Jett is officially mobile now, if only in a rather inefficient, inconsistent sort of way. You can put him on one side of the mat and sit on the other with a favored toy and he will wiggle, roll and creep over to you. It's fantastic to watch him develop like this - I'm thoroughly fascinated and impressed! On this mobility front, he's got his knees tucked under him and he can get up on his forearms and can even do both together, but he relies too much on one side's strength and ends up rolling over quite frequently as he only pushes off with one side. His most effective move is the boot camp crawl - like I've seen in combat movies, he relies solely on his forearms to propel himself forward and drags his legs behind (as if dodging bullets overhead). Nanny Jamie actually thought he was about to crawl earlier this week and was panicking that she didn't have her phone nearby to document the momentous occasion :) So while we're super excited that he's on the verge of some major moving, we're now tasked with reassessing our house layout, our furniture selections, our time management to ensure adequate supervision for this wee one when he formally discovers crawling...
Jett is also eating well. He's come to anticipate the feeding routine and his mouth pops open the moment you stick him in the highchair; he's rather impatient... We've done peas, carrots, sweet potatoes, butternut squash, apples, bananas and blueberries (some pureed in combos). So far, everything has been happily digested, save for peas. I'm curious to see how he tolerates other green veggies, since we've only tried the one so far...next up is broccoli, cauliflower, avocado and maybe peaches. Not that I deserve it with as picky as I am, but it would be wonderful to have a non-discriminating eater for a child. We'll see!
I don't even want to mention this for fear of jinxing myself as I did the last time I mentioned it, but...Jett has been somewhat predictable with his sleep patterns - at least THIS week. Last week was another story. I ended up calling quite a few people to vent about being a mom to a non-sleeping child and even ended up in a counselor's chair because I just felt so out of control with frustration/rage/depression/you-name-it. For one reason or another, his actions last week served as the straw that broke the camel's back. Jett didn't sleep well at all two weekends ago and last Monday and Tuesday were especially rough - he was up every single hour between 7 pm and 2 am one night and 4 times the other. And fussy and difficult while awake. It was just rough, and especially so because we'd thought we'd gotten to a much better place - at least to where he'd wake up only a few times - NOT seven. It was as though he were 3 months old again...but he's six months and we were looking forward to some of the "sleep maturity" this age is supposed to bring. "Sleep maturity" for us means he's old enough now to "cry it out" without fear of breaking that special trust bond or whatever the books say is the reason we can't do this earlier. And honestly, I don't feel all that guilty listening to him cry - I mean, it does work. He never cries for too long (25-30 minutes at most) and he does put himself to sleep and it spares us from getting frustrated while he's 100% awake in our arms enjoying the extra 1 am attention when he should be learning to sleep....I started to write two blog entries on last week's events and emotions and I sound crazy and weak and whiny and I've decided to mention it in this one paragraph and move on!
Anyway, we're in a much better spot this week as he's going to bed pretty easily and we've got the tear-free routine down. He did wake up last night around 11 after going down at 7:30, and was rather up and alert. And we let him cry, because it was bedtime and our brief intervention attempts proved worthless. But it's hard to let him cry it out at night to go back to sleep because he's right next to our bedroom and we're not gaining any sleep time back by not personally attending to him and we're BOTH kept awake for the 30-60 minute period (he falls asleep for a little while, then wakes, cries, and starts over...) and Kenny's got to get up before dawn so I just hope he doesn't wake more frequently and that these occurrences are rare. He did wake up again at 4 am to eat (he wakes either at 1 or 4 - this week at least - to eat) but the feedings are quick and painless and I can do them half asleep anyway.
So the sleep thing is a mixed bag. I'm trying to be more pessimistic; if I start to think we're making strides on this front, fate tries to spite us I think and that's when Jett slumbers very little. But I'm a pretty happy, if naive optimist by nature and it's hard to consider (or rather, expect) that Jett's sleep schedule will alternate weekly between hell-on-earth and wonderful. The level of flexibility this job requires...it's rough!!
But things are good this week and he's a sweetheart (when not sleep-deprived) and I adore him. He's so sweet when he lays on my chest and tries to eat my nose with his gummy, smiling, slimy little mouth and when he's so happy to see me when I get home from work and it's really good being a mom sometimes :)
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Saturday, February 12, 2011
Too old to party all night (and too old to sell to the gypsies)
We've been trying, in vain, to convince Jett that at six months, he's far too old to continue waking multiple times each night. But our lecture, like many future ones to come, have fallen on deaf ears. While Jett has progressed on track with his six month milestones and is growing and maturing as expected (as anticipated!), we can't seem to get this sleep thing on track. And this single issue, during the nighttime hours, tends to overshadow his daytime accomplishments.
I don't believe we're setting unreasonable expectations; I'd settle for a once-per-night waking and be happy with that! Of course, while we struggle with this, it seems like everyone else with babies his age (or younger...) have eradicated their sleeping issues by now. And yes, I feel like we've done a fairly admirable job in stretching our patience for five months, and if nothing else, I feel like we simply deserve a sleeping child...And we're not delusional; we didn't think that just because Jett turned six months old that he would magically begin sleeping through the night. But, we're back to the lousy sleep patterns of a four-month-old Jett. It's starting to look like only the odd-numbered months are the semi-successful ones where sleep in concerned.
It's just frustrating, SOO frustrating, when we make progress one month and lose it the next. We were warned that babies are inconsistent and as they grow, their routines change, and there'd be plenty of "one step forward, two steps back" kinds of situations. But I can't seem to get that reality to sink in. Early last month, Jett was going to sleep without too much of a struggle, sleeping soundly, waking only once, and only after we were afforded a good six-hour stretch of uninterrupted slumber ourselves. And I immediately bookmarked this progress in my brain and celebrated a new milestone that our son could sleep. Then we went to Albuquerque and screwed up his sleep schedule, and then he got an ear infection for our first week back home. But it's been a week since then and we were hoping to get at least a glimpse of the January sleep routine, which still has yet to materialize. So, we're back to reading books on how to get our child to sleep.
When we were at Jett's recent well-baby visit this week, his pediatrician seemed disappointed to hear that he wasn't sleeping well and recommended a book after reminding me how important sleep is for babies and their health. Well duh. Obviously, we're not intentionally keeping our child from his slumber. It just sort of pissed me off. Like, we're already struggling with this issue, and I don't need to feel even more incompetent in this arena. I know she meant well but this is turning out to be quite the sensitive issue in the Mikkalson household and I am having trouble keeping my despair at bay when the subject comes up.
This may all come off as a bit whiny and I feel that ultimately, I'm going to look back on these blogs and think that I was a bit melodramatic in my early struggles with parenthood. But right now, I need to vent, and this is how I feel. Miserable in my incompetence to get my son to sleep.
And yet again, motherhood is making me feel like a manic-depressive. I can't cuddle and kiss Jett enough in the daytime hours, and genuinely look forward to playtime and mealtime with him and making faces and blowing raspberries on his tummy to make him laugh. He's just so adorable in his babbling and his expressions and his energy for playing and eating. We love that he's growing up in front of us! There really is some sort of chemical/hormonal reaction occurring when I hold him close and I just close my eyes and smell him in all his baby glory. And then the sun goes down and I just have lost all ability to deal with anything frustrating. Which is another touchy subject. I've been rather irritable and bitchy lately, of which Kenny has been the sole beneficiary. Not that he's been getting much sleep himself, though he seems to function better while I am internally melting down. We're both quickly approaching utter burnout - I thought we'd be better positioned by now and it's a hard step backward when we'd gotten a sweet taste of normal sleep levels last month. We may have to rearrange the budget again to get our night nanny back on board if this sleeping thing doesn't get to a manageable point soon.
To end on a positive note: Jett's well-baby visit went well. He's almost current on his immunizations, and was impressing the pediatrician with his flipping ability and his ability to stand. He's 26 inches long now (which is exactly average for his age), and a svelt 15 lbs, 2 oz. Though that's 3-4 lbs less than a few of his girlfriends of the same age, doc said that he's healthy in his "fit" physique (Kenny's term). She also gave us the go-ahead to start feeding him more solids so that it's a 50/50 split between food and formula, and that he'll be eating solids 3 x day. We're excited for the next check-up!
