3 Month Milestones/Update

Here is a quick summary of some of the things Jack is doing now that he hit his 3 Month Birthday last Friday!

He sits in his Bumbo by himself - although he still tends to lean to one side sometimes!

He discovered he has hands this past month and now is constantly starring at them or sucking on them or bringing them together and back apart!

He will hold anything you put in his hands!

Just last Sunday he reached for his duck rattle, grabbed it, and then held onto it!

He loves to lay on his play mat on his back and stare at the hanging objects, but he still despises tummy time - who knows if/when he will ever roll over!

He will follow an object 180 degrees! And he loves to watch TV (I know that's probably bad?)!

He plays in his Jumparoo and using his legs to push off and bounce (we have to put a pillow under him b/c his legs don't reach the ground yet!

He loves going for walks outside!

He adores bath time and would stay in his tub for hours if you let him!

He slept through the night for the first time at 3 months and 2 days old! 5-30-09

He is talking more and more everyday and has started to make screechy, screaming noises with his big boy voice rather then just his baby cooing voice!

He is more demanding then ever and gets bored easily - he constantly wants someone to entertain him! The swing and bouncy chair just aren't cuttin' it these days.

xoxo

He did it!

I finally got brave enough and took another big step with Jack this weekend - he slept from 10:30pm until 6:30am last night (Sunday night-Monday morning)! He has on his own increased the amount of formula he was wanting at each feeding, so he kind of set himself up to not have to eat in the middle of the night by eating more throughout the day! Let's hope last night wasn't just a fluke, and we'll see how tonight goes!

Of course I kept waking up every hour or so to see if he was still asleep and breathing, which he was so I didn't get the best of sleep, but I'll get used to it! He did wake up a few times with gas, but would just grunt a bit and relieve himself and back to sleep! He did so good!

Also, Sunday morning he actually reached for, grabbed, and help his first toy! I knew it was coming soon so I actually have it on film and will post the pictures ASAP.

xoxo

A Day In The Life of a Mom to a 3 Month Old...

I have a few friends that are expecting babies soon and this post is more for my documentation and their preparation! I just wanted to give them a glimpse into what life might be like with their new babies, especially if they are like me and have to return to work after the first couple 2 or 3 months!

I'm going to start in the morning... Jack is my new alarm clock - he usually starts stirring anywhere between 5:30 and 6:00am. I get out of bed at 6, so I usually just try to catch a few more minutes of sleep in between his cooing, grunting, and sometimes whining!

Alarm goes off at 6, I head straight to the kitchen wash my hands, get Jack's Prevacid pill and cut it in half with the pill cutter, fill a syringe with a tiny bit of warm water and head back to the bedroom. I give Jack his pill and a little squirt of water - his pill is a solutab so it dissolves, but I help him get it all down with a little bit of water - then put his button back in his mouth, and turn on the womb bear which seems to calm him back down a bit.

I then race to the bathroom, brush teeth, wash face, use restroom. Head back to the bedroom where I hurridly put on my face, after makeup I head to the kitchen put a coffee cup with water in the mircrowave for 3 minutes and then prep his bottle. When the 3 minutes is up I put the bottle in the water and its back to the bedroom to do my hair. By this time Jack is either back to sleep and not making noise or he is getting a bit fussy if he is gassy and uncomfortable, but he usually always lets me get myself in order without having a meltdown.

After I get my hair done I scoop up Jack and head to the kitchen, grab his bottle and then get comfy in the recliner. Jack eats which takes about 15 minutes or so - he is fast! - then we usually enjoy a little quiet time for another 15 minutes or so, when if I'm lucky he will fall back asleep!

I put Jack down either asleep or in his bouncy or jumparoo - all depending on his mood that morning! - then head to the bedroom get my clothes on and then it's time to wash the bottles from the night before! After that I snag Jack and we head to his room to get ready for the day. Our morning "getting ready" routine goes like this: I get him to smile so he is in a good mood - he doesn't like getting his diaper changed so we have to get off to a good start. Undress him, change diaper, lotion him, redress him in fresh clothes, clean his hands with a wipe - he has been putting them in his mouth and they stink from his formula!

