Anora's 2 Month Check Up

She'll be 12 weeks old next week, so I thought I'd better get around to posting her 2 month check up... you can tell she's child #3!

Her 2 month stats:

Weight: 10lb 9oz (50%)
Height: 22 1/4 inches (50%)
HC: 38cm (40%)

She's got blue eyes so far and they seem to be getting lighter, so maybe they'll stay, but we won't know for several months yet. She's eating every 3 - 3 1/2 hours during the day and going 8 - 9 hours at night time.

It's a good thing she's been sleeping so well at night because her day time naps (up until about a week ago) were not going well at all. She'd sleep for 30 minutes to an hour and then wake up screaming. I'd usually get a few burps out, but then she'd have a hard time putting herself back to sleep.

We tried everything from propping her up for 30 minutes to an hour before we laid her down. Laying her on her side for naps. Letting her nap in the swing. Letting her nap in the wrap. What finally seems to be doing the trick is a combination of me cutting back on my dairy intake (I've been drinking almond milk instead of cow's milk) and consistently giving her Gripe Water and gas drops before her feedings. I also give another dose of gas drops right before I put her down for her naps. She can usually make it the full 1 1/2 to 2 hours for her naps, but sometimes wakes up early and I have to burp her, but then she'll go right back to sleep.

This past week we have been trying to give her a bottle more consistently as well. She seemed to take to the bottle really well around 6 weeks old, but then we didn't offer it enough for her to continue to take it, so it's been a challenge. In fact, Colin and I had a date night this past week to celebrate our anniversary and decided we needed to come back in the middle of it to nurse Anora, so that the babysitter didn't have to battle it out. I've given her a bottle once a day for the past three days and so far it gets better each time. I'm hoping that if we continue she'll be able to take the bottle easily for a babysitter in the future.

We had the chance to travel with Anora when we went to Colorado for a house hunting trip. She did great except for the fact that she does not like to nap in her car seat. Honestly she hadn't spent very much time in her car seat until then because we only have one car and I hardly get to use it because goes to work so early. I'm hoping she'll out grow that with age, but we'll see I guess.

Her personality is so sweet. She smiles with her whole body and loves to "talk" to anyone who will listen when she's awake. She has yet to giggle, but smiles all the time. She's such a doll. I love her curly little eyelashes ... we're all smitten with her and lover her more and more each day.

Anora: One Month

Anora's one month check up went well. Despite the fact that plans changed at the last minute and I ended up taking all of the kids with me to the appointment. Normally that wouldn't be a big deal if it was a 10 minute drive to the office, but it's a 45 minute drive so we ended up making an afternoon of it. Anyway, that's a later post perhaps.


Stats:
9lb 5oz (50% - I'm not used to an average sized kid at this age)
21 1/2 inches (70%)
37cm HC (50%)

Dr. Macias said that everything looks great. I asked about vitamin D and iron supplements for her and he said I didn't need to start those right now. I let him know that she slept 6 hours a couple of times at night and he said that she's gaining weight just fine and to let her sleep as long as she'd like at night, but continue 3 hour feedings during the day.

Anora has been fairly easy so far. She fell into a sleep, eat, awake routine pretty naturally which is great! She prefers to sleep on her side and she likes to fall asleep with her pacifier, but spits it out when she's almost asleep most of the time.

From day one she was a great eater and I hardly had any latching issues with her. As a result, she went longer between feedings right away (2 1/2 - 3hrs during the day and 3 1/2 - 4 1/2hours at night). That was great EXCEPT it made my engorgement period more difficult and I ended up with Mastitis. NOT FUN! If you don't know what that is, it's a breast infection caused by clogged milk ducts and the symptoms are high fevers, some breast pain (some women have pain while nursing, but I didn't) and flu-like symptoms (body aches, headache, etc.) Once I was on the antibiotic for 24 hours I was 100% better.

Last night (at 5 weeks old) she slept 6 hours (this is her 3rd time doing that) between feedings. Luckily her last feeding was at 9:30pm and I pretty much went to sleep right after I fed her. Yay for a good night's sleep!

Her naps during the day were not the greatest at first, but then we figured out that dairy was making her gassy so I cut down on cheeses and switched to almond milk for awhile. In a couple of weeks I'll slowly bring it back into my diet and see what happens. We also started giving her Gripe Water at night and Mylicon gas drops during the day which seemed to help a lot.

We also figured out that she does not like to be cold. I put her in a onesie, pants, socks, night gown (with little mittens over the hands) a sleepsack AND swaddle her in a blanket at night. Part of that is because I like the room a little cold while I sleep and she still sleeps in the room with us (well, sort of ... she's in our emptied out walk-in closet).

