monthly updates – Page 3 – Keeping up with the Hoffmans

Baby Theo, breastfeeding, monthly updates

Three months old.

August 15, 2013 Keeping up with the Hoffmans

True to form, I’m late on the monthly update. But this time I’m only six days late, so it’s getting better. At least the photo was taken on the exact day:

I can’t believe how big he is getting! And I think he is starting to look more and more like D. I am going to try to find some baby pictures of D for comparison.

Okay, here’s what’s happening at three months…

Stats: 13ish lbs. I weighed him in a very unscientific way of stepping on the scale with and without him and subtracting the numbers and I got about 13 lbs. I would have thought he would have been bigger by now, but I know the scale may not be that precise. Will be interesting to see how much he weighs next time he goes to the doctor, which I think should be around four months.

Sleeping: He actually gave us two nights in a row of sleeping through the night a couple weeks ago! And then just when I got my hopes up that this was going to be the new normal, he totally regressed. He’s now back to waking up every 3-4 hours, and we’re having some issues with the swaddle. He fusses and can’t fall asleep unless his arms are immobilized, yet he wakes himself (and consequently, us) up a few hours later, grunting and busting his arms out. It’s sort of a lose-lose situation. If I don’t swaddle him, he can’t fall asleep. If I swaddle him, he won’t stay asleep. I did some searching online and found a few recommendations for a product called the Magic Sleepsuit. It kind of reminds me of the snowsuit Randy wears in A Christmas Story. Supposedly it partially immobilizes their arms so they don’t flail around so much or wake themselves up with their reflexes. It’s $40, though, which would be worth it if it works (sleep is a glorious thing), but I’d be afraid of wasting my money if it didn’t help. I may check Craigslist, Ebay and consignment stores and see if I can find one used – less risk that way!

Eating: I’ve documented our breastfeeding struggles here and here. Thankfully, we seem to be getting into a better groove now! Theo is eating 4 to 5, 3-ounce bottles while I’m at work — usually four at daycare and one D feeds him before I get home. He’s taking a bottle great now, and I’m finally pumping enough to get him through the next day, and even usually have a couple surplus ounces I can scald and freeze. I’ll be going to a friend’s wedding in LA in October and leaving Theo home with D, so my goal is to have at least 90 ounces in my freezer stash before then. Shouldn’t be a problem at the rate I’m going now, which is a relief! T is still nursing every 2-3 hours when we’re home together, though I’ve noticed he sometimes gets a little fussy at the boob now. Hopefully he isn’t starting to get frustrated with the slower flow. Bottles tend to have a faster flow than the breast, so sometimes babies can get too used to bottles and frustrate easily when they can’t get the milk as fast from the boob. That would be just our luck! First he prefers the boob and doesn’t take a bottle, and then he prefers the bottle and won’t take a boob?! Knock on wood that’s not the direction we’re headed!

Personality: He is sooo much fun. Smiles all the time and just loves to look at everyone. He’s getting really interactive. If you smile, he’ll smile back. If you talk to him, he’ll babble back. Sometimes he’ll babble up at me while he’s breastfeeding, and it’s just the cutest thing. I tell him not to talk with his mouth full (never too early for manners!). Just the other day he scratched his head and it was the funniest. He’s been dealing with cradle cap and it must be itchy. I can’t explain it, but it’s just so cool to see little him do the most ordinary things. He gets more and more “human” every day!

