Jack David - 9 months

These monthly updates seem to be the only thing that I can get written.  I have a couple other posts that I've started, but just haven't found the time to finish them.  One day maybe I'll find the time.

Weight: 17 pounds, 5 ounces (20th%)  

Length: 27 inches (6th%)  Sorry buddy, you don't come from tall people. 

Head: 17 7/8 inches (62nd%, down from 80% at 4 months)

Sleeping: Jack's sleeping habits have drastically improved within the last month.  During the day he takes two naps that vary in length (30 minutes to 3 hours).  He goes to bed for the night around 8:30 and will sleep until 1 or 1:30.  He nurses and then goes right back to sleep.  He'll usually wake up at least one more time.  As long as he finds Mr. Jumpers, he typically goes back to sleep on his own.  

Eating: Jack has really started to like table food.  In fact, he prefers it to purees.  He has tried all kinds of new things this month.   Chicken, green beans, apricots, mac and cheese, pears, broccoli, smoothies, pizza, mashed potatoes (He is my only kid who likes them.), bananas, bread, cheese.  He still nurses about every four hours during the day and once at night.

Clothing:  6-9 months

Diapers:  Size 3

Eyes:    Brown

Hair: Blonde and still rocking the mohawk 

Teeth: None

Milestones:  Jack is into everything!  He has been army crawling for over a month, but finally started crawling on all four a couple days before his nine month birthday.  This month he also learned how to sit up on his own and pull up onto his knees.  He is "talking" more and has said "mama" and "dada." 

Likes:  Jack loves people!  He loves it when people talk or smile at him.  He loves being on the floor and having the freedom to explore the house.  He likes baths, being outside, eating and playing with toys.

Dislikes: There's not much that he doesn't like.  His biggest dislikes are being hungry or tired.  He's still not crazy about the vacuum, but he no longer cries when its on.  He also doesn't like to be confined (ie: stuck in his high chair or barricaded in the living room.

Sisters: They're still just as crazy.  They are always messing with him.  Trying to hold him, setting him up, giving him toys, getting in his face.  He has started letting them know when he doesn't want them to mess with him.  They like that he is mobile, but not that he can get into their stuff.

Jack David - 8 months

Weight: ~17.5 pounds.  He weighed 17 pounds, 1 ounce at the beginning of February when he had the flu.  I think he's still under 18 pounds.

Sleeping: Up until the last couple weeks, Jack's sleeping habits were still pretty bad.  He was waking 3-4 times a night and needed me to comfort him each time.  I really wanted to start letting him fuss longer during the night to see if he could self soothe.  Then our whole house got the flu and that all went out the window.  I just couldn't let him cry when I knew he didn't feel well.  Once he recovered from the flu (thankfully he had a mild case), I started waiting about ten minutes before getting up.  This time it worked!  He still wants to eat once during the night, usually around 1:30 or 2, but that is sooo much better than 3-4 times.  
During the Jack takes three naps that vary in length.  His morning nap is usually the longest and I can typically get him to take a nap during daycare naptime.   He almost always needs and evening nap in order to make it until his normal bedtime.

Eating: Jack nurses about every three to four hours during the day and once during the night.  He gets some kind of solid food in the evening.  Sometimes it's a puree and sometimes it's some of our dinner.  He slightly prefers non-purees, but isn't a huge fan of either one.  Neither of the girls were big eaters at this age, so I'm not too surprised.  

Clothing:  He moved up a size.  Jack now wears 6-9 and 6-12 month clothes.

Diapers:  Size 3

Eyes:    Brown

Hair: His hair still sticks up in the back and he is rocking a pretty cute mohawk.  

Teeth: None

Milestones:  He is acting more and more like a little boy and less like a baby. I love watching his little personality blossom.  He is now completely mobile and gets into everything including Molly's food and water.  He started army crawling a couple weeks ago and just a couple days later he was up on all four.  He has perfected his army crawl (he's fast), but hasn't quite figured out how to crawl yet.

Likes:  Jack loves his mommy!  He loves daddy and his sisters too, but he's totally a mama's boy.   He loves being mobile and enjoys getting things that he knows that he's not supposed to have. (Dog toys and shoes are his current favorite.)  He loves playing/rolling all over the floor, his exersaucer, giving and receiving raspberries, and being sang or talked to.  We started using a bath seat instead of his baby bathtub and is back to loving bath time.  He always tries to get in the tub when he hears the water running.

Dislikes: There's not much that he doesn't like.  His biggest dislikes are being hungry or tired.  He's still not crazy about the vacuum, but he no longer cries when its on.  

Sisters: They're still just as crazy.  They are always messing with him.  Trying to hold him, setting him up, giving him toys, getting in his face.  The majority of the time he is okay with it, but sometimes it’s too much.

Jack David - 6 Months

  

Weight: 16 pounds, 1 ounce.  20%

Length: 26.25 inches.  29%

Head: 17 3/8 inches 70%  He's got a big noggin, just like the rest of the Bogles.  But, hey recent studies suggest that big headed babies are smarter.  

He seems so big, even though he is only in the 20th percentile.  Maybe its because he is the exact same size that Kaitlyn was at a year.  At 12 months, she weighed 16 pounds, 1 ounce and was 27 inches long.  (Madi was only 17 pounds at a year.)  I guess we just don't make big babies.

Sleeping: Bedtime usually begins around 8:30 or as soon as I get the girls in bed.  Jack typically nurses to go to sleep at night, but occasionally I'm able to put him down awake.  
He still isn't sleeping through the night, but instead of constantly being irritated by it I've decided to try to enjoy the extra baby snuggles.  (Especially since he's our last baby.)  I'm hoping to start sleep training him after the New Year and our schedules go back to normal.  

Eating: Nursing is still his preferred method of eating.  However, he is doing much better with taking a bottle.  We started him on rice cereal at the beginning of December.  I was surprised with how much he liked it.  (Kaitlyn hated it, but then again she never was a big fan of baby food. Madi didn't really care for it either.)  He has also tried a few veggies.  Sweet potatoes, carrots and avocados.  He loved the sweet potatoes and carrots, but gagged on the avocados.  Since then he hasn't really liked any veggies, so we're back to rice only.  

Clothing:  3-6 months.    

Diapers:  The blowouts are much better, so he's still wearing a size 2.

Eyes:    Brown.  They're lighter than mine or Kaitlyn's, but they're definitely brown.

Hair: Blonde

Milestones:  He celebrated his first Thanksgiving, which was promptly followed by his first bad cold and fever.  Since then he has visited Santa and experienced Crown Center, twice, and celebrated his first (of five) Christmas.  He recently started waving.  I'm sure it's unintentional, but there have been a few times that it seemed to be on purpose.  
He is so close to sitting up unassisted.  He can do it for short periods of time, but if he leans too far in any direction he has a hard time recovering.

Likes:  He still loves his swing (though he's almost too big), baths, mommy and daddy, his sisters, milk, being held, being talked or sang to, playing on the floor, and his feet.  He also likes to hear his own voice and will screaming or "talk" loudly.

Dislikes: Jack does not like dirty diapers, wet clothes, being hungry or tired.

Sisters: They're still crazy about him.  They are always messing with or trying to be next to him.  They are right by his side trying to make him happy if he cries.  Kaitlyn can't stand it if he cries.  She wants us to immediately take care of him.  Madi is a little more used to it and just gives him lots of toys or tries to make him laugh. 

Jack David - 5 Months

Weight: Just under 15 pounds. 

Length: 25 inches???

Sleeping: Jack is still not sleeping through the night.  In fact, his sleep is worse than it was last month.  I never really believed that there was such a thing as a four month sleep regression, but I do now.  Jack went from waking 1-2 times a night and occasionally sleeping all night to waking 3-4 times a night almost every night.  I've tried everything that I can think of to help him sleep better, but so far it's not working.  He is getting better at self soothing, so hopefully that leads to better sleeping at night.  Jack still doesn't have a nap schedule, but I try to get him sleep at least a little while the other kids nap.  Usually that means napping in the swing, but twice this week he actually napped in his bed.

