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