Far Above Pearls

Well, Justice finally discovered his thumb!!  I think he really enjoys the suction power he has on that one finger as opposed to trying to suck on his entire fist.  I love how he’s holding his thumb in place with his other hand!

However, it’s still pretty hit and miss with the thumb - he continues to enjoy many different finger combinations!  He often enjoys a 1-2 combo (thumb and pointer), or a 1-2-3 combo, or as seen in the pictures below, the 3-4, the 4-5, and the 3-4-5.  :)  The purple moustache is from our recent attempt at Gentian Violet to see if it will cure some breast pain I’ve been having.  :( 

Justice has been drooling pretty hardcore for at least a month now, but it appears the teething process kicked up a notch this last week, as he has been rather cranky and has been chewing on his fingers rather intensely!  Well, today he has been especially unhappy and even though I can’t really see anything, when I let him chew on my finger for a couple minutes, I could definitely feel something sharp in there!  My little baby is only 4 months old and already his teeth are starting to come in!  It’s hard to believe he is growing up so quickly and while this is kind of sad, it’s also exciting at the same time to watch him reach these milestones and experience new things.  Hopefully these teeth make their way out quickly though so that his discomfort comes to an end - his little eyes are red from all the crying. 

Today, my friend at ChrysAnTheMoms, announced the launching of her new blog site for moms called MomsInABlog!  As you may recall, I was on The Real Moms Review Panel at ChrysAnTheMoms which has now been renamed the Mom Approved Program at MomsInABlog!  Feel free to check it out and join in on their Grand Opening Extravaganza. 

Wow!  I can hardly believe Justice is four months old this week!!  The last month has held many new firsts for him and it has been exciting and fun to watch him learn new things and discover the world around him.  I will try to recount some of the milestones and adventures he has had lately…

1.  He has started to laugh!!  I had been waiting rather impatiently for this one and Joe got to experience it before me, but it was fitting because Justice laughed for him on Father’s Day!  I got to hear it just a couple days later and we’ve both had the joy of making him laugh and giggle several times since then.  His laugh and smile are so infectious, you can’t help but grin, even if you’re in the most grumpy mood!  I was thrilled when my mom finally caught a good picture of his smile, since he usually goes very serious as soon as he sees the camera.

2.  He has noticed his toys!!  Before when we would put him in his bouncy chair with the toys dangling above him, he couldn’t have cared less about them and didn’t even realize they were there, but he recently took note and stared intensely at them, watching them move and sway.  He has also briefly held onto some toys that we’ve put in his hands and has tried to bring them to his mouth with limited success, but he hasn’t really started to reach for them on his own yet.

3.  He has met and loves his reflection!  When he’s crying about something and is being cranky, it’s almost guaranteed that if I go to the bathroom and let him look in the mirror that he will burst into a huge grin!  I have to laugh because he goes from sad to happy in an instant and seems to really love smiling at himself!  I wish I had a picture showing this, but I’ll have to get one and maybe post it later - it’s too cute!

4.  He’s learning to grab!  He has grabbed things before, but more by accident than anything else.  Now he is beginning to intentionally grab onto things such as his bib (he likes to pull it aside so he can puke on his shirt instead - lol), my hair, my clothing, blankets, and recently he even got a good grip on his own hair!  His favorite new trick though is being able to grab and pull out his soother on his own.  He will pluck it out of his mouth and then start crying because he doesn’t know how to put it back in yet - lol.  In this next picture, he managed to grab onto a Kleenex nearby and then dropped it on his face like that - it was quite funny! 

5.  He attended his first campfire!  He was mostly oblivious to this grand adventure, but it was a new experience nonetheless!

6.  He likes the T.V.!  Not sure how I feel about this one, as I don’t really want him to get addicted to the “boob tube” (as my mother likes to call it) at such a young age already, but there’s no doubt that he is quite fascinated by the moving pictures and bright lights of the big screen T.V. at my parents’ place. 

7.  The leg slam!  Another favorite thing Justice enjoys doing is lifting his legs up in the air and them SLAMMING them down on the floor, his crib mattress, the change table, etc.  This has scared me numerous times as it makes quite a loud bang and I often think something has fallen in the night.  I’m also afraid that when he gets a little longer that he’s going to hurt himself on the change table by slamming those little heels onto the ledge!

8.  Drooling and blowing bubbles!  It appears that Justice is teething, although I’ve heard babies can drool like crazy for many months before any teeth finally break through.  But there is no shortage of drool these days and the extra saliva has also proven perfect for blowing bubbles!  He also seems to enjoy creating these bubbles when I gurgle at him like in this video…

9.  The exersaucer and the Jolly Jumper!  Justice tried both of these new activities for the first time this last month and while he doesn’t seem quite ready for the Jolly Jumper, he sure loves the exersaucer!  It gives him the opportunity to stretch out his legs and attempt to stand, while also being able to look at the world around him - or just stare at the fabric on the seat, which seems to be equally as fascinating!

10.  He got cuter!!  I know, you’re saying to yourself, “How can this be possible??”, but it’s true!  He just gets cuter and cuter every day!  I am completely enamored with my son! 

So, this post is coming a bit late, but on the first weekend of June we took Justice on his first camping trip!  My dad’s side of the family was having a reunion of sorts and we all met at a small campground a couple hours away - which also made it Justice’s first long distance car ride.  My dad comes from a family of 12 siblings and 10 of them were able to come out, which was pretty good!  Not too many cousins were able to make it, so Joe and I were the only ones in our age group for most of the weekend, but that didn’t matter to us.  We had some good chats with my aunts and uncles and enjoyed the good weather we had, in spite of the gloomy forecast.

My parents and us shared a “6-person” cabin which was a little rougher than we had expected - haha.  It was about the size of my living room and the four of us adults shared a small room that was just big enough for the two double beds inside, and Justice slept in his playpen in the other half which had a futon, the small “kitchen” and a dining area.  The cabins didn’t have running water, so the kitchen was basically a counter with a few shelves and some basic utensils.  The water in the showers was at least hot, but the room itself was freezing cold!  The heated pool which they had advertised in huge letters was about as warm as a glacier-fed lake - lol!  Joe jumped in with me in his arms and we were both startled by the cold blast and scrambled out of the pool as quickly as possible.

But for the most part we had a great weekend and Justice did quite well!  We got to show him off to everyone and beam with pride as they all told us cute he was!  :) 

It was a hot, gorgeous morning and Joe was working hard outside, mowing the lawn and attacking the weeds.  He came in for a little break and to try and decide what he would tackle next when he casually said, “Sometimes I wish for a rainy Saturday so I would have an excuse to just sit inside and relax.”  Maybe 15 minutes after that comment, thunder boomed overhead and a sudden downpour followed!  For the next couple hours, Justice was blissfully asleep while Joe and I relaxed in our living room, all cozy inside as the rain pounded the roof.  Joe was reading a book, while I read my Bible and we listened to the live prayer room webstream, while also enjoying the soundtrack of nature provided by God.  I prepared us some hot drinks and snuggled up under a warm blanket, watching the rain outside while God ministered to my heart through His Word and through the worship from the prayer room.  When Justice woke up from his nap, I fed him and then we introduced him to the exersaucer!  It was great fun watching him discover this new activity and we cheered him on as he worked his little legs to make himself spin around inside its center.  When he tired of that, we laid him on a blanket on the floor and he babbled and gurgled to us while he kicked his legs and sucked on his fingers.  We delighted in him and I felt the delight of the Lord over us.  What a perfect, lovely rainy day!

It is officially summer, I think!  We’ve had some scorching hot weather where you start sweating almost as soon as you get outside.  I decided to take Justice for a walk in his stroller - it was great!  He fell asleep, I got myself a Gatorade, I got some beautiful warm sunshine, some fresh air, some exercise, and got to enjoy the scent of lilacs in the air!  It couldn’t be more lovely!

Today I went for a visit to my local lactation consultant (breastfeeding expert - hereafter referred to as LC) and got some answers to the many questions I had been wondering about for some time.  I had been concerned that I possibly had another yeast infection, but I was confused about the different opinions I had been getting from various health care providers.  The LC was able to confirm that I did not have a yeast infection, which was reassuring and then enabled us to discuss other possibilities for some of the pain and discomfort I’ve been experiencing.  It turns out that part of the cause is due to the fact that I have “overactive letdown” or in other terms, really fast milk flow!  This also explains the reason for some of Justice’s gassiness, since this can cause him to swallow more air and apparently when women have this problem, it also often means the baby is getting more foremilk, which has a higher lactose content and can be more difficult for him to digest.  (Or something like that - I could be misquoting the LC, but that’s the general idea)  Another result of having such an abundance of milk is that Justice is getting fed really well - lol!  We weighed and measured his length today and he is in about the 90th percentile for both weight and length, meaning he’s a BIG BOY!  He weighed in at 16 pounds and was 26 inches long at about 3.5 months old.  I asked if this was okay - was I feeding him too much??  But yes, he’s perfectly fine and totally healthy and apparently you can’t overfeed when breastfeeding.  Then came the big question - if my overactive letdown was probably the cause of his gassiness, did this mean that his problem wasn’t an issue with dairy??  The LC said it was very unlikely and told me that she thought it was totally fine for me to drink milk and eat cheese again!!!  PRAISE THE LORD!!!  In addition to this, the LC said she suspected Justice was beginning to teethe, as he has begun drooling and chewing on things more.  Soooo many changes seem to be happening all the time in his body, in his behaviors, in his habits, etc.  As soon as you think you have something figured out, he just changes again!  Anyways, as soon as I got home from the LC, the first thing I did was have a big glass of milk - lol!  But now I’m all anxious again, because he had a rather fussy evening and then I begin to wonder if it was the milk - GRRRRR!  But, I’m going to trust what the LC said and keep having dairy and try not to feel too guilty about it and just keep paying attention to how Justice seems to be doing, while trying the various things I can do to help with the overactive letdown issue.  We’ll see - I suppose I could be dealing with teething crankiness soon??  At the end of the day though, I am just thankful that my big beautiful baby boy is healthy and happy pretty much 90% of the time!  :)  He is a wonderful baby and I love him soooooooooooooo much!!!

In the last month, Justice has become quite taken with his fist!  Whenever possible, he is jamming his entire hand into his mouth - he hasn’t quite figured out the thumb-sucking thing yet.  But if he can’t get his whole fist in, his favorite fingers to suck on are his pointer and middle finger together.  He will stick them in as far as they can go and today I couldn’t help but laugh as he repeatedly made himself gag by doing this!  (Click on the picture below to see it full-size.)

I have always had very fine and thin hair - then add to that the fact that I regularly shed a lot of hair as well.  So when I completely stopped shedding during my pregnancy, I was thrilled!  I don’t know that I really noticed if my hair actually looked any fuller, but I still enjoyed not shedding.  Well, now after a couple months of being a mom, it appears those days have come to an end.  I am back to pulling fistfuls of hair out in the shower (much to the dismay of my dear husband who gets to clean out the tub drain), then losing even more hair when I comb it out, and then again more hair when I blow dry it and then alas, yes even more shedding throughout the day.  It’s a wonder I’m not bald!