Solids and the beach!

I can't believe it's been almost a month since I've posted anything. I always say I'm going to post more often but being a working mom who also loves to sleep (although who really gets any sleep with an infant) and spend quality time with the husband keeps me busy. I think I probably say this on every post but we're having so much fun with Blake right now. He's so interactive and learning so much all the time and now he's eating new foods. We had a little setback with the solids because he caught a stomach virus that lingered for like a week and a half. We never knew what he was going to keep down and better to get milk thrown up on you than green beans! But now we're back on track and Blake has enjoyed peas, green beans, sweet potatoes, zucchini, carrots, bananas, and pears. Not surprisingly, bananas and pears have been his favorite and carrots run a close second. That kid will eat 3/4ths of a banana! I'm so anxious to feed him so many foods but they have to eat the same thing for 3-4 days to test for allergies so it's taking forever to get through the menu. Next up is peaches, butternut squash, yellow squash, and apples. Yum!

Before:

After - not too bad really, considering I clean his hands along the way. Soon I'll just let him go all in and feed himself, but for now we're trying to keep it relatively clean.

Blake hit the beach for the first time! We went to Port Aransas where he played in the waves and sand and promptly stuck a fistful of muddy sand in his mouth, so we spent most of the time on the beach in the shade where we had a little pool of fresh water for him. It was a convenient time to go to the beach because he can sit up pretty well but couldn't crawl yet so I wasn't chasing him all over the sand. I try to remember that he's a boy and wants to and can get dirty but I always find myself sweeping dirt off of him and trying to keep him clean. I will be forced to let go of this soon I know.

Blake's 6 month stats:
Weight: 15 lbs 15 oz, 23rd percentile
Height: 25.5", 23rd percentile

We had a little half-birthday celebration for Blake. (We're slightly overzealous parents.) He was mesmerized by the candle. And no, I didn't let him have any cake of course, even though Randy wanted to let him play in it.


Now that Blake is 6 months old, he has has moved onto solids! He loved the rice cereal and the oatmeal but his first real food was peas. When the spoon of peas first hit his mouth, he turned his nose up but then he continued to eat. I think the new texture threw him off. His friend at daycare already started solids so he's been watching her eat - he knew exactly what to do when that spoon came towards him! He seems to have fun with this whole eating out of a spoon idea....and I had fun too because I got to use my new babycook. :) I'm planning on making all of his food because the foods he's eating are so simple and I only want him to eat organic fruits and veggies. Tonight we tried sweet potatoes and I had no problem getting him to eat them!


Blake is loving his feet right now, always pulling on his toes or his socks whether he's in the high chair, on the changing table, in the car seat, or in the stroller.

He has also figured out how to use his feet to scoot himself backwards and roll all around the floor. Gone are the days of placing him on the blanket and turning your back for a minute. He ends up in a completely different place! I know this is only the beginning...at least for now I can count on him ending up in the same room. He's so close to sitting up all by himself too. He loves his new workbench. His face lights up as soon as he sees it:


Grandma came to visit! Blake had fun playing with Mammaw and having another person to entertain him and give him lots of hugs and kisses.


He's finally grown into his exersaucer. I wish I knew what he was thinking in this first picture, so serious!

We had lots of fun celebrating Randy's first Father's Day. We enjoyed Mother's Day brunch at Z Tejas so much that we decided to make another visit for Father's Day. Blake wore his "My Dad Rocks" shirt all day until he spit up on it and we had to put on a new outfit. For his first Father's Day gift, I framed a little collage with a picture of Blake wearing the shirt in the middle and other pictures of him and Blake from the past 5 months all around it.

Daddy & Blake at Z Tejas


Opening Daddy's gift:

I think I've mentioned on here before how much we love Mrs. Rhonda, the lady that cares for Blake...well actually the whole family. Her oldest daughter is 18 and has babysat for us a couple of times. Blake loves her and she knows his personality and schedule and it's just worked out perfect. Well Rhonda's husband Dan built this awesome pergola with 2 swings, one for each of the babies, so they can be outside for a few minutes in the morning when it's not too hot. It's amazing how much they do for these babies that aren't even their own children! Here's a picture of Blake trying out the swing for the first time. He loved it!

Blake rolled over!

Blake rolled over last week! So I know that this is one of those things that no one but us, and possibly the grandparents, will care about, but this is his first real milestone! It's been so fun to watch him go from his back to his side, get so close to making it all the way to his tummy, then fall over to his back, then make it to his side again, and then over to his tummy, only to get hung up by his elbow stuck up underneath him, and then finally figure out how to get over that elbow and master the roll! This all happened over the course of a week and now he's done it! Now that he's figured it out he does it all the time. The only problem is that sometimes he gets stuck on his tummy and has to be rescued, but he's getting better every day.

Here's a video of his new trick: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IXIjeqC6j5g

Other firsts in Mister Blake's world: He went for his first swim. Blake's an observer in general so I think he's still taking in the whole pool environment before he really lets loose. For now he just enjoys hanging out and being in the water, kind of the same way he WAS in the tub....but no longer. Now he loves to kick and splash! Bath time has gotten messsssy. Soon it will be time to move him to the big tub!

He loved it when Randy would sway him from side to side in the water:

Not sure what to think of this fountain:

This is his second swim adventure. He's not asleep, this pic just caught him with his eyes closed:

This is also new, a constant stream of drool coming out of his mouth:

Also, Blake is no longer satisfied hanging out on our shoulder and seeing where he's been. He now wants to look forward and know where he's going and what we're doing. He's still too short and little to be a hip baby though so, ever the cuddler, he ends up resting his cheek against ours to take in the view.

We used to call this Blake's "spot"....

but it now runs a close second to this position:

Blake is 4 months old!

Blake is 4 months old! He's weighing in at 13 lbs, 15 oz and is 24" long. We are loving this time with him! He's so much fun now that he can interact with us. The past few weeks have been busy: Both sets of grandparents were in town for Blake's baptism, which couldn't have gone better. Blake hung out for the first part of the service and fell asleep after his baptism. Whew, sigh of relief. I was a little nervous about it. One of Randy's college friends, his wife, and their son Tanner, who is only 3 days younger than Blake, came in town and Blake went to his first wedding reception in Burnet. I also got to enjoy my first Mother's Day with brunch at Z Tejas and a relaxing afternoon at home. Check out my Mother's Day gift from Randy in the pictures link. It's pretty sweet. He and Blake had a little finger painting session while I was getting a facial. I love the book but would've also loved to have a video of the making of the book, which apparently took about an hour and half. :)

Here's what Blake is up to now:

• He's smiling and laughing in response to things more, like when we smile at him or lift him in the air or kiss his tummy. He's still talking lots. He loves his g's, j's, ah's, and eh's and he's figuring out all of the different pitches he can say them in. Here's a video of him talking to his mobile friends - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6VeYg_S0d5Q
• Blake can roll from side to side from his back but can't quite get the rest of the way to his tummy. He's SO close, won't be long!
• He's reaching for things and grabbing them and bringing them to his mouth, although he doesn't know how to turn things to make them fit so I think it confuses him when some things don't fit. One thing he definitely knows how to fit is his bottle. When he sees it coming, he grabs it and puts it right in his mouth. He can even hold it if I let go. Strong boy!
• He LOVES to suck on his hands....loudly!
• He loves bath time, but not how you'd think. Instead of talking and laughing, he just has the most content look on his face like he's just so relaxed. He moves his body and kicks his legs but more in a mellow, chilled kind of way.
• He's really showing his personality more. He's kind of quiet around people he doesn't know or when he's in a new place.When we hold him in a sitting position, he has enough head control now to turn his head from side to side and look around.
• Blake loves to play in the jumper at daycare. We got him an exersaucer for at home but he's not quite ready for it.
• He's sleeping 10-12 hours at night without waking up to eat. Ah, finally, I can get a good night's sleep again!
  

Pictures: http://picasaweb.google.com/amandajrsmith/4Months?feat=directlink

Back to work :(

It's day 2 of being back at work and I can't believe how much I miss the little guy! I hate thinking that I'm missing him grow up but I'm just trying to soak up every minute with him in the morning and evening. Luckily he's not too far away and, since I work from home, I can go see him him for a short period during the day if I need to, which I did yesterday but am restraining myself today. We were so fortunate to find Mrs. Rhonda, a sweet lady with empty nest syndrome who just wants to keep 2 babies. She's just a few neighborhoods over and loves to hug and cuddle Blake and the other little girl Mackenna, do storytime, tummy time, and take them on walks. She's already figured out that he loves to eat and be held. She is fantastic and it's so much easier for me to work knowing he's in her care and not at the daycare we had originally planned on.

We also went on our first roadtrip to Marshall to visit my family and Dubach to visit Randy's family. He did pretty well but we're still trying to get him used to the carseat. I couldn't really blame him for crying at times because Randy's 4Runner is about as bumpy as a kiddie rollercoaster and even I was annoyed. Most of all though he really just wanted to be held. I sat in the back with him some of the time and now that he can make eye contact it breaks my heart to see him stare at me with tears streaming down his face wondering why I won't pick him up.

Little B will be 3 months old this week. Crazy, just crazy! Here are some things he's doing now:

• He's found his hands, although he's not crazy about putting them in his mouth all the time. Seems like he knows they could be used for something good but hasn't totally figured it out yet.
• He's smiling and cooing a lot now which is lots of fun. I find it especially funny when he gets mad and every consonant he can work up comes stuttering out of his little mouth. He'll really let me have it!
• He LOVES to kick! Laying in his crib with the music and mobile turned on and kicking in is one of his favorite things. The other day he laid on the couch with us and kicked and talked for a whole hour!
• The biggest news is that he's finally enjoying tummy time! Maybe enjoying is a strong word. Tolerating is probably more fitting but we're getting about 5 minutes out of him now. For now, he enjoys it more on the Boppy than on a mat on the floor but we're making progress.
• We also introduced him to the Bumbo seat this week. He seemed to really like having a different viewpoint than either on his back or on our shoulder. He looks like a little old man enjoying his recliner. :)
• He made it through his first church service without crying. He fell asleep (in my arms of course) and remained that way the whole time.
• He's going up to 7.5 hours at night between feedings. He has his last bottle and goes down by 9 and then makes it until 3:30-4:30. Granted this has only happened the past 2 nights but I'm optimistic that it's going to continue.

Here's some pics taken over the past few weeks.
http://picasaweb.google.com/amandajrsmith/12Weeks?feat=directlink

Making progress...

Some big things happening at the Smith household right now:First and most important, Blake has started going 6 hours between feedings on some nights, from 10PM-4AM! He's waking up again at 7 to eat but this means that I'm now only getting up once in the middle of the night! Let's hope this trend continues!

Secondly, Blake has started napping in his crib! This is the first step in transitioning him out of our room and into the crib at night and so far it's going well. Now that I can recognize his sleepy cues and know about when naptime is, I can swaddle him, get him to sleep, and lay him down in his crib rather than napping in the bouncer or, worse, on me all the time!

And lastly, we've come out of hibernation! We've been hermits for the last 2 months but just this week Blake and I ventured out to Babies R Us (what better place to take a baby out for the first time?) and Randy, Blake, and I went out to dinner for the first time. Randy and I had a talk beforehand and agreed that we weren't going to get too excited about it as it might not go well and we might have to pack our food up and leave in the middle of dinner but that, no matter what, we weren't going to get discouraged and we would go out to dinner again even if this didn't go well. We chose a loud Mexican restaurant, were sat immediately, and had just decided to get the check when Blake decided to do some crying. To his credit, I felt his little hands and legs and I think he was just hot but we still went and head and left. Hey at least we got to eat and we considered the first night out to be a success!

Blake is 8 weeks old now! I can't believe how quickly time is passing! Here's a few recent pictures:

http://picasaweb.google.com/amandajrsmith/8Weeks?feat=directlink