Who is that handsome boy?

He has seen himself in the mirror before, but I guess he had never been this close before.

Too cute! Love the pudgy lil hands!

Merry Christmas, from our family to yours!

This free photo slideshow personalized with Smilebox

I love you, son!

7 months old

 

 

Dear Rickybear,

 

It’s Christmas morning and you have just turned 7 months old today.  You are at such a great age right now, even if you are still more interested in the ceiling fan than the twinkling Christmas lights we have decorated the house with.  We have not yet opened presents, but I know you will be a pro at unwrapping them and eating the wrapping paper. 

 

You have had a pretty exciting month.  You went to Bass Pro and visited Santa.  You didn’t cry, but you tugged on his beard.  You had another photo shoot.  You were such a champ even though mommy and daddy were both cranky.  You were fast asleep in the back seat when we saw a Christmas light show that coordinated with music, but afterwards I woke you up and carried you in the sling so we could visit the Messengers, a family who completely decorates their house and yard and welcome hundreds of people every night to come look at their displays.  It was super cold, but we had you wrapped up warmly in a blankie.  You did a great job at keeping mommy warm!  Finally, you made another trip up to work to visit all of the doting ladies.  You weren’t your usual animated self because you skipped your morning nap, but no one seemed to mind when you spit up on them or had a meltdown (or two or three…).  They still thought you were the most adorable lil man.

You are wearing size 6 month clothes.  You can wear 9s, but they are a little long on you. You still never wear shoes, but if you did, you would have on size 2s.  Your Maw Maw bought you the cutest pair of LSU shoes this month!

You wear size 2/3 diapers.  I think that the grandmothers have switched over to using Pampers as well.  You wear Pampers Swaddlers Sensitive during the day and Pampers Baby Dry overnight. 

You still have no teeth.  You seem to be teething because you gnaw on EVERYTHING right now, but I don’t feel any teeth under the gums.

Mommy and daddy are still working overtime so your daily routine is still the same.  Daddy made a "pajama song" that we sing to you ready for your nighttime routine.  We did add fish watching, reading a bedtime story, and singing a song or two to your regime.  We try to get you in bed no later than 9:30 pm.

You are mainly sleeping through the night now.  You occasionally wake up insisting on a bottle, but you can usually make it through.  Your biggest problem is that you scoot all the way up and smash your face into the side of the pack 'n play and then can't really move and you get irritated and start whining.  Or else you flip to your belly and start whining.  Usually I can talk to you and you drift back off to sleep, but sometime I have to adjust your position and lay you back down.

You are a ROLLY POLLY boy right now.  You flip back and forth and back and forth.  It’s too cute!  Except when we are trying to change your diaper and you roll all over…


You like to “talk” a lot now.  LOUDLY.The biggest change has been your eating habits this month since you started eating solids.   You have started having 3 meals a day and that means you aren’t drinking as much formula. You drink 5 oz bottles (on average) of Similac during the day and you take a bottle of Enfamil AR at night.  You are trying pretty hard to pull yourself to standing, but you still need my help to do it.

Making your baby food has been a success so far and I am really proud that I can do that for you.  So far you have tried avocado, oatmeal, green beans, sweet potato, yellow squash, butternut squash, banana, apple, and YoBaby Organic vanilla yogurt.  I have a bunch of fruits frozen in ice cubes just waiting for you to try!  Oh, and some carrots and peas, too.  I hope you like them better than you liked those green beans!  I want you to try everything!

Still no success with a sippy cup.

The cat tolerates you a little better now.  If mommy is nearby then she will sit close enough for you to touch her.  If I don’t help you pet her gently, you tend to yank out a big chunk of her hair and she runs away.  You scare her when you do your happy shriek and flap your arms.  She doesn’t know you do it because you are excited to see her.

You can push up on to all fours and rock back and forth.  No crawling yet, thank goodness.

I think that pretty much sums up your progress for now.  It’s time to go open presents at Maw Maw’s now.  I can’t wait until Christmas next year when you will have a better idea of what’s going on.  I can’t wait to see your excitement!

