Smiley Face

Just when I thought I should consider changing Luke’s nickname and title of his blog, he decided to start living up to his name again.  Hence, it stays.  I am really not sure what is going on with him.  He slept through the night for the better part of two weeks in early August, but we have not seen that happen more than 3-4 times since then.  Typically he wakes up once around 1-2 very hungry but then starts thrashing around at 4, which results in very restless sleep for baby and Mommy.

Luke has also been generally a more grumpy child than normal in the past week.  He is just irritable and a lot more fussy and troublesome than usual…particularly at night.  Last night, however, was the worst.  He went to bed at 7:30 with little trouble.  He was up again around 10.  Then he was up at 2.  Then he was up at 3:30 doing the usual thrashing episode.  Only this time I could not get him calmed down.  Even after I gave in and tried putting him in the swing, he got more and more hysterical.  Thinking it might be teething, I gave him some Tylenol and put some teething gel on his gums.  Well, that made him scream even more.  I finally just rocked him for about an hour before he finally was calm enough to go back in the swing at 5.  I am not sure if he is teething or not.  I have looked and felt in his mouth, but it doesn’t seem obvious to me.  Since Brooke never really had any fussing over her teeth, I just don’t have any experience with teething and don’t know what to expect.  I hope it is teeth because if it is not, I have no idea what is wrong with him and what to do.  Through all the screaming and crying last night, I kept reminding myself that Brooke still wouldn’t sleep in the crib at all at this age and that I should be grateful for what I have rather than comparing Luke to the other kids his age who easily sleep through the night in their cribs.  When you haven’t had a good night of sleep in 6 months, you have to be thankful for the small victories.

Saturday night after enjoying a day out at the pumpkin patch with his sister, Luke was sick with a stomach bug.  I went in to get him to eat at 1:30 am and found him lying in some puke.  Poor thing!  Daddy got Luke cleaned up while I got the bedding changed.  Luke ate and held it down fine.  In the morning, however, he ate a bottle and then proceeded to projectile vomit the entire contents onto the living room floor.  It was truly one of the strangest things I have ever witnessed a person do.  Thankfully, Luke was getting back to his smiley faced self by the evening and seems to be doing much better today.

Luke is five months old today, and I can’t help but stop and wonder where the time went.  Then I remember that more than half of it passed in a stuporous, scream-filled haze.  Luke is a very different child, however, and most of the time he is nothing but a joy.  He is very happy and quick to smile, usually fairly content to just be around and part of the family, and he gazes adoringly at his big sister.  He loves rolling over (but still tends to get stuck on his belly), and he will grab and pull to his mouth anything he can manage to get his hands on.  He drools a lot, but he doesn’t seem to have any teeth coming just yet.  He is eating rice cereal and oatmeal as well as carrots and sweet potato.  He will start squash later this week.  So far the oatmeal and sweet potato are his favorites as they were Brooke’s.  He is doing well with the fast flow bottle nipples, and his increased food intake appears to be helping his sleep patterns.  While he tends to have a harder time getting to sleep at night due to the rolling, he is no longer waking at 11-1 every night.  Now he will usually sleep through from around 8 until sometime between 3 and 5.  He is also establishing his own wake time of 6 am, which then involves some quiet enjoyment of watching the Wiggles or checking email with Mommy until Brooke gets up.  Luke enjoys spending time with his Daddy while Mommy is at school, and he has started to fall into a bit of a daytime routine at last.

I forgot to post last weekend that Luke rolled over for the first time from back to tummy.  This past week he perfected the roll and now performs this latest trick with ease.  We are so proud!  The problem is that once he gets onto his belly he is stuck, and he hates being on his belly.  So, the day goes like this: Luke rolls over and screams, help him roll to his back, Luke promptly rolls over and starts screaming again.  Repeat 100 times.  The other problem is that he is now rolling over at night in his crib.  He is not thrilled about this and starts crying, but how many times can I really do in there and flip him over?  I am tired of doing it and am getting to the point where I am like “too bad…you are sleeping on your tummy”.  I know that at some age it isn’t such a concern, but I am not sure if we have reached that point yet.  If you happen to know, please tell me.