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| Griffin at 4m 5d |
Griffin had his four-month well baby visit with his pediatrician on Monday morning. He is 15lbs 13oz, 25.25" long, and his head circumference is 16.5". He is growing beautifully! He is still wearing his 6m Carters sleepers, but will be out of them shortly, and is generally getting ready for the next box of baby clothes.
PLAYTIME/MOTOR SKILLS
Our friends Kendra and Micah let us borrow some new toys for Griffin, so playtime has recently gotten more interesting. He has a new playmat from them that he's enjoying thoroughly. It has "piano keys" at the bottom for his feet and whether he realizes the cause-and-effect relationship or not, he plays music every time he's on the mat. Another new thing to explore from them is the Bumbo seat. What's nice is that it has a little tray so that Griffin can sit and work on fine (or fine-ish) motor skills picking up teethers and rattles. Speaking of picking things up, he's really getting the hang of grabbing toys and pretty much anything within arm's reach. His fingers open and close into a tight grip--necklaces beware!
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| We attempt to read a book as often as we can! |
We continue to attempt tummy time with a small amount of success. It's Griffin's least favorite activity, but we all know how important it is. He seems to be able to handle slightly longer tummy times each day. Even so, he is fantastic at holding his head up steadily and I suspect that Griffin's core is getting strong as he can sit fairly well in between my legs on the floor and doesn't need too much support while I hold him--although I'm still nervous about him flinging himself backwards.
SMILES & BABBLES
Griffin has the greatest smile. He smiles with his whole face as big as he can! It's so cute! And he giggles. I love it!
Just this month Griffin started 'talking'. Obviously he's not saying real words, but I'm pretty sure he thinks he is. Sometimes it sounds like frustrated talking as if he's not ready to cry yet but he needs to let you know that he's not thrilled with what's going on, and sometimes it's happy talking. He'll go on for a good fifteen minutes or more. Considering how early both Auggie and Eland talked, I suspect Griffin is well on his way to keeping up with his big brothers.
Griffin laughing :)
NURSING & FOOD
Not much to report here. Griffin has a great appetite and nurses about every three to four hours during the day. We haven't started solids yet, but he doesn't seem quite as interested as his brothers were at this age. Auggie and Eland would both stare at Dan and me as we ate, watching every morsel reach our lips. Griffin seems somewhat interested, but certainly isn't captivated yet. Plus, I'm not really sure what I'll do when it's time for him to eat yet. The whole Baby Led Weaning thing is very popular, and while I'm open to trying it, plain old rice and/or oat cereal with breastmilk worked perfectly well with the other boys. I'm not sure it's worth changing what has worked in the past.
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| Mama's where?!?!? |
Where did my great sleeper go????????? Two and a half weeks ago Griffin started waking up earlier and earlier at night. First it was 4am, then 3am, then 2am, then 1am. Last night he woke at 12:20am! Arrgh! And then after he wakes the first time you can set your watch on the fact that he'll be up every two hours after till morning.
Thanks to Google, I now know that a 4-month sleep regression is very common. Not sure exactly why--perhaps developmental milestones--but I am missing Griffin's 9-hour stretches! I've been considering strategies and have tried a few thus far. One: swaddling at night. How is it that I never swaddled my baby after a month or so, and now my 4-month-old needs a swaddle? Anyway, it seems that when he wakes Griffin's arms start moving and he can't quite settle them down. Then he starts rubbing his face, and we go rapidly downhill to the point that nursing is required to calm him back to sleep. Thus the swaddle.. He does break out of it, or at least gets loose, but now at the two-hour wakings I have been attempting to re-swaddle Griffin and rock him in the Rock-n-Play sleeper in an attempt to get him to sleep without nursing. (I mean, sheesh, I know he's capable of it!) And yeah, we're back in the Rock-n-Play. He was doing great sleeping flat in the co-sleeper, but since he's been waking so much I'm willing to regress to cradled sleeping if it means I will sleep--but it's no magic pill.
I think I have a new strategy--and Griffin's pediatrician confirmed it at his appointment yesterday morning. I suspect I need to let Griffin fuss a little during his night wakings and test to see if he'll fall asleep again on his own. Usually I start rocking him, re-swaddling him, or nursing him right away, but when I woke up this morning around 6:15am to get the big boys ready for school, Griffin started fussing a little. I left him in the Rock-n-Play as I dressed and washed my face (he's still in Dan and my room) and went to wake Auggie and Eland. He continued to wiggle and fuss a little, but never fully woke up. When I came back to check on him after we ate breakfast he was sound asleep. That said, I will just need to talk to Dan about us letting him fuss a little at night to see how it goes. Granted, if he cries then he will get picked up as I don't think he's yet able to re-settle after he's completely woken up, but ten or so minutes of kicking and wiggling won't hurt him.
On the flip side, since I've been swaddling him, Griffin's crib naps have been going very well. AND... since I put a pillow under his mattress to elevate one side of his bed and have added foam positioners (which I first tested with rolled up receiving blankets) to keep him all snuggly, his naps have gone from 45 minutes to 2h 15min! Whew! Not bad at all! And he seems to really be getting the hang of naps and is even catching on to our little nap routine: I sing "Jesus Loves Me" to him as we walk into his room and get him swaddled, turn on his musical seahorse, and then I turn a fan on to provide some white noise to block out all the big boys sounds that come from down the hallway. (Despite how much I tell them, "YOUR BROTHER IS SLEEPING!?!?!?!??!!!!!!" They forget the second I walk out of the room. ;) Also, Griffin's room is generally very dark. He usually protests until I walk out of the room, and then he quiets and babbles a little until he falls asleep. What a sweetie. :)
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| Griffin still spends a decent amount of time in his car seat |
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| Here's my laundry helper! |
IMMUNIZATIONS
Griffin had his pneumococcal vaccine shortly after I wrote his three-month blog post. He didn't react at all--his leg wasn't sore, he didn't sleep excessively, no puking, nothing! Praise God! Since he did seem to react to his two-month shots, I requested that we give him only DTaP at his 4m visit. We'll save the next HiB for when he gets his next pneumococcal vax at five months. So far he's had no reactions to the DTaP.
BROTHERS
Auggie and Eland are so in love with their little brother. They play the "Clap Clap Yayyyy!" game with him and make him smile and laugh. They're constantly getting in his face smiling, kissing him, and generally making him so very happy. Swoon.
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| Waiting together for the bell to ring at Auggie's school |
EYES & BODY
Griffin's eye color is still TBD! They're no longer completely blue and seem to be only blue on the outter rim. The insides are brownish, but over all his eyes are distinctly "not brown", "not blue", and definitely light.
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| Purdy baby. Well, they look brown here. |
Griffin's pediatrician noticed a Café au lait spot on his torso a little ways under his right arm. I feel a little bit like a bad mama for not having noticed it yet! Oops! :) There's nothing alarming about it, but it's interesting to see it there.
He's teething, do doubt. Griffin has to wear a bib constantly, otherwise we'll go through multiple sets of clothes a day--he drools nonstop!
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| Yummy hands!! |
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| See, it really is an innie now |
CAMPING BABY
Now that we have to have an extra bench seat in our car at all times, we can no longer camp in our car like we used to. Dan and I went back and forth countless times about whether or not to get a camper, what kind, pros and cons, yadda yadda yadda.. It seemed there was no good answer. So after a frustrating conversation regarding our "inability" to camp, we prayed, went to bed, and didn't worry about it. The next afternoon Dan found a fantastic little pop-up camper on craigslist. It was within walking distance, so we saw it later that afternoon and fell in love. It's a perfect little pop-up for us: two twin beds, one queen bed, an eating area, a stove, a heater with a thermostat(!!!), and it can even handle some moderate off-road action. *Perfect!*
So far we've only camped in it once, but it was great. Well, kind of. The boys slept great. Dan ended up coughing and sneezing all night with allergies and I was in a tizzy making sure Griffin was okay--but you kind of have to get those first panicky trips out of the way in order to have the good ones, right? I am certain we have great memories ahead. And Griffin has had his first official camping trip at three and a half months.
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| Camper incognito |
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| Camper cognito |
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| Dan had the camper open in our driveway last weekend to get some things taken care of. Eland insisted we eat lunch in it. :) |
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| It's fun being outside! |
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| Griffin isn't the only one who is out for the count |
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| Sleeping with a pacifier(!) on the way home |
MONTHLY NOTES
03.13 - Griffin's belly button is an innie again. Funny how that works. :)
Gurgly baby talk!
Griffin has been rubbing his face a lot. I guess I need to keep up with ointment on his face..
03.14 - Griffin grabbed his foot for the first time during a diaper change. I suspect the yellow socks were interesting. ;)
Clearly, this little guy needs a late-afternoon nap, but it takes him 15-20 min of off-and-on crying to fall asleep. I hate that. Poor guy. But if he doesn't rest he's absolutely miserable for the next couple of hours when he still won't sleep, however if he does get a sleep in he's a peach till bedtime.
03.16 - G slept in co-sleeper for the first time since he was a teeny baby without any issues! In fact, he would have slept longer except that I woke him accidentally after seven hours while I was checking on him. He did kind of spin around in there a bit and wound up with his face close to the side a few times.
Grif gets a fright from car doors closing loudly and any loud sudden noise like Dan sneezing.
I love how he stretches by arching his back and sticking his head back when I pick him up after a nap.
Griffin did fabulously with his pneumococcal vaccine today. He smiled at the nurse, got his shot (she felt awful since he was so happy), shrieked, calmed down, and smiled again. Auggie and Eland were both present and I think Griffin enjoyed having them along. We're home now, and so far Griffin has been his peachy self with no out of the ordinary fussing. Phew!
Did Griffin's foot and hand impressions today. :)
03.20 - So apparently Griffin doesn't like to sleep with socks on his hands--even when they're cold. He was up frequently last night and I didn't have the foresight to just remove the dang socks. He was chilly and without them his hands felt really cold! Won't do this again. He didn't sleep longer than 4h the entire night!
03.21 - Yesterday I switched Griffin to his crib for napping. I rocked him until he was nearly asleep and then laid him down. His two crib naps were shorter than usual, but worked. Today I tried again in the afternoon (he mostly napped through his first trip to the zoo all morning :), but he ended up crying for a good hour and a half instead: I'd rock him, lay him down, he'd cry; I'd rock him or sing to him, lay him down when he was close to sleep, he'd cry; I'd get him calm again, hold him till he was asleep, lay him down, he'd cry. Arrgh. By the end of that go I was a pretty frustrated mama with an over-tired baby. :( Eventually he napped in his car seat in the guest bedroom for 30min, then in the Beco carrier when we took the kids to the park.
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| Griffin's first trip to the zoo with.. |
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| Eland and our great friends, Kendra and her munchkins Alexis, Jack, and Faith (Jack's hiding) |
I was still optimistic for bedtime and laid him in the co-sleeper as he'd been sleeping in it since 03.15 fairly successively (except the night before last.) Griffin couldn't fall asleep and kept waking himself over a 15min period. I know that's not long, but I was exhausted and out of patience, so I picked him up, calmed him down, and put him in the rock-n-plait sleeper where he proceeds to sleep for 9h 50min. ... Does head shape really matter that much when your kid is sleeping?! Just kidding. I'll get him back in the co-sleeper soon. But I think we all enjoyed the break.
Napping was tricky today, but after much crying, a nurse and a swaddle (!) got Griffin to sleep for a 1.5h nap in his crib. I swaddled him for a nap after he'd been awake for 2h, and once again he was asleep within 5m and slept 45min. Debating whether or not to swaddle him for bed tonight. I'm so tempted to have him sleep in the rock-n-play since it went so well last night, but it's probably best to be consistent and have him in the co-sleeper again. We'll see how it goes..
Btw, he's really working on opening and closing his fingers. I think he'll be grasping things soon.
03.25 - Crib sleeping has been rough, but co-sleeper sleeping has been great: two 9+h nights since the transition, so I know it is possible.
Poor guy is getting a seriously flat head in the back, but there is little I can do about it since he has to be in his carseat nearly every day. I bought a head positioner thing on amazon and am hoping it helps when it arrives. And I'm sure once G's doing more tummy time and sitting up things will get better.
We all have colds, but I think I got mine before Griffin was exposed, so thus far he's cold-free from my antibodies. Breastmilk is an amazing thing.
Griffin's core is definitely getting stronger from being carried upright. And his neck needs zero support. Go Grif!!
