Becoming a big boy – Bo at 15 months

I feel as though I owe you (or, if nothing else, I owe myself) an update about Bo.  I feel as though I did a pretty decent job of avoiding the whole “second child syndrome” and I actually documented his first year of life fairly decently.  Of course, I was on maternity leave and his older brother was in daycare so I didn’t really have much of an excuse to be delinquent.  However, since returning to work right after his first birthday, I’ve failed miserably at keeping track of his milestones and development.

So, here we go…

Growth
At his 15 month check-up (which was a month ago), he weighed 24lbs 7oz and was 31 inches tall.  That put him in the 73rd percentile for weight and the 41st for height.  Of course, he still has a giant head (which I’ve heard is common among screen stars, so we’ll see where that leads him…)

Development
Bo likes to take things at his own speed.  He has been behind his older brother when it comes to hitting developmental milestones and he still seems like such a baby to me.  He was in absolutely no rush to walk and was happy as can be to remain on all fours.  He enjoyed cruising and climbing (stairs, couches, you name it) but would drop to his knees immediately if you tried to place him on his feet.  He finally took his first real steps at daycare a couple of weeks ago (and the daycare ladies did an amazing job of catching it on video and emailing it to me at work, where I got teary at my desk, obv!)  Now, he practically runs and it has made our lives so much easier.  One might expect it to be harder to have a walker vs a crawler, however it was making it really difficult to spend time outdoors.  Bo hated being held or strapped into the stroller for long periods, but putting him down meant he was always in the dirt.  Plus, every pair of pants had ripped knees and he couldn’t wear shorts.

In other developmental news, he finally popped three more teeth, which has improved his mood drastically.  For a while there, the poor kid was a whiny mess with hands in his mouth all the time.

Personality
Between the new walking skills and the new chompers, he has settled back into his generally happy self.  It was touch and go for a while and I was worried that our good-natured baby was turning into a  grumpy toddler.  But I think it was just his body that was brining him down.  He’s much happier now.  He still loves Littleman more than anyone in the world.  Except for maybe me.  He is a MAJOR mama’s boy.  I’m not gonna lie…it’s kind of sweet.  By this age, Littleman was already totally into daddy and I was a second class citizen.  But Bo makes it perfectly clear (in a variety of ways) that I’m still his number one.  Sometimes I wish he’d give me a bit of a break, but I know it won’t last forever so I’m cherishing it for now.

Eating
So, feeding a toddler’s always fun, isn’t it?  The teeth situation made eating a disaster for a while.  He’s gotten a bit better now, but it’s still a challenge to figure out what he’ll eat.  He used to love sandwiches, but now he tries to stuff the whole thing into his mouth rather than taking bites.  He ends up gagging on it and spitting it out.  So I’ve learned to break things up into bite sized bits but, if I’m not watching carefully, he’ll jam too much into his cheeks and then, again, have to spit it all out.  Ugh.  He loves to feed himself and is good at eating oatmeal, yogurt, Cheerios with milk and, his favourite, egg salad.

Also, I’m still nursing.  I didn’t expect to still be at it, but, hence, this is where we are.  I’m only nursing him first thing in the morning and then right before bed, but he’s showing no signs of being done with it.  Littleman breastfed until about 14 months (and we had dropped down to only the bedtime feed by the end).  At 16+ months, Bo is still going strong.

Likes, dislikes and such…
Bo has a few favourite things.  He loves his stuffed bunny, which he sleeps with and likes to cuddle.  He enjoys books, but doesn’t really want to hear you read them out loud.  Instead, he insists on holding them himself and flipping pages.  His preference is books with textures (think fluffy animals or rough trucks) and he now knows when a book is upside down and promptly flips it over.

We’ve spent a lot of time in the pool at the farm this week and he really enjoys the water.  He was unsure at first (I never did parent-and-baby swimming lessons with him – mommy fail) so it took him some time to adjust.  Now, though, he wants to “jump” off the side and doesn’t mind going under water at all.

He pretty much enjoys anything that his big brother is doing, which sometimes leads to some unhappiness.  Luckily, Littleman is very good with him and will usually give up whatever toy he’s using to avoid a meltdown.  We’re so grateful that he’s such a good big brother.

