(This post contains breastfeeding references, you know the drill.. if not, you’ve been warned.)

I’m still feeding Tristan through exclusive pumping.  I was down to two sessions per day, but my supply seems to have dropped by about half.  I’m cycling through the frozen stash and finding that it’s not being replaced as fast, so I now have only about 12 bottles of excess as opposed to the 18 I had about two weeks ago.  I’ve been trying to add in a third pumping session to restimulate a bit, as we’ve got 1-3 months before we’re ready to get into the world of formula and/or solids.  I figure whatever’s meant to happen will, but it’s still somewhat disappointing, especially considering the massive oversupply from before.  I’m hoping that feeding formula the next time we try won’t result in the same fountain-puke that it did when we first tried back in his first month.  I’ve tried the Mother’s Milk tea that’s sold in grocery stores, but that doesn’t seem to have much of an effect – perhaps I am not drinking enough.  In any event, the frozen stash is meant to make up for when I can’t provide the fresh stuff, so it’s at least being put to good use.

Tristan has been somewhat fussy for the past few days and way hungrier than usual, wanting additional milk once his bottle has been drained and wanting to feed more frequently.  We originally thought he may be teething, but we think it’s a growth spurt.  He does seem to be a bit bigger, and he’s almost to the point where we will have to switch him to his crib because he’s almost too tall for the bassinet.

On Monday, we took the local lightrail train out to the store to get a new brush, as we had a casualty this morning.  One baby all dressed up, changed, and placed in the back/frontpack carrier and attached to me, and my walking legs, proceeded to the train station about half a mile away.  The trip there was uneventful – we met some Spanish speaking ladies who were fascinated with Tristan, although the one who asked his name kept calling him Christian.  Another one had a baby of her own who was a little over a year old and very grumpy.

We got to the shopping center, went through the beauty supply store to get the brush and then to the Mexican grocery store (I love ethnic grocery stores).  By this time, Tristan was beginning to get fussy so on our way back to the train, I brought out the bottle I’d packed and put it together.  I carried him and fed him simultaneously – that was sort of amusing.  He was doing well until the train came, and then I found out that he doesn’t particularly like eating while moving.  Two stops later, we got back off of the train because he was screaming, and we finished the feeding and got onto the next train.  He fussed his way through the ride and spit up on me a little bit, but he was quiet enough that we didn’t have to get off of the train again. 

On Tuesday I put him in the carrier for a repeat, this time to the Great Mall.  He did well for about the first half of the walk, and then he got very fussy whenever I tried to go into any store.  I think he was just sleepy and overstimulated.

On Wednesday we stuck to the stroller and went to the Valley Fair mall.  He had the usual older Asian lady fawning over him and asking a million questions in broken English, but he loves the attention.  It’s funny because whoever accompanies these ladies usually looks entirely embarassed, but the ladies are so lost in the fact that there’s a real live baby sitting there that they don’t notice.  He didn’t fuss too much and he took a small nap in the stroller.

I’m not sure where we’re going to go today – I don’t need anything that I can think of, so we may stick to local scenery.  I hope it’s not too cold out – I hear there’s snow falling in other parts of the country.

Tristan’s grandma Didi (my mom) came out to visit last week.  Sometime last month, she told us she had managed to get some time off of work and was able to come hang out for a bit and play with Tristan.  It’s fortunate for her, but unfortunate for the rest of the family, as she is the only one who lives within a decent driving distance of us.  We’d love to see some more of the family but we realize that the trip’s not easy.  Hell, if the trip weren’t longer than shit, we’d make it out to visit everyone more often!  And to be fair, we prefer to take the plane which makes visiting my mom actually the least convenient, because she lives about 100 miles from the nearest major airport and the subcompact cars I like to drive don’t do well driving through the Nevada/Arizona desert areas.  But still – family is invited to spend a little vacation with us!  Our sleeping accomodations sort of suck, especially if multiple family members are here simultaneously (my mom took up residence on our floor, next to Samurai), but we have a blow-up mattress, a couch of reclining goodness, and a chaise lounge.

Tristan adored all of the attention he received and the new toys he got to play with.  He was fussy after his grandma left, but we don’t know if it was because of a change in the Virgo’s routine, a growth spurt, teething, or random.  I think we suspect a growth spurt due to his weird eating habits these past few days, but thankfully, his fussiness is tapering off.  Hell, we couldn’t even calm him down with movement, which is almost failsafe.  It’s sort of amusing but very stressful to walk around an apartment complex with a screaming baby in a baby carrier/pack thingie.

We’ve started dressing Tristan in pants and socks in addition to his little onesies.  It’s finally getting cooler during the days here.  I could live without that in general, of course, but for some reason our apartment is usually sweltering.

Tristan really looks different from his newborn days.  Hell, he’s put on almost 50% of his birth weight already.  His hair is still dark but seems a bit more sparse.  You can tell when you look at his pictures but it doesn’t seem as obvious when we see him day after day.  It makes me glad that we’ve taken so many pictures, though.  I hope he appreciates this little album of sorts when he gets older and wonders about his babyhood.

I also hope Tristan will be amused to know that I currently have purple hair and his dad currently has blue-black but mostly black hair.  Both dyes will fade in time.  James looks good with black hair, though!  I am not so pleased with how the purple came out in mine.  But I suppose that when Tristan wants to do weird shit with his hair, we will not really be able to deny it on principle.  We’ll have some standards, though.. I’m sure!

Added 17 new pictures to 2-3 month gallery.

Added new 2 – 3 Month pictures.

Today, I set Tristan down on his stomach.  He pushed his chest up, looked around, and promptly rolled over.   I decided to grab the camera and take a picture.  So he promptly flipped me off. 

He’s a troublemaker, that one.

Tristan seems to be becoming more aware of his surroundings and abilities. He really tried to grab his bottle while being fed just a moment ago. He had the motions all correct – he just has to work on the strength and coordination to get it for sure!

He also seems to be trying very hard to communicate with us – it’s so cute how he babbles and looks at us intently, as if any time now we’d be able to make sense of it. And right now, he’s sitting in James’s lap trying to do sit-ups!

I’ve been trying to make an effort to go somewhere that’s outside the home and walk around with Tristan in his carrier.

On Thursday and Friday we managed to go to two separate malls. Each trip entailed 30-45 (didn’t count, really) minutes of walking around and having females gush over Tristan as if they’ve never seen a baby before. There was the girl in the Bare Escentuals store who was talking about how she’d adopt her sister’s kids if she could, and there was the older Asian lady outside of Target who was walking with a younger woman, perhaps her daughter, who looked very embarassed at the display. Tristan loved it, though.. after a moment or so of both women paying him such attention he began giggling and hiding his face in my chest.

He seemed to enjoy being carried in general; he was very fascinated by random scenery and kept his head turned to take it all in. I figure that wearing him is good exercise for me and good snuggling for him, so it’s something I plan to make an effort to do as often as possible. It does get tiring quickly – he’s over 14 lbs now, according to our home scale! My neck hurts just thinking about it. I expect that this will improve with time.

We received Tristan’s passport today. Damn.. nice timing! Also, he has a “what the hell?!” look on his face.