JTOK Chatter > Kids > Firsts > Page 23

Category Archives: Firsts

Sitting and surprising dad!

Posted on by — No Comments ↓

So for the past few days, Owen has been sitting SO well on his own that I can leave him sit and play without sitting behind him. His balance is much better and he can right himself if he starts to tip! YAY! That said, he still tips over once in a great while, or if he’s really reaching for a toy.

So tonight Owen was sitting on the floor playing and I was getting stuff ready for dinner. Tom came home and was talking to me in the kitchen. He made some comment about Owen sleeping and I said “No, he’s playing in there!” And he rushed over and was SO surprised! Apparently I had forgotten to tell him that Owen was sitting on his own now (well, sitting for long periods and playing on his own).

Tom was SOOOO excited! He just stood there and watched him, smiling. 🙂

Good times, good times.

P.S. And the napping hasn’t resolved itself yet. Naps are still all over the place, and run anywhere from 30 minutes to 2½ hours.

Naps

Posted on by — No Comments ↓

So his nap schedule seems to be changing.

At first I thought we were just trying to overcome missing a nap a few days in a row (we’ve happened to be in the car around his nap time so he falls asleep—but have to wake him up to take him out of the new car seat)…but he seems to be less tired throughout the day.

Take today, for instance. He was up about 6:30am and didn’t take a nap before his 9:45 appointment. Normally he naps around 7:30 or 8 (at the latest) but today he was having NONE of it.

As a sidenote, I had to go shower and thought maybe he would fall asleep if he didn’t see or hear me. I was only upstairs for like 10 minutes TOPS and when I came down, I heard frantic crying. His “I’m very unhappy” cry. Sobbing almost. I couldn’t figure out what would be wrong—he had just eaten, been changed, and should be tired. I went over to him and—OH MY!—he had rolled over onto his stomach and was just laying there, face-plant style. He obviously couldn’t roll himself back over, so was crying in frustration. Poor little guy was sobbing crocodile tears. I picked him up and within a minute (heck, probably 30 seconds) he was just fine, smiling and laughing. Stinker.

So anyway, he certainly wasn’t about to nap, so I thought we’d leave for the appointment early and if he fell asleep in the car, I’d just drive around for a bit so he could at least get a 30-40 minute nap. Well, he fell asleep for about 15 minutes. Argh!! I had an errand to run after the appointment, and he didn’t fall asleep in the stroller, but did for about five minutes on the way home. So I brought him inside and put him down and…STILL NOT SLEEPING. Although he rolled over onto his stomach again and started crying again.

So he hasn’t really napped since he got up this morning. At 6:30. And it’s noon. Yikes. (Cat naps don’t count.) He normally naps every 2-3 hours.

My boy is growing up!!!

— time lapse —

So right after I posted this, he fell asleep. And he’s still sleeping. Which means he’s been sleeping for about 2 hours and 41 minutes. Yikes. I wonder if he will nap again today or just go to bed at his normal 6:30ish time?

Was today the day he decided he liked real food?

Posted on by — No Comments ↓

So as we do most every night, we sat down to (try and) feed Owen. He’s been liking the mashed bananas, and we’ve been mixing it with Oatmeal & Banana cereal…but he’s still not been thrilled with eating it. Meaning, he will eat some, but he’s not really that into it and it’s somewhat of a challenge to get him to eat. We’ve just been assuming all along that he’s just not quite ready for “real” food. I mean, we’ve been trying for 2+ months now—everything from cereal to veggies—and he hasn’t been thrilled with anything.

So tonight we sat down with his normal small portion of cereal and banana (completely guesstimating at around 2-3 Tbs.), and Tom was feeding him while I was prepping dinner. It seemed to be going well (from all the “Good boys” I was hearing), so I poked my head in and saw that Owen was HUNGRILY eating. Opening his mouth eagerly and practically slurping down the food! He was also enjoying looking at and playing with dad’s watch while he was eating—so we thought maybe we found the trick to get him to eat.

But his eating was unlike anything we’ve yet experienced. He quickly finished off what little we had prepared, so I quickly got out some sweet potatoes (something he certainly hasn’t loved previously) and he ate the entire jar!!! 88| No prodding, no tricking him into opening his mouth, nothing. Just one spoonful after another, pretty much as fast as I could shovel it in.

WHAT?!

After finishing the jar, he STILL seemed to be hungry, so Tom made some more cereal (a smaller batch, but still). He snarfed that. I made ANOTHER bit of cereal. Gone.

WHAT?!?!?! 88|

He still seemed hungry, but by this time we were actually getting a little worried. Was all this going to come right back up? He had never eaten that much in one sitting before. Hell, it was probably the amount he normally ate over 3-4 feedings! Why was he suddenly so ravenous? Did he just suddenly start liking/wanting food today? Or was it a total fluke?

I got out a container of carrots. He seemed to be getting fussy, but we knew he was getting tired…but his cry sounded like his hungry cry! But we were sure he HAD to be full—so we thought maybe his cry was an “I’m too full” cry—but we all know if he doesn’t want to eat, he will make it impossible to feed him. So I fed him more carrots. It was becoming a bit harder to feed him (because he was crying/cranky) but every time I got some in his mouth he calmed down—and the carrots didn’t come back up.

Egads.

We just decided to stop and gave him a bath and got him ready for bed. We wondered how much of his bedtime bottle he would eat—after having eaten all that food…and he ate 6oz!!! Just about what he would eat on a normal night. Holy wah.

We can’t wait to see if we now have a good eater on our hands, or if this was a one-time thing.

Stay tuned.

Banana!

Posted on by — No Comments ↓

We’ve been avoiding giving Owen fruit, because he hasn’t been eating his vegetables—and it’s common practice to always give veggies first, because once they taste the sweet fruit, it’s much harder to get them to eat their veggies. But we’ve wanted to give him fruit! (I even wanted to let him taste a dill pickle, but Tom said no!)

So Gramma Jean had some banana in her cereal that she didn’t want, and of course Owen was eyeing it (which he does with most food we eat) so she mashed up two tiny cubes and gave it to him (with my okay, of course!) and…he LOVED it! We ended up giving him maybe two small slices in total. And kept our fingers crossed that it didn’t ruin him for veggies!

A boat for the boy…and a trip to the lake!

Posted on by — 1 Comment ↓

Since we were up in Grayling, Gramma Marsha came over to visit. She also brought Owen a gift—a blow up boat, complete with leg holes and a horn! It was perfect, as we were planning (hoping!) to take him to the lake (for his first big water experience) that weekend.

What was funny, though, was me reading the box: “For ages 6 months to 12 months. Up to 20 pounds.” 88| That meant we had better use it that weekend, otherwise he would be too big! (Yes, he is only six months old…but remember, he weighs as much as a 12-month old so he was already at the max weight!)

So just in case the beach thing didn’t work out, we had a photo op at home beforehand:

So then it was off to Houghton Lake to see Rose and Jim at their cottage. They have lake access just down the street, so we all walked down there, cameras and towels and boat in hand, boy in the stroller, hoping for it to go well.

Things started off well, but then he wasn’t anywhere near the water yet.

Unfortunately, it was windy, which made the water a bit choppy.

And the water was cold, so it took about five seconds to register that he didn’t like it so we pulled him out.

But we still wanted to try the boat. And this picture pretty much sums up his entire first lake experience:

So much for my grand visions of a nice and warm day, with the sun having warmed the first two inches of CALM lake water, with us sitting next to the boy IN the water, watching him play and kick. |-|

Then it was off for a pontoon ride around the lake. Rose and Jim didn’t have a baby life jacket but they did have a kinda small one—which Owen didn’t really like, either (but then, he was hungry—so once the bottle was finished, he was much happier). That said, his helmet was really in the way:

…so we eventually took it off—and once the helmet was off and he relaxed a bit, things were better:

…and he eventually fell asleep! 🙂

Yuck!

Posted on by — No Comments ↓

So Tom, wonderful husband that he is, tries to take morning duty when he can, to let me sleep.

