1st Sniffles

Nate just had his first little cold. Mostly its just a runny/stuffy nose, but he seems to be getting better. The weather is starting to change here (cooler in the AM and PM) but still is hitting 100 during the day so I'm sure that has something to do with it.

Counting down the days until Nate's first out of STATE trip (though I don't think the parents are looking too forward to the car part!) We're taking off to San Diego for a few days in two weeks--going to Sea World, perhaps the zoo and the beach. Other than the different , cool scenery I'm hoping there's a twenty degree drop in temperature! We've had six months of summer so I think its time to move on! I'm looking forward to getting away from "routine".

Ta-ta for now!

Club

As of this week, we are now members of a Mom's Club for stay at home mothers in our near community. Yesterday we went to our first playdate at a park and met some mothers and some of their kids (there are two or three kids that are Nate's age). Today we went to a member's home to play and had a "pot luck brunch". Its really nice for the both of us to make some friends. Every week there is a playdate, followed by maybe an additional playdate at a fun place like Peter Piper Pizza, we also have brunch dates at members' homes or at restaurants. Then once a month the mom's get together for a night out--usually a dinner or a movie. Its nice that it gives us something to do and with new friends!

Crawling keeps increasing. Its also been cute to see how excited he is in the mornings when we come to take him out--he thrashes all around, kicking his legs and arms. Nate tries to pull down his bumpers to get himself up. Still no teeth yet,not walking. But still increasingly more active!

Army Crawl

He's not on all fours per se, but he's much improving on the crawling he does for now-the army crawl. He cruises around in his crib,changing table and now the carpet some (if he's motivated by things to play with).

Took him to another Gymboree class, this time music. This one didn't go so well...he was fussy some of the time, maybe because of all the noise with instruments we were using. It probably didn't help that a little boy there wanted to pull on Nate's hair. We made it through but I think play time was both of our favorites.

Tis all thats new this week. Until next time...

Playing Time!

Nate is now about seven months old. On a recommendation by a friend, we went to a place called Gymboree (like the clothing store) only they also have classes where kids can play from agess 0-5. Signed Nate up for a playing class and he liked it (once he got over the initial fear). There were all kinds of mats,balls,stuffed animals, slides,ramps,etc for him to play on. They also offer music classes too which we'll try out next week. We'll have to look into enrollment in the future, seems fun for kids and good for adults to mingle! Posted a few pics for you to see.

He's doing the army crawl! He has the funniest sleeping position : on his stomach with his arms flat down, but yet is on his knees with his butt up in the air! Still is getting back to being himself. Takes one 30-45 min nap and another that is an hour-two and a half hrs long. Back to waking up twice a night (to us thats good, last few weeks with surgery its been 3-5!) Daddy is out of town this week so we're trying to stay busy. Wish he was home!

Turning into quite the babbler now. Now it happens anytime, whenever he needs to get something off his chest!

Have a good week!

Make a Smilebox postcard

Getting Better...

A sigh of relief. No more medicine, back on solids (a-ok with bananas, not so crazy about pears yet), not in pain. Everything looks good. Still not quite sleeping very well...but maybe he's hitting a growth spurt. At least everything else is better and we're not quite as worried all the time!

Nate is starting to babble some. Also, I'm pretty sure he's saying "mum", "mummy", "ma-ma". In particular when he's upset. He's becoming a strong sitter, likes to sit on our couch and play with toys. Notices mom and dad's big toes when we're barefoot..constantly trying to go after those!

Otherwise, nothing else too new. Just wanted to post to let everyone know that he is getting better (thankfully!)

To Sleep or Not To Sleep?

This is, and has been, the question as of late. Unfortunately since Nate's surgery things have been more difficult for everyone. Nate refuses to eat solids (due to the stuffing of medicine down we assume, which we all detest! Wish those pharm techs would have told me about flavoring AS I was getting prescriptions filled vs halfway done!), Nate is in pain, isn't sleeping well,etc. Naps are sortive ok but he's been up just about every hour during the night. We had to stop his pain med because of constipation, but nothing does an equal good job. So at night in particular, its been seeming pointless to sleep--by the time we do, we're up again...a vicious cycle.The most frustrating part is not knowing why he wakes up so frequently. Pain? Hunger? Spasms? Who knows. Tomorrow Nate gets the catheter removed so hopefully that will help things out as far as being uncomfortable/pain goes. We're bummed out that this has hit him pretty hard. Hopefully this will pass soon and he'll start to feel better and be back totally to himself.

On a happier note, he's getting closer to being more independent. He can make circles on his stomach now and lift his upper body up further.

Hopefully for the next blog we'll have some more cheerful news!

Surgery

Once Nate turned six months we scheduled him to have some minor outpt surgery done (he hadn't been able to be circumcised at birth so we had to wait until he was old enough to do so). Had that done yesterday. He's doing fine for the most part, maybe some discomfort every now and then. The biggest disappointment to him will be NO swimming and activity gyms for two weeks! So mom and dad are his only source of bounce fun! Its nerve wracking just trying to make sure he doesn't hurt himself, so basically its more worrisome for us than for him! He's still his peppy, energetic self though at least.

Had him out for a "Nate's Favorite Things" weekend prior to surgery with swimming and the zoo. Can notice that he definately can see animals better than before! The monkeys were his favorite in particular. He was really excited when we picked him up a stuffed rhino. His new cuddle mate.

Did try the sippy cup, definately will need to wait longer on that. Pretty much rejects it and throws it. Have gotten into fruit...shuddered a little with his first bite but I think he'll be ok. Applesauce is coming up.

Gotta run for now.

6 Month Visit

Nathan is 16 pds, 1 ounce and 27 inches long. Still growing as he should be. The dr mentioned that he could start on a sippy cup, but I think that will have to wait a little while yet. Don't want to overload him with new things! Still working on getting him to enjoy solids. Carrots are probably the new fave, he wants to feed himself! See how sweet potatoes go next, then jump into fruit.

He enjoys making silly faces and is still becoming more independent day by day. In bed now, for instance, he can find and put his pacifier in his mouth. He travels to all different sides of the crib too to play with his different toys. However, there's still that stomach that he doesn't enjoy being on very long! We really are starting to think that the boy will walk before he crawls! He enjoys being on his legs MUCH MUCH more!

Have a good week!

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Oopsy Daisy

Well we had our first 'owwie' today. Nate was sitting up playing and fell over to a side and hit his head. Mom's first owwie meltdown! Has a bruise and small bump over his left eye. Ugh, hate that.

Slowly but surely he is starting to sleep in his crib during the day. Fed him,tried to darken the room even more and basically let him cry some. But today he finally did both his naps in it so we're happier. If it just wasn't for that dang accident!

Had Nate in his new high chair over the weekend with peas and green beans. Peas went over well, green beans not so. Just have to keep working on it.

Bye for now.

Advice on Napping...

Ok,I'm turning to all you moms out there for some advice! Nate usually sleeps in the swing for his naps but I'm trying to transition him to sleep in his crib instead. He does fine in the crib at night, but during the day he pretty much prefers the swing. I've tried feeding him in the crib and even vaccum/play a CD of the vaccum going to try and get him to doze off to no avail (these help when he's in the swing). I play music, make the room as dark as I can...has anyone else been through this? I'd appreciate any advice that may have helped you! Doesn't matter how small, please leave a comment! Thanks!

Shhhh...He's Sleeping : )

Hopefully we aren't just having a lucky week, but a sign of good things to come!Nate is still getting up once or twice during the night (still pretty good compared to the way things were!) but he's also started to sleep in later in the morning (or plays some and puts off crying, one way or the other!) Pretty much this whole week he hasn't gotten up until 6:30-7am! And today in particular set a morning record: 7:45AM! Had to make sure the kid was still alive in bed! He's also taken a few longer naps, 1-2 hrs once a day. If Nate can keep it up he'll have some pretty happy parents! Sleep makes quite the difference.

Veggies are on the menu soon. I've also discontinued nursing just this week, the both of us were ready to move on I think. I wasn't producing enough and now I don't have to plan everything around when he eats. So we're all happy with the extra flexibility! Not as much rushing going on. And since Nate is teething, I didn't want to wait for that hurtful bite that I've heard many stories about. Six months is a good start.

More things to do, talk later!