A New Post For The New Year

Friends, family, countrymen, I am back! It has been pointed out to me that I have grossly neglected my blog and although I have frequently thought of posting, life has always gotten in the way. I have so many ideas for blog topics swirling around in my head. Babies and (lack of) sleep, sleep deprivation, babies and marriage, babies and depression/anxiety, baby milestones, baby smiles and kisses. So much to say. For now, as G-Man naps, I will do a quick update, newsletter style.

~ G-Man is now (almost) 6 months old. How in the world did that happen? At his 4 month check-up he weighed 14lbs 11oz and was 27 inches (hello 96th percentile). When I last weighed him at home, by oh so scientifically weighing myself and then doing it again while holding him, he was weighing in at around 16lbs. We will have the official 6 month stats in a couple of weeks.

~ Developmental milestones: G can now roll both ways, sit unassisted for a few impressive seconds, push up with his arms and when placed on his hands and knees stay up (also for a few precious seconds). He is scooting around, grabbing at toys, and putting everything he can into his mouth. He recently discovered his feet and is in love. He especially loves to grab them while taking his bath, unfortunately this habit has, more than once, led to him rolling over in the tub. Hello water up the nose.

~ Sleep: Doesn't happen. Still. Well actually that's not quite true. If you had asked me last week it would have been. My little monster's day looked something like this: Wake up between 8:00 and 9:00am. Play. Attempt a nap in the swing around 10:00, maybe 30 minutes if we were lucky. Play some more, get super cranky and attempt another nap around noon. Play some more and another attempt at a nap some time in the early evening. (Notice the use of the word "attempt"). Between 6-7 we would start our bedtime routine. Bath, pajamas, books, nurse to sleep. From there on out our nights were a total crap-shoot. G-Man consistently woke every one to two hours for the rest of the night until morning. Then, miraculously, last Tuesday he started taking naps, on his own, in his crib. What really happened was Monday night, after literally no naps during the day, he refused to go to sleep while nursing. Utterly frustrated and tired I put him into his co-sleeper and just sat there patting his belly and shooshing him while he cried. I didn't know what else to do. To my complete surprise, he fell asleep. Sure it happened 45 minutes later, but still he fell asleep. So I tried it again the next day for naps and it kept working. Now he falls asleep on his own for naps (did I mention the naps are in his crib???) about 85% of the time. Now we are working on his night time sleep habits. Still up every hour. :(

~ Sleep Deprivation: Needless to say, I am beyond sleep deprived. The circles under my eyes are so deep purple I look like I have two black eyes. I went to the doctor for a regular check-up without makeup on and she wanted to know what was wrong with me. I haven't slept for more than two consecutive hours in over 6 months (remember that whole getting up to pee 10 times a night when I was pregnant?). I am tired. Very very tired. Husband works 14+ hours a day and more often than not nights are left to me. I am "on" 24 hours a day. My "break" is the 20 minute shower I get in the evening. Bliss. As a not so pleasant side effect I have, to a small degree, experienced some postpartum anxiety/depression. I'm not talking "Down Came the Rain" level of depression, but still, it hasn't been fun. It affects my ability to be a mom, a friend, and a wife. I'm not really at a place where I want to talk about it beyond that, but maybe some day I will share in a future post. Let's just say being a mom is the hardest thing I have ever done.

~ Coming Up: We've made it through the holidays and now it's time to make plans. G and I will be returning to our Mommy and Me classes (more on that later) and hopefully making new friends now that he has become more aware of the other babies. I plan to enroll him in swim lessons at the end of the month since he loves loves loves to splash around during bath time. I'm still hoping this little pooch on my stomach and excess baggage in the hips/thigh area will magically disappear, if not maybe I'll actually get around to doing something about it. G is working hard on crawling so there will definitely be some major baby proofing going on in the near future. I also hope to get back into my regular life, at least a little bit. Play World of Warcraft with the family, maybe squeeze in a visit or two with some very missed friends, maybe have a date with Husband, go for walks, read books that aren't about how to get my baby to sleep, just generally enjoy the way things are.

Happy New Year!!!!