We Have A Walker!

On August 23, 2012 Reid took his first steps!  I went to pick him up at daycare and the teacher put him down and he walked over to me :-)  Ryan had a meeting that night, but when he got home, I set Reid down and he walked to Ryan.  He was just taking a few steps.  We got it on video of course.  Now he toddling all over the place.  He's learning his balance really well and he's able to turn around without falling (most of the time ;-)) 

Random Musings / Memories
* Reid is funny when he takes baths.  He sticks his face in the water and tries to drink it!  He also takes his toys that are like little cups and tries to drink out of them.  He also tried to gnaw on the drain stopper!

* Reid got into the cat food again.

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A Huber Hodgepodge

Oh my goodness...it's been over 2 months since I've posted!  Well, we all know time flies.  Recently I've been thinking about various memories that I probably haven't posted...or if I have I have forgotten.  So I'm going to just do a big blog with past memories, current goings on, etc.  So, here we go!

Musings

* From newborn to about 4 months old Reid like to pee on us.  It was like a little game.  I'd keep his diaper pulled up until I was ready to put on the new one, and I'd get it just about pulled up, and away we go!  For a while in the beginning it seemed like I would go through two diapers during a change because he'd pee all over.  I think if we ever have another boy, I will need to buy a PeePee-TeePee!

* I keep thinking about the first time Reid really laughed.  He was about 3 months old and it was a Tuesday (I remember that because Ryan had a meeting).  I had to pick Reid up from daycare because of the meeting.  After he ate, I laid him on the ground and started playing peek-a-boo with him.  He just started cracking up every time I went "Peek-a-boo!"  Then Ryan came home.  He had had a long day and I said, Ryan come here, and I did it again.  And Reid lit up and started laughing.

* One of my favorite things is when Reid comes to me and when I pick him he snuggles his head on my shoulder...or when I'm holding him and he gives me a big hug.  Another favorite thing is his laugh.  It always makes me smile and laugh too.

* I packed up all of Reid's newborn - 6 month clothes.  It was kind of sad.  Those early outfits were so tiny!

* Reid has always hated a pacifier...he would never take one.  Then at about 8 months, he decided he wanted to suck on one, and now he loves them.

He's 9 Months?!?

Yes, my baby boy is 3/4 of a year old!  It has really flown by.  I have a memory book that I bought to keep for Reid, and every month you are supposed to write some memories or milestones.  When I try to do this, it's difficult because they all blur together!  There are so many things happening at once, and it hardly seems like any time has passed at all.  So when we're in month 9 and I'm supposed to be writing about month 8, it's hard to distinguish what happened when.  Hopefully this is normal, right?

Moving Along

Let's see...Reid is quite the mover and shaker.  He crawls really fast.  He loves to go for the cat's water dish, even though he's not supposed to.  He understands the word no, but usually he doesn't listen.  For example, he will crawl kind of slow to the water dish to gauge your reaction.  Then he'll make a dash for it.  You say "Reid, no" in a firm voice.  He will flip over to a sitting position, look at you, usually smile, and then flip back over and continue on to the water dish.  This also occurs when trying to open drawers, get pictures off the shelf, etc.  Reid is walking around furniture and other things really well while holding on.  I noticed that he liked to push the step stool around the kitchen while "walking" on his knees, so we decided to get him a push toy he could walk with.  I got a lion one at a consignment shop by our house, and Reid loves it!  He's also free-standing a lot now....standing without holding on to anything.  He will try to take a step, but falls right away.  I don't think it will be long now though.

Big Boy Car Seat

Reid has not quite outgrown his infant carrier, but he was getting close.  In my car, the carrier was kind of tilting side to side every time I went around a corner...I'm thinking because of his weight.  There was a big sale at Target in early July on Britax car seats.  They are known for being good and are usually expensive, but I got it for 50% off!  I took it out of the box and had it sitting next to Reid's infant carrier and got kind of sad.  His carrier seemed to little.  He seems to like the big seat though because he can see out the windows better.  Only con is he doesn't have any toys attached to play with like we did to the infant carrier, but he seems quite content looking out the windows and entertaining himself with squeals, laughs, and clapping.

Reid's First Vacation

We went on our very first trip with Reid to Indiana and Illinois.  First we drove to Indiana.  It took us about 12 hours.  We left on a Thursday after work so that Reid would sleep through most of the drive.  We went through our normal bedtime routine, and then instead of going in the crib, he went in the car.  He did wake up a few times through the drive, mostly when we stopped for gas, but would fall asleep right away again.  So all in all, it was a successful drive.  We got to Indiana really early...about 7 or 8 am, and there were no rooms ready at the hotel.  We had a lot of time to kill.  We went to Target and Kohls, we drove around Valparaiso University, we went to lunch at Culvers.  While at Culvers the hotel called to let us know the room was ready, which was nice.  We were checked in by noon.  Ryan and I were exhausted, having been up for 24 hours, but Reid was well rested and ready to go!  We just hung out in the hotel room until dinner.  We went to dinner at Kelsey's steakhouse with my brother, sister-in-law and nephew.  It was delicious.  Reid ended up falling asleep in the car on the way back to the hotel, so we just put him to bed.  My parents came down to stay with him while Ryan, my brother, sister, and brother-in-law went out to a bar called Passtimes (of course I went too).  Saturday was my niece's wedding, which was really nice.  Reid did well.  Ryan had to get up once with him when he started getting antsy, but all in all, he was a good boy.  He was also super adorable.  We got him a little sear sucker outfit....sear sucker shorts, sear sucker vest, short sleeve button shirt, and a little sear sucker bow tie.  Quite a handsome little boy :-)  On Sunday we went to a brunch for my niece and her husband, went to Gelsassimo's (however you spell it!) for pizza, and then ventured on to Illinois.  We spent about five days there, just relaxing.  We visited Grandpa Huber and Julie and Reid got to meet his Great Grandma Huber.  Pretty much we just relaxed and visited with family.  We headed back to Illinois on Friday evening...same plan as when we started to Indiana.  This time, though, Reid didn't want to go right to sleep and cried for a ways.  We stopped at a gas station and got him out for a little bit, and then he was fine.  Overall, the trip went very well and we had a good time.

9 Month Well Visit

Reid had his 9 month well visit when we got back from our trip.  He weighed in at 17 lbs 6 oz, 27.5 inches long.  He's staying steady in the 25% for weight and 50% for height.  I guess he's a little on the smallish side compared to some babies, but he's growing steadily so the doctor is not a all concerned.  At the visit Reid showed Dr. Poth how he could free stand (stand without holding on to anything).  Dr. Poth was impressed and said that he thought Reid would be walking before his 1st birthday.  He said that most babies at 9 months are crawling and pulling themselves up, but not many do freestanding....so now we're just waiting to see when he'll actually take his first steps.  He's getting close.  He is standing on his own for longer periods of time, and he will try to take a step, but then fall down right away.  But he's trying.  They said at daycare that he took a couple teeny tiny steps before he fell...probably more like a little shuffle before he fell.

Miscellaneous

Reid likes to play in the cat water dish.  He knows he's not supposed to, but every day he tries to make his way over there.  When we got home from vacation, Reid was quite so I went to see what he was up to (I was putting things away in the kitchen) only to find him by the cat food dish...and he had eaten a piece!  Yuck! 

Well, that's all I can think of for now.

And We're Mobile

I re-read my last post and Reid was really close to crawling at that time.  Well, he continued to push himself up to sitting a lot.  Then he figured out that he could barrel roll to get from point A to point B and then push himself up to sitting to play.  About a week later, he was crawling.  And every day he got faster and faster.  Now, at 7 months, not only is he crawling, but he is pulling himself up to standing!  It's all going so fast!

Reid has been teething with his top teeth.  We've felt the little bump, but nothing has cut yet.  These teeth have bothered him a lot more than the bottom teeth.  He's been fussier and it's disrupted his sleep.  He's had a little fever now and then as well.  We didn't really have any symptoms with the bottom two except all the drool.

A few weeks ago Reid got a cold and was really snotty.  Then one day I get a call from daycare that they think he might have pink eye and we had to get him.  So Ryan took him to the doctor and sure enough, he had the beginnings of pink eye.  We caught it really early though.  We've been having to give Reid eye drops three times a day until the little bottle is gone.  I swear that bottle is never ending because this weekend will be 3 weeks and we're still not done yet!  So Reid had a cold with a cough, and I ended up getting bronchitis from it, and Ryan got a really sore throat and lost his voice.  After a week I went to the doctor and got diagnosed and got some meds.  I still have a little residual gunk in my chest, but I'm much better.  Ryan regained his voice after about 4-5 days, and luckily the sore throat didn't last too long.

They did pictures at daycare a few weeks ago.  I got a sneak peek on the photographers website and Reid is adorable (of course!).  He's the cutest baby of them all ;-)  When we order and receive the pictures, I will post one.

Ryan and I celebrated our four year wedding anniversary on the 25th.  We didn't really do much on that Friday, but on Saturday we both made a special dinner.  Ryan made stuffed cornish hens, and I made squash and creamy mushroom soup.  For dessert, Ryan made a tiramisu.  It was delicious. 

On Sunday evening, Reid had his first birthday party to attend.  One of the little boys in his daycare class was turning 1, and his mom is one of the teachers at the daycare.  She did a really nice job with the party; it was Dr. Seuss themed.  There was another little boy from daycare named Carson who played with Reid.  It was funny to see them interact.  Reid gets so excited and started shrieking and crawling toward Carson.  It was so cute.

This weekend I'm going to try to take Reid to the pool for the first time.  I'm so excited.  I really hope he likes it.  Guess I need to run out and get some swimwear for him.

Here's some fun pictures :-)

Where Has The Time Gone?

I just can't believe how fast everything is going.  Reid is now 6.5 months old.  It seems like just yesterday we brought him home from the hospital.  And now he's changing every day.

Exactly one week after Reid cut his first little bottom tooth, he cut the one right next to it.  So he now has two little bottom teeth.  No more have popped through for the time being, and I'm just fine with that.  I got a little nervous about nursing because he was starting to bite me toward the end.  I posted on my mommy site for some advise, and was told to try not to react and just unlatch him and that's it.  So, that's what I did.  One time he turned back for more, but I waited for a minute so he would know not to bite, and we haven't had another instance yet (fingers crossed!). 

Reid is really eating solids like a champ now.  He gobbles up a whole 2.5 ounce jar of veggies and is taking 3 TBS of cereal at night (depending on how tired he is).  Last weekend I introduced fruit (peaches), and he chowed down the whole jar.  So right now we're at 3 "meals" a day.  We've also put some cheerios on his tray so he can start to practice picking up food.  He's been able to pick a few up, but they don't quite make it in his mouth.  But we're just practicing.  The dr. also said we could start giving him small pieces of soft fruits, like bananas, peaches, avocado, etc.  But I'll probably wait a little for that.  Reid is also really curious about drinking out of a cup.  He's always grabbing for the glass when Ryan or I drink something while holding him or being near him.  This weekend I let him try to "drink" water from my cup.  Obviously he didn't really swallow anything, but he was getting some in his mouth.  I went ahead and bought a sippy cup, so we're going to practice with that and probably continue on letting him try a regular cup too.

Reid sits really well on his own now.  As a matter of fact, Ryan and I have each seen him get himself into a sitting position from his tummy.  Ryan thought it was a fluke when he saw it, but I think Reid is figuring it out.  This morning it looked more intentional and a fluke.  Also this morning I saw Reid do one army crawl scootch forward.  He's going to be mobile in no time!  I told Ryan my guess was that he'd be crawling or scooting around within a week.  I also said we needed to look into getting those baby gates sooner than later!

A couple weeks ago on a Friday Reid had a fever of 101.9.  He wasn't allowed to stay at daycare (anything over 100 has to stay home for 24 hours), so I took him to the doctor.  Reid had an ear infection in his right ear and a virus called Hand, Foot & Mouth.  He had sores in his throat from the virus.  So, he was put on Amoxicillan for the ear infection and just had to tough it out for the virus, and we gave him infant tylenol for the fever.  The fever was gone by Sunday.  Aside from the fever, you wouldn't have known he was sick other than he was a little more clingy on that Friday.  He still played and laughed and never showed any signs of discomfort.  Then, on Tuesday, I had a fever of 103.  I didn't know at first I was sick.  I told Ryan that morning I felt funny, but we thought it was just because I was really tired (I stayed up late the night before).  So I went off to work and was freezing...teeth chattering cold with my space heater on and it being over 80 outside!  So I went home at 4:30 and took my temperature....I ended up putting Reid to bed, taking a shower, and was in bed by 8:00.  Well, I guess I caught Reid's hand, foot and mouth virus because the next day my throat hurt really bad....it was like swallowing knives.  Then I had red spots all over my fingers and hands, and my fingers hurt to do things like typing, picking things up, etc.  The next day the spots on my hands didn't hurt anymore, but were still there.  Then I got spots all over my feet and up my legs!  Those didn't really hurt too bad.  But thank goodness all of that is over now!  There is nothing to you can do but let it run it's course, and it certainly was not fun!  I'm just glad Reid didn't have it as bad as I did.

Reid is starting to get a little separation anxiety lately.  He always wants his mommy, which sometimes makes Ryan feel a little bad.  But it's completely normal around this age, and I told Ryan before we know it, he's going to want daddy more than mommy.  Anyway, he is fine with Ryan when I'm not around...like if I'm running an errand or not home from work yet...but the minute he sees me when I get home, he starts fussing/crying until I get him.  Also, if I'm with him in the living room and then run into the kitchen for a second, he starts crying until I get him.  And any time I walk out of his field of vision....crying.  I've been told this only lasts a few weeks.  Oh well, not that I mind holding him a little more :-)

Overall, we just can't get over what a good baby Reid is.  He is always so happy and really only cries when he's hungry and tired.  We are very blessed.

All At Once

It seems like Reid is hitting or about to hit milestones all at once this month.  He's 5 1/2 months old already and will be 6 months on April 28.  He is starting to sit a little on his own.  He hasn't quite figured out how to balance when he wants to turn to get a toy, so he topples over and then flips to his tummy.  But he's getting there. 

We also think he'll be crawling any time now.  He can move himself around in a circle like a champ when he's on his tummy.  Currently he kicks his legs like crazy and has been pushing himself up onto his toes.  The other day when he was on his toes he was trying to bring a leg up.  So he's trying to figure it out.  Currently he pushes himself backwards.  They said at daycare he pushed himself all the way from the play rug to under a crib, and then got upset because there was nowhere else to go!  Funny boy.

Last Friday Reid cut his first tooth!  It was totally unexpected, and it kind of makes me sad.  I told Ryan a while back that I loved Reid's gummy grin...and him getting a tooth just means he's growing...and fast.  The funny thing about him cutting a tooth is that we had taken him to the doctor that Tuesday for some bumps on his chin.  The doctor told me that his gums were swollen, but it didn't look like the teeth were near the surface.  He guessed it would be a month or two before we saw a tooth.  Three days later...there's a tooth!  It does explain a lot as he constantly drools and chews on things, he's been having trouble napping, and they said at daycare he seemed fussier than normal.  But overall, he's been his normal happy self...and now he has a tooth growing in!

Reid celebrated his first Easter this month.  Ryan and I colored eggs the night before.  Then Ryan hid a few when we got back from church and Reid and I hunted for them.  I also made Reid a little Easter basket, so he and Ryan hunted for it.  Reid then took a nap while I made dinner.  Then we all ate together...well Ryan and I ate and Reid sat in his highchair.  It was a quiet Easter, but we had fun doing the whole Easter bit with Reid.

On another news front...Ryan got a promotion to District Manager and will start next Monday.  We're very excited about this and I'm very proud of him.  He really deserved it.  One of the nice things about the promotion is that he will not have to work weekends or holidays, so we'll all have more time together.

