Standing Tall

Brody had his 8 month check up on Friday morning and has officially checked out large, and most importantly, healthy. Brody’s doctor is a sweet older man named Dr. Klaus and he clearly loves what he does for a living. This is comforting since his first pediatrician never once, in the four times we saw her, ever smiled; I’m not exaggerating. His new stats are:

Weight: 21lbs 1oz (75%), Height 29in (95%).

Dr. Klaus said 95th percentile for height and 75th percentile for weight, is “a really nice place to be.” I stopped paying attention to the measurement of his head because well, really, what’s the point? I know it’s big! Actually, once again his head circumference is off the charts but his head is growing at a steady pace, so doc says all is well. Dr. Klaus reassured me that he doesn’t think Brody’s head looks big, and that it is most definitely hereditary. My mother tells me that I had a large head as a baby, and of course we all know about the Duff Head on Beau’s side! Beau and I both concur that Brody’s colossal cranium is one of his more adorable features as it emulates a caricature of Disney proportions.

Aside from his continual and substantial growth, Brody has officially become a big boy in every sense of the phrase. He is now munching on almost everything including chicken, beef, yogurt, Cheerios, cottage cheese, pasta, almost all fruits and veggies, and too often Beau’s glasses and my fingers. He is a hearty eater no doubt and at this point, there’s no eating in front of him without offering something or you’ve got yourself a groaning gremlin.

Monkey’s most impressive new development is his ability to pull himself to standing. While he hasn’t quite taken off into a full four limb crawl, he has progressed from his slither to more of a frog hop. He has found this new method to be much faster, but he clearly tires out from it much quicker. I just love every minute of watching that cute little tooshie thrust through the air with every forward motion. The other day my mom was on the floor with him playing, and she called my attention. I looked over and saw him wobble his way from sitting to standing by using her body as a stabilizer. At first I couldn’t believe it and was convinced it was a fluke. However he has done it repeatedly before me since, and it is now ordinary to find him standing, waiting for me with a big goofy grin on his face when he wakes in the morning.

With Brody’s 21lb body in my arms 90% of the day, it’s hard to imagine he was once so little that he fit in my belly! I remember thinking toward the end of my pregnancy that I NEVER wanted to get pregnant again because of how difficult it is. Then going through the first three months with Brody as a newborn, I remember thinking, “there’s just no way I can do this again, one is enough!” Now I look back and know that no matter how exhausted I was, or how difficult it all seemed at the time, I would (and will) do it all over again in a heartbeat. However, I will say this, those of you who told me that I would forget the labor pains after he was born, you all fib! I still can’t believe just how painful those darn contractions were. Thank goodness for modern day medicine because I know now there is nothing sweeter in this world than a good old epidural.

On the Move

I have always loved change. I always embrace it, and I always welcome it. Part of the reason why Beau and I work so well together is because he is exactly the same. Life together is always an adventure and we wouldn’t have it any other way. The way I see it, what’s the point of living if you’re just going to sit still and never challenge yourself?

So here we go again. As some of you already know, we have had our house on the market for about 6 months. It’s a tough market folks. Everyone knows that, but I don’t think you can possibly imagine just how tough it is until you’re forced to try and sell in it. There are a myriad of reasons why we are selling, but to avoid getting too personal on the internet, I will tell you that while we are sad to leave our first home, we are happy to move forward in what is very clearly the right direction.

Currently we are very close to coming to an agreement on an offer. I hope I’m not jinxing it by saying this, but I feel very positive about this. I’m pleased to know that the couple that are interested in our little bungalow are currently pregnant and expecting in May. It will be so bittersweet to leave, but it warms my heart to think of another little angel in Brody’s first room.

This house has brought us so many wonderful memories in just the short time we were here. The biggest and most significant is of course, Brody. Without this house, we most likely would have never gotten pregnant. For that I am forever thankful.
Our next big move is still up in the air, so for the interim, we are planning to spend the summer in our beautiful hometown Traverse City. Thanks to the gracious generosity of our family, we will be spending some time there rebuilding and figuring out our next move. Beau’s career is just beginning and he is on the verge of so many great things, so we know he will inevitably take us somewhere else, but for now we need to sit tight and let life take its course.

Speaking of moving, to say Brody is on the move is an understatement. Just two weeks ago we started noticing him learning how to pull himself around on his belly. It’s more of a slither really, but he was definitely getting around. We kept coming to each other announcing things like, “Oh my gosh, you should have seen Brody today, he crawled almost five feet across the room!” Fast forward two weeks – the little monkey is slithering his way across the whole house!

In 1994 a league of several organizations including but not limited to The American Academy of Pediatrics and the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) sponsored the Back to Sleep Campaign in an effort to reduce the risk of SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome). The campaign promotes putting healthy babies on their backs to sleep (as opposed to their bellies which was considered the norm for a long time), after research and studies revealed an alarming reduction in crib death when babies slept on their back.

Interestingly, since this campaign studies have also shown that more and more infants are skipping the crawling phase all together, and it is believed to be directly linked to the Back to Sleep Campaign. So many people worry that by skipping the crawling phase, these babies will have difficulty in reading development. There is little to no information available to substantiate this claim, but some people believe that there is a direct correlation between lower extremity development and language development. As a new mother, I try very hard not to obsess about what Brody’s doing, how quickly he’s doing it, and whether or not he’s progressing correctly. I figure, if there’s something to worry about, I will know. And if babies skip the crawling phase and need Hooked on Phonics due to being put on their backs to sleep, isn’t that better than dying?

Regardless, Brody has his own agenda. No matter how hard I try, Brody will only sleep on his tummy. Most of the time when I go in to check on him at night, he is on his tummy, with all limbs curled under him and his little tooshie is sticking way up. I realized after a few nights that he is essentially recreating his snug little bed he had in the womb. He is intrinsically sleeping in the fetal position, and using the mattress to tuck him in tight. Can we say cute???

Recently he has started getting up on his knees and rocking back and forth which I know is the first move before actually taking off in a full crawl. In the meantime, his version of crawling is working just fine for him and he is enjoying his new ability to explore. I on the other hand, am on pins and needles watching him pull books off the bookshelf, open cabinets, and lick the floor (literally).

8 Months and Pro/Regressing

5 Things nobody teaches you about raising a baby:

1. Baby Einstein, Fisher Price and Leap Frog have nothing on my Tupperware, spatulas, and measuring spoons.
2. It is possible, albeit difficult, to put a diaper on a wiggly baby.
3. There’s an art to pulling baby shirts over my baby’s giant head without making him cry.
4. The best way to avoid diaper rash, is to change your baby’s diaper often, and avoid all the gimmicky creams and lotions. (Brody’s still going strong at 8 months without a single rash!)
5. One of the best ways to make a crying baby laugh, is to jiggle his lips.

Brody is officially 8 months old now. I have been looking forward to this milestone for many reasons, but mostly because I knew by this point he would be near crawling. He hasn’t quite gotten up on all fours yet, but he is doing a VERY impressive military crawl. What I didn’t anticipate were the two “evils” we have encountered at this stage in his life: Sleep Regression, and Separation Anxiety.

Sleep Regression: Long gone are the days when we would sleep in until 9 or 10am. Long gone are the nights when I would sleep so deeply, that I would wake up shocked by how quickly the night went by. Here now are nights where 5 hours is a luxury.

Around 3 or 4 months of age, Brody started sleeping “through the night.” As a new mother, I kept waiting for this phase because I knew it was going to be wonderful. What I didn’t know is that sleeping “through the night” means the baby will sleep 5 or 6 hours, wake for a feeding, and then sleep another 2 or 3. Regardless, when that time came, it was beautiful. I was so happy with that much sleep that it didn’t matter to me that he was waking in the middle of the night. And it was always so easy to put him back to bed after that 3am feeding that sometimes I hardly remembered waking up. Everyone warned me not to get used to this. They all said it would change but I didn’t want to believe them.

Sigh…

Brody has now hit what we have come to know as the 8 Month Sleep Regression. Suddenly he is waking frequently just as when he was a newborn. And it’s easy enough to put him back to sleep, but the minute we put him back in the crib, he starts crying. The night before last, we slept from 12:14am – 4:04am. Total. We were both walking zombies all day and the worst part is, somehow, I have lost the ability to nap.
After doing some research we have learned this is a passing phase, and we just need to get through it, but we are going on about 3 weeks and it’s getting exhausting. I believe this sleep regression goes hand in hand with his new behavior: Separation Anxiety.

Separation Anxiety: It’s heartwarming. It’s endearing. It makes me feel loved and wanted by him in a way I haven’t felt before. It’s exhausting.

My mother recently returned from a 3 month stint to her home country of Colombia and it’s been great having the extra set of hands around here. Problem is, if Abuela has Brody, I need to be in a different room or he whines and reaches out for me. So this means that in exchange for the extra help around the house, I get less time with him which makes me miss him. Last night my mom took him down to the family room while I prepared dinner. She said the entire time she was down there, Brody kept looking towards the stairs in anticipation of me coming down. When I finally did come down, he started whining and reaching out for me. Again, heartwarming, endearing, exhausting.

He is even doing it with Beau, which is breaking Beau’s heart. He is just all about Mama right now. I have to admit, it is really cute. When I do pick him up, he squeals and kicks, he puts his head on my shoulder and gives me the closest thing to a hug that an 8 month old baby is able to do and it just makes me melt.

I know this too is a passing phase, and the more I leave him with Abuela and/or Beau, the better for all of us. It has given me insight to what it would be like if I had to leave him everyday if I were a working mama, and I am grateful that the farthest distance I leave him, never reaches beyond 1532 square feet.