Rolling: The Update

It seems that Jaggar must read my mind and know when I'm writing blogs about the things he's 'not' doing because within a day or two of each one, he seems to kick into gear and suddenly do that thing. Small boy cracks me up... :P

Anyway, as of yesterday, Jaggar is officially a roller. He rolled tum to back twice in a row during tummy time and then did the same thing - two rolls - again today. He giggles and smiles and squeals when he does it, too (probably it helps that he sees me all excited about it but I like to think that rolling is great fun for him) which is completely the cutest thing ever!

Again, Johann hasn't witnessed it yet despite my encouragement for him to put Jag on his tum so he can show Papa his "tricks". But soon I know he'll show his dad what a big boy he his. Until then, I'll just enjoy my private little "floor show". It's so amazing to see him developing! :)

J.

On the Roll and the 4 3/4 Mo. Check Up

It's been an eventful few weeks which has included a magical roll-over moment by Mr. Jaggar himself. I could hardly believe it when it happened but about two weeks ago he was having tummy time on his play gym mat and poof! He rolled from his tummy onto his back. Of course, he hasn't done it again since (!) so maybe Johann doesn't believe me but it happened, I swear! It was so thrilling I even had to report it on Facebook. It's amazing the things you get excited about when you're a parent but it really was such a cool thing.

Now, he seems to be fixing on rolling over the other way - back to tum. He threatens to do it just about every time we put him down on his play mat and Johann has run for the camera half a dozen times to catch the moment when it happens. But the little man is keeping us in suspense and no roll has been witnessesed - or documented - yet. We know we'll see it soon, though.

After fretting like only a new, inexperienced mother does over every little milestone, Jaggar's check in with the pediatrician yesterday made all that concern seem silly. He's doing really well and is measuring now, head to toe, in the 75th to 90th percentile for height, weight and head circumfrence. At his two month check up, his weight was good, head was huge (95th percentile) and body was short. So, it seems he's become a lot more proportional these days. Probably, I should have never doubted this but I can't help be relieved that his head is measuring in a little smaller category (was worried he might be getting into the zone for encephalitis) and that he's getting a little taller, too. I was surprised that he weighs as much as he does (my back isn't surprised - no wonder he's about to throw it out at 16.2 lbs now!). Can't believe he's more than double his birthweight now!

Dr. Eldred is impressed that he's vocalizing as much as he is, too, so of course I take this to mean the child is a genius and will grow up to be an accomplished public speaker. Ha! But seriously, she thought it was a good sign that he's already so "verbal" so his little brain is really working away in there. Also, she thinks he's very strong for his age since he can do a full push up when he's on his tummy so obviously he will be an Olympic athlete as well. LOL!

Thankfully, there's nothing left for me to be concerned about. The kid's a perfect little butterball according to Dr. Eldred and she says we can even start him on solids now if we want to. It's crazy to think my little, tiny baby is ready to sit up in a high chair and eat real human food! She says to start with rice cereal so I will be buying my first box of it at the grocery store tomorrow. I'm excited and yet apprehensive at the same time - once he starts eating, I guess that means he's really growing up. I never thought I'd be one of those mothers who was sad that her baby wasn't a baby anymore but I think I probably will be one of them after all. For having lived every single second he's been in this world for the last almost five months (and having been awake for a disproportionate amount of it!), I still wonder where the time has gone...and I wish I could have a few minutes of it back.

Speaking of being awake, we are having less of it these days. Woohoo! Somehow the sleep fairy has come to our house, waved her magic wand and made our baby sleep 5 to 6 hours for the first stretch of sleep each night. Man, it's just so awesome! Of course, that stretch typically starts at around 9:00 and I don't typically get myself to sleep until closer to 12:00 so I really only get two to three hours of sleep before he wakes up and comes in with me to nurse, but I am still filled with hope that this is an indicator that someday he will sleep through the night. Yay! We still have to see how teething goes, of course, but overall, his body seems to be getting the hang of sleeping longer and that's encouraging!

One thing, of course, is that we haven't unswaddled him at night yet since we've been trying this long just to get as much sleep out of him as we possibly can. He sleeps for naps with his arms out but those are typically in his swing and typically only last 30 minutes to 2 hours max. The last few nights he's been wiggling his arms out of the swaddle which makes me think he may be trying to tell us that he's ready to start sleeping without one. I just worry that we may see a backslide in sleeping if those little hands are able to get out and touch his face like they so like to do. That wakes him up almost instantly and I'm NOT looking forward to that! So, we shall see how the next few weeks and the swaddle struggle goes.

Meanwhile, things here at home are going well. I did have a bout of the common cold last week that really knocked me on my butt however (Johann even had to stay home to take care of the baby on Wednesday because I had a fever and everything) I almost have to be grateful it happened because it gave me an excuse to catch up on 4+ months of poor sleep. I haven't felt this rested since Jaggar was born and it's such a relief. We also got to go on a date for Valentine's Day which was really fun and even involved cocktails. Woo! It's amazing the things you appreciate when you don't get to have them very often!

All in all, life is good right now and I'm grateful!

J.