I don't believe we're setting unreasonable expectations; I'd settle for a once-per-night waking and be happy with that! Of course, while we struggle with this, it seems like everyone else with babies his age (or younger...) have eradicated their sleeping issues by now. And yes, I feel like we've done a fairly admirable job in stretching our patience for five months, and if nothing else, I feel like we simply deserve a sleeping child...And we're not delusional; we didn't think that just because Jett turned six months old that he would magically begin sleeping through the night. But, we're back to the lousy sleep patterns of a four-month-old Jett. It's starting to look like only the odd-numbered months are the semi-successful ones where sleep in concerned.
It's just frustrating, SOO frustrating, when we make progress one month and lose it the next. We were warned that babies are inconsistent and as they grow, their routines change, and there'd be plenty of "one step forward, two steps back" kinds of situations. But I can't seem to get that reality to sink in. Early last month, Jett was going to sleep without too much of a struggle, sleeping soundly, waking only once, and only after we were afforded a good six-hour stretch of uninterrupted slumber ourselves. And I immediately bookmarked this progress in my brain and celebrated a new milestone that our son could sleep. Then we went to Albuquerque and screwed up his sleep schedule, and then he got an ear infection for our first week back home. But it's been a week since then and we were hoping to get at least a glimpse of the January sleep routine, which still has yet to materialize. So, we're back to reading books on how to get our child to sleep.
When we were at Jett's recent well-baby visit this week, his pediatrician seemed disappointed to hear that he wasn't sleeping well and recommended a book after reminding me how important sleep is for babies and their health. Well duh. Obviously, we're not intentionally keeping our child from his slumber. It just sort of pissed me off. Like, we're already struggling with this issue, and I don't need to feel even more incompetent in this arena. I know she meant well but this is turning out to be quite the sensitive issue in the Mikkalson household and I am having trouble keeping my despair at bay when the subject comes up.
This may all come off as a bit whiny and I feel that ultimately, I'm going to look back on these blogs and think that I was a bit melodramatic in my early struggles with parenthood. But right now, I need to vent, and this is how I feel. Miserable in my incompetence to get my son to sleep.
And yet again, motherhood is making me feel like a manic-depressive. I can't cuddle and kiss Jett enough in the daytime hours, and genuinely look forward to playtime and mealtime with him and making faces and blowing raspberries on his tummy to make him laugh. He's just so adorable in his babbling and his expressions and his energy for playing and eating. We love that he's growing up in front of us! There really is some sort of chemical/hormonal reaction occurring when I hold him close and I just close my eyes and smell him in all his baby glory. And then the sun goes down and I just have lost all ability to deal with anything frustrating. Which is another touchy subject. I've been rather irritable and bitchy lately, of which Kenny has been the sole beneficiary. Not that he's been getting much sleep himself, though he seems to function better while I am internally melting down. We're both quickly approaching utter burnout - I thought we'd be better positioned by now and it's a hard step backward when we'd gotten a sweet taste of normal sleep levels last month. We may have to rearrange the budget again to get our night nanny back on board if this sleeping thing doesn't get to a manageable point soon.
To end on a positive note: Jett's well-baby visit went well. He's almost current on his immunizations, and was impressing the pediatrician with his flipping ability and his ability to stand. He's 26 inches long now (which is exactly average for his age), and a svelt 15 lbs, 2 oz. Though that's 3-4 lbs less than a few of his girlfriends of the same age, doc said that he's healthy in his "fit" physique (Kenny's term). She also gave us the go-ahead to start feeding him more solids so that it's a 50/50 split between food and formula, and that he'll be eating solids 3 x day. We're excited for the next check-up!
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
I'm in love with my child
For all the the difficulty we've had with the first four months of child-rearing, things are actually starting to come together. And we're beginning to feel somewhat confident in our parenting skills, and I think Jett's starting to feel like a pretty happy little baby.
One such reason is that we all might be getting some rest. Jett began sleeping on a consistent schedule in January. Though still not sleeping through the night, he was waking only once, and routinely around 2 am. It was so I kind of anticipated his stirring at that hour, and he'd eat and go right back to sleep. A twenty-minute sacrifice in a 7-8 hour stretch of sleep came easy! His schedule's a bit off as of right now and he's waking more frequently than a newborn, but we're going to cut him some slack; we just got back from our trip to NM and his schedule and timezone are out of whack. Plus, he's got a brand new ear infection. Hopefully by the end of the week, he'll be back to predictable. I'm confident that more regular and peaceful slumber is just around the corner.
