My little pumpkin by day…
And a little tiger at night…
Toby’s first Halloween was great! We stayed in at a friend’s house, because let’s be honest, there’s no need for him to be trick-or-treating yet :) And Mommy definitely doesn’t need any extra candy. Best part about this costume…he’ll be wearing it as pj’s for the next few months until he grows out of them! Well, not the hat.
Hard to believe he’ll probably be walking around for his next Halloween…
Someone’s been trying out some of his big boy stuff lately…it’s nice to finally put these things together and have him be able to do more activities since he can hold his head up completely and his back is getting stronger for sitting, as well.
Highly recommend the Go-Pod! So easy to put together and take apart, it packs up compactly, and there’s lots of links to attach toys to (and a couple cup-holders but he doesn’t use those yet). We prop a blanket behind him since there’s a lot of room in the seat but you can tell he’s getting sturdier as the weeks go by. Definitely an item we’ll be taking when we’re traveling to other people’s houses. Now I set it up sometimes when I’m making dinner. He’s gone from loving playing on his back to wanting to sit up and stand all the time, so this allows him to do that on his own.
And since he’s pretty good at sitting in his high chair, I think we’ll start some food next week! His doctor recommended we stay away from bananas as they, um, tend to block things up and let’s just say Toby isn’t very regular. I’m thinking pears are a good start since pureed prunes sound disgusting :) I’m still not sure if we’ll do the baby cereal first before pears. Lots of fun things to look forward to in the upcoming weeks!
So many good things to love about fall…we’ve been trying to take advantage of the nice weather and get out when we can. We had some “firsts” for Toby, including going to Pumpkintown in Connecticut and apple picking at a local farm. I’m not sure what he thought of all the pumpkin people – I think he was just trying to take everything in, especially because it was pretty crowded when we went. For apple picking, he was trying to get used to the Ergo again since we haven’t used it in a while but he became pretty calm once I got walking around the orchards. It was breezy that day so the leaves on the trees made a lot of noise which interested him. I don’t think he cared much about the apples, though :)
I’ve had more that my fair share of pumpkin coffee and apple cider donuts…along with plenty of homemade apple crisp. Sometimes I wish it could be fall year-round but then I would miss out on spring, which I’ve also always loved.
When people found out I was pregnant, I heard so many comments of how I was so lucky to have the summer off and that mid June was the perfect time to have a baby. In reality, while it was nice to not be pregnant in the hotter months, it was kind of a bummer being cooped inside when it was really gross out. Toby would get sweaty easily in the car seat and it’s not like he could be out in the sun for very long. The weather transition to fall has been so nice and a welcome change. We can go for walks and I don’t have to worry about him getting overheated or having to cover his legs up since he’s always wearing pants now. I just wish he would cuddle more on crisp, chilly mornings :)
Can’t wait for Halloween and Thanksgiving to see how he reacts to everything!
In the past month, Maggie has fallen in love with Toby. She has learned there’s just enough room for her when we’re sitting in the glider nursing. I will have Toby on one end of the Boppy and Maggie will be right by his head, resting on the glider’s arm. She even has nudged his head a few times with her head. I’d rather she get comfortable with him now while I can watch them carefully so I’m okay with it.
Toby has definitely started checking out the cats lately. He watches them as they walk past him if he’s on the floor on his activity mat. If we are holding Toby and one of the cats jumps up next to us on the couch, he will reach out to grab them. He’s gotten a handful of Maggie’s fur a few times but she doesn’t seem to mind (yet). Just wait until he realizes the ears and tails are even more fun to pull…
Ellie has even warmed up to him. She will come up and say hi, though she always needs to do it on her terms.
So we’ve been really lucky with the cats being great with Toby. They’ve never scratched him, gotten angry with him or anything that shows they are being defensive. However, they have acted out in other ways. Food bowls have been knocked over numerous times. The water bowl has been moved around the dining room, always leaving a puddle and trail of water behind it. There has been poop in our tub…but I think that was them more pissed the litter boxes were absolutely disgusting and having nowhere to go. The worst part has been the cord biting. The cords to the first white noise machine, my phone charger, two laptop chargers, and the video monitor have been bitten (thank God we saved the video monitor one). We’ve had to hide cords as best we can, which I guess is good since we started early baby-proofing.
Our cats have always loved getting into stuff since we brought them home four years ago, but it’s been a little out of the control the past couple months. I know it’s all about them getting less attention so I try to cuddle with them at night and make up for it. Hopefully they get more adjusted soon…especially before Toby starts crawling!
Lots of changes in our household this past month! Hubby is now on a 5am-2pm shift because he’s working with UK clients. It’s been hard adjusting to him going to sleep by 9PM, but it’s been nice having him home in the afternoons. And because he’s home earlier, it means I can go back to work part-time…but I’m working from home. Goal is to hopefully get an hour done in the mornings when Toby’s in a good mood and enjoys playing on his own for a bit and then getting a few more hours done in the afternoon while Toby hangs out with Daddy. Hoping these new changes work out for the best for us and we can make the most of them!
