6 months this Friday!

Today we are 97th percentile for weight, so we need to keep watching our foodies! :) More tummy time, doctors orders--but aren't we cute? We love eating and everyone is helping me not each too much. I can almost pull myself up now and try to stand. I love laughing and making funny faces. I haven't quite figured out this bouncer, but we're on our way! I still love to read and just started picking things up and putting them in my mouth--but with both hands, yay!  PS - I have insane focus and still maintain my vulcan grip :).

Then.. some photos from our first day with snow! 

Playing with Miss Olivia!

First T-Day 2009

(Thanks for the pix everyone!)

Back up to Bmore for a family Thanksgiving. It was so fun to watch Sean interacting with his cousin Jake and all of the family. Even at 5 1/2 months I can see him watch Jake and begin to imitate. We had a blast.

He's still quite the novice on the jumper, but its cute to watch him hang there and look at everyone. Little by little he'll figure it out. He jumps like crazy in the exersaucer and I'm already seeing some serious muscles in those little thighs, serious thighs of steel. I am so glad we bought this jumper he loves it, he's figuring it out little by little - Evenflo, Jump 'N Go (great for traveling!)

Happy Birthday Mom!

It's true. On days like today is when we miss you most Mom.

Sean is doing a whole list of new things. He's just starting to really sit-up by himself. He falls over, but he tries. He's on whole solid foods now and eats a small solid with his bottle at breakfast, lunch and sometimes dinner with us in his big boy baby chair. :) His fingers are constantly in his mouth so little hands are always being washed. He loves sitting in his bouncer and on the couch propped up (of course, hates lying down) holding a book and staring at it for, minutes. :) My only fear has been little itty baby paper cuts, but thankfully we have soft books too. His little giggles have become more playful and goes into fits of laughter usually around dinner time when we see him in the evening. He knows when Daddy (or Baba) is coming home b/c he clearly looks at the door in anticipation--this I'm sure of now. The other day it was so funny, I looked down at him and he had one eyebrow raised. I said to him, how did you figure out how to do that? But he had and it was adorable--I wanted to share it with you so much. I thought of you so much last night in anticipation of today, so I just held Sean close and had some quiet time with him thinking of you.

Happy Birthday Mom, love ya--miss you!
Love, Nikki

Getting Bored! At 5 months?!?!?

Shopping for baby toys is fun, especially when you bring your child to the flu invested Toys R Us. :) So in my effort to try to remember all the details of Sean, well as much as I can blog about.... here's another.

Last week I brought Sean over to get a few presents for other little friends and for the first time I think he recognized not where he was, but what he was surrounded by. It was adorable, aside from the coughing kids running past. I was also on the hunt for anything new for little man. I gave him a little book to look at and he played with it the entire time, yep, I had to buy it. :) He loves it a book that sings some of the most common nursery rhymes, he likes to just keep turning the pages for now, but he seems really into it. At some point, he'll remember the words, right? :)

So Sean... at 5 months... gets bored. I never thought a 5 month old would get bored but he does. I've seen him give a few deep sighs and its clear he gets bored. He smiles after when you smile at him, but yes he gets bored. He'll give us the loud grunting, back arched pick me up noises if it gets bad--which does  happen.

I was on the hunt for a few things, including something to help him when he doing tummy time, which he needs more of. He can hold his head up and is beginning to start to sit on his own. If you say "Up, up, up" he knows what's going on and gets all excited. Sits up, then falls over, but it's so cute. He hates lying on his back, hates it doesn't want to be put on his back not even for a change-unless he's being entertained. :) He has definitely passed the 'I can just sit and smile' phase and now holds toys with both hands, examining everything. Toys have been thrown, he's figuring things out pretty quick.

One little toy, thanks Aunt Jo, which has been a huge saving grace at dinner, while he's doing tummy time, while he's getting changed has been this bad boy--he loves it. The Fisher Price Snail. I picked up this little snake thing, from amazon, which has been the new toy to examine while he's doing tummy time. Lamaze makes it. We're also at the mouth stage too. Everything goes in, almost everything. He takes the worm and sits on it, examines it, shakes it, eats it. It's hilarious.

Finally Momma cracked and bought the one item everyone seems to brag about, the Sophie the Giraffe teething doll. It's essentially a dog-like squeezy toy (which does not taste good, so wash it often) but he loves it. Teething may have begun, it's hard to tell. Everyone just says 'oh yeah he's teething' when they see the fist in mouth and the drool--who knows. But this little guy has come in real handy, takes it everywhere.

