Happy 4 months!

4 months, 3 days old






I'll start with sleep since that seems to be the order of these posts so far. Sleep is the same, mostly. We have our good days and our bad days. Daycare sleep is still pretty much a nightmare but I'm trying to just let it go. A normal day looks like this:

6:30am----------wake up
7:00am----------nurse
8:00am----------arrive at school
8:30-9:15am-----Nap (if we're lucky he makes it to 10:00am)
9:30am ---------5 oz bottle

The rest of the day is a crap shoot. Sometimes he naps more, sometimes he doesn't. (Ridiculous, I know!) We did have one day last week where he took a 3 hour nap that afternoon in addition to his morning nap but that is not the norm. He gets another 5 oz bottle usually around 1ish. If this was a day at home, he would take a 2 hour nap about 11-1 and then usually another quicky nap about 3:30-4:30. We won't talk about weekends we travel, because those are even more of a crap shoot where we have places to go and people to see. :)

4:00pm--------5 oz bottle
4:30pm--------Leave daycare for home
6:15pm--------Bath, pj's, books
6:30pm--------Nurse
7:00pm--------Bed

He sometimes stirs at about 9:00pm at which point Joe tries to deal with him. More times than not, he can get back down with a paci pop in and some rocking.

12:00am--------Wake to nurse
3:00am---------Wake to nurse
6:30am---------Wake




We don't have nights any better than this usually. Maybe if we're lucky, he'll go from midnight to 4am. But let's be honest, we definitely have worse nights. I know our biggest problem is that I keep feeding him so he is trained to wake up at those times but I'm just not ready for the struggle. He eats and goes straight to sleep so I don't have to fight him in the middle of the night. I'm planning on talking to his doctor on Friday at his well visit about sleep training. I think we're ready to tackle it, it's just finding a free weekend to start. (Joe and I agreed that we cannot start on a week night because we will be too exhausted. By the looks of our weekends the next few weeks, we probably won't actually begin until he's close to 5 months.) I know it's best for him so we just have to bite the bullet.



Like I said, we visit the doctor on Friday for his stats but I'd guess we're in the 14 pound range. He was 13lbs even about a month ago when we went for a doctor visit so I'm sure he's gained at least a pound by then. We'll see. He's mostly in 3-6 month clothes and I'm trying to rotate one last wear for his 3 month stuff before moving to 6 months. He's still set in 3 month pants because the 3-6 month are super long. We have about twenty Size 1 diapers left and then I plan to switch to Size 2. HOW DID THAT HAPPEN!?!



I know how it happened.... He likes to eat. I mentioned he gets 3 5oz bottles during the day at school and then nurses once in the morning and once at night. Add in the middle of the night feedings as well. We're going to discuss starting solids at the doctor but I plan to wait probably another month or more for that. I'm in no rush to add another thing to our daily routine.



It's been a full month and then some since Barrett started daycare. I guess you could say things are getting better but I'm still not happy with everything. Basically, it's just okay. I hate the idea of paying these people and not being 100% about it. He's not being neglected by any means and he smiles and smiles when I drop him off. I just wish I didn't have to do it is all. I've been driving myself crazy with his sleep schedule while he's there but I'm trying to just let it happen. I'm a little frustrated because his teachers don't seem to want to try to do anything about it. I hate to keep mentioning it to them because I know they can't dedicate their entire day to getting him to get some sleep. Sigh. (Gah, here I go obsessing over this whole sleep thing again. I need to stop that!)



I don't know if I can call it teething yet but B is gearing up towards them. (Should I call this pre-teething?) He slobbers and slobbers and chews on Ev.ery.thing. Sophie the giraffe lives up to her hype. He can chew and chew and chew on her. He also ADORES burp rags. He not only loves to chew on them, he will toss and flip them around and plays with them for long periods of time. (5 minutes in a row is like an hour in baby time!)



A fun (read: Sarcasm) new development this month has been Bubs dislike for car rides. The long ones, like what we take to Pontiac, are cake. It's the daily trips to daycare that are like pulling teeth. For a while, I was completely dreading my solo trips to drop him off and pick him up from school because he screams bloody murder almost the entire way. I can't figure it out. I tried everything to keep him entertained and happy and he just wasn't having it. It doesn't help that we travel very close to nap times so when he's over tired, it's even worse.

So nothing would work. I tried turning up the music loud, turning off the music. I switched out his car seat toys three different times. He won't keep the stupid paci in his mouth so that doesn't fly. Usually if I was moving he would be okay but if I got stopped at a stop light, he would go nuts. This last week has been a bit better though. I've determined that constant talking helps some. I probably sound like an idiot but I basically have full conversations with him. ("Hey, look buddy, the light just turned green. That means Go. You'll learn all about that when you're 16. That's when you can drive. But only if you pass the tests."......) and on and on and on. Most of it makes no sense but he quiets. Also, he will quiet down some if I sing but only if I practically scream. Again, I probably look like a total tool to the people who sit at the light next to me as I'm screaming "You are my sunshine" at the top of my lungs. Oh what fun!



Joe and I have a running joke that Barrett has us totally wrapped around his finger. He has, without a doubt, spoiled first baby syndrome and gets everything he wants. If he's hanging out by himself and wants some attention, he whines and whines. Eventually one of us will tend to him and as soon as he sees us approaching, he smiles and squeals. We can step away or turn our backs to him and he commences whining again. Such a stinker! We have been trying to encourage some independent play because he really needs to learn to entertain himself at times but we cannot resist those smiles for us. That and the whining is killer!



Loves: mirrors, when we splash his arms in the bath, taking medicine or his daily vitamins, singing, when people open their mouths really wide, musical toys


Hates: not being the center of attention, the nasal aspirator, the dark,



I love this kid so much!