Cara Starts Kindergarten

So my first baby has started Kindergarten. I've been looking forward to and dreading this day for a while now. I know now that she is in Kindergarten the years are going to just fly by. The nights will be filled with doing homework and eventually she'll be going to school on a bus, then making friends, planning school dances, first dates....UGH! She can't grow too fast, I just won't allow it.

Anyways, this time around we took her for her first hair cut. It wasn't anything drastic, just a trim to even things up and take her to the fun Cookie Cutter place near us. It wasn't really worth the money it cost, but she liked it and Gwen said she couldn't wait to get her first hair cut there haha. We did our usual first day of school questionnaire and took our first day of school picture. She asked me to put her hair up and I was more than happy to. 

Going for a back to school haircut
It didn't turn out much different

We had back to school "night" the day before where I got to meet her teacher and see her classroom. It looks like SO much fun, I wish I had school class rooms looking so nice back in my day. Her teacher is the sweetest as well and I think she'll be great for Cara.

Now, being in Kindergarten means we deal with Drop Off and Pick Up. Drop off hasn't been too bad since it's in the middle of the day (Cara does PM Kindergarten so that she's gone during nap time), but pick up has EVERYONE there. I thought I'd be able to split my lunch break between the two, but it takes me 15 minutes alone for drop off and then it's another almost 30 minutes for pick up.

Luckily, now that we're a week in we've figured out a good routine for everything. It's been fun to do drop off and pick up. I love seeing her face as she sees me when she gets out of her classroom and then rushes to the gate for me to get her. I'm so excited for school pictures, parent teacher conferences, book fairs, school fundraisers, all of it. They have a movie night coming up, they are showing Cars in the field and Larry plans on taking the girls to that, I think it'll be fun (I'm a little jealous he gets to take them, not going to lie). It's going to be SO great! I hope she makes friends easy enough!

Final Post Partum Thoughts

So now that we are done having babies and we're both back to work and everything, I wanted to write down my final Postpartum thoughts:

• The newborn haze is AWFUL! I get this brain fog each time that just takes it out of me. I have a hard time thinking through my anxiety and talking myself down. This time around I think I had a bit of postpartum rage and the anxiety on top of it just made me really realize this has to be the last baby. I don't think I could mentally handle another one.
  
  
• Each baby really is different. Back when I was pregnant I kept making jokes to Larry that we had a brunette, blonde, and red head so the only way this one could be different is if they were a boy and it turned out to be true. But also he does things way different. His sleep is different, his soothing preferences are different, the things that calm him or work him up are different. He seemed to have problems with napping in a lit up room (he had to have complete darkness). Just sensory ways he was more sensitive than the girls.
  
  
• Formula shortages SUCK! I told myself (way back when I was pregnant and the shortage didn't exist) that if nursing was too difficult I wouldn't feel shame in switching to bottles. However, when the shortage hit and we were having a lot of difficulty finding the formula we usually use, I had a hard time convincing myself to stop nursing. We found cans of a similar formula and every time we went shopping I'd buy the limit they'd allow so we had a stock pile, but I just couldn't justify stopping nursing sooner than was necessary (I knew I'd stop once I went back to work for sure so I just felt I should suffer and hold out until that point). This was probably the hardest part for me. I had to go all 12 weeks putting Pierce down at night AND doing all night feedings. With the girls we'd get to a point where we'd switch off and Larry would put them down with a bottle and then he'd take Saturday nights so I could have one night off. But since I felt too stressed to switch to formula too soon I had to do it all and it also took it's toll on me. The shortage end is no where in sight, but we do have a good stock pile and I've been able to pump much more than usual so we should be good.
  
  
• Knowledge and reading internet forums can make you overthink WAY too much! With Lucy I stressed so much about her napping I started following some baby sleeper people on Instagram. I decided I should follow their stories while I was pregnant so I had as much helpful information by the time he was born. But then I felt I had too much information and I over thought every little thing with him. With Cara we just put her to sleep when she acted tired and walked away. With Pierce I stressed out if he stayed awake too long and if he didn't nap how it would effect his night time sleep. With Cara I would let her nap on me, next to me, in another room, whatever. With Pierce I stressed out if he slept on me he wouldn't know how to sleep off of me. Just everything that happened I freaked out about. I know I had some anxiety with Cara and Gwen, but with Lucy and Pierce I researched and read more and it made things SO much worse. I wish I hadn't known that stuff and could have just gone more with my instinct.
  
