10 Months

The months go by so fast, and yet are so full! I still can't believe that G's birthday is just around the corner and am not sure where that tiny newborn has gotten to. We had our first experience with G bringing home a bug from daycare. Apparently one child showed up and seemed fine, then started throwing up. By the end of the day, every child but Grayson had gone home sick, and 3 of the teachers had it too. We thought he had somehow escaped getting sick, but after one of the largest dinners he's ever had, we were woken up around 2 am by him throwing up. It was all over him and all over the crib and he was understandably miserable. So we changed the crib and changed him and tried to give him some milk, but he promptly threw that up too. So we just rocked him and soothed him and got him back down again. We thought it had run its course and headed down to Coronado to meet a family friend for the weekend. Unfortunately, he was still sick and couldn't seem to keep milk down, and we ended up getting it on Saturday. Both of us were feeling fine that morning and had gone out to a nice lunch, but by the evening were violently ill. James said he's never been that sick, and let me tell you, when both you and your partner are this sick, taking care of a 9 month old is almost impossible. We could barely move ourselves from the couches and just wished we were home. James felt better by Sunday night, but my nausea hung around for a full week and I ended up having to get an anti-nausea pill in order to keep food down. My mom was a lifesaver and came down to help us with G, which was wonderful. All in all, all the kids in the infant centre got sick, 4 teachers caught it, 2 parents and 1 sibling, who then passed it on to the preschool. Nasty stuff.

We went to my friend's son's first birthday party, which was fun. G got to see a little boy around his own age (he's surrounded by girls!) and got to ride on a pony for the first time. He was more interested in the ribbon he pulled off the pony's mane, but he seemed to enjoy it. Our swim lessons got off whack because of the stomach bug, but we're back to trying to get him into a lesson a week, but because you can only schedule makeups 6 days in advance, and since it's summer, they're usually full by then. Someone has offered us the use of their pool, and since we know the general pattern of the classes, we're thinking when the classes run out, we might just go by their pool weekly for a bit. We're working on getting back into our routine, but I've had some doctor's appointments and PT too. I'm finally trying to do something about my kidney stones and had a CT scan yesterday. We also went to a family reunion, and my parents flew in for a day to come. Unfortunately, we ended up having to leave after dropping my parents off at the airport. I wish we could've gone back, but G was at that sleepy but still fussy state and had been for over an hour. It turns out he had a very high fever (101.9 with tylenol) and the next morning he had one tooth broken through and two other buds visible that hadn't been there before! He's been iffy about food lately, but I can't blame him.

In other BIG news, we got a new car! We knew that we would eventually need a bigger car; between a car seat and the dog's kennel, they take up the entire backseat and our trunks are full of luggage when we travel. There would've been no room for a second baby (eventually). So we'd been looking at third row SUVs since I was pregnant and had been seriously considering the Hyundai Santa Fe or the Highlander. However, we found a used GMC Acadia that was a really good deal and ended up bringing it home yesterday! So now, the Acadia is my car, and James has my old Matrix. He has been wearing me down to that idea for a long time. We ended up with a spectacular deal since the original person we were working with was an a** to us, and we sent a letter to the general manager about our treatment; they ended up being very accommodating in trying to make it right. It's crazy...I feel so tall, but it's a lovely car. It has leather seats, heated seats, second row bucket seats, a third row, a sun roof over the front seat and middle seat, a USB port for my iPod (vital), bluetooth connectivity for my phone and all sorts of gadgets I'm not used to. One of the coolest things is that it has remote start, so when I pick G up from the infant centre, I can start the car and cool it down so it's not so beastly hot when we put him in! It's a very dark blue that looks like black out of the sun, but I can deal with that. It's really exciting! And I ended up getting the finance guy to give us an even better deal than we had originally expected! James says I have "stealth negotiating skills," I say he felt sorry for me since G wouldn't hold still and even bit the ear off his squishy pig lol.

