Wyatt is 1 year old!!!!!

Wyatt seems to be growing up so fast!  I can’t believe he is 1.  He is such a sweet and easy going baby and is generally happy all the time.  He is also very opinionated though and is getting good at yelling at us when he wants something or grabbing/pulling on what he wants.  He is strong and determined.  He is amazingly good at self entertaining though so it doesn’t come up often. 

I don’t have his numbers yet because his appt was cancelled and couldn’t be rescheduled until December 7th.  I’ll update with numbers.  He is definitely gaining weight well (though still much skinnier than logan was at this age) and still seems pretty short for his age (but we’ll see).  He got his first major haircut right before his birthday and he is looking slightly more boy-like now.  He is still quite a beauty though and has the most amazing smile.

Movement

Wyatt hasn’t started walking yet, which is a little surprising considered where he was 3 months ago, but he is very mobile.  He crawls very fast, pulls up on anything, loves to climb, cruises and stands for up to a minute at a time.  He is just recently (the week since he turned one), is taking a few steps forward, but always ends with falling.  He suddenly seems very interested though.  He will only walk to us and only from standing (hasn’t let go of an object to walk to us).  Until recently, he would sit down if we tried to stand him up and would only fall if standing instead of taking steps.  He is still pretty wobbly and it may take him a bit to get his balance.

Language

He doesn’t have any clear words yet, but vocalizes regularly and he will repeat sounds.  For a long time he used to say “mama” at me, but he has been doing it less.  I hope to hear some real words soon.  I think he doesn’t get the same focused language we gave logan and hopefully that doesn’t affect him greatly.  He definitely still hears a lot of words with us and logan around.  However, for Logan, we would focus only on him and say “open” and “close” or “off” and “on” fifty times in a row. I know he’ll get there soon though.  Of course Logan speaks enough for the both of them right now.

Playing

He loves toys of all kinds but especially likes cars.  Not sure if this is because there are so many around, because his brother likes them, or if it is something he just naturally likes.  He will drive them around and has been for quite a while.  It is cute seeing him push around his little cars.  He also has discovered how much fun opening and closing things is and is starting to let himself into the bathroom and kitchen more regularly.  He is very adventurous and curious and, as I mentioned, determined.  We have had to rig up several chair/box blocks to keep him from turning on and off the xbox, playing in the craft supplies, and messing with the receiver.  He also loves rough housing, of course, and loves anything his brother is doing.  He and logan play together more and more and it is the sweetest thing.  They both really enjoy each other’s attention.  Logan is really sweet with him and it is such a blessing to see them together. 

Food, Reflux, Sleep

Wyatt sleeps through the night from 7:15 pm to 7:45 am.  He takes two naps, 9:15-10:45 and 1-3:15.  He is a good sleeper.  I am very grateful for my full nights of sleep and our peaceful nap times.  It is great to have one-on-one logan time during the morning nap and time to ourselves (or for Julia to clean) during their combined nap (logan still naps 1-3:15 too). 

Wyatt’s reflux is doing great.  He is off both of his meds without a problem.  He has little pukes occasionally but is comfortable and not making too  much of a mess or losing too much food.  We are not totally sure how he does with dairy since his puking gets worse with dairy.  We are starting him on an ounce of milk in the morning (tomorrow will go to two oz) to see how he does.  I don’t have much breastmilk left so we will need to supplement with something after about 10 days from now.  Therefore we need to have a plan.  I hope either regular milk or lactose free milk works and we don’t have to do anything extreme. 

Wyatt loves food.  He didn’t drink as much milk in the past but as the reflux gets better, he drinks more and more milk.  He is now decreasing the amount of solids he eats accordingly, but for most of the last few months would pound solids and only drink about 15 oz milk.  He loves fruit.  Really loves fruit! Raspberries are his favorite but pretty much every fruit works.  he is much less keen on veggies but he likes delicate squash and a few others and intermittently peas and carrots.  He loves pumpkin when we have it too.  Yes I realize squash are technically fruit but I am calling them veggies for now.  He loves bread too and will eat cheese and meat regularly but always eats the fruit first. 

Overall

Our little baby is such a wonderful boy.  I was curious how I’d feel when he turned one and if I’d be at all sad that my second (and last) baby was not a baby anymore.  That hasn’t hit me yet.  I remember being much more emotional on Logan’s first birthday. Part of me wonders if it is that I am still nursing and he is still not walking.  When these two things change it may hit home more.  However, I also think I am not super sad because I don’t want another kid and I love the ages 1-2 the most.  So I am excited that he is one and not sad about not doing the infant thing again.  Either way, Charles and I are both excited for the next year.  We loved that Auntie Tina and Auntie Josie joined us for the birthday celebration as well as Mimi and Papa.  It was really special. Logan picked the cake design (hot air balloon) and Tina helped me decorate it.  Overall it was a wonderful birthday for my sweet Wyatt.  I love him more than you can possibly imagine.  Being a mom is the highlight of my life and these boys make me happier than I ever dreamed possible.  Between my pefect kids, my amazing husband and my fulfilling job, I can’t imagine that there is a way I could be happier.

Wyatt is 9.5 months old and boy do we love him!

[sorry for the back to back posts]

Wyatt is an incredibly happy kid and I love being around him.  Over the past month and a half his personality has blossomed even more.  Weight-wise Wyatt was at the 50th percentile at his 9 month checkup, which is an increase in percentile, so he is growing well.  He is on the super short side of things though, coming in between the 3rd and 5th percentile.  I hope he will hit a growth spurt soon.  He is so much smaller in weight and height than logan at this age and yet so much more physically capable.  It has made this whole thing a very different experience (though I am guessing no two are ever alike). 

Wyattisms:  Wyatt loves to crawl to his people (mommy, daddy, Julia).  If any of us walks in the room he will immediately crawl over (panting with excitement) to us and crawl up us and greet us (even if he was playing with another of his favorite people).  At the same time as showing affection for his “people” he is also recognizing strangers and although not afraid, will prefer us (and usually make it happen).  He knows how to physically get what he wants and almost nothing can stop him.  He will lunge out of our arms or crawl over us or push past to get what he wants.  He is determined, strong, and quick!  He also loves to pull up on EVERYTHING and I think a room with a bunch of different level surfaces would be his dream.  He will find a raised surface in any room and pull up to standing.  It is a little predictable in that in logan’s room his first task is to pull up on the chair, so you have a few seconds before he tries to eat the sound machine cord (cords are still high in his list of favs).  He also sees things that are up higher (couches and tables) and knows he can get it.  We used to be able to throw a forbidden toy on the couch or on a table and now he will just go get it!  He is happy and will self-entertain for a long time, playing anywhere.  After Logan being a harder-to-entertain kid it has been fun to see how self-sufficient Wyatt is and how well he will take care of himself.

Movement:  Wyatt has mastered cross crawling.  He is fast and he never crawls on his tummy anymore.  He is much more interested in crawling and pulling up than cruising.  Logan developed so different physically.  Logan slithered for a long time and then took a while to master pulling up but liked when we would stand him up and would cruise back and forth on the couch (of course all when he was older and much bigger).  Wyatt is agile and small and that probably helps his physical development.  He is much less interested in cruising.  He uses a combination of pulling up (which he does quickly and easily) and crawling (same) to get to anything he wants.  He will cruise if there is something else that he wants nearby, but he won’t cruise just for the heck of it like Logan seemed to.  Wyatt also is stubborn (hmmm wonder where that came from) and will always do what he wants.  If you think it would be fun to walk across the room holding his hands (with him walking to) he’ll do it for a few steps until he decides there is a toy he would rather play with it.  Then he will sit down and crawl off.  He doesn’t seem to be developing the balance to stand on his own yet which surprises me given his other strength and development, but I think it will come.  He has certainly been developing better balance and will pull up and shoot up fast and then catch himself.  He also doesn’t seem to mind if he loses balance and falls down so I think he will pick up this skill soon.  Then I think walking will come quickly.  I would be shocked, given where he is now, if he wasn’t walking by 1 year, but I’m in no hurry.  I always liked that logan got language before walking because it made things easier. 

