Christmas Morning

Techically this is Nathan's second Christmas but it was his first Christmas morning where he was able to partake in enjoying the wrapping paper and boxes. He loves his new toys! And I am having fun watching his big blue eyes light up with each one.

Turning 1 Means a Visit to the Doctor and Learning the Sippy Cup

Nathan had his 1 year check up this morning and everything turned out just fine. He is still on the rather small side but is growing in proportion and is very healthy. He weighed 18lbs, 3oz which put him below the 3 percentile. His height was 27 inches which put him right at the 3 percentile. His BMI is 50% so that is perfect... not too big, not too small. My little guy is just that... little. But he is perfectly healthy (except for that pesky cold). He got 3 shots too... MMR, chickenpox... which were combined into 1..., pneumonia, and HIB (I forget exactly what this is but has something to do with meningitis). His next visit to the doctor won't be until he is 18 months so he can take a break from shots, thank goodness.

A few positives about him being little is I can put off getting the forward facing carseat because he won't reach 20lbs for another 3-4 months. And I save on clothes because he has so much room in his 12 month outfits.

The doctor stressed the importance of teaching the sippy cup. I've tried and tried. Nathan enjoys the sippy cup but isn't the greatest at drinking from it. Doctor said that by 15 months if he isn't fully on the cup then the bottle will become like a security blanket and that is a no no.

I can't wait for Christmas with my baby :)

Kisses,

Toni

Nathan is 1!

My son is 1. It literally feels like just last night I was laying in bed with Sugar napping at my knees, and I felt the contractions begin. From that first contraction, my life changed forever. Nathan was saying HELLOOO world! I'm a coming.

Nathan is my best friend and I love him so much. It's funny to actually say now that I have a 1 year old. A 1 year old! Really?? Gosh. And I cannot imagine life without him.

His party was a lot of fun tonight. It probably wasn't the smartest thing though for me to plan it on a weeknight. I just thought that since he was turning 1, I did not want to do it over last weekend because he wasn't 1 yet and then I did not want to do it this weekend because it's Christmas. It's hard on the weeknights though because when I get him from daycare, he is usually exhausted and fussy, which turned out to happen tonight. My parents picked him up so I could get the cake. My mom fed him dinner and then when I arrived, we played for a little and then got the party started. Much of the time he dug through his cake, he was crying or at least whining. He was so exhausted, poor guy. After about 7-10 minutes, I got him in the tub and washed the icing off his hands and face. Then the sugar rush began and he was fine for a couple of hours. He opened presents and of course was more interested in the paper. When we came back home, he was trucking along beautifully and then BAM. The sugar crash. I put him in bed after brushing his teeth and went right to sleep.

Another piece of the excitement for the night was my re-introduction to coffee. I had decaf tonight because I was not in the mood for a caffeine buzz. Literally the drink was so tasty that my eyes welled up with tears. I plan on stopping by Starbucks on my way to work Wednesday so if any of you receive a nutty email from me, please blame the bean.

What a day this was. A great and wonderful first birthday :)

Kisses
Toni

Standing Now

I am so happy to finally have internet at home so I can continue with the Nathan updates. As of last week, Nathan is standing! I now have a coffee table in my living room, which was formerly Lindsay's, and on that fateful night, Nathan used it to help push himself up. He crawled over, unhooked his legs, put his right foot flat on the ground, then his left foot flat on the ground, and presto... with all the strength he could muster in those chubby thighs, he stood up! His hands were both on the top of the table for balance. I was on the phone with my mom at that moment. I gasped and she thought something horrible had happened. I told her that Nathan had just stood up!

The cutest part about this is sometimes he gets stuck standing and cannot figure out how to sit back down so he just looks at me and wimpers. Most of the time he slowly lowers his little body to the floor and continues about his business. So far what scares me the most about this standing thing is he likes to crawl into the bathroom and put his hands on the top of the toilet lid (not seat... no men live here so the lid is ALWAYS down when not in use) and then he'll push himself up. I worry because the linoleum below is slippery so I just watch him closely in case I need to prevent a forward fall.

Walking is coming... I'm not forcing the issue because I know it will mean even extra diligence from me. My mornings will get even crazier.

Kisses,
Toni

Clap Clap Clap your Hands!

Nathan has learned to patty cake and it is adorable! He doesn't exactly do it on queue all the time. Sometimes I'll catch him clapping his hands while he's playing. Other times he'll look at me and clap, wanting me to sing Patty Cake, Patty Cake, Baker's Man... It's still funny to me how babies love that song. Nathan has gentle claps; no noisy bursts but I know it's coming. That will be part of the fun in the toddler stage. I've attached a video of my mom getting him to clap on Thanksgiving. Most of this video is my mom's hands... Nathan doesn't get started until towards the end. Before the video started, of course he was clapping a lot. Kids are notorious for freezing on film.

