Turtle Monkey

Elias started showering with his daddy, as it was easier than trying to bathe him while both of us were dry. Mark truly enjoys this bonding experience and Elias absolutely loves the water splashing around him. I’m starting to think of looking for baby swim classes that we can take him to. I think it would be a wonderful experience for all of us.

I went back to work this month. Mark helped ease me into it by taking two weeks off when I went back. This was a wonderful idea because we were able to ease Elias into daycare and I was able to spend some time with Elias while working from home. Now that Mark’s back at work, Elias is in daycare full time. He really seems to enjoy it there and all his teachers adore him and are wonderful with children. (Yesterday morning when I dropped him off, one of the teachers had a bunch of babies gathered around her and one in her lap. She was singing “Hush Little Baby”, making up her own words.)

Mark had intended to bring Elias to my work for lunch one day, but that never happened. Mark did take him on an outing to the grocery store where he showed Elias off to all the cashiers and managers we’re familiar with. Elias apparently loved it and smiled at almost everyone. We really need to start taking Elias on outings. I’m always afraid he’ll be fussy and that fear prevents me from wanting to take him out, but I’m not sure what I think the big deal is. People understand a fussy baby and Elias usually isn’t fussy as long as he’s fed, dry, rested and stimulated.

It’s a joy watching Mark with Elias. It’s clear how much Elias loves his father and loves spending time with him. He gives his daddy the biggest smiles and sometimes only daddy’s comforting will do.

I feel lucky that Mark and I have grown even closer together since Elias’ birth. So many couples buckle under the stress and it’s easy to see how, because there is a lot of stress in the beginning. Mark has been so strong for me and I feel we have a true partnership. I know it helps that our relationship was in a great place when I got pregnant. It’s hard to believe that one year ago I was newly pregnant and now we have a nearly 4 month old!

Elias still isn’t reaching for objects, but we have a few teething cloths and when we place them over his torso, he always manages to get one of the corners in his mouth. He’s started trying to sit up when you hold him in a reclined position. I’ve noticed him doing it in his swing, which is a bit reclined, as well. I definitely think he’ll be able to sit up before he can roll over.

Our 4 month baby well visit is on Tuesday. I wonder if the pediatrician will have anything to say about the fact that Elias can’t roll over yet. I don’t think it’s too uncommon at this point. I need to remember to ask him about Elias’ rashes (I’m pretty sure he has eczema.) and the fact that he claws at his face violently when he’s tired. Perhaps he’s allergic to something.

We really like this pediatrician, so we don’t expect him to push solids on us. I’m guessing he’ll respect our decision to delay them until at least 6 months (especially since Elias cannot even reach out for objects at this point!) though he may make a comment about rice cereal. It’s like they get paid every time they mention rice cereal or something.

Elias has always slept well through the night. I used to wait to put him to bed until after a full feeding. But lately I’ll let him stay up after his evening feeding (around 7pm) for as long as he’d like and then put him to bed without having another feeding. Most of the time, he’ll sleep through when that last feeding should be (10 or 11pm) and wake around 3am hungry. Last night for the first time, he slept from about 8:30pm until 5:30am without an overnight feeding. He did wake up hungry earlier than he would have if he had an overnight feeding. I’ll try feeding him a little extra at the evening feeding to see if that makes any difference. Overall, he’s consuming less formula now than he was when he went in for his 2 month visit (from 28+ ounces to 24 ounces daily) though I doubt it’s because he’s getting any more breast milk. I think maybe it’s just because he’s not currently going through a growth spurt.

I’m anxious to see what Elias weighs. He was 15 pounds (ugh!) at his 2 month visit (which was actually 2 months 10 days). I weighed him on the scale the other day (weighing myself, then both of us, then subtracting my weight) and it was 18 pounds, though that isn’t the most reliable method.

So, we never got around to sending birth announcements or thank you cards, but I’ve finally ordered some Moo MiniCards and I’m going to send those out along with personalized notes as “birth announcements”. The back of the cards point to this website, which I’m not sure too many people know about. I hope they turn out as cute as they sound.

You can view all Elias’ three month pictures in this Flickr set.

Going through our ottoman, I found a medium sized pocket diaper I forgot I bought! We could have broken this baby out a month ago! I also found a medium sized cover that I have little use for at the moment because I rarely use prefolds or fitteds and the Thirsties small size covers still fit him well.

I finally snagged a one size GoodMama fitted diaper! These things are currently like beanie babies to cloth diaperers and don’t stay in stock very long. I was very surprised that my order went through without any problems. People praise these diapers to high heaven saying they are workhorses and perfect for overnight use. Currently I’m using a BumGenius 2.0 one size double stuffed overnight without any problems, so we’ll see how the GoodMama does. I’m really excited about receiving it because I’ve never had any pretty fitteds!

I have a LOT of our old cloth diaper stuff to try to unload, but I’m so bad about mailing things that I’m trying to make sure I have all the shipping items ready to go before I make a post about it. I’m going to get rid of our Kissaluv size 0s, contours and many covers. The wife of one of Mark’s oldest friends is pregnant and we talked to them about cloth diapering when we were in Texas. They seemed to be on the fence about it, so Mark and I were considering giving them the Kissaluv diapers and some covers so they can try it out.

I’ve had a blast cloth diapering, it’s much easier than I anticipated and it just seems cleaner than disposable. But enough of my cloth diapering blabber!

Mark started taking showers with Elias because I am not very good at giving baby baths. (I’m not good at dressing baby either - I apparently never practiced on baby dolls.) Both of them really enjoy their shower time and I think this is an excellent way to handle bath time.

The other day I got a little sample pack of Burt’s Bees Baby Bee products and I fell in love with them so quickly that I ran right out and bought full sizes of the Baby Bee Buttermilk Lotion, Dusting Powder, Apricot Oil and Shampoo/Wash. Elias has never smelled so good! The dusting powder smells wonderful and leaves his skin so dry and soft, it’s just so much nicer than baby powder. Elias seems to be reacting well to the products also; his skin has never looked so good!

Milestones: Elias has his first cold this week. We’re not sure if it’s due to daycare or our trip to Texas or maybe a combination of both. He seems to be coping with it well. The first night was rough as he had too many problems breathing sleeping on his back. The next night I got out his cosleeper wedge so he’d be slightly inclined overnight and that seemed to help greatly. His nose is a little snotty and he has a cough, but overall he’s in good spirits unless a booger’s actively trying to come out.

Elias has been attempting to reach for his toys and really enjoys feeling different textures. He fell asleep in his swing this morning while playing with his starfish cloth that has tons of different textures and crinkles. He pulled it up to put in his mouth, but then apparently was overwhelmed with exhaustion and fell asleep. He’s really enjoying his touch and feel books, such as Good Puppy. Mark told me Elias actually grabbed on to one of his feet the other day after looking at it! His vision has improved greatly and he now smiles at us from half way across the room. Every day it’s something new. This is going to be a really fun month.

Today’s post will probably be quick. Elias is currently sleeping in the Moby, but I don’t know how long that will last. He slept fitfully last night, poor thing. He kept flailing his limbs, which would jolt him awake. He isn’t napping very well today either. He’s been pretty fussy so far today and yesterday evening as well. To make matters even better, I was alone last night until 10:30 and tonight Mark’s not due home until 9:30. I’d like to tell myself that maybe Elias is being extra fussy because of missing his daddy, but I think he’s probably just under the weather.

It isn’t as bad as a couple of weeks ago when he was just never awake without being fussy. We’ve played and talked together a couple of times today, but I’ve only had a few smiles. He even let me put him in the swing for about 20 minutes total today. Whenever he’s in it, he seems to be having a serious telepathic conversation with the tucan and tree frog hanging from the plastic leaf above him.

Being fed up with his razor blade nails, I decided to try to clip them with our baby nail clippers I’d tried just filing them because I didn’t trust myself to clip them. I can barely clip my own nails without nicking myself. Sure enough, I accidentally clipped some of the skin on one of his fingers. He wailed and I felt like the worst person alive. His nails do seem much less sharp, but I don’t know if I can go through that again.

Last night Elias didn’t wake up until around 7:30, so he spent a good 90 minutes or so conked out in his swing. I don’t think he was feeling very well though because he had problems falling asleep. I fed him at 11pm and he seemed tired, but when we got into bed he was wiggling all over the place and upset. He didn’t fall asleep until around 2am and that was with me holding his arms down gently so he wouldn’t wave them around and wake himself. He was awake almost nonstop from 7:30pm until 2am. He slept until about 7 this morning.

He seems back to his old self this morning, so hopefully whatever was bothering him last night is over with.

Poor boy has cradle cap and nothing really seems to be helping. We’ve tried putting oil on his head for 15 minutes, gently combing out the flakes and then washing his head, but it doesn’t help too much and it REALLY pisses him off. It’s hard for me to go to such great lengths to treat it when it’s a purely cosmetic problem. His forehead is dry too and no matter how many times a day I file his nails, they’re always as sharp as knives, so he keeps scratching his face as well. My poor little boy’s face looks less than wonderful and perfect. I don’t know how people have such perfect looking babies. I don’t know if I’m doing something wrong, or he’s just a bit of a freak.