Well, this turned out longer than I expected but, if you’re still actually reading, I think you get a sense of what Bo is like these days.  I’ll leave you with a few pics. 

    
    
 

Briefly…

It appears that I actually have a brief moment to myself today.  I had a meeting away from the office and it didn’t make sense to head back into the downtown core afterwards so I came directly home.  D is at work and the boys are at daycare so I AM ALONE!

Before I go and do something productive like prep for dinner or put some laundry away, I decided that it’s only fair that I take a moment to write.  I miss it here!

Life is chugging along (or, more accurately, zooming along).  Spring seems to be finally arriving and the boys are enjoying spending more time outside again.  Littleman started t-ball recently, which is cute/chaotic.  I’m still struggling to figure out how to balance work with the children’s activities and keeping the house in order (somewhat).  So far, we’re managing ok but I find we’re all pretty burned out by the end of the week.

Poor Bo is in that awkward stage where he still can’t walk but doesn’t want to be held or strapped in all the time.  He’s a super-speedy crawler and heads straight for the stairs or other dangerous obstacles whenever we put him down.  He gets frustrated when we stop him from approaching said obstacles, so he ends up whining a lot.  We’re told he’s eating well at daycare, which is a good thing because he’s usually pretty tired/grumpy at dinner time and doesn’t end up eating much (unless it’s dipped in or spread with baba ganoush – go figure.)

Speaking of awkward stages, I’m in one myself right now.  I’m still breastfeeding Bo first thing in the morning and right before bed.  My body has adjusted to the two-feeds-a-day schedule quite nicely but I’m in a tough spot when it comes to bras these days.  I’m still wearing my nursing bras (which fit well by the end of the day when I’m getting fuller but are pretty loose and gapey right after the morning feed.)  I was kind of hoping that we could wean completely sometime soon but Bo still seems to really enjoy it and there’s no real reason for us to stop.

Littleman is the one who is really thriving these days.  All of a sudden, he seems really mature.  He looks like such a big kid and is really great at helping make sure his little brother doesn’t get into too much trouble.  I’m so proud of the cool kid he’s becoming.

Anyway, my alone time will be coming to and end soon and duty calls.  Happy Friday, everyone! 

    

One

Our sweet little baby boy turned one a week ago and he’s growing up everyday!

I’m so proud of him and the amazing kid that he is becoming.  He started daycare a few weeks ago and has been a champ when it comes to getting settled there.  He clings to me when I drop him off, but he’s happy as can be just minutes later.  He’s eating well and napping decently, which is all I can hope for right now.

At home, he’s become a bit of a mama’s boy, which I suppose is probably normal now that we’re separated all day long.  I’m not complaining, though!  My older son has always favoured his dad, so it’s nice to be someone’s first choice for now.

Eating

We’re still working on offering a variety of foods at home.  Bo is slowly losing interest in the purees, which is nice.  He accepts a larger range of textures now and shows interest in new things when placed on his tray.  He LOVED his birthday cupcakes.  Let me rephrase that, he LOVED the icing on his birthday cupcakes.  He licked them clean!

I’m still breastfeeding, but pretty much only twice or three times a day.  I feed him first thing in the morning and right before bed a night, with a quick feed right after daycare some evenings.

Sleep

The most amazing thing happened when Bo started going to daycare all day… sleep!  For the past couple of weeks, he has been sleeping 11-12 hours straight at night.  This is incredible.  For most of the last year, he woke at least twice per night, sometimes more.  My older son didn’t sleep through the night consistently until close to age two.  I know things can change with the drop of a hat, but my goodness, this is just dreamy.  I will take any bit of sleep I can get!

Development

There’s been lots of babbling going on around here.  My favourite, of course, is “mamamamama” but there is also a lot of “babababa” and “nanananana”.  No other real words, although he’s let out a few “uh ohs” and “wows” at appropriate times.  He’s finally showing interest in standing and will pull himself up using a couch or chair, but not too much in the way of cruising yet.  His crawling is very fast and effective (especially if he knows the fridge or dishwasher is open!) so he doesn’t have much incentive to walk right now.

