I should be ashamed of myself……but I’m not. 
I gave Desmond his first tattoo today. Pretty appropriate with that head, don’t you think?
I almost feel guilty, doing that to such a sweet, angelic little face. Especially when he’s clueless and doesn’t have any say in such matters.
But it was too hard to resist!
Some random Gray mattersMy baby is four years and two months old. Even though I didn’t realize it early on (heehee…that’s an understatement), I feel now like my life didn’t really begin until G became a part of it. He’s the most amazing little boy. I haven’t spent much time writing about what he’s been up to lately, what with the other little boy taking up most of my time and most of my brain cells, but I’m about to remedy that. Here are a few things he’s accomplished over the past couple of months.
I think I can say that G is officially reading now. He’s been sounding out single words for months now, but last month he finally started to string words together and read them as sentences. The first time he did it, I cried. He can’t read just anything; the words have to be easy and they can’t stray too far from basic phonetic rules, but as long as that’s the case, he can read a sentence. Whenever he does it, he just beams with pride at his accomplishment. And I beam alongside him.
One of his favorite things to do is spell words. A while back he started asking us to give him words to spell, and we would give him easy 3-letter words, like cat, dig, wet, sun. To our surprise, he was able to spell most anything we came up with—and he spells right from his head, like he’s in a spelling bee. Then we started giving him four-letter words. Those are a challenge for him. After a few lessons about things like double-o’s, -ck sounds, and letter blends like “sh” and “th”, he does pretty well with them. The amazing thing is that he craves these little quizzes and tests. I think it’s neat that he’s just like his mama and daddy in this area; he’s going to be a spelling guru. And he’ll likely spend his life wondering why most of the rest of the world can’t spell.
His latest obsession is Calvin & Hobbes. A few weeks back, he discovered Philip’s C&H collection book, and over a few nights’ time, Philip had read the entire thing to him. He absolutely loves those little cartoons! Since then, they’ve gone through the entire book several times over, and G never tires of hearing them read to him. During the days, when there’s no time for us to read it to him, he carries the book around with him, stopping to read his favorite ones over and over. It doesn’t matter that he can’t read most of it outright, because he knows every line by memory and he entertains himself that way.
And how could he be our kid without a little OCD thrown in to make things interesting? When we go out to stores, he takes note of all the painted lines in the parking lot. He will not step on the lines. Even when there are dozens of them, he steps carefully into the spaces between the lines, and he tries to insist that we do the same. Sometimes I appease him, but usually I’m in a hurry so I just do it half-heartedly. “Mama!” He protests, “You stepped on a line!” It gets kind of obsessive, but I remember feeling the same way about things like that when I was a kid.
The other day we were in the grocery store and I was picking out bananas. I decided to put some back in favor of some better-looking ones, and G was watching. “Mama, are those bananas going to be sad if we don’t get them?” I told him no, they would be okay. He looked relieved. He’s so funny! He’s like that about so many things.
Last night I made my hair into a french braid across the top of my head, all the way down my hairline. When I was tucking him into bed and giving him his hug and kiss, he looked up at it and said in his best sarcastic, deadpan tone,
“Nice hair, mama. Nice hair.”
“What? You don’t like my hair like this?” I said.
“No. It makes you look like a dinosaur.”
What am I supposed to say to that?! He cracks me up. I giggled and told him (in my best sarcastic, deadpan tone) “Thanks.”
Postpartum hair lossGood grief! If I lose much more hair, I will be bald and there will be a whole new person sprouting up from deep within the bowels of our shower drain.
I know all about postpartum hair loss, and how it’s supposedly just the shedding of all the hairs that were held onto all during those months of pregnancy. But I swear, I have lost at least half of the hair that was on my head 5 months ago. I am actually balding at the temples, just like I was during my postpartum period with G. It’s so weird. And quite unattractive.
I can, at any given moment, run my hands through my hair and come out with handfuls of hairs—no exaggeration. There are loose hairs all over our house, sometimes even in our food. (Horror!) Desmond likes to run his free hand through my hair while he’s nursing. This is sweet, and it feels good, but ohhhh, the carnage in his little fist when he’s done. He ends up holding a little mama hairball, and that is incredibly disturbing to me. LOL! And in the shower, my hair literally comes out in clumps. Huge clumps. I am skeered.
I even had Jenny check my thyroid last month. It was fine. She assured me that even hair loss to this degree is normal.
It’s supposed to peak at four months. It certainly has reached a level higher than ever. Now we’re at five months, so hopefully it’ll slow down soon, and before I know it, I can have a shower without having to deposit the many handfuls of hair into one massive clump at the back of the shower for Philip to come retrieve while I cower on the other side. He always comes and takes it away so that I don’t have to deal with it—I’m sure I don’t have to remind anyone of my obsessive aversion to all things hairy. Lately even he exclaims in awe at the size and intensity of the massive hairclump I produce. And knowing me as well as he does, when he leaves the bathroom with it wrapped in a paper towel for disposal, he always says,
“Mmmm, I’m going to go stir this into a pot of macaroni and cheese!”
Exercise Q & AMy bloggy buddy Stacy posted these questions today as her QOTD, and I’m answering them here. I would love to hear others’ answers, so leave a comment if you want to answer them too.
Do you exercise regularly?
Yes, almost daily. At least 6 days a week, and I’ve been doing it regularly for three years now.
Do you belong to a gym?
No. I never have, either. I’m too cheap frugal to pay for a membership.
Do you exercise at home, and if so, do you have any equipment?
Yes. I mostly take walks/jogs; that’s my daily workout. I also have several sets of dumbells that I use for free weight lifting, I have a set of resistance bands, and I have a NordicTrack ski machine—I use this only when the weather is too bad to get out for my walk/jog.
If you do, how long before the newness of the treadmill or bike or whatever wore off?
Well, I got my NordicTrack 12 years ago, and I still use it. So…it hasn’t worn off. But as I said, I mostly just use it when the weather is cold or rainy and I can’t get outside for my walk/jog. Every now & then I’ll use it just to do something different.
How much do you exercise - do you go by time or distance?
I go by both. I walk 3 miles, which takes about 40 minutes. Lately, I’ve been adding in bursts of jogging, which brings the time down to about 35 minutes…I’m working on adding in more jogging, and I hope to move to all jogging in the near future. We’ll see how my shins hold up! (I am prone to shin splints when I jog too much.)
If you walk outdoors or on a treadmill, do you listen to music or watch tv?
For my outdoor walks, I do one of three things:
•I bring my iPod and listen to that the entire time.
•Sometimes I pray, if I haven’t done so already that day and feel the need to do so.
•If Philip & the boys are with me, we pass the time talking or playing games like 20 questions, or one of our various made-up word games (like “name 10 bands that are named after animals”, “name 10 song titles that include the word ‘water’”, etc.).
When I’m working out indoors (either on the NordicTrack or with weights or doing crunches, etc.) I watch something on TV. My favorite thing to watch while lifting weights is Little House. My favorite thing to watch while doing the NordicTrack is America’s Funniest Home Videos (it somehow makes the time go by really fast!).
The boysLately I can’t find enough time to blog or do anything that I enjoy. I haven’t even been reading blogs as much as I usually do. Hopefully two kids won’t always be this much work! Sheesh! I run in circles all day long, and at the end of the day, I find I haven’t accomplished much. But I’m feeling rambly tonight (watch out!), and my boys are on my mind.
G is overdue for his 4-year checkup at the pediatrician. I need to make that appointment tomorrow. That reminds me–there is a big ol’ chickenpox outbreak in our area, something I’ve been waiting for! But right now, with an infant in the house, I’m a little wary of exposing G to chickenpox at the moment. So, no pox parties, but…I still wouldn’t be too upset if he picked it up right now. Des would probably be protected via breastfeeding, but even if he got it too, he’d likely be fine. Welcome to my brain and the crazy things I spend my time thinking about.
Des is doing great. He had his 4-month well checkup last week (a little late–he’s going to be 5 months old tomorrow! Wow!). His stats:
weight: 13 lbs 7oz - he’s fallen from 25th percentile down to 15th percentile
length: 26.25 inches - 75th percentile, up from 50th percentile
He’s only been gaining about an ounce per week these past two months (average is 4-6 oz per week), and that’s why he’s fallen down in percentile for weight. But his length has shot up to above average. The pediatrician said he’s not concerned at all, because he is growing well in length and head circumference, and his development is “excellent” and is actually ahead of the curve. He commented on his alertness and on how he’s already a pro at rolling over and standing with assistance—OMGosh, does he LOVE to stand! He said D will probably be an early crawler and walker, with the way he’s already making crawling motions & scooting around, and the standing…oh my, the standing! He wants to stand all the time! Anyway, he said D’s apparently just not prone to put on bulk and that’s fine (and even good, actually) as long as he continues staying on track in all the other areas.
It’s sooo different than how it was with G. G was a huge eater and he had the fat to show for it! He was always in the 95th percentile & above for weight & height (still is). It’s so strange to have a petite little guy, and one who eats only a little at a time, to boot. He is still 100% breastfed (of course!), and will be until he turns 6 months, which is when he gets to start some solids. G was 100% breastfed until he was 6 months, although he wasn’t a big fan of solids, so he ended up nursing A LOT, up till he turned a year old. I’m hoping Des will catch on to solids a little better, so that I can drop some nursing sessions sooner than I did with G.
Right now, Des is nursing about 7 times a day, but those 7 times are all crowded into 12 hours’ time. OH my, did I ever blog about that little gift from God? See, starting at 5 weeks old, D dropped down to only one night feeding, usually around 4am. He would sleep from 8pm till around 4am, wake & nurse, then go back down for another four hours till around 8:30am…total sleep time would be 11.5 - 12 hours. He did this for a couple of months, and then…on Christmas Eve, right after he turned 3 months old, we got a little gift. He slept all the way through! No waking!
Get this. I had been praying daily for him to sleep through—and I prayed that it would be by Christmas. Isn’t God neat? The first few times it was 11.5 hours, then after a week or two, he was sleeping 12 hours straight, and it’s continued since then. I love it, but I do still have to wake up in the night and pump. I do it to keep up my supply, since I worry that going 12 hours without nursing will cause it to drop too much. So I set my alarm for 4am and I light a candle and pump a ton of milk (okay, usually about 6 or 7 ounces). It doesn’t take long, and after a trip to the bathroom and a quick check on G to make sure he’s still covered up, I go right back to bed and to sleep. Once D hits 6 months, I plan to wean down the pumping by an ounce at a time, and eventually stop it altogether. By 7 months I feel like I should be safe to sleep all the way through myself, with no pumping. Can’t wait.
But back to his nursing habits. He is such a light eater; he always has been (ohhhh so different from G!). I try to tank him up all day long to make up for his long stretch at night. It works out to nursing him every 1.5 to 3 hours (with the 3-hour stretches being around naptimes). He nurses first thing when he gets up, and then I nurse him again before he goes down for his morning nap. After that nap, he nurses, and then once again before he goes down for his afternoon nap. When he wakes from his afternoon nap, I nurse him. At this point there are usually about 3 hours till his bedtime, and I nurse him at least two more times (the last time being right before he goes to bed). Total is 7 times a day, and sometimes it’s 8 times, especially if I feel like he hasn’t eaten well any of those times. He will sometimes fight me and refuse to nurse if I try to feed him too soon after his last time…he is serious about keeping to his light eating!
I explained all this to the pedi and he said I’m doing exactly what I should be doing, and that he doesn’t see any need to wake him at night to nurse him (see, the LCs I consult with told me that with his slow weight gain, I should be waking him to nurse at night rather than letting him sleep 12 hours). But the pedi disagreed, which made me happy! Haha…I don’t like getting up with a baby at night, so I’m going with his advice. He said not to worry myself anymore with his slow weight gain; D is doing fine and it’s just his own personal growth pattern. He even said that he wouldn’t be concerned or even surprised, if he stopped gaining for a while until he starts solids at 6 months (although hopefully that won’t happen). Did I mention I love our pedi? 
So both kids are lots of fun, but lots of work, too. I am so ready for a break, but with all the nursing I do every day, I don’t have many blocks of time to even get out for very long. During D’s naps I will sometimes sneak out for a couple of hours, and I love it. Sometimes I take G with me, and we’ll just drive around and listen to music and talk. He is such a fun companion. I do miss having him as an only child. I think I miss it more than he does, though; he’s done so well with the transition. It’s me who has the hard time! LOL!
I will close this long ramble now. We have some interesting stuff going on right now, not so much kid-related. But it’s bedtime for me, so I’ll have to get back to it later.
