01Dec
So, apparently I blinked for a second and six months passed. What the crap?
Today is December 1 and Bean Man is officially six months old. And my womb aches. Where has all the time gone? I feel like I was just pregnant yesterday and now Bean has been here for half a year already. That means I only have 17.5 years left before he legally doesn’t need me anymore.
Which is why it is 8:48 AM and I am drinking a whiskey sour.
Just kidding. I don’t drink whiskey.
Just kidding. I’m drinking orange juice. With vodka.
Just kidding.
We went to the doctor yesterday for Bean’s six month shots. He weighed in at 15.3 pounds. The nurse kind of snickered and said that her Thanksgiving turkey weighed more than that. I would have been pissed at her for laughing at him, except that I was just thinking that my diaper bag weighs more than that. So, I couldn’t be mad. Glass houses, you know.
I asked the doctor about his weight. The dude takes an 8 oz. bottle five times a day. And an extra 4 oz. before bed. And 4 oz. of juice at lunch. Shouldn’t he be packing on the pounds? But she said that he’s doing great. He’s in the 75th percentile for height and in the 25th percentile for weight. He’s still in the normal range for both categories, but because he’s so tall he just looks really thin. He’s a tall, thin little man.
Like a worm.
Bean also got the H1N1 vaccination yesterday. I really wanted him to have it. We’ve had outbreaks of it in the school systems here and where I work, and with Bean being in daycare every day I was nervous about the germs going around. I talked with our pediatrician and she recommended it for all of her patients. So, I felt really confident about getting it for him. The only difference I noticed this time was that he ran a fever after his shots. He’s never really done that before. But it stayed right at 100 degrees, so we just gave him Tylenol and lots of kisses.  I think it was the kisses that helped the most because he’s chipper this morning.
Developmentally, Bean is right on target. I choose to think of doctors appointments right now as little SAT’s for Bean. And every time we go, I wonder how he’ll perform. We practice at home, but how will be actually do on test day? Bean nailed it. He was a star student. I’m mailing his application to Yale today. Early acceptance, of course.
Right now, Bean can do the following:
- He can put his binky in and take it out at his own discretion.
- We hold everything he wants right in front of him and let him take it for himself. Even his bottles. I think this has helped his eye/hand coordination.
- He can sit up for about a minute before he wobbles over to one side. If we put his Boppy around him, he can sit up until he gets bored. Then he usually just falls back and lays on his Boppy for a while.
- He can suck his thumb. This is a new thing. He usually sucks his big toe. Don’t ask. He’s a weird duck.
- He is rolling over like a maniac. I put him down on the floor and in two seconds, he has rolled across the room. I try to keep him on a blanket by putting pillows on the edges so he doesn’t roll on the carpet that has dog hair on it, but its a hopeless battle.
- He can put himself to sleep in his crib at night. I used to be able to put him down when he was sleeping pretty good and he’d stay asleep. But now I can put him down when he’s sleepy but awake and he’ll talk and coo himself to sleep. I love listening to that.
- He has started to wake up more often throughout the night for some reason. It happened during October when he was really sick, and he just hasn’t kicked the habit yet. Usually, he wakes up around 3 or 4 AM and we can put his binky back in and he’ll go right to sleep. Other times, he plays in his crib for a while before he falls back asleep. I was worried about it for a while, but it doesn’t seem to be effecting his sleeping patterns during the days so I’m not too concerned anymore. He’ll sleep when he needs to sleep, I guess.
- He has gotten really good with his hands lately. He can pick up really small things (which has caused mild panic attacks about choking hazards…) and he likes toys with little knobs and buttons he can play with.
- He has started giving hugs and kisses. His kisses are the best because he doesn’t know how to pucker yet, so he just mushes his open, wet mouth against your cheek and shrieks. Its pretty much the best thing in the whole wide world.
- He plays peek-a-boo. He can’t get the burp cloth over his face, but if I lay it on there he can pull it off when I say, “Where’s Beanie??”. When I yell peek-a-boo he dies laughing like I’m the funniest person on earth. Also the best thing in the whole wide world.
We are still working on the cereal/solid food thing. For right now, he is not taking any. He was FREAKING OUT when you tried to give him rice cereal, so my brilliant daycare lady suggested that we put a little in his bottle once a day so he gets used to the taste and then we try it in a bowl. He’s been doing that for about two weeks. He still doesn’t really like it, but he’ll drink the bottle. I talked to my doctor about it yesterday and she said that we might want to try oatmeal or barley cereal instead because some babies don’t like the rice. But she wasn’t too concerned. She said to start letting him try more things in an informal way. Like putting something we’re eating on our finger so he can taste it. I think we’ll do this and try the cereal for a couple more weeks before we go to food again. We’re going to have some applesauce later. He already drinks 2 oz. of apple juice mixed with 2 oz. of water every day so he is used to that flavor. Maybe we’ll have more luck with that. But I felt much better after talking to our doctor. She was laid back about it and said to just keep trying, but not to worry too much. So, we’re not worrying. He’ll eat when he wants to eat.
Bean’s little personality is developing, too. He definitely has my lack of patience and my temper. Like me, you can push him pretty far but when he’s had enough, he’s over it completely! And, like me, when he flips that switch – look out! But he also has the sweetest little cuddles. When he’s tired or being silly, he likes to sit on my lap and put his head against my chest and talk. He coos there for a while and then gives me a hug or a kiss. It just melts me. His sense of humor is developing, too, and he will laugh when you surprise him. He thinks funny voices are hysterical and when we read books at night and I do all the voices, he talks right along with me.
I can’t believe how fast time has gone and yet each day seems to be so full of happiness that sometimes it seems like we’ve lived a completely lifetime in a day. I am not a mother who doesn’t want to see her son grow up. I love watching him learn and grow and change and develop. Each new milestone Bean reaches feels like an accomplishment for our entire family. But when I look back at pictures from when he was first born, I do stop and think for a split second, “Oh, stop growing, Beanie! Just slow down and give me a little bit longer.”
30Nov
I’m not gonna lie, Bean had a rough trip. It wasn’t his fault and to his credit, he really tried to be happy, but traveling is tough for babies. He was in an unfamiliar place, so it was hard for him feel 100% comfortable. He didn’t nap because we didn’t have his swing or his music, both of which really help him sleep when he just can’t unwind. His sleep schedule was off because of the no napping thing, so he woke up at 3:30 every morning, rearing to go.
I was so disappointed. I had been looking forward to this weekend for so long. Everyone was excited to see him and, naturally, they all wanted to spend some time with him, but he just cried most of the time. It probably wouldn’t have been such a big deal if I had just planned for the tears. But I hadn’t thought about travel from his perspective really. I know when I go home to family, I am just so relieved to be there. You can unwind and let your hair down and relax, and so I was looking forward to being able to pass Beaner off for a while. But I didn’t think about the fact that, to Beanie, this was all really intense. Even though they are family, Bean doesn’t see them all the time so he doesn’t really go to them right away.
Don’t get me wrong, there were definitely bright spots. Mostly due to the fact that my parents brought Beanie’s Christmas present with them to my sisters so that he had something to play with. It was a jumparoo and Bean loved it. It kept people out of his face, really. He had this bubble around him in his jumparoo that let people spend time with him without being too close and scaring him.
Bean is actually a pretty independent baby. He doesn’t like to be held all the time and he’s happiest when he’s rolling around on a blanket somewhere by himself. So, suddenly having all these people who each wanted to hold him and spend time with him was a little overwhelming.
But by Saturday, Bean had settled down a bit. And just in time, too, because we ended up leaving early and heading home Saturday afternoon instead of Sunday morning, partly to beat the traffic, but partly because Bean was so out of sorts. Right before we left though, Bean turned on that charm that we see at home. For a couple hours, he was like a different baby. He was himself – happy, talking, playing. And who got to capitalize on that?
GRANDDAD!
And then later when we had lunch at this cute little soda shop, Nana was the one who got the Beanie lovin’! It was really crowded inside and it was beautiful outside, so we sat out on the patio. Bean wore Nana’s coat because it was kind of windy.
And in thanks for her coat, Bean showered Nana with face pats, hugs, and sloppy wet kisses…
And even Uncle John Michael got some snuggles in…
All-in-all, it was an eye-opening experience to travel that far for that long with a baby. But, you live and learn. Babies cry. And as my Grandmother told me this weekend, it is more unsettling for the parents than it is for everyone else. To my family, Bean was a good baby this week. He hung in there like a trooper and while Chris and I know that he is capable of being so much happier, when you’re with family it doesn’t really matter what your mood is. They see you for who you really are.
And Bean is really a good baby.
