Yikes! Time got a way from me!

It has been WAY too long since my last post! Tommy is now 8 months old.

He is wearing size 4 diapers and size 9 month or 9-12 month clothing (some 6-12 month from Gymboree). He still has 2 teeth and is able to go from sitting to his belly. He army crawls, pulling himself along the floor by his arms with his belly on the floor.

He says mamamama, dadadada, bababababa, and many other sounds. He can give high fives, wave bye-bye, and give kisses. He drinks 3, 6oz bottles of formula a day as well as breastfeeding 2-3 times a day.

He has recently begun to sleep through the night, like for real sleeping through, not the 5+hour straight stretches that the doctors like to tell us counts. He goes to bed at 8pm and sleeps until about 5 or 6am. He is sooooooo much fun and I'm loving this stage!

7 Months!

Tommy was 7 months old on March 7! I can't believe how fast the last month went! I know February is a short month but since it was a leap year, it really was only 1 or 2 days shorter.

• Tommy is now wearing size 3 diapers during the day but size 4, overnight diapers at night.
• He has outgrown most of his 6 month size clothes and is wearing some 6-9 months and a bunch of 9 month clothes.
  
• He still isn't rolling from back to front and rarely rolls from belly to back. He's typically content however we lay him.
  
• He sits up unassisted but we have to put him that way.
  
• He will stand and hold on to things for about 30 seconds on his own before he loses his balance.
  
• He has 2 teeth!
  
• His belly has decided to accept oatmeal and Tommy loves it!
  
• He's still drinking his milk and eating 2 solid meals each day.
  
• He laughs and gives big sloppy kisses!
  
• When he's not sick, he rarely eats overnight though he typically wakes up at least once for his binky.
  

I love him so much!

My Big Boy!

On Wednesday, Tommy couldn't sit on his own. We have been practicing for a couple of weeks now but he would just tip one way or the other. On Thursday, he sat for a few seconds at a time as long as he didn't try to turn one way or the other. By Friday he could steady himself and hold himself up for a minute or two at a time. Today, he sat for about 15 minutes on his own. It's amazing how quickly they change!

Last night, Bill was playing with him and he stood, holding his jumperoo, by himself, for almost a full minute. He's such a big boy!

4 Months Old!

Tommy is 4 months old! He is 14lbs 4oz and 25 inches long. He is in size 2 diapers during the day and size 3s at night since he has been wetting through. He is still wearing some 3 month size clothes but we are starting to put him in 6 month size in some things. He is still drinking 6 oz bottles while at daycare and breastfeeding at night and on the weekends. We tried rice cereal as directed by the pediatrician and while he liked the taste, it gave him terrible gas pains. We are putting cereal on hold for another month. He is still teething and although you can see his little top teeth right below the gums, none have popped out yet. He is batting at toys and just yesterday realized that he can pull down the vibrating toys and does it constantly! He getting so aware of his surroundings!

I am so thankful that we have such a happy, healthy boy!

Sorry I've been MIA

It has been far too long since my last post. This is mostly due to the fact that life has definitely picked up! Work days consist of getting ready, going to work, picking up Tommy, cuddling/feeding Tommy, bottles and prep for the next day, bed, rinse, repeat. Weekends are filled with laundry, lesson planning, grocery shopping, and trying to see family and friends. Don't get me wrong, I love it, but it doesn't leave me much free time for things like blogging!

So a rundown:

Tommy is 3 months old!!!
He's still in size 1 diapers but will be graduating to size 2s once this box of 1s is used up.
He is wearing size 3 month clothes comfortably.
He is drinking 6oz bottles while at daycare and I'm almost pumping enough so that he can have all breastmilk.
He is taking at least one nice long nap a day as well as a few shorter naps.
HE SLEPT THROUGH THE NIGHT!!!! Last Friday night, he slept from 8pm-7am!!! Then Sunday night he slept from 7pm-5am, ate and went back down until 7. Last night he slept from 7:30-6:30 waking up once because he was all congested. Once I held him upright for a couple of minutes, he went right back to sleep.
He is consistently rolling from belly to back and is trying to go from back to belly.
He is smiling daily and babbling away.

