Wallace | Five Months

This is going to be a short update, FOR REAL THIS TIME, because life is nuts but I just can't let go of the monthly posts.

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Wallace is five months old now. He is rolling all over the place, pushing up close to the All Fours position, scoots around on his tummy in a circle, and has already tried to eat our Christmas tree a few times. How is this happening so early?!!

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He was on that mat when I walked away, then I returned to this:
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He's a happy dude and loves to stare at the big kids. I'm thinking he's an early mover simply because he knows he has to get the heck out of the way of these three other kids---or at least keep up with them.

He's grabbing at our food and looking at cups like they are the most fascinating thing ever. Kid wants to eat, but mommy just isn't ready yet. Not ready for the changing poops or the mess, but I guess I better suck it up and go for it soon. The others all started solids around 5.5-6 months, so yeah. It's time.

Oh my heart.
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First picture I took on my real camera since his birthday...yikes. But DIY Christmas cards were calling!
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Wallace is still an excellent nurser and is even taking the bottle while I'm gone now!! Usually he drinks about 5-6 ounces while I'm away, and then nurses non-stop from the time I get home until bedtime. This is actually a point of contention with me, because I'm reaching my breaking point like woah. I cannot sit on the couch and nurse from 5-10pm even though that's what Ace would love. It's hard not having any break time to breathe, and no--work doesn't count as a 'break'. It's work and it's something else to manage/think about/focus on other than myself. I do not get to relax at work, although I usually manage to have a hot cup of coffee from my thermos, so there's that;) I could go on and on, and really---things are going well, but we need to find a schedule for nursing and sleeping ASAP.



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Last night I finally said that it's time to implement some sleep training, even though I HATE HATE HATE it. I also despise being sleep deprived and stressed out and not able to give my family the best of me. So we are sleep training and last night went really well so far. Wallace still loves me and is smiling at me right now, so I'll remember that when I'm wavering tonight against his cries.

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We are striving for two naps each day, around 9 and 1. Admittedly, we have been failing greatly at this but I have high hopes for the next month. And instead of finally laying him down at 10pm and then crashing into bed myself, we are going to stick to a 7pm bedtime. Here goes nothing!!

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He's wearing size 9 month clothes and a size 3 diaper that I found seemed to fit much better than size 2. Baby Wallace is not an infant anymore, you guys. He's growing up so fast and is still so squeezable and edible.

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Hands are ALWAYS in his mouth and his cheeks get super red lately, drooling constantly. He has to be teething? He also seems to have a little bit of a cold but he's not letting that affect his outlook on life just yet---dude is super chill and just the best.

Plus, I have another diaper changer in the house though, so it's all good.
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And Ace has two mommies, didn't you know?
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OH yes, and he is taking a bath with Cecelia and Porter by using the old Bumbo trick. I have to hold him down so he doesn't float but he freaking loves bath time now.
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I'm forgetting 90% of what I wanted to blab about today, but duty calls. And by 'duty' I mean gathering up snow gear to walk across the street and get the big kids from school.

(ALSO, our addition is basically done! Remember that time we broke ground in June? And signed the contract with the architect back in January? Yeah, the project is still continuing but it's so close to being 100% finished! The outside still has a good week of work left to complete, but the inside? It's so amazing! King bed for us, new beds for the kids, all of us have our own personal space....someday a blog post will follow. We went from 3 beds/1.5 baths to now 5 beds/2.5 baths and it's glorious. But when I say life is nuts for Wallace (and for all of us), the addition is a big part of that statement.)

CRAZY TOWN = our house
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It's crazy but I wouldn't have it any other way with these buggers.
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Help me, ma.
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And, okay, a sneak peek of the master bathroom Untitled

Wallace | Four Months

Holy moly, he's four months old already.


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I'll just get the nasty part out of the way right now: Wallace isn't sleeping well AT ALL. He used to be so great at night, waking once to eat and then falling back to sleep quickly. And now that the four month wakeful period has hit, I've stopped counting the number of times he will nurse at night. And all through the evening after work. And his eyes pop open and he screams as soon as I lay him in his co-sleeper, at night and also during the day. So yeah, naps are usually 20-30 minutes at a time, unless he's in the carseat or Ergo---then I can sometimes sneak at 2 hour deal out of him, but it's rare.

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It's not easy to convince myself that we have to work hard to change his sleeping habits, considering that he doesn't have a nursery yet and therefore he's still sleeping right next to me at night. I think he can smell me and just wants to nurse and cuddle all night long. I tried putting him in with the big kids and that was an epic failure, so now I'm just thinking we will hunker down and wait it out until the addition is finished. Supposedly that is going to happen by Thanksgiving, which most likely means Christmas---but SOMEDAY Wallace will have his own (brand new) bedroom and a crib and will NOT be next to my bed all night long. Someday soon!

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I also think Ace is just getting used to me being at work four days a week. He's still not taking a bottle consistently: some days he will slug down 4 ounces but other days it's zero or a half of an ounce total while I'm gone my 5.5 hours. You just never know with this kid! But since he also hates to nap, I get home to a starving/exhausted baby who just wants to eat and hang on the couch all night. This is really impractical and hard, baby boy! But we are figuring it out and finding some sort of routine....I think.

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Wallace is loving his hands this month and always chews on them. A lady in the grocery store remarked that he 'must be teething', because of the hand-eating, but I don't know--my other kids never got a tooth until six months. He can roll over but hasn't really done much of that since he mastered it last month. We pulled out the relic jumparoo monstrosity, circa 2010, and he loves batting around some of the plastic friends for a solid 15 minutes or so. He is at the age when he needs to be entertained, and the jumparoo, the Bumbo seat, and the play yard seem to fit the bill. He also loves to prop up on the couch and watch TV---this kid seriously loves the boob tube, almost as much as the boob. ;)

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Truly, he is the happiest baby, super smiley and content 95% of the time. He'll flirt with anyone who makes eye contact with him and he LOVES watching the chaos of the older three kids around our house. We think he sometimes gets lonely when we leave him in the pack and play or somewhere that he can't see us, because as soon as we get closer to him he's happy again. Ace will giggle if I toss him in the air, or tickle him, or make a funny face at him. IT'S THE GREATEST SOUND EVER.

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He's quite vocal and scares himself with his squeals, like he doesn't know that they are coming out of his own mouth. I've also noticed that he stares at my food or cup when I'm eating, so perhaps we are getting closer to the table food milestone. I don't usually start the kids on any food until five or six months, so I'll wait for awhile longer, but he does seem to take interest already!

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Wallace and I are quite attached to each other, which is why it's been hard transitioning back to work. I'm really grateful that it's only twenty hours per week, because I am loving my job itself---it's just tough to come home to a grumpy baby that missed me greatly. Here's hoping we can find our groove this next month.

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The big kids are infatuated with Waller Baller, Wallipop, Walli-poppins, Ace of Base, Acey, and Wallermelon. He has more nick names than anyone I've met in my life. Truman has begun carrying the baby around the house, Cecelia frequently puts a crown on our baby, and Porter likes to keep him from crying by letting Ace suck his (disgusting) finger. We are working on that one. Blech.

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We have his four month well-baby appointment this week, but he's growing out of his six month clothes and size 2 diapers. I'm happy he's an excellent nurser but it's also challenging when I'm not getting a break from nursing in the evenings and at night. He's growing really well and is a chunky monkey, so I won't complain--especially when I remember Porter at this age (who wanted to wean ASAP and it broke my heart).

Also, it should be noted that Wallace is seriously Truman's clone. It's actually freaky sometimes looking at T's old baby pictures compared to this child---it's like we made the same baby, seven years later! Handsome devils.

