Baby's First Thanksgiving

Once again, I'm behind!

I blame it on Dargan being sick, then ME being sick (yep, I caught the daycare crud), then holidays... yeah yeah, excuses excuses.

We survived Scott's week in China/Taiwan, endured some sicknesses, enjoyed the holidays, and relaxed over the weekend. Still working on sitting (getting better!) and still not sleeping great, although we did have one night of 9 hours straight of sleep... that came out of nowhere! 

Scott ran the Turkey Trot 8k on Thanksgiving morning, unfortunately Dargan and I did not join him - I was still feeling sick and didn't want to subject D to the cold if we didn't have to. Maybe next year it can be a family tradition! My parents and brother came to visit - first time Matthew has seen D since he was about a month old. He's grown so much!!

Not much else going on really, just taking it day by day. Here's the photo roll from the past few weeks....

Last weekend he was SO smiley!

We did finally get a high chair and put it together - he really likes sitting in it and joining us at the dinner table for meals. It's great having him up at eye level!

What is this?

Gonna get it...

Got it! Now what... ?

Still haven't quite figured out the cookies, but we're getting better. Also working on drinking water from a sippy cup! He's not a big fan... 

SIPPY CUP!

Another fun discovery lately is RATTLES! All of a sudden he loves shaking anything that rattles. Still also loving crinkle paper/fabric, but really likes rattles. Just shake everything!!

In the carrier, inside my coat.

Sleepy babe

Banana in mesh feeder... lazy kid does not want to hold it!

Well okay fine, I'll grab it...

Discovering our feets!!

Sitting, playing with turtle.

We got fancied up for Thanksgiving dinner....

HEY Y'ALL!

Hi Grandpa!

Distracted nursing!

Whut.

Tummy time!

Lookin' cute sittin' in my hoodie!

Heyyyyy cutie boy!

When it's 70 degrees in November, we wear shorts with our hoodies.

Smacking mommy in the face is also one of our new favorite activities.

Making yummy noises with every bite during breakfast:

Banana in the mesh feeder... found a new feeder made of silicone instead of cloth. MUCH easier to clean and seems to be easier for him to use. He even picked it up himself!

WHEW. Enough photos for you??   :-P

Chicken and 'Nilla Wafers

Whew, been a bit of a whirlwind lately!

Let's rewind a bit...

Last Friday we had our first tries of some more solid foods, per Dr. Butcher's instructions. First, we tried some Nilla Wafers...

"What do you expect me to do with that, huh?"

"Hmmm, like this?"

"Mmm, not so bad!"

We ended up having to hold it to his mouth, and he would gum it for a bit, but didn't seem overly enthusiastic about it. Mostly it just ended up a crumby, sticky mess. Oh well, we'll keep trying.

Next we got home and tried some Stage II foods - Chicken with Gravy! Surely this will be a hit, right?

"Looks good, Dad!"

"Ugh, what IS that?"

Not a fan.

"Noooo don't feed me that gross stuff!"

That evening he preferred peas. (Who are you, child??)

To be fair, the "chicken" was pretty nasty looking.

Scott left early on Saturday morning to head to China & Taiwan for the week on a work trip, so I had a few days on my own over the weekend.

Saturday morning, Dargan was happy and giggly. This boy is a morning person for sure!

Reaching for the mobile animals

Laughing playing peek-a-boo!

I went to the Upstate Birth & Baby Expo midday on Saturday, where there were a bunch of vendors and people from the mom and mom-to-be community in Greenville. I felt like I knew SO many people there, it was crazy! I got to see/talk to the midwife who delivered Dargan, the midwife who did my 6 week post-partum checkup, the instructor of our Bradley class, a pediatric chiropractor that we know through mutual friends, a coworker whose little girl is a couple months younger than D, some people from the March of Dimes (I didn't know them, but I did get to express my gratitude for the support they provide to NICU moms). Also watched a fashion show by the local babywearing group - so cool! I spent about 2 hours there, which was a nice way to kill some time on a Saturday.

I also received in the mail the traveling woven wrap from a friend - she basically loaned it to me for a week or so. Apparently "travelers" are a thing in the wrapping/babywearing community... you collect different fabrics, patterns, colors.... and then you occasionally swap them (temporarily) with other wrap owners. This was an Oscha in Fade Berry.

In the afternoon (actually while we were at the expo), I noticed Dargan was feeling a little warm, and by evening I could tell he didn't feel well at all. We spent Sunday around the house, and I ended up calling the pediatrician nurse's hotline since he had a fever of a bit over 100F. They said it was likely a reaction to his vaccinations, which is more likely because we'd had him get his flu shot in addition to the 3 other immunizations. Poor guy felt awful!

We did get out for a few miles running, and even sat in the stroller without the carseat for the first time like a big boy!

Fresh air makes me feel a bit better!

On Monday morning he still had a fever, so I stayed with him and worked from home - pretty successfully, I might add! He conveniently napped during one of the more important conference calls, which was very nice of him.

Sleepy guy

Helping mom work!

Not helping mom work! *HONK*

^^ His new favorite thing is to grab my nose/face/hair and smack me in the face/chest while he nurses. Nice, kid.

My parents arrived late Monday afternoon to help out for a few days in Scott's absence (YAY!), so it worked out well that even though Dargan was 90% better, he could stay home with them. He did pretty well with them, even napped well! Very happy he behaved himself. :) Everyone seemed to enjoy the time together... too bad I had to go to work.