Kisses,
Toni

11 Months Old Today

From Nathan...

30 days left until the big day! I will be a 1 year old. There are so many things in store for me this next month. I've been trying to stand on my own. Mommy does things to help me like prop me up next to the couch and place my hands on the cushions. She also walks with me, holding my hands. I've been hearing rumblings too about my birthday cake next month. Really! A birthday cake for my very own!! Yippee! Mommy hasn't let me eat sugar outside of fruit at all, except for the occasional taste of jello or pudding. Little does she know that I plan on making the biggest mess of my life with the icing. Today I heard mommy telling auntie that she can't wait for me to begin drinking cow's milk. I don't know if I am quite ready for that but according to my doctor, 1 year marks the time to switch from Nature's perfect food to cow's milk. It will be easier for mommy, that's for sure. No more pumping, whatever that means. I think the best part about me turning 1 will be that mommy can start back drinking coffee. It must be a love of hers because she is literally counting down the days until that first sip of Starbucks. Apparently she hasn't had it since April of 2009! That is quite a long time to give up something you love. Hopefully she will start out with decaf because otherwise, she'll be burning the midnight oil with Sugar and Scout. I guess I should sign off for now. I find that I am rambling. Mommy just gave me a bath and sang Happy Birthday to me again. 11 months... I'll only be 11 months one time. The build up to December 21st is so exciting!!

Kisses and coos,
Nathan

Pulling Tails

Yes, Nathan is at that age now where he pulls tails. He can crawl now like a speedy pro and the cats need to watch out. Scout is way more tolerable of Nathan's antics than Sugar. Sugar runs from Nathan once he gets within 5 feet of her personal space. That's just Sugar... she's a little snot. Scout on the other hand is great with Nate. I don't know if it's because he has an extremely gentle nature or if it's the 1 nice brain cell winning the battle against the 1 not so nice brain cell when they battle it out in that petite brain of his. Nathan is so cute because he will crawl as fast as he can to Scout and grab that tail and pull. Scout just makes a really low volume meeeoowwww. And turns and just looks at Nate... eventually walking away. Then Nate repeats the same until Scout leaps to the top of his cat tree as a last ditch effort to save himself. But there is never a hiss or a growl or a swipe with his claws. I am proud of my cats.

Kisses,

Toni

Halloween

This was Nathan's first Halloween and he dressed as a lion. He was so cute!! I took him trick or treating and he did very well for himself :)

Feeding Himself

Nathan can feed himself small finger foods like Cheerios and baby cookies. He has 4 teeth now and sometimes will bite the Cheerio with his teeth before gumming the rest. He started doing it a couple of weeks ago and I was so impressed! The first time was at a restaurant and I caught it on camera. The clip is shown here. It actually brought tears to my eyes because it was yet another milestone. I just have to keep a close watch that he doesn't stuff too many in his mouth at once. With the baby cookie, I give him 1 because it is enough to last a while. He will bite small pieces but eventually the uneaten part gets all wet and gooshy in his hand. Then I get to clean the wet remnants out. In addition, he can feed himself with a spoon with my guided help. This can be a challenge because he gets so excited that he tends to hike his hands up in the air trying to grab the spoon and ends up flicking the food out. I am trying to build up my patience for messes, which is really difficult. I have to keep reminding myself that he won't learn unless he practices. And according to my mom, it only gets messier from here. Today I found myself saying outloud "Toni, relax. Nathan isn't being messy on purpose." At least he understands the idea.

Kisses,

Toni

Fetch

Nathan has found a way to entertain himself and it's quite entertaining for us to watch. He fetches! Seriously. He picks up a toy of his (or my cell phone), throws it forward, crawls to it, picks it up, and throws it again... all in order to repeat the same process. He can do this for 20-30 minutes if he's really into it. He makes it all around the place, laughing and laughing. It's the cutest and funniest thing he does. One of these days I need to get it on video and send it in to America's Funniest Videos. Nathan could make us famous!

Kisses!

Toni

Crawling!

It is official. Nathan started crawling on Tuesday evening. Picture it... Alameda... 2010 (flashbacks of Sophia from Golden Girls come to mind??) Toni and Nathan are sitting in the living room, watching the news. Toni is on the couch cleaning up the high chair and Nathan just sat on the floor to play. The meal selections were green beans, yogurt, and a handful of Cheerios. The bright yellow box for those Cheerios is on the floor. As Toni is wiping the spray of veggies off the high chair, she notices her little guy crawling hand knee, hand knee, wobbly but confident, toward the giant sunny box. Toni jumped for joy... Nathan turned and shot a glance like what mom? This is mine, right? Toni bolted for the video camera but of course, Nathan started his nap meltdown so filming at this moment was not going to work. The next opportunity came post-nap when Nathan, yet again, hand knee, hand knee, wobbly but confident, toward his favorite toy... rings! This time, Toni captured each and every thunderous move on video. Look out world, Nathan is taking it by storm!

Kisses!

Toni

Expanding Food Selections

Today Nathan tried Cheerios and enjoyed it. I can't decide if it is the food itself or the fact that I am feeding him that he enjoys. Since his 9 month check up I have been doing my best to introduce new foods. His diet now includes breastmilk, carrots, squash, sweet potatoes, green beans, peas, shredded cheese, plain yogurt, oatmeal, cheerios and water. I tried bananas and peaches but he hasn't yet acquired the taste. It will come, I'm sure.

His favorite food of all the ones mentioned is yogurt. I had to buy 2 tubs this week instead of 1 because he gobbled up so much that it did not last a week. Instead of sharing it with Nathan I decided we should each have our own.

He is working on the grasping motion with the cheese and cheerios and I know that will come in time. The hardest thing to deal with while he is eating is how much he tries to grab the spoon. Ohhh, that is so annoying!

He has 2 prominent teeth now! Both lower incisors have come in. I wonder which will be next?? Be sure to vote vote vote!

Kisses,
Toni

9 Months Already??

Nathan is 9 months old... already! He has now graced the world just as long as he graced my belly. To mark this occasion, he has sprouted his 2nd lower incisor, is rocking back and forth on his hands and knees, took a dip in the pool and is saying mamamamamama!

Nathan's 9 month checkup was yesterday the 24th. He weighed in at 16 lbs, 13 oz which put him in the 3-10% percentile. I was a little worried about that but the doctor said he is growing in proportion so it's fine. They only get concerned if Nathan were to fall completely off the curve. His height measured 27 in and he was in the 10-25% percentile. He is just a wee little tike. Dan was a small baby so Nathan is taking after his daddy. I was a chunky monkey!

I had thought Nathan would survive this visit without a shot but alas... the flu shot. He'll have to go back to the doctor in about 1 month to get his 2nd flu shot because when babies get their first flu shot, it's a 2 shot vaccine. He did great! I got right in his face, smiled and sang his favorite song The Itsy Bitsy Spider. He smiled through the entire shot which was shocker since the last few times he cried bloody murder. Of course, at those visits he was getting 4 or 5 vaccines each time.

Last week Nathan started getting up on his hands and knees and rocking back and forth. It is sooooooo cute! He will kind of slide a little bit and then collapse. While he's rocking he looks at the floor, trying to figure out what in the world is going on. He may be on the brink of crawling which would be so cute!

Today I took Nathan to the pool for his first swim. A friend of mine is a member at a local pool and was taking her girls. The bay area is having a heat wave and dealing with 90 degree days without air conditioning is super tough so going to the pool was a great option. Nathan loved it! You can tell from the pics I've included.

Earlier this week Nathan started saying mamamamamama. He doesn't do it a lot but it's really nice to hear him form that word. He's been on dada for quite some time. I am proud of his vocal range :)

Until next time!

Kisses,

Toni

Raleigh Trip 9-2010

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Trip to Raleigh and Nathan's First Flight!!

Nathan and I survived his first flight. We visited Raleigh 9/1-9/8 and had a superb time. Our flight left at 6:00am from SFO and what craziness it was. I decided that getting to the airport at 4:30am would give us plenty of time to get through security, change diaper, and board first. Well... apparently a lot more people than I thought fly at 6 in the morning on a Wednesday. Dan, Nathan and I arrived at SFO right on time as planned. As we entered the ticketing and check in area, we noticed that the lines were out of this world ridiculous. Once we made the executive decision to do curb side check in, we hurried outside and luckily that process took no time. Then it was time for security. Nathan and I stood in line as TSA took their sweet time. I had watched a video on the TSA website before I arrived which explained the process of getting bottles through so I knew to have all liquids out and ready for inspection. I also carried through the diaper bag, breastpump, and stroller system. After stripping off my shoes and filling up 3 bins full, I walked through the metal detector with Nathan and we waited as TSA collapsed my stroller and car seat and literally forced it through the reader. Once everything made it through and we were cleared as safe and not of suspicion, I whipped on my shoes and bolted to the bathroom so I could get Nathan's diaper changed. Finally we arrived at our gate about 20 minutes before the plane left. It was a mob scene there and since people love to ignore others at the gate, it was a fight to get on ahead. There was a very nice man who convinced me to bypass everyone and go through the priority line. Once I built up enough courage to do that, I gate checked the stroller and a baggage handler helped carry Nathan aboard. We got in our seats just fine, as you can see from the picture above. He slept for about half the trip and the other half, we played with toys, walked a few laps on the plane, and I went through my repertoire of hit baby songs. Before we knew it, we were in Atlanta. I settled in at Popeyes and indulged in yummy fried chicken and a buttermilk biscuit. Nathan was awake during the entire flight from Atlanta to Raleigh and fell asleep just as we landed, of course.