An update on the dairy sensitivity, Tommy is a completely new baby! His gas has decreased considerably. He is much happier and is much more relaxed. I used to lay my hand on his belly and feel gas bubbles moving around. He would pull his legs up to his belly and wince in pain everyday, multiple times a day. This is completely gone! Now, he basically cries when he's hungry or tired.

Being a mom is very hard and giving up dairy is difficult but it's so worth it. I'm so in love with my little guy!

Two Months!

Tommy is 2 months old today!!!
Tommy is 11lbs 14ozs and 23 inches long. He is getting much better at napping and sleeping at night by himself. He's definitely not sleeping through the night but he does sleep all night long. He goes to sleep around 10 and sleeps until about 8am just waking up to eat every 3 hours or so. He was sleeping longer stretches but has been waking up more since he's been in his PNP. It's okay though, I think he'll start lengthening the stretches soon. I'm not sure what will happen when I go back to work next week but I'm hoping he'll adjust easily! Happy 2 months Tommy, we love you!

Ok, I'm feeling much better since the last post. I've decided to stop pushing the whole sleeping-in-the-Pack-N-Play thing. If Tommy will sleep in the Rock-N-Play or bouncy chair, then great.

Ok, Tommy is 5 weeks old! Let's celebrate some milestones!

1. The newborn sized diapers are too small now. We're on to size 1s!
2. Along with the diapers, newborn sized clothes are mostly too small too! On to 0-3 month size!
3. My little man is incredibly strong! He's holding his head up longer and moving it from side to side with ease while laying on our chests. He's also bearing weight on his feet. We will hold him up in front of us and he straightens his legs right out and loves when we bounce him on his feet (not too much weight though!).
4. This isn't a great milestone but we had our first "sick" visit to the doctor. Last Monday, we woke up to Tommy's eye glued shut with goop. I used a warm, wet washcloth to clean it off and checked him out. The whites of his eyes weren't pink or red so I didn't think it was pink eye but I called the pediatrician anyway. They had us come in the next day since Monday was a holiday and it turns out he has a blocked tear duct. They said to use cotton balls to keep his eye clean and to massage the tear duct several times a day. Luckily for us, it hasn't seemed to bother Tommy at all.
5. This is a big one, Tommy went from 12:30pm-6:00am last night without a feeding! Now, he did wake up twice with gas bubbles so we didn't really sleep straight through, but I have high hopes that this will come soon!
6. Tommy took a bottle of formula last night without a fight and actually seemed to like it! While Bill gave him the bottle, I pumped and got 4.5 oz! This gives me high hopes that I'll be able to get some good amounts when I go back to work and hopefully will have a big enough freezer stash that if I stop producing much milk, we'll still be able to feed him breastmilk for a while.

In other news, my maternity leave is officially up as of September 21 when I go to the doctor for my 6 week postpartum appointment. I have enough sick time accrued to get me through mid-October if the school district will approve the leave. However, this year is my tenure year and I can't get a straight answer as to whether taking more time will affect my tenure date. I've been calling, emailing, and even visiting personnel and can't get an answer. The woman who should have the answer told me she had to "research it further" and would get back to me. That was yesterday and she won't answer my calls today. So frustrating! I can't be the first teacher to go out on extended childcare leave during her tenure year.

In mommy news, I tried on a pair of my pre-pregnancy jeans today. They were the first ones I could find and are a pair of the smaller ones, but they went on and zipped! They button, but not comfortably and I have a lovely muffin top, but the fact remains that I can put them on! It gives me hope that I'll get back into my pre-pregnancy clothes soon enough!

I took this video this morning, my baby boy must have been having some sweet dreams!

1 Month

Tommy is officially 1 month old today!

He is 9lbs 4 ozs as of yesterday's trip to the doctor (clogged tear duct)! I'm so happy he is gaining weight and growing like a weed. He celebrated by sleeping from 9pm - 2am last night! That's 5 hours! Of course, the rest of the night didn't go quite as well but hey, it's a start!

