30 Weeks and 7 Months!

7 Months...it doesn't seem even the slightest bit possible!  Our little guy is getting so big.  He's changing more and more every day.  His personality continues to crack me up day after day.  We have gotten so lucky, he's such a happy kid!  His laugh is the greatest sound in the world, and I could listen to it all day long.  I'm still trying to figure out a way to make it my ringtone :o)

This week brought about some rain (finally!) and the rain brought with it some cooler temps!  We've been cooped up all summer long because the heat has been so oppressive.  Since we finally had a bit of a reprieve from it, G and I took advantage on Friday and went to the zoo.  We bought a family zoo membership this summer but haven't been able to use it as much as I'd hoped because it's been too hot to take him out.  We had a good time and got to use the new entrance into the zoo as well!  I was particularly happy about the new entrance.  It eliminated the need to walk past the icky snakes.  Unfortunately for me, G's favorite animals, the meerkats, are housed in the same building as the snakes, so I still had to go in there, but I've gotten very good at staying on the opposite side of the building, away from them.  :o)  We had a great time, and the animals were very cooperative.  We got to see most of them much more close up than the last time or two we went.  The giraffes seemed almost close enough to touch!  The meerkats are a big fav of his.  Every time one would run in front of his stroller he'd start bopping up and down and would laugh.  It was pretty stinkin cute!  

Earlier this week, Babies R Us had on their facebook page that it was Aunts/Uncles Day.  So in honor of that day, G sent a special email to Aunt Cindy.  She's in Guatemala for the next month, which is forcing me to email her pictures instead of just texting them, but I guess it's not THAT big of a deal... :o)

I have a feeling the montly birthday pics are going to be a challenge from here on out.  He now notices the signs and would much rather play with them, than let them be a photo prop.  His montly
pic is ok, definitely not my favorite, but right after I took this particular picture, he spit up all over the sign, so that meant the photo session was over.  He also thought playing with the sign for Aunt Cindy was more fun to play with than pose with as well.  These next 5 montly pics are going to be challenging!

My message to Aunt Cindy

The meerkats are my favorite!

7 Months Old!

29 Weeks Old!

Another week down, another week closer to work starting again :o(  Booooo!  My summer is going way too fast, and I don't like it a bit.  I know it's inevitable, the school year always comes around too quickly, but this summer is going faster than ever before.  G and I have been having such a good time this summer (minus the swaddle weaning at nap time...ha!)  I'm going to have such a hard time going back to work.  There are many days I wonder why I spend all day long with other people's kids, when I could be with mine instead.  I know in the long run it's good for both of us.  He's going to have lots of socialization this fall, since he's going to a new baby sitter, and I will definitely appreciate the time we have together more since I won't be with him all day long, but I hate the idea of not seeing his smiling face all day long.  Even when I'm frustrated because he didn't sleep well, or is resisting a bottle, all he has to do is grin and giggle and all those frustrations instantly disappear.  I may have to video him so when my class is being horrible I will have a pick-me-up. 

This week was pretty uneventful.  We were basically just trying to get back into our regular routine and get good naps in.  Most of the days were good.  Friday was a little busy.  At one point I had 3 babies in the house all 15 months and younger.  I was watching a friend's daughter for the day, and then G's old babysitter asked if I could watch her son for a little while so she could get ready for a house showing.  Surprisingly it wasn't nearly as difficult as it could've been.  They were all pretty funny.  They'd just sit and stare at one another for a while.  I had to laugh. 

Since there's not much else that happened this week, here is the fun part.  Pictures :o)

I got to try Puffs for the first time this week!  It was more fun to play with the container than actually eat them.  haha!

