Bumbo

Oliver’s getting pretty good at sitting in his Bumbo which has made dinner time so much better for us. We had been holding Oliver in our laps while we ate since he seemed to want to be with us during dinner but now we can set him up on the table and talk to him while we eat (using both hands!). He still leans a little to the side but it doesn’t seem to bother him much.

Sundays With Oliver - Week Twelve

We had lots of help from my mom again this week. She came up on Wednesday and took care of Oliver Wednesday, Thursday and Friday during the day while I went to work and Brian went to class. She also cooked up some great dinners Wednesday and Thursday night. Oliver did a mediocre job at taking a bottle this week. He managed to get down at least an ounce everyday while I was at work but still hasn’t started accepting every bottle offered to him. He seems to prefer nursing. And, as my mom well knows, Oliver does not politely refuse a bottle when it is offered but instead makes his displeasure known by screaming his head off. So, Grandmama had a rough week with her little guy. Adding to the screaming to express his hate of the bottle (and possibly even contributing to the bottle strike itself), I am pretty sure Oliver has started teething. He is drooling like crazy and chews on everything he can get his hands on (once he finally gets it into his mouth). We got a few teething toys this week and some teething tablets so we’ll see if those things help. 

Since Oliver was not always eating enough during the day, he has been pretty lousy at sleeping through the night this week. It’s partly because he’s hungry but also seems to be due to the fact that he’s become a little Houdini and has worked his way out of every swaddle we’ve put him in this week. He wiggles around in his crib until he gets an arm out and then starts crying because he doesn’t like having his arm out. Go figure. I’ve tried explaining to him that if he just wouldn’t wiggle he wouldn’t end up crying but that sort of logic seems to be beyond his twelve week old brain. He got up at least twice every night this week but last night. He’s not up for long when he gets up but it still makes me pretty tired having to get up so many times each night.

  

Happy Fourth of July!

We had a great Fourth of July here in the Contine household. We got up early on Saturday morning after a not-so-restful night (Oliver was up three times on Friday night because he kept escaping his swaddle and because since he still doesn’t really take bottles while I’m at work, he does a lot of eating at night... No fun). We went to Dan’s for breakfast where Oliver flirted with the waitresses and other customers (he is very generous with his smiles these days). We got back home and Oliver went down for a two hour nap while I straightened up the house and Brian tackled the front lawn. Even if he’s not a great nighttime sleeper at least he’s a good napper so that we can get things done during the day.

Around 3:00, Laurie, Robin and Lydia came over to hang out and have some yummy veggie and chicken fajitas that Brian was grilling up. We all had a great time visiting, eating and being entertained by the babies (although for most of the time Oliver was napping again so he wasn’t that entertaining).

I can’t believe how grown up they look! What happened to our tiny babies? Laurie, Robin and Lydia headed home around 7:00 (my, how our lives have changed... our big Saturday fun started at 3:00 and was over by 7:00) and they just missed Oliver’s nuclear level meltdown. I guess he missed Lydia because as soon as they left he started screaming like I haven’t heard him scream in a long time. He refused to eat (although he seemed hungry) but we finally got him settled down (the meltdown lasted only about five minutes but that seems like forever when your kid’s screaming) by swaddling him and holding him tight. Guess he was a little overstimulated. 

Once he was relaxed Brian filled up the pool in the backyard and we all took a quick dip. Then we came inside, got dried off and Brian read us The Wind in the Willows until it was time to put Oliver to bed. I was dreading bedtime both because of the disastrous sleeping attempts of the night before and because people were starting to shoot off fireworks in our neighborhood. (We did discover an added bonus to our new windows - the sounds of the fireworks weren’t nearly as loud this year as they have been in the past). But we got him swaddled nice and tight (his eyes were bugging out it was so tight) and put him down around nine. He slept until 3:00!!! I had to get up a couple of times and check on him because he seriously did not make even a squeak in those six hours (he will usually chatter in his sleep a little bit). He woke up at 3:00, ate a quick snack and was back to sleep by 3:20 and slept until 6:30. How I wish he would do that for me every night. 

Here are some photos of Oliver and Lydia. It’s pretty difficult to get pictures where both of them are still - usually at least one of them is a little blurry - but they’re still cute!

Oliver's First Sleepover

As I mentioned earlier, I had to work BookPeople’s annual storewide inventory on Sunday night. I conned Brian into helping out so Oliver stayed at his grandparents’ house overnight without us. We could have figured out a way for Brian to watch him at night while I worked but I wouldn’t have been able to sleep afterwards to recover since Brian had class so it made more sense for Oliver to stay in San Antonio while we worked on Sunday night and slept on Monday morning. Although Brian and I did spend a night away from Oliver earlier this month to celebrate my birthday this felt like a milestone since it was a night away from us and it was in someone else’s house. I cried when I left SA on Sunday afternoon. I was really nervous about how the night would go since Oliver had been refusing to take a bottle. I thought that perhaps my mother was going to have to drive him up to me in the middle of the night just so he would eat. 

But Oliver surprised us all and went back to taking a bottle as though it were no big deal. I left my mom with 35 ounces of breast milk for the stay (which lasted from 4:30 Sunday afternoon until around 2:00 Monday afternoon when Mom drove him back up to Austin) since it was a little more than he would need if he actually took the bottle. I didn’t expect him to take nearly that much during his bottle strike but thought it would be better for Mom to have it and not need it than need it and not have it. And, I’m glad I did give her that much. She only came back with 5 ounces since Oliver was such a champ Sunday night/Monday morning.  It was such a relief to me to know he was well fed and well cared for while I was working all night. And, because he was eating so well, he got to hang out with Grandmama Monday morning while Brian and I got some sleep. So, by the time Oliver got back up to Austin I was rested and ready to love on him. It was really weird for Brian and me to be in the house without Oliver but I am so grateful that my parents took care of him and let me do my job and recover from the overnight. I’m also very grateful that Oliver decided to take a bottle for that 24 hour period - that made it much easier on everyone involved!

Swimming!

My mom bought Oliver an inflatable pool last week that is big enough for Brian and I to get in. It was the perfect week for it since it was about 105 degrees every day last week and we were desperate for any way to cool off. Oliver loves the water and had fun hanging out in the pool with Mom and Dad. Brian and I loved getting to chill out in the pool after those long hot days.

And, the best part about our swims? This is what he looks like about five minutes after getting out of the water:

After our swim this evening, he went down for a nap at 5:00 and slept until 7:45 (letting Mom and Dad eat a full hot meal without bouncing a baby on our laps). Thanks for the pool, Mom! We’re going to get a lot of use out of it this summer.

Sundays With Oliver - Week Eleven

Oliver got to spend lots of time with his Grandmama this week. My mom came up on Sunday afternoon and stayed through Tuesday afternoon and then came back on Wednesday and stayed through Thursday night so that I could get some work done and Brian could prepare for his EXCET. We are so lucky that she lives so close and that she is so willing to help us out. If not for her coming up so often to sit with Oliver during the day I would be impossibly far behind at work. As it is, though, I’ve managed to keep up with all I have to do. Thanks, Mom! 

On Saturday Oliver and I went down to San Antonio to spend the night at my parents’ house since Brian would be gone all day and Mom’s friend, Janet, was in town and wanted to meet Oliver. He did great on the car ride down and was a perfect gentleman all day and night on Saturday with only the occasional fussy period. On Sunday morning, Mom and I took Oliver to church so she could show him off. Oliver did great during the church service (it was the Vacation Bible School service so it was relatively short and there was lots of singing and dancing which Oliver loved). I stayed for lunch in San Antonio and then headed back home to Austin to work our inventory at the store, leaving Oliver (bottle strike and all) at his grandparents’ house (more on his first sleepover later, but, rest assured, it was a success). 

