A new week

I swear, if you rely on only this blog for info about our little family you are probably a bit behind...I am so sorry. We really had a rough few (2? 3?) weeks. Little Sir went through what we think was a growth spurt, he started eating tremendous amounts (5-7 oz at a time, 7-8 times a day, plus formula before bed) and was either not sleeping at all during the day or getting up every 2 hours at night to eat...or combinations of any of those things. In addition, last week was my first week back to work full time. So overall, it's really been difficult for me to keep up with everything and the blog is the first thing to go.

You'll be happy to know that I have not slacked off on taking pictures or little videos. I just hadn't had the chance to upload them.

I have a lot of cute little video clips and I don't want to post them all on one day, so I am going to set them to publish one video per day, all this week. A whole week of Little Sir! This way everyone will be all caught up on what he's been doing lately. So keep checking back! And don't forget, there are more pictures here on Flickr.

The latest things:

• We weighed Little Sir on a baby scales last week that one of my friends had and he was 16 lbs with all of his clothing on (including a jacket)!
• He is loving his Bumbo now, and is constantly doing little mini "sit ups" when he is reclined. 
• He rolls from his tummy to his back occasionally - not every time he is on his tummy, but when he wants to. 
• Nanny reports that he can now tolerate having 3 books in a row read to him. If you've ever babysat him, you know this is big for him, he gets overstimulated very easily!
• He is enjoying tummy time more now and can touch things with his hands while he's on his tummy.
• He is grabbing EVERYTHING with his hands (like mommy's hair) and most of the time aiming to direct them straight into his mouth.
• He loves to talk and talk, especially when sitting in his swing or crib when he is supposed to be napping.
• We now have to strap him in to the swing or the car seat the whole time he is in them (even when the car seat is not in the car) because he will "scooch" himself down and out with his strong legs.

And now for some pictures.

I started to post this first picture when I realized that he has gotten so much more stable in the Bumbo between when the first and second pictures were taken...

 

Cousin Natali and Uncle Josh

 

 

His friend Rayah

His friend Isolé

Playing with Daddy!

PawPaw (a video of Little Sir and Nanny coming up this week)

3 Michaels (I love this outfit!)

Having a bath

Surviving

We are still here, we are all still alive - thank you for the prayers and concern after the last post!

As far as nursing, we are adding formula in the evenings and I am trying to keep up with pumping but I am producing less and less, even while taking fenugreek and Mother's Milk tea. The hospital grade pump is nice but it can't make something from nothing!

Little Sir is now wanting to eat every 2 hours sometimes, the amount of food he is wanting to eat is INSANE. Something like 5 oz each time and he would eat more if I had more to give him. And before bed he needs something like 8 oz. Even then, he still wakes up once a night wanting an additional feeding (which is just fine with me - once is better than every 2 hours!).

On Saturday he pulled an insane trick of staying up without napping for 12 hours straight. He was in good spirits except for the occasional outburst of overtiredness, and the crying when we tried to make him nap. He tried to repeat this no-sleeping performance today but has accidentally fallen asleep 3 times, once after we walked him around the mall purposefully to exhaust him. Another time he fell asleep right before we were going to attend evening church. We were so excited that he was actually sleeping that we missed church.

On the developmental end, he's rolled over a few more times on purpose, although he still forgets how he did it. He is gaining quite a bit of trunk strength, as you can see from this picture - we are helping him practice by sitting him in the Bumbo. His favorite toy to play with while in the Bumbo is a burp cloth. All the money we spend on educational and healthy toys and he loves playing with a burp cloth!

Speaking of toys, he can now hold them and put them directly into his mouth, which he greatly enjoys. He can hold things that make crinkly noises and smash them against his face, also very cute!

Benjamin John Edinger

Benjamin John Edinger was called home to be with his Lord and Savior on January 18, 2010. Mr. Edinger was born on October 18, 1918, in Pingree, North Dakota, to John and Mary Edinger along with six brothers and two sisters. Ben graduated from Carrington High School in 1937 and then joined the U.S. Navy, serving on a destroyer ship in WWII for four years. Following the war, he returned home and married his lifelong wife, Frieda Pepple then raised twins Jerome and Janell. Ben was also one of four Edinger brothers and one sister who formed a gospel quartet that became known in the North Dakota churches in the 1940's and 50's.

Mr. Edinger spent most of his career as a barber in Carrington, North Dakota but also managed his own hotel and a Motel 6 in Fargo, North Dakota in later years. In 1997, he moved to East Texas to be near his children and later became a member of Oakland Heights Baptist Church. Mr. Edinger was always active in church leadership and often led music. He was preceded in death by his parents, five brothers, and one sister.

Survivors include his wife of 63 years, Frieda Edinger; his brother, Clayton Edinger of Grand Forks, North Dakota; son and daughter-in-law, Jerome and Donna Edinger of Kilgore, Texas; daughter and son-in-law, Dr. Timothy and Janell Edwards of Giddings, Texas; three grandchildren, Joshua Edinger of Longview, Texas, Jennifer Bradford of Dallas, Texas, and James Edwards of Longview, Texas. He was also proud of his two great-grandchildren, Natali Edinger and Asher Bradford.

