Abs Of Steel

The Boy is working his abs like crazy. He can't sit up by himself or keep himself balanced for very long. But he is definitely trying. In the swing. In the carseat. In the bouncy chair. He's always leaning up / forward.

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Baby Got Back

We went to look at convertible car seats yesterday. At just over 3 months, The Boy is about 18 pounds and 26 inches. He only has about 4 pounds or 3 inches before he outgrows the infant seat specs. Geez, what a tank. We have a hard time getting any kind of jeans or pants over his thighs. They fit fine once we do, but getting them there is a chore.

Unless I slept through something, which is unlikely, he slept from 9 or 9:30pm to 4am without needing any attention at all! We put him down about 7 or 7:30, and he woke up an hour or so later. So The Wife fed him and he was only partially awake. He went back to sleep pretty quickly and was out for the night. Maybe we can get him to start repeating this. Or maybe I just jynxed us.

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Now That's Funny, I Don't Care Who You Are

The Wife started a new game with The Boy that involves "beeping" his nose and chin and "ringing" his cheeks. It evokes the closest thing to a laugh that we've heard. I can't quite call it a laugh, but it's damn close.

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The Art Of Sh-Sh-ing

His body facing in to mine, which helps hold the binky in. His head in the crook of my left arm, my left had keeping his left arm from flailing. His butt in the crook of my right arm, which also supports his torso and keeps his right arm from flailing.

Then the rock&bounce back and forth, left and right. Like so:

Sh-sh Sh-sh Sh-sh Sh (no sh on 8, I have to inhale at some point)
1----2 3----4 5----6 7----8
Le--ft Ri-ght Le--ft Ri-ght

(repeat chorus)

Most attempts to NOT stand will only work for a few seconds or minutes if I'm lucky. And although this has worked several times, there are times when this just seems to make him angrier.

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12 Weeks

Oops. 12 weeks was Monday.

The Boy is over 16.5 lbs & over 25" long (it's been a week & a half since we checked). He's off the charts.

He is smiling a lot and babbling. This week, he hasn't wanted to go to sleep. Not even mommy has had much luck comforting him. He basically screams until he passes out from exhaustion. We're hoping it's a short phase. The good news is, he's still going for some long stretches before he needs to be re-binkied, re-wrapped, or fed.

He's been fitted for the hearing aids. We'll do the trial and see how it goes. They are over the ear models. We got blue hearing aids and clear ear molds. We thought a color would be a little more fun than the standard beige. If he still needs them when he's older, he can pick his own colors.

I feel like I should have a lot more to say, but I can't think of anything right now.

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ILLIN'

The Boy has a slight fever and is fussy. The Wife may be developing a cough. I've had a sore throat for a day or two.

Not good. Someone call quarantine.

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New Year's Prediction

The Blues' win on Monday was the turning point in their season. Now they're really gonna start winning some games!

(What? It's supposed to be a Resolution, not a Prediction??? Eh, close enough. You know what they say, POE-TAY-TOE, TOE-MAH-TOE.)

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Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens

I like changing The Boy's diaper. For one because I'm pretty good at changing his diaper, and also because he's usually in a very good mood and very talkative.

I'm also good at swaddling him.

We have good times in the mornings when he wakes and during the daytime.

He's been a bit picky about taking bottles. He's taken a few here and there, but more recently we haven't had much luck. We think it's a matter of catching him before he's too hungry and making sure the milk is fresh enough. He took a bottle this morning. That was nice. He even let me feed him, that was cool. It was freshly squeezed boob juice, never even been in the fridge!

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Bubble Boy

The Boy sure makes a lot of spit bubbles with his mouth. Sometimes his chin is just covered with them like a soap suds beard.

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Sleep

Well, I can't officially call it sleeping through the night, because I did have to get up at 1:30 and re-swaddle and re-binky him (I worry that maybe we're forming a habit???). But he did make it from about 7pm until almost 6am until he needed to eat again. So we got some pretty good sleep for a change. He was very hungry and mom's boobs were very full, but that didn't stop him from eating.

