Eppie’s Great Race

Saturday Miles and I cheered on pops as he competed in the Eppie’s Great Race triathlon. We had some help from Nana and it was a great day!! In the afternoon we all took a pretty good nap (especially Matt).

Lunching

We went to a surprise baby shower lunch at the Orinda Country Club on Friday. Miles wore his finest seersucker shorts and collared shirt for the occasion.

4 Months

Another month in the books. I cannot believe he is already 4 months old (and yes, I will say this in every monthly update I'm sure). I feel like between months 3 and 4 he went from a newborn to an infant. He seems less fragile, has more personality and he just seems more grown up (is that weird to say about a baby?).

I started work yesterday. I made it through day one. Pumped twice and only cried about a dozen times. You know, only when asked "how are you?" If I didn't have to talk about it I was fine. Today was a little easier and I stopped crying sooner after leaving him. Daycare has gotten exponentially better. They love him and he seems to love it there too. He's been napping well for them, taking bottles and seems generally happy during the day (or so they report). And this makes all the difference to me. All I care about is his safety and happiness. It makes it easier to be away knowing that he is in great hands and is happy. 

Ok, the nitty gritty:

Likes:
-HANDS (mostly the left) has them in his mouth all. The. Time. 
-DROOLING: he could (and probaly should) wear a bib at all times
-SMILING: oh man his smile melts my heart a thousand times over. I will do (and have done) anything to make this kid smile.
-CARSEAT: Ok "likes" is kinda a stretch…he tolerates his carseat much better than last month. Thanks in full to this and this. I think I would have paid $100 for each of these and I'm not kidding. 
-BABY BJORN CHAIR: he's pretty content in this chair and loves to spin the toys on the toy bar that I purchased recently. 
-BATHTIME: this kid loves the water and splashing. I swear every night once 6:30 rolls around he'll start to fuss as his way of telling you "yo, it's bathtime, don't forget!"
-SLEEPING: Dear god please don't let me jinx this (as I have a legit fear of the "4 month sleep regression" that I keep hearing about). We moved Miles into his big crib in his room last Monday and it's been wonderful. He sleeps better. We sleep better. Win-win. We even got an 8.5 hour stretch one night although 6 hours is pretty standard. On a normal night he only wakes up twice. Almost without fail around 1:45 or 2am and then again at 4-5am when we'll bring him in our bed and I'll feed him side-lying and try to get some more sleep from him and for us. We have a bedtime routine that has been working for us for a while now. Matt comes home and starts bathtime with Miles around 6:30 or 6:45 (depending on when he woke up from his afternoon nap). He'll change Miles into jammies and then I come in and nurse him to sleep. I've been playing around with nursing him allllllmost all the way to sleep and putting him in his crib "drowsy but awake" (like the books say) and he's not the biggest fan of this…yet. We've been doing a bit of sleep training where we'll let him cry for 5-10 minutes (although I usually can't stand it past 8 minutes) but he usually needs one quick check in with a little cuddling and gliding or pop in a pinky finger or even a pacifier and he'll pass out. 

Dislikes:
Now that I moved "carseat" to the likes list, I really can't think of anything that he doesn't like. OH…middle of the night diaper changes. Hates. Them. Bad. It's like "I'm awake. I only want to eat. What are you doing to me??" Sorry Matt…it's super hard to change the diaper on a screaming wriggling little thing.

Stats:
His 4 month appointment was last week, so technically he wasn't quite 4 months yet but they take that into account with the percentages. 
-WEIGHT: 15 pounds 2 ounces (51%)
-HEIGHT: 25.5" (81%)
-HEAD: don't know the measuement exactly but he's 89% in head 
So he is continuing down the path of "long and lean with a big head"
–Update: I wanted to include that he is wearing size 3 diapers and has moved up one set of snaps on his cloth diapers. I'll want to remember this when I look back…I think.  

I think that's it. Anything else you want to know about the behavior of a 4 month old? Just ask. Next month we'll be just getting back from a week at the Lair and might even have introduced some solid food so that should make for a good update.

 1. With Pops at the doctor


2. Miles on his towel


3. Miles in the chair


4. A collection of all the past months photos (including the day he was born as #1)

And a fun video…just 'cause. 

Miles – 4 Months old from Home Sweet Oakland on Vimeo.

 

 

Drakes Bay Oyster Farm Adventure

Last weekend we headed up the coast out to Drakes Bay Oyster Farm to celebrate a friend's birthday and also see friends who were in town from New York. We were hopeful that Miles would nap in the car and boy did he. What a champ!! He napped the entire way there AND the entire way home eventhough we stopped for gas at Costco AND hit traffic…it was awesome. We only ended up staying for 2 hours at Drakes Bay but we did partake in the oysters, played some cornhole and took a fun family photo. This was one of my favorite family days since Miles was born. 