Anora is such a sweet baby. I wouldn't say that she's laid back because she definitely has to speak up if she wants something with two other little boys in house vying for my attention. Half of the time I have to wake her up for her day time feedings and half of the time she wakes up on her own. Usually she fusses herself to sleep and/or I have to put her pacifier back in a zillion times.

She's pretty easy to console when she's upset with the exception of a few times she's woken up almost in a panic in her car seat (I hope she out grows that). Jackson has mastered the "shh-shh-shh" technique, although he thinks if he does it louder it will work better. HA. He's also a HUGE help with her in the car. Micah just thinks the car seat is a toy he can play with.

Anora is smiling more, but it's not predictable or easily coaxed yet. She's also started to make some vocal coos just this week. I LOVE that stage and can't wait for her to verbalize more. I'm sure we will since her awake time during the day is getting longer each day. She's usually awake for about an hour and a half to two hours in her 3 hour feeding schedule.


She handles the attention the boys give her very well. She lets Jackson touch her hands and head without a fuss and he does it a lot. Both boys are pretty good at helping me burp her and they can usually get one out better than I can. Overall nursing her has been easier than Micah because at the time Jackson had no one else to play with and now Micah and Jackson can go off and play with each other while I feed Anora. I LOVE the fact that they play so well together.


Emotionally going from 2 to 3 has been easier than from 1 to 2 so far. Logistically I'm able to handle the scheduling of 2 to 3 better than 1 to 2 AT HOME, but when we go places it's much more difficult going from 2 to 3 than it was 1 to 2. I TRIED to take all three kids to church by myself yesterday ... WHAT WAS I THINKING?!! Next time I need to make sure I ask church family to help me with the boys (especially if I have to feed Anora in the middle of the service).

Overall, Anora has been such a delight! I'm so excited to see what kind of little girl and woman she will become.

Catch Up

It’s been awhile since I’ve written any blogs that were notes to myself about the development of my children and I have a lot of catching up to do. Here are the topics I’ll be covering in this blog: weaning, separation anxiety, naps, sleep sacks, crawling and walking.

Weaning
4 weeks before Micah turned one year old I began to drop his nursing times and replaced it with a feeding of whole milk from a sippy cup. It was nice to ease him into drinking milk and using a sippy. However, at first Micah didn’t like the sippy cup (perhaps it is too much like a bottle which he protested for several months) and we discovered that he preferred a cup with a straw. Eventually he switched to a sippy cup without a one way valve. Now he drinks from a sippy with a one way valve all by himself).

At 11 months old he was down to 4 feedings a day (8am, 12pm, 4pm, 8pm). I dropped the 4pm first because he was least interested in that feeding and my milk supply seemed lowest. We also tend to be busy around that time of day so it was convenient to drop that one first. Then I dropped the following feedings in the following order – 12pm, 8pm and 8am.

The morning feeding took a little longer to drop since my milk supply was greater for that one and a couple of times I nursed him because I was uncomfortable and he was cranky. A little after his first birthday I lost my milk supply and Micah was content drinking whole milk.

It wasn’t that long ago that I weaned Micah, but my brain has already forgotten what it’s like having to nurse every 4 hours.

Separation Anxiety
Around the time I dropped the last nursing Micah began to show signs of separation anxiety. He’d cry when I’d leave the room, cry when he encountered strangers, cry when I put him down for naps and for bedtime. I’m not sure if the weaning triggered it, but it seems logical that it might have, but then again it could just be the age.

Of course this came right at the time that I needed to leave him with relatives for a couple of days. I felt bad for my sister-in-law, but was so grateful for her patience.

There wasn’t much I could do about this stage he was going through except reassure him of my presence when appropriate and ignore it when appropriate (I had to let him “cry it out” a couple of times during his naps… luckily it never dramatically affected his night time sleep).

Towards the end of our two week trip he finally began to warm up to people he didn’t know very well and the crying/separation anxiety seemed to wane. (whew)

Sleep Sacks
When I was on vacation my sister-in-law asked me when I was planning on not using a sleep sack anymore. I really like them for when my kids are younger because it keeps them warm at night and brings me peace of mind that they are not going to get tangled up in a blanket and suffocate.

I stopped using sleep sacks with Jackson just before his 1st birthday because the weather in the Midwest was getting warmer (he’s a June baby), but with Micah (an October baby) the weather was starting to get cooler. I also had the added challenge that Micah was chewing on the collar of his sleep sack to sooth himself at night and during naps when he had teething pain.

