4 Months Old!

I think "better late than never" is becoming my new motto.  It applies to birthday gifts, house projects, and now blogging.  We've had a very busy month, and I'm sure this post won't do it justice, but here we go:

Miles turned 4 months old on July 18th, and on that weekend we went to visit my parents in Bryan to celebrate my dad's birthday, take some family photos at the A&M campus, and introduce Miles to his great grandmother.  He was already rolling over by then, albeit unsteadily, and has since become a pro. 

Dr. Tran said we could start him on rice cereal, and little pig loves it, and almost immediately began sleeping for longer stretches at night!  Hallelujah!

I think Miles' little personality really started to take shape in his fourth month - once his colic cleared up and he was able to sleep better (on his side and tummy) he became a different kid.  He's now the jolliest little boy I know - usually smiling, laughing at me and Nick, and happily rolling around on the floor with his toys.  He's clearly one of the favorites at daycare - we walk down the hall and people I don't know all stop to greet him.

Miles also ended up taking his first airplane trip to St. Louis during his fourth month.  It wasn't a happy reason, but we ended up having a wonderful weekend saying goodbye to Nick's grandmother before she passed away and we are so glad that Miles was a bright spot in her final days.  He laid in her hospital bed and laughed and kicked and made the circumstances a bit more cheerful.  We will miss Grandma Jones very much.

Finally, just before he turned 5 months old, Mr. Miles got his first tooth on August 9th!  His second one appeared a few days later, and now he has a set on the bottom and it's adorable.  But they're sharp!  (I don't have a good tooth picture so you'll just need to believe me)

3 Months Old!

Yeah, yeah... this post is a few weeks late.  But the picture is from Miles' three month birthday!

As you might guess from the tardiness of this post, we've been busy.  Our little dude is more and more animated each week, and returning to work means that our evenings are a bit more hectic and any free time is spent playing with him before bedtime or trying to catch up on our shows and lives in general.

Miles ended up having a 3 month-ish doctor appointment because Nick and I noticed that he suddenly lost weight at the beginning of June.  He went from filling out his pants and onesies to swimming in them, and we had to increase the amount of milk in his bottles and begin supplementing with formula.  A week later, he'd gained back most of what he lost and weighed in at 12 lbs 4 oz (25th percentile) and grew another half inch to be 25 inches long (77th percentile!)  It appears we have a tall, skinny baby who was going through a growth spurt and not getting enough calories.  Now that he drinks 35+ oz per day (!!!) he seems to be growing just fine!

This month has also brought so many developmental changes:

• Miles now enjoys playing with toys, and goes to town batting and grabbing the animals that hang from his activity gym or bouncer seat.  He also loves kicking a little piano that we're borrowing from his friend John, and I purchased a jumperoo from Craigslist that is a huge hit.  So basically, our house is starting to have the sort of gaudy, loud plastic things that make my stomach turn but they make him happy so I am dealing with it. 
• As much as it scared me at first, it's evident that Miles is turning out to be a side/tummy sleeper and flops all over his bed like a little fish.  He has no trouble returning to his back (and often does at some point during the night) or keeping his face uncovered, so we're just going to go with it.  We successfully weaned him from his swaddle blankets, as well as his transitional sleep suit, and he now goes down with just his jammies and a little blanket or sleep sack.  This was not fun.
• Our little guy is also pretty proficient at rolling around on the floor, and easily goes from front to back while covering some ground in the process.  Earlier this week I went to get a glass of water in the kitchen and came back to find him under our coffee table next to a very concerned dog.
• He smiles when he sees us, and it's the best thing ever.  He's also starting to really laugh, which only cracks him up more.

I started back to work on June 3rd, and fell right back into my job as though I never left, except that now I have to walk away at 5:00ish and not check email on my phone or figure out ways to extend my day.  It's pretty nice, but hard to get everything done!  I definitely miss Miles, and sometimes the evenings fly by and I feel like we didn't get much time together, but we really like his daycare and he has a good time there with the other babies and his sweet teachers.  He gives them big smiles in the morning, and gets to experience so many fun activities while I'm at work.  Right now we're pleased with our choice, but will keep evaluating things as he gets older.

And now, some pictures:

 "Reading" with Maggie

4th of July with Papa

Neesie was there, too

Musical toys are his favorite

Loves this ball, but hates that it won't fit in his mouth

Sleepy little Ranger

Our restaurant champ!