Christmas was loud. It was good. There were 8 kids ranging from 9 years to 9 months. The Boy got a little over-stimulated a couple times, but for the most part it was all good.

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9 1/2 Weeks

I really just wanted to have a post with that title. I'll even go so far as to cheat and post-date this for tomorrow morning at 1:32 am.

Yesterday at the Doctor's office, he weighed 16 lbs. 4 oz. They were kind enough to just write >95% for his weight percentile. At this rate, he'll be out of his infant carrier by 4 months! Our friends who have the exact same carrier used theirs until 9 months!

He also got 4 shots. He wailed at the time, but he calmed down in just a few minutes and then just slept a lot the rest of the day. He was quite the trooper! Thanks to those that recommended we give him Tylenol before the appointment, that may have helped.

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It's Not Whether You Win Or Lose.

The Blues won a game!!! Oh, wait, it was against one of the other worst teams in the NHL. Nevermind.

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I Want A Jet Ski

I actually had to stop watching this for a minute because I was laughing so hard. I love Whose Line Is It, Anyway. This is definitely one of their funniest moments.

http://www.squizzle.com/movieview.asp?id=2191

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8 Weeks

The Boy is 8 weeks old today.

I'm embarrassed to say we've lost something of his. We lost his neck. However, we did find one extra chin. And before it's all over, there may be more than one extra chin. I think we're about to lose his knees, also. But he's got enough thighs for 2 or 3 babies. He weighs 15 pounds and is 25 inches long.

(Speaking of long, when do you officially switch from "long" to "tall"?)

He rolls over from his tummy to his back, to his right all the time. He's done it to the left once. When he doesn't immediately roll over when we give him tummy time, he looks straight out, sometimes even up. He seems pretty fond of a particular stuffed dog. It rattles and squeaks and barks and crinkles and all that good stuff.

He definitely prefers mommy at this point, but we still have good times together. We read and play and get tummy time and watch some sports on TV (but not too much TV). I'm still managing to stay calm when he's having a fit. But it's much much harder when I myself am over tired. So I'm focusing on not getting so tired.

Since he never passed the hearing screening in the hospital, we had several follow up tests, OAEs and ABRs and what-have-you. The audiologist has diagnosed him with mild hearing loss at low frequencies. So when speaking at a normal conversation volume, he probably hears vowels and "m" & "n" & such more like a whisper. Whereas, "shh" & "s" & "t" & such are probably more normal. It doesn't appear to be just fluid or wax buildup. She is recommending hearing aids. We've spoken t an ENT once, and will speak with him again. We're also going to get another opinion. Of course, we'd break the bank for anything he needs, we just want to make sure he really needs it and that it will be beneficial. I learned that hearing aids are not covered by our insurance.

The Boy and The Wife (a.k.a. The Mom) left today to visit grandma for a couple days. I was really sad to see them go. Luckily, I got to come home at lunch and play with him and we even took a little nap together.

There are so many little things I want to post about on a daily basis so I don't forget them, but I just never get around to it. Plus, some things are just better live than Memorex.

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Baby Blog

Yesterday, I got to sleep in a little with mommy & daddy. After breakfast, we played in my room for a while. I had some good tummy time. I finally decided to go ahead and show mommy that I can roll over. I did it 5 times before I got really tired. I thought maybe I was being a little too mean by only rolling over when daddy was around. I took a long nap and then had second breakfast. I sat in bouncy chair while mommy and daddy hung giant socks and put up this big green triangle thingy. It has neat lights and shiny round things on it. It all seems a little weird to me, but whatever. Then they put me in that stupid torture chair and then put me in that big box on wheels. That's the last thing I remember for an hour or so. I know we went somewhere else and I missed out on a lot of fun, but I just couldn't stay awake. Mommy bought me this bitchin' Tigger coat/onsie thing. All the other kids will be so jealous. Lunch was good. Mommy makes really good meals. At one point, we sat in front of this big box with lots of colors and movement. It seemed like there were people running back and forth with some kind of ball. It was neat. The people in red seemed the happiest. That's cool because the people in blue and orange seemed kind of dorky. I had second lunch and thirdsies and took another short nap or two. Daddy laid on the floor next to me and read me three books. I hit him in the face several times to thank him.

