Five months!

Able to sit up under his own power, too!
Jim's new physical abilities are kind of a mixed blessing. On the one hand, he is now able to sit up straight to have his picture taken. On the other hand, he is now unable to sit still to have his picture taken.


Blooper reel.

Fortunately, Daddy is always around to fix things.
So, what's he been up to, this month? Well, chief among his new abilities is sitting complete unsupported! We discovered this while putting together our new jogging stroller (read: while Noah put together our new jogging stroller and Jim and I watched). I sat Jim down for a second, expecting him to flop back against me, and lo, he did not. Well, he did eventually, but not immediately.


Jim's first time sitting on his own for more than two seconds(and the aftermath).
Now he can sit for 15+ minutes at a time. It's easily his favorite position. If he has a toy in front of him (or a Jane Austen adaptation), he's generally delighted for ages. Of course, it usually ends with him bending over to suck on his toes and then crying because he can't get back up again. Ah, the trials of infancy. This video was taken about a week ago - he's sitting much better now. Almost never falls down anymore.


Other developments in the physical realm: he's trying to crawl (but not getting on very well - he can't seem to coordinate his front and back halves), he's extremely interested in his feet, everything he sees goes into his mouth (his record is two hands and a foot), and his head remains enormous (went to Target to buy him some winter hats and NONE of them would stretch over his noggin - fortunately one of Noah's hats fits him reasonably well [yes, seriously {brackets within brackets!}]).


Jim stalks his crib at night, seeking that which he may devour.
In other Jim news, he's being a bit of a pain in the evenings. I believe it's a combination of boredom (since he is now smart enough to figure everything out immediately instead of staring for hours) and tiredness (since he just abandoned his third nap a couple days ago). His favorite thing now is any activity which gets him out of the house. Trips to the grocery store, walks in the park, spins in the jogging stroller - all of these things keep him happy (until we get home). Unfortunately, it's starting to get kind of chilly (65ish during the day, 40s at night), so we've had to learn how to dress him somewhat more substantially. Behold:


The geekery starts young.

Pouting because he can't find a droid to kidnap.
Other fun things include newspapers (I'll put up a post soon about our extremely literate little family), the cat (Bruce is very stoic), dangerous things (pencils, butter knives, computer wires, arsenic, chainsaws*), and being manhandled.


All of us, except Pablo. Pablo's a jerk.

*Some exaggeration may apply.

Not that kind of blog, folks, sorry.

So I was looking over my blog stats, and people use some weird, weird search terms to find this place. Sure, most of them are boring, like "buckethead blog" and so forth, but some of them... Well, for example:

• syphilis - Um, I don't have that. No, really, I don't.
  
• how big is a papaya - I have no idea. About half the size of a human head, I'm guessing.
  
• transvaginal ultrasound of fibroid - Oh, I had one of those. The ultrasound was cool - you could see blood running through it, all blue and red and blinking and so forth. They cut it out when I had my c-section, so that was okay.
  
• babies are gross - Yes. Yes, they are.
  
• breakfast bratwurst - Delicious. Don't forget the mustard.
  
• jalapeno juice for a pink eye remedy - Uhh, don't do that.
  
• amateur boob milf - This is not that kind of blog, sir, thankyouverymuchandgoodnight.
  

WW: Diaper Change Edition (alternatively: You Just TRY to Change This Diaper Edition)

Seriously, every damn time...

Es tut mir leid.

Sorry for the shamefully sporadic posting lately. Jim has been a needy little sonuvabitch (I'm allowed to say that, being said bitch), and it's been a bit trying. I think he's developing some kind of separation anxiety - he wails hysterically if I leave his sight and is instantly calmed when I return, even if I don't touch him. He's getting very easily frustrated now, too, and likes to change positions/activities every five minutes or so when he's not napping. Nights, while improved by co-sleeping, are still leaving me with about six hours on an average night, so I've also been groggy as hell during the day. Basically, I love him dearly and do not want him to grow up, but I kind of can't wait until this phase is over and he can crawl or something. I think he'll be much less cranky if he can get around on his own.

Anyway, that is my excuse and a slight rant. Here is a picture of Jim with a levitating teething ring to tide you over until next time.


Noah took it. I don't know how it's levitating. Jim is probably telekinetic.

Jim knows what's up.

I've discovered a way to get Jim to sleep more or less through a whole night, with minimum intervention on my part. This new method generally results in a back-ache in the morning, unfortunately, since I'm unable to move at all throughout the night, but it still beats getting up every forty-five minutes to nurse the kid back to sleep again. The back pain is slightly mitigated by the fact that he is pretty warm and cuddly, which is kind of nice.


