Happy Sweet Six Months

 Our little buddy, Wyatt Nathanial, is six months old today.  I am feeling conflicted about this passage of time. It has been both long & slow... It feels like a very long, long time ago that my water broke in triage and labor began. It seems a long time ago I brought a third tiny baby boy home to meet his big brothers.  But at the same time, it feels like just yesterday he had his first bath. It feels like mere moments ago I was still pregnant, anticipating his arrival. I guess time is tricky like that.

 I am remembering the twins at six months old, about to celebrate their first Christmas. That's when Jack got his beloved Santa Bear.  Such fun memories I have of that morning. Going in to wake them in their identical beds, in their identical jammies, both smiling with identical dimples, up at Josh and I.

This year will be just as magical, I'm sure.  But anything would be better than last year. Oh, last year. I was sick. Nauseous from the pregnancy & suffering a sinus infection. Plus I was sick about working, about leaving those boys. Finally in January, I started feeling better, but boy was it a long haul from September to December!

So I am looking forward to a happy holiday season, spent surrounded by loved ones, most importantly my beloved husband, who will be home to see his happy, chubby baby in eight short days.

 We saw the doctor today, whom I love, and she reported that Wyatt, who weighs 21 pounds, is in the 95th percentile for weight, and at 26 inches long, is only in the 35th percentile for height. He's a sweet little butterball, that baby. He really is our little Babyham.

Yesterday before baths, he was naked and the twins were blowing raspberries on his plump pink belly, and he was laughing so hard.  I wish I had caught it on camera, but it's hard when I'm the only grown up. (My in-laws were downstairs.) His giggle just puts the biggest smile on my face.  And the twins get such joy from making the baby happy. 

Today at his appointment, Wyatt got three shots.  He cried really hard for the first one, and by the time she stuck the band aids on him, he had stopped.  But what broke my heart (and made me really proud at the same time) was Jack's reaction to Wyatt getting poked. He watched, with HUGE eyes, as the nurse prepped the area and popped the top off the needle. Then as soon as Wyatt started crying, Jack's whole face curled up, and got all red and I thought for sure he'd start crying for his baby brother, but instead he buried his face in Logan's back so he didn't have to see the rest. It was so precious.  The empathy that I witness from them is beautiful.  I hope to nurture that.

Wyatt is starting to roll around more. Now that we live somewhere with other adults, I feel it's safer to give him floor time. He rolls easily from his belly to his back, and has been working on rolling from his back to his belly. He hasn't done it yet, but he's thinking about it.  

He loves to reach for his toys, putting his two hands together oh-so-slowly in front of himself to grasp for whatever you have. 

 He naps like a pro lately. He takes a good hour and a half morning nap, all swaddled up & cozy in our room.  And in the afternoon he's often sleeping two hours (and at the same time the twins are sleeping!) But bedtime is a different story. He'll sleep from seven to ten, no problem.  But once he wakes up at ten and I feed him, then he's up every hour or two. I am so sleep deprived. It honestly feels even worse than with the twins. And I think that's because he sleeps in in the morning (until 8 sometimes), but the twins are up at 5am (or, like this morning, at 4:45am) so I am not sleeping all night, and then getting up, literally, before the sun.  It's killing me. 

Thank God for my mother-in-law who let me go back to bed for two hours this morning with Wyatt. 

I feel like something's gotta give with these kids. The twins are fighting me going down at nap & bed time, and are up at 5am no matter what time I get them down. And the baby sleeps like a dream all day until it's dark out and I want to get some rest.  

So in desperation I bought Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Baby by Marc Weissbluth.  I am praying to God it holds the answers to my sleep questions, because I am dying. I feel like a wreck. I can't remember anything, my reflexes are slow and I just feel so crabby.  My head pounds and I could seriously fall asleep anywhere, any time.  I am only a few chapters into the book, but so far he recommends crying it out, which will work in Alaska, but not so much right now since I'm in someone else's house; and he also recommends an earlier bedtime. Which I am totally on board for. So with the twins, my goal is to (eventually) get them in bed by 6:30pm so they are asleep by 7pm.  And I have taken to sitting in there, often nursing Wyatt, so that they will stay in their beds and fall asleep more quickly. For a while there, it was taking an hour an a half to get them to fall asleep at nap or bed time and by then I was ready to ring their necks! With me sitting in there, nap time takes about fifteen minutes, and bedtime takes about twice that.

In addition to fighting naughty sleepers, the cold that we have all passed around and adjusting to sleep in a new location, Wyatt has been teething. His first tooth popped up two days ago. It's on the bottom right and is so cute. When I told Jack that Wyatt got his first tooth, Jack asked, "Like Little Critter?" So cute!

 As I've said before cloth diapering is going really well.  I love seeing the rainbow of diapers in my orange crate, all clean & ready for his sweet little bottom.  I am really relieved that I'm enjoying it and the washing isn't a big deal. Right now I don't even wash them, Carol does. She says washing and hanging them makes her happy-- who am I to argue with that?!?

 Wyatt brings such joy to those around him. His little cherubic face, rosy pink cheeks, shiny blue eyes and adorable dimple wins over women in stores, as well as his aunts & grandma's.  Everyone just wants to squeeze him up. Myself included. He's such a little bundle!

I am finding myself really grateful that he found his way into our family just in time for Josh to leave. Hugging him, holding him, and caring for him is what has made this time without Josh go as quickly as it has. Just one more week and we will have done it. Being apart will be over. And Logan, Jack & Wyatt will have their Daddy again.  That will be a very happy day. A very happy day indeed!