bah

I think Kiernan was just teasing with his crib naps for a few days there. Maybe he was overwhelmed by Christmas and just needed lots of naps to recover - I don't know, but he's not napping well anymore. There is another factor that could be affecting this I guess which is that he now goes to bed at 7pm... but that's because he's SO overtired by then that he's losing his mind so we just figured that 7 was a good bedtime. Thing is, he doesn't sleep for more than 1:45 minutes almost ever and him being up every hour is driving us mad... plus once Eric goes back to work he won't be able to go every other time (or more lately) anymore. It's awfully frustrating.

I think one of the problems might be the swaddling. We simply can't put Kiernan down without swaddling him - his hands immediately fly to his face and grab his soother or just go up there to be irritating or something so if he's almost asleep, or even asleep, he quickly wakes himself up. So we need to swaddle him for him to get any rest , but, he's big now, and strong and he makes quick work of getting himself unswaddled. So that means that a, he is able to do the punch in the face thing again which often wakes him up, but it also means that we find him with his blankets tossed all over the place, including practically over his face on an occasion or two. There are a bunch of products that are tempting that we might buy, but of course they seem a lot harder to find in canada than they would in the states. The miracle blanket seems like it would be good - even though it seems like we're straightjacketing our child. hehe

For now we are going to try double swaddling him a lightweight pillowcase to see if we can keep houdini in. We WILL persevere! :)

At least the bottle thing is still working and doesn't seem to have been a tease. Today we are going to try to give him formula because I find pumping really hurts me... I pumped for 4 days in a row and everything hurts now even when he nurses and I'm not prepared to have that pain all the time. So now we will start seeing if he'll accept formula in these bottles. keep your fingers crossed.

sleepy baby

So... maybe we've turned a corner, maybe it's just a fluke but Kiernan was only up twice last night and then slept in until 8:40 this morning!!
THEN he went down for an hour and a half at 10:15 and he's been down again this afternoon for 30 minutes and no signs of waking. All of this in his crib!! Woohoo! yay! WOOHOO!
Maybe we're winning after all. First the bottle, now this?

I also think my milk supply and paranoia about him not eating enough recently was real because suddenly my milk seems to be back. I don't know what had been going on, but I felt like there was less milk and now I feel like there's more again so I can't be completely wrong. Anyhow, whatever it was, it seems to be ok now so I'm not going to worry about it.

We also measured Kiernan yesterday and he was 25 inches long! that's 4.5 inches in 3.5 months - pretty impressive!

Kiernan's first Christmas

Kiernan had a great first Xmas. He got lots of great stuff, including a car seat which will come in very handy for mom and dad in the not too distant future too :)
We dressed him up as an elf, which will make for great photos for showing to future girlfriends I'm sure.
Here are a few cute moments
:

Do you see what I see??

Kiernan decided he was hungry yesterday, RIGHT after I'd pumped a bunch of milk. When I tried to feed him anyways he just got very angry - I'm assuming the milk wasn't coming very fast anymore. So, I had Eric warm the milk I'd just pumped back up and *I* tried giving it to him. He took it right away!
I don't know if it's just the nipple that's making the difference - the fact that it's the same as the soothers he sucks on half the day - or what, but it's nice.
Now, the new problem is that he's getting rougher and rougher when he's nursing. He bites, he twists and turns, and it really hurts. It seems like the more he drinks from a bottle the rougher he's getting with me, and that's going to be a definite problem!

VICTORY!

So last night we implemented our night feeding plan with the new nipples (4th kind of nipples we purchased fyi) and he took the bottle!!!

We started with only 1.5 oz of breastmilk because it kills me to dump that stuff down the drain because I have a hard time pumping it. But he took it! Unfortunately when we heated up another 2 oz (the rest that I had managed to pump) and had to switch bottles on him he fell asleep and didn't want any more. Oh well - he drank from the bottle. I got slightly concerned about him seeming satisfied with so little and went back to worrying about how he isn't gaining weight, but I'm sure I was just being paranoid.

He was up another 1.5 hours later (I was forgiving short sleeps last night for bottle feeding) and after slight fighting from eric he took the other 2oz in no time flat. He was still hungry after that so I fed him a bit more (which made me feel a bit better about how much he eats... but he didn't eat long so I'm still a bit paranoid ;)

One of the problems with Eric and I taking turns with getting up in the night is we both start assuming the other person is taking care of it and neither one of us is waking up. That being said, if Kiernan REALLY screamed we would wake up right away so I think it's ok if we don't jump up the instant he wakes up... maybe it'll give him a chance to try to fall back to sleep on his own.

So we're going to keep giving him bottles during the whole xmas break. Oh, and the other thing was that I was in the room the entire time he got the second bottle, chatting with Eric, and that didn't seem to make a difference (probably because he was half asleep) which means *I* could probably give him a bottle in the night.

I have to say that this thing with Kiernan not gaining weight has really thrown me for a loop for several reasons. One, now I understand how all those women who worry they don't have enough milk feel. Before I knew I was giving him enough because he was growing by leaps and bounds. Now I get nervous because not only is he not growing by leaps and bounds but I don't feel as full as I used to. Not that I miss accidentally squirting things and people, but where the heck did that milk go?? Is Kiernan really THAT efficient an eater than he's getting 5-7 oz everytime he eats in under 10 minutes? It doesn't help that when I pump I can't get more than 2 ozs out of both breasts when he's not feeding at the same time (which is really hard) or that I only got 2 ozs when I WAS also feeding him as opposed to the 4+ I'd gotten in the past.

Anyhow, in the new year I'm taking him to get weighed again and I'm going to try not to worry too much until then :)

Less hair or more area to cover?

I was noting to eric this evening how Kiernan DEFINITELY has less hair than he used to. Eric agreed although pondered if really there was less hair, or it was just dispersed across Kiernan's now bigger head. hehe

Demon child, I mean Kiernan, has continued to be a handful. Last night he decided to go to bed for the night at 5pm after barely any naps and then after a semi decent night of sleep he was awake and ready for life at 5am. Great! :P

Today, he was ok for part of the day but has progressively gotten worse. I'm glad our nightime sleep routine seems to sort of be working, but if its going to lessen his naps all day and make him impossible to manage then I'm not so sure I'm down with that. Then I always wonder if there is something else wrong I'm not knowing about that is causing this craziness.

Anyhow, Eric is now off of work until January 3 so we're going to work hard at implementing routines while he's home and we're going to have a last ditch effort at bottle feeding. Who knows... maybe it'll work.

More sleep news

So the sleep thing seemed to really work. Kiernan woke up at 1, and again at 3:30 (Eric got up and got him back to bed) and then again at 4:15 when I fed him (15 minutes before his 3 hours, but he was REALLY hungry and he had a full feed) and then he slept again until 7:30!! wow! That's the latest he ever slept in his room.
So you'd think we'd be having a good day because he's so well rested. Instead he is in a FOUL mood today and it took me forever to get him down for his nap. I wondered if he wasn't tired because he'd slept so much but he was really exhibited all his tired signals. So I finally got him down at 10:45 and I have him swaddled in his crib and have the wave music going so hopefully it'll last.
It's really tiring when he's like this.

