Carter's 4 Month well visit

Yesterday was Carter's 4 month birthday!  Oh, how time flies!  I think he must have known that we were allowed to sleep in until 7:30am because he was bright eyed and giggly at 5am.  SERIOUSLY???  I was beyond annoyed.  I am in some serious need of a 5 hr uninterrupted block of sleep. 

I got up and got hubby off to work, then packed the diaper bags for the day.  I dropped Rickybear off at Maw Maw's and then headed to the doctor with Carter.  He was so unsuspecting. 

Here he is in the waiting room:

Once he was taken back to the room, I waited until they had weighed him to give him a bottle.  At this point, he is still only drinking expressed breast milk, except on rare occasions.  My milk supply is starting to drop a little, so I will have to start pumping more and eat more oatmeal and lactation cookies.  My goal is 6 months of EBM only! 

His cradle cap is still there a little, but he checked out perfectly!  Here are his stats:

Weight: 13 lb 15 oz

Height: 25.75 in

Head Circ: 17

After his exam, I got him dressed again while we waited for the nurse to come in with his shots.  =(

I need to start him on vitamin D supplements.

I won't post the picture of him crying after his shots.  He had that sweet gunk that he had to swallow, followed by 3 shots.  He cried a lot longer than I anticipated.  It made me feel pretty bad.  Maw Maw said he didn't look like he felt good, but he slept a lot and also played a lot.  Last night he had a fever of 99.6 at 9:30 when I checked him, so he got his first ever dose of acetaminophen.  He was hot all night an restless and cried a lot.  I had to hold him to get him to sleep for more than a few minutes at a time.  At 2am, he was 99.7 so he got another small dose.  It doesn't help that the house was shaking last night due to the thunderstorms and that the bedroom was warmer than usual.  I hope he has a good day today!

We have had quite a few milestones in our household that I haven’t yet shared!

On Friday 3/23, Rickybear jumped up and down for the first time on the floor.  He has been jumping on the bed, but never actually lifted off the ground before.

On Friday 3/30, Rickybear another took on the bottom tooth.  By Sunday, he had but the matching tooth on the other side.  He now has all of his baby teeth except for his 2 yr molars.

On Saturday 3/31, Carter discovered he had FEET!!!  And also, Ricky snorted water up his nose during bath time.  He has taken to laying on his tummy some during bath time and I think he learned a lesson… Our other big achievement was Ricky COUNTING TO TEN!!  About a dozen times!!!  I was so proud.  I think that’s awesome for a 22 month old!



Wordless Wednesday

Carterbug is ROLY POLY nowadays. 

He rolled over from back to belly for the first time on Friday 3/16/12 and now he won't stop.

I am paranoid because he wants to sleep on his tummy now and this mama is NOT cool with that!

Happy Two Month Birthday, Carter!

Sorry for the lack of updates, but my life is just a bit crazier nowadays.  =) 

I am back at work now.  My first day was Wednesday, February 1^st.  It was a hard decision to make.  If I didn’t come back to work this week, I knew it would be another month before I could make myself do it.  Now that I am here, despite being exhausted, I know I made a good decision.  Just like with Ricky, Carter is being cared for by both sets of grandparents, so I know my babies are in good hands.

I feel like there is so much that I missed telling yall.  Ricky cut his right canine tooth on 1/13, but the other one has yet to make an appearance.  I his gums are hurting him.  He has been such a doll since Carter arrived.  At first he was a little freaked out with the crying, but he has really warmed up to him, and Carter’s eyes follow him all around the room.  He likes to come hold Carter’s hand, bring him bottles, throw away his dirty diapers for me, and name every part of Carter’s body that he knows (which includes poking him in the eye!).  He sometimes isn’t careful enough around him… Carter has been trampled a time or two (no worse for the wear!), but never on purpose.  I love Ricky’s little voice when he says “baby Carter”, which sounds like BAY-bee CAR-uh.  So sweet.  He also likes to sit on the potty now.  He isn’t ready for potty training, and he has never actually used the potty, but he knows what it is and what it’s used for now.

While I was out on leave, I usually walked 30 mins to an hour every day with Carter in the k’tan.  It was nice to get out and get some exercise and breathe in the fresh air.  So far, I miss that the most, other than seeing Carter’s sweet face all day every day.  I also made it to the park a lot.  On my mom’s days, I would call her and she would bring Ricky up there to meet us (she lives literally 3 mins down the street from the park I go to).  We would walk the kids in the stroller and then let Ricky go wild on the swings and the slides.  It was really nice getting to spend extra time with him while I wasn’t working.  Having only two full days with him on the weekends isn’t nearly enough.

Carter was rather difficult for me to handle for about the first 6 weeks, but I think we have come to an understanding with each other at this point.  He was very needy and wanted to be held all the time.  That would have been fine if he were my first baby, but having Ricky to care for and play with also, made it quite stressful.  It was hard to put him down long enough for me to pump.  Oh yes, about that.  I have a whole post that is sitting in draft about my breast feeding experience, but I will tell you briefly that it was a bust… again.  We had to supplement with 2 to 4 ounces of formula for a few days when Carter was in his second week of life, which maybe ruined him for nursing.  Once he got the instant gratification from the bottle, he was too impatient to nurse.  He will only nurse now for comfort or when he wants a “snack”, lol.  By week 3 he was back to drinking only breast milk, though, which I am proud of.  I only use maybe 2 ounces of formula a week if I haven’t brought enough milk with me when I am out running errands.  That’s a huge victory for me.  I may dislike having to pump 5-6 times a day (which is down from 7-8 times a day for the first month!), but the benefits far outweigh the annoyance of the whole pumping process.

Carter is a sweet baby, though.  He is very different from his brother in many ways.  I don’t want to compare and contrast them because they will be compared to each other by society for the rest of their lives, but I will say I love their differences.  Carter has his daddy’s skin tone and dark hair.  He is so proficient at tummy time and rolls from belly to back daily.  He doesn’t like to lie on his back, prefers to be held, and won’t sleep at night unless I am holding him.  He started smiling at 6 weeks and he has the sweetest little coos.  He is very strong.  His neck and back grow stronger every day.  He likes to bat at the toys that are hanging from his infant carrier.  He doesn’t spit up nearly as much as his brother did, which is awesome.  At three weeks he decided he was a big boy and didn’t need to be swaddled at night anymore, but by five weeks, I had to start doing it again.  Life is much easier with him being swaddled!  He eats about every three hours.  His hands are ridiculously strong and he still likes to keep them in fists.  The only problem he has is a clogged tear duct, which results in his right eye being a little goopy and it drains all day.  We are supposed to massage it and put a warm compress on it.

I am out of time for now, but I will post some pictures below of my little one’s first two days as a dynamic duo.  Pics are courtesy of Nana!

Carter's 1 wk appt

Carter had his 1 wk appointment last week and he passed with flying colors.  The pedi was pleased with how alert he was.  Also, the general rule is that babies should be back to their birth weight by 2 weeks.... well, Carter was 7 lb 7 oz, LOL!  So yep, no worries about his weight.  He also grew 1/4 in to bring him to 20.75 in.  His little toes and fingers are so long!  The only slight issue he had was that his right eye goops up- she said it may have something to do with his tear duct, or he may have scratched his eye/lid with his nails, so she prescribed us some gel to put on his eye twice a day.  We go back for his next appointment on Friday.

