4 Month Well Baby Visit

Yesterday we took Jude to his 4 month check-up, which happened to take place only days before his 5th month.  Normally not a big deal, but with vaccinations at each visit, I don't want to have his body injected with so many things so close together.  Anywho, we learned we have a short, fat baby.  Just as we thought, being the detectives we are.  He has gone up on the growth chart, Mr. 16 pounds.  But his length is a little short at 24 inches.  It makes sense doesn't it?  I mean, with the sleeping and feeding in the middle of the night issues, he is definitely taking in more calories than the average baby (I guess this means I should be getting skinnier as I am burning calories in the middle of the night while nursing).  So our doc told us that he is very capable of sleeping through the night. Music to my ears.  So last night, we turned on a box fan between the kids' rooms and went to sleep.  I slept better than I have since 4 months before he was born (and after a shower today, I might just feel like a new woman)!  I did wake up at 5 to nurse him because it had been 8 hours by then.  He nursed for 4 minutes and fell asleep.  Dooped again!  So tonight, he might just get to go a full 11 or 12 hours until his gets nursed.

Look at these thighs. 

I had to include this picture.  Jude is staring at his girlfriend, Sarah, when we went to the corn maze.  He looks forward to Tuesdays so he can see his lady friend.  From this angle, I imagine he had his hand somewhere on her face, hopefully not in her eye.

4 Months

Jude at 4 months, which was September 6, 2010.  Unofficially, he weighs 15 pounds, and I have no clue about height.  But we do know he isn't lacking any nutrients.  Look at those legs!  If we don't watch out, he will earn the nickname of "Chunk". We haven't been for his well baby visit yet, but I will be sure to post those stats when we get them!

Love that smile.  Right now Jude enjoys laying on the floor and rolling from side to side.  He has rolled from front to back and back to front a few times, but not something he does everyday yet.  He loves playing in his exersaucer and practicing his grasping skills.  His favorite item to grasp is currently my hair, as evidenced by the clump of straight hair on the right side of my face (his strong self has pulled the curl out of there, hopefully not permanently).  And his favorite person to talk to is Woody.  He spends lots of time in the evenings telling Woody about his day.  He loves his Riley.  He watches her whenever he gets the chance.  And he loves it when she talks to him, hugs him, and gives him kisses.

Of course, Riley couldn't be left out of the picture taking fun.  Is that a model pose I see?  Where did she learn that?

I know this post is about Jude, but really fast about Riley:  Her current new "thing" is that she must always be wearing a bow and shoes.  Even if we are just hanging out at the house, her accessories must be in place.  Yesterday she came into the living room in the middle of her nap with her bow in hand so I could replace it.  Then she finished her nap, because dreamland isn't complete unless you show up there with a bow in your hair.  I am beyond blessed to be the mommy of these two babies.

Human Recliner

(Please excuse the not-so-flattering picture of me)  Every night our after dinner ritual is that we all hang out on the living room floor until bath time.  On this night, Riley decided my legs looked like the perfect place to recline for a while.

More Corn Maze Pictures

Riley at the corn maze. 

Jude, very happy after lunch.  I feel like we don't get as many pictures of him as we do of her.  But when he starts running around, there will be plenty of photo evidence of a busy boy.

Riley got some new sunglasses just the day before, so this was a perfect opportunity to debut them.

Not only was there a corn maze, there was an antique tractor for picture taking opportunities.  Since I was the ultimate unprepared mom of the day, I also forgot my camera.  But Joel and Kay came to the rescue with theirs.  They snapped all of these sweet pictures of my babies.  Riley sat on this tractor for a while and pretended to drive, a pasttime she and Woody like to do at home.

And then there was the cow train.  We weren't sure about what this was when it was advertised.  It was a tractor that pulled about 10 cow cars.  We didn't go on it because we heard it wasn't all that much fun.  Two of our group did go on it and confirmed the rumors.

And then there was a petting zoo!  In reality, there were several goats that you could pet.  They gave us popcorn as soon as we walked in.  I gave some to Riley, who ate hers and decided not to share with the animals, probably the main reason we ran out of juice so fast.  The two piglets and a calf were in their cages and couldn't really be petted, but could be seen (and smelled) close up.  This is such a cute picture of Millie.

How many pictures do I have of this?  Jude laughing out loud for Woody.  He still only does this for his dad, which is just priceless.

Again, a great Saturday morning full of fun activities for kids and adults too!  We also got to spend the rest of the day with Woody's parents who stayed Saturday night.  The kids love to play with them.  Riley was all words and songs for them, as well as showing out and doing all of her tricks.  Jude laughed and was an overall great boy for them.

Grits is just ground up corn.