Lately Griffin has become aware of me preparing to nurse him. He gets ready to latch as I fidget with my shirt by opening his mouth as wide as he can. It's adorable because it looks just like his smile. Maybe he's smiling and preparing himself since he knows what's coming. ;)
Griffin rolled onto his side for the first time today.
03.26 - Griffin fussed--not cried--for about a minute and a half when I swaddled and laid him down for his morning nap in his crib, and then slept for 2h! I think I miraculously timed it right. For his third nap of the day I laid him in his crib again and he cried for about 8min before falling asleep. Still long, but for his last nap that's improvement.
03.27 - Griffin's first camping trip--in our new pop-up camper.
03.31 - Griffin really seems to have gotten the hang of crib napping. He fusses just for a minute or two before falling asleep. I still have to swaddle him arms-in, otherwise he gets angry and flails when I lay him down even if he was nicely sucking his hand.
I think I'm getting ready to have him in his own room at night, but once again know that will take some transitioning time. And I'll have to find a way to keep the big boys from waking him up in the morning. If they don't wake Griffin up, he may sleep longer since it's darker on that side of the house.
I attempted putting Griffin to bed in his room. Our usual routine is that I nurse him till he's out cold in bed while Dan and I watch TV. When I put him down swaddled from the armpits down, he typically wakes once. (Although last night it was 11pm and 2am. I was exhausted and put him in the Rock-n-Play (RNP) after that because I couldn't stand any more waking.) So tonight I rocked and nursed him in his room, and put him down while he was in light sleep. I went downstairs to get some water and promptly heard Grif wake up. I get it now--I remember Auggie ALWAYS waking 45min after putting him to bed, and I'm sure it was due to light sleep and flailing. That said, I'm not sure I'm going to bother transitioning Griffin to his room until he can nap during the day without being swaddled. Hmm. I really don't know what to do. The plus side is that while we had to move Auggie and Eland out because they were such loud sleepers, Griffin is very quiet so I'm not bothered. May have to look into curtains, though. It's getting very bright very early.
04.01 - Griffin has a running nose. It's been making it hard for him to sleep. I think he'll need to be in the RNP a bit.
04.04 - We spent the day in Socorro at the new crag. Griffin did great! He napped for two hours in the Beco carrier, and took a couple of other naps in there as well. I think he enjoyed being outside. He also vocalized quite a bit at one point.
I sat in the back with him on our way home and when he got fussy I held a pacifier in his mouth. While he doesn't typically take one, he did enjoy it and fell asleep with it. Paci, one point.
04.06 - Griffin is really into vocalizing! He just chats away in his baby voice, it's amazing! I think he enjoys it and "speaks" when he's happy and even when he's frustrated.
And to combat his flat head I bought a Boppy head positioned for his car seat. (It's car seat approved. ;) The transition was easy for him, now to see if it works.
04.09 - What happened to my great sleeper?! Where did he go? Griffin has been waking progressively earlier, and I am currently on our second nursing session of the night --what?! I am soooo hoping this is just a growth spurt and increase in milk supply......
04.10 - Griffin woke at 12:40a last night, just less than 5h from his last feed. :/ I nursed him and put him back down in the co-sleeper, but he wouldn't settle and kept waking himself up by moving his arms too much. After waking three times I finally put him in the RNP and he slept beautifully for the rest of the night.
So.. Unfortunately I can't have him sleep in the RNP for the rest of his life. I looked online for various solutions and found something called Baby Merlin's Magic Sleepsuit or something like that. Anyway, it's a suit that's padded so that while your baby is no longer swaddled, in theory he can't wake himself with the startle reflex. Nice idea, but then you'd just have to transition baby out of that eventually, right? I have no idea what we're going to do. However, in the meantime, for Griffin's nap this morning I swaddled him as usual, and also positioned him on the left and right and under his bum with rolled up receiving blankets and had him elevated on one end with a pillow under the mattress. He slept for 2h15m which is 1h30m past his usual nap duration so I think it worked. I hesitate to have rolled up blankets around him at night since I'm not awake to check on him and make sure he's not smothering himself in them, but at least I have an idea of what might work.
I bought a sleep positioner from a consignment sale tonight and will see if it works for naps in his room..
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