8 Months Old!

This was originally written on Sunday, December 21, 2008:

I turned 29 at 2:15 this afternoon! That is crazy to me, I don't feel like I'm going to be 30 next year. THIRTY. What the heck?! I'm glad I have a year to prepare. I've never really cared about my birthdays as far as what my age was. I've never felt old or young, but rather the age I should be, probably because my birthday falls in the middle of the year so I always had plenty of people ahead of me and plenty of people behind me. Also, having a birthday around Christmas means you tend to celebrate Christmas more than your birthday, so I was always at home with my parents for Christmas break--usually traveling! This year Joe & I didn't do much, either, except go out to eat to Roja Mexican Restaurant. Joe also picked up a DQ cake for me (that's kind of become our tradition) and he gave me an exceptionally nice card and a CD, book, and sentimental Christmas ornament. :)

Of course he wasn't able to eat the cake or much for supper (he had tortillas with grilled chicken--the first meat he'd had all week) and it was the first time we've ever been out to eat when Logan was a handful (you should have seen us--silverware was flying, food was falling off the table, the check tray landed on the floor, we were up and down several times, we passed Logan across the table. . .it's a good thing the place was loud and set up really well for having a baby, despite it being a classy restuarant)! At least it was a better day than last year (no emergency room visits)!

Next year is going to make me feel old, though, so I want to do something super fun that day for the first birthday in my life. Joe's thirtieth will be in July so I'm already trying to come up with ideas for him. . .

This birthday evening, though, I'm sharing it with you! Finally a chance to reflect on the past month!

The last time I posted an update was Nov. 25th so I'll start from there. That night Joe's mom came over with a van she had rented and we left the next morning for our Thanksgiving in Colorado Springs.

Logan did really well on the ride out. It was beautiful weather that day and I even nursed in public for the very first time (with a wrap) at Subway! (It only took me over 7 months, lol.) Until then I'd never felt brave enough (Logan has been known for being active while nursing so I was always too worried my wrap would fly off and hit someone in the face with my boob exposed for all to see), but now I finally feel confident that I won't flash everyone.

We stopped every couple of hours to let Logan stretch his legs (lol) and I would also nurse during those times in our van. I really thought that trip was going to be my last days breastfeeding, though. I didn't even try to nurse at all anymore once we got to Colorado, so I don't understand how my milk didn't dry up. 1) I was in pain pretty much the whole trip (aside from the sores & bleeding from the previous week, I think the drier air also contributed) 2) I only pumped once on the trip and 3) when we arrived to Joe's sister's house Logan was too excited to eat. We couldn't get him to eat solids (it took him from Wed to Sat to eat one container of stage two food. He only nursed three times in those 4 days. I'd brought our formula sample from when he had jaundice as a newborn and so he did have one 8 oz bottle each day--but that was it, so I'm amazed he didn't lose weight!

I think he was just having so much fun with the new environment, the new toys, the new people, and the other babies, that he was wound up and wouldn't relax. He skipped all naps and woke up every couple of hours each night (only averaging about 8 hrs of sleep each day). Joe and I were wiped out to say the least. We'd forgotten what it was like getting up four times a night. . .we don't have the same stamina as we did during Logan's first month of life. . .we're definitely not ready for baby #2 yet!

Still, it was fun and I enjoyed chatting with the other two "new moms" (Joe's nephew's wives). The one with the 5.5 month old was still nursing, but the one with the 9.5 month old had stopped at 8 months. She said it was hard to say goodbye but she was glad to have her body back. I am definitely looking forward to that! My cousin-in-law suggested buying a really nice bra afterwards--I think that's a great idea. When the time comes, I'm definitely going to celebrate. . .it's been a year-and-a-half since I haven't been sharing my body with Logan!

Since I haven't had any sores or bleeding since Thanksgiving, Logan returned to nursing regularly when we came back from Colorado and must be getting enough milk because we haven't had to give him anymore formula (although we've used a few bags of breastmilk from our freezer).

I can count on just one hand how many times I've pumped since we returned from Colorado three weeks ago, so I'd planned on putting my pump away after that trip but decided to wait until we're done traveling for Christmas. I've pretty much been hooked to that thing since we bought it! It's had mold in it, shot my milk my wrong way (through where the air comes), and the motor almost died--but we've cleaned it and fixed it, and so my trusty ol' Medela Pump In Style Advanced will be around for baby #2. . .although I really hope not to use it very often with him/her. I'm not sure I will know how NOT to, though. I got so used to pumping a bottle before we went anywhere with Logan that I never had to go through the typical breastfeeding issues of nursing in a non-breastfeeding friendly enviroment. But, I did it at Subway and was comfortable, so maybe my rollercoaster with Logan has prepared me enough "mentally" to do it anywhere with baby #2.

As for Logan's sleeping, I think he would have returned to sleeping straight thru the night every single night during his seventh month, but due to all of our traveling, that didn't happen. He had more nights when he slept 8 hrs w/ no interruptions compared to months 5 & 6 (and I can count on one hand since he was two weeks old how many times he's been up for longer than 5 minutes), but lately every single night he's been wanting to nurse twice (rather than months 3 & 4 he didn't get up at all).

I think there is definite pressure for parents nowadays to have babies sleep consistantly thru the night, every single night, which I've discovered isn't natural for most babies! According to About.com:

You have probably heard that babies should start "sleeping through the night" at about 2 to 4 months of age. What you must understand is that, for a new baby, a five-hour stretch is a full night. Many (but nowhere near all) babies at this age can sleep uninterrupted from midnight to 5 a.m. (Not that they always do.) A far cry from what you may have thought "sleeping through the night" meant!

What's more, while the scientific definition of "sleeping through the night" is five hours, most of us wouldn't consider that anywhere near a full night's sleep for ourselves. Also, some of these sleep-through-the-nighters will suddenly begin waking more frequently, and it's often a full year or even two until your little one will settle into a mature, all-night, every night sleep pattern.

So I was actually lucky that Logan slept 8-12 hrs uniterrupted during months 3 & 4, but I had no idea it was not practical to think that was going to last for the rest of his life. There is a lot of false information out there! I can't even tell you how many people acted like Logan was late for sleeping 8 hrs straight through every night at 3 months old--or when he did 12 hrs every night at 4 months old! The above article started off by saying, "The danger to a new parent is that these tidbits of misguided advice (no matter how well-intentioned) can truly have a negative effect on our parenting skills and, by extension, our babies' development -- if we are not aware of the facts. The more knowledge you have the less likely that other people will make you doubt your parenting decisions."

I wish I would have done more research in the beginning rather than listen to the people who acted like something was wrong with Logan when he began waking up again during his fifth month. It made me feel like my son was bad or something, when I've come to learn he's actually a better sleeper than the average! We hardly ever have to do anything to get him to sleep (he wants to go right to sleep when we put him in his crib) and 90 seconds is the average for how long he is up when he does wake up in the night. I'm not impressed with people who tell me their kids started sleeping through the night at 6 weeks old because they let them "cry it out." To me, that's like someone beating their kids and saying, "My kids don't misbehave!" (To read my posts on the dangers of the cry it out method click here and here.)

As I've also mentioned in the past, Logan almost always has a reason for getting me up. Lately he started kicking his legs through the crib again -- and now banging his head against the crib (he's an active sleeper). I was going to buy the breathable bumper pads I mentioned in my post, Baby's First Teeth, except they won't offer a cushion for his head banging. At this time he can't stand up on the regular ones or climb out/fall out of his crib (although, we started having to put up the side of his crib during month 7), so since he is past the smothering stage I was comfortable enough to put them in for every night this month.

As for the peeing on himself, my mother-in-law recommended "making sure it's always pointing down" when putting on a new diaper. We'll see if that stops him from waking up drenched in urine. :(

Back to Thanksgiving. . .Joe's nephews' wives want to have six kids. I am in awe of people who seriously are at ease with that thought. I can't even fathom on my best day thinking I could handle that many. There's something about mothers of large families that seem superhuman to me. All of those who I've found with blogs are even skinny and gorgeous, and I'm thinking, HOW?! How would you even have a moment to get a haircut? (I don't have the time with one child, which is why that's the title of my blog!) How is your stomach flat when it's been stretched that many times?

Lately I've been thinking I would be fine with just Logan. Although he's still the absolute greatest joy of my life, and "my old life" doesn't even compare to the wonderful life he's given me. . .the older he gets the harder he gets, and so it's not like I'm going to get bored anytime soon. We have someone to carry on our blood and Joe's name. Logan completely fulfills me--I feel like I'm getting to experience "the experience" of being a mom from Logan so I don't need another. It's too bad I was raised as an only child (my brother is my half-brother from my dad & his second wife) because otherwise I could talk myself into being done. :p Not to avoid the stereotypes (I wasn't spoiled or lonely or antisocial or even mature for my age), but rather I just don't think it's healthy for parents or children when there is no other child to take the focus or distraction some of the time! Plus, somewhere I read that boy only children generally have more psychological issues than the average person. :/ And, when Logan is an adult I know he'll want that relationship. Maybe not all of the time when he's a kid, but I think there's nothing better than a brother and sister or two brothers or two sisters who can be friends when they grow up, and also help/give each other support when their parents get old and/or pass away.

My parents didn't really have a choice (they separated when I was 2 and by the time my mom remarried when I was 8 she'd been a single mother for several years so she'd lost her motivation to go through the stress of seeing whether she'd have an easier time having a baby than she'd had with me--after 4 miscarriages and me being two months premature)--but Joe and I do have the choice (as far as I know) so I think I'd end up regretting it if I turned 40 and had only had one child.

But 6?! That wouldn't be healthy for me or my children (or the rest of society, haha). Joe's nephews grew up in a family of five, though, so they had a good example. We're expecting them to announce another pregnancy soon, as both their wives said they haven't been doing anything to prevent another pregnancy since their babies were born in February & June, and they hope to have them all close together.

On the ride home from Colorado Logan was not happy about being confined in his carseat. Stopping at gas stations and rest areas weren't working like it had on the way out. Every time we put him back in the van he'd SCREAM at the top of his lungs. We were never going to get home if we kept making stops, and since nothing I did would distract him (we'd pretty much brought his entire life in the van which had kept him entertained on the way there), he screamed for two straight hours before I finally just had to break the law and hold him the rest of the 7 hrs. It wasn't something I'd wanted to do, even after a lot of moms had told me that was the only way they'd been able to travel that far with their babies. I just figured the one accident I'd get into in my life would be when Logan wasn't strapped in, so I was never comfortable on the ride home. But, he did fall asleep in my arms. I was worried that he'd continue to be all outa whack when we returned home, but thankfully he crashed in his crib immediately and went right back to normal with his sleeping and eating.

Joe's mom headed back to Iowa that night and I spent the week unpacking and Christmas shopping. Logan was such a little sweetie that week. . .he loved riding in all of the carts and looking around at the stores and smiling at all of the people :) We were stopped at every store by shoppers coming up to talk to him. At Hallmark I had carried in his carseat because I was making a quick stop and it was cold and I didn't want to take him out from under his cover. At first he was really quiet and so I don't think anyone really noticed me walking around. . .and then all of a sudden there was an "Ah!" sound. Every 90 seconds Logan would yell "Ah!" and it would startle whoever was around me which was funny. The people would always laugh and then peek in to see what had made that sound. I think everyone thought it was cute that he wasn't crying, he was just letting me know he didn't want to be in the carseat anymore! An old man said he thought Logan looked like a very happy baby. :)

The following weekend (December 6th) was my grandmother's 95th birthday in Missouri and so we surprised her by coming over for that. Along with my dad & stepmom and neighbor Judy, my aunt & uncle from Texas were there (who I don't get to see very often; my dad's brother & wife) so that was a bonus! We decided not to spend the night since it was Logan's third weekend trip in a row. It was a good thing because Logan didn't nap there, and once again although he'd done well on the way there, he screamed the entire three hours home. I didn't take him out of the carseat that time because I didn't want him to get used to thinking that would be okay (going to Colorado was an exception because we won't normally be taking 9.5 hour trips)! But that meant I had a horrible headache when we got home. :/

Even tonight on our way to the restaurant, Logan cried the whole time in the car. It's a big bummer because up until the Colorado trip the car was the one place he was guaranteed not to cry. That's why we let Logan fall asleep in his carseat for five months because it was his happiest/most comfortable/secure place! There were only two previous times in the 8 months that he'd cried in his carseat and both had been during his first six weeks.

The first time was one day in May when Joe and I had decided to meet for lunch at a park for a picnic. I'd been in bed watching Matlock, haha (this was back when Logan slept all of the time and I could actually lay in bed and watch TV. . .no more after three months old!) and hadn't showered yet, but I was so happy when Joe called and asked me if I wanted him to pick up a couple of subs. I threw on a pair of clothes, washed my face, and put Logan (who had woken up and I'd just pumped a bottle for him) in his carseat. . .only the straps locked up and he got stuck! I panicked because he began screaming as if he was hurt and so I started crying, too. I called Joe, probably sounding like I was having a nervous breakdown. Looking back I'm not sure why I got so worked up, but I think this was my first experience with feeling like a failure as a mom. Shouldn't I know how to put him correctly in his carseat? Joe assured me that it was going to be okay and he would come to our house rather than meet me at the park. I was balling my eyes out when he walked through the door, but I calmed down once I saw how easily he got Logan properly in the carseat.

Unfortuntately, it happened again a week or so later when I went to get my hair trimmed. I was ready to leave and the carseat's straps locked up. Joe had shown me how to loosen them the last time, but although it required just two simple steps, I forgot one of them and so, once again, Logan was stuck. This time when I called Joe he wasn't at his desk. So I had another nervous breakdown. I was going to be late! I couldn't leave unless Logan was properly in his carseat. What was I supposed to do? Call my sylist and tell her, I'm sorry I can't come in because I don't know how to put my baby in his carseat? I was probably more embarrassed/ashamed than anything. But through my tears I continued to fiddle with the straps and button and I figured it out. I got Logan in and he stopped crying! And, even though I was a couple of minutes late to the salon, my stylist wasn't even finished with the client before me, so I realized how the stress I'd put on myself hadn't really matched the situation. Even though this was a very simple task (which is why I felt dumb) I proved to myself that I could figure it out and so I wasn't a failure as a mom. Since then there have been numerous situations where I might not have panicked quite like those two times in the beginning, but I'll feel like I'm the only mom on the planet who might be slow at something, even though I know that's not the case. I suppose I'll experience that emotion until Logan is full grown.

Anyway. . .so the current cluelessness of not being able to stop him from crying in his carseat has led me to think maybe I shouldn't sit in the backseat with him anymore because I seem to make him madder! I'm glad he doesn't have crying fits very often because when he does there is nothing I can do to soothe him. If I touch him he pushes me away and if I try singing he screams louder. But experts say that it is okay if he's giving me cues that he wants to be left alone, that I do. As I've said before, I am not a fan of the "crying it out" method, but there are definitely times when long crying can not be avoided and just has to happen. I look forward to when he & I can communicate. . .right now he just doesn't understand why I can't take him out of the carseat and so it's exhausting for the both of us!

Speaking of exhausting, as you saw on my Crawling post, he took his first steps on Monday, December 8th and now is zooming through the house. It has put my anxiety into overdrive. I don't understand how mothers survive past this stage because every day I think I'm going to have a heart attack! I can't keep the dog toys away from him. I've put their toy basket in another room but they keep bringing each one to where we are so quickly that Logan has put every single one in his mouth. No matter how much I vaccum, he finds things on the floor that I can't see. He's put a twist tie in his mouth, a button, and a piece of dog food. He goes for all of our cords and other things that I didn't even realize were dangerous before. I'll look around the room, think the coast is clear, and then he'll do something that makes me realize that if I hadn't caught him in time, he could have died.

I'm sorry to be so dramatic, but it's true! In my post, Six Months Old, I mentioned I wanted to take a CPR/heimlich class. We are going to our pediatrician's office on Dec. 30th to make sure Logan is okay to have his brachial cleft fistula CT scan (since he has to be sedated for it) and so I'm going to ask them for recommendations because I want to sign up as soon as the new year begins. At least then I'll feel more secure because right now I wouldn't have a clue what to do in a situation that required one of those emergency methods, and so it makes me more scared/on edge than necessary.

I've heard that at some point in every parent's life they have to take their child to the ER. I know that there is no way to avoid a child getting seriously injured, it's going to happen. But just because I know this is out of my control doesn't mean I can just relax and say, "since it's going to happen, might as well not worry." You hear about freak fatalities to children all of the time! I feel like I HAVE to be a step ahead of him! I don't want to be neurotic but I also don't want to be naive. So, I'm currently trying to find the balance.

I would have decorated differently for Christmas if I had known Logan was going to be crawling overnight. He still seemed like he had a long way to go when we were at my Grandma's 95th birthday (I didn't predict it happening until early January), and yet 24 hours later he was crawling. At least I did manage to decorate our house and tree, though, and Joe even put lights up outside our house. I baked cookies on several occasions this month, listened to a lot of Christmas music, caught ONE Christmas movie on TV (usually that is one of my favorite things from this time of year and so I watch several) and although my Christmas letter went out much later than usual (I think in all of the years past it was mailed the day after Thanksgiving), I still got it out. I did most of my Christmas shopping online this year because even though Logan did well going to the stores with me, he had a short attention span. It seemed like I would just start to find things when he got antsy and so I knew that we better head home before he started crying. So, shopping was much slower and not as good as other years (for example, usually Joe is the easiest person to buy for, but I have nothing good for him--seriously! I have socks, underwear, a trashcan and a book [and he doesn't even like to read]! But, he didn't have a chance to get more than three little things for me, either, so we're going to buy one big gift for each other, together, in January instead).

I've felt like the Christmas season is the first time I'm noticing the difference between my pre-baby life and now. Probably because it's always the most stressful time of the year and this year with a new addition it is extra so. But for the very first time since Logan was born last April I've had the thoughts of "I miss such-and-such." I'd say the most common is reading. I've read three fiction books since he's been born. I used to read three a month! I long to just relax--truly relax--and read uninterrupted.

Also, go to the movie theater at a split second's notice. There are a ton of movies right now that I want to see. Not that Joe & I really went to the theater very often before we had a baby (he doesn't really like going) but whenever I really wanted to, I could always get him to. There have been no steps to find a babysitter since my post, Update, when I mentioned how we haven't had one yet, so deciding at the last minute to go to the theater hasn't really been an option.

Oh, and eating slowly. Strange, I know, but I feel like most days I have to eat so fast because Logan only allows me a few minutes for a lunch or dinner break. Despite not eating for pleasure anymore, I haven't lost any extra weight, but I feel like I'm starving all of the time because I'm more active than I've been in the past five years.

Fortunately I never got sick like I was worried about in my post, More of Logan's 7th Month, so the only virus I've had since Logan was born was that one cold in September. Logan has made it 8 months with none -- yeay! I didn't think it was necessary to get Logan the flu shot, so I'm glad I'm still breastfeeding so he's still getting antibodies.

The weekend of December 13th I finally made it to a hair appointment. That's something else I miss--being able to just run anywhere at anytime. My hair was an absolute disaster. It'd been since September since I'd had a trim or highlight. I decided that since my hair stopped falling out last month and has grown back in, and I'm only nursing twice a day, I'd completely change the color. . .to red! (For those interested in natural hair color, check out EcoColors.) It's something I've never done before (and I've had a lot of different hairstyles over the years). However, it came out looking dark brown rather than red :(

My mom & stepdad came over that day and watched Logan while Joe & I (separately) finished our Christmas shopping, so that helped.

On the 14th, Joe and I went over to Matt & Stacy's so our boys could have another playdate--and also so Stacy and I could have an excuse to celebrate our December birthdays! :) They knew of another couple with birthdays this month and so they invited them over, ordered a cake, and I brought ice cream. It was fun.

Afterwards, Joe and I took my local writers group materials to the new librarian. I held the position since June 2006 but have only made it to one meeting since Logan's been born. In my post, Pregnancy Ruined My Wrist, I mentioned that after Joe's trip to Branson last August I wanted to return to fiction writing. We've now realized the only way that's going to happen is if Joe watches Logan one night a week while I go to the library or somewhere not in this house to "zone out" and write! So that will be one of my new year's resolutions. . .as it's been a year-and-a-half since I wrote a novel consistantly each day. :( In my post, Trying To Figure Out A Schedule, I mentioned that I'd decided not to renew my membership with my writers group come January, although I did with the Romance Writers of America--so that if I decide I'm able to rejoin my local group or I find a new one, I can (you have to be a member of the RWA first). I do hope to have the time again for a writers group, maybe a year from now.

I already told you about the past week (with Joe's diverticulitis), and I also decided to get a couple more things Christmas shopping on Thursday the 18th--and then yesterday (Saturday, December 20th) we went to the mall so Logan could sit on Santa's lap, which was fun :)

To finish up. . .Joe's oldest nephew had typhoid fever at the end of last summer, but we saw him over Thanksgiving and he is completely recovered, thank God!

I've never mentioned that Logan has always sneezed more than we do, but when he was born the hospital staff told us that we would probably notice that during his first year because it is super common with babies and nothing to be concerned about. He's not sick or allergic to anything, it's just their new noses adjusting to air outside the womb. Kind of like how whenever Joe walks from inside to outside he sneezes, I'm not kidding, he's done that as long as I've known him!

My three friends who are having babies in April are expecting two girls and a boy. I was 2 for 3. I was actually three for three when they first told me (i.e. I pictured them with the sex that they're having) but then switched one of the girls to a boy when she told me the heartbeat (it was the same as Logan's). I should have gone with my first instinct. . .plus, that's statistically accurate (generally in a group of three, two will be girls and one a boy. That was how it was with Joe's two nephews who had babies (girls) two months before and two months after Logan!)

Earlier I mentioned that I've read three fiction books since Logan's been born. One of them was my first Jodi Picolut book titled Harvesting The Heart. I highly recommend it to all new moms. At first I thought it was a book about a woman with post partum depression, but later realized she was rather quite normal (just had a major issue with her mother). It was really good so I will definitely be reading more of JP's books. She'd been recommended to me for years, but I'd seen two of her movies and they weren't that good (movies never do books justice) but then the third movie I saw WAS really good and I could tell she had a similar writing style to me. Some parts of this book were hard for me to read (emotional/sensitive since I have a new baby--the book starts off as she's leaving her baby boy) but I couldn't put it down because there were several things I could laugh at because they were so real to all mothers, despite it being a serious book. I recommend it to even those who aren't moms!

Giving Sleeping Plan A Try

This was originally written on Saturday, October 25, 2008:

In my last "update post," Six Months Old, I mentioned that we were going to try a form of The Ferber Method to get Logan to return to sleeping consistently through the night because, for the past month, he has woken up a couple of times each night for 5-10 minutes each.

Last night I finally felt "somewhat" motivated to try the new plan. But, I caved. The good news is, ever since My Son's Fifth Month post when he slept 10 hrs straight thru again, every night for the past two weeks he's slept 11 hrs, and even 12 hrs a couple of nights. . .but has just woken up in the middle. So, hopefully "month 5" was the only month where he only needed 6-8 hrs a night and sometimes no nap at all during the day! Since turning six months old, he's returned to his consistant schedule of taking a two hour nap during the morning and a 30 min. to an hour nap in the afternoon. I'm also having no problem getting him to relax himself and go to sleep without my help in his crib or pack n play. The bad news is, now he's started waking up THREE times a night.

Last night we put him to bed at 10 pm and at 1 am the first cry occured. Usually I don't waste a second--I immediately go in his room, nurse him for 5 minutes, and that's that. But this time I waited for 2-3 minutes before I went into his room. I had hoped maybe he would stop crying on his own before then and would go back to sleep--but he had obviously expected me to come in and so when I didn't, he got louder & louder (i.e. more awake). So, I tried the first tip: no picking up, just soothing (rubbing his back) to see if all he needed was a little comfort to go back to sleep. Nope, that just made him madder. He screamed louder and more aggressively. So, I turned on his music box and mobile. I don't even think he could hear it because he was so worked up. I tried singing "Twinkle, Twinkle" (the only song he likes) to him. Nothing. He was to the point of being so upset that no sound was coming out of him anymore--and I just couldn't bear that. I picked him up and tried bouncing and rocking him but he was still crying! He kept trying to eat my shirt (a sign that he wanted to nurse) and that's when I started thinking about how he really hadn't eaten that much yesterday and so what if he was truly hungry? It would be cruel to deny him. So I fed him 6 oz. of pumped breastmilk so I could be confident he was full so that if he cried again I wouldn't have to wonder about that. He was calm and content by the time he was finished, and when I put him back in his crib he fell right back to sleep.

An hour later (2 am) I was awakened again but not by his usual cry--rather his "I'm hurt" cry, so there was no waiting--I immediately ran into his room and, sure enough, his legs were caught in the crib bars. :-( He'd clearly tried to get them out because his body was at an abnormal angle! As I've mentioned here, the whole reason he started waking up in the night was after he learned how to roll over in his crib. Now all of the rolling and kicking has caused his legs to get scratched up and bleed!

I know this is the time many people put the bumper pads in the crib because supposedly babies at this stage know how not to smother. If I hadn't had those couple of scary incidences with Logan in his pack n play end of August/early September, I probably wouldn't even hesitate and would have already put them back in. But, I've seen him press his face up against the side of the pack n play while sleeping (which isn't as scary to me as the crib w/ bumper pads because the pack n play has holes through the material) so I'm assuming he'll do the same thing in his crib. With that said, I check on him constantly when he's napping in his pack n play and he does always end up moving his face whether he's sleeping face down or against the pack n play material. And, I know from experience that he lets me know immediately when he's uncomfortable. (Plus, we have the sensor monitor.)

So, I am going to put the bumper pads in the washing machine and take it day-by-day, depending on what my gut instinct is when it comes to putting them in his crib. Yesterday I put the pads in for 10 minutes for the very first time during his nap (because he kept slamming his feet against the wood) and I kept an eye on him to see if it looked like he'd be okay. At that time he was, so right now I'm leaning more towards using them just because even putting them on the outside or weaving them between the bars (both great suggestions for anyone else out there, reccomended by my friends Kendra & Shelby) doesn't prevent him these days from kicking his legs out and getting them stuck. Now that it's getting colder he can wear long pants which should prevent the scratching and bleeding (because until now he'd often worn his sleep sack to bed but the other night he broke it apart because he doesn't like the confinement anymore) but sleeping thru the night will continue to be impossible if he's waking up lodged in his crib bars!

But, for last night I kept the bumper pads out and so I carried him downstairs to the pack n play and placed him in there. Fortunately he went back to sleep immediately so I didn't have to do anything, I was able to go right back to sleep, too.

Until 4 am. He woke up crying again and so I decided tonight I'll see if I can do better because I'd lost my motivation at that time. I went downstairs, picked him up from the pack n play, brought him to his room, nursed five minutes, put him in his crib and he slept soundly until 9 this morning.

I realize now that when it comes to stuff like this, it's not just the kids that have to be ready--it's the parents, too! My grandma said babies learn pretty quickly how bad they have to cry before you're going to give in so the longer I wait the harder it will get. But my mom pointed out he's not at a manipulative age yet--he's not purposely trying to get by with anything. It's true, I don't feel my going in there is "spoiling" him yet--like I said last time, my only reason for trying this plan right now is for the future (hoping it will go easier/smoother if I get it changed at this point rather than wait until he's older). Joe's mom said that when he was young she got up with him every time when he cried and so he didn't sleep consistently until he was two years old! She said she remembers finally having to just put a glass of water on his nightstand so that he could get up on his own and rock on his rocking horse until he went back to bed!

So, although RIGHT NOW I would prefer to just keep getting up with him for 5 minutes compared to going through the stressful week or two that it's supposedly going to take (what if it takes longer for us?) of "progressive waiting" before Logan returns to sleeping thru the night--two years seems like a long time for this to go on otherwise! I think if I had more motivation, last night would have gone better. Joe prefers the way we've been doing it, too, because he never has to get up, but last night when Logan was crying continuously it woke him up, too, so that will be his next week or two as well. I'll try it again tonight (Logan went to bed easily at 10:30), but if I feel I'm forcing it then I'll probably wait before trying it again. (Because how can anyone be successful at anything if their heart isn't into it?) I'm really hoping that since Logan did it naturally on his own prior to five months old, as well as with his naps now, that soon he will do the same at night again. (As a baby, I did.)

(UPDATE NOTE: In future posts you will read that we have become supporters of attachment parenting rather than the ferber method because the ferber method is too similar to the cry-it-out method, which I wrote about the dangers of in my three posts: When Life Gives You Lemons, Make Lemonade, Preparing For Brachial Cleft Surgery, and My Son's Fifth Month. We never co-slept, but I continued to comfort my son. It took until month 9, but ever since then Logan has slept flawlessly with no interruptions throughout the night [he's almost 4 now, so it was permanent], so I am glad I didn't go against my instinct by pushing the ferber method because that would have been unnecessary stress for all of us, especially Logan. It can happen naturally, no matter what you might hear.)

Other news this week: Logan moved on to peas when eating solids--they turned out to be his least favorite food! I wish I'd had the video camera on because when we first put the spoon in his mouth he actually jumped back! His face was all contorted and he looked at us like what the heck was that?! It was like he was trying to tell us he didn't like it, because he was making all kinds of sounds we'd never heard from him before. So, I put most of it in the fridge the first night and then fed the rest to him last night. He seemed to be more used to it the second time because he finished the container, but he still wasn't quite as happy/excited as he was with all of the other food. He was the same way with green beans tonight--we could only feed him a few bites and then had to give him cereal for the rest of his meal.

I think my milk supply is starting to go down again, but so far it's not noticeable because of the solids. I think those are definitely more filling to him because I keep realizing at the end of each day that he hasn't been drinking as much milk as he always had before. I don't think he's getting the 32 oz that his pediatrician said he should be having with three meals. This past week it's been more like 24 oz. a day. (No more burning 1080 calories for me, haha.) But, I'm definitely not concerned--he's been perfectly content throughout the day (no fussy days) and, as you read in his Six Months Old post, he's still in the 90th percentile for his weight!

The day after his pediatrician's appt. he did something funny. I was in the kitchen at the sink and I turned around and burst out laughing because Logan had pulled himself up while he was lying in his pack n play so that his hands were gripping the side and his head was resting inbetween them! I gasped when I saw his face with a big grin staring at me! Of course since then he keeps trying to do it again--I can tell he thinks it's pretty funny to be able to see me from in there. But it made me realize that I definitely need to start child-proofing everything now.

Our pediatrician said this is when he's going to start being more mobile (it was today that Joe started crawling--as in one week after his six month birthday) so we're going to need to lower the pack n play bed so that he doesn't end up climbing/falling out! He still can't crawl yet, but he will if Joe gives him something to push his legs on, so I'm guessing he might next month. It makes me nervous that so much is going to be happening and changing this month, after I finally adjusted to him leaving the newborn phase now he's going on to another phase and I realize there's even more I need to know for this one. You would have thought I'd have read a zillion parenting books by now but I can barely keep up with my What to Expect book, let alone anything else. My whole parenting experience so far has been just a learn-as-you-go process and so I'm worried I'm going to be caught off guard or miss something important. Half the time I don't even realize what's generally next for babies until someone mentions it.

We tried to start Logan on the sippy cup this past week but he got really frustrated. Right now he's learning to grip it and put it in his mouth but he hasn't drank on his own from it yet.

He's also started hitting! Whenever Joe & I are carrying him and he wants something else, he puts his hand in a fist and bangs it (hard!) on our shoulders! Also he's still pulling hair and it occured to me that maybe THAT'S why women lose their hair after pregnancy (just kidding).

Lately he gets really upset when he drops something. You'd think someone had done something cruel to him by the way in a split second he'll go from being happy to screaming! So we're trying to teach him that it's not the end of the world, he can either pick the item back up or we'll give it back to him, haha. I can't wait until he has to learn to share :/

I forgot to mention when I went to my annual exam last month that I told my doctor I still have the numb spot! (I first explained what this was in my What's That Line? post.) She was surprised, because generally it's gone in women by now. Of course. :/ She said that sometimes when someone has a serious injury, an area may be a little numb forever. . .but typically being pregnant doesn't fall under that category. It's nothing bad, it's just an area of the body that will always feel weird now if something touches it. She still thinks mine will go away at some point, though. (UPDATE NOTE: It did during month 7 post partum!)

6 Months Old!

This was originally written on Tuesday, October 21, 2008:

Another good appointment for Logan! I still get nervous before his check-ups with the pediatrician after his first two months. But that's probably good--I'm sure the day I finally stop is the next day we find out bad news. :p

His weight came in at 20 lbs and 6 1/4 oz which kept him consistant in the 90th percentile. Both his head and height increased! His head went up from the 10th percentile to the 30th, as it measures 17 circumferance now, and his height which had always been in the 50th percentile is now in the 75th with 27 inches!

He received the same three shots that he had at his 2 and 4 month appointments (Hib, PC, or Rotavirus). We're still holding off on the DTaP, hep b, and polio for now. Also our pediatrician said it was fine to not give him the flu shot (which they usually do at this point) since he's not in daycare and still breastfeeding. (I explained why we're separating/delaying vaccinations on my post Four Months Old.)

So the only other part of the appointment was talking to our pediatrician about Logan's relapse in sleep (for the past month waking up 1-2 times a night for 5 minutes each when he had been sleeping up to 12 consecutive hours prior). He said that all babies go through this phase at around 9 months old, so it's actually good we get to nip it in the bud now because hopefully it won't be hard for us later on. He said that babies do start waking up again in the night (for no reason) when they figure out that if they cry you will come. So, as I explained in my Logan's Fifth Month post since Joe and I are not on board with the method of leaving him to cry it out, our doctor recommends soothing him and then increasing the waiting period from 5, 10, 20 minutes. . .until Logan remembers on his own that he can continuously sleep through the night. Here's what babycenter.com said about this (Ferber method):

Parents are instructed to pat and comfort their baby after each predetermined period of time, but not to pick up or feed their baby. This routine is called "progressive waiting."

After a few days to a week of gradually increasing the waiting time, the theory goes, most babies learn to fall asleep on their own.

This approach allows you to gradually limit the time you spend in your child's room while providing regular comfort and reassurance — as well as reassuring yourself that he's okay.

I've been aware I've been taking the easy way out for myself the past month. Getting up with Logan to nurse for only 5 minutes is easiest for me because that's all of the sleep I miss during the night: 5 minutes (or ten if he gets me up twice). Whereas, doing the above approach is going to mean standing around Logan's room, as well as walking and talking. . .which means I need to plan on having a bad, sleepless week! However, I know in the long run it will be better for all of us. Otherwise, if I don't do this, it's going to get worse before it gets better. Babies don't outgrow this naturally until they're two years old. I've seen enough horror stories on TV shows to know that's true and it does seem easier to train a six month old in a week rather than to continue this past month's pattern for two more years!

On the bright side, getting him to sleep on his own in his crib went way easier than I'd expected. Within five days of no more carseat, he acted as if he'd been putting himself to sleep in his crib all along! There are still times every now & then when it takes 15 minutes to get him to nap or go to bed for the night (where I have to nurse, put him down, nurse, put him down), but 95% of the time he does it on his own! I've been so impressed the past week-and-a-half! When he starts to rub his eyes and give a cranky cry, I put him on his back in his crib or pack n play, then he flips over (I've stopped flipping him back because it does no good--he'll be back on his tummy within seconds. Our pediatrician said babies past six months old aren't at high risk for SIDS, so chances are he'll be fine now), and so then I turn on his music box and rub his back for 90 seconds and he's sound asleep! It's so cute, sometimes he immediately puts his hand in his mouth when I put him down and says "a goo" like he knows it's sleeptime. So, teaching him to relax himself was not at all the hard task I thought it'd be. I hope I'm surprised with the middle-of-the-night stuff, too. :/

This past Saturday, though (his half birthday!) was our hardest time getting him to nap/sleep because he was cranky ALL DAY. It was not a good start to his sixth month. Since the last crying day (the teething/Tylenol/no nursing episode) was the last week of his fourth month, he went his entire fifth month without any fussy days. He was off & on that way on Sunday, and then on Monday & today acted like there'd never been a problem--he was super happy just sitting around doing nothing! We have no idea why he was so crabby over the weekend. He was pooping normally so he wasn't constipated, he wasn't showing any teething signs, and didn't seem sick (didn't have a temp or anything else).

Our pediatrician said he could have been going through a growth spurt and was hungry, as now we've come to the point when my breastmilk will not be enough to sustain him. We are to start feeding him three solids a day plus 32 oz. of breastmilk. By seven months old this should be an every day occurrance (since he turned five months old we've only been doing this 3-4 days a week). Logan has gone through cereal, carrots, squash, and sweet potatoes, so next is peas and beans, then we'll move on to fruit and meat. (Sweet potatoes are his fav so far, that's why we haven't done fruit yet because some babies never go back to veggies after that.)

The growth spurt makes sense since his pattern has been to have a couple of days like this one week each month. It would seem that once a month his body might require more from him than usual, and combined with teething discomforts it may put him in a bad mood. Hopefully we got this month's over with already.

Or, maybe he was just upset that ISU (where Joe & I went to college) lost to the Huskers, lol :p We went over to Lisa's that afternoon and ate good food and watched the game with half on each side. We weren't the happy side.

Otherwise, not much else has happened since my long post last Monday. My mom came Tues thru Thurs which helped me out, although it's still amazing that I can't get as much done with help with a baby as I could with no help before having a baby. Besides my massage, I went to JCPenney and bought myself a few fall/winter clothes, including a shirt for our family Christmas portrait that we're getting taken on November 7th.

Today after Logan's appt. Joe and I went to Younkers and bought Logan an outfit for the picture as well. Joe showed me a 6 month coat that was $130!!!! That's ridiculous.

To pick up where I left off in Logan's Fifth Month post, here are some random things. . .

It occured to me recently that I'm probably living the best time of my life! If I live to be 100 years old and I look back, I bet the time my children are young is what is going to be my favorite/most special. I never thought anything could trump college--but being a mom has! Fortunately I have 17 more years before Logan leaves home!

Nobody told me that once I started feeding Logan veggies, his poop was going to become them! The first time he pooped after carrots it was a dark orange! As if it wasn't gross before, Joe also says it stinks nowadays. The good news, as I said in Logan's Fifth Month post, is that he rarely has blow-outs anymore so it's been a long time since I've had to put a lap pad over my pants. He also hasn't spit up in about a month (he must know how to hold it down when he burps now) and has only peed once without a diaper since June.

A few weeks ago Joe & I rented Baby Mama which was hilarious. I remember I wanted to see it when it came out in theaters, but I looked at the release date and know why I didn't make it: April 25th (one week after Logan was born). My favorite part was when the woman was pushing--you know how in most movies when they give the "big push" there's a baby? Well this time she did that and the doctor shouted, "nothing!" I could so relate, haha!!! I did that "big push" for 4 hours and kept thinking, Are you kidding me? Still no baby?!

For some reason I'm really confident that's not going to be my experience next time. I don't know if it's because I'm just so much more educated now on how to prevent a face-up baby or what, but I have a strong/comforting feeling that my next labor is going to be fast again--only the pushing phase will be shorter than the dilation phase!

Maybe it's also because I've learned that studies show fast labor may be genetic--there appears to be a link between women and their mothers and grandmothers when it comes to labors only if they are fast. I definitely have a pattern in my family--as I've mentioned here before both my mom and her mom's were fast (except my grandma's firstborn because she had the pelvis issue, too). A cousin on my dad's side didn't tell me her total time, but said it was super fast, as well as her sister and her mom (my dad's sister). However, the same studies point out that complications (as well as interventions these days like the epidural, pitocin, c-sections, etc.) make it hard for this to be guaranteed--so if next time there's a different issue for me instead of having a posterior baby, then this won't apply. . .I guess we'll see in a few years!

I'm not planning on getting pregnant anytime soon (my ideal is when Logan is in pre-school so that I can have a couple of days a week where it's just the new baby & me--that sounds easier, plus that way baby #2 won't get jipped from this special time that Logan and I have right now)--but I do have to say it was sad when I left my doctor's after my annual exam last month knowing that I won't be back for another year. All of the nurses waved as I left and called out "goodbye, Andrea, have a great year!" After having a baby it seems like too important of a place in my life for me to not go back for so long. It's crazy to me since that was the last place I ever wanted to go prior to last year!!! But, I admit, there was some sadness. And, on Saturday at Lisa's I talked to a girl who happens to go to my same doctor (she's due in January) and I felt jealous that she gets to go back this week! Fortuantely, whenever I feel like this I just remember how much I hated being pregnant and how three years will come soon enough (when we plan to have baby #2)! It seems like after my next pregnancy it will make more sense if I'm sad since I will know it will definitely be my last time.

I don't have a gut feeling about how breastfeeding will go next time, yet. (By the way, this past month has been a record--the longest time my milk supply has remained up! It hasn't gone down since mid-September!) Lately I've been falling asleep while nursing Logan (since for the past couple of months I can lay down and nurse him). I never thought I'd ever be able to sleep while nursing. Although it's much more comfortable when I'm tired, it scares me because I've always made a point not to co-sleep because there have been several cases in Omaha recently where babies have smothered and I don't want to take any chances. Plus, I often slept with my mom when I was little and it was really hard when she married my stepdad when I was 8 years old to suddenly give that up. It was so traumatizing to me that I actually remember thinking that when I had kids I wasn't even going to let them know it was a possibility (kind of like the whole Santa Claus thing--I was so devastated to learn he wasn't real that I made the decision at the young age of 7 years old that I'm going to be honest with my children right from the start).

Ever since the incident with my neighbor and the pool (which I posted about on Logan's Fifth Month), I have been really wanting to take a CPR and heimlich class. All I know is from TV--which does not make me confident enough to save Logan's life. So I'm going to be looking into that.

Yesterday Logan fell into his farm set and it left a dent in his head! Fortunately it's gone now; my mom said I had a dent when I fell as a baby, too. I guess since their skulls are still soft it doesn't take much! Poor guy has already hit his head a few times. One day he was rolling so fast to the other end of the room that he made it to his bouncer before I had a chance to move it out of the way and his head dropped onto the ceramic bottom.

I had another scary experience in the pack n play, even though I don't let him play with blankets anymore (I wrote about my first scare with him on my post titled Returning to Normal (Is It A Good Thing?). He was kicking the sides and somehow got the pack n play material loose and it fell over his head! This wasn't long after the Labor Day experience and so I was more mad than sad this time, just because he had to feel that emotion again so soon after the last. It was apparent he remembered because, like, when his clothes get stuck on his head he over-reacts (screams like someone is murdering him)--he really, really, really doesn't like anything covering his face!

It's amazing how much more scared to die I am now that I have a baby. Honestly, I never feared death before, but I know that if I died, Logan wouldn't have a mom. . .and that's so sad!!!!

Until this past week, Logan's toes always curled under him when he stood. Our pediatrician said that's normal at this stage; this week he has been more flat-footed.

Speaking of feet, recently I noticed that I may have passed on a weird genetic trait to him! Until high school my feet peeled every winter. We never learned why (it doesn't fall under the category of typical skin problems like eczema, etc.), my mom took me to the doctor a few times throughout those 13 or 14 years, and no lotion helped. I just got used to having to peel the skin off the bottoms of my feet and throw it in the trash. Gross, I know. It never hurt, it never itched, it was never red--it was just an annoyance and then after puberty abruptly stopped! Well a month ago I noticed the TOPS of Logan's toes peeling! I think I inherited it from my dad (he said his hands peeled) so just like Joe's family with the brachial cleft, this must be a strange dominant trait. I forgot to mention it to our pediatrician today because it went away after about a week, but I know that if it's my same problem then it will return this winter.

As for me, did you know that after pregnancy your hair falls out?! I forgot that my stylist warned me of that last year--she'd told me that she had several bald spots after she had her son 4 years ago and she'd been embarrassed until she realized that all of her clients who had babies had the same thing. The last time I got my hair highlighted she said she wasn't going to touch up my roots because--and then she showed me--I have all of these spots where my hair is trying to grow back! (It's especially bad in my bang area.) I realize now that I have noticed a lot of hair in my combs and brushes over the past months. When Stacy (Jaxson's mom) was here on the 11th (she's a hair stylist, too) she mentioned that hers has been falling out and she heard it typically continues for another six months! I'm glad I'm not alone--it's just another hormonal thing. Here's what About.com says:

Postpartum moms are often shocked to find that a few months after giving birth, they start to lose their hair. You might run your fingers through your hair and big clumps come out at once or you may notice that your shower drain or hairbrush are filling up much faster than before. So why does this happen?

Normally, your hair is in a cycle of growing, resting and shedding. At any given time, you could be losing as many as 200 hairs per day. This is not a problem when you consider that there could be 100,000 or more hairs actively growing. When you are pregnant, however, estrogen prolongs growth and those 200 hairs you'd be losing are put into the growth phase and very little hair is resting or shedding. This is why so many women who are pregnant have that thick, gorgeous mane.

After giving birth, your estrogen levels start to return to normal and so you start losing hair again. All that "extra" hair that was growing goes into the resting phase for a few months and then suddenly you are shedding all those hairs.

So, it's not that you are losing more hair than normal, it means that you haven't been losing hair like this for a year, and when it comes on again, it feels like you might go bald if it doesn't stop soon. Don't fear, it will by the time your baby is a year old. If not, consult your doctor.

Needless to say, I'm getting (temporary) hair extensions on November 7th :p I figured the day of our family pic next month would be a good day to get them and put in by my stylist. Hopefully I'll like them.

Logan is fascinated when I do my hair and brush my teeth. In the beginning I thought getting ready in the mornings with a baby would be a chore, but it has turned out to be entertaining to him and so he does really well when I take a shower (we play peek-a-poo which he LOVES) and he just sits in his bumbo or on our bed and stares at me while I do everything else!

Something funny he has been doing the past several weeks is clearing his throat and fake coughing. Stacy's son, Jaxson, does the cough, too, so it must be that they're figuring out the different sounds they can make. It makes me laugh every time I walk into a room and he's sitting there clearing his throat over and over!

Also, he thinks the TV remote is a riot. Joe & I have no idea why, but whenever he sees it in our hand he starts laughing. So then we'll hold it up to him and he cracks up!

Recent milestones include reaching for me now, and he can sit himself halfway up when he's laying down (he does, like, an ab exercise, haha). Today at his doctor's appointment he kept doing that when the nurse was getting ready to give him his shots, which was funny. He also kept playing with the paper that was on the table--we couldn't distract him with a toy or anything, he was bound and determined to rip it all up! Fortunately he only cried for two seconds after the shots and then was all smiley and happy. So far, so good, and no reactions again.

Lately he's been playing with his tractors that his aunt Desiree (Joe's oldest sister) gave him and I was shocked the first time I gave them to him and he rolled them around like little boys do! It must be an instinctual thing, I never would have expected a six month old to know how to play with tractors!

Well, I'm ready to call it a night. . .so goodnight! P.S. I finally can't see "the line" anymore--the linea nigra was completely gone by six months post partum.

My Son's 5th Month

This was originally written on Monday, October 13, 2008:

Wow, it's been a month since I wrote my last update! (So get ready for a long post; read when you have time.) Where should I start?

Well, I got my first period since having a baby. :p My body must know that "1" means "beginning" because my very first one ever as a pre-teen was on July 1st and this one was October 1st, LOL. (Five-and-a-half months after having Logan.) Obviously I was right about my hormones & body returning to normal mid-August! I actually think my period tried to start the end of August/beginning of September because I had all of the classic signs at that time and spotting pretty much exactly a month before my "real" one. But--get this--with the real thing I didn't have any cramps! There is no denying I had it, but it was not like what I'd read (that the first after you have a baby is extra painful). In fact, it was the first period I've ever had in my entire life that was completely painfree! Wouldn't it be wonderful if my periods were like this from here on out? My only hope during all of my suffering in years prior was to hear that many women who have cramps to my degree (what I now know are labor contractions) don't have them near as bad after they have a baby. I don't want to get my hopes up, though. . .it just seems too good to be true. But having ONE without cramps proves to me that it's possible it could happen again!

Okay, for those of you who aren't comfortable with period talk, I'll move on :-)

During my last "update blog" on September 11th, my mom was here helping out while I had a bad cold. She paid for me to have the best massage of my life on September 12th. I recommend this organic massage therapist to everyone in the Omaha area! You can check out her website at CenterPointe Massage. Until then, I'd thought it might be fun to start a new hobby: try as many different massage therapists as I could (since the other one I went to this year was in a different location), but after going to this masseuse, that idea seems like a waste of time and money--I'm only going to Deb! (All three that I'd gone to in my life before her were equal--but she was off the charts.) I went again when Joe's mom came the end of September, and am going again this coming Wednesday!

My cold was gone by the end of that weekend, after I went to Sarah S's baby shower. Her baby boy is due in just three weeks! It seems like yesterday she told me she was pregnant a month before I had Logan.

Logan was a bit antsy at the shower (meaning he would have been fussy if I hadn't given him two bottles while we were there)! He hasn't gained any weight this month, though, as he is still twenty pounds (with five days before his six month birthday).

This past month I decided to distract him when he wanted to eat to see if he was always hungry (since 99% of the time, ever since he was born, feeding him immediately stopped his crying, so Joe & I never needed to try anything else when he cried)! I didn't want him to lose any weight, but rather see if his body would slow down naturally (without him noticing). Half the time it works (he'll play or fall asleep instead). The other half of the time he still cries and so I'm not going to deny him food.

In my post titled, Preparing For Brachial Cleft Fistula Surgery, I mentioned that we are doing "attachment parenting" rather than the "cry it out method" which I first mentioned in my post, When Life Gives You Lemons, Make Lemonade.

Before I had Logan, I didn't know what "side" I was on. I think every parent has to do what works for them and their child, so it's different depending on the situation. My dad & brother's mom believed in letting my brother cry. I remember spending the weekends at their house when I was 7-8 years old and wanting to go to my brother's rescue because he'd cry for what seemed like forever during the nights. It ripped my heart out, but I later heard "people" say that it's okay (even good for babies) to just let them cry because it teaches them independence.

At the same time, I heard other people say this was unncessary. Teaching babies to be independent is going against nature (they're not supposed to be independent). Babies need to know that you're there for them. Rather than become "tougher," babies who are left to cry stop because they "give up." They've learned they can't count on their parents for love and security.

That sounded so sad to me! If there are two people who Logan should always be able to count on for love & security, no matter what, they are his parents--that's what we're here for!

In my previous posts about this I gave links to articles that explained how rather than become spoiled, children of attachment parenting learn empathy from seeing their parents come to them--so it is a myth that letting babies cry it out is preventing them from becoming brats.

My instructor in last February's childbirth class said the same thing; studies show those not left to cry grow up to be more secure and content as adults. Our instructor said that before the age of six months you should not even consider letting a baby cry--it is impossible to spoil them. But what about at six months old and later. . .where Logan & I are now?

According to an article on Associated Content, "If a baby cries, something is wrong. A parent's natural instincts are not wrong. It is a parent's duty to check on the baby and determine what is wrong. It is a parent's duty to provide the relief and comfort the baby needs to deal with whatever is bothering it." The article goes on to say, "Babies have a great variety of cries to express how they feel at the moment and what their needs are. They can't talk. Crying is their way to communicate."

As I said before, everyone has to do what works for them and their particular child. I know there are colicky babies out there that will cry for hours with no relief, so a parent HAS to leave them in order to not go insane! I've also blogged in the past that there have been a few times in Logan's nearly six months when he will fuss for what appears to be no reason and nothing I do gets him to stop, so sometimes I will walk away to see if he will cease on his own. Sometimes he does but other times he'll get to a "you've abandoned me" cry and there's no way I can let him get that upset! It brings tears to my eyes because even if I can't stop him from crying, I want him to know that I am still trying & there for him.

What both sides seem to agree on is that if a parent is feeling frustrated, overwhelmed, or mad then, yes, it is better to let the baby cry rather than to be holding that child and shake it or anything like that! But I have never even gotten the tiniest bit angry or frustated at Logan yet--my reason for wondering how long we do this is because I don't know how long this waking up for a few minutes each night is going to last. :~

But, I researched this topic again--only for "after six months old"--and I can rest-assured that I'm not setting Logan up to be needy and demanding. I'm sure there will be more times in the future like what we've already had when I will have to walk away when I'm making it worse (the article from before says this is most common when babies have been overstimulated. "Any walking, singing, rocking, and other comfort measures will just add to the over-stimulation your baby is experiencing. It would only intensify the discomfort your baby is experiencing. Instead your baby will learn to deal with these emotions on their own, while you can take a breather and a small rest.")--but it's not going to be something that I will intend to do whenever he cries or do often of just because "I" don't think he should be crying.

Therefore, I'm going to continue to feed him when he gives a hungry cry, help him go to sleep when he gives a tired cry, hold him when he gives a needy cry, and play with him when he gives a bored cry. That is a part of being a mother. Even when he's an adult--I won't be able to take pain that he has away, but I will always let him know that I'm there for him. But when he wants to be alone, I'll give him that. I'm confident that he'll learn independence, not getting his way, etc. all at the proper & healthiest times.

So far, all that's come out of attachment parenting is that Logan's healthy, SUPER happy (as everyone who meets him says), and definitely knows he's loved--so until I see something negative come from it, I'm not going to force against my instinct.

The week after Sarah's baby shower Logan's first tooth started coming in (although it still hasn't popped all of the way through yet)! Those who have been following my blog might remember that around three months old he began displaying all of the teething signs: drooling, putting everything into his mouth, being fussy for the first time, etc. But nothing happened from there. Well, shortly after my last update (the week before he turned five months old), he refused nursing for 48 hours! That was so depressing after the rollercoaster we've been on with breastfeeding (I've summarized my journey on the following two blogs: Breastfeeding Rollercoaster and Okay. . .I'm Ready For My First Break). The one thing he'd never done was resist the breast--he'd always at least latched on even on his worst day (which meant the days he didn't work hard enough to get milk and would have to be there two hours--but he always had the desire).

What made matters worse was that we happened to be at another down time in the breastfeeding rollercoaster (meaning, my milk supply had gone down again and so I was having to pump all day in addition to breastfeeding), and so I really thought that was going to be the end that time. But, I'd made the decision that if I had a bad week before Logan's six month birthday then I was going to contact La Leche. So, I was up late one night and found a local contact on their website. Since it was too late to call, I e-mailed them. I told them my COMPLETE story, thinking I'd get feedback from them that week.

Nothing.

I'm not sure whether it was an outdated e-mail address or if my message got lost in cyberspace or what--but fortunately, things picked up again on our own later that week and have been excellent in the nursing department since. It is a total day-by-day thing, but it's safe to say I'll be able to continue past the six month mark (which had been what I was forcing myself to go to; anything after that is a bonus). Thanks to my continuing taking fenugreek I even have stored breastmilk in the freezer for the first time in two months!

The only thing that kept me from quitting last month was thinking about the times when Logan's nursing well and my milk is a good quantity, how I can't say with 100% certainty that I'm ready to give that up yet. It's such a short amount of time in the grand scheme of things. We're never going to be back here & relive this. It's a once-in-a-lifetime experience. . .I don't want to wish it away because it's not like my pregnancy where I only enjoyed three days out of the 8/9 months--I have really loved the nursing experience. And, why buy formula when my milk is free? (Since he still has to have milk until he's a year old.) Especially since I saw it's effects when I had my cold and Logan never got it--the antibodies in my milk clearly protected him. What if I can protect him during the winter viruses, too?

At the same time, even though those two days last month were the first two days (aside from when he had jaundice) that I went 24 hrs and more without nursing him, I have pumped more during these nearly six months than I have breastfed. Doing BOTH for six months is EXTREMELY exhausting. When I said in last month's blog that I was only going to put up with one more "down" time (which happened when I contacted La Leche), I meant it. The next time it happens I'm putting my pump away--which means I'll be drying up. When that's going to happen, I don't know. I hope not until January (when Logan has his surgery at nine months old). So, in the meantime I'm treasuring every moment because I don't know which moment will be my last.

I read in my What To Expect book that resistance to nurse is often a sign of teething (because it's too painful on their gums), so at least I had a reason for his strike last month which helped ease the stress. (Also reading that it passes.) Logan even had a hard time with the bottle one day (only drinking 6 oz in a 24 hr period) and so we had to feed him the last two of those ounces with a dropper! The strange thing was the day before the strike he'd had way too much--16 oz in a 4 hr period! I think he was just confused with all of the discomforts in his body. He would be perfectly happy and then all of a sudden point to his lower gum area and scream in horrible pain!

I called our pediatrician and they said it could be two things: teething and/or constipation, because he hadn't pooped in 24 hrs. They said we could give him baby Tylenol (which we never had before), and if that didn't work then to bring him in. Fortunately, the Tylenol worked. He fell asleep that night and has been fine since.

He still chews on his finger a lot--and lately has been wrapping his lower lip around his gums and smacking like an old man without any teeth which is really funny. (I think that soothes the area--I remember doing something similar when I had braces!) So I think he is getting used to the aching; from what I've read, the first teeth hurt the worst so if we can just get through the first two he should do a lot better with the others. Unfortunately, he seems to fall into the category of "gradual teethers." Some it happens quickly for without much fuss, others it goes on for a couple of months. Since Joe was 7 months old (according to his baby book) when his first tooth popped through (and I was 9 months old, which was the same as 7 months since I was premature), I'm guessing we have another month before there's a noticeable white tooth above the surface. I have no problem with that (it seems later is better) as long as he's not cranky until then! When he is, the things that work for most babies don't work for him. He doesn't like teething toys because they aren't food (he gets upset if something is in his mouth and he can't eat it; he hasn't had a pacifier in almost two months). Our pediatrician recommended a refrigerated washcloth but that didn't work, either. Several people have recommended Oragel, so if we have another painful screaming week that will be something I'll ask my pediatrician about. (Also on my list to try: frozen fruit in a bag and Hyland's Homeopathic Teething Tablets. Because, I'm not against Tylenol but only want to give it to Logan when I've tried everything else so that it's not a regular thing, since according to CNN there is new evidence that there is a link between Tylenol and asthma. (Joe's sister AnMarie has asthma so I don't want to take any chances.) I tried the all-natural gripe water twice, but either it didn't work or wasn't quick enough, so I don't regret giving Logan the Tylenol since it immediately took away his pain.)

Fortunately, month five (meaning everything after the teething/constipation week through now) has been a lot easier than month four. Even though he stopped sleeping 11 hrs straight through the night (as I said in my Feeding Solids Won't Make Your Baby Sleep Better blog, he's been getting me up a couple of times during an 8 hr night's sleep), I've felt a lot more able to handle everything than in August.

I thought months one thru three were the easiest (all Logan did was eat & sleep). Month four was my least favorite because it was the hardest (he was suddenly unpredictable so I had to start figuring out "the whole parent thing"--and that was when he had his first few fussy days, and he began getting a lot more active and needing constant stimulation which required more energy from me). Month five was my favorite (Logan has been the most fun because his personality is coming out now, and although he's still really active he has been better about playing by himself. Best of all, he still smiles and laughs all day)!

So our only complaint during his fifth month was the relapse with his sleep. I know that it's common to have problems getting a baby adjusted to "betime," but Logan has always seemed to understand that by 10 pm you sleep for a long stretch of time! I've never had to rock him or do any of the other things a lot of parents have to do to get their babies to sleep. He's always fallen asleep easily, on his own his entire life--as long as we put him in his carseat.

But, as I said in my post last Monday (after he only slept 6 hours that night), he's started waking up during the night (although it's only for a few minutes, but happens every night) so we haven't fed him cereal and in the week since then he's taken good naps AND slept at least 8 hours at night--but last Mon, Tues, and Wed nights he got me up once to nurse for 5-10 minutes. Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights he got me up twice. However, Sunday (last) night he slept straight through from 10 pm to 8 am, so I'm really hoping we're back on track.

On Thursday evening we fed him vegetables (carrots) for the first time (followed by Friday and Sunday), so I'm not sure if there's a pattern with the food or not. (We're going to add the cereal back in tomorrow--only start giving it to him as breakfast instead of supper--which will be vegetables.)

One of the other things it could be is that he's really into rolling all over the place now (from back to tummy and tummy to back), and I read that often babies' sleep is disrupted when they are excited about a new trick they've learned. Whenever he wakes me up to come into his room during the middle of the night, he's always on his stomach (I always put him on his back to sleep). Since he only rolls to the right (after I posted a blog about how maybe he'd be left handed, he hasn't done one thing on his left since!) he gets frustrated when something is blocking his roll (like the crib) and so then he can't return from tummy to back, which makes him start crying. The only thing that gets him back to sleep is me nursing him for five simple minutes, and then I can put him back in the crib and he either stays asleep until morning or he flips over a couple of hours later and cries for me again. I know he doesn't really need milk, that's just the easiest thing to get us both back to sleep quickly.

"They say" you're not supposed to give them milk to sleep because it's a crutch, but the one thing Logan has consistantly done is wean himself from all of his crutches on his own. So I won't be surprised if pretty soon he falls back to sleep during the night without milk. If not, then we're going to have to schedule a week to follow the tips in my What To Expect book as far as teaching him to relax on his own.

The only thing he's substituted the nursing for is walks. This is not something we will be able to do in the winter so this week we're giving that up. It's all pretty typical for this age, though--apparently babies soothing themselves is a learned thing, it doesn't happen naturally.) Joe can swing his carseat back & forth which also does the trick, but I can't--I've tried and about broke my back!

Anyway, it was after the teething week when Logan had his very first rice cereal on Saturday, September 20th. It is hilarious--in between bites these days he bangs his fists on his tray, like to say "more! more!" He wants to eat as fast as he does by drinking milk! He definitely likes food, he didn't even act as if the carrot flavor was anything new--both the cereal and the vegetables are going smoothly, so we'll introduce squash this week. We still haven't fed him solid food every day. . .it sounds like we have until month seven before we have to do that, which is good because it is taking adjustment on Joe & my part, too because it makes our supper time take a lot longer!

My parents came over for the day/night on Sunday, September 21st and we went to Texas Roadhouse, and then Joe & I went to the movie theater. The movie choices didn't look that good but we didn't want to pass up the one chance we had to go to the theater, so we picked Traitor. It actually turned out to be super good!!!

Unfortunately, my parents had to call us halfway through the movie because Logan had started crying and they couldn't get him to stop. I reminded them to rock the carseat while giving a bottle, and it worked. Logan was asleep when Joe & I arrived home.

The following week (Tuesday, September 23 thru Thursday, September 25) Sandi came over to help out with Logan while I went shopping and also had my rescheduled annual exam. My nurse chatted with me for a while (and I saw the picture she had told me about on the phone in early September--she wasn't kidding, it's smack dab in the middle of the bulletin board!) and then my doctor came in.

I talked to her about going on progesterone, but I had been prepared that doctors generally won't prescribe it because it's "alternative" medicine. My doctor instead recommended Depro Vera (the birth control shot). She said it's called the pseudo pregnancy drug because often women like me who felt their mood was more stable while pregnant find the same thing with the shot. But it also makes you not have your period at all and can take up to a year after you go off of it to get pregnant again. (Plus, some women actually end up with worse moods, bleeding, and other negative side effects.) That just doesn't sit well with me, so I declined. Fortunately, the past three weeks my mood has been a lot better than it was the end of August/early September. I think my period starting the week after my appointment had a lot to do with it because I feel totally normal and stable now and think my hormones are 100% where they "are supposed" to be, so I don't think I'm going to even have to take progesterone. I think August & September my hormones were just trying to even out after being really high from pregnancy and then having to drop in order to be a "regular" woman again.

My doctor actually predicted that I was going to start my period by six months post-partum, after what I'd told her about my symptoms in August & September. So far she has never made a wrong prediction about me! I enjoyed talking with her about "all things pregnancy and mother-related" and then she did my exam, commenting that I couldn't have healed any better. But I was most pleased with how she sat down and chatted with me about my cousin.

That morning I'd received an e-mail from my cousin who lost a baby boy last year at 26 weeks gestation, and went into labor at 24 weeks with this second pregnancy--but doctors have stopped it by stitching up her cervix (an emergency cerclage) and putting her on bedrest for the remainder of her pregnancy. I didn't expect my doctor to take time out of her busy schedule to explain everything to me. I really appreciated it.

Having a baby of my own has made me even more sensitive to topics regarding children. It seems like there's been all of this horrible stuff on TV lately that I wish I hadn't seen because I'd prefer to pretend anything negative associated with babies didn't exist. Anyone who watched Oprah on September 2 knows what I'm talking about. I'm not even going to repeat it to spare those who don't know. Then, last week I was flipping by America's Most Wanted which I never watch but for some reason decided to see what their opening story was. It was about a father who was shot by two guys, and when they saw he had a six month old baby in the car they shot him in the head! That's Logan's age! It made me so horribly upset--babies are the most innocent and loving and special and wonderful beings on this earth and to know that there is just ONE out there not being treated like a gem just kills me. Every day there's something on the news about shaken baby syndrome or a baby with burns and bites on them--or even just yesterday I heard of a 4-year-old whose mother is going to jail because the 4-year-old demonstrated to police how her parents taught her to use a bong to smoke pot! What is wrong with people?! Ugh, I can't stand it. I get so sick over these stories that the only thing that gets me functioning normally again after hearing them is to to know that those babies are going to be held by God in heaven and the people who treat them like trash on earth are going to pay the price someday. I wish I could save all of the babies out there and give them the love and security that Logan has. Nothing makes me happier than seeing Logan smile.

Joe was able to have "male bonding" with Logan on September 27th--that Saturday I went scrapbooking with Heather, Sarah, and Lisa which was a lot of fun, especially since it was Lisa's first time. I also went to Jenn's for scrapbooking on Wednesday (October 1)--it had been since March! (The day before I had a hair appt.) So hopefully I can join Jenn every other week now. It was great to have an afternoon with other moms while our kids all played. Even though Logan was the youngest, he was the biggest, lol.