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Break On Through To The Other Side

I had a total breakdown last night. He was screaming and I couldn't stay calm, which just made him worse. So I handed the little bagpipe to Mom and went on to have a screaming, crying fit of my own. Then I did some reading on anger management as it relates to being a parent, etc. I wrote down all my feelings and my plan. I have a zero-tolerance policy for my angry fits. They won't happen again.

I had a total breakthrough this morning. He was crying and screaming and arching his back. I stayed calm by speaking calmly to him. Telling him I really wanted him to stop. And that it makes me sad and mad when he does this. And that Daddy has him and was trying to fix whatever was wrong. Of course, he understands none of this. But saying it out loud is the release I needed instead of letting it build up and get me angry. And saying it calmly helped soothe him. I knew he had recently been changed, so didn't think that was the issue. He didn't seem cold or hot. I wasn't quite sure about gas. But he did seem to be hungry. So I told him we'd go see if the Booby factory was open or if I needed to heat a bottle. We found out the Booby factory would open in a few minutes, so we binkied and pinkied and managed to stay fairly calm until then.

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Roll Over, Beethoven

Before this morning, The Boy had rolled over on 3 separate occasions. All 3 being more accident than anything. This morning, he was having tummy time and after about 5 minutes, he rolled over. I put him back on his tummy and he immediately rolled over again. So I put him back on his tummy. He rolled over AGAIN. So I put him back on his tummy. This time, he was tired, so it took him a little longer, but he did it AGAIN. HOLY and SHIT! 4 times. Four. 1, 2, 3, 4, FOUR.

Next week we're going to the DMV to get his learner's permit.

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4 Weeks

Yesterday, The Boy was 4 weeks old. Sometimes it seems like it's only been 4 days, other times it feels like it's been 4 months. Overall, it's gone by quickly.

He accidentally flipped himself over from tummy to back the other day. He was pushing up with his left arm and gave this kick that just flopped him over. I know it was an accident, but it was cool.

He's peed on himself, the walls, mom's hair, etc. He spits up a lot. We think it's normal, but it seems like a lot. The Wife's going to mention it to the lactation folks. He seems to like motion. Walking, riding in the car, etc. I really like the Snugli frontpack/backpack we got. He seems to like it too.

He seems to be doing well. I weighed him yesterday, I know the bathroom scale isn't the most accurate, but he was 12 lbs.

It's possible that he has some mild to moderate hearing loss in at least 1 ear. We don't know much more at this point. We'll follow up in 3-4 weeks to learn more.

Sometimes he's just cranky, and that's very hard for me to deal with. I'm trying to learn how to stay calm when he's screaming at the top of his lungs, but it's very hard.

We didn't do a very good job of giving him his first real bath. The little tub started overflowing, then he was just sitting in poopy water. We'll have to plan better for the next one.

We're starting to function more, get things done, get out and about. That's nice.

The Wife is doing better. She still has some ailments, but she is slowly improving. She is very good with The Boy. She doesn't realize how good she is. I knew she would be a great mom, but it just really impresses me. She has made an amazing transition into The Mom.

This is the hardest thing we've ever done. It's crazy hard. But it's so very cool.

Sorry for the terrible flow of this post.

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This Just In

Just heard over the baby monitor (sung to the tune of...unknown):

Wake up, wake up. It's time to eat.
Wake up, wake up. Your fast asleep.
Wake up, wake up. There's a whole other Boob to eat.
[end of song]


Sometimes he's a little lazy about the eating. I think mom is just too comforting. Heck, I can't count the number of times I've fallen asleep with her boob in my mouth.

Editor's Note: The Wife just informed me that it's sung to a tune from the movie "Groundhog Day".

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The Crying Game

Any advice for coping with the crying fits?

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