Middle of the night update

So... so far the new plan for Kiernan and his sleeping is working - sort of.

He went to sleep at 9ish (it was a bit later than usual because we'd been out shopping) despite the fact that he'd been napping in the stroller for about 1.5 hours before coming home. I woke him up and fed him - a full feeding (apparently snacking can be a problem that makes for babies waking up to eat more often in the night). I vowed I would not feed him for at least 3 hours (12:30) and we went to bed around 11. He didn't wake up until 1 - yay!
I went in and fed him another full feeding - no snacking! I concentrated very hard on not falling asleep in the chair and I put him down and he's been down ever since. It's been another 1.5 hours so so far, so good. Problem is, I can't sleep! I'm completely awake from getting up to feed him and the damn ocean waves music does NOT soothe the mommy to sleep, it keeps the mommy awake. I'm sure in time I'll get used to it, especially if it helps keep Kiernan asleep, but for now, after lying in bed for an hour and a half trying to sleep, I'm up blogging and hoping that the rest of the night goes well so that when I finally CAN fall asleep again I'll get some rest and not be zombie like again tomorrow despite Kiernan sleeping well. hehe.

While I'm posting, I realized that I don't really log some of Kiernan's milestones in my blog, it's always little stories, so I'm going to attempt to do that a bit more. In the last week Kiernan has started laughing which is beyond adorable! He's also reaching out and grabbing things. Instead of grabbing something that you hold in front of him, he'll reach over and grab something off the floor next to him, or on the change table. He's also learned to roll onto his side. He can do this from his back to his side and from his stomach to his side so I figure rolling completely over won't be TOO far away. So much for the dining room table as a place to leave him - that won't last long if he's rolling :)

sleeping issues

So, Kiernan no longer has good nights. He did for a long time, and I could say "ya, the days can be tough, but at least we have our nights". But no more! bah! For the past 3 weeks I've been lucky to get 3 hours straight of sleep. And some nights I'm lucky to get more than an hour straight

So the internet research has begun. I'm not comfortable with the crying it out method so we aren't going to do that. We're going to start by trying to have a slightly more elaborate bedtime routine to make sure that he associates bedtime with what's going on. We're also going to have a cd of wave music on repeat for the whole night - the idea being that he associates the sound of the cd with going to sleep so if he wakes up in the night and hears it he might go back to sleep (worth a shot). Also, whenever I get up in the night I just assume he wants to eat unless it's literally been 20 minutes, so, starting tonight I won't feed him more than every 3 hours. Also, dad is going to get up in the night sometimes so that Kiernan doesn't just associate going to sleep with mommy and with nursing.
So ya, that's the plan, we'll see how it goes!

Grow baby, grow

Ok, so maybe I was off with my last post because I had Kiernan weighed today and he's only gained 2 oz in 2 weeks - not good.
The nurse theorized that he may have lost some weight while he was sick so he's been regaining that weight. He's been eating like crazy so I don't understand where it's going, unless most of what he's eating is being lost in drool ;)
She suggested I call my doctor and go and have him weighed again next week to make sure everything is ok. So now I'm super paranoid and unhappy about that and trying to feed him all the time (like a good italian boy should be anyways ;)
Blah!

slow lara, slow

All my life I can remember my mother telling me to slow down when I drink. She had to cut my juice with water, I would drink 2 tall glasses of milk with supper every night and I can gulp back a bottle of water in approximately 3 sips. I still do this, and to this day she tells me to slow down... it's like it pains her to watch me. I think the fact that I like to drink that way is why I've never been a fan of pop (who knows how I ever started liking beer ;)
Anyhow, that's my little preamble to that fact that my son is a super hoover eater... wonder who he gets that from? ;)
He sucks back his "dinner" in about 5 minutes and is done for the next 2-3 hours. Now, part of that is that I have a lot of milk and he needs to drink it as fast as it comes.... but, he didn't use to eat in 5 minutes so I think he's getting more and more efficient. He seems to be going through a growth spurt right now so I have to feed him more often and both sides so now it takes 10-15 minutes. It's crazy. It took me awhile to believe that he was actually still eating enough, but he continues to gain weight so way to go Kiernan, I'm fine with it not taking long :)

Other updates:

- Kiernan made it through our Xmas party without being crazy fussy and he went down by 9:30 and stayed down until all of our guests had left, yay!
- Not only does Kiernan grab things now, he's starting to reach out for things (we're going to have to get rid of the clutter on the change table I'm thinking :)
- He's still being mr screachy pants and yelling a lot.
- I'm petrified of the time when we have to force him to learn to fall asleep on his own, it's going to be awful and I don't know when to try to do it.

Magic mobile

A few weeks ago I visited my friend Karine and then we went and visited her sister and I got to meet her twins. Kiernan was being a bit fussy and they said "put him on the magic carpet" which was essentially a blanket on on their kitchen table under a mobile attached to their chandelier. I figured, what the heck, and put him on it. He was immediately entranced by the mobile and just stared at it for quite awhile. Seemed magical so eric and I went to IKEA and bought the same mobile. We've attached it to the chandelier over our dining room table and it really IS magical. I can lie Kiernan on the dining room table and he'll lie there and watch the mobile for 20 minutes and I can actually get stuff in the kitchen done! Eric puts him there every morning too. And it's the perfect spot to give him his medicine or vitamins. And it was an $8 IKEA mobile!!

In other updates:

- Kiernan's fever is finally gone, after 4 days! He was obviously fighting a cold and he is now coughing more and has a runny nose, but it's much better than mysterious fever!
- Kiernan's new nickname is John Jacob Kiernan yellypants ;) He yells all the time. He's not crying, he's just ANGRY! It's comical when it's not annoying.
- We lost our nights. For quite awhile there Kiernan was only getting up twice a night... he even slept 7 hours straight once. Since I got sick a couple of weeks ago we're back to being lucky if we get 2.5 hours. This is making me REALLY tired. It's making Kiernan really tired too and as a result crankier than usual - which is pretty cranky :)

The grinch who stole christmas

I thought wrong

A couple of weeks ago two things changed, both I thought, were good.

The first was that Kiernan decided that he does like the soother after all and was willing to take it. I figured this meant that he could self-soothe, something I thought would ease my load a bit.

The second is that he stopped nursing to sleep every night. Because he has become such a power eater, and because he isn't always hungry at our designated bedtime, he sometimes just won't eat. So we would put the soother in his mouth and rock him to sleep. Yay, that meant that I wasn't the only one who could put him to sleep.

