We started Eli in daycare the week before I went back to work, and I know now that this was a good decision. The first day he only stayed for 4 hours, the next day 5 hours, then by Thursday spent a full day, then just a half day Friday so I could spend more time with my little man. The first day was quite an adjustment for him, he only napped for 15 minutes that day from the time he got up at 6:30 am until I got him down for a nap that afternoon around 3 or 4 finally. He was not a happy camper that day! He was really fussy that night because his routine was thrown off and he was really tired. The next day was a little better but much the same, but after that he started napping more at daycare and by the end of the week he was doing just fine. I am SO GLAD that we didn't have to go through the no-napping cranky-baby phase on the same day I went back to work, that would have been a lot to deal with. He seems to really like daycare and the women who work there are great, very loving and attentive and I can tell he is well taken care of. He doesn't cry when I drop him off and they say he isn't cranky during the day. And of course the best part is going to pick him up at the end of the day and when he sees me or Jeff he gets a huge smile and is really excited to see us. He really does love us!
The daycare is great too because they let me use cloth diapers, I take a bunch in every other day then bring them home at the end of each day and throw them in the diaper can then wash diapers pretty much every other day. It hasn't been bad and doesn't take up nearly as much time as washing and prepping bottles does. I highly recommend it! Still no diaper rash and I'm sure we have already paid for the cloth diapers by our savings from having to buy disposables (or at least are getting close).
He goes through about 6 cloth diapers a day plus one disposable over night (I'm not brave enough yet to leave him in cloth over night but here some day soon I should give it a try), and is drinking 5 5-oz bottles plus one 2-oz bottle a day (9:30 pm feeding), every 3 hours or so. He naps about 4-6 times a day. He goes to sleep usually at 6:30 pm but sometimes is up as late as 7:30 pm, and wakes up at 6 am -- he sleeps this entire time except when I wake him up around 9:30 pm to give him a small bottle to hold him over until the morning. I tried skipping this feeding once, and yeh, he woke up at 2 am hungry! I think I will wait another month or two before trying to eliminate that one. I know I shouldn't complain about my baby sleeping so much, and really I know I am a very lucky mommy and I love getting my sleep, but the one hard thing is that I get off work at 4:30 pm, get him home from daycare by 5:30 pm then only have an hour or so with him to play, get a bath, maybe a walk, and feed him by the time he gets tired and cranky. I'm hoping as he gets older he will start staying up a little later.
We are adjusted now to formula feeding and I made myself stop feeling bad about it (thank you everyone for your help with that!). He is thriving on it, no more blood in the poo, and he seems to be gaining a ton of weight, I am looking forward to his 4 month appointment next week to see how big he has gotten, I am guessing over 13 pounds by now! He drinks the formula no problem and will even drink it at room temperature, although he won't drink it straight out of the fridge. I have been adding a touch of organic pear juice to help avoid constipation (big problem for formula fed babies apparently) and gas drops to help with that. And good news: Tricare agreed to pay for the formula!!! $35 a can at 9-10 cans a month, thank goodness they agreed to pay for it or we would have gone broke! They even ship it straight to my door every month. We are so lucky.
Work is going well, I was really tired and had problems focusing on my work the first few days but by the end of the week I felt more in my groove and was actually getting quite a bit of work done. I do love my job and I enjoy being back, and I really don't feel that bad about leaving Eli in daycare. I do wish I could see him awake more every day so I can see how he is developing, but I make time to play with him every morning and afternoon so that helps, and of course we have the weekends. I also am realizing how close to impossible it is right now to be able to find time to work out. Jeff was able to pick Eli up one day this week and watch him so I could go run at the gym (I got in a nice 5k run - 3.1 miles, yay!). But other than that I haven't been able to do anything - Jeff's work is really busy and it is way too hot still to run outside with Eli after work. I did find a gym right down the road that has child care but I don't feel comfortable leaving Eli in child care at a gym after him being in daycare all day. So for now I'm at a loss... I have to figure something out though because I don't want to have to go buy a whole new wardrobe this winter! Any suggestions???
So what is new with Eli lately?
- He has started using his hands a lot more, usually this means me putting a toy in his hand and the toy then going straight into his mouth :-)
- He will roll from his back onto his side, but he still won't roll from belly to back or back to belly. He is getting better with tummy time, probably thanks to daycare, but it still isn't his favorite activity.
- We bought him a jumping chair for him to hang out in while we are in the living room, see the pics and video below. He likes looking at all the colors and shapes, but doesn't play in it too much yet, and he is too short to really jump much.
- He giggles and smiles a lot now. He is also ticklish!!! Often when I take a onesie off, it tickles him and he will roll around and giggle, it is the cutest thing ever, I need to try to get it on video. He smiles at us and other people all the time. He also likes me to rub a finger up and down on his lips, for some reason this is really funny to him. Sometimes I will get him going and tickle his belly, armpits and neck and he just laughs and laughs.
- He still doesn't like the bumbo chair much. Maybe he just isn't a bumbo boy!
- His neck is really strong and can hold it up really well in tummy time and in the jumper chair. His abs are starting to get stronger too, he is already trying to sit up when I recline him back against my legs. He will put quite a bit of his weight on his legs too, and we practice this at least once a day and he seems to love it, sometimes he does squats and when he pushes up to stand he will smile.
- He had his first cold this past week :-( Of course he starts in daycare and immediately gets a cold. It wasn't bad though, and he got over it pretty quickly and never had to stay home from daycare or let it bother his sleep.
One thing I can definitely say now is that having a baby is better and more fun than I imagined it would be. I thought I would never get any sleep and be tired all the time and never have any time for myself. It was that way at first, and those days were rough, and I still can't go to sleep as early as I would like or sleep in and can't just pick up and go somewhere, but I don't mind it at all! I love this little boy and will do anything for him. Having him is something I couldn't understand until actually going through it myself. I love being this little boy's mommy and I'm so happy.
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