Food:  To say that Wyatt loves food would be an understatement.  Unfortunately I think this makes it easy to overfeed him.  If we are all sitting at table he will keep demanding (shrieking for – we are working on it) food and so I’ll keep giving it but we are having issues with more spit ups (but also tied to his schedule change, see below).  He especially loves finger foods (chicken, chicken hot dogs, carrot, peas, blueberries, grapes, banana, peach, bread, cherrios), but also loves purees.  Our freezer is well stocked from the summer and we probably won’t make too many more before he is on all solids (corn, nectarine, carrot, pluot, cauliflower, green bean, sweet potato, red pepper, and avocado).  He is certainly less interested in eating the veggies in either form, but combinations like green bean and sweet potato work well, so we’ll keep doing. 

Sleep:  WYATT IS SLEEPING THROUGH THE NIGHT!!!!!  It is amazing.  My step-by-step plan actually worked out exactly as I hoped.  After our appt at children’s at 8 months, I stopped his more powerful reflux meds (kept him on the acid neutralizer, zantac).  This is a med they don’t want the kids on long term and unlike all the other times I had tried to stop (as recently as after our trip to California), it actually worked this time and there was no noticeable increase in pain and discomfort, especially during eating.  The next week we added milk to his small snack in the afternoon (something he hadn’t tolerated well before without lots of discomfort and painful spit up).  We gradually increased the amount of milk until he was having 4 oz of milk and puree and finger foods.  At this point he was finally getting 4 meals during the day (the goal for crying it out at night).  The next big change was to separate food and sleep.  Wyatt has always nursed/bottle right before sleep and then we would hold him for 10 minutes upright and put him in crib.  This process caused issues with sleep training because often he would fall asleep on us (and we aren’t willing to comfort him anytime he has trouble falling back asleep at night).  It also was becoming harder because if he didn’t feel like being held he would try to jump out of our arms.  So, we switched his meals to when everyone else eats.  Each meal starts with nursing and then high chair time as his 10 minutes upright.  In high chair he would have purees and finger foods.  Breakfast is at 8, lunch at noon and dinner at 6, with snack when he wakes from nap between 3-4 (cup with frozen thawed milk because my body doesn’t make milk at this time).  I was expecting that this change would be really hard.  I thought he would cry if he ate at 8 and then we just put him in crib (after a story and a song) at 8:45.  But he just went to sleep!  We only had one day that he cried for about 5 minutes.  Then about a week later he had a night where he woke up around 1:30 for his first night feeding but had his pacifier and was only whining.  I decided to just let him whine and after about an hour he fell back asleep and woke at 6:30am and wasn’t hungry.  He played happily until 8 when I nursed him.  That was the evening of August 22nd, for those of you tracking these things, haha.  This proved that he didn’t actually NEED the food (which is what doctors had said, as long as we got that fourth daytime feeding in).  So the next few nights were more rough with him losing his pacifier and crying for a while, but I didn’t nurse him and it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be.  After about 4 bad-ish nights things have been great.  He will whine a bit if he loses his pacifier and he definitely wakes up at night and will stand up or sit up for a while, but he puts himself back to sleep and wakes up happy between 7 and 7:30 generally.  Logan and wyatt usually wake each other up at this time.  I am very pleased with where we are with sleep now.  He takes two 1.5-2.5 hour naps (generally about 2 hours) and sleeps about 12 hours at night.  The only downside of this whole change is that wyatt pukes/spits up a LOT more than when he slept after eating.  It doesn’t seem to be causing him pain and he is still growing so his doctor isn’t concerned but it is gross and messy.  I still wouldn’t go back to night nursing though ;).

Talking:  Wyatt has phases where he is very verbal and phases where he is silent.  He seems to yell at us a lot, especially when food is involved or if we take a toy he wanted, but he will talk too.  Today he said “ba” about a billion times.  He also seems to very regularly say “mama” only when he is crawling to me or wants something from me.  Hard to say if random, but seems he is getting a meaning for that word.  I really hope he develops language as early for Logan (but Logan had no words at 9.5 months, so we aren’t behind).

Object permanence/Routines:  Wyatt is developing cognitively too (most of these aren’t recent but worth mentioning).  He has met his milestones including object permanence.  If you put toys he is playing with under a blanket, he will move the blanket to get the toys back.  He also has clearly learned routines.  When you unbuckle the carseat he will move his arms to get them out of the straps and then lean forward to help you get him out (we have to be ready otherwise he’ll throw himself on the ground).  He also has adapted to our new bedtime routine and knows what comes next.  He is getting a little bit better about some of the routines like diaper changes, but less tolerant of waiting when it is related to food!  He has a great memory and great perception.  He knows everything that is usually in our house and will (within seconds) identify a new object and crawl over to get it. 

I am realizing writing this blog that he is getting such a different experience with us as parents since we are so much distracted by Logan and routine, but he seems to still be thriving and learning daily.  I certainly hope that his language doesn’t suffer from this decreased experience.  I am trying to be more aware of talking to him even when the world around us is crazy (like at a store or at dinner).  He is so happy that we can ignore him, but he won’t learn as much if we do.  Good to be aware and try hard (which we are). 

I hate to sound sappy but I feel lucky with how much fun I am having with two young kids right now.  It is “relentless” as someone described it, but there is also a tremendous amount of joy.  We have largely avoided the terrible twos for the most part and Wyatt has been an easy kid.  I can genuinely say that most days I have a wonderful time.  I don’t think this will always be true in all phases of this journey (and all phases our kids go through) but it is pretty amazing for now!

Belated post (wrote a while ago but forgot to post) - Wyatt is 8 months

Wow, our little baby is really a functioning human now and it is so fun to watch.  Between a nice regular schedule, his happy personality and now his ever increasing super powers and it is such a pleasure to get to spend time with him.

Crawling – Wyatt is very self-motivated to move!  It is fun watching him want to move.  Logan was a little slower in things but Wyatt is in a much bigger hurry.  I think it is partly that he has been happier just being on his tummy and playing than logan every was, the fact that he weighs significant less than logan did at this size, and also because he wants to be like his brother.  He isn’t quite cross-crawling yet, but as of exactly his 8 month birthday (8/11) he can move forward consistently when he wants to.  The whole week before each day he would get a little better.  He consistently gets up on all fours, but he would often scoot backwards and each day he got a little better until the 11th when he was consistent about going forward.  He also still rolls freely and can get across the room in seconds if motivated to get something.  It is fun to see him enjoying his new freedom and abilities.  He likes to stand and it will be interesting to see when he picks up more balance or starts wanting to cruise.  Probably will be soon!

Eating lots of food – loves to pick up puffs, blueberries, peas, etc.  He is an enthusiastic eater.  He knows what his bottles look like too and he will lose his marbles if he is hungry and sees one.  He also knows me as a food source and will cry when I come out to get my lunch near his food time. 
Playing with toys (chewing on everything) – He is very skilled at flipping toys around and doing everything he wants with them.  His favorite toys are anything he can chew on and anything Logan has.  Bonus if it is 2/2.  Logan gets a little annoyed, but wyatt is determined.  Wyatt will yell at us if we try to take away a toy he worked hard to get (we only take away when chokeable), but of course those are the ones he is SOOOO drawn too. 