These two things seem to have coincided with him not sleeping as well at night, and waking up more and more often. I mean, it could be a coincidence and he just has changed - I've heard that babies who sleep their nights can suddenly stop, but it seems connected. The nights that he nurses to sleep completely are the ones he's easier to put down and have stay down. So does that mean I try to go back to that? Blah... I want it back to when he was only up once or twice a night, not every 1-2 hours. (and I also want him not to feel sick anymore)

My poor baby

The last 5 or so days have been pretty rough. Kiernan seems to have come down with something... a cold I think. It started with him not sleeping more than 1 or 1.5 hours at a stretch at night, that makes the mommy very tired. Then on Saturday morning he woke up with a fever. We gave him some baby advil and it went down and he was back to normal but by the time the advil wore off him temperature was right back up even higher again. This time we took his temperature (39.1 C) and gave him some more advil. A couple of hours later there was no change in his condition and I started thinking we'd better check if I should take him to see a doctor considering how young he is.
So we called telehealth ontario, which is a service that notoriously tells you to rush to the doctor no matter what the issue is, but I was assured by my mother-in-law that my sister-in-law had recently been given some very good advice that did not involve rushing to the hospital, so I called.
They said "you have to go to emergency, we'll fax ahead the information you've already given us". I asked if we could go to a clinic instead, knowing how long it takes to go to emergency, but no, we had to go to CHEO.
So off we went. We got there around 5 or so and we saw a doctor at 11. that's right, 6 hours of waiting to see a doctor. And we forgot Kiernan's soother! Ack ack ack! But, here is some information for you all to store in your memory banks just in case it becomes useful one day - I asked if they had any disposable soothers (this was around 9 by the way... I need to just remember these things are worth asking at the start) and they did. So that helped since after about 4 hours of sitting around the hospital and getting to his bed time, Kiernan wasn't very happy.
Anyhow, the good news is that the doctor couldn't find anything wrong with him and figures that he's just fighting a cold. She did say that if he still had a fever today I needed to take him back to the hospital though because fevers really are dangerous for babies. Kiernan's temp was relatively high again last night around midnight but seems to be just barely a fever this morning so I'm going to call our family doctor and get advice now. Ah... the adventures of parenthood ;)
As my dad said, it won't be our last trip to emerg ;)

Noise changes

Ok, so Sir Kiernan has decided that now that he's 3 months old he needs new noises. So, none of the cries I had figured out ... hungry, tired, bored, etc, work anymore. AND, he also has less patience than before (which is hard to believe) and he now goes almost straight to screaming at the top of his lungs if you haven't figured out what he wants. What is up with that!!??? Aie!

But... he's also doing other very cool things... like grabbing things! He actually grabs stuff that I don't clasp into his hands! It's so awesome to see the way he's learning new things. He can also sit and do stuff with me and actually be entertained. We can sit and read books for a good 15-20 minutes and he'll watch some baby einstein and baby tv too, which is nice because it really is hard to entertain a 3 month old ALL day long.

Also, he's now soother-friendly - perhaps a bit too much so? :) It's nice to be able to give it to him and have it calm him down though - especially given the new screaming fits! ;)

Baby bjorn Baby bjorn

Ok, so my friend let us borrow her baby bjorn to try out with Kiernan because I was going to go to this exercise class where you wear your baby and the maman kangaroo wrap just didn't seem sturdy enough for that. I ended up not going to the class but we started using the bjorn all the time to carry Kiernan around front facing and he seems to really like it. Since we have to give my friend's bjorn back soon I told Eric I wanted us to buy one of our own. He says "ok, but lets get a used one".
Ok, I went to usedottawa.com (Vicky has trained me well) and looked up baby bjorn and someone was selling a never used version of the super deluxe bjorn! A regular bjorn is about $100 before tax, a super deluxe one with lumbar support is $200 before tax. There were a bunch of the regular bjorns for sale for about $50 and then there was this super one, never been used!! for $150. Hrmmm... what to do what to do....
We decided that getting the deluxe version for the approximate price of a new regular one, especially one that's never been used was a good deal and we bartered her down to $130 and went and picked it up right away. So we have it and it's great and I spent 30 minutes walking around the house chatting on the phone with Kiernan in it this morning. Yay!

Wipes rating system

Eric rates poops by the amount of wipes he needs to use to clean Kiernan up. I find it amusing to hear from the other room "woah! 3 wiper!" or "oh my god - this is the biggest poop yet! A FOUR wiper!!"

Mommy has colic

Here is part two of my tale of woe with the stomach flu.

I felt much better on Friday and just slept a lot and was able to eat but on Saturday things started to go downhill again. I couldn't eat anything without feeling really sick so I just kept not eating. By about 6 I started having pains in my stomach and I thought "ok, I need to eat, I'm getting hunger pains". Really though, they were the start of gas pains and eating only made them worse!
I was writhing around in agony and it reminded me of my friend who told me that her sister had been having inexplicable stomach pains and in the end the doctors told her that she had colic! And she said "if this is what babies feel, no wonder they cry so much!"
Eric went online to try to find something that I could take to relieve the pain that was still ok for nursing and finally said "the only thing I can see that might work is... gripe water". Well we have that on hand because we used to give it to Kiernan when he was seeming colicky. So... that's what I had. A whole 1/4 cup of it and let me tell you, it is REVOLTING. I don't know if they sweeten it because they think babies will like it or if that's part of the medicinal value of it, but just imagine dill and anise flavoured sugar water.
Once I'd had the gripe water I then though "if this is colic and babies like being held face down when they have colic, I'm going to try that". So my gripe-watered self lay in bed on my stomach and suddenly all was bearable. So there you have it, the gripe water helped, and so did the stomach sleeping and this morning I'm feeling significantly better, though still weak. I'm figuring that's not surprising since I've lost almost 10lbs since Thursday afternoon! Too bad it's not a healthy or permanent way of taking of weight eh? At least there would have been a good outcome from this ordeal.

Mommy has the stomach flu

Yesterday around 4 I started feeling really queasy and went and lay down for a nap. Shortly thereafter things went downhill... I have not been that violently ill other than the time that I had food poisoning... which I would have thought I had if it weren't for the fact that four people in Eric's family also seem to be afflicted by the same illness. Since I'm nursing I still can't take a lot of drugs so I had to suffer through the natural way.
I was so sick last night that Eric introduced formula to Kiernan for the first time. The good news is that he took the formula just as easily as he takes any bottle (that is to say, not that easily, but eventually he drinks it). I was able to get up the other times in the middle of the night when he woke up but man, it felt like he'd gained 10 lbs overnight I was so weak.
I'm feeling significantly better now and even had some soup for dinner and think I'm hungry enough to keep eating. Being sick and being responsible for a baby is really hard... how do you deal with needing to take care of someone when you can barely stand up? Luckily Eric is fabulous and so is my mother in law (we spent the day there today so I could sleep and she watched Kiernan while Eric was at work).
Anyhow. It sucked, I'm glad it seems to be passing.