The First Four Months

So I am going to attempt to try to recall the last five months with little Reid.  There is just so much that happens so quickly, I am sure I will leave some stuff out, but I will try. 

THE BEGINNING (weeks 1-3)

It's kind of funny because the stay at the hospital seemed to last forever, but when you get home, the time just flies!  It was a little difficult at the hospital because the nurses were coming in all the time, whether to take Reid's vitals, take my vitals, give medicine, or come in to remind that it was time to try nursing.  A lot of times it would seem that I would have just fallen asleep and would just have to get right up again.  Needless to say, I did not get a whole lot of rest at the hospital.  Ryan stayed there with me the whole time.  The only time he left was to run to the cafeteria to get some food for himself.

The day we left the hospital was kind of funny.  First, even though I had figured out the car seat when we first got it, we were fumbling around to get Reid all hooked in.  He looked so tiny in there that I sat in the back seat with him to make sure he didn't flop around.  Ryan was really cautious and somewhat nervous when we were driving home.  We both felt really odd (in a good way) bringing home this new baby.

When we got home, we rested.  At this point, Reid was just eating and sleeping.  Ryan made a trip to Target and the grocery store.  We took turns holding Reid while the other slept.  Ryan did a lot around the house that first week since I wasn't really allowed to do much.  He cooked, did some laundry, did the errands, but he made sure to spend a lot of time with Reid.  I swear that first week he changed more diapers that I did too!

On Monday I made his first doctor appointment and he got in that afternoon.  The doctor said he was perfectly healthy and was surprised by how strong he seemed to be.  That night we passed out Halloween candy and everyone oohed and ahhed over him :-)  The rest of the month we had visitors pretty much the whole time.  It was nice to have the help with meals and household chores, and I even got to take some naps.

Reid did not like sleeping in his crib these first weeks.  I'm not sure if it was because it was so big to him or what.  But those first weeks he just slept in our arms.  I'd go to bed for a few hours, and Ryan would get me when he was hungry.  Then he'd go to bed for a few hours, and come relieve me after Reid's next feeding.  Often we'd fall asleep on the couch with Reid on our chests, but I didn't sleep too soundly this way.  I was always concerned I would drop him!  As I said before, Reid really didn't do much at this point.  He slept most of the time and only woke to eat.  We were learning to nurse (which was difficult at first because it really hurt!) and that was about it.  The fun thing, though, was all the faces he made while sleeping.  He was so expressive and really fun to watch.  I was telling a co-worker about how he smiled in his sleep, and she said that where she's from (Costa Rica) they have a saying that when a baby smiles in their sleep, it's because an angle is whispering to them.  I liked that.

Reid celebrated his first Thanksgiving this month (right before he turned 1 month old).  It was really warm and sunny that day, so we just put him in a white onesie, shorts, and a turkey bib :-)

ONE MONTH (weeks 4-7)

Things are starting to change rapidly now.  Ryan is back to work.  I have ventured out to the office with Reid to show him off and we've dome some errands and shopping trips.  Shopping was pretty easy because he's still kind of sleeping a lot and would sleep through most of the trip.  I would get a little antsy though because if he did wake up he would need to be fed or changed, and I was always afraid people would look at me like "I can't believe you have your crying baby in here."  My sister, however, told me that people don't really thing that with a new baby...it's more the screaming 2 year olds that the parents don't do anything about that bother people.  Anyway, our errands went pretty well.  One time we went shopping at Toys-R-Us.  It was after his doctor appointment when he had shots and he just wanted to nurse a lot for comfort.  They didn't really have a nursing area or a chair, so I had to stand in the handicap stall to feed him.  It wasn't too bad to do it that way, but it was gross because the bathroom smelled!