As Jett gets older, he continues to move more frequently. He was already kicking and flailing at 3 months, but at 5 months, he's a child in nonstop motion. His teachers at daycare, separate pediatricians, two nannies and countless family members/friends have commented on what a "wiggler" he is. Yes, Jett's a wiggler. And a mover, and a shaker, and a jumper and an incher and he just doesn't stop moving. Which may be why he's sort of plateaued weight-wise. He flails even as he's eating! He grabs for his toes and sways when on the changing table; he rolls over the moment you put him on the floor; he has to stand when in your lap; he goes to bed in one direction and ends up in another. Anyway, the prediction is that he'll be crawling here shortly and then running just a bit after that. No walking; just straight to running :) We're in the market now for some rather effective child-proofing kits...
Jett is now a formula-only baby. Though I lamented the end of breastfeeding initially, (my emotional bond with my baby), it worked out. I'm glad we lasted to nearly 6 months, because it really was the best thing for him, but it started to get rather tedious planning my days and nights around my pumping schedule - I started to loathe the sight of my little Medela backpack. And it has been very nice to be able to eat regular food again! When we were in Albuquerque visiting the family this week, it was absolutely wonderful to not only have access to some FANTASTIC Mexican food, but also to be able to eat it!! On my breastfeeding no-gas-for-the-baby diet restrictions, beans and cheese are out. Which pretty much means Mexican food is out. I also got to go out for a night on the town (see: dinner without our child) with the Jensens without factoring in equipment or time for pumping. On the downside...Jett's poo has gotten rather "fragrant" (the introduction of solid foods has contributed to this as well), and formula is rather expensive, considering that the alternative was completely FREE. I'm still glad to have my freedom from the pump and diet restrictions.
One of the best things about January has been Jett's appetite for solid food. He took to the spoon ridiculously quickly and is really enthusiastic about mealtime in general. He'll whine in between spoonfuls if I'm not readying the next dollop fast enough, and he keeps his mouth open like a little fish! Where I used to rather dread going home after work because it meant we were about to start our hours-long, futile sleep routine, I look forward to my evening return for Jett's dinnertime. When we were at the airport yesterday, I was eating a fruit cup with Jett strapped to my chest. While he was watching me raise the fork to my mouth with a grape, he was opening his mouth, ready to be fed. I adore this new-found interest. So Jett excels at eating, and I'm grateful for something easy!
So, with our trip to New Mexico this past weekend, Jett has now met all of our immediate family members - finally! We'd had to postpone our pre-Christmas visit last month when Jett got bronchiolitis. We're glad to have made the introductions (he was a peach!) and look forward to a return visit if Jett keeps being the perfect little traveler that he's been thus far. He seemed to start
inching more while we were there, and is consistently holding the back of his hand to his temple with fingers outspread (as though to feign exhaustion in the most melodramatic fashion) while downing a bottle. It's rather funny.
Now that we're back home, we've got our nanny, Jamie, in place this week. Though we may never experience discretionary spending again (except for our son, of course), hiring a nanny has been a great decision for us. We really like Jamie, and really look forward to the personal, one-on-one attention Jett will be getting. She'll be able to help us establish predictable naptimes, familiarity with baby sign language, new food introductions and healthy eating habits, and more. Most importantly, we hope to get (and keep) Jett healthy which should be doable when we can control his environment's cleanliness and try to moderate the germ introductions (avoiding sick colleagues and friends to avoid bringing something home to him). We'll see! As a side benefit, I think Cash is ecstatic to have someone back home with him at all times during the day, like when I was on maternity leave. However, I think it just means that he's going to be really upset when we leave the house for weekend plans...