Even, surprisingly, with his painful back issues this week.

So this morning about 4:30 the boy wanted to eat, and I was going to get up, but Tom said he would. I asked if he was SURE and he said yes—and, well, I’m not going to look a gift horse in the mouth, so I rolled over and didn’t think twice about it.

I heard Tom come back to bed, and then I fell asleep and the next thing I know it’s 7:15! Unfortunately, I woke up with a headache (as I did throughout the night—no idea why) and I checked the monitor and the boy was up but not squawking, so I took a few minutes to wake up, then went in there.

Of course, I got the wonderfully heart-melting morning smiles, picked him up, and went downstairs. I noticed that his onesie wasn’t quite snapped all the way (which is fine) and that his diaper seemed to be a bit askew—so I looked closer and—OH MY GOD.

Tom apparently didn’t quite get the diaper on right in the morning—one side tab was completely not latched so the diaper kind of just gravitated to one side…and of course the boy happened to poop, leaving me with poop-covered jammies, a mess in the crib, poop up my arm (from carrying him, that I hadn’t noticed until just then), and a dirty baby.

Sigh.

A questioning phone call to Tom was made, where he admitted he couldn’t see too well in the dark plus he was a little loopy on drugs. I told him he should be able to change a diaper in the dark, but I could understand the drugs thing.

Hoo boy. Our first real poop kinda-accident.

I guess I get morning duty until Tom is off the drugs. 🙂

Green beans!

Posted on by — No Comments ↓

So for breakfast today we let Owen try green beans. At first, he had the same reaction he always does—you know the face—but then most of them stayed down. He actually ended up eating about half the small jar! We were excited! Maybe we had finally found the food that would get him to eat.

Alas, it was short-lived.

We tried more beans for lunch…and he didn’t want anything to do with them. So now we get to figure out if it’s the food or if he just doesn’t like two meals of real food or if it’s something else entirely.

Hoo boy.

High chair!

Posted on by — 2 Comments ↓

Tonight we decided to try having Owen sit in the high chair (for the first time!) while we ate dinner—then figured as long as he was there, we’d try some real food again, letting him play in it if he wanted. He had carrots (again) and broccoli (new). He definitely didn’t like the broccoli:

—and (again) wasn’t thrilled with the carrots. He didn’t really even want to play in the food much—go figure, he puts everything in his mouth except for the things we WANT him to put in his mouth! But, he still opens his mouth when he sees the spoon coming, so he wants to eat…we just have to find something he likes! He was cute playing with the spoon, though:

Of course, bath time immediately followed dinner!

Prune juice!

Posted on by — No Comments ↓

Well, Owen just got his first prune juice.

We’re not entirely sure he needed it, but we just experienced something new with him…so we figured it was worth a shot. He’d been sleeping for almost an hour when he woke up and started crying and screaming. He didn’t stop, so each of us took turns trying to comfort him and he was okay while we were holding him, but he DID NOT WANT to be put down.

He hasn’t pooped in two days—which is not out of the norm—but we figured we might as well try prune juice (since we had some). We’ve heard horror stories of post-prune juice poops, so I’m not looking forward to tonight if it works like I’ve heard. 88|

That said, he wasn’t too sure about the water/juice mix at first (his first juice ever!), but he sucked down 2oz in no time flat! We tried more, but he was done.

We could tell he was tired (lots of yawns and eye-rubbing) so maybe all this will lead to a full night’s sleep (vs. the last two nights where I’ve been up TWICE with him, instead of just once).

Stay tuned.

— Time lapse. —

So about 10 minutes after I finished writing, Owen’s eyelids drooped so Tom took him back up to bed. And AS SOON AS Tom laid him down, the crying started again.

Hoo boy.

Poor boy.

Poor us if he doesn’t go back to sleep. 🙁

What I woke up to…

Posted on by — No Comments ↓

So it was a pretty good night…Owen went to bed about 8 (I think it was) and slept until 4:30!! (If only I had gone to bed at 8!) So I put him back down after his bottle and he fell asleep again…and I tossed and turned (and listened to Tom’s alarm off and on for an hour) but then I think I finally fell asleep for a bit…but guess what I woke up to about 6:30??