Love,
Mommy

You know I just love pictures of my baby sleeping....

Peek-a-boo!

My commentary is unrelated to the picture, but I just had to post it.  He's too fun!

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

On Tuesday night I had to cook some steaks I had thawed out or toss them in the trash, so after working overtime, I ran come and threw together a casserole and started heating the charcoal for the grill.  Then I had to go pick up the lil bear while the food cooked and the coals were getting hot.  We got home and I had to put the steaks on, so Rickybear was just going to have to play by himself for awhile.  He is not good at playing by himself.  He likes to be in our sight at all times.  The upside of having our parents keep him every day is that he gets all the attention he could ever need; the downside is that he is never alone and he doesn't like to play by himself. 

*sigh*

Thank goodness we have been practicing some solitary playtime because I had to set him up in the pack ‘n play with some musical toys and stuffed animals and head back outside.  I had the grill on the back patio and pulled the blinds up all the way so I could still see him.  OMG he played for nearly half an hour before he got fussy... SUCCESS!  I was pretty proud of him for being so good.

And since I know you are dying to know how the steaks turned out… they were good DESPITE the fact that I cooked them.  Apparently I didn’t have enough coals because they lost heat really fast and I had to cook them for what seemed like forever, but they weren’t too dry.  Hey, I stopped grilling when I started dating my husband.  And it was dark outside.  And… yeah, I am just not that good at grilling.  What can I say? 

Now this is more like it!

Rickybear.. you look a little different!

Nana walked in an saw this lil darling in the highchair the other morning.
She suspects he wanted some yummy pureed sweet potatoes...

I love watching this kid grow and learn.  He surprises me every day.  Since Richard and I both work overtime right now, Rickybear is spending more time with his grandparents during the week and less time with us.  He is still receiving tons of love and attention, but we sure do miss him during the day.  We cherish every second we have with him when he is with us.  Even though the laundry might need to be folded or the pans might need to be washed when we get home, I always make sure that we spend plenty of quality time with him.

Richard usually has play time with the baby while I cook dinner, but while Richard eats it’s my turn.  Last night we were sitting on the floor and I was trying to feed him some avocado, but he was more interested in playing.  Whereas it used to be a struggle to get him to open his mouth for the spoon, he has gotten the hang of it now.  I know it’s such a basic thing, but it makes me so proud. 

When he was finished eating, we practiced standing up.  Well, even if I am not a willing participant, he will yank on me and try to pull up on my shirt by himself.  But I place my hands out in front of me with my palms up and he will latch on and pull up to standing, then we do the “boogie dance” until his legs get tired and he sits back down.  He rests for barely 30 seconds then he is good to go again, shrieking and dancing and giggling.  So fun!  He just needs me to anchor him- I don’t have to help pull him up or anything.

After we are all finished playing, he gets “nighttime ready”, but we have recently added watching the fish swim and reading a short story into the mix.  We are reading a book with 365 short stories that my mother gave me that she used to me when I was a baby.  I want to start a routine he can look forward to and rely on.  Also, it’s a nice time for Richard and I to spend some quality time together instead of just watching tv or doing chores until I head to bed.

Gimme my toy!

We are getting close!  He tries his hardest to crawl and pull up to standing, but he just can't quite get it.  He struggles until he is out of breath.  He is one determined little boy!

Like most babies, my child is more perceptive than I give him credit. 

For example: I can leave him sitting on top of the bed with the remote control several feet away from him, but by the time I come back to the room, he has it in his hand!  And he is still sitting where I left him!  SNEAKY!  He certainly is his daddy’s child- he has become very skilled at changing the channel for us (well, as skilled as a 6 month old can be since he can’t read the buttons and only hits or chews on them because some of them light up…).  It’s a wonder he can get much practice because daddy never lets the remote out of his hand!  =)   (Love you, honey!)

So what else is fun to play with that a baby shouldn’t have?  The cell phones, of course!  But they light up and make cool noises and sometimes my mommy/daddy/grandparents’ voices come out of them and talk to him even though he can’t see them in the room with him!  How cool is that?!

