Bunny Photos

I attempted my first photo shoot and discovered rather quickly that photographer I am not!  I was constantly fighting the sun and therefore shadowing.

I entered Tyler into a cloth diaper calendar contest.  There was a requirement that you had to be the mom and the photographer.  I was doomed from the start, lol!  I did a bunny theme in hopes of winning April since everyone else was doing Halloween, Fall and Christmas.  I bought carrots and cabbage and put together a faux bunny garden.  I assembled it in card board and poured potting soil over it.

This is the one I entered.  It didn't win.  Appears the preference was more on the cloth diaper than the months or seasons of the year.  Oh well, at least I have some cute photos of my little Ty bunny.

Tyler: Week 21

November 10-November 16, 2010 (20w-20w6d old)

Breastfeeding:

It's been awhile since I've given an update on this.  I guess because it's going so well.  Tyler and I have become pros and haven't experienced any latching problems or any pain in quite awhile.  I believe that it just takes time for both mom and baby to learn the process and for the breast/nipple tissue to adjust.  I can tell you there's a big change in the elasticity of the nipple tissue that allows this to be pain-free, but it definitely did not happen overnight.  If you are new to nursing and it's painful, don't give up, I promise you the pain does go away.

I'm still dealing with low milk supply, but I make enough to feed Ty (have you seen how chunky he's getting???) and to make 1-2 supplemental bottles a night.  I do have to stay on top of it and make sure I don't go past 3-4 hrs without emptying and I have to pump around midnight as that is the only time Ty is out for a complete nursing session.  I still have never made enough to freeze any.

I read something helpful regarding low milk supply and wanted to share for anyone else dealing with this.  Many times a baby will nurse and then get frustrated when the flow starts to slow down.  Due to frustration, they won't stay on and end up leaving up to 25% in the boob.  It's really important to fully empty the boob so it tells the body to start making more.  The other issue is that baby misses the high calorie high fat hind milk, so he ends up hungry again before you have time to replenish.  The solution I read is to give baby a small supplemental bottle prior to nursing and then nurse.  This takes the hunger edge off and then they nurse more calmer and will stayed attached when the flow slows down and will finish.  This fully empties the breast and calls for more supply.  

Baby Wise:

This week we're working on reordering our pattern.  Baby Wise uses an eat-activity-sleep pattern.  We've gotten in a rut of eat, sleep, eat, activity.  This has resulted in Tyler needing to nurse in order to get to sleep.  He also falls asleep in the middle of nursing which means he doesn't get a full feeding.  It has resulted in him wanting to nurse every 1 to 2 hrs because he's still hungry when he wakes up.  We're working on making him wake up and finish nursing and then go play.  We need him to sleep because he's tired from activity not from the comfort of nursing.

The book talks about getting baby to sleep by comforting themselves and to get rid of sleep props.  Sleep props would be nursing, a paci, rocking, a swing, anything that baby requires to get to sleep.  If they require these to get to sleep, then they will require it again every time they wake up.

We're taking baby steps in removing Ty's sleep props one at a time as he has lots of them.  This will allow him the ability to learn to develop his own skills to get to sleep.  We're starting with removing nursing to get to sleep.  This is an adjustment for both of us, it started out rough but is getting better each time we put him down for a nap.

He's not liking being put in his crib for naps.  He screams bloody murder, it breaks my heart and I find myself picking him right up.  He definitely gets his way with crying.  I have to work on this.

He's starting to develop a preference for our bed over his crib or co-sleeper.  For the most part, he sleeps in his crib at night, but I do have a tendency to bring him down to our bed when he wakes for his middle of the night feeding.  I can't help it, I love him being next to me and I get a little more sleep because he can help himself to the milk bar anytime he wants.  This will be a tough one for me to break, but I know if I don't break the cycle now, it will be a nightmare way down the road.

Tyler Update:

• One night this week I got to witness him getting himself a middle of the night snack.  It's hilarious.  With eyes closed and laying on his side facing me, both arms reach straight out feeling for the boob.  As soon as he makes booby contact, he scoots himself towards me and latches on.  Other times when he's not hungry, he feels for my face and snuggles up to me.  Love it!

• He talks really loud while gurgling.  It's so cute.

Video:  Tyler's loud gurgle

• When he combines his gurgling with fussiness, he sounds like an elephant.

