6 months

nicknames: dax, monkey, munchkin, and tyke. matt's been calling him daxy-poo, too, which is kind of ridiculous but it's adorable that he's so cute with him.

likes: playing peek-a-boo.  yelling, squealing, and screaming.  rolling over.  splashing in the bath or baby pool.  trying to grab padfoot.

dislikes: being hungry.  getting out of the bath.

milestones: we are officially mobile - daxon is completely rolling over now.  he's been rolling front to back for several weeks, but pretty much could not care less about rolling back to front.  but just within the past week, he started completely rolling.  he is really good at lifting up his head, and recently started kind of pushing up his butt.  he really found his voice this month - yells, squeals, screams, and talks.  and he is sitting on his own for longer and longer periods of time.  but the biggest milestone is that we've started solids!  more on that below. 

clothing size: all 3-6 month or 6 month.  and a pair of old navy jean shorts that are 6-12 month.  

sleep: sleep has been weird this month.  all of a sudden he is having mid-night wakeups.  he doesn't need to eat, but he wakes up and fusses, so i go down and give him his paci and his lovey, and usually within a few minutes he falls back to sleep.  he is also waking up much earlier than usual - like 5-5:30, when it used to be that i had to wake him up at 6.  he is also a bit more difficult to put down at night, which may because of adding solids to his nighttime routine.  and really, he's not difficult, per se, but he's not falling asleep nursing consistently like he had been.  several times i've had to put him in the crib awake.  but usually i just give him his lovey and after fussing/playing for a couple minutes, he falls asleep.  once or twice we've had to go give him his paci.

naps: i am trying to be more consistent with his naptime, especially his big afternoon nap (1-3).  daycare marks that he naps from 1-3 every day, and though i doubt that he's actually sleeping that whole time, i'm sure he is at least getting quiet time, so i am making more of an effort to do the same thing.  i take him upstairs, close his blinds, turn on the white noise machine (sometimes i'll play music instead of the white noise), and close the door.  again, sometimes he'll lie awake and play for up to 20 minutes, but eventually he'll fall sleep, and then he'll pretty consistently sleep for at least an hour, and very rarely he'll go close to 2 hours.  i usually try to get him down in the mornings, too, around 10, which is what they mark that he does at daycare.  sometimes he'll also take a quick catnap after our evening nursing session (like 15-20 minutes).

eating: we started solids, you guys!  so far, he's only getting about an ounce once a day.  i'm waiting to send something to daycare until after we see the ped to really figure out exactly how to schedule adding solids to his routine.  at exactly 5.5 months, we started off with egg yolk, based on this information. i hadn't really intended to start when we did, but he was sitting at the table with me one evening when matt was working late, and he was so interested in what i was doing, so i took a hard-boiled egg, scooped out the yolk, and mushed it with some breastmilk.  it went well, so our next step was bananas, and only because we ran out of eggs and happened to have some bananas.  he didn't like the bananas so much at first, but we tried again, and he took to them on the 2nd night.  after that was sweet potatoes, then avocado.  we also tried green beans, but they didn't puree very well - the hulls didn't break down, so it was kind of chunky, and he didn't like the texture.  after doing it, i read that using frozen green beans is actually better than fresh, so we'll have to give that another try.  we try each food 3 times to monitor for reactions.  for the bananas, i just mushed them with a spoon/fork in a little ramekin.  for the avocado, i put it in the food processor.  and for the sweet potatoes and green beans, i used my baby brezza, which steams and purees all in the same bowl, which i love cuz it's less mess.  i am basically following this guideline on when to introduce what foods, minus the grains.  i'm still not sure what i'm going to do about grains and wheat.  from what i've read, a baby's guts lack the enzyme to properly break down grains until they're much older.  however, i am concerned that putting it off puts him at higher risk for developing a wheat/gluten allergy.

so our feeding schedule looks like this: i nurse him first thing in the morning (usually around 6-ish).  during the week, he is then up for the day.  he gets 3 6-oz bottles at daycare (and i pump 3 times at work).  i nurse him when we get home (right around 6).  he eats dinner with us around 7.  and then at 7:45, it's bedtime and he nurses to sleep.  i sometimes worry that he's eating too much, but then i have to remember that he's not getting a whole lot of nutrition yet from the solids - "food before 1 is just for fun!"  my plan is to start sending an ounce or so to daycare and having them give it to him before his afternoon nap.  he gets a bottle at noon and then goes down for nap from 1-3. 

