Picture People, take 2!

We tried again at Picture People, this time with M coming along for the ride. We haven't yet gotten our online preview, but here are the shots we purchased and scanned at home.

Best Bud was with us, so we got a shot of the two boys. Hopefully next time, A, Best Bud, and Girlfriend will ALL be good moods at the same time so we can take a shot of all three kids!

Waving!!

Leave your sound off because I still sound like a doof!

Self feeding

You'll see A eating some Cheerios. Please turn off the sound, I sound like a doof!

Self Feeding!

You will see A eating some Cheerios here! Please turn off your sound; I sound like a huge doof.

Self feeding!

Here you'll see A feeding himself Cheerios. Please turn off the sound; I sound like a big doof.

Picture people

We, along with Best Bud and Girlfriend, went to Picture People on Friday. A wasn't having any part of it... especially since our turn didn't come for about half an hour after our appointment time. He was SO sleepy... and kinda bored.

Anyway, here's what we got...

Relay for Life

Relay for Life has always been a cause that is near to M's heart--he played a large role in bringing the event to our school and is now playing a large role in the event at his new school. He is actually participating this year, so please visit his Relay for Life page and if you can spare a donation, that would be much appreciated!

You can see his page here

Sick baby

Yesterday, in addition to sleeping like a fiend, A also had a little congestion in his nose. At night, he was running a very high fever so we gave him some Tylenol at bedtime. He went right to sleep, for about 5 minutes, and then started to cry.

I went upstairs, gave him some water, and nursed him again. He was still freaking out, so I stripped him to his diaper and put cool water on his back and forehead. I then took him downstairs where it was cooler. His temperature finally came down, and then I took him back upstairs. When I put him in his crib again (in lighter weight pjs this time), he cried for a few minutes, and then finally settled back to sleep.

I can't believe it, though. "They" say that nursing is supposed to build a better immune system. The kid doesn't go to daycare, other than the gym's nursery. He shouldn't be getting sick this often! The problem, though, is that his father works in a school--ground zero for every germ known to man. At least, that's what I assume is the reason he gets colds so frequently. Hopefully this will build him up for when he DOES go to daycare and he's really exposed to ground zero of germs.

In other news...

Since A is a super sleepy head today, let me tell you about my kitties... my first babies!

We have developed a fly problem in our basement. We suspect it is related to the dead mouse problem, also in our basement. Last night, one of the flies made its way upstairs. Mitten was around and saw it, but I guess she realizes that not only is she not as young as she used to be, but that she is also partly broken. I saw her tearing around for a few minutes, and then she went away. After he came trotting in, I figured that she went to go get Catcher. They gave it their most valiant effort, but M ended up killing it with a towel when it made its way ALL the way upstairs.

But then, today is another day, and round two of cat vs. fly (these are big, black suckers. They startle me every time I see them). Mitten was again, on deck. She didn't wait long, though, to go wake Catcher from his nap. He came in, looked at me, and mewed... so I showed him where I saw it go last, and he has been sitting near the sink (where it has been trying to get out the window) ever since.

It's funny--back in her insect chasing days, Mitten would eat the bugs. Catcher, on the other hand, is the more vindictive type, and PLAYS with them!

This morning.

A started to wake up around 9 this morning, so I went in and got him changed and brought him down for some breakfast. I could tell he was still sleepy since he looked JUST like M as I changed him (this is a sure sign since he gets M's droopy eyes when he's sleepy), but I brought him downstairs anyway.

After feeding him, he could barely keep his eyes open, so I put him back to sleep. I got no complaints whatsoever.

As an aside, I planned to go to the grocery store after feeding A, so after dressing him, I went into my room to put on my shoes. I put A on the bed, next to Mitten and the bottle of water from his room. Next thing I knew, he was holding the bottle and trying to drink from it. It's funny because, although he is great at holding such a large item, he's not great about tilting it to get the liquid out. Poor Mitten has NEVER had A sit next to her and not try to pet her!