Took his first plane trip and did great on the trip. He was a pretty easy baby.  He nursed to sleep and slept pretty well.  It took a little bit of an adjustment, but overall he did well.  He enjoyed the family, the sites, and the toys.  He was great on the plane and in the car.  It was interesting

Sleeping – He is generally a pretty good sleeper and on a good schedule.  He still eats too much for my taste at night, but he is overall stable and I think stability gives me sanity more than anything else.  Charles has recently started doing one bottle a night and that helps me get a little more sleep. 

Talking – Wyatt likes talking and making noises.  He seems to be saying “mama” pretty consistently when he wants food (aka me).  Several people have pointed out that it seems purposeful but who knows. 

Can’t wait to see what this little mover and shaker will be doing at 10 months and I can’t wait to hear his little voice say more words. 

Logan is 2.5

 



This is a hard post to write.  It feels like such a milestone.  He is fully a toddler now and doing all the toddler things: potty training, knows his letters, numbers, colors, etc., running/jumping/playing (of course), imaginary play, tantrums, super picky eating, and language explosion.  He is a loving kid who thrives on attention and high energy play (rough housing, tickling and dance parties are the favorites).  He is very adventurous and likes trying new things but has a real sensitive side especially when it comes to loud sounds and strangers.  If he decides he doesn’t like something, it is usually because it has scared him and he won’t be changing his mind anytime soon. 

On his 2.5 yr birthday logan started wearing underwear and has been wearing now for two weeks with no accidents [edit: wrote this last night and he had his first lake-logan today.  Was on tile and only over his crocs, so was a pretty easy cleanup].  He is amazing!  He was probably ready to wear underwear a while ago, but we didn’t want to do before our trip to California.  He had been keeping diapers dry all day a vast majority of the time.  The first few days with the underwear we really emphasized no peeing in diaper and we try to get him to pee more often.  He has been a little more resistant to frequent trips to the potty (which he has often been), but since no accidents [ until today], I have decided to trust him.  He is also mostly dry at nap but we are still keeping the diaper at nap (and of course bedtime) for quite a while.  Because he seems to be part camel, he doesn’t need to go to the potty constantly like a lot of kids so we don’t have a lot of amusing, standing in line at the store and the kid has to pee type moments.  We have really had it so easy so I hope wyatt is as easy! We gave him what may be his last potty training prize and he specifically asked for a rocket ship because there is one in a Mickey book he has.  We decided to get him the stomp rocket and he got it out today and Mimi and Papa’s house and really fell in love with it. 

Logan’s language continues to develop exponentially.  He is a sponge and understands everything.  It is so amazing that we can talk to him as an adult.  More importantly he speaks very well.  He is easy to understand (though as he learns to talk faster and faster, sometimes he compromises his diction).  Several people have commented that he always speaks in full sentences.  I am not sure where he got it from, but it is pretty cute.  If you ask him if he wants something, he will say “yes, I do” or “no, I don’t.”  He is also really working on manners and getting better each day at it.  Please and thank you are commonly used.  The next real development language wise is going to come with the social development.  He is just starting to understand the concept that people can’t always hear you.  If I would say to tell his dad something, he would start telling him while still in the room with me when his dad couldn’t possibly hear.  Lately he has been making strides in this because yesterday and today in the car he told me that the person next to us couldn’t hear him because he was in the car and they weren’t.  He also needs to work on eye contact in general and especially when asking for things or meeting new people.  It is a much more advanced concept for his age, but I think he can learn.  We are also trying to get him to start introducing himself to other kids (normally he just says “hi kid”), but he is still pretty young for nailing this kind of social interaction. 

Temperament-wise we seem to be doing pretty well in the terrible two department.  He doesn’t have many tantrums and most of them have to do with being tired.  He is usually quite good at listening and is a safe and smart kid.  He has been pushing the boundaries a bit with Wyatt as they interact more and we need to work on his listening a bit.  He wants to be able to play more physically with Wyatt but that doesn’t quite work yet with wyatt being so tiny.  He also is pretty good about doing what we need to do and not procrastinating too much.  We have been working on a new technique of counting to 3 if he is stalling and he is responding well to it.  I don’t really have to threaten what would happen at 3.  He doesn’t seem to want me to count and usually gets with the program the second I utter “one” or even say “do I need to start counting?”.  It is really lucky that we get to enjoy so many highs and don’t have to deal with too many of the toddler lows.

Logan has been working on his separation anxiety and his stranger anxiety and making huge leaps.  The trip to California was a great test of this.  Lots of new places, people, and experiences.  We have learned that everything is better with Logan when we talk about it a lot ahead of time.  We started talking months before and Auntie Tina even bought him two trains that she showed him every week on skype.  He got more and more excited about staying in his special rooms at Mimi Maria and Auntie Ti’s house.  He did great on the trip, even despite getting sick for a day, and really was a trooper.  He asked a few times about going back home but seemed to be ok that it was going to be a bit and made the most out of everything.  The last two days were a bit rough with a long drive and then the flight home (missing two days of naps in a row) but we got back on track soon when he got home.  He generally isn’t much of a home body, but it was interesting after the trip he has enjoyed staying home much more. 

Logan’s second big victory in anxiety is with his new preschool prep gymnastics class.  It is a drop-off class and is 2 hours long.  The purpose is to teach kids the idea of being alone and doing a long class with more classroom type things but also in a familiar setting with plenty of activity.  It was rough at first.  Although we talked about it a lot, he hasn’t really separated from his main people (mom, dad, Julia, papa).  He cried a lot and although Julie still dropped him off and I tried to leave him there about an hour before I peeked through the window.  When I got there he was still crying and in the arms of an instructor.  Doh!  He was glad to see me and demanded we leave right away.  However, each week after that it got better.  I came there right after Julia brought the car back and we had less tears and less interest in my coming.  Then two weeks ago, he was totally happy when I came and I left again to go shopping and he didn’t care.  The icing on the cake was last week when he didn’t cry when Julia dropped him off at all and I showed up at the end of the 2 hour class and he had a wonderful time.  This week he told us he is looking forward to his special drop off class.  It is awesome!  I am so proud of him (and so are his instructors).  It was even fun for me to go for a few weeks and see how well he listens in class and follows directions.  He is a really good kid (of course) and it is fun to see him work on his issues and improve. 

What a cool kid and what lucky people we are.  It will be fascinating to see what he is like at 3!

Belated post - Logan is 2 1/3 yrs old (I wrote and forgot to post)

Logan is such an incredible little boy.  We are definitely in the throws of toddlerdum with the most amazing moments peppered with moments were we can’t figure out what is going on, but overall we have an amazing little guy. Of course we are COMPLETELY biased, but he is just so capable and we are so shocked at how our little 2 year old is a complete person.  It is so cool that we can have whole conversations with him and really understand his wants and needs.  It is fun to teach him things and experience things with him. He is creative, loving, adventurous, intelligent, capable little boy.  I feel like I am experiencing the world from a whole new perspective and boy it is a cool place. 

Language – Logan is still quite a star in the language category.  He learns so many words every day and is picking up advanced and abstract concepts.  Although he has always been easy to understand, he is even more so now and I think any stranger could understand him if they were paying attention.  He is still working on social skills with people (he assumes everyone should do as he asks) but he is polite and is kind.  He also has amazing comprehension and will relay things later that happened earlier in the day. 

Emotions – He now understands love and tells us he loves us.  He is also more verbal about his fears and is going through ANOTHER phase where he is more scared of strangers.  He also loves to take care of his baby and is also very interested in Wyatt. 

Favorite toys – He loves building things (legos, Lincoln logs, and mega blocks).  He also loves pretend play like playing with his baby.  He likes to play with his cars and dinosaurs and of course his fake food.  He loves his food and his kitchen.  Also since the weather is getting nice he is getting back into his sandbox and his little workbench outside and his little car and lawn mower are still long time favorites.  He also loves all of wyatt’s toys but I think mostly because they are wyatt’s.  He also is very interested in reading lately.  He has so many books memorized it is crazy.

