Paxton cut his first two teeth on Saturday. I was equal parts giddy and depressed. Again, it's all going far too quickly. I feel like we were just in the hospital having him. Chris is already eager for us to have a second child. We'll leave that in God's hands for now. In the meantime, we'll just watch our baby grow up before our eyes. His two cute little chicklet teeth just make me grin. They're the front bottom teeth. Already an ample drooler, he has now become an ocean unto himself. The funny thing is that when we were in Pennsylvania, Nana kept saying that he was going to cut his first tooth very soon based on how much he was drooling and chewing his hands. I told her that he's been a fond fan of those hands since he was in utero, and we have the pictures to prove it. The drooling has been a constant presence since he was about three months old. None of these signs triggered to me that he was going to cut a tooth anytime soon. We made a friendly bet between Nana, Chris and me. Nana guessed that the first tooth would appear in two weeks, Chris guessed three and I guessed four. Almost two weeks to the day of making that bet, the little white teeth broke through. Nana knows best.
He hasn't really altered his behavior much with teething. He has been sleeping through the night since we got back from PA, and now sometimes wakes up in the middle of the night and can't go back to sleep. But otherwise, he's sleeping great, including taking long naps. I gave him some homeopathic teething tablets yesterday, but I don't think they were really necessary. I hear that the front teeth usually aren't too painful, but the molars can be really agitating. I know that sometimes my gums are swollen and I can feel my wisdom teeth poking into my mouth and it is incredibly painful. I have sympathy for the little guy.
He had apples for the first time yesterday. He loved them. So many of the first foods they offer babies are so sweet. I'm still only giving him organic food, so my options are slightly more limited as to what they offer pre-packaged in the store. Next week I will start him on green beans, and that will likely be the least sweet of all his meals, aside from the much-hated rice cereal.
Speaking of the gorgeous baby, he is upstairs screaming, awake from his nap, so I better tend to his needs. Ta-ta.
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Friday, June 20, 2008
I don't know what it is...I see a little chair and I need to stick my baby in it and take a picture immediately. This one was outside of Cracker Barrel. 
Eating dinner is not a neat and clean experience. I find carrots and sweet potatoes in Pax's eyebrows and nose on a daily basis. He sweetly helps me guide the spoon into his mouth, effectively spreading veggies between his fingers and under his nails. And no amount of Oxi-Clean will get those stains out. Nope. There is an orange tint to every bib we use forever more.
Buster is a very patient cat. And Paxton is a very accomodating baby. This was just before Paxton's bath one night. We went into the nursery to find Buster sleeping in Pax's crib. I may have manipulated the picture to get a cuddle shot, but I like how it looks like Paxton was caught in a compromising position. The look of shock on his face is priceless.
More shock, but that's just because I was blinding the poor child with the flash. He doesn't always look this stunned, I assure you.Night, night
Paxton has been sleeping through the night, at last.
For the first many months of his life, I was dragging my exhausted self up to Pax's bedroom every few hours, at least, throughout the night. I don't think I even knew I was waking up sometimes. I would just find myself on the couch with him, breastfeeding. I wouldn't even really know how I got there. That's probably not really safe when you have a newborn and a spiral staircase, but we managed to survive.
Now I'm applying that same sleep-deprived mentality, but using a "tough love" twist. When I hear Paxton start to cry, I turn off the baby monitor and set my alarm clock for ten minutes from that time. Then I fall right back to sleep. When the alarm goes off, I turn the baby monitor back on. If Paxton is still crying, I get up and tend to his needs. But at least half the time, he's fast asleep again. YAY! The books say that when I baby is six-months-old, he gains the ability to self-soothe. I decided I'd wait until Paxton was just about that age before I let him "cry it out" a bit. I didn't feel like he had the capability to know that I was still around before that point. So many times, a little whimper would escalate into a very freaked-out scream in no time flat. That broke my heart. But now, he seems to know that I'll be there eventually. He might get more angry as more time passes, but he never seems terrified that he's all alone in the world.
I still apply the lessons I learned about the 90-minute baby sleep schedule from that book I read and loved. Paxton is textbook in that department. He wakes up and I can count 90 minutes exactly before I see him start to rub his red eyes. It's rare that he has more than 90 minutes of awake time in one sitting. And his naps are getting longer and more frequent. Our schedule for the last 24 hours was pretty typical--he went to bed around 8 last night. He woke up at 4:45 this morning, with a very full diaper. We stayed up for about an hour, as I changed and fed him (and then he proceeded to throw up every last drop of breastmilk he had ingested, so I had to change his clothes--and mine). So that was nearly nine hours of uninterrupted sleep. Then I laid him back down around 6:30 a.m. and he slept until 9:45. We got up and I took him out to visit my mom. Back to sleep at 11:30 or so and he woke up around 1:30. Went swimming. Brought him home and he laid down for another nap around 3. Slept until about 4:30. And I laid him back down for a nap at 6:30. We usually don't do a nap this late in the day, because it's very possible that he'll just sleep through the night now. I wanted to give him his bath tonight and give him some solids for dinner. But we were on sort of a weird schedule. Maybe he'll wake up later and we can do all that before we call it a night.
In the past, all of this good sleeping was a faint hope. He was never a baby who would just doze off in the living room while I was holding him. Car rides lulled him to sleep, but that's about it. What I didn't know was that I had to help him, and I had to provide some consistency. Now, it's the norm for me to lay him down in his crib when it's time for him to nap and he generally goes right to sleep without a peep. If I wait too long and he's overly tired, he may cry a bit before he fades out. I love that we've made it over these humps, even though it breaks my heart a little that he's growing up so fast.
He turned six months yesterday, by the way. He has already accomplished so much. He learns something new every day now, it seems. I wish I could freeze time and just enjoy every minute for longer. I can't believe that in six more months, we'll be celebrating his first birthday. It seems like a miracle. I get all sentimental at the thought of my little baby growing up. Sigh. It goes too fast.
For the first many months of his life, I was dragging my exhausted self up to Pax's bedroom every few hours, at least, throughout the night. I don't think I even knew I was waking up sometimes. I would just find myself on the couch with him, breastfeeding. I wouldn't even really know how I got there. That's probably not really safe when you have a newborn and a spiral staircase, but we managed to survive.
Now I'm applying that same sleep-deprived mentality, but using a "tough love" twist. When I hear Paxton start to cry, I turn off the baby monitor and set my alarm clock for ten minutes from that time. Then I fall right back to sleep. When the alarm goes off, I turn the baby monitor back on. If Paxton is still crying, I get up and tend to his needs. But at least half the time, he's fast asleep again. YAY! The books say that when I baby is six-months-old, he gains the ability to self-soothe. I decided I'd wait until Paxton was just about that age before I let him "cry it out" a bit. I didn't feel like he had the capability to know that I was still around before that point. So many times, a little whimper would escalate into a very freaked-out scream in no time flat. That broke my heart. But now, he seems to know that I'll be there eventually. He might get more angry as more time passes, but he never seems terrified that he's all alone in the world.
I still apply the lessons I learned about the 90-minute baby sleep schedule from that book I read and loved. Paxton is textbook in that department. He wakes up and I can count 90 minutes exactly before I see him start to rub his red eyes. It's rare that he has more than 90 minutes of awake time in one sitting. And his naps are getting longer and more frequent. Our schedule for the last 24 hours was pretty typical--he went to bed around 8 last night. He woke up at 4:45 this morning, with a very full diaper. We stayed up for about an hour, as I changed and fed him (and then he proceeded to throw up every last drop of breastmilk he had ingested, so I had to change his clothes--and mine). So that was nearly nine hours of uninterrupted sleep. Then I laid him back down around 6:30 a.m. and he slept until 9:45. We got up and I took him out to visit my mom. Back to sleep at 11:30 or so and he woke up around 1:30. Went swimming. Brought him home and he laid down for another nap around 3. Slept until about 4:30. And I laid him back down for a nap at 6:30. We usually don't do a nap this late in the day, because it's very possible that he'll just sleep through the night now. I wanted to give him his bath tonight and give him some solids for dinner. But we were on sort of a weird schedule. Maybe he'll wake up later and we can do all that before we call it a night.
In the past, all of this good sleeping was a faint hope. He was never a baby who would just doze off in the living room while I was holding him. Car rides lulled him to sleep, but that's about it. What I didn't know was that I had to help him, and I had to provide some consistency. Now, it's the norm for me to lay him down in his crib when it's time for him to nap and he generally goes right to sleep without a peep. If I wait too long and he's overly tired, he may cry a bit before he fades out. I love that we've made it over these humps, even though it breaks my heart a little that he's growing up so fast.
He turned six months yesterday, by the way. He has already accomplished so much. He learns something new every day now, it seems. I wish I could freeze time and just enjoy every minute for longer. I can't believe that in six more months, we'll be celebrating his first birthday. It seems like a miracle. I get all sentimental at the thought of my little baby growing up. Sigh. It goes too fast.
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Pennsylvania Memories
We're finally home from our Pennsylvania roadtrip. It was a really good time, overall. My one complaint was that PA was experiencing record heat and at Kay's house, there is no AC. She's having it installed next week. Blast my timing! And at Nan and Pap's house, the room where I sleep has the AC vent under the bed. Not great for cooling the room. Even though we're experiencing record heat here in Texas, as well, I'm cocooned in my air conditioned house and have no real complaints.