I was a little nervous that I’d have several nights of “crying it out” when I finally took the sleep sack away, so I decided to wait until we were back home to do it. I was really surprised that when I switched him from a sleep sack to a blanket (and I transitioned cold turkey) that there were no problems at all (although I’m pretty sure he still chews on the blanket to sooth himself from time to time).

Crawling, Walking & Naps
Micah started to really crawl around 11 months and then took his first steps between 12 and 13 months. He’s almost 14 months and is still not walking consistently, but I think he’s more comfortable crawling at this point and he can crawl pretty fast.

I want to note that when he learned to crawl and walk I noticed a change in his napping habits. He’d have a hard time going to sleep and then when he did finally go to sleep he’d wake up early from his nap. I thought that he might be ready to go down to one nap, but then he was a beast and wouldn’t take ANY naps and I was NOT going to let that happen.

I switched him back to two naps and some days he sleeps great and other days he fights them. He did this both when he learned to crawl and when he learned to walk and I’m wondering if it’s all connected. I read somewhere that when babies learn new skills like crawling or rolling over that sometimes it does affect their sleep habits.

It’s just a huge transitional period for Micah right now. He really is going from baby to toddler very quickly. I’m toughing out the naps right now, but he’ll probably need to go down to one nap in the near future anyway, so I’ll just have to take that battle one day at a time for now.

Well that pretty much covers it for Micah. I need a whole other blog for Jackson who has grown leaps and bounds developmentally these days. Stay tuned for that one!

10 Months Old

I can't believe Micah is 10 months old tomorrow. I don't know why 10 months seems so old to me ... maybe it's the whole double digit thing. Anyway, here's what he's up to lately:




Yup, he's started to "crawl" (more like creep like a cute little inch worm) just this week. He is SO adorable when he does this. As soon as I can figure out how to upload video from my camera to the Internet I'll have to post a video of him creeping across the floor.

Here's his typical routine:

6:30am - Wakes up and talks to himself. Sometimes he'll go back to sleep and sometimes he'll play until I feed him.

7:30am - Nurse. I've found that he nurses much better when I keep the lights off so that he's not distracted by anything (that's also why I nurse him BEFORE Jackson wakes up).

8:00am - Breakfast, usually it's applesauce (or some sort of fruit) mixed with oatmeal (he eats both infant oatmeal and regular oatmeal now).

9:30am - Nap. He still wears a sleep sack for nap time, but doesn't use a pacifier or anything else to put himself to sleep. I usually turn out the lights and turn on the humidifier (for white noise) and cuddle/pray with him for a few seconds and then lay him down while he's still awake and leave. Sometimes he'll talk or fuss a little before he goes to sleep, but most of the time he'll fall right to sleep.

11:30am - Nurse.

12:00pm - Lunch. Usually a vegetable, a fruit, grain and some sort of protein (that can be meat, fish, eggs, beans or dairy (he's had yogurt and cottage cheese so far, but they both make him a little gassy, so I have to give him gas drops afterwards)). I've still been making some pureed baby food, but I'm definitely using the baby food grinder more often and feeding him foods that the family is eating. He also gets a cup with a straw with about 1/8 or so cup of water.

1:30pm - Nap. Usually one of his naps is 2 hours and the other is 1 1/2 hours.

3:30pm - Nurse.

5:00pm - Snack (usually cheerios while I'm fixing him supper).

5:30pm - Supper. Same type of food as lunch (although I may not do a protein). Micah has a hard time making it all the way to 6pm when the rest of us eat and if he does it's hard for me to eat while feeding him, so I tend to feed him a little bit earlier on some days.

7:30pm - Bible Story. Micah LOVES Bible story time. More than any other book we have this is the book that he whines to look at and touch every time we pull it out.

7:45pm - Nurse. I do my best not to nurse him to sleep. Obviously there are some days that that is unavoidable. Most days though it's important that he stays awake enough to at least burp ... other wise I'm up with him a couple hours later when he cries because he's gassy.

NOTE: Micah still will NOT take a bottle! So, we've decided that when Colin or a babysitter has to put him to bed we just mix about 2oz of breast milk in cereal and put 2oz of breast milk into a cup with a straw and feed it to him in his high chair before bed. It seems to be working so far since he hasn't woken up in the night when we do it that way.

Micah LOVES his brother and often mimics him in his play (screams and growls, etc.). As soon as I let him he'll play cars with Jackson ALL DAY, I just know it.