Physical skills – Logan is blooming physically.  From gymnastics he excels at many activities and he seems to be very brave (as well as skilled).  Unless he is truly too short for something he can do everything at a park.  He can climb up a two foot tall complicated cargo net at a nearby park that is meant for kids that are much older.  He is always the youngest kid on the complicated equipment.  It is so fun but it also means we have to watch him pretty closely and it can be harder if Julia wants to take both kids to the park.  We have been trying to go to the park as a family on the weekends so Charles can give logan intense park time while I entertain wyatt.  Logan has also started swim lessons!  He was begging for them so it will be fun to see how that progresses.  He is in private lessons once every two weeks.

Schooltime – he is learning his letters and numbers and is picking them up quickly.  He is learning more from the ipad probably than real life, but he and Julia do school time each day. 

Brother – He loves wyatt and is very interested in him.  He likes him coming into his room for bedtime and enjoys having him go out with him.  He is also protective of him and doesn’t like strangers holding him (or people he deems strangers) or even flirting with him.  Today for the first time he thought Wyatt could be a useful tool and asked him to open his play dough container.  He went over and put wyatt’s hand on it and tried to have him work with him to open it.  It was pretty hysterical. 

Wyatt is 6 months old

Wyatt is six months old.  He is turned from a tiny baby blob to a wonderful little human!  He has such a happy personality and I feel so lucky to get to spend time with him.  He has a few key Wyatt traits:
• He compulsively rolls.  At exactly 6 months he only rolled back to front but in the two weeks since he now can roll both ways and pivot around on tummy and back so he can move quite a bit.  It almost seems like he might try to start scooting soon.
• He grabs anything he can.  This is far beyond Logan’s “fishing” where he would try to chew on a hand close to him.  He will grab a toy, blanket, hair, glasses, fingers, anything!  And he will hang on to it if he likes it (even if you are wincing in pain).
• He has a smile for anyone.  He is such a social kid and will ALWAYS return a smile

His six months checkup was good.  He is still on the smaller side with his height and head at 10-25th percentile and his weight 25-50th percentile.  He weighed almost 4 pounds less than Logan at four months!!  He still has some cute rolls and is definitely healthy and doing well. 

It is so fun to see him develop his own personality and interact so much with his world.  Along with his key personality traits he is now sitting up (still a little wobbly but improving everyday) and loves to stand (with help from us).  He is also starting to pivot more (6.5 months) and can push up onto his hands (or at least his left hand).  He likes to watch his brother play and get out of the house to parks, stores, etc.  He loves his play mat and his little seat and stuffed animals and pretty much anything else he can chew on.   He is a good talker and especially likes to talk to his daddy (just like his big brother).  His favorite sounds are “ahh” “raaa” and “gaaaa.”  Wyatt started eating cereal at 5 months and has enjoyed rice and oatmeal “cereal” mixed with breast milk.  He eats it twice a day and seems to really enjoy it.  We will start adding other solids now as well.  He is now on a pretty stable sleep schedule, waking around 7:15, napping from about 8:30-10:30, and 1-3 and going to bed at 7 (he doesn’t take the third nap that logan was so fond of).  It is nice to have him starting to get on a routine so we can plan our lives a little better.  I thrive on a schedule so this has brought some sanity back to me.  He also eats on a schedule nursing right before each of his naps and bedtime and getting solids at lunch and late-afternoon (4:30ish).  He nurses once or twice at night as well.  I don’t expect him to drop nighttime feeds for a long time because he eats much less milk in a sitting than Logan could at this age.  Logan could eat 6-8 oz and Wyatt can only eat 4 at a time.  Add to this that he only nurses three times during the day (instead of Logan’s four), and his night feedings are very understandable.  This is a schedule that I could live with for a long time though, thankfully. 

On the medical stuff, his physical therapy has been successful.  His torticollis is resolved and the rest of his body asymmetries aren’t gone but they seem to be slightly lessening as he develops more strength.  There also seems to be a correlation between his reflux and his back being extra twisted.  It does seem his asymmetry extends to his hips but nothing is concerning at this point.  We will know more when he starts to crawl and walk.  His reflux has been up and down.  We also sleep trained right before he turned 6 months and I am really thankful we did because it was a perfect time because whether related to sleep training or not, his reflux was at an all time low.  He ate peacefully and didn’t spit up much in his sleep or awake.  The longer he slept the better the reflux got.  We saw a specialist at the children’s hospital but they didn’t have any major ideas for us other than to limit the nighttime feeds, which we have done through sleep training.  They wanted 2 feeds and not 3-4. 

We are so happy with our sweet boy.  He is so different from Logan at this age but yet very competent and seems like he is learning everything in life fast, despite his happy and laid back personality.  As Wyatt becomes a person it feels more and more like we are the parents of two kids versus one toddler and a sleep/life sucking creature.  I love seeing the kids interact with each other and making sure I get special time with each.  Just today I did Logan’s naptime routine with Wyatt on my lap (he used to be in bouncer in room or in another room with daddy) and it was so fun to read to both my kids at the same time.  How privileged I am not be Wyatt and Logan’s mom!  Over the next few months there will be even more changes with Wyatt learning to crawl and pull to standing.  Then will come talking and walking.  My memory of last time is that things just fly from here.  We are holding on tight!

Logan is Potty Training Himself!

Yeah, I said it, he is potty training himself.  We just seem to be passive participants in this process.  Here’s how it all happened and how it has been going.

We had a little potty (thanks Tara) for sometime and put it in the kid’s bathroom.  Anytime Julia, Charles or I used that bathroom, he would come too and sit on his potty and exclaim his activities “poop, pee, fart.”  This went on for months and still Logan seemed to not care if he was wet or poopy.  However, we figured his overall interest wouldn’t hurt. We made a decision not to push potty training until much later because we didn’t have any artificial deadlines.  We wanted, most importantly, to wait until he noticed or cared that his diaper was poopy or wet and wait until Wyatt was a little older.  As he got more interested we decided to get a different kind of a potty (a seat that attaches to our toilet) so that we didn’t have to clean a little potty (not up Charles’ or my alley).  He loved it and asked to sit on it once in early January.  I think he even peed once and thought it was the coolest sound but never brought it up again.  About 4.5 weeks ago, when logan was 25 months old, he started being very communicative about poop.  He would poop (it’s always easy to spot when it is happening) and then he would exclaim “I pooped, change diaper” and grab a toy and head into his room for us to change his diaper.  About two weeks after that, one morning he said to Julia “I have to poop.”  Julia, very smartly said “Would you like to poop on the potty?” and logan said “yes.”  They went into the bathroom and Logan pooped on the potty. 

Success!  I had told logan that if he pooped on the potty he could have a prize so he got a train named “Caitlin” from the Thomas the train set.  He was elated.  He then continued to poop and pee on the potty regularly and even have dry diapers between trips.  We got a sticker system and a chart and hung it in the bathroom.  When he gets 35 stickers, he gets a prize.  He has already got 2 prizes and is 20 stickers toward his next.  At first, the system was 1 sticker for a try/poop/or pee.  This worked okay, but after about a week, he started peeing in his diaper again.  Poop he always tries for the toilet, but twice in 2.5 weeks he had a tiny bit get out before he could get to the potty.  So when he was peeing in his diaper a lot we added a second opportunity for a sticker if he went to t. he bathroom and his diaper was dry.  We have been a tiny loose on this because we count “dry” as a tiny dribble before he realizes he has to pee.  For now, if he makes the effort to stop, hold it in, find a potty, and do it there, I think that deserves a sticker. 

