4 Months!

It has been way too long since I've updated this. I was waiting for Hayden's 4 month checkup, which was scheduled 2 weeks ago, but got rescheduled to this morning. He's doing great, weighs in at a hefty 16 lbs 2 oz, and 26 inches tall. Both in the 75th percentile. The doctor said his feet turn in a bit, but nothing we can't work out with some exercise, and then he'll stand more willingly.

The kids had a great Christmas, and got some really neat stuff from Santa.

Something funny Haleigh said while we were in the waiting room this morning... the receptionist turned on the tv with a remote from far away, and Haleigh looked surprised and said to me, "The TV just came on! That is really odd..." That earned her a few chuckles from the other patients waiting, something like that coming from a 3 year-old. Well, almost three years old.

A few new pictures at Flickr.

3 months old!

I can't believe Hayden is 3 months old already. He's sleeping 8 hours at a stretch every night now, but if I can't keep him up until 9pm, he wakes me up quite early. He's such a happy baby all of the time. Haleigh was singing the ABCs to him this morning in the car and he was just cracking up. He's found his voice and it's so funny to see him realize that he can make sounds. And he holds his head up so well, and so long! Now he's working on grabbing stuff... I can see him concentrating so hard and his little fingers moving, but he just hasn't gotten it figured out yet.



A few more at Flickr!

Formula and Tantrums

More at Flickr of course.

Not much of a post because we don't go anywhere too exciting or do much of anything, but thought I'd document some stuff.

Hayden's almost exclusively on formula now... my milk supply just tanked last week and I was hardly able to pump anything at work. So he started getting formula during the day, and then at night he'd nurse and nurse and nurse and still suck his hands so I offered him a bottle and he sucked the whole thing down! Poor baby was starving. But you wouldn't think it, looking at the little tank.

But then tonight, all he's wanted to do is nurse. He won't take a bottle from me at all. I guess that's common, but I don't exactly have anyone else handy here to give him the bottle. So he nursed for a while and seemed satisfied and just went to bed. I guess we'll see how soon he wakes up.

Haleigh is just one big tantrum lately. Trying to figure out how to get her to stop telling us no, to stop yelling all the time, and to actually eat some food for me and Chad. She eats great for the sitter during the day, ALL day in fact, but lately she's refused to eat anything but oatmeal for me. I guess maybe she's not really hungry because she eats so good for 2.5 meals at the babysitter, but I just worry because she's *still* 25 pounds and just as skinny as a rail. She's in 3T clothes because she's tall, though the pants just fall right off.

Other times she's just so pleasant and sweet. She's especially sweet to Hayden all of the time, and most nights at bedtime she'll snuggle with me in her bed for a little bit, but then she looks over at me and says, "Okay, get up now Mommy."

Hayden sleeps in his crib all night now, with one feeding anywhere from 1am to 4am. He smiles and coos and 'talks' like crazy. I love that he gets so much attention and interaction with the babysitter and the other kids all day. And we've been lucky so far that he hasn't gotten sick because it's gone around through all the other kids, Haleigh's had it and I've had it twice. Hopefully we can keep healthy!

Almost 12 weeks old!

A few more at Flickr

Photos!

my favorite one so far...

Huge Update

Sooo much has been going on and I can't get motivated to work, so I'll sneak this update in.

Chad and I are not together anymore, since the beginning of the month. No more details on that here.

The kids and I have a great little apartment and we're adjusting okay. This is hard! Haleigh's been acting out a little more, but she's been through some big changes and hey, she's almost 3 years old so I guess that's to be expected. Hayden is my little sumo wrestler... 13lbs 2oz and 24 inches tall at just 2 months old. He's about ready to sit up at the table and eat with us. I'm still exclusively nursing/pumping for him and I'm so freaking proud that he's so healthy and it's all from me.

If you know a single mom, send her flowers or call her and tell her she's doing a great job, because this is the hardest thing I've ever done. Emotionally, physically, mentally, it is so draining. I feel horrible because I watch the clock in the evening, just waiting for 7:30 so Haleigh can go to bed and I can sit down for two minutes. She is a ball of energy and I feel like I'm failing because I just can't keep up with her some nights. And I've always got something on my mind, a grocery list or planning a meal, because the responsibility is all on me. I have to make sure she gets dinner and a bath, I have to get her up in the morning, clean, dressed, breakfasted and out the door on time. I have to make sure I have baby tylenol because I can't just run out and grab some when Hayden is sore and cranky from his shots. I used to run my errands at night after they'd go to bed and now I have to be creative in when I go to the bank, or pick up a few groceries.

I'm a little stressed! And my milk supply is apparently affected by stress. So is my hair and its ability to stay on my head! And why is Hayden getting up at 4am now?

2 Months Old

Big Boy wearing a 6-month size sleeper...



Yeah, I'm cute



You want a smile? Here ya go!



Happy 2 Months Hayden!

Something nicer to read...

Had a much nicer day today :o)

I had scheduled my 6-week postbaby appointment for 9:30 this morning, and arranged to meet my cousin and her new baby at the mall at 11. Lying in bed last night, I started freaking out about this because how was I going to make Haleigh's limited good mood last from 9:30 through lunch, play time at the mall, and at least two nursing sessions with Hayden?? AND possibly no nap???

I was so close to calling my grandparents at 8:30am and asking them to take Haleigh for the morning so I could have a peaceful dr. appointment. Because how do you stop your child from opening cabinets in an exam room when you're sitting up on a table naked under a paper napkin, afraid to move because yes the dr. knocks, but she doesn't PAUSE after that knock, and would no doubt see everything. I always wonder what they would do if I took my own bathrobe to one of those appointments.

But I digress. Haleigh was well-behaved! Luckily, they have child locks on the cabinets so all I had to do was bust out the Teddy Grahams and water bottle and I was good to go for at least 10 minutes. Too bad it took the dr. 20 minutes to find my exam room.

But Haleigh was still good because I asked her every 30 seconds or so to check on Hayden who was sleeping in his carseat on the floor next to me. She'd give me a full report every time: he is sleeping, with his eyes closed, and his mouth closed, and has a blanket, a blue and yellow blanket, and he doesn't eat Teddy Grahams, because he only drinks mommy's milk, and I like milk, do you have any milk for me mommy, okay can we get some?

Time to complain a bit - Photo in post below from earlier

So I've had a fever of over 101 on and off since Wednesday night with overall flu-like symptoms and just general cruddyness feeling. I didn't think to call the dr. because the Ibuprofen was working and Friday I felt fine without any meds. Of course this morning my right boob is on fire and the fever returns. On a Saturday.

Chad just picked up the antibiotics the on-call dr. called in for me and I should feel better sometime in the middle of the night. Why am I up now? To eat something with the antibiotics and to write this out so I feel a little better. It helps. And it's my blog.

I was not feeling well most of the day today, but still had both kiddos ALL DAY by myself. And had to take them to Toys 'R' Us for an ahem last minute gift (Happy Birthday Hannah!) that Haleigh picked out herself. That half hour or so was the ONLY time she wasn't spouting sass and jumping around like a maniac. And I swear I didn't give her ANY sugar besides the cinnamon applesauce she had with lunch. And she has that all the time and doesn't freak out like this.

She just knows how to push my buttons now. And I've been trying, really TRYING, to pay her equal or more attention than I do Hayden, but the younger is attached to a boob probably 20 hours out of the day! Okay not really, but his long nap is at the same time as hers so we don't even get quality time then either. He put himself on that schedule... I think he's already trying to piss her off.

So this evening, after she wouldn't eat much for dinner, and I was feeding Hayden on the couch, she proceeds to bring her over-half-full cup of milk from dinner across the livingroom to the bookshelf. Her water bottle is supposed to stay on that shelf so she doesn't set it on the couch and knock it over and it leaks and leaks until I find it an hour later EMPTY.

Anyways! I ask her, from the couch with baby attached, in an up-beat tone, "Hey would ya leave that milk on your table there because I don't want it to spill." Her response as she CONTINUES to walk toward the shelf? "Uhhh... no." And her doll stroller was sitting directly in front of the shelf so I knew she'd have to reach far to even get it up on the shelf... she got it halfway onto the shelf. And milk went everywhere. I didn't have time to unattach baby, lie him down without burping (yikes) and stop her. Though I did have to unattach baby in a hurry, lie him down without burping (all okay) and clean up milk EVERYWHERE all over her toys, the carpet, MY books, photo albums and sheet music on the bottom shelf... apparently I should move those more important things.

So she had time-out for three minutes, and she calmed down faster than I thought she would. I was very angry and I think she was scared of me the way I came flying across the room, so she sat there and bawled while I cleaned up. I didn't even touch her though, just zoomed past and started moving things still in the milk's path. We hugged and said I love you and she went back to play, Hayden went back to eating (of course he did!).

Shortly after things were back to normal - normal meaning sass and attitude - Chad called to say he'd be about another hour and I just broke down. I really needed someone else there for her to be mean to and take advantage of. So he came home and she went to bed early. So did Hayden and I. What a day.

monkey shirt!


first smile on camera!

1 Month Old

More at Flickr

Niagara Falls

Hayden and I lie down belly-to-belly to start a nursing session. He looks like a little turtle when he stretches out his neck to find me. He gets going and within seconds I feel the milk "let down" on both sides. He starts the slow suck-swallow pattern, relaxes his body, closes his eyes and settles in, seemingly content.

But I think I have what is called "overactive letdown" because then he starts to kick, his eyes open real wide and he looks at me like, turn off the fire hose woman! and I find myself silently cheering him on, chug! chug! chug! because if he pulls off now, somebody's getting squirted.

Most of the time now he can handle it. But if too much is going on around us, like Helicopter Haleigh is hovering and shrieking in her outside voice, "OH look he's looking AT ME!"... he loses his focus and chokes, pulls off in frustration, and milk sprays everywhere unless I catch it quick.

Sleeping is here and there still. He'll only sleep for 15 minutes at a time in his bed, but he sleeps much longer in his little swing, turned off because Haleigh has killed the batteries by swinging her dolls. So shhh guess where he's been sleeping mostly. He'll go 4-5 hours in his first stretch at night so that's been nice. But when he wakes between 4am and 6am, he's up for the day.

He started smiling the other day at right around 4 weeks, especially if you make clicking noises with your tongue. Too funny watching Haleigh trying to duplicate the sound: she hasn't figured that out yet but she tries so hard.


4 weeks old - of course I couldn't catch a smile. He's such a chunker; size 2 diapers and 3-6 month clothes already.


Haleigh "playing" with Hayden with one of her old baby toys. Really, she would dangle that toy in his face for 2 seconds, then run off with it. She kept coming back to show it to him, but she wasn't ready to admit that he could have it as one of "his" toys now. Hayden didn't care, he loved watching her run back and forth and couldn't have cared less about that toy.

Big Boy and Good Girl

Hayden is growing like crazy... took him to the dr. last Friday because he was breathing hard and seemed really congested. I couldn't tell if he was wheezing or not, so I took him in. His lungs were clear, and doc said it was just newborn mucus getting dried out in his wittle nose. So I have to spray saline up there a few times a day and suck it out, and it helps him breathe better. He doesn't mind it, except when he moves and I spray him in the face a little. He was 10 lbs 7 oz at the appointment at 18 days old, and he's grown out of most of his 0-3 month clothes and into the 3-6 month outfits.

No wonder he's so big, he's been nursing non-stop it seems. I stopped pumping and went back to nursing because it was just taking too long to feed him a bottle, then get him back to sleep, then pump for the next bottle, then get myself back to bed... then he would wake up again. He's gotten a lot better at nursing, and it's actually working out well. He just wants it so frequently lol.

Next week it will be 3 weeks until I go back to work, so I think I'm going to start working our way towards the schedule we'll have when that happens. Get up at 5am and nurse, put him back down until 7am when we leave for the sitter, 3 bottles during the day (I will pump 3-4 times at work), nurse at 5:30pm when I get home, then play it by ear for evening and nighttime. I will just have to start going to bed early and DVR my shows to watch when I'm up nursing at night I guess.

Haleigh is still being good with Hayden. He loves to watch her do anything, and she really gets excited when he stares at her, "He's watching me mommy!" But she gets in his face a lot, and when she hugs him her hair gets in his face which bothers him a little. Today she poked him in the ear and bumped heads with him once... she just gets too excited to be around him. I can't wait until he starts smiling and reacting more to us; she'll be uncontrollable I think.

We're also working on the he/she and him/her issue. There are only one or two little boys at her daycare occasionally, so she's spent all day with all girls for almost a year now and doesn't know the difference. She knows she's a girl and Hayden's a boy, but Mommy is a Laurie and Daddy is a Chad and there's no convincing her otherwise... so I don't think she's getting it. She's always referring to Hayden like, "aww she's so cute" or "you're going to change her diaper mommy?" We gently correct her, and she agrees and it seems to sink in, but two minutes later she's doing it again lol.

But I really couldn't ask for a more polite and well-behaved little girl. She cleans up herself after she eats now (box of wipes on her table) and puts her dishes and trash in the right places. She doesn't want to go on the potty and won't wear underwear or a pull-up ("no, not yet," she says), but she'll go and get a diaper and wipes when she needs to be changed. She'll do absolutely anything I ask if it has to do with Hayden, and she still loves to sleep. We've never had trouble getting her to go to bed for naps or at nighttime. We just let her know it's "bedtime-thirty" (because the time keeps changing as she gets older or if we're doing something late and I didn't want to confuse her... and the term stuck) and she helps pick up her toys. Then she closes her door for me, shuts the light off, makes sure I've turned on the fan and her nightlight, grabs her blanket and a pacifier (I know, I know...) and when I put her in the crib she just rolls over and closes her eyes. At night she'll sleep 12 hours, and after lunch she'll take a 3 hour nap.

I hope we're just as lucky with Hayden...

Announcement

Two Weeks Old

We are doing just great. Hayden is sleeping as well as a 2-week old baby can be expected to sleep. He goes down the same time as Haleigh around 7:30p, and sleeps until about 10:30p, has 3oz (I'm pumping) and I nurse him back to sleep. He wakes around 2:30a for another 3oz, and again at 5:30a, and he goes back to sleep each time. Haleigh wakes around 7:30a, and we have breakfast and get ourselves ready while Hayden sleeps until 8:30-9a.

Nursing is going extremely well this time. By the time Haleigh was 2 weeks old, I was crying every time I had to feed her, and actually dreaded it. Hayden is not a good nurser; he falls asleep easily and a session takes 45 minutes to an hour just on one side. So we don't do that much. Usually I can pump 3oz in 10 minutes right before he's due to eat and he gets that in a bottle, then I let him nurse as much as he wants afterwards to top it off, usually only about 5 minutes. He also can't handle my fast flow; he either chokes or pulls off and gets squirted, so I'd have to pump a little anyways first. He just does a lot better with a bottle, and happy mom makes for a happy baby, right? At least he's getting all breastmilk! I only supplemented 2 ounces of formula that first night home because the poor guy was so hungry and I didn't have my milk yet. So I'm happy with how things are going.

Haleigh absolutely adores Hayden, but I feel like I'm always asking her to get out of his face, back off, watch where your foot is flying please... it's never-ending. He responds to her differently than with Chad or I; he really watches her intently and has even smiled when she talks to him. We've been working on getting her to just "shush" him when he cries instead of flipping out and yelling over him, "BABY! IT'S OKAY! HAYDEN DON'T CRY!" because that, of course, makes him cry louder. Then the bird starts screeching, the cats flee the room, and Chad and I just look at each other and shake our heads.

Happy Birthday Nannie

Today is my great-grandmother Lee Anne's 93rd birthday. We need to get the kids up to see her for a photo session sometime soon. She now has FIVE great-great-grandchildren:

Sydney (4)
Haleigh (2.5)
Addison (1)
Grace (b. 7/17/07)
Hayden (b. 8/13/07)


Happy Birthday Nannie!

Haleigh and Hayden

I thought the kiddos should have a blog together, instead of just including Hayden on The Daily Haleigh.

Hopefully I will be able to post twice as much!

Welcome Hayden Robert

Just bringing these over from the other site:




12 days old


3 days old


very much in labor at the hospital, 38w 6d.


about 27 hours old, at home


proud daddy with his brand new son