Although Reid still sleeps a lot, he it awake a little more.  We rattle toys in front of him and just try to stimulate his senses.  We do tummy time, but it doesn't last too long.  He is sleeping in his crib.  We go in stints of anywhere from 3-5 hours.  However, somewhere around 4-6 weeks he started what they call PURPLE crying.  Basically its where babies cry just to cry.  It seemed to go on schedule that he would start between 8 and 9.  I drove him around in the car many nights, and he would calm down and often fall asleep, but would wake up when I got him out of of the car seat.  We did a lot of walking while patting his back and bouncing or standing and swaying/rocking back and forth.  You couldn't sit down though...you had to stand!  This phase seemed to pass fairly quickly though...maybe two weeks was the worst of it.

This month Reid celebrated his first Christmas (right before he turned 2 months old).  He wore a cute little white and red striped jammy outfit that said "my first Christmas" and had a reindeer on the butt and reindeer on the feet.  Later that day, he word a onesie with moose all over it and he had a Santa bib :-)

TWO MONTHS (weeks 8-13)

Now Reid is starting to interact with us more.  He's awake more during the day also.  He's kind of cooing and working on making noises.  One noise he seems to make a lot sounds like "agoo" so that's what we say to him all the time.  He smiles sometimes, but not too much.  It's definitely not responsive yet.  We had gotten him a little play mat with a keyboard at the end that he can kick and toys that dangle over him.  He's starting to really like this toy and is starting to play on it longer and longer. 

We had a little difficulty this month.  I was going back to work on January 16, so we needed him to take bottles.  He had taken one from me at about 4 weeks and then again at 6 weeks.  We tried again at 8 weeks and he refused!  I talked to the lactation consultant who suggested that Ryan try to give the bottle with me out of the room, doing dream feeds and soaking the nipple in the milk.  So we started having Ryan try to give him a bottle every night.  One time he took it, but all the others he just cried.  We had Tawny visit and try while we were both gone, and again he wouldn't take it.  So I was freaking out because I had to go back to work.  I talked to the doctor at his 2 month visit and the doctor said that once he got to daycare he would learn to take it because he had to.  He said babies might go a day or two with no eating or erratic eating at daycare, but not to really worry at this point.  In the meantime, we were supposed to keep trying at least once a day.  Ryan was usually the one to try, but we weren't having any success.  Then the Friday before I went back to work, I decided to try again, and he took 2oz!  That Saturday he took 3oz and that Sunday he took a whole 4oz!  Monday daycare was closed because of a teacher work day, so Ryan stayed home with Reid and Reid took four 4oz bottles from him with no problem.  He just wanted to make me sweat!

Going back to work was really tough.  Monday wasn't too back because Reid was home with Ryan.  However, Tuesday, when I had to leave him at the daycare center, was hard.  Ryan and I both went for the first day.  I got really choked up on the way there, but held it together when we were actually in the facility.  Then I cried all the way to work.  The next day it was just me dropping him off, and again I got choked up on the way there and cried on the way to work.  I didn't cry the third day, but for the next week or so I felt so guilty and missed him so much.  Now I don't feel bad leaving him, but I do miss him tons.

Reid celebrated his first New Years Eve this year.  He was fussy around his normal time, and I did a lot of walking and swaying with him.  Ryan fell asleep before midnight, so when midnight rolled around and the ball dropped, I rang in the new year with a kiss on Reid's head.  Then Ryan woke up, gave us both a kiss, and we went to bed.

Somewhere around the end of this month, or the beginning of the third month, Reid wouldn't sleep in his crib at all, so we put him in his swing.  He would fall asleep around 10 or 11 and sleep for about 5-6 hours.  We did this for a couple weeks.

THREE MONTHS (weeks 14-17)

Reid is really babbling now and smiling responsively.  He loves his play mat and is playing with his other toys a lot more.  I think he's getting some favorites.  He likes two toys that play music, a cookie monster that squeaks, and a dog rattle that we call Scooby.  He's also grabbing onto rattles a little more and shaking them a little.  He doesn't hold on too long, but he's practicing.

At about 3.5 months Reid rolled from his front to his back.  I missed it.  My parents were in town for his baptism they saw him do it...I had my back turned.  About a week or two later, Reid did it again and both Ryan and I saw it.  We were so excited!