Micah has started to show an understanding of the word "No!" and I now feel comfortable that he knows when he is doing something I've asked him not to ... I say "no" and he gives me "that look" and does it anyway ... you moms know what I'm talking about right?

Discipline is just around the corner and I have swatted his hands a couple of times when he's endangering himself (pulling on cords, etc.). I'm thankful for the tender heart he has when I do (he usually cries (Jackson doesn't like that)), rather than a determined defiance ... I'm praying that sticks.

He still moans and whines a lot when he wants something, but he is getting more consistent with signing "please" (although it's on his leg instead of on his chest). We're working on it.

Jackson is getting a glimpse of a brother who will soon be able to wrestle with him and he's pretty excited about it, but I have to pull back the reigns every once in awhile when Jackson is a little too rough. Those two boys are going to be such good buddies I can tell already by the way each of them light up when the other one is in the room.

Well, I think that's all for now until I hit "Publish Post" and think of a million other things I wanted to blog about. It's the same when I leave the doctor's office too ... I think of a million and one questions after I leave. Ah well.


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FEMININE INFORMATION BELOW DO NOT READ OF YOU DON'T WANT TO KNOW
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My cycle was 41 days this month with a spike in temp on day 35, but I was not able to take my tempurature on several days because of getting up with Micah early in the morning when he was sick, so this month's predicted ovulation date may be wrong.

Growth Spurt ... Maybe?

Micah caught a cold last week, but he'd been doing really well at night time regardless of all of the congestion he was having.

We also had friends in town from Omaha on Saturday, Sunday and Monday, so Micah was out of routine for most of those days.

On Monday morning (5:00am) Micah woke up crying. I gave him some medicine and then ended up nursing him so that I wouldn't wake up our guests and he went back to sleep until around 8am. Then he did fine the rest of the day and we even went to the beach.

Tuesday morning he woke up at 4:00am and was inconsolable. I gave him medicine, gas drops and sucked out his nose and after an hour and a half of crying I could finally rock him back to sleep(I didn't nurse him this time because I didn't want to create a habit) and he slept until around 8am. I figured he has had a cold for one week now and may be battling an ear infection. His morning nap was perfect, but I had a hard time getting him to sleep for his afternoon nap although he eventually did go to sleep and slept quite awhile. When I put him to bed that night I gave him medicine and gas drops just in case.

Wednesday morning he woke up at 4:30am and again was inconsolable. I gave him medicine and gas drops but didn't suck out his nose thinking that would wake him up too much. After an hour and a half of crying I finally gave in and nursed him. He drank it ALL! As soon as he was finished he was sound asleep.

I feel TERRIBLE that he cried for that long for nothing. I could have just nursed him and put him right back to bed and we would have all been much happier today. But, in my defense, he's sick and teething and trying new foods and out of routine and I thought all of those combined were my problem.

Looking back I'm not really sure I would have done anything differently except try nursing a little sooner, but I still would have tried everything else first. (SIGH) I still feel terrible though and that's only magnified by the fact that I'm exhausted.

Well, I'm going to try to increase Micah's calories today (mix some breast milk in his food and add an extra nursing) to see if that helps tonight.

I'm still not fully convinced that it's a growth spurt, but part of me hopes that it's only that. Poor little guy.

We'll get this all straightened out soon.

Additional Note Made 8/7/09:

The day I fed Micah more calories he did sleep through the night, BUT he had a very difficult time falling asleep and I moved him to his swing where he slept all night long. I'm now almost certain that he had some sort of ear infection that would feel progressively worse throughout the day and made night times uncomfortable for him.

Last night he went to sleep well (a little fussy due to separation anxiety) and stayed asleep ALL NIGHT!! (SIGH) Let's hope this is the end of this cold.

Additional Note Made 8/8/09:

NOPE! He was up again this morning at 5:30am! Finally fell asleep again after I nursed him and put him in the swing. GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!

9 Month Check Up

My Progress: (skip this if you don't care about the feminine stuff) I started my cycle this month.

Micah's 9 month stats:

20lbs 14oz (48%)
29" (75%)
47cm HC (95%)

Micah sits up without assistance and rolls as a means of getting to where he wants to go (hence the 48% for weight). He has yet to crawl, but definitely shows an interest in it, but gets easily frustrated when he tries to. He can also clap too and would clap for several minutes at a time in his crib after he woke up when he first learned that skill.

He also has begun to master his pincer fingers and can pick up cheerios and other finger foods and feed himself. He's had the following foods so far: Yams, sweet potatoes, carrots, peas, green beans, chicken, black beans, salmon, beef, ground turkey, avocado, applesauce, papaya, banana, blueberries, peaches, apricots, tomatoes, oatmeal, rice, cheerios, watermelon and I'm sure there's more that I just can't remember. (I plan on trying egg yokes and yogurt some time in the next few weeks too, since I've gotten the go ahead from the pediatrician).

He's just starting to sign "please," but instead of rubbing his chest he'll frantically grab at his bib or pant leg. Overall his communication is whining when he wants something ... I'm looking forward to the next couple of months when HOPEFULLY he'll learn how to sign a few words. He's jabbering consonant sounds now like: dada, baba, adah (no mama yet).

He LOVES books, but mostly the mechanics of how the pages feel, turn and taste ... we're working on not putting everything in his mouth, but he's definitely in the oral stage right now. He's got two bottom teeth and I'm expecting the top two to pop through any time now.

His favorite thing to do is go for walks in the stroller. He also loves to be with his big brother. I will often find him mimicking Jackson at the dinner table or when they are playing together ... it's SO adorable.

Micah takes two naps during the day for about 2 hours each, but on Sundays he takes a shorter morning nap and then a longer afternoon nap because of church. I still put him in a sleep sack for naps and night time and he likes to suck on the collar (I hope that's not a bad habit that I'm letting happen there). He sleeps great at night (12 hours) even when he stayed at a different house without mom and dad for a couple of days.

While we were traveling without the boys I was able to see how much milk Micah drinks based on how much I pumped. He drinks about 10oz in the morning, then 6oz around lunch, 4oz after his afternoon nap and 4oz at bedtime for a total of 24oz a day.

His stranger anxiety has waned a little, but I think he's starting a little separation anxiety now too because he'll usually tolerate strangers as long as I'm right next to him. However, once he warms up to a person he does great. I was really glad that he got to spend some time with his Grandma Deb this weekend.

One year is just around the corner ... I'll blink and he'll be going off to college. I'm doing my best to every second!

8 Months Old and 3 Years Old

In order to organize my thoughts about these ages, I thought I'd write out a typical day in the life of my eight month old and three year old.

7:30am - If Micah's not already awake (which he usually is), I wake him up to feed him before Jackson wakes up because once Jackson is awake and vying for my attention Micah has lost all interest in nursing regardless of how hungry he really is. Micah nurses pretty fast now. Even in the morning when I'm pretty full he can drink everything in about 10 - 15 minutes and only needs to burp at the end of the feeding.

7:45am - I can hear the pitter-patter of Jackson's little feet as he comes running out of his room ready to start the day. He goes potty (usually he'll go all by himself, but still needs help putting his clothes back on when he's done) and I change Micah and we all head downstairs for breakfast. Of course there's usually some time to cuddle a little or read a quick book or play cars for a few minutes.

8:00am - Our breakfasts usually consist of scrambled eggs or oatmeal with some sort of fruit and a glass of milk. Micah is taking a mixture of pureed fruit (he's had applesauce, apricots and blueberries so far) and oatmeal cereal (rice tends to stop him up)about 3/4 of a tea cup full.

8:30ish - Micah plays in his saucer until he gets bored and we've picked up the toys he's dropped for the millionth time and then he rolls around on the floor. (I haven't baby proofed yet, but that time is coming VERY quickly. Luckily Jackson has been very good about keeping the big kid toys out of Micah's reach.) Jackson usually wants me to play cars with him. He sometimes drives them around on the couch or floor or makes them fly around the house, but most of the time he just wants them to talk to each other. He has quite the collection of hotwheels and pixar cars, most of which he paid for with his own money (he's now getting $3.00 a week for allowance... plus he got a bunch of birthday money).

9:30am - Micah goes down for a nap. I love how he snuggles up to me right before I lay him in bed. He's no longer taking a pacifier and whenever I give him one he treats it more like a toy than an object to sooth himself with (I can sometimes here him clanging his pacifier on his crib like a jail bird with a tin cup ... it's pretty funny). Jackson and I usually have some play time together during Micah's nap. We pull out the toys that are not safe to play with when Micah's awake like Legos and Play Doh. Some days Jackson will play by himself while I get things done, or he'll play on the computer while I take a shower. More and more Jackson wants me to play with him though and is very disappointed when I tell him I've got other responsibilities to take care of before I can play. It'll be nice when the boys can play together ... I hope.

11:30am - Micah wakes up and I nurse him. I'll usually let Jackson watch a video while I do this feeding because otherwise he's in and out of the room a lot and Micah gets too distracted. Micah LOVES Jackson and is mesmerized by him whenever he's around. Right now Jackson's favorite DVDs are "Thomas the Tank Engine" "Curious George" episodes and "Mickey Mouse and Friends." They have several short episodes on each of them (perfect for his attention span) and no "scary parts" as Jackson would say.

12:00pm - We all eat lunch. Jackson will eat just about anything. I try to serve him a variety of foods. He likes all of the regular things like hot dogs, peanut butter and jelly and chicken nuggets, but he also eats salmon, black beans, avocado, asparagus, etc. Micah usually has about 1 tea cup full of a mixture of pureed meat (so far he's just had chicken), a starch (like sweet potatoes) and a vegetable. Sometimes I'll mix in a fruit, but sometimes I'll serve the fruit in a different tea cup depending on what I'm mixing.

12:30ish - We finish lunch and play for awhile and then head upstairs to read books and get ready for naps (change diapers and go potty). If we do have the car for the day this is usually the best time for us to go to the library or store (I'll even pack a lunch for Jackson sometimes and take it with us).

1:30pm - Both boys are in bed and I get some time to blog, facebook, read, make phone calls, sleep, etc.

3:15ish - Micah talks to himself for awhile in his crib. Sometimes he'll go back to sleep and other times he'll stay awake until his next feeding.

3:30pm - Micah nurses and we have one on one time. He's figured out how to roll to where he wants to go, but he hasn't figured out how to creep yet.
He's getting there and he gets frustrated when he doesn't get or can't get what he wants. He's also starting to get frustrated when I take something away from him that he wants (particularly books).

4:00pm - Jackson wakes up groggy from his nap. He LOVES to cuddle after his nap and is usually pretty sweaty from sleeping so hard. This is probably one of my favorite times of the day. Then we all head downstairs and have a snack (all except Micah). Then we may go for a quick walk.

5:00pm - The past couple of days Jackson has befriended the girl next door. She'll be 5 in September, but they play very well together. Jackson has played at her house once and she has come over to our house a couple of times. This is the first friend that Jackson has had that I WASN'T good friends with the mom first. It was kind of weird, but a good reminder that I should be expecting that in the near future when he becomes school aged. Anyway, it's been a nice break to not feel like I have to entertain Jackson until Colin gets home. Jackson's been getting good at putting on a pouty face and saying, "but you said you would play with me Mom." Oooo ... it gets me every time. Micah's usually content enough to play by himself at this time and I can start working on supper.

6:00pm - Colin comes home and we all have supper. Micah eats with us in a high chair. I was feeding him in the Bumbo up until this week when he was insistent on bending over backwards (literally) to watch the TV (whether it was on or not) and it was very difficult to feed him that way. At the end of supper Colin and Jackson usually work on catechism or Bible memory work.

6:30pm - Micah starts getting a little fussy as bedtime approaches. He doesn't take a third nap, but he's definitely ready for bed when bedtime comes. However, he's been getting better during this time more and more every day. Jackson and Colin usually play outside while I clean up supper.

7:00pm - We get ready for bed. If they take a bath it's during this time.
After we're ready for bed we read books or play until Jackson's night light comes on at 7:30pm. Then Colin reads the Bible story. We try and get Micah to stay all the way through the Bible story, but sometimes he's just too fussy and I nurse him and put him to sleep in his own room while Colin and Jackson have one on one time.

8:00pm - Colin's already said good night to Jackson and I get some one on one time with Jackson in his room before bed. We usually talk about the day or talk about "Dis-a-neyland" (yes, Jackson STILL talks about it almost every night). I sing him one song, pray with him and say good night.

To end, here are a few of Micah and Jackson's favorite and least favorite things:

Micah's Favorite Things:

His brother.
Rolling, rolling and more rolling.
Experimenting with the sounds he can make with his mouth.
Putting anything and everything in his mouth.
Sucking on the collar of his sleep sack and or rubbing the collar on his cheek.
Playing tug of war with any fabric hanging above his head (it makes him giggle).
Going for walks in the stroller or in the wrap.

Banging, banging and more banging.

Micah's Least Favorite Things:

Vacuums
Blenders
Coffee grinders
When his brother cries.
Strangers (although he's getting much better)
Bottles

Jackson's Favorite Things:

His brother (making him laugh).
Cars, cars and cars!!
Books
Puzzles (he's mastered his 25 piece puzzles)
Legos

His Cool School computer game.
Trains (particularly Thomas although we have Geotrax toy trains).
Watching movies.
Playing outside (he pretends the lamp posts are rockets and launches to outer space)

Jackson's Least Favorite Things:

Having to stop playing to go to the bathroom.
Mr. Incredibles boss (the short guy) in the the movie "The Incredibles"
When Sully "roars" in "Monster's Inc."
Playing cars by himself.
Being stuck in a car or airplane for too long.
Getting his hair cut (although he's getting better).
Bees (but he's not at all afraid of spiders)

It's an adventure every day with my boys ... some might thinks it's kind of a boring adventure at times, but I like it ... no ... I LOVE it!

5 Months

It seems like it's been awhile since I've posted about our progress. Colin was on vacation for a week and a half so we've been traveling like crazy! It's been wonderful to visit places and see people, but it has been difficult on our routines.

Micah was doing about a three and a half hour feeding schedule with one two hour feeding towards the end of the night to keep up the five feedings and to also keep up the twelve hours of sleep he was getting at night. I also started feeding him baby oatmeal once a day at his 5 o'clock feeding. However, when we were on vacation in the Midwest Micah was not nursing well. He'd eat one side (maybe) and then nurse only a tiny bit on the other side. I attributed it to a flexible routine and him having a cold. There were a few times that he went longer than three and a half hours and he nursed MUCH better (I thought maybe he was getting ready to go on a four hour feeding schedule before we left, but I wanted to wait until we were back from vacation and in a normal routine), so I "sucked it up" and switched him to a four hour feeding schedule and added one more feeding of oatmeal at the end of our trip. I was surprised at how easily he fell into a four hour routine. Now Micah's routine looks like this (knock on wood because as soon as I write this something will change I'm sure):

7:30 nurse
9:30 nap
11:30 nurse and feed solid food
1:30 nap
3:30 nurse and feed solid food (although I'm thinking about doing solids around supper time instead, so that when he's weaned from nursing it'll be an easier transition to our meal time, but I don't want to create a habit of eating every 2 to 3 hours still)
5:30 short nap (this nap can get easily skipped if need be)
7:30 nurse and bed



Micah also started rolling from his tummy to his back pretty consistently this month and he can sit up for a few seconds without assistance. His drool output has definitely increased this month and perhaps we'll be seeing a tooth in the next little while (Jackson didn't get his first tooth until 7 months so we'll see). He's a happy little guy and although he hasn't made any consonant sounds yet he loves to jabber. He's a cuddle bug too. Sometimes if he fusses at the beginning of a nap all I have to do is cuddle with him for a few minutes and then put him back in his crib and he goes right to sleep. (By the way, I'm still swaddling him for his naps and he still takes a pacifier. For bed time, I put socks on his hands (I know it sounds silly)so that he doesn't accidentally scratch himself and to discourage him from sucking his thumb.) He's also very tender hearted when it comes to his brother ... if Jackson is crying Micah will cry too and the minute Jackson stops so does Micah.

I haven't had much Mommy and Jackson time lately due to our traveling, but Jackson has not been deprived at all (time with great-grandparents, grandparents, aunts and uncles and cousins, going to Disneyland, etc.) He's grown up so much these past couple of weeks. I LOVE watching him play with other children ... his personality begins to shine. Despite being sick with a cold at the end of our vacation Jackson has been SUCH a trouper with all of the crazy traveling we've been doing lately. I really am proud of his maturity in that regard.

My boys are growing up WAY too fast, but it's been such an honor and a blessing to watch!!

Weeks 19 & 20

Not much to report these two weeks. I've been starting to work out about two times a week for about 30 minutes of cardio and 15 - 20 mins of weight lifting, but have noticed that I need to start watching what I'm eating ... yeah I'm beginning to wonder if I'm gaining weight. I'm trying not to worry about it, but just change my lifestyle a little.

I gave Micah rice cereal at the end of week 19 because he was waking up an hour or two earlier in the mornings. The cereal helped a little, but I think it made him a little constipated. I stopped feeding the cereal to him and he was still sleeping fine. I took some stool softener to get him to poop a little more comfortably at the end of week 20 and he is doing much better. I think I'll hold off on the cereal for a couple more weeks. I wonder if my milk supply was down a little and that's why he was waking up so I pumped a little extra during week 19 and increased my fluid intake as well and things seem like they're back to normal. Micah is also taking a bottle regularly from Colin on Monday nights. YEAH! The medium flow Nuby Naturals with really warm milk is what he seems to prefer.

I'm in the process of looking for some very simple and flexible curriculum to start with Jackson. He's been in Sunday school for the past three weeks and has started a Bible verse/ Catechism memory chart. I'm impressed with how quickly he is picking up on the verses and questions. I'm even more impressed that he takes time to ask what the verses or answers mean. Anyway, he REALLY likes Mommy and Jackson time and it's obvious that he can handle a little more structured learning now, so if any of you have any suggestions for curriculum for a two year old your input would be greatly appreciated.