3 weeks

The 3 week growth spurt is no joke. And no fun. Ouch.

Officially at Full Term

Today I am officially 37 weeks pregnant and at full term! I can't believe I'm here, 3 weeks from my due date! I do know that most first time moms go late and I could still have another 5 weeks before our little guy is here but to know that if I went into labor now, he would be born and fully developed, kinda freaks me out! We now have pretty much everything that we need to bring him home. I'm sure there is plenty we don't have but I don't think we're missing anything crucial (I hope!). My dad is coming over today to help me with the blinds for the windows. I hope they work! Then I can get the curtains up and finish decorating. The glider still hasn't been delivered but should be soon. The extra car seat base arrived so we can get those installed as soon as Bill has a day off. EEEEEEKKKKKKK!!!

In other news, I went to the breastfeeding on Monday. I definitely learned some information but it was not what I hoped it would be. Bill didn't go because the class went from 6:30-9:00 and he had to get up at 3:00am to go to work. I figured since he's been to all of the other classes, I'd let him sleep! Basically the class was a very basic, intro to breast feeding. Don't get me wrong, I did learn some things, but for the most part it was information that I either knew already or read in a book recently. I was really hoping for more information about pumping and making breastfeeding work when I return to my job. They did say that they offer another class (also free) specifically for this purpose but you don't take it until after you have the baby. While this does make sense, I'm afraid I wouldn't be able to focus on the information in the class with a newborn!

They did tell us that the in-house pharmacy sells breast pumps as cost! They aren't the lowest prices I've seen (on sale and with coupons) that people on the Bump have posted but definitely cheaper than anything I've been able to find. I'll most likely just go through them. The other thing they told us is that they have lactation consultants available to answer questions and/or meet with us free of charge. I'm thinking about taking the course after I give birth but then also meeting with an LC if I don't feel like I got enough out of the class. I'll figure it out.

Hoppy Easter!

Happy Easter! Baby boy decided to celebrate by letting Bill feel him kick for the first time :)

Feeling kicks

The baby has been kicking up a storm this week! It's so cool to feel :) He's kicking my bladder and making me pee more often but I'm okay with that because just sitting there feeling him move is so amazing. I felt him kick from the outside on Sunday and it was cool but I was battling a stomach bug and it was really more of a pain than exciting since every time he kicked, my stomach would lurch. For the past couple of days though, as soon as he starts kicking I yell to Bill to come put his hand on my belly. As soon as he does though, the baby seems to calm down and stop. It's kind of humorous to me! He'll be practically doing back flips then Bill will put his hand on my belly right where mine was and he'll stop!

Last night before we went to sleep, we laid in bed for a full half hour watching TV with Bill's hand on my belly and he never moved. As soon as he took his hand off, the baby started doing the can-can! I told Bill that all this means is he's has a calming effect on the baby and after he is born, as soon as he starts getting fussy, I'll give the baby to him and he'll calm down! Sweet! lol I know that as small kids, my dad could pick my sister and I up and move us around when we were asleep and my mom never could without waking us up. Maybe our baby will be just like me.

We're having a....

Boy!!! We went to the anatomy scan yesterday at 2:00 and the tech started right away. First she looked at my cervix and then showed us the baby's brain. She said she was going to work down from the top so I settled in to see my beautiful baby for a bit. She did lots of measurements and got a great shot of the four chambers of the heart. She did have to bop my belly a bit because our baby had his arm over his chest and was blocking the heart! Next she looked at the belly and the kidneys. Then she asked if we wanted to know the sex, after I said yes, I thought we'd go there next and got major butterflies! Bill grabbed my hand with his clammy one and we held our breath! Of course she then took measurements of the femur and showed us the feet kicking away (so cute!) then finally I saw the little horseshoe shape of the legs and bottom. At first I didn't see anything so I thought it was a girl, then it looked like something was there, then it disappeared and I had no clue! After a couple of attempts, she got a clear shot and said, "well that's a penis so it's a boy!" Bill did a small happy dance and I burst into tears!
After the scan, we met with the midwife in the practice and she told us that all of the measurements were perfect and talked to me a little about some questions I had (leg cramps at night, she told me to take a calcium supplement) and off we went!

