Project Rex: March 30th-April 5th

I'm so far behind in posting these! Rex is a completely different person now! But here you go, trying to catch up!

Such a cute face

He has the best facial expressions. I can just stare at him for ever.

Post Baby Body

When am I going to be back to where I was?! I'm 8lbs from being back to where I was BR (Before Rex), and have been for the past two weeks. I know my body is going to be different now, and I would be okay if I didn't lose all those 8 lbs, but my stomach! Oh I miss my flat stomach! It's always been my favorit body part, and now it's just all slack. I suppose I should start doing my sit ups, that would probably help. And getting back on to Cinch, that would help too.

I heard when I was pregnant that nursing would help burn the calories. All I do is nurse or pump! But instead it's more like it's keeping the fat on my body in order to keep producing milk. Plus my boobs are twice the size they were BR, so none of my tops fit up there. I've had to buy new clothes all around. Ugh. New clothes are expensive especially when you're buying diapers all the time.

I'm dying to find skinny leg black pants. If anyone has any suggestions? Something that doesn't given me a muffin top! Ha!

Like Mother or Like Father?

We randomly took pictures of the three of us the other day. Still trying to figure out who he looks like. More and more I just think that Andy and I just look really simmilar.

3 months week 2

I signed up for this weekly email that tells you what your kid is supposed to be doing and learning this week. This week (which began last Thursday) Rex is just supposed to be pushing back on you to stand. Rex started standing about a month ago. It's all he wants to do. I have a feeling that he's going to be walking first, and will not be a crawler. He's good on his tummy, holds his head up really high, but really standing is his strong point.

It also said this week that he's supposed to start making letter sounds "B" "M". He hasn't started doing that yet though. Still making his baby gurgle noises. Loves to chat with you if you engage him, but no letter sounds yet. Waiting for those to come. In the meantime I keep chatting with him.

He's also started reaching for things now, which started last week. He'll reach out and touch something and swat at it, but doesn't really hold on to it. He is a gripper though, holds onto blankets, or other soft toys. I finally caved in and bout that silly Giraffe toy that is the rage right now. Gets here in a couple of days. We'll see how he likes it. Hoping he does since it's expensive for a toy!

Schedules

Andy was at home with Rex last weekend and the poor kid didn't sleep at all. Andy was very stressed and upset when I got home. I was able to put him down when I got there, and he was a much happier baby after getting some sleep. He's not sleeping through the night and he's 13 weeks old now. Isn't he supposed to more consistent by now? He sleeps some nights through the night, and other nights not. Last week when I worked five days in a row he was up at 3am, and I just had to get up after he finished eating and go to work.

There's no comprehensive handbook for caring for babies. I reached out to some fellow moms I know with little ones for advise. So here's what I got:

Must get him on a schedule! But what exactly is a schedule? Here's what I'm getting... (Baby wise is a very popular book for getting your kid on a schedule and sleeping).
* He needs to eat every three hours.
* Eat Play Sleep, in that order
* Look for early signs that he's tired and put him down when he's still awake.

Simple, but with so many questions between them!

First off trying to figure out how much he's eating, he's only had breast milk, and now that I'm gone five days a week making enough to feed him when I don't get enough time to pump at work has been impossible. It's a good thing I froze a bunch of milk over the first couple months to make up for it. I'm only feeding him twice a day now, if that. The rest of the time he has a bottle. My body is having a hard time adjusting to the pumping machine so much. It doesn't work as well as a baby.

But from what I'm gathering, he's eating almost 8oz on his first feeding and then between 4-6 at other feedings.

We've been on this schedule plan for a week now and he's doing much better. Although he's not sleeping for more than an hour at a time. He's supposed to work into two long naps during the day, but this last week that wasn't his plan.

He is going down while he's still awake. That part is good. I sing him "Hush Little Baby" he's getting used to it and is associating it with bed time.

Here's the words:

Hush, little baby, don't say a word, Mama's gonna buy you a mockingbird.
And if that mockingbird don't sing, Mama's gonna buy you a diamond ring.
And if that diamond ring turns brass, Mama's gonna buy you a looking glass.
And if that looking glass gets broke, Mama's gonna buy you a billy goat.
And if that billy goat doesn't pull, Mama's gonna buy you a cart and bull.


And if that cart and bull turn over, Mama's gonna buy you a dog named Rover.
And if that dog named Rover won't bark, Mama's gonna buy you a horse and cart.
And if that horse and cart fall down, Well you'll still be the sweetest baby in town.




Except I say "cutest baby in town"! Because he is!

I tried singing Puff the Magic Dragon, by Peter, Paul and Mary the other day. I'll keep trying, but he wasn't so into it at first. Need to find some more lullaby's to sing. Suggestions?

So just need to get him to sleep longer periods during the day. He has a lot of the "45 minute intruder" is what the book calls it. He falls asleep, but only sleeps for 45 minutes, then he gets up eats, plays, then goes to sleep, but still doesn't sleep longer than an hour. We'll get there eventually I hope!

Standing Toy

Rex loves to stand. Makes him happy when he's fussy. Kinda shocks him alert. I put him in the Johnny Jump up a while ago, but that didn't work out so well since he was so small. Then I got this standing toy thing, and he's still too small for it, he's small around and his feet don't reach, but then we found this bin and put it underneath and now he can stand! This is just recently that his feet actually touch. He likes it. I attached a mirror more at his height and he likes to look at it. He also likes the monkey on there. Just stares at it (turns out you can train your kids in the womb!)

Head

Hey everyone, Rex's head is just fine! Sheesh! I gave him a bath and got his hair wet and took a picture so you can see without his mohawk that he has a perfectly rounded head!

And he wishes you would would stop giving him a hard time about it!