10Nov
Beanie is five months old now. I can’t believe it. I mean, on one hand it feels like he’s been here my entire life. Some people say that you don’t even remember your life before you have kids, but that’s not really what I have experienced. I remember everything before I had Beanie, but somehow even those memories that don’t include him seem brighter now that he is here now.
Does that even make sense? Probably not.
Its like if you’ve never had HD before and suddenly you get an HD TV. You still remember all those old shows you used to watch, but now when you see the reruns, the picture is just so much clearer.
Does that make even less sense? Probably.
But on the other hand, time seems to be flying by. I sometimes flip back through pictures from when we were in the hospital with Beanie and I feel like it was yesterday. He looks like a completely different person today than he did then, but I can remember him – what he looked like, what he smelled like, what he sounded like – as if it just happened a few minutes ago.
Isn’t time funny?
Beanie at five months old has been the best Beanie so far, I think. He’s so happy. And he’s vocal. He can’t speak words, but he can certainly tell you what he wants and thinks. Sometimes his talking and babbling sounds like he’s crying or mad. I used to go running to him every time he made noise because he sounded so upset. But I’ve learned that that is just his way of trying out his voice. He tries all ranges of sound and noise and its so fun to hear him learning how to control that.
Right now, Beanie’s favorite toys are his feet. We can’t keep them out of his mouth. He sucks on his feet like most babies suck on their hands. He hates riding in the car and I am 99.9% convinced its because he can’t lift his feet to his mouth. Its the funniest, strangest, weirdest thing I’ve ever seen!
Other than his feet, he is really into toys with more detail now. He wants things that he can spin and push and poke. He is fine-tuning his eye/hand coordination and you can see him practicing on toys that have smaller little things for him to focus on. He has a toy elephant whose body is made up of all different knobs that twist and spin and he loves that. He’ll sit with it for a while, just trying to make all the knobs spin.
He also has a teddy bear that he is really attached to right now. He likes to sleep with things in his face – which gives me several minor heart attacks a day. He pulls his blankets or his shirt or whatever he can find up over his face. I really have to be careful what is around him now when he goes to sleep because if it can be moved, he’s going to pull it to his face. This teddy bear has been his favorite so far. He curls up with his face right next to the bear and he falls asleep like that. Once he’s sleeping, I take the bear out of wherever he is so that he doesn’t sleep with something in his face. I never put the bear into his crib with him, but its pretty darn cute to have him sitting on your lap, curled up with a teddy bear.
You know, if you think the risk of suffocation is cute…
So far, Beanie has been fairly on target with his milestones. He isn’t really early with anything, but he isn’t really behind either. He rolled over right at the beginning of the fourth month. He had one good weekend where he was rolling around like crazy (only front to back though). And then he never rolled again. I was so worried. I kept checking all my baby books and comparing him with all my friends’ babies. Everyone else was rolling like crazy.
And there sat Beanie.
Sucking on his feet, with absolutely no desire to roll over ever again.
Finally, he started rolling over again this week. He’s rolling front to back and back to front. But only when something really motivates him. So far, he rolls over if he is craning his neck to see the dogs. Whatever. As long as he can do it.
And he’s so stinking close to sitting up on his own. He looks like a Weeble Wobble right now. He sits there holding your hands and he just lolls back and forth from side to side. But every now and then you’ll see him find his center of gravity and he’ll sit real still and straight for a few seconds. And then he gets bored and he flings himself backwards so that we hold him upside down.
The kid loves to be upside down. He’s a strange duck.
We’ve tried rice cereal for a couple weeks now and Beanie is just not into it at all. He cries. He screams. He freaks his freaky little self out. So, Chris and I are taking this as a sign that he’s just not ready yet for solid foods. We’re going to put it on hold for a while and try again when he’s six months old. I’ll feel better trying other foods when he’s six months old so maybe that will help, too. I don’t want to start on anything other than rice cereal right now because I’ve read about risks that starting solid foods too soon can lead to more food allergies. So, we’re just going to sit on it for a while and we’ll try again in a couple weeks. Maybe then we’ll mix it up with bananas or pears or we might even go wild with SWEET POTATOES!
Live it up, Beanie!
So, that’s what Beanie is up to right now. He’s just about the happiest little guy I’ve ever seen. He makes my heart sing and I’m so darn proud of him – and of me and Chris! – that I just about bust. Sometimes at night after he’s gone to bed, I look at pictures of him because I miss him already. Isn’t that awful?