Noah likes to take creepy sleeping pictures when he gets home from work in the mornings.

I'm actually not sure if he sleeps all night when we co-sleep or if he wakes up to nurse and I just don't realize it. I suspect the latter, although it's kind of creepy to think about him waking up and eating and me not even noticing. Midnight boob rape, I guess you could call it. (that ought to get me some creepy Google hits...)

I'm slightly nervous that this will make it harder to get him to sleep all night in his crib, since he now knows the joys of being warm and comfy in bed all night, but sleeping significant lengths of time in the crib wasn't really happening anyway, so I doubt it'll make much difference. Anyway, he still spends the first stretch of each night in his crib (anywhere from 2-6 hours, usually closer to 2) before moving into bed. Ideally he'll just make that first stretch longer and longer until he never needs to move into bed. Likely? No. But it would be ideal.

(Nearly) Wordless Wednesday: Alternative Use for Boppy

World's Creepiest Pharoah

Babies have a crappy sense of humor.

So now Jim has taken to laughing hysterically whenever I say "dada" or "daddy" to him. Apparently Noah's funnier than I am even when he isn't there.

Four (and a half) month shots.

Yesterday was our most recent visit to the doctor. It went MUCH better than last time, mostly because Noah was able to come along. That's one of the benefits of this whole third-shift thing, actually: Noah can come along to appointments and so forth when necessary. He's deliriously tired by the end, of course, but still, his presence is extremely helpful.


Jim's thoughts on shots.*

This appointment followed the same basic structure as last time. First came the waiting room, which was emptier than usual. I like an empty waiting room, you know, especially in this age where not vaccinating is the trendy thing to do. When I'm in there with my inadequately-immunized child, the last thing I want is to be sharing the room with Mrs. Granola and her adorable little disease vectors. Ideally I could find a pediatrician who had a bunch of individual plastic pods instead of one big waiting room, but that doesn't seem likely.

Anyway, we hung out in the waiting room for a while, then went back to strip the baby and get him measured. He weighs 14lb 15.5oz (40th percentile), is 25 inches long (40th percentile), and has a 45cm head (95th percentile). So, like last time, he's more or less average with a big freaking head. I'm slightly iffy about the weight. It's only a 1lb 2.5oz gain in six weeks, which doesn't seem very good to me. But I've read that breastfed babies tend to slow down the growth a little after the first 2-3 months, so maybe it's a normal thing. He seems bouncy and happy anyway, and the doctor said he looks perfectly healthy and lovely, so all is apparently well.


Bouncy happy healthy lovely drooly baby.

Speaking of the doctor, we had to wait for him in the frigid exam room for about forty-five minutes. Since I cleverly forgot to bring a receiving blanket, Noah was forced to take off his sweater and wrap it around Jim. Attempting to keep the shirt wrapped around a wriggling baby provided most of our entertainment for the wait. I must say, Jim looked extremely adorable sticking out of an oversized camo sweater. I'll have to make Noah reenact the scene so I can take a picture to show you.

Still, sweater-related hijinks aside, the doctor eventually came, pronounced Jim adorable and healthy, and departed, leaving us nothing but a warning to not let him** choke to death on anything. The nurse came in right after to give Jim his shots.


Jim's stoic face.

It was astounding how much better he handled it this time. I don't know if it was because Noah was holding him (last time the nurse made me lay him on the table), because he was older, or because he'd developed some kind of military stoicism from his father's patient tuition, but he barely cried. He swallowed the Tylenol and rotavirus vaccines without any complaint, squeaked once when he got the first shot, and squawked loudly maybe twice after the second shot. And that was it. I was almost disappointed at how little hysteria Noah had to deal with, after all my promises of trauma and guilt and so forth.

That said, I'm still making Noah come with me to handle the next one (Dec 7!). Maybe Jim is now a tough old baby, or maybe his daddy is a magic talisman against pain, but either way I'm not taking any chances.

*Apparently Jim is a poet and doesn't know it.
**The baby, not the doctor.

How to Photograph a Baby

My favorites: Row 2 Column 1 and Row 4 Column 3.

Step 1: Super-high shutter speed, because babies are wiggly little bastards.
Step 2: Super-low f-stop, because it looks all artsy and stuff if the background is blurry.
Step 3: Take a shit-load of pictures and only post the ones that look good. I took 250+ to get the 32 in this post. I can't bring myself to delete a single picture, though, even the crappy ones, so I've got a portable hard-drive with thousands and thousands of pictures on it.
Optional Step 4: neglect to back up your pictures anywhere else and freak out when a folder gets corrupted. Fortunately there were only about fifty pictures in that one, but WHAAAAAAH. Must get back-up plan.


