4 month stats

I'm a little late on this. But Cohen had his 4 month appt. on Wednesday the 23rd. It went really well. He gained 3 lbs. and grew 3 in. since his 2 month appt. He weighs 14 lbs. and 11 oz. (in the 46th percentile) and he is 26.2 in. long (in the 93rd percentile). So I have a tall, skinny bean pole. Just like his Daddy :] He had to get more vaccines, which sucks, but he did alright. There were just 2. He was smiling at me and the nurse who was sweet talkin' him. I saw the needle go in out of the corner of my eye, and his face went red. He didn't even make any sounds, but his mouth was open, and tears were falling. Then the scream came out with the second poke. It was SO sad! He knows how to make me cry. Luckily he calmed down quick and I got him home fast so he could nap it off. The pedi cleared us for solids. In fact she encouraged it. She couldn't believe how much Cohen eats. But if he's hungry, I feed him! He usually has a 7-8 oz. bottle of breast milk every 3 hours. He usually eats once in 10 hours through the night. We tried some brown rice cereal, and he was definitely intrigued, but not used to it. We added a little bit of sweet potato to the rice cereal and I think he got maybe 2 bites out of it. We'll try again in a few days or a week. In the meanwhile here are some cute pics of him being a big boy in his high chair :)

The unwelcome 4 month wakeful is still residing in our house. It's only been a week or maybe a little more, but I'm so tired of it. I hope it doesn't last much longer. I guess it could be worse-he's usually up one or two times a night, and then really early in the morning, you could call that another wake-up. He's hard to settle down in the early morning, he just wants to get up and play. But I know at 5 AM, he still needs his sleep so I usually rock him or let him chat himself back to sleep. I just sleep in to make up the sleep, but I open 3 days this week, and leaving the house at 5 AM, as opposed to waking up at 9 AM, is going to be a bit of a change for me. Luckily, it's just 3 days.

What else is new? Well, Cohen found his voice... or, his squealer I should say. He will shriek and squeal the day away.

He's still napping really well; falling asleep on his own and sleeping 1-2 hours. He's also been doing a lot better if we skip a nap, which is only when we're out of the house. He doesn't sleep great in the car, so I used to rush to get errands done during his wake time. Nowadays he'll stay pretty content if there's something new to look at (like in the grocery store or in a restaurant) so I can get out a little bit more on my days off. We put him in his Johnny Jump-Up today! He really liked it. He didn't jump before he spit up all over it, but he'll get the hang of it soon :)

My back is completely strained. I'm guessing from leaning over his crib all the time, and bending over to pick him up. And for some stupid reason I sit on the floor while I pump. I've moved my pump station to the loveseat, and I've been rotating ice and heat on my back. It's a dull ache that just radiates between my shoulder blades and it's been driving me crazy. It makes me such a lazy bum.

I ordered my Jillian Drawers cloth diaper trial a few days ago, and I'm so excited to get it! I will post pics of his fluffy bottom when I get them. Nothing else is new... school starts April 5th and I'm truly dreading it. It's still rainy here, although the sun peaks out for an hour or two everyday. I'm so read for sunshine everyday!
That's all for now :)

Caity

Baby items & my thoughts on them.

Cohen has so much stuff! We have a pretty good sized house and it is being taken over by all of Cohen's "necessities". I was thinking about it today, and baby items must be one of the biggest markets out there. I know I took forever deciding what brands of things to get him. I spent so much time reading reviews, comparing prices, and considering future use. I decided to post all of his stuff and write my own little reviews about them.

First off, the items that took me longest to decide on, were his car seat & stroller. We got the Baby Trend car seat, in Phantom, and the jogger stroller to go with it.

I really wanted a jogger because I do a lot of light jogging, and where we live, most of our walks will be on gravel or on the beach. I figured the rubber wheels would be more sensible than a regular stroller. I will consider getting a lightweight umbrella stroller when the weather is nicer and I will actually need it. I really love the jogger, though. Although it's a little bulky, it's not that heavy, and it's easy to fold up and out. I've used it for jogging a couple times (although I am supposed to weight until Cohen is 6 months old). It was just a light, slow, jog and I really liked it. I'm not the biggest fan of the car seat. It's a little heavier than some of the others, and it doesn't seem to bode well with Cohen's long body. He is 26.5 inches tall and his feet are already almost over the edge. We will move him to a convertible car seat as soon as he's probably about 6 months. I also tend to carry his carrier in the crease my elbow, like a bag, kind of like the pic below. The triangle top on this car seat handle doesn't really conform on my arm well, although I've heard it's great  for those who carry the car seat with their hand. Anyway, I think next time we'll get a Chicco travel system, or maybe even spring for a Peg Perego.

Luckily I don't carry Cohen's car seat too often because we bought the Chicco Infant Carrier. At first, I wanted a sling because they seem easier to get on and off and easier to get baby in and out of it. I bought the Balboa Baby ring sling. Cohen and I both hated it. So when I took it back to BRU, I decided I would get a Baby Bjorn. When looking at the carriers, I saw the Chicco one, and I've heard such great things about Chicco products, and it was about 40 dollars cheaper than the Bjorn, so I went for it. Darren and I both really like it. Cohen can face in or out, and it's not too difficult getting him in and out of it. We've used this item a lot, and I really love it! I would die without it when we go grocery shopping or on long walks because Cohen isn't a big fan of his car seat.

Next on the "took-forever-to-decide" list is Cohen's swing. It's a swing! How hard could it be to decide? But I wanted something with a subtle color so that we could use it for baby #2, and for some reason I insisted on it matching the bouncer we got. So I found these at Target and really liked them. My favorite thing about the swing is that it can it can go both. You just never know, your baby may have a preference! I've heard from some moms that their baby liked swinging one way and not the other. Cohen doesn't mind which way, but maybe the next one will. Anyway, we got the Bright Starts Ingenuity bouncer and swing in "Bella Vista" ... I love both items. The swing was a complete lifesaver for the first 3 months of Cohen's life. He slept in it more than he did anywhere else. The batteries last a pretty good amount of time, considering how often we used it. The bouncer is an automatic bouncer which was great when Cohen was a teeny fella, that bounce put him to sleep a lot, and it has nature sounds and lullabies, just as the swing does. The batteries lasted a decent amount in this as well. Both have timers for 30, 45, and 60 minutes. Both are easy to clean and they're really cute for being a unisex pattern. I'm glad we have both items for the next baby.

There are some items we haven't got much use out of but are scattered about our house. We have the Baby Einstein Jumperoo. It is big and has a lot of fun little activities on it, and it makes noise. Baby loves that. Cohen has sat in it and talked to a few of the toys but he isn't quite to the jumping phase yet. Although a little big, this jumperoo is easy to take apart and store. Right now we have it in between our spare bed and desk in our guest room because once taken apart, it only need a narrow space to store it.

He also has the Bright Starts Bounce Bounce Baby exersaucer, because apparently the jumperoo just wasn't enough, lol! Well, his GMaw bought him this, and he fits in it a little better than the jumperoo. It was easy to put together, it is light weight, and easy to clean. Cohen can almost touch the bottom to bounce, and I know once he can reach it, he will love this thing. 

The last item I'm reviewing today is the Fisher Price Spacesaver High Chair. I really love this because it just snaps onto a chair we already have in the dining room. This way we don't have to have another infamous baby item taking up a bunch of space. This comes in a few different patterns to choose from, and we got a unisex one just in case we have a little lady in the future. So far, I really like this. It seems sturdy when fastened onto the chair, and Cohen is safe and secure when we have him buckled in. We have pushed him up to the table with us while we eat, and he really likes it. The tray is easily removed. The fabric cover comes off easily to be machine washed. It was easy to assemble. It can recline for a smaller baby, and be more upright for someone Cohen's age or older. The base also extends a little higher to it can fit the height of your table. The best part is it it can later be used as a booster seat for when Cohen is a little older. Who doesn't love a 2-in-1?

These are just a few of the way too many items that Cohen brought a long with him. :] We can't forget his play mat, bumbo, and all of the other little items that we "couldn't live without" ... Luckily, once you get all of this stuff, if you take care of it, you can have it for the next one!

4 months old / Cohen's birth story

My baby boy turned 4 months old yesterday! I cried... twice. I just look at him and I can't believe how quick he's growing. I swear I just brought it home yesterday. I can't believe how fast it's going by. I need to savor every minute with him. Especially when I start class up in a couple weeks-I will be so busy. It just seems so unfair :(

As fast as it's going by, I find myself looking back at the day he was born. Who am I kidding? I think about that night at least once a day. Sometimes while I'm rocking him, I try and remember what it feels like to hold him as just a little 8 lb. baby, but for the life of me, I can't. It feels like he's been this size forever. Will I still feel like that when he's 6 months? Or a year? I hope I can at least remember the night he was born. I feel blessed to have it on video, so I can relive the moment I met my first child, the new love of my life, the center of my world. I will admit, I watch the video a few times a week. It's been a few days, I think maybe I will watch it after I share Cohen's birth story.

  In the last few weeks of my pregnancy I had 4 bouts of false labor. I would feel some contractions, they would be every 20 minutes, then 15, then even 10, and I would be so excited. Each time, they fizzled away and I was back to waiting impatiently. 2 days after my due date, I was dilated to a 2.5 cm. I had a non-stress test and asked my OB to strip my membranes. She did at about 10 AM, and within an hour I was having contractions. Was it because she stripped my membranes, or because I truly was due to have this baby? I didn't know. I decided not to get my hopes up this time. I ran a few errands with my mom and sister and was still contracting hours later. 

I looked at the clock at 12:13-I will always remember being in the backseat of my mom's car and seeing that time on the clock. I decided to start timing the contractions. They were coming every 10 minutes. Once I arrived home, I started to watch a movie and noticed I felt a bit of back pain with each one. At about 1:30 I started to write down the times of each one, and they were roughly 8-10 minutes apart, 30-45 seconds long. I love looking at the piece of paper with times written down on it. You can see my handwriting get worse and worse, as the times get closer together. The last few times written down I was writing fast and sloppy due to the pain. I did a quick clean up of my house, just in case this was it, and double-checked my hospital bag. I recall vacuuming my duvet cover with an attachment, because it was covered in Tucker's pug hair, and I didn't want to come home to such a furry bed. I vividly remember stopping every few minutes to talk myself through a contraction while holding the vacuum attachment. It's a weird memory, but it's a very clear one. 

At 3 o'clock I had to turn the movie off to focus more on the contractions. I had studied the Bradley Method, so I lied on one side and relaxed with each one. They still weren't too bad. I called my husband and told him in detail what I had been feeling, and he was very relaxed, and said he'd be home soon. He got home around 4 and we talked as I bounced on my yoga ball and ate some peanut butter toast. My contractions were averaging 5-7 minutes. We couldn't believe they were this close together so soon. I have to admit that I still didn't know if this was it. Were the contractions going to fizzle away like they had before? After a few painful contractions, I decided to relax in the bath tub for a bit. We lit some candles, played some peaceful music, and I lied in the tub on my side for a few contractions. He was timing them and they were already 3-4 minutes apart, sometimes 2-3 minutes, and about 50 seconds long. I was a bit vocal during one contraction and he said, "We better get going!" This was about 5:15 PM. We dropped our dog off at his parent's house and drove the 30 minute trip to the hospital. The car was the worst part! I hated the sitting position, and was moaning into my pillow with each contraction. Each one was 2-3 minutes apart, some even less than that. When Darren was thinking he needed to call a few friends, I still insisted he waited until I was checked, because even though my contractions were right on top of each other, I wasn't sure if this was the real thing. Stories of women being sent away for not "really" being in labor haunted me.


We got to the hospital and walked to admitting. It took only a minute to register, and the woman sent us to Labor and Delivery. When we got there, the nurse checked me, and I was only 3 cm. I was so disappointed! My contractions were one minute apart, lasting a minute, and I was only a 3! The nurse asked me what pain intervention I would like, and I responded, "None." She looked at me like I was crazy, but she didn't doubt me. It was my goal to have an non-medicated birth and I had to at least try. 


She had me walk a few laps, and I probably only made it 2 laps before I was in tears, moaning through my contractions. She checked me again, only 30 minutes later, and I was at a 5. She showed me to my room, I had my blood drawn, and I tried a few different positions to labor in. All of the pain was in my back so my favorite laboring position was a "hula hoop" where I stood, knees locked, with my arms on the bed and I circled my hips around through each contraction. My husband was a fantastic coach, reminding me to breathe and relax all of my muscles. I visualized my uterus was wrapped up in bows and with each contraction, a bow was coming untied to bring my baby closer to me. I was writing the word "temporary" in cursive, all in my head, to remind myself it was just temporary pain. Another 45 minutes went by, and my contractions were only seconds apart. I longed for those seconds of short relief. My nurse wanted to check me, and even though I requested not be checked often, I needed to believe I was making progress. Just an hour after finding out I was 5 cm, I was a 7. I was so relieved I was almost to the end. I knew I could do it, even though somewhere in the back of my mind I knew getting from a 7 to a 10 could take a long time. I tried all fours, but did not like it. I tried sitting in the shower with the water running down my back, but all I wanted to do was the hula hoop moves. I had peaceful Christmas music on (I love Christmas) but hardly remember hearing any of it. In fact, I barely remember anything besides hula-hooping and my visualizations. I do remember saying, "I don't want to do this anymore." 


Around 8:30, just an hour after learning I was a 7, I slightly grunted which the nurse warned could be a sign I wanted to push. My husband ran out to the hallway and yelled, "She wants to push!" My nurse came in to check me and she said I was 8 cm, 9 during contractions. The doctor then came in-the first time I saw him the whole evening-and checked me. He said my bag of waters was right there, and if I let him break it, we could move things right along. I agreed, and when he broke it there was a bit of meconium. He said not to worry, and within minutes, I was 10 cm. It was all a blur-they turned on some bright overhead lights, adjusted me in the bed so I was sitting, legs back, and put some chuck pads and a cold plastic sheet underneath me. The pushing contractions were nothing like I expected. There was no pain at all-it was sweet relief. They would come over me and there was not a thing I could do to stop them (not that I would want to). My body just took over and although it was hard work, the pushing felt so good compared to the contractions I had felt earlier. The first big push was a crazy feeling. I literally felt my baby moving down through my body. My husband was a great coach, holding my hand and reminding me to relax my face and my body through each push. My eyes were closed the whole time as I tried to focus with each push, and when I opened my eyes after my third push, I saw my baby's head in between my legs. I never even felt the "ring of fire" as he crowned. One more push, and his little body wiggled right out. I only pushed a few times, and it had only been about 10 minutes. I couldn't believe it. I started to cry, and said, "My baby. My boy. There you are. My baby. I did it!" I looked at my husband he was crying-and he swore he wouldn't. They were wiping him off and they set him on my chest. He was the most perfect little boy I had ever seen. He weighed 8 lbs. 4 oz. and was 20 and 1/2 inches long. He was born at 9 PM on the dot. I was so happy I had a drug-free birth. It was the best decision I could have made. I think every woman should experience the amazing process that their body was made to do. I hope I can have my next baby naturally--I just pray it will as fast and easy as this birth was.

St. Paddy's day and a happy Friday.

Thursday was St. Patrick's Day, and while we didn't really celebrate, our little Irishman did have a presh little outfit for the day!

We had a really good day at home on this day, followed by a fun evening at K & B's house. We enjoyed pizza and drinks, and Cohen was a really happy camper and took a little nap while we were there. He was so sleepy when we left that I figured he would sleep in the car. I figured wrong. He was a fuss monster so there I was in the Safeway parking lot feeding my little one in the back seat of a truck. He fussed a little more and finally fell asleep about 10 minutes before we got home. He was a giddy little fool when I was getting him ready for bed, but he was down about 9:30-a little late for him-and slept until 7:30.

9:30-7:30 ... doesn't that sound like a beautiful 10 hours. Um, wrong. Cohen actually did pretty well, he only woke up for that damn binky at 3:30 and 4:30. Darren and I, however, had a terrible night. Mostly because of this little stink:

Oh, Tucker pug. How I love you. My first baby. But last night, was just BS. 

Tucker began the night by barking at every little sound. He's like that during the day, but he normally knows it's bedtime and to just STFU so we can all go to sleep. Then he was so indecisive all night. He'd go under the covers, then come back out, then go back underneath. Urghh it was annoying! Then, just as I'm so happily falling asleep, he started "ferociously" barking at something. It scared me... I wondered if somebody was in the house. But as usual, it was just him hearing things. I probably shouldn't put all of the blame on poor little Tuck. Darren was being so dramatic about not being able to sleep. He, too, was in and out of bed, thrashing the covers off of him because "it's too hot!" or "Tucker, stop scratching all night!" Blahblahblah. He got up and went out into the living room, then woke me up (accidentally, but still) when he got back in bed. Then he angrily got up and went into the spare room, opening and closing the door so loud! That was around 3:30 and I know he had to get up at 6 or so. I feel bad for him, but I honestly think he worked himself into a frenzy, so obviously it was difficult to get back to sleep.

Oh well, even with a bad night of sleep, I had a good Friday. Cohen and I played and during his naps, I dinked around on the internet, made lunch, did some laundry, and drank probably 2 cups off coffee (oops). Then my mom arrived with oodles of goodies-she bought new baby monitors because the Sony ones we have just randomly stopped working. She bought a little jumperoo toy. Even though Cohen already has one, this one is much more petite and he fits into his nicely vs. the huge Baby Einstein one we have, which he can use when he's a bit older. She also bought Cohen the Fisher Price Spacesave high chair. Well, okay, that is more for me. Cohen will be 4 months old tomorrow, and contingent upon his pedi appt, I think we're going to start him on some rice cereal soon! I left for work and according to GMaw, she and Cohen had a great day :)

Now it's 10:15 and I'm sleepy, waiting for Darren to get home. He foolishly decided to go out on a job today, and now he's working late. He hasn't been home past 6 in months... not since we've had little manzanita (<-current nickname for Cohen). I'm tired, but I can't fall asleep until he calls me to tell me he's alright. Cohen is fast asleep in his crib, and I wish I could crawl in there and snuggle with him. I know if I picked him up he'd wake up, so I will leave him be.

That's all for now :) 

WTF Wednesday.

A lot has been going on in the past few days and I am back and forth between weird moods. We've had a lovely 3 weeks of Cohen sleeping at least 8 hours a night. Last night makes those 3 weeks seemed like they never happened. It was particularly difficult getting him to bed, which it was Monday night, but he still slept 8 hours. But last night after working for 2 hours to get him to sleep (our new record) he only slept for 3 hours, and was wide awake as ever at 1 AM. He had found his way out of his swaddle (curse you, swaddle). So, I fed him, and it actually surprised me how hungry he was. Maybe he is growth spurting? I re-swaddled him and put him down in his crib around 1:20 and watched him doze off. I hopped back into bed (well, after pumping...ugh, a whole 20 minutes I could have been sleeping). I wake up to some fussing, and in the 2 seconds it takes me to get up and walk into the hall, I glance at the clock to see that it's 3:30. That's it? 2 hours?! You've gotta be kidding me, kid! I go into his room to see he has escaped his swaddle, there is spit-up spots on his jammies, and he soaked through his diaper. He has gone 10 hours without soaking a diaper, but here it's only been 5 and it's all over him. I get him changed and he's smililng and cooing the whole time--C'mon, man, it's 3 AM! He just wouldn't settle so I thought I would try feeding him again. What do you know, he ate another 5 oz. By the time he was done eating he was passed the eff out, so I put him in his crib and crawled back to bed. Oh, but the night (err, morning) is not over yet! At 5 AM I hear him stirring to see that he has escaped his swaddle, yet again, and he is desperately searching for his binky. Oh, dear. I replace said binky, re-swaddle him, and fall back asleep, just praying he'll sleep for 4 or 5 hours. He woke up at 8 :-| It's 10:30 now and he's napping like a champ--why is this his strong suit? I would rather have him be difficult during the day and give me some sleep at night! All I have to say is, WTF?

Speaking of the swaddle, I want to ditch that habit so badly. It goes hand in hand with quitting the binky. Cohen can fall asleep on his own without the swaddle, but his hands are constantly at his face removing his binky. Then he fusses for it. It's a lose-lose situation. I need to ditch them both! But how? I try at least once a day, and I just hope that one day he gets it. I remember thinking he would never fall asleep on his own, but here we are, almost a month later and he falls asleep by himself for every nap and for bedtime. I just need to keep the faith!

I am registered for school and it starts April 5. Luckily the earliest I have class is 10 AM. So worst case scenario, Cohen decides to get up through all hours of the night, I can sleep in a bit and just rush to get out the door for class. If I think life is crazy now, I know I'm in for a rude awakening when school starts. Bah.

I'm off work today, and I usually work Wednesdays, so that's pretty nice. I have a list of stuff I want to get done but I'm so sleepy. Sitting in bed, drinking coffee is so much better than chores. I am excited that when Darren gets home we are going to run some errands with Cohen. Even if it's just errands, it's nice to get out of the house as a family. We really need to do some kind of day trip soon. Maybe if the sun ever comes out and stays out we can have some fun at the lake. We'll see.

Well, I am off. I will leave you with a new picture of Cohen from yesterday in his St. Patty's day bib!

:) Aw, I love him, even if he does prevent me from sleeping.

What a difference a year makes

It's March 13th! On this day last year I found out I was pregnant. It's quite the story.

At the beginning of the week, probably the 7th or 8th, I had an extremely vivid dream that I was having a baby. I couldn't shake the strange feeling it gave me. I was expecting Aunt Flow on Wednesday the 10th, but I told my husband I had a weird feeling that it wouldn't come. We had no reason to believe I could have been pregnant. I had been taking my birth control pill everyday for years at this point. It had been months since I had missed a pill. Well, it never came, and on Saturday evening, the 13th, while picking up some groceries, I decided to buy a test just to ease my mind. I told myself I would take the tests in the morning, which is supposedly the best time to take them, for you get a "fresh batch" or hormones. After eating dinner with Darren and a couple of friends, I went upstairs to use the restroom, and thought I would take 1 of the 3 tests, just to show myself that it was negative so I could enjoy the rest of my night. I took the test, waited for the instructed amount of minutes, and looked down at 2 lines-clear as day. Who knew a little plastic (is it plastic?) stick could contain just life-changing news. I wanted to make sure 2 lines meant what I thought it did, so I walked back to my purse in my bedroom to double check it on the box. Yup: 2 lines=positive. My eyes widened and for just eating a big plate of spaghetti, my stomach felt empty. My body felt really light, I let out a scream, and it seemed like I floated across floor and down the stairs. I flew into the kitchen where Darren stood with our roommate John and one of my best friends Shan. I waved the test around, let out some kind of a jumbled sentence and said, "Positive!"

It was a crazy night. We sat down and edited our 5 Year Plan (we're so cool) and I don't think either of us slept a wink that night. The next day we told our parents and eventually our friends. It ended up being exciting news, and after a few days, I was happy as could be over it.

What I lacked for in excitement that day, I make up for now with complete and utter joy. I love my baby boy more than anything in the world.

Happy Friday

It's Friday, the sun is shining, and I was productive today. If only I didn't have work, today would have been perfect! During Cohen's first nap I vacuumed the house, cleaned the bathroom, got ready for work, and made dinner to refrigerate and come home to later.

Last night I went to see Joshua Radin in concert with a few friends. We saw him at the Crystal Ballroom in Portland. It was a great show. Unfortunately, it was standing room only so I had to stand on the tip toes to see him perform. A concert that starts at 8=a mama who didn't get home until almost 1 AM. That doesn't bode well when you have a baby that wakes up for a feeding between 3 & 4 AM. Before getting into bed, I decided to attempt a dreamfeed. We have tried this a few times before, and it didn't make much of a difference for Cohen. This time it went well though! I picked him up and fed him, he ate about 4 oz. and then it started pouring out of his mouth, so I knew he was done. We were both in our beds at about 1:30 and he didn't wake up til 6:30. He only woke up for the paci and then slept until 9. It's like he knew I got home late and I needed a good night. Aw, he's my favorite :)

On a not so happy note, Cohen is eating a lot more, and I'm having trouble keeping up. This is is a circumstance that makes me hate that I exclusively pump rather than nurse. When he was 6 weeks old I decided to EP because he did so horribly at the breast. I had an overactive letdown and feeding him was always stressful. He was getting up at least twice a night to eat, and we would be up for about 90 minutes each feeding. I started pumping and freezing milk 2 weeks after I had him, and I felt my stash was decent enough to start only pumping at 6 weeks. He was only eating about 4 oz. a feeding then. I built up a great freezer stash of almost 200 oz. because I produced enough to keep up with him during the day and freeze at least 1 bottle's worth a day, sometimes 2 or 3. The problem is, he's now eating 6-8 oz. a feeding, so I have to take 2 bags of frozen milk out to make him just one bottle. Sometimes I don't even pump enough for one bottle during a session. We bought some formula and now and then I add 2 oz. to a bottle in hopes of keeping up with my stash. I suppose that's what the big freezer stash was for... but I became such a milk nazi while building it, that I hate to see me use more than I'm replacing. I'm aiming to keep Cohen breastfed until he is 1 year. But that dream is fading more and more as he grows. Luckily, solids are just around the corner, so he shouldn't be taking bigger bottles than what he is now. At least I don't think so? I suppose I have some reading to do!

I decided to write a letter to Cohen at the end of a few of my entries, to go back and read later, maybe even to him... (will he really care when he's a crazy little kid?)

  Dear Cohen, 
Today your crazy mommy played little kiddy songs on Pandora and danced around like a maniac. You smiled and laughed at me, and it made me so happy. I would do that every day for the rest of my life if I got to see that perfect smile. You've been waking up happy after your naps, and especially in the morning. It's like you missed me as much I as I missed you. I love that more than I'll ever be able to tell you. I can't believe that one day when you're a teenager, I will be yelling at your lazy behind to get out of bed. When that day comes, I hope I can look back on these times now and remember how happy I made you. I hope when those days come, we'll still be best friends.
 Love, Mommy.

The first blog entry

I decided to start a blog.. a mom blog. Cohen is usually the only thing on my mind. I want to talk about him, and tell everyone everything he is doing. I try not to constantly Facebook about him, but it can be hard. I think I will enjoy looking back and reading these entries when Cohen is a big boy, so I can remember what it was like as a new mom.

3 months and 3 weeks ago my little prince was born, but it really does feel like yesterday. Why does he change so much? I wish I could freeze time, and press play whenever I wanted to. He's so big now-he rolls over, hangs out on his tummy, and smiles at everything. We've even heard quite a few giggles from the boy.

Just 10 days ago I was at the end of a terrible week. Cohen didn't want to sleep in his crib, and he didn't want to stay asleep for more than 3 hours at night. He only napped in swing, and had to be rocked into a deep sleep before being set in his crib. Fast forward a few days, and for 8 days straight now he has been sleeping in his crib all night. Not only that, he's been napping in his crib, AND falling asleep on his own. His stretches of sleep have even been longer. For a few nights he surprised me with 9-12 hours straight. For the last few nights he sleeps 7-8 hours, has a bottle, and does another 3-4 more. Falling asleep on his own has been the best part, though. I was doing a lot of research on Ferber, assuming that when Cohen was old enough we would have to give it a shot. I was scared I would be rocking/swinging my baby to sleep for the first year of his life. I can't believe how much extra time I have during the days and evenings since I don't have to rock him for 20 minutes. He now goes down as soon as he gets sleepy, watches his projection show, and falls asleep. I'm so proud.

Next on the list: taking away the binky. That's a whole other issue. I keep hearing about different times to ditch it, and different ways. Luckily he only uses it to sleep. If he was one of those kiddos who had in his mouth all day, I'd be looking at a rougher time. Hopefully in a few weeks, when we get the clear to start some solids, taking away the binky will be easier than I'm expecting. Probably not though... I foresee some rough nights in my future. Go figure it will be happening around the time I start school again. Oh, the joys :)