LOOK WHAT YOU’VE DONE TO ME, BEANIE!
(Isn’t it the greatest thing ever???)
20Oct
First, let me say that I realize what I am about to say completely contradicts the post from yesterday. You’ll understand in a minute…
Have you ever seen those baby pictures that just make you want to melt? Those pictures of smiling, happy babies? I am obsessed with those pictures. When I was pregnant, there were several of my girlfriends who were due around the same time as me. Funny enough, all of us had baby boys. I follow pictures of this group of babies religiously. Because they are cute, yes. But also because you learn so much about babies through their pictures. You see what they are playing with, what they are doing, how they are developing…
But the thing about pictures is that people only take them during the happy times. Nobody takes the picture of their screaming four-month-old whose teething. Nobody takes the picture of their precious baby boy flipping out in the pasta aisle at the grocery store. Nobody takes the picture of the apple of their eye screaming because his diaper rash is bothering him.
Yeah, nobody takes those pictures.
So when you stare and stare at these perfect baby pictures, just remember that for every one, really great, sweet picture of Beanie, I have about twelve others of him pitching tiny temper tantrums. And most of those other pictures were probably taken over the last two weeks.
The last two weeks have been brutal for our family. And I blame Bean. (Sorry, Bean)
First, it started with a terrible cold that quickly became a raspy, nasty cough. The doctor said they think it might be a touch of bronchitis. On top of his cough and cold, Beanie went through a couple of days where his teeth – or lack thereof – were driving him crazy. And the teething led to diaper rash. And to top it all off, he’s been constipated for about four days.
I took him to the doctor last Thursday and they said to give him Benedryl at night to help him sleep and 2 oz. of pear juice for the constipation. We tried both of those, but had no luck. For the cold, we were running ourselves crazy. We had a humidifier in his room, we put him in steamy bathrooms, we used the Benedryl, we use saline spray, we used the nose sucker, we raised one end of his crib so that he slept at an angle (For future reference: use bumpers when you do this. Beanie ended up rolling to the bottom of his crib one night. Oops.). We really tried everything we had ever heard of to try and make him feel better, but nothing worked. During the day he was a little better, but at night he still kept himself awake with the coughing.
At night, we found the only thing that helped at all was to put him in the swing in our bedroom. Our doctor had a minor heart attack when I told her that, but I don’t care. It worked and that’s all that mattered. The problem was that he got so used to sleeping in that swing that now we can’t get him to sleep in his crib again.
Freaking perfect.
After four days of coughing, no sleeping, and no poopin’ I called the doctor back again today. She said there isn’t much we can do that we aren’t already doing. Because he’s so young, he can’t really take medicine. She suggested that we increase the amount of Benedryl to help him sleep at night and that we increase the amount of pear juice we were giving him for the constipation. Later when I picked Bean up from daycare, his teacher mentioned the constipation thing and asked if I had tried prune juice. I told her our doctor suggested pear juice, not prune. That’s when she leaned in to me and whispered, “Doctors don’t know everything.” She went on to tell me that pear and apple juice were great for keeping babies regular and helping with light irregularity.
“But prune juice?” she said. “That’ll really clean them out.”
At this point, I’m willing to give anything a try. So Chris bought some prune juice today and we’re going to start small amounts of that tomorrow. Hopefully it’ll…um…get things movin’. So that’s been our past two weeks. Pretty rough. But I think we’ve got a good game plan together that will hopefully get us back on the right track soon.
Until then, I’m just going to keep looking at those sweet pictures of Bean and trying to remind myself that he’s there inside that snotty, constipated, diaper rashed, teething body of his somewhere…
Get updates via Facebook |
Become a fan of Marriage Confessions
Categories
Boys
Beancast
Bellycast
Family
Milestones
parenting
The Bean
About Beanie
Angry Bean
Baby Products
Bean and Molly
Bean's Hair
Conversations w/ Beanie
Daycare
Food and Eating
Fun with Dad
Fun with Mom
Growing Bean
Out and About
Play Dates
Playing
Sleeping Bean
Sweet Bean
Travel with Bean
Video
What I've Learneddiscipline
GiveawaysPregnancy
Sweet Pea
Toddlerhood
Sick Bean
Potty Training
Gracie Girl
Fun Baby Things
Siblings
Parenting Ideas
About Gracie
Conversations with Bean and Gracie
Sweet Gracie
Angry Gracie
Conversations with Gracie
Holidays
Birthdays
