6 Month Check-up

Kyle had his 6 month check-up today and he checked out great! He's up to 19 lbs 11 oz and 27.5". All 3 of his percentiles (weight, length and head circumference) were within 1% of each other, around 78th%. So he is very proportionate! He had another round of shots and handled them well...I was doing "car wash" (hanging my hair over his face) and he was smiling/laughing until the needles went in, and then his little lower lip went out and he made the most devastated-sounding cry. But he only cried for about 5 seconds and then resumed his amusement with car wash.

As you can see from the above photo, Kyle loves eating "solids"...the messier the better! We have figured out how to keep things tidier since this photo was taken though. When we first started, he'd whine/fuss a little bit in between bites, like he thought we were taking it away. But he now seems to understand that, unlike Mommy or a bottle, the spoon isn't bottomless and it needs to come out of his mouth frequently to "fill up". It's cute though, instead of fussing, he now anxiously kicks his little feet around when he's waiting for his next bite :) So after a week of enjoying rice "mush", we started him on oatmeal mush yesterday (and the quiet old lady who was whispering hush). He seems to like it just as well. And the pediatrician said we can start the Stage 1 fruits and veggies after a couple days of oatmeal. Since Kyle loves this "wallpaper paste", I bet he's REALLY going to love fruits and veggies, since they'll actually have a taste to them!

And much to my disappointment, the solids haven't helped his sleep at night. He's still waking about every 3 hrs to eat :( The pediatrician asked about his sleep and his response was "well, you could let him cry for a minute or two and see if he'll fall back asleep"...a minute or two?? I let him cry for 5-10 minutes without thinking twice about it! Needless to say, I didn't tell him that we're considering trying one of those "cry it out" methods.

6 MONTHS!!

I have definitely been slacking in the blogging department recently. And I would have felt very guilty if I let Kyle's 6 month birthday pass without a post. So here it is, along with a slideshow of some recent photos. Yes, Kyle turned 6 months today. And to celebrate, we gave him his first taste of solids (instead of a birthday cake). We strapped him into his high chair and spoon-fed him some rice cereal. He seemed to like it, although it was pretty messy and I'm not sure how much he actually ate. But it's a start (and will hopefully be the start of him sleeping through the night!).

He's up to about 19 lbs (on nothing but Mommy's milk). So this means he doubled his birth weight about a week ago (at 18 lbs 10 oz). And sometime in the last couple weeks, he surpassed Benson in the weight department!

Kyle caught his first cold a couple weeks ago and had a stuffy nose for over two weeks. It was a long couple weeks because he had so much trouble nursing (and would get very frustrated), but fortunately his stuffy nose didn't turn into anything worse. I seemed to have dodged the cold but had my first experience as a "sick mommy" last Saturday. And the timing couldn't have been worse...Jared was gone for over 12 hrs at his fantasy baseball draft. I had a fever of almost 102, along with a slightly sore throat. Kyle didn't nap much for me but was a good little boy and entertained himself with his various activities while I laid around moaning/groaning on the couch. My fever was almost gone the next day and might have been caused by a VERY painful clogged milk duct (too much information?). My sore throat has somewhat lingered, especially at night but I'm basically all better.

Kyle has started doing much more babbling this last week and less "dragon sounds". He likes rolling all over the place and props himself up into the crawling position and kicks his legs like he's trying to figure out how to move. He is also very into grabbing his feet, scratching the furniture (just like Benson), and pulling my hair. I think that pretty much sums up the last couple weeks!

Fun Visit!

Kyle was treated to a visit with both his grandmas yesterday...Grammy and Nonnie. Grammy made a delicious soup, and we all had fun playing with Kyle. He still has a stuffy nose (it's been 10 days now!), but it hasn't affected his mood. And he was in the BEST mood today for some reason...extra smiley and giggly. Maybe it was because Daddy assembled his jogging stroller and he's looking forward to cruising around the neighborhood in style!

