Keeping in Teutsch

John Hayden was 8 months old on Saturday (we were out of town, so just now getting to write this). Here's his monthly update:

--He weighs around 22 lbs. I can feel it in my shoulders...haha!
--He still eats 6-7 ounces every 3ish hours. Still doesn't like baby food, table food, any food. I don't know what to do with this kid...hope he finds his appetite for solids soon or the doctor will send us for an evaluation with a therapist at 9 months to make sure it's not sensory issues or something like that.
--He is still in size 4 diapers, but the other weekend, literally overnight, he completely outgrew his remaining 9 month and 9-12 month clothes and we had to go on a shopping spree. I bought a combination of 12 month and 18 month stuff and everything fits much better now. (The outfit above is a little big, but Daddy dressed him!) He can still wear the 9-12 month zip-up pajamas from The Children's Place (I love those things...the designs are SO cute), but that is the only thing in that size.
--Sleep sucks...as usual. (Sorry for the "language," but that's how we all feel about it.) Juliette has started praying for John Hayden to sleep good at night. I'm not sure if I should laugh or cry about that! He goes to sleep fine...he just wakes up most nights around 10 or 11 and it's extremely hard to get him back to sleep in his crib. Most nights he ends up in bed with me, where he then proceeds to wake up at the crack of dawn (around 5) and wants to get up for the day. Some days I get lucky and he sleeps until 6. And some very rare days, he'll sleep all night in his crib with hardly a peep and not wake up until after I've gotten out of the shower. Insanity is often described as doing the same thing over and over and hoping for different results. That definition perfectly describes our efforts at sleep training. (Before anyone offers advice: we've tried it all. He's one stubborn kid and we can only do cry-it-out [or more like fuss-it-out for him since he's not straight up crying] for about 10 minutes before we risk waking Juliette since they share a room.) He was taking naps good, but as of today, he can shimmy himself out of the swing--where he's been taking most naps--and Matt found him on the floor beside it twice when he should have been sleeping. (The swing is a low one that is almost on the ground, so he basically just crawled out of it...can't fall, thankfully!) You know it's getting frustrating when your husband starts Googling sleep training ideas and reading the baby books. (He NEVER did that with Juliette.) Until John Hayden decides to sleep better, I just have to remind myself often "this too shall pass." One day. Probably not any time soon, but one day.
--John Hayden has gotten super fast with his army crawls and is now venturing to all rooms in the apartment (which really doesn't take much effort on his part since the place is so small). Last week he started taking a few traditional crawls very slowly, but he hasn't gotten good enough to crawl across the room or very quickly, so he just does a few and then plops down on his belly and takes off in an army crawl (he's super fast like that) . Matt swears he said "ba-ba" for his bottle the other day, but I'm not convinced it was in reference to it and haven't heard him say it. He is trying to pull up ALL the time now, but he isn't strong enough yet to get on his feet. He can pull up to his knees, though. Since he can sit up good now, we're not using the baby sling seat for baths and he loves getting to play in the water. He got to go swimming for the first time this month and loved that as well. And, I've noticed him practicing waving a couple of times, but I can't get him to do it in response to my waving. I imagine he'll be developing more of those fine motor skills in the next month or so. He's a busy body and some nights I'm sweating by the time I've given him a bath (that involves sitting him back down on his bottom every few seconds while trying to bathe him) and then literally wrestled him to get his diaper and pajamas on. So far, he has done great at restaurants sitting in a highchair, although he prefers to turn himself practically all the way around and people watch instead of looking at us. He might not be a good sleeper, but he is definitely a happy, giggly baby (and that helps ease the frustrations with his sleeping habits!).

Some pictures of this past month:

First trip to the library.

Juliette reading to John Hayden.

First Fourth of July.

With Matt's parents.

Four generations on Matt's side of the family.

John Hayden liked Zoe and kept trying to pet her, however, he didn't like for her to lick him and that was what she did when he got close, so it was a love/hate relationship. I made Zoe sit still to take this picture...she doesn't look very happy about that, but John Hayden looks excited because he thought he was going to be able to get a hold of her collar!

