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!

4 Month Check-up

According to Kyle's pediatrician, he "looks great and is healthy as a horse"! He weighed 16 lbs 8 oz and is 2' 2" (I put his length in that format just for you Ca!). So I think I'm finally done obsessing over his weight...I feel good about his "specs".

The only negative yesterday was the fact that I was there with him for 1 hr and 45 minutes! I only had to wait about 5 minutes to see the doctor and then had about 45 minutes with him (I really like this doctor because I never feel rushed). Then he left and said he'd send the nurse right in to do Kyle's shots (so he said just leave him in his onesie). Well, 45 minutes later (after hearing lots of laughing and small talk out in the hall) a nurse knocks on the door and seemed surprised that we were in there. Apparently, the doctor forgot to tell her that we were waiting! Ordinarily, I would have poked my head out much sooner, to see what was going on. But after dancing around with Kyle for about 20 minutes, trying to keep him calm (and warm!), he fell asleep on me (it was past nap time at this point). So I sat down and didn't want to move, in case there really was some huge delay and then I'd be stuck with a crying Kyle again. The shots literally took 30 seconds...she did them with him still lying on my chest. I didn't cry this time (probably because I was so irritated!). Kyle cried each time for about 3 seconds and that was it. He was smiling a minute later when I put him in his car seat. I never felt like the nurse gave me a sincere apology, which really bugged me.

Yesterday brought back annoying memories of my OBGYN visits the last couple months of my pregnancy. I was always brought to the exam room right away, but then would wait FOREVER for the doctor to come in. Keep in mind, the whole time I waited, I was sitting on that table with my paper skirt and a HUGE belly with no backrest...VERY uncomfortable!! Again, I'd hear all this laughter and chatter out in the hall (including my doctors). And then no apology when they'd come in 20 minutes later. Aunt Marion, is this normal??

Enough venting. As I had hoped, the shots appear to have made Kyle sleepy again. He slept for 6.5 and 5 hrs stretches last night...YIPPEE!! I'm sooooo hoping that this resets his sleep clock and he'll go back to sleeping through the night. Time will tell...

Happy 18 Week Birthday Kyle!

Gosh, it's getting hard to keep track of how many weeks old Kyle is these days. Good thing I have this blog to refer to! Kyle weighed in at 16 lbs 1 oz before his bath tonight. So his good weight gain continues (along with his poor sleeping at night). Operation Unswaddle went amazingly well! He just flails around for a while before falling asleep, but then sleeps pretty much the same as before (although that brief stretch of 4 hr naps appears to be a thing of the past). He likes to rotate himself 90 degrees, so that he sleeps the short length of the crib...maybe it makes him feel more "contained", now that he's not swaddled? Over the last month, he's really become an easy, predictable baby and we just love him so much :)

I've started back working (from home) this past week, during Kyle's naps and evenings. It's actually been nice to shift out of "mommy mode" for a few hours each day! I really enjoy my job and feel very fortunate to have this flexible arrangement. I'm taking it day by day, but for now, it's working out very well. On that note, I'll think I'll go do a little work before bed...

4 Months!

Now that Kyle's 4 months old, I'm hoping he'll decide it's time to start sleeping through the night (heck, I'd even take a 4 hr stretch!)...this lack of sleep is really getting to me! But he has been taking a VERY long nap each day...about 4 hrs! So that is great and hopefully continues. As you can see, he's up to 15 lbs 12 oz, which puts him in the 55th percentile. So he's definitely headed in the right direction.

I felt better after reading that spitting up peaks around 4 months, because he's been spitting up like CRAZY lately! He's also started making this new sound...he's graduated from squeaking and is on to roaring (like a dragon!). It's a very funny, strange sound and we haven't quite figured out its meaning. Like the squeak, it also appears to be multi-functional, appropriate for all occasions.

We're also attempting to wean him of the swaddle. Actually, wean is probably the wrong word...we're going cold turkey. He kicks his legs out of it all the time now and that seems to annoy him and wakes him up. So then we go in and fix it, and he just does it again. It's becoming a very annoying cycle, so we think it's time. He took his evening nap without it and did okay (once we moved him out of a pool of spit-up). And we figure he can't sleep any worse at night than he already is, so this seemed like a good time to break the habit. We'll see how tonight goes.

And for those wondering, Kyle is DEFINITELY not constipated anymore! He had 5 rather large "movements" today. Maybe he'll sleep better tonight, now that he's all cleaned out. Wishful thinking I'm sure...

Happy 17 Week Birthday Kyle!

The older Kyle gets, the more he sleeps during the day, but the less he sleeps at night. Obviously, this isn't a good trend! It's been a month and a half now of him getting up every few hours at night. I've literally come to dread the nights (and I used to LOVE crawling into bed at night). But during the day, I feel okay and function surprisingly well. So my body must be used to the lack of sleep. On the bright side, he took a 4.5 hr nap today! This is by far his longest ever. I think he's closing in on Alex's record :)

And of course the other bright side in all of this is his weight gain. He's up to 15 lbs 10 oz, so he gained 10 oz this week. Hopefully one of these days his body will feel "caught up" and he'll start sleeping through the night again!

As I type this, I realize how boring my blog is...it's all about sleep and weight gain. So here's a new topic...constipation! Kyle went over 48 hrs without pooping, which is VERY unusual for him (he usually goes about 4 times/day). The poor little guy would lie on his back and grunt and groan and push to no avail...very sad :( He finally went around midnight last night but hasn't gone since. Perhaps this was "TMI" (too much information)...maybe I should stick to sleep and weight gain...