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Ace can also rock pink pajamas, as we found out when he pooped through his outfit out on the town, and his lady friend, Cleo, had a spare for him to borrow.

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Show us how you really feel, Porter.
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First Halloween---really excited.
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Wake up, little dragon!
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Love it!
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My mom and my grandma came for a visit this month, so Wallace had THREE grandmas (of his four) doting on him. He didn't hate it. Neither did the grandmas.
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Bottom line: Ace is doing great and we aren't sure how we got along without him before this.

Wallace's Birth Announcement

I realize it's fairly old school to send paper birth announcements in the mail, but it's something I've done for each child and I didn't want Wallace to feel left out;) Also, I mostly love to save one or two announcements for the baby book (yes, I do that, too) and even frame them in a shadow box with other newborn delights. Because of social media, pretty much everyone on our Christmas card list knew Wallace was born. I guess I could have called my Facebook post about his birthday the official announcement but nah, I can't let the paper cards go. Even for a fourth baby.

I've used Pear Tree Greetings for birth announcements and Christmas cards for several years now, as they've always been great to work with and will do sponsored posts/giveaways for my blog readers. This time they offered to do the same, so score another point for a discount for my readers! 

I knew I wanted something pretty simple for this announcement, to showcase our professional photos. I love rounded corners and spots for at least two pictures, since I can't ever choose one picture for an announcement! I chose this card style and love how they turned out.

Addressing cards and sending them out to our friends and family...
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Front of card, OMG he was so tiny!
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Back of card:
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I sent them out sometime during my maternity leave and heard lots of compliments about how cute these cards were. They really ARE fantastic cards and I'm always pleased with Pear Tree Greetings for their quality. I'm already starting to think about Christmas cards and I know where I'll return once I sweat it out, attempting a DIY photoshoot with all four kids. Who wants to bet I will get plenty of hilarious outtakes and maybe one of all kids looking/smiling at the camera?

But back to the birth announcements: you lovely readers can get 50% off any of the birth announcements on the Pear Tree Greetings site. You'll just enter the code MYLIFE50 at check out and you have until 3/31/18 to use your discount. Hopefully some of my pregnant or new-mom readers can use this code, and have fun going down the black hole of design options!

Enjoy shopping and stay tuned for another sweet deal for holiday cards.


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Wallace | Three Months

Happy Three Months, Wallace!

You are getting so stinking big, it's startling.

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This month was huge because I started back to work last week. Wallace started the week off strong and took 3-5 ounces a day, during my 5.5 hours away from him. But by the end of the week, he was getting angrier about the bottles and took exactly zero ounces from Lois on Friday. Yikes. He tends to hang on until around noon when he just cannot anymore and then he gets very upset. He'll nurse most of the evening to make up for our time apart, which means I have a hard time putting him down to do anything else (i.e. help the big kids with unloading their backpacks, homework, making dinner, doing bedtime, etc). Last night Lois watched him while Nate and I went out with friends for 1.5 hours and Wallace was hysterical and wouldn't sleep for Lois. Sigh. I know he will get there but right now he's showing his strong preference for the boob and for mommy.

First day with Lois:
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First day with Tony:
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First day!
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We need to get into a solid routine of eating, playing and then napping longer than 20 minutes. When we are together he still prefers to nurse to sleep for most naps which is a problem when we are apart, obviously. So on my day off and weekends we will focus on the sleeping and scheduled naps first, then we will hope the bottles fall into place with time. I ordered the $30 Mimijumi bottle that is 'guaranteed' to work, or your money back. I truly don't think it's the bottle choice that's the issue but we will see! I've been down this path with Cecelia and forgot how awful it is and how much stress it causes for everyone.

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Therefore, my first week back to work was good while I was AT work, but tough when I'd come home to a sad and hungry baby. Here's hoping next week is better. I'm thinking it might be a solid month before we find a new routine.