He has six teeth with one more that looks close to breaking through.  His hair is pretty full and he’s even had a haircut (by daddy) already.  His big brother was still shiny-bald at age one, so this is new for us!

Personality

Bo is a sweetheart.  He’s easy-going and happy most of the time.  He’s not really a crier, but will whine a bit when he starts to get tired.

He is really starting to enjoy playing.  He actually pushed a car across the floor the other day and I heard him mumble, “vrrrooom!”  He is even happier when he’s playing with his favourite person in the world – his older brother.  There is nothing better than listening to my two boys laughing together.  It’s the best.

---

One Year Stats

Height: 30.5″
Weight: 22lbs 13oz
Teeth: 6
Clothing size: Tops/onesies/sleepers-12 months, Pants-9 months
Sleeping: 11 hrs per night, plus two 1-1.5 hr naps per day
Eating: breastfeeding 2-3 times per day, plus breakfast, lunch, snack and dinner (including homo milk in cup)

Pain in the boob

The combination of full days at daycare and sleeping through the night (yes, you read that correctly!) are wreaking havoc on my breasts. I woke up this morning and nursed Bo, as usual. Then I realized something: my left boob still felt full. Dammit!  We’ve got a clog. 

The whole weaning process is definitely a pain. Neither of us is ready to wean completely, but since I go back to work in a week, we won’t be able to do more than about 3 nursing sessions per day (morning, after work/daycare and bedtime).  

I know this current clogged duct situation is kind of my own fault. Rather than attempt to drop the pre-nap feeds at home, I decided we’d go cold turkey when Bo started napping at daycare. I knew he’d be super-pissed at me if I tried to put him to bed without breastfeeding first so it would be easier on both of us if we kept doing it. At daycare, he went to sleep fine without nursing because I wasn’t there. 

And then the sleeping. I will not complain about this because it is amazing. For five weeknights this past week, Bo slept 11-12 hours straight. Yahoo for STTN!!  He woke once each night this weekend (we’re at the farm) so, of course, my boobs got confused again. 

Amazingly, as I typed this, my little barracuda just managed to clear the clog. During his morning nap, I applied a heating pad and massaged like crazy. Once he woke, with a little acrobatics and combo of football hold and our regular position, he seems to have emptied me out. Hallelujah!

I have a feeling I’m in for some more pain over the next couple of weeks as we complete our transition from stay at home mom to working mama. 

Postpartum body update: one year in

As I scarf a rather large, white bagel with cream cheese, I thought it might be appropriate to take a look at my body and where I stand almost a year after giving birth.  As I mentioned a few months ago, I seemed to be struggling to get rid of the final 10 lbs after this pregnancy.  I had expected it to melt off while breastfeeding like it did with my first son, but, sadly, that wasn’t meant to be.  I decided not to let it get me down and, instead, continued to work out while still eating what I needed/wanted to sustain my milk production.

Here’s an update on what’s going on with my body these days:

Exercise

On top of my weekly mommy and baby fitness class, I took up running in the summer and ran my first 5K in the fall.  I (unexpectedly!) really enjoyed it and I know it’s something that I’d like to continue.  Unfortunately, the frigid winter weather has kept me from running outside for the past few months and I don’t have access to a treadmill, so I’ll have to start over again this spring.

I also haven’t been able to get nearly as much walking in as I was doing before.  In the summer and fall, I could get close to 20,000 steps per day on a good day and 12-15,000 on a bad day.  Now, a good day is 5,000.  It felt amazing to be in Florida and get out walking again.  This is something I’m going to have to make a point of doing when I go back to work.  Sitting at a desk all day is not good for me so I’ll need to be creative in order to get more daily steps.

Weight

I’m 5’6″ tall and my typical weight is around 135 lbs.  I seemed to get stuck at 140 for a while after Bo was born but I’m pleased to report that I hit 130.2 lbs this morning!  It will be interesting to see what happens once Bo is weaned.  He’s still nursing a fair bit, although it’s already slowing down this week with his longer days at daycare.  I don’t expect to lose any more and I know I’ll have to be careful to adjust my diet once he’s done breastfeeding.  I still crave sweets and carbs a lot but I won’t have Bo as an excuse to eat them as frequently much longer!