we are having so much fun with him.  his little personality is definitely starting to show through.  so far, we know that he loves to smile, rarely cries (unless he's hungry...like daddy), and can entertain himself just fine.  he likes to sit back and watch what's happening around him (again, like daddy), but if you get him chatting he will talk your ear off (like mama).  he's pretty outgoing, and will flash his big smile to pretty much anyone.

mmmm....sweet potatoes

look, ma, no hands!

crazy hair day at daycare

petting mama while nursing

milk coma

playing on mama and daddy's bed

5 months

nicknames: dax, d, bubbers, munchkin, and tyke.  uncle dan calls him d-man.

likes: putting everything in sight into his mouth.  talking and yelling.  kicking his legs like he's training for a marathon.  playing peek-a-boo.

dislikes: being burped in the middle of eating.  getting into his car seat.

milestones: he is really starting to talk now.  he mostly talks with his mouth closed, using his tongue to make "sounds" inside his mouth.  it's kind of hard to explain, but it's hysterical.  he loves to shriek and yell.  he is laughing a lot more.  and of course we had our first hospital visit, which was a milestone i could have done without.  he's able to roll over back to front and front to back, but he struggles with it.  i kind of think he just doesn't care enough.  he can sit assisted, and can tripod sit for a few seconds if he's really concentrating on it.  and he's doing better with tummy time.  he loves to pull his blanket or burp cloth over his face, then pull it down - playing peek-a-boo!  he is using his exersaucer a lot, now, too.

clothing size: mostly into his 3-6 month or 6 month stuff.  we just gave a big bag of 3 month stuff to cousin quinn.  we also graduated to medium size sleep sacks.  

sleep: we are still feeding to sleep, and i kind of don't care anymore.  we attempted to change up the routine, and it didn't go so well.  the first night it actually went great, but the second night was an enormous disaster.  he started to fuss and we let him go for 3 minutes.  i went up, gave him his paci, and stayed with him till he calmed down.  a couple minutes later, he started to fuss again.  we let him go 5 minutes until matt went up.  he would not calm down.  after another 5 minutes of matt trying to comfort him, i finally gave in and nursed him to sleep.  we talked about it, and since he doesn't need to nurse (ie, he doesn't need me), we're ok with him eating to sleep (boob or bottle).  occasionally he wakes up in the night, but we just give him his paci and he's right back down.

naps: still napping pretty regularly.  if we miss a naptime, or if the schedule gets thrown off on the weekend, he doesn't meltdown.  it means we can be pretty flexible, which is really great.

eating: right before his 5-month birthday, i started increasing his bottles to 6oz.  he was finishing every bottle during the day, and sometimes on the weekends we thought he seemed hungry after finishing a 5oz bottle.  so he now gets 18oz in bottles, plus 3 nursing sessions. 

i know i keep saying this, but we really are lucky with him.  he is so good, so happy.  we are having so much fun with him.  he definitely has a little personality and we love seeing that develop. here are a few pictures from our 5-month photo shoot...

and a few other random shots from the month...

he loves to pull that blanket down over his head

saturday morning naps with daddy are the best!

exersaucer time!

first time in the pool!

piggies!

first father's day

4 months

excuse me?!  how did we get here so quickly?  ugh, slow down time!  we have an appointment on the 28th, so i'll update his stats after that.  i'm so anxious to find out how big he is!  he definitely looks like a monster.  we met a 10-month-old the other day and dax looked almost as big as her!  yowsa!

nicknames: dax, d, bubbers, munchkin, and tyke.

likes: grabbing at everything in sight, followed by immediately putting it in his mouth.  playing on his harry potter blanket on the floor.  laughing at his goofball parents.  sleeping on his side.

dislikes: taking zantac, being hungry, being overwhelmed.

