Thursday, October 23, 2008

11 weeks today!

Oh this boy of mine!

He's still giving me fits over naptime and bedtime. Absolute fits. I've tried everything and still he fights me. So, I guess it's time to just accept that who he is right now and try to work around it. He need help getting to sleep. Period.

Well, okay then.

When he's awake though, wow! What a happy little guy he is, and what huge smiles he gives me (he gives Bean and Daddy smiles too, but the smiles he saves for Mama are always the biggest and longest. I'm just stating the facts here!) He will stop at virtually nothing within his power to catch my eye and grin the HUGEST, SWEETEST grins at me, and hold me there in his sweet little cheeky spell. He reminds me of Arthur, Alice. Arthurs smiles were always SO infectious when he was a tiny baby - I remember reading your diary and being sortof jealous that he smiled so big for you. And now I get to see similar smiles on Matthew! He just lights up the room with them and kicks those little legs and chuckles and guffaws. Sweetest. Thing. Ever.

He is also SO SO SOOOOOOOOOO strong. Several times since this past weekend I've gone in to get him out of his crib after a nap and he's turned himself over from front to back. And tummy time is like a one-man wrestling match now, as he immediately curls up on one side and flails with the upper leg to get himself over. He picks his head WAY up off the ground, too, and turns it side to side and up to search for our faces if we're above him. He, like Bean, displays no interest in toys or objects yet - he is alllll about the faces of the people who love him.

I weighed Matthew yesterday on my bathroom scales (I weighed me with him and then without him and subtracted ME) and he is darn near 13 lbs. now. Yes! Seriously. He may even BE 13 pounds, but I can't tell for sure because the scales only measure up to the half-pound, so I'm having to extrapolate a bit. But 13 pounds! And quickly getting longer, too. His 3-6 mos clothes are already fitting him and the sleeves are starting to get short.

He's still doing well on just MY MILK, too. I feel so proud of us for getting this far with no formula! And he is a huge challenge to nurse most of the time, too, because he's so active and alert and ROUGH with me. I am glad he's getting the milk and glad I'm able to provide plenty for him, but I'm not fully ENJOYING the nursing because it often feels like a battle rather than a very snuggly time lately. I wonder if he will ever settle down and enjoy the closeness? I mean, he DOES enjoy the sucking - he demands it for sleep right now... he refuses a pacifier or bottle from me - but will it ever just be a nice, cozy thing again vs. this pulling, tugging, looking around, popping on and off thing? I don't think Bean started that until she was 5 months old and then we were pretty much done nursing anyway.

Sometimes I think maybe I just don't LIKE nursing as much as other mothers seem to. I mean, I DO enjoy giving him the best. I do. I just don't always LOVE the actual physical parts of the process - I get tired of being sucked on sometimes. It just gets to be annoying, that feeling of sucksucksucksucksuck and then with the wrestling added in, ugh. I hope this is just a phase.

Oops, my little smiley face is up again. Off to see what position he's worked himself into this time!

5 comments:

Mari said...

I can see why the nursing would be difficult. If you remember, I told you before he was born that you had a football player coming and I think he's living up to that prediction. I love to hear about his smile though!

Melissa said...

Aww, I hope this is just a phase, too. Babies and their phases. Sheesh! It's enough to drive a girl to the funny farm!
I can't believe he's so big! That's awesome!! :o) You should be proud of him and you for growing such a healthy, and HAPPY boy! :o)

Tequilamonkey said...

WELL DONE YOU!!!!! I'm so happy that it's working out just as it did for me. It's hard I know but so worth it and I promise you that this is just a phase and it does get easier. I found a nursing necklace really helped and kept him more focused on the task in hand ;)
xxxxx

Anonymous said...

Oh I'm so happy that Matthew is giving you such wonderful wide beeaaaming smiles!! My Matthew and Nathan are very smiley boys also, but their smiles have not matched the beaminess of Arthur's. He still out-beams them as an almost-4-year-old, hehe! Matthew has SUCH a pretty mouth shape, I am already a-quiver at the description of that sweet mouth smiling so beautifully! Seeeeriously going to break some hearts a ways down the line. Seriously. I can't wait till you post photos of him smiling at you like that! Be still my heart! ;)

I'm just so ding dang PROUD of you every time you write about breastfeeding! Yay! A wriggly boy will be somewhat pesky to breastfeed at times, especially for "phases" like the one Matthew appears to be at right now. With my Matthew, I gave up trying to breastfeed him anywhere except lying tummy-to-tummy in bed, day and night. It drove me nuts otherwise, and he took way less milk because he was constantly distracted and popping on/off/on/off, etc. And the milk, it did go everywhere. Because that was still the way I was breastfeeding for the most part when Nathan was born, I have automatically continued the lying down nursing thing with him, and so I'm not struggling too much with the squirming/battle thing. If I nurse him whilst sitting up, he does pop on and off and squiggle about and generally annoy me somewhat (!), so I don't. It doubles as a REST time for my weary body, and a break from the downstairs noise too! I set the boys up with cars/duplo/DVD while I go and nurse Nathan. I'm blessed that so far all my boys nurse FAST, because it keeps me away from little ones downstairs for less time. Anyway, that is what worked for me - maybe if it would be doable for you, it might help with the squiggly boy issue?

Heather Oller said...

Megan, First...I love the new haircut and think both shades of eye shadow look fab on you!! You just look fab in whatever it might be actually. Secondly, I can so relate to the "sucksucksucksuck" (Get the blast off my boob, dude, give me my breast back and stop playing with it). That can be so irritating. I wonder if you can train him? I thought I read something about putting a light blanket over their eyes to void distractions, but maybe he is just doing it for fun or to get more milk. Do you notice let down right off or after he has done his shinnaigans for awhile. I remember Cam doing that tug, let off, pull thing for a bit there to get more milk, I think. Anyway, good for you for getting this far and I recently read something about not expecting a sleep schedule of any sort until well after 12 weeks old. Or if he is anything like my little guy 9 months (LOL...I wouldn't wish that on you for anything). You are still doing great and I guess all I can say is go with your heart and try to enjoy the ride.

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