Baby Jett Walks Into a Wall

I walked into the living room to find him with this blanket over his head...he then proceeded to walk into the wall while I laughed so hard I cried.

That's good parenting right there.

Happy Halloween!

For the 2nd year in a row we've found ourselves in Oregon for the month of October.

Which means we could reenact the cuteness of Baby Jett's first Halloween from last year.

This year I put him in his skeleton jammies and pretended it was a costume.

He wasn't too sure about the terrain, it made walking a bit tedious.  But he seemed to enjoy himself!

We rode in wheelbarrows with cousin Parker.

 We watched Aunt Jill pull stupid faces for pictures with giant sunflowers.

 We walked with Grandma through the pumpkin patch.

 We turned our noses up at baby pumpkins.

 Deciding we wanted a bigger one instead.

 We watched Daddy find the biggest pumpkin he could find.

 And we tried to reenact our photo from last year...we were only kind of successful.

Happy Halloween Everyone!

The Mom Chop

Guys...I think it's time to chop my hair.

Not TOO short, but shorter.

My hair is long and obnoxious and I can't remember the last time I wore it down.

I shit you not I just went through the last 6 months of photos and could not fine ONE single picture of me with my hair down.

Sigh.

So, it's either wear my hair UP for the foreseeable future or chop some of the length off and see what happens.

I'm thinking something like this:

source

And here's my hair now...

Alright, you're right, that's from last Christmas! But my hair looks THE SAME.  All the more reason to DO something to it as I haven't changed it in a few years.

OMG how cute is Baby Jett, so tiny!

Anyway, I need some feedback, should I chop it?  Anyone else chop off inches and inches of their hair lately and NOT regret it?  I feel like every time I cut my hair I just want it to be long again...

Our Journey to Parenthood

I'm over here today guest blogging for Leah at Everyday Love.

Pregnancy & Infant Loss Remembrance

Today, October 15, is Pregnancy & Infant Loss Remembrance Day.

Most days I am well past the heartache of losing our first pregnancy 2 years ago but as we contemplate embarking on this journey once again the scars from the past come to the surface.

Jett will get some extra snuggles from his mama today for all those mamas who never got to hold their babies.

All the Baby Deuxs

It seems nearly everyone in my blogroll, both fertile and infertile are either:

Pregnant with Baby #2,

Trying to get pregnant with Baby #2 or

Talking about trying to get pregnant with Baby #2.

Is there something in the air?

Or do I just happen to only follow bloggers who gave birth roughly a year ago and the logical next step once your baby hits a year is to get pregnant again?

I fall somewhere in between the last two categories.  We haven't been using any protection but I have yet to have a postpartum period.  That means theoretically we're trying because I could ovulate at any time but really I'm pretty sure I'm not ovulating so it's more talking about trying!

I must admit, the fact that I have yet to have a period is starting to make me anxious.

I know people who didn't start ovulating again until 15 months, 18 months, 2 years or until they fully weaned.

I GET IT.  Some people, NORMAL PEOPLE even, don't get their fertility back right away.

I shouldn't worry yet.

It's the fact that I have an anovulatory disorder that has me worried.  Am I already all cysty?!  Am I not going to ovulate at all?  Or am I just one of those people who's not going to ovulate until I've weaned?

THERE'S NO WAY TO KNOW.  And short of weaning there's not a lot I can do about it.

If I'm being really honest with myself it makes the most sense to wait until after we get back from London which will be the end of December to worry about this.  In fact we've decided to not DO anything (no temping, no OPKs, no Vitex, etc etc) until after the New Year. 

Should we fall pregnant on our own between now and then?  So be it, obviously that would be awesome.  BUT I DON'T REALLY WANT TO BE PREGNANT ON A 10 HOUR FLIGHT WITH A TODDLER. 

And...I want the wee ones to have a little bit bigger age gap than 2 years.  Somewhere around 2.5 years would be ideal.  Which means waiting another 6 months or so.

All that being said, I can't help it, I've started worrying.  And obsessing.

ISN'T THERE SOMETHING I CAN PEE ON???

At least I know I'm not alone, basically ALL OF YOU have started obsessing again too.

So let's discuss, if you had the power to choose, what is the ideal age gap between your kiddos?

Hunger Strike Round 2

My post earlier this week about rules somehow turned into a post about feeding my baby.  I didn't realize that this was really where my struggles with discipline lie.

You guys offered some sound advice so I wanted to elaborate and clarify a bit and then ask for more advice!

First, Jett's diet is almost stricly fruit, veggies and proteins.  He eats very little grain, very little dairy and next to no processed food.  His "crap" snack that I let him have is Cheerios and he only gets them for car rides.

He loves fruit and he loves veggies but he does NOT love meat.

How do two meat loving parents end up with a VEGETARIAN???

Such a hippy already...good thing we live in San Francisco, he fits right in.

Second, he's only in the 18th percentile for his weight, so I do worry a bit more about him eating than I would if he weighed more AND he's slightly anemic...perhaps that's because he WON'T EAT MEAT.

Anyway, my point is that I LOVE the idea of plopping the kid down in the high chair, giving him some food and then that's it.  He eats or he doesn't, his choice.  LOVE THAT.  Like, honestly, it appeals to the laziness in me and this is what I WANT to do.

