Thursday, January 19, 2012

Upsizing

Last night at about 19 weeks old, we decided to give Oliver some more space. We moved bathtime from the kitchen sink to the bathtub. He can't sit up yet, but he had a good time splashing daddy while laying on his cushion.


He was already in his own room, but we also moved Oliver from his small co-sleeper bed into his crib. We discovered that it had a mean lean to it, but we managed to fix it up, and Oliver slept like a champ last night (yes, a 3:30am brief wakeup is still considered good sleep). And it's a good thing too, because I wasn't sure what we were going to do once he starts to grow out of all of his infant things - which he's doing so quickly!


Sunday, January 15, 2012

Four Month Update

Oliver had his four-month doctor's appointment last week, so taking the opportunity to check in again.
First, I am now keeping track of months by the calendar, instead of weeks. So, the 8th of every month is now his birthday! Hard transition to make after pregnancy, which counts by the weeks.

Oliver's measurements come in at: 18lbs, 11.5oz (99th percentile), 27in long (99th percentile) and his head is 43.5cm (80th percentile). The doctor went across the curve chart, and Oliver is the equivalent in size to an average (50th percentile) 7-month-old. He's a big boy. I've packed up all of the 3 month clothes, and pulled out of lot of 9 and 12-month clothes.

He's now playing with toys - holding rattles and small toys. He is shoving everything in his mouth. The pediatrician calls this mouthing, which means he's just practice teething, until suddenly teeth show up, and then its teething. He's drooling a lot and biting down on anything he can get his mouth on. Oliver now sleeps in his own room, in his smaller bassinet. Next step is the crib, which starts this week. He often sleeps 7 to 9 hours without waking (although occasionally throws in waking up after an hour, or just periodically throughout the night). The only catch is that he doesn't go down for the night until 11:30 or midnight. He sleeps with a noise machine, which I think helps, and is quite soothing for us when we hear it through the monitor all night.

Oliver has started to "hug" - wrapping his arms tightly around you. But he also PINCHES when he does this - usually on the underside of your arm or your neck. The sensitive parts that hurt! But, he's sitting up with assistance, and holds his neck up like a champ. We've started giving him a lot of chances on his tummy, since he doesn't like to stay there for long until he cries, but occasionally he rolls himself over from front to back. This is all in preparation for crawling. He likes to look at himself in the mirror, and he's started to notice, if just a little bit, other babies. He's very aware when I'm not around and will eventually start to cry, but he does let other people hold him, thank goodness. We take him out to dinner with us and he does very good - just sleeping. So we've been trying to do that as much as possible these days.

Can't wait for him to start enjoying his playmates - Opal, Wesly and Asher. And to welcome a few more waiting in the wings!

Saturday, January 7, 2012

Winter Blowout

Mitchell was in charge of Oliver during a 3 hour ladies spa excursion today. I felt a bit bad that he cried on and off the entire time, per usual. So while I was feeding him after I got home and Mitchell says he needs to help the neighbor "move something" with two beers in his hand, I say go ahead - he deserved a break. And this is what transpired.

A few minutes later while nursing, Oliver loudly craps his pants. I patiently wait for him to finish. I pick him up and realize his back is damp. He managed to poop out of his diaper, through his onesie, shirt, overalls, and into MY pants. I drag him to the sink, peel his sticky layers of clothes off while holding him to stand, get everything out for a bath with one arm, warm up the water and clean off the poo-slick that covers his back from the shoulder blades, on down. During the impromptu "bath" I find myself also counter-spraying his pee spray with the kitchen faucet, and cleaning off spitup from his front.

I take the opportunity to get him in his jammies and into bed. I then change my own pants, throw his outfit away (sometimes, it's just not worth it) and sit on the couch. Mitchell comes back and says, "what's going on?" I don't feel as bad about the crying anymore. ;)

I did capture a shot of the onesie for perspective.