So all's rainbows and sunshine so far in 2011, and though I fear I may be jinxing myself having made that comment, I hope our fortune continues. We do feel so fortunate :)
One such reason is that we all might be getting some rest. Jett began sleeping on a consistent schedule in January. Though still not sleeping through the night, he was waking only once, and routinely around 2 am. It was so I kind of anticipated his stirring at that hour, and he'd eat and go right back to sleep. A twenty-minute sacrifice in a 7-8 hour stretch of sleep came easy! His schedule's a bit off as of right now and he's waking more frequently than a newborn, but we're going to cut him some slack; we just got back from our trip to NM and his schedule and timezone are out of whack. Plus, he's got a brand new ear infection. Hopefully by the end of the week, he'll be back to predictable. I'm confident that more regular and peaceful slumber is just around the corner.
As Jett gets older, he continues to move more frequently. He was already kicking and flailing at 3 months, but at 5 months, he's a child in nonstop motion. His teachers at daycare, separate pediatricians, two nannies and countless family members/friends have commented on what a "wiggler" he is. Yes, Jett's a wiggler. And a mover, and a shaker, and a jumper and an incher and he just doesn't stop moving. Which may be why he's sort of plateaued weight-wise. He flails even as he's eating! He grabs for his toes and sways when on the changing table; he rolls over the moment you put him on the floor; he has to stand when in your lap; he goes to bed in one direction and ends up in another. Anyway, the prediction is that he'll be crawling here shortly and then running just a bit after that. No walking; just straight to running :) We're in the market now for some rather effective child-proofing kits...
Jett is now a formula-only baby. Though I lamented the end of breastfeeding initially, (my emotional bond with my baby), it worked out. I'm glad we lasted to nearly 6 months, because it really was the best thing for him, but it started to get rather tedious planning my days and nights around my pumping schedule - I started to loathe the sight of my little Medela backpack. And it has been very nice to be able to eat regular food again! When we were in Albuquerque visiting the family this week, it was absolutely wonderful to not only have access to some FANTASTIC Mexican food, but also to be able to eat it!! On my breastfeeding no-gas-for-the-baby diet restrictions, beans and cheese are out. Which pretty much means Mexican food is out. I also got to go out for a night on the town (see: dinner without our child) with the Jensens without factoring in equipment or time for pumping. On the downside...Jett's poo has gotten rather "fragrant" (the introduction of solid foods has contributed to this as well), and formula is rather expensive, considering that the alternative was completely FREE. I'm still glad to have my freedom from the pump and diet restrictions.
One of the best things about January has been Jett's appetite for solid food. He took to the spoon ridiculously quickly and is really enthusiastic about mealtime in general. He'll whine in between spoonfuls if I'm not readying the next dollop fast enough, and he keeps his mouth open like a little fish! Where I used to rather dread going home after work because it meant we were about to start our hours-long, futile sleep routine, I look forward to my evening return for Jett's dinnertime. When we were at the airport yesterday, I was eating a fruit cup with Jett strapped to my chest. While he was watching me raise the fork to my mouth with a grape, he was opening his mouth, ready to be fed. I adore this new-found interest. So Jett excels at eating, and I'm grateful for something easy!
So, with our trip to New Mexico this past weekend, Jett has now met all of our immediate family members - finally! We'd had to postpone our pre-Christmas visit last month when Jett got bronchiolitis. We're glad to have made the introductions (he was a peach!) and look forward to a return visit if Jett keeps being the perfect little traveler that he's been thus far. He seemed to start
inching more while we were there, and is consistently holding the back of his hand to his temple with fingers outspread (as though to feign exhaustion in the most melodramatic fashion) while downing a bottle. It's rather funny.Now that we're back home, we've got our nanny, Jamie, in place this week. Though we may never experience discretionary spending again (except for our son, of course), hiring a nanny has been a great decision for us. We really like Jamie, and really look forward to the personal, one-on-one attention Jett will be getting. She'll be able to help us establish predictable naptimes, familiarity with baby sign language, new food introductions and healthy eating habits, and more. Most importantly, we hope to get (and keep) Jett healthy which should be doable when we can control his environment's cleanliness and try to moderate the germ introductions (avoiding sick colleagues and friends to avoid bringing something home to him). We'll see! As a side benefit, I think Cash is ecstatic to have someone back home with him at all times during the day, like when I was on maternity leave. However, I think it just means that he's going to be really upset when we leave the house for weekend plans...
So all's rainbows and sunshine so far in 2011, and though I fear I may be jinxing myself having made that comment, I hope our fortune continues. We do feel so fortunate :)
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