Nineteen Months

 

We have lots of trees and more than our fair share of leaves.  We dedicated a good portion of this weekend to jumping in them and here is our champion leaf-jumper.  He was like the energizer bunny running from pile to pile, throwing them in the air, burying himself in them, etc.  Fall has got to be one of the funnest seasons for 19 month old!

 

And, speaking of being 19 months old, here are some of his talents:

• We have made great strides in the food throwing department.  Took his plate away when he started throwing food and viola!  Problem solved!
• He is talking up a storm!  We are getting multiple new words each day and he is so pleased with himself when he realizes that he is saying the right word to get what he wants.
• He can jump -- literally feet leaving the floor jumping already.  Incredibly cute.
• He loves sports.  If you give him a round object and a stick-like object, he can do just about anything - baseball, golf, tennis.  I predict that he's going to be our athlete.
• He is starting to ask for specific books by name and he remembers which pictures are in which books.  He'll say "baby," go get a book off the shelf and turn to the page with the picture of the baby. 
• He knows our routines and thrives on them.  In the morning, he gets up, gets dressed, eats breakfast and as soon as he gets out of his booster seat, he's running for the stairs saying "teeth, teeth" because he brushes his teeth upstairs after breakfast.  He also know that when I pick him up from the sitter, we head to his brother's school to pick him up.  The whole car ride, he's saying his brother's name and "school."
• He is starting to develop favorite clothing.  He loves his fleece pajamas and often refuses to take them off in the mornings.  He also has a shirt with a gorilla on it that he will dig through his drawer to find or extract from his dirty clothes hamper and beg to wear again.
• He still loves to snuggle, especially in the middle of the night with mommy.  He isn't eating at night very often (although we keep some boxes of shelf-safe milk in our room in case he does get hungry at night), but I think he still likes the familiar and comfortable snuggling of nighttime.  Although I never thought I'd say this during those early months when we were waking up every two hours around the clock, by the time we got to the stage where we are now where he may not wake up at night looking for you anymore, I'm realizing that I'm really going to miss those snuggly middle-of-the-night moments with him.  That was when we really bonded and I'm going to miss waking up with him now that he's big enough to sleep through the night.

18 Month Check-Up (The Well Visit that Wasn't)

LB had his 18 month check up today.  As usual, we were looking forward to seeing how much he weighed, how tall he was and how he was progressing in physical/motor/social/verbal skills via the developmental questionnaire we fill out at each well appointment.  The visit started great.  He weighs 22 lbs (19th percentile) and is 33 inches tall (61st percentile) and we got through about 20 more developmental questions that put him solidly ahead of the curve (running, talking, picking up small objects, stacking blocks, etc., etc., etc.).  Then the pediatrician came in and told us how great he looked and how well he was doing.  Fabulous! 

Then, he started his physical exam.  LB was cooperative, as usual, and at the point that the doctor started listening to his heart, I could tell that he was taking extra time and listening extra carefully. Initially, I was not concerned at all.  We had seen another pediatrician at the last appointment because we just needed to get him in quickly (since I -ahem- missed his 15 month appointment - doh!!), so I assumed our regular pediatrician was just taking some extra time to hear the innocent Still's murmur that was found last month.  Well, turns out he heard the Still's murmur AND another one.  He was concerned about the other one.

He explained that murmurs are just noises that the bloodflow of the heart makes and that certain noises can indicate certain things.  The new murmur that he was hearing could be a few things -- it could be something else that is innocent OR it could be two other things that were far from innocent.  He told us that murmurs sometimes indicate blood flowing through a hole in the heart that isn't supposed to be there and that murmurs sometimes indicate problems with heart valves, which are supposed to have three flaps (called a tricuspid valve), but can sometimes have only have two flaps (called a bicuspid valve).  Those final two scenarios were concern enough based on the specific sounds he was hearing, to refer him to a pediatric cardiologist.  The pediatrician was reassuring and did a great job of delivering the news and I definitely put on my game face and told him I understood and appreciated the need to be thorough, to get it checked out, etc., but on the inside, I was crushed. 

Really?  Our sweet little boy who already has one medical condition to contend with and now he has to go see a cardiologist because he might need heart surgery?!  Really?  Do we have to add this to his plate, too? 

I also started to blame myself.  What the heck was I doing while I was pregnant to cause him to have a heart problem on top of the faulty genes I passed onto him?  Did I somehow cause this?   Could this one be my fault?

It was a pretty silent ride home from the pediatrician and it took us awhile to call Grandparents and siblings with the appointment stats (which are usually happy phone calls) considering there was also this rather crummy news to report, as well.

Luckily, the pediatrician recommended two pediatric cardiology groups in our metro area and I have a Task Force friend that is the world's most knowledgeable parent resource on pediatric hearts who was able to point me to the cardiology group that she trusts the most (Amanda Rose Adams, check out her book Heart Warriors, she is amazing!) so at least it will be easy to schedule an appointment, which we are anxious to do.  I'm worried that this uncertainty hanging over us will quickly become oppressive.  I know specialists are sometimes hard to get in to see, and I can't imagine needing to wait a month to find out what's going on.  I'm already feeling in a funk over this whole thing.  LB is too cute of a kid to be sick!!

