a typical day: 5 months

James usually wakes between 6:30 and 7am (although a rough morning could start as early as 5am).  The tiny boy usually wakes up this mama by talking sweetly into his monitor with little babbles, although sometimes he throws in a pig squeal or pterodactyl scream for good measure.  I go to his room, where he is flopped over onto his belly in his crib, and he does a superman stretch until I pick him up for some snuggles.  He is the happiest morning baby.

We usually go lay in my bed and nurse first thing, then head downstairs for some supplement (as of this week, this includes some solids, then a bottle of soy formula).  After he eats, we walk outside to check out our garden (and see which plants the rabbits chose for their snack overnight :/).  Next, we play on the couch or the floor, reading books and singing songs while mama drinks her coffee.  About 2 hours after he wakes, James is quite ready for his first nap.  I turn off his lights, turn on his white noise, snuggle and sing for a moment, then lay him down fully awake in his crib.  He always immediately rolls to his belly and sucks his thumb. Within a few minutes, he is (usually) asleep.

I use this first nap to briefly get ready, eat breakfast, do yoga, read some scripture and do some journaling.  James will nap anywhere from 30 minutes to 1.5 hours right now.  Whenever he wakes from his first nap, he hops in the stroller and we go for a jog (sometimes yard work is substituted here, and he sits outside in the stroller or in his Zebra chair while I work).  The tiny boy LOVES to be outside.

After our jog, he nurses and has a second bottle.  Afterwards, he is usually ready for a second nap, so down he goes, just like the first.  I usually shower, eat lunch, clean the kitchen and work on laundry during the second nap.

After he wakes from his second nap, he gets some time to practice eating solids, then it is usually the best time for us to run errands - go to Target, the grocery store (Trader Joe's is his favorite - I think he likes all the bright colors there, with a close second favorite of Whole Foods - probably because he gets to ride in the Moby wrap since their shopping carts are too small for his carseat), pick up some baked goods from Foster's Market, go to Lowe's after working in the yard and realizing there's always more and more to go get... Or sometimes we'll just get out of the house and go get coffee, meet up with friends or even visit Stuart at work.

After our outing (or sometimes during), he nurses again and has another bottle.  When we get home, he is usually more than ready to go down for his third nap.  I usually try to start dinner prep during this nap, or wrap up other chores and laundry.  Or sometimes I just knit :)  It mostly depends on how our day has gone so far.

When he wakes from his third nap, he gets some more solids.  We then spend the evening trying to kill time until 6:15 or so, when his bedtime routine starts.  Sometimes we'll go for a short walk or sit outside or run a brief errand.  If we stay busy, he's the happiest baby.  But if he starts to get bored during these evening hours, he gets rather fussy (especially if naps haven't gone so well).

Around 6pm, he nurses for a bit, then we plop him in his little bathtub.  He loves bath time, so sometimes we hang out there for half an hour (or until the water gets cold), then we put on lotion and PJs. Finally, he takes his last bottle in his room while sitting in the rocking chair.  We've been reading through the Winnie the Pooh series that his P\PAW gave him.  Lately Stuart has been home for the bedtime routine, so he gives James his bottle while I read Pooh to my two boys. Then we snuggle the baby, sing him a little song and lay him down for the night at 7pm.  And that's a day!

A note (mostly for myself to remember, but also for anyone who is curious):  for several weeks, we did everything solely based on James' cues and wrote it all down in detail.  We noticed several patterns in his routine occurring, which helped us establish a bit of a transition to parent-directed routines.  We took what we noticed he was already doing, and structured it a bit.  For us, this was mostly at his bedtime.  Within a few days of us establishing a set bedtime routine at a consistent time everyday (and after he learned how to fall asleep on his own) he started sleeping 10 or 11 hours every night, which amazed us!

From here, I'm so curious to see how his routines change over time!

James gets sick :(

James has a little cold. :( Although, it's not the first time he's been sick.  His first cold was when he was about ten days old, over Christmas.  It was miserable.  This time isn't as bad, but I think that's because he's bigger and stronger (all of him, including his airways) so he's not having as much trouble breathing as he did with the first cold.

But the tiny boy is pitiful.

Runny nose, sneezes, a little cough, watery eyes, feeling a bit warm (although no fever according to the thermometer), not wanting to eat much... He slept tons today, although that could be because he was up a lot last night being sad and pitiful and needing snuggles.

He was laying on my shoulder and whimpering this evening.  I went to take a photo, and this happened:

The boy loves to have his picture taken.  Even when he's feeling lousy :)

James goes swimming.

Our neighborhood pool opened on Saturday, and we had big plans of taking our little guy to play for the first time.  And then it rained all weekend. Womp womp.  But yesterday evening, the sun finally came out, and we had about an hour before James' bedtime routine started, so we took off to the pool (although Stuart wasn't home yet, so we'll have to go back with him soon).  It was nice and warm (read: humid!) by the time we go there, so James and I were both ready to cool off.  We hung out in the shade for a few minutes while I gave him a pep talk about being a big boy in the cold water (and changing him into his swim diaper), then we hopped in.

At first he had a few words of concern about the water temperature - not very warm like his little bathtub!  But then I showed him how he could splash his arms and legs, just like in the tub, and he was thrilled to do that until we got out (although he was shivering just a tad).

We lasted about 15 minutes in the water, mostly because I was nervous about sunburn.  Our ped recommended waiting until 6 months to put sunscreen on him, and even then to only use it if we absolutely must - shade and clothing protect better and are deemed safer for little baby skin than sunscreen chemicals, she says.

Then we snuggled on the towels for a while and walked home.  We are so blessed to have a great trail that runs through our neighborhood and around a lake, so this is how we get to the pool (and to a great little playground when James is a bit older!).  We can't wait for the weather to improve so we can go swimming everyday!

Photo bomb 5/20: snuggles & more prunes

James eats food.

Our pediatrician told us that whenever James started reaching for food that we were eating, we could try offering him some solids to see how he does (she said all the literature written about the 6th month mark is so inconclusive, and so at this point it's better to go by baby's signs that he's ready.  She's brilliant, and we trust her, so we are going by her recommendations).  She advised against starting with cereals, but rather to go with fruits and veggies first.  Prunes were a pretty obvious choice for his first real food since he's drinking 3oz of prune juice a day to stay regular (thanks, soy formula). He loved it!  No gagging or any problems like that.  He probably ate 1/2 Tbsp total, which is normal I think, and was still happy to nurse and take his bottle.  So we'll see how it goes from here! Next up: avocado, sweet potato, peas, pears & oatmeal!

slumber party

James typically goes to bed around 7pm every night, at which point Stuart and I make dinner, eat together and clean up.  By 8pm, we're often looking at each other, yawning, and deciding it's quite time for bed ourselves (does the exhaustion ever go away?).  This means two things:

1. Nothing ever gets done around the house:  Laundry piles up for days.  The yard goes weeks without being mowed.  Thank you notes are left unwritten.  You know, all the things that tiny babies don't like for you to do before they go to bed.

2. The hubs and I spend z.e.r.o quality time together.  This is complicated by his work schedule, of course, which takes up give-or-take 80 hours of his week, often over 6, if not 7, days of the week.

A few weeks ago, my dear mother asked when James was going to come spend the night at her house. This was something that Stuart and I had talked about, but weren't sure when would be a good or appropriate time to let someone else take care of James overnight (although he is sleeping through the night without feedings at this point - typically 7pm to 6am or so).  Then, Stuart learned that he would have this entire weekend off (a very rare occurrence!) - so James could go spend one night away, we could have some quality time together and take care of some things around the house, and he would still have lots of time to spend with James the next day.

So, tonight is the night!  And the daddy of the house is thrilled!  But, this mama feels guilty.  Is it too soon?  Will he miss me?  I will miss him!  I know my mother is completely capable, and even knows James' routines quite well (she cares for him on the days that I work a 12-hour shift as a nurse).  I know there are some mamas that wouldn't think twice about leaving their baby overnight, and other mamas that wouldn't do it unless absolutely necessary.  I'm not sure where I fall, but I know that I am thrilled and excited, though feeling a bit anxious, sad and guilty.

After talking to my hubs, I realized that this is our family - Team Pierce - and we get to decide what is good, not only for our son, but for our marriage, and we need this.  It will be so very good for James to spend time with his grandparents and be comfortable in their home (I am only sad that both sides of our family aren't close enough to spend lots of time with him!).  And it will be so very good for Stuart and I to have time to remember what it's like to focus on each other and the Lord (these are our first priorities anyways, and so easily lost when a tiny babe needs you all the time).

So, James is headed to his first slumber party tonight at the Acrees' in Zebulon... staying up all night playing video games and eating cheetos (or whatever little boys do at slumber parties) with Mammaw and P/PAW (yes, that really is what we call my dad and that's exactly how he wants it spelled!).

(P.S. Don't judge - he rolls to his belly on his own every time we lay him down!)

James: 5 months

Loves: music & singing, reading books, all his friends (toys), going to Trader Joe's (really!), putting everything in his mouth, bath time, sleeping all night and waking early (5:30-6 is not uncommon), playing with his toes, looking at the sky, rolling to his belly, snuggling, playing outside

Hates: diaper changes, when I wait even just a moment too long to feed him, getting lotion rubbed on him, when dad runs the weed-eater (how terrifying!), being over-stimulated or over-tired (I think he may be slightly introverted, like his mama)

we're back (with a baby)!

Well, I've decided that I'm not *really* a blogger, but so many things have happened in our life recently that I am having trouble keeping up!  Sometimes I think that these days are probably going to be the very, very best of my life (because gosh, these past three years have just been so very sweet), and I don't want to look back trying to remember and it all be a blur.  So, this space will hopefully become a much-visited home for my family's memories of this sweet season.  And if you're interested in following along, by all means, join me!

In March 2012, Stuart was about to be finished with medical school, and we learned that he would be joining the fabulous OB/GYN residency program at UNC in Chapel Hill, NC (turns out, that was his first choice for several professional & personal reasons).  At the end of March, we found out that we were going to have a tiny babe join our family (on Good Friday - I'll never forget spending the Easter weekend with family and friends and having to keep it a secret! I was about to burst!).  In April we visited Durham, NC and bought our first house in anticipation of our move there from Little Rock for residency. May was full of graduation celebrations for Stuart, a surprise baby shower given by my darling co-workers at UAMS (who, now a year later, I still miss very, very much), lots of quality time spent with friends & family, and learning how to say good-bye to so many things that we love in Little Rock. June 2, we hopped in the car and drove to NC!  June 4, we closed on our first home (what a great experience, with the help of our wonderful realtor). Late June, Stuart officially became an intern at UNC, and this would utterly consume him (it's ok though, because he LOVES it).

Fast forward a bit: Wednesday, December 12, 2012 our tiny little boy (surprise!) was delivered at UNC by our lovely midwife, Meg, at 5:58am after 12 hours of labor and 45 minutes of pushing.  We named him James Younger Pierce, after his great-grandfathers, and he is the sweetest, silliest, smartest tiny boy. In March 2013, I started a per-diem RN position at UNC on a surgical oncology floor, and it is so good (challenging, fun, new & different - I'm learning a lot!).

Stay tuned!