BUT, I got kind of a stern...not reprimand, but warning? that we needed to get Jett's iron levels up by his 15 month appointment or we were going to start talking supplements.  So, handing the kid a plate of food only to have him eat just the veggies followed by a snack of fruit later in the day then some more veggies for the next meal means he's not eating meat, thus not getting iron.  Because really the only way he'll eat the meat is if someone feeds him, at which point he HAPPILY eats the meat but he won't eat it on his own.

I've done other things like eggs, spinach and hummus for iron but let's face it, red meat is the easiest.

After my last post in which ALL OF YOU told me that you let your kid decide how much they want to eat ONLY IN THEIR HIGHCHAIR I decided I would give it a go.

What resulted is that my baby has had nothing but fruit, veggies and some Cheerios since Tuesday.  Last night he blatantly refused to eat ANYTHING except two bites of broccoli.  I even tried to resort to my old ways of hand feeding him after he was out of the chair but even that was refused.

I thought he would be crazy hungry this morning, but NOPE, he only ate half his breakfast.

So of course I worry, it's like part of the job description of MOM.

This is not the first time Baby Jett has gone on a hunger strike.  He basically ate nothing but fruit for 2 months just before he turned 1.  Ultimately I had to just let it happen and he went back to eating on his own.  But that time I wasn't concerned with him being anemic!

Luckily he's still nursing so I know he's getting SOME nutrients but guess what breastmilk does not provide?

Oh that's right, IRON!!!

So, now that you all know the WHOLE story, do you have the same advice?  Put him in the high chair, give him food and don't worry about it???

I'm trying to be all relaxed and chill about the whole thing, but in reality I'm starting to dread meal times.  So NOT how I wanted to approach food/meals as a parent.

How Strict Are You?

I can safely say that I let my kid get away with some stuff that I shouldn't...and that I swore I wouldn't.

I rationalize it all away by saying I'll be more strict when he can understand me/communicate with me and when I'm all alone it makes it easier so I'm doing it!

But as we've hit toddlerhood we're beginning to discover that my husband I disagree on how strict we should be with rules at this young age.  I, being of the mind that we need rules now but letting him get away with some things now that we wouldn't when he's older is ok.  

My husband believes that rules are rules and he needs to adhere to them...regardless of his age.

Some of the things we don't agree on?

I let him eat walking around/playing.  He doesn't like to be in the high chair for any extended period of time these days and while I insist on breakfast and dinner at least starting out in the high chair, I sort of let lunch slide and I feed him while he plays. He's still pretty small weight-wise and I find he'll eat more if he's not confined.  I REALLY don't want to continue doing this and I've vowed to quit by the time he's 2...but for now it works.   My husband thinks he should eat his meals in his chair and if he doesn't eat...then he doesn't eat.

My husband doesn't have to live with Screamy McCrankypants if he doesn't eat...which is what happens when kids don't eat!  So generally we do things my way =)

He's getting really good at his baby signs which is helping IMMENSELY.  He can now tell me when he's done and when he wants more and we've begun to...ahem...compromise with him regarding how much he has to eat before he gets down.

Another food arguement?

I don't force him to eat anything.  I give him choices...probably too many choices.  If he doesn't want to eat the first thing I present to him for dinner then I give him another option.  I never EVER had to eat something for dinner that I didn't want to eat, so I have a lot of trouble forcing him to eat something he doesn't want to eat.  

My husband is of a very very different opinion in which he thinks he needs to eat the food that's presented to him.  Period.  

Bathtime meltdowns?  

Every once in awhile, usually when he's super tired he has an epic meltdown in the tub and wants out IMMEDIATELY after getting in.  My way to deal with it?  Let him get out of the tub.  Even if he was older and could talk I wouldn't force him to take a bath if he was having a meltdown.  If he started doing it EVERY night?  Different story and he'd probably get forced into a bath, but once?  

My husband disagrees with me and wants to nip the tantrum in the bud, not wanting him to think he can get away with things just by screaming and makes him stay in the bath until he quits crying (which doesn't happen he just keeps crying until mama saves him!)

Things my husband does that I don't agree with?

He lets him get on the coffee table and he lets him play with screwdrivers.  Sigh.

These are just a few things that we disagree on when it comes to rules/discipline.  We agree on the rules that we ultimately want our child to follow and the manners we want him to possess but disagree on how to get there.

It's all a learning game, I guess we'll see what happens in a few years.

How has everyone else started dealing with rules/discipline?  Are you super strict starting super young?  Or do you let things slide now that you plan on being strict about later?

Mastitis?

First...I'm fine.  If I did have mastitis I fixed it and I have it no longer.

But I wanted to share my little story.

Almost 14 months nursing and I've had a plugged milk duct twice...that's it...that's as far as my nursing woes go.

UNTIL...

Yesterday afternoon, roughly 3pm I notice a pain in my right boob.  Pain came out of nowhere, hurts like a bitch and there's a hard knot where the pain is.  

Oh great...a plugged duct.  No problem I think to myself, I've had these before, I'll just massage that bad boy out of there. 

Come 5pm I'm starting to feel a little...peculiar.  My stomach feels like it's in my throat, I feel sort of lightheaded and fuzzy...but I power through.

By 6pm I have to call my husband away from his work (he was working at home luckily) to come help me because I HAVE TO LIE DOWN.  I'm feeling REALLY weird.  I'm starting to get the chills and feel very achy, almost like I have the flu.

At 7pm we get the baby down and I'M DONE.  I get on the couch next to the roaring fire and curl up into a ball and I CAN'T STOP SHIVERING.

As soon as I started shivering I JUST KNEW that that damn knot in my boob was the cause of all my discomfort.  I'd been massaging away since 3pm and I'd spent the last 2 hours trying to get the baby to nurse exclusively on that right boob but all to no avail, the knot wasn't budging.

I choked down dinner, shivering so bad it was almost impossible to eat and by 8pm I drew THE HOTTEST BATH I'VE EVER HAD.

Completely random sidenote here...why is it DRAWing a bath?  Why do we say draw?

Anyway...

FINALLY I was warm.  I stayed in there for 20 minutes but as soon as that water started to cool down I was shivering again.

Somehow I made it into bed, got myself dressed with the help of my husband, and buried myself under 3 blankets.  Luckily it was also super warm up there because we'd had a fire going all day.  But I was still freezing.  77 degrees, 3 blankets, my skin feels like it's on fire and I'm absolutely freezing.

Out comes the pump, I'm going to get that knot out of there if it kills me!  So I start pumping away, trying to massage the lump while I pump.

Suddenly there's a popping noise and a splash inside the pump.  DID I JUST UNPLUG MY CLOG?  I didn't imagine it would make such an obvious noise but it very much sounded and looked like I'd just unclogged my duct.

Sure enough about half hour later I can suddenly FEEL how hot it is up in that room.  I start peeling off the layers of clothing, one piece at a time, then slowly one by one each of the blankets come off until I'm so hot that I have to open the window because it's still 77 degrees.

AND THEN about 11pm I start sweating.  The sweating was the sign for me that it was over, the clog with it's accompanying bacteria was gone.

Just like that, as quickly as it started, it was over.  I was fine.  I went to sleep and woke up with nothing more than a slightly sore boob from all the massaging.

So, was that mastitis?  Anyone else had mastitis for a whopping 8 hours?

When in Doubt Post Some Pictures of Your Kid

I'm failing miserably at this one post a week VOW I made.

Our transition from 2 naps to 1 is not going as smoothly as I was led to believe so everyday is a toss up as to whether I have free time during nap #2 because some days IT DOESN'T EXIST.

So, rather than just NOT post like I've been doing these past few months I'm just going to post some piccies!

Here's what Baby Jett's been up to lately.

CLIMBING!

...and crawling through cat doors.

No surface is safe.  And mommy is busy chasing and saving baby from imminent death all day every day.

He's also mastered the throw my body back and screech like a banshee tantrum.

Toddlerhood is awesome.

 

How Long?

So...we made it a year, or 13 months more precisely.

I'm now nursing a toddler.

Somehow this milestone has led everyone to start questioning how long I'm going to continue.  As though people fear that continuing past a year is synonymous with nursing my kid until he's 7.

BTW, what's wrong with nursing my kid until he's 7 if I really wanted to?

My goal was always at least a year, but less than 2.

At this point we're going to 18 months but I'd still like to wean by the time he's 2.  Mostly because I'd like to be on Baby Deux by then...not because I have a strong desire to stop nursing.

I now completely understand why people just keep going...and going.  I have no reason to wean...other than the aforementioned Baby Deux.

It's not cumbersome, tedious, time-consuming or tiring.

It's calming, soothing, relaxing and still my MAGIC WEAPON.

In short, I really love nursing.  It's been an easy enjoyable experience for us and I will be very sad when this relationship comes to an end.

It's not all cupcakes and roses though because while the nursing relationship has changed for the better since those exhausting newborn days...it has also changed for the worse in some ways.

The little bastard has started biting me.

Ok, it's not true biting but the fact that he has teeth is causing me some discomfort.

Sometimes there are teeth marks on my nipple.  As though he's holding on with his teeth.

Again...not biting per se, just holding it in his teeth.

And sometimes when he pulls off he sort of SCRAPES his teeth along my nipple.

OUCH.

He doesn't do it always, but enough.  I can see how if he did it all the time I would be like I'M DONE, NO MORE BOOB FOR YOU!

Luckily he's not doing it enough to make me want to stop...but I can see why women quit cold turkey if their kid starts biting.

Who knows, maybe one day before my aforementioned 18 months he'll bite me and I'll cut him off.

But for now we're still going strong and will continue to do so for roughly the next 6 months to a year.

So, am I in the minority continuing to nurse my toddler?

How long did you/will you go?

Back to Blogging

I've neglected this blog lately.

And I miss it.

I've begun a million different posts.

I shit you not I have 17 half finished posts in my draft folder.

I have so many things I want to discuss with you all, including:

Continuing to breastfeed past a year

What I've been feeding my baby

Baby Allergies - From Dairy to Berries

Eating dairy again

Discipline

Transitioning from 2 Naps to 1

And a guest post for another blogger friend about my road to parenthood

And the list goes on.

I can't believe it's been more than a month since I've posted, Jett is already past 13 months.

So...I'm going to start blogging again.

My goal is one post a week...let's see if I can make it happen.