new friends

I really enjoy that Kiernan now hangs on to toys... and tries to eat them. It's so incredible to watch the new things he's learned to do! So far he has two favourite stuff animals (and by favourite I think maybe they're his parents' favourites and so they keep giving them to him ;)
Eric has named them both... the fish is named Sushi (since Kiernan likes to try to eat him and he isn't even cooked!) and the rat is named wilkinson (for some long comic book reason :)
Here's a photo:



Ok, and this photo just cracks me up. What a face!

bigger and bigger steps

Yesterday, while Kiernan and I were out for the afternoon, Eric took the bassinette off the side of our bed and put my bedside table back into place. Kiernan definitely won't be sleeping there any more :) Not that he was anymore because the last time I put him in there he was moving around so much his feet were coming through the opening at the side and were practically in bed with me - squirmy Kiernan! So I wasn't putting him in it anyways, but it seems significant that its now gone :)

This morning Kiernan wouldn't sleep in the swing as he usually does, so actually went and tried to re-create bedtime and got him down in the crib. He went down! I asked Eric how long he would stay down (previous record of going down during the day, in the last month anyways, was 4 minutes) and he said 9 minutes. At exactly 9 minutes Kiernan woke up and I couldn't get him back down again . He's now back in the swing, happy as a clam. Maybe he just doesn't need to sleep - although I sincerely doubt that, since he's always a way bigger handful the evenings he doesn't nap a lot.

big boy

I know I do this a lot, but I just can't get over how much bigger Kiernan is than when we brought him home.
We took a photo of him today in the same outfit (it was way too big then) and in approximately the same position with daddy as we did in the first week we brought him home. What a difference!

Mr sleeps through the night!

Kiernan went to sleep last night around 9:45 and didn't get up again until 5:15!!! Oh my god!!

He was obviously REALLY tired though because he wouldn't sleep yesterday afternoon - after he woke up from a nap at 11am he didn't sleep for more than 15 minutes until bed time, and that was only 3-4 times. SO he was obviously extremely tired. But still! Wow. I, of course, woke up every hour after 3... to make sure he was still alive of course ;)

The photography saga continues

So last night Vicky and I went to Walmart with the boys to have some portraits done. I have to admit, before I go into my rant, that I had been warned... I had heard about most of the things that I'm about to complain about. That being said, it is still REALLY irritating so I must vent and thereby try to warn you all about this ridiculous policies.

So we just wanted some portraits done and we were going to get the $14.95 package. To get this package you only get one pose - that's fine. The ridiculous part is that you have to decide if you're going to take a picture as soon as it'd been taken. So, the photographer takes a photo, it's ok, but you're pretty sure you can get better. So you have to say "delete that one and we'll try again". If it turns out that the photo you had her delete was in fact the best one, too bad, it's gone. And that's pretty much what happened... Kiernan had some ok photos but I was pretty sure we could do better. I say "delete" and he starts to cry. We only have so long to get a good photo and in the end we got an ok photo but the corner of the toy I was trying to use to get him smiling and looking in the right direction got into the shot. By then he was starting to really lose it and we were running out of time so I just took it. If you get a copy, please ignore the tiny orange thing in the bottom left corner ;)

Then I had this coupon that I had found online that gave us a free 8x10... well for that one photo we were allowed to take 6 different poses and I could choose from those! This was after the point where Kiernan was starting to lose it so it was really hard to get a bunch of options... had I fully understood I guess I would have started with those.

So, I just don't get Walmart's policy on this! Wouldn't it be better business sense to let you get a choice of photos for this package? I can see that by letting you have a choice in the more expensive package section that they would make more money, BUT, based on their policies I will never go back to Walmart to have portraits of my children done. Had she taken a bunch of photos and I'd really liked more than one, I might have upgraded and gotten a second package or just bought singles of those photos and they would have made their extra money. Instead they just irritated me by making me delete photos I might possibly want.

THEN (if only it ended there eh?) I find out the photos won't be ready until December 13 (what's that, 2.5 weeks?) and the printout she gave me that showed the photos I chosen (which I wanted to show Eric) was horrible. The printer was obviously out of toner and instead of replacing it, she was giving out printouts that were useless. And I'm not even going to get into the fact that the photographer didn't really have the skills needed to get a fabulous photo out of a baby (because I know this is walmart and not a professional place)

Anyhow, don't go to walmart for photos, it was ridiculous. I would much prefer to spend the $30 that Loblaws charges to have the options I'm told they let you have. We have an appointment there on December 15 so I'll be able to report back properly then. Maybe I should go to Sears and have portraits done there too to be able to give a better comparison of all these places. hehe

grabbing fun

We bought Kiernan some toys at IKEA yesterday and spent some time playing with them with him today. Although he's definitely found his hands (he sucks on them with all his might quite regularly) he still hasn't been using them or purposefully grabbing anything. So today we were putting some of these new ikea toys in his hands and not only did he hold on for long periods of time, he enjoyed sucking on the fish's tail and the rat's foot :) So cute. Here are pictures of his new little friends:

When you're happy and you know it....

... stick out your tongue!

What a rollercoaster

I know a baby is unpredictable... I know this. I know that you have to expect constant change and that things won't always stay the same. That being said it is really frustrating sometimes.

You think you're getting the knack of something... you think "I've got it! I figured out how to make this part work" and then it all falls apart. Bedtime was really working for awhile - and it's not that it isn't working now, it's just not working the same way. He isn't nursing to sleep as often, and we're having to use the hairdryer more and more. I worry I'm setting that up as part of the routine and he'll always want it and that'll get annoying for sure! I wonder if it's partially my fault because I'm not being strict with the routine - I change it if it suits my needs (ie going out on a saturday night to visit with friends). Not that I want him to have to nurse to sleep forever either, it was just nice and predictable. Sometimes it took longer than others, sometimes he freaked out first and we had to take him for a car ride, but in the end I nursed, he fell asleep, we're done. Tonight he just wouldn't calm down while eating (which hurts by the way) and then we eventually got him to keep a seuss in his mouth and he fell asleep being rocked.

That being said, in other ways the changes can be good. Tonight Eric and I went out for dinner with Kiernan. We made it through dinner with Kiernan being pretty calm... we just needed to rattle some toys at him and he was good. That's a huge change - I never could have imagined that before.

So ya, nothing unusual here - but it still gets frustrating and I need to vent. Make it easier!! :)

Oh, and I forgot to mention last week with the immunization drama that Sir Kiernan weighed in at 11lbs 6 oz at his appointment (50th percentile), is now 24.25 inches long - almost 4 inches longer than at birth (95th percentile) and has a 90th percentile sized head (to fit his massive amount of genius).

