Jaime, Dave and the Babelet: 4 months!

Luke is 4 months old now! He has changed a lot in the last month and his personality is really starting to shine through. I am so lucky to have such a happy baby who loves life and just loves his mommy and daddy.

This month Luke decided to like his toys which has been fun. He also likes to look at books and the tv! Basically he just loves to take everything in around him. He smiles more, plays with toys and puts everything in his mouth. He enjoys tummy time now and has rolled a few times- 3 times for mommy and 1 time for daddy. He can sit up assisted (in his exersaucer, bumbo, on your lap, etc) and likes to be held so he can stand/jump on your legs. He has had a zebra lovey since he was born but now he needs it to sleep. I'm glad I realized this was going to be a constant in his life so I picked up a 2nd one- and then a friend bought him one as a gift not knowing it's his favorite! He insists on putting zebra over his head to sleep so I have to keep checking that his nostrils have some air. It's a super soft material with satin on the inside so I'm sure it feels great on his bald head!

Right after he turned 3 months, he started getting a tooth but it still hasn't broke through. It's caused him a lot of drool and frustration nursing. He is constantly soaked in drool so he has to wear a bib most days and sticks his whole fist in his mouth to rub it on his gums. He hasn't quite figured out teething toys yet- he still just licks them.

We are still nursing about 2-3 times a day (somedays only once) but for the most part I'm exclusively pumping. Between the tooth coming in and the mastitis, he wasn't nursing well and even if he does nurse, I still have to pump after to prevent more mastitis. So, I'm pumping 6-8 times a day and getting the hang of this new routine. It's definitely double the work to pump, clean pump parts, feed, and wash bottles (and triple the work if I nurse him first) but it's worth it to me for him to get breastmilk. So far we've been able to keep up, he's only had to have formula 2 or 3 times and that was more to get some milk frozen then a supply issue. We are taking breastfeeding/pumping one day at a time here but for now my goal is 6 months for sure but ultimately a year. I'd be happy with him getting 1 bottle of breastmilk a day from 6 months to a year but we will see how things go. I'm in the process of building up my freezer stash to hopefully be able to provide that one bottle a day longer. There is research that shows as little as 2 oz a day can give babies the benefits of breastmilk.

We are still cloth diapering and I still prefer it to disposables but we have been using a 'sposie at night since he sleeps through the night most nights. Cloth diapers are definitely addicting and I have to remember not to buy too many when I see a good deal! I will write a separate post about cloth diapering so far!

I am working one day this week, 3 next week, 1 the next and then I start my 2 day a week schedule. Luke will start daycare in September- Dave will watch him this week (the one day), then my mom is coming for next week. I'm looking forward to getting back to work since it's super part time and I think daycare will be good for him. For now, I'm trying to figure out the logistics of daycare- mostly the bottles (how many, how am I going to get 3 bottles ahead, etc). They were the only daycare I looked at that wouldn't do cloth diapers (blah) but we picked them anyways.

I'm hoping to get back to the gym next week, on days I work, I'm planning on Dave doing daycare pickup and I will go workout on my way home. When Luke is 6 months, he can go to the daycare room at the gym.

We are really enjoying our mom's group ladies and staying busy. We try to walk with them a few days a week, go to mom's group on Thursdays, have a playgroup once a week, and take baby sign language class with them.

We are starting to try to plan our winter activities. I will be off 3 days a week and would like to do swimming (mommy and me lessons), continue baby sign language (we just did 4 sessions), and maybe Book Babies at the library. A couple stores downtown also do music and activities for kids for free so we will look into those as well once the rain starts.

Travels this month: Seattle to see Aunt Jules (and went to first baseball game) and Bend, OR with mommy and daddy (including a hike to Tumalo falls)

Some more pics from the month: