Wow. What a month it has been.
For any of you (um, who really even reads this?!) who have read my blog for long and are tired of reading "another great month with a great baby"... well, this post should make you happy ;-)
Mack's 4th month of life has come with some big challenges. Mostly for me. But when Mama aint happy... well, you get my point. So lets get to it. What happened this month?!
SLEEP
Mack didnt. Sleep, that is. We entered the stage of the dreaded 45 min intruder that babywise speaks of. Rhyan had issues with not being able to sleep through that 45 min mark during naps around 2 months, Mack hit it at 4. Babywise states that these two times are most common, and indeed my children struggled at those points. Rhyan, however, got back to normal naps in approx 2 weeks. Mack? Well, just this week we've gotten back to normal naps. And i'd say the "bad" naps started before the 4th month started. I just didnt blog about it in last months post b/c i was crossing my fingers, hoping it was a fluke. But it wasnt.
So, pretty much
every nap for the last month has been 45 min long. He woke crying (a huge sign that a baby hasnt slept long enough... starting around 3 months of age they should start waking happy) at every nap and was miserable while he was up. We tried letting him swing but that didnt help (that was our saving grace w/ rhyan).
I even took him to the Dr to make sure his reflux was under control and that he didnt have an ear infection. The Dr told me two things: 1. He's probably teething and 2. He's probably figuring out if he cries you pick him up and he's getting spoiled. :-) Great.
At first i kind of freaked out about the teething thing because as you can imagine, i was thinking "omg, he'll be teething for the next 2 years... its gonna be a
looooong 2 years".
But with the support of Tracy (my sitter/cousin/bestie), we've let him CIO (cry it out) and he's back to good naps. Thank you sweet Jesus.
But this month was bad.
AND, it affected his night time sleep, too. He started waking once or twice a night. Nothing consistent. Maybe once or twice a week. But i went to bed every night on edge, wondering how much sleep we would get before we woke to Mack crying.
My back hurt. Because i would lay there, even as i slept, stiff. Anxious. Yes, i'm aware that it didnt help anything. But i couldnt help it.
Needless to say, i'm glad month 4 is over :-) I've read of such nightmares in other blogs from other friends and foolishly thought "well, my kid never did that". OH, eating crow here, peeps :-)
.
EATING
We've started SOLIDS! I honestly think that adding cereal to Mack's diet disrupted him for the first few days to a week. His stomach is so sensitive and even though rice is very gentle, he seemed to be a bit uncomfortable in the beginning. He has since adjusted and loves (and i do mean LOVES) his cereal. We've had to add prunes as his other first food to keep his tummy moving the food along, but he loves those, too!
The only "epic FAIL" has been green beans. Seriously, he hates them. Loathes, in fact!
On the other hand, he seemed to love my CFA sweet tea when he lunged for my straw and i thought he could "chew" on it... boy did he surprise me (and himself) when he got a big gulp. The good news? I think he'll do fine with a straw sippy cup :-)
He has also had homemade sweet potato's. The 1st attempt was pretty tragic. I made them too thick and on what would have been his last bite anyway, he gaged and projectile vomited all of the potato's AND formula. Eww. Lesson learned. Add more water.
We tried stretching his schedule this month. We always do an eat/play/sleep pattern but with his lack of sleep this month, we just fed on a schedule and he slept when he slept. So we tried a combo 3.5/3hour. I cant say we were "Successful" or "unsuccessful". He ate when we offered it and did fine. So he had 5-6oz at 7am, 10:30am, 2pm, 5pm, 7pm with cereal with prunes at 7am. Towards the end of the month we added "lunch" at the 2pm feeding of a veggie (green beans, sweet potatos)
PLAYING
Mack had a rough time playing by himself this month. He would cry if you walked past him b/c he wanted to be held. I mean, its sweet that he's cuddly and all... but i cant hold him all the time. And truly, i dont want to. I want him to learn to self entertain, and that needs to start early. Like, now. So, we've had some crying in that area, too. Poor guy. By the sounds of this blog post all he did was cry this month. Yep, that pretty much sums it up :-(
Pretty much the only time he's been happy this past month was when he was in his exersaucer. He absolutely loves to be in a sitting up position so he can see. He does little baby crunches all the time b/c he's trying to sit up. Amazing. He's a strong little guy!
MILESTONES
Mack is ROLLING OVER! Only from back to tummy, though. Which is odd to me b/c isnt it easier to roll from tummy to back?! Anyways, he rolls to the left only. And then fusses b/c he doesnt like tummy time. HA! Actually, that has improved drastically this month, but he's still not loving it.
He is also reaching for toys and playing with/holding toys pretty well now!
SIZES
Mack is in a size 2 diaper in the day and size 3 at night. He's moved up to 6-9 month shirts and still wears 3-6 month pants.
REFLUX
I was so concerned w/ his reflux this month. When i took him to the Dr, she assured me that his throat looked fine but changed his Rx to prilosec, anyways. I much prefer it for two reasons: 1. its WAY cheaper and 2. its a liquid so its easier to tweak the dosage according to his weight as opposed to the prevacid tablets
.
RANDOM
Mack is loving for me to sing "twinkle twinkle little star" and "wheels on the bus" and "itsy bitsy spider" to him. He is also loving books. Although Rhyan reminds him that we DONT eat books :-) Speaking of Rhyan... Mack got his first taste of an M&M thanks to his big sis this month. She popped one in his mouth. We got it out, of course. Cant let him start getting hooked on the "good stuff" this early!
But in all seriousness, this month has been challenging. But Mack is still just scrumptious. I adore him. Even when i think i'm going to go jump off a bridge :-) Dont you agree?!
Then, I INSISTED we get some group shots! And i'm so glad we did. The weather was perfect and lighting was great...
The WHOLE Clan: (from L to R) lindy, shlaine, rhyan, ashley, steve, brooksie, tyler, jerry, wanda, dorothy, me, nat, gail, mommie, luke, mommie, jonathan, bobby, marsha, lydia, jeff, elijah, trevor, kevin, tracy, jack, mama, elizabeth, ethan and jon. Whew. 29 peeps.
