More Baby Product Raves

I have a few new products we've been using that I really like, so thought I'd write up a little about them!  In case you didn't see it, I had an earlier post here of products we considered a hit!

1. Nosefrieda- the Snotsucker
This thing is amazing!  I had high hopes based on the overwhelmingly positive reviews on Amazon and it has lived up to the hype.  Lachlan got his first cold after starting daycare and so I got to give this a whirl.  Surprisingly he has only cried a couple times when using this and most of the time doesn't really seem to mind.  It gets out huge boogies and snot- and he really seems to be able to breathe crystal clear after using it.  I know it sounds gross cause you basically suck the gunk out with your mouth, but there is a sponge that stops anything from coming in your mouth- and believe me, you'd have to suck really hard in order for it to travel all the way up there!


2. Bouncy Seat
Any bouncy seat would do, but we chose this one.  This is a definite must-have for any young baby- he loves bouncing up and down and/or loves the vibrating motion.  He sleeps in here sometimes and other times just sits and plays.  We currently aren't even using the top part that plays music and has toys to pull and watch.


3. Wubbanub
We just got this last week and while it hasn't been a lifesaver or must-have item, I definitely like it and think we'll find it useful.  We have 4 pacifiers, yet we are always struggling to find one when we need it!  By having the little monkey attached to it, now it's easy to locate.  It also helps Lachlan keep it in his mouth and not go flying when he loses suction.  The only downside so far is that he'll start playing with the monkey while sucking on the pacifier, then he gets excited and pulls on the monkey which pulls it out of his mouth.


4. Nap Nanny
So after turning 3 months, Lachlan has decided he no longer likes to sleep good at night.  It got so bad that he was getting up around 4 times/night and it would take forever to get him settled down back to sleep each time.  Daycare let me bring home a Nap Nanny to try and he has LOVED it so far and basically back to sleeping through the night for 10+ hours.  In my opinion it has several of the same features as his rock n play that he slept so well in- has the incline and is snug against his sides.

5. Sassy Black & White/Photo Book
Lachlan LOVES this thing.  The book is soft so it's great for him to hold and swat around.  Each page shows a black and white image that he will just study for minutes at a time.  As they grow older you can put pictures in here and use it as a photo album.  I'm so glad i randomly found this at Target!

Lachlan 3 months

I'm bummed it took me so long to get this posted, but better late than never!  Lachlan turned 3 months on March 13 and here is a summary of events for the prior month...

What has Lachlan been up to?

• Loves putting his hand in a fist, but holding his thumb between pointer  finger and tallman- somehow he always manages to find that position.
• Loves trying to get his fingers in his mouth—we have caught him several times with the 2 fingers on his right hand in mouth—same as I used to suck (except on my left hand)
• Fave song is Wheels on the Bus - he pays attention and always puts him in a good mood.  We  make up a LOT of verses just to make the song as long as possible.  I also sing a version to him where I say the XXXXXX on the Lachlan goes XXXXXXX.  His fave is when I sing "The butt on the Lachlan goes <<make farting noise>>"
• He will hold objects/toys for extended periods of time. Pretty good with purposely bringing the object to his mouth also.
• Still really loves his black/white book.
• Neck muscles are getting noticably stronger and will look up at your book while doing tummy time, but still not real fond of being on your stomach more than just a couple minutes.  Haven’t “pushed up” yet, but will definitely hold your head up looking around.
• Can roll from your back onto your side and will stay there for a while playing with a toy– much more active like in your bouncy seat will stretch everything out and almost fly out of the seat.

Daycare and Back to Work

I feel really lucky that I love our daycare so much and his teachers Ms. Sheila and Ms. Nicole are so nice and comforting to him.  Only 1 time have I seen him cry (which I had blogged on earlier), but other than that he appears happy when dropping him off and picking him up.  I really feel like I couldn't ask for a better situation, which I'm so relieved about cause the last thing I wanted to do was search for another daycare if we didn't like this one.

Lachlan started full days of daycare on Tuesday 3/6 which was my first day back to work.   It wasn’t as hard as I thought it could be to leave him and think it helped that I had done the half days.  I definitely would do that again and recommend to others to start out that way!  By the end of the work day I was just DYING to see him though and felt like it was a race to get to the daycare to pick him up!  As I check him out of daycare on the computer, a message pops up that he has an accident report on file and that I need to view it.  My heart just drops- like what could have possibly happened- it's not like he can even crawl or walk to get into accidents!  Well another kid had reached over and scratched his head...but by the time I got there you couldn't even see any mark of where this happened.  Phew- at least that was minor!  

Sleeping

Shortly after turning 2 months, we moved the Rock N Play he had been sleeping in to his room (rather than next to our bed).   We moved the same noise machine up there and kept him swaddled, so he may not even realize he's in a different room!    He has slept like a champ.  We LOVE our video monitor and the first night he slept up there we seriously sat around and watched the monitor screen as if it was a movie.  I liked in the middle of the night we have the glider chair in the nursery to give him a bottle when needed.

On 3/4 we decided to put him in the crib at night and see what happened- we kept him swaddled and the same sound machine and then propped up the mattress with a pillow.  He has slept GREAT and did a million times better than expected.  I think some of it had to do with him starting daycare and not napping very well there- so then I think it made him sleep better at night.  He pretty much has been sleeping 8-10 hours at night without waking...pure awesomeness!   

