12 weeks

12 Weeks

Awwwwwwww. And this is my last week before heading back to work. We might be snuggling all week :) 

Weight:  12.4+ pounds

Sleep: Slept through the night 2x’s!!!!!!!!! He slept 7-10 hour nights all week. Whoohooo He has also started eating every 4-5 hours, what a big boy!

Clothes: 3 months Gap 3-6 are still too big.  

Visitors:  Aunt Laura and Uncle Dustin. He met the Spilman’s and Harris’ for the first time this weekend.  

Out and About: My mom and I took him shopping..real shopping. First hurdle was uh where is the elevator? After we found it (we were pretty proud of ourselves) he decided he wanted to be held (which makes shopping impossible) then he pooped. hahah but after all of that I put him in the stroller and kept moving at all times. 

Baby Gear Love:  
Sleep sacks if we could find some that fit. I love them because they keep him warm but he still manages to get them in his over his mouth.. which defeats the purpose. 

Triple Paste (I found this recommended on another blog genius) Jackson doesn’t have a diaper rash but he does have a little chapping (which just makes me feel terrible I change his diaper a million times a day but it doesn’t seem to help) this stuff works. I tried organic everything and it didn’t do anything. I tried some nonorganic stuff that didn’t help either so then we called in the big dogs. Totally worth the $$$

Crying:  He just started the if I can’t see you I will cry. And he was a little spoiled over the weekend so he wants to be held all the time. 

Milestones:  
He is grabbing blankets and putting them in his mouth. He started liking sofie the giraffe. He is now starting to fall asleep on his own! No rocking and most of the time no paci. It's making me think he might be ready to sleep in the crib... which I'm just not ready for yet. I'm thinking after Christmas is a good time to start the crib sleeping. 

Medical: I spoke to soon the reflux has gotten way worse so back on the meds. We’ll see if they actually do anything or not. The cradle cap is almost gone!! 

Postpartum: I should complain more often because I lost 2 pounds!! Seven more to go. I also bought some cheapy target jeans. It’s nice to have something I don’t have to be uncomfortable in that aren’t maternity jeans. 

11 weeks

hahah I love this face! And look at that little belly!

11 Weeks: Ahhh how did this happen so soon?! Tears Tears Tears. 

Weight:  12.4+ pounds

Sleep: He is sleeping 6-7 hours a night then 4 hours after he eats! Whoohoo. Basically he eats around 2 or 3 and then is up at 7. 

Clothes: 3 months. I’m thinking he’s going to be in 6 months soon though!  

heheh just a random pic :)

Visitors:  None this week

Out and About: Nothing new this week. He’s been out and about doing anything and everything!

Baby Gear Love:  
Nothing new this week.

Crying:  Not a whole lot. I really think he has grown out of the colic. He is so easy now it’s crazy! Ok he does cry during pictures... how can you resist this face?!

This one is so sad :( Poor baby

Milestones:  
He is lifting his shoulders and head up!!! On the boppy and without. He even made 2 attempts to roll over. Now when he is laying on his back he gets his feet and arms going I think he’s trying to take off or something. It’s super cute! He is grabbing more toys and blankets. He is putting EVERYTHING in his mouth and drooling up a storm. I’m getting a little worried he’s going to teeth early. He has learned how to blow spit bubbles.. precious. Cooing cooing cooing!!!! He will take turns cooing back and forth :) He varies his loudness and length of cooes. It seems as if he is imitating me but I’m not 100% on that one. I’m pretty proud of all the sounds he is making!!

 The Pediatrician had mentioned that he would seem to regress before he progressed which I agree with completely. We were getting worried he would never hold his head and shoulders up but after a week of being super sleepy he did it! He doesn’t scream as much during tummy time :) 

I did it but I'm not excited..

Medical: We stopped the reflux medicine all together. To be honest I think it was making him worse. But he still does spit up a couple hours after eating- so I’m monitoring that for now. I really don’t want to put him on rice cereal before 4 months. The cradle CRAP (I mean cap) is getting much better but boy do I hate that stuff. Grr. Olive oil has become our best friend. He’s still grunting away but I think it’s gotten a little better? It’s not waking us up as much. 

Postpartum: Same as usual. It’s so frustrating to know I’ve been working out for a month and no more weight loss ******** beep! I’m not a huge fan of a muffin top or none of my clothes fitting. I did find a pair of 6’s in my closet that fit. I’m contemplating buying one pair of jeans that fit... But I did start doing some post baby ab workouts that seem to be helping?! 

Oscar trying to get the birds.. he was removed from the chair immediately after I took the picture

Just chillin

Playing!

Our Typical Day

I think I can officially say we are on a routine not a schedule yet- he is sleeping longer at night, waiting longer to eat so the times are always changing.  I'm not sure what helped us get on this routine- the putting him down for a nap right when he shows signs of being tired (I read that most people make their babies overtired and then they won't nap which I was totally doing), being diary free for 2+ full weeks, or just getting a little bit older whatever it is we will take it! It goes something like this:

5-7ish am wake up, eat, diaper change takes 20-30 minutes



Then we play for 30-45 minutes (the time keeps getting a little longer each week).

Nap time for 2-3 hours

Then repeat!

*Around 5pm we used to have the witching hour or cranky hour where nothing seems to work except bouncing him on the ball and singing country music (not sure the music helps the baby but it keeps me sane). Now he seems to want to stay up but he doesn't really want to play so I have been putting him on our bed to look around or I lay there and talk to him which he loves. Then when I make dinner I put him in the bouncy seat where he usually nods off for a bit. Everyday at 5 we play music and sing. He has started cooing along with me which is sooo cute. We play all kinds of music- country usually wins because I know all the words but I change it up everyday.

Then the rest of the evening he either plays or cuddles with daddy.

Around 9:00 we feed him, give him a bath, change him and then it's off to bed in the rock n play with white noise or pouring rain sound. He usually wakes up again at 2.

What do we do for play time? He loves laying in his jungle gym listening to the music and watching the lights while he kicks his feet. I usually let him play by himself until he gets bored then we go to his crib where he watches his whale mobile and kicks his feet :) After that I sit him in the bumbo where we read stories and we talk. I love this because he can see my face and my mouth which he stares then he cooes back and forth with me. Or he smiles and laughs. When he gets sick of the Bumbo I do tummy time. Then if he's not tired I put him on his back where we play with more toys. Everyday at 5 is music time! At this point I think he's a little tired and overstimulated so it's great to put him on the boppy or hold him and sing (or make up words). Obviously he is getting lots of speech and language development during the day but we do work really hard on the ******* tummy time which he hates. And we work on tracking objects, hold/swatting toys, hearing/vision, etc.

A successful tummy time

Nap times: Everyday one nap (at least 30 minutes) is in his crib. I swaddle his feet (he's never really liked swaddling especially his hands so I just do his feet to make it more like the rock n play), read a story in the rocking chair and then put him down between two rolled up blankets (again to make it like the rock n play). The rest of his naps are usually in the swing with rain/white noise. Everyday around 3 I snuggle with him :)

Nap time:

Notes: 

• I never used the cry it out method (although at times I wanted to) Jackson just gets out of control the longer you let him cry so I try to soothe him asap (plus I HATE hearing him cry). I have found with him having the same routine over and over really helps. The sleeping in the crib has gotten better and better every week and I think it's because we always- swaddle, read, rock then down for the nap. 
• If he is super cranky and sleepy one day I just shorten play time but I also make him do some play to keep the routine and I don't want him sleeping all day.
• From day one I was very good about making sure he knew night vs. day. At night the lights are out except for the light on the night stand. I don't do a lot of talking- this would just make him get excited and want to play. If he gets fussy I'll pick him up and put him right back down to sleep. If I have to I will rock him, turn the white noise on high, and give him the pacifier but we NEVER get up and play. I will say he does make it in our bed sometimes but that is usually when he is straining for hours trying to go to the bathroom. And the first three weeks of his life we had to hold him too sleep but see ROCK N PLAY- solved that problem.
• If we are going to run errands I try to play a little then when he is suppose to nap I put him in the carseat to run errands- sometimes it doesn't work out that way but if I do this it's much easier. 
• By no means is this perfect but it works for us! Ideally I would like it to be more time scheduled but I'm fine with it for now. 

10 weeks

10 Weeks

Weight:  12.4 pounds-46th percentile! 23 inches- 73rd percentile!