His usual expression, since his first week of life

Chilling with Maggie

Selfie at the mall

The Dillon Men

 

  Father's Day Artwork

2 months old!

I cannot believe that, as I type this, my child is almost 10 weeks old!  The time has flown by, and although his 2 month doctor appointment got pushed back to 5/28, I wanted to go ahead and share Mr. Miles' monthly update before it's time for the next one.

We've come a long way in the past month, and the best way to describe it is that Miles is more of a person than just a baby now.  He recognizes us and interacts with us, and feels comfort when we snuggle him when before he seemed to see us as caretaker #2 and the milk machine.  He thinks that we're pretty hilarious, too, and hearing that little laugh-squawk when we play is pretty much the best thing ever.  He is still what the books call a "spirited baby", which basically means he is easily pissed off.  We're much more equipped to deal with it now, and the fits are not as long or frequent, but heaven forbid someone hold him in a way that he doesn't like, stop the car at a red light, or interrupt his feeding for a burp!

I'm not sure what he weighs now, but he's definitely getting heavy and building some baby fat rolls on his little thighs and arms.  He remains tall for his age, and has long outgrown his newborn onesies and sleepers.  He is still (barely) skinny enough for the pants and shorts, though, and most 0-3 month clothes are pretty loose around the middle.  When people see him for the first time, they usually say that he's long and really good at holding up his own head.  We walk and bounce around all the time, and he rarely loses control of it now.  The only thing he may not be on track with is picking it up like a turtle during tummy time - instead he looks to the sides or sucks his fingers and frowns at us.

Here are some more 2 month tidbits:

• The books and apps say that Miles should be starting to learn his name soon, and we should use it all the time.  We're trying to get better about that so he doesn't think his name is Buddy or Doodle Bug.  Right now he still doesn't seem to know that "Miles" is him.

• He is starting to do more tracking of sounds and objects when they're outside of his field of vision, but especially if the object in question is me or Nick.  He notices the dogs sometimes, but they aren't yet fascinating to him.
• Nap time has become a daily struggle for me.  He takes a pretty predictable morning nap (I like to say it's between first and second breakfast) but the afternoon and evening naps that babies his age need are not consistent.  This child fights going to sleep, and gets fussier and louder as the hours pass.  I've found that swaddling and rocking in his dark bedroom often works, but the transfer to his cosleeper often results in two bright brown eyes staring into the baby monitor within 10 minutes.  That's why I spend so much time in the recliner in Miles' room, and am really up to date on Facebook and the Huffington Post.  Do any of you parents have sleep training tips?  I think we're getting to that point, and he needs to be able to fall asleep on a mattress. 
• Night time has gotten better since last month, and now he wakes up around 3 to 3:30 for a 20 minute feeding and then again between 6 and 7.  We've been trying to make bedtime happen around 8-9pm as opposed to 10:45, and it has been a struggle resulting in an extra night feed around 1:00 and a really sleepy mama.  I am considering waking him up for a "dream feed" before I go to sleep, but I'm scared that I'll end up with a fit on my hands instead.  
• June 3rd will be Miles' first day at Miss Bloomingdale's Academy in Las Colinas.  I go back to work in the mornings for two weeks, and he'll start going full time on June 16th.  I am REALLY worried about how he's going to adjust, and have definitely cried some tears already when I think of him wondering where we are or being unable to fall asleep in a room that's not dark with white noise.  However, my good friend's son is already in the infant room there and we've heard nothing but good things, so I know he'll be in good hands and in the end will probably get a lot more stimulation than he would at home with me.  I do miss my work, and still find being at home all day to be very very tough.  
• Because I don't like sitting at home, we go run errands around town just to get out of the house, and it usually goes pretty well now that I quit caring about what people will think if my baby cries for a minute.  Sometimes we have to abort the mission and go home, but usually I can time it to where the car ride lulls him to sleep or he will ride in his ring sling or Baby Bjorn carrier and look around.
• On that note, I am trying to train Miles to get used to being worn since he hates his carseat if he is awake and it is not moving vigorously.  We have a ring sling and a Baby Bjorn carrier that he will tolerate, and I'm hopeful that we can forgo the stroller/carseat combo more often.

