Week 32

Things have been pretty steady at the Havlir house. Nathan is happier and less cranky now that he is getting more sleep at night. I am happier and less cranky now that I'm getting more sleep at night too. No major milestones this week, but it seems like he is flailing his arms a lot more. Sometimes he gets so excited with his arms that he topples backwards. It's kind of cute, really. Oh, and I may have heard a few "d" sounds coming out of his mouth. It's faint, but I think that they are here.

Since the weather has been soooo nice, I've taken lots of opportunities to go outside to do stuff. We did yard work this weekend and Nathan was very interested in the lawn mower. At first I was very cautious since he was once scared by the food processor and the vacuum, but he looked cautious at first and then relaxed as he followed me as I traversed our lawn, back and forth, back and forth. We went on our weekly walk and today, we went on a hike through the greenbelt. Nathan even went to his first flea market in Wimberly. He was a good baby and EVERYONE kept commenting on his cute floppy hat.

We also have introduced bubbles. The first day, he just watched them as they floated away or popped against his skin, but on the second day, he actually tried to grab and pop the bubbles.

So on the solid foods front, he's doing pretty well. It seems like he likes some foods some days and not on the other. Luckily he will eat anything if it's mixed with yogurt. I finally made him some saag paneer (minus the paneer) and some curried lentils. He liked them pretty well. But he definitely still loves his sweet potato. Nathan's also starting to those two teeth that he has to use. One day he looked very interested in what we were having. I gave him a little cube of zucchini, he ate it and opened his mouth up for more. Since then, we've tried giving him little pieces of what we are eating (as long as it isn't salty). Sometimes he likes it, sometimes he will spit it out.

 

Yes, in the picture above, our son is playing with dog food. One day, I was feeding him some chunky avocado and  I noticed that he was trying to pick the pieces that had fallen on his tray up with his fingers. The problem is that every time he picked up something, instead of putting it into his mouth, he would drop it on the floor. I tried giving him some cereal and he did the same thing. Our dog Teddy, was having a blast! But too much human food makes a little doggie sick. So, to promote his pincer grasp skill, we allowed him to practice with Teddy's dry food. I guess it was a bit of a mean joke to Teddy because at first he was really excited about all the food that was being dropped, but once he realized it was his dry food, he snorted and walked away. 

We are pretty excited about our trip to San Francisco that is coming up soon. I think there will be times where it will be challenging traveling with a baby, but I guess that's what's going to make it more of an adventure, right? 

Oh, pool pictures! Here you go. 

   

Thanks for reading! Bye!

Finally, a schedule I can work with!

For documentation purposes, I would like to mark this momentous time period of when I am finally happy with Nathan's sleep schedule. He is sleeping for 11 hours at night, waking up only once to feed for no more than 30 minutes. During the day, he usually takes 3 naps ranging from 30 minutes to 90 minutes. Here's our daily schedule.

6:30 - 7:30 Nathan wakes up between these times every morning.
            20 minutes of nursing. Then diaper change, and get ready for the day.
8:15   We head out to the gym. I work out for an hour and Nathan stays in the kids center.

9:45  Head home. Nathan takes his first nap around this time. When he wakes up, he will be hungry and
              ready for the second nursing session of the day.

12:00 Solids for lunch which consists of 1 oz of meat/veggie/rice mixture, 1 oz of fruit, 1 oz of yogurt.

12:30 - 1:00 Usually a short nap.
       After this nap, he will nurse for the 3rd session.

3:00 -  4:30 Another nap window.
      Short nursing session #4.

5:30 Solids for dinner. Usually 1 oz meat/veggie/rice, 1 oz sweet potato/veggie, 1 oz fruit. Each mixed with a  
        little bit of yogurt.

6:45 Bath time

7:00 Nursing session #5,

7:20 Read a bedtime book, sing lullaby while swaddling baby.

7:30 In crib, usually asleep.

During the night he will wake up once. Usually at 12:30, or 3:30. Nurse for 30 minutes while half asleep and then I put him back into his crib.


I guess I am mostly following the EASY method. (Eat, Activity, Sleep, You time). With about 2 -3 hours in between naps. I found that the late afternoon nap really helps him stay happy until his bedtime at 7:30. In the past, he took one nap in the afternoon and was staying awake for about 5 hours before bedtime. By the time he was to be put down, he was waaaay over-tired and it was hard for him to fall asleep on his own.  Now, I put him down, awake, sometimes he whimpers a few minutes, wiggle around to find a comfy sleep position and then slowly drift into sleep.

Finally, I am getting the rest that I need.

Week 31: 7 Months and a few days.

