December 31, 2009
Visits, play dates and miraculous sleep
The year is drawing to an end and there is still so much to write about! I’ll try to get you all caught up on B-Boy’s adventures, because he has had plenty.
On Monday, we met my Uncle and GatorGirl’s mom and grandfather at Outback Steakhouse off I-95. They were heading back to Florida after visiting family in Maryland for Christmas. Neb, B-Boy, my mom and I headed to Smithfield excited for our first outing to a restaurant as a family. (I had taken B-Boy to Cracker Barrel for lunch once, but Neb had not tried it yet.)
Overall, B-Boy did great! My Uncle wanted to hold him, frankly, who could blame him? B-Boy was very curious! Sadly, my camera battery was dead and so I don’t have any pictures to share with you. GatorGirl’s mom took some, but I don’t have them yet. B-Boy was passed around and then I got to hold him for awhile. When the food arrived, in great baby timing, B-Boy started crying… so outside he and I went. I rolled him in his stroller all over, back and forth in front of the restaurant. And you know what? He calmed right down and didn’t cry again for the remainder of the meal. I was so proud of him! It was great to see family again, we had a really nice long meal.
And that brings me to yesterday… B-Boy had his first playdate!!! We had a doctor’s appointment which was right near my work. My friend Cat (who is one of my favorite coworkers, and all around fun gal) lives right behind work, and has a three year old daughter and an 11 month old son. I gave her a call to see if we could stop by, and she said yes! So off to Cat’s we went.
This was the first time B-Boy had been around another baby, and it was fun to watch him soak in seeing another baby. Cat’s son (aka Jambuka) is just adorable… and it was such a shock to see him crawling around, pulling himself up and actually WALKING. The last time I saw him he was about 6 months old, and was sitting up and crawling a little. He was much smaller then! It was exciting to see all that is to come for B-Boy. It also made me start freaking out about childproofing our house. Jambuka is FAST!!!!
Cat’s daughter (aka eBaby) was taking a nap, so it was just the four of us for some time. I have to say it was nice to get some adult conversation about topics other than B-Boy and schedules. I had a great time, and B-Boy did pretty good… up until his melt down. He became inconsolable, and I realized he was most probably hungry. Only, he refused to eat more than an ounce or so. I am afraid his crying woke poor eBaby from her nap, but I was really happy when she joined us. She has a doll house that I swear I had growing up… it’s a vintage fisher price portable doll house with a handle on the top. It opened in the middle so you could play on the inside. Ah, nostalgia!
B-Boy finally fell asleep in my arms, and my goodness he was heavy! He MUST be 15 pounds now. When he woke, it was obvious he needed to go home. So the playdate wasn’t full of much “play”, but hey, we got out, other kids were involved, and I got some nice sanity time.
And boy did B-Boy have a good nap on the way home and then some! It was about 30 minutes to get home and the car usually puts him out cold. Heh heh.
And since I am talking about sleep, I should mention another milestone we hit this week. B-Boy slept through the night!!!! And I am not talking about just 5 hours that some folks call sleeping through the night! Usually, B-Boy goes to sleep around 7:30pm, wakes at 3am for a feeding and then sleeps until 6:30am or sometimes later. Two nights ago, he went to sleep at his normal time. He was a little harder to put down in that he woke up crying about an hour later and then again 30 minutes after that. But then the magic came… I am not sure what triggered it, but he then slept until 7am!!! I didn’t post about this right away because I didn’t want to jinx it, but then he did it again last night!!! Whoo-hoo!!!!
So Neb and I are basking in the extra sleep, which will come in handy tonight. I can’t believe tomorrow will be a new year, we are all so changed from this year.
Uh oh, B-Boy is stirring from his nap in the swing, so I should run. I’ll post again soon, I promise.
December 26, 2009
Merry 1st Christmas B-Boy!
B-Boy wanted me to wish all of you a very Merry Christmas! It’s his first, so he wanted to be sure you enjoyed the day.
He’s snuggled up by the tree…
Isn’t he cute?