G:
-18 lb, 2 oz and 27 inches tall at his last checkup (7/22)
-gives big, wet, sloppy, open-mouthed kisses! Really, it's more like he's mouthing you, but it's adorable to watch him lean forward tp give you a kiss
-pushed into a crouch on his feet for the first time (7/22)
-started consistently crawling forward, though with one leg bent in
-pulled himself to standing on the baby gate! (7/30)
-consistently pulls to standing on anything he can, including mom
-is obsessed with opening and closing doors (the bathrooms doors, the fridge, the kennel, cabinets)
-started clapping! Especially when music comes on or he is particularly happy
-had his first pony ride's at a friend's son's first birthday party. He was far more interested in the ribbon he pulled out of the pony's mane...
-puts EVERYthing in his mouth
-has 3 new teeth. The two incisor on the bottom are coming through, and the upper left as well
-tried more new foods: bananas, avocados, nectarines, mangoes, watermelon, asparagus, cheddar cheese, rice, potato soup, a bite or two of chicken
-loves his red bell peppers mixed with rice and adores blueberry waffles

Little Moments:
-We fed G a green bean one night and he ate it. We took him for his bath and got him into his pyjamas and I was feeding him his last bottle and noticed he was gagging a little. I sat him up and saw something green in his mouth. It was the green bean, the insides eaten out, still in his mouth an hour later!! He must store food in his cheeks like a chipmunk or something. Then I laughed and that started a chain reaction of giggles :)
-Crawled into the kitchen and dumped the dog's water bowl onto the floor. Then he preceded to flop on his stomach in the puddle and try to swim. He spent 10 minutes playing in the water before he lost interest and I cleaned it up.
-G was super tired, but just wouldn't go down for a nap; he was far more interested in crawling around. He would drag himself onto the dog's bed and flop down like he was going to sleep. He would also crawl into the kennel and do this--too freaking adorable!
-I think what melts my heart the most is when he crawls into my lap and puts his head down on my chest. It's always when he's tired, and he never actually stays there, but it's still too adorable.

My beautiful boy!

9 Months

[And I managed to get this up within a week!! Woot!]

How did 9 months go by so quickly? We've had a busy month! We got to go out to the movies while we had a sitter one night and saw "Now You See Me," which was really good, with an unexpected twist at the end that I really enjoyed. I've been moving forward with physical therapy for my hip, though some days it feels like it hasn't done much good. She's mostly focusing on strengthening my stomach in order to keep my hip from continuing to pull out. G and I went to story time at the library and I made a mommy friend, who set up a play date with some other moms--it was a lot of fun and I got to meet some more moms who have kids close in age. Before that, we had our frst play date with someone close in age: G's cousin, who is only 4 days younger than him! The moms had a good time too, sitting in a park and talkin while the babies played. G had his last GI appointment, where everything was pronounced OK, and it does seem like it is getting better. Hopefully, this pattern continues, though he still gets pretty red in the face sometimes and you can tell he's not comfortable. I'm hoping that will resolve itself too. Our trip to Florida was definitely the highlight of the month though, so bear with me for a longer paragraph:

