Forest at 14, 15, & 16 Weeks

The last three weeks have been rough here at the house. The three of us have been recuperating from being sick, officially diagnosed in Forest as RSV and an ear infection. I finally caved and went to the urgent care clinic and was told I had an ear infection and sinus infection. Chris healed easier than all of us and was probably down only about a week whereas I am hanging in here at the longest at three weeks. What’s left is some sinus drainage and a nasty cough. Forest coughs on occassion but we’re giving him a daily Albuterol nebulizer treatment along with liquid amoxicillin. Giving a baby liquid medication is about as difficult as giving it to my cats, maybe just a bit easier. When it is dyed pink it’s even more fun to attempt to keep it from getting on clothes and furniture.

So, that’s been my reason for delaying these updates, just not feeling up to par and feeling like sitting down to write what’s going on.

Other than being sick, Forest’s mental development is getting stronger. He absolutely loves playing on his playmat but gets frustrated after awhile when he can’t eat the toys that hang down and he’s getting a little frustrated that he hasn’t figured out how to roll over from back to front. He’s been ‘close’ to doing it for a month now, we keep thinking he’s going to roll over but he never does. He gets close but the arm he’s rolling over just isn’t positioned right so he never gets completely over. On the tummy time front he’s been doing better which I think is attributed to daycare. He’s been able to stay on his tummy for longer periods without getting fussy. His abdominal muscles are also getting stronger and I can help pull him up off of his back with his hands and he will sit up for a few seconds before we roll back down onto his back.

In a week he’ll be four months old and a week later he has his four month well visit and vaccinations. I’ve decided to try breastfeeding him while he gets his shots this time as I read after the fact last time that it seems to soothe babies during the ordeal. We’ll see.

Now that we’re getting closer to introducing foods, I’ve been reading about Baby Led Weaning. We’ll be waiting to introduce solids until closer to the six month mark due to the increasing research that the digestive system isn’t developed well enough for solids much earlier than that. I know they say the range is 4-6 months but I’d rather wait until closer to six months, plus Forest isn’t sitting up on his own yet and is still working on his gag relex by sticking his hands in his mouth as far as he can. The ‘weaning’ part is misleading, I’m not actually going to be weaning him, it’s more like baby led ‘feeding’. Chris will be harvesting some carrots from our garden in a month or so and I’d like to try some of those out pureed as well as small pieces that he can feed himself. It will be an interesting adventure introducing food to Forest!

I’ve been doing some elimination communication with Forest, mostly still catching the pees but if I’m diligent in the mornings I can catch his #2s in the morning. I’m not always diligent.

Daycare is going alright other than picking up all the germs that are there. Chris and I have a good routine down, he takes Forest in the morning and I pick him up in the evenings. It gives each of us about 30 minutes of quiet time at the house before everyone is there. It is still a pain in the butt to be going out of our way to drop him off and pick him up but it would be like that no matter where we took him.

Other than that there’s not much else going on. He’s just growing and playing and grabbing everything that he can to shove in his mouth—which means we’re having to watch him a lot closer! I’m having to put my hair back a lot more because my hair is a great item to grab! I’m trying to teach him the parts of a face after I feed him. He’ll grab my hand and I’ll point to his nose and then my nose and do that with all of the facial features and eventually I’ll ask where my cheek or nose is. Sometimes he’ll push our hands in the right direction of whatever part I mention. It’s still early for that recognition but I figure it’s not a bad idea to get started in teaching him things like that.

Ok, well, I have to just finish this post and get it up or else we’ll be tacking on week 17! I should really be more diligent and write a short blurb weekly so I have it to post easier. We’ll see how I am at that next time around! Oh and someday I will get around to ironing that sheet he gets his photos taken on…