4th of July Week

We did it!! Matt was in Portugal for 8 nights and 9 days. My mom came down for 6 nights and I could not have survived the week without her (thanks mom!!).

It was so hot all week that Miles spent a lot of time in just a diaper.

1. Being mellow in the swing with 'Raf (the Giraffe)

2. Skyping with Pops while he was in Portugal. We got some BIG smiles from Miles when he saw Matt's face

3. Trying out the Bebepod seat. He's not too sure about it but soon he'll be loving sitting up, just you watch.

4. Since Grancy was in town I had her snap some photos of me with Miles since there aren't that many out there. This is my favorite (lack of makeup and all). 

5. Loving this striped onesie and he has come to LOVE his Baby Bjorn chair (especially with the addition of the toy bar). I bought the chair on Craigslist for about 75% of what it retails for…I love Craig and his list. 

6. Here we are at the Piedmont parade on the 4th of July (he slept through the entire thing)

7. Then he hung out with Opa on the lawn while we ate hamburgers. This guy just loves laying on the grass and checking out trees and kids

It was a wonderful week spent with my mom. We missed Matt a lot and are so thankful he made it home safely (even if he had a 3.5 hour delay).  His flight came into SFO just over 24 hours after the Asiana Airlines crash. 

 

Rolling Over…Already?

This has been happening. Saturday he did tummy to back…

Miles – Rolls Over (tummy to back) from Home Sweet Oakland on Vimeo.

 

and then Sunday he did back to tummy and hasn't stopped since…

Miles – Rolls Over (back to tummy) from Home Sweet Oakland on Vimeo.

  

Catching Up

It’s been a busy week or so.

I wasn’t posting last week because I was just a wreck. Last week was rough. We started Miles at daycare Wednesday for a few half days so he’ll get used to it before I go back to work July 16 (their policy). And to quote the woman watching him, the first day “did not go well”. I had been reading about how it would be. I had been sleeping with a blanket so that it would smell like me and had some of his favorite toys. I hung out for a short while. Said “goodbye, I’ll be back in a few hours, I love you”. And left. I didn’t want to linger because I was already in tears at the idea of leaving him. And a drawn out goodbye isn’t helpful. And “they” always say its harder on the mom than the baby. So I was a big girl and left and cried in my car. But after about 3 hours when it was time for me to pick him up. She opened the door and said to me “it did not go well”. My heart broke. He cried for about two hours and she could not console him and he would not nap. He finally was so tired and exhausted that he fell asleep on his tummy. I had arrived shortly after he woke up.

My poor baby.

So of course the rest of the day at home with him I was in tears just so miserable and guilty and plotting about how I would quit my job and stay home full time and how I’d never buy anything again for myself if it meant that I could stay home so he wouldn’t have to go back to daycare. Matt was calm and tried to help me. He asked “how did you think it would be different?” I confessed that I knew it would be hard but had no idea it would be THIS hard.

But then Thursday morning came and it was time to try again. More tears from me. I did not want to leave my baby thinking that he’d be so upset (typing this now brings tears to my eyes again). So I tried something different. We timed it so that when we arrived we would put him down for his nap together and when he was asleep we’d leave. That seemed to work. He napped for her again too after he woke up and played for a while. But wouldn’t take a bottle from her. I wasn’t worried because he doesn’t eat much in those morning hours anyways. But we went home with homework. That night was the first night that Matt put him down without me. He did bath routine, changed him into his sleep sack (like he always does) but he gave him a bottle of pumped milk and he fell asleep.

I had such mixed emotions. Of course I was happy that he took a bottle no problem (and sucked it down like a champ) but then part of me was sad not to be the one to nurse him to sleep as I have done every night of his life. I was so happy for Matt to get to experience that feeling. And can envision actually going out on a date and not needing to be home to put Miles to bed (eventually…). It was such a mash up of emotions. Happy and sad. Everyone tells you these first few months fly by and they really do. Even at 4 am while nursing bleary eyed I would look at my baby boy and would just try to remember everything and savor the moments where you feel you are the only ones awake, like its our own secret time knowing that soon he would be bigger and sleeping through the night and I would miss these special times regardless of how tired I was. I just never want to miss a moment.

I know it is a mother’s love but I often feel addicted to my son. He’ll be asleep in the co-sleeper next to me…and I miss him. I’ll flip through photos of the day on my iPhone, or from the day he was born and smile and long to hold him. I love him that much. I would do anything in the world to make him happy. And so I felt like I was letting him down by taking him to a place where he seemed SO unhappy.

