44 Weeks

44 Weeks. This week has been eventful... I feel like I say that a lot. Oh life with a kid! Sometimes I think I'm crazy for praying for Jack's future siblings to arrive expediently! Life can only get more crazier... and more fulfilling!

My little bug is developing quite the little personality. He is very opinionated for an infant... wonder where he gets that from? Yes, he is definitely my child. Now that I am older and have seen the error of my youthful ways (har har... but in all seriousness...) I hope to train him to be a better youth than I. Is this possible? Can it be done? Any suggestions on child rearing? I think my husband turned out pretty well so hopefully Jack will take after him in a lot of ways.

For instance: this is Jack's I-don't-want-to-eat-that-and-you-can't-make-me face. He does this face sometimes all on his own when he's looking at something, but he figured out that clenching his teeth makes it real difficult for Momma to force feed him his veggies! Thankfully, Jack likes quite a few veggies. But he's not a huge fan of green beans. He'll fight the first couple bites and then settle down and eat it all up. Strange child.

Grammy and Papa went to Puerto Rico this week. So Jack and I had the house to ourselves. It was actually quite boring most of the time. It snowed so we didn't venture out to much because Momma is much more intimidated about driving (both her own skills and those around her) with a baby on board. But we did go out in the snow for awhile! Jack lasted 20 minutes and still was having fun in the snow, but Momma didn't want him to get sick.

When we first went outside he faceplanted into the snow. I wiped him off and he didn't seem to mind too much. He was so curious about the white fluffies. I pulled him around on a sled and let him pat the snow around him. No snowmen or snow angels yet.

Jack is so funny. When he's ready for a nap he's very ready. He can fall asleep just about anywhere, which has been such a blessing! In the top left and bottom right pictures he was actually sleeping sitting straight up! We had to coax him to lie his head down!

Jack is still working on standing on his own. He can do it quite well, but he knows it's easier to sit or crawl to things. It's been so fun to watch him think about walking. He'll keep a hand on something and rock back and forth in the direction he wants to go... then he'll chicken out and crawl instead. 

Little Boog has been learning a lot of new tricks. He now pulls the curtain (or blanket) over his face for peekaboo instead of just pulling it off when someone puts it on him. He loves it and thinks he's so funny (which he is). He also can climb on top of and over things. Rut roh! So thankful that we're moving soon so I can just set up our new house baby proofed instead of having to redo everything!

We were making real good progress with him sleeping in his crib. He has been flopping around a lot in his crib without waking up. I call that progress. He has slept one entire night in his crib, waking up twice to eat. He spends most other nights in his crib but around 4 am I'll get him for a snack and let him finish the night with me. That might not be so bad. Daddy might wake up around that time regularly once we live together. His bedtime giraffe pal seems to be helping. He likes to snuggle it and the noise machine in it's tummy seems to soothe him. We have a regular noise machine too so it stays on when the other timer runs out.

Jack has been talking in his sleep! Oh dear, he grinds his teeth like his Momma and talks in his sleep like his Momma. It's super cute, but I hope it's just a phase for his sake. He'll be teased at sleepovers and camp if he continues talking. Makes me wonder what he's dreaming of.

This week Jack met a new doggie friend, Macy. Macy is a labradoodle and is HUGE. She is like a horse for babies! She was so excited and loved playing with Jack. Jack liked her too and pet her, but sometimes Macy would turn around suddenly and her tail would smack Jack. It didn't hurt him, but it did surprise him. 

During Jack's weekly picture taking I tried to get a picture of him standing by the window... but he was so interested in what was outside! He has always been a curious and observant little boy, but he would not look at me for more than a second. He loves watching the birds (and naughty squirrels) eating from Papa's bird feeders. He will watch them then smile at me. He waves at them through the window.

This week Jack had his first real illness. It was very, very sad for his Momma and Grammy. On Saturday he began running a fever. He was acting very lethargic and wasn't smiling at anyone. We took his temperature and is was around 100. We gave him some Motrin and put him to bed. Throughout the night he would wake up crying and be super warm. I turned off our space heater, took off his pjs, and let him sleep with me. During the night his fever spiked 104.4. I researched baby fevers then and decided to wait until morning to see how he was feeling. Jack had a horrible night terror that lasted about an hour. His limbs flailed around like he was trying to get out of a blanket wrapped tightly around him (he didn't have any covers on) and he was panting like he was running quickly- all the while he was asleep. All I could do was rock him and sing to him until he calmed down. Another dose of Motrin and he slept for the rest of the night. By the morning his fever was 102. 

Sunday we had a chill day. Jack slept a lot and he only wanted to be on Momma. His fever was between 100-102 all day. He had a little flu bug- he threw up a couple times. A sick baby is hard on a Momma's heart. The first time he threw up he was smiling and it just came out. He then proceeded to cry... a lot. The second time he began to cry first, threw up, and then cried some more. Poor baby wasn't sure what was going on. 

Baby wasn't interested in baby food. He nursed primarily throughout the day. I always had water and juice available for him- neither of which he was interested in. Towards the end of the day I soaked a washcloth in water for him to suck on to get some more fluids. He had wet diapers throughout the day, but it was moist, not wet. I also thawed a little frozen milk and let him suck on it still mostly frozen.

During the day he either wore a bib or had a towel draped over him to catch the vomit. He didn't seem to mind so much. But of course, he just wanted to snuggle all day. Momma didn't mind the snuggles.

Baby slept with Momma again last night. He was worn out from all the fever. In the evening his fever began going down and by the time he went to bed it was at 99. Momma was very thankful it seemed Jack was recovering. Jack likes to monopolize the bed when he's in it...

Jack woke up last night one time and screamed and screamed. He sounded like he was hurt, but I think he was just startled. He threw up once then and seemed like he was choking. I made sure his airway was cleared and then we rocked until he fell back asleep. He was pretty worked up, but at least he didn't have a fever. This morning he his temp was 99 and he's seemed pretty normal. He's been more clingy, but that may be because he got used to me holding him every second of the day.

I am so thankful it was just a 24-hour bug and not the horrible flu that's been going around. I love having my smiley, happy boy back. It was just so sad to see his droopy eyelids and sober face.