Paxton was a dream baby for 95% of the two week trip. He was great in the car, driving to PA. He had one meltdown, but thankfully, my mom said that his crying didn't bother her, so we just let him cry it out a bit. The rest of the time he was a perfect angel. And in PA, he was happier than he's ever been at my Nana and Papap's house. They adored him and he knew it. Everyone was teaching him new things. Nana taught him his name and how to give her five. Mom taught him how to roll over and how to give kisses. I discovered that he likes for me to spell things for him. It was a really nice bonding experience for all of us.
He was less happy at Kay's house, but only because he was hot and she didn't really have carpet for him to lay on. He would lay on a blanket on the hardwood floor, sweating in misery and shouting baby profanities. He was really fussy. Seeing him then go to Nana and Papap's house where the air was cool was really interesting. It was like he was a whole different child. A much happier one!
The flight home was a nightmare, but Paxton handled it far better than Chris and I. We were supposed to fly out of Pittsburgh at 6:30 on Monday night and get home at 10:55 p.m., with one transfer in Dallas. I'm unclear now how it even went down. I know our flight out of PA was late. It was late enough that the girl who was calling to board passengers didn't bother pre-boarding families with small children, leaving me irate and put out. I had talked to her at the baggage check, and learned that she was only 21 and has dogs in lieu of children (she asked me if pumping hurt when I told her that I wanted to check my breast pump, spurring this strange conversation). Anyway, Paxton didn't cry at all on the plane. He slept for most of the flight and chatted a bit through the rest of it.
Our flight from Dallas to Austin was delayed. It was supposed to leave at 10 p.m., but we didn't get out of there until after 1 a.m. We ended up getting to our house at 3:15 a.m. Needless to say, we were exhausted. But Paxton was a trouper. He slept happily and only got fussy when I would accidentally wake him up in transit. Chris and I were miserable, but Paxton made us thankful that he was so content and happy. He was the best baby to travel with!
Back to Pax's new "tricks"--when he gives me kisses, I think I actually melt a little. He grabs either side of my face with his hands and plants a sopping wet, open-mouthed kiss on my cheek, chin, mouth or nose. It's so adorable. I am more in love with this kid every day.
I have to run. Mom and I are going to see Sex and the City tonight and I have a pet sitting job to do first. I'll write more soon on the amazing feats of my genius baby. Count on it.
Paxton was a dream baby for 95% of the two week trip. He was great in the car, driving to PA. He had one meltdown, but thankfully, my mom said that his crying didn't bother her, so we just let him cry it out a bit. The rest of the time he was a perfect angel. And in PA, he was happier than he's ever been at my Nana and Papap's house. They adored him and he knew it. Everyone was teaching him new things. Nana taught him his name and how to give her five. Mom taught him how to roll over and how to give kisses. I discovered that he likes for me to spell things for him. It was a really nice bonding experience for all of us.
He was less happy at Kay's house, but only because he was hot and she didn't really have carpet for him to lay on. He would lay on a blanket on the hardwood floor, sweating in misery and shouting baby profanities. He was really fussy. Seeing him then go to Nana and Papap's house where the air was cool was really interesting. It was like he was a whole different child. A much happier one!
The flight home was a nightmare, but Paxton handled it far better than Chris and I. We were supposed to fly out of Pittsburgh at 6:30 on Monday night and get home at 10:55 p.m., with one transfer in Dallas. I'm unclear now how it even went down. I know our flight out of PA was late. It was late enough that the girl who was calling to board passengers didn't bother pre-boarding families with small children, leaving me irate and put out. I had talked to her at the baggage check, and learned that she was only 21 and has dogs in lieu of children (she asked me if pumping hurt when I told her that I wanted to check my breast pump, spurring this strange conversation). Anyway, Paxton didn't cry at all on the plane. He slept for most of the flight and chatted a bit through the rest of it.
Our flight from Dallas to Austin was delayed. It was supposed to leave at 10 p.m., but we didn't get out of there until after 1 a.m. We ended up getting to our house at 3:15 a.m. Needless to say, we were exhausted. But Paxton was a trouper. He slept happily and only got fussy when I would accidentally wake him up in transit. Chris and I were miserable, but Paxton made us thankful that he was so content and happy. He was the best baby to travel with!
Back to Pax's new "tricks"--when he gives me kisses, I think I actually melt a little. He grabs either side of my face with his hands and plants a sopping wet, open-mouthed kiss on my cheek, chin, mouth or nose. It's so adorable. I am more in love with this kid every day.
I have to run. Mom and I are going to see Sex and the City tonight and I have a pet sitting job to do first. I'll write more soon on the amazing feats of my genius baby. Count on it.
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