10 months!

Jett is 10 months old today and it makes me want to celebrate. Those first several months are behind us! We have predictability and communication to look forward to. I can't believe we made it through to 10 months. Seems like it's been 10 years...

So Jett got sick in May - quite sick - and we ended up switching daycare centers to aid in maintaining health. We miss Nanny Jamie something awful, and it really hit home when Jett caught a cold his first week back at his old center, and then caught a stomach virus the next week, which led to a lot of vomiting, diarrhea, high fevers and a last minute trip to the ER for fluids. And all with Kenny on business travel! Ugh. But we made it through. First stomach flu - first trip to the ER (Jett's now a registered patient at the local hospital, for future visits...) - first mommy-dealing-with-multiple-IV-attempt-puncture-wounds-in-her-baby - and now we're in a new daycare.

The new daycare is a local, non-commercial (small) facility right down the road. We opted to try this out vs going back to a nanny, and it's working so far because Jett's currently the only kid in the center's infant room (out of 8 potential spots). He can't very well get sick from other kids if there aren't any...and even when some new children start, it'll be a much better germ ratio over the 12 kids he was exposed to in his previous daycare center.

So Jett is currently healthy and a pretty happy little kid. He was down in weight from his bout with the stomach flu, and he didn't really have any extra weight to lose (being scrawny already), so we focused on trying to plump him up a bit. This has been a rather easy task - the kid loves to eat. I fear though that I might be setting myself up for disappointment. My mom told me I used to eat anything and everything as a baby, and I'm now the pickiest adult. So we'll see with Jett. But so far, he really does love to eat. And now that he's got a nice set of teeth (two upper front, two bottom front), he can chomp down on little pieces of things; we don't have to puree everything anymore. He likes texture, flavor, everything and can't get enough. Today alone he had sweet potato puree, mixed veggie puree, coconut water (he won't drink regular water), broccoli and mashed potato puree, shredded chicken, strawberries, freeze dried strawberries and bananas, tomato, beans, carrots, celery, apple, grapes, and soy yogurt. Oh, and Puffs. Never a day without Puffs...but man, can this child eat. If he's fussy, it's either because he's tired or hungry. And when he's not asleep, he does seem to be hungry...

We think Jett might just have gone through a growth spurt. As of last week, he just looks bigger. And he gained two pounds (from his ER weight) and is currently at 18 lbs 3+ oz. He actually looks like he might grow out of his infant car seat someday soon. Just add that to the list of neverending things to buy for a kid. Just bought him an activity walker thing that he can push around and maybe get more comfortable walking, just bought a top-of-the-stairs baby gate (should have done this a while ago), more socks since his feet look like little sausages (the only thing that seems to be gaining weight on his body), a Pack n' Play (again, a much delayed purchase), and better cabinet locks. And monthly diaper and formula deliveries. Thank God for Amazon and their reviews, pricing and 2-day shipping.

So I'm really excited about this upcoming month. I feel like we hit our stride in May (after the illness ordeals) and it's helpful that Jett's more predictable, sleeps better (though I can't comment on this further because every time I blog about his sleeping habits, he changes them almost immediately to spite me...) and eats table food. We've taken him out to several restaurants and he's perfect. We have his little travel chair and table mat and plenty of finger foods and as long as he's fed, he's behaving and mom and dad can eat their meals together as soon as the waiter brings them, like old times...I'm used to getting up at 7:30 now every morning (weekends included) and have become pretty good at making errand plans of which I can easily incorporate Jett - like Farmer's Market on Saturday mornings. He enjoys getting out of the house and he's a much more placated baby when he's busy observing people/things/places. Lately, he's been fascinated with children. If you're 4' tall or less, Jett wants to stare at you. Today at a doctor's office, he was craning his neck to watch this spastic little baby crawl around and do somersaults. One of the nurses commented that he was really intense in his observation. He just likes kids!

Again, 10 months seems to be a great, great place for us. Jett is happier, more aware, more mobile, just better. I am glad the first six months are over and done with!! Aye. It's been a long time coming. And to think, he'll be a year old in August. Only 20-some more to go after that...Is it bad to already be looking forward to retirement age without a kid around? Maybe a bit premature...

Two gripes: Speaking of my kids presence, I have officially been trained as a type of Pavlov's dog, now 10 months in. My son's cry triggers this stomach-drop thing - almost like you've just quickly driven over a steep hill in the road and your stomach dips. I hate it! I'm glad I can hear him - we could have the TV on, blaring, and I could still pick up a faint stirring from his room (no joke - Kenny and I alternate with this game - "Hey, mute it for a sec" - and sure enough, he's starting to wake/cry). We've long abandoned a baby monitor because of this. But with my very set sensitivity to his cry, there's a lot of false positives - I hear him in every squealing commercial, every show with a baby, every infant at the grocery store. And every time my brain processes a potential cry from Jett, my stomach drops. Perhaps that's no so maternal - thinking I hear my son and it triggers dread - but usually, if he's stirring/crying, he's waking from his nighttime slumber and it just means exhaustion, irritation and sure, dreading it all. The circumstances aren't so much the case anymore but still - I've apparently already been hardwired. Speaking of sleeping, this is something every new parent should have: http://amzn.com/1617750255 SO TRUE!

Last gripe: Breasts. This is probably too much information for my male audience (if anyone still reads this), but it's come to my attention recently in reading through some forums that many women LOSE a cup size after pregnancy, from breastfeeding. This is my own personal situation - I was slight-framed to begin with, but even more so now. But I wasn't prepared for this. I'd heard, if anything, that a woman could GAIN a cup size post-pregnancy, having kept some of the girth they'd grown in swelling for lactation. Or maybe I had heard that you could end up smaller and just shoved that out of my brain since I was already small and there was no way I could end up with less... Maybe this isn't a highly-shared tidbit because the books don't want to list a potentially discouraging downside to breastfeeding. Whatever the case, I'm kinda irked that I wasn't better prepared. Now I know for next time....sike!