Journey with You

OMG, Cyrus is 2 months and 3 weeks old today! I haven’t got much chance to update my diary. We had a big snowstorm on Oct. 15th and thousands of people lost their power and telephone. We were really lucky that we didn’t lose anything, except two two-hour power outages due to the repair work a few days later. I was so freaked out when we lost power because I had lots of breast milk in the freezer. Thank goodness that it was only two hours.

After the snowstorm, I had to have a laparoscopic surgery done on Oct. 24th. It was an outpatient surgery and I came back home that evening. However, I was in pain for the first few days and DH had to take time off from work. I couldn’t breastfeed 24 hours afterwards and I pumped and dumped. They gave me more local anethesia than general and I could have breastfed after twelve hours but I didn’t want to take a chance. Doc prescribed me Lortab to release the pain. I only took two and I stopped. I’m afraid it’s bad for Cyrus even though doctor said it was okay. I had to take everything slowly and let DH held Cyrus. Other than that, I was doing okay. I feel much better now.

Before my surgery, I ordered a Moby Wrap online. DH loves Baby Bjorn but it doesn’t work as well for me. It hurts my back and it always too loose for me after DH uses it. Moby Wrap came the day before my surgery and I tried it. I love it. It’s much more comfortable and Cyrus can look around until he falls asleep. It’s supposed to be good until Cyrus is 35lbs, which is great!

I also ordered an Inglesina Sophia Pram over the phone with a retailer in California. After doing lots of research online and talking to a few companies over the phone, this company offered the best deal and immediate delivery as well as professional and friendly service. My MIL offered to pay for it. It cost her over five hundred dollars. The Pram comes with a bassinet and a toddler seat. DH was not too crazy about them but I like it. The chassis is a lot easier to maneuver than the one we were using. I want to train Cyrus to sleep in the bassinet at night and eventually get used to sleep on his own. It serves as a transition from co-sleeping to the crib. He is still getting used to it. I put some blanket in it to make it as cozy as a car seat this morning and he fell asleep in it. (He is still sleeping in it now.) I hope it’s a good sign.

Talking about Cyrus, he’s gradually slept longer and longer during the night. Sometimes he can go as much as 5 hours without waking up. But that’s when I co-sleep with him so we’ll see what happen if he sleeps in the bassinet. During the day, he takes a two hours nap in the morning and another two hours nap in the afternoon. He sometimes takes another one-hour catnap in the evening when we have our dinner.

He can really recognize Mummy and Daddy now. When he is in a good mood, usually after he is fed or after he has a nice sleep, he would talk and smile at us. That’s really sweet. I love his smile and gugugaga. He used to make some noises here and there but now he can make several sounds together, like a sentence. So cute! He also really starts to pay attention to toys now. Even though his had coordination is still immature, he can bang his hands on toys. He also opens his hands now, instead of making fists all the time. I can’t wait to see him reaching out to grab a toy. He likes to look at a mirror and the moving trees outside our house. He seems so fascinated by nature.

He started to outgrow some of the 0-3 months clothes. I am packing them away. I feel so excited that he is moving on to 3-6 months clothing. We’re not doing anything for this Halloween but I love to dress him up. It puts me in a good mood. J I bought a really cute and warm hat from baby Gap. He looks so cute in it!! I am hoping to put some more photos here soon.

We went to Cyrus’ 2-month checkup yesterday. He weighed 10 lbs 15 oz, 22 1/8 inches tall (long), and his head measured 39 cm. Doc took out the growth chart and told us that Cyrus was 25th percentile. He said nothing to worry because all his measurements were 25th percentile, which meant he was growing proportionally. Later on the phone, my MIL told me a research showed that babies who are less then 50th percentile actually turn out to be healthier adults than babies above 50th percentile. Besides, 2/3 of babies in US are formula fed babies, who tend to be heavier. Anyhow, I am happy with his growth as long as he is healthy.

He was screaming when we were waiting for the doc because we put him on his tummy. It took us a while to calm him down. After he quite down, he became really alert and was curious at the new surroundings. Doc asked as if he was like this most of the time. We said half of the time he was calm and alert and the other half of time was fussy and cranky. Doc said he was in the middle range, not the calmest baby, nor the colic baby. I think I like how he is: a little bit passionate and sensitive.

We asked him about the red spots on the back of his head. They were normal. He was a little bit stuffy so the doc suggested we used nasal saline. We talked about sleeping again. I asked him what he thought about the Happiest Baby on the Block. We just got the DVD last weekend and it hasn’t worked for us so far despite all the good responses from other moms. He doesn’t seem to like being swaddled. I thought maybe I didn’t do it right. The doc didn’t seem to be impressed by the 5s’s. He said not all babies like to be swaddled. He suggested us try playing white noise or music to see if he would fall asleep. I guess I’ll give them a shot. We told them the only place he would fall asleep in was his car seat. Doc said it’s okay to leave him sleeping in it.

After the doc left, Cyrus started crying again. Maybe he sensed something nasty is coming?! A nurse came to give him three shots of vaccine and one for mouth. He was crying and screaming then all a sudden he started sucking on the drop. The nurse said “are you hungry?” He then sucked on the Tylenol drop too. So funny.

Anyway, everything went well. His weight gain was good so I was providing him with enough breast milk. I started pumping to stash up. I can get about two to three ounces for a ten-minute session, right after I fed him. It wasn’t too bad. I am hoping it will gradually increase.

Here are some recent photos of Cyrus. He can sit up on a couch now, instead of falling sideways like before. I tried to catch some of his wonderful smiles but he only smiled at me not at the camera. Too bad.