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In other news, Wallace rolled over for the first time today! This is VERY VERY early compared to my other kids, if I recall correctly. He has been rolling from his back to his left side consistently for a week or so now. This morning he went all the way onto his tummy, we all screamed and cheered, and then he started to cry. He's super strong, always trying to bear weight through his legs, holds up his head during tummy time, and loves to be vertical when we hold him, too. This kid is Porter's exact opposite because Ace loves to nurse and loves to move (Porter hated both of those things at this age).

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He's a big fatty, wearing size 2 diapers and mostly size 6 month clothes. His 3 month outfits are still in rotation but are quite snug, but I don't know how much he weighs for sure....guessing around 15 pounds? His eyes seem to be brown and he has very little hair, which makes his ears even bigger. He's seriously the cutest and so stinking happy all of the time (except when I'm away and he can't nurse, or won't nap....but otherwise he's the best!). He is our biggest baby yet and I still think he looks most like Truman with those dark eyes and double chins, plus the chill attitude makes us remember Truman much more than Cecelia or Porter. ;)

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Wallace is newly obsessed with his hands and loves to suck and chew on them constantly. He's grabbing his dangling animal friends that hang above his activity mat and really enjoys putting every blanket in his mouth, too. He also loves to be outside looking around at trees, and still can be distracted from a freak out if we go outside for a little bit. So basically he is at that stage when he needs to be entertained but his attention span is still extremely short. I find that after one hour of being awake, he's had enough and really needs to nap. But again, that is one area we are working to streamline a bit. I'm pretty sure the other kids were falling into a 'three nap a day' schedule by three months.

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Twins?
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He sleeps in the Mamaroo swing at night next to our bed, and consistently wakes for the first time at 1:30-2am to eat. Usually he will eat again around 5am and last week I had to wake him up before I left for work, to force feed him around 7:45am. He goes down for the night around 8:30-9pm in the swing, so that means his first stretch of sleep is about five hours. Not bad, but he's been doing this since the first week at home without much change in his sleeping pattern.

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Sister was here.
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He'll spit up if he nurses too much and will pop on and off when he's had enough. I don't know how much milk he's eating at once because the most he's taken in a bottle was 3 ounces, but I am pumping 8-9 oz during my one session at work (about 3-4 hours after our last feed). So basically, my supply is pretty amazing this time around but I attribute that to a big baby who freaking LOVES to nurse. It's nice to only pump once during my work day but I'm definitely feeling multiple let downs before I pump around 11:30am, and my reusable breast pads are totally soaked by the time I get home.

Oh, and I calculated 200oz of frozen milk in our stash, so hopefully someday Wallace will take a bottle and we can use that milk!

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Reading back over Porter's three month post, I remembered to say that Wallace absolutely LOVES TV, too;) He can also entertain himself for about 30 minutes on his activity mat at times, just like big brother used to do. Wow, really glad Wallace nurses better than Porter did---I forgot that he was already trying to wean completely by now. But yeah, Porter definitely had a better schedule during the day although he was kind of a mess at night. Ah, such a trade off to have an excellent nurser but not a great daytime schedule this time around. Happy he sleeps well at night though!

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Lived in my body three months ago, insane.
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Cecelia at three months? Gah, I vividly remember the day when I did a bottle stand off with her, because she was one who didn't take the bottle and fussed all day at daycare for Lori. I only remember her drinking a few ounces for Lori, but apparently she was actually taking 8-10oz? Who knows. But this is the post that tells us how we conquered the bottle with her and now I'm thinking about doing this for Wallace. Ugggghhhhhhhh. Also, both Porter and Cecelia were going to bed for the night around 7pm so I should probably start that with Ace, too. It seems like CC and Wallace are similar with nighttime sleeping schedules at three months.

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Truman's post says he was 16 pounds, so maybe Ace is actually that heavy, too? And all three big kids' posts mention the fourth trimester ending...I forgot about that!

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Well, Wallace, you are still the best baby ever. Even when you won't take a bottle. Love you so much!!
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