Friday, March 30, 2012

4 month update (a little late)

Now that we are almost to 5 months, I guess I should update on the 4 month stats. Caleb was 13lbs 10oz (50%) and 25 inches (25%). He was in the 50% and 25% respectively at his 2 week appt and up to the 75% and 50% at 2 months. I'm pretty sure he'd be back up there if he was weighed and measured again because his growth spurts tend to occur a week or so later than I expect them. I think he might be starting one now because he was extremely tired today. Either way, he's still growing just fine.

What has he been up to lately?

-He is down to just 3 naps a day - normally totaling 4 hours.
-His sleep cycles are still 40-45 minutes. So he ends up sleeping 45 minutes and then I put him back to sleep for another 45 minutes for 1.5 hour long nap. This happens twice a day.
-He sleeps between 10 and 11 hours at night, stirring every 45 minutes but goes back to sleep on his own.
-He is finally staying awake for 2 hours at a time instead of just 1.5 hours so that is giving him more time to be on the floor.
-Since he's been spending more time on the floor he has discovered the fun of rolling, both tummy to back and back to tummy in both directions.
-He is pushing up with straight arms almost getting his entire tummy off the floor.
-Instead of trying to get his knees up under him, he kicks like he would to be swimming.
-The pterodactyl squeal that he started at a couple of days old is getting louder and longer.
-He enjoys blowing raspberries and will laugh at himself doing it.
-He likes to hold his own bottle for all of the feedings except the last one at night.
-He is still trying to figure out the sippy cup. He likes to put it in his mouth and chew instead of suck on it.
-He has grown out of some of the smaller 3-6 month clothes.
-He is wearing 12 month shorts because I didn't want to go buy 3-6 months shorts and we have lots of 12 month shorts, but they seem to fit him just fine.
-Believe it or not, he has pooped in the potty twice and peed numerous times and he really enjoys it (more on that later.)
-Tonight for the first time Caleb laughed at a situation. Usually he laughs at being tickled or funny noises, but tonight he pulled his bib off by accident and it made Dan laugh and then he started laughing.
-He still does his mouth-wide-open grin while playing and smiles when being talked to, but he has started giving me real, normal-looking smiles when he makes eye contact with me.


In other words, he is keeping us busy every day doing new things and exploring the world around him. Cloth diapering is going pretty good (when I remember to wash them!) We still put him in disposable at night because he sleeps for so long and is always soaked in the morning. I've been sitting him on the potty to pee every time I change his diaper and sometimes in between. Just about every time, he will actually pee. Since I was already changing him out of a cloth diaper and into a disposable diaper when I knew he was about to poop, I am now just sitting him on the potty. He always smiles when he has finished peeing or pooping in the potty. That's it for now though, I must go to bed!

Thursday, March 8, 2012

Whoever thought up the time change apparently did not have children. After a 2.5 week period of little sleep, Caleb is finally on a schedule again and sleeping great at night. Now we have to adjust our whole schedule to get him on the new time on Sunday. Although, the time going forward is going to be easier to adjust him to than going back in the fall. Either way, I stand by my first statement.

Anyway, Caleb has finally started sleeping at night again. In fact, he is sleeping an hour more now than he was before the period of not sleeping. His naps started changing to 45 minutes and started sleeping 11PM-3AM. From 3AM until time to get up around 8:00ish, he would wake up every 45 minutes. I was sure I'd never sleep another night in my life. I think it was a combination of being more alert and knowing there was a world outside of himself and not getting enough to eat that did it to him. Of course, he wasn't eating enough because he was getting distracted while nursing because he was more alert - vicious cycle. Now with formula supplement he is sleeping at night again, but the naps are still only 45 minutes long.

His schedule tends to go like this:
10PM-8:00AM: sleep for the night
8:00AM-8:30AM: sometimes still sleeping, other times awake and playing
8:30AM-9:00AM: eat #1
9:00AM-10:00AM: play
10:00AM-10:45AM: nap #1
10:45AM-11:30AM: sometimes continues to nap, sometimes awake
11:45AM-12:15PM: eat #2
12:15PM-1:30PM: awake
1:30PM-2:15PM: nap #2
2:15PM-3:00PM: awake
3:00PM-3:30PM: eat #3
3:30PM-4:15PM: awake
4:15PM-5:00PM: nap #3
5:00PM-6:00PM: awake
6:00PM-6:30PM: eat #4
6:30PM-7:00PM: awake
7:00PM-7:45PM: nap #4
7:45PM-9:00PM: awake
9:00PM-9:30PM: eat #5
9:30PM-10:00PM: read with Daddy

So he is eating 5 times a day and taking 4 naps a day. The days he sleeps for two 45 minute naps in the morning he is much more pleasant in the evening. On the days he is awake during that second 45 minute nap in the morning, he gets really fussy.

We have made progress in the "going to sleep" arena. We used to have to walk around with him to get him to settle down to sleep. He finally got used to just rocking, but would still put up a little fight before passing out. Now we are down to just rocking and very little, sometimes no, squirming or fussing before closing his eyes. Next step is to just hold him without rocking and then he will be ready to go to sleep on his own in the crib. Still a few months away from that, I'm sure. I'm enjoying rocking him now though since I know it won't last forever. The other big step is that he will settle down with someone besides me now. I used to be the only one that could put him to sleep for the night, now Dan gets to get in on the action and give me a break.

He is rolling tummy to back a lot more often now when he is on the floor for tummy time. This week Caleb has started rolling back to side, but not quite all the way over to tummy. I'm pretty excited about this because once he has mastered this particular skill then he will be that much closer to going to sleep on his own. He sleeps on his tummy and if you put him down in the crib awake he will roll over on his back and not be able to fall asleep.

He has started the "everything goes in the mouth" stage. His favorite is to grab my fingers and pull him to his mouth - this does not excite me. I'd rather him not put anything in his mouth, but all babies do it so I'm going to have to live with it. We're still fighting the paci vs the fingers (not thumb) battle and I think we are still tied. When I pull his fingers out of his mouth to put the paci in he readily accepts it. However, it isn't too long after that he his sucking on the paci but has also slipped a finger or two in with it. He has been pulling the paci out without any problem, but just the other day almost stuck it back in his mouth.

In the car, Caleb has started getting a little fussy but I think it is because he gets bored. I've been putting some toys in his lap when I buckle him in and that seems to help some. At least, until he has thrown or kicked it out of his lap and he is once again bored. We still love the car seat and he seems really comfortable in it.

We've switched to cloth diapers for the day, but still use the disposable at night for the extra absorbancy. The cloth diapers, so far, have been really easy to use. For a while he was still wearing some of the 0-3 month pants, but has now grown out of all of them and is completely in 3-6 month clothes. It won't be much longer and I'll have to pull out the 6-9 and 9-12 month clothes.

For the most part, we have settled into a routine that seems to work for all of us. Some days are certainly better than others though. We are heading into another busy time. He will be 4 months old on the day his cousin, Cheyanne, turns 4 years old. Caleb's new cousin, Izabella, will be born in April probably, along with several other birthdays that month. In May, I plan on getting some serious painting done in the house with the help of Vicki. I will post his official DR stats next week when he has his 4 month check-up, along with some more pictures.