 John Hayden is 7 months old today. It seems like this past month literally flew by! Here's his monthly update:

--When I took him to the doctor a few weeks ago, he weighed 19 lbs. 3 oz. and was almost 28 inches long. He's around the 90th percentile for weight and between the 75th and 90th for height.
--We just recently moved him up to 7 oz. every 3ish hours. (If he would eat baby food like he's supposed to, I wouldn't have had to increase his ounces. He just really loves his bottle and could pass on the baby food!) He typically has 5 full bottles a day and a few ounces at bedtime. He's doing a little better with the baby food and actually ate half a container of carrots the other day, which surprised me. I gave him a sippy cup and he looked at me weird and then started chewing on the spout and has yet to figure out that he needs to suck on it, so I guess he won't be drinking from sippy cups anytime soon. Thankfully, we still have 5 whole months to get this eating and drinking thing down! Oh, and he started holding his bottle shortly after he turned 6 months old, so he can feed himself now, but I still try to hold him while he eats or at least for a few minutes.
--I moved him up to size 4 diapers for both daytime and nighttime. He has mostly outgrown all his 6 month stuff and is wearing almost all 9 month stuff, but can fit in some 12 month stuff as well. Some of the 9 month onesies don't have much growing room, so we'll probably be in 12 month onesies soon. He's still in 6-9 month pajamas but there is no growing room, so we'll be moving up to 9-12 months very soon.
--I'm almost afraid to type this for fear that he'll revert back, but he has been sleeping pretty good this past month. I moved his bedtime back a little (he was going to bed at 7 and now it's closer to 8) and started giving him a small bottle at bedtime and I think that has helped. Or maybe he's just finally settling down. He's been napping so much better for us as well. Up until recently, he had always been a cat napper, but he's started taking two naps a day now, usually 1 1/2 to 2 hours each. Sadly, he will no longer let me rock him to sleep unless it's nighttime, and sometimes he doesn't want me to then. And he could care less about a pacifier...won't take it at all. If you give it to him, he just chews on the edge of it and won't suck on it. That means I won't have to break him from it, but at the same time it's harder to soothe him when he's crying.
--This past month saw big changes for John Hayden, as he mastered sitting up unsupported, started army crawling, and cut two teeth (all of which happened within a week's time). He's all over the place now, trying to get into everything. His favorite spots in the living room to head for are the Internet router (because it has blinking lights) and the cord to the lamp and laptop. Also if Matt leaves his jump drive in the Xbox (which is on the floor), he will make a beeline for it as well. It's officially time to baby proof the house before he figures out how to crawl traditionally and can get places faster. He doesn't want to be held much anymore. He wants down or he wants you to walk around with him on your hip. He loves going outdoors and swinging. He hates being buckled into his carseat...he starts fussing as soon as you open the car door! (Once he's buckled, he calms down, though.) If we bring him into a restaurant in his carseat, he does pretty good. If we take him out and put him in a highchair, that's another story! I imagine we won't be eating out as much now since he's getting bigger (or at least until he is eating baby snack foods that I can use to keep him busy.) We've gotten really good at wrestling (literally) our little alligator for diaper changes and getting him dressed, since he refuses to stay on his back on the changing table. Half the time, he's hanging off of it, while we're holding a leg. I don't remember Juliette being quite as wild on the changing table...he's literally hanging off of it upside down and thinks it's fun...maybe that's just the difference between girls and boys. Most of the time we just end up dressing him on his belly.

Here are some pictures from this past month:

Being able to sit up unsupported means he gets to ride in the buggy at stores. He was so happy to be sitting in the buggy that the pictures I took were all fuzzy from him bouncing up and down!

Mother's Day 2013

The comparison picture from this past month (click to make larger):

John Hayden is 6 months old today...it's crazy how fast the time is going! Here's his monthly update:

--He hasn't been for his well-baby check-up yet (he'll go on Thursday), but when I took him for a sick visit a couple of weeks ago, he weighed 18 lbs. 3 oz.
--He's still eating 6 oz. every 3ish hours He typically has 5 bottles a day (and none at night). I'm still trying to get him to eat cereal and baby food. He's a little more interested in it, but still makes faces and spits it out. I've been trying to give him a little something every night so that he'll hopefully start liking it, but so far, that's not really working. He's tried cereal, applesauce, bananas, sweet potatoes, and peas. He doesn't like any of them (even when I give him the same thing multiple days in a row). Hopefully, he'll get on board with baby food soon so that he can get to the good stuff (table food!) at the appropriate time!
--He's wearing size 3 diapers during the day and size 4 at night, but I'm about to move him up to size 4s during the day as well. The 3s just aren't fitting that well although they are supposed to fit 16-22 lbs. Maybe his chunky thighs are keeping them from fitting right? He's mostly wearing 9 month stuff, but can fit in some 6 month stuff as well. He can probably wear some 12 month stuff, but the things I have are for middle of the summer and it hasn't been warm enough to put them on him yet. (The outfit above was 12 months, though.) He's still in 6-9 month pajamas.
--Sleep has still been horrible this past month, then last week it was great, and then it got bad again, or should I say "back to normal." I just have to keep telling myself that one day--maybe soon, maybe not--he'll sleep soundly all night long! He sleeps face down a lot and it drives me crazy! I try to turn his head to the side, but he will just turn it again. Also, there seems to be a Bermuda Triangle around his crib, as he has dropped two pacifiers out of it this past month and I have been unable to find them anywhere. We've all turned the room upside down looking for them...it's so strange.
--He gives big belly laughs now and will laugh over something you say, any physical comedy, and sometimes when you tickle his ribs. He laughs the hardest and most for Juliette. He pretty much thinks anything she does is funny. He's still smiling at strangers, but only if we are holding him. If they are holding him, he just stares them down. He's quite the roller now and like I said last time, will not stay on the rug and his blanket. He can operate all the toys on the Exersaucer now and at physical therapy the other day, he was really interested in one of their pop-up toys (you know where they hit the different buttons to make the animals or characters pop up), so I went and got some "bigger baby" toys out of storage this weekend, which I've been needing to do anyway. He can sit unasssisted only for a few seconds, but we keep practicing with him. I imagine in the next month he'll be able to sit alone. Still no teeth (I thought for sure he'd have them by now)! He can pass toys from one hand to the other (although he's been doing that for a little while), and just in the last few days has started trying to get up on his knees (unsuccessfully, though). We're wondering if he'll actually crawl properly since he's a bigger baby and they oftentimes don't crawl when they have more weight on them. Nevertheless, things are starting to pick up with his large motor skills, so it will be fun to see what the next month holds in that area. (Oh, and he "talks" a lot and Juliette says he says "Daddy" but he's not really.)
--We had another physical therapy session this past week and he is doing great. He doesn't have any tightness in his neck and moves it both ways easily now. The flat spot on the right side of his head has greatly improved and is not as noticeable now, but there is still some flatness. We're pretty optimistic that it will round out the rest of the way once he is spending majority of his time sitting up.

And the comparison picture (click on it so you can actually see it):

John Hayden turned 5 months old today, so here's an update about him:

