December 2008
30 posts
Day 124
My son is four months old today. We take daily pictures of him, plus weekly photos every Wednesday and monthly photos in the 30th. Not sure what we will do in February, but so far it has worked out. Sometimes I wish I had done the daily photos with “Day 6” etc. instead of (or in addition to) “Aug 4” but it is fine.
I love celebrating all his little milestones. In...
November 2008
14 posts
Fourth Trimester and the Bronx Cheer
Tomorrow our baby will be four months old and it is clear that he has started a new stage. From 0 to 3 months he was an infant. Just eat, sleep, poop. Now he is clearly a baby. Eat, sleep, poop, interact. He smiles socially, reaches for things, examines everything with his mouth and expresses preferences. He is learning new things at an exponential rate.
His latest verbal development is the...
Making a Present for Daddy
On the biggest shopping day of the year there is a lot of talk about how the world is too commercial and homemade presents are best.
In our house, when the baby fills his diaper we say, “Oh look, he’s making a present for Daddy.”
Simple. Homemade. Maybe not from the heart exactly, but made with love. Having a baby is the best present ever, diapers and all.
Turkey Butt
Our son will be 4 months old in a couple of days. I was a week overdue and had gone to the hospital to take care of administrative stuff before my scheduled induction late in the week. My OB caught me walking in and took me for a quick ultrasound. Amniotic fluid was a little low so at 8 am Monday morning I called work to say I wouldn’t be in after all and called Zac to pack my bag and meet...
The Long-Haul Holiday
We had to get up at four in the morning to catch our flight, I have a head cold that is slowly settling in my chest and our layover in Cincinnati was as long as both flights combined, but it was worth it to come all this way just to see the baby get passed around the dinner table tonight: grandpa, grandmas, aunt, uncle, cousins. A whole family gathered together to love this little boy. Totally...
Banana breath
Baby went to the doctor today for his four-month shots. He’s only in 75th percentile for weight and 90th for height. Last visit he was 90th and 97th, respectively and I was unreasonably proud. I am not too worried about the drop this time, on the theory that it is hard to get a really accurate height on a squirmer, and chubby formula-fed babies blow the curve on weight, but the doctor pushed...
Lucky Carp
When he first latches on there is a lot of commotion. He plucks at my shirt, and his eyes move back and forth like he’s reading a newspaper. He moves his head around, sometimes rearing back to give me a look, stretching to the end of his tether and then letting go with a wet snap. His feet paddle back and forth like he’s finning around underwater. Then the activities slow down and...
Something goes in, something comes out
Our nighttime feeding schedule is usually 10 pm, 2 am and 6 am. It is not too bad because we are co-sleeping so even though I am awake I don’t have to get out of bed.
This morning he was fussy and wet, so his dad changed his diaper and jammies then I fed him in the rocking chair in his nursery. Now we are back for second breakfast. He ate like a champ, pushed out a loud poo and fell...
Shameless plug: Trameel
They say breastfed babies don’t get ear infections, which is of course not true. My son started pawing at his ear a week ago, and the next day there was an odor. He went to the doctor and got antibiotics. He went to the chiropractor and got an adjustment, and for good measure we doused him with homeopathic ear drops. Trameel drops with echinacea and that sort of thing. They seemed to do the...
TMI: The Drinking Fountain
File under the heading “Too Much Information” the fact that I have a milk pore that shoots up over my shoulder. When the baby lets go sometimes this gland is still pumping out the good stuff and it jets all over. We call it “feeding
the babies in the back of the bus.”
Tonight we went out to dinner at the home of friends and when we got home it had been three and a half...
Breastfeeding is the best diet
I put on about 40 pounds while I was pregnant. In the last 16 weeks I’ve lost 50, so I am actually 10 pounds lighter than when we concieved. My pre-pregnancy pants fit again, even though my belly is a little soggy. Need to work on some muscle tone, but overall I am feeling good. I eat whatever I want, drink massive quantities of water, and produce upwards of 24 ounces of milk a day. That...
Straight from the tap
The baby is working on the left side right now. It is his favorite. He had an ear infection last week in his right ear and it was hard for him to lay sideways to eat. Mostly I had to pump and feed him from a bottle so his head could be elevated while he ate. I am so glad he is feeling better because I missed nursing him. I love his little warm belly when he snuggles up to me. I like it when he...
LMS & Fluid Dynamics
Zac asked me what I would want to blog about. “The baby.” He is my whole life right now. And the only time I would have to blog is while I pump anyway. Multi-tasking. Making baby food with one hand and thumb typing with the other. I call the pump my liquid management system. LMS. I call feeding the baby directly “straight from the tap.” I spend a lot of time thinking of...