On of the biggest most helpful toys, is this one--the Bright Starts Hop Along Carrier Toy Bar. That's a mouthful. He has yet to get tired of it and it's always there to play with in his carseat. My only concern, is at night when he's in the car the lights that light up are really close to his face when they flash I wonder how good that is... but he loves it. Those are just some of the things he loves! Other Sean updates--officially can't stand his paci, doesn't even want it at bedtime unless he's overly tired. Eats rice cereal like its his job 2-3 times a day mixed with a variety of things we've tried. Aunt Jo made a good recommendation, so I bought two sweet potatoes, made a puree and stuck it in some Tupperware and its lasted the week so far. Loves them.

2 minutes to 5 months

Tomorrow Sean will be 5 months old. It's shocking how fast time flies and even more shocking how much he has grown. I'm so in love with our little boy. He's the most amazing thing in our lives.

All things Sean

A fun video of Sean on his fancy Exersaucer - which he loves! Video here

So, size 3 I just can't believe it. Sean is just shy of 19lbs.. and it's time we moved onward and upward to size 3 diapers--shocking. We got a few free ones from a neighbor, and it's true--it's been true for some time.

What this means is we need to say bye-bye to the cutesy little Pampers Swaddlers! I'm so sad, they treated us well--never leaked, always so soft and did their jobs...so cute with the little Elmo's. Sigh. (Unless they read the blogs and want to start making them in size 3's?) Sniffle, sniffle.

So many people claim Target have great store brand items now. I'm curious about these "Target up and up diapers", at 14 cents a diaper, I'm intrigued. It may have to happen, and soon.

He is grabbing things, holding things with his vulcan grip. He still pinches the underside of arm, really hard to tell me he's hungry. That little trick hasn't ceased I'm sorry to say. :)

We're 2 weeks shy of 5 months old, he's so fun. He definitely knows who people are now by looking at them. He's figured out how to throw things within his crib which makes for funtimes on the baby monitor. Which, by the way we could not live without (still). There was an email going around on which one is best thru one of the Moms Group's list - here it is the "Summer Infant Day and Night Video Monitor", love it.

He only takes his paci now when he's really tired. He's funny I guess something just happened I have no idea how to figure it out, but he just suddenly hates it--I mean takes it and literally spits it out. He's been trying so hard to make sounds, all kinds of sounds when he plays, to get our attention it's great. We've moved on from the lowly bubble making that drips all over the floor to actual sounds that almost make their way into "bub" and "ahhh". I'm hoping he's trying for "Baba" which is Daddy in Turkish, that'd make Eko proud.

Sean is still a fickle baby, well what baby isn't? He must have his bottle warm, he "was" trained when I left maternity leave and went back to work but his nanny is so loving that she warms it all---ugh, sigh. :) He's still taking cereal at night with his dinner bottle and during the day with her in the morning. It fills him up and he's almost used to the act of eating now. We mix it up. I'm on the hunt for the first veg to introduce. It better happen quick I figure since he needs to start really eating in a month and half---yikes.

This adorable giggle continues. The kind that makes you want to keep tickling just to hear it. It's adorable, he loves watching us laugh and laughs along and mostly loves having his sides tickled. It's our favorite time at night before dinner playtime. It feels like we're just starting to see what he'll be like when he's older. So observant, so loving and loves attention--so mild mannered overall. We shall see!

Here's a photo of Pop-Pop with baby last time we were up in Bmore :).

Halloween!

Sean's 1st Halloween has already come and gone... 

So much fun despite the rainy weather. We went down to Old Town Alexandria to Lee Street, it was so cute. Sadly, we missed the fun Moms Group tour, but made the best of it in the rain with Sean's new pumpkin costume, ala Aunt Joanne. How cute!?!? He was loving all the attention and the lights. He's so much fun now, he loves being held and smiling at strangers (could be a problem :).) staring at the costumes and people. I tried to get a few shots of him the minute we arrived with all the hub-ub up and down the infamous Lee Street, but Eko pointed out a good thing, 'Nikki, he's sleeping--let the kid sleep!' :)

Thanks Baba, I am a baby paparazzi.