So yeah, I thought a two year old would be into these things, but not my sweet, angelic 6 month old. 

Dear Santa, please give my child his own remote control and/or cell phone for Christmas…

And yes, he is texting here…

Maw Maw told me that Rickybear drank some water from a sippy cup while eating at her house yesterday.  I nearly fell out!  We have tried 3 different types of cups so far and he just can't seem to do it.  =)  We have plenty of time before he really needs to be weaned from the bottle, but I like to give him lots of practice.  We just switched to fast flow nipples on his bottles to help him adjust.

Well kudos to you, little boy, if you will drink from a sippy cup at your Maw Maw's house.  Maybe one day you will do it for Mommy, too.  I'll believe it when I see it myself!

It's time to eat!

I love that I can make all of my baby’s food.  I don’t know why it’s so surprising to people when I tell them that I waiting until 6 months to start Rickybear on solids and that I make all of his food.  What did people do before they had jarred food?  It’s not much of a burden.  It doesn’t require a lot of time. I can take an hour on Sunday night and make enough food to last the entire week.  I feel like I am doing something special for him.

Last night one of my Babyfit friends posted that they had made over 200 ice cubes worth of baby food!  She had to have spent hours doing it, but that’s enough food to last for weeks!  I usually just make enough to last him a week (he only eats about 2 cubes a day), but one day I might be that adventurous.  Anyway, her post motivated me to get up and prepare his food for the week, so now he has carrots and yellow squash to try.

So far he loves bananas and sweet potatoes, likes avocado, tolerates oatmeal, and doesn’t like green beans.

We have tried Gerber Graduate puffs, but he hasn’t gotten the hang of them.  He has gotten better at picking them up, but once they go in his mouth, they just sit on his tongue and massive amounts of drool pour out while the puffs dissolve.  LOL!  He still needs to work on that!

Every day with him is an adventure.  I love being a mom!

That would be sweet potatoes... yummy...

Mmm... tastes like chicken!

Family means everything...

On Monday I met a woman in the grocery store checkout line that really left an impression upon me.  She was cheerful and upbeat, but she shared with me that she had recently lost her husband.  Last year, she also lost three other relatives, including a parent.  She told me that it’s the little things that she misses the most about having a partner- having someone to help bring in the groceries from her car, change a light bulb, or reach something off of the top shelf for her.  She was shocked at how hard it is to live by herself.

A widow at 60 years old.

She misses the companionship.  She went directly from living with her parents as a young girl to being married and living with her husband.  She has never been alone before and her children have no time for her.  Her son lives out of state and her daughter lives nearby, but has the grandchildren in so many extracurricular activities that there is no time for visits from grandma.  She wanted to imprint upon my heart that life and family are precious, and to always appreciate them.

I get so dragged down sometimes by the day to day tasks in life.  It seems impossible to balance everything and still feel fulfilled myself.  Working full time with a commute.  Maintaining a home.  Cooking all the meals.  Being a good wife.  Being an attentive mother.  It feels so hard sometimes. 

Sometimes I feel like I do it all myself, but honestly, I know I take my husband for granted.  One day I will wake up and he will no longer be here.  I know that my life is better for having him in it… and without him, I wouldn’t have my beautiful-wiggly-smiley baby boy!

I am thankful for the life I have and the special people who share it with me.

Put me in, coach!

I'm ready to play!



In the spirit of Christmas...

On Sunday morning we took our Christmas pictures. Getting up at 5:30am on a Sunday was worth it because the pictures turned out great! Well, at least the baby looked great, lol!

After his 6 month well check-up appointment, Rickybear had no fever whatsoever, so I scheduled to take him back on Thursday to see the nurse. We were in and out within 10 minutes. He was such a champ. He cried when he actually got the shots, but as soon as we scooped him up, he began to smile. He ran a small fever after the shots, but he was trying to jump right away, so his lil legs couldn‘t have been too sore. Aside from taking a 3 hour nap that afternoon, he was just like his usual self!

Guess what? I sprained my wrist this week. At first I attributed my wrist pain to my flu shot, which had made my entire arm ache. By Thursday the pain was unbearable (since my job consists of typing on a keyboard for 8 hours day!), so after Rickybear’s shots I decided to stay home and rest it. I had NO CLUE as to what I did to hurt it… until Thursday night. I went to get Ricky bear a bottle at 4am and stumbled into a doorway in my zombie state and nearly hit the floor… then it came back to me. Yep, I think I fell the night before. Getting up from a dead sleep to tend to the baby can be dangerous!! I also took the next day off of work and now my wrist is feeling much better. Thank goodness! I can’t tell you how hard it is to diaper change and dress a squirmy baby with one hand!

As a reward for being such a good boy, I decided to take Rickybear to see Santa for the first time!! Bass Pro has free pictures, so the neighbor and I packed up our babies and headed out on Friday night. Alyce has a 13mo little girl named Avery, and she has another one on the way. The line was a bit long, but moved pretty quickly. My lil man was a pro up there! He even pulled on Santa’s beard just to make sure it was real (it was!). The picture is so stinkin cute! Boogie has been a very good boy this year so I think Santa will be very good to him!

Yay!

I have been blogging about my wonderful little man for over a month now!  I can't believe it's been that long already.  He has grown and changed so much in just that one quick month!

Oh, if sleep could only come this easily...

6 month doctor visit

Rickybear had his 6 month appointment on Monday.  It was sooo hot in the waiting room and he was a bit hungry and fussy when finally made it to the exam room.  By the time they got around to taking his temperature he was a screaming, crying mess.  They did the forehead scan twice and it was 101.5 both times.  The pedi was concerned because it also looked like he had hives on his chest and face.  I had just thought that his eczema was acting up, but apparently his eczema had flared and he had hives in addition to that. 

Since it didn't happen right after we tried solids, the doctor said it wasn't a reaction from that.  She was worried it was the early stages of strep, so they swabbed him, but he was negative.  They took his temp again and it was 99.0 a few minutes later.  I think it had gotten high because it was so hot in there and he was also upset about the exam.  Either way, the doctor didn't feel comfortable giving him his shots if he wasn't feeling well, so I will have to come back after 3 days of no temperature.  Mommy ended up getting her flu shot there and baby got away with none!

I want to have them recheck his length when we go back because he is measuring so so tiny.  His weight is 15lb 10oz (16th %), his length is 24.5 in (2%), and his head circ is 17.25 in (49%).  I did several growth calculators online and each gave a slightly different percentage, but overall these percentages seem pretty accurate.  I can't believe he is that small, though.  I feed him nutritious formula and let him eat till his little heart is content.  We didn't really discuss his numbers since she was more concerned with him possibly being sick, but I want to make sure everything is on track.


Oh!  We discovered something when filling out the developmental checklist at the doctor's office as well.  We had to wave a napkin in front of the baby to get his attention and once he was looking at it we dropped it.  I thought he would just keep looking at my hand, but to my surprise he looked down to see where it went.  I didn't expect that at all!  He apparently developed a sense of object permanence when I wasn't looking!  Overall, she said he was advanced as far as development is concerned.  I am so proud of my lil man!


I was given a prescription for some medicated lotion for his skin and for baby vitamins.  I also got a new... um... tushie thermometer since it seems to be more accurate than the forehead scan ones.  I was supposed to monitor him closely last night but when I checked he was cool and his temp was 97.9 degrees.  I added the lotion and the vitamins to his nighttime routine and he did fine. He had some avocado, finished off a bottle, and passed out.  He woke at midnight but I turned on his seahorse and drifted right back off to sleep without a feeding.  Sweet boy.


I hope he feels better today!

Avacodo = success!

Rickybear has his 6 month birthday on Thanksgiving, but we were out of town celebrating with family, so his first meal had to wait.  On Friday 11/26/10, we broke out the highchair that has been hiding behind the dining room table since before my lil man was born.  Apparently, Rickybear had a great time...

