Four Months

Weeee're baaaaack. 

Another month, another blog post filled with information you never knew you needed to know about our little William Hugh. 

I've found the past few weeks to be a little more challenging thanks to the learning curve associated with Will's recent boom in mental development and personality changes. It has not been without its struggles. But things are getting easier as I learn his new cues in order to better meet his needs.

4 month stats:

• 16 pounds - He's gained over 2 pounds a month since birth. I found out yesterday that at his 2 month checkup he was almost deemed overweight. Now he sits comfortably at 81st percentile for weight-for-recumbent-length. Still on the chunky side, of course, but thinning out. 
• 24 3/4 inches tall - Almost 5 inches taller than his birth height. His last growth spurt definitely went to height, rather than mass.
• 16 3/4 inches head circumference - His head has grown almost 6 inches since birth. This means two things: (a) God loves me (think of the childbirth consequences . . .), (b) his brain is getting huge to hold all that smartness. 

Sleep: 

Things got hairy for a while---I am talking almost two weeks of 4-5+ (who even knows) wakings per night and pre-6AM wake ups---but we are seeing improvement. Since he started rolling and raging, we stopped swaddling his arms. Then a few nights ago we weaned the pacifier and it has drastically improved his nighttime sleep. He was still up at 5AM today bright-eyed and bushy-tailed (Will and I were both like "NOOOOOOO"), but the past three nights have been back to his normal two feedings. He goes to bed at about 7:15pm and wakes at about 12 and 3:30 each night. 

Will is the best husbo. While he doesn't really handle any night wakings (we both wish he could make the milk come out the man boobies), he is the one who will get up early with little Will and let me sleep in. Every morning he gets Will out of his crib and brings him me to nurse. Then if I can coerce baby Will to snooze with me some more after eating I will always do so. On the weekends, it's father-son time while I sleep for 2-3 glorious hours in our bed by myself.

Naps stink again. We had a month's worth of awesome naps and he gave me 1.5 to 2 hour stretches twice a day at his best (like this day). Now I'm lucky if he goes an hour, although he's been out for an hour now and I would love it if he made a liar out of me today. (Update: he did not.)

Eating: 

We are down to 7 nursing sessions a day because I stopped cluster feeding. He still goes every 3 hours on average between feedings during the day. He is still the fastest eater known to man and would give Kobayashi a run for his money (except when he's in a growth spurt, he'll nurse a little longer and more frequently). He's pretty distracted when he nurses during the day, which I think is why he still takes 2 feedings a night. Whatevs. We have no plans to start solids anytime soon. 

Poop:

You knew I was going there. Good news: he doesn't poop in the middle of the night anymore! No nighttime diaper changes. It's da best. I think we are down to like 9 diaper changes a day because of it. He still poops nonstop all day and has a night here or there where he poops a lot, but his little pooper is maturing and it makes his mother SO PROUD.

Favorite activities include:

• tummy time,

• fist sucking,

• giggling,

• randomly freaking out,

• and then giggling again,

• deep contemplative thought,

"Boobies."

• Bumbo chillin, 

Also, drooling.

• BOB stroller rollin',

Ridin' dirty. {POOP JOKE. HAHA. GET IT?}

• hangin' with pops,

• and preparing to relentlessly cheer on USA in the World Cup by doing American things like looking badass in front of the American flag. 

And then of course we can't forget to document the curious case of the receding rattail.

We shall rue the day it disappears into oblivion forevermore.

And for a trip down memory lane:

3 Months

2 Months

1 Month

1 Day

Myths vs. Realities

There are so many myths/old wives' tales associated with pregnancy and parenting, I'm still wading through it all in this little adventure called parenthood. At least, I'm praying this novena that is, like, supposed to help you figure out your life and such. So anyway, things like "the two week wait" symptoms, Chinese gender prediction charts, and natural induction methods, I'm convinced are myths. Epidural ruining your chance of breastfeeding. Myth. Special baby detergent is a total scam, I say. 

The whole wonder weeks thing - jury's still out. Will seems to do things at his own pace in his own time, whether or not his little baby head is in the stormy lightning part of the charts or the happy sunshine area.

Marches to the beat of his own drum, this one.

I was hoping the old "four month sleep regression," or what I like to call "bay bay go cray cray" (I don't really call it that), was also a myth, but in my experience, the struggle is real. So so real. 

It's great because his super baby brain is developing and he's becoming so much more interactive, showing off his little personality. He finally FINALLY rolled over. And it's becoming less like clumsily toppling over and more like actually intending to roll. (It was a long awaited milestone because my niece and my cousin's baby of the same age are practically baby gymnasts. Rolling around like a couple of circus performers. Show offs.) He can use his hands to grab toys and tries to claw my nose off. He gets excited when he sees his dogs and giggles and is even chattier than usual. 

But with his newfound skill set comes with it a new 'tude:

Stink eye to the max.

Oh, did you not get me in my crib within a 5 second window? SNAP!

Oh, did I grab my own pacifier out of my mouth when I really wanted to remain sucking on it? SNAP!

Oh, you didn't just walk away from me when I was trying to have a goooogooogoogoogoo conversation with you? SNAPPITY SNAP SNAP!

I mean, he's still a happy baby most of the time, but he has this new ability that I like to call raging.  When he threw his first tantrum like a week and a half ago, it caught me totally by surprise. WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU? I thought. Clearly he was in agonizing pain. Was he teething? Was he sick? Was he choking on something? Something in his eye? I even had Will stop for baby Tylenol AND baby Advil on his way home from work. (Fans of modern medicine right here. You can take away one of my crunchy cards.) 

Nope, none of the above. Just needed a nap apparently. . . . 

Got this mom thang down, ya'll!

Onward. 

Part I is the rage. Part II is the inability to stay asleep. You see the vicious cycle. The professionals call this wakefulness. This mom calls it an excuse to ingest twice her usual amount of coffee and refuse all physical activity. (And speak in the third person, naturally.)

Will was sleeping really well for like a month and a half. He woke once or twice a night. Any time he woke more than that was a rare "bad night." Well, shoot. Ever since we got back from Maryland, he's waking every couple of hours like a newborn again. Homey. Don't. Play. That. And naps? Naps are like whenever he darn well pleases, take your Baby Whispering self and go run and whisper that.

I mean, I hope no one sees this as me complaining - just keeping it real and seeking humor in the every day toil - because let's be clear, becoming a mom is one of the best things to ever happen to me in my entire life. Forever worth the sleepless nights. And years from now I will apparently have perspective and grow used to it and get better at it, but hey, coming to terms with sleeping in one to two hour increments for the indefinite future is hard. Sanctifying. Death to self and all. 

I know that "in the blink of an eye"/"before I know it"/"next thing I know" Will will be sleeping through the night and I will be sentimental about our cuddle time in the middle of the night and how I used to wake up to wipe his butt and gosh, he just grew up too fast! Because momnesia is a reality. 

That I can't find the humor and joy and good in even the funkiest, frustrating sleep regression? Myth.