Seventeen Months

I’m a little embarrassed to admit this, but I somehow managed to forget to take my MCADD kid in for his 15 month check-up.  Oops!!  I realized this as I was gearing up to make his 18 month appointments with both the pediatrician and the metabolic clinic.  I knew that metabolics wanted him back at 18 months.  I missed that the pediatrician needed to see him at 15 AND 18 months.  I blame the sleep deprivation…or the concussion I got at the end of May (long story).  In any event, the scheduler at the pediatrician’s office was very nice about the whole thing and volunteered that a lot of parents forget about the 15 month appointment.  It only made me feel slightly better, but whatever.  The important thing is that we got him in for his check-up and immunizations and he’ll be right back on track with the pediatrician next month for his 18 month check-up, which is already scheduled!

At seventeen months, LB weighed in at 22 lbs, 4 oz (29th percentile) and 32 1/4 inches tall (54th percentile).  He’s always been our little guy, even though I guess 29th and 54th percentile isn’t that little, but when we were used to our older son never being lower than 90th percentile on anything, LB is a bit of an adjustment.  We’re definitely seeing this in the hand-me-down clothes, too.  A lot of them are falling right off LB.

One thing of note at his checkup was that the doctor noticed a Still’s murmur with his heart.  He described it as an innocent murmur and insisted that it is nothing to be concerned about.  Lots of children have them.  It is often easier to hear on thinner children and LB was being really cooperative as they listened to his heart, so they said it’s possible that he’s always had it and this is just the first time they’ve heard it.  It’s good to note in his medical record at a time when he’s healthy because if it is heard in the future at a time when he’s sick, they’ll know that it’s a pre-existing thing.  He will outgrow it in time.

Developmentally, he's doing great - walking, talking, climbing, you name it!

 

Sixteen Months

A few fun stories about our favorite 16 month old big boy...

 

He loves to "help" in the kitchen.  We drag a kitchen chair over to the counter and he will gladly help make a mess with any recipe I am concocting.

Speaking of messes, he is likely one of the world's messiest eaters.  We got his Highlights Hello magazine a few weeks ago with a story that goes something like this..."When Teddy eats, he feeds the cat.  He drops spaghetti on the mat.  He squishes veggies.  He smears grape jelly.  Does any food get in his belly?"  This kind of sums up our eating experiences.  Well, that and the fact that he uses his hair as a napkin.  We regularly hold him over the sink to remove the banana treatment from his blond locks.

He loves ketchup!  I had the refrigerator open to pour him some juice, but instead, he removed the ketchup from the bottom shelf of the refrigerator door and climbed up into his seat (while carrying the ketchup...which was quite a production for a boy of his size I might add) and proceeded to give me this puppy dog look.  He really wanted to eat ketchup.  

He is still excellent at climbing onto and into things.  The picture of him in the diaper box was particularly amusing.

 

In other updates...

• he has a few words now including juice, cheese, up, down, yes, dog, ball, along with Mama and Dada, of course.  We still can't pick out his word for his big brother, but he can point him out or chase him down whenever we ask him where his big brother is.
• he wants to do everything his brother does and play with the same things his brother plays with.
• he is at a phase where he wants to do everything and climb everything, but he has no fear of the consequences of falling.  Needless to say, we are nearly always within arms reach to keep him out of the danger that he creates for himself.  I'm always happy when this stage of child development passes.
• we have cut a bunch of molars (I say "we" because after many nights up rocking him through teething discomfort, I feel as if I am also part of the process although he was the one doing all the hard work).  He is now sporting the full set of 1-year molars along with all 8 teeth in front.  Next up are eye teeth and the 2-year molars before he has his full set of baby teeth.
• he is sleeping well, although he tends to still wake up to eat once a night at least 3-4 nights a week. When he does, we give him a 4 oz bottle of toddler formula and he is quickly back to sleep.  His sleeping does get disturbed with teething, though.  I think that's pretty normal, though. 

Fifteen Months

It has been a few months since I've done a monthly update, but there's so much going on in LB's life right now, I couldn't help but give a little update.

Other than a couple typical toddler runny-nose incidents that were snotty and messy, but didn't seem to bother him one bit, he has remained 100% healthy.  Hooray!

We're starting to get a lot more words.  I read a few articles that mentioned children with MCADD can have speech delays and since LB wasn't really talking at all, I was starting to wonder whether I should ask the pediatrician about it.  Then, all of a sudden, we went from a vocabulary of "this," "that," "yes," and "daddy" to a whole lot more words -- ball, catch, dog, juice, night-night, mommy (hooray!!), kiss, and probably a few others I'm not remembering right now.  In any event, I'm a whole lot less concerned about his speech than I was a month ago. 

