Our Journey, His Work: December 2014

A HALF YEAR OLD!!!!!!!!!

I have heard for FOREVER how in the blink of an eye your kids go from baby to teenager. I did believe people when they said that but man, now I REALLY see the quickness of it all. Even though it has flown by, I can honestly say Rance and I both have been so intentional about being engaged in the every day with Jayden and enjoying all the new, fun moments watching him grow. We don't want to let life become so busy that we miss God's grace in the every day, the every detail. That takes training of the mind, focus, and perspective each day.

2 weeks ago today, Jayden hit the 6 month mark. The milestones that have occurred over the last month have been extreme in my mind although I'm sure normal in other people's minds. When I say extreme, I mean in the sense that he is becoming more and more independent and like a little man! STOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOP!

Here goes the detail of the last month:

SLEEPING has changed significantly over the last month! Jayden slept in his rocker/sleeper in our room until around 5 1/2 months. Up until that point, he slept through the night like it was nobody's business. After the 5 month mark, he began waking up more in the middle of the night. Rance and I noticed that he began looking like a hotdog crammed in a hotdog bun while he was sleeping - meaning, he was getting too big for this rocker and had NO room to stretch! Uh oh, that is when we knew it was time for some sort of transition! I was ready to transition to the crib but Rance was not (haha). He thought it would be wise to try him in the pack-n-play in our room for a couple of weeks and by the time he was 6 months, transition him to his crib in his own room, so that's what we did! Side note - During nap time at daycare and at home he was already sleeping in a pack-n-play (at daycare) and his crib (at home) on his stomach so he already was being transitioned into this 'new way of sleeping.' Anyways, we tried the pack n play only a couple of nights and quickly decided to move him to his own room. I think I thought this would be harder but it really was not. I have not been the paranoid mama waking up constantly to check on him - not even when he was born. In fact, don't pass out, but we have never even used our baby monitor to this day. YIKES! Once we transitioned him to the crib, on his tummy at night, things went a little crazy. He was waking up constantly and at times SCREAMING like he did as a newborn. In fact, that reminds me that I never wrote a blog explaining those first few weeks of life but after 3 weeks of a LOT of crying, he lost his voice and after we took him to the doctor, we realized he had reflux. From that day forward, the medicine completely changed everything and we felt like we had a entirely new baby. So now at 5 1/2 months old, the reflux seemed to be acting up again and oh it broke my heart! In fact, I handled his crying SO MUCH better as a newborn than at this point. I cannot tell you the praying that occurred begging for the Lord's wisdom in what was causing it to flare up so bad again. I had felt so uneasy about him being on his stomach (not because the doctor's tell you NOT to put them on their stomach - that never bothered me) but because it just seemed like there was some type of discomfort there. MAMA'S can sense this stuff. AND, I began to clearly decipher the difference in his cries at night between the "I'm hungry" "I'm hurting" or "I'm just whining because I want my mama." Long story short, my cousin Brooke did some research and it ends up that it was actually WORSE for Jayden to be laying on his tummy due to reflux because of a certain airway being blocked. The next night, we transitioned him to sleeping on his back with the crib TILTED at an angle (which resembled how the rocker/sleeper was) and GOD had granted the wisdom needed to help little man's rest!!! This sleeping position is definitely the right one for him and we are so grateful the reflux isn't hurting him like it was.
On another note, we both decided it was time to start laying Jayden down at night somewhat awake so that he would learn to soothe himself to sleep instead of depending on us to do that. It's interesting because he's never been difficult to put to sleep at night. In fact, he set his bed time at 8:30 months ago and literally around 8:15 or 8:2o, he begins to give his whiney, put me to bed, sounds. It's like clockwork. We would hold him and pat his little butt for maybe 5 minutes and he would be OUT and we would put him to bed. When I layed him down for the first time wide awake, I expected the crying to begin as I left the room. Not Jayden. He just goes right off to sleep. I always have to go back in there to check on him though because he has the blanket pulled over his head everytime. It never fails! He loves to hold one separately around his face which is so funny because Rance and I both love to hold a pillow or something at night too.