Now, off to daycare! After loading Jack up and making it out the door - usually right at 7:30am -
we drive 10 minutes out to Frontenac to Tonya's house. We go in, visit for a minute, then I head to work. Work from 8-5, then back to Tonya's to pick Jack up!

We usually get home around 5:30pm. If he is asleep I was his bottles from the day at Tonya's house, if not we play. We usually play until it's time for his bath before his next bottle anywhere from 6:00-7:00pm. Jack loves his bath: we play in the water, get all clean, then dry, fresh pj's, and of course more lotion, but after that it's time for dinner! Depending on what time he eats his dinner we will either play again for awhile or he will go straight down to sleep. He is usually asleep anywhere from as early as 7:30 to as late as 8:30.

He sleeps until 10:00pm then sleep eats another bottle and straight back down to bed. I head to bed after this feeding, then he usually wakes up around 2:15 or 2:30am from his gas pain and we eat another bottle - usually back in bed again around 3:00am. Then my little man alarm clock will start making noise anywhere from 5:30-6:00am and the whole thing starts over!

So if you were keeping track I usually get about 2 hours a day to keep everything clean, the house, laundry, dishes, myself, etc. It's tough, but getting better! I know if we could get past this gassiness at night - they say it's because they are on their back for extended periods of time through the night and it's harder for them to pass it while on their back - think about it could you pass gas or poo laying on your back? - but once we get passed that, hopefully once he starts rolling over and can decide if he wants to tummy sleep the waking up due to gas will subside! Until then I don't see us making it through the night without a feeding.

Wow, this got long! Sorry!

xoxo

Health Update

Jack has been super fussy the past 3 days or so, we took him to Urgent Care on Sunday because he literally cried for about 3 hours straight! Nothing worked and Chris and I were both just at a loss. Well he checked out fine there - no ear infections, no strep throat, no fever (although he had a fever that morning, but I had given him Tylenol so it had gone down I guess by the time we got to Urgent Care). So we went home told we had nothing more then a "fussy baby". Grr...

So Monday he was a little better at daycare from what Tonya told me and last night he seemed to be in a fairly good mood too - although extremely gassy! Ugh...

I took him to see his pediatrician today though because he has continued to cough up/spit up clear mucus. She said he seems to have some head congestion that is draining, thus causing the coughing, spiting up of mucus, and the general fussiness. She rechecked his ears because he has been going at his left one for about a week now, but said he doesn't have an ear infection - YET. She said depending on how he does getting rid of this virus it still could develop into an ear infection. GREAT! So I have to watch him temperature over the next few days.

On a high note - Jack now weighs 12 pounds 2 ounces and is 22.5 inches long! He is getting so big! He did great at the doctor until she tried to stick that microscope in his ears - that ticked him off!

xoxo

Pictures Galore!

Here is a big picture update - I hadn't been able to post any since our computer was out of commission, but now we are back in business! ENJOY!

Early morning fun!

Shout out to George!

Really getting excited now!

Big smile!

Giggling - too cute!

Jumparoo!

Just hanging out in his chair!

He still doesn't care for tummy time, but he is getting better.

xoxo

congratulations are in order!

CONGRATULATIONS go out from the Spear Family to Chelsea and Robby Reed who just found out they are expecting their first baby this coming April! Yea!

Let it be a boy! Let it be a boy! ... Or else Jack will forever only have girl friends ... :-)

xoxo

let there be light...i mean internet

Some of you may know that we have been lucky enough to graciously borrow free wireless internet from "larry" from the time we bought our house 1 1/2 years ago...well "larry" must have been fed up with his slow internet due to his ever-friendly neighbors borrowing said internet and he BLOCKED it!!! Grr... "larry" how could you?

So we have been without internet for the past 2-3 weeks at the house, but we finally broke down and decided to bite the bullet and get our very own internet connection at the house and COX came and hooked me up this afternoon - modem, router, and all - I'm totally set!

I have tons of pictures to post from the past couple weeks, so barring all goes well this evening with Jack (since Chris is gone I don't get any free time until he goes down anywhere between 7:30 and 8:30pm!) I will try to get some uploaded and some up on the blog!

xoxo

Down To 1 Night Feeding!