Eating: Nursing is his preferred method of eating.  I've had a bit of a problem getting him to take a bottle lately.  He flat out refused for two or three days.  After switching bottles (he likes the ones that came with my Medela pump) and several days of offering it to him, I finally was able to get him to drink from one.  Then I skipped the weekend and here we are back to square one.  Today was better than yesterday, so here's hoping that I can get it resolved this week.  I donated most (759 oz) of my frozen breastmilk, but still have about 200 ounces that milk bank wouldn't accept.  

Clothing:  We made the switch to 3-6 months.  They are still pretty roomy, but definitely fit better than 0-3 months clothing.

Diapers:  Size 2 fits the best, but he has lots of blow outs up the back.  I've tried a couple different brands and some are better than others.  He's still too small for size 3 (and we have a ton of 2's left), so I'll just have to deal with the blow outs for now.  

Eyes:    Brown.  They're lighter than mine or Kaitlyn's, but they're definitely brown.

Hair: I was completely wrong about this one.  I was certain that his new hair was coming in brown like Kaitlyn's, but it's not.  Looks like we have another blonde in the family.

Milestones:   Jack is fairly mobile.  He can roll both directions and has started spinning.  He is so close to sitting up unassisted.  He can do it for about a minute and then he falls over.  His back is getting stronger every day and it shows when he's in the sitting position.  He can blow raspberries and is grabbing everything (including things he's not supposed to).

Likes: His likes haven't changed much from last month.   He still loves his swing, baths, mommy and daddy, his sisters (especially Madi), milk, being held, being talked or sang to, sitting up, and playing on the floor.

Dislikes: Jack does not like dirty diapers, wet clothes or being hungry.  Other than that he is super happy.

Mama:  Doing good.  My shedding is finally slowing down and new hair is starting to cover my bald spots.  (At 3 months post partum, I looked like I had a receding hairline.) 

Sisters: They're still crazy about him.  They are always messing with or trying to be next to him.  It's cute.  Well, most of the time.

Jack David - 3 Months

As expected, this was another busy month for all of us.  Jack has changed so much in the last couple of weeks.  He no longer has the newborn look and is becoming more of a little person everyday.  There have been so many milestones this month and I am so so glad that I have been able to see them.  I feel like I missed things with the girls because they were in daycare.  I seriously don't know how I was able to leave them so young. (8 weeks for Kaitlyn and 12 weeks for Madi)  There are days when I question why I run a home daycare.  Just one look at his sweet face and I have my answer.

Weight: About 12.5 pounds

Length: ??

Sleeping: He started sleeping through the night at the end of August.  Though, last week he was up once or twice every night.  I'm hoping that was just a fluke and that things will go back to normal soon.  Bedtime is anywhere between 9:30 p.m and 11:00 p.m.  He usually wakes up around 7 a.m, eats and then goes back to sleep for a couple more hours.  

Eating:  Still exclusively breastfed and nursing on demand.  In the morning and evening he nurses every 2 hours.  He usually takes a pretty long nap in the middle of the day so he goes a little longer.  

Clothing:  0-3 months, though I'm not sure how much longer his sleepers will fit.  About half of them are a little snug.

Diapers: He could definitely move up a size, but I'm cheap and I want to try to use up all of the size 1 diapers first.

Milestones: Sleeping through the night, rolling to his left side (He could roll over if he could just get his left arm out of the way.), laughing (not quite a giggle yet), playing with his hands, grabbing onto nearby objects, holding his head up for at least 30 seconds, lots of smiling and "talking", and his first road trip to Oklahoma.

Eyes: Brown

Hair:  Most of his newborn hair is gone, except in the back.  I can't quite tell the color of his new hair.  Most days it looks brown, but occasionally it looks blonde.  I guess will find out soon.

Likes: Being held, being talked to, Mommy, swinging, being naked, baths

Dislikes: Being hungry, wet clothes, tummy troubles, spitting up, pacifies (I've given up trying)

The Parents: We're doing better.  We still have lots of projects that are keeping us busy (and tired) and we haven't quite established the routine that we need.  Hopefully, this month that it happens.

