Sunday, September 12, 2010

Tyler: Week 10

August 25-August 31, 2010 (9w-9w6d old)

Breastfeeding:

Tyler can be quite the impatient little man when it comes to his milk!  When he decides it's time to eat, he wants it now, at the perfect flow and uninterrupted.  If I need 10 seconds to grab my water and the nursing pillow, or the flow slows down towards the end, or I switch boobs, or pause to burp, the screaming, oh my the screaming!

Now he's not always like this every time, many times he nurses very peacefully and falls asleep in my arms.  But when he's impatient, whew... watch out!  See for yourself!

Video:  Tyler not happy about burp intermission

Diapering:

This was not a fun week in the world of cloth diapering!  We've started to spring a leak!  After tons of research to figure out why all of a sudden, I think I found the culprit.  We have hard water and hard water leaves a mineral buildup on the cloth leaving them repelling liquids.  I'm going to strip the diapers (a process that removes buildup) and add Calgon water softener to the wash.  Hopefully that will do the trick.

Leak report:

BumGenius AIO:  9 out of 17 leaked
BumGenius Pocket:  1 out of 22 leaked
GroBaby:  4 out of 10 leaked
FuzziBunz:  1 out of 1 leaked
Flip:  0 out of 3 leaked

I'm still liking BumGenius the best.  I started using the Flip with Stay Dry insert by BumGenius this week as it finally fits and so far I really like this dipe as well.

I ran out of the BumGenius Bottom Cleaner and started using Baby Bum Drops for cloth wipe solution.  I really like this product,  it's very economical and I really don't see a difference between the two.  The Baby Bum Drops come in little squares and you add 1 square to 1 cup of hot water.  You let it dissolve and then pour it into a spritzer.  Considering the BumGenius is $10 for 4oz and these Baby Bum Drops are $12 and makes 496 oz, it's a much better deal.

Well Appointment (9w1d old):

Ty enjoyed his visit, was all chilled out on the exam table...


 ... until the nurse shined the light in his eyes and freaked him out.  He burst out screaming and mama had to console him.

Weight:  9 lbs 11 oz - 9th %tile
Length:  22" - 15th %tile
Head Circumference:  15" - 12th %tile

Tyler Update:

Ty had his 2nd chiro adjustment.



Ty's neck muscles are continuing to get stronger.  He raised his head and looked at me for the first time while laying flat on my chest.  I'm used to just seeing the top of his little bald head.  It was so sweet seeing those baby blues looking up at me.

A friend loaned me her Arm's Reach Co-Sleeper and Ty slept in it for the first time.  This thing is great!  It gets him out of our bed but still keeps him right next to me.  I can pop a paci in or check for breathing within "arms reach".




Ty has always loved being swaddled in a blanket, just not the process of getting swaddled.  He now enjoys the process as well.  He'll be crying with arms and legs flailing.  We'll put him on his Miracle Blanket (highly recommended if you swaddle) and he calms down, relaxes his arms next to his sides and lets us wrap him up.  He's like, please mama, stop my crazy arms, they are driving me nuts and keeping me up!

The sound of loud appliances puts him to sleep almost instantly.  He can be screaming and all we have to do is turn on a soundtrack of a vacuum/blow dryer and his eyes roll back in his head and he's out.  It's amazing!  For anyone that has a hard time soothing their baby, I highly recommend The Happiest Baby on the Block DVD and Calming Sounds CD!!!  It works!

He sucked his thumb for the first time.  It wasn't the most graceful thumb sucking I've seen as he wasn't able to coordinate the other fingers and kept poking his eyes.


His vision/eye coordination has improved, despite poking his eyes out.  He tracks us and makes eye contact with us very well.  No more crossed or wandering eyes.

He loves watching videos of himself on my laptop, except the ones of him crying.

He loves looking at us and himself in the mirror.  He's totally entertained watching us talk to him.

He likes to mimic us and is smiling more.  He hasn't quite got the mimicking down, but you can tell he's concentrating on the movements/sounds we make with our mouth and his mouth tries to do the same.

He loves it when I read to him.  He stares at the pages and lets out the softest little coos.

He rolled over from front to back for the first time.  He startled me as I was folding laundry while he was laying on the bed.  All of a sudden I see this big head rolling over towards the edge of the bed.  He was far from falling off, but still, I totally wasn't expecting this.  He rolled over every time I put him on his belly, so it wasn't a fluke.

Videos:  Tyler rolling over

One day this week, Ty woke up from a deep sleep and instantly screamed at the top of his lungs.  It was so high pitched it was almost glass shattering.  It scared me to death!  I scooped him up, hugged him and kept telling him it's ok.  A few mins later, he calmed down.  I think he experienced his first nightmare.  Kerry said he must have dreamt that my boobs were gone.

He had his first walk in the park and oh boy did he love it, that is until he decided he was hungry.  Mama made a mad dash to the car, threw the nursing shawl on and nursed in the backseat.








Show and Tell:

Ty after his bath:



The start of the wrist fat roll:


Ok, I know I've said it before, but this time I really mean it, this is the last week he'll wear any of his newborn clothes that I love so much.  I mean, come on mama, he can't even snap his onsies...


... and these are supposed to be pants, not shorts with the diaper hanging out the crotch!  I'm putting all size newborn in a storage tote this week, I promise.


A visit from Nana and Gmomma:



I love his new hands over the head position!




Just plain cuteness:



Video:  Cutest sneeze ever!

