Tummy Time

What could cause such a happy baby go from this face...

...to this face? 

Answer: Tummy Time! As much as Micah loves his play gym, he hates tummy time. My doctor told me he needs to be on his tummy about 10-20 min a day to strengthen his neck muscles as he'll try to lift his head. So after every play session in his gym, I flip him over for the last few minutes on his tummy. 

As you can see...he's not a big fan:)

We've tried both with the pillow and without but it doesn't make much of a difference to him. And now he's developed a new cheating method where he'll just attempt to roll onto his side instead of lifting his head! 

Little stinker:)

Tummy time always ends in tears so I usually only let it last a few minutes and let him practice lifting his head when he is upright. (He's getting really good at that at least.)

Couldn't pass up this cute little hiney shot haha.

I love my play gym!

Micah is growing! This week, along with learning to smile he has also started paying closer attention to toys. One of his favorite morning activities during his wake time is to play in his play gym. This was a gift from Grandpa John & Grandma Pam at my shower and he loves it! He gets comfy on the whale pillow and loves looking in the mirror and listening to the music. He also really likes the hanging rattles and gets a big smile on his face when he hears me shake them. Soon we will start practicing 'tummy time' using the play gym - he's not a big fan of that yet:)

 

 

First smiles

Finally! After all the sad scrunchy faces we've been seeing a few of these big goofy grins. It does take a lot of work to get one but it's so adorable when I do:) I usually have to wait until there has been a big poopy diaper (too much info, I know) and he is relieved to have it changed. Then I have to talk in this ridiculously high-pitched voice and poke his cheeks.

 

This one is a lot more subdued, but I like to see this face as well. He looks satisfied:)

Hopefully there's a lot more of these happy faces to come!

The turtle

Honestly, who sleeps like this? Our crazy boy loves to sink deep down into his blankets and cover his face during nap time. It drives me crazy because I am constantly needing to pull the blankets down for fear that he'll suffocate in there. But no matter how many times I attempt to uncover him, he always finds a way to duck into his little blankie shell like a turtle. When I usually swaddle him, the blankets start at his shoulders and if you look at this picture he has managed to wiggle down so that they are all the way up over his head!! 

Perhaps it is a little too bright in our house? :)

Breaking him in to the chaos

It could possibly be bad parenting, but we've been taking Micah to youth group and into the church service each week. We wanted him to get "broken in" and used to being around all the crazy kids. It actually has been going pretty well, except I learned a few things the hard way..haha....

#1. Loud worship music and drums + baby = bad. I must have been desensitized but I seemed to forget how loud our worship music was until we got blasted that first night. Poor Micah about jumped out of his onesie. Lesson learned: Remove baby from youth room before worship begins. He sure likes to hear the music from the hallway though.

#2. Baby needs limited time with Junior Highers. We recently started a jr high program on Wednesday nights for an hour. I didn't think an hour would be too bad for Micah and I to hang out with 5-7 of these 6th & 7th graders. But then I realized how CRAZY this age group is. Last week Micah was way overstimultaed by their chaos and his eyes were as big as saucers for about 20 minutes after it ended. So now we leave a little early haha.

#3. Getting out of church early to feed him = impossible. We are very blessed by having so many people who love us at church. But this means that about 50 older ladies are going to surround Micah like a celebrity and each need a good long turn holding him even if it's 20 minutes past his feeding time. Now we know that an extra bottle is mandatory for after the service.

#4. Careful selection is need when choosing which students are allowed to hold the baby. Extra loud students, hyper freshman girls (who like to "overbounce" him until he spits up all over their shirts), and the guys who like to use babies as footballs are all banned.

It is definitely a learning experience, but we know he'll grow into it:)

All wrapped up...

There is one thing that can make Micah the happiest baby on earth and that is his octopus robe. No other warm towel will do. It's pretty amazing the effect it has on him. The other night he was fussy for about two hours straight and after trying everything...I took off his blankets and wrapped him in his robe instead and he went right to sleep! We realized after a couple of his bathtimes that he loves the feeling of it because it is so huge on him. It's better than swaddling. The minute we wrap him up in it after a bath he is instantly calm.

On this day, he was so excited to be in his robe this time that I couldn't get him to be still for the photo. His arms and legs were kicking all over the place:)

Tummy troubles...

It's official...we have a screamer. I remember our days of wishful thinking that the baby would sleep all day and be perfectly calm so we could take him anywhere. Haha. Well okay he is like that some days... but on most days our little guy cries...A LOT. But of course we still adore him and it is not his fault! He has major tummy troubles though and we are doing some investigating. There are days where if he is awake, he is screaming...and sometimes his gas pains even wake him up. My suspicions so far are the following:

1) Reflux or GERD - He gags and spits up if placed on his back for long. He coughs and hiccups and has wet sounding burps. He does not spit up a lot, but that's because if it comes up and he swallows it back down before it comes out.

2 ) Oversupply or Foremilk/Hindmilk Imbalance - He has a lot of gas, very gurgly stomach and his bm are pretty watery most days. I have been trying block feedings and it has seemed to help so far, but I've heard it could take weeks before we'd know for sure.

3 ) My diet - I keep hoping it's not this one because I love ice cream, yogurt, pizza, pop, chocolate, coffee. I have been trying to eliminate dairy and caffeine but it is very hard. He actually seems to get fussy on the days where I haven't had much of these things, but I will keep trying anyway.

4) Just his digestive system developing. He does get fussy around the same times everyday...even if it is a calm day. Mornings 5am-9am he has bad gas and evenings 5pm-7pm he is either gassy or just grumpy. Sadly these are the times Stephen is home.

We've tried mylicon gas drops, gripe water, warm baths, tummy massages, rocking, singing, swinging, apacifier, and sitting in his bouncer. We take him on walks, on drives, and dance with him haha. Sometimes these things work, sometimes they don't. Mostly it's just hard to see him cry or in pain and feel helpless, so pray that we will get it all figured out soon. I've heard that most tummy issues resolve around 3 months so this keeps us hopeful.