It's funny how much more emotional I am with a baby around. The tone of my day is pretty much dictated by the quality of sleep I got the night before. Last week, when Nathan was waking up a billion times a night, I decided hat we were not going to have another child. But on a night, like last night, where he slept from 7:30 to 6:30 am, waking only once, I woke up wanting another child, like right now. So, I guess we have some good news on the sleeping situation.

Two Bottom Teeth

Nathan officially became an omnivore this week. We had just gotten a new grill and have been grilling every night. One night this week, after we grilled some chicken. I took some left over chicken, blended it with some chicken broth, added some rice cereal to make a chicken and rice slurry. I was a bit skeptical about how Nathan would like this non-sweet food, but he loved it. In fact he has not been so enthusiastic about eating since he first tried sweet potatoes. I also made a batch of green beans; but, that's a different story.

As far as major milestones, there's still no crawling going on. However, he is starting to lunge forward from the sitting position. He's still a bit cautious when he's sitting on the floor and has a toy that's just a bit out of reach in front of him, but if I'm laying down in front of him, he does not hesitate to lunge forward to "crawl on top of my body. He's also starting to bang things and he goes to town on ripping things apart. It's a bit scary to see the intense facial expressions as he's trying to rip a piece of bubble wrap.

The weather is starting to get warm enough to warrant a visit to the pool. (Although a freak cold front will come tomorrow and bring down the temps to the 60's burrr.) We are pretty much ready. I got a pair of swim diapers and a swim shirt. We may hit the pool up today after his nap.

I am so in love with this little guy.

Watching the TV as I set up the Wii to weigh him: 16 pounds

Hung Over The Crib Rails. 2 Days to Month 7

 It's like he knows we're watching. 

The low point of my week was when I found myself half-awake, desperately hunched over the rails of Nathan's crib, rhythmically patting his back and praying to God that he would put this child to sleep. That night was not fun. Nathan seriously woke up every hour and a half. I had done everything right that day. He had his naps, but didn't nap too long. He had plenty of solids on top of his normal nursing feeds. The temperature in his room was perfect. We waited until he showed his tired signs and then quickly put him to bed, after going through the bedtime routine, of course. Around 10, he wakes up again. I quickly feed him, and put him back down. This time, it takes some patting, but I think nothing of it. He's done this before (expecting a dream feed). I get myself ready for bed and I turn in for the night, looking forward to at least 3 hours of sleep. The next time I wake, it should be later than 1:30. Awesome. 

Waaa! I wake up, look at the clock beside our bed. 11:30. Seriously? I wait a few minutes to see if he calms himself down, but the crying just escalates. Not wanting to wake up Steve, who would have to go to work the next day, I go upstairs, pat the boy a bit and go back to sleep in the next room.

Waa! I awake, but I'm not sure where I am. I think to myself, where's the baby? Shouldn't he be on my lap, nursing? A few seconds later, I realize where I am, I get up and go check up on the baby. This time patting does not help him settle. I pat and pat and pat.  Silence. Scream. Silence. Whimper. Silence. I watch his chest rise and fall rhythmically. Awesome. He has fallen asleep. 

Waaa! Nope. I decide to nurse him. Finally he falls asleep. This pretty much continues until 6:15 in the morning. I nurse him and play with him a bit until 7:00. We then go downstairs, I pass Nathan to Steve and I tell him, "Wake me up when you absolutely have to leave for work." I pass out.

This was probably a low in motherhood for me. After that night, I seriously considered NOT having anymore children. Of course, after I got over the moment, I still want at least one.

Why did were babies designed to sleep so weirdly? Or are these sleep issues a product of our independence oriented society? Sigh. Who knows.

Well, the good that came out of all of this was a tooth. His first tooth now has a next door neighbor.

On the upside, last night he slept perfectly. I only had to get up once, at 4:30 to nurse him. He even slept until 6:45. I was a happy mommy this morning.

Teddy got tired and hot on our walk.
 Nathan was nice enough to share his seat.

Other than these sleep issues, I'm really still enjoying being a mommy. If not more now that he is even more interactive. We have conversations, we silly dance together, and we can build towers and knock them over together. Time really goes by so much quicker now that we have a bigger variety of games to play. On top of that, oak allergies are now gone, and we can even go outside to explore. Soon it will be warm enough for the pool. I already have a floatie toy and swim diapers ready for our first pool outing.

This week, Nathan went to his first birthday party. We were also able to have him try out a swing. He loved it! I'm looking forward to parks and playgrounds.