Speaking of that water bottle--giving A water in the middle of the night is what has gotten him to sleep through the night. I constantly have a glass of water at my bedside these days. One night, I had downed the entire pint by A's first waking around 3. I went downstairs to refill my glass and to get him a bottle of water--just to see what would happen. Sure enough, he drank it down and went right back to sleep. The joys of baseboard heating--our house is SO dry.

Sleepy Boy!

Last night, A slept from 8-5am before waking. He then woke again at 6am, and has been sleeping ever since. I cannot believe it is almost 10am, and he is just beginning to stir. YIKES!

We delayed his bedtime a bit last night, so he actually went to bed around 8 (funny, since not too long ago, bedtime was 9:30!). I'm sure this has something to do with it, but nonetheless, I'm very surprised.

I'm even more surprised because while M was home on vacation, A didn't sleep later than 8 on any day. Guess he was just excited to see his Daddy!

Speaking of which, when M comes home from work, he is greeted with a gigantic smile. A still favors me when he is upset, tired, or hungry, but he definitely loves his Daddy.

Last night, in trying to stretch A's wake time, M started tickling and playing with A. He got A giggling so much, it just melted my heart. :)

Weird

The slideshow doesn't seem to be updating with today's addition.

For now, you can see the newest addition here:

Adventures with the Babysitter

So M and I went out last night and left A with an actual babysitter--not a friend of family member. It seemed to go pretty well, she did say that he whimpered for most of the time until he went to sleep, but that he was so tired and that's why. He seemed really happy to see us when he woke for the morning, so I guess things went ok!

YAY for "date night!"

New Toy in the house!

When we were last over Future Prom Date's house, she had this toy that A had a blast playing with. I went on the lookout on freecycle and Craig's List to see if I could find one. Sure enough, one popped up the other day.

So we got and started to play with it today. A cracked up, especially when he could see my face as well as his in the mirror. He likes the flashy lights, which you can sort of see in the pictures. It's pretty fun for all of us, and it will grow with him because he can continue playing with it into his toddler years; although I'm not sure it will be tall enough when he is standing, but we'll see!!

Fun with Easter Eggs

This kid loves his cats.

We had some friends over the other night and were sitting around the table chatting. Miss Mitten decided to join us, and this is what happened as a result!

Awwwww...

Can this kid get any cuter?

Daddy to Mommy

As I was snapping away the other day, I took a series of pictures of A in which he looks like M in one shot and then like me in the shot right after it. Weird! In the "me" picture, he's making an expression just like one I have of myself... I'll try to upload it later.

A Does the Army Crawl

Please ignore me talking.

A was fascinated by the fire, and kept moving toward it.

The Bad "Easter Bunny" Chronicles.

I am a bad mommy. I didn't do an Easter basket for my son. Ok, I know I'm not really a bad mommy, but it sure is the way I'm feeling after seeing lots of other infant mommies doing it.

I didn't take any pictures on Easter either.

Terrible Mommy!

But we did have an interesting Easter. We got up to go to Church, forgetting that Easter Sunday brings out all the people who don't typically go to Mass. The Boy and I pulled in, tried to find a spot, and the only available parking was in the back and down the road. I decided that carrying a baby who was starting to fuss, and doing so in high heels, at least half a mile and then probably not getting a seat just wasn't on my agenda for the day. So in addition to being a bad mommy, I'm a bad Catholic too. Alas.

We then hung out at home for awhile before going to meet Mom Mom for lunch. A did so great; we put him in his seat in a booth, and he was entertained for the most part by his spoon. (That's his thing lately--holding on to long, thin objects. Favorites include: Daddy's Chap-Stick, his spoon, his brush, cat teasers, and pens.) He was really content in his chair for most of our meal.

So despite the lack of a visit from the Easter Bunny, we had a great day here at the Feisty house.

(Plans are in the works for an Easter egg hunt for A's friends next year!)

Happy Easter!

Is it wrong that the first shot makes me think of a Playboy bunny? I know the answer to this question, but it still makes me laugh!

No more pacis here.

Somewhere along the way, A stopped using a pacifier. I'm really not sure when it happened, but I do know that we stopped giving it to him at night in the hopes of teaching him to sleep through the night.

The other day, he was crying, so I offered his Soothie to him (it had been hanging out in his carseat for some time...) and he didn't want it. When I came home, M said he had done the same thing with the same results.

But this week, we were at Future Prom Date's house, and what did my (sure to please all the girls) son do but take her Soothie from her and put it in his own mouth? He didn't suck on it, but rather used it on his gums--kind of hard to describe.

Bathtime!

We have been bathing A in the big tub. It's a lot easier for me, although it of course uses a lot more water. For some reason, it bothers my back less to bathe him in there than in the little tub, even when I used the kneeler (which I don't use when he's in the big tub).

Plus, it gives him more opportunity to play with his toys and splash, which he didn't do much in the little tub... not enough room!


I think he sort of looks like Grampy in that picture...

Fun stuff

Here's my little meatball rolling everywhere...



And what a cutie....

So. Cute. Part II

A sleeps with a blanket that Grammi made for him. The other day when I went to get him up, he was screaming his brains out. He had the blanket wrapped all around his head--he looked like a ghost! (Where's the camera when you need it?)

It was warmish in his room the other day, so I put the blanket next to him instead of on him. He stuck his left thumb in his mouth (as always) and then rolled to the right, grabbed the blanket, and brought it up to his face. I took some pictures of him doing the same thing today:

So. Cute.

The other night, A decided that 2 am would be a great time to wake up. Sleepy Mommy just got up and fed him, cursing herself for having jinxed her own sleep by putting A in this:



At least he was cute when I fed him, though... he put his back arm around my waist, and he grabbed my wrist with his other hand. He then crossed his legs at the ankles. Adorable.

When he woke at the same time last night, I did the whole CIO shabazz again. It made me sleepy this morning, but I only had to get out of bed once before he went back to sleep.

Summer Dreamin'...

This summer is going to be bittersweet. I absolutely can't wait--I can't wait to go back on the beach after NO visits last year (hauling my whale butt just wasn't appealing), I can't wait to bring A to the beach, warm weather, A's first birthday (oh my gosh), just so much excitement!

Of course, with the sweet also comes the bitter, and the summer's arrival means only 2 and a half months until I have to go back to work, put my baby in daycare, and not spend all my time with him. I was very much liking this arrangement!

A first!

How could I forget that A took his first trip out of the state this weekend? When we went to his Godmother's birthday party, we went to Delaware, which would be his first time out of the state.

I think it was also his first birthday party, but I don't know if that's as significant an event.

:-)

Homemade baby food.

I am taking on the challenge of making some baby food. I'm not going overboard or anything, but I make a little bit extra veggies for us and then we put the butter on them on our plates. I then take the steamed veggies and puree them for A. If I'm in the farmer's market, I'll get a few things for him.

So far, I've made him banana, mango, avocado, green beans, and potato. All of these have been super easy, and he seems to love them.

What a good boy.

We had a whirlwind weekend--a surprise birthday party on Saturday and a surprise baby shower on Sunday. At both, so many people commented on what a good boy A is. At the birthday party, he slept in the pack and play for a few hours, but was perfectly content and quiet in our arms. At the shower, he wouldn't take a nap (but with the time change, I can't really blame him!) and was perfectly content in our arms. Both times, he went into the arms of complete strangers without much fuss at all.

So many people told us that he is such a good boy. I guess people expect babies to scream and yell all the time, and while some babies do, it seems to go away by A's age. Further, this kid has such a great temperament.

I actually got an email from a friend the other day. We had gone to her home for game night last weekend. In her email, she told me that A reassured her husband about having kids since he was so well behaved.

Speaking of the time change, A did really well with that today too. He woke up around 8:30 for the day. He was in a great mood this morning and then we left for the shower. He slept the entire way (since we held him up from his nap and he fell asleep before even getting in the car), and as I said, he didn't nap. He then slept the entire way home, and started getting fussy around 7:15. We took him up for his bath--I let him play with his toys for a lot longer than normal to drag things out, and he went right to sleep around 7:30. He woke up around 8:30 and cried for awhile, but has been sleeping for quite some time now... hopefully it will hold until our typical 4 am wake up call!

SITTING!!

I just watched A roll to the other side of the carpet (see this morning's post). I looked down for 10 seconds and when I looked back up, he was sitting!!!

On top of spaghetti, all covered with cheeeeese.

A doesn't need to learn to crawl. Instead, he'll just roll to whatever he wants.

He rolls all over the throw rug and onto the floor. He's like my poor meatball, who rolled out the door.

It doesn't even bother him when he whacks his head on the hardwood. It sure sounds like it would hurt!

Easter Bunny

We went to see the big furry guy today. A actually smiled as soon as I put him on the Bunny's lap. We got some cute pictures, but none that had him looking at the camera.... but at least no weird expression like we got with Santa! M said A just doesn't like smelly bearded guys....

I love this age.

I remember saying at 4 months that I loved that age. Every day has been a joy, but 7 months is really fun. A can do all kinds of fun things--move around the room, entertain himself (usually with pens, cat toys, shoes, and remote controls), smile and giggle. We have so much fun!

If I were to predict A's first word, I would say it will be "cat." I think that he is starting to "get it" because he looks at the cat and says "Dat." Not sure about this, or how to recognize whether it's a sound or a word, but there it is.

Apparently, when M put A to bed last night, A said da da (which is his typical babble these days). M then said "YES! 'Da Da.' Now you just need to say 'Da Da, I love you!'" He then said "Da Da, Aye O Ooo," or something that sounded like he was mimicking. M was very happy about that.

7 month old pictures!

Taken, just need to be uploaded! :)

Grossest thing yet

A is still fighting a runny nose cold. Today, I got him up to feed him, and as we finished, he blew his nose and a mountain of snot came out--all over the chair, the floor, him, me. Ick. I then went to boogie his nose and even more came out.

Now this might not seem gross, but it most certainly is. It's probably because it's a much more rare occurrence--I'm used to being thrown up and pooped on, along with any other gross thing that happened nearly every day in A's first three months. But I've never seen snot like that before.

Sick baby

Poor A woke up with the sniffles. It's gotten progressively worse over the course of the day. Little guy was miserable this evening, and I could barely get him to nap. He napped at the grocery store (so probably about an hour) and then M was able to put him down around 4 (another hour).

I was at my wits' end this evening, though, and couldn't get him to nap for anything. Finally, I decided to lay on the couch and snuggle with him. He seemed to like it, but wasn't going to sleep. Then I put him on my chest. He seemed to like that even more, but still no sleep. Finally, I shut off the light over my head and he was asleep within minutes.

Our son has not napped on either of our chests since he was probably about 3 months old. Although we very much love it, we didn't want to encourage bad habits. So, it was nice to get to do that tonight. I learned by this that my son's feet are always moving. I've noticed that he moves his foot at the ankle while he nurses, but he apparently does the same thing in his sleep. Too cute!

Mommy's Photo Shoot

I got this idea to get this cup and saucer planter from Walmart from one of my Mommy boards. Here are the results, along with some other props I got there. The last one was from another day, but I thought it was cute!

Playdates

This week, we've had two playdates. We met some new mommies and babies through meetup.com. It was a really low key playdate at someone's home. The hostess has a son who is only 2 weeks younger than A--they seemed to be fascinated by each other. There was also a 10 month old and then some older kids. I'd really love to find a playgroup here in our town so that we can meet some moms and babies A will go to school with. Short of starting my own meetup group, there doesn't seem to be anything out there like that. Even the Moms Club international doesn't have a chapter in our town, but instead, our town is part of the Moms Club in another local town. Hopefully we'll meet some kids in the neighborhood once it gets warmer and everyone is out more.

We also had a playdate with Best Bud and Prom Date. Best Bud is really cruising! Unfortunately, A makes a sound that seemed to drive him crazy--he would start crying every time A "talked."

We haven't seen Prom Date in a few weeks, but she has gotten so much bigger! She's still a peanut compared to the boys, but she also can hold her own with them.

Bubbles

Since A enjoyed the bubbles so much at Gymboree, I figured we'd try it at home. He had just woken up, so surely that had an effect. I sat him down on the kitchen floor and blew the bubbles at him. He didn't seem to "get" it as well as he had there, but he eventually was reaching for them and had this "Where did it go?" expression on his face. My bubbles aren't as good as theirs--the bubbles at Gymboree are the kind that are a little harder to pop. I think the kind they make for cats does the same, so maybe I'll check those out next time we're at the pet store.

First sporting event

Last night, we took A to his first sporting event! A friend of ours is on his college's swim team, and they had a meet at Rutgers. A did really well, especially considering that we had to wake him from his nap to go. He didn't sleep from that time (4:30) until we got home (7:30).

He did try to snuggle like he does when he's sleepy, but he didn't go to sleep and he didn't really fuss all that much either. He got incredibly warm--we had him in lined jeans and a long sleeved tshirt. I was very glad that both of us dress in layers every day.

M is starting to recognize (finally!) that A looks more like him than me. He saw the blog entry below with our baby pictures and he finally saw it. I still don't think he looks like M did as a baby, but I DO think he looks like M did around 3 or 4.

Snow

We got about 4 inches of snow on Friday. We took A out in it, but he started acting like he wanted a nap the second we bundled him up.

CIO Night 3

Ahhhh, uninterrupted sleep. A slept from 7:45 until 5:30 this morning. Then I fed him. He woke again at 7--I fed him again. He's still sleeping at 8:45.

Hopefully the time span will get longer as time goes on, but at least he didn't wake at all while M was sleeping... that's a step in the right direction!

CIO, Night 2

As we got into bed last night, I told M that hopefully A wouldn't cry for the whole hour.

He ended up waking up around 2:30. I let him cry for 12 minutes, and he stopped about the same time I got back in bed. M said "We CAN'T get that lucky." About half an hour later, he started to cry again. We waited 12 minutes again, and M went in to him. Sometime after that, I fell asleep and he had stopped crying by the time I woke up... not really sure how long that was, and don't remember looking at the clock when I woke.
He then slept until 6:30, at which point I fed him. He's starting to stir now, at 8:30.

Not bad!!

CIO, Night 1

We've been doing the Ferber method for naps since A was four months old. At nighttime, however, I always assumed him to be hungry so I'd get up and feed him.

A few nights ago, he started a new trick of sleeping until 11 or 12, then waking every 2 hours after that.

So I decided we'd give the old Ferber method a try for night time. He slept until around 2:30, and we had to go to him a total of 8 times--after 10 minutes, 12, and then repeating at 15 minutes. He finally got himself back to sleep after a little more than an hour.

It became apparent exactly WHY he was waking all those times--he wanted some Mommy cuddling. When M went in for the checks, he cried (and loudly) but not nearly at the volume as when I went in.

A little nervous, I went in to check on him at 6:30, waking him as soon as I opened the door. Feeling guilty, I fed him. Other than that, though, he is sleeping as late as he normally does.

Mango, Take 2

So M tried to give A the mango again for lunch. Success! Apparently, he just wasn't hungry this morning. He gobbled the whole thing down!

We also took him out in the snow this afternoon. He was super tired, so our pictures didn't come out fantastic, but we were afraid it was going to start raining so wanted to make sure we got them in.

Movin' on up...

This month has been a busy one. I organized and repacked all of A's clothes up to 3 months. I'm starting to fill his 3 months + sized clothes bin with his 6 month sizes. I went shopping for 6-12 month clothes. And finally, we dropped his crib. We also passed on his swing and Bumbo. We'll be passing on his bouncer seat.

My boy is getting so big!

There IS a food he doesn't like.

Inspired by Best Bud's mom (who makes her own baby food) and overwhelmed by the large amount of sliced mango we bought for ourselves at Costco, I figured I'd give "making it" a try while depleting our supply of mango.

I read that it could be mashed with a fork, but that didn't work for me so I popped it in the food processor and then put in old tubs.

I warmed it up this morning and A made the WORST face when I gave it to him. Thinking it was just new, I gave him some more. Next thing I knew, it was all coming back at me. Yuck. I then tried mixing it with some jarred bananas; maybe it was too tart for him. That came back too.

Oh well; I guess we'll try again tomorrow!

Another Gymboree picture

Stolen from Best Bud's mom!