The folks left early Thursday morning and Dargan returned to daycare. Ms. Sandy was soooo glad to have him back!

Saying bye to Grannie this morning

This evening was pretty calm - didn't have anywhere to go, and had leftovers to eat so didn't have to cook dinner. Yippee!  We had chicken with noodles for dinner... this went over much better than the gross pasty chicken & gravy.

Spoons are confusing.

Then we played with our turtle while sitting a bit before bed... getting much better at the sitting! Still sinks forward gradually, but I can tell they've been working with him at daycare.

Such concentration.

And Scott gets back tomorrow night! Hurray!

6 month checkup

We have a healthy, happy, growing little man!

I knew he had gotten so much bigger over the past few months, but it wasn't until I did this comparison collage that I really realized it... I scaled the pics so that the bear was the same size (ish) in each, and WOW!

HUGE difference between 4 and 6 months. Incredible. WHERE DID MY TINY PREEMIE BABY GO?????

Anyway, Dr. Butcher was very pleased with his progress in all respects. He's starting to sit up on his own (not really well, but he's working on it), his head is a great shape (no more flat spot!), and his eyes are focusing better. He's tracking objects really well, and his dexterity (picking up and manipulating objects) is great.

Stats:
Weight: 15lbs even (8th percentile)
Height: 25-1/4 inches (5th percentile)
Head: 42.5cm (24th percentile)

He's dropped a little bit in his height as far as percentile, but not so much that she's worried. After all, he IS our child! And he's still got a huuuge noggin.

We now are to start Stage II foods (meat & veggie combos), different types of cereal (oat, barley, etc.), and giving water in a sippy cup. He also gets to try some cookies - nilla wafers, animal crackers, and other similar things.

Also got the OK to relax about milk supply (for me) - by 6 months, he's gotten most of the critical benefits of nursing, so I'm to continue as I have been, but if I come up short for his daycare bottles, I'm just supposed to top off with a bit of formula and not stress about it. This is SUCH a HUGE relief for me... I've been just barely keeping up and it's caused me so much distress. I'm really excited to be able to relax and just do what I can but not stress about it.

Dr. Butcher even said that 6-9 months is her favorite age of baby. They're old enough to be alert and interactive, aren't SO helplessly dependent on you, but they're still 1) immobile and 2) snuggly babies. I'm excited for what the next months hold for us! And so happy for Dargan's progress!

6 Months Old!

How is he 6 months old already???

We got a couple of photos with his card this morning, will have to get them with his bear tonight.

2 weeks vs. 6 months

Favorites: toys with crinkly paper, early morning poops, blowing raspberries, jumping in his jumperoo, chewing on books, riding in the stroller

Dislikes: having his nose cleaned out, Velcro, being in one place too long (this kid likes action and being on-the-go!)

Improvements/Milestones: Still working on sitting up, can hold his own bottle while eating at daycare, enjoys all varieties of fruit & veggies that he's tried

We've had a great few nights of sleep (5 decent nights in a row so far), though last night wasn't as good (woke up at 12:15 and 3:30, then again at 4:30 because of poop!) but still... MILES ahead of where he's been. Hallelujah.

We had a nice run on Sunday... got 6 miles in - longest run while pushing the stroller! It was tough, but my little running buddy encouraged me to keep going (he'd go "AHH AHH AHH" every time I stopped to walk for a bit).

Running buddy, bundled up

Fall, y'all.

Sunday afternoon we went to Swamp Rabbit Brewery for a baby date with neighbor Aria - Dargan got all dressed up in his khaki cargo pants and hoodie. I love this outfit on him!

Excited for my date at the brewery!

We have his 6 month appointment on Thursday... excited to see how much he's grown and what's in store for us next!!

Three in a row!

For the first time ever, we have had three good nights in a row! And yes, I realize by posting about it, I'm probably going to jinx it all. But I feel that it must be documented!

Thursday night, I was at home with D while Scott was in Spartanburg for a work event. We played for a little while with his new favorite toy, the musical turtle.

Before too long, D was super fussy and I figured we'd be in for a long night. I got him to eat his vegetable and then almost immediately he was passed out in my arms. This was at 6:45.

I let him sleep in my arms for about an hour, then headed upstairs to get him in bed. Got him changed and nursed to sleep around 8:30/9. He then woke up at 1 and 3:30, but was otherwise sleeping pretty soundly! Not bad compared to the previous night being up every hour or two.

Friday evening we went out to Quest for a special beer release and then to Barley's for a quick pint. D was awake and happy at Quest, then slept in the carrier while at Barley's. Got home around 9 and it was a pretty quick transition into bed. Had him asleep in his crib by 9:30/10ish, he woke up at 2 for a snack, then back down until 5:30 when he wakes up for the day. I hate that we have to get up so early on the weekdays because that means we have to keep that schedule on the weekends so that we don't throw him off schedule. Oh well, sacrifice I'm willing to make if it means decent nights of sleep!

Happy in the morning after good sleeps!

Early morning selfies

Saturday morning newspaper reading

A real nap! In the crib! WHO IS THIS BABY??

Saturday we watched some football with friends, and I got a nap !

Football watching... go Gators!

Got back home around 7:30, fed D his evening vegetable, then put him to bed around 8:30. He woke up just once at 1am, and then slept until his usual 5:30 wake up time!

SO EXCITED for 3 good nights... Fingers crossed it will continue.

Edited to add: He's currently napping again, IN HIS CRIB!!