25 Weeks and a lot of changes!

Reuben is 25 weeks old tomorrow. This is insane.

Anyways, in the past week it's like he has just all of a sudden learned so much! He is rolling around with such ease. He's reaching for things, passing things between hands, blowing raspberries, and sitting on his own. He is enjoying being on his tummy a lot more lately as well.

His nighttimes are still difficult, though last night he slept 3 hours, 3 hours, 2 hours 15 minutes, an hour and a half, then an hour. This might sound rough but it was the best night he has had in several weeks. He was getting up every hour - I actually felt refreshed today. haha.

His bedtime routine is lots of fun. I don't know if I already wrote about it before but I'm loving it. At 5pm he has dinner (which is now a mix of vegetables and fruit - I've tricked him!) We then play for a while. At 6pm we have a bath, then get our pj's on, I give him a quick massage with Johnson's bedtime lotion (I swear it actually helps). We then have storytime (currently reading through "Old MacDonald's Farmyard Tales). After that we go into his room, put James Taylor on the record player and I rock him to sleep. Tonight and last night I've rocked him to sleep without a dummy which is awesome. I then put him in his crib before he's actually asleep and just rub his tummy til he falls completely asleep. Then he gets swaddled and I've been leaving the radio on although I haven't done that tonight - we'll see if it makes it worse I guess!

I LOVE evenings. I think he likes the consistency of it and I know I do. From 5pm I never have to think, "What do I do with him now?" and I like that. It eases a lot of stress. I do wish he was going to bed later than 7:15 but it will do for now!

This morning there was a new milestone as well. I was laying in bed and Adam got up with him and I could overheard him changing his diaper. I heard Adam shout "oh my!" to Reuben and I assumed he just had a big poo. It was true. He had a big poo. But it was not a baby poo! He had a REAL one. haha. I feel a little mournful to his baby poos which I find amusing, but it's just another thing proving that he isn't a newborn anymore which is a little sad.

I love my little man. This mom/parenthood thing is definitely hard work - much harder than I had imagined. I love it more every day though. It's so amazing to see a little person Adam and I created learning and developing, growing into a little man. Crazy stuff.

24 Weeks!

I'm struggling to believe that my little man is only a couple weeks away from being 6 months old. I just spent a few minutes looking at photos from the day he was born - he was soo tiny! He's now weight 16 lbs (just under double his birth weight) and is getting so big.

Yesterday I babysat a friend's little girl who is 3 weeks older than Reuben. She knows how to wave and she says "dadadadada." I find it hard to believe that in the next 3 weeks Reuben will be growing and learning at such a rapid pace! After she left I was determined to teach Reuben something...so I taught him to blow raspberries! haha! It make my evening though, so much fun and SO adorable. I would do one and then he would concentrate really hard to stick his little tongue out and make the noise - he can do it and he thinks its hilarious. It IS hilarious, and daddy finds it even funnier when Reuben does it while I am trying to feed him!!! He's soo messy!

Speaking of eating, Reuby is now eating breakfast everyday and a small lunch and a small dinner. He is SO picky. He will really only eat baby rice or pureed fruit. I've gotten him to take a few bites of sweet potato or parsnip, but even then he doesn't particularly enjoy it - he just doesn't gag so much as he does with the other vegetables. With anything else, he gags and starts throwing a tantrum. As soon as he sees the fruit though he stops ...its so silly.

We're getting into a fun little routine in the evenings. We have bathtime, then get into our PJ's, then we read a story and then I rock him in his room while I talk to him about our day and what we'll be doing tomorrow. I then sing him some songs and he falls asleep. It's perfect :)

Until he wakes up an hour later. haha. Seriously though, he might sleep 3 hours to begin with but for the last two weeks or so he's been up anywhere between every 40 minutes to every 1.30 hours. Its getting a little out of hand. I'm exhausted and overwhelmed and incredibly short-tempered lately. I am having a hard time coping with the constant interrupted sleep. I think if you added up all the 30 minute sleeps I had, I would probably have a good 8-9 hours a night but because its constantly being destroyed mid-snooze I am just so tired by the time morning rolls around.

I don't really know what to do about it. He's eating enough, so even when he does wake up I only feed him if it's been 3-4 hours. He just wants to be rocked back to sleep which takes about 2 minutes.

I'm not going to let him cry it out for a number of reasons which I won't elaborate on at the moment but basically I feel strongly that babies cry for a reason - and even if that reason is that they want a hug from their mom then so be it. I will always be there for Reuben when he cries and as he grows older he will learn through different ways how to be independant. I don't need to ignore him as an infant to teach him that. :) I needed to rant about that for a minute because of all the crap I've gotten this week for telling people that I do not want to let him cry himself to sleep every night. grr.

Let's see..what else? Breastfeeding is still going well, in face I'm hoping to do a peer support course in a few months through my friend who is a breastfeeding counsellor. I feel strongly about supporting women who are breastfeeding since I have struggled with it but continued to do it (and am now very much enjoying it) and I know many women who have given up or have even been advised by their doctors to give up when they could have continued. So yeah, just another thing for me to help people in through what I've learned!

OTher things in life? We are headed to the states in less than 3 weeks. I'm SO excited. I would be lying if I said I wasn't nervous for the flight but I'm trying not to stress out over it. If it's easy - great, if it's difficult - oh well. I have to deal with it, we are going! This is going to be the first time we've been back since I announced I was 7 weeks pregnant so it's going to be pretty crazy! I think it will probably hit me that I actually have a child when I am surrounded by my friends and family seeing me as a mommy. I can't wait :) I'm also beyond excited for Reuby to meet his close family..his Uncle Eddie, Uncle Joe, Auntie Julie and his cousins Amelia and Andrew. Soo many people to meet, it's going to be overwhelming.

Ok, that's all for now. Oh, and I have to say at this point...my little man is 5 months old and yes, I do want more children. :) (I thought he'd be at least 12 before I said that!)

23 Weeks!

Well, my little boy is now 5 1/4 months old. How did time go by so quickly? It seems like just last week I was saying he was 2 weeks old and my parents were visiting. On the other hand, it feels like he has always been here and I can't imagine life without him.

He's getting so big - last week he was weighed and he was 15lbs 11oz, gaining nearly 2 pounds in one month! While he's not particularly large for his age, that is a lot of weight to gain!

He is now rolling all over the place - though once he rolls onto his tummy from his back he tends to cry because he can't crawl yet..haha. Poor little guy. :)

Reuben is getting to be so much more fun lately - chatting away, rolling, holding toys and chewing everything, trying different foods, etc. He's still not sleeping through the night though and recently (about 2 weeks ago) has decided that he doesn't really want to sleep past 3am. It's horrendous! From about 3-3:30ish he will wake up every 40 minutes, and as soon as he's picked up he'll fall back asleep. He only needs to eat about every 4-5 hours in the night so I just am clueless as to why he keeps waking.

Speaking of sleeping, he has moved into his own room! I think I sort of bypassed how big of a step this was. He was initially moved into his own room but I was sleeping in the spare bed for a couple nights, and then 3 nights ago I went back into our room. We've ordered a baby monitor but until we get it we are just leaving the doors open and his room is quite close to ours so I can hear every move still. I'm hoping he will sleep better when we can shut his door and he won't hear us moving/snoring/talking in our sleep...haha, we'll see!

We've also just ordered a walker for him which I know he will love! He just wants to get around, he's SO squirmy when I'm trying to hold him.

In general he's doing really well, nearly sitting up by himself too! Today he had his shots which was NOT fun, but he's so brave - he cried more when Adam was getting his pants back on than when they gave him the shots. I love him! hehe. It's the worst feeling EVER listening to him cry though. guh :(

Hmm what else? Well unfortunately we are slacking in the photo department because my awesome new camera wasn't working, grr! It's been sent off to be repaired - but when I get it back I shall make up for all the photos I haven't gotten to take!

Other things going on...
tomorrow we're going swimming starting every Wednesday which should be lots of fun, Fridays we go to a Baby Massage class, Tuesdays we go to breastfeeding group, and Sundays we see lots of people at Church! This Monday we'll be babysitting a little friend of Reuben's named Amelia which should be fun/interesting - she is 3 weeks older than him and very cute!