Mama: I've lost almost all of my baby weight, but most of my pants still aren't fitting like the once did.  It's definitely time to start working out again.  If only I had time. Ha!  I keep telling myself that I'll be able to once I get caught up on all of my new house projects.  Also, I'm surprised that I'm not bald with all the hair that I've been losing.  Postpartum hair loss is in full force.  Seriously, how long does this last?  

The Sisters:  As obsessed as ever!!  They are constantly checking on Jack and hate it when he cries.  We still see a bit of jealousy every now and then, but I think they're used to him being here now.

1st visit to Great Grandma Bogle's house

Jack David - 2 Months

I had this written and ready to post on the 18th, but it just never happened.  I knew it would be a CRAZY day, but I had no idea just how crazy it would be.   The movers showed up early (thank goodness) and my dad got there shortly after that and we sit didn't get everything out by our 5 pm deadlines.
Then we didn't have internet for a week.   It was scheduled to be hooked up on Saturday, the 19th, but the technician went to the neighbors house instead.  I called every day and every time I was told that someone would call me later in the day to get it rescheduled.  Never happened.  Spectrum really needs to work on their customer service.  Now that we finally have internet, I can post Jack's two month update.

Weight: 11 pounds, 15 ounces (25th percentile)

Length: 23 inches (53rd percentile)

Sleeping: I'd love to say that he was sleeping through the night (his sisters both did at 6 weeks), but he's not.  Jack still sleeps quite a bit during the day, so he doesn't usually go to bed until 10:30 or 11.  He then sleeps most of the morning, waking every 3-4 hours to eat.  The longest he's slept is 5 hours and that's only happened a handful of times.  I desperately need his bedtime to change now that David is back at work and can't stay up with him.
Also, we moved Jack to in his crib the night before david went back to work.  The first week in the crib was pretty rough.  He was waking up every two hours.  I think this had to do with the fact that he had never really slept laying flat.   We had him sleeping in a rock and play in our room at night.  It's been couple of weeks and he's back to waking up only once at night.  

Eating:  He's still exclusively breasfed.  He has successfully taken a bottle the few times that I have offered and a couple from Grandma and Papa.  During the day he eats about every 3-4 hours.  From 3-11, it's about every 2 hours and then back to every 3-5 hours over night.

Clothing: Mostly 0-3 months.  He can still wear a few newborn onesies, but not any sleepers.  Three month clothes are still a little big.

Diapers: Size 1

Milestones: Smiling (8/8), sleeping in his crib (8/9), cooing (8/11), first time being babysat by Grandma Kathy and Papa Dave (8/12), staying awake longer than an hour.

Eyes: They're turning brown.  They were a grayish blue at birth.

Hair:  His newborn hair is thinning and his new hair is starting to come in.  It looks like he has a residing hairline.  I think he will have brown hair like Kaitlyn.

Likes: Being held, his swing, eating.  He's starting to enjoy laying on his playmat.

Dislikes: Being hungry, tummy troubles, and spitting up. 

The Parents: We're (still) tired!!  This past month has been CRAZY!!  Between buying and selling houses, packing, moving, school starting (for David and Kaitlyn), and having a newborn who doesn't sleep through the night yet, we're not getting a whole of lot of sleep.  Hopefully, we'll be better next month once we establish our new normal.

Mama: I'm doing well, though I still haven't lost all of my weight.  I assumed that it would take longer this time, but really thought I'd be back to my pre prego size by now.  (I was wearing my normal clothes just a week after Kaitlyn was born and a month after Madi.). Now that the move is behind us, it's time to get serious about losing these last few pounds and inches.  Otherwise, I will not have any pants to wear.  (I borrowed some shorts from my mom, but I won't be able to do that with pants.)

The Sisters:  They are still obsessed with him.  They are constantly kissing or touching him and wondering where he is. We don't worry about them being alone with Jack as much.  They've learned to be gentler around him .