Although most potty training advice is to ask them often if they have to go, this was a real turn off for logan (causing the pee backslide we think).  He is always good about telling us, so we don’t ask.  Though sometimes he will just randomly mention it amongst other things, so we have to be extra good listeners.  We have integrated using the potty into the naptime and bedtime rituals, and he doesn’t protest.  He is even great about public bathrooms or other house and as used the potty out of the house at least 10 times!  He even does great with big adult sized toilets.  He does love his step stool/seat at home, especially the attached step stool that he likes to slam up and down (noisy things are the best). 

I am not sure exactly where it will go from here.  For now, he is still in normal diapers.  He didn’t like the two sample pull ups we had (they didn’t come up far enough on the bum to feel like his normal diaper and he thought they were falling down constantly).  He doesn’t really know about underwear as an option, so I think we won’t upsell that until he seems really close.  Since he doesn’t seem to need the motivation, we are going to enjoy the lack of messy accidents! 

The interesting part about this is that with a small baby, it isn’t the ideal time to be potty training, but it seems to be going well.  It leads to some more interesting situations, like I’ll be in the middle of nursing and he’ll announce he has to poop, or I’ll have wyatt in a front pack and it is hard to help in a public bathroom like that.  Overall we are making it work and I hope it continues.  Hope Wyatt potty trains himself too because I feel like we have no idea what we are doing and just enjoying that logan does!!

My amazing Logan is 2!!!!

This is going to be a hard blog to write.  Having Wyatt has so clearly emphasized how far Logan has come in 2 years.  He is the most amazing little boy and he surprises me every day with things he says and does.  It is hard to believe that 2 years ago he was a useless blob and now we have whole conversations over dinner.  This year (from 1-2) was the coolest by far.  I am not a tiny baby person and it takes so long in the first year to get their personality.  In my opinion, you really don’t get to know them as well until they can talk.  And TALK Logan has, for most of the last year.  He didn’t develop his first words super early (had 6 or so just around 1 year), but he quickly took off and was advanced in his language by 15 months, with a vocab of probably around 50 (the goal for a two yr old!).  It has continued to grow and now he speaks in full sentences and has an enormous vocabulary and an insatiable appetite for learning new words.  It is unbelievable how quickly he can pick things up.  If you tell him something once or twice, he can remember it days later.  Although this year was filled with growth in many ways, language is definitely what defined the year and our experiences.  We really became a family this year, enjoying traditions and routines and talking about what we liked together.  It was such a special year and I hope the memories from this year never fade!  Logan is such a sweet, energetic and happy kid and I love every moment I share with him (okay not every moment, toddler tantrums are less than fun, but pretty much every moment ;P).

Physical

Logan is a high energy and active kid. He was a little late walking, but made up for lost time and is now a great runner.  He loves to spin and jump and he really enjoys his mygym classes.  He can kick and throw balls and likes to pick up and carry all sorts of things.  He is also a good climber.  Though we lucked out and until a few weeks ago he never climbed out of his crib.  Even though he can easily climb out now he doesn’t until we come in to get him so we are keeping the crib for the psychological boundary as long as it works.  He has also been telling me that he wants to climb trees when we are outside, so I think he might be a little monkey in the making.  He loves to be active and loves to run around outside.  Most of the summer and fall (anytime Papa was over) he would play outside as long as Papa could stand it.  When it was below freezing, Logan never seemed to mind!  I’ve continued the tradition, taking him outside when I can.

He is also good at the smaller skills.  He can stack legos and megablocks and he can buckle himself into his high chair (after climbing in on his own too).  He can play cell phone games dragging color circles to their proper spots and he can drink out of big boy cups and use utensils very well.  He eats cereal and soup and anything with very few spills. 

His high energy has led to his only real discipline problems.  When he gets overly whipped up, he tends to make worse choices.  He likes to roughhouse and will get himself in to trouble by headbanging or biting.  This has really improved recently as he has learned more about emotions (see below), but mostly we managed by making sure he didn’t get too whipped up or providing good outlets for it.  He experimented with biting a bit but again he has curbed that behavior, thankfully.  I have also read a few toddler books (or parts of them), so we are working on our responses to help him deal with these behavior issues.  Seems like it is all working as his behavior has been amazing in the last few weeks.

He loves to rough house and be tickled.  One of his favorite activities is still the “blanket game” which has many iterations, but involves a big blanket in the open part of our living room.  Some versions involve spinning, some picking Logan up upside down, some where Logan just walks around with a giant blanket over him.  He loves when his friends Richie and Addison come over because they all rough house together.  He also likes any adult who is willing to roll around with him and tickle him.  He is pretty easy to win over with a little physical play!

Communication

Logan speaks in full sentences primarily now.  Gone are the days of yelling out one word.  He will say “I want to go throw the yogurt ball in the bushes.”  Or “I just want to play trains.”  Or “I want to eat a muffin.”  He also says “I don’t like it” instead of “no.”  It is interesting because he will say “I don’t like it” even when he definitely does like it, but doesn’t want it right now.  An interesting glitch in his language too is that he’ll say “I don’t like it muffin” or “I don’t like it football.”  He leaves the it.  It is cute. Last blog I think I talked about him picking up inflection and adjectives.  It wasn’t just a big ball it was a “biiiiig ball.”  Now he is picking up expressions like “I forgot to.” Or “maybe we’ll” or “I just want to..” or “actually, I”  He picks things up here and there and will use them lots.  They don’t always fit, but it is funny seeing him try to speak like we do.  He also only recently started saying yes.  It was missing from his vocab.  He would repeat the item if you wanted it.  I would say “do you want some cereal?” and he would say “Cereal.”  Briefly it turned into “ok” and now it is “yeah” and sometimes “yes.” 

Logan really enjoys the power of language and how it allows him to ask for what he wants.  He can express himself so well that he can almost ask for anything.  Of course if he has a toddler meltdown, then then his communication breaks down and so we can’t get much out of him.  However, most of the time it is easy to understand what he wants (even if it isn’t a good option).  The more he understands, the more he can also understand why we say no.  It doesn’t help always, but it can be very effective sometimes. 

His recall is still great so it is fun sitting down at dinner and asking about his day.  He will tell us what they did at gymnastics or who they saw that day.  It is so fun, I didn’t realize we’d get the dinner debrief this early!  Our nanny and her boyfriend (Kevin) babysat the other night and in the morning, when we asked if he had fun with Kevin, Logan replied “I tackled him.  Balloon popped.”  Our nanny had said he spent most of the night tackling kevin and they were playing with a balloon and it popped.  On another interesting note, he is obsessed with Kevin, even though he’s only seen him 4 or 5 times.  However, he seems to realize that Julia loves him and Julia loves Kevin and therefore Kevin is someone he should love.  It is so interesting how he picks up on the social dynamic!

In addition to a crazy vocab he also loves to learn songs.  I have lost count of them all but his favs are happy birthday, soft kitty, you are my sunshine, the hand washing song, twinkle twinkle, row row, this old man, ring around the rosie, and abcs.  He will often sing along with us as well.  Hearing him wake up in the morning and sing to himself is one of the best things in the world.  He will also sing to his brother when he is upset! 

Because they are cute, here are a few of his logan-isms.  Instead of pumpkin he says “fumpin.”  And he uses it a lot because he and his daddy cooked a lot of pumpkins and he likes all things pumpkin.  He also recently learned the word airport because his train set has one and he calls it “oarpit,” reversing the first and last vowels.  He also says some words only as half, so “simmons” is “persimmons”  and “nola” for “granola” and there are a few like that where the pickup sound is not associated with the words.  Every doctor he sees is AMAZED by his language, not only how many words he has, but how good his pronunciation is.  The goal is that 50% of their words are understandable by a stranger at 2 years, and he is well above that. 

