you every night and wrap your little wiggly arms down tight like a snare drum, which I think is a huge factor in helping you sleep for long stretches at such a young age. For a couple weeks, I also had a beach towel under the terry cloth spit rag on your bed to help give you a little incline while sleeping. I’ve since removed it, but I think it helped make sleeping longer periods easier verses laying flay.

Nap time sleeping is a little more unpredictable. For about the first three weeks of the month, you would snooze between each feeding. Sometimes it was 15 minutes, other times it was an hour and a half, but on average, I would say it was about 45-50 minutes. When I read Lexi’s two month post, I was shocked to be reminded that we were putting her to sleep awake in her crib for naps. I didn’t think we started that for another two months. We have done that with you a couple of times, but most of your naps are taken in the rock-in-play. If I can, I try and put you in there when you are drowsy, turn on the vibrator, give you your pacifier and let you fall asleep by yourself. However, most of the time you fall asleep in my arms and then I put you in there to continue snoozing. You do not like to nap in our arms. I can count on one hand the amount of times you have slept in my arms for an entire nap. You’re constantly moving and trying to get comfortable; usually waking yourself up. You continue to love to be wrapped in your blanket with it touching your face to help fall asleep–and always have your pacifier. Praise the pacifier!

By the end of the month, you started to stretch out your awake time and have stayed awake for more than two hours–where you’ll actually have two feedings without sleeping between. Also, over the past couple of days, you have lengthened some of your nap times to 2+hours, which has been AMAZING as it has fallen during the same time as Lexi’s nap and given me some glorious computer time to shop, do some research on house projects, meal plan and work on this blog! I adore this time and truly feel refreshed to take on the craziness of the evening with you two hooligans, so thank you for that sweet little bud!

Eating

Eating has been going pretty darn good. It feels like you are always hungry. Rarely, in the day do you go more than 2 hours without eating. By the hour and a half mark, you start getting a little fussy and by two hours your are ravenous and refusing your pacifier. There have been several times where we are out and about and I have pushed your threshold in needing to eat. Sorry bud! You still do good with a bottle. I discovered that there were a couple of instances where I had given you a nipple with a medium flow, and that was just too fast for you. As long as you have a slow flow, you seem to do a good job taking it down. Admittedly, you do a much better job taking it from anyone but me.

Mama notes: You continue to eat off one side per feeding and seem satisfied. After letdown, you kind of pop on and off and do this silly thing where the boob is in your mouth but you move your head back and forth as if you can’t latch–it is slightly annoying, but at least you’re still eating. After a feeding, you usually give us one big burp and one small one, and about 50% of the time you’ll spit up a little milk. Exception: when you eat in the middle of the night or right before bedtime and you fall asleep nursing, you rarely burp, even though I try. This go around, I’m much more relaxed about pumping. Depending on how the night went, I may or may not pump in the morning. If I do, I’ll only pump one side and will usually get 5-6 ounces on the left side and 7-8 on the right, assuming you slept through the night. I also only pump once or twice a week in the evening before I go to bed. This mostly depends on how the day went and how full I feel. With Lexi, I pumped every night before bed for 7-8 months and don’t think I skipped one evening. Just too lazy this time around and feeling pretty good about my supply and the stash I’ve built up.

Development/Personality

Throughout the month, you’ve started smiling whenever you see faces and have the two cutest little dimples on each side. I just love how your smile is just a huge open mouth circle and your eyes nearly close. You’ve made a couple of cooing sounds here and there but so far seem to enjoy observing life. They rolling has ceased this month, which relieves me a little as it was kind of scary before. You do a great job on tummy time and have really strengthened your neck muscles and push yourself almost up to 90 degrees on a fairly regular bases. When we do tummy time, you usually last 3-5 minutes before fussing. Also, Lexi loves to do tummy time with you. She helps spread your blanket out and then goes and get hers and lays face to face with you and says ‘Good job buddy. You’re so cute,’ clearly repeating the phrases she’s heard me say.

You love your star. If you’r fussy and don’t need to eat or have your diaper changed, we’ll put you under it, which ironically is counter-intuitive to a fussy baby. Anyways, you just light up (no pun intended) and will stare at it and smile and kick and wave your hands (accidentally hitting all of the other toys hanging). One evening you were happy and content there for over a half an hour while I was making dinner. It was fabulous.

You continue to do will in your car seat, although you don’t seem to sleep in it as much as Lexi did. You usually wake up when we bring you in from the car. You still have a good amount of hair, but it is falling out–especially on top. You have a little case of cradle cap. It is mostly just little white dry patches on the top half of your head. You love the bath and are always smiling and do great when i poor water over your face. You haven’t been a huge fan of the swing. There have been a couple of instances where you’ve been content in it for more than 10 minutes, but usually, you start crying at the 5-10 minute mark.

You definitely recognize me. Daddy thinks you prefer me, I think I just do a better job at soothing you the way you prefer 🙂

You love to go for walks and often are awake for them. You also do really well in the Ergo. It is kind of ‘if all else fails, I know you’ll fall asleep and be content in the Ergo.’ This is really a life saver for me to keep you and Lexi happy at the same time–especially if I’m making dinner and you both need me.

Big Sister

Lexi loves you more and more everyday. She is doing a much better job of giving your your space and adjusting to the lack of attention she gets. She still continues to love to say ‘He’s wooking at you’ and is beam of sunshine when she sees you in the morning. I also just love how she repeats the phrases that I say and is all Mama Lexi to you. She’ll be eating breakfast in the morning and you’ll start to fuss on the monitor and she’ll yell up to you, as if you could hear her, ‘Buddy, it’s ok, mama will be right there.’ Mama is with Lexi right now’ Seriously is so sweet!

I have about 3.5 weeks left before I head back to work and the weather is supposed to be very nice so I’m looking forward to more fun activities and seeing more of your little personality shine.

Love,

Mama

William

Sleeping through the night baby 2

April 4, 2015 peanutsmiles

Dear William,

Out of nowhere, you slept through the night for the first time last night. Jaw dropped! You just turned 5 weeks a two days ago. I’m sure it was a total fluke because you have come nowhere near sleeping through the night any other night. For the previous couple of nights you would eat between 8 and 9 pm sleep in the rock and play downstairs while Daddy and I watched TV and hung out. Around midnight, you eat and be changed again where we would then swaddle you and put you in your crib. You would wake up again between 3 and 4 am for a feeding and a change and then again around 7.

You can imagine my surprise when you slept from 10 pm (your feeding was at 9:30 pm) to 7:30! Ten glorious hours! Of course, I didn’t sleep through the night and was up a lot checking on you to make sure you were still breathing (thank goodness for monitors to hear your little grunts to know things were A-O-K) and some engorgement. Of course, this conveniently happened when Lexi was overnight with Grandma. I was looking forward to sleeping in and not having to worry about getting up early with her after I had been up all night with you. I’ll still have part of that, but here I am at 7:15 am capturing this milestone, waiting for you to get up, and thinking it will be any minute and it doesn’t make sense to go back to sleep (even though I’ve been waiting and sort of awake for the past 5 hours).

Again, I’m sure this was a complete fluke and won’t happen again for another 6 months, but at least I know it is possible 🙂

Love,

Mama

William, William Monthly Updates

William 1 Month

March 25, 2015January 23, 2019 peanutsmiles

Dear William,

It is hard for me to believe that 4 weeks ago Daddy and I were heading to the hospital to meet you. It feels like forever ago, yet in my mind it still feels like you’re a couple of days old. This past month has been a mix of emotions for mommy. I have these moments where I’m bursting with joy and bring myself to tears staring at you and thanking God for blessing us with this perfect little boy. Then, I have these moments where I just want to cry because I don’t have enough arms to take care of you and your sister and question myself over and over. You’re eating and your sister needs to go to the bathroom and I have to choose–Do I stop; make you angry and cover yourself and myself in sticky breast milk or take the chance of Lexi not being able to hold it and pee her pants? Then I worry; Am I not holding you enough? It feels like I’m always putting you down once you’ve fallen asleep so I can do something for Lexi or get something else done (like write this letter) instead of just enjoying you and not worrying about the messy tornado the house has become or making dinner. Then, I worry; Am I holding you too much and creating bad habits and you’re not going to be able to sleep by yourself? Both thoughts are complete contradictions of one other, but honest thoughts. For now, I’m blaming it on the swing of hormones my body is going through and hoping that I’m not going crazy! Overall, taking care of two is so much harder than I ever imagined.

One month stats:

10 lbs .5 oz (56.2%)
22″ long (81%)
15 in head circumference (85%)

Overall, eating is going well. Once my milk stabilized (around 10 days), I felt much more in control and you were able to latch much better. Frequency of eating is all over the board. If I had to guess, I would say you eat every 3 hours or so. Occasionally, you’ll go 5 hours if you fall into a deep sleep. Around 2.5 weeks you started giving us longer night stretches. Most nights you eat around 9, 1:30 and then again around 7. Of course, there are nights where you wake more often than this, but there have been several nights where this is the ‘schedule’. Also around the 2.5 week timeframe, you started showing some signs of intense gassiness. You scrunch up your face turn bright red and cry and squirm for 30 seconds or so and then go completely calm.

