Saturday, December 25, 2010

emperor's new clothes...

since this one isn't really about milo, i'll start with a brief update to satisfy the masses ;P

- we're getting better at figuring out a sleep schedule where he'll sleep at least 5 hours to start, and then usually 3 hours and 2 hours, or something close to that. i'm hoping to continue to figure out this sleep schedule better and stick to a routine so that the waking-every-other-hour nights become non-existent; those nights are still so hard on me.

- he's started smiling on a schedule, too. usually late mornings, he gets a major case of the smiles, and it keeps me from losing my marbles on mornings when we've had a rough night.

- not a huge fan of tummy time, he'll be content for maybe a few minutes tops, and then wants to be on his back again to look at the toys hanging from the play-mat. but he's becoming more content on his own (on the play-mat or in the swing) for longer periods of time while he's awake, which is helpful for me in still trying to get more stuff done throughout the day.

- he doesn't nap well on his own in the crib, but if we're holding him or he's in his swing, we can get him to nap for at least an hour or so, again, very useful for getting stuff done (or catching up on sleep, myself).

onto the clothing issue. i feel like i'm trying to grow my hair out, only worse, because it's my body, and i can only manipulate it so much (very unlike an awkward phase in hair length which can easily be bobby-pinned, hair-sprayed or pulled-back into submission). i'm torn between buying clothes that fit me now, but which i plan to no longer fit into in a matter of months (the goal is only three, but possibly up to six). for christmas i received several gift cards towards target, and one towards kohl's. my dilemma is do i continue to wear clothes that are uncomfortably too small (if only just barely, as i find ways to make them fit), or do i give in and buy clothes that fit me comfortably? the latter is so tempting, and with the fact that i have a plethora of clothing from my pre-preggo days that fit me quite nicely, once i'm ::ahem:: "a few" pounds lighter, i'd very much like to go to on a shopping spree tomorrow or monday to pick out some new duds.

but the "practical" side of me says, "no zoe, just hold out. you have enough clothes that more or less fit you, and it's more incentive to stay on the straight and narrow of healthy eating and regular exercise (which i haven't been very good at this past week and a half) if your clothes are uncomfortable. save the gift cards until you've reached your goal weight, and then enjoy splurging on the new clothes."

and then the jiminy cricket of social justice who loves to hang out on my back burner whispers in my ear, "zoe, even with giving a bunch of your old clothes to good-will recently, you still have way more clothes than you need. there are people with no clothes what-so-ever. if you want to get more new clothes, then you really should give away the clothes you have in storage."

and can you see why i get so indecisive sometimes? uffda.

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

well whaddya know...

last night, milo had a serious case of the wiggles. at around 7:30 or 8 at night, he usually starts getting pretty sleepy, and it's all we can do to keep him awake a little longer so we can feed him once more and so that we're going to sleep soon after putting him down. but last night was different; he was wide awake and being very interactive. it was definitely fun, but i was worried i'd be up with him till 10:30 or 11 just trying to get him to fall asleep.

my go-to method? just keep feeding him until the food coma hits and he's ready to conk out.

within an hour i think i got about 7 ounces or so in him (usually he's been taking 4 ounces at a feeding these past few days), and by 9:30 pm he was down. and he slept for a full 7 hours! ::gasp:: it was so glorious. he let out a little squeal at 3:30 am, but then turned his head and went back to sleep, and so did i.

and then after his 4:30 am feeding, he went back to sleep and we both slept for another hour and a half.

i feel so ambitious today, so awake, so energetic, so full of life! hallelujah for a really good night's rest. :)

Monday, December 13, 2010

a rolling milo gathers no stones?

milo's great feat for today happened when i put him facing down on the playmat for some tummy time this afternoon: he rolled over.

so i put him back on his belly, and he rolled over again!

granted, it was mostly a lot of leaning combined with some upper arm strength just to push himself up enough so that his face wasn't smothered, but still, it's an exciting accomplishment.

now if only we can master sleeping though the night!

Sunday, December 12, 2010

:)

this morning, as i put milo down on his playmat so he could entertain himself while i did the dishes and ben snow-blowed the driveway, i smiled at milo and he smiled back at me... i've been waiting for this :D

Wednesday, December 8, 2010

oh good glory, hallelujah!

last night milo slept from 9:30 PM (and i was asleep by 10) 'till 2:30 AM, and then from 3:30 AM until 6:30 AM (roughly, of course), and i was able to fall right back to sleep after getting up for the one feeding that he needed.

can it be like this every night?

it's funny how one day can feel so different from the next, and all because of a good night's sleep. :D

Tuesday, December 7, 2010

burning the candle at both ends...

i keep finding myself trying to do too much, and then burning myself out...

on top of taking care of milo day and night (ben helps on his days off and when he gets home from work, but otherwise, it's a matter of trying to do anything around milo's schedule of eating, pooping, burping and cooing, the last of which he hasn't really started yet, but is suppose to start happening soon), there's also the daily task of eating (which also means preparing food) and bottles and dishes to wash, the bi-weekly task of laundry, and then what i like to call "the want-to's" - the things that don't need to get done for our family to function:

i want to exercise 3-5 times per week. i want to keep the house picked up and organized. i want to stay on top of the bills that need to be paid so that ben doesn't have to worry about them and/or we don't get late fees. i want to keep up with my blogging/pictures of milo. i want to keep working on my art and pursuing that as another source of income for our family. i want to re-organize milo's closet.

on top of which, we're still in the process of getting our home organized and in order from having moved in barely 2 months ago, and welcoming milo to the mix just one week after the move...


suffice it to say, life still feels a little chaotic, and i'm still learning how to get into the swing of things, and how to let go on some things and give myself more grace (as ben keeps telling me i need to do.)

but we're all healthy, milo isn't sleeping through the night yet, but he does get some longer stretches in, he just had his 2 month check-up, got his vaccines and is growing in height and weight at a healthy rate (he's at about the 57th percentile for both), so i know we have to count our blessings.

and now milo's resting on my chest after just having finished a bottle and burping (ahhh, the joys of multi-tasking!), so i should probably grab some food myself.