Reid got baptized this month.  He did really well.  He was wearing a really cute outfit of green corduroy pants, a grey button shirt and a white argyle vest.  I also got him little baptism shoes...they are white and kind of satiny with a little embroidered cross them.  He didn't cry or anything during the baptism.  He seemed like he was going to when he got water poured on his head the third time, but he held it together.  Everyone was so impressed at how good he was.  We were going to do pictures after the service, but he got so tired and fussy.  We didn't get many, but we got some.  He fell asleep on the way home and stayed asleep for at least an hour or two.

This month we got Reid a Bummzie to try to sleep in.  We thought it may help because it would kind of cradle him, like sleeping in our arms.  We also thought it would help transition him to sleeping on his back better.  I'll tell you, this pillow was a miracle!  He really started sleeping through the night in this thing, and we kept him in it for about a month to a month and a half.  (This is not Reid in the Bummzie...I just put the picture so everyone could see what a Bummize is)

FOUR MONTHS (weeks 18-21)

This month has been really eventful.  At his 4 month well visit, Reid was 13 lbs 4 oz and 25 in long.  Reid has really been developing more and more of a personality.  He seems to be a really happy baby (unless he's hungry or tired!).  Reid smiles all the time and loves to squeal and "talk".  I call him my little pterodactyl when he shrieks.  He's grabbing and everything (loves my hair and Ryan's ears!) and putting everything into his mouth.  He drools a lot and has been spitting up more...however the doctor said not to worry about the spit up if he is gaining weight and it doesn't seem to be bothering him.  It could be due to an immature esophagus or just because he moves around a lot.

This month we did a little sleep training to get him out of the Bummzie and onto his back in the crib.  We had started a bedtime routine of bath (every other night), nighttime lotion, jammies, nursing and rocking.  He usually falls asleep during rocking, but the problem we were having was that when we put him down, he would wake up and cry.  The doctor told us about this sleep training method so that he could learn to soothe himself asleep rather than rely on me all the time.  It's a modified version of crying it out.  What we did was I would put him down, and if he woke up I would still leave.  If he stated crying, I waited 5 minutes and then went in and kind of soothed him, then left again.  Then you wait 10 minutes before you go in again, and then every 15 minutes for the rest of the night.  The thought is they will fall asleep somewhere in one of those 15 minute intervals.  The next night you bump up all the times by 5 minutes, and the third night you bump it up again.  It really didn't take Reid too long to figure it out.  He didn't really cry too much...more fussed.  He woke up a lot though the night the first two nights, but now he's sleeping in his crib like a champ!

We still have some bumps in the road though.  This past week or so Reid has been waking up once a night anytime between 3 and 6 am.  He eats and then goes back to sleep until 7.  I guess overall that's not too bad, only waking up once, but it was so nice when I could count on him sleeping until 7.  Now I can pretty much count on him waking up at some point.  I'm hoping that this is just a growth spurt or something and that things will go back to normal soon!

This month Reid rolled from his back to his tummy, and does it all the time now.  However, he often rolls in his crib and doesn't like waking up that way.  He knows how to roll from his tummy to back, but won't do it...even when we are playing.  He'll just fuss until we roll him back over.  Sometimes, though, he stays on his tummy for awhile.  I put toys in front of him to encourage reaching and possibly scooting towards them.  At daycare they are impressed with how he pushes himself up when he's on his tummy and says he'll be crawling before we know it.

Also this month we started Reid on rice cereal.  He does really well.  Ryan said yesterday that Reid was kind of chewing it and swallowing.  We stared with a tablespoon and yesterday he did about 1.5 tablespoons.  Probably this weekend we will start fruits and veggies.

I think Ryan and I are starting to adjust a little more trying to figure out how to manage everything during the week.  These past couple weeks Ryan has made supper almost every night.  He'll pick up Reid from daycare and have some play time with him before I get home.  Then I feed Reid while Ryan makes dinner and then I get some play time.  After we eat (if we actually eat before Reid's bedtime) then either he or I will get Reid ready for bed while the other picks up the kitchen.  Then I nurse him and put him to bed.  Nighttime kind of stinks because I get home around 6 and it's time to start getting Reid ready for bed around 7:30-8:00...and you have to fit in eating in there too.  So, we're figuring it out and it's been working well so far.