He is definitely a boy on the move!  He has been walking since January, but is very adept at it now.  He can walk/run easily on all surfaces and doesn't trip and fall all that often anymore (this makes me happy because one of my least favorite things is when my boys face-plant on the concrete - it just makes me cringe to watch it and not be able to stop it).  He is also discovering climbing and can successfully work his way up onto all sorts of high furniture - the kitchen table, the couch, the beds.  He has also figured out that if he can't get up onto something, he can always go grab the step stool from the bathroom (the one his older brother uses to reach the sink) and set it beside the item he'd like to climb -- voila! 

His favorite toys right now are all things sports. He loves all types of balls -soccer, foot, basket, base, bowling, golf, etc. - along with all the long sticks that accompany them.  He can swing a mean golf club with pinpoint accuracy on your shin.  He can play catch with us for 15 minutes at a time and not tire of it one bit.We are convinced that he is going to be our sporty kid because he is literally obsessed with this stuff.  Thankfully, I've been very encouraged by stories of families with older MCADD kids who are successfully able to participate in sports, so the thought of him playing a sport doesn't make me as uneasy as it used to.

He also loves dancing and will bop along to music.  He loves books and brings them to us one after another, happily pointing at the pictures and nodding along to the parts of the story that he apparently agrees with most.  He gives the most wonderful drooly open-mouth kisses while saying "muuuuaaa!" that absolutely melt my heart.

With all of his activity, I'm very grateful that he is eating well and enjoying a wide variety of food. One of his favorite meals is our family's tradition of Saturday morning oatmeal pancakes. He also loves things like cottage cheese, apples, PB&J, pineapple, macaroni and cheese, butternut squash, meatballs, just about any recipe for chicken, tortillas, hummus and lots of other fruits, veggies and grains.  

We've figured out a good bedtime snack system that's working pretty well.  Since our dinnertime is usually pretty close to bedtime, it was hard for us to get him back into the highchair for a sit-down snack so soon after dinner at a time when he'd much rather be romping around with his big brother.  So, now we're giving him a sippy cup of whole milk and a snack cup about a half hour before his bath that he can carry along with him during the romping. The snack cup contents vary, but it's usually some kind of whole-grain cereal or crackers (cheerios, graham crackers, peanut butter sandwich crackers, belvita breakfast wafers, etc.).  He'll drink and snack pretty happily, but at the point that he starts spitting the crackers out, we know that he's full to the brim and we don't force him to eat any more. However, we will hold onto the sippy cup of milk and let him drink that as we're reading his bedtime stories (the last step of our bedtime routine before lights out). 

We have officially weaned him off of the bottle during the waking hours, but he will sometimes have a small 4 oz bottle of toddler formula when he wakes up hungry at night.  During most night wakings, he will soothe himself back to sleep within a minute or two, but on the nights where our evening routine was a bit off (which happens to every family from time to time), or nights that we know he didn't eat as much of his dinner and/or bedtime snack as he normally does, we'll happily mix him up a quick bottle when he wakes (we keep the can of formula in our room along with a pre-filled bottle of water). If his fussing lasts longer than a minute or two, it's usually cured quickly with a small bottle. Sometimes he'll drink it all and be satisfied and sometimes, he'll only drink a few ounces before pushing it away and snuggling back into sleep.

Sleeping has really improved in the last few weeks, too.  About a month ago, he had slept through the night a total of 5 times, but now he's sleeping through the night much more often - at least 2-3 nights per week.  He's been working on cutting some molars, so that might actually be factoring into the sleep disturbances more so than the poor sleep habits we've established through his first year MCADD feeding schedule.  I have friends with children of similar age (not affected by MCADD) who are experiencing similar night restlessness due to teething, so it makes LB's sleep seem much more "normal."   

All in all, things are going great and we're excited for all the fun we'll have this summer!

Happy Birthday!

I woke up on LB's birthday as happy as could be. We made it! He's one year old! Hooray!! I was so excited and ready to celebrate, that I stopped at Panera on the way to work and bought a bag of bagels to put in the kitchen.

Once we got home, it was party time!

We went right into cake for fear of the sugar rush that might overtake the kids if we did cake after dinner (and immediately before bedtime)...
 

 

He dug right into his cake...

and the smashing started immediately...

He got some really cool presents...

including this nifty bat mobile!

Happy Birthday, Baby! We love you so much!!

Eleven Months

Here are some pictures of our very busy 11-month-old boy! The sign for this month was pretty much obliterated in the first 30 seconds of picture-taking. He has discovered that crumpling paper is lots of fun.

In the last month, we have hit some major milestones including standing and walking. He is, in fact, quite proficient at walking already since he started experimenting in earnest with it about 3 weeks ago.

 

 

There are also some new teeth to brag about. He has six now -- four on top and two on bottom -- which is excellent because he has completely sworn off baby food and only wants to eat food that he can mash between his teeth. He also thoroughly enjoys brushing his teeth, or at least chewing on the toothbrush.

 

 

We're starting to see much more of his personality, too. He is definitely an easy-going kid and he can sit for long stretches of time playing with toys and trying to figure out how things work. I'm always amazed at how kids learn by doing -- this ball fits inside this box, but Mommy's shoe doesn't; when I drop this toy from my highchair it makes lots of noise; when I try to eat the dogfood, Mommy comes running; etc.