Emotions

Stranger danger has been a strong presence this year.  He developed it a little into the year and hasn’t completely grown out of it.  It is SIGNIFICANTLY improved, however.  Interestingly there are still things that bother him.  At gymnastics, he lets one of the instructors touch him but doesn’t like the other one.  (update between when I first wrote this and when I am posting, he now loves Patrick and gives him multiple hugs per session!)  He now likes all of our friends and isn’t afraid of meeting new people.  When Kevin and Tara came to visit for thanksgiving he was not shy at all!  It is easiest if we talk about the person ahead of time and build the excitement.  This helps to overcome the anxiety.  Discussing ahead of time worked great for his first dentist appointment.  He was so excited to go and he did so well.

He has started feeling more emotions as he approaches two and will cry and whine more.  One of the funny things is when he says “logan cry.”  He doesn’t actually cry he just wants us to know he is sad.  Though today at the dentist he told him “I’m not going to cry.”  I wonder if he was slightly scared but since we had talked about it so much he was able to cope.  Since Wyatt was born, he has certainly been more interesting in crying as a tool to get what you want, rather than just a result of being emotional.  We have been explaining that Wyatt can only cry but Logan is older and can use words to ask for what he wants which means he is happier!  It is working but it is interesting seeing him try to piece it all together. 

He’s really developed empathy with Wyatt and although we worked on “patting” versus “hitting” before Wyatt was born, Logan is so unbelievably gentle with his brother.  He likes to hug him and touch his head but he is so careful with him and he doesn’t seem to have any jealousy issues.  He is the best big brother.  We didn’t know what to expect and Logan has surpassed any of our wildest dreams.  He seems genuinely interested in his brother.  He is understanding too about if we need to do something for Wyatt, but we also make sure he understands we are willing to prioritize him over Wyatt as well.  He tells us when his brother is crying and will even help.  He will put in his pacifier and turn on the bouncer.  He will also rock the bouncer or the car seat to stop him from crying.  It is the best!

It seems to be like having Wyatt has made conversations about biting and sharing more effective.  He seems to understand more that there are other people in the world and it isn’t all about him.  We recently went to Ella’s 2 year bday party and he did a great job not opening her presents or taking her toys.  When she had a toy he wanted to play with he would wait until she was done and then ask us if it was okay.  I am so impressed with how he is learning to engage politely with the world.  I know there will be a million challenges as we go from 2-4, but he is clearly such a sweet and loving boy and I know we will weather the storm!

Favorites

Daddy!  Don’t need to say much more than that.  Daddy is Numero Uno in his book.  He loves me and Julia and Mimi and Papa, but Daddy is the best.  He has been all about daddy for most of the year and it doesn’t show any signs of waning.  They have a great time together.  Interestingly, as he has gotten more emotions, this leads to some odd interactions where logan will be fine with me but start crying as soon as Charles gets home.  I think he feels like he can express himself more with his dad (something I need to make sure he feels comfy doing with me too) and so he melts down when he sees him.  It isn’t the most fun for Charles but we are working on how to help Logan figure out what he wants and communicate it to us.  Julia and I are also much more about routines and Logan has to play more by the rules.  Charles is kind of a push-over but I think it gives Logan more room to express himself, for better or for worse.

His favorite things are cars, trains, planes, helicopters, food, stacking, rough housing, jumping, and the outdoors!  Most of his new toys revolve around these things and he loves them.  He is getting better at imagination play and really likes to create various games.  We went through a phase where after every nap and every morning he would stay in his crib and want to line up all his cars on the rail of the crib and knock them off one by one (sometimes using a giant salad fork for emphasis).  Right now he loves his glow worm and it needs to be at the table for every meal with a bib on and strapped into the booster chair.  It is pretty adorable.

We make sure that Logan gets to do plenty of activities out of the house, as well as in the yard and just playing inside.  This variety seems to keep him interested.  He has also developed a taste for tv and cell phone games.  This isn’t my favorite, but given the fact that we have two kids now, the occasional moment in front of the tv is appreciated.  It comes up most when I am nursing Wyatt on the couch.  Logan will crawl up and ask to watch tv.  Most of the time we can distract him away, but occasionally he melts down. Overall we keep it to much less than 2 hours a day, and sometimes he goes days without watching at all.  If given the choice between playing outside and tv, I think he’d chose outside 9/10 times.  His favorite shows are dinosaur train and the Grinch.  I have watched the Grinch about 25 times since beginning of December!  Logan calls it Christmas and will yell “Watch Christmas.  I just want to watch Christmas.”  We have recently fallen into a routine where the hour or so between Julia and Charles he watches tv.  I feel lazy, but it is nice after a long day.  Once I’m working all day I may be much more assertive about wanting to play (or more tired and up for tv, who knows). 

Friends/Family

In addition to our friends kids (Ella, Richie and Addison), Logan has a few friends of his own.  George and Mason are his two friends.  He goes to Mason’s every Monday morning with Julia and they enjoy playing there.  George is his bestie from gymnastics and they meet up elsewhere or hang out occasionally.  He really enjoys seeing his friends and playing with them.  It is great to see him develop these friendships.  He is a really social kid and will ask to see his friends.  The other day at breakfast he said “Richie, addison, come over!”  He also likes our friends chris and mo and will ask for them as well even though they are adults (well chris is ;)). 

He also really enjoyed his “cousins” coming over or Christmas and his birthday.  We saw them briefly around thanksgiving and talked about them coming back and he was SOOO excited.  He also loved getting to wrestle with his uncle kevin. 

He also loves skyping with his family.  We skype most with Mimi Maria and Auntie Tina (Aunti ti).  He loves to skype during meals and will talk to them and pretend to share food with them.  He will often request them even when we don’t bring it up.  I wish we could be closer to family but I am grateful for this connection and it is great to see him develop a relationship with family who doesn’t live nearby.

Don’t know where this fits but this kid gives the best hugs ever.  Not sure there is anything in the world I’d rather do than get an enthusiastic hug from him.  Often when I come to say hello during a break from work, he will see me, stop what he is doing, run over to me and enthusiastically hug me.  It is so wonderful.  Usually there is a high pitch “mommy!” when he sees me as well! Wow if you could bottle that stuff, no one would ever be depressed!

Well I can’t think of what else to write but at the same point this blog post doesn’t nearly capture the amazingness that is my little Logan.  He’ll charm the pants off anyone in a short period of time and will surprise you with his thoughts and kindness.  I’m so proud of him and I’m so excited to see what the next year brings!

Wyatt is 2 months old!

Well I haven’t gotten around to a Wyatt post yet.  It has been a kind of crazy 2 months.  I can’t decide whether I want to write about all the NICU drama and the colds and everything or just focus on the fun stuff, but I’ll do a quick recap and then move on.

NICU
After Wyatt was born he had a low blood sugar reading (turns out was much higher when retested upstairs) and that required him to go to the NICU about an hour after birth.  He was also cold.  In the NICU, they gave him a tiny bit of formula and were able to get his blood sugar under control.  He had to stay under the French fry lights though for 8 hours.  In that time, they monitored him and found some arrhythmias.  Apparently this isn’t uncommon but since he was in the NICU they saw it.  Additionally he has a few episodes where his heart would skip beats.  All in all he spent 3 nights in the NICU and left with no problems.  No one has heard the arrhythmia since we was about 5 days old, so it seems to have resolved, as they suspected.  We were so grateful when we were able to finally bring him home.  3 days isn’t much, but it is a long time to have our family separated and it was an icky place to be bonding with a newborn.  I feel so much for all the nicu parents out there.  I am grateful to the wonderful nurses we had while we were there though!

Reflux and colds
Logan never spit up and it was clear a day into Wyatt’s life that things were different.  He was constantly spitting up on himself (challenging the nicu nurses to keep finding outfits for full size babies since they mostly have premies!).  It got worse and worse as he got older and drank more.  He was diagnosed with reflux at about 3 weeks old.  He started medicine and I have changed my feeding pattern and amount.  He also got a cold at 4 weeks and still has some lasting congestion now.  The congestion makes the reflux worse.  Thankfully the cold didn’t get too bad and he didn’t get an infection.  It made for some nervous nights though.  I cut out dairy from my diet when he was about 6 weeks old to see if that helped his reflux and diarrhea (many reflux babies have a dairy protein intolerance).  The reflux has improved and so has the diarrhea.  There are bad days and bad meals but overall things are better.  Hard to tell if from dairy or because cold is subsiding or if because older, but I am glad to see him doing better.  We still do A LOT of laundry, but most days he isn’t as uncomfortable.  The goal isn’t that he doesn’t spit up, but rather than he isn’t in pain from acid.

Anxiety
Well this doesn’t really fit here but with a different start to Wyatt’s life we have definitely been more anxious parents.  Between NICU, reflux, and his cold (and some almost hospital worthy fevers) it got hard to not worry about his health.  I also think my hormones are more aligned to post-partum anxiety this time, but hard to say if just driven there situationally.  Honestly he is a healthy happy kid who is an amazing sleeper.  However I find myself worrying more than with Logan (as first time parents).  I find it hard not to worry at each little new thing.  Each day he gets older his risks for colds and other problems goes down and I am grateful as that eases the panic some.  Overall just being aware that I am more anxious makes handling the emotions easier.

Ok the good stuff
Wyatt is the best sleeper ever and doesn’t suffer from the same colicky problems that Logan had.  Boy did we order up the right kid to be number 2!  Only a few weeks into life he started going long stretches at night and never had any of the day/night confusion that Logan had.  His current record is 9 hours!  He also doesn’t seem to suffer from the witching hour (6-9pm) which was horrible with Logan for months.  I am eager to get him on a napping schedule because I like routines. He seems to be regulating his schedule a bit, but there is still a lot of variability.  Logan was pretty regular early, which spoiled us a bit, and I think Wyatt is more normal in that he is still figuring it out.  Wyatt also eats more frequently than Logan because of his reflux, so that makes establishing a schedule a little harder.  Logan could eat, play and then sleep for two hours.  For Wyatt, he eats every 2 hours so there is less time.  Also he has to be held upright for 20-30 min after eating, so he tends to fall asleep after meals and play after waking up.   Unlike Logan, he is also a good napper on his own. He doesn’t require someone to be holding him in order for him to sleep, which is a great change of pace for us.  Overall his sleep is great. 

Personality wise, Wyatt is a little charmer.  He is a happy kid and he loves to flirt, smile and coo.  He also will stick is tongue out if you do and loves to chew on his right hand (nom nom!).  He doesn’t yet interact with toys but he does all the developmental stuff and will turn his head to track sound.  The only little item we have to work on is that his neck is really stiff (torticollis).  He is going to start physical therapy to help with that soon.  It should be something that can be solved relatively easily (though Wyatt hates having to turn his head that direction so I imagine it won’t be super fun).
He is starting to enjoy more things around him including baths, mobiles and playing.  He flirts with his mobiles like crazy and it is adorable to see.  They also help him fall asleep so we have used that as a tool for him to put himself to sleep.  Sometime he just wants to play with it, but usually it will distract him enough to fall asleep.  There is a little mobile on his swing, which he loves and will fall asleep with just that (swing can be off).  We also rigged up his crib mobile to a chair and put it over his sleeping wedge in our room so he can use his mobile at night.  He loves to play and will crack giant smiles on the changing pad or whenever he can.  It is impossible not to give him the biggest smile back.  He is such a charmer.  I love getting to finally interact with him after so much blobness! 

Well it has definitely been different but still hard with number 2.  I am so glad Wyatt is part of my family but I’d be lying if I didn’t say I am glad when every day passes and we get a little closer to him being more of a person and less of a baby.  I love that we can have whole conversations with Logan and I look forward to seeing who Wyatt is and playing with him.  It does seem to be going faster this time, again probably, like the pregnancy, it involves the distraction of having another little one.  The next big milestones are him holding his head up and him getting more consistent naps.  This will allow us to hopefully take him out a bit more and do some front-pack carrying.  I’m also hoping that every day that passes will mean less reflux or at least closer to solid foods which often improves reflux.  I am also eager to be out of this flu season.  Logan and Julia have another cold so hopefully Wyatt doesn’t get this one!

Welcoming Wyatt Jeffrey McClintock!

Like last time, I am going to take the time to write down what I remember about the birth.  It might be interesting to some of you but also it will be interesting to look back on, years down the road.  Wyatt’s actual birth was very different than Logan’s but the lead up had some similar aspects.  I had a few preterm contractions with Logan around 33 weeks and then nothing until 6 days before his birthday, where I started to contract regularly but didn’t actually have true labor until the night before he was born.  Similarly, with Wyatt I started having contractions around 33 weeks but instead of small and lasting only 2 days, they were very very regular and stronger and never stopped.  It turns out I have something called an irritable uterus where my uterus likes to contract a lot.  Doesn’t necessarily result in premature babies (uterus can contract without dilating cervix), but it could.  Also with Wyatt my arthritis flared at 33 weeks and it seemed like the contractions and the arthritis were egging each other on.  I took some medicine to slow/reduce contractions which helped me stay rested.  Unfortunately I also had to go on a lot of prednisone for the arthritis. I stayed on the contraction meds a few weeks and came off around 36 weeks when I started to get headaches.  My contractions returned and I learned to live with it (was easier once not worried we were about to have a premie at any second) and to manage my pain.  It was actually great for my labor that I had so many contractions and was able to practice my coping techniques.

Because of my active arthritis my induction date was set for 39 weeks, which was 11/14/14.  I was hoping to avoid an induction, so I was certainly hoping baby would come earlier.  Logan was great and came a few days before his induction date.  My doctor tried to strip my membranes on 11/10/14 at my doctor apt but my cervix was only a fingertip so the best she could do was poke my amniotic sack.  She did and said it might result in something, but hard to say.  I went home and my uterus was super tight all afternoon and evening, like one big Braxton-hicks contraction.  I expected it was from the poke but it didn’t seem to be doing much.  Then as usual at night, my contractions got much worse and started becoming regular.  I didn’t think much of it because it was an every night occurrence, but like those other nights, I went through “the list” (as my doula calls it) to try to rule out false labor and get the contractions to go away so I could sleep.  Only this time the contractions persisted regardless of shower, rest, walking, eating, and drinking.  About 2 am, after 4 hours of every 3 min contractions lasting a min I started to wonder if I was actually in labor.  Instead of trying to rest them away I decided to try some walking to see if I could encourage things to move forward instead.  They got much more intense and it felt good to move around.  At 4am we had my dad come over because things were getting pretty intense and we thought we might head in soon.  I had hoped to labor at home as much as possible and get to the hospital closer to 4cm or more, so I decided to wait a bit more.  By 6am things changed and my contractions, while still intense, started to get shorter and more spread out.  Instead of 1 min long every 3 min, they were 30-45 seconds and anywhere from 4 to 8 minutes apart.  My dad went home and decided we were in no hurry to go to the hospital.  Charles went to the gym.  I had the day off (veteran’s day) so I relaxed and watched tv and rested.  However, my contractions kept coming and they were pretty painful.  I debated about whether to go in but kept deciding against it.  It didn’t seem like it was worth the trip in.  I had had so many contractions without change to my cervix it seemed like it was probably the same thing this time.
At about noon I was talking to Charles and he was trying to compare this labor to Logan’s and thought we were nowhere near the end point.  I was trying to say that I think after one baby my pain scale had adjusted and although I might be complaining as much as I did early in the Logan process, I think it hurt much more.  I ended up getting frustrated with the conversation and crying.  Since I cry about once per year, and cried only once with logan, when I was 4 cm and my water was about to break, I decided maybe I was in labor and it was worth checking out.  Either way, my body was tired from the relentless contractions and I figured my doctor could strip my membranes if I had made some (but not enough progress).  I called my doctor office but had to leave a message since it was lunch time.  They called me back and said I was welcome to come by and have the doctor check me (even though I didn’t have an appointment).  Charles and I left for the hospital about 1:30 or 2, I can’t remember exactly.  Just getting to the car was tough because I kept having to pause for my contractions.  We got to the waiting room where we ended up waiting for a bit (since we didn’t have an appointment).  The receptionist, who had become my friend over my millions of doctors visit, and who was also pregnant with the same due date as me was very concerned about me being ignored while I labored in the waiting room.  She was so sweet and kept calling the nurses to tell them to come get me. 

