Guess who’s 10 months old?

Time sweeps by so quickly – one minute, Jack was a dream in my heart and then: poof! He was there.  I can hardly remember what life was like before he got here.

So, Jack – I need to apologize right off.  I haven’t done nearly as good of a job at providing monthly updates on you as I did with your older brother.  I know that you’ll understand this someday, but for now, the simplest explanation is that life got busy and things fell off my over-full plate.  Let me make it up to you by writing an update now 🙂

General Health

You are a happy, healthy baby.  No allergies (that we know of), no major health concerns, and you always seem to be happy outside of the regular stuff that would make any baby cry (hungry, needing a diaper change, lonely, tired, etc.).  You had croup last month but recovered quickly.  It was nothing compared to when you had RSV at 4 weeks old.

Your weight-for-age is right around the 70th percentile (you were 21 pounds at your last appointment), but your weight-for-length has you down around the 35th percentile.  In short: you’re a string bean.  Tall and thin!  Your head circumference is spot-on where it should be at just over 18 inches, and your length?  Well, like I said, you’re tall.  You’re above the 97th percentile for your length, measuring around 31 inches long.

Sleep

You wake up around 7am, take a nap from 9:30-11am, take another nap from around 1:30 – 3:30pm, and then are down for the night around 8pm.  It’s not uncommon for you to wake up after an hour during your nighttime sleep, want to nurse some more, and then go back to bed till morning.  You’ll also occasionally wake up in the middle of the night and want to eat.  I’m OK with that.  I know how quickly these nursing days will be over and I kind of like to sit and sneak in some extra midnight cuddles.  You’re usually so busy during the day that cuddling is out of the question!

You haven’t always slept that well.  Ho, ho, no!  You had to stay in our room till you were 6 months old because your nighttime waking was frequent and regular.  It got pretty crazy for awhile, to the point where I thought you would never sleep well at night and your dad and I were both frustrated.  You can’t catch up on sleep when you have 2 children to look after, at least not to the same degree as when you only have 1 child.  With 1 child, you can nap when they nap.  You can’t always do that with 2 little ones.  I wasn’t getting enough sleep to think clearly or to take care of everyone + do the things that I needed to do around the house.

Thank goodness for your dad.  He stepped in and said, “Enough”, and we decided to move you to your own room for some fuss-it-out sessions.  If you started to cry, he turned off the monitor for 5 minutes.  If you were still crying after that point, your dad brought you to me rather than me going to you.  Once you were done nursing, it was back to your own room.  I slept a lot better.  Your dad got a bit less sleep.  You didn’t seem to be affected by it at all.  In the end, a happy compromise.  I’m glad your dad is here to help take care of all of us.  I shudder to think about what it would be like without him around!

Eating

You love to eat. You still nurse fairly frequently: after breakfast, before your morning nap, after lunch, before your afternoon nap, after dinner, before bedtime, and then sometimes another nursing session after that.  I don’t know how long you’ll nurse.  Joe went till 14 months.  You may go longer or end right around the same time.  We’ll see.  I’d be surprised if you finished sooner than that.

You love to eat all kinds of food.  Hmm – scratch that: you really don’t care for bland “baby food”.  I made up some first foods for you: pureed oatmeal, pureed carrots, and the like.  You wouldn’t eat any of it.  I began to think you’d never switch to solids until your dad gave you some beef barley stew.  You snarfed that down and haven’t looked back.  You’ve eaten all kinds of things, but we keep it minimal when it comes to dairy, eggs, peanut butter, and other common food allergens.  No honey, either.  You eat solid foods at breakfast, lunch, and dinner, plus a few snacks.  It’s so fun to watch you eat!

General Activity

You love to roll around.  You’ll grab things and pick up things with your tiny pincer grasp.  You’re getting those fine motor skills down to a “T” but still aren’t that interested in crawling.  You’d rather scoot on your bum or reach for a piece of furniture and pull yourself over to it.  I’ve noticed that if you’re in a room by yourself (which isn’t often) you’ll end up in a completely different area than where you started out, so I know you’re interested in exploring and moving.  I think you’re playing it smart – why expend the energy on crawling when you’ve got a mom, a dad, and a big brother who are all too happy to bring things to you or to bring you to things?!  Clever lad.  And it’s oh so hard to resist you when you cry – I can’t help but pick you up!

You really enjoy stroller rides and being pushed in the swing.  You love to be in your exersaucer.  When we recently visited your grandparents in GA, you got to try out the walker and boy, did you make tracks all over the place.  You’re pretty interested in chewing on things and have 1 tiny tooth that’s popped through on the bottom.  I have a feeling that others are soon to follow.

Joe and Jack

You love Joe and Joe loves you.  If you start to fuss, Joe will tell me, “Jack’s crying” or “Jack’s not feeling well”.  If he doesn’t tell me, it’s usually because he’s already made his way to you to try to comfort you.  I’ve heard him saying things like, “You’re alright” in a sweet voice similar to how I sound when I’m trying to soothe you.

You can both be pretty rough and tumble.  The other day, your dad caught Joe sitting on your tummy, bouncing up and down.  You were laughing non-stop for most of it – towards the end you looked a little uncomfortable 🙂  You two also love to “make a joyful noise”, as I call it.  Usually you start that little interchange out by shrieking happily.  Joe copies you, then you copy him, and back and forth, back and forth.  Sometimes those gleeful screams get so high-pitched that it seems to rattle the glass in the windows!

How Mom Is Doing

I’m doing pretty well.  Those first 6 – 7 months after you were born were rough, no denying it.  I ended up having to start an antidepressant to help me cope with all of the changes: moving, buying a house, quitting my job, having a baby, your dad starting a new job, and so on and so forth.  As one friend pointed out to me, all of those things that I experienced in less than a year are some of the most stressful things you can go through in life.  I think the only one missing is having a loved one pass away, and thankfully we haven’t had to face that challenge.

I was pretty stressed and anxious.  I’m feeling less stressed and less anxious now, but still have to remind myself to listen to my heart, to those around me (your dad!), and to keep in mind that relationships and people are more important than clean dishes or painted walls.  The fact that spring and summer are just around the corner seems to help.  I love to look out the windows and see the woods in our yard and to hear the birds singing.

Other Odds and Ends

There’s really not a whole lot else to add here.  You’re a charmer and a sweetie-pie, and I’m so glad that you’re in our family!  I can’t wait to watch you grow and change over the years.  Love you!