 

 

Health-wise, it has been a great month. We have managed to stay healthy and avoid hospitals and doctors offices.  LB is still taking a daily probiotic supplement that I really think is helping him ward off the stomach bugs which so many of my friends are still battling with their kiddos. We're also still on a sort of self-imposed house arrest and have been avoiding crowds and otherwise germy places as much as we can so I'm sure that's helping us stay healthy, too.

 

 

We're curious what the next month will bring, especially considering that we are approaching the one-year mark where we will likely be switching off formula and onto milk, but he is still drinking quite a bit of formula daily (and jotting down ounces of formula is one of the easiest ways for us to track his food intake). We'll also be transitioning away from bottles, but again, he's still drinking a lot of bottles, especially at bedtime and during the night. I'm sure the metabolic clinic and our pediatrician will have lots of good advice for us when we visit them next month.

 

 

In the meantime, we are just as thrilled as can be with our handsome and happy little boy.





Ten Months

Here is our happy, 10-month old boy!

 

 

Despite a trying few weeks, he is still having fun and doing great.

Although I must say that it is getting much more interesting to take these monthly photos now that he is so interested in my signs...

Here are some milestones from the last month:

• He is learning to communicate with gestures and body language. He can shake his head from side to side for no (as in "no, Mommy, I don't want you to spoon any more peas into my mouth"). He can also bob up and down for yes (as in, "yes, Mommy, you are quite silly and entertaining trying to get me to eat my dinner"). 

• He is working really hard on forming words. We get a lot of "lalalala" noises now (accompanied by sticking out his tongue) plus he is also trying very hard to say either Daddy, down or dog. We're not quite sure yet, but it is a definite word attempt.
 
• Food has been a bit of a battle recently. The pediatrician recommended we keep him on soy formula in case the gastrointestinal upsets of late have a milk allergy linkage (he still thinks it's viral, but just in case) and we're avoiding all dairy for a bit until allergies are ruled out. He is OK with the soy formula, but turning down pretty much anything that comes on a spoon. He would much rather feed himself with his fingers, thank you very much. So, we've been doing lots of steamed butternut squash, steamed broccoli and cauliflower, steamed carrots, noodles, canned fruit, bananas, some avocado and even some very finely chopped chicken breast and fish. Dinners are a messy, messy affair, but sometimes learning how to feed yourself isn't pretty, I guess. Good thing we have the dog to keep the floor under the high chair clean.
 
• It's also a good thing he has more teeth to chew all of these new foods. He sprouted the two top left ones just before the new year and has the two top right teeth on their way shortly. One of them is just starting to poke through. We're noticing that he's always feeling around his mouth with his tongue, so I'm guessing that he's pretty intrigued by this whole teeth thing, too. 

• He is quite stellar at getting from place to place. He crawls as fast as can be and is also very proficient at cruising. He can navigate an entire room with just barely one hand holding onto the furniture or walls. Put him behind a walking toy or a laundry basket and away he goes on two feet without batting an eye. He will even walk with us holding onto only one hand, although he prefers when we let him hold both hands. He is experimenting with taking steps on his own without holding onto anything, but so far we've only caught him doing this a handful of times -- once he forgot to hang onto the couch and took two steps toward me before realizing he wasn't hanging on (once he realized this it was like a looney toons cartoon where the character realizes he's run off a cliff and immediately starts the plummet - in this case, he dropped to his bum to crawl the rest of the way). The other time, he wanted to get from the couch to the loveseat and made the 2 ft stretch between the furniture after calculating in his mind whether he could do it. He was quite pleased when he did. 

• One of his best movement-related stories is his love for tackling his big brother and his Daddy whenever he catches them laying on the floor. We'll hear him giggle and then it's off to the races before he's crashing onto someone with an enormous smile on his face. He even tackled the dog a couple days ago (she got up and moved to the other side of the room).
 
• He can stand on his own for about 10 seconds at a time, but doesn't seem inclined to stand for much longer. I think it's just that he's too impatient and wants to get onto the next thing instead of standing still.
 
• I'm getting a little worried about his weight gain since he is essentially the same weight now as he was at his 9 month appointment, but with two major stomach bugs and 5 days in the hospital this month, it was probably inevitable that he would lose a little weight. Fingers crossed that we stay well for awhile and can get him moving in a good direction again quickly.
 
• We are finally getting some relief on the sleeping front. I don't know if it was the comfort of having me lay next to him every night while we were in the hospital that taught him that sleeping was actually pretty nice or if it was the cozy new flannel crib sheets we bought for his bed or if he's just been too tired to stay up all night protesting sleep after all that he's been through these last few weeks, but we have actually been getting rather consistent 6 and 8 hour stretches of sleep at night - which is incredible compared to where we were about 6 weeks ago when he couldn't sleep for an hour at a time without needing someone to come comfort him. Fingers crossed that this continues on a good trajectory, too!

Nine Months

And, here we are!  Nine months later.  The fun is only just beginning! 

