Two Months!

Excuse the blurry photo, he doesn't yet get the "please be still and look at Mommy" command.

Happy 2 Month Birthday, Felix!  As I read the last post, I kind of chuckled.  I think everyone was right, 6-8 weeks was the peak.  I never thought he would have awake time where he was actually happy.  Now he is much, much "better" (not that he was ever bad, but he is less fussy) and his tummy troubles have just about completely disappeared.  It is absolutely wonderful.  I do wish that he would nap longer than 30 minutes when not in the sling, but beggars can't be choosers, right?

This has been a big week for Felix.  On Monday, we went to the mall and I got to walk around for about 45 minutes without any breakdowns.  This made for a very happy mommy.  I really, really miss exercising.  If not for his extreme distaste for the car seat and the 100 degree temps, we'd be walking around the hood everyday.  Tuesday we met our friends Lauren and Quinn for Baby Day at the Alamo.  What a treat!  We saw "I Don't Know How She Does It," which was good, and Quinn and Felix were dreams.  The theater was pretty empty and other babies cried, too.  Felix spent the entire time in the sling, with the exception of the first 10 minutes where he had a little snack.  He let out a few cries every once in a while, but quickly quieted down when I got up and walked around.  I had left the car seat in the car because he was having an epic meltdown when we got there so I just put him right in the sling.  Well, of course it's still 400 degrees here so in the middle of the movie I went to the car to get the seat so it wouldn't be hot.  That's right, I walked around the Alamo and outside to my car while wearing My Brest Friend.  I love that thing.  I don't know how I will part with  it when I have to go back to work. 

Yesterday we had his two month appointment and he got shots.  pee pee, doo doo!!  I know it is good for him and this little setback is way, WAY better than getting any of these illnesses, but the last day and a half have been rough.  He got two pricks and a vaccine by mouth.  I nursed him through the shots and he did so well.  There was some bottom lip action, which killed me, and he turned bright purple and let out a scream, but really I think I cried more than he did (and that goes for the whole day, I was a complete wreck).  He promptly fell asleep and slept until we got home (thank goodness).  I nursed him and then he took an hour and a half nap.  This was not the 3 hour nap I was promised by everyone, but it was 3 times longer than his usual morning nap so I'll take it.  Then all hell broke loose.  He was F-U-S-S-Y.  His poor little leg was so swollen (and still is) and he had a fever.  I nursed him and while this usually calms him down and makes everything right in his world, it was not working.  He was crying, horrible, horrible tears (actual real tears!!! Oh my gosh!!) and I could tell it was definitely an "I am in pain, what the hell have you done to me" cry.  Oh my goodness.  He had a fever so I gave him some Tylenol.  Thirty minutes later he was out.  He slept most of the day, in my arms of course.  I was not letting him go, he needed lots of snuggles after that traumatizing day.  Wow, it is just about the most awful thing ever when your baby is hurting.  Totally heartbreaking.  Daddy came home a little early and took over in the snuggle department.  Felix got two more doses of Tylenol throughout the night for his fever and he seems to be much better today.  Still clingy with a swollen leg and a little warm, but we actually got to play today and he smiled at me many times.  :-)  He also had a massive poop today, which makes me almost as happy as when he smiles.  He was grunting around and tooting up a storm this morning so I figured it was coming. 

His poor little leg was so swollen

Look what I found on my belly after our 3 hour snuggle session.  That is My Brest Friend at the bottom of the picture.

It feels like he is trying to get on a schedule, at least at night.  We bathe him at 7:00 or so and he is out by 8:30 or 9:00.  He'll sleep until sometime in the 1:00 hour, then wake up around 3:30 and again around 5:30.  This stinks because I pump after the 3:30 feeding so by the time I get to bed, I get about 30 minutes of sleep.  Not cool.  Last night he only woke up at 1:45 and 5:45.  Let's hope this is a trend that stays!  It is getting tougher to get him back to sleep after eating at night which I do not like.  He will eat for about 45 minutes at the first waking then it takes him at least that long to go back to sleep (even though he was  just fast asleep at the breast).  The next feeding will take about 10-15 minutes and he goes down better this time, then he's up again in about an hour or so.  Lately he's woken up about 6:30 or 7 and just wants to be rocked and held.  I love rocking and holding him, but it would be super nice if he'd push that waking back an hour. Mommy needs sleep!

Here are his 2 month stats:

11 lb 13 oz (25-50%)
23 inches long (50%)
39.4 cm head circumference (50-75%)

Of course the doctor says he is absolutely perfect.  Duh.  Felix has graduated from the "stork entrance" for newborns and infants so the next time we go back we have to go in through the big boy door like everyone else. We don't go again until his 4 month check up.  I couldn't make it one month without seeing the doctor, I don't know how I'm going to make it two!

His likes right now are eating, snuggling with Mommy in the sling, cuddles with Daddy, his pediatrician Dr. Owens, the turtle friends hanging above the changing table, kicking his legs, his music cube, Polly the Peacock, and the porch swing (looooves this!).  Every time we go to the doctor's office he is a perfect angel.  Not that he isn't an angel all other times, but I mean he is p-e-r-f-e-c-t.  Whatever was wrong with him suddenly disappears.  Yesterday he didn't even make a peep on the way there.  This is unreal!!  I am going to tell him we're going to visit Dr. Owens every time we get in the car.  He is starting to smile and coo more.  It's hard to tell if he is really smiling at us, but we'll just pretend like he is.  I think he is.  Here is his first smile.  Daddy was playing with him on the bed one Sunday morning and he just started smiling, it was precious!

His dislikes are the car seat, naps longer than 30 minutes unless he is in the sling, and waking up from naps.  And being put down.  Sometimes he really does not want to be put down.  We wanted a snuggler and boy did we get one!  That's OK though, there are plenty of snuggles to go around in this family. 

Felix is 9 weeks and 1 day old (or 2 months and 2 days)

Sleep and Other Stuff

Last night Sammer and I were the recipients of a 6 hour block of sleep.  Yes, 6 whole hours!!!!  Felix fell asleep on Daddy at about 9:30 and Sammer put him down about 10:00.  He did wake up around midnight, but was just a little fussy (gassy, I'm sure).  Sammer soothed him and he was out until 3:30.  Wow, it was amazing.  Of course, he woke up again at 5:45 and 8:00, but whatever.  We got 6 hours of sleep last night! Woo-hoo!

When I was pregnant, I was fortunate to meet some very nice gals in my prenatal yoga class.  We've met up with these girls and their sweet little ones a couple of times to walk at the mall.  The babies were all born within two weeks of each other, so we're all going through the same fun things at the same time.  I hate that they are going through the same things as us, but iIt is SO NICE to know that we aren't alone.  Felix isn't the only gassy baby in the whole world.  Who knew?!?  Everything I read says that 6-8 weeks are the height of the fussy/gassy stage.  He started at 5 weeks and will be 8 weeks tomorrow, so things better start looking up!

We went to Whole Foods this morning and he was very good.  Of course as soon as we stepped in the store and I was grabbing apples, he let out a big scream and started crying.  I know he wasn't hungry because I had just stuffed him with milk in the car. This is the only way to get him to calm down in the car seat lately.  I picked him up and he was fine.  I forgot my sling at home so I just carried him around the store.  It was kind of fun, I love snuggling with him.  We're hitting up HEB tomorrow and I will definitely remember the sling for that. We're also going to try out postnatal yoga tomorrow.  I am sick of sitting in the house and the weather is starting to get so nice (we have the windows open right now!) that I am bound and determined to get out of the house.  We cannot sit inside any longer! 

You know, I say that he is fussy a lot, but really he is a good baby.  I just get sad and frustrated when he is upset and I can't help him.  Plus, the sleep deprivation is not fun.  Look at this, how sweet is he?  Can I stay here forever?

While we're at it, here is a smile and some baby feet.

 

I don't know how to get those pictures side by side.  One day I might figure it out. 

Felix is 7 weeks, 6 days old

Felix's First Concert! And a poop!

Sammer and I decided to sell our ACL wristbands this year since Mr. Felix is so new. I was really (irrationally) upset about this at first, and as I sit on my back porch overhearing ACL right now, I still am. Just a little. I mean, let's face it, I can't even go to Target alone without rushing home because I missed little Boo Boo. But we have been to every single ACL, except for when we were traveling, and this is the 10 year anniversary and hello, STEVIE WONDER is playing! Felix is way better than Stevie though.

So this morning KUT had a benefit for something or other at The Four Seasons and we actually got to go! We got there for the last band, North Mississippi All Stars, and Felix was a dream. He was a dream because he pooped this morning! And also, my friend KK gave me some wise advice - if I'm about to go somewhere and he is falling asleep or it is nap time, put him in the car seat to nap. I did, and he napped for a long time. Success! (He has decided that he is not really a fan of the car seat these days. Sad face from Mom.)

We met up with the Pudd's (Katie, Corey and Darcy), Katie's friend Jenny and her family, and Jonathan and Laura. It was so fun! After the show it started raining (gasp!) and we headed to Daddy's work to show off. Here he is at his first concert. As you can tell, he gets his giant hands from me.


And now for the poop....I swear he knows when I am going to stick something in his butt. This is good! I was preparing the poop station this morning - our least favorite hospital blanket on the changing pad, old apron on me, 5 billion wipes and two wet washcloths at the ready, cloth diapers under the blanket for when the blanket got too disgusting, thermometer and Vaseline ready to go. Oh plus a new diaper. I bring him over and put him on the changing pad and smell poo. Well his toots smell like this, too, so I just figured he tooted since he hasn't pooped in a full week. Then I pulled up his nightgown and saw a huge, bulging diaper. He pooped! It was everywhere, even on his tummy, but I could care less. He could have pooped all over me, as long as he pooped. He's napped nicely and been an absolute dream all day. Here's hoping he sleeps for a couple of decent time blocks tonight! Ha ha ha ha.

Felix is 7 weeks, 2 days old

A Few Pictures

He went from this on July 27th...

To this on September 7th...



He's getting so big, he's a 10 pounder now! He did so much better yesterday, two long(ish) naps and no fussing for no reason. Woo-hoo!!! You cannot imagine how happy that made Sammer and me. It feels like we're starting to get our happy boy back.

I'll try to add more pictures soon, but I don't have a lot of free time just yet these days. I've forgotten most of the shortcuts of blogging and so that means it takes a decent amount of time to do any sort of substantial blogging. Here is a link to his album on Picasa. Felix's First Month in Pictures

More on the blog soon.

Felix is 6 weeks 4 days old

Whoa!

Said in my best Joey Lawrence voice

I just got another Explanation of Benefits from my insurance for my hospital visit. Guess how much it cost. Are you sitting down? $34,635.25. WHAT?? And guess how much the negotiated rate for my insurance was...$6,919.00. Thank you, Chuck, for offering such great insurance that we only paid $250 for labor, delivery, room and board. Speaking of room and board, Felix was charged over $5,000 for room and board. Ok, he spent a total of less than 3 hours in the nursery and had way less than one bottle of formula. How does that "cost" $5,000? Anyway...

We've been having a rough go of it lately. I guess Felix is in the middle of his 6 week growth spurt, although he is past 6 weeks now so maybe that's not it. Last week he stopped pooping everyday so I thought that was his problem. He strains a lot and I can tell the poor little boy is uncomfortable. It makes us so sad! He does go every few days, which is totally normal for a breastfed baby. This poop strike coincided with a nap strike that started last Wednesday. Boy, Mommy does not like this at all. Not that I napped when he did because I am not a napper (I try, I promise, so please don't get on my case about it. I occasionally could nap for 15 minutes or so around Jeopardy! time), but he only wants the breast and this makes for a mentally, physically, and emotionally tired Mommy. He will nurse for 10-15 minutes, fall asleep, I'll try to put him down after 5 minutes or so of sleeping, he'll sleep for 10, 20 minutes max and wake up and want to nurse. Talk about tiring! Luckily, he is still a rockstar at night and sleeps normal hours. He did have one night of waking every two hours, but other than that it is 3-4 hour spans, with even a 5 hour one thrown in the other day! :knocks hard on biggest piece of wood around:

Everything we read says that 6-8 weeks is the peak of fussiness for babies. I am hoping that we can go from birth and not due date on that, because 3 more weeks of this might just send me screaming from the house one day. The fussing started at 5 weeks, so hopefully he is ahead of the game on this one. Maybe he will be perpetually early for everything. We can hope. I would be OK if he didn't take great naps during the day. I could learn to live with that. I just wish he would be happy when he is awake. It breaks my heart that he is so sad all of the time lately (unless eating). Yesterday we did get in a good 20 minutes or so of tummy time and playing throughout the day and it was wonderful. I love our little boy so much. Right now he has been asleep for an hour and a half. Thank goodness! The worst part is that I can see how tired he is, but he just won't sleep. We are trying something new this weekend by putting him down in his bed for naps. He used to be able to sleep in the snuggle lamb wherever we were, but he is more tuned in to noises these days so we're trying this out. Sammer also mentioned that maybe he needs it dark since he sleeps so well at night. This seems to be working so far. We'll see how today goes.

Alright, he is up! At least he got in a good amount of sleep this morning, much better than his recent 20 minute naps.

Felix is 6 weeks, 3 days old

Dear Boo Boo

I love you so much that sometimes I just burst into tears when looking at you. Some would say this is probably really due to postpartum hormones or lack of sleep, but I don't think so. When I put you on my shoulder to burp you and you are still hungry, you will come at my cheek with an open mouth. I pretend you are kissing me and I kiss you right back. It's a fun game I like to play with you. I hope you like kisses, because you sure get a lot of them, and I don't see that trend stopping anytime soon.

Love,
Mommy
xoxo

Felix is 5 weeks, 1 day old