In the meantime, about 2 weeks after his first birthday Jett officially became a walker instead of a crawler and walking is now his only means of transportation.

Just like that, my baby is gone and I have a toddler.

Baby Jett - 12 Months

Well...it happened.  My baby turned 1.

We're leaving our baby days behind and entering...TODDLERDOM.  More grammatically known as toddlerhood.

So crazy.

It went so fast and so slow at the same time.  I'm a little bit in awe that we made it through the first year relatively unscathed.

At ONE YEAR Baby Jett:

Weight: 19 lbs. 4 oz - Skinny little bastard - 10th percentile for weight.
Height: 31 inches - Tall little bastard - 85th percentile for height.
Head: 18.25 inches - Perfectly in the middle at 50th percentile.

• He's quite the dancer, he has songs he likes on commercials and when they come on he starts dancing and singing along. He also has a toy that plays a particularly catchy tune that he will dance to whenever he plays with it.
• Has a Love/Hate relationship with the vacuum.  He's absolutely fascinated with it and will point at it and touch it and open the cabinet where it lives if he comes downstairs and finds it closed, but if you turn it on, OH HELL NO, and he starts crying and screaming...even if you're holding him.
• Can suck through a straw.  It never occurred to me to try out straws but someone came over with a sippy cup with a straw and Jett figured it out almost instantly.
• Points at EVERYTHING and I mean EVERYTHING.  We try to tell him the name of everything that he points at but halfway through the day I'm exhausted and feel like I'm going to go crazy if I say "key" "remote" "book" one more time!  Which is obnoxious because...
• He does not talk!  He has ZERO words in his vocabulary so far and the pediatrician said it was fine BUT that she'd like 3 words from him by his 15 month appt.  So now we've amped up the "mama" "dada" "kitty" and I really am going to go crazy if this kid doesn't start talking soon.
• As well as not talking he also blatantly refused to use sign language of any kind.  He KNOWS what the milk sign means and will sit calmly and wait for my boob if I say milk and do the sign for him but under no circumstances will he do it back to me.  If I can ever get him to just do that one sign instead of pulling my shirt down I will teach him others, but for now I've given up on "more" and "done" and am concentrating on "milk".
• He's an eater!  I have found NOTHING that he won't eat now...except his birthday cupcake, which is awesome after his hunger strike.  He definitely prefers to be fed over feeding himself though, BOO.
• Sleeps like a champ.  Naps are still great and he sleeps 11 hours straight through the night.  Only when he's teething does he seem to have trouble.  Even our travels to Oregon have not upset the sleeping through the night.
• Speaking of teething, he's got his 4th tooth!  So we have a matching set of 2 on bottom and 2 on top and a 5th one about to make an appearance on the top.
• Has perfected the fake cry.  He now pushes that bottom lip out and squeezes out some big fat crocodile tears INSTANTLY when you tell him no or take something away from him.  He can also turn it off as soon as he's happy again.  It's impressive.
• He's a climber.  He gets into and UP everything that he possibly can.  He's climbed up the fridge, up the pantry shelves, up the drawers to reach the top of the counter, into boxes and cabinets, up the high chair.  If it can be climbed he will try to climb it.
• Likes to push anything that can be pushed around the house.  He rearranges our furniture on a daily basis.  Garbage can gets moved to the living room, chairs get moved to the hall etc etc.  Every night we have to set our house straight again...fun times.
• As of his official first birthday he was not quite walking just taking a few steps, but just 3 days later he really plunged ahead with the walking and will do about 10 steps now and is really trying to walk places instead of dropping to a crawl immediately.  I'm pretty sure in just a few days this is going to become the new normal mode of locomotion!  Watch out world, here comes Jett!

 I'm glad we're done with these!

 Cousins!  God his hair is ridiculous!  I swear he's not bald on the top there...

 He was NOT impressed with his cupcake.  He wouldn't eat it!

Family Portrait

A shoutout to Leah at Everyday Love for making Baby Jett's awesome first birthday onesie!  Check out her shop for your kiddos!

Remembering the Good

I just found this in my Draft Folder.

It was the beginning of a post in which I was outlining the positives of my hospital birth as I was trying to come to terms with it all and let go of some of the anger.

Since today is the day that I went into the hospital for my induction last year I thought it might be appropriate to share it now.

As a reminder for everyone, I was planning a homebirth right up until 38 weeks at which point a routine prenatal appointment on a Monday turned into an induction in the hospital on Wednesday for preclampsia and a baby in my arms by early Friday morning.

Not what I had planned.

I spent a lot of time being pissed.

You can read about it here and here and here if you'd like.

It took me awhile to not feel anger about the hospital birth and I still mourn the loss of the homebirth experience...hopefully with the next one we can remedy that.

But I realize I never REALLY told you all about what a great hospital I gave birth in and how they worked their asses off to give me the experience I was looking for as much as they possibly could.

Remember this?  Where I discussed why I was having a homebirth?  Well...I got to do the vast majority of the things that I outlined in this post.

So, here goes...the good of my birth at a hospital.