I didn't really research high chairs before purchasing one- I just bought the whole Graco Winnie the Pooh set.  I am happy to say that it's a good product.  I like the adjustable height and how easy the tray is to put on and take off.  Easy to wipe down and clean.  Overall, it was a fun experience!

Thanksgiving

On Thursday we made the trip to Mobile, AL to visit family for Thanksgiving.  Rickybear was a doll on the 3 hour car ride both there and back.  He was able to meet pretty much all of the family that we have on my mom's side, including his great-grandmother.  He enjoyed being passed from person to person to person.  He doesn't really seem to have stranger anxiety yet- he just wanted constant attention and he freely giving out huge smiles and giggles.  My favorite comment from the day was having someone tell me that my son was "all meat and potatoes".  It cracked me up!  He's a tiny fellow, but he certainly is strong and solid.

He had plenty of outside time, too, while the family played our annual badminton tournament.  After the festivities were over, he was changed into his Saints gear and headed into the game room to watch the Saints game with daddy.  That child will break his neck to see the tv when football is on and he has started to lunge for the remote control.  Good grief!  He is properly named after his father since apparently he is going to be just like him in that regards.

On Friday, we headed over to Maw Maw and Paw Paw’s house (my hubby's parents) for more celebrating.  I don’t know what Maw Maw does to my child, but he giggles hysterically when he sees her.  She bought him some new teething toys that he wouldn’t put down.  She also gave him a wrist rattle with some teething attachments on it, but he figured out in 3 seconds flat how to pull it off his arm and wave it around.  It was too cute!  Too smart for his own good! 

We were too stuffed to move after we ate so daddy and I laid down on the floor with the baby and did some tummy time.  For the first time ever, he got up on all fours all by himself!  He kept rocking back and forth and scooting backwards.  He tired himself out because by the end of the evening he was alternating grinning and crying.  We were so proud of him!

I hope everyone enjoyed their holidays!  No Black Friday shopping for us, thank goodness!

Dear Rickybear, you are six months old!

You are the most exciting little ball of energy right now.  No really, you keep going and going even when you are exhausted and just need to nap.  You don't want to miss a thing.

You are wearing size 6 month clothes.  You never wear shoes, but if you did, you would have on size 2s.

You wear size 2 diapers.  You wear Pampers Swaddlers Sensitive when mommy changes you.  Nana uses Huggies and MawMaw uses Luvs. 

You have no teeth yet.

In the morning you wake around 5am.  Mommy changes you and loads you into the car seat and you are out of the door by 5:15am to see MawMaw or Nana.  Lately, due to working late, mommy has been picking you up around 7:30p during the week.  That gives us an hour to PLAY PLAY PLAY until you drop.  Daddy usually makes it home by this time, so we get you "nighttime ready", which means you get changed into Pampers Dry Max, get massaged with some Johnson's Bedtime Lotion, and bundled into a cute little footed sleeper (who knew mommy would love those silly things so much?!?!).  You get your nighttime bottle which is 3 oz of Similac Advanced with 3 oz of Enfamil A.R. and are tucked into the Pack N Play by mommy's side of the bed.  You are always tucked in with your froggy, your Pooh blankie, and your seahorse.  You usually wake up at 2am for another 4 oz bottle.

You eat anywhere from 4 oz to 7 oz at a time.  You eat about 28 oz total a day.  You prefer Similac to any other formula.  I know this because you have a lot less spit up with that formula.  You can hold your own bottle now and, with concentration, can put it in and take it out of your mouth.

Your favorite things to do are to JUMP JUMP JUMP either in the rainforest jumper or your doorway bouncer.  Even when we stand you up on your feet you bend and straighten your legs and try to jump.

When you are sitting on your tush, if we hold your hands you can pull yourself up onto your feet.

You are very vocal and screech like hawk.

You reach to get your toys and to nearly break your neck trying to find the tv in a room.

You love watching football with your daddy.

You like to grab noses and ears and cheeks and hair.

You still like to lay back with your hands clasped behind your head.

You like to pet the cat when she comes close enough to you.

You seem to always be waiting for us to make you laugh.  You are quick to give us a giggle.

You love the giggling babydoll at MawMaw's house... you love to laugh with her.

You do not like naptime at all.

You can reach and grab for toys. 

You have started to drop/throw your toys, maybe to see if we will pick them up for you? 

You can sit unassisted.

Mommy and daddy are very proud of you and can't wait to see what you can do next!

Love,
Mommy

Froggy boy

Yes, sir, you can grab my cheek, my nose, my ear, my mouth... whatever you like...

 well, except maybe my hair, because that kind if hurts! 

No more sleeping through the night

I suppose those 3 days were a fluke.  Lil man got up wanting to eat both Friday and Saturday nights.  Last night the power went out at least 3 times so we were all awake and uncomforable.

I am tired and ready for bed so I won't sum up the weekend right now, but I do want to mention that putting Rickybear down at night is getting harder.  He keeps rolling onto his belly to play, but he doesn't sleep that way, so he gets frustrated.  Same deal in the morning.  It's cute to lay in bed and watch him.

Tonight was a breeze, though.  He fell asleep on his bouncer and daddy brought him straight to bed when he woke up.  We put him down and I put his nighttime bottle in his mouth.  He promptly removed the bottle, grabbed his frog and put the pacifier part in his mouth, and fell asleep immediately.  He knew exactly what he needed...

Baby food, here we come!

The big day is almost here!  My lil man will be 6 months old on Thanksgiving Day!  While I can’t imagine that he is that old already, it certainly does feel like I have always had him in my life.  Having a baby is a wonderful thing.  He can brighten my day like no one else can. 

He has a special treat coming for his half birthday- he is going to begin solids!  I am so excited about it, but I am also fully aware that he probably won’t even eat the first few times that we attempt to feed him.  He seems to be showing me cues that he is ready.  He shows interest in what I am eating and we have been practicing giving him formula with a spoon just to get him used to the idea.  My plan is to give him avocados first, followed by other green veggies.  I don’t feel the need to give him rice cereal, and I want his first foods to be more nutritious.  We are planning to make our own baby food.  It is obviously less expensive and by doing this I know exactly what my child is eating.  No fillers or additives.  Since I have been following the E-Mealz meal plans, we have been eating a lot more fruits and vegetables than normal.  It won’t be hard to feed him foods that I already have around the house- foods that we eat ourselves.  I want my child to be accustomed to having those yummy healthy foods around.  The only disadvantage might be the lack of DHA that is not in a lot of processed baby cereals, but I will find a way to make sure he still has it in his diet.  Since he will still be drinking Similac, which has DHA in it, I don't won't have to worry about it too much for now.

A few months ago I made myself a booklet based on information that I had found on the Wholesome Baby Foods website.  I absolutely love this site!!  This past Sunday I made a trip to Babies R Us to go buy ice trays to freeze my baby food in.  I was intending to buy Fresh Baby So Easy Baby Food/Breast Milk Trays, but of course their food prep section was a MESS and all I could find were the starter kits, which I didn’t need.  My sleeping baby and I probably spend 20 minutes just standing there staring at all the neat baby food making supplies that I didn’t even know existed.  All I had really researched before were The First Years Babypro All In One Baby Food Maker and Beaba Babycook Baby Food Maker, neither of which I was prepared to pay for, nor did they have fantastic reviews.

I had a lot of fun shopping.  I ended up buying a lot more than I had planned, but I still only paid around $50 for everything, and that’s a small price to pay.  So what did I buy??

• Masher and Bowl
• Micro Cook Container
• Ice Pop Molds
• Food Mill
• Freezer Trays
• Fresh Food Feeder
• Take and Toss Bowls

Whoo hoo!

Last night was the third night in a row that my lil man slept through the entire night without a feeding!  He is usually up at 2am and I always give him a bottle to settle him back down, but with working 11 or 12 hour days this week I have not been on board with making a bottle in the middle of the night.  Whenever he woke up this week I just repositioned him in the crib, stroked his hair, and started up his seahorse.  He was out before I crawled back in bed.

Can I tell you how much I love his seahorse???  It's just so pretty and soothing and when I light it up for him he will contort into impossible angles so he can stare at it's glowing belly.  He sleeps with that, his froggy, and his pooh lovey every night.  I feel like he is big enough now to keep them with him when he sleeps without worrying about him being smothered.

The only other problem with working so much overtime this week (besides being able to play with him as much!) is that the baby has been waking himself up earlier than normal when he hears me moving about.  Let's hope that he doesn't wake up at 5 am tomorrow so mommy can sleep in at least an hour or two!

Sleep well, little man

I worry when I watch my lil man sleeping.  He still has the cold he has been fighting for about two weeks now.  I can clear his stuffy nose out and rub Baby Vicks on his chest right before I lay him down to sleep, but 10 minutes later I can hear his labored breathing.  I always wonder if it's possible for him to just stop breathing altogether?  I know it is possible, but babies have gotten colds since the dawn of time.  As long as I am treating him properly, that's simply the best I can do.  Rationally, I know this.  But still, as I listen to him breathing while I lie awake at night, it tears at my heart to hear him struggle.

You're busted, son...

Cold and flu season is officially here!

Yesterday was a 3 cup of coffee kind of morning!

Rickybear was fine all day Wednesday, but once nighttime came my baby announces to me that he officially has a cold.  Maybe he understood that I had the next day off of work so I could take care of him.  We turned on the humidifier and rubbed his chest with Baby Vicks.  I had aspirated his nose and he seemed all clear.  I laid him down to sleep… and he starts crying and choking and sputtering.  I tried to soothe him with hugs, kisses, and a bottle, but nothing seemed to work.  He was just not happy.  I ended up giving him some Tylenol and we both tried to sleep again. 

He ended up waking up and crying about every 20 minutes all night long.  I was running on very little sleep and I was going through some internal turmoil.  I was ticked off that I couldn’t get any sleep, I was sad and concerned for my little man, I was angry that my husband was still sleeping through it all while I did all the work, then guilty for feeling upset about something my lil man couldn’t control.  At 5 am I ended up putting Rickybear on my chest and he slept for nearly 2 straight hours, which was his best sleep of the night. Once he woke up he was all sweet and groggy, then he broke into a huge grin.  We had survived.

If I didn’t know better, I would swear that he was a big faker.  He was in great spirits all day on Thursday.  He played and jumped and watched tv and read books.  He napped with no problem.  He even did tummy time for nearly 3 times as long as usual.  I cleaned the nursery, the living room, and the kitchen, while cooking 3 meals.  I felt like super mom!  Until bedtime that is…

We try to put the baby down and he starts crying again.  OMG!  He was fine all day!  Yes, I had to aspirate his runny nose every hour and rub Vicks on his chest, but he was happy ALL DAY LONG.  Hubby and I talked about it and decided to just let him sleep with us for the night.  I took very special care to arrange the pillows and blankets properly, but I was still terrified that I would smother him.  Again, we all survived.  He woke up a lot, but he didn’t take his usual 2am bottle.  He ended up with his head by daddy and his legs kicking my ribcage.  OF COURSE it couldn’t have been the other way around, lol!  When he wasn’t laying sideways he was all smooshed up next to me, breathing into my neck.  Such a sweet little boy!  Again, all smiles this morning.

He is spending the day at Nana’s today.  I hope he has a better night tonight!

This past weekend was a wonderfully lazy and relaxing weekend.  After date night on Friday night, hubby and I went baby shopping.  Basically, we just needed some more formula, but then we saw the sippy cups!  We ended up buying a purple and yellow (LSU!!) Playtex First Sipster sippy cup.  Well, I decided to test it out Saturday morning.  Why did I think he would catch on his first time trying??  I was completely wrong!  He looked like he was trying to fit the whole lid in his mouth!  He didn’t get the sucking action, so I will put it in the cabinet and pull it back out in a few more weeks.  As for the product itself, it seems really well designed and durable, and I had no problems with it leaking.  We have also been using slow flow nipples on his bottles, so I bought some Gerber medium flow nipples to begin using so when he does try the sippy cup again, he won’t choke.  I can only learn by trying, right?

The highlight of the day was Rickybear was able to meet some more of his cousins.  My cousin was in town from Alabama to babysit while her husband and brother attended the LSU vs. Alabama game.  She brought Cameron, her soon-to-be four year old son with her and he was such a treat!  They were watching Sam, who is nine months old.  Watching him play was like taking a look at what I have in store for the future with my son.  Sam is a master crawler and can pull himself up to standing.  He was getting into all sorts of trouble and toys were EVERYWHERE.  I need to treasure my lil stationary man as much as I can now because once he can crawl, my home will be in chaos.  And toys that make music?  No, thank you!  So annoying after hearing it play over and over and over!

Aside from the play date, Rickybear watched a lot of football this weekend and did a lot of bouncing.  Both his grandmothers stopped by to say hello to him, as well, so he was spoiled rotten with attention.

Since I am resigned to the fact that my son will be sleeping in our room with us until he goes to college, I bought the Dream With Me 3 mattress for his Pack 'n Play.  I ordered it from Amazon and it came in two days.  He likes it, I like it- looks like a success.  He does seem to be sleeping better on it, too.  Still waking up at 2 am for a nighttime snack, but a lot less wiggling around otherwise.  OH, and just because we turned the clock back Saturday night DID NOT mean we got to sleep an extra hour.  Apparently I forgot to explain to my 5 month old son what Daylight Savings is. 

Hubby asked me over the weekend when the baby can stay in the bed with us.  With as many pillows as we sleep with and as much as we toss and turn- I am not sure it would be such a good idea.  I also am remembering how fleeting sleep was when I was pregnant with this baby, and if we plan to have another one soon, I don’t see how that would work very well for me with a wiggly infant/toddler sharing a bed with me.  I will have to think on that one for awhile.

There's always time for bouncing...

... until it's time to sleep, that is...

"He is the best present you've ever given me."

My husband said this to me yesterday morning and I couldn't agree more.

(Picture is from when baby was about 3.5 months old)

Halloween Fun

Dear Rickybear,

Your first Halloween has come and gone and I am happier for it.  I know you won't remember this as you are older so I want to be sure to document it all.  =)

A few weeks ago you went to the Corn Maize.  We took you in the stroller, but I felt like the worst mother in the world because you were just SO HOT.  We somehow picked the one day with a high ozone alert!  I ended up stripping you down and carrying you in my arms because the stroller was a heat trap.  Once you cooled down you seemed to have a good time.  It was the first time for you to see farm animals, especially the goats, who's sounds you imitated your first six weeks of life.  And the pig races!  What fun!

As for Halloween day, you went over to Nana and Grandpa's house.  You refused to nap when we got there, so you played in your highchair while we ate.  As soon as we were done I whisked you to the backyard so you could play with... PUMPKIN GUTS!  I had been waiting weeks for this moment.  SERIOUSLY!  You have never felt something squishy like this and you were covered in head to toe with gook!  We took a million pictures of you because you were squealing and loving it.  In hindsight, maybe I should have stripped you of your onsie as well, but who knew that pumpkin stained??  At least you were wearing black!  This was the first time you sat unsupported without toppling over.  You sat up for nearly 3 minutes all by yourself.  I was so proud of you.

Once back inside you picked what cutout you wanted Grandpa to carve on your tiny pumpkin.  I dressed you in your adorable Halloween costume while Grandpa carved away.  Once it was all finished, you tried to eat it.  You soon grew tired and zonked out in the swing, but at least you had fun while it lasted.  We all went home and hid from the trick-or-treaters then.  I figured that if you weren't going door to door, there was no sense in handing out candy.  Besides, we had a Saints game to watch!

You were my most favorite treat of all this Halloween and I can't wait to see what fun you will have on these next upcoming holidays.