I was contacting potential babysitters today, writing, “We have a 3 month old…” and then I realized I should be rounding up to 4 month old!

That’s like… a quarter of a year!

I still feel like I’m forgetting things that I wanted to take note of.  Last week I realized I forgot to mention the raspberries.  And the DROOL.  The kid is worse than a rabid St Bernard, what with all the slobber pouring out of his mouth.  I’ve read that this is exactly what should be happening (the drool started weeks ago) and is a precursor to teething, but MAN!  THE DROOL.  Last night I was telling Felix that I can’t wait for this drooling thing to end and Chris commented that  after all the poop, it’s the DROOL that grosses me out.  Well, yeah.  The poop is occasional.  You don’t have to touch it, really.  But the drool gets all over everything.  His collars are always wet and slimy, and the the left shoulder of all my shirts always have a giant wet spot on them.

The raspberries, however, are kinda new, as of last week.  It’s as though he suddenly realized that he could be DOING something with all that drool.  Something like making noise and blowing it all over the place.  And the hand-eating.  Have I mentioned that yet?  He sure does love to suck on his entire hand.  Usually the right one.

Thankfully, he’s been back to his cheerful self for awhile now.  He even slept till 8-8:30 a few nights! WOO HOO!  I dare not get any crazy ideas, again, about staying up to do yoga when he gets up instead of going back to bed, because then he’ll start getting up at 6 or earlier again.  Feh.

Speaking of babysitters.  So, I’m going to suck it up and get one or two.  Chris has been suggesting it for awhile now.  It’s not so much that I’m nervous about it – I think I’m surprisingly NOT one of those over-protective, anxious mothers (surprising to ME, anyway.)  I worry more about his intellectual development than I do about leaving him with a babysitter.  (I’m paranoid about how much interest he takes in the television when I have it on, to the point where I no longer even turn it on during the day.)

I’m looking through profiles of babysitters and I realized that – again, surprisingly – what I want is one of those chirpy, cheerful, cheerleader-y college types of girls.  I want one like one of the roommates I had in Prague for a short while.  I don’t want a dark & brooding teenager and I don’t want an older mother who would probably be more concerned with her own children than mine.  I like the cheerful-looking girls who were nannies or babysat in high school and are now in college.  Particularly the one who are majoring in psychology or childhood development.  Oh yes, I have this very well thought out!

(Hmm.  Maybe that makes me really protective, after all?)

I’m not really sure what I’ll do with myself, when I have a babysitter.  Obviously, I can use her when I want to go to the eye doctor, etc.  But Chris wants me to just get out and do stuff on my own which sounds nice in theory, but once left to my own devices, I just don’t know what to do!  Maybe I’ll just don a black turtleneck & glasses and take my laptop to a cafe, a la my erudite (or not) 20s.

But that’s me and this is supposed to be about Felix, who’s asleep right now.  He goes through phases.  When I want him to sleep, of course, he doesn’t.  20 minute catnaps.  But when he’s all cheerful & happy and content to sit in his boppy seat for hours just watching me organize the house, then – THEN – he takes naps for hours, falls asleep early and sleeps so much I worry about that.

His room is on my list this weekend – we finally got the changing table half put together, and I have creatures on his walls (for decoration.)  But the crib still isn’t up and there’s clothes strewn all over the floor.  The crib I’ll only use for afternoon naps because I’m nowhere near ready to sleep so far away from him.

The photos from this past week here.

So we’ve hit week 12, but it’s still not quite a full 3 months.  Not for another 8 days.  3 months!  A quarter of a year!  There I go, trying to rush things again.

It’s been a pretty quiet week, just more of what he’s been doing.  If you REALLY want to know all about him, lately, he’s taking to pooping  just every other day.  3 months is supposed to mean another growth spurt, so we’ll see what happens – he’s been holding steady at a little over 13 pounds the past couple weeks.  That’s unusual, seeing as up until now, he’s gained an average of a couple pounds every couple weeks.

Oh, but he HAS been consistently giving us a good 6+ hour stretch of sleep every night.  That alone is a godsend.

I slacked on taking pictures this week – we’ve been mostly busy with the house.  That’s my only excuse.  But at least I got a few of he & I, even if it is pretty much the same picture over & over.  So there you go, Mom & Dad.

My thinking is that we’ll be officially moved in to the house next weekend (we kind of have to be, since the temp housing is done on the 17th.)  I CAN’T WAIT.  Felix can’t, either, though he may not be aware of it.  He needs some fresh air & daily walks just as much (if not more so) than I do.  And I’m really hoping to get a new bike soon & see how we do with that.  Luckily, our neighborhood is very bike friendly – lots of paths and places to ride around without running into any major roads.  Oh, and luckily for ME, it’s flat enough that I can get back in shape with bike riding without killing myself on big hills.

One thing from this week that’s worth remembering – yesterday was pretty big in terms of realizing how aware of us he is.  He was hanging out in my lap and had had enough (he likes to move around quite a bit) and was starting to fuss.  Chris came home just then and said hi.  As soon as Felix heard him, he stopped fussing and sat on my lap staring up & right at Chris and smiling.  He certainly recognized that Daddy was home!

The past week’s few photos here.

PS I need to add, because this is just as much a record of his life for me as it is for everyone else to keep up with him – that picture of him with the bottle, it’s NOT formula.  I feel pretty triumphant about that.  Since he’d been unable to latch for whatever reason & I started pumping – I never thought I’d even last this long.  In those first few weeks, all I could do was to pump day by day and keep giving myself little short term goals to get to, (one more day, one more week, just until he’s 6 weeks, etc) and I’ve surpassed them all to the point where it’s just part of the daily routine and I think nothing of it anymore.  There are days when it sucks & I feel like I want to quit, but I’ve been dead set against him being a formula-fed baby.  In my mind, I’m screaming, “I had a home birth, dammit! Home birth and formula do not go together!”  I’m pretty hardcore when it comes to natural & unprocessed foods – I won’t even drink pasteurized milk (I prefer raw milk, much better for you.)  So how do I, who doesn’t eat any chemicals, decide that it’s ok for my child? I would think that every time I felt like giving up and just keep going.  Another day, another day.

Some days it feels like all I do is frantically pump, trying to keep up with him. Other days – like now that he’s sleeping in 6 hour stretches & no longer needing that extra feeding or two at night and I can keep up with his demand – it feels perfectly manageable.

I could try to get him to latch again, now that he’s bigger & older. The pediatrician has suggested we wait until we’re moved in to the house & settled, because honestly – the whole latch struggle was & is emotionally & physically exhausting.  There’s a part of me that wants to contact another LC (lactation consultant) and go for it, after the official move.  Another part of me feels like at at this point, let it rest.  We have a routine, he’s thriving, I’ve adjusted.  Trying to get him to latch again could just stir up a new wave of feelings of failure.  Is it worth it?  Yes and no.