Saturday, March 23, 2013

Wow it's been way too long!

I am so bad with blogging. I don't know if I'll ever "like" it or "want" to blog. I just do it so I can have an online journal of our life. The only thing that is harder to do for me is to actually write in a journal. It's so much faster and easier to just type it all out.

Anyway, Troy has been growing and learning so much! I can't believe he is already 5 1/2 months old. Time is literally flying out of my fingertips and I just want it to slow down. My baby is doing lots of fun things now. He likes to sit up and stand up. He likes to sit on mommy's hip now so I have a free hand again! (Hooray!) He loves to go to Costco/the mall or anywhere that there are new things to look at. He loves to smile at anyone who plays with him. He has been rolling from tummy to back since 2 months old but he still has yet to roll from back to front! He is getting close though. He has discovered his hands and feet and loves to play with toys now. He puts anything and everything in his mouth so there is lots and lots of sanitizing going on! He loves to wiggle and kick his legs. He loves bath time, actually loves would be an understatement. HE LOVES LOVES LOVES bath time. He loves to laugh, talk, make noise and occasionally cry like it's the end of his life. haha

 He loves his mommy and I LOVE that. He ALWAYS gives me a smile, even if he is so sad and just wants to nurse and go to bed, I still get a smile. haha He loves his daddy too. I think he knows daddy because he always has a scruffy face so daddy kisses are the itchy kisses. haha Daddy also has warmer hands than mom.

So for the past little while we have been sharing the bedtime duties.  Usually I will get a bath going and Todd will bathe him while I am warming up a bottle for him and then Todd or I will give him the bottle and he'll end with nursing and then go to sleep! It works out nicely for us and we will switch it up so that we don't always have the same duty, well except for nursing...haha

He is sleeping SO well now! At 4-ish months we sleep trained the little tiger-cub. Basically we did the Dr. Ferber sleep training method. Well, it was our own method but it originally derived from Dr. Ferber's method. We let him cry it out in his crib and went in every so often to calm him down and kiss him but didn't pick him up. It actually wasn't bad at all! He caught on super fast and after a couple of days he was sleeping through the night and only waking me up once to nurse! It was fabulous. Now he actually sleeps through the night until the sun comes up and then wants to eat and usually goes back to bed. I'm just thankful for the amount of sleep he is getting and I am getting! And it is true, they really are happier when they get lots of sleep. He is the cutest and most smiley little bug in the morning! It's seriously my favorite!

He is still nursing all day and occasionally I will give him a bottle of formula, i.e. if I am at my brother's volleyball game or something and I don't feel like nursing. I felt bad about it at first but I really don't care anymore. haha He went 4 1/2 months with just breast milk and I think that is pretty good! I usually give him a half formula/half breast milk bottle before bed and then let him nurse a little too before bed and it seems to be keeping him full enough to sleep 8ish hours before needing me! I pump once or twice a day depending on how much formula he got. I just want to keep the breast milk coming because I really have no intention of weaning until at least a year. I love all the immunities and vitamins he is getting from the breast milk and I just love nursing! He bites me occasionally and I have tried the flick the cheek thing but he just thought it was funny and I'm not going to try to progressively flick harder because that just makes me feel mean and I can handle a bite here and there.

We have discussed giving him solids but I think we decided that we are going to wait until we feel like he really needs/wants to have solids. I know the new normal is wait until 6 months to give them solids but I think we might wait longer than that. We'll see! I'm just going with my mommy instincts.

We think he was teething a little bit the other week and having a growth spurt. I swear one day I picked him up and he was heavier and longer. He was also making weird grimaces and biting/putting his fingers in his mouth a lot and drooling. His naps suffered a lot but his night time sleep stayed the same! Thank goodness! I can handle crappy naps but I can't handle not getting enough sleep at night. I become a zombie and all we do is lay in bed all day if that happens.

We have been loving the weather here in Vegas. We love going on walks and running errands in the warm sun. We have been swimming lots with his girlfriends. (Amy, Candice and Rachel's babies.)

We are SO excited for the Clark family to move to Loma Linda for Bryan's residency in Anesthesiology! I've missed having my sister close by and 3 hours is not a bad drive AT ALL. I will probably be making that drive a lot in the next 4 years! I miss my nephews and niece. I love being able to see them grow up through facebook and with all the wonderful technology we have around.

Unfortunately Troy's other cousins on his daddy's side will be moving this summer to Indiana and that is just depressing. Kim (Todd's sister) was there for Troy's birth and she was an amazing help to me. She was my doula. I asked her to be there because I just love how calm she can make me and I trust her judgement. I remember when I was in labor and she would get right in my face and have me match her tone or would waft a handkerchief with essential oils on it in front of my face so I would remember to breathe in and out and let each contraction come and let it open me up to help Troy come out. I seriously just get teary eyed thinking about how sad it will be to see them go.  I will never do another birth without a doula. That's a whole other blog post though so I'm not going to get into that. haha

Troy's auntie Margo is getting married in April and we are so excited for that! Margo and I have been best friends since I think about 2003? We just hit it off in Student Council and started spending all of our time together! I can't wait for her to marry Drew. He is such a nice person and I can tell they are made for each other. I love seeing people who are so in love. I know my family is thankful that Todd and I are past the "always holding hands, kissing and sharing a seat" phase but I love seeing people in love. It's so cute and it takes me back to when Todd and I were literally inseparable.

Todd and I are still trying to find a home. We want to live in Henderson and unfortunately our price range is that same price range that investors are buying at so we get out bid every single time to investors who are paying cash. We know that we will get something eventually, it's just frustrating. But we are thankful for the wonderful apartment we have and it really is plenty of room for us. We don't feel crowded at all, we just want something to call ours and renting just isn't the same!

So anyway that is all I can think of for now. We are loving Troy and can't even remember how we lived before him. I know that is cliche but seriously, I can't imagine life without him! I sometimes will spend my entire day with him and then when I put him down to bed I will watch him sleep and then go to my bed and watch videos of him before I fall asleep. I think we can say I'm a little bit obsessed. And of course I think he is the cutest baby! haha I'm not biased at all... :)

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