--He hasn't been to the doctor this month, so I'm not sure what his "official" weight is, but I weighed him on our scale and he is around 18 lbs. He's probably gained about a pound this past month, which is normal. I didn't measure him, though, so not sure about his length.
--He's still eating 6 oz. every 3ish hours and has been good about finishing all his bottles. We moved him up to Level 3 nipples on his bottles this past month (which is supposed to be for 6 months and up), and that has helped him to finish his bottles. I guess he was just tiring himself out on the slower nipple and that's why he wasn't finishing them (and falling asleep while eating so much). He averages about 5 bottles a day (and none at night). We tried cereal a few times and he didn't want to eat it (even if I mixed it with applesauce) and would close his mouth tight and wouldn't open it for anything, so he hasn't been eating baby food. I did try again this morning since he's a month older now and he did eat a few more bites than he has and was definitely much more interested in his spoon (wanted to chew on it). He even tried to take the bowl out of my hand a few times as well. He still made yucky faces when I fed him, though. I'm going to try a few more times over the next few days and if he still isn't wanting it, we'll just wait and try again at 6 months. (It's no big deal to me. In fact, it's easier if all he's eating is his bottle.)
--He is still wearing size 3 diapers, although I had to move him to size 4 diapers at night since he was soaking himself. We've officially said good-bye to all the 3-6 month clothing and he is wearing 6 and 9 month onesies and pants. (He can fit in both, although 9 month pants are just a little long.) And I just started putting him in 6-9 month pajamas this week. The 3-6 month ones are getting tight.
--Sleep, oh, sleep! Why won't this baby sleep?!! This past month he learned to roll from his back onto his stomach and spent almost a week perfecting it. At night. In his crib. When he should have been sleeping. Ugh! Then, once he had it down, he started waking every few hours for his pacifier, so I've been sleepwalking to his crib quite a lot this past month to stick his pacifier back in. (And, when not sleeping, stressing and checking on him obsessively because he is now sleeping on his stomach!) Quite a few nights have resulted in me just putting him in our bed so he would stop flipping over and waking up! I know, I know, that's a big "no, no," but I usually attempt at least three times to get him to stay in his bed (lots of patting his bottom and holding his paci in his mouth) before I move him. I'm hoping he settles down and starts sleeping better soon. (He did have a good night last night; I only had to put the paci in his mouth once around midnight. He typically sleeps really good the first part of the night; it's around 2 am that he starts waking.)
--He is such a happy baby and smiles all the time! We've even been able to get quite a few belly laughs out of him. (See video below.) And he is really starting to get good at the rolling; he won't stay on his back very long at all if you lay him down on the floor. And he has also started putting the rolls together (front to back and back to front) so if you turn around for a minute, he's liable to be off the rug when you turn around again. (In fact, for some reason, he tends to always end up off the rug even though we have a big rug and blanket for him to stay on!) He has pretty much complete full body control now and can play in the Exersaucer (although some of the toys on it require a little more advanced motor skills than he has right now). We can also carry him around on our hip now with just one hand. He's drooling a lot and teething, but those two teeth still haven't come in. He doesn't suck his thumb much anymore and instead prefers to pull your hair! Even Matt's arm hair...ouch! He's still enamored with Matt when he's in the room and in eyesight and I adore the way he looks at Juliette and the voice Juliette uses when she is talking to him. She has perfected "baby talk" and she loves to play with him. (By the way, the newest funny thing from her is that she told Matt today that he needed to take some lessons on how to handle babies and she also said that "this makes me think this is how you treated me as a baby and that's not good." She was really preaching to him this afternoon because she thought he wasn't being gentle enough with John Hayden.)
--John Hayden has been on Zantac for a month now and it has really helped with the spit-up. He still spits up, but not nearly as much as he was. However, the main reason for the Zantac was to see if it would reduce the congestion. He is still congested sounding some mornings (I think it's more allergy-related), but I really think he is doing better. It hasn't gone completely away, but it's an improvement.
--We've had two physical therapy sessions so far and the physical therapist thinks he doesn't have torticollis. She said he's not fitting the symptoms exactly, but that he definitely had some flexibility issues, although she can't figure out what is causing it. During the first appointment, he cried whenever she touched his shoulders, so our homework was to work on touching his shoulders lovingly as much as possible in order to get him to relax. After two days, he didn't cry anymore! It was amazing how quickly it worked. Around this time he also started flipping onto his stomach to sleep at night and that combined with other neck stretching exercises we were doing at home led to him being practically "cured" within the week. And his head rounded out more in just that one week as well...the physical therapist noticed and was shocked how quickly he had improved. She's not quite ready to discharge him, but he's doing so well with his neck movement now that she said she didn't need to see us for about 3-4 weeks. We just have to keep up our stretches. His head is still flat, but not nearly as much as it was and I really think once he is sitting up, it's going to round out nicely.
--Oh, and he's been rocking a comb-over for the last few months since all his hair on the sides fell out, but not on the top. As you can kinda see in his pictures, though, just this week, his hair is starting to come back on one side, and it's coming back the same color (blondish red), so maybe it will stay that color. His eyes are also still blue (but Juliette's were still at this age also so I guess that doesn't really mean anything since hers ended up turning greenish hazel).

Here's some pictures and the laughing video:

Trying to sit forward while I was taking his picture. (He was smiling at Matt behind me.)

First sink bath at my parents house.

His first Easter. (Isn't his basket--that matches Juliette's--so cute?)

Easter morning family picture--after church.

We all dressed in baseball attire for opening day of baseball this past Monday.

Swinging outside today.

Playing in the Exersaucer while we cooked dinner.

