Wednesday, February 26, 2014

3 months



You are three months old, Caleb! A whole trimester in pregnancy terms. And boy do I enjoy you much more outside of my belly than in. Today we went to the Children's Museum at the Gateway with Grandma and Aunt Laura and your cousins, although I can't say you enjoyed it as much as they did, as you were preoccupied with eating most of the time. It was actually the first time I nursed you in public. Aunt Laura nursed baby Sam next to us. It was like our own little feeding party of four.

Boy you can eat. I nurse you and you are still hungry and so you guzzle 8 ounces of formula a half hour later. It's no wonder you are so hungry though, because you are so tall! At this rate, you will outgrow me by the time you are three years old. You are already showing signs of your daddy's height. Thank heavens you didn't inherit mine.

Sleeping through the night consistently is a talent you have yet to develop, but your frequent smiles make up for it. Who wouldn't fall in love with those dimples? Everyone comments on how cute you are, and well, you really are the cutest baby I have ever laid eyes on if I do say so myself. Those big, dark bright eyes really do sparkle, and they are definitely brown, as we thought they would be.

You coo often now, and your motor skills are improving, much to your parents' delight...except when you grab onto Mommy's hair. We will have to work on that. You can hold up your head really well now too! Bath time continues to be a pleasure for all involved and we are now incorporating that into our nightly routine now that your skin isn't getting quite so dry (special thanks to the baby lotion).

Your daddy loves you. Oh how he loves you. He loves picking out your outfits and changing your diaper, because, amazingly, you seem to be the most pleasant and full of smiles during those activities. You are starting to have hints of a laugh when you get excited. We are working on coaxing that out of you, and it is sure fun. You also slobber a lot now, and enjoy making spit bubbles. Just grow out if that before you turn four...it might not be as cute then. Four years old that is.

We love seeing you grow and reach new milestones. You can roll over from your tummy yo your back, and you can almost go from back to tummy--you insist on laying on your side as soon as we lay you in your crib for bedtime. I will admit that I am nervous for the crawling milestone--it's nice for me to run and do the laundry or dishes and know that you won't wander off of your playmat...although you can rotate 180 degrees on it. You are quite the wiggle worm. That playmat was a great idea by the way. You LOVE grabbing at the rings hanging off of it. The bouncer is another fun place, but that plastic lion is just too elusive for you to grab. You'll get it one day, kiddo.

I love singing to you. Sometimes you smile when I do, so I don't think I will stop. Yesterday we went spent time sitting in the backyard for the first time because it finally warm enough to do so. You didn't really like it at first because it was too warm and bright, but you got used to it eventually. I expect we will spend a lot of time out there to escape our gopher hole basement apartment.


Remember that time that you had your biggest diaper explosion yet? That was last week. Too bad I was holding you in just my underwear when that happened. I didn't even know you could hold that much poop in you, by the way. Truly impressive. The washing machine told me so.

Three months old. That's like, .25 years in people years.

Don't grow up too fast little dude.



Monday, February 24, 2014

The funny side of parenting a baby

Okay, it's story time. Let's admit it--having a baby can be challenging. Diaper explosions, never getting a full night of sleep, unexplainable crying, and if you are a stay at home mom, the feelings of loneliness and desperately wishing there was another adult in the house to talk to besides the ones on Netflix. However, there is definitely comedic relief, and I would like to share a couple of those shining moments with you, both of which happen to revolve around nursing.

1) This happened in December when Caleb was still only a few weeks old. He was refusing to sleep in his bassinet, and so in an attempt to get more sleep for everyone, we had him sleep in his swing until we could get him used to sleeping horizontally. The swing was on Brent's side of the bed, and so during this time it was his job was to get the baby when he cried and bring him to me so I could nurse him. One night we awoke to the hunger cries of our wee one, and my bleary eyed husband rolled out of bed to collect our child.

I waited. It was taking Brent an unusually long time to unbuckle our baby out of the swing, and Caleb was letting him know it. But I waited still.

Finally, my begroggled (yes I made that word up) spouse came over and I held out my arms to take Caleb from him. But imagine my surprise, when I saw that in Brent's delusional state, he was not cradling our infant, but his pillow.

I tried not to laugh, because clearly my husband was not fully awake. I also didn't laugh because I was also tired and was trying to figure out if maybe I was the one that wasn't awake and the pillow I was looking at was actually a baby.

As I could still hear Caleb screaming madly from the corner of the room, I determined that the pillow was, in fact, a pillow.

 Our conversation went something like this:

"Uuuh....Brent...go get Caleb."
"He's right here..."
"No....he's still in his swing."

Brent looked at the package in his arms. I think it took him a full three seconds before he registered that, contrary to his beliefs, he was holding something other than Caleb. He looked startled and then he went back to the swing and got Caleb and brought him over. Once I started nursing, Brent quickly fell back asleep, while I sat there chuckling to myself.

The next morning, we had a good laugh about it.

We still aren't sure at what point Brent grabbed the pillow.



2) This happened yesterday at a family gathering.

I was attempting to nurse Caleb at my brother's house, and his little boys, ages 3 and 4, were quite intrigued with what I was doing. I was trying to use a cover, but Kyle and Lucas wanted to know what was going on.

"What's the baby doing? Is he drinking?....Is he still drinking? He has milk? Is he still drinking?"

Lucas in particular kept trying to peek under the cover to see what exactly was going on under there.

Meanwhile, Caleb was having a hard time staying latched on, and with a cover and two overly curious children within an arm's reach, breast feeding was becoming difficult. I finally thought, forget this, these kids have seen their mom do it and they won't be scarred, and I stopped worrying about the cover so I could get Caleb latched on again. 

Upon seeing the source of Caleb's milk supply, Lucas cried, "Wow! You have a lot!"

I about died. 

He then added, "My mom has a little."

And then he lifted up his own shirt to inspect his own milk makers. I had to explain that only girls made milk. Shortly after, he went up to my dad (his grandpa) and started to lift his shirt up to see his too. 

The body is a wonderous thing...especially to a three year old. 




Saturday, February 15, 2014

The Lip Quiver

This is how we know when Caleb is cold. And to remove any doubt, the water was warm. He was just cold because we lifted him out to wash his back and little baby caboose. :)