• I hear lots of stories about women being pressured to hurry their labor along (as though we have control over that) but no one on the hospital staff put any pressure on me to get the baby out in a timely manner.  My labor lasted 29 hours, every moment of it in the hospital and by the time we finally had the baby they were SWAMPED, so I'm SURE they needed the room, but not once did I ever feel like I was on an assembly line and that I needed to hurry up and get the baby out so the room could go to the next laboring mother.  I was the laboring mother and it was my room until the baby came.  Period.  My water had also broken early in labor but this did not bother anyone and was still no reason for them to pressure me into pitocin/epidural/C-section etc. to speed up labor.

• Cervical checks were few and far between.  I think over the course of the whole labor I was checked 3 times.  They were very conscious of the fact that my water had broken and they wanted to keep the possibility of an infection to a minimum.  I was checked in the very beginning to confirm I was only 1cm dilated,  checked when I started "bearing down" unwillingly so that they could confirm whether it was time to push or not and then once again after I had the pitocin, epidural and my nap because the screen was showing what looked like contractions conducive to being fully dilated.  All important checks that would have been done if I was at home...except the first one, that one was to decide how to induce me as they prefer you're 3cm dilated before they start pitocin...there would have been no reason to check me in the beginning at home.  But I'm glad this check was done and I'm glad I wasn't given pitocin right off the bat.

• Before the induction took place the anesthesiologist came in and told me about my pain management options including the epidural but then NO ONE EVER OFFERED PAIN MEDS EVER AGAIN.  If you've ever been in labor that is KEY to doing it without drugs.  Regardless of your resolve when you are not in labor if someone asks you in the middle of a contraction if you'd like drugs you're very very likely to scream YES, JUST GIVE ME THE DRUGS!  But if no one offers and you've made up your mind to do it without them it is MUCH MUCH EASIER to stay the course if the drugs are never offered.  I had to come to the conclusion by myself that I wanted the epidural so I could sleep at the very end.  It was my decision alone, there was no pressure and it wasn't even offered, I had to ask for it.

• On that same note, I remember rather distinctly at HOUR 19 when I was having some rather excruciating back labor that suddenly I WANTED THE EPIDURAL and everyone and I mean EVERYONE in the room encouraged me to keep going and not have the epidural.  When I checked into that hospital I just KNEW that nurses were going to try to get me to have that epidural and so I was SHOCKED that the nurse on duty was part of my cheering squad encouraging me to keep going without the drugs.

• There was no restrictions on what I could and could not do.  I ate, I drank, I took a shower, I took a bath.  I spent very little time in the bed, in fact ending up in the bed for a cervical check proved to be my downfall and why I asked for the epidural in the end because I was falling asleep between contractions in the bed!  

• I did not have to wear a hospital gown (I HATE hospital gowns!) and spent the whole time either in my own clothes or naked.  This might seem silly to some, but it was important for me to not be wearing a hospital gown, I hate them that much.

• They treated my midwife with the utmost respect and she was basically my spokesperson.  They did not bother me when I was in labor, they directed all comments and questions to my midwife and let her talk things over with me and then accepted her response as mine.  THIS WAS AMAZING to not be bothered with medical jargon while you're trying to get a baby out because IT'S REALLY HARD TO THINK STRAIGHT.  My midwife would lay things out for me in layman terms and offer her advice and then answered any questions I had, always pausing for a contraction, which the Dr.'s DID NOT DO, twice I remember asking a Dr. or anesthesiologist or nurse or somebody to please not talk to me while I was in the middle of a contraction...midwife always paused to help me through the contraction.  

• Once the baby was out they let us delay the cord clamping.  Which is NOT hospital policy but we had discussed it before the induction and they were on board.  They actually asked my midwife when it was ok to cut it.  That's right they asked my midwife for advice!

• They also asked me if I wanted my placenta.  I WAS going to keep my placenta and make placenta pills and placenta art.  But since my placenta was the reason I was having an induction in a hospital at 38 weeks I had no desire to keep it...it would have just been a reminder that IT was the reason for the failed homebirth.  But cool that they offered to let me keep it.

• The baby was put directly on my chest and left there.  It was HOURS later before they came back to weigh/measure and do the thorough newborn checkup.  I laid there with my boob \ out and the baby right next to it and we took a little nap.  When the baby left to go to the nursery, Dom was with him the whole time and they were back within an hour.  The ENTIRE time I was in the hospital this was the only time the baby was not with me.

• Hospitals don't run out of hot water.  I was in the shower for HOURS trying to keep the back labor at bay, had we been at home I would not have been able to do this!

All in all my hospital birth was not a bad experience and other than the fact that I did not get to go into labor on my own...it was pretty close to getting to experience all I wanted to experience.

I can't believe that was a whole year ago and that Baby Jett is about to turn ONE...do I have to quit calling him Baby Jett now and start calling him Toddler Jett???

Baby Jett - 11 Months

Oh Baby Jett, how are you almost 1 already? I still like you more the older you get but I'm not sure I'm ready to say I have a one year old!

At 11 months Baby Jett:

Is not quite 20 lbs yet, if I had to guess I'd say he's about 19.5?  We don't have our official ped appt until the end of the month, so that will have to suffice.

Is over 30 inches.  Again, haven't officially been measured but we measured him and he's at least 30 inches now.

Still has ridiculous hair.  In the sunlight it looks uber blonde, in dark light it looks almost brown and when photographed the top of his head still appears bald because the hair is so blonde there...I'm still holding out hope that one day it will all even out and be the same color!

Still has blue eyes.

Talks and talks and talks, I can't get this kid to shut up....but he doesn't say any words really, lots of gah gah gahs and da da das and bah bah bahs and ma ma mas and every once in awhile someone will say something like 'wow' or 'hi' and it sounds like he parrots it back to you...but it's rare and it doesn't feel like he's REALLY doing it on purpose.

But he understands basic commands.  Like 'lift up your hands', 'come to mama', that sort of thing.

He can freestand for long stretches of time and can get from the floor to standing without support and can bend down and pick things up and set them back down all without any support...but he won't take steps without at least holding onto a FINGER.  He's barely using the fingers at this point but he refuses to take a step until he has a finger in his hand. I think he's building up the confidence to just plunge ahead with walking.  It feels like instead of taking one or two steps he's just going to one day start full on walking, just like he did with the crawling.

Has discovered the joy of opening and shutting doors.  He can be amused for hours with just a door.  Shut the door, open the door, laugh maniacally.  Shut the door, open the door, laugh maniacally.  Good times.

Easily gets off the bed, couch, steps, etc.  When I open the back door to the yard he now freely goes in and out as he chooses. Sometimes he just sits on the step and goes down the step, outside.  Up the step, inside.  And over and over and over again.

He's started playing with toys instead of just sucking on them.  Rolls balls and pushes toy cars, you get the idea.

LOVES stacking objects and putting things inside other things.  His favorite toys now are little stacking cubes that go one inside the other or pile on top of each other to make a tower.

He can take his shirt off.  Once the arms are out he pulls the rest of it over his head.

Makes the money sign by rubbing his thumbs against his other fingers when you say daddy or he sees daddy.  Fucking hilarious.  I think he's just doing a mini wave?  But it looks like he's rubbing his fingers together, like GIVE ME MONEY!  And he only does it with daddy!

Started throwing tantrums.  It begins already.  If he doesn't get what he wants he makes sure to let us know!

Points to let us know what he wants.  Although sometimes he seems to just want to point at everything and no matter what you hand him he continues to point at everything else.

Finally understands the concept of the sippy cup, ie. you must lift it up to get the liquid out!

Had his first real beach trip and DID NOT eat sand!

Got a 3rd tooth!  Top right tooth came through, that sucker is huge!

 Can you see the giant tooth?

Back to loving the bath.  Thank god!  That crying for baths thing was ridiculous!

Back to eating!  After what felt like forever he is FINALLY eating real food again and he'll basically eat anything.  Through the hunger strike we discovered that he likes to be fed, so we half feed him and he half feeds himself...it's a compromise depending on how tired/distracted he is at any given meal.

Is still a breastfeeding fool.  There's no possible way breastfeeding is ending at one year =)

Sleeping well!  Two 1-1.5 long naps every day and sleeping through the night for the most part.  Generally there's one feed either at 10-11ish at which point he then sleeps through until 6-7am or he starts off the night by sleeping through until about 4-5am then has a feed and sleeps for another 2 hours or so.  I'm pretty sure he's in the midst of a growth spurt as these feeds are true feeds where he hardly opens his eyes just eats and eats and eats and then is easy to put back down when he's done.

 

Why do I even still try to do these?  He won't sit still.

The Best Damn Napper on the Planet

I don't know what happened.

But Baby Jett is now an AWESOME napper.

As in he naps so damn well and so damn long that I have to WAKE HIM UP on a semi-regularly basis because otherwise he would be sleeping way too close to bedtime and way too much during the day to sleep well at night.

Let's say it all together now...WTF?!

He went from the king of cat naps to napping for 1-2 hours twice a day every day.

It's perplexing to say the least.

And I do it all wrong.

I nurse him to sleep guys.  Every. Single. Time.

Every nap, every day I nurse him until he's ASLEEP and put him in his crib.  I don't bother with the drowsy but awake baby like I have to do for bedtime.  But he happily sleeps and sleeps...and sleeps.

As far as I can tell it all started with that rose.ola virus.  He had a fever and I just thought he was tired because he was sick but he slept SO GOOD during the fever part of that virus.  THEN the rash set in after the fever disappeared and night sleep went to shit but he continued with the fantastic napping.

The transition from 3 naps down to 2 seems to have also played a part.

Suddenly 9 month old Baby Jett was The Best Damn Napper on the Planet.

So our new schedule looks something like this:

Wake at 6-6:30am (UGH, he's such an early riser now!)

First nap 9-9:30am.

Sleep until 10:30-11am...so many times I have to wake him at 11am because...

Second nap is no later than 2pm...and baby must be awake for at least 3 hours to be tired enough to nap.

Up from 2nd nap no later than 4pm though I much prefer if he's awake at 3:30.

And bedtime at 7-7:30pm

Regardless of how late he goes to bed he gets up around 6am, so I prefer the earlier bedtime because then he's getting more sleep.

But if he naps until 4pm then he's not tired at 7pm.

OMG, I NEVER EVER THOUGHT I WOULD BE A TIMED NAP KIND OF MOM.  It's so not my style.

Baby Jett led the way though...I just followed.

And truth be told it's not nearly as strict as it sounds.  Some days we still have half hour naps and we just move the nap schedule around, 2nd nap a bit earlier or bedtime a bit earlier.