Sleep: He is sleeping 5-6 hours every night :) Happy mama

Clothes: 0-3 are getting too short but are still too wide. He’s been wearing some 3 month. 

Visitors:  None this week

Out and About: We missed our Monday get together because of Stella (who is sick) and because he completely over heated in the car (even in his light weight onesie windows down and air on) and then was out of sorts after that. It was a rough Monday. And the carseat is a whole other issue. 

We used the baby B'jorn to go grocery shopping..amazing! He slept the whole time and I got everything I needed. It was so much easier. Of course some elderly lady decided to tell me that his feet were cold..... which was interesting because he was sweating the B'jorn (so was I) Jackson is a furnace. See overheating in carseat.  And besides the fact that not one pair of socks stay on his feet, we lose them before we get out of the house. I have also tried newborn shoes..who do they make them for giants?! 

We had date night Friday night so Mimi and Poppi and Auntie Jane babysat. Yep that’s 3 adults spoiling him. He also met several of our friends at a party on Saturday and a dog for the first time. He’s been quite the trooper this weekend of being everywhere but home. 

Baby Gear Love:  
Glow and the dark pacifiers MAM: I recently posted that his pacifiers are constantly falling out of his mouth- we were using soothies, gumdrops, and nuk- but someone very brilliant suggested MAM. It's changed our lives. He does spit the out when he is screaming bloody murder :) but for the most part they stay in. AND we discovered the MAM bottles work much better for him. Genius. So these glow in the dark pacifiers are freaking awesome. 1. You can find them in the middle of the night 2. You can see if the pacifier is in his mouth.. now if his mouth glowed we would be all set. But I really love watching the little round circle glow and move around in his sleep it is so cute!

Crying:  If he’s hungry, over stimulated, the pacifier fell out, or he wants to be held. He’s been really great! After his shots on Thursday he was so pathetic I was about to cry with him. Friday was a more cranky day still from the shots. 

Milestones:  
More opening and closing his hands around things. Lots of new coos and goos! Duh :) And boy are we working on tummy time. I finally bought the baby boppy for him to lay on which seems to help him stay on his belly longer. He will lift his head if he’s on the boppy. 

Doctor’s visit: Awesome weight gain and height! The pediatrician said he looks GREAT! He does have cradle cap on his face and head- we thought he had eczema but we were obviously wrong. We are now suppose to put olive oil on it... I kept saying we were basting a turkey, my parents say they are making a salad BUT it seems to be helping. He got his 2 month shots and he didn’t cry one bit. I was shocked! He just kept smiling at me. This time I got to hold his hands so I think that helped. His straining for HOURS in the morning is because he doesn’t know how to use the right muscles to go to the bathroom. So now we are suppose to rub his belly and pump his legs (which have been doing that part) so lots of belly rubs for Jackson. For the reflux we are trying to up the dosage and see if that helps, if not she wants to try rice cereal. 

Postpartum: I still have 7-8 pounds to loose but I can tell I'm loosing inches. I have wore 2 pre-pregnancy jeans and more shirts this past week. I'm still running 2x's a week and spinning 2x's and walking whenever we can. And I'm trying to make healthier choices.. can you tell I hate dieting?! 

Misc:

Jackson is taking at least a 30 minute nap in his crib everyday. He even had one one hour nap last week. Eating every 3- 3.5 hours, playing, sleeping routine. He is sleeping mostly in the swing for naps but he has been napping some on the boppy and on his playmate. 

Isn't his shirt cute?!

Oscar in the jogger stroller.. 

9 weeks

This is his favorite thing to do kick kick kick!

9 Weeks

Weight:  9.7+ pounds (we will find out on Thursday)

Sleep: He had one night where he slept 6 hours and one night he slept 5! We really think he would sleep much longer but he spends hours (yes hours) grunting and straining in his sleep. 

Clothes: 0-3

Visitors:  Melanie came to visit! He was such a little flirt with her smiling and cooing away it was ridiculous! 

Out and About: We go everywhere! I’m so glad we took him out early on because it has made things much easier now. He got fussy in the running store and I was able to take him out and hold him while we shopped- if this would have happened a couple weeks ago I would have went straight to the car. 

Baby Gear Love:  
White noise app! A few people mentioned white noise to me and instead of spending $70 or more on a machine I downloaded the app. The app is awesome because it has all kinds of sounds (rain, ocean, crickets, etc) including the white noise. You can set a timer for how long you want it on. The only bad thing is it does run down your phone battery (probably because I use it every time he goes back to sleep). But if Santa brings me the Ipad I can rotate Iphone and Ipad :)

Crying:  This week was AMAZING!! It has been two weeks since he had dairy and I can really see a difference. His crying has decreased by 90%. He is following our routine without any issues and falling asleep in the swing on his own. We still have the cranky 5 pm hour but I can deal with that! He is so much happier too, he smiles all the time! The reflux is still a major issue- I’m getting spit up on every time he eats. And the grunting/straining going on we have to ask the doctor about. 

Milestones:  
He found his hand! He even gets a thumb or some fingers in there. It is soooo cute!

Postpartum: Made it to spinning class 2x’s this week and ran 2x’s. I lost 1-2 pounds. I quit eating ranch dressing :) haha my only attempts at "dieting". 

Goals:
This week he was following our routine of eat, play, sleep very nicely! He was also able to sleep without being held for naps on most days. Still working on sleeping in the crib.

In case you are as obsessed as we are about Jackson..

Happy 2 months!

Jackson,
       You are now 2 months old! We are sorry we didn't write you a letter the first month but we were overwhelmed, sleep deprived, and battling your stomach issues and mommy being sick. Now we are getting the hang of things :)
        We are honestly amazed by how much we love you more and more everyday (and we were in love with you the second you were born crying with that pouty lip). We sit and stare at you for hours. We think the smallest things are amazing (which they are to us). Your personality shows more each day- you are quick tempered, stubborn, extremely sweet and cuddly, and you LOVE smiling and giggling. Don't worry you got the quick temper and stubborn from your daddy... You love to kick your feet as fast as possible to music! It is adorable. I woke up the other morning and saw your little feet moving as fast as they can. You love your whale mobile and your jungle gym. Recently you started sitting in the bumbo which you love because you can sit in it and flirt with mommy. I may or may not be teaching you how to say "mama".... Snuggling- I couldn't have asked for a better snuggler. You love to get as close to my face as possible and burry in my chest. You sleep best on my chest and would prefer to do this all day every day. It breaks my heart to put you down and NOT snuggle with you but I know it's important for you to sleep on your own. I usually give in when you stick that bottom lip out and give little wimpy cries. That lip gets me every time! Saturday mornings you usually do end up on your mama's chest snuggling in bed (shh don't tell!). It seems as if you are starting to become a mama's boy and prefer to be held or with your mama. You love to give your daddy a hard time when you two are alone- but I think that's because you two are so much a like. You love to eat and will cry very loudly when we try to burp you between ounces it's pretty funny and cute.
         Unfortunately, right now you have a diary intolerance, reflux, possible colic, and some other tummy issues we are trying to figure out. We have had you off of diary for two full weeks and it really seems to have helped the fussiness and colic. Although, you are on reflux medications they don't seem to be working. And we know you have another tummy issue we will address at your next doctor's appointment.
       You have changed and grown so much in the past two months, we can't wait to see what next month will bring!

Jackson's first Halloween

If anyone has read my fall posts from last year you would already know that I LOVE Halloween!!! I was super pumped for Jackson's first Halloween..so much so that I didn't even get my own costume- I usually buy my costume in August every year. 

We started with carving pumpkins.. J for Jackson (duh) and wolverine (Jamie's favorite superhero so obviously it would be Jackson's).

Halloween eve I put Jackson's jammies on :)

 Halloween morning playing in his crib watching the whales as you can see in the shadow

 

I have been saving the skull and bones diaper for Halloween and he loved it!! I never let him hangout in his diaper but obviously I should...

Then it was time for his day shirt!

 And I tried to take a picture of his bib and he was over it!!

After our day of playing and pictures we headed over to Jane's, then my parent's and then to the Whitley's. He was pooped after a few minutes at Jane's! He was such a little trooper with very little crying. Really he slept most of it. 

Our little lion

Close up!

The whole family! Can you guess what Jamie is?!

Look at that tail!

It was a great first Halloween! Just think next year he will be walking!!! I was a little sad putting away his costume this morning but now we are on to Thanksgiving :)