Climbing is his new favorite pasttime.  He climbs entire flights of stairs with ease.  He has moved on to improvising stairs out of common household objects.  For example, he used the toybox as a stepladder to get himself onto the coffee table.  He used the Christmas decoration boxes as a stepladder to get his hands up onto the kitchen counter.  If it even remotely resembles stairs, he will climb them.

He figured out how to clap on command. When you say "hooray!", he claps with gusto in response. He also sometimes claps for Daddy when he does football signals for him. Touchdown and illegal procedure are especially worthy of applause (and laughing).

He really enjoys chasing his big brother around, or if this brother isn't around, he also likes to torment the dog.  She continues to be a great sport as he sits and jingles the tags on her collar or uses her collar as a way to pull himself to standing.

He's still very much into things that roll -- balls, cars, etc.  We can spend quite a long time racing cars across the kitchen floor and rolling balls down the treadmill while LB laughs and laughs. 

We've moved onto eating a lot of finger foods.  He likes noodles and all types of canned fruits, plus steamed veggies, Saturday morning oatmeal pancakes and, of course, Cheerios and Puffs.  He gets three meals a day of solids now, plus a bedtime snack and around 24 ounces of formula.

Sleeping might be getting a little better.  We re-discovered that he has a white-noise toy and the sound of falling rain as we lay him down in his crib seems to help him settle into comfortable slumber.  He realizes that he's been tricked into sleeping in his own bed a few hours later, but at least I'm getting to lay down in my own bed for a few hours a night now (up from about 15 minutes per night, so that's definitely progress).

We saw the pediatrician today and here are his stats:

• Height - 29 inches (75th percentile)
• Weight - 18 lbs, 7 oz (30th percentile)
• Head - 17.25 inches (17th percentile)

We opened up the 12 month clothing bin (his big brother's hand-me-downs) and it was all shorts and t-shirts, so it looks like he's going to luck out and get himself a new wardrobe again in this size.   One day, I'll open the hand-me-down bin and actually find things that are in season!!

Oh, and we went and got him his first pair of shoes.  Size 3.5 Wide.  Isn't he snazzy?

Eight Months

Eight months is a very mischevious stage...

We like to take books and toys off the shelf (and toilet paper off the roll).

We do lots of exploring in the kitchen.  My tupperware drawer is strewn all over the floor in the background and he is sitting in the oven drawer.

He "helps" with all household chores.  His favorites include vacuuming, loading/unloading the dishwasher and being carried around in the laundry basket while I do the laundry.

He is a champion at pulling himself up to stand and cruising around the house holding onto the walls and furniture.

We've reached the stage in his development where we put him down and within 3 seconds, he is getting into something -- the dog food, the toilet paper roll, pulling things out of the drawers or the pantry, trying to "help" his big brother use the potty, etc.  He is a speedy little one, that's for sure!

He loves following his big brother around and the dog, too.  She is a great sport as he uses her collar to pull himself to standing.  We really couldn't ask for a better dog.

His favorite toys are anything that rolls.  We have some great pull-back racecars that he thinks are funny, and a cute dumptruck with three balls that rattle when you shake them.  He likes to roll the balls down the incline of our treadmill and he has no fear whatsoever as he crawls up and down the treadmill (while it's turned off, of course) chasing them.

He's still a great eater and is usually eating around 30 ounces a day, plus 3 meals of solid foods (baby food at lunch and dinner and cheerios at breakfast).  We are also doing a bedtime snack of Cheerios and it's working out nicely because we are using the Cheerios Fun Book as a bedtime story.  We read the story and he munches the cheerios that serve as wheels on the car, buttons on the pajamas, etc.

We still don't have any relief on the sleep front yet, but I'm hoping it is soon. Maybe we just need to give those antacids more time to work.

Seven Months

Well, here we are again, another month later and a baby who just keeps growing and growing!  I swear that he is going through all these milestones WAY TOO FAST!  He has the incentive of wanting to keep up with his big brother, so he's hitting the milestones much earlier than the little man did -- sometimes a full 3 months before him!

He is a pro at crawling and can get wherever he wants to go very quickly.  I love how babies crawl toward things that they are excited about -- panting and giggling and slapping their hands on the floor as they go.  LB gets very excited about crawling toward the dog food dish and our master bedroom shower.  Whenever he is on the floor in the vicinity of those two locations, the giggling  sets in and he is soon plunging his little fists into kibble (we always catch him before he attempts to eat any) or squealing with delight in the shower as he listens to his echo.

In other movement-related milestones, he is also pulling up.  He pulls up on practically all pieces of furniture, his toys, his parents and even his bathtub.  Sometimes while he is standing next to something, he is also reaching for toys and he forgets to hang on.  He isn't exactly standing by himself yet, but he isn't exactly holding on for dear life either.

He has continued to be an excellent eater and has now taste-tested just about every flavor in the baby food aisle.  He is also starting to get the hang of some finger foods and he happily attacks puffs and cheerios with gusto whenever he is in his highchair.  He's even starting to get the hang of using his hair as a napkin (I wonder if his big brother taught him that?).

The only slight hiccup that we have run into is that his sleeping has suddenly become very poor.  He had a bit of a cold the last week of September, so the congestion was keeping him awake.  I spent many nights sitting up with him in the rocking chair so that the elevation of his head could keep the congestion at bay, but once the cold cleared up, he continued to want me to sit with him all night every night.  While I love nothing more than holding a sleeping baby and I still feel so thankful for LB that I hardly bat an eye at any of his nighttime needs (food or snuggling), I know that he needs to be able to sleep on his own, too.  I do not subscribe to the "cry it out" method, so there have been many nights with minimal sleep for me.  I was just starting to worry about his newfound night restlessness when I realized what was happening.  He was getting teeth.  I got a glimpse of his bottom gums and sure enough there is an outline of two tiny teeth on the bottom.  I expect they will pop through any day now.  In the meantime, Tylenol has been helping, as has the knowledge that this is likely only a small bump in his usually peaceful sleeping.

He has many vocalizations now, including something that sounds like DaDaDa and lots of consonant sounds.  He squeals with greater inflection than ever and enjoys babbling with me and with the dog believe it or not (she is a very patient audience because he is usually grabbing great handfuls of fur as he "talks" to her and she doesn't mind one bit -- she is SUCH a good and gentle dog).

Although that toothless smile will soon be a thing of the past, I am still madly in love with his baby grin.  What a fun and happy baby he is!

Six Months

I can't believe it!  Our little boy is already half a year old! Where does the time go?

We went for his 6 month appointment yesterday and he is still doing great.  Developmentally, he's right where he should be, a little ahead, in fact.  For height and weight, he's still lingering in the middle of the pack.  He was 16 lbs, 10.5 oz (45th percentile), 26 3/4 inches tall (50th percentile) and his head circumference was 17 inches (50th percentile).  He jabbered away to the doctor all through the appointment along with trying to eat his stethoscope.  The only minor concern we had for the appointment was that he's had red eyes and a runny nose for a few days.  We were wondering if he had a cold, but the doc suspects it is seasonal allergies.  He told us we could give him 2 mL of Benadryl if the stuffiness is affecting his eating or sleeping.  Considering he has been waking every 40 minutes for the last week, we jumped on the opportunity to give him some Benadryl last night (everyone needed a more restful night of sleep) and he had his first full night of sleep since vacation, save for the 2 a.m. feeding we have to set the alarm clock for.

We were a little nervous about all the vaccinations (he was so mad after his 4 month appointment that he stopped eating to within an ounce of the point that we need to take him to the hospital), but he seems to have done fine this time around.  He even got a flu shot on top of all the other shots and he was still just fine.  Thank goodness!

He is officially crawling.  It started about 3 weeks ago with some partial army crawling, partial frog hopping, partial belly off the ground crawling.  It wasn't pretty, but it got him where he wanted to go with a great deal of effort.  As soon as we returned from vacation (4 days after he turned 6 months old), he had put things together into a respectable crawl -- look out world!

He can sit on his own for long stretches of time.  He's still trying to master getting from sitting to crawling, but he's getting better at it.  While we were on vacation, he tipped forward from sitting to reach for a toy and he forgot to catch himself.  His poor little face hit the hardwood floor and he cried and cried.  By the time he lifted his head from the safe comfort of my shoulder as I comforted him, there was a little trail of blood running from his nostril.  His first bloody nose.  =(  He went right back to playing after a little snuggling with Mommy, but he does seem to be being more careful when he tips forward -- thank goodness!

He's doing very well with eating.  He still takes about 32 ounces of formula per day, but it's starting to be in more 6 oz servings instead of all in 4 oz servings.  He always takes 6 ounces at bedtime, in the middle of the night and first thing in the morning.  He's taking in quite a bit of solid food at dinner, too.  He eats sweet potatoes, squash, apples, bananas and peas (he LOVES peas).  Sometimes, he'll finish an entire container in one meal, but most of the time, he only eats about half.  He also gets a few banana puffs at breakfast (mainly just to keep him busy while we eat), but although he can pick them up, he doesn't seem to want to put them in his mouth.  His older brother tried helping him the other day ("Open wide!"), but the puffs that made it into his mouth that night must not have made much of an impression on his palate because he's still not interested in putting them in his mouth.  He picks them up and throws them off his tray, much to the dog's delight.

He still loves watching his big brother and is fascinated by his red crocs shoes.  Whenever he sees them, he crawls with all his might to touch them.  He also likes his brother's trains and matchbox cars.  He also still spends a lot of time thoughtfully contemplating his opposable thumbs.  He can literally sit and stare at his fist opening and closing, and his thumb appearing and disappearing for 5 minutes at a stretch.

He's starting to be very roly poly on the changing table.  It's sometimes a miracle we can even get a diaper on him as he's tossing and turning and flipping.  He's just too busy sometimes to pause for diaper changes.

He's starting to add more vowel sounds to his babbling.  We get lots of "ahhs" and "eeeees" along with lots of happy squealing and belly laughs, but I'm also staring to hear some D sounds, which probably means this will be our second baby who says Daddy first =)

He still takes the title of the world's best baby.  He is a great sleeper, a great eater, he plays quietly and happily and he is the sweetest little snuggler.  We really are the luckiest parents to have such a good baby.  I love this little munchkin SO much!

Five Months

Taken a few days late this month, but here he is, our cute-as-a-button five month old boy!

He enjoys sucking on his toes, playing with his toys and watching everything his big brother does.  He is trying very hard to be mobile and has mastered the art of sequential rolling (he literally rolled from one side of the basement to the other, squealing the whole way the night we got home from our big road trip...I think he was happy to have some space to move around). 

He is starting to want to sleep on his side at night.  I'll put him in his jammies and his sleep sack, feed him his final bottle of the night and substitute a pacifier for his bottle once he takes the last drink.  As soon as I lay him in his crib, he spits out the pacifier, rolls onto his side, grabs a handful of sleepsack and stuffs it in his mouth.  He lulls himself to sleep by sucking on his sleep sack.  It is pretty cute.  Sometimes, he'll roll all the way over onto his belly and get upset, so I'll have to go flip him back over (he can do it himself, but I think he just gets so upset that he's no longer sucking on his jammies that he forgets to roll back over and just cries for me instead).  Once I return him to his back, he immediately rolls back onto his side and resumes sucking on his sleep sack.

He's pretty enthusiastic about his jumper lately, too.  He often jumps and squeals while I cook dinner or while I'm chasing after the little man.  Sometimes, he jumps as we're holding him.  It seems like his little legs and feet are constantly kicking and moving.  I also don't think it will be long before he starts crawling. He can push himself up on his forearms very well and has even started to get rugburn on his toes from kicking his legs so much into the carpet trying in vain to propel himself forward. He is so eager to keep up with the little man, you can just sense his determination.

He's starting to get some good torso strength and has been able to do some supported sitting. He tries to sit on his own, but he still has to use his arm to tripod himself upright and we need to stay close because he is quite tipsy.  It won't be long, though.

He has great facial expressions and he still gives us the pouty lip, Mr. Grumpy Face look from time to time, which is so so cute.  He also has an adorable sour face expression that he reserves for when i'm attempting to feed him rice cereal (he's NOT a fan).  Most of the time, we get smiles, though.  He still takes the prize as the world's best baby -- so happy, so agreeable, so snuggly.  He is a breeze to put to sleep and uber-cooperative as we wake him in the middle of the night to feed him.

He's wearing size 3 diapers now (we had several blowouts on our road trip and decided it was time to move up a size) and is still in the 3-6 month clothing, but is starting to reach the limits on some of the outfits. It won't be long before we're digging into the 6-9 month bin. 

His list of states visited has grown exponentially recently.  He now has Colorado, Michigan, Kansas, Missouri, Illinois, Ohio and Nebraska -- not bad for only being 5 months old!

It's hard to believe he has already grown and developed so much.  Time certainly does fly!

Four Months

Here is our smiley, happy guy at four months old!  Already one third of a year, so hard to believe.

We went to his four month appointment today and he is still doing great.  Developmentally, he's a little ahead and size-wize, he's making great strides.  He was 14 lbs 15 oz (50th percentile) and 25 inches tall (also 50th percentile), so he is catching up from his days in the 10th percentile.  Unfortunately, he got 4 vaccinations today, three injections and a liquid that he didn't enjoy drinking, so he was a bit unhappy, but we're glad that he continues to be strong and healthy!

Three Months

Where did LB's third month go? The days sure seem to fly around here. We’re already almost at 4 months and I still haven’t given his 3 month update! Because I am so tardy, I will include all of the things he did while he was enjoying his third month.

