Month 6

6 months?  Well 6+ months now!!  :s  But I have an excuse….moving, Bryce’s birthday, and Christmas!!!  I must say that this has probably been the most stressful 2 months of my life (Well…Paramedic school was pretty stressful too) but I’m so happy to finally be settled (settling) into our new house.  I would NOT recommend moving with a 4 year old and an infant…unless you can ship them off somewhere until the whole process is over.  Trying to maintain a perfect house for showing, plus packing, trips back and forth to the lawyers, and the builder, then unpacking…was/is exhausting.  Thank God for my amazing family who were there for me every step of the way.  Unfortunately, unpacking is going VERY slowly and I’m also trying to fit 2100 sq ft of stuff into a 1500 sq ft bungalow.  Somewhere along the way, I had lost the screws to Aiden’s crib…so he bunked in with me.  Which is nothing new since he’s shared my bed since day one.  However, I found them in a box of toys, re-assembled Aiden’s crib, and he actually slept in it for the first time last night.  No longer just a big brown nursery decoration. 

I’ve been thinking about discontinuing breastfeeding.  I know, I know!  All this time I was so Gung Ho to nurse, taking supplements, eating horrible lactation cookies etc and now I want to throw in the towel?!  Well the reason is only kind of selfish as I’ll outline below, but he also sprouted 2 new teeth. (Dec 18^th ish)  And while I’m sure he doesn’t mean to, he does from time to time…BITE!  The other reason is one I’ve discussed previously and it’s in regards to weight gain/inability to lose weight.  Let me preface this by saying I haven’t exactly been doing very much in the exercise category (Well, except for packing up a house and single handidly moving all my furniture into a storage pod lol) and haven’t been making great food choices these last few months….but there is a correlation between breast feeding and fat storage.  An article I read recently compared breastfeeding to Menopause.  Simply put –->high prolactin from breastfeeding=low estrogen and low progesterone.  Estrogen is required to keep a lean body.  Without it, we have a less forgiving metabolism largely due to lack of temperance of insulin and cortisol.  Additionally, progesterone plays a role in hindering belly fat storage (my problem!!) by moderating cortisols effect in these fat cells.  Low estrogen/progesterone also causes much more sensitivity to carbohydrates, much harder time dropping belly fat – and fat in general.  Couple that with lack of sleep and stress=high cortisol state.  (Ingredient #1 for belly fat)  Exhaustion creates cravings for carbs and sweets. (Ingredient #2 for belly fat)  A perfect storm!!  And if that wasn’t bad enough, Estrogen regulates our brain chemicals to help keep cravings at bay as well as regulating appetite.  All this to say I need to stop lactating to raise my Estrogen and get out of “menopause”.  Argh! (And also get my fat bum onto the treadmill)  lol

 

Aiden has really changed this month. You can tell that he wants to get moving so that he can participate in the constant game of chase between Bryce and the dog.  He is also mastering the art of rolling over and has recently been getting his knees under him in preparation for crawling.  There have been a couple of occasions where he has managed to roll himself right off the area rug…so now he spends time in baby jail (play pen) if I step out of the room for a minute.  We’re also working on sitting though he is still very wobbly.  Mother Nature places these gigantic heads on tiny torso’s and doesn’t take Gravity into consideration.  Thank goodness for soft carpet!

I feel like with the move, the Holidays, and trying to get our new house in order…that time is passing more quickly than I would like…and that perhaps I’m not appreciating all the little moments the way I should be.  All that to say…I’m really looking forward to a relaxing, slower paced new year.

Month 5

Lipstick kiss at school-1st of many!

5 months??  Say it ain’t so!  Maternity leave is almost half over!

You know what the most adorable thing ever is?  Watching Aiden watch his brother.  Generally, depending on Bryce’s mood, he doesn’t pay too much attention to Aiden.  Every now and then he may “coochie coochie coo” him, or give me status updates like “Aiden is touching my blanket”, but for the most part he leaves Aiden to do what Aiden does.  However, Aiden never takes his eyes off Bryce.  The look of wonder, amazement, and delight on Aiden’s face when Bryce is around is priceless….or maybe it’s fear that’s he’s about to be accidentally bonked in the head with a wildly swinging toy?!  Lol  I can’t wait until Aiden gets moving and can chase after Bryce…although for now I should appreciate that Aiden stays put. 