This week, I've tried broccoli, curried carrots, and spinach. By themselves, he didn't like them very much, but combined with yogurt, he will gobble them up quickly. New research now shows that you don't have to wait to give your baby "allergic" foods such as eggs and fish until they are older.  I think I will have him try different things, but I will hold off on peanuts, shellfish, and milk until he is older due to a history of allergies to those foods in the family.

Well, it's off to clean the house for now. Hopefully we'll have some pool pictures to post next week.

A sigh of relief...for now.

Ahh. I can finally breathe a little. The oak pollen that I am super allergic to is starting to drop and my teething baby has also started to settle down. For the past 2-3 weeks night time sleep has been so erratic. When I lay my head down at night, I really didn't know if Nathan was going to wake up immediately, or 7 hours later. The past few nights have been nice. I started the dream feed again, and after the 10:30 feed, Nathan doesn't get up until around 4:00.

Nathan is back to sleeping on his tummy/side. 

Getting him to bed is still not as easy as it was a month ago. Earlier on in the week I was getting super frustrated because I would put him down after he started to rub his eyes, and he would not fall asleep. It seemed like I was doing everything the sleep experts say to do, and I wasn't doing the things they said not to do. Like a good mommy, I was following directions, and it still wasn't going right.

He loves bath time!

1. We have a good bedtime routine that consists of bath, boob, book/short play, lullaby, kiss, put down.
2. Usually during his book/play time, he shows the signs of being tired. At that point, I start the lullaby.
3. I would never rock him to sleep. I always lay him down awake. No sleep props.

All this worked wonderfully for a few months and this month, there was a major blow out. A few minutes after I put him down, he would start to fuss, and then, it would escalate into a cry. I go in, pat him a bit and then leave. He eventually falls asleep on his own and then 10 minutes later, would wake up.

I have finally concluded that Nathan has started to develop separation anxiety. So, to let him cry it out would be fuel to the fire. I know how much it sucks to have separation anxiety, for I have it even now as an adult, so I decided to give the pick up put down method a try.

The first night, I had to pick-up and put down about 25 times before Nathan finally fell asleep. The next night, 4, because he never really escalated to crying, so patting and shushing were sufficient. I feel like I need to make going to bed pleasant for him again. Hopefully then, he will fall asleep like he did before.

I've also moved his bed time to 7:30. I have to calm him down once after he falls asleep the first time, but he's usually down for the night by 8:30. Hopefully, we can move that time closer to 7:30.

As far as milestones go, no major developments this week. He's just perfecting the ones that he already has. I have noticed, that he is babbling more consonant sounds. He's also becoming a better jumper. I feel like he has finally figured out the rhythm to create a fun, continuous bounce on his jumpy seat. He really likes it when I push him back and forth in his jumpy seat like a swing. We may make a trip to the playground soon.

Nathan got a bunch of new toys this. I had just ordered a few things for Nathan on line, but most of them were hand me downs from our nieces' neighbors. So I had ordered 2 indestructible books from amazon and so far, they have lived up to their expectations. Nathan really liked chomping on paper, particularly glossy ads with questionable ink, but now I can rest assured knowing that the paper that he's chewing on is both educational, and non-toxic.

An interesting thing happened today. I was eating my home made saag paneer with lamb while Nathan was playing in front of me. He suddenly looked at me and then intently stared at the food like a dog watching a treat. Since I made the saag with yogurt, I decided to let him try a bit of the spinach. He ate it, and wanted more. I was a bit surprised, so I gave him a bit more. I gave him a few more mini bites and decided to stop after I had given him about half a teaspoon. Apparently, spinach has high levels of vitamin A that may be dangerous to a 6 month old. Plus, there was a bit of salt in the spinach and I didn't want to expose him to too much salt. (Not sure what the limit is right now, but better be safe than sorry). So, my baby likes Indian food. Yay!

A little something for the toothfairy

Nathan's first tooth came through. Just for my records, it's his lower right front incisors. Teething pains have gone down a bit, but they are still slightly present.

While a part of me is super excited about this milestone, I can't help but be sadly reminded about how quickly he is growing. A tooth today, and pretty soon, he'll be going away to college. But for now, I will treasure every moment that I can cuddle with him and stroke his precious little cheeks.

After receiving several suggestions to use Hylands teething tablets, I finally gave in and got some. Being homeopathic, I am still a bit suspicious about their effectiveness. But, they seem to work pretty well for short term pain. Before the final nursing, I'll give Nathan some Advil. Since it takes about an hour to kick in, I will pop 2-3 of the teething tablets into his mouth after I lay him down in his crib. He smacks his tongue after they dissolve and I walk away. These tablets seem to have helped him fall asleep easier. Before I used the tablets, it was a battle that lasted sometimes an hour. While the trace of  belladonna that's in the tablets is slightly concerning, I have to trust that Hylands is putting out a product that will not harm innocent little babies.

