September 13, 2010 1:30 pm

Surprise Vacation

Over Labor Day weekend, Daniel and Wesley and I decided to surprise our families and make an unannounced trip to Idaho! Despite my parents and my brother and his girlfriend and baby going on a camping trip, we had a great time and definitely surprised everyone.

We left Thursday after I got off work, so at midnight we had made it about halfway and decided to get a hotel room and continue the drive in the morning. (We’ve powered through it once, but that was pre-baby and it wasn’t very fun that time around either.) The only two rooms the stupid hotel had left were both smoking, so we chose the king-size bed and turned the air purifier on high and opened the window all the way. Fortunately, the pillows/bedding smelled fine so I was able to sleep okay and not freak out about third-hand smoke harming my baby (or either of us).

(Edited to add: Also, THANK YOU to those of you who chimed in on my most recent post. You were all very helpful. I am pretty sure I can see two tiny teeth coming in now that weren’t visible before, so *ding ding ding* teething seems to have been the answer. He is still occasionally sad at feedings but NOTHING like what he was doing before, so we seem to be past the worst of it for now. I heart the internet.)

Some photos from the trip below:

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August 31, 2010 8:29 am

Questions

I’ve heard of the four-month sleep regression, but is it normal for a five-month-old to forget how to eat at night when they wake up hungry? Wesley used to start snuffling to himself to wake me up, I’d give him a boob, and he’d eat and go right back to sleep. I’d often fall asleep before he was done.

Lately, he wakes up and wails until I give him a boob, but instead of trying to eat he starts YELLING. Angry, frustrated yelling, writhing around, etc. Either that or he’ll mouth the boob a bit but not make any kind of effort to latch/suckle and then start yelling. A few nights ago, I had to get up and sit on the edge of the bed and nurse him in the cradle hold every. single. time he woke up. This is a baby who was pleased as punch to nurse side-lying every night for MONTHS and now seems to have forgotten everything he ever knew about nighttime feedings.

Sometimes what ends up working is if I let him have his pacifier for a few seconds, and while he has the sucking rhythm down I quickly swipe out the binky and give him a boob. But it isn’t foolproof. Once, offering the other boob worked; once, we had to specifically wash the nipple shield for that feeding (you’re supposed to wash them after every feeding but hell if I am getting out of bed multiple times a night to wash it – a quick wipe generally suffices); one night we had to thaw some milk and give him a bottle, TWICE, instead of merely breastfeeding him. And then this morning he refused to eat at all. I took him to daycare (arriving at 7:45am) when he hadn’t eaten since 4:15am and he typically likes to eat every two hours, if he even makes it that far.

I don’t know what’s going on. He’s CLEARLY hungry and looking for food; his nursing position is the same when he’s side-lying as when he’s cradle-held; he’ll often stop crying to take a pacifier for a few minutes, but after he realizes it’s not giving him food he starts crying again. He eats perfectly fine during the day (either from me or from the bottle).

Consequently, I am getting less sleep now than I did when he was a newborn. This is a problem. I don’t mind that he wakes up during the night to nurse; I mind that when he wakes up, instead of quietly eating his food and going back to sleep, he yells and screams and makes a fuss until I rouse myself completely and sit up and hold him on my lap to eat, staying awake the whole time.

Is this teething? Demon possession? Sleep regression due to milestones? Ear infection? Do I have a crazy baby?

Help.

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August 27, 2010 2:44 pm

Chocobaby

I have a weakness for Trader Joe’s Dark Chocolate Covered Caramels. When I was pregnant with Wesley I got on this huge chocolate kick and often wanted chocolate with caramel, so these candies were perfect, and I still get them occasionally as an after-dinner treat.

Their only downside (besides the obvious caloric one) is that the chocolate flakes off easily when bitten, and there were several occasions in which I would go to change into my jammies after dessert and realize that I had chocolate bits melted on my décolletage or on my face.

Last night, however, took the cake.

We had the lights mostly off in the living room so we could watch some episodes of Veronica Mars. (Season 2, no spoilers please, am now in love with Logan Echolls.) Wesley needed to eat, so I sat on the couch and nursed him while munching on a caramel.

After the episodes were over, Daniel started playing his new video game. During a particularly bright sequence that lit up the room a bit, I noticed something weird about Wesley’s face.

“Oh gross. What in the world.” I thought. “BUGS? WHAT.” And then…

Oh no.

He was COVERED in chocolate. My caramel had flaked chocolate bits all over his face, where they had instantly melted. It was in several spots on the side of his head, all across his cheeks, there was a big spot on the underside of one arm, a tiny one on the back of his onesie, and traces of chocolate smeared near his mouth. I was horrified.

And then I started laughing uncontrollably. Daniel was like, um, what is going on over here? And I was like LOOK AT OUR BABY, LOOK WHAT I HAVE DONE TO HIM.

And I am not going to tell you whether or not I cleaned him by smooching the chocolate off his face.

(He was delicious.)

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