A funeral service will be held in the Chapel of Rader Funeral Home of Longview at 1617 Judson Road in Longview, Texas at 11 a.m. on Thursday January 21, 2010, followed by a reception for the family.
The family requests that memorial donations be made to Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, 1 Billy Graham Parkway Charlotte, NC 28201.

A memorial guestbook may be signed at www.raderfh.com

What's going on?

You might be wondering where we have been. We have had a very rough last week or so. First there was what we think was a growth spurt, for whatever reason Little Sir went back to waking up every 1-2 hours every night for about 4-5 days, and had one day where he was fussy all day long. The fussy day just happened to be the day we were originally planning a date night because some friends of ours were going to babysit. Needless to say, that didn't happen.

** Warning: I am about to talk about breastfeeding. **

I was trying to bottle feed expressed milk this whole time to make sure he was getting enough (the only way I could tell how much he was getting was to express and put it in the bottle...). The pump is not as efficient as the baby, perhaps, and I was getting no sleep. One day I didn't eat breakfast until 11 AM. Those of you who know me know that is not like me at all.

In addition, Little Sir's "Popsie" --my grandfather and his great-grandfather-- passed away on Monday. I would post pictures but unfortunately we never got any pictures of them together. We will be traveling to the funeral very early and back the same day. For whatever reason or a combination of the above, I stopped producing milk late Monday evening. After talking with the pediatrician, 3 kind friends, and finally a lactation consultant, I ended up having to give him formula that night before bed.

Although the lactation consultant does not know about the formula -- and shhhhhh! -- she does not need to know! I am sure not going to tell her.

We are working on getting my milk production back up but it turns out that what we have is a combination of nipple confusion (Little Sir will no longer nurse at all, he will only take a bottle) and a bad breast pump that isn't really expressing anything. I am driving out to Garland today to rent a hospital-grade pump before we leave for East Texas to see if that helps.

We might be in for a few more rough days with all the traveling (did I mention he still hates the car? and we that we will be driving around 6 hours in one day?) and the failed feedings.

I will try to keep updating as I can but right now I am doing good to be able make it to work. I am not going to pretend I am doing a very good job there, either. It is possible that I did fall asleep multiple times today while someone was talking to me.

We haven't really had any really food that I have cooked in about a week. I have all the supplies for several meals but I just can't get them together in the evenings, considering I can't put Little Sir down and he is even refusing to be worn in the slings or wraps...long story.

I think we might have some pictures but I can't find the time to figure out where they are and upload them.

Also it occurred to me that our floors are filthy and I can't figure out when I would possibly be able to vacuum.


So yeah, that is how it is going over here. Maybe I will post again, say, next week.

Other Babies

Today the other babies in our Square One playgroup/mommy group came and visited Little Sir.

Here he is holding hands with his friend Levi...

...trying once again to hit on the ladies...unsuccessfully, again

...and Levi giving his ear a twist (maybe he wanted that lady?)!

I thought it was funny but Little Sir did not.

For Christmas, Little Sir got this lovely plush ring toy from GramE and GrampE which has a mirror on its bottom. The other day when I was working I came through and Nanny had set him up for tummy time with the mirror in front of him, he was smiling and talking to the "other baby" in the mirror:

First days back to work

My official first day back at work was actually December 29 and 30, but at that time our nanny was still finishing up her previous position so both Christian and I worked from home on those days and took turns taking care of Little Sir while attempting to get some work done. Not the most ideal situation, I can tell you!

Trying to do both things left us both relying on Little Sir's ability to nap for long periods of time (which he does not always do) and to amuse himself while he was awake. I felt really guilty about this because he wasn't getting the kind of attention he wanted or needed. No one to read to him or listen to him babble or encourage him when he did his tummy time.

This week was the first week with our wonderful nanny and it was so much better!
I *heart* our nanny!
I don't typically put names on my blog or pictures unless I have the permission of the person I am mentioning, so I will just call her Nanny but she has been such a blessing! She does so many things to make work so much easier for me. I shut myself up in the front room with my computer and I can hear Little Sir just talking and babbling and having fun in the living room with her. Unfortunately it has been so cold they haven't been able to get out for walks or other activities. But every day he has been so tired from all the playing he has done!

One time when I came into the kitchen she was holding up his sock monkey and he was having a long and enthusiastic conversation with the sock monkey. It was so cute! It is also difficult for me to go back into my "office" at those times and not want to play with him. I try to stay out of Nanny's way because I trust her completely and I don't want to mess up whatever she's got going on. Also, I know that one day Little Sir will be able to recognize me from farther away in the room and he might throw a fit if he can see me when he is supposed to be playing with Nanny!