Video:  Tyler's imaginary paci

Mama Update:

What happened to BFing burning so many calories?  I've been sitting at 11 lbs over pre-pg weight for weeks.  I'm still in my early maternity clothes and am refusing to buy bigger clothes.  I definitely haven't been overeating, so it must be a lack of exercise.

I've had lots of good excuses up until now.  First I was pg with extreme swelling.  Then recovery from delivery and a hectic schedule with a newborn.  Then temps in the high 90's outside and upstairs where the treadmill/elliptical are (a/c broke).  So I really haven't had any exercise since I was about 7 months pg.  I'm feeling it too, this mama needs some exercise!!! 

So with the heat, we decided to take a walk in the late evening after it cools down.  During the walk, I kept leaking small amounts of urine.  What the heck, I thought I was done with that!  When I got home, I went pee and tried to stop mid-stream and I could not stop it, or even slow it down!  I researched this and found that pg weakens the pelvic floor muscle.  The only solution is to do kegels to strengthen it back up again.  Kegels here I come, I refuse to have to share diapers with Tyler!  Every time I pee now, I spend the entire time trying to stop.  Girls, do your kegels!

10 comments:

  1. Tyler is a seriously cute baby! I love these updates!!!!!!!! I promise to do my kegels, thanks for the advice! ;)

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  2. What a cutie - love the rolling videos.
    I'm with you on the kegels being important. I leaked at work one day with a full bladder and a difficult/scary situation at the start of an anesthetic. Thankfully it stayed in my undies and didn't get onto the scrubs themselves. Sure felt like it could have though. I still haven't been as diligent as I could be about the Kegels though.
    Are you getting by with just BF now, or do you have to pump after still to stimulate supply?
    I'd bet your body wants to hang on to some of the extra fat for the breastfeeding. I'm still about 14-15lb up from pre-pg, and really haven't lost any since a few weeks postpartum. Once I wean, I'll watch what I eat and try to do more walking/stairs etc.

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  3. I've always heard nine months up, nine months down so don't be too hard on yourself! You look beautiful!

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  4. Tyler is such a cutie - love the videos. And about the weight loss, I thought the same thing - that as long as I was breastfeeding, the weight would melt off. Well, it did for the first 7 weeks, then nothing until 9 months, and now I've lost 5lbs in the last two weeks with no effort (still continuing to breastfeed)...so no worries. I feel like maybe my body was in survival mode during that in between time. You do look great! But I know how you feel about wanting to exercise. Because of bedrest, I haven't really had my heart rate up in about a year...seriously. I'm sick of being out of breath going up and down the stairs ;-).

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  5. Doing Kegels as we speak:) I swear that boy gets cuter by the minute!

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  6. Ugg.....the urine leaking thing got better for me but never totally went away....I only leak now when I cough, sneeze or strain...it seemed to have gotten worse after baby #2....I cannot even imagine what Michelle Duggar's bladder is like...she probably had to start wearing "depends" after baby #5...LOL. It's weird with me now since having Cameron that when I "try" to do kegels, it's like I can't do them properly now. My "squeezer" doesn't seem to want to squeeze:(

    Tyler is such a cute baby and make the funniest faces of ANY baby I've ever seen....LOL

    I never lost weight b/f either and most of my friends didn't....I was not really until they were completely done weaning that they lost the rest of their weight. Don't be too hard on yourself...you really can't tell in pics that you're carrying around any extra weight!

    I love that "imaginary paci" thing. I think it's their natural sucking reflex or something...

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  7. Hi Jill Kerry and Tyler!

    It's so fun seeing Tyler in the videos...they make me giggle, therefore, making me look stupid while I'm watching them-thanks! He is so adorable! I'm glad you're having fun with him...they grow so fast, but that doesn't mean that they are no longer fun, it means they are fun in a new and different way every single day! He's a beautiful boy! Love you all-Aunt Kook

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  8. What a cutie! He is so cute. Teagan does the arms over the head thing too and it always makes me laugh b/c her arms are so short, they come to just the top of her head. She sleeps in "touchdown" position!!!

    My thoughts on breastfeeding and weightloss...I think you lose weight from it initially and then breastfeeding helps you hold the weight on b/c your body needs a little excess fat to actually make the milk your baby needs. I bet in a few months, it will start to fall off again (or so I've heard). I plateau'd and now that I am not BFing anymore (still struggling with this, honestly), I am starting to lose those last few pounds (thought they are IF pounds, not pregnancy pounds, ugh).

    About the leaking thing - yes, do those kegels whenever you can remember to do them. Seriously, in line at the grocery store, in the car at a light, anytime you remember, do them. My doc said I should do 10, 10 x a day. It got better really really fast.

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  9. Hi Jill! Thank you for your sweet comment on my blog. Our little boy's name is Egan :)

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  10. Thanks for all the fabulous photos! Tyler is so adorable! By the way, if you want cheap wipe solution, we just use water with a little baking soda, and Charlotte loves being changed. We used some 7th generation wipes recently, and she HATED them. Sorry about the continued incontinence. What a bummer, but those Kegels will fix it, I'm sure! I've still got some extra pounds to lose, too, and I feel like I have more flab than pounds, like I lost some muscle with pregnancy, as well. Bleh. More exercise will have to wait a bit longer (will post on my blog about that soon). Glad BF-ing is going well. Tyler is obviously doing really well. Love that photo of him asleep on his daddy!

    -Jill M.

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Thank you for your comment! Hugs, Kerry and Jill