This is Crazy! Wk 37

Here is a new installment of Schuelkins Sentry.  Lately I am finding certain things in this household CRAZY!  Being that our crazy changes from week to week, I thought that I would try to capture some of them from time to time so that I can reflect on them later.

* That I am having conversations like, "Who did you play with at school today?  Did you play outside?" Blog of 1st day of preschool in the works...

* My B-A-B-Y scooted over to the pantry and unloaded cans from the bottom shelf on the door.

* We had to run our heater on September 15!

* That we live in a place where the shelters at the parking garage have a heater option.  I remember visiting Minnesota and finding it CRAZY that they had those at their bus stops!!!

* I find Caden listening intently to conversations, even when they aren't directed at him.  He will then ask me if I was "talking about something".  And then try to tie what I was talking about to something that he can remember.

First day of Preschool and someone was EX-CI-TED!!!

See what I am talking about?!?!

Bright Eyed Baby... LOVE his big eyes!

6 Months

Wow!  I am TOTALLY sleep deprived!!!  I wasn't getting up this much at night with a newborn!  I finally figured it out, he wasn't getting enough breastmilk during the day, so he was waking more and more frequently at night to nurse.  AND, as the time went on, my supply started to drop, so he was waking even more!  There was a span of 3-4 weeks, where I was getting up 4-7 times a night, with a hungry, tired, cranky baby!  I'm glad that I went through the troubleshooting list; teething-no, milestones/alertness - no, ear infection - yes, but not the REAL problem, started to pay more attention to how much he was actually eating in a 24 hour period... DING DING DING!  It probably took me 2 weeks to sort through everything, but I FINALLY got it!   YAY!!!  sleep deprivation did not expedite the process either... ;)

So, I started supplementing with formula bottles this month.  He was not huge on the formula or the bottle, and wouldn't eat much at all. So it wasn't an immediate turn-around, but as soon as he got the hang of it, it did help.  Then I noticed that even with the supplemented bottles, he would always cap at 3 oz.  Always!  It was the most bizarre thing.  He should be eating, 5-7 oz a time at this age/size and he was only doing 3.  And yes, he was still getting up at night.  SO, the next challenge is going to be getting this guy to eat more than 3 oz in one sitting.  I think that it is going to take me stretching his stomach some, so it might be a slow process.  Hopefully he'll get the hang of solids soon too, so he can fill up on those as well!

He came down with an ear infection and was impossible to feed the amoxicillan to.  He had his first solid food.  Sweet potatoes, but it didn't go over too well.  Possibly because I hid Pink Shakey Shakey Bubble Gum Medicine in it???  His tongue thrust was still so strong, that it wasn't an easy or productive process.  But I know, practice makes perfect, so I'll keep it coming.

We took a family vacation to Lake Michigan, and it was all I could have dreamed of.  It could have been a little warmer, but we still enjoyed lots of time on the beach and outdoors.  We went blueberry picking and ate about as much as we picked.  Carsten is NOT a fan of his car seat, which made the 5.5 hour trip difficult.  But honestly, the Bald Eagle spotting, right there at our Lake House and the 65 steps to the petosky stone dusted Lake Michigan Beach made it all worth it!!!

Carsten can army crawl and move where he finds interesting objects.  He can certainly sit unsupported and is extremely close to sitting himself up.

5 Months

At 5 months my best gauge is that Carsten is 18 pounds and 27 inches.  He is now rolling both ways, and arcing his back, getting close to the crawling position.  Carsten was able to take his first dip in our backyard pool.  The big one was destroyed, so it was just the tiny one, but probably the perfect size for him.  Unfortunately his sleeping schedule has really digressed.  Towards the end of the fifth month, he was getting up more than twice a night.  Not so good for one of those kids who slept through the night at 2 months.

This month was very exciting as we had our great friends the Caswells come stay with us for a week.  That put, 5 kids, under 5 years, in one house.  Ahhhhhh!  I think the adults earned a medal during that week!  We visited the Indianapolis Zoo for the first time and spent a lot of time playing outdoors.

4 months

4 months?!?  Seriously??? I guess the time flies faster when you are chasing two kids, but man!, this kid is growing up too fast!!!

He is getting a hang of the napping thing.  And as long as I can stay on the front end of the grumpiness, I can get him down pretty fast.  Much like Caden, he likes to have a little blanket or piece of cloth (sometimes my shirt) to hang on to while he is going down.  And a pacifier - sigh.  He was sleeping through the night pretty good, until I came down with this TERRIBLE stomach bug that knocked me out for 4 days and really hurt my milk supply.  We've fought hard to come back from that illness, and have done remarkably well, given the situation, BUT, he is still getting up twice a night.  Ugh!  I am waiting for 6 months before starting him on any solids.  That was the protocol that we used with Caden and it worked really nice, so I don't want to change that, even though I bet a little sustenance would help him sleep better.  He can roll tummy to back like a champ.  He is ALMOST rolling back to tummy.  He will roll up on his side and kick and squirm, he is about 90% there!!!  He's definitely enjoying his feet these days!  He'll play with a few toys, especially those that are fun to chew/suck on.

Brad and I left him with my Mom AND a neighbor for the first extended time (long story, but Mom got in a car wreck and couldn't pick-up the kids, she shouldn't have even traveled up here, but she did...).  We went to see a traveling Broadway for Brad's birthday.  Everything was fine when we left, but when we got home and realized that the neighbor was still there and the baby was still awake, we knew things must not have gone as planned... And it didn't... He had received a few bottles from me, leading up to this event, but I guess he wasn't really up for receiving a bottle from someone else.  Poor kid screamed for 1.5 hours!!!!  Geez!  I feel sorry for all parties involved!!!  As soon as we walked in, he calmed down on my shoulder and guzzled a 6 ounce bottle... he was STARVING!!!

I LOVE his smiles and to make him laugh!!!