The flights out there went great. Even though the TSA threw away my ice packs from his milk since they weren't frozen (seriously) and I had to use ice from a restaurant, tied into one of their gloves to keep the milk cold. G slept the entirety of the flights and had no problems. When we got to Panama City, it was raining. And it continued for the next two days. There were flash floods and they cancelled the Fourth of July fireworks for the first time anyone could remember, having them on July 6th instead, which meant G got to see them. He was so entranced. Luckily, the sun came out for the baptism and even though we were late due to a boat emergency, the baptism went well. I am so grateful to all the people who made it happen, even shuttling people over and back from the island on their boats. G dipped his head back into the water on his own and my mom's homily was lovely. The outfit she made for him was great too! I loved it and I hope it becomes an heirloom for our family. G had an absolute blast swimming: in the bay, in the Gulf, in the pool at the condo, that kid just adores being in the water. James and I got burned pretty badly, but G was greased up really well. We got to go out to the island again with my parents and I even bought something off the ice cream boat (yes it's real, and I've never even had an ice cream from a truck before!) The condo we were in the last few days was great: right on the Gulf and the pool to swim in too. I ventured back into the Gulf after my first terrible experience in 2007 with a jellyfish, but had no problems this time. The company was, of course, fantastic. It was great to see James' family and wonderful to have my parents there with us. We had plenty of people to watch G which meant we could sleep, and we did a pretty good job of exhausting him most days, even though his schedule completely went out the window (and he started sleeping in a crib!!). James' brother even watched him so we could take his parents to see Despicable Me 2 (his dad loves the minions) which was just as cute as the first one. And the food! J. Michael's, Salty Sue's, Bonefish Grill, Gracie Rae's, Newk's and fresh, fresh seafood: shrimp, baked oysters, crawfish, gumbo, etoufee, shrimp J Michael, buffalo shrimp panini, bang bang shrimp, crab soups, I could go on. I want to live there simply for the seafood. The flights home were a bit more rough: G was so exhausted that he was extremely fussy, though he did sleep a bit. The TSA agent who examined the milk didn't close up the ziploc bags properly, so milk spilled into the cooler, soaked through and saturated my diaper bag, which was a God-awful mess to clean up. There was a woman who was removed from one of our flights (thank goodness) for a yapping dog that wouldn't calm down (I feel so bad for that poor dog, he sounded terrified). But, we got home safely and that's the main thing. A big thanks to Chris and Laura for driving us out to LAX and picking us up---we really appreciate it. And another thanks to Jenn for looking after Moose and Pip, watering the plants and taking in the mail. A very successful, fun trip for sure, but it was nice to be home again.

I've had a pretty good month aside from our vacation too. James and I had our 3 year anniversary, which is hard to believe. I got my hair done after 6 months of having not done it. It was so nice to relax at the salon, and it felt great to have my hair looking right: no split ends and finally the correct red again. I also got to reconnect with some of my sorority sisters at Mimi's one night which was a blast! Better than therapy, I'm telling you! I'm starting to wean off pumping. While we were in Florida, I dropped to pumping twice a day, which is making life a lot easier. I had one blocked duct one morning, but no problem since I resolved that. I'm slowly weaning down my time too. I dropped from 20 minutes to 17, now I'm down to 15, the I'll drop to 12, 10, 8 and finally 5 minutes, which I'll do for a week. But in a little more than two weeks, I should be completely done pumping! It's exciting and I'm thrilled since pumping has always been painful, but it's also causing some anxiety about whether I have enough milk saved up, etc. I've already dipped into my December stash and used up all of November's, though there was very little frozen from those months. I'm trying not to worry since it's so silly, and I'm so grateful I was able to have such a freezer stash and make more than enough milk to feed my boy, but sometimes it still makes me worry.

The rundown: Grayson:
-"jumped" off the side of the pool into it
-had his first real play date with his cousin, who is only 4 days younger than him
-has his two upper front teeth coming in
-saw his first fireworks, had his first boat ride and swam in the bay and the Gulf
-was baptised on Shell Island in Florida on July 7
-scootches himself around on his butt, all over the floor
-said "Dada" on July 8
-said "Mama" on July 9
          (I am sure that he doesn't realize he was calling either of us by name, but he is saying them nonetheless!)
-loves to eat: green beans (unpureed), peas, toast, soup, yogurt, pancakes, eggs (just a bite when we were out), rice, potatoes (includes french fries occasionally), red bell peppers, zucchini (mixed with oatmeal since it is very watery), apples, pears and blueberries (especially mixed with yogurt).

Little Moments:
-Scootched himself over to the clean laundry basket and started pulling all of James' clean, folded boxers out, one by one.
-He figured out how to show his whale bath toy in the drain to plug it up to "save" the water. He then proceeded to start messing with the actual toggle for the drain. Smart boy!
-Instead of using his hands, he decided to go bobbing for toast on his placemat.
-Falling asleep propped up on my legs. My legs were extremely sore by the time he woke up, but he was just too darn cute
-Waking up from his nap on daddy, looking over at me with a giant smile and then conking his head back into dad's chest
-We took ourselves out to lunch and G woke up, so we gave him a french fry since we had no "real" baby food handy. He proceeded to squish it into his hand and tried to rub it all over the seat, the back of the booth and into daddy's shirt/beard.
-Baby breath. It's the most amazing smell ever.

Still won't sit up for a photo! 7/14

Trying to crawl on the couch! 7/14

8 Months

It's been a pretty good month. I know I haven't updated for a while, but I am horrible about uploading pictures. In fact, we didn't even get the official 7 month picture on the couch. Whoops. It's been busy though. My mom came and visited after Mother's Day, and she was able to see his first food, which he had after his doctor's appointment exactly on his 7 month birthday. It's been going ok, but there have been some challenges. Hopefully this will clear up. I'm trying to make all our own food, and thanks to a shower gift, it is so simple! We just cut up the veggies, add water, press the timer button and the machine steams and purees the food. Then we put it in a silicone brownie mold and freeze it into cubes. So far, he likes his oatmeal, carrots and sweet potatoes. Rice cereal is snubbed, as are green beans (I think it's the texture) and peas. I'm going to try the peas again, pureeing them smoother. He liked the broccoli but it gave him horrible gas and resulted in some sleepless, painful nights, so we'll avoid that. Up next are fruits, so I'm hoping those go better.

After G's swim class on the 24th, we drove up to Walnut Creek to surprise my mom as a late birthday present. Dad was my co-conspirator and the drive went pretty well. We left around noon and got there at 7:40. Dad said he'd make sure they were home by 8, but they got held up, so we ended up waiting for them in the house. Dad didn't see my creepy text of "We're in the house," so he was freaked out when he saw us hiding, but we were able to really surprise mom!! She screamed, she was so surprised. Unfortunately, it was waaay past G's bedtime and he'd been stuck in a car all day, so he started crying at that point. It was so nice to be up there and see them, and because of Memorial Day, we didn't have to leave until Monday.

I went to physical therapy for my hip this month too. Apparently, my hips are tilted out of alignment. My therapist said this is common with young, "hypermobile" women who have given birth/been pregnant. She was able to give me some exercises and is confident we can fix it. It's still hurting a bit every now and then, but going well. I'm not allowed to go to dance for a while though, and I have to wait for my therapist to give me the ok to go to the gym. I am over 10 lbs below my pre-pregnancy weight though so I'm thrilled (only about 10 more to go!) I've also been dealing with a bout of kidney stones, but can't take any pain medications for it since I'm still pumping. In other health-related news, I had a rough weekend in terms of clumsiness: I bonked my head on the table when picking something up off the floor, slammed my hip into the bedframe, stubbed both my feet into the playard at different times breaking my left pinky toe, slammed my finger down on an open staple and ran both knees into the door of the dog kennel, scraping them up. This was followed up by running into a door frame and scratching my arm, and stubbing my broken toe 3 more times during the week. Oy vey.

My birthday was this month too. I'm now officially in my late 20's, having hit 26 this year. Eeek. James took me trampolining and we went out for drinks and appetizers and a sushi dinner. It was fantastic, and a good friend of ours watched G. It was great. However, he has not been sleeping too well lately. I don't know if it's his tummy or that he's just used to getting up multiple times at night, but there have been a few nights that I've stayed up with him on the couch and he (meaning I) has (have) only slept about an hour, all in 10 minute spurts. Luckily, the past two nights have been great, so I'm hoping it's the beginning of a trend. Though I hope he goes down a little easier than last night, which was an absolute fight. I think he gets more tired now since he's started going to the Infant Center all day when I work now. He's just too active and gets bored at work with me, and this results in screaming, which is not conducive to working on the phone. But he loves it there, and now that he's going all day, he's actually happy to see us when we pick him up and reaches out for me *heart melts*!

In other news, I just have to share the weirdest thing from yesterday. I was driving to work, and as I came up on an intersection, there was a car crawling through it. I figured it was an older person driving super slow (happens a lot here), but when the car just stopped in the middle of the intersection, I decided to go around it. There was no one in the car!! So I pulled over and called the police to report it since it was causing a fair bit of confusion at the intersection. Chapman's wonderful Public Safety came up and knocked on my window when I was pulled over; I can only assume that since I had my flashers on, they thought I was involved, but I was on the phone reporting it at the time. It was gone by lunchtime, but I'm super curious about what it was all about.

G:
-Has had rice cereal, oatmeal, carrots, sweet potatoes, green beans, broccoli and peas. He does not like the green veggies.
-Is starting to paddle with his arms at swim class and doing great with putting his head under. One teacher told me he's really advanced for his age (this simply means he's not screaming when I take him in the water). He's now a "guppy" and in the intermediate level
-Is really starting to "walk" when supported. Actually, it's more like a waddle
-Watches Sprout while I pump. He really likes Story Train and Poppy Cat and Caillou (such a whiny voice...). It actually lets me pump without tantrum-level screaming. Or at least for the most part...
-Is starting to lift his belly off the ground, get on his hands and knees and scoot backward! This usually results in crying because he really wants to go forward.
-Held his bottle, tipping it up enough to actually drink from it on his own!
-Loves a wooden spoon and a box more than any other toy
-Loves the puffs and baby mum mums
-Shakes his head no all the time! Sassy boy.

Little Moments:
-James will hold G on his shoulders, which allows G perfect access to suck on his hair. Since we're pretty sure he's teething again, this results in a lot of drool and James having to wash his head :)
-May 28: An hour and a half long nap in the recliner with G asleep on my chest. Best nap ever
-G trying to play "Boo!" with James by hiding his face in James' chest,then popping up too look at him, after James boos him first
-James asked G if he wanted James to come visit at daycare before he left for lunch, and G shook his head emphatically!
-Bathing him in the sink in Coronado, and watching him try to catch the water from the faucet, or save it from going down the drain
-When he's tired and "conks" his head against you. This is the adorable head drop/snuggle, not the screaming headbutt that almost splits your lip.
-This might be horrible, but I feel a little leap of happiness when he fusses when I leave him at daycare. He used to not even notice that I was gone, but now he notices and he reaches out for me when I pick him up. So sweet.
-He pushes himself up onto his knees, lifting his tummy off the floor and kinda rocks back and forth. He ends up going backwards, but it's so cute!

Won't hold still for a photo anymore :)

Goals

Here are my goals for the next few months:

1) To update the monthly blog post within a week of the 14th, complete with photos!

2) One other blog post per month, going back to the roots: recipe, craft project or book review

3) I am currently 10 lb less than my pre-pregnancy weight, but still 10-15 above my goal weight. By October, I'd like to have lost at least 10 of those pounds. This should involve exercising as soon as the PT gives her ok (This means dance one night a week, plus a least two other trips to the gym for at least 30 min on the elliptical, working up to an hour)

4) Choose at least one new recipe per month and make it, taking pictures along the way and posting. Work up to one new recipe a week.

5) Choose at least one craft project per month and FINISH it. (Take progress pictures if possible!)

6) Unpack the boxes in the bedroom and get that bathroom up to scruff by September 1

7) By November 1, unpack and paint the middle bedroom, reorganizing and setting up the crafting area

8) Floss nightly

Supposedly, telling other people your goals can help keep you accountable to them, so hopefully this will help me actually accomplish these things! I'll keep you updated with how these goals are doing. They aren't going to be the easiest things or me right now, but I'm going to try to stick to them. Plus, I LOVE crossing things off a to do list (I even add things after I do them just to cross them off. Example: shower or brush teeth) 

7 Months

Apparently I'm just as bad as keeping up with this for G as I was when I was pregnant.