They finally brought me back to an exam room and asked me to undress.  As I was taking off my underwear I hear an ominous splat and then a following gush as my water broke.  Charles went to tell the nurse and they brought (an insufficient number of) towels.  Unlike Logan, who was really low and therefore my water eeked out slowly with each contractions, Wyatt was still very high so it kept gushing and gushing.  I felt bad I was making a mess of their exam room, but luckily I wasn’t in the waiting room anymore!  It was awfully amusing as goo poured everywhere. Of course my mood was also light because once your water breaks they want you to deliver within 24 hours so one way or another, I would be meeting my baby soon.  Dr Kline came in and was excited because we were going to have the baby (as was I).  She checked me and I was already 5 centimeters, but the baby was still very high and I wasn’t fully effaced.  I told her I would like an epidural and she left to call the hospital to admit me and get the epidural ordered.  I tried to put some clothing on (luckily my water had broken after my pants came off), and I got in a wheelchair to be pushed over to the hospital (the dr office and hospital are on the same property).  Luckily we had brought out overnight bag but we had left in car for visit figuring we could get later if it was real labor.  For now, we all went across to the hospital. 

Once they checked me in I got my iv and then soon after the anesthesiologists arrived to do my epidural.  At this point I was pretty nauseus and the contractions were way more intense (common after water breaking) and they had gotten much more regular again.  I had been mostly coping with breathing up to this point but it was getting harder.  My friend Kira trained us in hypnobirthing and although I was a pretty bad student in general, what I really liked from it was this long 20 count in and 20 count out breathing during contractions.  I had used this a lot in all of my pre-labor and had gotten good at it.  One of the biggest advantages is that the breaths are long enough that you only need 3 or 4 to get through a contraction.  This allowed for my second coping technique which was internal pep talks.  I would say to myself “you can do this.  You are a strong mommy.  1 down and only 3 more.  See that wasn’t so bad, you can do that three more times.  Oh now you are halfway, only have to do it 2 more times, you did fine for the last two, you can do fine again.  Alright, now only 1 left, if you already lived through 3 how hard can one more be.”  And then the contraction was over.  It kept me from panicking or feeling despair as the contractions hit.  I had a hard time with Logan keeping my act together and although I don’t care how I perform for anyone else, the lack of control of myself and actually made the contractions harder for me.  By staying in control this time I was calmer and happier both during and in between contractions.  Once my water broke, I added one more coping technique which was squeezing Charles’ hand.  There is so much tension and pressure with each contraction and no outlet for it and my squeezing Charles’ hand (to death) I was able to release that energy from myself.  Plus having Charles near me always helps me feel better.  He was great about staying nearby and aside from one request to have his hand so he could remove his ring before his finger lost circulation permanently (reasonable I suppose ;P), he never complained or shied away from his important job!
For the epidural you have to sit on the edge of the bed and curl your shoulders forward and put your heels together and have your knees fall to the side so your hips are open.  I was having a ton of hip pain with my contractions (happened with logan too), so this was a might uncomfy position.  Charles was right in front of me and I gripped both of his hands to help.  I stayed perfectly still and calm.  Again, unlike logan where I had lost my cool during triage (which I thankfully skipped this time), I kept my center and therefore found the epidural process easier because I didn’t have to calm down, I just had to maintain the calm I had.  In my view, comparing contractions from the waiting room until this point, they were about 100 times more intense.  The pep talks had to get more rigorous because there was moments where I wasn’t sure I could take it anymore.  Labor isn’t for whimps, that’s for sure!  It tested me to the limit but I did great and didn’t move.  I’m sure I could have gone without the epidural, but knowing that there was an end to my agony made the contractions easier and I had one with logan with no ill effects, so I figured, why not.  Honestly the fact that I had to stay calm during these super intense contractions was probably the best thing ever, since by staying calm they weren’t nearly as bad.  Pretty soon they were done and it was in (since I had stayed calm it was much easier than with logan when they had to poke me more than once to get it to work). 

Once it was in they gave two doses and told me to lay down on my side.  I curled up in the fetal position on my side as the contractions kept hitting me fast and furious.  The second I laid down I felt this really strange sensation and the nurse yelled at me “stop pushing!!!”  I hadn’t realized it but I was pushing already.  They immediately called for my doctor.  Unfortunately for her, I couldn’t stop (apparently there is a lot of required paperwork if the doctor isn’t there to catch the baby).  Unlike Logan where pushing was an active venture where I had to concentrate and breathe, Wyatt was coming out whether we wanted him to or not and my body seemed to be pushing out of reflex in order to help.  The nurse kept imploring me not to push and I kept explaining (in between contractions, I was useless during them), that I couldn’t stop pushing so they should do what they had to do to prepare for that!  My doctor wasn’t expecting me to give birth within about 45 minutes of her checking me at 5 cm so she didn’t even have scrubs on yet.  However, she ran across the street and got on enough gear to catch my baby a few minutes later.  When she came in she asked if I wanted to move and I remember yelling “no!”  So I pushed out my baby laying on my side in the fetal position.  Pushing was a breeze for me.  I remember yelling out in some sort of African tribal way but interestingly it felt like the right thing to be doing.  It wasn’t a scream in pain but rather a part of the pushing and like squeezing charles’ hand, seemed to help.   I also vaguely remember the room filling up with people in quite a hurry.  There are lots of people there, both for baby and mom in case anything doesn’t go well. 

In a few short contractions, Wyatt was born at 4:09 pm on 11/11/14.  My doctor said “she’s perfect.”  It was all so overwhelming she had forgotten he was a HE.   However, we quickly straightened out that “he” had boy parts!  He wasn’t put immediately on my chest since I was curled up, but after a few minutes I was able to roll on my back and hold my sweet Wyatt.  He was very alert and looked up at me with his beautiful eyes.  It was so different holding him than holding Logan.  With Logan there was this overwhelming flood of thoughts and emotions as you instantly become a parent and you hold YOUR BABY for the first time.  This time, I had already done all of that I and I got to enjoy meeting Wyatt.  It was a more peaceful and neat process in a lot of ways than the first time.  I felt so much more relaxed.  After a bit Wyatt nursed and he was a serious go getter!  As with Logan I remember the overwhelming relief at just having it all over.  It was even stronger now with all the pregnancy worries this time.  It was all behind us and our healthy baby boy was here. 

I’ll do another blog about his first two months, but this ends the birth story.  It was an amazing journey.  I don’t want to have any more kids (2 is our perfect number), but it was wonderful to get to experience this miracle of life.  I am proud that I survived two pregnancies and two deliveries and have my two PERFECT boys.  I know it sounds cliché but I can’t imagine life without them.  I can’t imagine living 80-100 years on this planet without experiencing being a parent.  It would be like going to Disneyland and never going on a ride or going to paris and not seeing the eifle tower.  Being a parent has brought a dimension of happiness and meaning to my life that has redefined everything.  There are hard moments and hard days but I am so glad that I was blessed with these two little kids.  So many people don’t have this chance and I won’t ever take for granted how lucky I am.