Just the last few days before turning 3 months, he now started waking up around 2 each night—he seemed to have really bad gas that needed to get out.   Most of the time I can give him the pacifier and/or rock him for a bit and go right back to sleep.

Other

• He had another Parents as Teachers visit near the end of February—went well and we saw he is excelling in the vocal skills area and lacking in others.  I think at this point the one thing he failed was that he should recognize his bottle when he sees it and we don't think he does.
• I was cutting his little finger nails one day and clipped his pinky finger skin- he only cried initially for a bit but it bled FOREVER.  I don't know how one tiny finger has so much blood- it was all over his clothes, his bouncy seat, tons on the nearby burp cloth I grabbed, he went through like 4 band-aids.  After 30 minutes of it still bleeding i was starting to freak out a little bit and was searching on the internet- it basically said it's common to bleed a long time and you have to apply pressure for at least 10 minutes without letting up at all- don't be tempted to look at it.  I had to give him a bottle in order to get him still that I could just apply the pressure.  Hopefully that never happens again!
• Dustin has started travelling with his job, so it's really hard on him being away from Lachlan.  It's been a little hard on me having to do everything myself with Lachlan 24x7, but it's managable and getting easier each time.
• Grandma Betty came out for another visit to see Lachlan and help out during a week Dustin was gone.

Typical Day at 3 months:

• Every night around 7:30 we give him a bath—we let him splash around in there for about 30 minutes. 
• Around 8:00 swaddle and give a bottle.
• Put him to sleep in his CRIB. 
• I pump around 1am.  
• Awake around 5-5:30am- change diaper and move down to the family room to give him a bottle. 
• I then pump again, get ready, get all bottles cleaned and prepared for daycare.  
• Head out around 7 and drop you off at daycare while I go to work or come back home and work. 
• Takes 4oz. bottles almost every 2 hours while awake- usually is about 28-32 oz total for the day with at least half breastmilk and the rest formula.
• Still doesn't really have a nap schedule- is completely random.  For now, they are letting him sleep in the swing or bouncy seat at daycare.  Usually he sleeps for 4 short naps there.
• I'll pick him up at daycare around 5:00.
• Come home and give him another bottle and eat dinner.  The weather has been really nice, so we try to go for a walk if that's the case.

Pictures from last month:

It's me first st paddy's day!

More pics to come and hopefully will get his 3 month posting done this weekend!

Sweet Dreams!

This week has been EXHAUSTING since I've gone back to work, Lachlan is in daycare full-time, and Dustin is travelling for work.  Lachlan has the right idea here (although i don't know how sleeping with your arms in that position is remotely comfy!)....ZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzz

Daycare....Here I come!

Lachlan had his first experience of daycare yesterday!  I don't go back to work until next Tuesday, but I wanted to send him for a few half-days to ease him into it.  We are sending him to a traditional daycare center.  The state requirement is that each teacher can have up to 4 infants at a time.  His room allows for a total of 8 infants...which boggles my mind how 2 people can care for 8 of them at a time!  I can barely handle him just by himself!  I'm not overly worried like some moms about the transition, but my main concern is just that he will be happy there and will be able to sleep.  He gets complete undivided attention from me most days at home and cries if I leave for too long to wash dishes or anything.  So I'm not sure how he'll adjust to not having someone in his face singing Wheels on the Bus 50 times a day.  Also, he always naps at home in his swing or bouncy seat and sometimes takes a little work to get him asleep if I know he's been awake too long.  Daycare of course wants him to nap in a crib, but they will temporarily let him nap other places and gradually work on the transition.

So today Lachlan was up at 6:15 and I gave him a bottle like normal.  We finished that around 7am, so I put him in the swing and went to pump.  Got done with that and he is fast asleep- go figure he goes right back to sleep the one day I don't mind if he stays awake!  So I get dressed, brush teeth and hair, then get bottles and some last minute items together.  We finally get out of the house a little before 8 and get to daycare about 8:15.  Needless to say, taking 2 hours from wakeup to walking into daycare has to improve once I go back to work!  

I was probably at daycare 10-15 minutes getting all of his items setup in the appropriate cubbies and he was as good as could be!  One of the teachers was down on the floor with like 5 babies and somehow had things under control.  She put Lachlan in the bouncy chair and he was all happy chewing on his paws.  I was feeling good about leaving him there!  My plan was to come home and either sleep or get chores done…I felt like I really did neither as my time was spent filling out about 5 forms daycare needed.



I picked Lachlan up a little after noon and I walk in to see one of the teachers holding him and he's just screaming.  I come hold him and talk to him, but he doesn't calm down when he gets this worked up.  It broke my heart to see him so sad and that I wasn’t there for him—I guess at least when he cries at home I know that I am doing every single thing possible to comfort him.  I was so glad though to see a teacher holding him rather than him just laying in a chair crying like that.

He then zonked out immediately in the car for the ride home- I don't even think I got out of the parking lot before he was snoring.  Once home we sang some Wheels on the Bus and played a short while.  Then I gave him a bottle and rocked him in his bouncy seat for a while…but was not falling asleep….so then just held him and he got very sleepy.  I transitioned him to the swing and he slept until shortly after 5!  I guess you could say he was EXHAUSTED!