tomorrow he's 7 months old

It is always bittersweet the day before another number is added to age in months.  The last six months of Lucas' life have been phenomenal and amazing.  I have watched this little baby from 6 pounds, 2 ounces to now well over 17 pounds I'm sure.  I've watched his face change, his fuzzy white hair start coming in, and his face become more animated.  Almost daily there is a change I notice as his mother.  I constantly remind myself to document, memorize, and cherish.  This moment in time is just that... a brief moment of a year where so many things change in a baby's life.  He is still as all 6-7 month olds very dependent on someone caring for him.  He can move a little bit, but still no real crawling yet.  This may be a blessing in disguise!

I'm very happy that Lucas still likes to be in my lap and cuddle.  I'm glad that he is not a fast nurser and that he's more of a cuddler and loves the warmth and other things he gets from nursing (rather than just milk).  I do believe he is proof that a baby who starts out on the bottle isn't necessarily a baby that won't nurse.  Maybe it should be that it's a more difficult road.  Either way, I feel that Lucas gets all nurturing from nursing rather than just nutrition as many babies tend to transition to a very fast efficient feed around this time.  Though it is TIRING at best, it's well worth it for Lucas and for me.  I will admit that now that we've started Stage 2 solids this week, I DO know that the waking up in 4 hours after bedtime is just for that nurturing stuff and NOT the nutrition; however, I have been just assuring him and giving him his pacifier and he goes back to sleep.  I do want a full night sleep sometime in 2008.  I can count how many 6+ hours sleep on two hands.  Lucas will grow up with me reminding him that he wasn't a big sleeper!

I've noticed that Lucas reaches for things with his left hand more than his right hand.  I'm not sure if it's something that would show up this early, but my Dad noticed it as well, without me pointing it out.  We may have a lefty on our hands!  Not a bad thing.  Phil does well in golf after all, right?

I think that it's time for me to chronicle my days.  I get up somewhere between midnight and 2 am.  I used to feed him at that time and pump at 3 am.  Those were the days I didn't sleep much and was literally the walking dead.  Sometime in August, this changed.  I started nursing as he finally latched.  Those middle of the night feeds happened but were much more streamlined.  No more feeding him a bottle, changing him, burping him (30 mins) and then turn around and pump for 20 mins.  That 20 mins was saved for sleep.  Over time again sometime in September, he started stretching out his sleeping to 4 am or 5 am and that middle of the night feed transitioned to a 10 pm to 11 pm night feed.  I was still awake.  Amazing how much better one feels after 5 hours in a row rather than 3 hours.  May our next baby be a sleeper!

Today, I wake up around 4-5 am because Lucas wakes me up.  I feed him forever and ever it seems with the goal in mind of him going back to sleep.  Some days I'm successful.  It's always nice when that successful day is a Tuesday when I have a nanny come over to keep him.  That way when I log onto work at 6 am, there's  just a sleeping baby in the next room rather than a baby needing attention when I have no one in town to help me.  (It will be interesting to see the crawling baby and dealing with this issue.  I really need another pack-n-play for the upstairs with toys galore).

Usually then I put him on a blanket in the bathroom and shower and get ready for the day.  He's usually still in that place between sleep and awake, and I can get by with it.  Once upon a time when I'd blow out my hair carefully taking up to 20 minutes has turned into flipping it upstairs and drying it as fast as possible.  I've cut another 1-2 inches off and it seems to have helped on drying time.  I apply makeup fast.  Less than 5 minutes.  Then it's the trek downstairs.  I carry Lucas and Theo at once while watching to make sure that Pate makes it without falling.  See I have two really old dogs.  Pate cannot up stairs very well unless they are carpeted.  Theo cannot go down stairs at all anymore.

I put Lucas in his swing.  (What will I do when he grows out of it?)  I carry Theo and Pate outside the back.  Jake, only 7 years old now, bounds outside with all of the energy that the older two once enjoyed.  I struggle daily with wondering how Pate and Theo will leave this world.  I think it's close to time for Pate to be put down.  How could I ever do that?  It's a whole different topic for sure... something I struggle with watching him limp from room to room.  I've laid a path of mismatched rugs from the stairs to the back door to the den.  It doesn't look well but it helps him function around like an elderly person with a walker.  He's a reminder of how we'll all be if we live long enough...  an old body that doesn't work the way it used to.

Theo will usually catch a second wind outside and jump around like a rabbit.  He's 17 this December.  That's pretty unheard of for a dog!

Theo can walk back up the deck stairs.  I still have to carry Pate.  Lucas is still swinging in his swing.  Everyone still within sight.  Jake appears.  Spunky maltese.

Medicine time.  Pate and Theo get their rimadyl.  Pate gets his vetoryl.  I take my vitamins.  Lucas gets his prevacid.  Usually this makes Lucas cry because it's cherry flavored and he wants more.  He doesn't know it's a drug!  LOL  Then I start my decaf coffee.  By this time we're heading toward 7:30 am.  I pick up Lucas and put him in his exersaucer.  He loves that thing right now.  I play with him for an hour or so.  He gets tired.  He goes to sleep.  Sometimes this is an ordeal, sometimes not.  Today and yesterday it was.  Maybe tomorrow it will be better.

While he sleeps I tell myself I should nap, too.  I rarely do.  I usually read, watch TV, or just think about things.

This routine is making his first year pass way too quickly for my taste!