The week in Raleigh was amazing. The weather was actually summertime and I loved it since I was coming from fall like temps. I saw many friends and had good quality time with family. Nathan hit it off with the family dog, which was good to see after weeks of worry. Nathan also fell in love with his nephews, as you can see from the picture above. I can't wait to come back and visit Raleigh again!

The flight back was the same pattern... Raleigh to Atlanta and then Atlanta to SFO. This time was a lot less fun. I originally was scheduled to have a 1 hour layover in Atlanta which turned into 3. The plane was delayed due to fog in SF... as if it is never foggy out here. Of course, Nathan slept the entire layover so he was very awake during the flight to SF. The unfortunate part was that he fought sleep for much of that leg of the trip so was more cranky than the first time he flew. There were several people around me that were grandmas and just loved Nathan. They raved over how great he did on the trip so that was good to hear considering how cranky I thought he was. Mid way during the flight I had to change his diaper because he decided to take a huge poop. I had to do it in the middle of the plane because the bathrooms on this plane did not have the pull down shelf. Luckily the plane was really big and there was floor space in the middle of the coach section. I had an audience as people were doing anything they could to occupy their time including standing and watching me change a diaper. Nathan finally fell asleep with and hour and a half left to go.

All in all, Nathan was a great traveler. I guess what helps is that he isn't crawling just yet so he did not have the urge to get down and move around.

Kisses!

Toni

Arrival of 1st Tooth

Nathan's first tooth officially erupted this past week! His lower right (his right) incisor is the winner so if you voted for lower incisor, you guessed correctly. A couple of weeks ago, I could see it just peeking out but this past week, the little white tooth hid no more. I am trying my best to get a picture but it's not easy, as can be expected.

Kisses,

Toni

Pictures from The Picture People

Grandma and Papa Visit 8-2010

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Visit with Grandma and Papa

My parents came to town last week from August 12-16. We had a ball! The last time they saw Nathan he was a wee little tike at barely 4 months old. He has changed not only physically but is more active. My mom enjoyed her time with Nathan playing on the floor with his toys. There were two things my parents witnessed that they found cute and humorous. One was how much Nathan loves our kitties Sugar and Scout and he shows that affection by belly laughing when he makes eye contact with them. At one point, Nathan laughed non stop for 5 minutes. Sugar was on the couch just staring at him and Nathan could not contain his joy. The second cute thing they saw was how Nathan yells at his baby monitor. We have a monitor set up in both the living room and bedroom. Our monitor is a lights and sounds one meaning it lights up and projects sound when the receiver picks up noise. If he yells loud enough, the receiver in his room picks it up and he can see the lights displayed on the monitor (remember our apartment is small so that is how his room picks up noise in the living room). It's fascinating how smart he is and recognized that.

One of the activities we did while they were here was tour the USS Hornet, which is in Alameda. It was selected as the recovery ship for Apollo 11 after serving in WWII. You'll see pictures from that event in the slideshow.

Another fun thing was we took Nathan for his first professional pictures at The Picture People. I have them scanned above.

Nathan has started the program called Your Baby can Read. It is a 5 volume program to teach children from infancy to read and understand words. It includes a DVD, book, and flash cards for every volume. We will probably be on volume 1 for a long time as we can't advance until he can understand the words. The DVD is about 15 minutes long and right now, his attention span usually goes about 10. We watch it with him and make it interactive. This program supplements any reading we do with him so he is getting a good amount of baby education :)

I have included some pictures from my parents trip. Enjoy the slideshow!

Also, don't forget to vote on when Nathan will get teeth! His will be 8 months old on August 21st.

Kisses,
Toni

Sitting up Now

Nathan is officially sitting up on his own!! I love the independence he exudes. He still topples over from time to time but gives it a belly laugh and considers it learning gravity. We are now on the brink of using a new tub! I have an inflatable duck that he can sit up in which I will start using in our bathtub instead of bathing him in the baby tub on the kitchen counter. These days, by the time his baths are over, the kitchen floor is a swimming pool!

Kisses,

Toni

6 Month Checkup

Nathan had his 6 month check up last Friday. He weighed in at 15lbs, 11oz and measured 26.5 inches long. He is now over 2 feet tall!! His weight is in the 10-25%, height and head circumference in the 50-75%. Doctor told me that Nathan needs more solids now than just rice cereal once per day. We had been doing that plus all breastmilk since May. The first thing he told us to start with is yellow veggies so Nathan tried sweet potatoes for the first time on Wednesday. The picture is uploaded here. I had to make a real show during that feeding because he was not too fond of the flavor. It was funny. We kept taking pictures trying to get one of the comical yucky face he was making but we weren't successful. The next day when I tried feeding him more sweet potato, he did much better. I played with his psyche by pretending I was taking a bite and LOVING it. That act made him want to eat it too. Funny thing is that I think sweet potatoes are deplorable but they are so high in vitamins and very good for you.