Oprah talk and other stuff

I'm getting way behind with all my blog topics so this is a big catch all post :)

Hairdryer: So I'd heard the hairdryer could be magic - and it is. When Kiernan is wailing we can turn on the hairdryer and he immediately quiets down. So now I'm getting used to sitting in the nursery with the lights out, nursing Kiernan with the hair dryer going full blast on the change table. Who'd have thought that would be less annoying sound. haha. Only trouble is, if I want Eric's help he can't hear me so I need to pitch things into the hallways so he can come and help me move Kiernan without waking him up :)

Oprah talk: Oprah had this show on this week with this woman who has "unlocked the secret baby language". She has a photographic memory for sound and when she had a baby she quickly figured out what his sounds meant but figured she'd just figured out HER baby. THen she realized it worked for ALL babies - of every nationality. Essentially, she says, there are 5 basic sounds that are reflexes for babies. They make them until they are about 3 months old (it'll stop after that if it hasn't been responded to, but can continue if you do respond). The five sounds are "neh" (I'm hungry) "eh" (I need to burp) "heh" (I'm uncomfortable) "ouahhh" (I'm tired) and some kind of grunting noise (I have gas). I've been trying to follow it and they all seem to be working. It's very cool. My only concern is that he's been "nehing" an awful lot and I think it's not just I'm hungry but I need comfort (which he's needed more of since the shots). Anyhow, I recommend it to new moms - it really seems to be working.

Crib: we're getting better! Kiernan slept in the crib until 4 am this morning. I would have put him back in instead of bringing him back into our room this morning (that had been my plan) but he ate too much (my breasts were engorged to hurting which is rare for me) and then threw up when he burped (more than just a big spit up) so I felt bad and didn't want to leave him. I hope I make my deadline of having him in the crib full time by the end of November. hehe

Soother: he's started taking it more often. Still not all the time, but he took it from us twice this week, once when he wasn't even upset!

Sleep: ever since his shots Kiernan has been sleeping an enormous amount. I don't know what to do with myself half the time. He is currently asleep (and has been for almost 2.5 hours) and he slept 2.5 hours yesterday morning and 3.5 hours yesterday afternoon (and 3.5 hours the afternoon before that too). I wonder how long it'll last. I'm sure it'll do him good to get some sleep... my poor tired boy.

Smiles : Kiernan is getting SO interactive. It's so fabulous. We have all these really lovely moments with him where he smiles when he sees you and you can play with him and he really seems to be talking back. It's so nice!! He also loves to smile at the tom thompson photo and smiles when he sees it more than when he first sees us, but I'm not going to take it personally I don't think :) Here are some photos: Kiernan smiling at daddy and happy Kiernan.

2 months old

We've been taking weekly photos of Kiernan since he was born and plan to continue to do so until he is 12 weeks old. We thought we'd better start taking monthly ones too and try to do that for the full year...
Since we didn't officially take one at one month we decide to take one with Kiernan's big teddy bear monthly from now on. He had one taken at 2 weeks and one at 5 weeks so it's close enough. Here's our progression so far:

The horror!

Today Kiernan has his first immunizations. It was awful.
I cannot describe how horrible it is to hold your child while something painful it being done to them and they scream in agony and not only try to comfort them, but not do a damn thing to try to stop it from happening. It's horrible. He had three shots and by the third I was crying too. Since then I'm at his beck and call... whatever he wants I'm trying to accomodate him the best I can because I feel so bad.
He's been different since the appointment (as to be expected). He is whimpering a lot, calm and glazed over a bunch (I'm imagining from the tylenol and advil we keep pumping into him :) and sometimes he is hysterical. We were going to give him a bath tonight because he usually really enjoys that (and its due) but he screamed like we'd laid a hot poker to him when his toes hit the water... and the water was cooler than usual. He just lost his mind for no apparent reason. So we aborted!! No bath tonight.
He's asleep now but I expect to be up a lot tonight. I told Eric he was going to have to bring Kiernan for his next round of shots in two months but I don't think I could stand not being there, as horrible as it was, to give him what comfort I can.
There sure are some tough parts to this mommy stuff.

Date night!

Eric and I went on a date tonight!!! :)

We went to little Italy and had dinner at Il Primo while my parents watched Kiernan. I was nervous throughout the meal because Kiernan has been particularly horrible the past few evenings and I felt guilty leaving this screaming child with my parents who don't even have a milk filled boob to shove at him if it got that bad ;) But I lasted the hour and a half we had agreed to and as we're almost about to turn onto my parent's street Eric's cellphone rings and guess what - Kiernan had just woken up (from having fallen asleep when we drove him over!) and so if we wanted to stay out another half hour and give my parents some time to spend with him awake and try to give him a bottle (which I was really wanting) then we could go ahead. Wow - what do you mean he slept for 1.5 hours?? Just sitting in his car seat?? There was a small feeling of "no fair" but mostly that's great because it means Kiernan's wailing fits did not scare my parents from ever babysitting again :) So Eric and I can go on more date nights! And, he took the bottle from them and Eric seems to be giving Kiernan another bottle right now. I'm really really hoping Kiernan will start accepting a bottle so I don't have to feel guilt ridden if I want to go out and do something for more than an hour. He's still not loving it or anything, but it seems a bit better.
So yay!

Chatty cathy

Is there a boy name for chatty cathy? :)
Kiernan has been chatting up a storm lately. Last night, he suddenly and inexplicable came out of his land of evening screaming to sit on my lap and "chat" with Eric and I for about half an hour. It was fabulous - so fun! Our favourite "word" sounds just like hi, which is very cute. And he did it for about 15 minutes again this morning in bed with us. It's so much fun having him be more interactive lately - makes up for a lot of the screaming fits.

Quick update on the move to the nursery. We had him in the nursery last night for about 2.5 hours but the difference this time was that we went to sleep. I woke up around 11:30 though after having startled awake 4-5 times already and couldn't take it anymore... I wasn't going to get a good night's sleep with him over there and I thought to myself I'd done well having him there that long while I was asleep (again, I need to do this slowly ;) So I went and got him and put him back in the bassinet. He slept until 3:30! A total of almost 6 and a half hours. HOLY COW! Then he was up again at 6:30 this morning. Really, it doesn't make much of a difference for me since it's still the same amount of waking up - once a night and then he doesn't want to go back down when he gets up at 6 or 7. But at least we're back to it being 6 or 7 and not 5 am, so that's good.

Canadian Baby Photographers

This week Kiernan had his photo taken by Canadian Baby Photographers (CBP) since they offer to come to your house and you automatically get a free 8x10. So they came and some were a bit to cheeseball for my liking and some looked like they would be really cute. But CBP has a reputation for being really expensive so I was wary and didn't really know if we would be able to swing getting anything.
So the guy came yesterday with the proofs to show us and they printed the worst one as an 8x10 and claimed it was chosen because it has the most personality. Eric has suggested they must think Kiernan has the personality of a drunk sailor because you can tell he's about to fall over, he has a weird face going, and it sort of looks like he's giving us the finger. Right off the bat I was put off that they picked the worst picture to give me as an 8x10. I know it's a gimmick to try to get me to buy more photos when they come, but don't piss me off right before you make your pitch!
Then he tells us the prices and it's really expensive. We knew we weren't going to get a package so I wanted to know how much it would cost to get the proofs (which were actually 5x7s). These were also really expensive but I have to admit, there were a few cute ones. Did I want to spend $99 on 3 cute 5x7s? I'm not sure but I was tempted. I asked if we could think about it and was told no - you have to make the decision immediately otherwise the photos will be shredded on Monday. This is because of privacy laws I'm told. Right - privacy laws say that you have to destroy photos that parents allowed you to take within a week? That would probably cause a lot of problems for photographers who aren't trying to pressure you into sales by shredding cute photos of your kids.
Anyhow, all that to say - I'm not impressed. I thought the photographer was pretty good and so were some of the shots, but not only did they not get my business, I don't recommend even letting them come to your house to take the photos in the first place, even if just for the free 8x10 since they'll give you the crappy one. And really, they want you to let them come to your house to take the photos so you get tempted by all the cute photos so pissing people off by giving them the ass photo and then having them tell everyone they know it's not worthwhile doesn't sound very smart.