Birth control

In January, I finally bit the bullet and got an IUD inserted.  I regretted it almost immediately as it caused me to bleed for about six weeks.  I finally stopped bleeding about a week ago and hope that’s the end of that.  My OB said that it’s pretty normal for non-breastfeeding women to bleed for a couple of months after having it inserted but that it’s uncommon for nursing women.  I appear to be an exception to the rule.  Lucky me. Other than that, I haven’t noticed any other side effects to date.

I was totally certain because of all the bleeding, but I don’t think I’ve had an actual period yet.  I’m curious to see if/when I’ll get one and hope that it will be light and easy.

Breasts

I’m in that tricky phase where my breasts are either full and massive or empty and deflated.  Bo is going much longer between feeds right now so my body is still trying to adjust.  While my weight is down and I am fitting into my smaller clothes right now, my breasts still make me feel a bit awkward in my clothes.  I know this will likely get worse before it gets better because I refuse to buy any new bras until I’m totally finished breastfeeding.  This means that there will be some gaping or overflowage, depending on what bra I choose to wear.

So, there we go.  I’ll check in again after I’m back at work and no longer breastfeeding.

Eleven months

My baby is eleven months old today and what a busy month it’s been!  The biggest news this month was the start of daycare.  We’ve made it through week one without any major incidents.  He’s been relatively happy there, although there are still some hurdles to cross before he’s completely settled in (i.e. actually attempting to have him nap there!)  At least we still have time before I go back to work.

Personality

He’s definitely getting a bit more shy these days.  At his big brother’s birthday party last weekend, he was not really a fan of the people and the action.  When he was littler, he would smile and go to just about anyone.  Now, he wants to keep his parents close by.

At home, though, he’s all smiles and laughs.  He loves playing with his big brother (who he finds totally hilarious!)

Sleep

Daycare must be wearing him out because he’s slept through the night a few times this week.  Anywhere from 8-11 hours, which feels AMAZING.  Of course, after five days at the daycare centre, he sounds like he’s coming down with a cold, so there’s a good chance this stretch of good sleeping is about to come to an end.  Oh well, I’ll take what I can get.

Napping is still going very well and he consistently does two naps a day.  Morning nap happens around 9:30am and usually lasts 1.5 hours.  Afternoon nap moves around a bit more but he’ll often do another 1.5 hours in the afternoon.

Eating

Surprise, surprise, eating is still a challenge.  He was really into the smooth purees a couple of weeks ago and we were flying through them.  Now, he’ll eat a few bites and start shaking his head (no).  He loves crackers.  He enjoys pita with hummus.  But cooked vegetables?  Eggs?  Fish?  Chicken?  Forget it.  If I put bits of food on his tray, he touches it with his finger, makes a face and smushes it.  We continue to offer him a variety of foods but, for now, he’s still nursing quite a lot.

In preparation for daycare, we spent a lot of time this past month working on drinking from sippy cups.  We finally discovered that he enjoyed using the cup with a straw so we bought a bunch and he uses them for milk and water.  Ever the picky eater, it turns out he only likes warm milk, so we’ve learned to heat it up if we want him to actually drink it.

Development

He still isn’t cruising, but he’s finally pulling himself up to standing position more frequently.  He’s a super-fast crawler these days so we have to make sure to keep things out of reach if we don’t want him to get them (especially his brother’s toys!)  He continues to be obsessed with clapping and wants me to clap every time I sing (which turns out to be very often!)  As soon as I start singing, he comes over and grabs my hands, clapping them together for me.  Hilarious!

Bodily frustrations

I find women’s bodies to be both fascinating and infuriating.

On one hand, it’s pretty amazing what our bodies are (sometimes) capable of doing.  Pregnancy, as frustrating and challenging as it can be, totally blows my mind.  I somehow managed to grow two humans.  Then, if that wasn’t enough, my body allowed me to feed these tiny humans.  Crazy!

On the other hand, though, is the uncertainty that comes along with having this miraculous body.

I got an IUD inserted two weeks ago at 10 months postpartum.  I am still breastfeeding and, until that moment, I had not had any bleeding or even any menstrual symptoms since before getting pregnant.  I had a bit of spotting for two days after the IUD was put in, which I’m told is normal.  Then it stopped.  Five days later it started again, but this time I had the familiar cramping that always comes along with my periods.  WTF?  Can it really be back?  Nonononononoooooo!  It’s now a week later and I’m still bleeding.  Argh!

I had an ultrasound a couple of days ago to confirm that the IUD is in the correct position.  It is.  Everything is normal.  So, it appears that my period has miraculously returned.  What irks me is that one of the selling features of this IUD is that periods can be lighter than normal or disappear altogether.  That sounded pretty great to me but apparently I’m the exception to that rule.  So far, mine is twice as long as normal!

I hope this is just a fluke or my body is just sorting itself out after all that time being pregnant and nursing.  Because what the hell’s the point of having this stupid IUD if I’m feeling too gross to have sex?  I know some people don’t mind getting down to business while having their period but I’m not one of those people.

Two more weeks

I’m entering my final two weeks of having Bo at home with me full-time.  I don’t return to work until March, but we start paying for daycare on February 2, so we will likely start transitioning Bo right away.

I know I am ridiculously lucky to have had a whole year at home with each of my babies.  I know there are lots of moms who had to go back to work much, much sooner.  But even though I know these things, it still feels much too soon to leave my boy.

I’m trying my best not to think about it too much because I don’t want to spend these final precious days feeling stressed and sad.  However, I have to think about it a bit because I need to start getting Bo ready to be away from me for longer stretches (ok, for any stretches!) of time.

The biggest issue, of course, is eating.  This kid is a boob man.  He still nurses like a champ and knows how to ask for it.  He has this cough/pant/laugh sort of sound he makes while grabbing at me, making it perfectly clear that he wants the breast.  He still won’t really take a bottle (we try every once in a while but it seems wasteful and pointless since he barely swallows anything).  We’ve started trying a variety of different sippy cups, in hopes of finding one that he’ll drink from successfully.  We’ve given up on offering any formula because he shows zero interest in it and we’d have to supply it if we wanted him drinking it at daycare.  So, now we’re on to homogenized milk.  I think he drank a bit today, but mainly he just chews on the sippy cup spout and then maybe swallows a bit of the milk that dribbles out.

We continue to offer a variety of foods, but the only thing he consistently swallows are purees.  (Go figure.  His older brother flat-out refused the stuff).  He eats baby greek yogurt like it’s his job.  Other than that, he’ll munch on foods and then spit them out.  Apple pieces turn into a pile of little apple chips.  He expertly places Cheerios into his mouth and gums them until they become soft and mushy before spitting them back out.  He used to love cheese, but now, just like pretty much everything else, he spits it back out.

The other thing I worry about is sleeping.  This baby loves his naps.  Just yesterday (during his morning nap), I googled “when to drop the morning nap”, thinking that it will be hard to drop him off at daycare right when he’s ready to be sleeping again.  Of course, then he promptly slept for 2.5 hours.  I guess he was telling me he’s not ready!

So, ya.  All that is swirling through my head.

I know I should try not to worry so much.  In all likelihood, the transition to daycare will go just fine.  There will be some hard moments, but I’m sure he’ll settle in okay.  Most kids do.  But, we had a bad experience with the first daycare that Littleman attended when he was Bo’s age (will share that story another day) so I know that there are instances where a child never actually does “settle in.”

OK, enough of the “poor me” stuff.  I am going to take a few deep breaths and then get the sippy cup ready for after nap so we can practice some milk-drinking.  And then I’ll let him eat puree for dinner because I’m a sucker that way!

Ten months

My little one is now ten months old!  It feels like Bo spent much of the last month being sick (first a stomach virus, then a nasty cold) but when he wasn’t feeling miserable, he was busy mastering new skills.

Personality

It appears that Bo is becoming more attached to me as he gets older.  At the moment, I’m definitely his favourite person.  I’m ok with that for now (nothing makes me feel better than seeing him light up when I enter the room!) but he’ll need to get over his attachment soon so that I can return to work in a couple of months!

He’s really into clapping right now and especially enjoys when people clap for him.  If he starts to get whiny or fussy, sometimes all it takes is a round of spontaneous applause to cheer him up.  Then he starts clapping himself and forgets what he was whining about.

