The Sikkema Life

It only took me about a week to come up with that one…

I feel like Owen and I have been just passing germs back and forth for the past month. Since I got mastitis, it’s been one thing after another between us, from colds, to his pink eye, and this past week I had my first sinus infection. Let me tell you, there are few things sexier in life than doing a sinus rinse.

I’ve had a 102 fever for a few days (which I keep trying to knock down with Tylenol), terrible head and toothaches, and lots of sinus pressure. So here goes the next round of antibiotics for me – another round of crazies for my stomach, but hopefully not for Owen’s this time. We’re doubling up on the probiotics. It does feel a little strange to take an antibiotic and then a probiotic…like my body should be saying, “this is a joke, right?”

So for now, I leave you with a picture of something that’s been fascinating Owen a lot lately. 

Owen chillin' in his swing

Lately in the Sikkema house, not a lot has been going on. Owen still has lingering sniffles from the cold he got on Easter, and this week he somehow came down with Pink Eye. Poor buddy. As if cleaning his nose out the past couple of weeks wasn’t bad enough, now we’ve switched to giving him eyedrops.

it's funny to see our faces on that screen!

Overall, his demeanor has stayed extremely happy. He’s still very giggly and smiley, and loves to say “blah blah blah.” Really workin’ on those “B” and “L” noises. It’s rather adorable.

We let Owen try squash last week, and he wasn’t a huge fan. There have been lots of funny faces. But I’m not giving up! Everything I’ve read says you just have to keep trying before you find out if they really don’t like it. Sorry, buddy.

He's had better

I was skeptical when I first read this through the BabyWise community. All I could think was “but if he sleeps more, he’ll be awake more during the day!” Apparently, this is not true.

In the last couple of weeks, Owen started waking up in the middle of the night again. Not to eat, but just waking up fussy until we’d go re-plug the pacifier and calm him down. This seemed to be a step backwards from where we were. There was no crying himself back to sleep, there was just lots of winding up until he was crying hard. Then I read on the Babywise Mom blog about how the late-night feeding (a.k.a. the “Dream feed”)  can start to interfere with nighttime sleep, if your baby is ready to drop that feeding. Owen had been sleeping through the night for a few weeks (which is a sign you can drop that last feeding), but I wanted to make absolutely sure he was set in that pattern before dropping it. After all, what if that meant getting hungry at 2 a.m.? I didn’t want to start that habit again. Apparently in this case, that meant waiting too long.

So one night, I just stopped doing it. I increased how much food he was getting during the day so he wouldn’t miss out on the nutrients, and voila! He’s now sleeping 10-11 hours straight through at night, and his naps have seemed to improve also. Magic. Thank-you, BabyWise Mom blog.

We also started Owen on rice cereal a few days after we dropped the Dream Feed. He’s actually put on about a pound in the last few weeks. I think it really had to do with adding the cereal to his diet.

Development-wise, Owen has really been changing. He’s been reaching for a lot more things, and actually mastered rolling from back-to-front yesterday, with the exception of getting his arm out from under him. Which apparently he mastered last night in his sleep. Because this morning when I went in to get him, he was sleeping on his tummy   Awesome, little man. You’re doing so good!

Today Owen is 4 months old – wow! He’s becoming such an awesome little dude. Not a lot has changed over the past month, but he’s really been working on refining his motor skills.

chillin' on the couch in his hoodie shirt

Owen can now:

• Intentionally grab at something and let go on his own (though sometimes with things like jewelry, he doesn’t really feel like letting go)
• Kick his feet like mad – he’s starting to realize where they are, but he can’t quite grab them yet
• Smile like crazy
• Giggle ever so slightly – it’s more of a grunty cough-laugh right now if you tickle him, but it absolutely melts me every time he does it.
• Look over his shoulder by doing a little mini back-bend – not a fantastic thing when the TV is on, since we don’t let him look at the TV. But he’s super close to rolling back-to-front by doing it.
• Drool enough in 5 minutes to soak a onesie

He’s also getting over a pretty horrible bout of eczema. Thanks to probiotics every morning (for him and me, so it gets into his food) and Aquaphilic on a regular basis, it’s clearing up. And thanks to everyone for the recommendations and help. We also switched laundry detergent to a perfume & dye-free kind, and abandoned the Johnson’s baby wash for a Burt’s Bees natural type. I had eczema pretty regularly as a kid, and was even sent home from school a couple of times because my legs looked so bad. I really wanted to avoid getting steroid creams for him, and what we’ve done has seemed to work really well.

He just looks so much more comfortable

He’s been sleeping through the night since about 10 weeks old, and started going down for naps without crying about 2 or 3 weeks ago. However, the time change has really screwed up his schedule. He’s still sleeping through the night, but naps have gotten worse again. He’s been sneaking extra meals during the day and sleeping less, but maybe he’s going through a little growth spurt, too? It’s so hard to tell! Can’t there be a week-by-week manual?

Overall, life is awesome. Our little man is developing a little bit of a personality, and we just love it. God is good.

Happy 3 months, Owen!

Owen now:

• Protests VERY loudly against tummy time. He really hates it. But I keep trying.
• Has gotten his first cold, complete with coughs and snot-blasting sneezes.
• Can focus on and grasp things on purpose
• Forgot how to roll from tummy to back for awhile, then remembered again, haha.
• LOVES to stand, though he first started to put weight on his legs at 6 weeks. He’s just getting a little less wobbly
• Has a bedtime – he falls asleep around 7:30 – 8pm every night, and most of the time, sleeps all the way to morning (thank-you Baby Wise!).
• Has eczema pretty bad on his torso and legs, but we’re working on that. I also had eczema really bad as a kid.
• Just yesterday transitioned out of newborn diapers. He’s really long, but not very hefty.

Today I also officially returned to work (for half a day – easing back into things). Boo. I like work, but I think I liked maternity leave better. My co-workers even decked out my cube with balloons and ribbon – that made me feel pretty loved.

It was hard to go back, but not nearly as hard as I imagined. I think part of that has to do with my rock star cousin Joni who is watching him during the day. Leaving your child with someone you trust, and someone you absolutely know will do the best for them, is invaluable. She’s so great with him, and with me – I know I’ve been pestering her with emails of “now he’s doing this, just so you know…” and she takes it all spite of me being a rookie (she even answers my emails!).

I’m very happy with our life right now – Owen is learning things so fast, and we’re now finally starting to get the hang of what might look like a schedule. God is good.