Rough couple of days

In the last couple of weeks I thought Kiernan was getting a bit better - not crying quite as much during the day, and just seeming to be a much happier baby. I was thrilled - he was coming into himself and not feeling quite so distressed all the time. The last couple of days make me realize that's not the case quite yet. He's been inconsolable at times the last couple of days... none of the usual suspects are working. I bounce on the ball and he keeps crying, I try to nurse him which he wants, but he keeps crying while he does that. It starts to push me to my limits and I think "wow, how do people do this?"
How do people who don't have partners deal? What about teenage mothers? How can they possibly deal with this. I thought I was strong and some days I end up in tears right along with him. Is my baby that much fussier than most babies?
I'm just feeling a bit woe is me, and I know it will pass and get easier, and I certainly know its all worthwhile. I know having a baby can be really hard in the beginning... I have a husband who supports me and Kiernan's grandparents are also a godsend. I get out a lot with him when I can, and thankfully getting out and movement seem to calm him so that helps. The other thing that helps is for me to take naps with him, but honestly, I don't need to sleep quite as much as a baby and would kind of like a bit of time to do the things you can't do while sleeping or holding a crying baby.
I just keep reminding myself they say the colic-like behaviours tend to peak around 2 months, which is where we're at, and surely it will ease up soon. right? :) Thank god we have good nights with him for now *knock on wood*

Step in the right direction

Last night, after Kiernan had fallen asleep, we put him down in his crib instead of the bassinet to see if he would stay asleep there. He did! Woohoo!
Only problem was that I got all nervous ;) He seemed so far away!!
I had never intended to leave him there all night anyways since the baby monitor isn't set up in there yet so I don't feel too badly. He slept there for a couple of hours and hopefully we can move the glider and the monitor over some time this week and transition him over there. I have a feeling that if there is going to be someone having a hard time with this change it's going to be me and not him ;)

Busy Monday

This morning the photographer from Canadian Baby Photographers came by to take some photos of Kiernan. They automatically call when you have a baby and offer to come to your house and you get a free 8x10. Their plan is to then come to you with all these fabulous photos and upsell you for hundreds of dollars.
I thought "I'm strong, I have a zillion photos of my baby, you will not be able to tempt me!" but now I'm wondering. Kiernan was all smiles today and I have a feeling there are going to be some very very cute shots. Good thing Eric will be here when they come back to try to keep me strong so I don't end up spending a fortune. Or at least if we do spend a fortune I won't have been the only sucker. haha
This afternoon Kiernan and I went to the wellbaby clinic again and he now weighs 11 lbs 3 oz!

Cheese, no thank you

So this weekend I had a piece of Eric's Italian grandmother's homemade lasagna - yum. I decided it was time to check the whole dairy thing and make sure I was cutting it all out of my diet for a good reason. So I had a tiny piece (YUM), it was maybe 2.5 inches square and although delicious I have to admit that there was anxiety and guilt that came with eating this deliciousness. So the results, a farty, gassy, cranky baby for the next 36 hours or so. SIGH. So there you have it... no more cheese for the mama for awhile longer.

That being said, look at this cute baby - he's so worth it :)

Too good to be true?

I don't want to jinx myself but I've been having a lot more nice/non-crying time with my little guy lately. I'm hoping it means he's starting to come out of his "4th trimester" and feel more comfortable with the world. A couple of days ago we successfully went to the movies with no issues, yesterday he was fairly pleasant for over an hour of picture taking by a friend of mine, and he is currently sitting in his chair in the computer room with me, awake, and not crying! I feel like I have all this extra time I don't know what to do with!! hehehe

A movie buff in the making

Kiernan and I went to the movies today which was super fun. We went to the mommy and me movies at Silver City and it was really neat. There were SO many mothers and babies there - I would bet at least a hundred. And they had a change table set up outside with all the necessary stuff (free diapers, wipes, bum cream, etc) and they even had a microwave and bottle warmers for those who needed it.
Lots of babies made lots of noise, but at least then you don't feel bad when your baby makes noise - and Kiernan was far from the noisiest baby in the bunch. In fact - he was an angel - I was so impressed and pleased and hope that means we can do this regularly. I think the darkness and the sound (and probably the fact that I sat still in one place for 2 hours) helped create a great nap on mommy feeling :)
Spoiler warning:
Now to the thumbs down part - we saw Marie Antoinette. (insert sound you make when you stick your tongue out and sputter because something sucks) It was very.... bubblegum. It was just whatshername, who I don't even really like, prancing around Versaille in a million different outfits. There is barely any dialogue and there is barely any story. Woe is you - oh spoiled queen of France with all your parties and extravagances. It doesn't even end the story - if you know what I mean. Plus, they used that shaky camera cinamatography thing that seems to be so popular lately but just makes me feel like throwing up. So ya - blech. Oh, and not remotely scary. But I'm definitely going to be going to more mommy and me movies :)

Kiernan's first time at the movies was of course documented with some of our fellow mommy and me movie attendees :)

oooh

Guess what I did this morning??
I took a shower when I was home alone with the baby. This is a big accomplishment for the mommy of the baby who will only sleep in the sling or the swing during the day. I absolutely wouldn't leave him in the swing while I went upstairs to shower so I would always wait until Eric was home. But sometimes I'd forget to shower in the evening and not wake up early enough in the morning the next day to shower and then feel gucky all day. So today I bit the bullet and brought the vibraty chair upstairs and stuck him right outside the bathroom door staring in and he sat quiet the whole time. I don't know if it's just that he likes the vibraty chair sometimes, or if it's the sound of the water and the new view that worked - but yay to a clean mommy!! Ah... what interesting things now seem like accomplishments ;)

New friend for Kiernan

My friend Vicky had a baby on Friday and she had a boy - yay! They only live a few blocks away so I'm so excited that our little boys will have each other as playmates as they get older :)

Maman kangaroo

Have I mentioned how much I love my maman kangaroo wrap? I don't know what I would do without it! Kiernan often falls asleep in it - which is a bonus since when he's awake I can't get anything done because he needs constant bouncing and entertaining (or feeding) and he can come along for fun activities too like vaccuming with daddy and raking with mommy! :)

Don't worry about it

So we had Kiernan's 1 month checkup yesterday (a little late :) and I had my list of concerns to bring up to the doctor and pretty much got a "don't worry about it" on every count. hehe
I'm not to worry about the rash on his forehead - it'll go away, or the ingrown toenails - they'll work themselves out, the green and orange poo - meh, no worries either. So all in all - Kiernan is a fabulous and wonderful baby (I'm quoting the doctor here). He weighed in a little less than at the wellbaby clinic at the doctor's at 10 lbs 4 oz which puts him in the 25 percentile for weight, but measures 22.5 inches (2 inches more than at birth) putting him in the 75th percentile for height. Tall and skinny perhaps? Ah, the gangly teenage years should be fun for him :)

bra

I'm really tired of wearing a bra ALL the time. My boobs are so ginormous that the bras I to wear have to be relatively restrictive so wearing them day in and day out gets to be quite uncomfortable. What a pain!