milestones: oh, man, this month has been fun!  daxon is grabbing at everything.  if it's in front of him, he will try to grab it.  and if he gets it, he will try to put it in his mouth.  if it's too big, he will work on it to try to figure out a way to get it in his mouth.  like, he really concentrates on it!  baby boy is able to sit up, assisted, and has definitely started trying to pull himself up to sit when he's propped up on our legs or in the boppy.  i seriously think that all his "workouts" with daddy have something to do with that - his ab muscle are really strong!  he is laughing, smiling, and talking a lot!  he rolled over - once - from front to back.  and lately i'm finding him sleeping on his side when i wake him up in the morning!

clothing size: still wearing 3-month stuff pretty well.  they're starting to get a little snug, but i think we've still got a couple weeks in them.

sleep: we had a week of nighttime wake-ups, but seems like we are back on track with sleeping through (*knocks wood*).  i do think we need to move bedtime up a bit, cuz he is getting kinda cranky by around 7:30, when it used to be he could go till 8.  i think after our 4-month appointment, we will also start changing up the bedtime routine so that he is not being nursed to sleep.  nursing him to sleep works so well, but i'd really like to break that sleep association before it becomes too strong.  i'm already worried, though, because i'm noticing that when i take him upstairs for bed, as soon as i start his massage/lullaby, he starts smacking his lips.  so breaking that association could prove to be a bit difficult.  although the other night i was out with friends after work and matt had to put him down.  matt put him in his crib after a bottle and he wasn't sleeping, but he didn't cry or fuss too much, and eventually (after kicking himself around 180-degrees) he finally fell asleep on his own.  so maybe it won't be too bad?  guess we'll find out!

naps: naps are much more regular, now!  at daycare, he typically sleeps 8:30-9, 10-11, then 1-3.  those times change a bit every day, but for the most part it's fairly consistent.  we try to stick to that on the weekends, but it's hard, and so far he doesn't seem to go into full-on meltdown mode if he misses a "naptime."  hopefully that continues.  

eating: he is still eating well.  he gets 3 5oz bottles at daycare.  he nurses once in the morning, once when we get home in the evening, and once at bedtime.  he is doing this new thing now where every morning he spits up.  every.single.morning.  i've tried burping him 3 or 4 minutes in, and still - instant puke.  we are soaking a burp cloth a day from it.  i'm at the point now where i don't get him dressed until after we finish nursing, because i always had to change his clothes!  so now i wake him up, change his diaper, nurse him in just his diaper, then clean him up and get him dressed.  i think he's probably just eating too much too fast, because it doesn't happen at any other feeding, and daycare says he's not doing it for them.  i've tried hand-expressing a bit before nursing him but that doesn't really seem to help.  he definitely isn't in any distress from it.  he pukes, then looks at me and bursts into a big grin.  stinker.

in general, we have a really good baby.  he is very quiet and content.  daycare again commented that he really doesn't cry much at all, just for the "necessities," like when he's hungry.  they said he loves to just sit and watch the other kids.  i took him out for dinner the other night with a friend of mine, and he behaved so well that other diners were commenting on how good he was!  we really are super lucky.  i think the most exciting thing for this month was meeting his new cousin.  and let's be honest - that was more exciting for mommy than it was for daxon!

matt's a homebrewer, so i could not pass up this awesome "assistant brewer" onesie

from my first mother's day

bigfoot

all smiles

 if you follow me on instagram, you've seen these pictures already....

sunday morning storytime - this is our favorite book

phillies day at daycare!

mommy and daddy were being silly, recreating fear and loathing in las vegas.  with our 4-month old.

how funky is your chicken?!

  happy 4 month birthday, baby boy!!

3 months

 

our baby boy turned 3 months last week (oops i'm a little late)!  i feel like my past month updates have been a little scattered so i'm going to use a little bit of a prompting thingie (very technical term, you know) to help me organize my thoughts.

nicknames: dax, d, bubbers, and munchkin.  i also was calling him pasta fadrool one night because matt was talking about making pasta fagiole, and daxon was drooling like a maniac (like he likes to do), and mommy's a huge dork.

likes: dancing and singing with mommy, drooling, working out with daddy, practicing grabbing at things, laughing at his goober parents, bounding on the yoga ball, and baths (finally, yay!)

dislikes: the nosefrida, taking zantac, my car seat, being hungry, and tummy time.