Can I just say how cruel “daylight savings time” is to Mom’s with young children.  Oh that glorious extra hour of sleep that I was promised….baloney!  It’s been a month and I’ve LOST 60 hours of sleep.  Aiden now wakes like clockwork at 4am.  (In fact I’m writing this at 4:30!) I’ve tried keeping him up longer which is disastrous, and makes him wake even earlier!? And the cosmic joke is that by the time I get him back to sleep at 5:30-6:00, then Bryce wakes!  I silently cry in my head,  and go back downstairs with Bryce to start the day…again!

Feed me!

So the introduction to solid food is still going well.  Though why do they call it “solid” food when it neither goes in solid or comes out solid.  Haha. He’s tried the cereals…rice, wheat, oat…and loves all the fruit combo’s.  Vegetables on the other hand cause “faces of displeasure” and peas make him gag.   He also enjoys rice husk baby cookies (so does Madigan) and gets very angry when he drops them.  With his Doctor’s approval/encouragement, I’ve also introduced peanut butter which he loves to “suck” off of lightly toasted English muffins, and bits of scrambled egg which he usually spits out because of the texture.  Thankfully no sign of reaction to these two allergy culprits.

Oh and we celebrated Aiden's Baptism on November 1st. We were getting a little concerned that he wouldn't fit in the 147 year old gown as he was 4 months at the time of his baptism.  (Bryce was 2 and it was snug on him)  Thankfully it DID fit, though the long sleeves became 3/4 length sleeves and unfortunately Aiden added a few teething drool stains on the front.  The significance of Nov 1st is that it was All Saints Day and 1 of 4 extra special days to be baptized. "We baptize on All Saints’ Day because when the newly baptized rises from the water he or she finds himself not only in a permanent relationship with Jesus Christ, but also in a covenantal relationship with All Saints who have ever lived and worshiped Jesus Christ."  After the Baptism we all proceeded to Mom and Dad's for a wonderful lunch.  Special thanks to Mom for lending her home, making those cute little rolled sandwiches AND for Aiden's beautiful cake.  And thank you also to my Sister for all her work in the kitchen both before and after lunch, and for being Aiden's Godmother!

In terms of milestones, we’re expecting tooth 3 and 4 to make an appearance any day. He can roll from front to back. He’ll hold his arms out to be picked up. He can sit up and stand supported.  In fact Bryce and I like to stand him up and play a game of “giant baby” where he “walks” and crushes toys like King Kong! lol

Well it’s 5:37am and Aiden is still awake. I’m expecting to hear Bryce cry out “Mommy where are you” any minute so I’ll wrap this up for now.  See you back here in a month.

Month 4

Happy 4 months to my beautiful baby boy!

A Nana Knit...

Drum roll please….AIDEN HAS TEETH!  All that drool, biting and fussiness has produced a pair of the cutest little pearly whites. And in record time of 3 months and 16 days! That being said, he’s still a shark face and ferociously biting everything in reach.  Perhaps a matching set of chompers won’t be far behind?  I was wondering how babies don’t keep putting their razor sharp bottom teeth through their upper gums before their top teeth come in??  Something else to Google I suppose!

And just because life with an almost 4 year old and 4 month old isn’t challenging enough, I’ve decided to pack up and move. A task that is stressful at the best of times, and definitely magnified with 2 kids and a dog underfoot.  But being off on Mat leave is the ideal time as I can spend my days trying to get the house sold, and hopefully moving into the next one.  Aiden is a great little helper.  As long as he’s in the sling, he’s happy to assist me with any task, like painting the garage door, or steam cleaning the carpet…but not so fond of the noisy tape gun! Lol

Due to Aiden’s big size (and appearance of teeth) I decided to try him on rice cereal a little early.  At first, he ended up wearing most of it due to the  “thrusting tongue reflex” that babies have until about 4 months which prevents them from choking.  I made sure to water the cereal down and eventually more and more made its way from his chin to his tummy.  He definitely enjoys the new taste & texture, and anticipates every spoonful.  I’ll be interested to see how much he’s grown since his 2 month checkup.  Unfortunately the appointment isn’t until Oct. 29^th. I’ll update this blog when I have his weight. I’m going to guess 19lbs.

