News Flash

Basti Baby slept for 11 hours straight last night!  WOW!  7pm to 6am.  I still can't believe it.  And I didn't wake up in the middle of the night, so for the first time in I don't know how long I woke up not feeling like crap.  YEEEEEEEY!!!

In other updates, Basti tried out a swing at the park for the first time.  He seemed somewhat indifferent to it, distracted by the girl in the swing next to him.

Parentals are in town.  Mom cooking and Pops cleaning, which are both great help.  

Suli sent me a book on Baby-Led Weaning (BLW), had it has made a huge difference in mealtimes with Basti.  I have to admit I was getting frustrated with the spoon feeding and mushy stuff as he didn't seem to like it much.  But with BLW, baby gets to play with solid food and he decides what to put in his mouth.  Messy, but much more relaxed.  So far Basti has tried out many new things and seems to really like his food playtime.  And it's quite entertaining for the adults.  

 Sumo Mandarin orange and strawberries are yum!

In need of a bath, and happy!

As long as I skip the salt in preparing his foods, everything is fair game (minus honey and alcohol).  So I've made mini meatballs for pasta with veggie sticks.  And roasted chicken with cumin and paprika.  And he loved the yellow nectarine.

Drumsticks are fun!

Of course, what comes in must come out...  and even though I don't think he has swallowed much if anything, "eating" causes the pooping reflex.  So mid-meal we had to do an emergency diaper and clothes change.

Yup, I heard the poop make its exit.

Unfortunately, Maja has caught on to the food playing time...  and has started hanging around when Basti is eating.  So we try to pick up food bits from the floor as fast as we can so Maja doesn't get to them and hopefully she will lose interest.  We'll see how long this lasts.

Got Milk?

About two weeks ago, Basti started drinking more milk at school...  so I had to make sure to pump enough milk to fill his bottles.  A few days after, I noticed my milk production was going down.  Went through quite a bit of the frozen stash to make sure his bottles had enough.  Since Basti only gets breastmilk, this is cause for great concern.  PANIC!!!  Of course, stress doesn't help the situation.  Neither does exhaustion.  After lots of online searches and asking other moms...  I realized it could be one or a combination of the following:
- Natural/normal fluctuation of milk production
- Stress/sleeplessness
- Soy milk (long story, but I can't have milk/cheese anymore, wrecks havoc with my digestive system), which I'd introduced a week or so before
- Diet

To improve the flow of Basti's source of nutrition:
- Try not to stress out so much...  yeah right.  So I finally decided to cut my work hours.  Yeah.  I still can't believe it.  I'm a part time employee starting April 1.
- Eliminated soy milk, trying rice and almond milk but not liking either
- Have oatmeal for breakfast...  but I like it with a  little milk and the options are not so great
- Drink raspberry and/or nettle tea
- Pump every 3 hours when at work, no missing sessions for any reason, and pump before going to bed
- Nap...  tough one.  I've managed to nap a few times curled up on the reclining chair in Basti's room, while he is in his crib.  Somehow knowing I am right there in case he wakes up gives me a sense of comfort and I relax a bit more.  This only happens for naps...  at night I pass out in bed no problem.

Anyways, the milk flow has improved significantly after changes implemented, which is a huge relief.

Our Spring Break vacation has been uneventful.  With Basti still recovering from his cold (cough and snot), I don't want to expose him to the elements.  He has been waking 3 times at night...  with loud complaints, so we haven't pushed the sleep training.  And then I got massive tummy ache/cramps on Tuesday morning.  I've self-diagnosed with IBS (irritable bowel syndrome), stress/exhaustion/food trigger?  And now Philipp has a nasty cold.  Oh, and we both got some sort of GI bug today.  Being sick just ain't fun.

And now we think Basti has really started teething.  He chomps down on anything he can put his hands on.  And sometimes squeals loudly as in frustration.  Since we're home this week, he has been nursing a lot.  A LOT.  Now he stays awake for 2 hours between naps (used to be 1.5 hour average).  And watch out...  his rolling technique has improved!

Fluffy Baby

Last week Friday, Basti weighed 17 pounds 13 ounces...  which is light for a baby this size and chubs.  So now I call him "mi bebe de malva" (my marshmallow baby) cause he is all puffy fluff.  Like the Pillsbury doughboy.  We had to go to the doctor's office to get the second dose of the flu shot.  And little fluff boy didn't cry!  Wow!

Now Basti wants to "play" with Maja...  he reaches out to her and grabs at her fur.  And cute Maja doesn't mind.  But we are always VERY watchful when they are together.  Maja just wants to give Basti kisses.  Most mornings we get a group cuddle in bed before the mad rush to get ready and out of the house starts.

Basti baby loooves tags.  Any toy I give him, he finds the tag and plays with it and puts it in his mouth.  Then I found a toy at Target that has tags all over it!  Ha ha.  So of course I got it for him.  And guess what...  he prefers the real tag on the toy than all the other taggies.  Oh well.

Feedings are still not very successful.  Seems Basti did like the piece of mango I gave him.  Who doesn't love mango???  But then he rubbed his mangoey hands all over his eyes because he was getting tired.  Then I realized that by the time we get home and get to feeding at 5:30pm he is probably too tired to really be interested in food!  Hmmm...  So the plan is for his teacher to try to feed him a little bit at school while the other boys are having their lunch.  Then maybe Basti is not as tired and seeing the other boys eat he will be more inclined to try.  So far he has swallowed a bit at each feeding, or so they tell me.

When Basti is nursing, his hands are all over the place.  He grabs at my shirt, hair, anything within reach.  Sometimes scratches me too.  So I designated a nursing buddy for him, a little toy bunny he can hold and fling around so he won't try to tear my hair out.  For the most part it seems to work.  And this bunny has a huge tag which is great for Basti to hold on to.

Basti rolly polly is now moving around via rolling.  Sort of.  Whenever I put him down on the floor he can't be still and starts rolling from one side to the other.  And if he sees something he just has to grab he tries to roll in that general direction.  Although a couple of times, he pulled on the blanky the just-out-of-reach toy was on to get to it.  Clever or lazy?  Hmmm...

Today Mommy and Baby are home.  Basti has developed a cold...  coughing and runny nose.  Makes it uncomfortable for him to fall asleep cause he coughs coughs coughs.  But overall not too bad.

Next week is Spring Break...  so Mommy and Basti will be home all week!  WOW!  It's been a while since it has just been the two of us during the day for so long.  Fun baby times!

More Firsts

Last week Tuesday, I got the call I was hoping wouldn't happen for a while...  Teacher from school called to let me know Basti had a fever, 102.4.  Darn.  That means he has to go home and can't go back to school 24 hours after the fever breaks.  So I rushed to school to pick up Basti.  He did feel a little toasty, but when we got home I took his temperature 3 ways and the most I got was 99.9.  And he was being his normal chipper self.  Oh well.  I got a day and a half at home with Basti, so I'm not complaining.  Hee hee.

On Thursday he had several explosive poops...  none at school though, Basti was considerate and saved them for us at home.  Ha ha.  Friday morning he woke up with his hair, face, hands, PJs, sleep sack, sheets all soaked in spit up.  Oops.  And had a pooped diaper.  So emergency bath was needed before school.  Again, he did not explode at school.  On Saturday it was pretty clear Basti had diarreah.  Yikes.  But he didn't seem to mind and was nursing normally.  Hmmm.  Fortunately it was ok by Sunday and now we're back to normal.

Meal times haven't been very successful.  The only thing Basti has swallowed without complaint is Panamanian tamal, he ate about a tablespoon of it.  All other offerings he spits out with a look of distaste and some loud complaining.  Oh, but tonight I offered him my finger dipped in oatmeal and he went for it!  So I managed to feed him some more that way...  hey, whatever works!

Eczema on Basti's neck, arms and legs has greatly improved since we started slathering him with Eucerin Ph5 body lotion (suggestion by friend in PTY).  YEY!  Pero si no es Juana, es Chana...  but eczema spots on his cheeks have taken a turn for the worse.  And it seems the saliva and face rubbing (with sleeves or blankets) are not helping.  But we do what we can to sort of keep it in check.  At least it doesn't seem to bother him.

For about 2 weeks, Basti has been able to sit on his own.  He is not very stable yet, but getting better.

PTY Trip

Our trip to PTY was packed with family, friends, and food.  Nooooice!

On the first day, my parents and Tia Hen hosted a CNY lunch so family and friends could come meet Basti.  Our little baby was all smiles and got passed around like a football as everybody wanted to hold him and check out his rolls.  And he also managed to take a couple of naps through all the commotion.

Basti got lots of love and kisses and hugs from Popo, Cuncun, and all the tias.  Grandma wanted Basti all to herself and kept trying to get rid of us (Philipp and me)...  once I had enough milk pumped, we ventured out to the mall for lunch, movies, and a little shopping.  

Tio Gigante had the opposite effect on Basti.

Since Panama is 3 hours ahead of California, Basti's bedtime was 9pm...  which gave us time to go out to dinners with the family.  We hadn't been out to dinner since...  January?  I think it was January the last time we implemented sleep training with early bedtime.

Birthday dinner.

Rolling around.

We took Basti to the pool and had him soak a bit.  Not too long though cause he would get cold.  He seemed somewhat indifferent to the experience, showing more interest in sucking on his toes.

Checking out the pool.

Tias!