Other than that, this past month has been full of more smiles and giggles. If you get Toby “talking” and then start tickling him he will give the best throat-y, gurgly belly laugh. He talks the most when he’s laying down on the couch next to you or on his changing table. He’s typically in a pretty good mood now most of the day. Definitely still has his fussy moments here and there, but they’re rare and usually only in the evenings as we’re still trying to figure out his bedtime. When he’s not smiling, he is usually checking out his surrounding and being very serious. We went to Panera a couple weeks ago and he didn’t make a peep the whole time we were there because he was too busy watching everyone. Guess he’s a little nosy :) Who doesn’t like to people-watch, though?
We are still going to baby yoga on Friday mornings – I love it and I’m pretty sure Toby does, too :) It’s nice to get out of the house and do something besides errands, and Toby loves checking out everyone in the class, including the instructor. He is always smiling when she is talking! Such a flirt. There are 6 other families in the class and the babies are all boys, ranging from 2 months to 5.5 months old. Toby never fusses doing any of the exercises and has gotten much better with tummy time. I can also tell he’s getting pretty flexible, as he grabs his toes all the time now. I’m sure he would have started doing these things on his own in time, but I really feel like yoga has helped to speed it up. And apparently the class relaxes him, as he always falls asleep 2/3 of the way through. I can tell he’s starting to get sleepy, so I’ll sway him back and forth while sitting down and he’ll just pass out. At least we get to try most of the moves out before he falls asleep :)
Weight: 12 pounds, 5 ounces (5th percentile). His doctor wasn’t too concerned about his weight but said it’s probably a good idea to give him some formula in the afternoon or evening for an extra calorie boost.
Height: 26 inches…still long and lean!
Medical Issues: Cradle cap just will not go away – I put baby oil on his scalp twice a day and then gently scrape with a comb at night and it’s still so dry and flaky. His doctor recommended to use dandruff shampoo twice a week and let it soak into his scalp during the bath. Also has a rash on his neck from where he has a couple of fat rolls that stick together :) She said vaseline may help keep moisture away from it but it probably won’t clear up completely until he’s sitting up better and his neck isn’t so squished.
Sleep: We were doing pretty well with him being put down in the crib sometime between 8-9pm and then sleeping until 2ish. I would go in, put in the pacifier at this point, and he’d fall back asleep until 3:30 or 4AM. After a quick nursing session he would fall back asleep until about 8, which was AWESOME. Waking up at 8 is the perfect time as it isn’t too early in the morning and yet it still gives us enough time to get ready and do errands with feeling like we didn’t waste the day away. So that’s how sleep went for a few weeks and then we decided to wean the swaddle after he rolled a few times from back to tummy last week on his activity mat…that threw the sleep schedule off completely the first two nights we tried it. He would cry as soon as we put him down in the crib and would wake up once an hour several times a night, mostly because his arms would flail around and wake him up (one night we tried swaddling one arm still in and that didn’t go well so we had to stop it cold turkey). However, most times he would put himself back to sleep after fussing for a few minutes (we always wait 10 minutes and then go in to soothe if still necessary since usually he works it out by the 8 minute mark on his own). After the first couple rough nights, he had two really good nights where he slept straight through from 8:3o until 4, up to eat, back to sleep until 8. The last two nights he’s woken up a few times from 8:30 until 11, but then falls back asleep until 3:30. He adjusted fairly quickly without the swaddle for naps – he still fusses for about 5 minutes when I put him down but I do not rock him at all for naps anymore so I know that’s why. He has been napping about 30-40 minutes without the swaddle. I tried getting him to combine two of his afternoon naps into one long nap and it didn’t work, so I guess he’s just a short napper.
Clothes/Diapers: We switched to 3-6 month and 6 month clothing when the weather started to cool down in late September. He was growing out of a lot of the 0-3 summer stuff lengthwise anyway. I thought he’d be swimming in the larger clothes but basically everything fits him pretty well with the exception of pants being loose around his waist. For diapers, we are just about out of size 1’s…guessing we only have a week’s worth to finish up before moving onto 2’s. We’ve had a few close calls so it’s definitely time to switch. Still loving Pamper’s Swaddlers – they’re so soft compared to other diapers and I can see why they’re expensive – definitely worth the cost and I really don’t mind spending the extra money on them as we’ve probably only had about 5 leaks since he’s been born (never pee ones, though).
Diet: One week shortly after his three month birthday, we added formula to a bottle before bedtime to see if it would help him sleep longer at night (did half formula and half breastmilk). Did it work? Eh, not really. Some nights he slept an extra hour, some nights he woke up earlier than normal. Really all the formula did was make him poop more…lovely. We decided to just go back to only breastmilk, but now we’ll be adding a bottle of formula to help him gain some weight. He is nursing every 3 hours during the day (usually at 8AM, 11AM, 2PM, 8PM and an early AM session). For the 5PM feeding, we usually do a bottle and he gets 5oz. I think for this bottle, it will be all formula and then I’ll just freeze whatever I pump.
Baby Gear Love: Board books – he loves the simple touch and feel ones with large pictures and just one word on each page. And “Crinkly Star” is a new hit – it’s a lightweight teething blanket. He loves cuddling with it and is starting to realize the corners are fun to put in his mouth.
Milestones/Firsts: Rolled from tummy to back on 9/19 (knew it wasn’t a fluke since he did it twice in a row!). He started cooing weeks ago, but he really started “talking” and shrieking the last week of September – totally found his voice! Rolled from back to tummy a few times on 10/10 on his activity mat. Started grabbing his feet the second week of October. First time to Pumpkintown in East Hampton, CT on 10/6. First time apple picking on 10/11. Started bringing toys to his mouth on his own in early October.
Likes: Talking, talking, talking! He will really start having a conversation with you if you lay him on the changing table or a couch where he can look directly up at you. Also loves being read to and looking at books. And unfortunately he has started to turn his neck around to watch TV…trying to not make that a habit. He also prefers to always stand instead of sitting. And the fascination with hands and putting everything to his mouth has started.
Dislikes: Mommy and Toby are not fans of cold weather clothes…just takes too long to put on pants and long sleeve shirts. Also not happy when he realizes he’s being put down for a nap. He knows as soon as you bring him over to the crib and will start crying. He’s gotten very easygoing but will let you know right away if he’s not happy with something – can go from happy to frustrated in literally 2 seconds :)
Postpartum: I have to admit I feel guilty and sad about Toby’s weight gain – it’s a lot of pressure for him to gain weight when I’m his main food source and because he hasn’t gained a lot over the past couple months I almost feel like I failed. I’ve been debating switching him to formula for the past couple weeks so I guess this is a sign it’s time. Still undecided if I want to continue breastfeeding and supplement with formula or just completely switch to formula. Not an easy decision. For other stuff, I started to do the 30 Day Shred but that lasted 4 days before I stopped. Let’s just say the last thing I want to do during nap time is exercise…but I know I have to do it to get the last 5 pounds off. Once I figure out the work-at-home routine, I’m making it a goal to get some exercise back into my day. At least all my jeans fit now, though! My hair was still falling out in clumps until my hair-cut last weekend so that’s helped with the shedding.
October 11th has been a special day for the past four years, as it’s the anniversary of Hubby asking me to marry him. Sure, most people don’t celebrate this kind of anniversary, but I still remember the date and usually remind him of it, too ;) . But now October 11th has even more meaning as it also marks the day that I found out I was pregnant with Toby.
I remember feeling anxious after I saw the positive sign pop up on the pregnancy test right away (I’m pretty sure I was thinking “holy crap”) and then once it sunk in a little, I was beyond excited. I knew my life would change forever in June 2012 but I really had no idea how it would change for the better.
Toby could smile just once a day and it would make up for a sleepless night. Luckily he gives tons of smiles every day and we’ve had few sleepless nights since he’s been born. Watching him grow and reach new milestones is amazing and I’m thankful every day that I get to see him develop so quickly. At the end of the day I’m exhausted, but it’s a good tired…I feel much more accomplished staying home with him than I ever did at work. And I’m always grateful that I can raise my baby with an amazing partner…we make a good team, Hubby.
Simply put, life is good. :) And time is going by way too fast!
Flashback to October 11th, last year.
Lots of frozen chicken breasts in the freezer means quite a few chicken recipes this week. Also trying to find new Weight Watchers friendly recipes, so basically anything I make now will have WW points or nutritional info included.
Soup & Grilled Cheese and Ham Quesadillas
Breakfast for Dinner: Pumpkin Waffles
Crock Pot Dijon Chicken and Potatoes
Chicken Caesar Salads
This pretty much sums up how I'm feeling today:
Source: someecards.com via Emily on Pinterest
I'm praying that someone takes a longgggg nap after yoga today because I'm dragging big time. Toby went to bed at 7:35pm last night, which is the earliest he’s ever fallen asleep. It was awesome…especially because he didn’t even cry when I put him down. So him going to bed early should be a good thing, right? Well it meant his 6 hour stretch ended around 1:30 so he was up then. Normally he doesn’t get up until 3:30ish now for a feeding so I tried to get him to wait until then but he was NOT having it. Let’s just say he definitely has some of my personality traits…he gets pretty frustrated when something doesn’t go his way. Long freaking night. SIGH.
It’s a good thing he’s so cute ;)