I like my shape ball

The lighting isn't the greatest, but he sure looks cute anyway :o)

Playin with my buddy Aubrey

28 Weeks Old!

What a week we've had!  G turned 28 weeks old yesterday and has spent the last week at Grandma and Grandpa's house!  I'm not sure who's had more fun, the baby or grandparents :o)  To say we've had a busy week is quite an understatement.  This is the longest I've been home since I moved to Illinos, so it's been so nice to finally have some time to catch up with old friends.  Weekend trips are just never long enough to see people when I want to.  We are definitely looking forward to Matthew getting here tonight though.  Earlier in the week we were able to FaceTime him after he got home from work and the second G saw his daddy's face on the phone screen, he lit up from ear to ear.  It really was one of the most precious things I've ever seen, and I could tell it melted Matthew's heart.  My mom couldn't get over how excited G got when he saw Daddy. 

We've been shopping, swimming, had lunch and dinner dates, done A LOT of playing and just had an all around good time this week.  Someone is definitely a tired little guy though.  I've tried to keep his sleeping routines as normal as possible, but he definitely hasn't had quite as many naps as he normally would, and his bedtime hasn't been quite as strict either.  He has some catching up to do once we get home, that's for sure!  One good thing about being as busy as we have, is he's gone down for naps MUCH easier this week.  He's been so tired when it came time to nap that he had no problem going to sleep.  I hope that trend continues once we get home and he's finally coming to terms with not being swaddled anymore.  We'll see...

I think he's going through his 6 month growth spurt.  Every night for the last week he's woken up hungry in the middle of the night.  He hasn't needed to eat in the middle of the night since he was about 2 months old.  He's done this once before when he was hitting another growth spurt, so I really think that's what it is.  Hopefully this is short lived!  It's hard getting up in the middle of the night again!  Well here comes the best part of each blog post...pictures!

Standing up at my activity table all by myself!

I just love this kid's expressions! 

Here come the curls!

Lunch at Panera with Mommy and Grandma.  I sat in the booth like a big boy the whole time!

Such a happy little guy :o)

Griffin, Grandma and Sophie playing

Swimming time!

Griffin and his new buddy Chase!

Oops!

I don't know why I didn't include this in my last post (especially since I wrote it ON my dad's birthday...OOPS!)  Part of the reason we made the trip to visit my parents was because of my dad's 60th birthday.  For his other big milestone bdays (50, 55) we were able to plan fun surprises for him that he really enjoyed, but because of the work accident from back in April, he hasn't really been up for going out of town much.  This year, we let him decide what he wanted to do for his birthday instead of choosing for him.  Novel idea I know.  ha!  He decided he wanted to go to Jungle Jim's (ginormous!!!!) grocery store in Cincinnati and then to dinner at the Montgomery Inn.  To call this place a grocery store really just isn't doing it justice at all.  I can't even begin to describe what it was like.  Over 6 acres of food is pretty unbelievable!  They also had lots of fun decorations, and props that moved and "sang."  G particularly liked the lion dressed up as Elvis that sang.  :o)  After Jungle Jim's we had dinner at a BBQ place that Dad really likes.  The boys enjoyed their BBQ bibs! 

Thanks to my sister and her crazy culinary skills we had birthday cake and home made ice cream as well.  This is so NOT going to help me get rid of the rest of the baby weight!  It sure tastes good though :o)  Griffin got some practice for his big day 6 months from now by helping my dad with the candles.  He was mezorized by them.  Pretty cute I must say :o)  I'm not sure who was more excited about the cake, Dad or Griffin.  Poor G didn't get to taste the cake though.  Snickers aren't exactly an approved first food.  Ha! 

Grandma and Grandpa are sure enjoying their little visitor this week.  I think it's safe to say he's having a good time too!

Blowing raspberries in my Jumperoo

Helping Grandpa blow out the candles on his cake!

All worn out from my excursion to Jungle Jims!

Grandpa's birthday dinner

It's a shame I'm not a happy baby!  :o)

Reading with Grandpa

Grandpa's birthday cake!

G and Grandma at dinner

27 Weeks!

Week 27 down :o)  This week has seen the continuation of nap time swaddle weaning.  I can't begin to say how many times I was ready to cave and put him back in his SwaddleMe just to get a decent nap out of him!  I always resisted because I knew in the end it would make things worse, but I'd be lying if I said it wasn't appealing.  Slowly but surely naps are getting a little better.  He hasn't been resisting quite as badly.  I typically put him down, wait about 10 min, and if he's not asleep, go back in to sway and bounce him one more time, and sing his bedtime song.  This week (thankfully) that little routine has been very helpful and he's been falling asleep after I go in the 2nd time.  Now he just needs to nap a little longer.  He will sleep around an hour and wake up.  If I don't go in fast enough to soothe him back to sleep he will get himself all riled up and then there is no getting him back down.  I struggle with the balance of going in to soothe him back to sleep and just letting him go.  By around 6 months babies should be able to start soothing themselves, but for some reason when he wakes up  from a nap there really is no putting himself back to sleep.  I'd much rather go in and help him along, than have a baby that only naps for an hour and is tired again an hour later.  Slowly but surely we're making progress, so hopfully soon naps will be no big deal again. 

We are visiting my parents for the weekend and then G and I are staying for the week.  Matthew is going home, but will come back next weekend.  I think it's safe to say Grandma and Grandpa are very excited and happy to have G visiting!  They hadn't seen him for 2 months (other than on Skype), and boy has a lot changed in that time!  He is now completely sitting up unsupported for significant amounts of time.  I can set him down on the floor, walk out of the room, and he's still sitting there when I come back. 

We also had his 6 month pictures taken this week.  It's always so much fun!  Just like his 3 mo and newborn pics they're going to be great!  We've gotten a sneak peek of one of them and it's absolutely adorable!  I cannot wait to see the rest!

Thanks to the crazy oppressive heat, G's first 4th of July was pretty uneventful.  No cookouts or fireworks displays for us this year.  It almost didn't even seem like a holiday.  It was nice having Matthew home in the middle of the week though.  We had a pretty easy going day, and tried to avoid the outside as much as possible.  I am most definitely ready for the heat to LEAVE! 

Well, since I can't post without a pic, here is G's first 4th of July and the sneak peek of his 6mo pics!

Happy 4th of July!

6 Month Portraits!

6 Months!

I'm only 1 day behind on this post!  Yea me!!!  With good reason too.  Yesterday he was 26 weeks old, but today is 6 months!  I honestly do not have any clue how 6 months have already gone by!  I still feel like I just found out I was pregnant!

We had G's 6 month well-baby appointment today as well.  More shots, poor little Buddy :o(  He was a trooper though!  He was 17.6lbs and 26in long.  His pediatrician said everything looks great!  He was happy and smiling (at least until the shots came along.)  His doctor smiles and laughs the whole time because G is such a happy kid.  He's told us the last two appts. that he can't believe how happy G is all the time.  That's a great thing to hear! 

This week has been met with a few challenges.  He has started rolling onto his belly while in his crib.  He did it several times while he was swaddled during naps earlier this week, and he couldn't roll back onto his back because his arms were pinned.  Well, that meant it was time to go cold turkey with the nap time swaddles.  To say he was not happy is an understatement.  Wednesday was the first day I put him in his sleep sack for naps instead of his swaddler.  His naps lasted only about 30 mins and he would protest for over an hour in his crib before finally falling asleep.  He would roll and squirm over every single square inch of his crib several times before he'd finally give up.  Thursday was slightly better.  He gradually began to sleep a little longer each nap, but he would still protest being put in bed unswaddled quite a bit.  Today we had success!  His first nap he didn't make a peep when I put him down.  He fell asleep instantly and slept for 2 hours!  The second nap he protested for about half an hour, but finally fell asleep and slept for 2 hrs again.  I felt like I'd won the lottery!  Let me tell you, it is exhausting fighting with a child over and over all day about naps, especially when he used to be a great napper.  I'm hoping we've turned a corner and things will continue to improve! 

Here is G's 6 month picture.  He has become such a little person now.  His personality just cracks me up and fills my heart with so much joy every day!  His smile and giggle are hands down, the two best things in the world! 

6 Months Old today!

6.29.12

25 Weeks

Wow, I am SUCH a slacker!  I have not been able to get my weekly blog posts up on time for a couple of months now.  EEEEEKKKK!  Oh well, better late than never right?!  Well as the title says G is 25 weeks (as of Thursday.)  Little Monkey Man is growing like a weed.  Sometimes I pick him up and I can't believe how heavy he's gotten!  I used to be able to cradle him in one arm and it felt like I wasn't holding anything.  Not anymore!  Carrying him around for more than a few minutes starts to get exhausting.  That's the way it's supposed to be though, so I'm very happy he's healthy and growing! 

We go back to the doctor this Friday for his 6 month (OMG!!!) well-baby appointment.  I can't wait to see how big he is now, and where he falls in comparison to other 6 month old babies.  He's been right at the 50th percentile the last couple of appts in both weight and height, so it'll be interesting to see if that's the same, or if he's changed any.  One thing's for sure, he sure is a happy kid! Even when he's exhausted and desperately needs a nap, most of the time he's still smiling and laughing.  It's pretty incredible actually.  We get people who ask us all the time if he's always that happy, and truthfully the answer is yes.  I hope that means we're doing something right!  While you always want your child to be smart and successful in whatever they decide to do while growing up, the ultimate goal in parenting (in my mind anyway) is to raise a happy, healthy, well-adjusted child.  I think we might just be doing pretty good with that goal.  Not that I'm trying to toot my own horn or anything, but being a first time parent is scary, so having some reassurance from the one person who can tell us the best if we're doing things right, is pretty nice!  It doesn't hurt that our pediatrician tells us the same thing every time we go too.  That definitely makes a mommy feel good! 

Now, call me crazy (you can thank my sister for this one...) but I've already started looking at ideas and thinking of things for G's first birthday.  Ya, ya, ya, I know...he's only 6 months old, BUT since his birthday is right in between two major holidays, I figure it doesn't hurt to start thinking of things now.  Auntie Cindy got me started...it's all her fault.  HAHA!  I spent some time on Pinterest yesterday and in a relatively short amount of time I had a TON of ideas tied to two different themes.  I think it's safe to say that in order to pull off either of these themes, Auntie Cindy is going to be helping Mommy out A LOT for this party!  :o)  Thank goodness I still have 6 months before the big day!

We're still working our way through first foods, and he's doing great!  I accidently found a new combination that he enjoys.  I say accidently because sweet potatoes and peaches look very similar when frozen into ice cubes.  I meant to pull the peaches out to mix with pears, hoping it would help tame down the flavor of the peaches and he'd like them better.  Instead I pulled out the sweet potatoes, and by the time I realized that it WASN'T peaches I was thawing, it was too late.  So with my fingers crossed I mixed them up and fed them to little man.  To my complete surprise he LOOOOOOOOOOVED them!  In fact I couldn't feed him fast enough!  I would put a spoonful in his mouth and he would instantly swallow it down (when he doesn't like something he holds it in his mouth instead of swallowing...not sure why because the flavor stays that way, but whatever.)  Anyway, he'd swallow the spoonful immediately and sit with his mouth gaping open until I could shovel another spoonful in.  If I didn't get it fast enough he'd yell at me and bang his high chair tray.  I couldn't help but laugh a couple of times when he did it.  When the bowl was empty he had the most pityful little look on his face.  It was like you'd just taken his favorite toy away or something.  He was so sad!  Definitely not a combination I would've expected him to like that much, but he certainly did!  Later that day I thawed the correct food and tried peaches/pears together.  It was not successful.  I was so hopful, but nope...peaches are NOT a favorite food for this kid at all.  I think that's putting it mildly actually. 

Well I think I'm finally caught up.  Hopefully my next post won't be TOOOOO late, but we'll see :o) 

Mmmmmm....avocados and pears!