H - 6 Months

How Old? 6 Months old

How big is baby? He continues to be a big guy. His six month checkup had to be put off a little bit, so I don’t have the exact stats yet, but weighing him on the scale with me shows he is about 20# and getting close to 29” long. He is wearing 12 month clothes, some quite snugly, if that tells you anything.

Features/Changes? We still get quite a mixed review on who he looks like. I personally see a lot of Daddy and my brother, oddly enough. Still a very smiley and chatty guy! Just yesterday he was cooing, screeching up a storm during church, trying to compete with the Pastor. He also has his two bottom teeth. True to the schedule his brother and sister followed, he got them one day after the other in the 4th month. The amount of spit and drool that continues to come out of his mouth lately has me convinced that another one or two will be making an appearance shortly.

Movement/Gestures? Since I missed the 5 month update, this will be a long section He has made strides in his movement, not quite literally but that will be sooner than we think. I went from thinking that he would be a bit delayed in certain movements due to his size, to worrying how long I have before he is pulling up. He is now rolling both ways, sometimes in succession, to get where he wants to go. He is also doing the army crawl and getting around all too fast for this mommy. He assumes the full cross crawling position regularly and does a lot of rocking, however he hasn’t actually made any movement from that position. He will slide back to his belly and then go from there. Now his sitting on the other hand isn’t that developed yet, though he has started sitting in his high chair seat with all of us at supper time. Our chiropractor suggested that holding off on propping him in the sitting position would let his movement develop faster and that has certainly held true as he is our earliest crawler, beating both his brother and sister by a solid month. Aside from the crawling, he has also gotten a good hold on his toes, though he isn’t much for pulling them to his mouth. Either he doesn’t like the taste of them or he isn’t quite that flexible…maybe the baby chub is getting in the way :) He does love to grab onto them while on the changing table, which can make for some interesting maneuvers on our part.The fingers continue to go into his mouth regularly. I always try to give him a nuk instead, or one of the 800 other teething toys he now has, and for a while that worked, but lately he spits the nuk right back out or blatantly turns away from the toys provided and the pointer and middle fingers are back in his mouth. I guess I will have one child that I’ll have to fight to give up the finger sucking habit! GRRR!

Sleep? Sleep has been a roller coaster ride. Shortly after the 4 month update, we decided to implement some sleep training. I hesitated to do that, however his sleep was going in the wrong direction and affecting our whole family, especially mom and dad, in a negative way. I was also concerned about how the lack of sleep would start to affect him. A sleep schedule needed to be implemented for the sanity of us all. It was a ROUGH couple of days, just ask anyone who had contact with me during that time (can you say C.R.A.Z.Yyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy Lady), but eventually he got it and naps actually became a part of our daily routine. Having a very rambunctious sister around doesn’t always help that, but at least we were on the right track. Then came the holidays and his baptism and a birthday celebration, all which contributed to additional running and errands and before we knew it, we were on the wrong path AGAIN. I admonished myself for letting us fall off the wagon so fast, but lesson learned, because having to go through the crying…and crying…and crying again is not something I am willing to do. Thankfully he caught back on pretty quick and we are getting more sleep again these days. Him in his crib/room and us in ours. I definitely have less freedom with my time and am spending a lot more time at home so he can sleep in his own bed during the necessary times, but hey, at least some extra housework gets done too :)

Milestones: Rolling over both ways, , two bottom teeth, fully into 12 month clothes, sleeping in his crib from about 7pm to 7am…granted there is a feeding or two, but he goes right back down, so I’ll take it, grabbing toes, army crawling, at sufficient speeds I might add, rocking on all fours

Temperament? He’s our happy guy, sharing smiles with everyone, however teething has made him a bit more clingy and whiney at times. We got one of those amber necklaces and hope that will help some. Hubby commented the other day that H is by far the most chill of all three and more of a daddy's boy than either one of the other two were at this stage. Don't get me wrong, he definitely keeps track of where I am if he can, but he is willing to sit and snuggle with daddy and some extended family without getting fussy. Daddy is definitely digging on that!!

Emotions? Still a Rollercoaster. Some good days and some bad days with lots of crying. I’m talking openly about it now with hubby rather than keeping it all in and trying to handle it on my own, so that definitely helps some.

 Without further ado, here are some pictures of the hunk!

You can just see the teeth first peeking through here.  They are now much taller and much, much more dangerous for any fingers he might get a hold of!

 

H - 17 weeks/4 months

How Old? 17 weeks/ 4 Months old

How big is baby? Big and healthy! We had his 4 month check up on Monday and he was 181#10.5 oz and was 28 inches long. He is off the charts on his height, so although he weighs a lot, his weight is well matched with his height. I was told that on average a baby grows an inch a month, so by that standard he should be 25” long at this point. He is almost doubling the standard growth rate. I will definitely be looking up to hug this boy when he grows up! We are moving into 12 months clothes, especially the sleepers, but the other clothes will soon be following.

Features/Changes? Lots of smiles and talking! He loves changing time where he really starts up a conversation. His sweet dimple is getting a bit lost in his chunky cheeks these days, but when he really lights up it shows through and is so cute! His nose also seems to be trending to a more pointy version, definitely think he will have a nose like his daddy. Many people have commented how expressive his face can be and I have to agree. He has a wide range of faces he makes and switches between them swiftly.

Movement/Gestures? His fists are still regularly in his mouth as well as anything else he can grab and pull toward him. A finger, a shoulder, a blanket, a toy, you name it. Definitely need to get him some teething toys he can easily hold onto. He is good a bringing his hands together to grasp something and pull it toward his mouth. His grasp is rather strong and he has a knack for grabbing fists of hair and yanking it. Not a fan favorite of the kids! We are still seeing lots of extra spit and slobber, along with an increase in pooping and butt rash, so I wouldn’t be surprised to see some teeth sprouting sooner than later. We are getting much better at tummy time for long periods of time, 20 minutes plus sometimes. When laying on his back, he is kicking his legs up in the air, often times resulting in him spinning himself 90-360 degrees from where he started. I’m sure this has helped bring about his rolling. He can’t easily roll yet, but over the last few days he has rolled from his back to his belly a couple of times. He usually gets stuck on his elbow and it takes quite a bit of effort to get all the way over and then he still has to get his arm out from under him, but he struggles through it and eventually gets there, although sometimes he just gets stuck in a halfway -there position with the legs being rolled over and the top half on his side stuck by the elbow. When he is on his tummy, he is starting to look over his shoulder which I am told leads to his rolling from tummy to back, so we might be seeing that sooner than later too! He is also working at doing “crunches”, trying to sit up when he is in a reclined position in the swing or bouncy chair. His time in the bumbo might be helping this along. We have also been helping him to sit up on the floor on his own and he does ok. Usually folding in half forward rather than falling over sideways or backwards.

Sleep? Sleep is an ugly contentious point right now. I am making it my priority to figure this out, lest I might soon lose my mind. It has definitely been harder getting this one on track than the other two, however I did have daycare's help, so I have no one to blame but myself since I am now daycare :).  I have realized that I need to be much more disciplined and regimented in his nap schedule or we are all going to suffer…more than we are already. Sleep begets sleep and I haven’t been doing my job at protecting his natural sleep schedule. Currently he will only sleep in my arms after nursing, his swing or in bed with us. While I don’t mind co-sleeping with him for part of the night, for everyone’s sanity, he does need to learn to sleep in his own space. He is still a super happy guy, but I don’t want sleep deprivation to take over and change that…in my case, sleep deprivation is real and I am not the better person for it! Pray for me that we can figure this out and soon!

Best Moment of the Week? Rolling over from back to front on his own.

Milestones: Getting three month pictures taken, rolling over, trying to sit up , Size 3 diapers, Moving into size 12 clothes, getting one 7 hour night sleep interval, short lived, but blissful, hoping for more of them in the future, spinning circles on his play mat and rubbing off patches of hair, milk tongue has disappeared…I just realized that the other day, but that made me so happy to know that any remaining issues from the tongue/lip tie are resolving! YAY!, Kicking legs up in the air

Temperament? Happy and content as always, except when its time to lie in bed alone Stories we’ll tell for years to come:

Emotions? Rollercoaster. I feel so lost in my own head sometimes and find it hard to get organized and accomplish stuff these days. I’m sure the lack of sleep isn’t helping…hopefully that changes soon.

Weekly Wisdom: This stage won’t last forever. The days are long, but the years fly by.

How I'm Feeling Overall: ….do I even need to state it? Tired :)

 



 

H - 13 weeks/3 months

How Old? 13 weeks/ 3 Months old

How big is baby? B.I.G! He is by far our biggest baby at this point. Weighed him on Monday and he was one ounce shy of 17#. I have pulled out the 9 months clothes and washed them up. The 6 months onsies might still work for a while, but for many of the pants that go with his cute little outfits, I actually have to lift him up and shimmy them up with the help of gravity. Features/Changes? Smiles and talking are all the rage these days. He loves changing time and just loves to engage. He has been sharing his smiles and talking with many extra people this week as well.

