Glad We Did It

In my last post, I wrote about how we lowered his crib on Saturday.  We didn't have any reason for doing it  at the time- he had made no attempts to pull up.  We really just did it because we had time and didn't know if we would when he actually started pulling up.  It's a good thing we did because here he is yesterday.

He managed to pull up onto the ottoman as I turned away and pulled that green tray off which had a full glass of water on it.  I obviously didn't learn my lesson because the green tray is still there in the picture.  There is not, however, any water on it.  The tray has since been removed.  Being able to stand up adds a whole new meaning to child-proofing.  I can't wait until he starts walking!

Stop Growing Up

Today was a sad day for me.  As you can see, we lowered Noah's crib.  I am not sure why, but this just made him seem really big to me.  He isn't supposed to be growing up so fast.  I think he was very confused when we put him down tonight.  Hopefully he will figure out how to reach the button to turn on his crib aquarium in the morning.  Otherwise it may be a very early morning for us.  

Check out that belly... No concern for being too skinny anymore.

Nine Months Old

Weight:  21lb 4.7oz (75%)- Yes that's right... from 10% at 4 months to 75% at 9 months

Height:  27.5 inches (50%)

Head:  45 cm (25%)

I know I say this every month, but, Where has the time gone?  Nine months already!  Here's what he can do...

-  He can crawl.  He started at 8 months 3 weeks and is everywhere now.  People always told me that it was nice when their kids started crawling because then they could follow them when they left the room.  Not so for Noah... As soon as I leave the room, he goes for the nearest outlet or plant.  I can't wait until he starts walking!

-  He is not a big vegetable fan.  He is doing better now, but for a stretch he would spit every time we gave him vegetables.  It was the first time we have really had to get on to him.  I do not look forward to disciplining, but I guess it is a necessary evil.

-  He can drink from a cup, but usually half of it ends up down the front of his shirt.  He thinks he is pretty big though when he does it.  

-  He loves bananas.  Pretty much the only time he throws a fit or gets upset is when he feels like we have not given him enough banana.

-  He naps well now.  He sleeps about 1.5-2 hours in the morning and afternoon.

-  He claps all the time.  Any time he does something that he feels is an accomplishment, he stops and starts clapping and waits for us to do the same.  Whenever we say "Yea" he immediately starts clapping.

-  He LOVES Rudy.  He loves grabbing Rudy's hair.  He also squeezes Rudy's rubber ball and then laughs when Rudy starts barking at him.  He will then barely hit the ball away from him in an attempt to throw it.  Rudy likes Noah also, but not quite as much.

-  He has pretty much stopped nursing.  I try each feed, but most of the time he does it for a few seconds and then wants his bottle.  I think this would have upset me had it not been such a long saga, but as it is, I am happy for a healthy chubby boy even if that means it comes from formula and not me.

-  He continues to love going to bed at night.  Whenever we pull his pajamas out at night he gets really excited.  Once we put them on him, he lies on the floor and kicks for a while, laughing and spitting.  Then he takes his bottle and goes to sleep.

-  He can wave.  He usually does it with both hands for good measure.

-  When he gets really excited, he clenches his both fists, his eyes get really big, and he shakes all over.  

First Halloween

The spider and his web.

Sunday School

Noah started going to Bible class this month.  If he looks tired in the picture, it's because he is.  It starts at nine which is nap time.  I was a little nervous about how he was going to do, but he did great- or so they tell me.  He just takes an extra long nap in the afternoon.  He also has been staying in there during worship time as well.  I think Brian finally got tired of wrestling a bear cub during church and collecting the toys that he had thrown all over the auditorium was getting a little old as well.  He's getting so big!

8 Months Old!

Time is flying by way too fast!  Our baby is already 8 months old.  Where has the time gone?!?!  Here is what he has been up to...

-  He rolls everywhere.  He tries to crawl, but ends up moving backwards and getting very mad that the toy he was trying to get is getting farther away.  

-  He is eating baby foods three times a day and breast/bottle feeding four times a day.  We just started meats yesterday which he hated.  It was the first time since first starting solids that he has not liked something.

-  Every night when he eats dinner, he pauses for a minute, turns really red, and poops.  Other than that, he doesn't care for interruptions in his meals.  If you are taking too long getting a bite ready, he will let you know.

-  He is finally napping!!!!  Thanks to the Baby Einstein crib aquarium (greatest invention ever) that we purchased around 7 months, he is now taking pretty regular naps. 

-  He sleeps 11-12 hours at night.  He usually sleeps on his stomach now, but is in a different position pretty much every time we go into the room.  He makes good use of every square inch of his crib. 

-  We finally stopped swaddling him last week.  We were so afraid that he wouldn't sleep if we stopped that we just kept putting it off.  I was beginning to think that we would send him off to college all swaddled up.  He hasn't been swaddled since last week and hasn't really seemed to notice.  Apparently we liked the swaddle more than he did.

-  We have been through many, many different kinds of diapers trying to find one that he cannot manage to leak out of.  We have finally worked out a combination that seems to work... He wears Pampers Cruisers size 3 during the day because he was pooping out the legs of the Huggies and Huggies Overnights size 4 at night because he was peeing out the tops of the Pampers.  I have a wide variety of almost full bags of many different sizes and brands of diapers in the closet in Noah's room that he will never wear.

-  He has two teeth coming in on the bottom which he loves to feel with his tongue and fingers.

-  He still does not seem to have much stranger anxiety.  He goes to pretty much anybody.  I can at least tell now that he seems to prefer Brian and I over complete strangers, but barely.  

-  He loves our dog Rudy and is constantly trying to grab his hair.  I pity Rudy when Noah starts to crawl.

-  He has a horrible cow lick at the crown of his head which is really cute now, but he probably won't think it is so cute when he is 15.

-  He  loves baths- especially when his dad runs them because they have a lot of bubbles in them then.

-  Every night before he goes to sleep, we put him in his PJs and he lays on the floor in his room waving his arms, kicking, and laughing.  It is pretty hilarious to watch.

-  He laughs and smiles a lot.  Even when he is sick or teething, he is still happy most of the time.  He is happy most of the day, but he is definitely happiest when his dad comes home at night.  

I can't believe he is 8 months old.  For the first 4 months, life seemed to be at a standstill.  In the last four months, I feel like I blinked and they were gone.  Before you know it, he will be off to college, but at least he won't be swaddled!

Cutting Teeth

Teething is no fun!  Just when he had started napping well, here come the teeth.  His naps became under an hour a piece which made for a very happy baby at night.  This picture was taken before the real crankiness set in.  It was also the last time he ever used the teething ring.    I would post a picture of the actual teeth, but he's not very big on showing them off yet.  

I HATE CHICKEN!!!!

We started meat for the first time last night.  Not a big fan.

6 Month Stats

I took Noah to the doctor for his 6 month visit last week.  Here are his stats:

Weight: 15lb 8.68oz (20%, Yea!!)

Height: 26.3 inches (50%, I am pretty sure they didn't stretch him all the way out)

Head: 43cm (25%)

He wasn't particularly fond of his shots (who is?!?), but he settled down pretty quickly.  Since then we cut out his night feed since he had gained so well.  The first few nights were a little rough, but now he is generally sleeping from 8:00-8:30 to around 6:30-7:00 in the morning.  Yea!!!

Half a Year- Really!?!?!

Can you believe it's been 6 months already?  Our baby boy is 6 months old today.  I can't believe how time has flown.  Well here's the run-down on what's going on with Noah...

- He is starting to sit.  In the last week, he has gone from not being able to sit at all to sitting up unassisted for minutes at a time.  I can't believe how fast it happens.

- He can roll over both ways, but is not a fan of his stomach so once he gets to his back, he just stays there.  Thankfully he hasn't yet figured out that he can use this as a means to get around.

- The rare times when he stays on his stomach, he tries to crawl (despite the fact that he can't get up on all fours) and just gets mad when he doesn't go anywhere.  

-  He is eating cereal.  He loves it and usually finishes all that we give him.

- We started green beans thinking that he would dislike those the most and he LOVES them.  We usually have to cut him off.  Just wait until you get to the fruit buddy.

-  He is napping better... He is kind of hit or miss.  Somedays like today, he goes down without a problem, others he screams for a while.  All in all, it is an improvement from a month ago.

- He is very happy most of the time.

-  He wakes up once at night to eat.

- He loves to spit.  He will soak the entire front of his onesie just from spitting.

- He loves playing in his exersaucer and playing with toys on the floor, but I think his favorite toy is still the remote control and my cell phone.  

-  He gets really happy when his Dad comes home at night and always seems to be happier on the weekends when Dad's around.

We love you Baby!  I can't believe it's already been half a year!

Apologies From a Pediatrician

This entry is dedicated to all the parents of patients that I saw in residency.  I apologize for making parenthood sound easier than it really is.  

When I told you, "You have to just leave them in bed; they are going to cry, but you have to be strong-"  It is not that easy listening to your five month old cry for almost two hours.  

When I said, "You should try breastfeeding-" It is not always that easy as I have learned.  Never again will I judge someone for not breastfeeding.  People always said, "Breastfeeding is tough, " and I thought, "People have been breastfeeding since the beginning of time.  How could it be that difficult.  I think you are making it harder than it really is."  Well now I know, it is not always that easy.  

When I chided, "You have to sleep when baby sleeps-" I didn't realize that that may be the only time of day you have to take a shower or just sit.

When I thought to myself, "What exactly do stay-at-home Moms do during the day?  How hard can it be?  I work 80 hours in a week.  It's not that big of a deal-"  Boy was I wrong about this one.  I have definitely learned that it is not that easy.  It is a lot of work and you never get to leave you job, but it can also be very isolating when your only social interaction in a day is your slobbering baby and Matt, Meredith, Al, and Ann.  

When I said, "You just need to get out more.  That will make you feel better-"  whereas it may make you feel better, when you are still recovering from your postpartum hormone craziness, and you haven't the slightest idea about what to do with a baby at the grocery store, it is not that easy.

So again I apologize to anyone I may have casually given parenting tips to when I had no idea what I was talking about.  I understand now why you looked at me with the eyes of a frazzled, beaten down soldier losing the battle.  I apologize for sending you out the door without letting you know that it will be difficult, and that at times that you will want to throw the towel in, but not to give up because you can make it through.   Not that any of my patients' parents will ever read this blog (not that anyone ever reads this blog), but if you are out there, know that I am sorry.  I may still give the same advice, but there will be a lot more empathy behind my words now.  And know that while I have a lot more to learn, I am definitely a better, more understanding pediatrician through my experiences thus far.  If I have learned nothing else, I know that it is not always that easy!

Noah's Favorite Time of Day, Part 2

How long can this sweet little guy scream???  One hour and forty minutes!  Our kitchen sink, microwave, and stove were immaculate by the time he finished.  He slept for about twenty minutes, then woke up screaming again.  However, since then, he has done much better.  I think the longest he has cried has been about 10-15 minutes.  He is still not sleeping very long, but I feel confident that this will improve.  I never thought that our laid-back, happy baby could be so stubborn!

Noah's Favorite Time of Day

What time of day is that, you ask.... Well it is Nap time. 

I started this post over a month ago, but never finished it because he started taking naps (Note Number 3 on Four Months entry) .  Well here I am one month later, sitting on the couch listening to my screaming child.  How did I get here you ask?...Vacation!  We recently went on a two week vacation.  We visited family and went to the beach.  Whereas, I loved the break and it was good to get away and be with family, I am still reaping the consequences.  Since our return, almost two weeks ago, Noah has taken three good naps.  Yes, that's right, three naps in two weeks!  You may say, "You're just not being tough enough," or "You just need to let him cry it out," but before you judge me, hear me out.  I have been putting him in his bed at designated nap times for almost two weeks, and for almost two weeks, he has cried for an hour at each of those times.  After an hour I would rescue him because it was time for a feed.  I took him to the doctor on Monday to have him weighed and mentioned his naps (or lack there of) and was told "You are just going to have to let him cry until he falls asleep."  Great, how long is that?!?!  Well Tuesday I was really dreading naptime, but was resolved to be strong.  I put him down and, low and behold, not a peep.  He slept for an hour and a half.  The afternoon nap was similar- only about eight minutes of crying.  Sweet!  He figured it out!-- Not quite.  Today I laid him down thinking, "No big deal. He's got this."  He was quiet for about ten minutes, and I began to celebrate another victory- maybe a little too soon.  All of a sudden I heard a noise, but it's okay, He's just talking.  Well talking turned into screaming and so here I am.  How long can he go?  To be continued...

It Must be an Acquired Taste

We celebrated a new milestone in the Hughes household last week.  We started cereal!  How did it go?  I will let you be the judge of that...

This is before the first time.  He looks pretty excited, right?  The rest are from the second feeding.  The reaction was about the same as the first, but the pictures were a little more telling the second time around.

Well, maybe he will learn to love it.  At least it gives him a few extra calories.

4 months

Our little boy is now four months old.  I can't believe that it has already been that long.  I thought I would copy my sister-in-law and write about what all he can do so that I would have it for later.  Here goes...

1.  He smiles a lot.  He will hand out big grins for me and others, but will only really laugh hard for his dad.  

2.  At night, he goes down without a fuss, wakes up once to feed and then goes right back down. 

3.  Not the same story during naptime...  He HATES naps.  I think he doesn't want to miss anything.  He takes after his mom in that regard.  Some may call it nosy, I prefer to call it inquisitive.  Anyway, it has been a battle to get him to take a nap during the day, but after many hours of me listening to him cry in bed over many weeks, I think he is finally getting it.  

4.  He can roll front to back (started at 9 weeks), but has not quite mastered back to front.  His Dad claims that he watched him do it, but once again I was not present.  I had just left to go the bathroom- what a little stinker.

5.  He is very long (75%), but on the skinny side (10% at his last visit).  We are actually having to supplement him a little with pumped breast milk right now.  

6.  He has discovered his feet and plays with them all the time.  It is really funny to see his confusion when I put socks on his feet.  Hasn't figured out where his toes go.

7.  He also loves his hands.  He chews and sucks on them all the time.  Occasionally he will gag himself when he puts his entire fist in, and again he can't quite figure out what has happened or that his fist is the culprit. 

8.  He coos quite a bit, especially when he is getting tired.  He really has a lot to say then.  

Noah you are such a joy!  You have blessed your Dad and me so much.  We have loved these last four months and can't wait to see you grow and develop in the coming months.  We love you!!!

The Joys of Motherhood

  Today was just one of those days...It began with waking up to Noah screaming at 7:00 after I had fed him and put him back down at 6:00.  I was just hoping for 30 more minutes of slumber.  I fed him, we had our morning time, and I put him down for a nap.  He initially went down without a fight (which used to be rare for him, but in recent days he has improved), but about 10 minutes into it, the crying ensued.  I did not rush to his bed thinking that he would settle himself.  After about 20 minutes, I went to check on him.  Upon seeing me, he stopped crying and proceeded to laugh.  Great!  He won!  I made sure he was okay, then left again.  Immediately he began crying again.  I left and went to take a shower so that I could be ready to go to his doctor's appointment.  After I finished getting ready, I went to rescue the napless wonder.  I nursed him and as I was starting to give him a bottle (he has had weight issues so is doing both now)  I discovered that he had poop up to his shoulder blades.  So glad that I let him cry it out!  All he wanted was to get out of his poop soaked clothes, and Mom gave him some tough love.  We immediately put the feed on hold and retreated to his room to strip him down.  As I was wiping the poop off, he proceeded to pee all over himself.  At that point, I gave up and headed for the bathtub.  He got cleaned up and then I had to go change my poop clothes.  After we were both changed, it was time to race to his appointment.  The appointment went well, but he was exhausted thanks to his mother not changing his diaper during his morning nap.  He fell asleep on the way home.  I thought, finally he is sleeping!!  I carefully pulled his seat out of the car so as not to wake him up.  I walked into the house to find my 7lb Yorkie sneaking into his bed and about 10 dirty diapers and wipes scattered all over the living room floor.  RUDY!!!!  I had emptied the trash can in Noah's room into our big trash can right before I left.  I remember checking to make sure the pantry door was closed, but apparently I didn't check very well.  As you can imagine, Noah's was now awake after my yelling at the dog.  I left him in his car seat while I cleaned up the diapers and carpet.  He didn't last very long because at this point he was both tired and hungry.  I finished up and rescued him once again.  I thought I smelled a hint of poop again so I pulled his shorts off to check his diaper, not wanting to make the same mistake again.  As I grabbed them, I felt the poop running down my hand.  Lovely.  We again spent some quality time on the changing table.  

Shortly after all this Brian came home.  The rest of the day was not nearly as eventful.  He ate again and went to sleep for the night.  Hopefully he will sleep well since he successfully went the entire day without a real nap.  It is days like this where I think, "What in the world am I doing?!?!?," but then I see my sweet baby boy smiling up at me and know that I  wouldn't have it any other way. 

My First Mother's Day!

So again, it's a little late...My first Mother's Day was a few weeks ago, and I have had these pictures loaded in for some time, but am just now writing about it.  We spent the weekend at Gram and Grampa's house.  

I think Noah enjoyed the attention, and judging by that expression, I am pretty sure he loves the new hat that they gave him.  It will come in handy this summer.

We all spent Sunday afternoon at my Grandmother's house. 

Gram with her Grandkids

Dallas made Gram T-shirts for the girls and a Onesie for Noah.  I don't have a picture of Noah with his, but here are the girls.

Nora and GiGi

Elyn on the phone

Noah's onesie has a lightning bolt instead of a heart per Brian's request.

My brother and sister-in-law brought their Baby Bjorn for us to borrow.  What a wonderful invention.  Noah loves it!  It has made shopping so much easier.  No more carrying the car seat into the store and trying to fit it and my groceries into the cart.

Our little family.

 

Afterward, Brian gave me a Wii Fit for Mother's Day.  I am loving it.  It is a little upsetting to watch my Mii grow, but quite motivating.  What a great First Mother's Day!

Car Seats

Guess who graduated out of his infant insert on the car seat?!?!  This boy!

Brian and I got the ol' car seat manual out this past weekend to look something up and discovered that the infant insert is supposed to be removed when they reach 11 pounds.  Oops, he's over 12.  Guess we should have read that earlier.  I went ahead and read the rest of the manual so that there would be no more surprises.  Here is a picture of one of his first ventures in the seat.

Think he's bigger?  I guess that hour of feeding every three hours is doing something.  Glad to know I am not wasting my time.  One insert gone, one to go.  I think we'll keep the head insert at least until he has better head control.

Papa

** Again this is a week late.  Sorry.  I started it last week, but then did not have a chance to finish it until now.  Maybe one of these days I will actually write about things when they occur.

Papa and Noah (Tuesday, April 21, 2009)

This past weekend was a time of joy and sadness.  My Papa died last Friday and went to be with God in Heaven.  He was a wonderful man who loved his God and his family more than anything.  He was very witty, funny, thrifty, practical, but most of all loving.  He lived for 93 years and was married to my Grandma for 68 of those.  This weekend the entire family gathered to celebrate his life.  We laughed and cried and just spent time together remembering.  Here are some pictures of the weekend.

Grandma and Noah (23rd Great Grandkid)

Grandma and the Sons

The Grandkids (minus one)

The Great Grandkids (minus several)

Greats and Grands (minus one grand and several greats)

Noah did great the whole weekend.  Unfortunately, this is how he took most of his naps (in our arms) making the next week a bit difficult.  There were a lot of tears shed at nap times the next week.

My siblings and I stopped by their old house.

Goodbye Papa!  We love you, miss you, and can't wait to see you again!!