One Of My Favorite Milestones

Night before last, Desmond slept through the night! No 4 AM feeding! I was afraid it was a fluke, but he did it again last night! I think I got to sleep 7 1/2 hours in a row last night! Then we got up, I got him dressed, fed him and ate a bowl of cereal, then we went for a walk with the new jogging stroller I was given and we were back home by 8 AM. I wish I could walk again later, but it'll too hot all the rest of the day. It's been getting 100 degrees quite often.

Yesterday Des was babysat by Grandma Gloria (my grandma) in the afternoon so that I could go to a movie with my Uncle Rob and twin cousins. She said he was good almost the entire time and gave her lots of smiles with dimples.

I'm a single mom this week as Norman has gone on the Ride. I so wish I was going! Hopefully I'll be able to go next year. I'll just have to leave Desmond with a grandma or something for the week. I think he'll be old enough to be without me for a week by then. We'll see. It might be me who couldn't go a week without him by then.

My brother visited from Seattle for couple days and Desmond seemed pretty enamored with him. He stared at him a lot. He was good when we went places, so I take that as he enjoyed himself.

Desmond is starting to outgrow some of his clothes. I had to start two piles: keeping for future kids and give away. I look forward to breaking out the next size of clothes and having new choices to put on him. He's so cute...in everything!
Here's his last time in the adorable Shark outfit:




My grandma seems to be getting a kick out of me with him. She keeps telling people how much I love him and spoil him. I don't know how you couldn't love him, he's such a good baby and so adorable. He's getting upset more often now, but it's only because he's getting bored easier and wants to do something else fun. If you keep wandering around with him and changing the scenery he's perfectly happy. He just doesn't want to sit someplace. He does like to spend time kicking and watching toys move in his chair. He still isn't grabbing anything, but his hands are going up towards them more I think.

Another neat milestone from this past week is that he smiled at MoonShine for the first time. Ted was holding him and sitting on the porch and MoonShine was wandering back and forth in front of them and he would smile every time he saw her. She brings him balls to throw for her when he's in his rocking chair. He doesn't respond to her, but she doesn't seem to mind. So smiling at her was a big deal. I can't wait till they're playing together; that will be SO cute!

MoonShine came on our walk this morning. She was so excited to go that she was whining and barking and bouncing around. Monty walked her and I pushed the stroller. Desmond started getting fussy a little before the half-way mark. I think it was party because the sun kept getting in his eyes. I'm not sure what the other part was. I kept having to move the hood so it was blocking the sun, but it was at a low angle and kept sneaking in. He's happily playing with his toys now though. Smiling and kicking and talking to them.

He's been going to sleep well at night. We have a routine now. I feed him about 8:30 or 9:00 PM, then he gets in his PJ's, I sit him in my lap and read him a book or two, then I kiss him a bunch and lay him in his crib with the mobile on and light off. He talks to the mobile and wiggles about until he falls asleep. Last night I even left him alone and finished up stuff in the living room and he stayed happy. I kept checking on him and he was not worried at all, just talking away.

He's trying to laugh. Norman is really looking forward to him laughing. He's getting closer to laughing everyday. He breathes in like half a laugh, but isn't doing the other half yet. Getting closer though.

2 Month Old

Desmond had his Doctor's appointment last Thursday. He is now 12.1 lbs, 23 inches tall, and has a head circumference of 38 centimeters. He had to have his PKU redone, which I was annoyed about because it's painful and he'd been so good last time. He also had an oral vaccination and two shots. When they finished and let me pick him up, he immediately stopped crying. I felt better because if it was hurting really bad he wouldn't have stopped crying. When we got out to the car he said how hard it was to watch his child cry. That's why I wanted him to go with me! It was hard, but it's for his safety and we have to get used to doing things for his safety even if he isn't happy about it. It's hard.




He seems to be working up to sleeping through the night. He's going longer between feedings at night and he's eating for a short time. I think pretty soon he'll be letting me go 7 hours in a row! That is quite exciting.

Last night, everyone was here playing Rock-Band and Desmond was ready to sleep, so I took him to bed and put his pajamas on him and he was wide awake again so I played with him jiggling his feet, etc. and he smiled and smiled. Then I grabbed a book and pulled him into my lap and started reading to him. I didn't figure we'd get past the first few pages, but he sat there, staring at the pages and listening intently to my voice while I read the story and pointed to the characters through the entire book. He was still with me at the end, I could have read more! I told him what a good listener he was and then fed him some more and put him to bed.

He is going to bed really well, I hope that keeps up. I lay him down and turn his mobile on with just the sound and no light and he'll sometimes talk to himself or wiggle around and he goes to sleep. He never sleeps in our bed unless we're awake. In the mornings Norman will lay him on his chest and pat him so I can sleep a little longer. But that's it. We don't want him to get smothered in the blankets, OR used to sleeping with us. He's going to get his own room in the fall and if he's sleeping through the nights by then, he'll be sleeping in there.

I'm really enjoying this little guy. I was afraid I'd get frustrated with a baby, but I'm never frustrated with him. I'm cranky in the morning because I'm sleepy, but that gets taken out on furniture that in my way. Haha.

Desmond's Birth Reflections

I'm siting here feeding Des and watching 16 And Pregnant. I don't know how these young teenagers go through the process, it was hard enough married and 25 and only working when I wanted to (substitute teacher).

I cried through the end of the one where the girl gave the baby up for adoption, not because of that so much as the fact that the boyfriend wanted to keep it and they didn't have any way to make it an option. It was totally the right decision to give the baby up, but the family was fighting in the delivery room and there was so much stress through the pregnancy. I was really happy with how the delivery room was for me.

We got there at 6 AM, broke my water at about 8 AM, got contractions going in the jacuzzi tub within about 1 1/2 hr or so and after two doses of the IV drug that dulls the top of the sharpest pain, it was time to push. At 2:05 PM, there he was. It went so fast. I was already 4 cm dialated going in and having lots of "practice" contractions. It's hard to imagine that next time is supposed to go even faster. He was a week overdue, hopefully the next one will NOT do that!

Desmond has been such a good baby. He had good Apgar scores and latched well. He slept more at night than most newborns because he was so big at birth (9.43 lbs). He doesn't cry much, only when he's mad or has a wet or dirty diaper.

Now, at 8 weeks tomorrow, he loves bathes, and is up to sleeping 5 hrs in a row at night, once in a while even longer. He can stay awake for 3 or 4 hours in a row and be happy the whole time. He can occupy himself for awhile playing so I don't have to feel bad leaving him to himself so I can wash dishes or do laundry. It's quite encouraging.

I don't have to worry about working and nursing. I plan to make it to 6 months and then we'll see what going on work-wise. I really want to go back to subbing, but I don't want to be trying to pump at school, it'd be pretty impossible. So I'm hoping to pump enough to freeze that he can still be getting breast milk after I'm done nursing. I bought a new breast pump but haven't attacked it yet. I think using the old one sporadically is what caused the painful clogged milk ducts. Since I quit pumping I've been fine. But if I want to wean at 6 months I'm going to have to go back to pumping so I have enough saved up.

4th of July Weekend

Saturday:
Norman was able to finagle the day off and we drove to Tricities to meet my dad who was helping one of my aunts move. It turned out his parents were there too, and they've never seen Desmond so it was a really neat surprise. The took pictures with him and then my dad and them headed home and I stayed and talked to my aunt for about an hour. I hadn't seen her in year and it was awesome. She's going to be only about 45 minutes away now!

4th of July:
It was a big weekend of Desmond and me. It was his first 4th of July. My grandma and I took him to Pioneer park and he mostly slept through us wandering around to see all the vendors. We ran into a friend of mine from high school and he opened his eyes to see him, then went back to sleep. Then later I took him to my aunt's house and we hung out there and ate BBQ and then came home when Norman got off work. We could hear fireworks, but didn't actually see any. Next year that will be much more exciting because Des will be able to be excited about it.

Newest Developments:
Desmond made the break-through the other night that his kicking makes the animals on his bouncy chair bounce. He stared at them like a little scientist, researching how the harder he kicked the more they bounced. It occupied him for an hour. I got him a rocking vibrating chair with a gift card from my Aunt Lisa and he really likes it. He spent an hour today getting the animals on it to move. He kicks and smiles and stares with huge eyes. It's so cute.





The other thing he's started doing is he stays awake a little longer in the car. He's made it around the block to my grandma's twice! And shocked me yesterday by staying awake the whole way from my Aunt Patty's house, which is about 15 minutes!

My Revelations:
The other day I accidentally read some posts about people who had lost their babies to SIDS. It's so terrifying because it's not something you can control like not drinking while you're pregnant or rear-facing the car-seat. I do all the preventions on the lists I find. I was worried about it because I don't know what I'd do without this little guy. I've rearranged my whole life to made it about him for awhile. I finally got Norman to talk to me a little bit so I could tell him about it and that made me feel better. Then Saturday in the car I read in American Baby that 96% of SIDS deaths happen when one of the preventions isn't followed. So, that makes me feel a lot safer.

The other safety thing I learned more about is the rear-facing car-seat. Watch some videos on Youtube, it's crazy. If you get in a crash front-facing your kid has a good chance of being internally decapitated. So Desmond is going to be rear-facing as long as he can be.

Desmond has begun not letting me sleep in. When he decided I should be up he cries and own't settle himself. I'll get up and feed the dogs, etc. and while I'm out of the room he goes back to sleep. If I try to ignore him a while and get him to go back to sleep with me in bed he will not sleep. I get up, he sleeps. Not fair.

My grandma had told us before Desmond was born that we'd find a renewed need for God when Des was barn. We've definitely found it to be true. With so many ways a baby can be hurt or killed, and so many of them out of our immediate control, you'd go crazy if you couldn't pray and give some of your fear to God. I was listening to a Big Bad Voodoo Daddy in the song that summed it up pretty well, "Angels watch over you, like parents want to do".

You Know You're A Parent When:
I think I must start this list and add to it as I find new things I didn't do or think before.

-baby drool no longer turns your stomach
-anything past 7:30 is "sleeping in"
-anything past 9 PM is "late"
-every time you go someplace you feel like you've packed for a weekend
-you narrate everything you do
-you can make a sandwich with one hand
-you know how to swaddle

The Happiest Baby Around

Desmond smiled more at the twin's birthday on the 26th then ever before. It gave me lots of chance to get super adorable pictures. He doesn't photograph very accurately, which is weird, but he's cuter in person. These pictures are still super cute though! I was talking to him and family was walking around and that is what he's smiling at. That and I think he thought the flash on the camera was amusing.

I find it quite true that a baby's smile is like falling in love.

Desmond And The Peas

I decided we needed to spend more time in the outdoors, so the day before yesterday we went outside and picked peas. He had been wide awake until we got outside. He fell asleep as soon as I got the stroller out the door, slept through the bumpy ride across the lawn to the garden, and then woke up for a couple pictures and went back to sleep again.

In the house he woke up again, but was grumpy. Apparently, he already doesn't like peas. Even so, he's adorable hating peas.

Is It True With Babies Too?

Desmond's favorite new game this week is to sit in his bouncy chair and have me put a receiving blanket up at a neck and then he kicks it off. He'll happily do this about 50 times in a row. Norman extended the game by putting the blanket all the way over the chair and Desmond kicked it off faster and faster every time. I told him that getting out from under a blanket is one of the tests they use to determine IQ in dogs. I wonder if it's the same for babies. Either way, Desmond is one smart dog.