Nathan's become a grabber. He pretty much grabs at anything colorful within his reach. If it's out of his reach, he will try to roll towards it: which is kind of neat. I don't think he understands print on say, a piece of fabric. He will often grab my shirt right where there's print, or he will grab at the print on the various mats or blankets that he plays on.

As far as new foods goes, we tried mango and papaya this week. He liked the mango, but not the papaya. He still love sweet potatoes and pears, but avocados are always a toss up.

Oh, so he SLEPT THROUGH THE NIGHT again. Last time he did it was between Monday and Tuesday, this time, it was also between Monday and Tuesday. He went down around 7:30 and didn't wake up until 3:30. And the best part about it was that I didn't wake up until 3:30 as well. 8 hours. While I was very hopeful that this would occur again the next night, I wasn't super surprised when it didn't. Oh, well. We take our victories as they come.

We went to a baby garage sale this past weekend and got a bunch of new toys for Nathan. It's definitely been easier trying to entertain him during the day since he has a bit more toys to play with. As much as I'd like him to have lots of toys to play with, I want to make sure that he doesn't get too much toys and starts to take them for granted. I also want him to be able to appreciate the outdoors and also be able to use his imagination to create things. Growing up, I think my sister and I were limited to one toy box full of toys. If it got full, and we got something new, we had to decide what to get rid of. Maybe we'll take a similar approach with Nathan.

As I was just thinking yesterday, I remember how my mom and grandmother used to keep me in line as a little kid. If I was doing something undesirable, they would tell me in chinese, "If you continue to do this, lay gong gong (the thunder god) will come and get you." And almost always, I would think, I'd better stop. Caus' he's scary. Come to think of it, for awhile the image of my grandfather (mom's dad) would come to my mind when they would threaten me. And when you combine that image, with the scariness of thunder, a kid submits. While I look back and chuckle at my mom and grandmother's silly methods, I wonder what sort of silliness I will resort to when I have to deal with Nathan's behavior.

Before I sign off of this post, I will share the surfing baby picture.

The Ups and Downs of Week 27

This week has been a roller coaster as far as emotions and events. Let's start with an "up."
Nathan SLEPT THROUGH THE NIGHT for the first time ever! After the final dream feed at 10:30, he didn't wake until 5:52 am the next day.

Down: I did not get to sleep through the night. I woke up around 5:00 in pain. I was so engorged that it hurt even to walk. So I spent about an hour just pumping (by hand) to feel a bit better. And by the time I was finished, the little one woke up.

Up: Nathan can officially willfully roll over both ways. Often I would lay him down on his back to play and then step away. When I return, he is on his tummy.

Down: Nathan has allergies or a cold and so do I. Being congested is not fun. Being congested and taking care of a congested baby is not fun either.

Up: Nathan can sit up unsupported for a long time. Check out the picture where he's sitting inside the top drawer watching the fishes in his tank. (Fishes, because I'm referring to many types of fish)

Down: One of the fish died this week.

Up: Nathan is now a super eater. He probably takes after his dad with the fast eating...because I am probably the slowest eater that I know.

Check out Nathan eating.

Down: I am utterly exhausted. With the congestion, and the frequent Nathan wakings, I find myself dragging. I just don't have the energy that I usually have to play with him. So, the day seems to drag on forever. I'm kind of feeling bored. I even googled "How to stay sane at home with a baby." The search results all suggested something along the lines of "do something for yourself." But I was hoping to find ideas of things I can do with a baby. Usually, if I get bored, we'll just go take a walk outside. But with oak pollen at its highest levels, I dare not step outside.  Luckily, the recent rains have allowed me to make short excursions outside. 

Up: Nathan is teething. I can feel a little hard lump on his bottom gum line. It feels a little swollen. 

Down: Nathan is teething. He's super drooly...like super soaks his bibs after 15 mins. And super fussy at night. We've been having trouble putting him down to sleep in the evenings. Except for when we have company over, Nathan is almost always asleep by 8 pm. The past few days it's been later. We put him down, and he wakes up 15-20 minutes later. On top of that, he has not been sleeping longer than 3 hour stretches. I really just want to let him cry it out. But, I fear that he's teething and may need some comforting. So in desperation, I have been bringing him into bed with me. I'm going to go out and pick up some children's ibuprofen to see if it will help reduce the inflammation/irritation.

And we'll end with an up: Nathan had a super cool Easter. He spent it with his cousins and at Church, where he got a picture with the Easter bunny.