Favorites: Row 2 Column 2 and Row 3 Column 4.

Quick brag.

Weight the day I found out I was pregnant: 142.6
Weight the day I had Jim: 195
Weight this morning: 142.6

To celebrate I had cold meat-noodle* for breakfast. Woohoo.

*Noah's term for spaghetti-with-meat-sauce if it's made with any shape of pasta other than spaghetti.

In which I accidentally mistreat my pitiable cat.

Sleeps on any surface that is either cushioned or hidden.

Bruce is such a weird cat. He talks more than most humans (but only to me), is very affectionate but doesn't like to be held, scratches on nothing except the back left corner of our loveseat, and will starve himself rather than eat food of the wrong brand. Just noticed that last one yesterday, actually - I thought Noah was refilling the food dish, but then it became apparent that the poor cat was ravenous. Good thing I give him meat whenever I'm cooking and always share my cheese sticks with him.

I still feel terrible for accidentally starving the poor guy (not that he couldn't stand to lose a couple pounds, but still).


Jim likes to live dangerously.

A funny joke!

Q. How many times did the baby get up in the night?
A. Eleven!

HAHAHAHAHAA- what, that wasn't funny? Sorry, guess I'm delirious from sleep deprivation.

Four months!

That is how old Jim was on Wednesday. Now he is four months and five days. I know I'm obsessive.


Mug shot.

I should note that it's getting harder and harder to take a decent monthly picture of the boy. On the one hand, he can sit up straighter now, but on the other, he is extremely fidgety and must look at ALL the things. The resulting pictures are extremely cute, of course, but do not accurately represent his size.


Out-takes. He isn't actually particularly interested in his feet yet - he just likes to put his hands there for balance while sitting.

This month has lead to many new developments in the life of Jim. He is WAY more interactive now than ever before. He still likes to chat (as in the third video here, only more so), and he's added laughing to his repertoire. He's been laughing out loud for a couple weeks now, but he just started doing it a lot in the past week.



In other interactivity news, Jim has learned the joys of high-pitched noises. He now goes "EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!" all pterodactyl-like when something pleases him. Naturally, we now try to keep him as unhappy as possible in order to avoid having our eardrums ruptured.. (I jest, I jest - it's really terribly cute. VERY high-pitched, though.)

It's also been a big month for physical development. He can sit (tripod-style)! He topples over fairly quickly (I think his sitting record is something like thirty seconds), but still. Progress! He greatly enjoys being held in a standing position. He's pretty strong, actually. I usually just cage my hands around him for balance but let him support his own weight. He's also starting to be interested in THINGS. He now grabs stuff and looks at it and plays with toys (if by "plays with" you mean "holds vigorously").


Hurray, a toy!

He's developing more definable moods and preferences now. Historically he's been a very content baby who just lies around contentedly with occasional flashes of crankiness due to hunger, wet diaper, or sleepiness. Now he has actual likes and dislikes. His favorite activities currently are bouncing on someone's knee, bouncing on someone's lap, and being held upright to bounce on his own feet. He's big on the whole bouncing thing. He's been a bit crankier than usual the past week or two as well. I'm not sure if it's teething or just the "Four Month Fussies," but he's quite needy and easily distracted by everything. Nursing is a bit of a trial at the moment, because he seems ravenous but then looks around the second anything interesting happens, so it can take a while for him to finish his meals.


New mood: ennui.

Sleep is also weird at the moment. Just this past week he's started waking up every hour at night again. I suspect it's because he's too distracted to eat enough during the day so he's filling up at night when everything is dark and quiet and non-interesting. He did have a night a couple days ago when he slept for seven hours straight and then another four hours after that, though, so hopefully there will be more of that coming up.

As far as size goes, he's BIG! We'll get his official weight at his four-month appointment next week, but I believe he's around 15 pounds, and his head is still enormous. He's wearing mostly 3-6 month clothes, but some of his 0-3 still fit and most 6-9 stuff fits okay too. He's outgrown a couple of his diapers already, so we're starting to get more in bigger sizes. I've noticed that he has pretty much no pants that fit his current size, which is unfortunate given that it's starting to get cold (70 degrees is cold, right? living in Georgia has warped my sense of temperature). I see a few thrift store visits in our future.


On the other hand, he's cute enough that I might just let him go nekkid.