This morning we woke up to see what Santa left under the Ole Miss tree for B-Boy. This was a great tradition when I was a little girl, we had our own small tree in our room and Santa would leave us one present that we could open before waking the grown ups. This came after my sister and I woke up one Christmas and couldn’t wait to open our presents. Hey, we were excited and unsupervised as all the adults were exhausted from wrapping all night. All the adults woke to us having already opened our gifts and playing away with them. Anyway, this “tradition” started after that fateful Christmas, and I adored it. So, a deal was made that Santa would continue the tradition for us for B-Boy… and he did not disappoint.
Santa left B-Boy another Seahorse Toy under the Ole Miss tree! B-Boy loves his original toy, and finds it so very comforting. It is a cute blue plush seahorse whose tummy lights up when you press it. It plays soothing classical music with bubble noises for about 5 minutes. Neb and I are constantly forgetting it either upstairs or downstairs, and so we decided to ask Santa to bring us a second one so that B-Boy gets it faster.
B-Boy is fascinated by the Christmas Tree. I don’t know if it is the lights, or the shiney bulbs or the thought “hey, this is different!”… but he stares at it very wide-eyed! We snapped a few pictures of his wonder before we headed downstairs.
Once downstairs, we feasted on pancakes and waited for my mom to join us. After breakfast, we opened presents! B-Boy got some really cute stuff from Santa, including an Ole Miss baseball cap, some Ole Miss onesies (did you know Santa is an Ole Miss fan?), and a stuffed football with loops of ribbons on it to chew on.
Neb and I got B-Boy a toy for tummy time. As I mentioned before, he HATES tummy time, so we looked for something that might make it more fun for him. I found a spinning lady bug activitiy mat… which is basically a raised platform that he lays on his tummy in, and which is covered with a lady bug pattern. The platform sits on top of an activity mat with a mirror, rattles, etc. He can spin around and look at lots of different things, reach out to them and play. When he gets bored, he can spin to something else.
My mom got him lots of clothes, including an adorable orange vest, which will match Neb’s vest he wears on their walks. She also found a yellow blanket that I had as a baby, which was really sweet.
Neb’s mom sent some cute clothes too… nice and soft! She sent a dark navy blue sleep and play made out of velour… He will look so cute in that!
B-Boy spent a lot of the day in the swing, snuggled up with his new seahorse- watching basketball. He is definately Neb’s son. He was so nice to let us eat our entire dinner uninterupted, which I greatly appreciated. He is in his crib now, and I think we all might follow suit! We are so tired!
I hope your Christmas was a good one, and that the new year brings you happiness. It is strange to think that this time last year, B-Boy did not exist and we had no idea he was to come. Life is so very different than this time last year… and I can’t fathom a Christmas without him. Life is forever altered… and it is so good.
December 18, 2009
If we didn’t laugh, we would all go insane…
A great Jimmy Buffet lyric, and one that I thought about today, but not why you think.
Today, B-Boy laughed for the first time! He has been smiling for a while now, and that is becoming a more regular occurence… but he had not yet laughed, until today.
I was giving him a bath this morning. I could tell that he was getting ready for another fussy event, so I started singing “Rubber Ducky” to him. I can only imagine that I must have seemed like an idiot because he looked at me, smiled, and then made his laugh known. He did this three times…
The laugh was more of a “HUH HUH” but it was a laugh! It almost sounded like the laughs Neb gives me when I am not quite as funny as I think I am. But hey, beggers can’t be choosers. I am sure it won’t be the last time B-Boy thinks I am an idiot. 🙂
After the bath was over, I ran downstairs to call Neb at work to tell him about it. His response? “So you are telling me our son’s laugh was like Beavis and Butthead?” Not quite, silly Neb.
December 16, 2009
Going to the gym, It’s a jungle out there!
This afternoon….
B-Boy: Mom, I am feeling lazy, I am going to the gym.
Me: Have fun son!
Later this afternoon…
Me: How was the gym?
B-Boy: It’s a jungle out there! But I got in some swats…
Me: You mean squats?
B-Boy: No Mom, swats, as in some animals… I also did some push ups, had some great mirror time to flash my smile to the Ladies…. and even got in a great nap.
Me: A nap son? At the gym?
B-Boy: Yeah Mom, it was padded and comfy… and the push-ups wore me out! So I just laid on my tummy and went to sleep. Kept my mouthgard in too!
Me: That’s a pacifier son. Glad you had a good time at your Activity gym.
I hope you enjoyed my little dialog there… What do you expect, I am home by myself all day! I gotta talk to someone.
Anyway, last night I pulled out the Activity gym for B-Boy… he wasn’t very impressed. So today, I decided to give it another try. One of my coworkers (aka, WorkBFF) had highly recommended it as her son loved the one just like it. If it got a high grade from WorkBFF, it HAS to be good. It is a jungle theme with lots of animals that make sounds, rattles, etc.
So I put him on it face up and let him swat at the toys. He wasn’t sure at first… but then started smiling like crazy at them.
Once he started yawning, I turned him on his tummy in front of the mirror where he proceeded to do some push-ups to hold up his big ol’ head. This further exhausted him, and he then put his head down for a nap. Which he did for an hour and a half… On his tummy!!! I think that is a record if you don’t count when Neb’s Mom held him that way most nights while she was here.
So I am quite pleased…. Although I was too scared to leave his side while he slept on his tummy… so got nothing done today… Which was actually ok because I could watch him sleep all day long.
I haven’t been able to post for a few days, so let me get caught up. When we last left, B-Boy was finding his hands. He is now making a regular meal of them, and enjoyes sucking on this left index finger.
Neb’s class at State ended this week with a killer final on Monday night. Neb wore his lucky T-shirt under his Ole Miss Sweatshirt… and decided he needed extra good luck… so B-Boy ended up in the matching onesie. We shall see if it helped.We don’t think B-Boy will be able to wear it again- he is so big now!!!
B-Boy is now smiling A LOT. It is really cute. Unfortunatley, every time we pull out the camera or video camera- he stops!!! I’ll keep working on it for you. He smiles with Neb every morning for about 10 minutes… he will smile and then shake his head and cover his eyes with his arms almost like he is embarassed. Too cute.
December 12, 2009
Finding hands and other musings
We have reached another milestone!
B-Boy has discovered his hands consistently. He now realizes that his hands are controlled by him and that they can go in his mouth! The first step was a few weeks ago, when he was able to bring his hands together. He consistently is doing that now, and now he is going for the next step.
Also, B-Boy has a lovey. It’s a winnie the pooh head (the classic pooh) and bear arms attached to a light green small blanket. It’s really soft… the head is attached to the middle of the blanket and the blanket is gathered in between the arms like the bear is holding it. B-Boy has tolerated me putting it in his arms for a little over a week now… and now actually holds onto to it, flails it around and still manages to keep it near him.
Which brings me to today… He was sitting in his swing and put his hand in his mouth to suck on it. He kept hugging his lovey and then he did the coolest thing! He put the edge of the blanket attached to the lovey IN HIS MOUTH!!!
Ok, I know that doesn’t sound like much, but that is a growth milestone… so I am really excited. Ah, embracing the little things. I am just amazed that we made this little person, who grows bigger each day and masters new things that I take for granted. Wow, what a little blessing.
December 11, 2009
Meeting the teachers and his 2 month check up
The day before yesterday, B-Boy, Neb and I went to meet B-Boy’s teachers at the day care. My company offers subsidized care that is just amazing. There are 6 infants per class with 2 teachers and an aide. That’s three adults to six babies!!!! Amazing. And, there are 10 classrooms for this age group. After B-Boy turns one, he will move up to the next age group’s class. And, the care is available up to him starting Kindergarden, when he will go to school.
We all went and met with the Administrator and the head teacher… We told them all about B-Boy, his likes and dislikes, and his feeding issues. They went over the policies, and all the things we needed to know. Then we went down to the classroom for a tour, and to meet the other teachers.
B-Boy slept the entire time… and kept his pacifier in his mouth almost the entire time we were in the Administrator’s office. They both commented on how amazed they were that a) he slept the whole time and b) that the paci stayed in his mouth. Kids his age don’t do that appartently. Heh heh… they don’t know that B-Boy likes to fake people out with this false first impression. He’s REALLY good at it. I am convinced that there is a conspiracy with Moms and Babies… when they go out in public the baby behaves incredibly to fool the women and men who don’t have kids to have them. “Aw look honey, this baby is so well behaved… see, that isn’t so hard… that Mother is a mess, we can do better than that!” And thus, our population survives. 😉
Back to the story…
His classroom is really cute… he will have his own private bed with his picture on it… and lots of neat toys. The tummy time station looked very engaging, and the teachers were very attentive, especially to the young ones. Two older babies are moving up to the next classroom, and so B-Boy and one other infant will be joining the group. The teacher was really interested in seeing B-Boy eat and she invited us back the next day to show her.
