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