Oliver went through another one of his whirlwind weeks where we felt like we could see him growing and learning right before our eyes. Just in the past few days he has gotten really good at getting things into his mouth - his fingers, his toys, his stuffed bear, my fingers. He’s also proved himself really good at pushing things away from his mouth every time he was offered a bottle that he didn’t want. So, his hand-eye coordination is coming right along. He also seems like he’s getting closer to rolling over (in fact, he grasped one of the rails of his crib at my mom’s house and tried to use it as leverage to roll himself over but lost interest before he actually did the deed). He’s gotten really vocal in the last couple of weeks and will now carry on a “conversation” with us for a long time. This has come in handy when we go out. Although he will fall asleep in the car, he won’t stay asleep in his car seat for long so our trips to restaurants have become really interesting lately. For the most part we can keep him pretty happy by talking to him while he’s i his car seat but often we have to pull him out and eat with him sitting on our laps so he can join the fun. 

Check out the rolls on his legs. He’s becoming quite a chunky monkey!

  

Bottle Strike

As I mentioned in the last post, Oliver started to refuse a bottle last week. Since I’ve gone back to work, I’ve been pumping like crazy and have built up quite a stash of frozen and fresh breast milk for Brian (or my mom) to give to Oliver while I’m away. Since the fourth week of this life, he’s taken breast milk from a bottle with no complaints (he has even taken a bottle from me in the past, which most breastfed babies won’t do). He spent 18 hours with my parents a few weeks ago and took a bottle the whole time without a whimper. But, since that night, every time he has been offered a bottle he freaks out. He starts to scream and refuses to latch on to the nipple. If you do get him calmed down, he chews on the nipple but still refuses to suck. He has had no problems nursing in this time, however. He takes to the breast like it’s going out of style (probably because he’s so hungry by the time I get home from work). People ask if it’s nipple confusion... nope, it’s nipple preference. He’s not confused, he knows what he likes.

We’ve tried two new types of bottles/nipples (and have a third type waiting for our next attempt) but have had no success. Brian did discover that if you put Oliver under his mobile (“dinner and a show”) and then offer him the bottle that he will start to suck for awhile but he won’t take a full feeding of milk and he ends up wearing a lot of his meal in the process. And my mom discovered that he will take a bottle in the middle of the night. So, we’ve had some luck if he’s really distracted or completely asleep when the bottle is offered. But when I’m at work and Oliver wakes up from a middle of the day nap (the times I most need him to take a bottle so that I can stay at the store and get more work done), the bottles have been a no-go.

The whole process of trying to get him back on the bottle has been so frustrating for me. With each bottle he refuses I see my freedom and ability to do my job slipping away and I shed a few tears for all the ounces of precious breast milk we have thrown down the drain in the past week and a half (it’s got to be close to 20 ounces at this point and those of you who pump know how painful it is to say good-bye to that much milk). It’s also frustrating for Brian and for my mother who want so much to be able to help me out by taking care of Oliver during the day so that I can get some work done. 

Plus, this strike has come at the most inopportune time. I’ve got our storewide inventory on Sunday night and will need to be away from Oliver for a very very long time (not to mention the fact that after working overnight it might be nice for someone else to be able to feed him while I get some sleep to recover). So, here’s what we’re going to attempt. I’m going down to San Antonio tomorrow to stay at my parent’s house Saturday night (Brian is taking his EXCET this weekend so will be gone all day Saturday and I don’t want to spend the whole day by myself. Plus, my mom’s friend, Janet, will be in town from Dallas and I want to see her and introduce her to Oliver). On Sunday afternoon I will drive back to Austin, leaving Oliver with his grandparents for what could be an almost 24 hour period whether he’s figured out this bottle thing or not. Hopefully he will eventually become so hungry that he will acquiesce and take the bottle or Mom will be able to distract him enough for him to be able to take just enough milk not to go completely crazy from hunger (or drive my parents crazy from his hunger). We’ll see. If worse comes to worse, my parents will throw him in the car and head up to the bookstore so that I can feed him. Wish my brave parents luck and pray for a miracle! I would love love love to see Oliver back on the bottle by the end of this weekend.