Wellbaby clinic

We went to the wellbaby clinic today and Kiernan ways 10 lbs 6 oz. I knew he was getting really big! :)

5 hours!

Kiernan slept 5 hours in a row last night! FIVE! FIVE!

This was after a 3 hour freak out where I had to nurse him for 2 hours straight otherwise he screamed at the top of his lungs - but still - I don't care - VERY impressive.

Plus, we've managed to get him to sleep in bed with us for an extra hour or two in the morning. I know, I know, seems like we're setting ourselved up for problems later, but until he has a mommy who isn't exhausted ALL the time, I'm willing to do these little things. He's still sleeping in the bassinet the whole night, it's only after it's light outside that we let him into bed with us.

So yay to Kiernan sleeping more :)

Like Mother like son :)

Noisy baby

I'd heard that babies made a lot of noise in their sleep and that's one of the reasons they get moved into their own rooms. The first night Kiernan started groaning in his sleep a couple of weeks ago I learned how true that can really be. The kid makes a TON of noise, and never wakes up. I think he permanently thinks he needs to poop for hours on end and pushes and pushes and pushes and so he has to make the pushing noises and he has to make the "i'm frustrated that I'm not actually pooping" noises. All in all, it makes a lot of noise. I've stopped always waking up to it, but that means he has to actually cry a lot of the time when he actually wakes up to wake me up. Oh well. Only another few more weeks until we consider moving him into his room - I'm still not ready :)

Mommy as fabulous singer!

I'm not a good singer - many people could attest to that. But my son smiles at my songs... or even better... falls asleep to them. Yay to mommy as fabulous singer! :)
I'm digging out all the old songs my dad used to sing me ... Irish rover songs, and Kingston trio songs, and you know, all your classic baby tunes. teehee

Chirp chirp chirp

The last week and a half have been amazing - we've so many changes in Kiernan. He's suddenly talking all the time, or as Eric calls it, chirping, when he's in a good mood (which unfortunately isn't often enough ;), he's holding his head up quite a bit, he's figured out how to get his fist into his mouth when he's upset and he looks not only alert a lot of the time, but really aware. He looks at you and he will track you if you move. You're not just some random blur passing by anymore. My favourite is that he's figured out where the milk comes from and will position himself on anyone in the approximate correct position and open his mouth. He looks like a little bird waiting for the worm. OH! And he's smiling! I'm positive there are times it's not just gas now.
Imagine, I'm excited that he's looking at me and sucking on his fist - how out of this world thrilled am I going to be when he crawls, walks or talks?!?
Look how much bigger and older he looks:

A month old!

As much as I can't imagine life before Kiernan - I still can't believe he's already a month old. And he's changed so much already. Lately he is so alert and follows you around with his eyes. He clearly "gets" things a little bit better already and loves to look around at the world. And despite the lack of sleep and the sometimes rough moments - this is the most amazing experience in the world :) *gush gush, I love my son, gush gush*

Work

I was talking to someone of an older generation this past weekend and encountered my first negative response to me going back to work. When I mentioned I'd be going back to work next summer she just looked at me in this disapproving way. I said "he'll be a year old by then" and she said "but they're still so little then!"
She never outright said "that's horrible" but you could tell that's what she was thinking. And it made me feel a bit guilty! I can't imagine how hard and guilt-ridden it must have been to go back to work years ago when the overall mentality was that it wasn't good. Oh well...

Comfy chair

For the last month I've been feeding Kiernan in our room on a Poang that we bought at a garage sale a couple of years ago. It's a great chair for sitting back in, a great chair for bouncing the baby in too, but a horrible chair for breast feeding. I end up hunched forward and my posture is horrible and I was getting back spasms that killed!
So we decided to get a glider... something that had a nice straight back on it so I wouldn't be hunching. We got it last night and I love it - perhaps a bit too much? Everytime I got up to feed Kiernan in the night I ended up falling to sleep in it for half an hour, or an hour or more! Good thing the chair has such good support that Kiernan seems quite safely supported in my arms as I keep taking these snoozes :)

Glimpse into the future?

Doesn't this feel like it could be Kiernan in 2 or 3 years from now instead of now? :)

he strikes again

The K man loves a clean diaper - that's right, as soon as we change him, he fills the clean one. Or maybe I should say he hates a clean diaper!
This morning's adventure began when I didn't anticipate his aim and he peed all down the wall - then as soon as I changed him he filled the new diaper - and filled it well. I knew babies went through a lot of diapers - but I really didn't get just how many! :)

Faulty seal

My baby seems to have come with a slightly defective seal ;)

Whenever he is tired, or distracted we have the joyful experience that as he eats, he lets the milk trickle out the other side of his mouth. This is FABULOUS for my nursing pillow (which gets soaked) or even better if I nurse in bed (for my sheets). So now I always need to nurse with extra layers of blankets between Kiernan and whatever surface we're using. Fun!

They need to make all nursing pillows with removable covers!

What a big boy

Kiernan and I went to the wellbaby clinic to have him weighed this afternoon. The well baby clinics are for babies 3 months and younger and they are for an hour and a half once a week. Kiernan and I were the 26th to arrive! Lots of new babies :)
Kiernan weighed in at 8 lbs 8.5 oz so he's getting really big really fast. Yay to constant breast feeding :P