Fast forward to yesterday…
B-Boy went to the pediatrician for his 2 month checkup and S-H-O-T-S. Yikes!
He got weighed (he is now 13 pounds 8 ounces!!!) and measured (he is now 24.5 inches long!). He is in the 90th percentile for length and weight.
Afterward, he calmed down and I took him back over to the daycare. There, I got to feed him in the classroom. The head teacher watched and asked lots of questions. B-Boy ate all 6 ounces!!! I think the trauma of the S-H-O-T-S made him hungry. But the best part was that around his consumption of ounce 2, the teacher got up and started her normal routine- and I got to watch. I saw the aide feed a 4 month old lovingly, watched her redirect an 11 month old who was tossing toys, their concern for a 9 month old who was trying to pull herself up, a diaper change, a solid food feeding and more. I even got to sit and talk to another parent… And all the while, B-Boy was a dream. Well, up until he spit up on me. But I digress. We took his photo for his cubby and then headed on our way home.
December 8, 2009
Guess who B-Boy saw today?
Santa!
Yep, it was B-Boy’s first visit to Santa… and he was so nice to B-Boy!
When we got there the little guy was sleeping soundly (we had just left the FoodLady) and I had to wake him. The photographer was really great and between her and Santa, B-Boy gave us a nice smile!!! I was able to snap my own photo as well, which I have posted here. I’ll scan the ‘official’ one this week- it really came out great!
Santa said B-Boy had a list of things he wanted, but it was a bit hard to understand him. Silly Santa!
And afterward, B-Boy was in very good spirits… I snapped this photo just after with the seahorse toy he loves so much.
What’s up for tomorrow? We visit his teachers at the daycare… stay posted!
December 7, 2009
Happy Birthday GrandpaGator!
Tomorrow is my Dad’s (aka GrandpaGator) birthday. In honor of the day, B-Boy put on an outfit that GrandpaGator bought him when he was here for his birth.
And, B-Boy wanted to give a more personal greeting for GrandpaGator, so he asked us to record this:
I hope the day is a good one, filled with good golf and great food!
On another note, today B-Boy got his Bumbo… No, not Bimbo, Bumbo!
What is a Bumbo you ask? It’s a special foam chair for infants that they can easily sit in once their neck muscles can hold up their head. B-Boy still needs work on those muscles, but he sat in it for a few minutes. He is supposed to get 15 minutes of tummy time (aka not on his back time) and so the hope is that he will grow into the chair. B-Boy hates tummy time, so the sooner he is ready for the chair the better. He does really well holding up his head when I hold him upright to my shoulder, but it looks like he will need more time before he can get in this chair. Below is a picture of a less than happy B-Boy in his chair. Although I think he looks like he’s ready for some female companionship if you know what I mean!
December 1, 2009
B-Boy sprouts wings thanks to AuntieM
It’s hard to imagine, but B-Boy turned 8 weeks on Sunday. I was feeding him on Monday, and when I looked down, I swear I had a different baby! Someone must have inflated him with a bicycle pump when I wasn’t looking because his head is MUCH bigger, he is longer, and all around heavier!
Which explains why he has outgrown the next level of his clothing! The boy is out of the 3 month clothes, and I fear he will be in the 9 month ones by January! How is that possible?
I needed to go in search for clothes for him to wear, and all the bigger sizes I have are hanging in his closet from smallest to largest. The first item was an adorable onesie B-Boy got from AuntieM. AuntieM is Neb’s mom’s sister (she has 3) and she sent the onesie from a sister bonding trip in Arizona. It was the FIRST item of baby clothing that we received, and came soon after we announced B-Boy’s existence.
The onesie was in a really cute bag whose rim at the top was lined like an angel’s halo. The front has a small square with a sky motif in it. Around the square are the words “I fell off a cloud… and into your arms.”
The back has a set of wings in silver and gold sparkle embossed on it…
I think the wings gave B-Boy some help, because he did some tummy time today with no complaints… a first for him!
And he ended with a nice nap…
So thank you AuntieM! B-Boy looks adorable! Now if he would just stay this size for a while!
The Nebelito Gazette 