The Journey of Parenthood…

Spear’s Week 13 Summary

This is a summary of Spear’s 13th week of life. From Friday February 23rd through Thursday March 1st. He was 12 weeks old during this week!

Feeding: We hit a bump in the road with feeding. It’s almost like Spear started rejecting the bottle which was crazy to me seeing as he’s ONLY fed via bottle. How can you reject the only source of food you have ever known?

He started taking a super long time to eat and just didn’t seem hungry and didn’t seem to WANT his bottle. He’d take like an HOUR per feeding and still only drink like 4 oz. when he’s typically been taking in 6 per feeding. We would still work to make sure he got 7-8 oz at night to help make up for what he wasn’t getting in the day! 

I wasn’t overly concerned about him getting enough. He was still sleeping solid and using the bathroom regularly. But I was thinking it was schedule related. Maybe it was time to switch things up? Moving to the 3.5 hour schedule wouldn’t drop any feedings, it’d only spread them out differently so I debated going straight to the 4 hour but he can’t sleep long enough to justify that switch and he’s def too young to make that move. So I debated what to do. 

Kye and Britt both were sick this week (posts to come) and I noticed Spear was really, really congested as well so I worried if maybe his eating struggles were also related to that! 

By this age both Britt and Tess were on the 3.5 hour so I did go ahead and make that switch, but it didn’t make any change with his eating. He just struggled! I worried maybe he didn’t want breastmilk anymore. I had people suggesting to switch bottles which I really didn’t want to do (who wants to spend a bunch of money and have to re-buy a bunch of bottles?!?). 

I had a friend recommend Colic-Ease so I bought it and used it during feedings when he got fussy. 

Can I just say here what an awesome gift it is to be a seasoned mama? Yes, I did some troubleshooting with his feeding issues, but I also DID NOT STRESS IT. I know SO many things with babies are phases. Maybe it’s a Wonder Week. Maybe it’s teething. Maybe it’s congestion. Maybe it’s a MILLION other causes. But majority of them? Work themselves out. So I was patient. I let him take a super long time to eat. But I waited it out. 

It also gave me hindsight comfort (is that a thing?) in realizing that Tess hardcore rejected the bottle at this EXACT age. Allll that time I thought it was a breastfed baby thing, maybe it’s just a stage that babies go through! When I posted about it on IG a lot of people said their babies went through it too and maybe it’s just something in their developmental leaps or something! I wish I could go back to when Tess was that age and going through all of that and just hug myself and say “it’s gonna be okay!” Because I was STRESSING. 

Sleep: My life is totally changed now that he’s sleeping solid at night. I feel like a NEW PERSON (well like the old person I was before he was born haha). 

I did go ahead and make the switch to the 3.5 hour schedule and here is what that looked like:

He had NO issues making the switch and I think it helped to ensure his solid sleep at night since he was going to bed later! It also meant bedtime for the older kids wasn’t as rushed since Spear had his bedtime bottle so much later and that Spear was able to be part of dinner time with our family 🙂 

While Spear did fine with the schedule switch, he also struggled with falling asleep in the car. I just can’t (and don’t) overly stress it. I remember working SO HARD to keep my other babies awake but Spear does fine with the little cat nap and then going back down for his actual nap time. So I just don’t stress over it too much. I’m thankful that Zach is usually able to take Tess to school so his little cat nap really only happens once a day, if that!

Just as soon as he started sleeping solid at night, he started busting out of the swaddle. For a week the double swaddle technique worked but then he figured out how to break out of that too. I pulled out an old Woombie I had ( I swear yall I have SO MANY SWADDLES haha) and it worked great but was too little for him so I had to order a new one. 

(This Woombie is so old they don’t even make it anymore ha!)

I was super pumped when the new woombie arrived (this is the one I ordered) because it converts to a sleep sack! YAY for getting long-term use out of it!!!

This made me laugh 😉

I’ve always been pretty frugal with purchases but usually I don’t mind dropping dough on baby stuff because I’ve always known I’ll use it again…now though? I can’t stand paying for baby items knowing Spear will only use them for such a short time period and then I’ll have to try to resell it! 

It was a tad big since he’s on the lower end of the size spectrum but I was okay with that being that he’s 12 weeks old and that Moms on Call actually suggests to just completely drop the swaddle at this age!

He loved it and went back to sleeping great and waking happy!

But OF COURSE I buy the dang $30 swaddle and what happens? He starts rolling to his side haha. I knew he was going to turn to that belly soon and then it’d mean dropping the swaddle completely!

Other Things This Week: 

This week Kye had the FLU. I was SO nervous about Spear being in the same home as the dang flu! I diffused oils like crazy, cleaned with lysol and clorox wipes, and kept Spear contained to his room (as well as kept Kye contained to his). I’m SO THANKFUL it didn’t spread and I’m also so thankful that Mama E got the flu shot while pregnant 🙂 

Sometimes with adoption people kinda say stuff without truly thinking about it. I know I’m always an open book and never act offended by anything I’m asked, and truly I love that people feel comfortable in asking me things! But some stuff does come across hurtful or causes me unneeded concerns. 

One question I get asked is about Mama E while pregnant and if she consumed alcohol. She told us that, no, she didn’t. But I’m not naive enough to think that it’s not something someone would fib about especially since there is no test out there to really know. 