So, it's been hard to leave him alone while he is so close, but at the same time it has been nice to be able to take a break from caregiving for a few days. I am getting better at the dreaded pumping and I feel like I am getting back into the groove at work.

I was also so thankful that Nanny picked right up on the cloth diapering and even noticed that it was time to do a load of diapers when I hadn't got around to it yet - what a huge blessing!! I was a little worried at first that it would be too much trouble but she is very flexible, which is great.

The big challenge now is how to add grocery shopping and cooking meals to this balancing act...

Christmas time

Sorry this took so long, but I know that I never posted the Christmas pictures! They are up on Flickr now, and a few are below with details that aren't on Flickr.

First, we went to Kilgore on Christmas Eve and stayed there through Monday morning. Little Sir got a lot of great toys we will be taking pictures of in the coming months! We got to see some of my friends from high school while we were there, most of whom live in Austin & surrounding areas now, but whose parents also still live in Kilgore. We visited the new coffee shop in downtown Kilgore and it was really nice! Although we are still sad about Mugshot closing, it is nice to know there is still somewhere to meet up. Then on Monday morning before leaving we got to visit with Aunt Janell and Uncle Tim for breakfast!

Here is Little Sir carrying on a long conversation with Grampa Stengele and Joy on Christmas day:

With Grammy (my mom)

The monkey Little Sir got from Leanna - I wish I had taken one of Leanna & Little Sir!

Monday morning - Aunt Janell & Little Sir! He had fun talking to everyone, right before he had a meltdown in IHOP :-(

Oh and while we were there, we took advantage of free babysitting to go out to a little restaurant in Longview called Fritz's to celebrate our 4 year annivesary! It is not the overnight getaway we usually have, because Little Sir still isn't sleeping through the night and I hate to have Grammy and Grampy get up at 3 AM with him, but it was still a nice time together!
Happy 4 years, Christian - I love you!

Rolling over!!

Little Sir is rolling over!!

Yesterday twice when I set him down for Tummy Time, he rolled immediately onto his back as soon as I let go of him, but I actually just figured I had set him on his side by mistake. Then today, when our new nanny was here and we were playing with him together for tummy time, he did it on his own from just sitting there! She saw it too!!

Later, after she left I put him on his tummy and turned my back to pick up the cat's food bowl to feed her, and when I turned back, he was on his back, looking surprised! So after I fed the cats, I went and got the camera and held it on him until he did it again!

So, here it is!

On a related note, this might explain why his nighttime sleep was all messed up last night and today he was sleeping wacky...

Question: middle of the night bottles

OK I have a question for all the moms out there regarding middle-of-the-night feedings.

Right now Little Sir does still wake up once at 3 or 4 AM for food. The only way we know he is up is that he starts crying. He increases the volume and insistence of his crying until the food hits his mouth, if you know what I mean. It's not too hard for me to get to him and nurse him pretty quickly before the crying is urgent. But, if his dad attempts to get up instead, it takes 15 minutes or more to heat up a bottle of expressed milk. By then, Little Sir has been SCREAMING like a maniac for 15-20 minutes. A pacifier does nothing, he knows that's not food.

The problem is, there is no way I can sleep through 15-20 minutes of screaming while the bottle is being heated. So honestly, there is no way Christian can give me a break for that overnight feeding - I don't care where in the house they are, the crying is deafening by the time the bottle is heated and there is no way anyone could sleep through it.

How do people typically handle this? I always hear about this "great debate" regarding who gets up with the baby. I have no idea how this could be even an issue since there is no way Christian could do the feeding?? I would love to have a break once in a while from the middle-of-the-night feeding but so far that has been completely unsuccessful. Can anyone tell me what I am doing wrong here?

Cute things

In random Little Sir news, here are some cute things he does:

• When I put him to bed at night, he just lies there smiling at me. He has never minded being in his crib, he just lies there quietly until he falls asleep. Don't get envious, he doesn't do this for naps, only at night.
• Instead of napping, like he is doing right now, he lies in his swing just talking to himself for about an hour sometimes before he falls asleep. Last night he talked all the way through an episode of 30 Rock. I am going to video this one day.
• He drools and blows bubbles a lot now. Ok so the drooling isn't that cute when it gets on me.
  

And one not-so-cute thing: he still doesn't sleep longer than 5 hours at night. It's 5 hours and then 2-3 hours, meaning I get up once at 3-4 AM and then again at 5-6 AM.  I thought this was awesome until I found out that most babies his age are sleeping through the night.

Yes, we do "kind of" have a schedule again. As much as we did before, which was just that he has certain times of day that he naps. For the most part he can go almost 3 hours between feedings unless something throws him off. Like today when he woke up from his nap and it had only been 2 hours since he last ate, but he decided he was starving RIGHT THEN. I will not let him cry for a full hour when he is obviously hungry, that is ridiculous in my opinion. I can tell what a hunger cry is. We made sure it wasn't a dirty diaper and then I just went ahead and fed him.

I still haven't uploaded the holiday pictures of him with family, but hopefully I can do that soon.