  
• Affirmations REALLY help though! I printed off a bunch and put them in a jar to have up in the bathroom and kitchen (where I felt I'd spend any free time). There were times I'd pull on that was JUST what I needed to read and hear. I wish I had done that with the last of my babies. I definitely want to keep with that for other moments in my life, not just new babies. I love having them around to keep in mind! I cannot recommend them enough.

As hard as it is, and as many lessons as I've learned each time, I'm SO glad we're done with this phase. I love my kids and as they get older they are amazing humans and I look back at their baby times as wonderful times, but I do not want to do this and I look forward to moving to the next phase (have I mentioned that enough times? Haha).

Naked Baby Challenges

So you know something I never thought I'd have to deal with on my THIRD child (just another way to show you birth individuals, not little clones of yourself and that each one is their own person and not copies of each other):one who undresses herself and sleeps in her own urine!

If you look under the monkey, you'll see her
Stain...that she's sleeping in *gross*

Our little Lucy has gone through a phase where she not only takes off her diaper, but at night she takes off her pajamas AND diaper and ends up wetting the bed (without any crying or talking to let us know she's going through this). It seemed to start when we started putting her in footie pants because she was scratching her feet to the point of bleeding throughout the day, but she was slipping so much with those that we kept her in footie pajamas and she'd just stretch out the next hold and slip right out during the day that she started to do it at night too. 

This has become SUCH a challenge for us too. We've done everything we can think of to stop it.  We put her diaper on backwards, we even tried taping them all around so she can't take it off. We bought 2T onesies to wear (since she was doing this during the day as well), but she figured out how to stretch out the neck and slip out of those. We found one outfit that she couldn't stretch the neck out so we tried that, but she figured out how to undo the snaps on the bottom. We bought new footie pajamas to cut off the foot parts and put on backwards, she figured that out. We bought child proof safety pins to put on the backwards pajamas, that worked for about a week, but then she figured out how to snap those off (which got to be a little too dangerous). Larry even spent the first couple hours of the night watching her on the monitor to stop her from stripping down and that worked, until she stripped down in the middle of the night and we didn't know until the morning. Then we'd check on her until we went to bed and she'd stay dressed, but it seemed like around 2 AM we'd hear her make noises and that seemed to be the time she'd strip. Sorry to say, but I wasn't willing to get up with her to stop it or re-dress her at that point (figuring if she really wanted to sleep in her pee she can go ahead and do that. In my defense I had a 4 month old I was also getting up to help sleep)

After dealing with this for MONTHS we were going crazy. I was changing sheets every day, sometimes multiple times a day if she wet the bed at nap time as well. Laundry was getting insane. Larry did some searching and found the best solution there ever was:

This romper set is sold by a company called "Terrible 2's" and has literally been the answer we were desperate for! I had no idea something like this existed! We had a slight issue of Cara undressing at night, but she kept her diaper on so the fact that these miracle pajamas exist and we found them is so great! We bought this pink set and after it working for a couple weeks we bought a couple more sets (some that are more unisex just in case Pierce goes through this phase as well) so we can switch them out each week. While I'm sad we are stuck with only 3 pajamas she can wear and none of the other cute ones, I'd MUCH rather have that than gross pee sheets and that awful smell in the room (not to forget ALL the laundry). Now if only we could figure out how to get her to stop scratching her feet throughout the day!

Pierce is FOUR Months!

  I am FOUR months old!

I like: The fish tank (he LOVES looking at the fish tank. It'll calm him down if he's fussy or if he fighting a bottle I'll feed him in front of it and he'll just eat and watch the fish), when we talk to him, his lovey (for naps, when we can supervise), sitting in his high chair (someone is getting ready for baby food!), when we bicycle his legs, when we play "head shoulders knees and toes" or "if you're happy and you know it" with his hands, and laughing for dad (only dad right now)

I dislike: Being hungry or tired, taking long naps, gas bubbles, and not being interacted with (do not just put him down and walk away! haha). He's actually pretty easy going, so there's not much that makes him fuss.

I am now: Definitely in 3-6 month clothes. He outgrew 3 month ones shortly after turning 3 months. He's also in size 2 diapers (though getting too big for those very quickly). According to his appointment he's 17 lbs 7 oz and 25 inches long. He sprouted from 12 lbs at 2 months, to 17 lbs at 4 months (they say he went from the 50th percentile to almost the 90th percentile!). So he's super chonky!

A Typical Day looks like: 

 

Wake up between 7 and 8 (if he had a feeding during the night he'll sleep in, but if he slept throughout the night then he'd get up earlier)

8 get a 6 oz bottle. If he slept the whole night he'll eat the whole thing. If he had a feeding he usually fights the last ounce or two of this bottle.

8:30-9:30 wiggle & giggle time, tummy time, hang with mom or dad time

9:30-11 nap time (hopefully he'll nap this long, more often than not he's up by 10:30)

11 next 6 oz bottle

11:30-12:30 wiggle & giggle/tummy time, hang out time

12:30-2 nap time (again, hopefully he'll nap this long. If he doesn't last till 2 he's up by 1:30)

2 next 6 oz bottle

2:30-3:30 play/hang out time

3:30-4:30 nap time (he might make it to 4:15, so we're trying to push this nap to closer to 4 so he'll nap till 4:30 at the earliest)

4:30-5 hang out

5 next 6 oz bottle

5:30-7:30 play time

7:30 start bedtime. Sundays and Thursdays start with a bath, then it's pajamas, owelet, 6 oz bottle, burp, and sleep by 8 (fingers crossed). He's good at staying down for Larry, but I'll usually get one wake up in the first hour. I can usually just rock him back to sleep, but if needed I'll feed him a couple more ounces.

He still gets up about once a night, we've had a few nights where he's slept through. But they haven't been consistent

This Month: We started our official family life of 6 this month. Larry and I both went back to work and watching the kids. I had to move my work stuff to the dining room so I could help with the girls and he could focus on Pierce and napping. This is only our set up until he's napping up in his own room (when he's about 6 months old, so only for a few months), At first it was chaotic, but since it's warm it's actually nice. I've found a good routine where I'll let them play until 9, then at 9 I have them clean up and I send them out with an activity, snacks, and water. I'll pump and then head outside and work out there while they play. It's shaded back there so it isn't too hot for them and I can usually get a lot of work done. We'll do that until 10 when it's tablet time so we'll clean up outside, head in, they'll get tablets and I'll listen to a podcast or watch YouTube videos with headphones. It helps to keep the house a little more quiet for Pierce's first nap and the girls don't realize I'm basically just keeping them away from him haha.

I will say I'm so glad he figured out naps. He fought them and fought them and then we finally got him to take little 45 minute naps in the office, but he'd be so cranky when he woke up. We would try and give him the binky, but he was just awake and cranky. Then one Tuesday (around the 5th) he was crying so hard while I was pumping around 3 and Larry was showering so I picked him up to comfort him and decided to try and put him down. He ended up sleeping until 5 and then after his bottle kept sleeping until 6:15 (this was out in the dining room while we were making dinner, eating dinner, cleaning dishes, and putting the dishes from the dishwasher away even!). Ever since then he'll finally take good naps in the office. He did have a bit of trouble once Larry went back to work, he went back to short naps, but he was happy when he was awake so I have a feeling I'm just going to look back at this time as when he just didn't want to nap very much. I wonder if it's a boy thing, because my girls napped so much more than he does haha.

 

I was also very nervous to start doing nights again. Mostly because I would be using a bottle instead of nursing and nursing is a bit easier to get him to sleep, but he doesn't get as full of a belly so he doesn't sleep great. This time I'd be using only what is in the bottle and hoping he sleeps. Knowing he'll take a binky helps (he tends to only need it to help him fall asleep, but once he's out he doesn't need it...at least for naps), but Larry told me when he was feeding him for bed and at night he'd always poop in the middle of the bottle so he'd HAVE to change him and then finish feeding him. I was SO nervous for that part since diaper changes tend to wake babies up...I just wanted to know he'll sleep. Also, he ALWAYS had a false start during my time with him and Larry's first week and a half. I HATE the false starts and they make me feel like I can't leave the room. Luckily, towards the end of Larry's leave I realized if he has his 6 PM nap then he tends to go to bed just fine (also if he poops throughout the day, that helps too). If he didn't get this nap then he'd fight going down (although towards the end of the month he no longer needed the 6 PM nap. He skipped it a few nights and was good for bed. Then one of my nights we went to Costco and he got a little nap...putting him down that night was a bit more challenging). He is good if once you get to 9 PM, but getting to that point was a struggle at first. Honestly, my nights to put him down aren't awful. The only bad parts are I have to pump in the middle of the night, so if he wakes up and it's not at my pump time I'm getting up twice, but honestly, knowing I get the next night to make it up makes it easier. Plus he's been good at not getting up before my pump time, he usually gets up an hour or two after it so I get up to pump, get a little snooze, get up to feed him, and then get another little snooze before I have to be up for the day.

Pierce is such a silly baby. If you aren't interacting with him he looks so bored. But then the second he sees you looking at him he gets the BIGGEST smiles and jerks his arms and legs around. It's sweet how happy of a baby he is. He also loves looking at his older sisters when they are around...as long as he isn't eating or they aren't running and screaming (that tends to get him to cry if he's tired). He also has been working so hard on rolling over. We had to upgrade him out of the bassinet into the pack n play at night because he moves so much he'd get squished in the bassinet and wake himself up (one morning he woke up early and he had turned so his body was across it (instead of up and down) and his face was smashed back into the top...not a comfortable way to sleep at all. One night in the pack n play I put him down with his head closest to my nightstand and his feed towards the dresser and when he got up for his feeding at 4 AM he was the opposite. I fed him and put him back down with his head by my nightstand and when Larry woke him up for the day he was about 90 degrees turned (so across it, with his head by the window and feed by our bed). Such a silly mover and shaker.

I'm so excited for him to be rolling over. Once he does we can just work on getting him to sleep without a bottle and then transition him to his own room. Then Larry and I can finally sleep in the same room again. We have made it so whoever isn't on baby duty gets to sleep in the guest room so the girls have a room to go to if they need help with something. I didn't love that they might wake him up by coming to our room at night. Plus Larry snores so I wouldn't get any sleep on my nights if we shared a bed. It's nice though, on my nights, I move Larry's body pillow to the middle of the bed to create a nice barrier, then I sleep on Larry's side so I don't feel like I'm hearing EVERY sound from Pierce and he doesn't hear all my joints snapping when I stretch throughout the night.

I'm still pretty anxious about napping and how he sleeps, but it's getting much better. It probably has been the worst this time around and it hasn't been fun dealing with it. But I know we're getting closer to it being so much easier so I'll be able to breath much better when we get to that point. I'm just doing what I can to enjoy the good moments and the cuddles at night. I know they aren't forever and once they are over I'll realize it went so quickly. 

Oh yeah and we've been letting him have tastes of liquids right now. I know it's early, but we let him try Larry's morning smoothie, some mac n cheese sauce, and some of my juice I drink at lunch. Just little tastes on our finger so nothing big. He seems to REALLY love it!

Update on last month's goals:

• Tummy Time/Rolling Over: He's starting to roll over. He does great with tummy time right now. I'm hoping by next month he'll be a rolling over champ.
  
  
• Napping better: I mean, we've done what we can. Some days he'll nap great, other days not so much. The good news is we can get him down on his own and that's what matters right now. He's also very happy in between his short naps so that's all that matters.
  
  
• Finding ways to play with him and keep interacting with him: he's getting to be more interactive with his play mats, which is fun to watch. He's learning to grab things so he likes being on them. I do my best to read to him and play with him during meal times too.
  

Goals for next month:

• Try out new foods
  
  
• Rolling over (to help him at night)
  
  
• Bedtime routine without a bottle?
  
  
• Be asleep by 8 PM without a wakeup before 9