This continues to occur almost all day and prevents you from falling into a deep sleep. You’ll sleep for 30 to 45 minute stretches but then wake yourself with these gas pains. It is so hard to watch you experience these as you’re clearly in pain and discomfort but there is nothing that we can do to help. At 3 weeks, we took you to the doctor to see if there was anything we could do or give you. They suggested some gas drops, but they didn’t really work. We also had tried prune juice in a bottle, which helped you poop but didn’t take away the gassiness and fussiness. (By the way, you take a bottle like a champ!) One thing the lactation consultant suggested that did help was to have me recline way back or nearly lay down during let down. It comes out pretty strong and quickly so you you were making lots of gulping noises and you would choke on the milk, which then would also spray all over your face when you pulled off. The gassiness is still there, but you seem to do a much better job eating when you can control the let down. You’re still eating on just one side per feeding and do a great job of latching on and off. Within the last two days, I feel like the gassiness has gotten better. You still have it and wince and cry in pain, but you don’t seem to be in as much pain and it isn’t lasting all day. Additionally, you seem to have some results of all your pushing and grunting as now we’re hearing toots and seeing you poop as a result.

Speaking of poop–you like to do it frequently and like to have your diaper changed immediately. I would say you poop 6-8 times between the hours of 7 am and 2 pm. We are going through a ton of diapers (you switched from newborns at about week 3 to size 1s).

Back to the gas, I’ve removed dairy and caffeine from my diet to see if either of those things are triggers for you. They weren’t, thank God! I was willing to try anything to help you get some relief, but no dairy for me was terrible. Milk or cheese is in nearly every recipe that I have and is a big part of my diet.

Today at the doctor for your 1 month checkup–they gave us a prescription for reflux to see if that may be causing the fussiness. You rarely spit up, but I do hear a lot of noises so you may be spitting up and swallowing it again?! We shall see! After your done eating, I try and lay you flat on my legs to get your stomach to settle and then either put you on my shoulder or have you sit up to burp. You usually give me one good burp.

Other interesting notes:

You have the scrawniest little frog legs ever. You love to kick (especially during diaper changes) and push off things with your long little string bean legs. No chubby thighs for you!
You love to keep your hands right by your face (also evidenced by your ultrasound pics)

IMG_4602-1

Your wearing 3 month clothes (you never fit into newborn clothes)
Around the 1 week mark, the baby acne came in full force and it is still pretty intense. Hopefully it starts to get better in the next couple of weeks. However, the rest of your skin is silky and smooth and I love to run my hands on it. Your wrinkly old man hands and feet went about just after week 1.
You love to cuddle and be held–especially with a soft blanket wrapped around your head. If you’re really upset, I’ll wrap a blanket around you hold you really tight and close to me and bounce up and down and it usually calms you down and puts you right to sleep. You also do really well hanging out in the Ergo. It almost always puts your to sleep and I love feeling your fast little breaths on my chest.
I think you might love your pacifier more than me. Seriously. You really really like to sooth yourself with it. And Lexi really likes to take it from you. If it falls out of your mouth you squirm and arch your back to try and reach it. You’ve even rolled over because you were squirming so much!
Around week 2 we had you start sleeping in your bedroom. We were switching between the rock and play and the crib and swaddling and not swaddling trying to figure out what worked best to have you sleep the longest. Around week 3, we started swaddling you and having you sleep in the crib every night. You were a little resistant at first, but I think it has been helping you sleep for longer stretches.
Around 3 weeks, you started to smile at us. Those gummy grins are far and few between, but they have made a couple of appearances.

Your big sister Lexi adores you. She is constantly asking where ‘Buddy’ is and telling us she wants to see you. She loves to give you kisses and hugs (honestly, like 10 or more a day). She also loves to put herself right in your line of sight and announce, ‘He’s wooking at you’. This is especially true during diaper changes. She literally gets right up in your face so your noses are touching. She has started to act out a little. I’m sure part of it is from her being 2 and the other part from the lack of attention she’s getting. She’ll often tell me that you aren’t hungry when your crying or that you don’t need to be burped but she needs me to color with her.

I’m not sure what we’re going to call you yet. William? Will? I don’t know. For now, it is just William, but am hoping as your little personality starts to shine, we’ll have a better sense of what suits you best.

Well there you have it Mr. William. Your first month captured in way more detail than you probably ever cared to know. The most important thing we want you to know is how much your Daddy and I love you. We are so excited to watch you grow into your own little person and help teach you and guide you along in this crazy life.

Love,

Mama