G is 7 months! I can't believe how quickly time has gone. He has had his two tests done: an upper barium GI and a lower GI barium enema. The latter was the least fun for us since the poor guy was not too happy about it. The doctor said there was nothing structurally wrong, which is great because it means no surgery. It's kinda tough too because it means we don't know what's going on yet. However, it seems to have gotten a bit better, even if he's still not sleeping through the night again yet. The doctor gave us the go ahead to start solid foods (rice cereal, oatmeal, orange/yellow veggies, green veggies, fruits) and hopefully that will help with his tummy troubles. Either way, I'm really looking forward to starting solid foods with him! He'll have another doctor's appointment in 6 weeks and we'll get the results of the 20 or so stool samples they're testing for everything under the sun.

I'm doing alright. G decided to share his cold with me for Mother's Day, which hasn't been pleasant. My mom came out for a few days, which has been great. It's so helpful to have someone else around, and definitely helps my sanity to have another adult to speak to throughout the day. Plus, I hate cleaning pump parts, so getting a break from that is always nice. Though I'm below my pre-pregnancy weight, my body seems to have morphed into a different shape, so nothing fits correctly. Mom took me shopping for some new clothes that I feel like I can actually go out in (a real bra helps with that too) so I'm feeling a lot better about how I look, even if I don't normally get makeup on my face...or a shower. (Ah, motherhood).

We still have a lot left to do with the house. There are still boxes in the middle bedroom, and that room needs to be painted. Plus, I have to put my clothes up--they're currently sitting folded at the foot of the bed. There's also a few bathroom boxes in our bedroom and I really need to organize the bathroom and the kitchens. But, the big kitchen has a new gas stove!! We found a deal on Craigslist and it's been fantastic! It actually cooks things correctly and quickly and it's so much bigger--our pots and pans actually fit! Plus it has a double oven, so if we host Thanksgiving there (or anything with a baked dessert and a baked entree) it'll be great! I love it! And removing that part of the cabinetry to make room for it left room to put the trash can in the kitchen and makes it look so much nicer!

G:
-Loves being sung "Head and Shoulders, Knees and Toes," especially when I get to the "nose" part and grab his nose! Then we sing it backward! (toes, knees, shoulders, head)
-Thinks having the blanket float down over his face then whipped up again is hilarious
-Can hold himself up on the coffee table
-Is sitting up with very few topples
-May possibly be teething again (ear tugging and drool again)
-Can take steps when you help him stand up!!!
-Is rolling onto his tummy if he sleeps in his crib (cue the panicked checking on him every 5 minutes--back into the car seat we go)
-LOVES the water! He even got his head all the way under in his first swim class and has started kicking! He also now splashes in his bathtub (I'm sure James is thrilled about this)
-Is really trying to crawl, but would rather "walk"
-Babbles almost all the time. Still mostly "bababa" and "vavava" or "fafafa" with a lot of raspberries blown and "mmmmm" and "aaah" as well. Especially during the hymns at church

Best Moments:
-G falling asleep on me. I know this will eventually come to an end, and probably sooner rather than later, so I'm appreciating every little nap.
-Playing with G on the floor and watching his face light up when he makes his toy make noise
-Playing our "falling" game and hearing him laugh and laugh
-Watching him get this big grin on his face when his Daddy comes home

Yummy Oatmeal! (5/18/13)

I love the outdoors! (5/29/13)