Continued on sleeping (please feel free to stop reading but I have to document these things for the future): Jayden will still wake up sometimes in the middle of the night but definitely not often and generally he just needs his paci stuck in his mouth. We will work on that later! One thing at a time!
Nap routine is so consistent. Jayden generally sleeps from 8:30 until around 6 or 6:30. Within an hour and a half to two hours of being awake, he is ready for his morning nap which can range from 45 minutes to an hour and a half generally (sometime between 8 and 9:30). By 11:30 or 12, he is ready for his afternoon nap which is usually a couple of hours. He does have a third nap in the evening but we call this his 'power nap'. Sometime in the evening, he will pass out and it will appear he is out for the long haul and within 15-30 minutes he will wake up bright eyed and bushy tailed :)
What's new?!?!?! He is sitting up on his own (as in no more assistance)! This is SO much fun.
He is eating baby food! The week before he was 6 months old, we decided it was time to try some rice cereal. He had definitely noticed food on our plates and was constantly trying to grab at it and well, the boy wanted some food. This first time eating experience was hilarious. We laughed until we cried at his excitement. To think he had only had breastmilk up until this point is still crazy to me. He's eating twice a day most days and has now tried bananas, apples, and carrots.
Some time around 5 1/2 months, we were eating at Bojangles for lunch after church on Sunday when my friend Dana mentioned putting Jayden in the high chair there while we eat and OH MY WORD, it was life changing. It had not even crossed my mind to try a high chair yet while eating out (maybe that's because we never eat out??? haha) but he thought it was GREAT and I had a hands free lunch.
We finally made it to the point where it is actually easier to take Jayden out of his car seat (in most cases) and carry him in places vs. lugging him + the car seat around (we are talking 30 pounds total people).
He has been wearing 9 month clothes but is definitely graduating into 12 months. In fact, several of his 9 month jogging pants and jeans are too tight on his THICK THIGHS and we have gone to 12 month pants.
Bath time continues to be a BLAST. I absolutely love giving him a bath.
Jayden has got to the point now where sometimes he just wants his mommy and I don't say that pridefully - I mean, I hope he does love me and know how much I love him.
Jayden has been saying ma ma, da da, ba ba for a while now but I think I'm not convinced he knows I am the one that is associated with 'ma ma' although others are. Yes there are times he says it perfectly - like when he is sleepy and he wants his 'ma ma' but I'm still not sure.
He loves to watch people and little kids. He is VERY observant and will get this very serious face when he is looking around and noticing his surroundings.
He continues to teeth but no actual teeth yet! He wants everything in his mouth though.
He loves to reach and grab everything in sight. I cannot imagine when he becomes mobile! Speaking of, tummy time has gotten a lot better although I admit, I don't do it daily :) He would much rather you let him stand tall on his legs than put him on his belly. People joke that he may skip crawling and go straight to walking as strong as his legs are but only Father knows.
He LOVES to give kisses or maybe I should say - HE LOVES TO SLOBBER ALL OVER YOUR FACE. I absolutely love it. When I walk in to pick him up from daycare, he smiles so big and when I pick him up - the face slobbering begins. I say BRING IT ON buddy - mama likes your sugar.
Rance and I love to sing and dance and when we get excited, so does Jayden. He will smile and kick those feet and make all sorts of noises.
I've been reading to him more and more. Usually our morning reading consists of the Word and our evening reading has been a fun book and a book about the story of Jesus!
He is super content and easy to take wherever. I am SO thankful for this.
His 6 month appointment was this past Wednesday, December 17th (so only a week and a half after his 6 month birthday) and he weighed 19 lbs even and was 27.25 inches long. He had a blast interacting with the doctor and nurses and took his 4 shots like a champ.
Basically, life with Jayden is a pure JOY! Thank you Jesus for letting us be his parents.