Likes/Dislikes: Still loves being changed, and loves bath time too. He prefers to look around and be upright most of the time. We put him in his Bumbo chair for the first time a couple weeks ago, and he loved it! He used to love his swing, but he seems to be falling out of love with it, and I think it’s because he’s too reclined to really look around. He’ll still nap in it when he’s really tired, but forget about using it to calm him when he’s fussy. The swinging motion used to calm him right down, but now putting him in the swing while he’s fussing will make him quickly escalate from fussing to screaming. He is starting to like his crib more, even though he still doesn’t sleep in it. He likes to look up at his mobile, though, and sometimes I’ll put him in there while I hang clothes or tidy up his room. Lately he’s been going through a phase where he just wants to be held most of the time (upright, of course). He’ll fuss if you set him down, or even sit down while holding him, but if you’re standing and he’s able to look over your shoulder, he’s happy as a clam. I’ve been watching a lot of TV while standing up lately…

Mama: I’m feeling pretty much back to normal now, though I’m still nowhere near bikini ready and my weight loss seems to have stalled out at around 4-5 lbs over my pre-pregnancy weight. I haven’t really done much exercise, though, and hope to change that soon. It’s just so hard to find time since my workdays are long and when I’m home, I just want to spend time with my baby. I think I may start up a “Couch to 5k” program next week, though, and take Stewie running with me in the mornings on the days I work from home. I think the dogs have been feeling a little neglected lately!

That’s about all for now. I’ll wrap this up with some recent favorite photos:

Theo and his daddy in matching swim trunks.

2013-07-14 18.47.49 — “Is that my foot?”

2013-07-17 20.30.12 — Talking to his great grandma.

2013-07-19 15.18.24 — Business casual, pants optional.

2013-07-20 15.02.48 — Sitting in his Bumbo seat.

2013-07-21 08.49.47 — Sleeping like an angel.

2013-07-21 12.44.58 — “Watching” the Mariners in his Bumbo seat.

2013-07-22 13.15.24 — Like father, like son.

2013-07-31 19.07.44 — Nomming on his toy.

2013-08-04 20.31.35 — Trying out the Jumparoo.

Baby Theo, health & body, monthly updates, musings

Two months old.

July 18, 2013August 15, 2013 Keeping up with the Hoffmans

Well, so much for blogging more frequently. Theo is now two months old. Actually, as of today, he’s 10 weeks. So much for blogging on time too. Time is just flying by, and I can’t believe I go back to work in two weeks. In some ways I’m looking forward to it. I’m definitely looking forward to having more money again, and I’m also looking forward to some adult interaction and putting my brain back to use. But in many more ways, I’m really dreading it. I’ve grown so attached to this little guy and I can’t imagine leaving him for 11-12 hours every day, including my commute. Thankfully I’ll be able to work one day a week from home, and even though we’ll still need full-time childcare, at least I can get 2-3 more hours back in my day by eliminating my commute. I may see if work will let me do two days a week at home. If I only had to go into the office three days a week, I think this whole working mom thing may be manageable. Hard to believe next monthly update will be after I go back to work!

Okay, here’s what’s happening at two months…

Stats: 12 lbs. 6 oz.; 24 inches long; head is 15 inches around.

Sleeping: We’re getting about 4 hours at a time at night, which means if I nurse him right before we go to bed, we usually get one middle of the night wake-up around 2 or 3, and then an early one around 5 or 6. Once I go back to work, this will be the point where we get up in the morning, but for now I usually try to get him to go back to sleep for another couple hours and then we’re up for the day around 7 or 8. I’ve been better about not falling asleep with him in our bed during the night, though I do usually snooze with him in our bed for that last stretch in the mornings. It’s not a really sound sleep, so I don’t worry as much about his safety. D is also out of bed for work by this point, so I make sure T has plenty of space and is away from the blankets or anything that could harm him. He’s still not very good about napping in the crib. Every time I try to transfer him there he wakes up, and he won’t fall asleep if I put him in there awake, so it’s usually just easier to let him nap in his swing or on the couch.

Eating: He is getting much better about eating efficiently and staying awake through a feeding. He is spacing his feedings out closer to 2.5 to 3 hours now during the day, and 3-4 hours at night. During the day he will eat from both sides for about 10-15 minutes at a time, though we occasionally have a marathon session, where he nurses for up to an hour, half-asleep, mostly pacifying. I don’t mind, since I usually don’t have anywhere to be, and the nursing isn’t uncomfortable to me anymore. In fact, I really enjoy nursing now. Hate pumping, though, and I’m not looking forward to going back to work for this reason. I’ve gotten pretty comfortable nursing in public, thanks to my nursing cover. I find myself nursing in parking lots quite often since he always seems to get hungry while we’re out running around!

