Experimenting with Volume

For the past three days, Nate has really found his voice and is playing around with volume. He does it mostly when he's laying flat. Dan calls it "singing" but I'll be honest, it's just short of a happy scream. It's really funny to just sit and listen to him. Sometimes I'll lay down next to him on the couch when he's doing it and he grabs my face. He's tried to eat my face several times lately. Yesterday was the best Thanksgiving of my life. I had so much fun just being with family and playing with Nate. We gave him a big piece of sweet potato in his mesh teether while we ate and he went to town. I'll post the video when I have a chance to load it. I recorded it on the camcorder so I'll have to figure out how to load to the computer.

I have really enjoyed having this week off and spending extra time with Nate. It makes me want to quit working again but I feel pretty confident that working part time is what's going to feel the best for me.

I think Nate is going through some big brain development right now. He seems to be regressing when it comes to sleep. I think he may have been a bit overstimulated last night, in addition. It took an hour to get him to sleep at 6:30 pm and then he was up again from 10:30 pm until 12:30 am and again at 4 am but went back down more quickly the second time. He ends up in our bed more often than not, mostly because I'm too tired to deal with trying to get him back down in his crib after feeding him.

On another note, we are meeting with a real estate agent tomorrow to list our house. We met with him once and he thinks we can list for close to what we bought for four years ago, which was a good surprise for both of us. I'm caustiously optimistic. We both agree that we aren't going to buy again unless we can buy the house that we want to stay in for the next 20 years. If not, we will rent for a while and wait the market out. I honestly can't even think about buying until this place sells but I'm thinking we should probably look around a little pretty soon to get an idea of what's out there.

Well, I'm having a difficult time keeping my thoughts together so I'm going to sign off for now. Hope everyone had a fantastic Thanksgiving!

Some Pictures

Here are some pictures from Halloween. Nate dressed up as a future Little League World Series of Baseball Champ thanks to Uncle Kyle's good idea and Grandma's sewing. This is the uniform that the local little league wore this year when they won the World Series.

Teething?

Nate is back to feverishly putting things into his mouth to chew on. He has a favorite teether and stuffed animal to chew on. I think I've mentioned Al E Gator before. He has become Nate's "security blanket" in addition to being a good teether. Nate also loves chewing on fingers, his own, mine, and Dan's. Today we were playing and he quickly moved towards my face. I ended up with a slobbery nose. He was either trying to suck or chew on it; I couldn't quite tell because he backed off quickly. He did the same thing with my chin a few minutes later. Tonight at bedtime he was putting Goodnight Moon in his mouth but first he crumpled the pages of The Very Hungry Caterpillar.

The best part of my day today was playing with Nate on the couch. He loves getting kisses, especially on his neck, and was laughing hysterically when I kept attacking his neck. I can't think of a better sound!

The poor kiddo has been sick since Thursday evening. From what I can tell, he's just really congested and runny. He fell asleep fine that night but was up and having a little difficulty breathing around 10:30 pm. I called the doctor's nurse line while Dan tried to get him to sleep propped up on some pillows in our bed. The nurse said that unless he's really struggling to breath or has a temp of 105, he should be okay just fighting it off at home. He slept well propped up that night. We always have the humidifier going but put it out in the living room during the day while my Mom watched him.

Thanks to facebook, I got a couple other suggestions on how to help him sleep. I put some pillows under one side of his crib mattress so that he can sleep propped up there. He slept there last night and woke up twice to be rocked to sleep and once to eat. Today I got him Baby Vicks Vapo Rub. Dan and I had been wondering about Vapo Rub but weren't sure if we could use it on him, then one of Dan's friends suggested using Baby Rub on facebook. Technology these days! It seems like that's really going to help. I could feel it clearing my sinuses after I put it on his chest.

Oh, speaking of my sinuses. I finally broke down and went to the doctor on Tuesday. I had been sick for a week and was sick at the end of October for several days, too. I thought it was just lack of sleep but Shelley said my symptoms sounded like a sinus infection, thanks again to facebook. I had to go during the school day because the only other appointment that was available was 4:15 pm and I couldn't bring myself to leave Nate at daycare that late (we all know how timely doctors are with their appointments). Not only that but he hasn't adjusted to the time change and I need to get his cereal going around 4 pm. Anyway, so I get to the doctor and find out I do, in fact, have a sinus infection. I was somewhat relieved that it was something treatable. I was worried that he was going to tell me to get some rest. I walk out to my car thinking I was going to have enough time to get back to school for the girl who wanted to make up a test at lunch, turn the key, car starts, then stalls. I'm out of gas. I thought "Where's the closest gas station... about a mile away?!" I walked out to the street and saw a gas station at the end of the block. As I got closer I noticed that there wasn't a mini mart, just a tiny booth, but fortunately they sold a little gallon gas tank. After struggling with the tank and the pump and getting help from the lady in the booth, I walked back and started to fill the tank but I needed two hands so I threw my phone into the car at an angle. I ended up searching for the phone on my hands and knees: front seat, back seat, other side of the car, under the car... nowhere to be found. I almost left, thinking I would find it in the car later, but I'm glad I didn't give up. It was underneath the car behind me! By this point, I wasn't making it back in time for the girl so I decided to stop for some food. I was frustrated but decided to think positively. First, I was glad I made it to my doctor's appointment and the car didn't die while I was driving. Next, I was very glad that I didn't run out of gas with Nate in the car!!! I've been pushing it with filling up because I don't like stopping with him in the car but now I'm determined to start thinking about filling up when I have half a tank.

Anyway, back to Nate. I've noticed that he knows his bedtime song and book and is relaxed by them. I stumbled upon singing to him at bed on accident. Quite a while ago he was in the habit of crying after his bath while I was lotioning him up, diapering him, and getting his pjs on. One night I decided to sing and the first song that came to mind was Soul Sister by Train. I have been singing that song to him while lotioning, diapering, and changing for several months now. Sometimes I don't start singing it right away and he'll start struggling to reach his toes or roll over. The second I start singing, he's entranced and stops what he's doing to look and listen. Also, I've read him Goodnight Moon every night for several months but recently I have been reading him two books, ending with Goodnight Moon. While I'm reading the first book he often rocks back and forth and reaches for the pages of the book, trying to flip them and fold them. Once Goodnight Moon starts, he leans back into my chest and listens intently. I tell ya, the people who said to start a bedtime routine early really knew what they were talking about!

I can't remember where we left off with food so I'll summarize quickly here: he didn't like the green beans and peas that I made but likes jarred peas so I'm assuming he didn't like the texture of mine because of the skins. He loves the sweet potatoes I made and has had butternut squash once; my Mom introduced it to him on Thursday but he hasn't been eating much yesterday or today. Tomorrow I'm going to make him some peas and I also got a can of pumpkin that I'm excited to have him try. This morning he tried oatmeal baby cereal in place of the rice that he's been eating for three weeks. He seemed to like it just fine. I'm looking forward to trying parsnips and rutabaga then moving on to fruits. I'd like to try giving him avocado but I'm slightly allergic to them when they are very ripe (just like bananas) and I'm nervous that he will be, too.

Alright, this is long enough. I'm sure you've had enough and I need to get to some things! I probably won't be back on for a few days so Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Not Adjusting Well

It is 5:29 pm and I am sitting here typing while Nate is asleep in his crib. He's not adjusting to the time change at all. In fact, he's actually going to bed earlier than he was, probably because the sun is going down earlier. He has been falling asleep after only eating half of a meal and then waking up anywhere from 20 min to three hours later to finish. Most days he's back to sleeping really well, some nights he wakes up once, and occasionally he's up all night. I really think those nights are about his tummy: either he's hungry because he didn't eat much cereal before bed or he has a tummy ache. The second day he had peas he ate a whole bunch of them and then was up several times that night. I think his tummy is a bit sensitive.

Speaking of which, he started peas last Saturday and didn't eat much of then but then devoured them on Sunday. Ever since then, he doesn't want much to do with them. I made green beans and pureed them more smoothly on Tuesday but he's not a huge fan of them, either. Tomorrow I'm going to make sweet potatoes and also try store bought peas to see if he likes the smooth texture better. I think I'll try butternut squash after the sweet potatoes. I bought the Beaba Babycook and I'm excited to give it a whirl... literally! It's a relatively small contraption that steams and purees the food all in one. There's only one small container to clean, which is the main reason I bought it. We already spend a ton of time cleaning bottles and pump parts; I didn't want to add more to the cleaning agenda.

