Jacob these days

My little man is five months old today!

5 months old!

Still pretty small. He was just under 13lbs last time he was weighed. But his height has gone up! He was 24.5inches long. If I had to guess I would say he's about 13.5lbs (or more) now, and about 25inches. We'll have to wait and see though. He is still wearing mostly 0-3 month clothes, with a few 3-6 month mixed in.

Jacob wears size two disposable diapers, but this week we've been trying cloth diapering. A good friend from church was nice enough to let me borrow about 18 fuzzibunz diapers while I am still building up my own stash. So far it hasn't been bad.

Right now Jacob only rolls from tummy to back, but is still trying really hard to roll from back to tummy. Yesterday while doing tummy time he scooted backwards a little bit, he wants to be mobile really bad, but can't quite figure it out yet. He's also sitting up really well in his bumbo(ish) seat, and can sit up on his own for 15-20 seconds or so.

Sitting up on his own

Jacob loves standing!

Jacob's teething still, but we think he's pretty close to having some pop through! It feels like he's getting every tooth all at once, all of his gums are swollen. So far teething tablets, baby ibuprofen or tylenol, frozen washcloths, and teething toys have kept the fussiness manageable.

We started giving Jacob rice cereal last week. He had started watching anyone who was eating or drinking and had started making chewing/sucking motions with his mouth while watching us. He really enjoys it, and it seems to have helped his sleeping somewhat. He's now only getting up three times during his 12 hours of sleep, rather than getting up 5-7 times and refusing to stay in his crib more than 9 hours.

We've noticed that Jacob likes hearing the radio and will try to sing along while we are in the car. We tested this by turning the radio off. Radio off = Jacob being silent. Turn the radio back on = Jacob making noise. His newest noise is a high pitched scream, we're trying to nip that in the bud real quick.
Just over the past few days Jacob has learned to high-five. I hold my hand up and say "high-five" and he smacks it...repeatedly.

I think that's about all that's new! It's hard to believe the time is going by so very fast.

He has started to make this face, usually right before a huge smile

Therapy

Cleaning...It's pretty much like therapy to me.

I can have days that I am really frustrated and stressed and nothing seems to be going right, but all I need is 5 minutes to make my bed, load the dishwasher, wipe off the counters, straighten couch cushions...and I already feel almost 100% better! I think it's being able to see that my actions are making an impact in some way. That and clutter and messes can stress me out with out anything else being wrong.

I also love to be organized. There's just something about having neat rows of labeled boxes, rather than who-knows-what being placed who-knows-where. Which means I have this bad habit of buying storage boxes and collapsible cloth bins, and saving clear containers and jars, etc. without having a specific use for them in mind. Oh well, as long as my hubby doesn't mind my partial obsession with neatness and cleanliness, I'll use it as a cheap and easy way to keep my sanity.
Speaking of which, I should go clean the livingroom while Jacob is sleeping...

My new hobby?

FREE! The word kind of grabs your attention doesn't it? Everybody likes gifts, or getting something for nothing...including me.

So, I've started finding offers for free samples online. My favorite site is womanfreebies. They are constantly updating coupons, freebies, and sweepstakes. Mail is exciting again! I never know what I'll get when, it's not just junk mail anymore.
Here's what I've gotten in the last two months:

I got the Target sample beauty bag, which included samples of Simple brand face wipes, L'oreal lumi makeup primer, Neutrogena brightening face wash, Nivea ultra moisturizer, and Pantene color hold.

Two samples of Escada fragrances.

A Sample of Gevalia's new kaffe coffee.

Six single serve packets of nescafe taster's choice instant coffee. I already used the samples of decaf, and liked it so much I went and bought more!

A sample of purex ultra packs laundry detergent.

And a sample of gud  body lotion.(by the makers of Burt's Bees.) This stuff smells amazing! I got the blood orange scent.

Yesterday I got two more samples in the mail. Tide pods, and quakers oatmeal squares.

I love when companies are wiling to let us try before we buy! And out of the 4 things I've already tried, I did go and buy 3 of them.

What do you love about freebies?

And so it began...

A year ago today (May 2nd, 2011) was a day that I doubt I will ever forget. It had been about a week or so that I had been having some pregnancy symptoms.

Two months earlier I had had every pregnancy symptom in the book and all the dates and numbers were lining up, but when I took a pregnancy test it was negative. Another week went by with continued and worsening symptoms, then I experienced what was very likely a miscarriage. I'll never know for sure, but it was some of the worst few days of my life.

So here I was the beginning of May with the same thing happening. All the symptoms, dates lining up...and I was terrified. Scared that I was getting my hopes up for nothing, that I would go through all the emotional and physical pain I had just been through. I kept thinking that I would just wait one more week to see...then another week. I was starting to think I would wait a third week, but Alex and I got home from church on Sunday (May 1st) and I just broke down in tears. I wanted a baby so bad, I wanted to be pregnant, but I didn't want to take a test and find a negative again. I wanted to cling to that tiny hope I had that if I just kept putting off knowing for sure, I could keep imagining that it was real. My dear husband, he knew exactly what to say. He told me that not finding out just to cling to a hope was foolishness. That I was putting my life on hold for something that may or may not be true. That I shouldn't be trying to find happiness in a baby, that as a christian my true joy and purpose in life should be found in God. We decided that I would take a pregnancy test the next day. If it was negative I could be sad, then move one, if it was positive...it would open up a whole new part of life for us.

I spent that entire night dreaming of different outcomes, positive, negative, positive again. Happy, sad, surprised. I woke up exhausted, but Alex and I ran to wal-mart and picked up a test. As I was waiting for the results I was preparing myself for a negative. I had done this before and I knew how it would turn out. So when the time was up and I glanced at it I was shocked to see a second pink line. It was faint, but it was there. Alex was in the other bathroom at the time, so I didn't bother him, I just went to the kitchen and started working on the dishes. Because of my non-reaction, when Alex came out he also assumed that it was negative. He just hugged me tight and didn't say a word....then I looked up at him and asked if he was ready to have to buy a slew of diapers. The look on his face was priceless, and he hugged me even tighter!

And so began the adventure with our little "Berry".

I'm still so amazed that God saw fit to bless us with such a wonderful gift.

Four months already?

It's hard to believe that today my little Jacob is four months old!
I'm amazed at how fast he is developing.

Size: He's still not very big for his age. Two weeks ago he weighed 12lbs 6oz, and was 23 and 1/2 inches long. He's just now outgrown almost all of his newborn clothes and one or two of his 0-3month. He is still in size one diapers, though Huggies brand are a bit smaller and tend to leak more often.

Sleep: At two and a half months Jacob was sleeping anywhere from 6.5 to 8 hours a night. He even slept 9 hours straight one time! But then he hit a growth spurt or something and was waking up every 2 hours, sleeping 4 hours then waking up every hour the rest of the night, etc. It got pretty frustrating! I had no idea why he had regressed so badly. As of last night he was back up to 5.5 hours.

Milestones: All of a sudden Jacob was able to hold his head up during tummy time! Then he started rolling over on a pretty regular basis (from tummy to back) Now when he's on his tummy he does this little squirm -it looks very similar to "the worm"- to try to move forward. He's so frustrated that he's not able to crawl yet. He is also very close to rolling from back to tummy, he tries so hard! The newest milestone hasn't really been a fun one: teething. The past few weeks Jacob started drooling all the time! That progressed to grabbing anything that came near his mouth and chewing on it. Toys, fingers, arms, spit rags, toes, shirts, you name it. He has tried it all. Just in the past week or so he also started fussing almost constantly while awake. Toys, food, music, rocking...none of it soothes him. He just sobs and it's heartbreaking. Then in the past two days he's started running a low-grade fever. So I'm pretty certain he's getting some teeth, his gums have even started getting pretty firm. I can't be sure -because anytime I put a finger near his mouth he wants to chew on it- but I thought a saw a pale mark on his bottom gums where a tooth was sitting under the surface. I just hope that they break through soon! I feel so bad for my little man.

 

So good at holding his head up now!

Talking: Jacob doesn't say any English words yet, though he has cried what sounds like "mom" or "mum" since about two weeks old. He loves to talk though! When he's awake and not fussing he's jabbering away at me, Alex, or his toy animals. A series of coos, grunts, raspberries, and "ah-ah-ah"s.

Quirks, favorites, and funny traits: Jacob doesn't sit up on his own. In fact, he doesn't even really like sitting all that much. If he's being held he pretty much always wants to be standing. He has really strong legs and as long as someone is balancing him, he stands on his own.

He loves his daddy! For example, the other night I was feeding Jacob one last time before putting him to bed and Alex came in the nursery to fill up and start the vaporizer. Jacob turned to see him and made a little laugh noise "ha". When Alex left he went back to eating...until Alex came back in with the full vaporizer to start it. Again, staring at daddy then a little laugh. I love the good relationship they have!
Also, Alex is apparently a lot funnier than I am. Jacob laughs at Alex's funny faces, and funny noises, and silly talking. I love hearing his little giggles, and he has a smile that brightens up his whole face. Today I was actually able to make him laugh and I felt so proud of myself, haha.