INTO MONTH 5
Reid turns 5 months old on Wednesday.  We're looking forward to the new adventures to come this month.

Reid Matthew Huber

On Friday October 28, 2011 our beautiful baby boy, Reid Matthew Huber, was born.  He was born at 10:32 a.m. and weighed 6lbs 14 oz and was 20 in long.

As I last posted, we went to the hospital Thursday night for an induction on Friday morning because of low fluid levels in the womb.  The plan was to have the ripening agent in over night and then start the petocin around 5:30 or 6:30 in the morning and go from there.  The doctor put in the ripening agent at about 9:00 p.m.  I had to stay in bed for at least 2 hours for the medicine to absorb through the cervix.  They gave me an ambien later on so that I could sleep well through the night in preparation for the next day.  After a few hours I started felling crampy...almost a little worse than menstrual cramps.  They gave me a narcotic to dull the pain...so at this point I had an ambien and a narcotic.  I started feeling crampy continuously and they determined I was having contractions and they were very close together...but I was only 4 cm.  So I got some shot that was supposed to slow the contractions down and they took out the ripening agent.  My crampy pain was starting to get worse, so I asked if I could have another dose of the narcotic.  The doctor checked me again and I was still at 4 cm.  He said at this point I could have my epidural if I wanted, but I decided to wait so that I wouldn't have to be bed ridden for a long time.  I got another dose of the narcotic first and the nurse started me on the drip in preparation for the eventual epidural. 

I then started having horrible contractions...it felt like menstrual cramps multiplied by 100.  They were so bad and came on so quickly that the nurse got the doctor to check my dilation again, and he found I had gone from 4 cm to 9 cm in 1 hour! They got the anesthesiologist in there ASAP to administer the epidural (thank goodness the nurse had already done the prep!).  I remember asking "are you sure there's time for it to kick in?" which there was.  They administered the epidural and I felt instant relief.

I started pushing at about 9 or 9:30 and Reid was born at 10:32.  I was in active labor for about 9 hours and it took only 1 hour or so for the delivery.  The delivery itself was not as chaotic as I thought it would be...nothing like what you see on TV or the stories people like to tell.  It was just me, Ryan, the nurse and the doctor.  At each contraction Ryan and the nurse would each hold a leg, I would grab around my knees and push while they counted to 10.  I did this 3 times for each contraction.  At one point the doctor said she could see the head and Ryan looked (he wasn't originally planning on looking or watching down there).  They asked if I wanted the mirror to watch and Ryan said I should...so I said OK and they brought in the mirror.  It was really neat to see the head...and it helped with focusing my pushing more.  When he was about ready to come out, they moved the mirror because they had to break down the bed and pull out the stirrups, so I didn't get to see him come out...but Ryan watched and he was really glad that he did.

Right when he came out he went over to the nursing team to get cleaned up.  He had released meconium inside me during delivery so they had to make sure he didn't ingest any.  While he was getting cleaned up and having vitals checked, I was finishing delivery.  Yes, once you are done delivering a baby, you still have to deliver the placenta and then you have to get stitched up.  While they were doing this I just kept looking over trying to get glimpses of Reid.  I was also pretty loopy still from the ambien, narcotics, epidural, and having been up for over 24 hours straight (yes I had no sleep even with the ambien!).  Ryan was over there trying to take pictures the best he could around all those people.  Due to the blood loss I was shivering and they had to put a warming blanket around me before I could hold Reid because I was shaking so bad.  Then I got sick.  But after I threw up I felt much better and was able to eat a little broth, which really perked me up.  Reid, of course, was just healthy and perfect.

So that is the story of my labor and delivery.  It actually went better than I expected it to be and I feel very lucky.  Ryan and I feel so blessed to have Reid and are in awe of him.  We are looking forward to our new adventure with our little one.