5 Months

Graham is now 5 months old. It's been a tough week for us because I passed along a cold to him, which I guess was inevitable since I'm always in his face. Even though I was relieved to get over the cold myself (after 2 annoying weeks), I would have gladly kept it longer instead of watching him struggle like he has. The poor guy has had such a hoarse voice that his pitiful cries have been almost silent. He's also had lots of congestion and coughing. All this has really been a set-back on the sleeping routine we had going, since we can't let him cry in his crib when he's suffering from all kinds of cold symptoms.

Lately, Drew and I have been taking Graham on walks in the evening after the blazing heat subsides a little. It's been a good way to occupy him when he gets fussy, and it's also one of the few opportunities we have to talk. Saturday, we changed up our routine by stopping at the pool for a baby toe-dip. Then Drew jogged ahead while Graham and I finished our walk. Just when we were at our farthest point from home, it started pouring!! We waited under a tree for a while, until I decided I might as well make a run for it because the rain wasn't letting up. We must have looked desperate -- me running in flip flops with a beach towel draped over the stroller (trying to protect the sick baby!). A couple people stopped to offer a ride or an umbrella, but it seemed like it would be simpler for me to just hurry. I felt like a wounded athlete crossing the finish line when I got home, just as Drew was backing the car out of the driveway to go retrieve us! Probably not perfect parenting of a sick child, but at least he did stay dry!

Couch Potatoes

Entertaining Graham has become more challenging lately because he's not happy in any one place for long. He prefers for us to hold him up so he can practice standing or walking. He's also really interested in exploring new things...looking around, touching stuff, trying to put things in his mouth. He's especially fascinated by water bottles. When Drew and I need a break from holding him, we prop him up in a sitting position with pillows. It works for a little while, until he leans down to chew on a toy and flops over forward. Within the last couple weeks, Graham has started to lose the hair he's famous for. It's patchy now...thin around the top, gone behind one ear, and thick in the back. Quite a style! I told him he's not alone because my hair has been falling out like crazy since he was born!

Mommy's Weekend Trip

Yesterday I got back from a weekend trip to Boston to visit a friend from grad school. A couple months ago when I planned to go on this trip, I knew Graham would be 4 months old, which seemed old enough for me to be away a couple days. When the trip date came up, 4 months didn't seem so old anymore. Taking care of him still requires lots of trial and error ("he might be okay with a 5.5oz bottle"..."he'll probably wake up around 5am"..."putting him in his swing might calm him down"...). Drew took care of Graham by himself one night while I was gone, and my parents babysat the other night. It was definitely a mixture of sadness and excitement to leave our snuggly baby and head to the airport Saturday morning. Things seemed to go well while I was away though, with the exception of Graham's brief fever (probably a result of his vaccines the previous day). Drew took him on several neighborhood walks, my mom took him to see one of his great-grandmothers, and he got to play with fun new baby toys loaned by a family friend.

I had fun in Boston visiting with friends and touring the city! I did have quite a nursing maintenance routine to make sure nursing could continue when I got home. A big thanks to my travel buddies for helping me incorporate that into our days! It was not easy being away from Graham for the weekend, but I think it's healthy for me to occasionally take time away. What's crazy is that he learned new things in the two days I was gone! Now, when he's laying on his stomach, he sometimes wedges his toes up under him and uses them to push forward. He also rolls both ways now and "walks" when someone supports his upper body. He clearly said "hi" yesterday, and Drew and I looked at each other in disbelief. We probably shouldn't count that as his first word since he had no idea what was coming out of his mouth.

4 Months

Graham is really changing quickly these days! He is growing, squealing, and grabbing things more tightly with his hands. If I don't keep his fingernails cut short enough, his grip can be painful! A new thing he does when he rolls onto his stomach is to try to pull his knees up under him and push forward, inchworm-style. Graham has been going to the church nursery pretty regularly on Sundays. He's usually the only one in his 0-4 month class, so he gets a lot of special attention from his two teachers. Since he seems to do okay with that, I took him to the Kids Club at the gym yesterday. At the gym, the procedure is for the childcare staff to track down parents when babies cry for more than 15 minutes or when diapers are dirty. Graham made it through my entire group fitness class! He was whimpering a little when I went to pick him up, but they said he had been good. They must have put him through a baby workout because he fell fast asleep as soon as we got in the car.

