life with baby

Giving Up The Bottle | The Sippy Search

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We are middway through getting rid of bottles, and Jameson is doing really well!

We decided a couple weekends ago (April 21-22) to do the deed without having found that perfect sippy he would drink a lot from, mainly because he was feeling well that weekend, and daycare wasn’t doing it efficiently. In just a couple months, they will start transitioning him to the toddler room, and we wanted to be ready for that

His room at the daycare is pretty busy right now, with Jameson and others transitioning to a cot (he’s also doing well with that!) and being overall pretty crowded. He still loves it there, I know he gets lots of activity, and I don’t really mind that they haven’t been able to force a sippy cup full of milk for him. Especially since it was partly our fault; we kept sending in bottles anyway.

We decided to go “cold turkey” but leave Jameson one bottle before bedtime (never with him in bed).

We did this to 1) guarantee at least bottle of milk a day, and 2) because we already changed bedtime routine recently with discontinuing the pacifier. We have vacation planned in just a couple weeks, without him, and we didn’t want to make things too difficult for the grandparents!

Schedule B.S. (schedule before sippy)

Breakfast bottle: 6-8 oz. milk (as soon as he wakes)
Midmorning bottle: 7-8 oz. milk (at daycare)
Lunch sippy: water (and water throughout the day as needed)
After nap bottle: 7-8 oz. milk
Dinner sippy: 3-4 oz. juice water (at home)
Bedtime bottle: 4-7 oz. milk (just before bed)
Total milk intake: 24-31 oz.

Schedule A.S. (schedule after sippy)

Breakfast sippy: 8 oz. milk (on the way to daycare in the car)
Daytime sippy: 8 oz. milk (throughout the day at daycare as need, mostly in the afternoon after nap)
Lunch sippy: water
Dinner sippy: 3-4 oz. juice water (at home)
Bedtime bottle: 7-8 oz. milk (just before bed)
Total milk intake: 23-24 oz. milk

Strategy:

On the first day, Jameson was fine with it. He is really hungry in the morning, and gulped down (very, very slowly) his first breakfast sippy with a regular sippy cup with spout. But it wasn’t fast enough for Brian to give it to him before daycare everyday, so we switched to a straw sippy the next day.

After that first day though, he seemed to realize what was going on and was less happy about it. The next morning, he cried. We went downstairs with the sippy, and about 15 minutes later he decided he wanted it, though at first he didn’t drink as much. The trend has continued, and now he drinks his milk on the way to daycare, but drinks it all.

As long as we let him decide if he wants it or not, he doesn’t fuss long. When we tried to force it, he got more upset.

It’s easy on the weekends to offer a sippy cup all the time and let him linger over it, but we knew he needed to be able to do the sippys in shorter bursts at daycare, so instead of letting him linger, we decided to wait until after his nap and have him drink when we knew he’d be hungriest. He would down that sippy in full.

(Another reason not to let them linger over the sippy is because that is, in fact, one reason that doctors and dentists recommend switching to the sippy or cup in the first place. Lingering over milk allows the bacteria in the mouth to feed on the milk sugars and produce acid that causes tooth decay – more info here)

That took out one of his daily bottles, but since he typically never drank as much on weekends anyway, we weren’t too concerned with the switch. I read that children his age (16 months) need 16-24 oz. of milk per day. So when we eliminate the bedtime bottle, he will still be getting enough milk.

At the daycare on Monday, he was offered two sippys a day, but after just a couple days, we opted to only send him in with one, just like we did over the weekend switch. Just one week, and he is fine with the new routine and drinking almost all his milk when it is offered.

The Cups

Our sippys of choice now are the Munchkin brand straw cups (like these), and the Playtex insulated straw cups (like these) because he drinks them faster than the spout cups. However, we continue to give Jameson cups with spouts and other sippys we’ve purchased in the search for the perfect one, for lunch and dinner, to keep him flexible enough that he’ll drink from anything if we’re out and about.

In the end, he didn’t want to drink a lot of milk or water out of ANY sippy cup, until we decided to make him transition over. There was no perfect sippy for us.

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life with baby

It’s a Baby in a Bathtub!

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You’ve probably been waiting expectantly for an Easter post, but I took a ridiculous number of photos over the weekend which require thorough weeding and editing.

But all is not lost, because I have a cute baby in a bathtub!

Brian filled Jameson’s squirting bath toys and gave them to him face up. Jameson had a blast squirting water at his face, Brian and myself. He gave the biggest giggles!

Do you see the rash on his shoulder? I don’t believe I’ve mentioned it here, but after months of trying neosporin, lotion, no lotion, mild hydro-cortisone and stronger hydro-cortisone, the doctors diagnosed him with eczema. We’re just at the point of managing it with weeks on/weeks off of the hydro-cortisone, and this particular spot on his shoulder is stubborn.

Jameson just loves taking baths now, but he’ll tell us when he’s all done and ready to be wrapped up in a cozy towel (or more likely, excited to walk around nakey for a little bit). The other night I got a cute (out of focus) video of him splashing away.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=icEqkUzym1g]

After his bath, Brian gave him a few more hair do’s while he brushed his teeth. He refuses to let us brush his teeth for him, but luckily he has decided he likes it (this week anyway) and is doing well himself. Probably because he is getting both of his top canine teeth in and it feels good for him.

We’ve been giving him Advil at night and overnight. Poor thing moans in his sleep when he’s teething.

This is what happened when we took the toothbrush away.

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general life, life with baby

Never Jinx a Sleeping Baby

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Last night, Brian and I along with his dad and family friend Craig went to see a Pink Floyd tribute band, Brit Floyd, while Aunt Melissa baby sat. (Brian’s mom was supposed to go, but she caught the most recent Jameson/Brian illness with an ear and sinus infection as well.)

Remember how I said I was tired? I sipped my rum and coke, and then… Yep, I fell asleep in the middle. The music was so mellow (loud, but mellow). Perfect for taking a little snooze.

I particularly enjoyed (from the songs that I heard all the way through) Comfortably Numb, Pigs, and High Hopes.

On the way home, Brian and I chatted about how well Jameson has been sleeping the past two weeks (completely through the night, no pacifier runs needed). We discussed taking him off the pacifier in the next couple weeks and just pulling off that band aid.

Irony of ironies, last night Jameson decided to wake up and scream (scream!) at 4:30 in the morning.

Recently, Jameson has decided that walking around is more fun that eating, so dinners have been small. We thought maybe he was hungry and so we went ahead and prepared a bottle. Which he didn’t want at all.

After falling asleep on dad and waking up when being laid back down, I got up for my turn and gave him some Advil. His teachers yesterday thought he might be teething again though we hadn’t seen any signs of it prior.

Advil and 15 minutes of rocking later, he went back into his crib without a peep.

A few days ago, I noticed a bottom molar in, but couldn’t tell if the other molar on bottom was broken through or not, so maybe that was the problem.

…Or more likely it was because we jinxed it by talking about it.

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life with baby

Fourteen Months

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Jameson is 14 months old.

The past two months? I don’t know what happened. They disappeared. He just turned one yesterday. His one mural in photos is still up!

Jameson at 14 months: Loves to power walk with his walking toys. Starting to take steps away from things all by himself. A few days ago he stepped away from the chair to walk to our bed without any prompting!

He is really curious and loves to get into things that aren’t his toys. He likes to climb through the kitchen stools like an obstacle course. Jameson loves to go up and down the stairs, pull books off bookshelves, chew on shoes, hit the fireplace vent, pull toilet paper off the roll, and dive into the pillows on mom and dad’s bed.

He has a sense of humor. He loves to throw food on the floor for the puppy to eat (which is okay, until the puppy isn’t there to eat them because she is napping upstairs. Ugh).

Jameson likes to try and brush his own hair and teeth. He doesn’t want a lot of help. He has 10 teeth. 4 on top and bottom, 2 upper molars. His hair is getting really long in the back (ahem, mullet) and is due for his first hair cut.

He has signed “more”, “all done”, “fan” (once), and “eat” sporadically. His sign for eating is bopping his hand against his mouth saying “ahhhh” (like the very stereotypical indian calls). He also sticks out his tongue in addition to his spitting and fake coughing tricks.

Eating has always been a bit of an issue for us, but he is on almost all finger food now which is easier. He loves the pouches of baby food, and he has pureed fruit with his baby cereal for breakfast.

We are working on the sippy cup transition. I think we just purchased a winning sippy cup, and I am thinking of cutting him off from the bottle, except that we still love to hold him in the morning and night while he drinks his bottle.

He sleeps through the night, occasionally needing a pacifier or his bear which dad gets because mom sleeps through it. He naps well, usually one nap but occasionally two when he’s sick. His one nap is anywhere from 2 to 3-1/2 hours. He wakes up slowly (just like his grandma, she said), and loves to cuddle for about 10 minutes. Then he’s up and at ’em.

Jameson loves his little brown bear. We have three of them. Two at home, one at grandma’s. Just in case. We’re still using the pacifier, but plan on making the switch after his bottom molars come in and the weather warms up (so the cold season dies down).

He also got his very first two ear infections this month (or may have only gotten 1 that didn’t go away!). We didn’t even know he got it since he was still sleeping through the night and he was getting his teeth in at the same time. When his cold lingered and there was an RSV notice on the daycare door, we went to the doctor’s to double check.

We are working on putting shapes into the shape sorters. He can get his “coins” in the bank, but the different shapes of the sorter are stumping him.

Jameson will say “mamamama” when he wants something, “dadada” for his daddy, and “dah” for “dog” and “that”, though there is a difference in sound. He wants to know what everything is and will point at it. He’ll also point when he wants something, and we’ll hide things sometimes when we don’t want him to see it (like the pacifiers).

Sometimes he’ll throw tantrums when he doesn’t get his way (like not letting him go up the stairs), but usually seeing mom or dad playing with his toys without him will bring him around.

Jameson insisted on not sitting still for both of the photo shoots we tried this month. This one, in the middle of pink eye and sick with a cold, still seems very representative of him right now.

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Sick and Happy

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Jameson and I have both been sick for a few days now. Since Thursday, to be more exact. We had to miss Jameson’s first sign language class this new session.

He gave me his cough, but at least I am missing the snotty nose this time. As it turns out, he probably has RSV since the daycare notified us he was exposed, but the doctor didn’t bother testing for it since it seems that he is breathing without difficulty. She did find his very first ear infection though, in his left ear, so we started on our very first round of antibiotics for it last night.

Meanwhile, he hasn’t been acting very sick. He has been taking long naps, but while he is awake, he is super charged. His latest feat is sticking out his tongue…

And pushing the play table like it’s a walking toy.

It was windy and snowy (though we didn’t get much accumulation) this weekend, so we stayed inside, did laundry, and ran just a couple errands.

Jameson had his first Sam’s Club food-tasting experience. We gave him some sample soft pretzel and yogurt, which he loved, and some grapefruit which he seemed to like until we bought it and tried it for breakfast the next day. Oh well.

He also broke through two more teeth up top towards the central back of his mouth, so I think they are his first molars. But there are more to come! He still has one coming in on the bottom front, and I think there’s another molar or two on the bottom working their way up.

All in all, the past couple weekends have been slow, catch up, soak up the time type weekends which I’ve really enjoyed.

Even still, we stay pretty busy:

P.S. Jameson posed for some Valentine’s Day shots over the weekend, but I’m keeping them under wraps until closer to the day.

P.S.S. We are practicing walking a lot and he is doing well, going between mom and dad. Won’t be long I think!

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life with baby

Poo Solutions

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This past week has been a little harder than usual because Mr. Jameson was sick with a cold… then with diarrhea.

It’s not really something anyone cares to talk about, but as they say, sh*t happens, right?

He’s never had any digestive problems before (I know, we’re lucky), so I promptly did research on the Internet. What did you do without the Internet, mom?

I was relieved to find that his case was labeled mild to moderate, and we just needed to put him on the BRAT diet and make sure he stayed hydrated.

  • Bananas
  • Rice
  • Applesauce
  • Toast

Easier said than done.

First of all, Jameson has recently decided that at home now, spitting out food is far more fun than keeping it in. In particular, spitting out the pureed baby food is the best. I am hoping its a phase, or maybe the beginning of requesting all finger foods. We’ll wait and see.

Secondly, he never drinks as much at home as he does at daycare. They have him on some magical schedule where he drinks most of his 3 bottles by the time we pick him up at 5, for a total of 5 bottles a day including morning and night. At home on the weekends, we’re lucky to get 4, if not just 3 bottles.

I think he just wants to play with us, silly boy.

I had a moment of epiphany though, and this is what I credit to our success despite these simply terrible odds: I remembered a teething biscuit I read about and sent to Brian a few weeks ago.

It is made of whole wheat bread (without seeds), crust cut off, and applesauce, rolled up and hardened in the microwave for a minute. Toast. Applesauce.

Homemade Teething Biscuit, Image & Recipe by Roni
Homemade Teething Biscuit, Photo & Recipe by Roni. Click for Details!

I am pretty sure this is Jameson’s favorite new food. Seriously. BONUS: I am pretty sure he’s teething again too. That’s right, we’re killing two birds with one biscuit (heh heh).

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life with baby, pets

Troublemaker

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Jameson has had a really hard time teething this past week and weekend. He has four teeth, two on bottom and two on top which are broken through but not all the way grown in. Now he is in process of breaking through two more teeth up top, and he’s taking this set pretty hard.

Contrary to this photo, he’s actually been really grumpy. So this is when we were checking for teeth and discovered that yes, there are two more making their way down.

My mother stayed with us overnight on Thursday night after going to a funeral. Sad times, but it was nice to get in a quick visit. We also visited with my uncle and aunt Carol, who just had knee replacement surgery a week ago and has been fairly housebound. I’m sure she enjoyed the visit, albeit brief.

He’s been up a lot at night, needing rocked to sleep which is very very unusual for him. Brian and I have been disagreeing about feeding him at night, but I think we’ve left it that Brian will feed him if he thinks he needs it and I will rock even if I think we should be holding firm on him getting to sleep by himself.

Jameson’s clearly in pain, and we’ll each do what we think will help him get back to sleep fastest. Which, in the end, is medicine. Advil and Tylenol, alternating, for the most effective pain relief according to our pharmacist neighbors. And it works.

Aside from causing us trouble sleeping, he is also becoming a bit of a troublemaker during the waking hours.

Yep, this child who is not really pulling himself up yet in the crib is climbing stairs. One stair. He’s not very coordinated yet.

He is also crawling everywhere, being told “no” quite often by the fireplace, and otherwise making mischief.

Consequently, we did some baby proofing this weekend. The outlets have covers on them now. They’re actually quite fancy, borrowed from a friend. They are tilted and go back in place with springs when removing an item from being plugged in. They’re kind of like this, but not as new or fancy. Also, we’ve finished the gate upstairs. We purchased a retract-a-gate and so far we really like it. We will have to make a decision about the downstairs gate though.

For now, we’ve been watching him on the stairs closely, finding it good practice for him to pull up. He’s only really reaching for things at his level like the stairs or ourselves when we’re on the floor with him. He isn’t quite getting the hang of pulling up from things with height like the end tables or couches.

We also have another troublemaker trying to wedge herself in corners to escape Jameson’s new mobility. Sasha turned 9 years old on October 1st. Happy birthday Sasha! We have fancy dinner planned for her this week in addition to the peanut butter bone and new toys that Brian’s parents got for her.


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Spoon = Fun (+ Mess)

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On Wednesday, Jameson had his 4 month (2 weeks late) appointment. He is in perfect health, still a little peanut in the 10th percentile for weight. He weighed 13.4 pounds and is 24-1/2 inches long. He even showed off for us, rolling over! I finally got to see him do it, but alas he is still camera shy so I don’t have video of him rolling to share just yet.

Doc said he is gummy, so no teeth yet! And I could’ve sworn he really was actively teething… guess he was just being cranky. My baby is still toothless for sure.

The doctor gave us the go ahead to start feeding him cereal. We asked about what kinds of foods to give him since he has this odd habit of “holding it in” for days. Not regular at all. So she recommended some oatmeal or multi-grain with more fiber in it.

Though, really, we probably could’ve started sooner… but I kind of like my little sweet baby. I have mixed feelings across the board when it comes to Mr. Jameson getting bigger. I love seeing him do new things and become more active, but sometimes I miss him when he was wee little, sleepy all the time (particularly on mom) and I was home just drinking him in.

Anyway, he has been sticking his tongue out at us for about a week now and knowing he has more control over it, it seemed appropriate to start teaching him the spoon on Friday.

He liked it the oatmeal plus milk… up until the point where he decided that the spoon wasn’t fast enough dangit! But on Sunday for his second try, he got really good at it and ate more. He also tried to chomp and grab at the spoon himself, so I suppose it might become his new favorite toy.

Saturday, Brian and I celebrated my 26th birthday. I am on the later half of the twenties now, which I suppose makes me old awesome. Brian will always be older though, so I don’t mind. Jameson got me Pinocchio which we are going to watch together, and a digital picture frame. Funny that we had gotten one for every other member of the family but never had one ourselves! I already put some photos in it.

Speaking of picture frames, I have a small pile now of black frames which I want to put up in the entry way or stairway, I can’t decide, in a method similar to this:


Or these others.

On Friday, work had a huge sample sale, and I accumulated some more picture frames for this purpose, as well as some other giftable items and craft supplies. One of these days, I’ll get around to crafting again. Just have to find that time. My next project will be a table runner and/or placemats. And maybe some new pillow covers? And some pants for Jameson. I have lots of sewing books, and somewhere I have that DVD which will show me for the 20th time how to thread my sewing machine…

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14 Weeks vs 3 Weeks

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22 Days Old (newborn size clothing)

14 Weeks Old (up to 6 month clothing)

What a difference! Jameson didn’t want to pose all curled up for this most recent shot. Even sleepy, he doesn’t fold up anymore. Still cute, but not quite as bendable anymore, haha.

I finally got my iMac figured out. I printed some photos at Sam’s to check the colors when printed, and everything is accurate but it’s a touch dark, so I will adjust my screen a bit more and it will be perfect! Whew, that was a pain in the neck. And I still need to go and transfer all my old photos.

This past weekend was pretty uneventful. Jameson continued to have a couple rough nights and I think we have finally determined why. I think he is starting teething! On Sunday, he refused to breastfeed, which is very unusual for him. Even when he’s not hungry he usually loves to nurse; we haven’t had problems since after his tongue tie was cut around 2 weeks. He only wanted to eat from the bottle. Later that night, we tricked him into latching on with the bottle and again with the pacifier. Finally he latched on himself at the late night/early morning feeding and has been good since then. But on Sunday evening I felt around his mouth and discovered a sharp little tooth under the gums! I read that teething is the most common cause of trouble with breastfeeding. At least things are back to normal, for now.

I bought him a Sophie the Giraffe, having heard lots of good things about it. Since Jameson still doesn’t grasp (regularly, anyway) more than his burpcloth or bib or mom’s hair and shirt, the giraffe should be fairly easy for him to hold onto to suck if he wants.

My co-worker’s son likes his a lot.

Recently I’ve been comparing Jameson with her son, who was born on the same day. My friend and I found out we were pregnant the same day, had the same due date, and ended up giving birth on the same day. Her son was 15 pounds even yesterday, and Jameson is only 11-1/2 pounds! She also talks about how close he is to rolling over, grasping things, and even almost sitting up himself when set there. I can’t help but compare a bit, since Jameson isn’t quite that advanced (even though I know Jameson is well within the milestone range and milestones can happen really early and really late, particularly things like crawling and walking). I’m sure Jameson will rollover in his own good time!

He’s a cutie pie!

This week, we are visiting our friends who had their baby a little over a month ago. We wanted to visit earlier but Jameson got his cold. I am excited to see another new baby 🙂

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