6 Months

The 6 month post has been waylaid by G's tummy troubles. A week after Easter, we noticed that G was having some issues with bowel movements. As in, they weren't happening. I had read that it's pretty normal for little ones to go a few days between and decided not to worry about it. But it continues for about two weeks, and his 6 month birthday was coming up. We were so excited to start solid food with him, but I was worried because he often seemed in pain after eating, was throwing up about half of what he ate (even hours after eating) and was still having trouble going to the bathroom. When we called the nurse on his 6 month birthday, she recommended going to the ER. What happened with the doctor (and I use that term loosely) at CHOC's emergency department is another post in itself, but suffice it to say that despite having blood in his stool, since he looked happy at the time, we were sent home being told that the ultrasound showed an intussusception that wasn't treatable and it was probably a milk allergy, so I should cut out all dairy. We saw the pediatrician the next day who said the doctor was crazy and I could have dairy. What had happened with the ultrasound was that they found an intussusception (telescoping of the bowel that can cause blockage) but that it had cleared itself up as they watched. When pushed, we got a referral to a GI specialist, who has been fantastic. Not only did she believe us, but she listened to us and understood why we were concerned. She said it sounded like a recurring intussusception and ordered two tests to see if there was a lead point (something that the bowel was catching, causing the telescoping). This is kinda getting into 7 month territory, but G had the upper GI/small bowel test, where they feed him a barium bottle and then took x-rays to check for "structural anomalies," but it came back negative. This is good news, but also kinda bad because this means he needs the next test, which is a barium enema. That's scheduled for next week, and hopefully we will get some answers after that when we see the specialist again. For now, he's getting milk of magnesia every morning and pedialyte along with milk. He's eating much less than normal, and hearing him cry in pain and not being able to do anything about it is completely heartbreaking.
This has also resulted in a sleeping problem. Due to either pain or hunger (from not getting enough calories during the day) G has started waking up multiple times at night. We gave up the car seat, because it seemed to make him hurt more; maybe your bowels get all squished together when sitting asleep? He is now in the crib, but the constant waking is starting to wear on James and me. Although, it is pretty funny when you wake up to see him scootched all the way to the bottom corner of the crib, fall asleep and wake up again to see him turned 180 degrees around at the top of the crib. Still not sure how he did that. This has also led to a bit of co-sleeping. If he wakes around 4:30 (usually the 2nd or 3rd time, and he's already been fed), I pull him into bed with us, putting him on his back between me and James, moving the pillow far away, pushing the blankets off of me (brrrr) and not really sleeping, but dozing. This actually works like a charm and allows all 3 of us to get a bit more rest, even if I'm always at the edge of wakefulness.

G:
-is super interested in our food--grabbing our bottles, glasses, and forks. He tried o grab the communion bread from my hand, and even hooked the chalice at church
-can roll to get around, belly to back and back to belly
-can sit unassisted for 1+ minutes
-got his first two teeth at the beginning of April! Both bottom ones came in at once
-has started to grasp the idea of creeping along--he is able to move  little, but usually just kicks his legs and then gets frustrated when he doesn't move closer to the toy
-babbles and talks to us, usually just variations of "aah," but sometimes "ba" or "va"
-is standing up like crazy, even able to hold himself up on the coffee table for a bit
-can pick up pretty much anything
-is throwing things. Watching mommy and daddy pick up his toys 58 times in 5 minutes must be very amusing

Best Moments:
-Any time he falls asleep on me is a best moment. He really is a sweetheart
-James was holding him and Pippin brought G her toy. Usually she likes to tug on it, but as soon as he grabbed it, she let go and waited for him to "throw" it
-When he's getting sleepy for a nap, he will turn his head and burrow into my chest/armpit, which is pretty much the most adorable thing ever
-Running out of room in the freezer because I have so much milk in it. Seriously, we just plugged in the third fridge in the garage so I can store some milk there. As soon as he's eating solids, I'm going to wean off pumping (which btw, does anyone know how to wean when you're EPing?)
-Being back below my pre-pregnancy weight! Woot! Now, on to the pre San Diego weight...maybe I will keep pumping for another ten pounds lol
-His screeching laugh when he sees Daddy or the dogs or gets his diaper changed or is playing peekaboo
-The totally out of it look he has for the first 10 minutes or so after waking up
-Being able to calm him down just by singing to him

What a ham! 6 months, starting month 7!

5 Months

We've had a busy month! Doctor's appointments, "play dates" for Mommy, the house got tented, a surprise trip to see Grandma and Gaga, and  the Great Big Sea concert! The concert was so much fun!! They even put up the picture of me, James and G at the beach during "Good People!" It was fun to see ourselves on the screen, but it was an odd venue as it was a dinner show, which discouraged people standing/dancing (at least in the dinner section). G got the good health sign from the pediatrician, who told us that his not rolling over/sitting up/gross motor skills are more personality based and nothing to worry about, he would do it when he wanted to. We left the office after his shots and I turned to James and said "Did the doctor just call him lazy?" (I was kidding! But that's what it sounded like).

As for our trip up north--what an ordeal! But a fun one! We wanted to leave at 11 pm on Thursday night, so we would arrive before my dad left for work Friday morning. Well, that didn't really happen since we were so busy double-bagging food and removing the potted plants, G's mattress and the dog stuff from the house. Instead we left at 1 am. It was raining; a big winter storm had just blown in. When we got to Castaic, we found out the Grapevine was closed due to snow. Well, the alternate route was open, but it was snowing. And we got lost. And it was SNOWING. A LOT. I woke up a few times and freaked out--"James! Don't slow down! The snow will pile up and we'll get stuck and have to eat each other!" J:"Go back to sleep, honey." *rolls eyes*. It's California...it's not supposed to snow. Anyways, it was so heavy, we ended up going about 20 mph behind a big rig in order to safely stay on the road. It took us TWELVE hours to get up north. We did go to Mom's office and surprised her, especially since we'd just called (to find out where she was since she wasn't home) and then trooped over to the city to surprise my Dad, who didn't see us walk in so we yelled "Surprise!" at his back! They were both super excited and had had no idea we were coming! :D James is sneaky! We had dinner in the city, drove along the Embarcadero to see the bridge all lit up (very cool) and headed home. Mom and I got to go shopping the next day, Dad got sent home from work early to spend time with us and we got to have all of Sunday together too. James and I headed out around 2 on Monday and got home by 9, with many diaper change and feeding stops and hours of crying. G was up way past his bedtime since we went to a friend's birthday party after getting home. Despite not doing his routine, he was pretty good and had crashed hard by the time we got home around 11, not even waking up during the diaper change, pyjamas and swaddle. He even "slept in" until 8 am the next morning!

G:
-can roll from his tummy to his back easily. Tummy time is now nearly impossible
-sticks everything within reach into his mouth. This includes the diaper wipe container and even dirty diapers if you don't move them far away enough
-is very interested in our food. He's already tried grabbing my spoon and fork on two separate occasions
-pets the dogs. Well, only Moose sits still long enough to be pet
-stands pretty steadily for a few minutes at a time, holding onto your fingers
-has got quite a grip on him!
-can "hold" onto his bottle, although he doesn't understand how to tip it up
-sits up, holding himself with his arms. He still tips sideways pretty fast though
-"turns" the pages of his bedtime story
-loves being held up in the air
-loves being sung to, especially "shake my sillies out" with head-shaking motions
-knows Mommy and Daddy, and knows when they're not there (just ask Chris and Laura, who experienced him freaking out at bedtime because they weren't us!)
-knows his name!
-smiles with a face full of pure joy. I never want to forget his smiles

Best Moments:
-Sitting at night and reading "Goodnight Moon," and watching him turn the page, even when it takes him some time
-I know I'm supposed to put him down awake, but there have been a few times when he's fallen asleep on me, and then James comes in and we're both asleep in the glider
-Watching him trying to figure out how to roll back to tummy is amazing! He arches his back, turns his head, gets both arms on one side and tries to push with his feet. It's just astounding watching figure this stuff out
-Bouncing him on my knee and humming "William Tell Overture" and having him laugh at me after each phrase

5 months old, starting month 6!