These are my guidelines and rough nap times that I keep in mind but I'm not overly fussed about naps anymore.

I KNOW, what a difference 6 months makes right?  Remember this?

So, what have I learned about baby sleep?

You gotta ride out the storm and PERSISTENCE is key.

I had to keep putting baby in the crib.  Even if he would only sleep for half hour, I kept putting him in the crib instead of continuing to let him sleep on me.  Again, taking cues from Baby Jett because he wasn't sleeping for longer than half hour when I was wearing him either.

After quite a rough road with sleeping in general we've landed in a great place napwise.

I can only hope that this will continue, I can't tell you how nice it is to have an hour and a half to myself every morning, I shower, get dressed, do some chores, pick up a bit, put makeup on, blog...sometimes I even find I'm bored because I've ran out of things to do!

So we've landed here, fantastic napping...until the transition to one nap...

Baby Jett - 10 Months

First I have to record Baby Jett's 9 Month stats...for posterity sake of course!

Remember how I said I was sure he was no more than 18 lbs.

Mommy was spot on.

At  9 Months Baby Jett weighed 18 lbs exactly, still in the 18th percentile.
And is once again tall at 29.75 inches which is the 85th percentile.

And 3 weeks later at 10 months I'm sure he weighs no more than 18.5 lbs but I'm pretty sure he's over 30 inches which means WE NEED A NEW CAR SEAT.  I can't believe we need a new car seat.  Our car seat has a weight limit of 30 lbs but a height limit of 30 inches.  Crap.

At least this one lasts until he's 65 lbs!  He'll be like 8 by then =)

I feel like I've started 17 different posts over the last few weeks but have managed to post NONE of them, so it looks like I'll just summarize everything here.

Here's what's new this month.

• He waves.  He's been a 2 handed waver for awhile and he would wave for no reason but he finally "gets" waving, as in with one hand and it's when we see people or they're leaving...he really likes to wave at people's backs after they've already left.
• He dances...by shaking his head back and forth when he hears music.  Clearly he gets his dancing skills from daddy because that is definitely NOT how mommy dances.  Sometimes he sings along as well...so cute!
• He learned to go down the stairs, you know backwards as in NOT face first and throwing himself down expecting someone to catch him.  We've been working on this for awhile as there are A LOT of stairs in our house and you know...just lots of stairs in SF in general.
• He "shares".  He'll hand you things but then he wants them right back, sometimes he doesn't even really let it go before snatching it back.  But his face lights up when he offers something and you take it and say thank you.
• He has a new fake cry where he squishes he face up and squints his eyes...real cry the bottom lip sticks out, fake cry no bottom lip.
• He understands how things go IN things, so now everything goes in something, toys in his baby potty, cheerios in the bumbo, bowls in pots, spoons in drawers, booty in giant silver vase that no one would ever think to look for booty in etc etc.  I keep opening drawers to find things that definitely don't belong there and we're definitely starting to "lose" toys as they end up in drawers or cupboards or the above mentioned vase. 
• Had his first virus.  He was sick with rose.ola.  He handled it pretty well, though he was kind of miserable for most of a week, including when grandma and grandpa came to visit.
• Was the BEST SLEEPER EVER when he was sick...it was kind of amazing.  Long  1-2 hour naps twice every day and LONG stretches of sleep at night with only one waking.
• Promptly went back to SHITTY SHITTY SLEEP once he was better.  Although naps stayed awesome.  YES, NAPS ARE AWESOME NOW.  He went back to waking every 3 hours for almost a week.  But now back to one night waking again.  Sleeping seems to always be a work in progress.
• He is suddenly scared of loud noises, he bursts into tears when he's startled by loud noises now.
• Has been on a hunger strike.  He stopped eating meat awhile ago but then he stopped eating bread (which he loved) and then he stopped eating all the veggies that he used to love.  So basically he eats fruit.  Pediatrician said don't worry about it as long as he's still breastfeeding.  Just keep offering.  We waste a lot of food that he doesn't eat these days.
• He still nurses all day long, he basically never makes it more than 2 hours without at least a little snack. 
• Still only has the 2 bottom teeth...which he brushes every night in the bathtub.
• Has learned how to get under the bedskirt and has discovered the wonderland of wires we have hiding under there.

• Suddenly hates the bath.  He used to LOVE the bath...now he makes it about 3 minutes before he bursts into tears and tries to climb out...no idea what happened. 

Now get ready for the piccies of cuteness.

He is so over this laying on his back for pictures malarkey.  Good thing I only have 2 more months of these!

False Alarm

I don't think I ovulated.

I also don't think I'm pregnant in case that was going to be the next question from everyone...ok I KNOW I'm not pregnant because I finally peed on something.

And got a big fat NOT PREGNANT flashing at me =)

Luckily this was in no way devastating like it used to be as I've said before 2 babies under 2 is NOT actually desirable at this point.

Anyway, temp is still up, no period, no BFP, day 18 of high temps...I have no idea what's going on.

But guess what?

There's no way for me to find out what's going on because they don't make a Pee on This Stick to Tell You What Day of Your Cycle You're On.

So instead of obsessing I'm going to go back to not worrying about it until my period shows up.