Week 17: A Quick One

This week was so similar to last week that I almost didn't blog it, but there are a few notes to myself that I need to make.

My progress: I ran out of my DHA supplement that my midwives suggested I take during my pregnancy and while nursing. It enhances your memory and mood. Not to mention that it's chalk full of Omega-3s which is also good for your heart as well. I did see a change in my mood this week so I quickly ordered a refill.

Micah: I finally got Micah to take a full bottle this week. I tried one bottle a day for about three or four days this week. He takes it best while I'm walking around with him. I also switched from the Evenflo bottles to the drop-in Playtex bottles. He seems to be taking the fast latex natural latch nipple well, but I'm hoping to switch him to the silicone as soon as he'll take it because I guess the more he's exposed to latex the higher risk he has of developing an allergy to latex. Anyway, I think we will continue to try and give him one bottle a week at bedtime so that he's okay with taking an occasional bottle from a babysitter.

Jackson: we have "Mommy and Jackson Time" at 10:30 almost every morning now. I'm a little bored of playing "cars" so I found a great website called Toddler Toddler that has some fun ideas for things to do with Jackson during that time. This week we made our own puzzles out of scrap pictures, we visited a virtual circus (on YouTube) and made his bedroom into a library (he had his own library card and everything). We had a couple of sunny days this week too, so being outside helped too! I'd love to hear other mom's ideas on how to entertain a toddler without just turning on a video (which is very appropriate and tempting at times, but I TRY to make it my last resort).

Week 16: CLICK

Things really seemed to click this week for all of us. I'm sure it helped that none of us are sick right now. Sunday and Monday were the most difficult days of the week because Sunday is compelety out of routine with church and Monday is spent trying to get back into the routine that was interrupted on Sunday. I remember this to be true with Jackson too up until he was even a year old. Worshiping our Lord and Savior is well worth the sacrifice of a routine though and I'm not going to change anything in that regard. I know that Micah will learn how to bounce back quicker over time.

Well, I stuck to the three hour schedule this week like I planned and things are going well. This is the first time that I really feel like we have a good routine established. For my sake and perhaps for yours I'll write down what our daily routine looks like:

7:00am - Jackson wakes up and has time with Colin before Colin goes to work.
7:30am - Micah nurses and Colin is off to work.
8:00am - Micah has awake time downstairs while Jackson and I eat breakfast.
8:45am - Micah goes down for a nap and Jackson and I get cleaned up and dressed for the day. Then we have our morning one on one play time.
10:30am - Micah nurses and Jackson has alone play time until Micah is done and then we all play together.
12:00pm - Micah goes down for a nap and Jackson and I eat lunch.
1:00pm - Jackson goes down for a nap and I get some alone play time (SIGH).
1:30pm - Micah nurses and we have one on one play time.
3:00pm - Micah goes down for a nap and I have a little time to do devotions, rest or plan supper.
4:00pm - Jackson wakes up from his nap.
4:30pm - Micah nurses.
5:30pm - I start getting supper ready.
6:00pm - Colin comes home from work and we have supper and Micah goes down for a nap.
6:30pm - Colin and Jackson have one on one play time.
7:15pm - Wake up Micah and Jackson starts to get ready for bed.
7:30pm - Bible time with Jackson and Micah.
7:45pm - Jackson in bed and Micah gets ready for bed and nurses.
8:00pm - Micah in bed.

That's pretty much how the week went this week. It gets more complicated when you add in going grocery shopping and the library, which I'm so proud that I accomplished this week as well. I was also able to clean my entire house and do all the laundry this friday too (my sister and her brother-in-law are visiting this weekend) which I haven't done since before Micah was born.

Colin and I celebrated Valentine's last night by getting a babysitter and going out to eat. I was so excited because Micah and Jackson had had a GREAT day of naps and playtime and I got cleaning done and Colin came home early from work it was a GREAT day!! We enjoyed a wonderful meal at a very nice restaurant, but the babysitter called and said that Micah wouldn't take the bottle I prepared for him. Luckily we were pretty much done with dinner and didn't sound like Micah was too fussy. So, we finished up and headed home to feed Micah. We hadn't tried giving him a bottle since he was about 10 weeks old, so I wasn't sure how he'd do with it. We were able to successfully give Jackson a bottle at least once a week, so that freed us to go on dates whenever we wanted or needed to. This will be our next goal for Micah!!

Good week all in all!!