Video:  Tyler's elephant impression

• We had a America's Funniest Videos moment this week.  My mom, stepdad and I were all on their bed and I was laying on my back playing airplane with Ty trying to make him laugh for them.  All of a sudden he spit up all over me.  It covered my entire face, went in my mouth, in my ear and was all over my hair.  I ran to the bathroom so fast while my parents were gagging and laughing at the same time.  Note to self... no more airplane right after nursing!

• He discovered leaves today at our fall photo shoot.  He grabbed a handful and stared at them in amazement, then tried to eat them.

• He wants to grab everything he can get his hands on.  He reaches for stuff and then drops it on the floor.

• He grabs his toes every time I take his diaper off.

• When we put a wet wash cloth over him during this bath, he grabs it and slurps the water out of it.

• Everything goes into this child's mouth!  Plastic is good, but cloth is his favorite.

Show and Tell:

Video:  Fun Dad

Found that toe again!

Loves that thumb!

The boy loves sleeping on his peeps.

Tyler says hi and thank you for stopping by!

Tyler: Week 20

November 3-November 9, 2010 (19w-19w6d old)

Baby Wise:

Well folks, we are definitely out of the 4th trimester!  The books I've read were right on, baby is now capable of being spoiled and will cry/scream to get their way.  Time for a new game plan, it's time to hit the books.  I'm going to give the Baby Wise method a try and see if it works for us.  I'll journal my way through it in hopes that it may help someone else or that I might receive some helpful tips along the way.

I picked this method because it seems to meet in the middle of the 2 extremes.  On one end you have methods that are strictly schedule, everything goes by the clock and you let baby cry it out.  On the other end you have methods that focus on nurturing, meeting every single need regardless of time/schedule and you never let baby cry it out.  This is the one I had been following and while it was great for the 1st 3 months, I see a pattern starting to develop where our lives revolve around baby's every whim and screaming whenever that whim is not met.  Looking to the future, I see a toddler throwing a temper tantrum every time he's told no.  I will continue to meet every need, but not necessarily every want.

The Baby Wise method has you do eat-activity-sleep cycles and goes by a schedule that has flexibility when needed.  If you have a 3 hr cycle and baby gets hungry at 2.5 hrs, then feed him.  If you have errands to run, then run them and get back on schedule when you get back.  Sounds good to me, a goal of a schedule but flexibility when needed.

The book starts out on the importance of family and marriage.  Mom and Dad are baby's universe and if they don't have a good relationship, baby tends to not be as happy or stable and can feel as though his world is crumbling down.  A good, happy, secure marriage makes baby happy and secure.  Whew, I passed the first step.  We'll see how well I do in the next step in my next post.

Tyler Update:

• His 3 hr naps are history.  Naps are now 30-45 mins and only twice a day.

• His new trend is happy all day, fussy all evening.  I'm thinking he's not getting enough sleep.

• If you put your hands on his feet while he's on his back, he'll push himself across the floor.

• He now gets distracted while BFing.  He suckles, smiles at me, looks around to make sure he's not missing anything and repeats.  Sometimes he's so distracted that I have to nurse in a dark room or face him towards a blank wall so he'll keep nursing.

• All his babysitters and me have to hold him facing out or he thinks it's boob time.  Once he gets boob on the brain, there's no turning back.  Like father, like son!

• He can turn pages of a book.  Here he is with his sissy reading to him:

• While he is a thumb sucker, many times the thumb alone is just not enough.  He believes in equal opportunity for all fingers.

Show and Tell:

Toby and Tyler having a play date.

Tyler chillin' while his sitter Mandy washed his bottles.

Tyler flying high on Daddy's feet.

Tyler in his favorite toy, the exersaucer.  Look at those cheeks!

Tyler sleeping.

Video:  Daddy making Tyler laugh.  We finally captured his dolphin noise (done at 9 seconds).

Mama Update:

• Work is going well.  We filled our Friday babysitting opening, so we now have full coverage.  We have my mom, Kerry's mom, Ty's sissy and our friend Mandy watching him M-F while I work.  I couldn't be more pleased.  Everyone is incredible with Ty and so helpful around the house.  I'm a very lucky mama in that I get to see him during the day and am able to continue BFing.

• Due to losing so much hair and not seeing an end in sight, I had to cut it all off.  It was a shock initially and I cried over it, but I'm content with it now.  Sadly, it didn't seem to slow down the falling out.  I really need to go get my thyroid checked.

3 Month Photos