The bad days are very tiring

Kiernan had a bad spell this weekend. This may, or may not, have been done to him intentionally by me.
After a couple of really bad nights last weekend and after finding out that there is a family history of having an intolerance to cow milk protein I stopped having dairy for the entire week. Kiernan had pretty good nights all week following that. Then on Saturday night, to test that all of this wasn't just coincidence, I had a bunch of dairy. Mid-way through the night Kiernan suddenly got fussy and it didn't stop until about midnight last night.
The main "symptom" if you will is that he seems to be really gassy and need to poop but not be able to. He forces with all of his might - to no avail. I don't know if he gets too tense or fussy to relax and just do it... but it got progressively worse throughout the day and he didn't have a bowel movement from mid afternoon yesterday until this morning. He seems to have relaxed quite a bit now and is doing better.
So I don't know if the milk was to blame or not (the after effects lasted longer than I would have expected had it been that) or if it was merely a coincidence. If all goes well today, Kiernan and I are going to walk over to a well baby clinic at 1:30 this afternoon to have him weighed and to quiz the public health nurses on all the funny things about babies I don't understand and to make sure Kiernan is doing just fine.
The good news is... he seems to be doing pretty well this morning. It's 9am and he seems to be falling asleep again which means I can go back to bed to sleep - yay! The next challenge once we wake up will be finding and preparing something for myself to eat while he wants to eat and not be left alone ;) At least I got a shower in this morning before Eric left for work. hehe.
It's amazing how different your life and priorities and challenges change - no matter how much you know it's going to happen, until you're actually spending your days trying to figure out how to find the time to bathe and trying to decide what clothing would be most appropriate for your child given the weather, you don't really know ;)

Breastfeeding

So I was thinking about breastfeeding and how convenient it is that I never have to prepare any bottles - total bonus there. And then I realized just how big a bonus that was! If I had to get out of bed, go downstairs, warm a bottle, listen to Kiernan scream the entire time, and finally get to feed him, I would be up in the night WAY more than I am and I'd have to wake up far more fully than I do. So yay to being lucky enough to have had no issues with breastfeeding and not have to deal with bottle warming - especially in the night :)

Dats a big baby

Ok, not really, but Kiernan is certainly trying to catch up.

The public health nurse came by this morning and weighed him again, and he's 7lbs 11 oz now. Since he had gone down to 6lbs 9 oz by Sept 15 that's an impressive increase - he's gaining twice the average amount that a baby gains :) Not that I'm surprised by the amount I'm feeding the kid. He'll be filling out those skinny little arms and legs in no time flat!

Sleep is for wusses

Kiernan sleeps really well at night one in about every 3-4 nights. This weekend were two of his off nights so Eric and I got very little sleep. Saturday night he "perked up" around 11pm and one or the other of us were up with him until 7am. It was a really rough night and by about 5am I was convinced something was wrong with him - a fever? a cold? SOMETHING! But, as we've discovered in the past, Kiernan can almost always go to sleep withthe sun coming up so around 7 he started to drift off.
I'm starting to get very good at being able to sleep when I can though... sometimes in odd an unnecessary sleeping positions. Last night Eric woke up and asked me if everything was ok because I was sitting up in bed. I said ya... he asked if I was holding the baby... I looked down and realized I wasn't. I was just sleeping sitting up in bed. I think the baby started to stir and I sat up thinking I was going to have to get up and feed him but then he got quiet so I thought "I'll just wait a second before getting up" and when he settled back down again I must have just fallen asleep there... sitting straight up. :) I thought it was bad I fell asleep nursing or rocking the baby almost daily, now I'm falling asleep sitting up without being in a chair or even holding a baby!

Snooze

We borrowed a bassinet for Kiernan to sleep in in our room until he's a couple of months old and we're ready to move him into his own bedroom. We knew there was a light and some other functionality to the bassinet but every time we looked to figure out where to change the batteries it never seemed straightforward and it kept getting postponed. Yesterday Eric took apart the bassinet and put in new batteries and we discovered it had a vibrating mode. Kiernan seems to really like the vibrating mode so yay for that. When we put him down we turn it on and if he starts fussing we turn it on. It vibrates for about a minute or two.
So... during the night... everytime Kiernan fussed, I hit the button and Eric dubbed it my snooze button. I buy myself another 5-10 minutes of sleep before I actually have to wake up, get out of bed, and feed the little guy. I even do it in an automatic reach out and whack the button way same as you would with an alarm clock. :)

My little turtle

Kiernan cracks me up - he has the best facial expressions (all still involuntary but still) and there are so many of them that he's getting all kinds of new nicknames:

Turtle: he has a long skinny neck and his eyes are still bugged out a bit and he cranes his neck and makes this old man faces and he TOTALLY looks like a turtle to me.

Fish face: the boy loves to nurse... everytime he comes near me, if he is remotely hungry and in a lying down position, his mouth starts opening and closing like a fish... seeking his dinner. Depending on how hungry he is fish face can also appear into your neck.

Bill Cosby: you know the face.... Kiernan makes it. He is a fabulous Bill Cosby impersonator - too bad it's not the kind of thing you can capture in a photo.

Smiley: now I know this is most likely all gas, but the kid smiles a lot and man is it adorable - I can't wait until he starts doing it for real!

Not the blog post I had planned to start with

I've had daydreams of all the fabulous posts I was going to start my blog off with... I even have a list on a post it notes of all the fabulous little things I wanted to share when I started off my blog. Instead, I haven't had a moment to blog until now... and I'm writing about something interely different than I imagined. Oh well.

So the other day we started noticing discharge from Kiernan's umbilical cord "stump" - that and a bit of an odor. They tell you in the hospital that there will be an odor - after all it's rotting flesh (ew. gross. yuck.) but that if it was a strong smell then to have it checked out. When, pray tell, do you decide if it's more than just a bad odor and now a strong odor? I called the doctor's office and said "there is a bit of an odor and a bit of goopy discharge, is this normal?" thinking it probably was and they would tell me to spazz down and just relax. Well... they wanted to see him. And it turns out he does have a bit of an infection :( Blah... my poor baby.

I don't think that he feels it. And the doctor says that it's a really mild infection, hasn't spread at all and isn't likely too, and gave me some ointment to put into the "wound". The doctor also gave me a lecture that I wasn't to feel guilty because it wasn't something I had done that cause this (which is good because I did sort of feel like I must have done something wrong even though I've been trying to follow all direction I've been given). So that wasn't fun... but oh well.

On a more positive note - I was right to think this kid was a good eater and that we were doing well with the breastfeeding because he has already put all his birthweight back on and more and weighed in at 7 lbs 2 oz yesterday (he had gone down to 6 lbs 9 oz by the time we left the hospital). He's going to be a big guy in no time - which is good because he looks silly in all the clothes I have because even if they are the right length... they're big and baggy.

Today's Parent

I'm not even a mom yet and I can already see how I'm going to be annoyingly spouting off information to people.

As a baby shower gift one of my friends gave us a subscription to Today's Parent. I've already gotten 3 issues so I've been reading away and learning all kinds of things. And I'm already spouting off the information all over the place.

For example - did you know that you shouldn't put ice on a burn. Cold water yes, ice - no no - it prevents blood flow to the area thereby making the burn worse. AND apparently not covering a wound to let it dry out is a myth! According to Today's Parent, moist wounds heal better (not to mention clean) and they also are less likely to scar. These are good things to know!!

Last month's issue has me spouting off about a million and one other things so I just know this is going to be a frequent thing... so look forward to my little nuggets of knowledge people. And some of them are good for non-parents too. Last time I burned myself, I put ice on it!

Good gift A!