So much, so much!!

Just soooo much to talk about and so little time (or brain energy anyway) to post!

Today our sweet baby boy turns 7 months old. And man he is a peanut! He's just under 25th percentile for height and weight, but 95th for head circumference! He's all head! Personally I want him to gain some weight so I've started to up solids. Last time, when he went from 75th to 40th or so, I increased the domperidone. This gave him green poop. So I think he's getting enough milk... but I would feel more comfortable if he were a tad bit chubbier! I could probably write a whole long post just about that, about how things like this harken back to my need to be a "perfect" mother in order to feel like I'm fulfilling my promise to my children's first families, and then there's the whole entitlement issues that plagued me for that first year or so that creep in from time to time... but let's not go there. Let's just say that I'm increasing his solids and he looooooves it! He was taking an ounce or so a day but at 7 months some people are giving their kids ounces in the double digits! I'm aiming for 4-6oz/day myself, in 2 oz meals (so far 2 two oz meals a day plus snacks). He's taken up to 4 oz of solids at a time, though, after nursing then nursing again like an hour later. His solids intake does not seem to affect his nursing schedule in the least, which is good from a supply issue but bad from an "OMG just let me sleep more than 2 hours straight pleeeeease!!!" standpoint.

And yeah, that's how sleep is going. He was doing better and then the past few nights, perhaps even the past week, he's been really really active. Like he's waking up every 1-1.5 hours and he's actually AWAKE awake, not just groggy awake. Like bright eyed and bushy tailed and kicking his legs and smacking me and goo-ing and gah-ing and lot's of gheee-ing and some rolling around. Probably related to developmental milestones (just in the past couple days he's started to sit up unassisted for about half a minute). Or teething. Or whatever. The bad thing is that, well, we're tired. And because Nik stays up with him at night to let me get some sleep AND takes both boys in the morning so I can get some extra sleep, I really don't like waking him during his like 6 hour sleep timeframe unless I absolutely cannot move my limbs. So from midnight to 6:30am he's mine, sometimes even sooner if Nik himself is too exhausted to keep him later. So I'm up every hour with him and we're stuck in this awful rut. He wakes up and stays up and it slowly rouses me from sleep to wakefulness. I finally fully wake up and get out of bed with him, walk him around as he coos and cuddles, rock him in the chair, whatever. Then he passes out and I'm fully awake. Me, miss insomniac, who takes an hour to fall asleep. Can you guess what happens here? Yeah, I lay there totally awake while he snoozes, then finally just as I'm back to sleep he wakes up and it starts again. It's been like that for several days and last night (this morning?) I could hardly move my legs I was so tired. Getting him to the rocking chair was quick perilous...

But like all things, we'll survive this.

Oh, and we're surviving SPD too.

In fact, quite well I think.

A book I've been reading, Sensational Kids, talks about reframing: looking at the child in a different light. It was hard work at first but I'm really coming to accept that the behavioral stuff we see and don't like almost always has a physical basis in Paxton. We're seeing proof of this now that we know what to look for. Afternoon tantrums are put at bay by simply making him go to the bathroom. Sudden rushes of hyper activity are quelled by a 20 minute sports training style race. Morning melt downs are just about nil if we give him a cup of yogurt and a straw, and the pre dinner whinings are staved off by a snack of baby carrots and hummus. He's falling asleep for nap and bedtime with a higher success rate and waking up more refreshed, all thanks to the weighted blanket. And knowing what's going on with him lets us talk to him about it too. He only understands a little bit but he's very good about using his words to express himself so he can tell us if he's suddenly feeling "jitter-jittery."

We don't have a set sensory diet yet for him but we're getting there. The OT used a brush last time that really seemed to help him, as did the therapeutic listening program. We're also thinking aromatherapy might be in order given how frequently he talks about smells (though they don't seem to dissuade him from eating food or anything, which is the big worry there).

And personally I find myself generally calmer with him. It's just easier to be around him and deal with his particularities knowing that he's not choosing when he acts out or wakes his baby brother in a burst of noise and energy. And it's also helpful to realize, through reading, that he's pretty much neurotypical in social situations and on the playground. So that makes me happy :)

*****

We had our homestudy renewal visit a few days ago, Saturday afternoon. We were really low key about it. Guess that's how it is with your third! We're not planning to accept a referral any earlier than October, and the program moves quickly, so we're taking our sweet time putting everything together. It'll probably take us the next 5 months to put all the paperwork together though, at least with the two kids running around :)

Oh, and we're starting to baby proof and spend $$ on the house. We're likely going to take out a loan for Z's adoption and then pay the loan off after we get Brozy's tax credit next spring (which might be when Z is coming home anyway). Hopefully there won't be too many months in there where we'll be paying loan fees and interest... But in the meantime, we bought a new bed and we'll be selling our antique giant bed and dresser to make some room in our bedroom. Our new bed is a storage bed, with 6 drawers under it. We'll likely be buying a Kanoe hammock for Brozy to sleep in since he's not so happy with the bassinet or crib. We're getting rid of all the blinds with cords and putting up roller blinds (two of which already broke!), and we're doing general baby proofing. Baby gate for top of the stairs was ordered yesterday (sigh... not looking forward to that!). If Brozy is suddenly sitting up then next step is crawling... he's just growing so fast!

And a year from now he'll be toddling around while I (hopefully) nurse a new little bean in my arms, and P will be finishing up preschool for good and preparing for kindergarten! Time didn't move this quickly until we had kids...