Rollin'

I've been meaning to update on how we're doing with baby-parenting and development, and today, Andrew gave me a reason.  That's right folks, after working on it for a long time, our boy rolled over from his back to his front this evening.  It was before his bath, stripped down to his diaper.  Free of clothes, he finally got his hip over the top and his shoulder to follow.  As the icing on the cake, he got his arm pulled out from underneath him, too.  Here he is post-roll, looking very proud of himself:

I tried to take a video, but as it was rather late, he seemed to only give half-hearted attempts at it after his first success.  We're still a ways away from rolling front to back, but this was just awesome.  And I'm so thankful that he did it for the first time when I was here - one of my greatest fears about working is missing his developmental milestones.

Also today, before we knew it was going to be such a momentous occasion, we tried out the high chair for the first time.  He did pretty well with it, buckled in and propped up by a pillow, and seemed to enjoy the view.  So exciting!!  He looks like a big boy.

My mommy moment of the day was that after i came home from work I nursed him, and he dozed off.  When I shifted a little he opened his eyes, smiled at me a sweet, sleepy smile, then closed his eyes and drifted back off.  So lovely.

So what else can I tell you?  Andrew is 19 weeks old, and according to The Wonder Weeks, we are smack in the middle of the 19-week developmental leap.  Rolling is most certainly a part of it, but it seems like he's adding new tricks every day.  A couple weeks ago he started blowing raspberries.  He's grabbing things with both hands, and has much better aim when reaching for things.  In the bath, he puts his arms and legs under the stream of water I pour from a cup, and then he twists around to watch me move the cup above his head to wet his hair.  He's smiling almost constantly now, and talking a lot.  He hasn't *really* laughed yet, but he reacts when tickled and the laugh is almost there.  I think he's starting to respond to his name, though Travis thinks he's just responding to someone talking at all.

Of course, along with the leap comes some clingy-ness - he's had a couple of days of not wanting to be put down... ever.  Last weekend in Wyoming, he decided he didn't like to be alone in the backseat because he couldn't see us, and so he started crying every time we rode in the car for more than 5 minutes (which, when you are visiting Wyoming national parks, is a lot).  It's also been interrupting his sleep.

He had started at 12 weeks sleeping one long block of 5-6 hours followed by 3 hrs followed by 1-2 hours and up for the day.  He did that for about 2.5 weeks before getting totally messed up again by what I presume to be the four month sleep regression, combined with my going back to work.  Now, he is sort of back to that schedule, where he feeds at those two times, but he also wakes up 1-3 more times in there and needs to be resettled with a pacifier and soothing.

To handle this sleep schedule and me going back to work, Travis is "taking the first shift" by sleeping on the futon on the floor in Andrew's room with him in the crib until 1:30am or the wakeup thereafter, while I crash in the other room and get real sleep.  Then, I go in to feed him and go back to sleep on the futon, either taking Andrew with me or putting him back in the crib, depending on his mood and willingness to sleep, while Travis gets the quiet room.  So far it's working really nicely - I am getting the best sleep I have gotten since his birth.  I'm hoping he'll come out of this sleep regression and get back to more consistent blocks, but we're up for teething next, and then the 26 week developmental leap, so... possibly I shouldn't hold my breath.

Speaking of my going back to work, it's going pretty well for me.  I'm reminded how much I do like my job, and I like the people, so it's not difficult to be there.  I miss Andrew, but I don't spend all day wishing I were home.  I'm pumping like a fiend three times a day, and most days I pump a whole extra feeding's worth to stock in the freezer, so my supply seems really good.

Travis is doing really well with the daddy-care.  He spends a lot of time playing, and Andrew eats and sleeps well most days.  It remains to be seen how long we'll continue with this arrangement, but for now it's so great that the boys get to hang together.

I really like Andrew's one day a week at in-home day care, and it's not as scary as I feared.  The care provider wears him a lot in her Baby Bjorn, and she shares a lot of the same ideas about parenting as I do - she lays off the pacifier except for naps, is experienced with handling breastmilk, etc.  The kids at the day care really love him and he revels in the attention.

Breastfeeding continues to go well, even with the four-month distractability.  He's more efficient about it, and has way better head and body control, so we've given up the Boppy for nursing.  I love the bonding aspects of it and the way we reconnect after I get home from work.  I can definitely see continuing to nurse for quite a long time.  Like I said, I'm pumping and that's working out.  Andrew takes the bottle from daddy very well.

Next up in terms of feeding for us is Baby Led Weaning - this is where you skip pureed food altogether, and let baby have solid foods when he is able to and has the interest to feed it to himself.  I've offered him a slice of lemon and a stem of broccoli in the last two weeks, and they both ended up simply pushed around the table.  So... not ready for food yet.  But soon.

At any rate, he's doing just fine on mama's milk.  He's entirely skipped the 6 month clothing size and jumped straight from 3 months to nine months.  And his arms are even a little long for some of the 9 month stuff.  His daddy says, "Welcome to my world!"

They are right when they say it goes fast.  He seems so grown up already.