Craft: Four Months Old

Welp, with all of the excitement of going back to work last week I was a slacker on the blog front and didn't get to officially wish sweet Craft a happy 4-month-birthday.

The week was hectic - Dan is in the middle of his busiest few weeks of the year at work while they're trying to pass the budget, plus we had another gala to attend on Thursday evening.  The good news is that no one was seriously injured and I managed to get both children fed and in bed pretty close to "on time" every night so I think we may all be starting to get the hang of things.  Thanks to Auntie Syd for the extra hands - her help has definitely been making our lives much easier!  These update posts are never short, so I'll get right to it.

Weight/Length:  Dan and I had a friendly wager going relating to our big boy's weight, and neither of us won because he ended up weighing less than we thought he did, ha!  Mean mama and Daddy.  Drum roll please…

Height:  25 inches/50th percentile (up from 23.5 inches/50th at his 2-month check-up)
Weight:  18 lbs, 11 oz/97th percentile (up from 16 lbs, 14.5 oz/>97th at 2 months)
Head:  17 inches/75th percentile (up from 16.5 inches/85th at 2 months)

At the doctor for his 4-month check-up!

C was trying to impress everyone with his baby vocabulary.  He was cooing and giggling (loudly) and being a regular little ham while we were waiting to see Dr. G!  

For the record, my guess was 20 lbs and Dan's was 22.  I was surprised to look back at my records and note that Craft isn't actually that much bigger than big sister Lilly was at 4 months old (she was 16 lbs, 3.5 oz and 25 inches long).

Sleep:  We are once again lucky ducks and have another (for the most part) pretty good sleeper…at least until the past week or so, ugh.  Up until this past week, Craft's night sleep was pretty predictable but we seem to have gotten hit by the 4-month sleep regression and I hate it.  If he is being "normal," he goes down between 7:30-8:00 pm and sleeps until sometime around 6:00 am, eats and then goes back to sleep until 8:00 or 8:30am.  For the past week, though, he's decided to get up and eat earlier - most mornings around 4am, but last night he was up at 10p, 2a and 7a.  So weird.  Dr. G said this is totally normal and assured me that I'm not creating bad habits by feeding him when he wakes - in fact she agreed with my opinion that it's a much quicker way to get him to go back to sleep and told me that he'll be out of it soon.  Fingers crossed.

Naps are getting better but still not very predictable.  Again, Dr. G said he probably won't start putting himself into any kind of consistent routine until around 6 months.  Currently, the only thing predictable about Craft's daytime sleep patterns is that he is ready to go to sleep around 2 hours (sometimes less) after he woke up from his last nap.  Additionally, his first nap of the day is typically pretty short - only around 45 minutes or an hour.  Sometimes the rest of his naps for the day are more frequent and only last 45 minutes or an hour, and other days he stretches them out and gives me a couple of 2-hour naps or several 45 minute naps and then one three-hour nap.  The inconsistency makes planning things tricky, but luckily he's still at the age where he'll sleep pretty easily in his car seat or in the baby carrier when we're on the go.

Feeding:  There really isn't a lot of change here from Craft's 3-month update.  He's still eating around every 3-4 hours, usually 4 hours unless it's close to a nap and I force-feed him a little early in hopes for an uninterrupted (and longer) nap.  He is also still spitting up some but again, not nearly as frequently or as much in amount as previously.  

Craft has done really well taking the bottle while I've been at work (hallelujah!), and Syd says he also seems to spit up less on days when he takes bottles, so I'm wondering if I am drowning him when he nurses.  We had a few adjustment days after I went back to work, but hopefully I've figured out the proper amount of pumping because he did better switching back and forth between bottle and b00b as the week progressed.  He currently takes a 5-oz bottle every four-ish hours - sometimes he finishes it, other times he doesn't.

One more exciting thing to note, Craft got the okay from the doctor to start solids!  He got his first taste of oatmeal this week (doctor's recommendation was to skip the rice cereal, I can't remember why but we went with it).  He is pretty good at eating with the spoon but didn't seem too excited with the new tastes, ha!

I can't wait to move on to more fun things in a few weeks (banana, avocado, apple blueberry, etc.).

Firsts This Month:  Oy, lots of these and I'm sure I'll still leave something out.  For one thing, we took Craft to the beach for the first time to visit Grandma Susie and Papa over Memorial Day Weekend.  I unfortunately never got around to blogging those photos, so here are a few of all of the fun we had during the long weekend!

Craft also went swimming for the first time in our neighborhood pool.

Craft has also been sitting up "by himself" in various contraptions such as the jumperoo, door jumper, bumbo and various other seats.  I think that as of his 3-month post he was sitting in the bumbo some, but he's getting much better at it and has been able to sit in other seats as well for longer and longer periods of time.

Poor guy.  Not only does he have to sit in a purple bumbo but he has to endure big sister/Aunt Syd putting bows in his hair!

Developments:  Craft has really started "talking" this month.  He was making noises previously, but lately it seems like if he's awake, he's talking all the time.  He loves to explore his vocal cords - both the different sounds he can make and the varying volumes  (the loudest sounds he can make are his most favorite!).

C is very purposeful now when he is using his hands.  He still "bats" at his toys but it no longer seems accidental.  He can also pick toys up and hold them, and he's very oral because most things these days go straight to his mouth.  He is drooling a LOT, which could be teething but also is just normal at his age.  He has really good head control and continues to roll over from his back to his tummy (he still hasn't gone the other way, probably because he hates tummy time so he rarely does it but his head isn't flat and clearly he has good control of it so the doctor didn't protest).  Dr. G was particularly impressed with that trick, which he demonstrated while we were visiting her on Friday.  She said it's much harder for babies to roll from back to tummy, especially chunky babies with a lot of weight to get over.  Overachiever, just like his sister!  Also, Craft freely gives smiles and we have witnessed (quite a few of) our first belly laughs.  I tried to get it on camera last week but he has the hiccups so you can't really tell he's laughing, but gosh it is the best sound and SO cute.  It is amazing the silly things we will do over and over again to hear that sweet giggle!  He thinks that Lilly is the funniest.

I wrote in Lilly's four-month update that around this time she started consciously finding her thumb some instead of just chewing on her whole hand, and I speculated as to whether she would be a thumb sucker (yes).  Craft is doing the same, so we'll see what that means.  I have been feeling like he loves the paci more than Lills did at this age, but according to photos that is not the case, so we'll see!

Likes:  Not a ton of changes here: bath. sleeping. eating. bumbo. door jumper. jumper. Lilly. Layla. Daddy. Aunt Syd. Carney. being outside. walks. swinging. being worn. ceiling fans. drooling. putting things in his mouth. his paci. talking/babbling/exploring his vocal cords. belly laughing. kicking his legs. singing. snuggling. more eating.

Notice I left the piano mat off this month - C has decided he hates it.  I think I figured out that the toys hang down too low/close to his face, because if I take the toys off he doesn't mind it as much.

Dislikes:  Again not too many changes.  Craft is truly one of the happiest babies, and is pretty good unless he's hungry, tired, has a poop or is gassy.  He is also getting better with the car seat, thank the Lord!

What I'm Thankful For:  Carney and Aunt Syd!  They take such good care of my babies for me and were so good about texting me and sending me pictures and videos last week.  It makes my days at at work a little easier knowing that everyone is happy (for the most part) at home!  Also my coworkers, family and friends for checking in on me throughout the week.

What I'm Looking Forward To:  We have lots of fun things coming up over the next few weeks: a neighborhood food truck rodeo, birthday parties, LOTS of pool time, Mason's first birthday party, and a trip to the mountains.  Yay!

Next Pediatrician Appointment:  August 6 for his 6-month appointment with Dr. V.

I'm off to finish laundry, bottle and pump part washing, etc. but I shall leave you with some more photos from our little 4-month photo shoot.  

Hope your weekend was great!

When Mama Comes Home Tonight

Every time we see my mother-in-law, she has a new book for the kids.  It's a wonderful gesture because Lilly loves books (I hope that Craft will, too!) and she  always finds new books that I've never read before.  When Lilly was still an only child, shortly after I went back to work Susan bought Lilly the book When Mama Comes Home Tonight because she said it reminded her of Lilly and me.

"When Mama comes home from work,

dear child,  

when Mama comes home tonight, 

she'll cover you with kisses, 

she'll hug you sweet and tight."

This book, y'all.  It is one of Lilly's favorites (mommy's too!), and it is the sweetest.  If I wasn't pretty sure I'd get in a lot of trouble for some kind of copyright infringement I'd post the words of the book in their entirety, but trust me when I say that you should check it out.  Lilly and I have read it at least once a day for the past week and a half or so in preparation for my return to work.  I figured she'd be "over it" this week since I went back, but she's still asked me to read it every night.  

As suspected, day 2 was a tiny bit better and easier than day 1 (both for me and the kids, thankfully, per reports from Aunt Syd and Carney!).  We have by no means perfected our routine yet, but we'll get there very soon and it will be glorious.  The best part of both days so far has been walking in the door to discover that both of my babies are ecstatic to see me, and sweet little Lilly rushing up to me and saying, "Hi mommy, how was your work today?"  I just love them both so much my heart could burst!

I found a never-used pea pod on Craigslist for a steal because I thought it would be good to use at the pool for C.  Apparently both kids love it!

I have an exciting giveaway planned for the end of the week, so stay tuned!  :-)

We All Survived!

Welp, day 1 of back-to-work is under my belt and I must say that it went much better than anticipated.  My little stinker woke up in a fantastic mood and giggled at me while I finished getting ready this morning.

I managed to make it out of the house only 12 minutes later than I wanted to, which is an accomplishment in itself.  I also managed to make it to the car before I cried!  Unfortunately, Lills wasn't awake when I left so I didn't get to see her before work, which I was sad about.  It was an emotional morning, but my day was pretty busy and it flew by, which was good.  It sounds like Craft got off to a rough start but made up for it this afternoon with a nice long nap.  I think it's just going to take everyone a little time to get used to each other and to get used to our new routine.  Auntie Syd sent me some cute pics so I knew he was okay!

I was SO happy to see my babies when I got home.

We did have a weird "thing" tonight, though, in that Craft wouldn't nurse!  I have an app that Carney also has and it syncs during the day so that I can see when he's eating, sleeping, etc.  I pumped three times at work because he ate three times while I was gone.  My last pump was around 4:30 pm (he ate at 4p), so we were on track for him to eat around 8pm right before I put him down for bed.  He got hungry a little before 8, so I took him upstairs to nurse him, and…wait for it…he wouldn't nurse!!!  The total opposite of the problem we were having before when he refused a bottle.  He was a little fussy and then burped so I thought it was a gas bubble but he still wouldn't nurse after the burp…he would latch for literally 2-3 seconds and then pull away and talk and laugh (which was super cute but also real annoying).  He was SO happy (and sweet and snuggly, melt!) but I didn't want to chance him being up all night due to starvation so I heated a 2-oz bottle, which he sucked down so I heated 3 more, which he also sucked down.  Sigh.  Surely one day of nothing but bottles wasn't enough to make him decide he doesn't want to nurse anymore, right?!  I pumped three times to try to keep up with what he's eating while I'm gone, but maybe I need to only pump twice to make sure I have enough and then pump after he goes to bed?  I'm not sure but I did not like it one bit.

Anyway, thanks for all of your sweet calls, texts, messages, etc.  They meant the world to me and made my day a whole lot better!  Day 2 tomorrow, hopefully it will only get easier as the days pass.  I'm off to wash bottles before crashing…have I mentioned I hate pumping?!

Back to Work

Well, friends.  I can't believe it, but I blinked and 16 weeks has come and gone, and tomorrow I return to work.  People have been asking how I feel about it, and honestly I have mixed emotions.  Part of me is happy - I have a great job, I like what I do and I love the folks I work with.  It will be nice to get back in the swing of things.  The other part of me is really sad because I am sure gonna miss hanging out with my babies all day and also because I have to wake up early, shower and put on real clothes every day instead of hanging out in my yoga pants looking a hot mess.  Except for the days when both are crabby, I don't think I'll miss those days (sorry, Carney).  I know I will be a wreck tomorrow because I got all weepy tonight when I put Craft and Lilly to bed.  I've been talking to Lilly about how Mommy won't be with her all day anymore, and that she should be a good girl for Carney and Aunt Syd and that she will have to be their big helper with Kinsley and Craft. I'm sure both of my kids will do fine (I know there in great hands!) and have so much fun that they won't even realize I'm not here!

I actually had a trial run on Thursday when I took a day trip to DC for a meeting, and it was a complete disaster so who knows how tomorrow will go.  My flight wasn't until 10:45am and I still couldn't get my ish together to get out of the house on time and was worried I wouldn't make my flight.  Luckily, I made it to the airport just in time only to find out that my flight was delayed - which was fine, except it meant that I arrived to my meeting literally 2 minutes before it started but I had to pump, so I missed the first part of it (side note: I am definitely not looking forward to all of the pumping that will have to happen from this point forward).  My meeting ended at 5:30 pm and my return flight wasn't until 7:30 pm, but I underestimated the horror that is DC traffic and was closer than I'd like to admit to missing my flight home.  It was stressful and I rewarded myself with an enormous glass of wine!  The kids appeared to have had fun with Daddy, at least.

Anyway, I hope tomorrow is a lot less stressful and runs more smoothly.  And to any of my co-workers who may read this, sorry in advance if I cry all day.  The waterworks will hopefully slow down by the end of the week.  :-)  

My last weekend before my return to work was busy but wonderful.  On Friday night, Dan had to work late and Aunt Syd went to Charlotte for the weekend so it was just the kids and me.  On a whim, I asked Lills if she wanted to take a bath in the kitchen sink and she thought it was the best bath ever.

Craft thought it was pretty funny, too.

We were stoked when we found out that Daddy didn't have to go back to work on Saturday!  We spent the morning at the pool.  Lilly LOVED it and spent all morning jumping to Dan, I was so surprised and proud.  I thought Craft might hate it because the water wasn't warm (it wasn't cold either, to be fair, just not warm) but surprisingly he loved it as well.

Hello, Ladies!  Thanks to Auntie Mere for the cute swim shirt.

All of the fun wore sweet C out.

After the pool, we headed home for naps.  I don't think Lilly slept for very long, but Craft did for once so Mama was able to squeeze in a short nap, too, and it was glorious. Saturday evening there was a crawfish boil in the alley behind our house that one of our neighbors puts on every year.  There was even a  live bluegrass band!  The kids had all had a blast, and we ended up putting all of them to bed and staying outside drinking too much chatting until almost midnight.  We had so much fun.  We love our neighbors!

Lilly wanted to wear the dress that Aunt Nae Nae made for her.  She loved it and kept talking about her pretty dress from Aunt Nae Nae!

All of the fun wore C out again. 

The setup

All of the kiddies breaking it down

Such a good dancer!

He's awake!

Love these two

Mama's sweet boy

This morning, everyone slept in a little and then we all had some family snuggles in Mommy and Daddy's bed.  It was my definition of heaven.

Even Layla got in on the snuggling action!

We hung around the house and played this morning and then the rest of the day was spent getting ready for the week.  We went to the farmer's market, ate lunch outside, and then during nap time Dan and I cleaned, did laundry, cooked and got a few other chores done.

"Mommy, I want to take Baby Grace for a walk."

Lilly's first pony tail!  Isn't it hilarious darling?!

Lills thought she was hot stuff, and all day any time she saw someone she said, "Hi look at my bunny tail, isn't it pretty?"

Sampling blueberries, strawberries and peaches at the Farmer's Market.

Awake one minute...

…asleep the next.  So cozy.

I love this photo of Lills and Baby Grace playing in the yard.

Picnic lunch.

The past two Sunday evenings, we've taken all of our yard toys out into the alley behind the house and set up a little mini play area for the kids and grilled out with all of the neighbors.  We also had cookie cake tonight in honor of sweet Emerson's birthday.  It's so much fun to get everyone together and hang out!

So, that's what our weekend looked like!  Hope yours was great, too.  I'm off to get bottles ready and then heading to bed soon after to get ready for the big day tomorrow.  Wish me luck!