Personality: He is really getting fun, and his personality seems to develop more and more every day. I think he will be a very active baby, despite previously thinking he was going to be very chill. I do still think he will be pretty easygoing, as he doesn’t seem to fuss nearly as much as other babies I see. He does not like to sit still, though, and he constantly wants to be looking around. He is smiling a ton these days, and it never gets old. Each smile gets me so excited as if it were the first time. I’ve heard of baby smiles described as “parent crack” and it’s absolutely true. I find myself making a fool out of myself with silly faces and voices, just to get that fix and one is just never enough. He is cooing and “talking” to us quite a bit now too, and it’s fun to carry on “conversations” with him. He doesn’t really like his tummy time, and the pediatrician said that’s something we need to work on more. He has good head control when he’s upright but he should be getting close to the point where he can push himself up and support himself on his elbows while on his tummy, and he isn’t doing that yet.

Likes: Still likes having his diaper changed. I mentioned this to our pediatrician and she said her son was like that too, and that they called it his “reset button.” It’s a good description, because even when he’s fussy, he’ll calm down and give me a smile when I change him. He is really starting to like bath time too. I’ve started giving him a bath once a day and it’s so fun to watch him splash and smile up at me. He also really loves to stare at his own reflection. Can’t say I blame him – he’s a pretty handsome dude!

Dislikes: He seems to have regressed a bit on taking a bottle, which is something we’re working on – we need to get this problem fixed before I go back to work. The bottle thing is turning out to be quite an issue, which I’ll go into detail more about in a separate post. His gassy issues we were dealing with last month seem to have subsided, thankfully. He still gets a bit fussy when he has a big burp or fart he can’t seem to get out, but he’s gotten more efficient about working them out himself, I think.

Mama: I’m feeling pretty good these days. Still about 5 lbs. away from my pre-pregnancy weight, but my clothes are definitely fitting better. Still won’t be rocking a bikini anytime soon, and I’ve got a little bit of a gut that wasn’t there before getting pregnant, but I feel pretty good about my ability to work that off. I just got my IUD placed today, and that was SO much easier than getting it placed the first time around. I had heard that it would be less painful after having a baby and boy, was that the truth! The first time I thought I was going to pass out from the pain. This time it felt about as uncomfortable as a PAP.

Looking forward to some of the next milestones, such as laughing, rolling over, and getting some more head control! Every day he becomes more and more like a little person, and less like a cute little lump. As cliche as it sounds, he is truly growing up before my very eyes!

Baby Theo, health & body, monthly updates

One month old.

June 23, 2013August 15, 2013 Keeping up with the Hoffmans

Can’t believe my baby is one month old! Well, he is actually 6 weeks old. I’m a couple weeks behind on writing this, though the photo was taken June 9, at exactly one month old. I’m officially resolving to blog more often, even if it’s just quick posts/photos. I think the idea of trying to capture everything in a big update is keeping me from writing in a timely manner. It’s just simply too hard to find time to sit down and write a long post, especially since he’s been going through a bit of a fussy period lately. It’s sort of hit or miss as to what kind of a day we’re going to have. When he’s happy, I hate to ignore him, and when he’s fussy, he doesn’t like to be put down. Either way, as soon as he falls asleep I have to decide whether I want to shower, pump, clean, nap or do something for myself. Usually there’s only time to do one before he’s awake again. As of right now he has fallen asleep on the couch and I’m afraid to move or I’ll wake him up. But maybe I can finish the post before he does!

(Side note: it’s now three days later – he only gave me about 20 minutes in the photo above and I’ve only had a few minutes here and there to write since then!)

