Archive for the ‘baby’ tag
Baby look-a-like
HM was flipping through an old photo album just now and shouted, Mom, who IS this who looks like Jake?? (It’s me lol)
Baby gate land
Early last week, I was shut up with Jake in my MBR/office. The stupid door was shut, but it doesn’t completely latch. He managed to get it open, sneak out and crawl into HM/Mira’s room before I even noticed he was gone. (The door is around the corner from my office and I never thought for a second he’d get on the other side of the door!!!)
Thank goodness he didn’t head for the stairs instead. 
There’s still more.
HM was having a snack and she came upstairs, went into her room to read on her bed. Suddenly, she shrieked! She heard baby sounds emerging from under her bed. She peeked below and sure enough, Jake had crawled under there and was playing with various choking objects.
He’s on the tail end of a cold, plus the dogs spend the night in the girls room. So when HM brought him to me, he was wiggling and gurgling with delight. And his face looked like it had been tarred and feathered, except with snot and dog hair. He was totally pleased with himself, though.
Isn’t he too young for these shenanigans??????
So if awards are being handed out today, I think I win for most neglectful, yet luckiest mommy. Wahhhhhh and PHEW that he was safe.
Ironically, I was researching baby gates when this went down.
And this weekend, my amazing husband solved some of these problems! We now have a master bedroom door that latches again AND we have gates. He also spent a significant amount of time in the attic yesterday dropping cable so he can rewire the network (the cables for which are currently snaking around Jake’s room, where he is never left to play unattended, but someday he will be).
This gate is on the landing hallway, blocking Jake from the balcony and stairs:
Gate #2 – this one traps Jake in the master bedroom/office when that’s where I am. By far the most childproofed and child friendly space in the house.
The bear represents Jake, who is taking a nap right now.
We’re putting this same gate (Kidco Configure) at the bottom of the staircase. Will post that photo when it’s installed!
Baby on the move
I still can’t get over how active this boy is! Here is is 7 months and cruising around his exersaucer. There are some speed crawling bits in here, too. 
Nursing in public
I have NEVER been able to discreetly nurse a baby in a sling before, nor have I been good at nursing in a carrier while on the go, so today marked a first.
This afternoon, while we were touring a REAL ghost town, Jake started fussing while I was wearing him (front carry). I loosened the right shoulder strap and pulled up my shirt (hurrah for the bella band that I had the presence of mind to wear – no skin exposed), guided babe to breast and continued on tour while he nursed away. You couldn’t tell he was nursing at all – he just looked crashed out.
And then the combo of nursing and walking and snuggled up all at once made him crash out for real when he was done. I resettled him, pulled my shirt back down and pulled up the hood – and he snoozed for about 30 minutes of the walk. So cool!! It was really nice to just keep on truckin’ without stopping for 10+ minutes to feed the boy. And it’s not like there were really any good spots to stop anyway – it was dusty and dilapidated. Also, I got so many smiles from strangers who thought the “sleeping” baby was really cute. 
Nursing in the Ergo while hiking:
Truckin’
“Playpen”
Snapshots of life
Jake thinks squash is okay…
… but his patience with solid foods is limited
This girl is crazy! It may be warm here in February, but I can assure you that water is COLD – not even 70F. HM has always been really hot-blooded. Nevertheless, she didn’t last long lol:
Twin pillars of disapproval (Was it something I said? [In fact, it was.]) 
Getting into stuff
A story in pictures:
A common scenario
Baby Jake: 6 month checkup
My poor little man. 
(( He had his 6 mo WBV today and I asked the doc to check out the persistent rash he has on his chest/back. Turns out it’s mostly eczema , but she was also concerned because there are these red pinprick spots that are not a rash, but little red pigment spots that apparently can be a sign of yucky things, like low platelets The can also be just benign red pin pricks, brought on my pressure (like being on his tummy a lot, which he does sleep that way now that he can control the matter). So she sent us immediately to the lab to make sure it isn’t a platelet problem.
A blood culture on a 6 month old is no joy. The lab techs did not look too excited when we walked in. By some mercy, they got his vein on the first try and I had to restrain him tightly while it took them forever to get all the blood they needed through that tiny needle. OMG. I have NEVER seen him that upset. I was so sad. The techs were sad. Please please please let the results come back normal. I never want to do that again.
On top of that, he has gained less than a pound since his last visit a month ago. Since he’s so active, she said that’s the obvious issue. She wants me to ramp up the solids as a supplement to the BF. She isn’t particularly worried about him and didn’t give me hassle. I told her I will of course continue to feed him solids, but he’s always going to be skinny, so don’t be surprised if he never chunks up. His brother, his father and his grandfather were all the same. Why should this Bailey boy be any different?? She laughed and said, yeah, some babies are just this way. I’m glad she’s not being ridiculous about it.
His head circumference is remaining on curve, as is his length (he’s 50th percentile for height and less than 3rd percentile for weight (and dropping). I’d be SO worried about him if he didn’t take after those other long, lanky Bailey’s (see above). Andrew was also a long, skinny babe apparently, and he’s quite normally filled out now.
Still, I DO worry. In fact, I think this little guy is giving me more stress about his health in six months than I EVER had with any of the three girls over the whole past 12 years! Crazy.
Update on Jake’s lab work
NORMAL. Yay. 
Mom to 4 kids and 2 stepkids, I work at home in the heart of the chaos. Founder and executive editor of SheKnows.com and various other sites. Homeschooling. Knitter. Family chef. Gadget geek. Wordphreak. LAZY BLOGGER. 