 Nordstrom has some very nice nursing facilities :)

• Miles is also starting to take notice of his toys, and changing diapers often turns into play time.  His favorite thing is his teddy bear, whom I've named Mr. Beans, and he likes to feel how soft the fur is and for it to "boop" his nose and cheeks .  He also likes his big dragonfly with crazy wings and a smiling face, a string of plastic rings in bright colors, and the animals that hang from his activity gym.  His other favorite games are peekaboo with Daddy (he doesn't seem to care if I do it) and what we call Airplane Baby where he "flies" around the house like Superman.  He also enjoys the baby in the mirror in his room.

That's all for now!  Just for fun, here are some photo shoot outtakes:

Photo Dump: Weeks 6-8

1 Month Old!

Mr. Miles turned 1 month old on Friday, and he is such a different baby than the one we brought home!  He's still extremely alert, and insists on being held so that he can see the room and everyone in it.  He holds his head up way more than expected, and is a milk drinking machine!  We love seeing him have a fun time on his play mat, and make happy squawking noises at us and the ceiling fan.

Miles is also a healthy, growing boy!  His pediatrician visits have gone well, and the doctor is very pleased with the rate that he is gaining weight and length.  He's gained two pounds since leaving the hospital 4 weeks ago, and has already outgrown most of his newborn clothes.  He is in the 70th percentile for height, but only 40th for weight so he's shaping up to be a long and lean baby (so far).

It hasn't been an easy month, though, and we never know if we're going to have a good night with 1-2 quick feedings or spend 90 minutes trying to feed and calm an angry infant at 3am.  He can be very gassy and difficult to soothe, and requires lots of bouncing and constant movement when he's unhappy - no cuddling on the sofa for us!  It seems like some days we spend most of his awake time trying to get him to stop crying and go back to sleep.  However, things seem to be getting better and we're looking forward to the weeks ahead when everyone insists that it gets easier.

We've had lots of visitors this month, and Nick and I are super grateful for all the help and food.  We'd be eating a lot more sandwiches if not for our wonderful family and friends!

Some more tidbits about Miles at 1 month:

• He can go from furious to smiling in the same minute.  When upset, he straightens his body like a board or furiously kicks whoever is holding him -- not fun for a Mama with a c-section scar.
• Speaking of kicking, it's pretty much his favorite thing to do.  He likes to lay on his back and kick his legs really fast and laugh, which never gets old to watch!  However, he's not a huge fan of tummy time and never makes it more than 3-5 minutes before throwing a fit.  Admittedly, we've not been the best about enforcing the 30 minute per day goal because the resulting fits can go on for over half an hour and it's not worth it.  He doesn't spend much time at all on his back aside from sleeping, so we'll keep working on it but he's not in danger of getting a flat head.
• This kid can chug a bottle, and we've had to switch to a slower flow nipple to keep him from drinking all the milk in 2 minutes (he drinks a bottle of pumped milk at night to save time and let Nick help out)
• Miles is obsessed with his hands, but whacks himself in the face a lot.  He can escape from every swaddle blanket we've tried, and at this point we will happily pay for a real baby-sized straight jacket to keep him from waking himself up so much.  (If this is not yet available, I will invent it and give it a stupid name like the Cozy Pod)
• Maggie has been a wonderful big sister, and wants to know where the baby is at all times.  She sits by his bassinet and makes sure that nobody steals him while we eat dinner and keeps me company during night feedings.  Charlie, on the other hand, is not adjusting well.  We aren't sure that he realizes that Miles is a person and not a toy that Nick and I are not sharing, but he has snapped at him (not aggressively, it's odd) and is not allowed near the baby.  We aren't sure what to do, but will be consulting a trainer soon.
• Nick is an amazing baby soother, and Miles loves to lay on his lap and sway.  It is apparently not the same at all when I do it, and my attempts are unacceptable and deserving of an angry kick to the belly. 

Hopefully I can manage 11 more posts like this one, so we'll have content for a baby book one day! 

P.S. If you have an Apple device and want to be added to my Miles photo stream, just let me know.  I try to keep the picture sharing on Facebook to a minimum so as not to be "that lady" cluttering up everyone's feed. (You need to have iOS 7 installed to receive the invitation)

Miles the Model: Newborn Photo Session

When he was 8 days old, my sweet friend Maryam came over to photograph Miles.  I'm so in love with these pictures, and wanted to share a few of my favorites:

 This cradle was made by my late Papa Curtis - I'm so thankful that we still have it

 Gig em!

 Tiny, old man feet with huge big toes!

 My favorite picture, because he always looks at us like that

 Fightin Texas Aggie Class of 2036!

Nick wore this outfit during his newborn photo session in 1982 - Miles was not impressed.