Okay, here’s what’s happening at 1 month…

Weight: 11.4 lbs

Sleeping: We’re only getting about 3 hours at a time since he wakes up to eat frequently, but he has gotten to a point where he usually goes down easily at night, and will go right back to sleep after eating. Sometimes we both fall asleep while nursing, since I’ve mastered the side-laying feed. I’ll wake up and realize it’s been over an hour and we’re both snoozing, sometimes with my boob still in his mouth. While it’s helping me to get more sleep at night, it does make me a bit nervous when I fall asleep like that since I’m afraid of smothering him with my giant boobs. He’s sleeping well in his Pack and Play next to our bed and I’m trying to get in the habit of having him nap in his crib during the day, but most of the time he ends up falling asleep on the couch, in our arms, or in his swing.

Eating: He’s eating like a champ. Still gets a bit sleepy at the breast, but will usually make up for a sleepy feed by pigging out at the next feeding. We’re feeding on demand but he tends to eat pretty regularly every 2 hours during the day and every 3 hours at night. He’s given us a couple 4 hour stretches at night and one 5 hour stretch, though. The extra sleep feels awesome, though my boobs feel like they’re going to explode when I wake up.

Personality: It’s fun to see little glimpses of his personality developing, and I’m excited to find out what kind of a person he turns out to be. I think he will probably be pretty chill. He tends to get fussy in the evenings, but he also has been burping and farting a lot lately, so I think a lot of his fussiness is due to gas. Otherwise, he mostly only cries when he needs something – usually a boob or a diaper change. He definitely has days where he’s fussier than others, but I heard the average baby cries for 3 hours a day and he’s nowhere near that. So even on his “bad” days, I know he’s really not that bad. He is really easy to take places, since he tends to sleep great when there’s a lot of noise around him.

Likes: He HATED having his diaper changed for the first couple weeks, but now he loves it. In fact, if he’s fussing, he’ll actually calm down now when you change his diaper and will stare attentively at you while you change him. He likes his pacifier okay, and it will sometimes calm him when he’s fussing, but he won’t always take it, and he tends to spit it out quickly. He really likes his swing and his activity mat, and loves to stare up at the dangling toys. Above all else, he loves the boob. Even when he isn’t hungry, that’s the one surefire way to stop him from crying. Unfortunately, he tends to get a bit frantic and gulp a lot of air while he sucks when he isn’t hungry, which causes more gas, which makes him fussier, so I try to find other ways to calm him if possible when I know he isn’t hungry.

Dislikes: He’s a pretty easy going guy, so there isn’t a lot he doesn’t like at this point. He isn’t afraid of being held by other people, and isn’t even fazed when the dogs bark. About the only thing that really pisses him off is gas. If he needs to burp or fart (or poop), his face goes beet red and he fusses and grunts until he can get some relief. Poor guy. I may ask our pediatrician if there’s anything we can give him to help with the gas. I’ve heard mylicon drops can help but haven’t looked into it enough yet.

Mama: Recovery for me has been a bit rough, and slower than I expected it to be. At 6 weeks postpartum I’ve only recently started to really feel like myself again, though there are some things that are just… different than before. I think I’ve pretty much destroyed all my pelvic floor muscles and those will take a while to rebuild. I’m not loving this postpartum body and I still have about 7 or 8 lbs to go before I’m back to my pre-pregnancy weight. I have my six week checkup with my doctor next Tuesday and I’m hoping she’ll clear me for exercise so I can start getting back in shape. As of right now I’m feeling pretty squishy and weak. I went bathing suit shopping yesterday which was seriously depressing. I knew I would definitely be wearing a one-piece this summer, but I hadn’t realized how hard it would be to find something I’m comfortable in. I did finally find a suit at Nordstrom that was WAY more money than I would have normally spent (usually I can find cute cheap suits at Target or Old Navy). I’m having some pretty serious buyer’s remorse and will probably keep the tags on until I really need to wear it, and keep my eye out for something cheaper before then so I can return it.

Okay, I’m going to wrap this up before Theo wakes up from his nap!