milestones: the social smiles are coming a mile a minute, mostly because mommy and daddy are probably two of the biggest weirdos on the planet and will do anything they can think of to make him smile.  he also started grabbing things, just within the past 2 weeks, i'd say.  he loves the o'ball, especially.  daycare tells us he's starting to lift his head more during tummy time.  i know they work on it with him a lot at daycare, so i tend to not do it in the evenings (it makes him so cranky!), so i look forward to seeing how he does this weekend.

clothing size: officially out of the 0-3 month stuff.  most 3-month stuff fits well, though some of it is a little snug due to the extra bulk of the cloth diapers.  3-6 month stuff is a little big.

sleep: still sleeping like a champ.  he typically sleeps from about 8:30-6.  most mornings i have to wake him up at 6.  he goes down easily after falling asleep nursing.  part of me worries about nursing him to sleep, but then he also will go down if matt gives him a bottle.  eventually we will probably try to start putting him down without having him fall asleep eating, but for now it works, and i think that is part of why he's sleeping through the night - he goes to bed with a really full tummy!  daycare reports his naps to us, and they are still kind of sporadic.  sometimes he naps mutliple times in the mornings, then is awake all afternoon. sometimes he doesn't sleep at all in the morning then takes a 2-hour nap in the afternoon.  

now that i've been back to work for 2 weeks, we have a pretty good schedule figured out.  i get up at 5am (ok, my alarm is set for 5:07, but i snooze once and then actually get up at 5:17).  i shower, do my makeup, and dry and straighten my hair.  this usually takes me about 45 minutes.  when i finish that, i go wake up daxon.  i wake him up, change his diaper, and get him dressed for the day.  then i feed him for about 20 minutes (that's usually all he'll eat).  once he's done eating, i either put him back in his crib if he's fallen back asleep (which has only happened 2x in 2 weeks) or i bring him up to our bedroom with me.  i pump off the other side while talking to him, then matt takes him downstairs while i finish getting ready.  the one morning that i tried to let him sleep in a little and nursed him after i got dressed, he had a massive spit-up and i ended up having to change.  so now i nurse him before i get dressed!  i am out the door by 7:20 to catch my 7:28 train, and matt drops him off at daycare around 7:45.  i catch the 5:07 train home and pick him up around 5:45.  we get home and i nurse him, then hand him over to matt while i cook dinner.  daxon plays on his playmat while we eat (unless he's being fussy, then we eat in shifts so one of us can be holding/entertaining him), then matt takes him up for a bath while i get his bags and bottles ready for the next day.  after his bath, i take over the bedtime routine, and we are back to our normal thing: lotion massage, singing "lullaby," and nursing to sleep. 

we started cloth diapering 2 weeks ago (the saturday after my first day back to work).  so far, we love it.  no blowouts, and only a couple pee leaks (i think because the diaper wasn't put on correctly).  he stays comfortable enough that it's not waking him at night, so i don't feel like we need to add any inserts or use disposables at night (yet).  it probably is only about 1 extra load of laundry a week.  his bum hasn't had any issues (we never had a full diaper rash in the 'sposies, but his bum occasionally looked irritated - i would start generously applying diaper rash cream as soon as i noticed it to catch it before it got worse).  and they are so stinkin cute.  i'll do a more detailed post on it in the future.

the zantac seems to be helping his reflux issues.  eventually we'll have to increase the dose, but for now 1mg seems to be working just fine. 

i am pumping 4-5 times a day - first thing in the morning (i pump the side he doesn't nurse on), then 3 times at work (9:15, 12:15, and 3:15), then once right before bed (so that i don't wake up engorged).  my supply is great, and i usually am able to pump enough in one day to fill his bottles for daycare, plus have some extra to add to my frozen stash.  he gets 3 5oz bottles at daycare, though he doesn't always take the whole thing at each feeding.  they dump anything that's left, which freaked me out at first, but now that i know my supply can handle it, i'm not so upset about it.

he seems to be adjusting great to daycare.  he eats well while there.  and they are doing the cloth diapers with us, which i love.  we get reports at the end of every day, and they always say how smiley he is.  even though he is in the infant room,i think he's the only infant there, so he gets to hang out with the big kids a lot, and they seem to love him.  this might concern some parents, but i happen to think it's great - the more people he's around, the better his language development.  i'd be more worried about him sitting all isolated in the infant room with just him and the teacher!

and, of course, gratuitous pictures of the little stinker for you...