In the picture, Graham is just hanging out in bed, watching a little Good Morning America. He is waiting to have the left side of his hair rewashed because of a spitup situation. He spits up a few times a week in his crib, and his hair usually ends up getting involved in the mess.

Trying to laugh

Graham is now 16 weeks old, and we think we've heard him attempt some laughing. He'll give a big open-mouth smile, and then make a sound that's a combination of a laugh, pant, and squeal. It's very cute. We're not sure if this should be considered a laugh, but it's definitely his version of a happy sound. He's also refining his roll and push-up skills. The only problem is that he usually rolls onto his stomach pretty soon after we put him down on his activity mat, but it doesn't take long for him to cry for us to get him off his stomach. He forgets that he chose that position.

One challenge we thought we'd take on this week is to fight Graham's mild case of cradle cap (scaly scalp). It probably wouldn't be so noticeable if I didn't stare closely at his head all day when I feed him. So I read that we should rub petroleum jelly into his hair and then shampoo it out. WHAT A MESS!! Petroleum jelly does not rinse out well at all!! We thought a triple-shampooing would suffice, but when his hair dried and it was still greasy and slicked to his head, he had to have another couple shampoos the next morning. The cradle cap was probably a little better after all that, but the treatment was not worth it!

As we're wrapping up our 3rd month as parents, I think we're learning how to prioritize a little better. Right after Graham was born, I spent too much time on things that were only semi-important (baby scrapbook, shopping online for baby essentials, etc). Now, our priorities revolve around establishing a loose schedule for Graham -- he eats, has "playtime," and then a nap (usually). He follows this pattern pretty well, and the routine helps us figure out his needs during the day. We still take him out with us to do things, but it's gotten a little more difficult because he doesn't sleep as long as he used to in his car seat. Several times when Graham has started to get vocal in restaurants, Drew's ended up taking him outside while I tried to stuff down the rest of my meal (it takes a lot for me to abandon my food). =) Still, with only a couple exceptions, things are getting much easier and more fun as he's getting older!

Rolling

At 15 weeks, Graham has started to roll over. The first roll scared me because I went to check on him at night and he was on his stomach, swaddled (so no arms available to help fix the situation). Since then he's rolled over repeatedly for us on his activity mat. It makes tummy time a little easier because he's now the one putting himself in the push-up position. He'll hold his head up and smile (if we cheer for him). Then his head plops back on the mat, face down.

Things aren't going as well in the sleep department. Graham has reverted back to waking up every 3ish hours most nights. I was told at my Baby Steps class that I don't necessarily need to feed him when he wakes up; we can just comfort him back to sleep. That works well when we give him a pacifier, but it seemed like we were waking up even more often for pacifier put-backs. Our new goal is to let him cry it out for a little while so that he learns to self soothe. It makes for a noisy, restless night. Another challenge is that we are trying alternatives to his swaddle since he's rolling over now. Last night we just swaddled his lower body so his arms would be out. He did lots of flailing around, but eventually alternated between sleeping on his side and on his back with his arms bent behind his head.

Here's Graham sporting the souvenir onesie his friends Charlene and Erin brought him back from New York. He's eager to meet his long-distance NY friends, Kate and Kendall Anne.

4th of July

Graham has been at the beach with us for our annual 4th of July week, and it has been just what we all needed! On the way to the beach, I read a book about how 3-month olds should be sleeping 10 hours at night, and Drew and I pondered what we were doing wrong. Then we get to the beach and Graham begins sleeping 8 hours straight at night....and even adding a couple bonus hours to that after his morning feeding! We realize this may not last, but we're really enjoying it for now!

We toted the poor baby around for our usual beach activities, and he was such a good sport! He went out on the beach in his stroller, where he was pretty content sleeping in the shade. Occasionally he woke up unhappy, but it just took a quick stroll along the beach to put him back to sleep. Graham even had his first toe-dip in the ocean...he wasn't especially impressed. He went with us to our favorite breakfast spot, where we definitely got more smiles and attention than usual. Our waitress (who usually is all business) told us "there's nothing like it in the world" and little girls walked by and pointed at Graham. He must have been showing off in his 4th of July outfit and fancy shoe-socks. He also went with us to eat at a couple restuarants on the waterfront docks in Southport. Graham "watched" the fireworks with us off the back porch, but since it was late, he just snuggled up to me and slept. He enjoyed all the quality time he had with friends and his aunt and uncle. Hopefully he won't be too bored when we're back to our family of 3 in Apex.