So last Saturday our playgroup friends all met at the Corn Maze outside of Springdale.  SO much fun!  Side note, since the moms and babies never get the opportunity to get some pictures snapped of all of us, we took advantage of the extra hands.  Aren't we the cutest things?  Starting with me and going to the right we have Shawn who is holding Anna (her son, Kellen, is sitting in front of me), then Lizzie is holding Elisa, Brooke is holding Millie, and Kari is holding Sarah.  I'm not sure if I've blogged about this before, but I dearly love the playgroup we have.  We meet every Tuesday morning for a couple of hours and I look forward to it all week.  It's such a great time to have some girl time and not miss any time with the kids.  It's also lots of fun to watch the kids grow, develop, and forge their own relationships.

This is pre-corn maze.  The maze itself is actually in the shape of a Razorback, which is so cool.  So we get a picture, then we head into the maze, armed with a maze map.  At first I thought it was lame that we needed a map, but then about 10 feet into the 7 foot stalks, I was very thankful for said map.  And since we were doing a fall-esque activity, I just knew that I needed to dress my family in fall attire.  Smart thinking mom.  So I don't bring sunscreen or a hat for Jude (who is in the baby backpack carrier on Woody's back).  NOOOOOO, I dress Riley in 2T jeans and a shirt which are so big they are falling off of her little frame.  Note to self: Riley needs 18 month jeans this year, not 2T.  Jude, also in a polo and jeans.  I mean, really.  We are going into a corn maze, so I need to dress them in clothing that will shield their legs from the stratching stuff right?  Mm hm, keep telling yourself that Melanie.

The maze itself was very well done and the path was very clear.  I could have worn flip flops and shorts and been a lot happier than my sweaty, pant wearing self.  So we make it all the way through in about 25-30 minutes, not bad for a huge group of people.  I should note that Woody and Bryan were our navigators and did a fabulous job.  I think the boys could have had hours of fun in the maze if it weren't for their familial responsibilities.  They were just itching to throw dried corn kernels at each other and play hide and scare in the stalks.

Here we are with Joel and Kay, Woody's parents, pre-maze.  I say this because it will be very obvious when the "after" shots were taken.  Note Riley, who is comfortably sitting in her 3 wheeler stroller.  She didn't even step down in the maze.  Jeans, terrible idea.

Hot babies.  Look at Kellen's red cheeks!  Again, I felt like such an ill-prepared mom.  I didn't bring extra snacks or juice, I brought my kids hoodies in case it was too chilly.  WHAT in the world was I thinking?  It was 86 degrees. 

Look who didn't walk.  He was comfy and cool the whole time (thanks to Shawn letting us borrow a hat.  It it wasn't for Shawn, my children would have been sunburned, hot, and starving by the end of it.  Thank you so much for being a prepared mom, Shawn! I owe you one!).  Woody never complained once about caring our 15 pound chunk, but when he took the backpack off, his shirt was soaked with sweat.

Sarah, laid back. 

Anna, also laid back.  Hey!  How'd she get that corn?  Fast hands.

Millie walked through most of the maze too, when not being carried by Brooke.  They don't sweat, they glisten.

After all of the kids were hot and worn out, we thought that would be a great opportunity for a group picture.  Apparently my idiocity (yes, I just made that word up- maybe idiocrity is a better word?) was wearing off on my friends at this point.  We are missing the boys, Kellen and Jude, but this is one of the best pictures of the "group".

We had a great time and I would do it again, with weather appropriate clothing, sunscreen, hats, lots of juice, and good snacks.  But what a great way to spend a fall Saturday morning!

Solids?

In my quest for some peaceful nights, Jude is starting solids.  And by "solids", I mean rice cereal that has so much milk in it that it is only slightly thicker than the liquid gold.  It falls right off of the spoon.  But I guess part of it is Jude getting used to the spoon.  So far, not much success.  But we will keep trying (with smiles on our faces and a positive attitude~because that's what the books say).  Hopefully if I can fill his belly during the day, he will sleep longer at night...  Hey, a mom can hope can't she?

He has also tried zucchini.  Surprisingly, this went much better than the rice cereal.  He actually ate it off the spoon.  It's thicker than the rice cereal, so maybe that's the trick.

And I feel like I should say that he is ready for solids.  He watches every move we make when we are eating.  Sometimes he even has a look on his face that says "mmmm, can I try some?"  This is usually during breakfast when we are enjoying bacon, such a boy.  And he is doing all of the items on the checklist that he should be doing.

So here's hoping that I will find the trick and he will start sleeping through the night soon!

No Go

What was I thinking?  Riley is definitely not ready for potty training.  Let me just tell you how our day went yesterday. 

9am-ish 
As we started our day, I asked her if she wanted to go sit on the potty.  I needed to change her into real clothes for the day anyway.  So she sat on the potty while we read a couple of pages of "Once Upon a Potty".  Then she had had enough and got up.  I got her shirt on her before she ran away.  She did not want to be put down to get a diaper on, so I went with it.  Exactly 90 seconds later, while watching Sesame Street, she peed all over the floor in front of the TV (hardwood luckily, not carpet).  So the diaper went on.

