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.