Funtimes

This weekend we took Sean up to see his Gigi and Pop-Pop up in Bawlmer hon. It was fun to watch them interact. Sean had a blast and thank god, only woke up once through the night. I always wonder how he'll do when we're away from home, but he's for hte most part pretty good. We went for a fancy dinner with a few of their friends, very fun to "Corks" in Federal Hill, very nice (not kid friendly) but very good food and wine! Mamma indulged a bit even though I'm still nursing, its ok--just one and a little formula later doesn't hurt. 

We're really excited we bought Sean an "exersaucer" from a Mom here in Old Town.

It's all cleaned up and almost ready for action. Tonight we'll see how he does in it, he's dying for some fun he's gets easily bored these days and hates lying around in the boppy and the bouncer and on a blanket--he's such a boy! I'm afraid that little window of "baby" is growing smaller and smaller. So was the case atleast in "Corks" as well. No more sleeping thru dinner it appears, wah wah wahhhh!

Sunday we went back to Annapolis to look at the boats. Daddy is a big sailor so was really excited to look at the boats and race that was there for "M24's" Melges 24 World Championship. Sean was very excited too :).

Cereal - Ugh! Still hates it but we're keeping it coming. I've trying it tonight mixed with Apple Sauce. He's got that baby reflex that auto rejects it. It's sad but hilarious all at the same time. One day he'll like this stuff! We've tried a cereal from Whole Foods - Earths Best, hated it now we're on Gerber Mixed Cereal, hopefully fingers crossed he'll like it better!

Reading, Playing & Cereal

Sean is doing so much more these days. It seems like it happened overnight. All of a sudden he’s reading, writing and holding his own public speaking engagements.

His favorite book to date is a book from his friend Mrs. Cartlidge, lovingly entitled “Noisy Pals”. I believe you can get that here. He reads it all the time, even over coffee on Sunday mornings after he finishes the NY Times. When’s done examining all the images on one page, then the other, he attempts to hit the side of the page with his fist—which we interpret as ‘hey I’m done here folks, page-turn please’.

Last weekend one of Eko's best friends came to visit and brought Sean two very cute, very notorious stuffed animals. Sean would not stop holding Minnie and was mystified by her polka dotted bow. He's playing with toys now and holding things with two hands, a huge achievement!

So we need some advice... He hates rice cereal--bad, real bad. It's painful trying to get him to like it. He's 4 months old and 18 pounds, so he definitely does not need it for the weight, just the act of learning how to chew. The minute a little bit touches his lips he sticks out his tongue and throws his chest out. Maybe we'll try another kind?

At his 4 month check up the doctor said, more tummy time and more cereal! He's got a big body so they are telling me its harder for bigger kids to lift themselves. He does but she wants to see more. :)

He's sleeping "through the night" 8:45pm-7am--this is new thank god! He was getting up once a night for the past 3 months but the entire night is a huge gift for Mom! He's huge--he's really tall for his age, we'll see if that sticks b/c we're not that big. The weight is holding strong and he's at 95% for both weight and height so he's in proportion, we were worried he was a chunky boy, but he's good. :) My favorite part you ask? Yep, those little baby rolls of fatty and the second chinny chin chin.

Baby Necklace

I wanted to share something that I recently received for my birthday that is quite possibly the cutest thing ever. My sister and her husband bought me a beautiful handmade necklace from an artist, Rosalynn Borsky, in Utah. She makes absolutely lovely dainty necklaces that come with so much meaning. The necklace is a round piece of silver with a little pearl dangling in the center, Seans birthstone, and his name engraved aroudn the bottom. It is precious and I will keep it forever.

Thank you Joanne and thank you Rosalynn!

Check out her store here: rhbdesigns.etsy.com
-Nicola

Serious Weight Lifting

It takes a village to lift our heads :). Much more happy now lifting my own head and trying to do push-ups. So fun to watch!

The fun happens at 4 months....

Since he hit four months he's gone from a cute piece of furniture to a movable baby with giggles, laughs, funny noises and sitting up (well sort of). He's so much fun and loves to play. Presenting our bumbo or as I call it at home "Le Bumbo" just to make it fancy. Loves it, but his chunky thighs present a problem for long-term use. :) Our 4 month old is wearing 6-9 and sometimes 12 month shirts. Scary! I can't wait until our appointment tomorrow to see how much he weighs, last weigh in was 16lbs., that was a month ago. :)

..and "the blue steel"...