My Spirited Baby

[stef]
A crying baby.
An exasperated sigh.
The clattering of a Peter Rabbit bowl across the floor.
And cereal everywhere.

The tossing of Hudson's favorite cereal bowl across the kitchen marked the end of a long week. Actually, a long two and a half weeks. Shortly after Hudson's six month birthday, I noticed the dreaded signs of a fifth cold virus plaguing my little boy. The doctor warned me about it, but let's just say I didn't believe him when he told me that babies can have up to 20-30 colds in their first year. And that it's totally acceptable. Needless to say, my heart breaks when my baby rubs his face in my shoulder and whimpers quietly between congested coughs and sneezes that turn his face into an instant sticky mess, or when he looks at me with tired, red-rimmed eyes and flushed cheeks and I know he's thinking, "Mommy, do something." One night I couldn't stand it anymore, so I gave him tylenol for his fever, climbed in the tub with him, and we seemed to have a bit of a better evening. But the nights that, for a about a week, were starting to be a littler more acceptable turned back into the many, many trips into Hudson's room, 4:00am nose suctionings, and seemingly endless hours of nursing a clearly uncomfortable child. At some point though, I had the thought that this was barely even the tiniest fraction of what some parents go through with their truly sick babies - and it (mostly) kept my attitude in check.
I, invariably, got stuck with the same cold, and then it was days on end of cement-like limbs, dizziness upon every movement, fever dreams, and all that other good stuff.  Days where I wished my mom or a sister could breeze in the door and I could have simply a moment or two to clear my head. So, after two and a half weeks of even less sleep than we were used to in the past, well, five months (which wasn't much to begin with), I was just plain done. Especially because Hudson's daytime naps were averaging, oh, fifteen minutes. Basically, we would both wake up in the morning already super tired, and then when I would try to feed him his cereal an hour after he got up, that's usually where the meltdowns started.  He had already started to panic the moment he was put in his high chair - it was turning into a place of stress for him. Hence the sitting on the floor with him, trying to get in at least a couple spoonfuls of his once-loved cereal. And then when the ever crucial first nap of the day would only last 10-20 minutes long, I knew the rest of the day would pretty much be a write off.
I think that morning I realized I needed to relax a little, take a deep breath. Forget stressing about Hudson getting solids for a couple of days, and simply try again later. Fortunately, that weekend we were able to go away on a trip to Fargo with Tyler's whole family, and while it wasn't necessarily restful, it was really good to be away from the house, doing something totally different.  We even managed to squeeze in a few "just us" moments, where me and Ty could spend a little time together, thanks to the many baby-friendly arms of Tyler's parents and siblings (and nieces!).

Getting ready for pool time at the hotel with uncle D

The Krazy Kfriesens

First time in a pool!

Water basketball with daddy

He actually dunked it! What a good baby!

Snuggles from grammy

Begging papa for a horsey back ride

In his sleep sack...wide awake

Nookie cereal time

When we came back, our colds were quite a bit better, and I felt ready to try something new yet again. With the swaddle a thing of the past, I felt it was time to start a better schedule, and focus on getting Hudson to nap for longer stretches, because goodness knows we both needed it!
I could  go on about the different things I've tried over the past little while, but I'll spare everyone and just say what is currently working:
-We're on a much more regular schedule as far as nursing, playtime, then sleep time. I've been generally following the 2,3,4 rule (2 hours after morning wake up until the first nap, 3 hours after first nap for second nap, etc.), unless there's something up that day that requires us to be out of the house for those times. Hudson is an awesome car-napper, so I still try to co-ordinate out and about time with regular nap times.
-I nurse Hudson for a few minutes to get him into sleep mode before his naps and bedtime, but I don't let him completely fall asleep, as I have been doing since he was born. This has been very key. I would like to do away with nursing as a way to induce sleep time altogether eventually, but I figure this change was enough for right now.
Actually, these two things are the biggest changes lately that have been working in our favour. For the last few days, Hudson has been having regular naps (usually only lasting 45 minutes, which we'll continue to work at, but I'll take 45 over 10 any day!), and his nights have improved quite a bit, with his first stretch of sleep lasting usually for 6-7 hours. Oh, and his bedtime is much earlier now, with the routine starting just before 9:00, as opposed to 10:15. When he started flopping over in Ty's arms at 10:00, we realized that he was so ready for an earlier bedtime! Apparently the rest of the country puts their 7 month old babies to bed at 7:00 pm...we'll get there eventually. I'd say the best part of all of this is that he hardly cries at all in his crib now. This is huge for me, as I still felt uncomfortable letting him cry for really more than 15 minutes at a time. I don't really like the idea of him just giving into exhaustion from crying so hard as a way to fall asleep.
I am hoping these things stick. I just started reading the Baby Whisperer, and man do I wish I read that book in the first month of being a mom! There are so many things that could have been useful to me then! I'm only part way through, and although I don't agree with absolutely everything I've read so far, the main principles seem to be pretty darn solid. Things may change around here again when I'm through with it. I've definitely learned that trial and error is okay. It's the inevitable. That I'm not a failure if something simply doesn't work. To listen to my instincts on certain things. Mostly that I'm not a bad mother if I don't enjoy every single, solitary moment of the journey. But also that these times of frustration and complete exhaustion will pass, and will be replaced with better things. Or just more challenges.We'll see.
Hudson has amazed me this past month with the new things I have seen in him. We learned that he is ticklish. I mean, hilariously ticklish. From the soles of his little feet to the back of his neck, there's almost not a square inch on his body that won't send him into a fit of giggles with the lightest of tickles.
We learned that he's interested in books! On the way to Fargo (about a 3 hour trip), Hudson woke up with about an hour and a half to go, and started whining with about an hour to go. First, Ty amused him with the music on his cell phone. Once that wasn't fun anymore, his cries just got louder and angrier, so on a whim, Ty got out Calvin and Hobbes and started reading to him. Hudson loved it! Now I incorporate a little reading time into the bedtime routine, and he's always fascinated by the pictures and loves to turn the pages.
Hudson also learned how to properly crawl. Now he can get almost anywhere on his hands and knees, and is even starting to pull himself up onto one foot when he finds a stable object.
And finally, he no longer freaks when we put him in his high chair. He's enjoying solid food much more now, especially since I give him whole vegetables and fruit to play with/eat (obviously soft, and in non-chokeable pieces - plus I watch him very closely), instead of force-feeding him spoonfuls of ground up vegetables, which clearly wasn't working at the time.
I feel as if we're entering a new stage with our baby. A good one. A baby-proofing one. I am seriously so thankful that I have a year maternity leave to concentrate simply on being a mom, on getting to know my child. There are a million moments a day that I would hate to miss out on. For example, right at this very moment, after picking a pair if Ty's shorts and one of his sleepers off the laundry rack, he packed them around himself in the walker, and is burning around the kitchen, screeching at the top of his lungs. He is curious (and getting curiouser), still loves to be around people, still loves to interact. I love the baby hugs he gives me whenever I pick him up out of his crib. I love when he reaches up to pat my face when he's nursing (not so in love with the pinching that usually follows). I love that he giggles at my silly songs. I just love...him. And that's what gets me through, even on the rough days.

Caught under the dishwasher

Caught under a picture frame landslide. Definitely starting to get into everything!