So, I'm pretty overwhelmed by all the newness of the Little Big Man. He's returned to sleeping through the night, which is amazing in and of itself, but he's going to sleep earlier. Most nights he's down for the count between 11 and 12. He usually sleeps until between 7 and 8. The other night, Hubs and I got 8 consecutive hours of sleep, together, in our bed. I can't lie. That hasn't happened since before I was pregnant. MIND-BLOWING. He likes to take a looooong nap in the morning (2-4 hours) and then cat naps until dark, when he'll usually sleep for about an hour or 2, want a bottle, then go down for the night. He's sleeping in his crib most of the time (except that long nap in the morning... Mommy learned that when she wants him to go back to sleep, if she puts him in his swing, he'll take the longer nap. I'm not ashamed.) The other morning, I woke up to him crying on the baby monitor (because he's a big guy and needs to eat a lot to stay that way...) so I stumbled into his room and saw 2 fat legs sticking out of the side of the crib. I put him in the crib longways, so he had scooted around to the short side. The kid is a wiggler. When he's on the floor in his baby gym, he never stays even remotely close to where I put him. This is adorable, obviously, but it makes me very nervous about how insane its going to be when he's legitimately mobile in a few months. Pray for me!! I've noticed that he appears to have nightmares. Twice now I've heard him crying on the baby monitor, after he'd been asleep for an hour or 2, and when I go to check on him, he's still asleep and the crying stops. The other day, he was napping in the swing, and I heard him whimpering. When I looked over, his forehead was furrowed and his bottom lip was sticking out like he was upset about something. Anyone else have a baby with bad dreams? Anything you can do to prevent them? Will they go away on their own?
We had planned to wait until 6 months to start him on cereal (we also planned on him having breast milk until 6 months... we all know how well that went.) but the closer he got to 5 months, the hungrier he was. He was taking a 5-6oz bottle every 2 hours from 4pm until he went to bed at night. That's just insane! Plus he would scream like he was dying until he got that bottle every 2 hours. So a few days before he hit 5 months, we started it. He likes it, but he's still fighting with his tongue thrust and so he likes to 1. not allow the spoon into his mouth and/or 2. blow bubbles in the food on the spoon. He's getting better. More food is starting to make it into the baby than ON the baby.
Physically, he's growing so fast! In the span of a week, he started rolling front to back (back to front is close behind... I keep seeing him practicing) and sitting up. He's not a completely unsupported sitter just yet, but close enough. I had him in his bouncy seat while I was in the kitchen last week. I walk out and he's completely upright with his head against the toy arch. Crazy! He's super strong and constantly trying to do new things. I'm not ready for him to pull up or crawl, so I'm not encouraging it. Not for a little longer anyway. He's just becoming such a big boy and I miss my little baby (who was never all that little it seems).
My back had been bothering me pretty much since he was born. I knew it was normal for the first month or 2. After 4 months of painful cramps so bad that I frequently couldn't stand up straight, I asked my doctor about it. She was like, "Oh, yea, that happens all the time when you have a baby. Your back and hips get all crazy." So I started seeing a chiropractor. Turns out my hips are out of alignment and the muscles in my back are doing crazy stuff to compensate. So I get electrodes on my back with ice or heat (I've had both.), massage, and then alignment. OH. MY. GOSH. It hurts. It HURTS. The first time he was adjusting my right shoulder, I almost started to cry. It literally hurt worse than hard labor. Granted, I apparently had a pretty easy labor, but it still hurt. Anyway, he didn't believe me when I told him it hurt worse than labor. Well, Cool Guy, you've never been in labor so you don't really know, now do you? So, the adjustments HUUUUUUUUUURT. But they're working! My back pops a lot lately, when I move or take a deep breath, but that's apparently a good sign. And I'm not in agonizing pain anymore (well, except when he's adjusting my shoulders...) So, yay for chiropractic care!
Happy Fall Y'all!