Tom came in the room and said “Have you seen your boy? Turn on the monitor!” So I did, and…he was on his stomach!! Up on his arms and everything! YAY! Of course we don’t know how long he was like that—he really dislikes being on his stomach, and usually only lasts 2-3 minutes before getting REALLY cranky (grandpa made him stay longer one day and Owen actually made himself sick and spit up all over).

We got him up and he was his normal sweet and happy and smiley morning self. He jumped in his jumparoo for a bit, then I fed him, then we watched some TV, then I gave him more belly time—and he actually seemed to enjoy it! Long enough for me to get some cute pics, even! Here is the best one:

Happy Father’s Day!

Posted on by — 1 Comment ↓

We started the day by trying out the Bumbo seat—and he barely fits in it! (Well, he fits fine—I’m sure it’s supposed to be a little form-fitting. But his little chunky legs are somewhat wedged in there.)

Anyway, we should have been using it WAAAAY before now, but we were waiting because we thought he was supposed to be able to hold his head up on his own (when sitting upright) before using it—but he did just fine.

We also tried more oatmeal (cereal) while he was in the chair…and he actually ate it! We probably got about a teaspoon total before he got cranky! He didn’t really like it going in (we got the screwed up WHAT DID YOU JUST PUT IN MY MOUTH? face, but it stayed in and he let us do tiny spoonful after tiny spoonful!). YAY! :>>

And then it was time for a cute new outfit. And guess what size it is? JUST GUESS. No, it’s a 9-month size! NINE MONTHS! And it’s just about too small!! He’s not even five months old yet!!

Then we had some mommy time:

And finally some daddy time!!

Cough, cough, cough.

Posted on by — 3 Comments ↓

Poor kid, he woke up this morning with a bit of a cough. He’s been sneezing a little more over the past few days, but didn’t think much of it until noticing the coughing this morning. Unfortunately, we missed a mommy group play date because I didn’t want to take any chances infecting the other babies if he is really indeed sick.

The coughing isn’t THAT bad—it just scares the bejesus out of me! But just in case, I did my research (baby books + parenting sites + WebMD) and I don’t think a call to the doc is warranted quite yet: no fever, no continuous barking cough, no mucous, no blood, etc.

He doesn’t seem too worse for the wear…so far (knock on wood). A little cranky, but not bad. He’s eating and napping like normal.

I am, however, setting up the humidifier in his room tonight—and we’ll also be elevating the head of his crib (hopefully he won’t do a 180).

Keep your fingers crossed it doesn’t get any worse!

Rice cereal comments…

Posted on by — No Comments ↓

I posted this to Facebook last night:

Jennifer Hudson just gave Owen his first taste of rice cereal—he wasn’t too thrilled.

And I am totally loving all the comments from everyone:

Karen Gustafson Mehollin at 8:52pm June 3
For Mason, I used to mix it with pear or apple juice for some flavor…and to help him poop. 🙂

Tommie Smith at 8:52pm June 3
Max didn’t know what to do with it the first time either. Try again in a few days.

Jennie Precour-Kav at 9:32pm June 3
Mine HATED it in formula but if I mixed it with a little bit of veggies or fruit she loved IT!! but cereal in formula was a big fat NO! Maybe mix it with his milk and feed it to him with a spoon instead of in the bottle

Heather Cogswell at 9:34pm June 3
If he doesn’t like it, go with another food. There are a good number of well tolerated first foods for babies.

RedStrapper Racing at 9:38pm June 3
A little rice in that bottle and he’ll be sleepin all night!! gives the tummy somthing to work on & he wont be getting up all the time hungry. All 4 of my boys got that @ two months old…

Michele Hanson at 10:26pm June 3
We had better luck with oatmeal than rice cereal. He liked it better and less “tummy” issues.

Mary Langbeen at 11:02pm June 3
My 6 month old “just” started finger foods, now that she can grasp well. It took us a couple kids to figure out that baby cereal wasn’t all its cracked up to be, and don’t use it. But if anything oatmeal has more nutritional value and is easier on the tummy. Rice has the tendency to clog things up.

Emilee Patrishkoff at 12:52am June 4 via Facebook Mobile
we went with the finger foods as well—both lo’s started around eight and nine months when they showed interest and were able to pick up small pieces—seemed to work well for us, they both do their little happy dances when they eat—we started with things like avocado,pears, sweet potato and such because i thought the rice cereals were kind of nasty tasting

Dayna Rogers Christison at 3:18am June 4
Rice is like glue. Try oatmeal instead, and put sweet potato in it, or peas.

Jo Wright at 11:50am June 4
screw cereal. mashed banana or avocado are great first foods, and much more palatable!

Claudia C H Palma-Morgan at 12:49pm June 4
cereal at night is what finally got my baby to sleep through the night. I guess I wasn’t doing it for him and a full belly made him sleep!

First outing alone with dad!

Posted on by — No Comments ↓

Tom decided he was going to take Owen with him to the office today. (He doesn’t have to work per se, but he did have to do something quick.) Then they were going to stop by the store.

They were gone about two hours—and I didn’t know what to do first! So many things to do, so little time. But I ended up working on the computer downstairs.

Tom said it went fairly well…except he had to be changed (and said the diaper in the bag was too small, but it was just a different brand that he wasn’t used to), wanted to be held the entire time, and wanted to eat but didn’t actually want to eat. So, a normal day. 🙂

An amazing milestone

Posted on by — No Comments ↓

So Tom doesn’t really like theme parks. He will go since I love them, but overall, not so much. And he really doesn’t like fairs.

That said, I have been telling him all along that he WILL have to suck it up when the kid comes…because the kid WILL want to go and we WILL be going.

He said no way, no how.

Fast forward to today. When he was holding the boy and sucking all the baby goodness out of him…

And he admitted OF HIS OWN FREE WILL that yes, he will take him to the fair. Because he will do anything for the boy.

🙂

No more swaddling…?!

Posted on by — 2 Comments ↓

So, we’ve been swaddling Owen for bed at night. The practice was highly recommended, and we got used to it and enjoyed mixed results—he seemed to sleep well enough but was very Houdini-esqe and managed to escape frequently. Of course, the grandparents assumed this to mean he didn’t like being swaddled and was struggling to escape…and didn’t want us to swaddle him. And we just trusted the professionals and assumed he was a very wiggly baby and continued to swaddle him. (We did try NOT swaddling him a time or two and it didn’t seem to make any difference.)

So fast forward to Gramma Jean taking a night shift and not being too successful applying the swaddle…so I said we could NOT swaddle him if SHE chose because she would have to deal with the repercussions if he didn’t sleep well…and we could always go back to swaddling. So we didn’t swaddle…and we both got a big laugh out of his sleeping position (viewed from the monitor):

This was on Thursday, May 7.

Since then, we have continued…and for the most part I think it’s okay. But we we think it’s harder for him to go down—even if he seems TOTALLY out, as soon as we put him down, his arms shoot up and he flails around. I think when he was wrapped, he couldn’t tell as much that we were letting him go and setting him down. Secondarily, his little unwrapped hands get SO cold at night (the rest of him is warm and the room temp is at the recommended 68°-72° so don’t worry).

So we are still deciding what we’re doing, LOL.

Owen’s first restaurant!

Posted on by — No Comments ↓

We wanted to go out to eat with mom (Gramma Jean) before she left, so it was going to be Owen’s first meal out! I know, I know…we could have taken him out before this, but I was just always afraid it was going to end badly…yes, I’m a wussy first-time parent!

But it went very well—he slept almost the entire time, and we had a nice meal to boot!

He was still sleeping (or awake but calm!) when we left, so we decided to go grocery shopping as well (to show mom one of the great stores around here—Nino Salvaggios). He did well through that, too…good boy!