Eric Carle

One of my favorite things to do with my son is read books. We have collected quite a library of children's books so far and the little guy is only 5 months old!! I have many favorites, but I have to say that I am really into books by Eric Carle right now. He is a wonderful author and illustrator most commonly known for his book The Very Hungry Caterpillar. He has also done the illustrating for a few of Bill Martin Jr.'s books that I really enjoy. Both the baby and I love them and I am slowly collecting more and more.

Rice Cereal

Rice Cereal did the trick. Thats right, we are now 4 days into adding rice cereal to the babe's eating routine and we have had 3 nights of sleeping the entire night!! It has been WONDERFUL.

The 4 month check up went well. The shots were no fun and the lil guy had a fever for the next couple of days. Aside from that, everything was right on track and we have a healthy, happy baby.

Four Month Check Up

Tomorrow is the 4 month check up. I can't say I look forward to these because of the shots. My wife can't be in the room when he gets them so that means I have to. I am excited to see how much he has grown since the 2 month check-up. It is kind of sad because he is starting to look more and more like a little toddler and not a baby anymore. He has learned to roll from his back to his tummy, but I haven't seen him roll from his tummy to his back yet. He usually rolls and then just starts to fuss when he wants one of us to roll him back over. Maybe he thinks it is funny that he has us trained!! We are thinking that it is rice cereal time for the little dude and hoping that the cereal might lead to him sleeping all the way through the night.

So, I will update you all on what we find out tomorrow!!

Blowout Diapers

The force at which poop comes out of a baby's bum has to be equivalent to hurricane winds. That is the only possible way to explain how the poop can possibly travel all the way up the baby's back and sometimes even onto his head! I had always heard about these so called "Blowouts" and for the first few month our little guy would maybe have a little poo come out the top of the diaper every now and then, but that was it. I figured that those were it and I didn't understand what the big fuss was about. Then, I experienced what I like to call a "Massive Blowout!!" It was unlike anything I had seen before, it was as if the poo had actually come out of the middle of his back somewhere. When a Massive Blowout occurs, I often wonder what purpose the diaper even had because it sure as hell didn't catch any of the poop. These often occur around 3 in the morning and I sometimes wonder if Ashton Kutcher snuck in and removed the diaper and then after the poo he snuck it back on and after I come in and realize that poo is everywhere Ashton will jump out of the closet and yell, "You just got Punked!" To top it all off, the poo stains everything it touches. The mustardy green color is so appealing!! We have a nice collection of poo tainted baby clothes. So if anyone has the secret formula to remove these stains, we would much appreciate it.

Baby Milestones

Now that we live in a world with instant access to information through the internet, it makes it hard to decipher whats good, whats bad, what to believe, or what not to. Every week my wife gets quite a few emails from baby sites that talk about "what your baby should be doing this week." While it is nice to read over these lists, it is also something you can't really take to heart. I mean all babies grow at different rates and hit certain milestones at different ages. But it is hard not to read these emails and think, "oh, my baby did that three weeks ago, or why is my baby not doing that yet." I think we all probably know someone who's child walked well before 1 year old and others who didn't walk until 18 months or more. Often times a few years pass and you would never be able to tell the difference between the two children. So. enjoy the milestones whenever they occur and don't get hung up on whether your baby is "keeping up with the Jones's."

Breast Milk

Last Tuesday, I decided breast milk is as precious as gold. Tuesdays are the day I get to stay home with the little guy and my wife goes to work. I, of course, can't produce breast milk and therefore, every time the baby gets hungry I have to have the stuff around. I carefully take some out of the fridge and pour it ever so delicately into the bottle, not wanting to spill any of this precious substance. If I have to go anywhere, I have to pack some of the liquid gold around with me in a cooler. And to make things even more difficult, I have to be able to quickly find a place to warm up the bottle when the little guy gets hungry. It is times like these when I wish I could just take off my shirt and breast feed the baby. I think my wife wishes I could too. It would definitely help her out during the late night feedings and she also wouldn't have to feel like an oil well, pumping out the stuff everyday to keep the stock up.

Babies and Sleep

The baby is starting to sleep much better at night, which means the wifey and I are sleeping much better as well and it's AWESOME! Having a child is the best thing in the world, but up until this month I really felt like my days and nights were all a blur. I have really tried to do my part in the feeding schedule. In the first month I would wake up with my wife each feeding to help out and keep her company. The second month we would alternate each feeding, so I would give him a bottle and she would sleep and then the next feeding she would breastfeed and I would sleep. Now, he is getting up once in the middle of the night and my wife feeds him and then he usually sleeps until 6 AM or so and then I get up and feed him. I have never been much of a morning person and I am still adjusting to the 6 AM thing. Most mornings I stumble in when I hear him wake up and I am still half asleep, then I look down at him and he gives me a huge smile and while I think it is sooo cute I also wonder to myself, "How can someone be so happy at 6 AM?" I will have to remember this for sure, because I know when he grows up and becomes a teenager and I am yelling at him to get up for school and he is complaining that it is too early, I will tell him there used to be a time when he would wake up smiling and bright eyed at 6 AM and I will ask him why he can't just do that like he used to. So until then, I will cherish the morning smiles and I myself will try to be a bit happier at 6 AM too!!

Road Trip with Baby

We took our first road trip with the baby and it was a success. We were a little worried about the 4 hour drive...make that 5 hours with breastfeeding stops. It is so funny how our lives revolve around feedings. We departed when the baby had a full stomach and he dozed off right away. He slept for about 3 hours and then woke up ready to eat, so we pulled off at a gas station and took a break for food. We thought that he would stay awake for the rest of the ride since he had been out for three hours, but fortunately he fell back asleep until about 20 mins before we hit our destination.

The weekend was a great get-a-way. We took the little one for his first swim in my parents' pool. He was a little unsure of the water at first, but after a few minutes he loved it! We couldn't have him swim for too long because he is too young for sunscreen yet.

Since the little guy did so great on his first trip, we are looking forward to going on more road trips soon...that is, if gas doesn't keep skyrocketing.

2 Month Old Baby

So we are just over the 2 month mark and the little guy is growing strong. He was 65% in weight, 35% in height, and 84% in head circumference. We have ourselves a short chubby boy with a big head...just like dad! We are in a much better sleeping routine these days. We still have the baby sleeping in a co-sleeper in our room, but we are trying to start putting him in his crib at night. I think that he likes his crib a lot, but we are the ones that are having a hard time not having him in the room with us.

The little guy is super active these days. He loves to kick his legs and punch his arms and only lies still if he is tired and ready for a nap. He is smiling and cooing more than ever and we love it. We are still working on tummy time with him because due to the size of his head, he has a little bit of a tough time holding it up, but he is getting better. We are still amazed at how much growth occured in just 2 months, thank goodness for cameras so that we can capture all of these precious moments.

Acid Reflux in Babies

We recently found out that our lil guy has acid reflux. He doesn't have it too bad, which is good, but because it is a mild case it was kind of scary for us at the beginning. You see, most babies that have acid reflux spit up all the time. Our lil guy never spit up, instead he would just gag and choke a lot. It was never so bad that he couldn't breathe, but it sure was scary when he would start gagging over and over again. Aside from the gagging and choking he had other symptoms that are common with acid reflux: frequent sneezing, frequent coughing, frequent hiccups, a stuffy nose, etc. The pediatrician gave us some medicine to give him and it has been such a big difference. All the symptoms went away immediately and he is now so much more content after eating. He is now almost 6 weeks old and is 10 lbs 10 oz. He has started to react to lights and sounds a ton and every now and then gives us an occasional smile that melts our hearts!!

3 week old baby boy

We have just barely gotten through the three week mark and already we feel like our little guy is changing so fast. He was 7 lbs 1 oz at birth and now he is 9 lbs 6 ozs, so you can see that his favorite thing to do is eat (he gets that from me, unfortunately!). As paranoid first parents, we have been in to see the pediatrician three times already. First, we went in to have his belly button looked at because it hadn't fallen off yet and was bleeding a little bit. Second, we took him in for his routine 2 week appt. The third appointment was to check his left eye because it was getting "goopey" all the time. The ped said that it looks like he may have a blocked tear duct, but that it is pretty common and will most likely clear up on its own. Other than that, things have been going pretty smooth, we love being parents.

Sweet baby boy!

Well the little guy is 10 days old and what a joy he is in our lives!! We can't get over the fact that we could spend all day long just staring at him. The first few days home from the hospital we hardly slept at all. Every time he would make a little noise we would check to see that he was ok, every time he wouldn't make noise for a few mins we would check to see if he was ok. Now, we have started to get more sleep and we have started to decipher which noises mean he needs us and which ones are just nothing. He has been such a good baby so far and doesn't cry much unless he is hungry or having his clothes or diaper changed. He is a good little eater and is already starting to fill out a little more. Well,I gotta run...apparently it is my turn to change his diaper!!

Our little guy is here!!!

Yesterday at 10:25 PM our lil' guy arrived! It was the most amazing and emotional experience of my life. My wife woke me up at 6 AM yesterday because she thought her water broke, but she wasn't sure. Since she wasn't sure she decided to wait until she could talk to a nurse before we went in. She ended up falling back asleep and didn't wake up until 11:00 AM. She called the nurse and the nurse said we needed to get down to the hospital and see if her water broke. We arrived at the hospital at 1:30 PM and found out that her water did break and we would be having the baby that day! We were very excited, but very nervous too. They started my wife on a pitocin drop to induce the labor. For the first few hours she wasn't progressing much, but then she went from 3 cm to 8 cm in about 1 1/2 hours. Soon she was 10 cm and she pushed only for about fifteen minutes and our sweet baby boy was finally here. He weighed in at 7 lbs 1 oz. and was 18.5 inches long. We have only slept for about 1-2 hours in the past 24 hours...so needless to say we are both drained. We are still at the hospital until tomorrow and then we will get to bring the lil guy home. What a thrill ride this trying to conceive, pregnancy, and birth have been. I look forward to continuing to blog about the joys and trials of fatherhood!!!

Dilated to 1 and 1/2 and 60% Effaced

A few years ago if you would have said the words "dilated to a 1 and 1/2 and 60% effaced", I would have thought you were speaking some NASA rocket science language. Now after nearly 9 months of pregnancy and all the books and classes, I am officially fluent in pregnant lingo. So as of last weeks appointment, my wife has started to dilate and was at 1 and 1/2 and 60% effaced. Tomorrow we go in again to see if things have progressed at all, or if they are just kind of staying that way. Our due date is officially April 2nd, but my wife has been having some serious conversations with the little guy in her belly and she thinks he shouldn't wait that long. She told me the two of them have agreed on sometime next week. I am really just the third party in all of this, so I have no say on how it all goes down, but I am interested to see if they are right about next week!!! I can say, however, that I am hoping the wife's water breaks when we are out somewhere, kind of like you see in the movies. Maybe at the grocery store or when we are out to eat. I know this is highly unlikely, but wouldn't it be cool??

36 Weeks and Counting

So we have officially hit the 36 week mark, which means that our little guy could come anytime within the next four weeks!! My wife is in hardcore "nesting" mode and wants to clean every room in the house, reorganize closets, etc. I can't say that I am feeling the whole nesting thing as much, but I am doing my best to finish the list of projects the wife gives me.

Everyone keeps asking me if I am ready to have the baby. I think it is one of those things that you can be as ready as you can, but it is still going to knock you off your feet when it actually happens. Over the past few weeks, so much of my focus and attention has gone into the labor and delivery. Just recently I thought to myself, "Holy crap, after the delivery we are actually going to have this baby to take care of!!" I can't even tell you how many different thoughts and emotions are going through my head. All I can say is that I can't wait to meet this precious little guy!!

Baby Room Pics (So far)

Well I finally have some pics of the baby room. We are still waiting on our glider chair and bedding, but here is what has been done so far. We absolutely love our baby furniture and can't wait to decorate more with pictures, books, etc. The crib is beautiful, but was quite the pain to assemble, but I am sure that is the case with most cribs.

As for other things going on right now. My wife had her first baby shower. I can't tell you how great it is to get such nice gifts from family and friends!! We also finished our the last of our 6 labor and delivery classes. So we are now prepared and ready for this little guy to get here. This wednesday is the 33 week mark for us, so just 7 more weeks or possibly less!!! We can't wait!!!

Baby Room

Today I painted the baby room. I feel like we are finishing the room in plenty of time, but we have talked to a lot of other couples that are about the same due date as us and it seems like everyone else has already finished their rooms. We decided to paint the room a creamy yellow color and paint the base boards and crown moulding a pastel blue (I will post pics when it is finished). With all the work I have been doing on the baby room, I decided to buy myself a Nintendo Wii. I knew it would be fun for me, but I had no idea how much my wife would like it. Every night we play tennis or baseball against each other...and it is sad to say that we are sore due to all our Wii playing.

We also started our labor and delivery classes last week. I feel as though I have read all there is to know about pregnancy and delivery, but the class definitely had information that I hadn't read or thought about. We have 5 more classes and I am looking forward to all of them!

Sexy Pregnant Woman!

So the results are in, and the wife does not have gestational diabetes. We were very happy to hear the good news. So we basically got to spend our day off at the hospital for nothing and we will probably have to pay for the tests because our insurance sucks, but better safe than sorry.

We have hit the 28 week mark and things are good. Aside from the gestational diabetes scare, the wife is feeling the best she has felt all pregnancy. Most people claim that the nausea and morning sickness goes away at 13 to 16 weeks, but it was more like 21 weeks for us. So now the only thing that is happening is the wife is starting to get bigger (I mean that in a cute way, not in a big and fat way). So she is having a little bit of a hard time getting in and out of beds, chairs, cars, etc. She also can't really see her feet or bend down to tie her shoes very well. She is having a hard time comprehending how things will be when she gets even bigger...she thinks she will just be this big blob that can't do anything. I, however, think she looks really cute. There is something about a pregnant woman that is just sexy!!

Gestational Diabetes Test

I am writing this blog from the waiting room at the hospital lab because I have four hours to kill. At our 27 week appointment my wife had her glucose test done and the number came in a little high. We arrived at the hospital at 9:30 this morning and the wife had her blood drawn after fasting since midnight. We had 45 mins that we could leave and then when we came back we would have to stay for four hours. We hurried home and grabbed the laptop, some movies, and some magazines and then headed back to the hospital. At 10:40 the wife drank the sugar drink given to her by the lab tech so they know exactly how much sugars are in her body. Right now it is almost 11:40 and she will have her blood drawn, and then it will be drawn again at 12:40 and 1:40. For those of you who have been reading this blog since the beginning, you know that the wife HATES having her blood drawn. So this is basically the worst day of her life. I have to admit though, she is being a real trooper and is becoming a pro at having her blood drawn. As for me, I am just tagging along for morale support and I am just happy that the hospital has wireless internet. Only a few more hours to go!!!