I have been sick again for three days now. This time I think the cold was worse than the last two weeks ago. I'm feeling a bit better this evening but this cold has been weird. I have been feeling the worst in the middle of the night. I am really hoping that I haven't passed it on to Nate. I avoided him for the most part the first two days except for feedings. I read that breastmilk carries antibodies to whatever cold I have. Pretty cool! Today I spent more time with him because I was off of work but hopefully I'm no longer contagious. I was supposed to get a haircut today and had grand hopes of getting a lot done over this three day weekend but it's not looking like that's going to happen. For about the past week I've been falling asleep between 7-8 pm. I should have known something was up when that started but I assumed I was just catching up on sleep after a rough night with Nate on Sunday (the pea tummy trouble).

Today I gave Nate his bath for the first time in quite a while. Dan has taken over that duty but he stopped at Albertson's on his way home from work tonight and Nate decided to get tired earlier than usual. We are still giving him a bath over the sink in his whale baby bath tub. Well... I think it's time to move the whale into the big bath tub. He is moving around and splashing so much that we made a huge mess! He was having fun though.

Besides the veggies and the off and on sleep, there's not a whole lot new since last week. Nate's still practicing sitting up and he's getting better and better. He rarely wants to lay or recline anymore; he wants to be sitting up watching what's going on. He is still grabbing things and putting them in his mouth all of the time but we haven't seen any teeth. I don't think he's drooling quite enough to be teething just yet. He has started doing the funniest thing lately. He'll push me away or try to pull me close. For example, I was feeding him his veggies today, which he isn't very fond of, and he put his hand on my cheek and tried to turn my face away. But when it comes to his cereal, he pulls my hand toward his mouth or leans forward to get it.

Well, I'm going to have my soup and get ready for bed. I really need to get over this cold! My New Moms Group has been planning a Mommy Day at Laguna Culinary Arts for lunch and wine tasting tomorrow for about a month now. I told them that I'll have to be walking dead to miss it. I didn't attend either of the gatherings in October so I really want to see the ladies and catch up! And, it's wine tasting.

My Baby Boy is Five Months Old!

Today is Nate's five month birthday, yet he's wearing 9 month clothes and I'm going to try him in 12 month clothes as soon as I can get back to the Carter's store. We went last weekend and got him a bunch of 9 month stuff but this time, I was smart - I washed one thing first to see how the size fit before cutting tags and washing everything. Turns out, the 9 month clothes fit pretty well so I'm returning a bunch of it for 12 month.

Two days ago, all of a sudden, Nate started sitting up much better. He can sit in my lap in the crook between my legs and sit up straight. He's such a strong boy! Another new development is peas. Where did we leave off last... I think I mentioned that we started cereal twice a day but I don't think I mentioned that Nate had blood in his stool on Sunday morning. We went to the doctor on Monday and she said he basically had a tear that was causing the blood. He had been pooping a ton, probably because of the large quantity that he had been eating. She also mentioned that he is such a big boy and that it sounded like he's a very hungry boy so we should speed up the schedule that she gave us for introducing solids. So, that's the new development - peas. Today I steamed a bag of frozen peas, blended them up, and gave Nate his first vegetable. I tried them after pureeing them and they are actually pretty tasty! (Usually I put a little salt on any veggie when we make them but without salt, still delish.) He only took a handful of bites but he seemed to like it. We took a short video and I'll post it on here soon. We actually used the camcorder for this video so I need to find the cable to connect it to my computer.

What else is new? I am now producing more milk than Nate needs and our freezer is too small to keep up. I told Dan last night that's reason #156 to sell our house. I am hoping to meet with a real estate agent on Friday to discuss the market and what we might be able to get for our house. I will definitely miss this area. Tonight we walked to Main St for sushi with Nate in the Bjorn and had a really great time. But we need more space.

I can't think of anything else to write about. I need to start making notes on my phone again.

Have a great weekend!