Phew!

So much has happened this week! After a super week last week with Aunt Julie, Nate started part time at daycare this week. He did mornings at daycare and afternoons with Mimi, which worked out wonderfully for everyone. What did NOT work out wonderfully was the stomach bug he caught. That's right, less than a week at daycare, and he's already picking up everyone's germs. In all fairness, when I came in on Thursday, half the kids were gone. This thing spread like wildfire through the infants and mobile infants rooms.

Apparently, the only symptom of this illness is vomiting. I can confirm this is true. While Nate had a small cold a few weeks ago, this is really the first time that I feel he has been truly sick, and it breaks my heart. He's just having so much trouble keeping anything down. And since I usually feed him in bed, let's just say we did a lot of laundry today. But he seems to be getting better as the day/night goes on.

Despite potentially biting off more than we can chew, we also decided to deswaddle him cold turkey this weekend. He has been getting more and more frustrated at being swaddled each and every day. Why is that, you ask? Because of this:

That's right. The child is on the cusp of really and truly sucking his thumb. He got it once just long enough for me to snap that pic, and I haven't seen it for more than a suck or two since then. But Lord, does he try. And when he can't try and wants to, he is pissed. We figure the more he has access to his hands, the faster he'll get it and can soothe himself. Plus, where he used to give us a 5-6 hour stretch at the beginning of the night, we're now lucky if he goes 4 hours. I think he partially wakes, realizes he's swaddled, and wakes up fully trying to get out of it.

And get out he does. This little Houdini breaks out of his swaddles 2-3 times per night. Whether it be the Miracle Blanket (aka "baby straightjacket") or the double swaddle, this kid can't be confined. I'm not so pleased to walk in and see him surrounded by several feet of loose fabric in his crib each night.

See those happy babies in the videos who are so content getting swaddled? Yeah, that was never my kid. But we always thought he slept better when swaddled, so we stuck with it. Well, no longer. They say your child will tell you when he's ready to get rid of the swaddle. Well, I ain't deaf, Natey. I hear you loud and clear.

How's it going you ask? Well, we're 2 hours and 15 minutes into Night One. He is clearly ready to start this weekend, but we were hesitant after he became ill. But we also decided that he'll probably be up every couple of hours to get a little bit of food at a time tonight anyway, since his stomach is still a little upset. So why not blow through it? I guess we'll see how it goes...

Big Smiles

Back to the Grind

I started back at work this week, which has been alternatingly wonderful and terrible. Terrible because it's difficult to figure out how to get up and at 'em with baby in town. Wonderful in that I have 8 hours a day when I can pee whenever I like.

This week, Nate is hanging out at home with Grandma and Grandpa while I'm at work. Next week, Aunt Julie takes over. The following week, we'll start daycare part time while Mimi watches him the rest of the day. Then we're all daycare all the time. Yikes! He seems to be doing well without me. Because the world is now so exciting and he can see everything, he doesn't really want to nap anymore. On the upside, he's been taking the bottle with no problems whatsoever. Apparently, I just needed to leave the house? Who knew. Besides all those people on the internet that suggested it.

Poor Nate has been having his first cold. It's nothing too terrible. He's just a little more congested than normal. It seems to be getting better, and I'm already over it after only a few days. Glad the first one wasn't a biggie.

Nate has a new favorite toy. PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT: if you have a baby, get one of these. It's baby crack. No joke. He'll spend 45 minutes in there, happy as a clam. And it's a great teaching tool for development. After ten minutes, he could already figure out that the lights and music would play when he hit the plastic animals. He's just not coordinated enough yet to be able to make his hands go where he wants them to, so he'd just flail about until he hit it. And now, within a couple days, he already is better at just moving his hand towards the animal that he wants to hit.

It's amazing to see how he's grown. Want a before and after pic? Here's before:



I don't even know exactly when that was. He's no more than a few weeks old, clearly not so used to the big, scary world yet. And here he is a few days ago:


Really starting to enjoy the big boy stroller without the infant seat. Here's another one because he makes such a funny face in it:

Nate's First Overnight Visit

Happy New Year, everyone! Nate is ready to take on his first full year. I can't wait to see how Nate will grow and change over the next year.

We had a great holiday season, with Rob's family coming to town to visit. They rented a big house about 20 or so minutes away, and stayed for several days. Nate and I spent a lot of time over at the rental house and Rob and I stayed there with Nate for two nights. These were his first nights away from home. A nail biting experience? Not too bad, actually.

Nate took to his crib like a champ and naps very well in his room, so I was worried that he wouldn't adapt well to sleeping away from home in a pack and play, but he had no problems at all. The only problem was mine. I'm used to rocking Nate in his glider before I put him down, and there was no glider or rocking chair, so I was left with bouncing and walking around with him. My back suffered greatly, as this kid is ginormous. But I lived, as did he.


He's getting better at taking a bottle with each day. Yesterday, he gulped down 5 ounces from me. A few days ago, I switched him from the regular cow's milk formula to one made of soy. It's like a different baby. He's been so chill the last few days. I'm loving it. Now if only he could figure out the sleeping through the night thing. Last night, I tried doing a dreamfeed, which is where you feed the baby while he's still asleep at around 10-11 pm. Well, he still woke up at 2:30 am, 5:30 am, and 8 am. About the same schedule he's been on for the last few days. Sigh. So now he's waking from habit rather than hunger. I need to figure this thing out.

Pictures? Ok, here: