Teddy finally had his 9 month appointment, but he was 10 months and 5 days at the time. His pediatric office was overflowing due to school starting so after continually being put off I decided to go to Harrisonburg Family Practice. I think just using a family doctor will be fine. He was 23 pounds, 6 ounces and 30.5 inches long! What a big boy!! 95% for everything!
I've started working at doctor's office in town and I really like it! It's definitely the best job I've had and they're so good to me there. They're very accomadating with the pumping, but I'm glad there's only a few weeks left of that. I will continue to nurse in the evenings but am looking forward to not being consumed with making sure I make and leave enough breast milk on days I work. There have been a few times when I've had to wake up to pump in the middle of the night to make sure there's enough. Teddy seems to be adjusting to me working just fine. So far it's only 2 days a week and my mom has flexible hours so she keeps him a good deal of the time too. I'm glad I didn't start any earlier though, now seems like a great time for me emotionally. I'm ready for him to spend that sort of time away from me, whereas any earlier I think I would have been resentful. It's also nice to use my brain in non-Mom ways. I don't mean to start any debates, I know that's a touchy subject with stay at home moms vs. working moms. I don't mean I think it's a "use it or lose it" scenario, just that I think I was getting awkward and a little consumed and it's good for me to be around adults more without it focusing on our children. And it's good for Teddy to be with others. Not really other kids yet since there aren't but unlike some SAHMs I know, I don't have a lot of family I can rely on to watch him while I run to the grocery store. The kid's been stuck to my side since he was born, pretty much. Which is great, I love it, but I know he needs to get used to being with other people, who do things differently, too.
Things are interesting with my mom and brother living with us. I think we're adjusting well enough but there have been a few complications. My sister's car broke down and so she is borrowing my mom's. Jeffrey's car is about to go as well. Doug recently bought a motorcycle, otherwise all 4 of us working adults would be trying to function off of one vehicle. The saving grace of this all is that mom and I work only a block apart so one of us can walk to the vehicle. And right now Jeffrey's car still works, otherwise things would really unravel. Also, my mom's pain is really getting out of control, there's a chance she might need to go out on FMLA leave if her job finds they can't accomadate her new restrictions. But we'll figure it all out.
Since I'm working now and am not the only one caring for Teddy I've decided to put him on the regular vaccine schedule. So at his appointment on Friday he got 4 shots, but took them just fine. He had a mild fever for a day and has a little knot on one leg but is just fine. We'll have to go again in October for some more and then have all the regular shots and then some at the 12 month appointment. Then we should be about caught up.
We're shopping around for private insurance and it's pretty nerve wracking! It's so expensive without employer contribution! And of course it's just a gamble. I mean, God forbid, something happens that costs over $5,000 to cover (average deductible amount I saw PER PERSON) then it will all be worth it. But otherwise, you're paying the monthly fee and still having to contribute towards the deductible. Though, I've heard often times facilities have a lower contracted price with insurance companies than they do with self-pay plans, so I guess there's that. None of them have maternity included and most of them don't even have it as an additional option. If I had every reason to believe that I'd have an easy pregnancy and delivery then being a self-pay wouldn't be so bad. But, given my history we can't take that risk. It's frustrating because all of this is contributing so much to when we will have another. It seems like a very complicated math equation: finished with grad school + more money+ either bigger house or no roommates + insurance + ability to conceive = baby #2. I think we're going to wind up with several years between Teddy and another baby. We originally wanted them close together, so of course we'd welcome a surprise, but it's just kind of sad that things aren't going to go according to our original plan. But we know that God has the best plan of all. And we still want more than 2 so perhaps 2 & 3 will be close together.
Monthly Survey
1. How old is baby? 10 months, 1 week, 2 days
2. Stats: as of 9/15
a. Weight: 23 pounds, 6 ounces
b. Height: 30.5 inches
c. Clothes size: 12 months, some 18 months
d. Diaper size: Still medium for cloth diapers, he can go up to large now since the weights overlap, but I think we'll wait until we have to.
e. Hair color: beautiful red!
f. Eye color: blue/green
g. Anything else?
3. Milestones:
a. Teething: 2 bottom front teeth, and I think one more about to come through. 3 top front teeth.
b. Talking: He will say bababa, gagaga, and we've heard an occasional dada- but not to Doug. He doesn't seem to want to talk much yet.
c. Rolling: Since he's a crawling pro he doesn't do it as much.
d. Walking: He doesn't want to hold on to us and do it as much now that he's so great at crawling
e. Crawling: On August 30th he started crawling on all fours. It took longer than I thought it'd take to get there but once he started he was fast!! And he hasn't started since. It's pretty much all he wants to do. Which is a pain in public places because I'm not letting him get down and crawl around on a dirty floor.
f. Anything else? He loves to pull up on things. That's his other big thing. And I think he's working on standing on his own. He'll be in the crawl position and then push with his legs and get on his toes and arch his back and try to push up with his arms. Growing up too fast!!!
4. Things he likes: cheerios, eating (though it varies between purees and finger foods), mommy, daddy, grandma, music, CLAPPING (he doesn't do it yet but he loves clapping to music and of course clapping in praise to him), making a mess, KITTY, dogs, laughing- he's just all around so happy!
a. Toys: Now that he can get around he's much more interested in exploring all the non toys in the house rather than the official toys that are for him. But he still likes pretty much everything he did in the other posts. Now he'd rather stand on the outside of the exersaucer than the inside, but he'll still go in there if you catch him at the right time.
b. Books: He loves opening up books and leafing through them. His favorite ones for us to read to him are the pull flap kinds. He has Maisy Goes to Sleep memorized, I swear. It's a pull tab and a pull flap kind. The flaps are easy to tell there's something there but the tabs are flush with the page and weeks ago he knew that the scene on that page changes and he'd grab at that specific spot. Now he can pull the tabs too, and of course knows about the flaps. Sometimes he's just not quite gentle enough though.
c. Songs: He loves pretty much any song and anything with music. A great distraction tool for when trying to change his diaper.
d. TV Shows: We're watching TV less and I don't sit him in front of it, so he might catch a glimpse here and there but not actually watching.
e. Other activities: He loves to be tickled and gentle wrestling.
5. Things he dislikes: at the moment he doesn't like finger foods. Last week he did. Fickle.
6. Sleeping: Naps are going ok. There are days when he doesn't nap the best for mom or the babysitter but I can still usually get a 2 hour morning nap and a 1 hour afternoon nap out of him. Night time, he's mostly down to just one waking and I am still feeding him then. I keep saying I'm going to stop but it just never seems the right time, or I convince myself that he really is hungry. I need to come up with a plan though because now that I'm working and especially since I have to wake up to pump sometimes too, I'm pretty exhausted.
7. Eating: he eats pretty much everything. He tried blueberry pancakes for the first time on Sunday and loved them!
8. Nicknames: Teddy, Teddy Bear, Chunky, Chunky Monkey, Chunk a Monk, Chunkers, Smiley, Wiggle worm, Silly, Son, The Boy, Honey, Sweetie, Sweetie Pie, Angel, Lovey, Stinky Butt, Fussy Pants, Fussbucket,
9. Things we’re looking forward to next month: We're getting one year photos taken of him in October, by a friend. I'm looking forward to fall and the leaves changing and falling and letting him play in them. We're having a fun get together for our church that we're going to dress up for, so I'm looking forward to doing that with him. I'm working on planning his birthday party. And I hope in the next month to hear mama, even if it's not directed at me!
10. How I like motherhood:
a. Likes: I love how happy he is to see me when I get home from work! I love watching him grow and learn and being able to teach him things. I love how much everyone else loves him and how much he loves everyone else too. The world seems much less cold and dark and much more full of love now.
b. Dislikes: Got to admit, the lack of sleep is getting a bit old. And he's got a touch of separation anxiety so there are times (especially when he's getting sleepy) when he only wants me, if I'm around. That's not a pure dislike, it's pretty flattering. But, there are times when I'd like to sit next to my husband in church and Teddy sit with him for more than 2 minutes before lunging for me. It's a phase and I know before too long I'll miss that so I'm not complaining. Oh, and I dislike pumping. I don't HATE it the actual process isn't so bad. I play around on the phone for 15 minutes while a machine does all the work. I just hate that I have to be consumed with the amount he has. I hate that I have to take 20 minutes out of my lunch break for it. I hate that I have to do it before bed every single night and then I'm always worried that Teddy will wake up shortly afterwards and there won't be enough for him. Though, I guess that would probably help train him to quit waking. But I will definitely miss nursing when the time comes to stop.
And if I ever find my camera charger then I will load some recent pics of him and of course get to take more.