Speaking of which, the girl I told you about here who is a mutual friend of the bride whose wedding Joe & I were going to go to last weekend (but didn't because they wouldn't let us bring Logan) has a baby that is 6.5 months old and weighs ELEVEN pounds. Am I the only one or does that not seem right? This baby was nearly seven pounds at birth so I am really confused as to how she could only gain a little over four pounds in 6.5 months. I know that her parents aren't starving her or anything, and am sure they're taking her to the pediatrician regularly to make sure she's healthy. . .but I don't think my pediatrician would allow Logan to be eleven pounds! What I mean is, the mother is breastfeeding. When Logan lost an entire pound during his first three days of life, my pediatrician was like, "If Logan doesn't reach his birthweight by his two week check-up you're going to need to supplement with formula."

Now here's the thing--since breastfeeding to motherhood has become my morning sickness to pregnancy, I've learned a lot about it. And, that means I understand this can be a controversial subject, so I respect those with different opinions than mine. There are a lot of women out there who believe you should breastfeed your baby at all costs. For example, a friend of Joe's sister out in San Francisco has a baby that lost more than a pound after it was born and had not even gained an ounce a month later. Her doctor was telling her she needed to supplement--but the woman refused because she only wanted to exclusively breastfeed. She wouldn't even pump because she was worried bottle-feeding would give the baby nipple confusion. Now after my experience with Logan I am going to be more patient with my next baby in case they have a similar situation I'd prefer not to go through this same rollercoaster. BUT, I have to agree with my pediatrician--while breastmilk is best, formula-feeding is better than a non-growing baby who is breastfeeding!!! If Logan had been 5 lbs at a month old I wouldn't have trusted that he was healthy, so it confuses me that since the whole point of breastfeeding is to make sure your baby is in top health, how can some people be okay with their babies being so tiny?

I didn't ask the girl I know, so it could be that they tried formula and that didn't work, but I'm curious as to how much she pumps (because she works outside the home and made a comment that she pumps)--here I am with a twenty pound baby taking fenugreek! If I didn't, then Logan would probably be eleven pounds, too (and also a lot fussier). It makes sense that not all babies have the same appetite (I have no doubt that part of what's made nursing hard for me is that Logan is hungrier than babies who are NOT in the 90th percentile) but it seems like a small appetite at this age is a sign of something wrong.

So I just don't sit well when I hear stories like one that was on the news a few months ago about a baby that was in the hospital and needed to be on IV fluids but the mom kept unplugging the baby because she wanted to breastfeed him/her and so the hospital was taking her to court because if she kept doing that the baby was going to die! I can understand being passionate about breastfeeding, but there comes a point when if a baby is not growing, how can a mother continue?

Well anyway, Logan did really well at Jenn's even though it was during his normal naptime, but we had to leave after a couple of hours because Logan won't sleep in public anymore--he'll stay awake all day if there's "action" going on.

That evening Jenn, her husband Dave, and their three kids Hayden, Tanner, and Maren (who is one year older than Logan) came over for a game night. . .but we got to talking instead and eating puppy chow and I made lemon bars. Hayden, who is 6, and Tanner, who is 3, played our WII while we acquainted Maren & Logan :-)

On Thursday, October 2nd, Lisa & her one-year-and-nine-month old daughter Lexi came over for sandwiches. It was a great lunch with Lisa, and Lexi is a doll. Her little brother or sister will be here in a month!

That afternoon I took Logan for a walk in his stroller and saw our CBS affiliate interviewing a little boy outside his house, which is a few down from us. So I watched the news that night and was shocked to see the close-call that family had (their baby almost drowned in their pool). You can watch the exact interview I saw here.

For the past couple of weeks I've tried to take Logan on walks frequently since according to our meterologists, we had our last nice day this past weekend. Prior to then it was too hot, and now if winter is coming that means we're skipping fall. I hope not, this is my favorite season! The leaves are just starting to change color!

Joe and I took Logan to the park for the first time on Friday, October 3rd. Logan acted like he knew he was doing a "big boy" activity, it was so cute. We picked up a pizza and enjoyed a picnic before going down the slide with him, playing in the sand, and putting him on the rocking horse and other equipment.

That was the weekend we originally were going to go back to Iowa for the wedding. It turned out for the best that we didn't go because Joe ended up having to work on Saturday at 5:30 AM to give a presentation in front of important people (that's about as far as I get understanding his job, lol). This afternoon I received an e-mail from the girl who first told me children weren't allowed at the wedding, asking where I was. :(

Instead, on Saturday, October 4th, I put out our Halloween decorations and we took Logan to pick out a pumpkin :-) We ended up with three: one for Joe, one for me, and a tiny one for the litte guy!

On Sunday, October 5th we went to Nebraska Furniture Mart and finally bought a kitchen table!

For last week, I met Brooke (who I used to work with at the radio station and hadn't seen in over two years) for lunch at Perkins! In my post, Returning To Normal (Is That A Good Thing?) I mentioned that she is pregnant and due in April, so we had a great time talking about pregnancy and motherhood. From there I went back to the station with her to see their new studios and my other former co-workers. They were all shocked that I had a baby almost six months old. Somedays I can't believe it, either!

Not much else to report last week except that we decided it was time for Logan to stop sleeping in his carseat. As I mentioned earlier, that's always where he's fallen asleep--naps and for the night (until I put him in his crib once he's already sleeping). It's made life easier for all of us, because we've never had to go to any work at getting him to fall asleep (and if we want to sleep with no interruptions during the night, guaranteed, then all we have to do is leave him in there) but in the long run I know that will make bedtime harder. Experts recommend putting babies in their crib when they're drowsy so that they learn how to go to sleep on their own.

So, last Thursday I put the carseat out of sight and it was the first time that Logan took all of his naps and slept from beginning to end in the crib. It went better than I thought, but we haven't gotten to the point where we can just put him in there and say goodnight. What I mean is, I have to nurse him and play a music box until he starts to drift off in my arms--then I place him in his crib but he always starts crying, so I repeat this a couple more times before he cries for just a few seconds, then rolls to his side and abruptly stops--sound asleep.

For these past four days it's taken 20 minutes to get him to sleep (when it used to take 1-2 minutes putting him in his carseat). Hopefully he'll realize he doesn't HAVE to flip over every time he's laying down (he still has a tendency to sleep with his face DOWN), and maybe his body is used to the new food so it won't treat him like he's had a bunch of caffeine--and then he'll stay asleep!

He still doesn't take the naps that he used to before five months old. . .but I think that has more to do with his age now. He's down to one, two-hour nap now from 10 to noon. Then, he might take a half-an-hour nap during the 4:00 hour but otherwise is awake the rest of the day until 10 PM to 6, 7, or 8 AM.

My hope is that once he gets used to knowing he's always falling asleep in his crib (which seems to already be happening) then I won't have to always nurse him to get him there. But, I haven't worked my butt off at breastfeeding to now suddenly take it away from him!

Since he prefers nursing to go to sleep, Joe's had a harder time getting him to sleep in his crib than I have. For instance, I was going to go scrapbooking with the girls on Friday (October 10th--my mom's birthday!) but Joe had a busy week at work and thought he might have to work late on Friday. Needless to say, he was exhausted, and since all of the new transitions last week with Logan were changing our schedule around so that it was extra work for ALL THREE OF US that night, I decided to pass.

On Saturday, though, we had Matt & Stacy over for Logan's third playdate with Jaxson! We ordered pizza and were, once again, amazed at how alike Logan & Jaxson are. Babies must be pretty simple creatures because these two do the same "unique" things, make the same sounds, etc. Towards the end they were taking turns crying which was funny. They were both tired and so one would get fussy which would cause the other to smile, then they would stop and switch! I don't think they ever cried at the same time. Logan was the most interested in Jaxson that he's ever been--he seemed fascinated at times!

They definitely like each other, so hopefully they always will! (By the way, until now they've always been the same size but Jaxson is now taller & weighs more than Logan.)

For this week, my mom is coming over tomorrow (Tuesday, October 14) to Thursday (October 16) for the last time before the weather gets bad. I'm hoping to get some shopping in--mainly clothes for Logan & me since last year I wore maternity clothes so I have no fall/winter stuff to wear, and until now Joe & I haven't had to buy any for Logan because we'd received enough as gifts (but most were summer outfits).

Hopefully I won't become a hermit this winter, since the thought of bundling Logan up and going outside seems hard. I can see myself taking the easy way out and just not ever leaving the house. So, I'm trying to take him around with me as much as possible now (because even though I've never had a bad experience taking Logan out in public, I tend to wait to do any shopping until Joe gets home from work so that he can watch him). But, I want to feel comfortable this winter--especially with Christmas shopping--so I'm going to practice the rest of this month. :p

The last time I took him out (last week), he had his first blowout diaper in a long time (fortunately there were barely any during month five) so I had to change him on the floor of a restroom (because there was no changing table)--but rather than scream & cry, Logan just laughed at me!

Fortunately, I think he's about at the age where I can start going grocery shopping with him--until now I haven't been able to because I have to keep him in the carseat which takes up the whole cart. But now that he can sit up on his own I might give the little seat in front a try. . .wish me luck!

Wow, I have finally covered the past month. Hopefully I'll get a chance to write more frequently in the future so that I can make sure not to forget the little things that Logan does these days--like, I don't think I've ever mentioned that for the past couple of months when he yawns he always makes a loud sigh which is entertaining. And, when we feed him a bottle he always strokes our arms. Also, for the past month or two he has clearly known his name. This is stuff I might someday forget, so I want to jot it down now!