5 months...a week late

Wow, this whole working mom thing (even part time), is really taking up my computer/blogging time. I know I shouldn't complain because I'm so fortunate to have worked out my current situation, but I miss my computer time!

Anyway, Will had his 5-month checkup last Monday. All went well and the boy is doing great. He weighs 15lbs, 12oz and is 26.75" long! He definitely had a growth spurt from his 4-month checkup. The doctor told us it was time to start solids, so guess what we're doing tonight?!?! I'm excited to see how he does with it. I'm skipping the rice cereal and starting with oatmeal because it has more nutritional value and then we'll move on to either carrots or butternut squash.

Will is still being stubborn with his rolling over. He's so close to rolling onto his back but just can't quite get there (or rather he won't get there, because I'm convinced he can). What he can do is sit up. The doctor was a little surprised at how well he's able to sit up. He tripods a little but can sit up for a short time on his own.

Last night Hubby and I decided to go cold turkey with the swaddle. We figured it was time for Will to sleep without it since he's approaching 6 months. We decided to lose the swaddle for night time sleep since he's always able to put himself back to sleep when he wakes up, unlike his naps (which are much better, but still not as good as night time). It worked surprisingly well. He woke around 4am and 5:15am but went back to sleep both times. He woke again around 6am and was talking to himself and kicking his legs. This wasn't too unusual since he typically does this, but usually goes back to sleep. Well without the swaddle, he decided it would be a good idea to roll from his back to his tummy — for the first time! Everything would have been fine, but the little dude couldn't roll back over to his tummy so he got pissed. Hubby went in and gave him a quick swaddle and he went back to sleep until 8:15am. That boy LOVES his swaddle!

We've decided that our experiment went pretty well, but we need to get him to roll from tummy to back before we can do this again (that's our goal for this week). Will and I are going to Ohio to visit Grandma next weekend while Hubby goes skiing with his brother, so we'll likely go back and try the no swaddle after that.

In other news, Will has been doing great with the nanny. She absolutely loves him and he smiles when he sees her come into the apartment in the mornings. She's really good about taking him out for walks and to his play date and music class during the week. It makes being away from him much easier.

He is such a smiley baby in general. He doesn't laugh too much, but when we do get him going it's the funniest sound, Hubby and I crack up every time. He's still fascinated with his tongue and loves blowing his razberries. He's constantly talking and squealing and recognizes himself in the mirror now. He's even starting to acknowledge the cat, but still not showing too much interest in playing with him yet. I think the cat is just fine with that!

I still can't believe he's on his way to 6 months old. I'm loving every new stage Will experiences (even the fussy/cranky ones). It's amazing to watch my sweet boy take in more and more of the world around him!

I'm a working momma

I survived my first week of work, with minimal tears!

I've mentioned that I quit my job in December to freelance and give me a more flexible schedule. I was able to work out a situation with another company so that I'm working three days a week (Wed-Fri), but am available Monday and Tuesday for conference calls or some minimal work from home. In addition, I've told my former company I'm still interested in taking on some projects from them. Well, they took me up on that offer and asked me to work onsite last Tuesday. That meant I worked Tues-Fri last week...away from Will. Nothing like getting thrown into the fire right from the start.

Monday night was tough. I was snippy with Hubby and generally in a bad mood. Once I had a good cry about leaving Will I felt a little better. I completely trust the nanny we hired for Will and know this is for the best, but at the time I felt like I was failing my son by leaving him in someone else's care. I'm still torn about being away from him during the day, but he's proven that he'll be OK. In fact, he had a great week with good naps, a couple play dates and a music class.

Things were a little slow at the new job, but I had enough to do to keep me distracted from thinking about Will. I was definitely anxious to get home each night so I could spend a half hour or so with him before bath time. He was all smiles when I walked in the door, which of course melted my heart. My sweet boy missed me!

I know how lucky I am to have been able to work out this flexible schedule, so I'm going to do everything in my power to make it work.

The holiday recap

Whew, it's been a busy couple of weeks but we successfully survived the holidays...and had a very nice time too!

We ended up staying in Ohio for a couple days longer than originally anticipated because we decided to buy a car (we sold both of our cars when we moved to NYC). We'd been thinking about it since Will was born, but were going to wait until the Spring or Summer, however a possible new job situation for me (more on that in a minute) prompted us to get one sooner rather than later. So, last Thursday I turned 35 years old and got a new car. Quite the birthday present! I'm not sure how next year's birthday is going to compare because in 2010, I got a positive pregnancy test on my birthday and this year a car. 2012 has some big shoes to fill.

So, Christmas at Grandma and Grandpa's was a success. Will was passed around so much and rarely had any "independent play time", but I think he enjoyed it. Hubby and I joked that he was going to be bored as soon as we got back home and he didn't have 15 people passing him around. Thankfully he's very adaptable and transitioned well. We tried not to spoil him too much but he did get a jumperoo from Santa. He's not too sure what to do with it, but I think he'll grow to love it over the next couple of weeks.

We're back to swaddling him for naps. We continued the no-swaddle naps while in Ohio, but discovered Will was having a hard time transitioning from one sleep cycle to another. He goes down for his naps fine whether he's swaddled or not, but has a hard time getting back to sleep if he wakes up after one sleep cycle. Hubby and I did a lot of research and found that a lot of babies have sleep issues (both naps and night time) between 3-5 months as their bodies adjust to different REM sleep times. It seemed that swaddling helped the babies easily transition from one sleep cycle to another, so we reverted back to it. We'll keep this up for another couple weeks until he outgrows these sleep issues. Hopefully he won't decide to roll from back to tummy in that time (that would be the only reason we would stop swaddling). I'm happy to report that his night time hasn't been disrupted (que wood knocking). He still sleeps from 8:15pm - 7:45am without disruption.

It's amazing how much he's changed and advanced in two weeks. He loves tummy time now and is soooo close to rolling onto his back. He's always reaching for his toys to put straight into his mouth and he LOVES to blow razberries. This creates so much drool I try to keep a bib on him all the time now. If he's tired in the evenings all he wants is to be held with a teether in his mouth. I think his gums are really starting to bother him, poor little guy. We start a weekly music class this Friday which I think he's really going to like. I've taken him to a couple drop-in classes and he's fascinated with the sounds. I can't wait to see how he does.

Yesterday was supposed to be my first day back at work, but since I quit I'm still home. I was hoping my company would need me for freelance work but they don't this week. I've been talking with another agency in NJ about a job share situation. I would work 3 days/week and have a counterpart that would cover the other two. I would be the primary client contact so would likely have to take some calls or possible meetings on the 2 days I'm going to be home. It will (hopefully) also allow me to do some additional freelance work. I'm meeting with the creative director for lunch on Friday to try and iron out the details.

2011 was an amazing year for the Fairytale family, and I can't wait to see what 2012 holds!

My favorite present under the tree this year!

Enjoy his present from Santa

All bundled up and ready for the cold weather