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!!