What a joy!

Caleb is such a delight! He will be 4-months-old on Sunday, and he's already sitting on his own! He LOVES reading, and is using his hands more and more every day. He picks up everything he can reach and puts it in his mouth, even if it is another child's hand! LOL He is still a little charmer, flirting with and captivating every one he sees, especially females :) He's laughing out loud now, and is very ticklish in the ribs. He still loves TV, and we occasionally let him watch a Baby Einstein video while we eat dinner. Probably one of the most remarkable things about him is how much he loves letters, even at this age. The alphabet song is his favorite song, and he is much more fascinated with the words on each page of a book than he is with the pictures. I need to get him some wooden alphabet letters. I've started doing baby signing with him, though I don't expect him to begin signing back to me for several months yet. I'm teaching him the signs for Mommy, Daddy, book, please, thank you, eat, drink, all done, good, ouch, more, sleep, and milk. His temperament is sweet as ever, and he pretty much only cries when he's in his car seat for more than 15-20 minutes and when he wakes up in the night and wants to nurse. Otherwise, he's content or happy. He is just a complete joy to his daddy and I.

Random Thoughts

Caleb is such a happy little boy! He spends about half of his awake time with a huge toothless grin on his face (and he's nursing almost all the the rest of the time.) He outgrew all of his 0-3 month clothes several weeks ago, and he's even outgrown a few 3-6 month outfits. His torso is so long that he really needs 6-9 month size in one-piece outfits, though 6-9 month pants are way too long on him. I am definitely not being as self-controlled as a I should when I shop for Caleb, but at least I no longer have any desire to buy myself clothes, so the costs offset each other :) This is my last day of work, and Marcus and I and Caleb are going to Melbourne, FL for a wedding this weekend. I'm a little nervous about our first road trip, because sometimes Caleb wails in the car seat, and I couldn't bear listening to him cry for hours. We're timing the 3-hour drive during his afternoon nap, which usually lasts about two and half hours, so hopefully that will work out well. I won't be surprised at all if he even extends his nap to last the whole trip. He is generally a very accomodating little guy. I've been amazed over and over again by how he manages to fall asleep at all the appropriate times, even if its not a normal sleeping time. Every time we eat out, he manages to sleep through the part where we eating. I've taken him to prayer group several times (where babies are technically not allowed), and he's slept through the whole hour, waking up just when we finish. We even went to see XMen III in the theater and he slept through the entire movie! If only he would start sleeping through the night, I think he really would be the easiest baby ever :)

Back to Work

I went back to work full time a week and a half ago, and things are going more smoothly than I expected. Caleb has been staying at home with his Aunt Traci during the day. The first day I left him, he refused to take the bottle for about five hours before he gave in. I felt so bad for him, but I was glad that he acquiesed in only five hours, because some babies will hold out a lot longer. Since the second day, he has taken a bottle from Traci with little protest.

I thought it would be totally agonizing to leave him for a whole day, but a couple of things made it easier than I expected. I'm very at ease leaving him with Traci, because I know that she loves him and has his best interest at heart, so I don't have the concerns that I would with some other sitters. (Like that he would be left in the bouncy seat most of the day, not talked to and loved on) It's also much easier because I know I'm only going to be working for a couple of weeks, and then I have the summer off to be with him all day long :)

In some ways, I've enjoyed getting out of the house and using the more intellectual part of my brain at work. I also enjoy the sense of accomplishment I feel from getting things done, which rarely happens at home these days! It looks like my principal is going to work it out where I can come back for three hours a day next year, which I think I will really enjoy, and the income definitely won't hurt :)

The hardest thing about the past two weeks has been the sleep deprivation. I don't get the afternoon naps with Caleb that I could take when I was home all day, so I'm pretty much tired, well, exhausted, all the time. But work's almost over, and the day after I finish, I get to fly to Arkansas and take Caleb to see his Grandma and Grandpa for the first time!

Sleeping

Caleb is sleeping a lot better at night. To date, he has had three nights that he slept a 7-hour stretch, and three nights that he slept an 8-hour stretch. Unfortunately, those nights are peppered throughout the past three weeks, with little consistency. They do seem to come on the weekends more than during the week, though he slept eight hours last night. I'm hoping that he will soon make the 8-hour night a habit instead of a pleasant surprise :)

First Shots

We took Caleb to get his 2-month shots today. I say "we" because I warned Marcus that if he didn't come with me, I was liable to have a meltdown right there in the doctor's office. Marcus held him and the nurse was quick and he only cried for a few minutes, so it wasn't as bad as I was expecting...

...at least at first. Marcus and I parted ways right after the shots--him back to work and me to Subway to reward myself with some cookies for being so strong during the shots :) Caleb was a little fussy in the car seat on the way home, which is unusual for him, but I just attributed it to the fact that I had taken the head support out of his car seat that morning and he didn't like the new feel of the seat. When we got home, Caleb went down for his afternoon nap, only he woke up after 30 minutes and had to be nursed back to sleep again, but that's not too unusual. After I got him back to sleep, I was feeling quite complacent, silently scoffing at the horror stories I'd heard about immunization day. Little did I know...

I was laying on our bed beside Caleb after he'd been sleeping for almost two hours, and I watched in dismay as he opened his mouth and started SCREAMING before he even opened his eyes. Caleb is a very easy-going baby and I've only heard him scream a couple of times. Once when a toddler threw a toy in his face, and once when his skin was accidently pinched in the stroller snaps. Both of those times, he screamed for a minute or two, and was easily consoled by nursing when he'd calmed. Not true this time. He screamed incessantly for 45 minutes, only taking breaks to draw in deep, raggedy breaths. He wouldn't nurse at all, and holding him actually seemed to make him scream louder (if that was possible??), so I just laid him on the bed and sat over him, aching for how much he must be hurting. I called Marcus, who told me to give him Tylenol, but neither of us knew the correct dose. Then I called my friend who has two kids, but I couldn't get a hold of her. Then I called his pediatrician's office, and the receptionist said someone would call back. By now it had been thirty minutes. I decided that Caleb had to have some Tylenol, so I looked and looked and finally found the sheet from the doctor's office that explained the dosage and then gave him the recommended dose of Infant Tylenol Drops. About fifteen minutes later, the pediatric office called back, telling me to give him Infant Tylenol Drops every four hours, so I was glad that I went ahead with it. The nurse also said that he was probably having a reaction to the Dtp vaccination, based on my description of his quivering, highly-sensitive left leg, and cautioned me to sleep close to him and monitor his breathing for the next 24 hours. (That was wonderful news for an already frazzled and paranoid mommy.)

Caleb was beginning to calm down at this point, though he was still screaming periodically--just taking longer breaks to breathe. He finally complied with my efforts to get him to nurse, though he would come off and let out a wail every minute or so. I was so relieved when his little eyes started to close and the shudders in his tiny body started to subside. I laid motionless beside him for about 45 minutes after he fell asleep, paranoid that my movement might be the end of his respite from pain.

He's been sleeping for an hour now, and I don't think there are enough cookies in all the Subway's in Gainesville to erase this experience from my mind. Goodbye smug complacency--shots suck!