Month 3 was eventful…

• He now smiles, a LOT, and very socially which is tons of fun for everyone.
• He flew on an airplane for the first time, attended his first wedding, visited his first new state and his first foreign country (he has a leg-up on his big bro on this one since it was his big brother's first venture off US soil, too).
• He was finally convinced that his bouncy chair is entertaining. He can now kick and bounce with fervor instead of just looking forlornly for someone to come rescue him from the ergonomic, vibrating comfort of his seat (I kept telling him that adults would LOVE to have a bouncy seat like his).
• He experimented with new types of vocalization beyond simple cooing. He can now screech, squeal, giggle and seems to be performing some early babbling – I could have sworn he said “thank you” when I retrieved his lost pacifier a few days ago.
• He figured out how to hold onto things, his favorite objects to hold include – burp cloths (by far his favorite, he stares at any burp cloth you are holding until you actually give it to him and then he squeals as he puts it into his mouth), his ring of baby keys (I tell him they are the keys to Mommy’s heart and he smiles), his telephone rattle and his toy ball. He also really likes the grasping rings on his toy zebra and toy firefly.
• He loves to watch his big brother and he loves to fly with his Daddy. He always keeps an eye out for Mommy, though. I’m still his favorite person to snuggle with. I’m holding onto that one for as long as I can since I know how much more fun Daddies can be for little boys who like to rough-house.
• He has gained a lot of torso and leg strength as he can now bear weight on his legs (while we support him, of course) for quite a while. He often prefers to stand instead of sitting or being held.
• He became mobile. He can now roll from his back to his front…and he looks pretty darn proud of himself when he does it. The pride lasts for a few minutes before he realizes that he can’t roll back onto his back and he’s not very crazy about being on his tummy – MOMMY!! HELP ME!!
• He successfully weathered his first illness (coxsackie virus that causes hand, foot and mouth disease) without missing a beat on his feeding schedule and without needing any medical interventions -- woo-hoo! It was a mild case with only blisters on his hands and feet. The mildness of the illness was especially nice since it materialized two days before we were supposed to fly to Detroit for my brother’s wedding and we were concerned about 1) taking a sick baby on such a big trip and 2) potentially having to deal with hospitalizations in a different state. He did just fine and I feel like this gives us a little more confidence that he IS going to be a relatively normal kid.
• His food intake grew pretty steadily. He’s now up around 32 oz per day and some of those feedings are in 6 oz increments. We’ve switched to the larger bottles and to the higher flow rate nipples in response to his growing appetite.
• He continues to be a great sleeper and can fall asleep in practically any situation – noisy birthday parties, while hanging out on the bathmat as his big bro gets ready for bed, in the middle of a blanket while Mommy makes dinner (or dashes to prepare a bottle) and his big brother crashes around him with toys and books and other toddler antics. He can sleep for about a 6 hour stretch at night before we have to wake him, and most nights only involve one middle-of-the-night feeding.
• He continues to gain weight and is now sporting the 3-6 month wardrobe. The idea of hand-me-downs between the boys hasn’t been so successful thus far. Despite the fact that I packed away all of our older son's clothes as he outgrew them, the fact that he was so always so big for his age and LB is more on the small-to-average size for his age combined with the November and March birthday span has made us almost exactly one season off with clothing. I opened the 3-6 month clothing bin to find it is mostly long sleeves and cozy fleece sleepers when I really need shorts and rompers for summer. Oh well, at least he got to use the 0-3 month sizes for a while.  His brother only wore them for a few weeks before he busted into the 3-6 month sizes (as a 1 month old!).

Two Months

LB had a big day today. It was his two-month check-up! He was 11 lbs 11.5 oz (30th percentile) and 22 inches tall (10th percentile) with a 60th percentile head measurement. I was stunned. After the our older son (who was never less than 85th percentile on any measurement at any point in his life), I didn't think it was possible for us to have a 10th percentile kid. I know I shouldn't compare them because LB is completely entitled to do his own thing, but to put this in context, our older son was 21 1/4 inches tall WHEN HE WAS BORN, so this whole 10th percentile thing is a bit shocking for me. Oh well, at least he's getting use out of those 0-3 month sizes. He's also a healthy and happy little guy who is completely on track developmentally, so that's really all that we can ask for. Very thankful for that!

He is starting to do a lot more smiling and he almost has a laugh, but it's still not time for belly laughing yet (that's one of my favorite milestones). We can tell his cries apart and the cry for "feed me Mommy!" is the most emphatic, followed closely by the cry for "you have no idea how messy my diaper is right now Mommy!" He loves looking at the toys hanging from the shelf over his changing pad and the animal mobile hanging over his crib and he sometimes cries when you take him away from those spots when he isn't ready to leave. Sleeping is one of his favorite things to do, especially when he's in Mommy's arms for a nap. He's also a champion eater and usually packs away somewhere just shy of 30 oz of formula in a day (in 3-4 oz increments about every 2 hours during the day and about every 4 hours at night). We can now set the alarm for 4.5 hours at night based on his weight of a little over 5 kg (we could probably go for 5 hours, but we are trying to remain conservative just to be on the safe side).

Here are some pics of our big (in heart) little guy...

One Month

It has been one month since LB joined our family...and what an eventful month it has been! We've had our share of hurdles -- both hurdles typical to those anyone would encounter as a newborn enters your life and a few unique ones on top of that because of his MCADD -- but, all in all, it has been a great first month.

We are so fortunate that LB is such a happy and cooperative baby. He likes to sleep, which is great. He must be doing lots of growing to always be so sleepy. He is starting to show some interest in toys and especially in the mobile over his crib. He gets very excited when the music plays and the animals dance around as he gazes up at them. He also likes to watch his big brother, which is fun for us to watch. He was laying on his quilt today and our older son was playing near him, sort of near his head.  LB practically rolled over since he was looking over the top of his head trying to keep an eye on his big brother.

LB has also been very tolerant of all of the affection bestowed upon him by his brother. He is the lucky recipient of many exuberant kisses and an endless supply of toys to play with. His big brother absolutely loves him and is the proudest big brother in town.

Husband and I are also adjusting pretty well to being the parents of two little boys. We go to bed tired at night, that's for sure, and we also go to bed feeling incredibly blessed. The fun is just beginning!