This weekend Chris and I decided to get brave and see if Jack would/could skip one of his night-time feedings. See, even though he is almost 3 months old he was still eating every 3 hours (even throughout the night) mainly due to the fact that his tummy would get so gassy if we gave him larger amounts. But he has been doing much better - he is still SUPER gassy, but he can at least relieve himself now either by burping or pooting (he still needs a little leg work every once in awhile to help out, but not very often). So a couple week ago we upped him to 3.5 ounces every 3 hours because he seemed to be hungry and for his weight he technically should have been getting more formula per day. So Friday night we pushed his 9:30pm feeding to 10:00pm and gave him 4 ounces (which he took great)! He slept until about 2:15am!!! He was starting to wake up so I went ahead and got up and got his bottle ready and fed him - I hate hearing a baby scream b/c they are hungry so I try to avoid getting to that point if at all possible! We then got up again at 6:30am and he ate again! What a difference in the quality of sleep! A longer stretch was nice!

We were again successful Saturday night although he was super hungry Sunday and wanted to eat every 2.5 hours b/c we were only giving him extra at his night feedings so we decided to just go with 4 ounces every 3 hours all the time, he did good yesterday so hopefully the pattern will continue! Wish us luck!

Another quick note - I believe I now have a NAP-FIGHTING baby - hates when I try to put him down for a nap even though he will yawn at me for 15 minutes before I do! Grr...

Thank You

Thank You Baby Jack for not having playtime last night between the hours of 1am and 230am! Your exhausted parents greatly appreciated it!

xoxo

Why Is He In His Underwears?

First off, I call Jack's diapers his underwears - just sounds better to me. Anywho, Chris picked up Jack yesterday from daycare and when he pulled into the drive at home I went outside to get Jack and Chris goes, "Um..he is naked...well I guess he has socks on." I was like, "What? Why?"...

I open the door and sure enough there is my little man all strapped into his carseat wearing nothing but his underwears (and socks)! Chris explained that they had been playing outside (Jack was on the covered porch in the shade) at daycare and Tonya said she didn't think he would get too hot, but thought he might like the breeze on his skin (I had already told her if they went outside she could strip him down to his underwears if she thought he would be hot)! Chris said Jack was just as happy as a clam, sitting in the bouncy chair just playing - in his underwears (and socks)! haha!

The site was just too cute not to snag a few photos before he woke up...

xoxo

swaddling...

My post this morning got me thinking about another "sleep" issue. Jack has been swaddled from day one and he loves it. Even when he is fussy sometimes just swaddling him and letting him lay by himself is the only thing that works. I like to sit by him and rub his belly and that calms him down and/or puts him to sleep sometimes and that way he still knows I'm close by and I feel I'm comforting him without actually holding him.

I have to admit we don't hold him that often or for extended periods of time - I know there is major debate and different opinions on the whole holding a baby too much theory, but I do it more because I want him to be independent (as much as an 11 week old baby can be), but in the same breathe I do not want to be misunderstood as a parent that does not respond to their baby. I totally don't let him cry it out alone, I hate hearing him cry - any cry, for any reason! I immediately go get him and pick him up or put his mute button (pacifier) back in his mouth if it falls out, etc. etc. etc. I never let him cry and try everything within my power to soothe and comfort him as quickly as possible.

Anywho, got off topic. OK - Jack loves being swaddled, but he is getting to the point where he can sometimes get 1 arm or even 2 arms out, but he will continue to sleep or he goes back to sleep - assuming he woke up and wiggled his way free...so I guess we don't really have a problem per se yet, but when should we transition from swaddle to swaddle-free sleeping? I mean is it bad, weird, odd, restricting to have a 6 month old that is still swaddled? Right now he is sleeping on his Bobby Lounger in our bed right next to my pillow (I know I said I would never do it, but I did and I'm not going to make an excuse for it). Up until about 6 weeks old he had slept every night in his pack n play bassinet, but this is when the reflux started and it scared me that he would wheeze and cough and spit up - even though he was only 2 feet away from me, so I moved him into the bed. I am planning to start putting him back in his pack n play TONIGHT, but he will still be in our room - I don't want him in his own room...yet...I would miss him I think.

So opinions on swaddling? When is enough enough? I don't mind swaddling him and he likes it, but I also don't want a 5 year old in a giant burrito!!! See picture...




xoxo

it's 1:00am - do you know what your child is doing? mine wants to play...

So Jack has a new habit forming that I really don't appreciate! I've been telling everyone how good he does at night time. For the past month or more he would fall asleep anywhere from 7:30pm - 8:30pm; we still wake him to feed every 3 hours or so, but he would always go right back to sleep (heck, most of the time he was basically eating in his sleep - eyes closed and all)!

Well the past 2-3 nights after Chris feeds him at 12:30am he is like wide-eyed and ready to play! It's horrible! He isn't fussy, he is actually really, overly happy. He just smiles at you and talks and almost giggles. It's so hard b/c its so cute, but I try not to even look at his face b/c I don't want to encourage this behavior - at least not at 1:00am! He will usually stay awake until somewhere between 2:00am - 2:30am...grr...

So last night I broke down and said, "I'm going to rock him!" See we don't rock him or hold him until he falls asleep - never have, never wanted to, still don't want to. He has put himself to sleep (with the few occassions of maybe not feeling well or something) since he was probably a month old. We just wrap him up, give him his pacifier (which may need to be replaced every once in awhile) and he hangs out content until he falls asleep. But I'm affraid that I may have to start rocking him if he continues on this path of late night playtime! Any thoughts? Should I rock or not rock? I rocked him last night and within 5 minutes he was asleep and I could put him to bed, which was fine. I'm just concerned that even consistently rocking him at this one time of night could totally throw all our work out the window and he will start to refuse to go to sleep on his own all the time...

I'm thinking of maybe trying to keep him awake longer after we get home from daycare and then after his 6:30pm feeding - hoping that he will be more tired and not wake up so much at his 12:30am feeding.

Oh...Baby Jack why can't your little digestive system catch up so you can eat more (volume) at once and start sleeping longer stretches in the night?....Maybe by 3-4 months we will get you all figured out!

On a happier note, we have successfully (so far) increased his formula intake to 3.5 ounces every 3 hours, so I'm hoping in the next 4 weeks or so we can slowly increase him to 4 ounces every 3 hours and then hopefully eliminate at least one night time feeding!

A quick note about the Reflux situation: I think I mentioned this, but we started out trying Zantac - didn't work, took the edge off of his pain but just wasn't strong enough; then we tried Prilosec - seemed to work great for about 7 days, then slowly started wearing off and his symptoms were starting to return; now we are on Prevacid - so far so good, but it's only been 7 days and the doctor said 1 to 2 weeks for full impact - but he has been doing pretty good. I could tell he was having some issues late in the week last week and over the weekend, but yesterday was really good. He is still refluxing, but it doesn't seem to be causing him pain, which is my main concern!

Whoa - this got long! Sorry!

xoxo

I BECO'D...

So I did it. I bought a Beco Baby Carrier... I really want to start wearing Jack more when we go on outings rather then lugging him around in his carseat everywhere! I found a website that had the Beco's on sale, free shipping, and 2 free Babylegs with every purchase! So I thought it must be a sign!! I'm super excited and can't wait to get it in the mail! Then I just have to find an excuse to use it...hm...where can we go...I know! SHOPPING!!! Haha!

I still plan to use the Babyhawk for awhile, but from what I've heard the Beco's are way more comfortable, especially as he gets bigger! I also got a great comment idea and might sell the BH in the future and get some money out of it!

On another note - We are in for a LONG WEEKEND! Chris' brother Cory is getting married so tonight we have the rehearsal and dinner and then tomorrow is the big day...Jack is going to be SO worn out by the end of this!

xoxo

To BECO or Not To BECO...

This is the question...

My good friend Chelse has a Beco Baby Carrier that she loves and I'm trying to decide if I want to buy one. I already have a Mai Tie Babyhawk Carrier, but I don't see it lasting for very long as he gets bigger - it's supposed to according to the weight limit, but I'm skeptical...

Well I've been looking at the Beco Carriers for a few days now and just can't decide... Any mom's out there have an opinion? Any other good carriers to recommend?

xoxo