But…I cannot shelter him from life. I know that the answer isn’t me staying home with him full time. I know he will not be happy 100% of the time in life and those times will make him stronger, will build character and will make him a good personal and will teach him patience. He will learn that he doesn’t always get his way. It will get better for him. He’ll learn that daycare is a safe place (with WAY more toys than home). He’ll socialize with other kids and learn to be soothed by other adults. And as I tell him: mama (or papa) will always bring you home.

Friday when I went to pick him up the door opened…success!! He napped AND took a bottle. It was a great day.

Photos:
1. My lil hipster baby
2. His friend Mason “holding” him (too cute!!!)
3. Bath time booty
4. Tummy time with one of his favorite toys
5. So peaceful cuddling in his swing with Raff (the giraffe)

Videos

I have been shooting some videos on my phone and using Vimeo to store them. But the trouble with creating all my posts on my phone is that I can't {neatly} add videos. So now that I have a few moments I'm going to post some videos that I've taken over the first three months of Miles life. Enjoy.

Miles at three weeks with hiccups:

Miles-3 Weeks from Home Sweet Oakland on Vimeo.

Miles doing a sleeping Go Bears (with help from Pops):

Miles-Go Bears from Home Sweet Oakland on Vimeo.

 Angry tummy time (pretty standard):

Miles-Mad Tummy Time from Home Sweet Oakland on Vimeo.

 And Miles at 12 weeks at the Lair:

Miles-12 Weeks (Lair) from Home Sweet Oakland on Vimeo.

  

 

Hands

This little man cannot get enough of his hands. I think he loves his left one the very most. These photos are just so sweet. Man I love this kid.

We had a great week while Matt was away…as great as it can be with him gone that is. The last night was super tough. He was super hard to put down for bed (which he usually is not) and then woke up every 60-90 minutes. The. Whole. Night. And napped poorly on Friday then did the same thing Friday night. Man oh man was I panicking thinking this was the new normal. Last night he was back on track and went down well at 7:15 then was up at 11:45p, 2:30a, 3:30a (because he fell asleep 1/2 way through eating at 2:30), and then again at 5a. I really need those 2.5-3 hour stretches in the night let me tell you. I don’t know if it was a growth spurt or him working a new “trick” (rolling over?) but I was certainly googling “sleep regression” at 3am because duder was sleeping like a 2 week old not wanting to be put down.

We had a visit from uncle Pat today. He was great to see him and catch up and I’m am for not getting a photo of him bathing Miles because it was just so cute. Miles seemed happy and kept staring at him thinking “you’re not the normal guy who bathes me”. Thanks for the hang Pat, lets do it again soon.

Hope everyone had a great weekend. It’s supposed to rain here the next few days so that really dampens our daily walking plans. But warm weather is in the forecast for 4th of July week. Woo hoo!!

3 Months

How did that happen. Poof. My son is three months old. People said it would go quickly and boy is that true. Yesterday Miles turned three months old. In my moms group we keep talking about how every week gets a little bit easier and it’s so true. I’m figuring him out a bit more and we are getting in a grove.

For some reason since we’ve been back from the Lair his sleep has been…not ideal. That Friday on the way up he didn’t take his long afternoon nap, that was pretty darn predictable. And ever since its just been gone. I’m trying to get back on track but last Friday I really hit a rough patch. He wasn’t sleeping well during the day and subsequently wasn’t sleeping well at night and I was pretty darn exhausted by Friday. Maybe it’s because I knew that I’d be alone this week but I really needed the weekend with Matt home and some extra hands to help. He’s been a bit better this week and I’m experimenting with his swaddle at night and keeping one arm out but he slept pretty well last night. So I hope that continues.

Likes: his hands (mainly his left), mirrors, talking (we go back and forth “chatting”), eating, being held, walks in the ergo, smiling, back dancing, baths (more like LOVES) and his play gym

Dislikes: carseat and car (unless he’s sleeping), stroller (he tolerates it in short bursts) and pacifiers. He’s a pretty happy guy most of the time, as long as he’s rested and well fed.

He is really smiley and has started to giggle more often. Never at the same thing twice though. He’s getting so close to rolling over. He almost did today at moms group and I totally gasped!! He went de back to side and almost made it to his tummy. It came out of no where and totally surprised me.

The next monthly update is going to have some changes as I will have just started back at work. I sure do love being this guys mama. Thank you for making my job the best ever baby boy. You are my I love you.