And here's the comparison of him between 4 months and 5 months. (For some reason these are showing up very tiny, but if you click on them, you can see them at regular size):

John Hayden turned 4 months old yesterday, so here's an update about him:

--At his well-baby check-up this morning, he weighed 17.6 lbs. and is almost 25 inches long. (On the charts that puts him as 95th percentile for weight and 50-75th for height.)
--He's still eating 6 oz. every 3ish hours and this month has become somewhat disinterested in eating. There are days where he doesn't want to eat all 6 oz. at most feedings and he most definitely doesn't want to eat all of it in the mornings (whether he ate during the middle of the night or not). At first I thought it was because of sinus drainage that he had for the majority of February, but I think it's a combination of teething, being very aware of his surroundings, and just a slow-down in growth. He still gained this month, though, so he got plenty to eat.
--He wears size 3 diapers and mostly 6 month clothing, although he can still wear some 3-6 month onesies and pants. He also still fits in his 3-6 month pajamas and I imagine he'll be able to continue wearing those for this next month.
--During the month of February, he woke up pretty much every night to eat (probably because he wasn't eating as much during the day and also because he would cough--from the drainage--and wake himself up.) Starting the first day of March, though, he started sleeping through the night again, mostly. He apparently likes to keep me on my toes!
--He is still a very smiley baby and this month found his voice. He can get very loud!! He still doesn't have a ton of patience for tummy time (he holds out for about 5-10 minutes) and starting rolling over from tummy to back last week. (He doesn't want to show us his new trick this week, though.) He's trying to roll from back to tummy as well, but hasn't made it. He can bring his hands together and hold toys and put them in his mouth and can reach and grab something (and not miss it--more hand control now). He's also able to pull down on the car seat toy and the bouncy seat toy to make them make noises. He can do mini push-ups while on his tummy (I think he could do that last month...can't remember, though) and he has to be buckled into everything now or he will kick and arch his back and come close to getting out. He pretty much has complete head control and doesn't need much support when you are holding him up right, but is still a little wobbly with entire upper body control (as in, if I put him in the exersaucer, I have to put a rolled up blanket behind him or he will slump over; he's not really playing much in it yet, though). He's teething and I can see where two little teeth are going to come in. They haven't broken through his gums, but I wouldn't be surprised if he cuts them sooner rather than later since Juliette cut her first two at 4 1/2 months and 5 months. His newest thing he likes to do is suck his thumb and his bottle at the same time...and that doesn't really work! We're constantly having to move his hands from his mouth while feeding him. He has started pulling on his feet, but hasn't put them in his mouth yet. He still loves for you to sing and do the motions with him for different songs, but his favorite thing to do (and that leads to great big smiles) is to make him ride the bicycle with his feet (which we have also branched out to rowing the boat with his hands and playing air guitar among other things). Juliette loves to do these with him and he grins really big at her. He also likes for Matt to play the actual guitar for him, and if Matt is in the room, he tends to follow his every move. Oh, and he has perfected blowing raspberries, which has led him having a wet face constantly!
--He has started spitting up a whole lot more than he used to, and I mentioned it to the doctor this morning because I thought it might have to do with the chronic congestion he has had the last month. She said that spitting up peaks at 4 months because they are starting to move around a lot more (which makes sense) and that it's possible the spitting up/refluxing can be causing the congestion since it's common for babies to reflux into their nose. (I know that sounds gross.) Anyway, we're going to try out a reflux medication on him. If it works, great...he'll spit up less and be less congested. And if it doesn't work, it's no big deal. His ears looked good and his lungs were clear and he's generally happy, so if the medicine doesn't work, he will be fine. Doesn't hurt to try, though!
--At John Hayden's 2 month check-up, I mentioned to the doctor about him favoring his right side and having a flat spot on the back of the right side of his head. The doctor said to try to reposition him to get him to look to the left more and that the flat spot would probably improve once he was able to sit up in the Bumbo, Exersaucer, etc. She said he might have torticollis and we'd look into physical therapy when we came back at 4 months if he hadn't shown much improvement. Well, we've been pretty diligent about forcing him to look to the left more by the way we lay him down, etc. and he WILL look to the left, but he still very much favors the right side and doesn't seem to have the same range of movement on the left that he has on the right (it's almost like he has a crick in his neck when he turns to the left). So, I talked to the doctor about it again today and we're going to start physical therapy next week. Torticollis is typically from them favoring one side while in utero and then continuing to favor that side after being born resulting in the need for the unused (or not used as much) neck muscle needing to be stretched out. The physical therapist will show us things we can do at home to help stretch it out and to get him to where he'll use both sides equally. And, then once he's sitting up good, his head should round back out. I asked if he would need to wear a helmet and the doctor thinks that it will fix itself by 6-7 months, but she said if not, she can refer us to someone then for a helmet. If he has to wear a helmet for a little while (typically in this situation, it would only be a few months), then it's no big deal to me, but we're going to let nature run its course first and see how his head looks once he isn't laying on it all the time. And, hopefully, the doctor is right and we won't need one. (We have seen a little improvement in it just by making sure we are putting him on his tummy more--which he is still not a fan of, so hopefully, he'll start liking that position more so we can keep him off the back of his head.)
--Oh, and a big milestone: The doctor gave us the okay to start cereal (and even baby food--fruits and vegetables) if we want, so we'll be trying out the cereal and once he gets a hang of eating from a spoon, I'll start introducing the fruit and vegetables one at a time. We're in no rush, though, so if he isn't interested, we'll just try again in a few weeks.