Noon-ish
Time for a diaper change, we do the same sit on the potty routine. Again, she doesn't want a diaper on.  Again, I go with it.  Again, she pees.  But this time, she peed on her slide.  Then she plays in the pee.  Great.  Get her cleaned up, go about our day.

During all of this, Jude is laying on the floor, sitting in his exersaucer, sitting in his bumbo, etc...watching it all happen and talking the whole time.  More on him later...

3pm-ish
Time for a diaper change, same routine.  BUT, this time she wants to sit on the big girl potty, not her Elmo potty.  So we go with it.  I sit in front of her on the floor so we are at eye level.  So we talk and I explain to her what we are waiting for.  And then, she tooted.  Completely satisfied with her accomplishment, she forgets to hold on and falls into the big girl toilet.  So I pick her up and clean her off.  Then she immediately pees on the bathroom floor.  She does not notice because she is too busy running into the living room to tell Jude she did it. 

So cute, she runs in, half naked and tells Jude "I did it!  I did it!"  Who am I to be a wet blanket on this success?  Oh right, her mother...and her housekeeper.  Because what does she do?  Goes to slide (still half naked with a mother who is still "going with it"....When will I learn?), and pees AGAIN all over the slide.

And we're done.  She doesn't know when she is peeing, so she is not ready for this.  And I am not ready to clean up urine.  Nor am I ready to expend the energy this is going to take for a kid that IS ready, muchless a kid that isn't.  She peed 5 times in a matter of roughly 35 minutes of naked time today.  Again, not ready.

So for now, I will continue to pollute the environment with 5-6 diapers a day for her.  I will continue to change diapers and be kicked by those long legs that are in constant movement during the changing process.  And I will continue to talk up the big girl panties and potty training process until she is ready.

Potty Training?

A conundrum.  Is Riley old enough for potty training? She is doing/can do the items on the babycenter.com checklist.  BUT, she doesn't say pee pee or poo poo or potty.  But she does grab her diaper when I talk about pee pee and poo poo.  She imitates me when she sits on her little potty (with her clothes on).  And yesterday at playgroup, she was very interested in what Kellen was doing in the potty.  She even went to touch it before Shawn stopped her~thank you so much Shawn!  She seems interested.  But I don't want to rush her into it if she isn't ready.  And I don't want to try it for 3 months with no success.  I feel like that would be hard on both of us (her for feeling like she isn't successful and me for cleaning up puddles of urine in my house).

I've read the articles online about how to do it.  But I have to admit that I am a little hesitant.  What if I do it wrong and scare/scar her and she doesn't want to try it again until she's 3!  And by doing it wrong, I mean do I take her with me every time I have to go so she sees it in action?  Do I take her to the potty every 60 or 90 minutes (I've heard this just makes it a battle for you to fight) or do I let her tell me when she needs to go (in which case we wait for another few months before starting this process)?  So please, if you have suggestions or "do not try" advice, bring it.  I'm all ears.

No Sleep for the Weary

I'm pretty sure this is the only picture we have of Jude sleeping.  Know why?  Because the kid never sleeps.  Okay, I am exaggerating, but that's how it currently feels.  He will be 4 months old on Monday.  His current record for consecutive hours of sleep is 9.  That's great right?  Yup.  It was great, all 4 times that he's done it.  But lately, he has been getting up twice at night to eat.  I know, I know.  This is a growth spurt and once past it, he'll go back to sleeping well.  I looked back at my blog from Riley's 3rd month and we went through the same thing with her.  Funny how I don't remember it.

I do remember thinking that Jude is such a great sleeper.  We didn't have any sleeping issues at the beginning like we did with Riley.  I thought, "I am so in the clear here!  If babies are this easy, let's have 3 more!"   It was like he wanted to sleep for long periods of time at night!  I guess he wanted to let me get all comfortable and arrogant, then drop the bomb on me.

So hopefully in a year or so, I won't be able to clearly remember what it's like to only sleep for 3-4 hours at a time (probably because brains are not meant~is that the correct spelling?  Brain not functioning to full capacity~ to function on such little sleep and refuse to remember such times).  And I won't remember feeling like I was constantly getting up to nurse, replace the paci, re-swaddle, etc.  And I won't remember feeling very irked (on top of exhausted, depleted, and worn down) that every single time my head hits the pillow and the muscles in my tired body relax and prepare for some sleep, someone immediately needs attention from me.

Right now we are on week 2 of this "growth spurt". I thought they were only supposed to last for a few days, not weeks.  It won't take much longer of this to convince me that Jude is just going to need to eat twice a night for the rest of his life.  If you feel like I am "belly aching" or moaning too much (you are clearly not a mom), please feel free to take my place for about 5 days.

And as I sit and type, I hear cries of a baby who needs something else from me...