I’m not someone that wants to live in a state of denial or have my head in the clouds or ignore something that could be a major cause of concern for my child. But at the same time I WANT to trust and believe Mama E. I WANT for alcohol related issues to be of ZERO concerns. 

Mama E was also SUPER open and honest with us. She told us things she really probably shouldn’t have told us and was honest with us about things that I’m sure most people in her position lie about. With the level of comfort we share, I truly do believe her. No one else knows our bond and no one else has walked these exact shoes that the two of us are walking. 

FAS (fetal alcohol syndrome) is a serious, serious thing. It’s interesting to me when so many people have so many concerns about potential drug use and it’s affects on an unborn child when really alcohol is the thing to be truly concerned over. Most drugs have little to no long term effects on the baby (isn’t God SO GOOD in protecting these precious children?) but FAS is a BIG DEAL. 

Even though I DO trust and believe Mama E, when I’m asked about FAS I naturally start thinking about it. I thought since Spear is getting older that it’d be a good time to go ahead and start looking for signs and symptoms of it just to be aware and know if I need to mention anything to his dr or anything like that. 

It made my mama heart feel SO GOOD to see that he shows NONE of the signs or symptoms of FAS. 

He’s got a bigger head then Britt did at this age, an obvious ridge between nose and lips, BIG eyes, a BIG upper lip, is right at average for height and weight, is def not super hyper and has great concentration and focus!

Showing off that upper lip!

Obviously I will always continue to look into FAS symptoms as if it is something we need to be concerned about I want to catch it early. Just like with my bio kids I will always be on the look out for ANY signs of auto immune disease. I hope and pray none of these items are ever realities any of them have to deal with, but I’m a big believer in knowledge being power!

Spear has rolled from belly to back but has only done it once leading up to this week! However this week he started getting pretty quick with it and rolled over where Zach and I BOTH got to see it for the first time! Since he started side sleeping it was important to me to really work with him on the skill of flipping from tummy to back since I have a feeling he’d be rolling from back to tummy soon!

Tummy Time can be exhausting 😉 

I LOVE that Spear and the girls have had so much hair but the big negative of that is the BALD SPOT on the back of the head! I noticed this week that Spear’s was starting to appear. BOO. 

The best way to combat the flat head/baldness is to do lots of tummy time and to get him off that head! I pulled out the Bumbo and started having him practice sitting up. It’s so funny to watch those big cheeks weigh him down haha

Spear is really finding his hands and doing awesome at holding them together!

I LOVE doing “airplane” with my babies. At this age I always put them on my knees (with a burp rag on my tummy to catch the spit up ha!) and Spear LOVED it!

If you’re like Zach and I and like to watch The Bachelor franchise then you probably saw Arie’s season here recently. We about DIED when they did hometowns and Arie went to meet Tia’s family. 

Are we sure that Tia and Spear don’t share a father? RIGHT?!?! Hahaha!!!

This week was a BIG deal for our family. We had our LAST post placement visit with our social worker. We’ve officially done EVERY SINGLE THING we need to do in order to have Spear’s adoption finalized! Now it’s just a waiting game on all the paperwork to do it’s thing and the courts to let us know an official date! SO EXCITING! 

If you have questions about post placement and what this stage of the adoption process involves, here’s a post I wrote about it 🙂 

Siblings: Yes, I know Britt is like non-existent in Spear’s weekly posts again. Ugh. I swear she adores him! But maybe just not as much as Kye and Tess do 😉 

Tessie is also enjoying the benefit of a baby in the home: the toys! 

Spear ended this week with turning 3 months old! Post to come soon!

More Notes on Spear:

  • His lips remind me SO MUCH of Mama E. I’ve mentioned it before but they look so much like hers and it is such a good reminder to me to pray for her and to always be so grateful for this incredible gift he is to our family.
  • He def went through a big leap this week as he’s now super alert and looking around everywhere with his eyes opened SUPER big like he’s taking it all in!
  • His feet are ALWAYS sweaty! 
  • We’re still using gas drops and I don’t see us stopping them anytime soon. 
  • He sticks out his tongue a LOT especially when smiling or giving us kisses!
  • He only poops while feeding and it’s typically the first feeding of the day. Never in his sleep or in the night which is a blessing!

Videos:


Spear playing with Kye

Practicing sitting up (those cheeks!)

Sleeping on his side

Tummy time (his smile gets me every time!)


Sibling Comparisons:  

Well. At this point I stopped doing all of the weekly summaries for both Kye and Britt and this was the last week for Tess’s. So I guess I’ll quit with Spear’s and just make it a monthly thing from here on out which does kinda work perfectly since this week ended on the same day he turned 3 months old. 

You can read Tess’s weekly summary of week 13 here! 

Personal Reflection: Can I just say that up until this point I’ve yet to be sad about being done with babies. I’m GLAD to be done with those early days of no sleep. The frustrations of sleep training. I’m not going to miss that phase of things. But man. Just realizing this is my LAST NEWBORN WEEKLY POST EVER. OMG. Yall. I could cry sitting here typing this. I’ll never have a newborn again. Whew. That’s crazy. I guess it didn’t feel real until I blogged about it but man the mommy emotions are hitting me something fierce right now. 

Here are some more pics of my sweet baby boy who is GROWING UP TOO FAST:

I guess now that the weekly summary posts are done forever I might do a round up post where it’s easy to access every week for each baby! I know these tend to be helpful for new mamas! 

Emily Parker
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