Movement/Gestures? The fists are constantly in the mouth these days. I even have to pry them away from his mouth at feeding time. Lots and lots of spit and slobber. His arm sleeves are usually soaked and if he is up on my shoulder for any period of time, the shirt is soaked through as well. His grasping has been getting better and he has transferred the nuk from hand to hand several times. Although he is not a fan of tummy time for long periods of time, he is getting so good at holding his head up, looking around and even turning from side to side. I think it will be a while before he rolls over however, given his size, it will take some extra effort to move.

Sleep? Oh sleep, how I miss you. Although he is super happy guy, he is not great at sleeping for long intervals, usually only giving me 3 hour chunks of time between feedings, if that. At least he does generally go right back to sleep after feeding, so we do have that going for us. The interrupted sleep is just hard on me and unfortunately I don’t get to nap during the day to compensate for the lack of sleep at night. Both of the other kids were sleeping for much longer at this point, so I guess I was a bit spoiled. Everyone has to have one to test their lack of sleeping stamina I guess, but at least he is a happy guy. He has started to fall into a napping pattern in the morning, usually sleeping for 3 hours. We even accomplished a 3 hour nap with G2 at home. I think anyone who knows her well can appreciate what an accomplishment that is as she is rarely still or quiet for long.

Best Moment of the Week? 3 hour naps…the start of an established pattern!! Getting out for a Parent Network meeting all by myself, however the excitement of that was short lived as I called home on my way to see how it was going and could hear him bellering in the background. Poor Dad couldn’t get him to calm down and he had been crying for a good chunk of time I had been gone. Of course he quieted down almost immediately upon coming into mommy’s arms when I returned, but we had lots of burps from all the air he sucked in as well as the crying quivers for about an hour after that, even as he passed out on my shoulder. I don’t think I will be trying that one again for a while.

Milestones: Great Grandma Isabelle birthday party and snuggling on her lap for a while. Meeting some of the extended family at that party for the first time. Surviving the bulk of the last week as a single mom while Dad is out of town. Definitely looking forward to his return as it’s hard to juggle everything in the evenings on my own.

Temperament? Happy and content

Emotions? Feeling thankful that I get to spend my time home with him and his siblings after realizing that I would be back to work already at this point. Definitely know I’m in the right place for our family to function in the best way possible.

Weekly Wisdom: Patience, enjoy the little moments. Keeping praying for patience…and forgiveness when I lose my mommy cool with the older munchkins!

How I'm Feeling Overall: ….tired, tired, tired. Did I mention tired.

 

H - 12 weeks

How Old? 12 weeks old

How big is baby? He continues to fill out as well as grow longer. We weighed him last Wed at his chiropractor appt and he was 15#12oz, so I am sure by now, he is over 16#. My back is certainly taking the toll of carrying him around 😬 Good thing I have a good chiropractor. I’m not exactly sure how long he is now, but I feel like half of him already doesn’t fit on my lap while nursing. Daddy commented the other day just how long he looked laying in my lap. Although we have only been wearing the 6 months clothes for about a month, many items are already getting tight and I’ll probably look to pull the 9 month stuff out yet this week.

Features/Changes? Overall, he just looks huge! He has a double chin, double rolls on his legs, the arm rolls are developing. All over baby fatness, and I’m loving it. He’s a good and healthy chunky baby! My milk is doing the job! He definitely has his own look, still getting many different comments about who he resembles, but many agree that although he has certain characteristics, he definitely has his own unique features. His dimple is even more apparent in his chunky cheeks and we see it a lot and he engages more and more people with his sweet smile that lights up his whole face. His love of “conversation” continues and we are getting close to some real giggles. Right now he does this cute “keek” sound at the end of a smile. I’ll do it back and it makes him smile bigger and do it again.

Movment/Gestures? Still doing a lot of punching and kicking, and the fist is coming to his mouth regularly and boy is he sucking on that thing a lot these days. He is also actively tracking it with his eyes, even going cross-eyed as he pulled it to his mouth. He has started actively grabbing and pulling on things. Just the other day he got a hold of both G2 and G1’s hair at varying times. Neither one was too pleased about that. He has pretty good control of his head while on tummy time and is starting to look sideways. We continue to work on that to help develop his rolling ability. Nothing on that front yet. I have a feeling that will be a bit since he has so much extra girth to move around.