Donald Trump x 2

In terms of milestones, Aiden continues to develop his little personality. He is a very relaxed, and easy going baby...probably a birth order thing.  Second babies tend to get a little less attention and a few less baths! Lol  He loves to watch his big brother and is surely trying to figure out how to get up on his own to join the fun!  He is also sleeping really well! Though an early riser (5am-ugh) he consistently goes down around 7pm and practically sleeps the whole night.  He will fuss a couple times but is easily pacified with a breast or bottle “dream feed” and then right back to sleep.  It is lovely!

Stay tuned for Month 5 where I’ll have an update on Aiden’s upcoming baptism. 

Month 3

3  months?!  How can that be true?!  It really does seem like just yesterday that I was enormously pregnant and anticipating Aiden’s arrival.

Ouch...teething hurts!

So 3 months old and quite possible teething?!  Everything I’ve read says the average is about 6 months, and it’s rare to teeth before 4 months. (Bryce was 4 months and 22 days)  We have copious amounts of drool, which gets swallowed and spit back up, and we have fists in his mouth every waking minute though he prefers to bite MY knuckle, shoulder, face, and chin. Poor little guy.  And being that he is so young, he doesn’t have the coordination to get a teething ring/chew toy into his mouth.  I took a look and can’t see or feel anything…but I’ve heard that it can takes weeks for the teeth to actually break through.  Hmmmm that might end breastfeeding sooner than later!!  

Speaking of breastfeeding, can I just say that I prayed for big ‘boobs’ since I was pre-pubescent and probably all through my 20’s….finally giving up and accepting my boyish figure lol!  But now that I have em’  I don’t know why  I ever wanted them. Nothing fits and I can hardly remain decent.  I’ll be happy to say good riddance when my nourishment duties are over.  (Sorry Aiden to traumatize you if you ever read this and have to think of your mom’s ‘boobs’ for even a second…especially since I`ll be really old by then!!) 

A pic for his Daddy!

So here’s another fun side effect of breastfeeding.  Apparently breastfeeding exclusively burns about 500 calories a day which promotes weight loss.  But did you know that for some people (especially when NOT breastfeeding exclusively) it can cause your body to hang on to weight!  Nice! It has something to do with low estrogen levels and high prolactin (BF hormone) that stores weight around your middle and hips.  Similar to what happens in menopause.  Argh!  Now I have to work harder to lose that stubborn baby weight!  Why oh why did I eat so much when pregnant!! Oh and my feet grew, which I found out when shopping for winter boots this week.  Size 9 now!  What?!  So not only am I sloppily spilling out of all my dresses, and have a lovely muffin top, I now also have giant feet.  HOT!  Lol  But I also have the most adorable little boy(s) so it's all worth it!!!!

Aiden is definitely more vocal these days.  He loves to wake up at 4am and carry on a one sided conversation with me.  But his face is so smiley and adorable, I can’t help but melt. The tiredness fades and we happily go downstairs to continue the conversation on the comfy living room carpet.  And without fail, as soon as he falls back to sleep, Bryce wakes to start the day.  Life of a sleep deprived Mom!! Aiden has also started to laugh out loud.  The first time I heard it was Friday, August 31st.  A sure way to get him to laugh is to invite Madigan over to play.    Aiden loves when Madigan stomps her feet and sneezes in protest when I won’t throw the toy she has dropped in front of us. And he adores his big brother!  In the rare moment that Bryce stops and sits still long enough for Aiden to focus…it usually generates the biggest, uni-dimple  smile!  (Aiden has a dimple on his right cheek)

Can you guess who is who?!

I don’t know how much Aiden weighs this month...probably close to 17lbs now. (*Update to Month 2; Aiden weighed 15.2 lbs and had his first immunizations.  2 needles and an oral elixir.  Took it all like a champ!!*)  I do know that he has busted out of all his 6 month sleepers and wears 9-12 month clothing.  Following in his big brothers’ giant footsteps.

That’s all for now.  Looking forward to discovering more about his little personality in month 4!