He is pretty much always this happy when he wakes up

plotting his next evil deed...puking all over mama!

helping mama put away the laundry

snuggles

looking like such a little man in his striped polo

sunday morning storytime - our favorite book

lovin the wubbanub (aka, wubby)

and from our 3-month photo shoot, a few silly outtakes...

i am not impressed

c'mon, mom...seriously?!

my feet are far more interesting than this stupid photo shoot

can i please get back to wubby, now?

fine...then i'll just eat my hands

2 months

wow...2 whole months.  matt and i were talking about it sunday night.  it feels like daxon has been with us for much longer than 2 months.  I am now having a hard time remembering what our life was like before him, and who i was before i was his mother.  it feels like this is who I was supposed to be - not just a mother but daxon's mother.  he is the child i was always meant to have.  things happened in my life to ensure that he would be a part of it.  by being his mother, i am fulfilling a destiny.

it's been a really cool month, watching him grow and develop.  this month he really started responding to us and communicating with us.  as we all get to know each other better, it's fun to see his little personality come through.

sleep
he is still sleeping fantastically at night.  we hit a bit of a regression at 8 weeks, but even then he was still sleeping through the night, per the experts (5 solid hours is considered sleeping through the night).  he typically goes down around 9-9:30 and sleeps till about 5.  the past 2 nights he's slept till 6:30!  during the 8-week wonder week (the 2nd leap), he was back to waking up around 3:30, and getting him to bed was a nearly 2-hour process.  but it only lasted a few days, so i really can't complain.

from baby connect - this shows his longest sleep duration for each day.  you can clearly see when he was in the wonder week, and when he started coming out of it.  awesome!

napping, on the other hand, doesn't go so well.  i am having a hard time getting him to nap anywhere other than on me.  if I transfer him to the crib, he will wake up within minutes.  he will fall asleep in the car, but the car had to remain in motion - if we stop for too long, he's awake...and none to pleased to be in his car seat.  he really is not a fan of that thing.  i continue to try to get him to nap in the crib because he needs to be able to do that for daycare - the workers are probably not going to hold him for his naps!

eat
he continues to be a champion eater.  in fact, i may go as far as calling him a marathon eater.  his nursing sessions often last upwards of 40 minutes, which is way too long, if you ask me.  he also takes a bottle every evening from matt, and so far has shown no signs of nipple confusion - he switches back and forth seamlessly.  we use tommee tippee bottles, which i had chosen because i thought they resembled a boob and would lessen the likelihood fir confusion.  clearly, i am a genius (ha ha ha).  other than him being a lazy eater, i have no complaints in the eating area.

reflux
this has been the biggest stressor for us, obviously.  in my initial post about reflux,I said that we were starting him on zantac, and that we were aghast going to try to switch bottles.  I'm not sure if it was one of those things or a combination of the two, but he definitely seems better.  he is less fussy in the evenings after his bottle, which is awesome.  matt actually gets to play with him, rather than just desperately try to comfort him.  i look forward to speaking with the pediatrician today to see what her thoughts are.  he hates the zantac, and i can understand why - it tastes like rumpleminz (my best friend would love it).  he makes the worst face in the world when i give it to him.  

fun stuff
he is responding to us so much, now.  he thinks mommy is the biggest goofball on the planet (probably true). every morning when he wakes up for the day, i put the raffi station on pandora on my phone and we sing and dance and play along with the music.  he smiles his big adorable toothless gummy smile, and i ham it up even more because there is nothing i love more than making him smile.

he will follow us with his eyes.  when daddy gets home and says hi as he walks in the room, he will turn his head to see where the noise came from.  on his 2-month birthday, he suddenly noticed his hands.  he's been chewing on them for a few weeks, but on sunday he suddenly seemed to realize that he has some control over them!  he and daddy like to work out together.  matt lays him on his back on his lap (with his head on the arm of the couch) and does sit ups (pulling him up by his arms - great for head/neck strength), lat pull-downs (matt holds his hand and pulls against daxon pulling back), and shoulder presses (daxon punches matt's hand, and matt pushes back against it).  it's pretty funny to watch, and seems ridiculous, but daxon seems to love it, so - hey - whatever works!

padfoot is pretty funny!