Sleep? We have fallen into a pattern of putting him down in his crib at the beginning of the night and then when he wakes to be fed, he comes back into bed with me to nurse and both of us drift off to sleep until he wakes to be fed again. The time between bed time and the first night feed varies greatly. I’m really looking forward to a more established pattern and am working to catch that sweet spot in the evening on getting him down before he gets overtired, but it is hard with the schedules of the older two. I am happy to say within the last few nights, he actually had a 7 hour solid chunk of sleep and then a 4-5 hour chunk. Definitely hoping that trend continues. Next up is getting him into a nap routine that includes his crib 🙂

Best Moment of the Week? 7 hours of sleep – for him, not me as I had to get up and pump, but still! It gives me hope.

Milestones: First bottle and having first babysitter, Grandma H, while Mom and Dad went out for their 12th anniversary dinner. Tonight will be his first time staying home with just Dad and his big brother and sister while Mom goes to a PTO meeting. We are using up Size 2 diapers and then will fully be in Size 3. Sleeping in crib for beginning of night consistently.

Temperament? Still happy and content

Emotions? Trying to remember he is only little once and not get frustrated with what I can’t get done. Keep communication open with hubby so we don’t get frustrated with each other and instead figure out how we can work together to create a good “new normal “ for our family.  Another thing that stuck me, is that I would be back to work this week if I were still working.  Feeling extra grateful that we are able to prioritize and make it a possibility for me to stay home to take care of our family. Granted, there are many days I get caught up in the rat race of life and lose sight of this for a bit, but ultimately I know I am where I am needed most and blessed to be able to provide support to my family in this way.

Weekly Wisdom: Do what you can, enjoy the little moments. When in doubt Pray, pray, pray!

How I'm Feeling Overall: ….tired. But also trying to change my thinking and find new ways of being productive, yet still focus on quality time spent with the kids. Continuous improvement efforts…I did always love problem solving that way at work, so why not at home?!

G1, H, G2

All three at 11 weeks for comparison sake

 

H - 8 Weeks Old

How Old? 8 weeks old

How big is baby? When I said he is really filling out last time, that was an understatement! We weighed him last Wednesday and he was a few ounces shy of 14#. And he’s not quite 2 months old. My aching back can attest to his incredible growth rate. I actually just packed up his 3 month outfits today. He started wearing 6 month outfits a few days ago.

Features/Changes? Everyone who sees him lately has a different opinion on who he looks more like. I guess that is sufficient to say that he is a good mix  His dimple is showing up quite often as he smiles and cooes at us. He definitely loves engaging in “conversation.”

Movment/Gestures? He is doing a lot of punching and kicking. He is bringing his fist to his mouth and sucking on it when he isn’t getting fed soon enough. He is holding his head up a bit longer when on tummy time and when looking over the shoulder he is snuggled on.

Sleep? He has been getting a few hours in the beginning of the night in either the pack and play and most recently he spent the beginning of the night in his own crib. The last several nights we have gotten a good 4+ hour chunk of time before he wakes to be fed again. After that however it is about every 2 hours or so and that time is spent in our bed. Thank goodness for nursing in the side lying position

Milestones: Moving up to Number 2 diapers, (I actually had to return an unopened case of Size 1 diapers to Costco because I knew we wouldn’t make it through them), Size 6 month clothes, First trip to Costco (proud mommy moment surviving a shopping trip with all three, took a nap in his crib, cooing and “talking” and giggling when tickled.

Temperament? Happy and content

Stories we’ll tell for years to come: Mommy got sick with the flu on Tuesday evening. She tried nursing him to sleep and talking herself out of being sick, but eventually she had to make a dash for the bathroom. Daddy was on duty to rock H to sleep. This lasted a few minutes until he got “too tired” and then put H down in his basinette and tried getting him to sleep with the nuk. Mommy was pleasantly surprised to exit the bathroom and see him actually sleeping, but alas it wasn’t meant to be (I think he can smell me when I enter a room). He started fussing and mommy was begging daddy to try again, but seeing that Daddy was half asleep, she just suggest bringing H into bed so that between the two of them, they could hopefully snuggle him to sleep with the help of the pacifier. Mommy shh, shhh, shhh’d him to sleep, but unfortunately had to make a few more trips to the bathroom. H slept like a champ through it all. Mommy and daddy’s nerves are a bit shot from that experience, worrying about what they would do if he decided not to sleep and mommy wasn’t feeling well enough to nurse at that time :) When talking about it the next day, Daddy made the comment that he was praying quite hard during all of that.

Emotions? Ok. Trying to keep communication open and not hold anxiety in.

Weekly Wisdom: Still…DO NOT leave the baby unattended with G2 around.

How I'm Feeling Overall: Tired and … tired

Weight loss for Mommy? Still about 8 lbs to go. I’m sure that’s how it will be for a while, so we’ll just say close enough and drop this topic.

6 weeks

8 weeks

 

H - 3 & 4 Weeks old

How Old? 3& 4 week old

How big is baby?  He is really filling out! We weighed him last Friday and he was 10lb 6 oz.  The sweet little chunker has gained almost 2 lbs in under the 4 weeks since he was born!  He’s even getting a double chin!    

Features/Changes?  Definitely see a lot of his daddy and the more people that meet him, say the same thing!  As mentioned above he is filling out and getting a double chin, which is just so cute!  We’ve also noticed over the last week or so that his birthmark is looking like a little heart on his forehead.  My little heartthrob (pun intened) was certainly kissed by an angel!

Movment/Gestures?  He is engaging more and more when he is awake.  I have seen lots of smiles when talking to him and his eyes just light up when he realizes it’s time to talk and play. During tummy time, he is able to lift his head and move it from side to side.

Sleep?  Sleep has had it’s ups and downs.  He is still sleeping with us and that is working out ok.  Probably more for me than for Jeff… I get some more sleep, but Jeff gets a little less L  I got him a new swaddle that has a weighted front.  Time will tell if that keeps him sleeping longer, but we have had a few nights in a row now where he spent at least a couple hours in his pack n play. 

Milestones:  Moving up to Number 1 diapers, getting his first cold…mostly just stuffy, especially at night, having his first bath in the tub and another one with G2, meeting Great Aunt Judy and Great Grandma Isabelle

Temperament?   Happy and content

  

Emotions?  Holding my own. It helps to be able to get out and about, even if it means I have to stop several times to feed him.  As long as I plan for that, the stress level stays lower.

Weekly Wisdom:  DO NOT leave the baby unattended with G2 around.  She has tried three times this week to pick him up, and for two of them, I was right there! That girl is a little too helpful!

How I'm Feeling Overall:  Tired and looking forward to school starting for the bigs.  Will be nice to have some one on one time with Henry and not refereeing the other two.

Weight loss for Mommy?  I was able to get into my pre-pregnancy jeans this weekend (barely and had to add a hair tie as the closure to release some pressure, but I got them on).  I have about 8 lbs to go.

H - 2 weeks old

How Old? 2 week old

How big is baby?  He is continuing to grow. We had his two week checkup on Tuesday and he is now 9# 3.5 oz and 22 inches long.   

Features/Changes?  His features keep changing.  I still think he has strong resemblance to G2 as a baby, but thinking he is looking more and more like his daddy!

Movment/Gestures?  Still getting lots of sleepy smiles and he’s continues to take a break from nursing and gets that sweet smile on his face before getting back to the business of eating.  The head bobbing and squeaking and then pure out crying commence when he doesn’t get fed fast enough.  He is also having some gassy periods when he isn’t able to get a burp up and this makes him quite discontent until it comes out.  When he is getting agitated, to be held or to eat, mostly to eat, he starts kicking his legs and waving his arms.  The bigs like to point out that he is dancing to the music J

Sleep?  Sleep has been ok, but probably because he sleeps with us more often than not.  Nursing in bed allows me to sleep more and keeps him content for so much longer.

Best Moment of the Week? Watching how excited the kids were to hold and love on him when we had our family pictures taken.  Those images will be priceless!

Milestones:  Umbilical cord falling off,  going out on his first shopping trip with mom (we had to stop a time or two to nurse, but overall he was a champ), first chiropractor appointment, getting our newborn/family pictures taken

Temperament?   Happy and content

  

Emotions?  Still a rollercoaster ride …my poor husband and kidsJ

Weekly Wisdom:  this too shall pass

How I'm Feeling Overall:  Tired, tired, tired! And Overwhelmed. There is so much to do and no time to do it, especially when H wants to nurse and nurse and nurse all day and then the extra Dr related appts we have been having.  I know it will get done eventually and we will survive, however my dear husband has a hard time understanding why the house can’t be clean when he comes home and that extra pressure is certainly not helping.  Ugh…men!  And having patience with the other two continues to be a struggle. A R.E.A.L struggle…I hate to say, but back to school is sounding real good right now J

Weight loss for Mommy?  I still have about 10 lbs to go, but the stomach is shrinking (this makes me a bit sad as I loved my baby belly) and I was able to get my wedding ring back on for our family pictures.