Having a new baby in the house has been such a big adjustment.  Daddy has been a great help by basically taking over the daily care of Rickybear.  With both kids getting up all night, we are both exhausted.  I think you forget how stressful and tiring and frustrating all of this is or else you wouldn't keep doing it over and over.  Carter is eating every 3 hours or so and has about 12+ diaper changes a day.  He eats like a piggy (about 18-20 oz a day) and gets the hiccups after nearly every meal.  He doesn't spit up very much.  He likes to be held and never likes to be put down.  He won't go to sleep if we put him down awake.  He doesn't like to lay flat on his back.  He frequently rolls from tummy to back... I guess he is protesting tummy time!  He has excellent head control and can push up on his arms, but can't hold it very long.  His cord fell off at 14 days.

Breastfeeding has been a huge struggle.  Something so natural should not be so hard!  I took classes on it before we had Rickybear, but started supplementing with formula by the second night in the hospital when he was having trouble latching and was hysterical.  He never did get the hang of it, so I pumped for 4.5 months, hardly making enough milk to make 2 bottles a day.  At the end, the amount I was expressing was laughable. 

This time around, I was even more determined.  I made it nearly 4 days without supplementing.  We nursed for hours on end but Carter would still be crying and hungry.  He was also so impatient and wanted instant gratification.  I began pumping at this point.  We use Enfamil Newborn when we do supplement.  Around the one week mark, Carter was drinking expressed breast milk plus 2-4 oz a day of formula.  At two weeks, my production was up enough to where he is only drinking expressed breast milk, with a nursing session thrown in there in the middle of the night.  Not the breastfeeding relationship I had planned, but I am so happy with the amount of breast milk he is getting.  I feel like I am tied to the pump, but pumping 10 mins every 2-3 hours is better than nursing for 45 mins every 2-3 hours.  I am getting anywhere from 20-25 oz expressed a day at this point.  Oh, if Carter is especially fussy, I will give him an ounce or two of formula before bed in hopes it will be heavier in his tummy and help settle him down a bit.

As for me, I am healing well.  No more pain, but I am still taking it easy and not doing anything too strenuous.  From the time I got home, I was pretty much an emotional wreck.  I doubted myself and it was honestly just so overwhelming.  I had the baby blues last time and I had it again this time.  I already get kind of down in the winter, but tied together with a new baby, I was crying several times a day.  It got worse around 5 pm when the darkness set in.  After about 2 weeks, my spirits lifted a bit.  It's been 3 days since I randomly started crying, which must mean it's passing.

Lastly, I am 30 pounds below my pre-pregnancy weight.  I am very proud of that, but I worry I might gain a little back.  Since I am nursing, I am not supposed to be dieting.  In fact, I am supposed to be eating an extra 500 calories a day.  Regardless, I am pleased!



Hello, I'm still here!

I have to admit, I wasn't the most keen about being a big brother.  Mostly because I spent the night away from my parents for the first time ever, but I was spoiled rotten by my grandparents, so it all worked out ok.  I went to go visit mommy and daddy at the hospital, but I wasn't too sure about what was going on.  Then, when I got home, the baby cried a lot and it scared me, and it made me cry, too.  I have gotten used to it since then.  Sometimes I am too loud and I wake the baby up, but I can't help it.  I think I like Carter.  Mommy likes it when I crawl up on the bed and pat his head.  I know to call him baby and I am working on calling him CJ.  I think being a big brother might be ok after all.

I haven't been sleeping well at all.  I cut my last of the 4 molars that were coming in on Monday 12/5.  I thought it was all over, but now my canines are coming through.  When will this end??  How many teeth am I supposed to have??

Anyway, that's all for now.

Love,

Rickybear

Holy molars!

Two teeth within 3 day!  On Wednesday night some molars on the bottom right side of his mouth popped through. Poor thing!!  This makes 11 teeth total.

In other news, Rickybear is 18 months old today!!!

WHOA HOW I HATE TEETHING!!

Rickybear is a great kid.  He is healthy, bright, agile, happy, clever, eats well, sleeps well…. until some teeth decide to make an appearance.  We have been putting him down for bed around 8pm every night and he has been waking up around 10pm inconsolable.  At that point he comes into our bed because I can’t stand to let him lay there and cry.  Last night it took an hour to stop the tears, even with the Tylenol and rubbing his back.  I checked his mouth and some molars has popped through on the top left side were there that weren’t there when I checked him on Saturday.  This makes tooth # 10.  I resorted to the Orajel, which he HATES (and made him cry even louder for about 10 minutes), but I think that it eventually numbed him enough to let him pass off to dreamland.

Right now Ricky’s favorite things are rough-housing with daddy, breaking (I mean playing with…) eyeglasses, pulling on blind cords (danger!), running in circles in the backyard, throwing a ball, climbing up onto the couch all by himself, stealing the remote control, holding the phone up to his ear and talking into it (even when no one else is on the line), swinging outside, and playing at the park.  He is still a huge fan of bath time, too.

He has also started with the “terrible twos” tantrums.  It’s hard not to laugh sometimes because he will just collapse on the floor and wail if he can’t get what he wants.  To be honest, sometimes it’s amusing and sometimes it’s terribly annoying, but it’s just the age where he is right now.  He is learning and growing and although his vocabulary is great for an almost 18-month old, he still can’t communicate like he wants to.  If that’s the only way to express himself, then that’s all he can do. 

As for the picture- don't worry, he was over it in another minute.  I think I wouldn't let him play with a fork before this meltdown.



Not related to the post, but this is a pic from the library on Friday.

We had a fun weekend with lots of family time (and football games...).

Little man has a scrape on his knee from tripping on the driveway, but he didn’t even flinch when it happened.  He did have a mishap on Saturday, though, that made me want to sit on the floor and cry…  Rickybear was on the swing outside with his daddy after eating lunch.  He fell asleep, and when he woke up, Richard could tell right away that something was wrong.  He immediately got him out of the swing, but it was too late- Rickybear was motion sick.  Richard knocked on the back door to get my attention and I came to it just in time to see the baby throwing up all over him.  He looked so scared and he had his little hand up by his mouth and it just kept coming and coming.  And then he started crying.  OMG I wanted to cry with him.  When he was done, I grabbed him and got him into the kitchen sink as quickly as possible and sprayed him down.  THEN I got his clothes and diaper off, lol.  He calmed down a bit because he LOVES a bath, but he was upset again as soon as it was over.  I put him in his pajamas and just snuggled with him on the couch.  He never lets me snuggle him nowadays, but he was still kinda shaking and he made no effort to get up out of my arms.  I tried not to feed him right away, but he was really hungry, so I made him some warm toddler formula and he was good to go.  He forgot about it soon after, but I won’t be forgetting that for a long time.

In other news, I think I praise my child too much.  We keep the new slide inside the house and have been storing it in the guest room, so we pulled it into the living room on Sunday so lil man could play.  He is too much of a daredevil to leave it out all the time.  He loves that thing- it’s too cute!  After he slid down the first time, he clapped and yelled “you did it!” Richard and I could both understand what he said.  It was hysterical, but he was right, he did it!  He repeated it over and over. 

Here is a list of words he seems to be able to say:

Mama

Dada

Nana

Light

Ball

Red

Yay

You did it

Baby

Beep beep

Hi

Bye

I think he said "kitty" yesterday and I am pretty sure I heard a "no" on Saturday… so I will have to watch that one!!



Lazy Saturday morning

Today has not exactly been a productive day, but at least it’s been enjoyable.  Rickybear let me sleep until 7am, then I made us both some breakfast.  We woke daddy up at 8am since he had to go bowling and run some errands (hint: my birthday is tomorrow).  Once daddy was out the door I looked around at the messy kitchen and the linens that needed to be washed, but decided all that could wait.  Ricky had dragged the jogging stroller (um, yeah, love the stroller but I have not ONCE jogged while using it) out of the guest room and into the living room, so I took that as a cue to get my tush in gear and go for a walk.

I haven’t walked this week like I did last week.  I did go once at work and then of course this morning.  I got hot, but Ricky was having a great time.  I had packed Scout and a book for him to play with, but now that he can finally reach the horn and steering wheel on the stroller, he mainly played with that.  Once we got home, I decided it was too nice of a morning to head inside already, so I gated us into the back yard and let him have at it while I sat in the shade on the back patio and typed this blog.  =)

Wrapped the morning up with a turn on the swing under the carport and then put the baby down for a nap.   I guess it’s time for me to get to work, now.

One last note, Ricky’s new word for the week is “hot”!

Happy Labor Day!  My family of 3 is enjoying the long weekend.

I went out this morning to get us some breakfast.  Just because there is a holiday does not mean that my child wants to sleep in.  I have enjoyed getting to spend 3 whole days with him, even if we are stuck indoors due to the tropical storm.    Presently, I am spending some alone time on the couch watching tv while Rickybear plays with Scout in the crib.  He really should be ready for a nap right about now!  He didn't sleep well again... I am assuming because of teething.  He was a little warm all day yesterday.  Uh oh, now he is yelling for daddy...  =)

I love how he dances back and forth now whenever music plays.  He will bring me a toy over and over so I can start the music for him.  He will rock back and forth with the biggest grin on his face. 

He has started to say a few new things.... what I think is "good morning" and "baby".  My parents swear he has said "red" but I haven't heard it yet, although it does seem to be his new favorite color. 

I have to check the trash cans at least once a day.  He has gotten so good at putting things up in his toy box that he also like to put things in the garbage cans for us.  This week I have found 2 sippy cups and a stuffed duck. 

Well, I guess he isn't going down for a nap so I probably need to go get him.  Take care!

I hate teething

Baby life has been busy lately.  We had tooth number 8 cut through last Saturday 5/13.  Nights have been nightmarish.  My STTN baby is now a wake up all night baby, so my days have been sluggish.  Teething sucks.  Tylenol wasn’t cutting it, so we have moved onto Motrin.  I feel so bad for him because he is still sleeping but he is wailing at the top of his lungs.  I have done everything you “shouldn’t” do in response- giving him a sippy cup to get him back to sleep, rocking him back to sleep, and letting him cuddle up next to me in bed.  But I know that once this next tooth cuts (perhaps a molar?) that he will be back to my sweet peaceful baby. 

Rickybear has become a constant babbler.  He is a very clever mimic, as well.  I finally caught him on video saying “booga booga booga” which I assume is because I call him Boogie, “light” (which he will say when a light comes on or turns off or simply catches his attention, and “bye bye”.  I am not sure he understands the concept of bye bye and he doesn’t wave yet, but at least he can say the words.  He says “E-I-E-I” but can’t get the O yet.  =)  When I woke up Sunday he was sitting up next to me and I swear he said “Wa play” since I always ask does he “wanna play?”  Finally, he woke daddy up on Sunday and we both thought he asked daddy if he “sweep good”… as in “sleep good”.  It’s crazy how he was so slow to start talking at all (which the pedi said was normal for boys), but now he is picking things up left and right.  It’s so fun to carry on conversation with him nowadays!

The highlight of my weekend was playing outside with Rickybear on Sunday afternoon.  We set up the sprinkler in the backyard, but he was actually more leery of it than anything and just kept running away from it.  We kept the sprinkler on, but I pulled out the baby pool and started filling it up with the hose.  Has he never seen a hose before?  He was so excited!  And every time he splashed himself in the face with it or was hit by the sprinkler, he would scrunch up his eyes and throw both hands up by his head.  EVERY SINGLE TIME.  It was so funny.  I let him play for an hour and he was still mad at me when I made him dry off and go inside.  He definitely loves the water.

I am too tired to think of anything else to write for now, so I will let this be it for now. 

Hope everyone has a good week!

Just a quick update

Rickybear went in for his weight check Monday.  Over the past month he ended up gaining about 6 oz due to his new high calorie diet, so the doctor was pleased with that.  We won't have to go back for another 2 months.

I am pretty much obsessed with my baby right now.  Everything he does is awesome.  I love love love to hear him sing to himself.  I will sing "Mary Had a Little Lamb" and when I stop singing, he will pick right up where I left off.  No words, obviously, but he does have the melody down.

He also used "bye bye" in context yesterday.  He was playing with a toy helicopter, but lost interest in it and moved on.  Well, after maybe 15 seconds of inactivity, it tells the baby "bye bye".  So Ricky looked up from the toy he was playing with, and told the helicopter "bye bye"!  I was so tickled.  Daddy was was on the phone with me, but couldn't hear it.  Once we were done talking, I put him on speakerphone so he and Rickybear could talk a minute.  When daddy told him "bye bye" he said it right back!  I have a genius baby!  =)  Maybe not, but it was still something new and I was just so pleased.  I skyped my mom and dad, and after much prodding, he finally did it for them, too.

My favorite part of yesterday was the family walk we took last night.  Sushi, our kitty, ended up walking along behind us the whole way.  We found our beach ball in the neighbor's yard, so we walked along and Rickybear pushed the ball.  He would stop and play with his shadow, look up at the lights, play in a yard, etc.  It was fun to just let him explore new territory.  We ended up having to carry the baby (and the kitty!) part of the way, but he did a great job walking along on his own.  Such a big boy!

Daddy's little man!

Daddy can't wait until that little dude can go out in the yard with him, running around with a rake and playing in the dirt.  We are almost getting there.

We have a third tooth coming through- his top left front tooth.  Maybe that's why he has been such a poor sleeper lately, but daddy has been such a great help with the extra nightly wakings.  The tooth has just barely broken the skin and he won't let me touch it, except when I am brushing his teeth with the little finger toothbrush.  I wish I could get a picture of those little suckers!

Getting closer...

Obviously that picture is not my kid (he didn't grow 6 inches overnight!), but I don't have a picture of Rickybear with that particular toy.  Little boy  received this as a present for Christmas, but he was too little to do much more than spin some of the easy toys on it.  He is a daredevil on it now!  As of Monday 03/28/11, he can actually walk behind it and push it all the way across the room with ease!  He totally surprised me and daddy!  And he seems so pleased with himself!  The bad news is that since he is kind of short, he likes to stand on the blue base so he can reach more gadgets... and for some reason he thinks he is stable even thought he is teetering all over the place.  On Tuesday night he fell over and crashed and CRIED.  Daddy scooped him up and let him drink from his bottle and he was all good.  So good, in fact, that he decided to climb back up there two more time.  I guess it takes awhile to learn that lesson!

Milestone alert!

Life has been busy lately- too busy to boot up the laptop in the evening.  I think Rickybear has forgone his evening nap in favor of playing and getting into all sorts of trouble.  He is still teething like crazy.  He may possibly have some top teeth coming down.  He also had some killer diaper rash pop up out of NOWHERE.  To the point that his skin was bleeding when I tried to use some wipes on him.  Poor baby!  I put a super soft blanket down yesterday and let him go bottomless and diaperless for 2 hours before bedtime- it finally started to look a little better by the time I had him dressed for bed

Below is a cute pic of my mischievous boy helping me put the clean dishes up.  It wasn't taken yesterday, but it's relevant to what I am about to announce....

Little boy can stand up from a sitting position all by himself without support!  The first time I saw it was 03/16/11.  He was sitting on his tush eating some whole wheat pancakes and he leaned forward to reach another piece.  Well he couldn't reach it so well, so he ended up on all fours.  He grabbed the pancake, pushed back to a squat, and then stood up to eat it.  It was so random, lol, but I was super proud.  I knew he had the capability, but he always liked touching something (a leg, the couch, the cat) as security.  Go Rickybear!

Wow, little boy, what will you do next? 



9 month doctor visit

Rickybear had his 9 month appointment on Tuesday.  I really like our pedi and I appreciate how much individual time she gives us.  She really listens to my concerns and I am so glad that we switched to her (even though we had no problems whatsoever with the other pedi we had). 

She confirmed that my baby is probably going to be a little guy.  He was 26.25 inches (around 1 or 2%), 17 lbs 6 oz (also under 5%), and his head was 17.75 inches (10%).  She had me run through how much I feed him and how much formula and she said he was a fantastic eater, but he might just be small.  Since developmentally (his skill level) he was at 12 months, she wasn't too concerned and thinks he might have a growth spurt coming.  She said he won't be a 6 foot tall man, though.  Once he hits 2 yrs old she might be able to predict how tall he will be based on the charts she has.  She likes how strong he was.  [By the way, I didn't realize until I updated the stats page that he weighed exactly the same at nine months as he was at eight months... but he wasn't mobile a month ago so he is burning up calories like crazy now.]

The doctor thought he was too cute.  Breathing and belly were great.  She felt around his mouth and said his second front bottom tooth also cut through (probably Mon night or Tues morning) since it was just barely there).  He doesn't have to go back for another appointment until 12 months.  There will be a lot of shots at that appointment, so I changed it from May 27 to May 31 since I don't want him to have a good time on his birthday party day.  We didn't think we had any shots at this appointment, but once we were almost all the way back home, I received a phone call saying there was an error and he actually did need one.  *sigh*  I am glad they called, though, because I would rather have turned around and gone back to get it than have to take more time off of work.  By the time I got back there, Rickybear was asleep so we gave it to him while he was sleeping.  What a terrible way to wake up!  But after it was over, he let out two cries, grabbed the bottle, and fell back asleep.

We walked with neighbor and her 14 month old baby girl when we got home and then had a little play date.  While over there, he had another milestone.  He was playing with a toy when his playmate stepped in between him and the toy.  He leaned back out of her way and he stood for 16 seconds without support.  The neighbor and I both had our arms outstretched on all sides of him in case he crashed, lol.  It was too cute and I was very proud.  When we got home he went down for a nap, but woke up after 35 mins and didn't stop wailing after that.  He was SO UPSET and I couldn't get him to stop screaming, but it was the effects of the vaccine.  He was better when daddy got home and he had some Tylenol in him.  I put him to bed almost right after daddy got home and he slept like a rock all night.  All smiles the next morning.

Whew!

The laundry is drying, the baby is sleeping, the dishes are in the dishwasher, the hubby is out running an errand, my first ever brisket is cooking in the oven... and I can finally sit down and write a blog! 

This week was actually a big week for baby- lots to document, both good and bad.  A lot of milestones were made, so I guess I will just list them out.

• Tuesday 2/22- first kisses for daddy
• Wednesday 2/23- stayed standing unsupported for 10 seconds and cut his first tooth!!
• Saturday 2/26- first bo-bo that required a band aid (took some skin off the index finger on his left hand) and first kisses for mommy!!

Baby and I have started walking around the neighborhood in the afternoon.  When I am not up for that, we have been sitting in the front yard on a blanket.  Since the temperature has been in the 70s, all of the neighbors have been out and about as well.  Ricky and I met another mommy and her 4 month old son who lives a street over.  We still haven't met the baby girl who was born less than a month ago that lives right across the street.  There are so many older boys in the neighborhood- I am already worrying that they will be a bad influence on my lil man.  I can protect my sweetheart forever, right??

Rickybear looks like he wants to stand up on his own, but just isn't there yet.  He will get up like a bear on his hands and feet and sway there a bit, but then he always sits back down.

Rickybear also has another stuffy nose.  We are using Vicks rub and the Vicks vaporizer, as well as the humidifier.  Good grief, that child screams like I am torturing him when I try to suction his nose out!  And I expect him to understand me when I tell him that it's for his own good (ha!).

I think that's it for now- Rickybear turned 9 months on Friday and I have to get started on his 9 month post!

And away we go!

Little man has been having some tummy troubles and also has a head cold.  He is in great spirits, but can't sleep because he can't breathe very well.  I plugged in a little vaporizer this evening and... well... you can see...

And yes, of course I immediately took it away from him so he didn't eat it or strangle himself in the cord!

Growing in leaps and bounds!

Jess over at Boho Baby Bump made a comment in her last blog that some mommys had told her that three and four months was their favorite age with their babies, and that she felt the same way.  Her baby is now four months old.  I have to admit, I felt the same way at the time, but then Rickybear made five months, then six, and now seven.  Each month has been my favorite age!  Honestly, as hard and exhausting and frustrating as it can be to raise a baby, the good moments and the sweet moments outnumber the bad ones at least ten to one.  Life gets better and better with each passing day.  I love this stage he is in right now because it seems that every day he is learning something new, gaining a new skill, expressing himself better and better.  He is so independent and so determined right now with everything he does.   Beyond cute, and I am beyond in love.

I was hoping to include a video with this next announcement, but Rickybear would rather stop and smile for the camera than actually continue doing what I wanted to video in the first place!  Ack!  But Rickybear crawled for the first time on January 3^rd.  The first time he did it for me was when he crawled to my laptop.  He has already taken over the remote control and both of our cell phones- he cannot have my laptop, too!  He has done the wobbly crawling maybe two more times for me since then, but he doesn’t like it.  At all.  It probably takes too much effort for him.  He would much rather stand up.  Now that he has figured out the mechanics of it, he is pulling up on EVERYTHING.  Hello, time to seriously baby proof! 

He started pulling up to standing in his crib over the weekend (the real crib where we let him nap once and awhile, not the Pack ‘n Play where he sleeps) so I had to drop the mattress all the way down.  Yesterday evening I put him in there for about ten minutes while I unpacked the groceries, and when I came back to check on him he was still standing up and looking at the fish tank.  We played together a bit, and by the time I was ready to feed him dinner, he had learned how to step sideways across the length of the crib.  Where did my teeny tiny baby that needs me for everything go???  He is growing into such a little man!

Welcome to 2011

The new year came fairly uneventfully at our house.  We had a three day holiday from work, so we had lots of family time and we accomplished a lot around the house.  One thing I learned in 2010 was that I need to be super organized in the new year- there is never enough time in the day to accomplish what I need to do.  I struggle between taking time for myself and my family and keeping up with the chores.  With working 8-10 hours a day, commuting 2 hours round trip, cooking dinner, picking up the house, packing the next day’s lunches, and doing the dishes… laundry and dust seem to pile up more than I’d like.  And that spot of papers on the counter seems to be growing daily…  But honestly, I feel good about ignoring the chores and sitting on the floor playing with my baby.  We see him so little during the week that we cherish the time we have.

We had plenty of baby time this weekend.  We had a milestone occur on December 31^st- Rickybear pulled up to standing for the first time all by himself.  Previously, we can hold out or hands and he will reach out and pull to standing, but he has never initiated it and done it by himself.  He reached up and pulled on his dad’s shirt and there he was, so proud of himself.  We are so proud, too.  Since then he desperately wants to pull up on everything, but we don’t have much that is low enough for him to reach to pull up on!  He is living dangerously now. 

We had the best intentions to stay up for the changing of the years.  We even had a bottle of champagne ready.  Just two years ago we celebrated New Years at the levee in New Orleans and watched the fireworks over the water.  This year, we ended up being so tired that we went to bed slightly before 11pm, just in time to celebrate New Years with the New Yorkers. 

We are looking forward to what the new year may bring for us.