Sleep

%#$&!  It’s not going well.  All the recent illnesses have really wreaked havoc with our sleeping and I’m starting to feel pretty run down.  Last night, Bo woke up five times in the night and would only settle if I went in and nursed him.  (He doesn’t actually fall asleep nursing, but he eats hungrily and then allows me to put him back down awake).

I’ve tried letting him cry but then he starts coughing so hard that he gags and then gets really, really mad.  I really hope that he recovers completely from his cold soon so that we can try to get back into a decent sleep routine.  I’m just way too tired right now.

Eating

Being sick really messed up the whole eating solids routine too.  He went a few days where he refused to eat anything solid, but continued to nurse (thankfully).  He seems to have his appetite back, but we’re struggling a bit with textured foods.  It seems that he really likes his puree right now.  His current favourite is a pouch of organic turkey and vegetables.  He’s also digging the plain greek yogurt.

Development

The big news this month was that Bo finally started crawling!  At about 9.5 months it just clicked and off he went.  He’s quite the speedster now, which left us scrambling to make sure our gates were up and nothing dangerous was left lying around.  Life is definitely a bit more complicated now that he’s on the move, but it’s also pretty fun.

This morning he pulled himself up to standing for the first time.  He’s always been pretty wobbly and, until now, showed absolutely no desire to stand up (even if you held his hands).  Then, all of a sudden, he just did it like it was no big deal.

Bo celebrated his first Christmas this month.  While he didn’t care much about the presents, he sure loved all the cardboard and wrapping paper!

Breastfeeding my second baby – part three

A summary of my breastfeeding experience so far wouldn’t be complete without talking about how my baby’s personality played a role.  Thinking back over these past nine months, it’s really quite amazing how much our breastfeeding relationship has evolved as Bo has gotten older.

Aside from the pesky tongue tie issue (and subsequent bleeding nipples), Bo actually latched on right away after he was born.  I remember making D take a photo of us because I was so amazed that my brand new baby was actually feeding the way he was supposed to.  It was so different from the first few days of Littleman’s life.

As we got into the swing of things during the first few weeks of Bo’s life, I remember struggling a bit to get him to latch on when he was hungry.  He would straighten his arms against me so that I couldn’t get him close enough to my breast.  It was frustrating because he was obviously ready to eat, but wouldn’t allow me to position him properly.

After that phase passed, we moved into the assault and battery phase of breastfeeding.  Around five months or so, Bo took to hitting, pinching, slapping or punching me while he ate.  It was mainly my chest or my face that was on the receiving end of his abuse.  Fortunately for me, it didn’t last long.

Of course that brought us to the distraction phase.  By seven months, I could no longer feed Bo anywhere and everywhere.  All of a sudden, he was aware of his surroundings and would forget to eat.  Gone were the days of being able to feed him in the living room while chatting with a friend or playing with Littleman.  Now, I have to feed him in his room – the darker and the quieter, the better.

Something I’ve always found quite amazing is Bo’s ability to communicate his hunger. Pretty early on, he developed a sort of laugh/cough/pant that he does to tell me that he wants to eat.  If I don’t respond quickly, he can get quite frantic with it.  Lately, he’s started smacking his lips before I feed him, too.

One thing that has pretty much remained the same the entire time is the speed at which Bo eats.  He’s pretty quick.  Most feeds are five minutes or less these days, with a longer feed right before bedtime.  Even as a newborn, when he ate more frequently, I remember being amazed that most of his feeds were only about 7 minutes long.  His older brother could eat for 30 minutes, sometimes from each breast!  It felt like I was feeding all day long.

Yesterday, we took Bo to the pediatrician for his nine month check up.  He’s doing great and growing well (21lbs 14oz!) so I know that what we’ve been doing is working.  The doctor told us that Bo can start drinking cow’s milk anytime now, which made me realize that our breastfeeding days are nearing the end.  I nursed Littleman for 14 months and hope to do something similar with Bo.  I know that we probably have a few more months to go, but I’m also seeing how quickly he’s growing up and realizing that he isn’t going to be my baby much longer.  Regardless, I’m so happy that I had the chance to breastfeed this baby and to share this experience together.