And here's the comparison of him between 3 months and 4 months. (For some reason these are showing up very tiny, but if you click on them, you can see them at regular size):

 John Hayden is 3 months old today, so here's an update about him:
--He now weighs 16 lbs. 3 oz. That was with clothes on at a sick visit the other day, so it's probably officially a few ounces less since they weigh them without clothes at their well visits. (He has a cold/congestion. I took him in because I thought he might have an ear infection, but he was good.) They didn't measure him, so I'm not sure how long he is now. He'll get measured at his 4 month check-up.
--He's eating 6 oz. every 3 hours and is satisfied, so I imagine we'll stay at this number for a little while. He gets to start cereal next month, so we might not have to increase it since we'll be introducing solids soon.
--He wears size 2 diapers (we'll probably be in size 3 by the end of the month) and some 3-6 month clothing and some 6 month clothing. (He's mostly been wearing onesies--since he's so hot natured--and his 3 month ones are getting a little snug and the 6 month ones are a tad loose but fitting great. It's almost time to put the 3 month ones away. He's wearing 3-6 month pajamas and they have growing room.)
--He is a great nighttime sleeper and other than this past weekend when he started getting sick and didn't sleep well, he mostly sleeps through the night and has been for the past few weeks. Yay for the return of uninterrupted sleep! He's still not an awesome napper, but it doesn't bother me since he sleeps good at night!
--He smiles a ton and chuckles a little. Still no big belly laughs, though. He loves his little blankie, is an occassional thumb sucker, and is getting better at batting at his toys and not missing them. He has pretty good head control, but still a little wobbly, and he can hold his head up at a 90 degree angle when on his tummy, but he really HATES tummy time still. (He tolerates it if you lay him on his tummy on the boppy pillow.) He has started holding his hands together and I caught him looking at one of them the other day, but I don't think he's quite figured out what they are yet. (It's so cute when they start staring at them like "What are these things?"! He'll be doing that soon.) He loves for you to sing songs that require motions and move his arms and legs, such as "Head & Shoulders," "Hokey Pokey," and "If You're Happy and You Know It." He also loves for you to play peek-a-boo with him with his blankie. That is sure to get big smiles! He will definitely coo and talk to you a lot if you start talking to him. And, if you lay him on the floor on a blanket, he'll try to watch TV. (He especially liked the American Idol auditions, bless his heart!)
--He's been in daycare a month now and is doing well. The Type A person in me loves the fact that they send home a little sheet every day with the times he ate, slept, if he cried and how much, etc. I love that! Last week Matt had the flu (and was in quarantine, which was successful since we didn't get it!) and so I had to play single mom all week. Matt usually takes Juliette and John Hayden to school and daycare and picks them up, but I had to do it all week, and I really enjoyed being able to see him in the daycare setting more. Didn't really enjoy the craziness of getting us ready in the mornings and the bedtime routine, though!

Here are a few pictures:

His blankie

Sucking his thumb

His favorite place to nap!

Those cute chubby cheeks and pretty blue eyes!

 And a comparison of how much he has grown in a month: