Growing into gifts

I find myself frequently thinking of my son as one of those gel capsules that you put into water and it just explodes into some sponge shape.  Ya'll have to have played with those at some point in your childhood.  He just has grown so QUICKLY.  This has led me to really appreciate larger-sized gifts that I received at my baby showers.  Some of the ones that seemed huge at the time are starting to fit.  Take for example this adorable dinosaur hat from Raquel and Jeff:

Oh, wait, hiding from the picture.

Nope, don't want to be sitting.

Yay!  Mom's finally letting me stand up!  (Hence, the complete obscuring of the hat.  Ah well.)

Also, he's finally starting to use the most adorable gift I received, and had raved about previously from Matt & Michelle (Who are providing their own lil playmate for the buddy soon!  So excited!).  This bag of farm animals is so very cute, but also a great toy for both now, and when he starts imagining.  Right now the horse is his favorite because it has a tail that's easy to hold on to.

And, is also, delicious.

So, my decision has been made.  I'm going to be trying to get gifts that seem huge and/or advanced from now on.  Because they all grow into them (entirely too soon!).

Thanks everyone!!!

The Lion at 4 Months

Happy 4 months little man!

I believe this month we made more mental and physical strides than growing ones.  Thank goodness.  The Lion was getting HUGE.  We did move up so that now we're wearing SOME 9 month clothes, but at least we didn't FULLY grow out of a size of clothing again.  As always, our appointment isn't until Tuesday, so I don't know official stats, but if my quilting mat and bathroom scale have anything to say about it, he's 27" and 15.5 lbs.  Which would put him at 100th percentile of height and 60th in weight.  Sheesh.  Still don't know how I ended up with a giant.

This month's physical achievements include mastering the tummy to back roll and, consequently, the speed rolling across the room.  He actually only goes to the right, though.  He still can't go the other direction.  So we have a little bit of safety in that.  He's become much more coordinated and loves pulling out his pacifier and putting it back in (sometimes).  He's finally interested in toys.  And grabbing animal fur.  Poor fur-babies.    He will now step while being held in a standing position, and can momentarily hold himself in a sitting position.  Though, in a "Mommy of the Year" moment yesterday, I learned he canNOT hold it long enough for a picture.  He conked his head on the floor pretty nicely when I tried.  :(

Mental gains include now saying many consonants (m, n, d, g, b) and a few different vowel sounds.  He likes to scream.  Which is EVER so lovely.  Of course, still lots of raspberries and bubbles and laughter.  He still likes books, but rarely will sit still for more than one.  Same with singing.  He loves having a stuffed animal with him, though doesn't care too much which it is.  He will now turn to look at you, and will sometimes look at what you tell him to (e.g. Dada, Momma, Puppy, Kitty...that's about it).  It sure seems like he's saying Momma when he's annoyed, but still doubt that.  Think it's coincidence.  

Daycare's going better.  He eats three 4oz bottles a day most days, and sleeps only a total of about 2-3 hrs.  He typically makes up for that the next day at home with me.  He definitely is learning a lot from being around older kids.  His class is still only "officially" him and Isaiah (who is 6 months, and chubby and adorable), but Miss Laurie also watches a few of the "Perky Penguins" (1 year olds) at the beginning and end of the day.  So, I've even met Patrick (13 m) and Lia (16 m).  And, can I just say that I'm jealous, seeing as Lia is one of my absolute favorite names and Chris won't go for it?  And she has the cutest little pom-pom pigtails.

Robby no longer is passive in these photo sessions.  He may give off that slug-like appearance in the photos I chose to post above...but there was a lot of movin and shakin going on...  And eventually a no-holds-barred cage match with the poor defenseless lion.

Comparison collages.  This first one doesn't have this month's picture in it because Picnik would only do 4 without a premium membership...and...I'm too cheap for that.  But I was so super excited to find that I actually DID have a newborn picture with the lion doll.  OK, it was 1 week.  But close enough.  Better than I had before.

And...here's proof that, if anything, he looked bigger last month.  Just with less hair.

Yet Another Busy Weekend

The fact that it's 8:30, Robby still hasn't woken up, and I'm able to write this should speak volumes.  Little man is EXHAUSTED.  And, for once, I'm not that bad.  For approximately a month, he has been a TERRIBLE sleeper.  I'm talking an absolute minimum of 3 times a night being up...with the average being close to hourly, and bad nights being every half hour.  Chris finally took pity on me and has actually gotten up a few times this past week.  But, no matter what anyone says, I do not have an easy baby right now.  Anyway, onto what exhausted him in the first place.  The weekend.

It all started when Chris and I went to the Penn State/Temple game on Saturday.  It was great getting out, walking around, talking, tailgating, like back pre-baby.  Robby was home with grandma.  So we got to meet up with some people that Chris works with, and then sit in phenomenal seats...and watch a really painful football game.  It turned out alright, but OOOH.  That was touch and go ya'll.

It got really exciting towards the end of the game...and not in such a great way.  There were a group of people sitting in the box behind us that, shall we say, didn't have good manners.  Everytime something good or bad happened, things would come flying out of the box and rain down on everyone below.  I should say, the people in the box were Penn State fans, as were all the people getting littered on.  As the game wore on, tensions mounted, and words started being exchanged.  And there were plenty of young children who should not have been hearing what was being said.  The people in the box were intoxicated, and there was one man in particular who just had this entitled smirk that was doing his best to add to the situation.  Security, of course, spoke to the people in the seats (who were doing nothing) and not to the people in the box.  As Chris said, he wishes he knew what company owned the box so that they could be informed what sort of behavior had been coming from it.  Oh well.

Saturday night, some relatives of Chris's came over for dinner.  I suppose they are his cousin's wife and daughter, but I'd say the relationship is more like sister-in-law and niece, but you get the point.  We frequently meet up with them at Penn State games, but they live in Virginia, so they hadn't gotten to see the house or the kid before.

The next day we got to see Karleigh play softball.  Her team is currently Virginia champions, so they travel to play a lot.  They demolished their opponents, and while Karleigh wasn't thrilled with her batting, she did make it on base and did well playing 3rd.  I'm so glad we got to see her play for the first time!  She's truly passionate about it and is hoping to be able to go to college on a scholarship.  Crossing our fingers, but looks pretty good!

As much fun as all of it was...I am thrilled to say that there isn't much planned for next weekend.  There may be by the time it rolls around, though.  So, better take a cue from Robby and catch up on my sleep.  

The Lion is on the Prowl

Ok, saying we had news probably made people jump to all sorts of conclusions.  I promise you, whatever you thought?  Probably wasn't that.

Take a look at this picture.  Something is wrong with it:

There USED to be a baby on the blanket.  Where did the baby go?

Aha!  There you are!  As of yesterday, we now have a speed roller.  At 3.5 months.  I was always terrified that my kid would be doing this early, but I never thought it would be THIS early.  I did it at 4.5.  Ugh.  Time to start babyproofing.

Here he is rolling in the video.  He is GREATLY objecting at this point since he had been doing it for awhile and was tired.  I swear he's usually quite a bit quicker.  Sigh.

Our First Sick Day

This weekend wasn't so fun.  Don't get me wrong, it wasn't terrible, but I won't be bragging about it in years to come.  Why?  Both Robby and I got a pretty nasty cold.  Not the flu, not the plague, just a nasty cold where you blow your nose 5 million times and want to take naps.  But you're not allowed to take naps with a baby.  That's when they burn the house down and children's services comes and finds you.  So I suffered.

And you know what's worse?  If you're nursing you can't take any of the good drugs.  And by "good drugs" I mean things like NyQuil or Sudafed.  You know, crack.  ;)  Taking some Ibuprofen and Benedryl when I have a couple hours before he'll want to eat again just doesn't cut it.  Almost makes you want to stop breastfeeding.  But, the poor kid is only 3 months old, so there's really NOTHING he can take.  He can take infant Tylenol if he has a fever, but he didn't, so he was limited to saline spray (which we actually didn't use), and a nose sucker.  The kid actually really enjoys the nose sucker. We have an electronic one and it kind of buzzes, so he cracks up when you use it.

Furthermore, Chris went to State College for the Alabama game.  No, I am not criticizing that.  I encouraged him to go.  His birthday is today (Happy birthday, hun!) and he deserved it.  But I do feel a tiny bit of smug satisfaction that he now has the cold.  Even if he was helpful and actually woke up once with the kiddo on each Friday and Saturday.  That is big ya'll.  1) Chris doesn't hear him.  So, yeah, I had to kick him, but still.  2) Those would be the first 2 times he's ever gotten out of bed to take care of him.  So, you know he was taking pity on me.  Well, and that Robby no longer is getting fed every time he wakes up.  Since 99% of the times he wakes up it is because he crawled to the end, bashed his head on the bars, and lost his pacifier.  So you just need to move him and plug it back in, again.  

OK, I know he doesn't look sick.  Swear he was.  He did great being back at daycare today, and we have big news tomorrow.

On the Road Again - Travelling with Infants

Robby isn't so sure about this travelling thing, but I've got to say?  He's pretty good at it.  Sorry bud.  You haven't made us miserable enough to stop going places.  We started out with a 2 hour trip to Chris's parents when Robby was a month old.  The way there went PERFECTLY...because we left before his normal wake-up time.  The way home, Chris decided that we should test out driving at one of his crankiest times of day...  That did not go so well.  It resulted in about an hour of the two hour drive being accompanied by screams that I could do nothing to calm down.

Since then, we've stuck with leaving somewhere between 3-5 am.  That way, we at least get a couple good hours of driving in before he wakes up and would like to be entertained.  We have done two trips that are 8-9 hour drives: New Hampshire and Columbus.  New Hampshire couldn't have gone better in both directions.  We leave him in his pajamas, hit the road early, and just GO.  Columbus was rough on the way back, but we were only there for 3 days, so he didn't get to rest up before getting stuck back in his car seat. This has led to a terrible fear of the "baby trap" as Chris calls it, and he's been having meltdowns all week when we strap him in.

Tips and tricks we've learned along the way:
-  Car sleep does not count as sleep.  The baby will still want to nap or go to bed when you arrive at your destination.
-  Bring lots of books.  I suppose this depends on your child, but Robby LOVES to read, and I always bring his favorites (Green Eggs and Ham, Dr. Seuss's ABCs, and Oh My Oh My Oh Dinosaurs) and read them 50 zillion times.  I think I need a wider selection in the car.
-  Make sure to have a blanket.  My husband loves car air conditioning.  We freeze if not prepared.
-  Do not forget the favorite stuffed animal.  (Mr. Bear is winning at our house.)
-  Similarly, do not forget the pacifier.
-  Try never to stop for your needs.  The baby will need to stop enough as is.  However, plan ahead if you will be on, say, the Bronx highway, or the dead zone of West Virginia.
-  If he's melting down, there's not much that's going to save you.  You're either going to pull over or listen to screaming.  There is that breaking point around 8 hours that they just can't get past.
-  Have more outfits than you imagine it would be possible to go through.  See below:  Robby had pooped through 3 outfits, so he is wearing his present from his grandparents (they had just returned from Ireland).  It's unwashed, but he survived.

And, if you're lucky, all will go well and you'll start planning your next trip.

Don't worry, Robby, it's not for another month.

Congrats...now improved with mustaches!

This weekend we returned to Columbus to celebrate my bridesmaid Hannah marrying her LONG time boyfriend Jeremy.  I went to high school with the two of them.  And they were dating then.  And we're ancient. This is a couple that knows each other well.  And is all the better for it.

Jeremy just about made me cry because he had told the Rabbi that, "No one has ever made me happier than Hannah, and no one could ever make me happier than Hannah."  I sat there cursing my eye make-up.  The two of them really are suited for each other, and I love them dearly.  Congrats, ya'll!

Now the important part.  They had a photo booth!  And accessories!  My parents stopped by the reception briefly (...and the bride and groom were so excited about this that they walked out to the parking lot to say hi!  I was amazed!) to let me introduce Robby to people.  Children were welcome, but we assumed that there was no way that he'd last through a ceremony and reception without much screaming.  And, our friends that have a daughter a week younger made it about an hour into the reception, so we think we made the right call.  But our photo booth photo:

I'm a little in love with this.  Too cute.  And now since I'm out of time, a few other photos:

Typical.  Me dancing with little girls.

Yes, they put on rain ponchos.  And yes, we were worried that the cake was going to tip over before they cut it.

Hannah made it up in the chair.

And...eventually so did Jeremy. (featuring some guy's head)

Lots of love!