I'll keep an eye out for EWCM but NO MORE TEMPING.

I feel like the last new mama who hasn't got her period yet at 10 months postpartum.  ALL the new mamas I know in real life got theirs months ago and more and more of you bloggy ladies are blogging about the return of your red friend and most of you have babes younger than Baby Jett.

BUT I'M NOT GOING TO OBSESS ABOUT IT.

Instead I'm going to be thankful that 1) I don't have to worry about dealing with my period and 2) I still don't have to worry about getting pregnant.

Moving on.  It has NOT begun again...now back to our regularly scheduled programming in which all I blog about is Baby Jett.

Excuse Me But Did I Just Ovulate?

Guys...I think I ovulated.

My disclaimer for anyone who has been happily following along while I chat about all things baby and may not have been around before I had the baby, I'm just gonna let you know that before baby I liked to chat about cervical mucus and constipation.   So go ahead and skip this post if you have no desire to read about cervical mucus, from now on known as EWCM (oh the acronyms!)...I'm not gonna talk about constipation.  Though now that I've broached the subject I am going to let you know that it took until 4 months postpartum to poop normally...it doesn't all end with the baby coming out unfortunately!

I've gone off subject... we're not talking about constipation, I'm going to talk about cervical mucus today!

So...ovulation.

I am 9.5 months postpartum, still nursing like crazy and have had very few signs, if any of my period making a comeback. Which I was totally ok with as nursing is our only form of birth control these days and I always told myself that I would wait until Baby #1 was a year old before trying (or thinking!) for Baby #2.

But lately every few weeks, maybe once a month, I would have some EWCM.  It would stick around for just a day or two and then gone.  It was very reminiscent of my cycles when they would last for 90+ days, as though my body was attempting to ovulate, gearing up for it and then just never quite popping the egg out and starting all over.

UNTIL 2 weeks ago I had GOBS AND GOBS of EWCM that lasted for DAYS.  I thought to myself HMMM, MAYBE I'M ABOUT TO OVULATE, but didn't REALLY believe that.  Just the ol' infertile mind coming back to haunt me (I'm ovulating, let's make more babies!)

Then the EWCM disappeared and I decided to take my temperature.  Oh yes, I BROUGHT MY GODDAMN THERMOMETER OUT OF HIDING.  Turns out you can't keep the crazy at bay for long, no matter how much you tell yourself that you're not ready for another baby, the second you think about ovulating you think MUST. MAKE. BABY!

Lo and behold, my temp was up....

Interesting.  But not conclusive.

So I started temping.  Every day.  Well, I'm temping as well as one can temp when one is up at least once every night...I admit my temps might be less than accurate.

But I'm at 10 days of high temps. 

DID I OVULATE?

IS IT TIME TO MAKE MORE BABIES?

Not ideal, but if eggs are popping out on their own, then it's GAME ON. 

Truth be told it wouldn't be the end of the world to get the babies out of the way quickly...my husband isn't getting any younger...and I REALLY didn't like the newborn stage, why prolong that hell, let's just do it now!

As far as I remember I have a 16 day luteal phase...which means I've got 6 more days to obsess over my temperature until AF arrives...or pee on something.

It's been a long time since I peed on something in the desperate search for information.

WHY ISN'T THERE SOMETHING TO PEE ON TO TELL ME IF I OVULATED 10 DAYS AGO?

So here we are, just 9 months after baby and I'm already back writing about EWCM, taking my temperature and thinking about peeing on ALL THE THINGS.

 And so it begins again...I think.

Because There Wasn't Enough to Worry About Already

There's lead in keys.

Are you kidding me?!

I try hard to not be a worrywart when it comes to what goes into Jett's mouth because EVERYTHING goes into Jett's mouth and I actually like his exposure to lots of germs.

So I let him chew on disgusting things which includes my keys.  I thought everyone did this.

He LOVES the keys.  He starts kicking and laughing like a maniac as soon as I pull them off the hook.

And my thought was that they were totally disgusting and dirty but...I'm sure my parents gave me keys to chew on and I'm fine, doesn't everyone let their kid chew on their keys?  What's the harm?

So he chews on my keys.

BUT yesterday while I was out and about and my kid was chewing on his car keys some random dude who worked at the frame shop says "Be careful about those keys, there can be lead in them." 

Are you kidding me?!

I was skeptical but took the keys away because I didn't want to be THAT mom that lets her kid chew on lead laden keys...but I didn't REALLY believe that there was lead in keys, why would they take lead out of paint and gasoline and leave it in keys?!  A KNOWN baby toy!

So I googled when I got home and....

It appears to be true.

There's lead in keys.

Motherfucker.

Guess Baby Jett just lost his favorite toy.  And mama found one more thing to worry about.

Did I give my baby lead poisoning???

I'm sure he's fine and I'm not going to freak out but...damn...just...damn.  What a ridiculous place for lead to be hidden.  WHAT ELSE HAS LEAD HIDDEN IN IT THAT JETT CHEWS ON?

How many of you out there let your baby suck on your keys?  Please tell me I'm not the only one that may have mistakenly poisoned my baby.

http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/2012/03/cdc-advisers-call-for-less-allowable-lead/index.htm

http://www.education.com/reference/article/Ref_Lead_Keys/

http://www.thesmartmama.com/ii/