We went and got an opaque bin, some blue balloons, and some I love Grandma and I love Grandpa bibs for our parents and spread the news!
We are so excited! Now we have to start talking about boy names!

Here's the best profile picture the tech was about to get:

Eeeeeeeeeee

7 hours until our anatomy scan!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Heart burn and Movement

I woke up this morning with terrible heartburn to the point where I thought I might vomit. It was pretty uncomfortable but I ended up all but forgetting about it because our little wiggle worm has been moving like crazy today! Up until today I've only felt a few flutters from time to time but I swear this baby was swimming laps all day today! It was definitely more than just flutters but it's hard to explain. Basically it was just awesome.


1 week until our anatomy scan <3

Sore throat, Coming out, and Anniversaries

It was just a matter of time before I'd get my first pregnant cold. I teach 6 and 7 year olds. They are extremely germy. I practically bathe in hand sanitizer all day long but my efforts are always futile because I tend to get sick about once a month from October to April. This is a very strange cold though. My throat feels raw, like I ate sand paper. The even stranger part is, that's it! I'm tired and slightly achy but just a sore throat, no head congestion, no chest congestion, and it's not strep. I've had it since Wednesday which is a very long time for me to have a sore throat! They always either turn into something else or I'm clawing for antibiotics because it's strep. As of today, I'm starting to feel less like I'm swallowing glass and more like I'm swallowing fire. I can handle it at this point.

I'm glad I'm feeling better because we've had plans all week to go out to dinner with our friends Kayla and Pat. Kayla is my third cousin and good friend. Pat is her boyfriend and Bill's best friend. It's so convenient with your friends are a couple! We also asked Bill's other best friend, Andy to go with us (my bff knows, she lives in DC and I'm in her wedding in June, I needed to let her now why I was postponing buying a bridesmaids dress!). We asked them to go out to dinner with us because we're planning on telling them we're pregnant tonight! I can't wait! We started spreading the news today. I called my dad's three sisters and my closest cousin who lives in DC. My parents are calling everyone else (I have a ridiculously huge family) on my side. Bill gave his mom the go ahead to spread the news to his side. I'm sure they all know by now!

And last, today is Bill and my 3 month wedding anniversary. We aren't the type to celebrate month milestones but I like to mention it if I remember. Today is also my friend Lauren and her husband's 3 month anniversary! We met over on the knot and are now due 4 days apart in August. Happy Anniversary Lauren!

Weekly Check-In (7 weeks)

How far along? 7 weeks 5 days
Weight gain/loss: +1 pound
Maternity clothes? I need bigger bras.
Sleep? Loving it.
Best moment this past week? Being on vacation from work!
Food cravings: Pancakes!
Sex: We will be finding out, not sure yet.
Belly button in or out? In
Movement: Only gas...
What I miss? Not lying to people!
What I'm looking forward to this week: Being referred to an OB.
Milestones: Our little bugger's fingers and toes are beginning to form!

Weekly Check-In (6 weeks)

How far along? 6 weeks 5 days
Weight gain/loss: 0 pounds
Maternity clothes? I need bigger bras, and my sister gave me some of her awesome elastic waist pants. I ordered a pair from here and I can't wait for them to arrive!
Sleep? Loving it.
Best moment this week? I had an u/s on the 23rd and got to see our little bugger's heartbeat!
Food cravings: Peppermint
Sex: I think it's a girl but I'm not basing it on much.
Belly button in or out? In
Movement: Only gas...
What I miss? As terrible as it sounds, wine.
What I'm looking forward to: Being referred to an OB. I love my gyno but I want an OB. I got back to the gyno on the 30th and they said they'd refer me then.
Milestones: Our little bugger's heart is beating!