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.