Nathan is growing up into such a sweet and cute little boy. He is rolling around a lot now and is oooohhhh so close to sitting up on his own. It has to be a matter of time... I just know it. He wants to sit up because often times he will pull himself up from a reclined position. The tummy muscles are there but I think he still lacks the coordination. He definitely says dada now and correlates it to Dan.

At the doctor he also got 5 more vaccinations, all of which were from series of shots he had previously. This was the worst episode yet. He cried harder and longer with these than he had before. I think it is because he was also tired and a little hungry. One of the vaccines was oral and was sweet. He has liked it in the past but not so much this time. The funny part was he kept spitting it out and blowing bubbles at the nurse. She and I kept laughing and she said that had never happened before.

Nathan is getting really hard to bathe in the same little tub now because he tries to sit up and play with the water the whole time. I can't wait until he can sit up on his own and we can migrate to the adult bath tub. I can see how accidents happen, even in just a small amount of water. All Nathan thinks about during the bath is sitting up (he is able to because there is a little infant seat in the tub) and leaning forward to grab a toy. The toy he loves so much is the rinsing cup. Usually now too when the bath is done, half of the water is on the floor and the counter top. At least he loves the bath!!

Last weekend was Nathan's first go with a baby sitter. Dan and I attended a 50th birthday party for a friend and left Nathan at home. The sitter we used was so great!! She is the daughter of a woman I know at church. When she first arrived, Nathan was happy and cheerful as long as I held him. When I made the first pass off, he cried hard. I took him back and Dan talked gently and calmly with him, telling him that everything would be alright. Dan then put Nathan in Maddie's (the sitter) arms and Nathan was fine. She fed him and took great care of him for 2 hours. He never cried again. In fact, when we got back, Nathan was having a great time with her just smiling and giggling. We are thrilled that we now have a baby sitter!!

Kisses,
Toni

6 Months Old Today

Blowing my mind today is the fact that my baby is 6 months old. I can’t stop thinking about it. 6 months and 1 day ago, I was beginning to push his little body out. How clear and vivid that memory is for me now and will be forever. And here he is… closing in on 16 pounds, rolling around, trying to sit up, trying to crawl, and mutters dadadadada at the most surprising times. The little bundle of joy that came to us as our sweet surprise is now at his half birthday.

It is his being that is my constant reminder to appreciate every moment of every day because if I blink, I'll miss a lifetime.

Kisses

Toni

He's Ticklish! He's Giggling! He's Holding Toys! He has Discovered his Voice! He's 5 Months!

Nathan turned 5 months old on May 21st. He gets smarter and cuter every day as Dan and I fall deeper in love with him, if that is even possible. There are a few great milestones now. He is not only grabbing toys but holding on to them. If I pick him up when he's holding a toy, he doesn't let it go. I think it's great because it is good for his hand strength. I try to always put something in his hand, whether it's a rattle or a ring. His grip is incredible! He is also pulling on my hair or any part of my clothing he can get his hands on. And when I try to pull away, he pulls harder. One of the cutest things he does with his grip is when he rides in his car seat, he holds on to each side, like he has handlebars. He is learning by touching things too. When Dan or I feed him, he touches our chin, lips, nose, cheek, or hair and we can tell he is really concentrating and listening as we tell him what he is touching. It's also neat to hold him because he almost hugs us back.

Nathan is becoming ticklish in his under arms, feet, and neck. He doesn't react all the time but does many times. It's funny to watch, although it must be rough to be tickled and unable to get away. The first place that I noticed he was ticklish was on his neck when I was giving him a bath. So cute!! It's hard to resist!

Nathan has developed the cutest giggle ever. There are some things we do that just make him giggle and giggle and giggle some more. He loves to bounce so any time he is in the position to bounce around, we oblige. Sometimes he gets so happy when he's bouncing that he literally squeals.

Now that Nathan has discovered his voice, I feel sorry for our neighbors. For some odd reason, when Nathan lays on our bed he likes to look up at the ceiling and scream! He's not upset, just happy and wants to hear how loud he can be.

Our baby is looking like a little boy these days. It's great watching his development.

Nathan's next doctor appointment is June 25th when he goes in for his 6 month checkup.

Kisses!
Toni

S O L I D S!!!

Today Nathan had solids for the first time! Food of choice... Beech Nut rice ceral. He did awesome!! His Mother's Day gift to me.

