Picture!

From Baby 5th Month

This pic was taken the night we saw him do this. I am so glad we got his picture since I can never catch pictures of him getting his feet!! Oh and I try let me tell you! Click the pic to see some more new ones.

More New Things!!

As I have said so many times it seems one or more of these new things pops up everyday. I guess it is not quite EVERY day but the new things he starts he gets better and better at every day for sure.

In the last post I forgot to mention that he’s been touching faces. Not just mine and Daddy’s but he is starting to touch other people’s faces too. He really likes my mom’s face I think because she wears glasses and they are pretty. She’s already training him to not grab the glasses but to look!

He stomps his feet when standing, especially his right foot. I think he just gets excited and it’s like when he kicks while laying down on his back!

He’s grabbing his feet when he is on his back now too. Just started this a couple of days ago and now that he’s found them he doesn’t want to let go, even when mommy is trying to change a diaper! They aren’t going into his mouth just yet but I am quite sure they will, everything else does!

He is practicing sitting on his own! I stick him in front of his boppy pillow and he can actually balance himself for quite a while unless he sees something to reach for! Most often he rolls on to his back to grab his toes! It really is nice that he can entertain himself for some time with no toys whatsoever!

His humming has decreased, sadly and with no mention of “mama,” but he’s picking up new noises still. And they seem to vary day to day. He still does his “Gggggg” some and is still humming a small bit, I think he does it when he is hungry, maybe he’s trying to say “milk!” But he is also doing some good A sounds, “Ahhhh,” “Aaaaaa,” and “Ah-aa-ah-aa-aa-aa.” Still doing his high pitched squeal when very excited and that one is usually reserved for when he is standing and especially when he is looking at his daddy!

I think he tries to wake Daddy up already. We’ve talked about how someday when Daddy lays on the couch to “think” that Andrew will come running and jump on him. Well, fortunately Andy can sleep through baby noises most times because right now Andrew will sit or stand on my lap and look over at his sleeping Daddy and just squeal and holler, and I swear he’s trying to get his attention. The other night Andy half woke up, he doesn’t even remember this, and he looked at Andrew and smiled. Well, that just fueled the fire and Andrew was squealing and calling for him even more!

Still growing! Thankfully his Aunt Sandi gave us his cousin’s old clothes that are size 12 month mostly because that seems to be what fits him best, especially when he is in cloth diapers. Today he is wearing a 6 month size and it actually fits, snuggly, most of his 6 months things are ready to be put away, but he is wearing a plastic diaper because all his covers are in the washer.

He started crying at his Grandpa, Andy’s dad! I think it may have just been circumstantial, but it was funny, cute and sad all at the same time. He used to laugh at Grandpa but Grandpa has always come here. The last two days we were at a funeral for Andrew’s Great-Grandmother Binford and there were a lot of people there and he isn’t around big crowds like that often, Wal-Mart doesn’t count, and whenever his Grandpa tried to talk to him, he would break out in screaming cries! Poor Grandpa was a bit heartbroken. Hopefully he’ll try to visit us here before he has to go back out to work so he can see Andrew smile in his own home! Grandpa wasn’t the only person he cried at but he was the only person he cried at every time!

2 days ago Andy and I were getting dressed in the bedroom and I'd put Andrew on the floor on his tummy to play. When I looked down at him I noticed he had pushed up on his hands and straightened out his arms! I've never seen him do that before but ever since then he's done it every time he is on his tummy! He's so strong! Getting ready to crawl maybe?

He’s started giving me hugs and kisses. This is of course my favorite new thing! I will hold him up to me and hug him and tell him I am hugging him and sometimes he will wrap his arms around my neck and squeeze back. I always thank him for my hugs and I usually can get one or more a day! He also will plant big old slobbery open mouth tongue kisses all over my face. Daddy doesn’t get them as often as Mommy just yet but I am sure the time will come when everyone will get their fill of Andrew kisses! Except Mommy, who could never get enough! :D

Another new thing is he is rubbing his eyes when sleepy. He’s been doing this for a little while now but it is becoming my biggest clue that it is time to start settling him down. We still put him to sleep in his bouncy seat more often than not. I am sure he has outgrown the weight limit on it since his butt hits the ground now! But he still loves it so what are we to do. Just because he is the size and weight of some one year olds, he is still only 4 and a half months old and needs to be treated like a baby!

New Things

It has officially been over one full year that this blog has been in action. Thank you to all of you who stop here to check in on us, it means so much to me to feel so loved!

I wanted to tell you all a few of the new things Andrew is doing lately.

His vocal repertoire has grown quite a bit in the last weeks. He recently added a hard G sound, “g-g-g-g-g,” and I have been singing to him songs using the words Goo-goo and Gaa-gaa since it almost sounds like what he says! Yesterday he added even one more sound, he started humming. “Mmmmmm.” I am convinced it is because he is about to say Mama! He hummed all day yesterday! He’d go up and down, “MMMMmmmm. mmmmMMMM.” And when he does it he pulls his lower lip in slightly and pooches out his upper lip a little. Mmmmmmmm

He’s also been quite the drooler. I am sure he is starting the teething process but not sure how far we are from any teeth. He hasn’t seemed bothered with discomfort but that may mean it won’t bother him! Some kids just aren’t bothered by teeth. I know babies don’t know how to swallow their spit and he’s been drooling for a while now but it seems to have increased a lot as of late, and he can soak through 2-3 bibs a day.

He is getting quite good at grabbing. He gets lots of practice! Though it often takes him a few tries to get what he’s reaching for. He is getting better and sometimes he can catch it on the first grab! And objects have become more likely to make it into his mouth. For a while there he would turn his hand when he brought it to his mouth so that it was his own hand and not the object he’d bite, but now he actually bites the object more often than his hand. Especially it seems if it is a toy he is familiar with.

His exersaucer toys stand no chance! He bends and pulls on them as best he can! I swear there are two that will break any day now! I doubt it seriously, I am sure it is built to withstand such abuse but it sure does get pulled to its limits!

He is also into banging his toys. This is very recent. He will just whack them on whatever surface is closest, usually his exersaucer, but sometimes the floor or even last night at a dinner table!

Still quite the kicker, which I love. His little chubby legs get going to town! On his tummy or his back he will kick like crazy.

Not too interested in rolling over though. I keep trying to tell him if he rolls he can get somewhere but he’d usually rather cry. I know I am supposed to let him get frustrated but I am not sure how frustrated. I can’t take it for very long! And our floors are cold so I don’t like to leave him down there too long anyway! At least I have seen him roll over several times so I know he can do it.

When we were out last night, it was a fundraising event in our town by the local Mason group, he was sitting at the table in his Bumbo and people were all commenting on how well he held his head up! I am surprised by that. He’s been holding his head up for a long time, and I did too when I was a baby. I just assumed most babies do that well by 4 months, but I guess not. Which makes me feel much better about the whole rolling over thing! He must be not only on target but maybe even ahead!

Still sleeping really well through the night, 10-12 hours waking only a few times to eat and not even really waking for that! It took us a little over a week to completely recover from the shots and get back on this schedule and mommy was getting pretty tired but now that my sleeping baby is back I am back too! I try to get up about an hour before he does so I have some time to get all the way woken up. It’s been nice having some time to myself too. But I tell you what, I sure am ready for him to get up by the time he does! I miss him!

Make sure you check out the webalbum in the Holiday folder. We took some pictures on Valentine's Day!

From Baby Holidays

4 month check-up

Andrew is such a big boy! Like we didn’t already know that but the doc confirmed it for us. He weighed in at a whopping 19 lbs and 8 oz, and measured 26 ¾ inches long. I knew he was big for his age because he no longer fits comfortably in 3 -6 month outfits. He can wear some 12 months though they are long on his legs but fit his waist.

Some may say it’s the breastfeeding. Like breastfed babies are just somehow bigger. Not completely true. Healthier yes, but bigger? Not always. I am a member of a breastfeeding mommies message board and there are some mommies that exclusively breastfeed as well and have 9 month olds that are much smaller than Andrew! I think it’s in his genes. His Daddy was a hefty sized baby. Andy and I are both pretty tall humans though I think we are more on the new average. Andrew is just going to be a big human. So good! I will just never buy him clothes brand new because he’ll outgrow them before he can wear them more than twice!

I had about a billion and one questions for the doctor. The last visit I had no questions but he’s gone through so many changes since then. I just wanted all his baby parts generally checked and okayed. He gets congested and has a lot of earwax so I wanted her to check all of that, and he is, of course, fine. He might have had a touch of eczema on his arm but it has cleared up with a little cortisone that she recommended so I am going to keep an eye out for another occurrence. And I am still hoping that isn’t what it was. Eczema often means there is a food allergy and those are a bummer to deal with. It is unlikely Andrew has any since Andy and I both have none though so that’s encouraging.

I asked her if we could take him swimming in a pool since he seems to enjoy swimming in the tub so much. Her only things were to make sure the pool was heated and that he didn’t drink the water! So we will start looking in to that soon. It has been awfully cold here lately and I am not interested in swimming.

I also discussed with her my plans to delay solids. Some pediatricians tell moms to go ahead and start giving rice cereal at about 4 months old. Well, the AAP (American Academy of Pediatrics) actually recommends waiting a full six months before starting any solids to help prevent food allergies from forming. And especially breastfed babies to give them even more of the breastmilk benefits for longer. Babies will often nurse less when they start solids. And it is a myth that cereal helps them sleep through the night. More often then not it upsets their tummies and makes it harder to sleep. Anyway, enough preaching, sorry. She was totally on board with me delaying as long as I wanted. I said six months she said sounds good, I said maybe later even she said sounds good! I am glad I didn’t have to butt heads with her over it. But I think there is zero concern about Andrew’s weight gain! I just want to make sure he can sit upright on his own without propping to be completely safe.

I also talked with her about skipping rice cereal all together. By the time he does get solids it shouldn’t be necessary to start him on cereal because his intestines will be more ready and she said great! I want to start him on spinach mixed with breastmilk since it is high in iron and will help any iron stores he is depleting by then. I do read mixed results about iron stores in babies. Some say they get plenty from breastmilk and it is more absorbable than any other form and some say they can deplete. Who knows. I am well above the norm in my iron levels so I am not worried about my breastfed baby!

The sad part was the shots of course! We hate it. And the nurse that took care of him seemed very inexperienced and may not have even been a nurse but a medical assistant. And Andrew is big and squirms so it was hard for her to get him still and she took a lot longer than the last lady to get all four shots in. Then he was just yucky for about 2 days. No fever, no real symptoms, just sad and crying and needing to be held. So he got held! He also got his first doses of Tylenol. They really seemed to help him feel better but it was still a full two days before he was back to his normal happy smilie self.

I was so grateful to have him back yesterday too because Andy was sick! He was actually sick the day before too so I had a sick Daddy and a sick baby! But at least Andrew got better and then I just had a sick Daddy. Andy spent most of the day in bed and is feeling all better today. I said I need a normal week next week, no one is allowed to be sick! I was so tired from Andrew not sleeping well but I am recovered also.

So we are all back to normal today and planning to have a much needed fun family day together!

4 Months Old Today

And one year ago today I took the test that told us we'd be having our Little Andrew. Such a great day to celebrate!

The last entry of 4th month pics have been added to the photo album!

From Baby 4th Month

Don't miss them!

I will start a new album for his fifth month tomorrow and it will start with the pics we take today on his 4 month birthday!

Just So Busy!

This one will be brief because my time to sit still for extended periods seems to be slowly coming to an end. Our Little Mister, not so little anymore btw, is becoming quite the busy bee! He has rolled over a few times but not into just rolling around yet or anything. But he does not like to sit still! He used to just sit on my lap while I played online or worked and would be content just to be close to mommy and look about a little bit. Not anymore! Even from the moment we first get up in the morning, and believe me I am in no shape for playing first thing in the morning, he is raring to go! I can’t just set him in his bouncy anymore and talk to him or read to him from the internet. He is always looking over my shoulder when I hold him now for something to do, looking at his toys or at the cats. He doesn’t like to be on the floor on his tummy for long, but I feel like even when he starts to get frustrated, I should leave him so he can learn to go, you know, be motivated to move. Not that I want him to hurry!

I feel like my baby is growing up now that he doesn’t want to be babied so much anymore. He spends most of his time in his exersaucer playing or playing with one of us on the floor. He always wants his toys or just any old thing I give him that’s new (box of Jello perhaps?) or he loves some peek-a-boo and getting tickled with “goochie goochies.” Oh we are having a ton of fun! He giggles and talks so much now! He has all kinds of things to say.

I am actually excited for his to become mobile now though I am not in any rush just because I know how much he is going to love exploring! I’ve been thinking of cleaning out drawers in the living room and filling them with things he can get into and explore. I already moved everything around in the kitchen so he can get into all the lower cabinets with no dangers and can pull everything out and inspect it all.

Well, he just pooped so I must go!