Roll Over

Early this morning I found you in your crib on your tummy. (you always sleep on your back). And now this evening Daddy and I watch you as you roll from your back to your tummy so easily. We have been watching you the past couple of weeks as you tilt and lean and tip on your side. We wondered when it would happen. And today you have started the journey of being mobile on your own. You roll over so easily now! We are so excited and it is so fun to watch you grow and develop into a little boy.

Carrots

On Tuesday I gave you your first baby food (besides rice cereal). Your first vegetable was carrots. Despite the look on your face in this picture you really like them. At first you just weren't sure. You made some very funny faces but you kept opening your mouth and you ate up every bite!

Halloween

Your first ear infection...poor thing! I took you to the doctor today after a week of being up with you through the night. You used to be so easy at night. You would take your bottle and fall right to sleep. Now, you start fussing about 3/4 of the way through your bottle and by the time your finished you are screaming and you don't want to go to sleep. Holding you upright is the only way you will stop screaming. At first I thought it was your tummy bothering you but after burping and spitting up and pooping you were still screaming. The doctor confirmed today that you do have an ear infection in your right ear. It must be painful for you to do all that screaming!

You rolled over for the first time tonight. Even though you have an ear infection you were happy to play, so I put you on your tummy and snapped some pictures of you in your costume and over you went! And you are sooo cute in your costume...you're a little Auburn Tiger.

Long Night

Last night you were up all night screaming and in pain. I think you woke up 5 or 6 different times. It's so hard for me to listen to you cry like that and there is nothing that I can do. After picking you up and holding you up right you would start to feel better. This lasted all through the night and into this morning. You didn't take your morning nap because you were in so much pain. I cried with you as I saw little tears roll down your face. After feeding you at 11:30 you slept for about an hour and a half and woke up fussing. I went into your room and when you saw me you just started laughing. Sometimes it's so hard for me to figure you out!

Sitting Up

Today you sat up on your own for about 10 seconds. You tip way over forward and hold yourself up with your arms. You have been sitting up with support but you are really starting to support your own weight. You also grab onto our fingers and pull yourself up to sitting. You are so strong!

Long Time

It is harder than I thought to keep up with this blog. I know if I just did a sentence or two every day or so it would be easier. To catch up here's what's been going on: You had your four month check up and you are doing great- gaining weight well (15 lbs 5 1/2oz, 25 inches long), etc. Dr. Byars gave us the go ahead to start you on some rice cereal and introduce other baby foods slowly. At that time we still had you on medicine twice a day, 2 oz of alamentin formula with breast milk and I cut out all dairy products, but you were still having a hard time with your tummy. I decided to start a food diary and figured out that whenever I eat onions or anything made with onion powder your tummy hurts. Things got much better after we figured that out. On October 14 you ate your first rice cereal and loved it. You wanted more and I couldn't give it to you fast enough. What a good eater!

The past four nights you have woken up between 2:30 and 3:30 am. (For about a month now you have been sleeping until 6am or 6:30am and even 7am on some occasions.) It took us a few nights to realize that you are hungry and obviously going through a growth spurt. I hope this passes soon because we aren't getting much sleep! In the past week or so you have grown out of all your 3-6 month clothes and are now wearing 6-9 months and you are only 4 1/2 months old!

You are trying so hard to roll over. You can manuever yourself to your side but just can't seem to get all the way over yet. I think it will be soon! You did roll yourself over from your tummy to your back a couple of times before you were even one month old, but the doctor says that doesn't count! At that time we didn't realize you had reflux and your tummy must have really been hurting!

New Medicine

Your tummy has still been giving you a hard time. Some days are good but other days are not! I know your tummy is hurting when you wake up in the middle of the night or in the middle of your nap screaming. Your tummy makes gurgly sounds, you have a lot of gas, and your body gets real tense and you draw your legs up to your chest. Poor baby! Last Friday the doctor put you on some different medicine. So far things have been better so let's hope it stays that way. This past weekend you started going four hours between feedings. I think that the medicine has somewhat affected your appetite. This week you will be three months old. We hope that you soon have a turning point from all your fussiness. Your first feeding is between 6 and 6:30 in the morning but you regularly wake up between 3 and 5am. You are still pretty fussy in the evenings as well. We love you dearly and just want you to be happy.

6am

Friday morning you slept until 6am! This is the latest that you have slept so far. Daddy said that it was like Christmas. We were so excited. You are keeping your day and night schedule so well. I haven't been able to blog as much as I wanted because I stay so busy with you! I started work last week and you stayed 2 mornings with Grammy and 1 morning with Mrs. Amy. This will be our routine for awhile. I miss you so much when I am gone.

Back to Work

You are 10 weeks old today and today was my first day back to work. I have enjoyed having these 10 weeks just you and me. What a blessing. Even though I am going back to work it's only part time so I will still get to spend a lot of time with you. In August and September I am only working 4 hours a week and starting in October through the end of the school year I will work 18 hours a week. Basically I will work 2 1/2 days and stay home with you 2 1/2 days. This is such a blessing! We are so grateful that I will be able to spend some precious time with you at home. I can't wait to watch you grow and change though I hope it doesn't happen too quickly!

Two Months

You are two months old today! You have been keeping me very busy so I haven't had time to blog in a few days. Today was your two month doctor appointment. You weigh 12 pounds 3 ounces and you are 23 inches long. You are in the 50th percentile...exactly where you are supposed to be. That was good news to my ears because you are looking a little chubby. Your belly sure has gotten big and you always look full even though you always act hungry! You got four shots today. I think that it was harder on me than on you. We never hear you cry like I heard you cry today, and afterward you curled up in my arms and were so pitiful. I gave you your first dose of Tylenol today. The doctor told me that you would have a low grade fever and that your legs would hurt. After feeding you this afternoon instead of smiling and being your happy self you just whimpered in pain and went back to sleep.

I have been very anxious and concerned about your daytime sleeping habits. You used to take several good daytime naps. A couple of weeks ago you started dropping your morning nap. You might catnap throughout the morning but not for any good length of time. Since you dropped your morning nap you were taking one very long and one short afternoon nap. A few days ago you decided to drop those naps too. So you eat, smile and play for 15-30 minutes, and then as soon as that first yawn comes you are fussing. The fussing leads to crying and crying leads to screaming. You just would not let yourself go to sleep. You would be so tired. You just yawn and yawn and rub your eyes....but can't fall asleep. After talking with the doctor about this today she said it sounded like reflux and prescribed some medicine for you. We will see if it makes any difference.

You are doing very well at night though. We have a really good nighttime routine going. Between 7 and 7:15 I give you a nice warm bath. You really enjoy your bath time. You like to kick and splash in the water. In fact as soon as I take you out you cry. After your bath we put on a clean diaper and nightgown and swaddle you in your "SwaddleMe" blanket. (So far this blanket has been reserved for nighttime but we may start using it during the day). After that we sit in the glider together and I give you a bottle. After your bottle we rock for about 5 minutes and you start dozing to sleep. Before you are all the way asleep I put you down in your crib. It is important for you to learn to put yourself to sleep and not have someone rock you to sleep every time. Then at about 10 or 10:30 I sneak quietly in your room and lift you out of your crib to feed you. You usually don't even wake up. You drink your bottle and then you are back in your crib. Usually you wake between 3 and 4. Daddy and I would really like for you to stretch that a little further but that's ok for now.

We love you so much and get so excited when you smile at us. You are even beginning to laugh. you coo and talk to us a lot. Your head is very strong and has been from the day you were born. You lift your head way up and can hold it up for a very long time. We are so proud of you!