Kisses

Toni

New Adventures

These past two weeks were big ones for Nathan... starting with him discovering both his hands and his feet! He loves to grab his little toes and stare at them. He also likes to hold his hands in front of his face and stare at each cute stubby finger. I would love to know what thoughts are racing through his head as he ponders the meaning of each appendage.

Last weekend, the 3 of us headed to Monterey and Big Sur. We left Saturday around 3pm and arrived in Monterey about 2 hours later. It is so beautiful there! Monterey is south of the bay area and is home to marvelous sailing, golfing, fishing, shopping, dining and relaxing. It is also home to the famous Monterey Aquarium. We can't wait until Nathan is older and can appreciate going to the aquarium. Unfortunately our time in Monterey was sidelined to a minor emergency. As most of you know, my troubles early on with Nathan learning to nurse led to me pumping 100% of the time. Well... my suggestion to those of you that haven't had children yet and who want to breastfeed, be sure and have your baby learn to nurse immediately so you won't fall victim to what happened to me. At some point on Saturday during our packing, one of my cats, likely Scout, bit the tubing for the pump. Much to my dismay, this fact was undiscovered until I tried to pump in the hotel room in Monterey. Dan immediately jumped into Mr Fix It mode. He found a Walgreens and purchased epoxy glue and duct tape. Unfortunately again, these items proved unhelpful. Without going into gross detail on how a breastpump works, essentially there are 2 motions that have to function in order to be effective and when there is a crimp in the tubing, the "in" motion fails. This was realized when during pumping, so much strain was happening with the "out" motion that milk ended up going through the tubing, into the machine, before I could stop the pump... thus rendering the pump useless. Once again, Dan attempted a fix by taking the entire pump apart and drying it out. Still... nothing. There we were, 9:00 at night, and I was disgustingly engorged without relief in sight. Having food for Nathan was not an issue because I had packed some formula, just in case. We hopped on craigslist to see if anyone in the Monterey area was selling pumps. We found 2 in Santa Cruz, which even though Santa Cruz is about 35 miles north of Monterey, it was worth it. I emailed both to see who the lucky winner would be for our Sunday purchase. It was Nathan's first night in a hotel room so he was bright eyed and bushy tailed. I literally was pushing him around the room in his stroller at midnight trying to lull him to sleep. Finally he drifted off around 12:30 on Sunday morning. I then went to bed... miserable. For those of you who have pumped/nursed, imagine going almost 18 hours without doing either.

Later in the morning, we were rescued when we discovered a Target in Monterey. Even though I would be purchasing a double pump later in the day, I absolutely could not go any longer without relief. So... I headed to Target and purchased a manual pump. Believe it or not, the manual pump is not that bad. We ended up checking out of the hotel around 12:30pm and headed to Santa Cruz. We met the seller, bought the pump (which is practically brand new and less than 1/3 sticker price), and went on our way. Now... our ultimate goal for the weekend was Big Sur so even though that meant backtracking a while, we did it anyway. And we were SO glad we did!! It was more beautiful than I could have ever imagined! We are going to go back before too long because we did not have much time there. It is about 1 hour south of Monterey so we were pretty far from home. Nathan LOVED the beach and pictures are attached to prove it. Nathan's first road trip was a success!

The last of the big events for Nathan was his first day of day care this week. He went both on Tuesday and Wednesday and did fabulous! He was better off than me, of course. Dan is in San Diego this week. I documented the day with pictures too. We chose an in home family day care situation that was referred to me by a friend whose children and grand children went/go there. 2 generations of success stories were enough for me! My biggest fear was that Nathan would be the one crying and screaming the whole time and turns out, he was gentle, sweet and loving! And napped wonderfully. I had glowing reports of him when I picked him up. My work day inched by as I could not wait to pick him up. When I arrived... as soon as his eyes met mine, he smiled so big and started cooing! When I picked him up he played with my hair and just loved on me. When we got home, he sat in my lap and did not budge. Eventually he conked out for 2.5 hours! He is in excellent hands and I am very comfortable with my decision.

Kisses and coos!

Love

Toni and Nathan

Nathan is 4 Months!

Nathan had his 4 month check up on Friday and weighed in at 14 lbs, 4 oz, and measured 25 inches long. His head circumference and weight are in the 25-50th percentile and his height is in the 50-75th percentile. I did not know that these percentiles aren't like grades on tests so when I asked my doctor if he was behind, the doctor gave me a funny look and said heavens no... he is great. Apparently these numbers are statistics and not scores meaning he is not too big and not too small. He is just right.

He also got another round of 5 immunizations... 1 of which was oral and his favorite, of course. For the first 2 shots, he handled them like a man. The next 2... not so much. Apparently those were the ones that burn when the vaccine enters the body. He was so sad and the nurse and I both were tearing up. Once he started taking the oral vaccine, the pain from the needles was a distant memory.

I purchased his first box of rice cereal over the weekend as he is ready to be introduced to solids. Anytime from 4-6 months is best so sometime over the next couple of weeks, we will start him at one serving per day. I told Dan we should make a big production of it so Nathan looks forward to it each time. I can't wait to take pictures of my messy baby when we start doing it.

Apparently all the drooling Nathan has been doing isn't related to teething. The doctor said many people think it is but it's actually not. He said it's a stage that babies go through. Nathan wears a bib almost all the time now so he doesn't soak his clothes. Either he drools or he chews on the bib. It really is so cute!

We found a child care provider. She was referred by a friend of mine who had her kids there and now her kid's kid. I think 2 generations speaks very highly for her. Nathan's first time there will be May 5-6 when Dan is traveling to San Diego.

In a couple of weeks we are moving across the hall into a 2 bedroom apartment. Nathan's big move from his mommy is coming up. I will probably take it a whole lot harder than he will.

Yesterday Dan, Nathan and I went to a cookout. There was a baby girl there who is about 3 months older than Nathan. It was his first time being around another baby and it was fun to watch the interraction. Of course Nathan's was limited to watching her because he can't crawl or stand like she can. She would come up to him and touch him which was great because it is important for his social development. Nathan had his eyes wide open and just watched her every move. At the end of the cookout when Nathan had played and eaten and observed and laughed and listened and giggled, he was so exhausted that he couldn't sleep. I knew it was time to leave, and leave quickly, once he began to wail uncontrollably. He was out of his mind tired. It was a big day for him and was filled with a lot to take in. Once we got home I started to wonder if I should find a play group so he can interact with other babies his age more frequently. Part of me worries that he isn't around kids enough and adults too much. The day care will be really good for him but it won't be daily. If any of you moms reading this have thoughts/input, please let me know.

So far, I know of 6 babies born or will be born in 2010. Out of those 6, there are/will be 5 boys. Amazing!

Kisses,
Toni

Milestones

Nathan is growing and changing so rapidly! These past two weeks have brought with them 2 great milestones. First, Nathan grabbed a toy for the first time completely on his own. Last week I was getting ready for work and had Nathan sitting in his bouncer right outside of the bathroom door. I turned around to look at him and at that moment, he reached up and grabbed one of the rattlers that hangs from the arch above the bouncer. The rattler has a ring on the bottom and he just grabbed and shook and laughed! It was really exciting. Now he does it a lot. There are 3 rings he could grab and he chose the one on his right side. Could that be the first indication that he is right handed? Of course when I grabbed my camera, he let go and I did not have time to stay there and try to snap the shot. But I will at some point.

The second milestone happened today. He rolled over from back to front! He still hates tummy time and hasn't rolled from front to back. Once he made it over to his front he cried like crazy. He probably thought "Oh no! Now I've ended up where my parents like to put me for exercise." I'm so excited that he made the mighty roll, especially going from back to front first. I had a feeling it would happen soon because when we change his diaper, he likes to roll from side to side.

Milestones are so great! And at this age they happen frequently. We can't wait to see what surprises Nathan has in store for us next!

His 4 month check up is coming April 23rd.

Kisses,
Toni

Nathan at 12 Weeks

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Nathan Alexander Kahl

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Last Day of Full Time Mommyhood

It's with a pinch of sadness that I write this blog entry as today marks my last day of being a full time mom. These last 3 months have been the best of my entire life. I have watched Nathan double in size, learn to smile, learn to coo, respond to his name (at times), hold up his head, and begin to roll from side to side. He also has weaned himself from his pacifier as his thumb has proved much more enjoyable. I am proud of my baby for how sweet and gentle he is, not to mention cute in every way. He has accompanied me to the grocery store, drug store, post office, and BART, just to name a few. But with every downer comes blessings and mine is working part time. I am happy to report that I will be working part time instead of full time starting March 22nd! My hours will be 8:30-1:30 on Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays in the office, Tuesdays at home, and off on Fridays. The office is still in San Francisco but is not the same place I was working previously. I am going to another real estate firm and will be working with some lawyers that I worked with previously. The new firm is called SSL Law Firm and is predominantly run by women. I will be working with some of the same clients I had before, plus learning leasing work and training on litigation.

Nathan will officially turn 3 months on Sunday. It's hard to believe! My parents are coming to visit again in a couple of weeks during my mom's spring break. While I've been home with Nathan, we've had visitors galore and it's been awesome! My parents were first, then my brother in law, Dan's mom and then my sister. In between these family visits have been stopovers from lots of friends. I can't wait for my parents to see him again! When they were here before, he was just a few days old.

It's been a whirlwind 3 months but I am exceedingly thankful for having all of it at home.

I've attached a photobook of Nathan that I made for my grandma. Enjoy!

Kisses,

Toni

Going Part Time

It is official. I am no longer heading back to full time employment on March 22nd when I have completed maternity leave. I have been hired for a part time real estate paralegal position that I am absolutely thrilled about. I will be working 20 hours per week, 5 hours each day... 3 days in the office, 1 day at home, 1 day off. I will still be in SF. Dan and I are just tickled about this opportunity for me. After much discussion and figuring we decided that we could make it work.

Kisses!

Toni

Lindsay's February 2010 Trip

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Tummy Time

From Nathan:

I have decided it is time to speak on behalf of infants around the world regarding this blasted tummy time business. Contrary to popular belief, we are more intelligent than our adult counterparts and here is why. When we cry out, we have very good reason. Typically we are expressing that we are hungry, tired, wet, bored, cold, or want to be held. The cry starts when one of these occurs and ends when it is taken care of. We don't cry to other infants about what is wrong because we go directly to the caretaker who can help. We don't hide our emotions or keep our feelings bottled up inside. We wear all emotions on our sleeves. We eat when hungry and not just for the sake of eating. What is the point? Eating too much hurts. And on the rare occasion we do, we just puke back up the extra onto the person who fed it to us. And finally we give love back to those who show us love.

Now... this expose pertains to wearing my emotions on my sleeve when it comes to the ever so dreaded tummy time. Can anyone understand why in the world we should lay flat out on our tummies for an undefined period of time simply to learn how to roll over and gain strength? I can think of other ways to achieve the same goals without the drama. I understand that my mommy and her mommy and her mommy's mommy (and so on and so forth) slept in cribs on their tummies. However, someone along the way realized that sleeping on tummies had to be changed so we all began sleeping on our backs. We love it! We can breathe easy, we can open our eyes whenever we want and survey our area, we can suck our pacifier, we can use our heads to look side to side, and we can do 3 snaps in z formation. We spend numerous hours during the day on our backs. Then, it never fails, at some point during the day, an adult comes at us with the surprise of a stalking tiger and places us face down for tummy time. It always happens so fast that personally, I don't realize what is even happening until the head rush subsides. Once the blurred vision becomes sharp again we express our displeasure and cry. Meanwhile, our adult caretakers sit back and either ignore the situation or try to make it better by sticking toys and mirrors in front of our face. PUHLEASE! We are not dumb. We like what we like and conversely, hate what we hate. And we HATE tummy time. It's a pointless waste of 15 minutes. If you want us to roll over so badly then wait until we are old enough to do so. Tummy time proves nothing except that we have lungs to scream with and muscles to kick with. Anyway, sorry if this seemed brutal but it was time to speak out.

Kisses and Coos,
Nathan

2 Month Doctor Visit

As unbelievable as it may seem, our little baby boy is 2 months old! On Sunday the 21st, he officially turned 2 months old and we rang in the day with singing Happy Birthday. As cliche as it sounds... man how time flies.

Monday the 22nd marked Nathan's 2 month appointment. For this visit we were joined by my sister Lindsay, as she was in town visiting her new nephew. Nathan weighed in at 12 lbs, 2 oz as he is eating like a little monster. He measured 22 inches. His percentiles are increasing gradually as his weight and height are now in the 50th percentiles. He did great at the doctor and everything checked out as perfectly as can be. He received 5 immunizations that day with 4 of them being shots and 1 being a oral (liquid) one. The nice thing about infants getting shots is they can't anticipate the pain so they cry when the needle hits and shortly thereafter. Plus they can't hold it against you. Nathan was such a pro! I guess he figured after circumcision and tongue clipping, shots would be nothing... or at least I made peace with it that way. He was a little cranky that night but slept a bunch.

Nathan is still sleeping great. He's pretty much a regular 3-4 hour eater and then at night he is anywhere from 4-7... yes 7! Last week one morning, I woke up and he was in his bed just looking around. He hadn't eaten in 7 hours. I got him up and brought him in the living room. He sat in the recliner and just continued looking around. I knew he was hungry but waited very patiently for his food. That incident has happened only once but there's hope!

I visited with the lactation consultant again last week and together we decided for me to continue doing what I'm doing... that is pumping about 75% of his food and supplementing the rest with formula. The hour I saw her ended up being highly therapeutic and I am eternally grateful to her. She helped me feel comfortable with the decision I have made and helped me see that I am doing the absolute best I can. Much of raising Nathan is to be confident in the choices I have made for myself and my baby because in the end, the only person that knows my situation is me. She told me that it is still possible to teach Nathan to nurse however at his age, the only way to accomplish it is to withhold food all day until he would decide to nurse. That was the method used when she successfully got a 9 week old baby on the breast. After much thought and deliberation, I decided to stick with what I am doing now. Baby 2 will be different as I now know how difficult breastfeeding is and to seek out help within the 1st week if there are any problems.

Kisses and coos,

Toni and Nathan