I'm also hoping to be going on a course to become a Breastfeeding Peer Support, which will either be soon if I do it in Bridgwater or later on if I choose to go through a friend. Will keep everyone updated though! It's definitely something I'm interested in because I really struggled with breastfeding (and still do in some ways - getting comfortable, feeding Reuben on both sides etc) but it's been amazing. What an experience it is to provide all the nourishment that another little person needs...it's incredible.

Anyways! I think that's all for now. I will post photos as soon as my camera gets back to me!

Also..26 days until America !!!!!!!!!!!!

What a month! 21 Weeks Old

Sometimes when I get beyond a certain point, I avoid updating my blog at all costs. This point is reached when there are just too many things to say that I could not possibly choose which things to talk about, and I don't have the ability to summarize.

I've gone beyond that point to where I am now just drawing a complete blank. It has been an entire month since I updated last and my little baby seems to have turned into a little boy. I realized this 1)when we returned home from visiting family over Christmas and 2) this morning when I met a 2 1/2 week old baby who weighed 7 pounds. This baby just slept while Reuben was laughing and holding toys and chewing his hands because of his teething. He is so big.

So, where to begin. Reuben is now into everything! He has gone from being a little grumpy to a little "wiggle bottom" as we call him. haha. He always wants to be "walking" (me holding him while he tries to walk), or holding things, putting toys in his mouth, and more. He can roll over, and he does now regularly - both from his back to his tummy and his tummy to his back. Over the last 2 days he has realized that he can control his legs - this means that when I am changing his diaper he likes to grab my arms with his legs. It's cute and hilarious but also makes everything difficult with him constantly attacking anything in his sight with his legs!! He is very ticklish and has the cutest laugh in the universe (well, I know I'm biased but it's true.) He has just gotten so much more curious, I absolutely love to just watch him discovering new things. This morning I sat him on our windowsill as we looked outside, and I put my hand on the glass in front of him to show him there was a window and he reached out to touch it too. It's so incredible to see his little mind making connections and learning new things every day. I absolutely love it.

Lately I have just realized how in love I am with this little boy. There was a time not very long ago when I let out a big (no, MASSIVE) sigh of relief when he would fall asleep. When I would hear him waking up, I would dread having to figure out why he was screaming, often without success. I was struggling with breastfeeding, and unsure how to "entertain" this seemingly unhappy boy.

Now, when he's asleep I miss him. I can't wait for him to wake up (don't get me wrong, I like the occasional breaks though). I love making him laugh and playing with his toys with him. We've started reading to him before bed and he likes to help turn the pages. Breastfeeding is going great and he is now trying new foods and eating a bit every day (usually fruit puree, will tell more in a minute!) He is just all around a fun, entertaining little man. I can literally feel my love for him growing so intensely and it's amazing.

So, as I was saying, food! At 17 weeks or so I tried giving him some banana and he liked it. So then I tried giving him baby cereal and a couple other purees over a few days but he didn't seem to care very much so when we went to Adam's parents over Christmas I packed some jars of baby food just in case but no real intention of giving him anything - he just wasn't really interested yet. But at one point I thought to give him some - and he LOVED it. So much so that whenever I give him anything now, he doesn't really know when to stop and I'm pretty sure he gives himself a tummy ache every time! haha. So far he likes bananas (whole ones, he likes to suck on them), also mashed up bananas. He likes fruits a lot and his favorite is by far Apple and Pear. Today he tried Apple, Strawberry and Blueberry and liked it a lot!! He's tried Chicken with rice and vegetables but doesn't seem to like it very much. He's okay with baby cereal but isn't crazy over it.

So much fun :)

In other news..for Christmas Adam and I got a really nice camera. So now I am addicted to taking photos of my beautiful boy.

I could go on for quite a while about all the things that have happened over the last month but I need to take advantage of this free time to do other things besides blog :)

Also, one week from today and he will be 5 months old...where does the time go?