Bye Bye Mobile

Kyle's rotation of activities has lost one of its original members...his mobile. A couple weeks ago, he figured out that he could lie on his side (to extend his reach) and grab onto the animals. At first, he would only do this every couple days. But it's now at the point where he does it every time! And once he grabs on, he has a death grip and pulls and shakes it as hard as he can (this has caused the mobile to droop). Needless to say, this didn't seem very safe, so we took it down tonight. I am particularly sad about this because the mobile was my friend in the morning...once Kyle would wake up for the day, I would go in and hold him for a couple minutes, and then put him under his mobile. He'd watch it happily for at least a half hour (sometimes 45 minutes!), during which time I'd lie in bed, watch the news and ease into my day. Oh well, on the bright side, he must have really good hand-eye coordination to grab a moving, dangling object that is almost out of his reach!

The above picture was taken after his afternoon nap...after both naps today, he shimmied his way down to the mobile end of the crib and grabbed onto it (in the dark) even though it was turned off. Too bad "grab the mobile" isn't safe...I think it would be Kyle's favorite activity! And he now rolls both ways in his crib...back to tummy to fall asleep, and then tummy to back when he wakes up.

He's now had his cold for 5 days. It seems to be a little better today and I'm happy that it never progressed beyond a stuffy nose (no fever, ear infection, etc...knock on wood!). But that stuffy nose has made nursing VERY difficult! Think about it...when our nose is blocked, we can chew and breath through our mouth. But he must be "suctioned on" to eat so obviously can't breath through his mouth. I tried a bottle to see if that was any easier, but it was about the same. I'm learning that with kids, it's always going to be "something". Amazingly, I didn't catch Jared and Kyle's cold! Must be all that quality sleep I'm getting at night...

Thank You Carpenter Clan!

I had an important meeting for work this morning with some UTC "higher-ups" (including my boss who's retiring tomorrow). And since it was a Thursday, Grammy was not available to watch Kyle because she had class. But the Carpenter Clan came to the rescue!! The whole family (minus Abbydoodle) arrived a little before 9am ready to babysit. And babysit they did, for the final 10 minutes before I got home :) Yep, Kyle slept almost the entire time I was gone...from about 8:45am until 12:15! I was very happy to hear this, because I would have felt awful if he were fussy for them. Ca had me slightly fooled though when I called on my drive home and she told me how much easier it is to be an accountant than a babysitter...what a jokester that Ca is :)

I picked up a couple Pepe's pizzas on my way home, so we ate/visited until it was car nap time for Alex and Rachel. And Alex and Rachel were so cute and well-behaved...they amused themselves by building bridges out of magazines, "playing" with Benson, reading "Is Your Mama a Llama", and watching Thomas. They also told Kyle they loved him, which was very sweet and precious. Thank you, thank you, thank you Carps for helping me out today! During the peak of tax season nonetheless!

Daddy Day!!

Kyle and Jared had a special day on Monday...they spent 10 hrs alone together without Mommy!! I went to a supplier in NH, so left the house at 9am and didn't get home until 7pm. According to Daddy, they had a great day together...lots of playing and fun! The above picture was taken before I left, and they had just as big smiles on their faces when I returned. Aside from me not being there, the other variable in the day was Kyle drinking frozen milk for the first time (thawed of course). He took the bottles fine but for some reason left a little bit at the end of each one. Maybe he was saving room for the "real thing" when Mommy got home! Kyle is so lucky to have such a great daddy :)

My day away went fine. Of the 10 hrs I was gone, 5 were spent driving (listening to my iPod, so it was pretty relaxing/enjoyable), 4 auditing my supplier, and 1 hr pumping (2 sessions in my car). So it was a long day, but I got done what I needed to, and Kyle and Jared had some good father/son bonding.

The other news of the last few days is that Kyle is rolling onto his tummy basically every time he's in his crib. He usually gets hysterical and can't figure out how to roll back, so we roll him onto his back. But a couple times, he's actually fallen asleep on his tummy (and we've still rolled him back). Today, after several attempts to keep him on his back, I finally let him nap on his tummy. And he slept GREAT!! He napped for almost 4 hrs this afternoon! I checked on him twice (to make sure he was breathing!), and he woke up the 2nd time I was in there. So he might have even slept longer if I hadn't been such a paranoid mommy! This could be the start of something great...

Some Firsts...

Before I get to the "firsts", I am happy to report that Kyle slept for 4 hrs and then 6 hrs straight last night (I think). The reason I say "I think" is because the nights have become such blurs, but I'm pretty sure he slept from 1am until 7am...YIPEE!! That means I probably slept for a 5 hour chunk, which is probably my longest stretch in a couple months. I can't say I feel all that rested, but it helps psychologically knowing that I had that continuous sleep.

Onto the firsts...I woke up yesterday morning to find Kyle asleep on his tummy. This is the first time he's rolled over in the crib, so it was a little scary seeing him in that position. I had to get him up anyway, so I didn't have to decide whether to roll him onto his back. Obviously, once this becomes a regular occurrence, I'm not going to worry about it. And I'm hoping that maybe it will help him sleep longer/better!

The other first yesterday was leaving Kyle with Grammy (his first time without Jared or me), while I made my first supplier visit since last August. And I conveniently chose a supplier about five minutes from Grammy's house! So I didn't have to pump or bring milk, because I was close enough to just come home when he needed to eat. I was gone about 3.5 hrs and it went well for the first time. It was unfortunate that he hadn't pooped for a couple days, so was uncomfortable and fussier than usual. And I must say that I have a whole new appreciation for moms who do this every day. I had enough trouble getting out of the house by 9:45am, and that was having packed up the car and prepared everything the night before!! I'm sure I'd get used to it if I had to do it every day, but I am VERY thankful to be home with him.

20 Weeks!!

It's hard to believe that Kyle has only been alive for less than half the length of my pregnancy. It feels like he's been around forever and our "pre-Kyle" life seems so distant now. And looking back, it's just so amazing how easy things have gotten in such a short time. Just a few months ago, we had to exert sooo much energy just to keep him reasonably content (e.g. singing and dancing around like a lunatic). And that didn't always work! Plus, his nursing challenges and refusal to nap just made everything that much harder.

But now, he's so easy to keep amused. We just rotate from activity to activity and he rarely cries or fusses (unless we let him get overtired). And he now naps regularly and nurses well. And he's just the most smiley little guy :) He does continue to make his scary dragon sound a lot...still not sure what to make of that! The only difficult thing these days is his waking every few hours at night to nurse. But that's just how it is right now and I know he'll outgrow it one of these days.

And even though I'm not obsessing/concerned about his weight gain anymore, we still weigh him every Monday on his weekly birthday...he's up to 16 lbs 14 oz now...closing in on 17!

Happy 19 Week Birthday Kyle!

As with his 2 month shots, Kyle didn't seem to have any sort of bad reaction to his 4 month shots. He was a little sleepier than usual for about a day (giving me that one good night!), but he's back to his waking every 3 hrs at night. I'm used to it now though and am just so thankful that he's healthy and happy...that's really all that matters.

I had a conference call for work today at 1pm and I was hoping he'd be napping during it. No such luck...he woke from his morning nap around 12:30. But he was such a good boy and stayed content for over an hour during my call, with me only giving him my partial attention. I had the phone on mute (except when I had to talk) and Kyle played on his playmat, hung out in his swing and even nursed during the call without any fussing. So far so good on this working from home. I feel like I'm getting a lot done, without feeling at all stressed or overwhelmed.

Time to go put away the 3 loads of laundry that are piled up on our bed!

No Such Luck...

Kyle was back to waking every 3 hrs last night :( So much for the shots resetting his sleep schedule!