Bath time is Jacob's favorite part of the day. he can be on the floor sobbing one minute, and as soon as he is in that tub full of warm water he is content as could be. He has also learned how to splash...which reminds me that I need to find a floor mat for in front of the kitchen sink. He makes a mess! He also loves the part of bath time where we clean his gums and tongue with a damp washcloth, we're hoping it'll make daily tooth brushing just that much easier! He's already so used to having his mouth cleaned every night. This past week we gave Jacob his first bath toy- a little pirate rubber duck that we were given a his baby shower. He grabbed onto it and promptly stuck it in his mouth to chew on.

One of my favorite things that Jacob has started to do is what I call his "bring it on" move. He'll be laying on his back on the floor and all of a sudden he'll put his shoulders back, puff out his chest and tummy while picking his butt off the floor, and make a grunting noise. It's so adorable!

His favorite toy is a little giraffe rattle, or his blanket. He often falls asleep for nap time with one or the other held tightly in his hand up by his face. He also loves hiding behind his blanket, especially when he's acting shy.

Jacob also loves blowing spit bubbles.

I guess that's all I can think of for now. I know I don't write very often, but that's because I would much rather enjoy the time with my little man...it's passing by so very fast!

And now...a few more pictures.

He looks so handsome in the hat his grandma made him

Jacob's first Easter

Note to self: (and maybe to you too?)

I had started to feel discontent, envious, and even lazy on a regular basis. So I sat down and had a talk with Alex about it. During our chat I came to this conclusion: Life -and motherhood in particular- is not a competition. I realized that I need to remind myself this, sometimes more than others. In this age of digital sharing, (facebook statuses, mommy blogs, twitter) it's even easier to get caught up in how well, and how much better, others seem to be doing.

So I'm working on changing my thinking in these areas:
*My baby: as long as he is healthy, happy, learning, and growing I do not need to be comparing when he reaches milestones, how long he sleeps at night, and how fast his motor skills are developing with other babies So maybe he isn't very good at tummy time, isn't sitting up on his own, and still nurses to sleep at night. He is a very happy little man (most of the time) laughs on a daily basis, is smiling directly at us, growing like a weed, loving bath time, sleeping through the night, and starting to play with his toys. Every baby is different, and every mommy needs to know that and stop comparing her baby to other babies.

*My house: as long as it is relatively clean, regularly vacuumed, and there aren't just huge piles of "stuff" and dishes and laundry I can be content. Sometimes I still get really nit-picky, I have always been a bit of a perfectionist when it comes to cleanliness, especially when something is my responsibility. My husband has been a big help with keeping things done. He's really good at just noticing if the dishes need done and getting that taken care of. He's also a big help with laundry.

*My "business": I'll admit it, I kind of failed in this aspect. I'm not very outgoing, not good at networking, not very good at hounding people (or feeling like I am) so I may have a business page and a whole basket full of handmade headbands, but it seems that it's going nowhere. I may work on it again at some later date, but for now I'll leave home based businesses up to the people who are actually making sales.

*My weight: as someone who has always struggled with weight issues and body image, this has been the hardest thing not to compare or envy. Especially with so many women having had babies around the same time that already lost all of or more than their pregnancy weight. I had a very hard time recovering from my c-section and am just now starting to feel like I can do everything I did before. So it's really slow going. I need to remember that as long as I am happy, getting enough sleep, able to take care of myself and my family, and am working on losing weight in a healthy manner, I need to stop comparing to other women.

Happy mommy and her growing baby

I guess that's about it! Have you ever had struggles with comparing?

I never expected to

As much as I intended to not turn every post into something about Jacob, my life consists of little else these days. So, today's treat: a few things I never expected to laugh at.

*Accidentally spraying milk everywhere when Jacob gets distracted while nursing.

*My baby getting red in the face while crying. There are times when I can tell he's just mad about something...and the little guy is just so stinkin' cute, even when screaming mad.

*Poop in the bathtub, not pretty.

*The fact that Jacob's in his third outfit for the day...whether from diaper blowouts or spit up, sometimes he goes through more outfits in a day than I did when I was a teenager.

*When Jacob starts rooting while Alex is holding him, leaving little wet spots from his tongue. Oopsie!

*When the "sprinkler system" goes off between diapers. There's really very little I can do except clumsily try to get something in the way of the stream (usually the new diaper) then clean up the damage afterwards. It used to distress me when it happened, but I've found it's much easier to laugh. Who knew babies could get such distance!

* When I get out of bed because I hear the baby making a bunch of noise, only to find he was just grunting to toot in his sleep. Another case of it being easier to laugh than to cry.

What about you other mommies out there? What do you find yourself laughing at? Being a mommy can be a messy job!