Holt is 6 months!

I love my baby! He makes me so so happy. Everyday just gets better and better. He is becoming quite curious about EVERYTHING. He grabs anything within reach and sticks it in his mouth. I'm suddenly on alert about what is around when I am holding him in the kitchen, bathroom, his room, the car...everywhere! Babyproofing is just around the corner. In the past month I feel like he has grown so much and turned into a different baby. All in a good way of course. He is mobile now. He just rolls and rolls and I find him in funny places, like under the coffee table. His little square blanket in the living room has been replaced with a queen sized comforter since we have all tile. He has also learned his name and is becoming quite the expert at sitting up. He is still a little wobbly, but is quick to correct himself. It is just so amazing to watch this little person take in their surroundings and teach themselves these new things.


When I get him in the mornings, it's the most joyful, happy feeling of my entire day. He gets this big smile and starts kicking his legs around. When I pick him up he wraps his legs around me and grabs onto my arms tightly. It's as if he is letting me know how happy he is too! Lately he has also been concentrating on faces a lot more. He will just look into my eyes and smile or he will touch my face and again smile. It's just so sweet. I want to remember these times forever!

Facts:
-Weighs 15lbs 15oz (25%)
-27inches (50%)
-Size 6-9 month clothes
-Size 2-3 diapers
-Has 7oz bottles at school or nurses 5 times/day if I am home
-Eating cereal for breakfast, a veggie for lunch and dinner. (Fruits are coming this weekend!)
-Sleeps from 8-6:30 on average, eats, then goes back down until about 8:30

Loves:
-Dogs, especially Bentley. He finds him hilarious. He cracks up when dogs bark.
-Sock animals
-Books
-Stuffed baseball
-His toys with lights and sounds
-Teething rings
-When Daddy tosses him up
-Mommy's silly faces
-The camera, he knows when to do his thing, BIG SMILE HOLT!
-His feet
-My iPhone (Shake Farm app)

Dislikes:
-Solid food, especially green beans
-Taking away a toy
-When he is alone in a room
-The Wicked Mommy of the West (this is what I call myself when I have to suction his nose out)
-Getting ready for bed (bath is great, hates the lotion and getting dressed part)

He's really still a very happy baby! We love him to pieces.

Solid Foods

We started Holt on his journey to solid foods on Saturday January 22, 2011. After 6 months of only breastmilk, he was not quite the eager beaver we had hoped for. That is to be expected. I started him off with peas for lunch on Saturday and again for dinner. He had about a half a jar at each sitting. At dinner he was all about the peas, he couldn't get enough. I was so surprised. I was thinking that was pretty easy. That night brought a whole other problem! A bellyache from all the new foods. He was up at 9,10,11,12, my mom rocked him until 1. He was up again at 2:30 and 3:45. He slept until about 8:30 after that. Luckily he just needed some comforting and went back to sleep within minutes of waking up all those times. I just rocked him in the glider. Below are his first pictures of eating peas.




After that awful night, we decided to try something else on Sunday to see if it was better for his belly. I know you are supposed to stick with the same veggie for 3-4 days, but I couldn't take another night like that. So green beans it was. Needless to say he likes peas better. I was going to post a video below but for some reason it was taking hours to upload. I'll put it on facebook instead. Here is a picture of the green beans.

Dear Breastfeeding...

Dear Breastfeeding,
Today is our six month Anniversary. We have had our ups and downs. To be honest, I thought I was going to dump you after about 3 weeks. Then I thought I would keep giving you chance after chance to prove yourself. I didn't see our relationship going past 6 months and here is why. You have made my life convenient and so inconvenient at the same time. You force me to wear maxi like pads inside my really ugly nursing bra everyday. When Holt leaves us, you sting me like needles if it would be time for him to eat. In order to stop that, you force me to hook up a machine to my boobs that makes me feel like Bessie the cow. SLURP SLURP SLURP. When I wake up in the morning I look like Pamela Anderson only to be disappointed after Holt's first feeding when I go back to looking like deflated water balloons. When I am done with you for good, I think I will get some new ones that permanently make me look like I do in the mornings. It will be the only way to get these puppies perky again. I have been a slave to a 3-4 hour time frame for 6 months now. A SLAVE I TELL YOU. When I'm out in public, you force me to feed in my car, closest dressing room, or rush home. I can get one errand done at a time. On road trips, I have had to pump in the front seat to prepare a bottle for Holt. This always brings on strange looks from the truckers in the next lane. At work I have to take 2 15 minute, awkward, pump breaks and conceal my baggie full of milk on the way to the freezer. I'm certain everyone knows what my oh so discreet black bag is for by now.

On the plus side, you help me calm down Holt in the middle of the night while he is growing or sick. Instead of having to spend 10 minutes warming a bottle in the middle of the night when Holt was a newborn, you were always ready to go. You have made him very healthy and strong. Holt has never even had a drop of formula and he is growing because of you. I know you have been good to us. This weekend I introduce a new friend, solid foods. I think I might keep you around a little while longer. But when Holt gets his first tooth, our relationship is officially over. Once I got the hang of you, you weren't so bad. Overall, I feel like Forrest Gump. "I figured since I'd gone this far, I might as well turn back, keep right on going."

Sincerely,
Mommy, Mama, Shea

SICK

I have been slacking on my blog. Basically the story around here is SICKness. Holt was diagnosed with RSV a week ago and we have been dealing with that ever since. I was home from work with him except for Wednesday when Kyle took his turn. Luckily he never spiked the fever and his oxygen levels were great. I was trying not to be the paranoid Mom by taking him to the doctor, but there was something not quite right about his cough. He had even been sleeping really well at night still. I knew when he took a 3 hour nap last Sunday, that he was not quite himself. He is known for not napping. I took him to the doctor and sure enough he had RSV. A little boy in his class was also diagnosed with RSV and they sent a letter home a few days before. I was looking for all the scary symptoms like: fever, rapid breathing, wheezing. He never had any of those, thank goodness! For the most part he has been his normal happy, smiley self. Somedays are better than others. Like today, his cough is subsiding a bit, but he will not play and wants to be held ALL the time. This nasty virus can last up to 21 days! The worst part is that there is really nothing you can do for them except WATCH. This is exhausting for a Mommy. I must be up every hour at night listening to him breath or putting my hand on his chest to see how fast it is going. I check him daily for a fever, unless I really can tell he doesn't have one. He has been getting up anywhere from 0-3 times a night coughing. If he wakes himself up too much, he cannot put himself back down. That requires some rocking or a feeding here and there. The doctor says you have to give into the feedings in the middle of the night and more frequently during the day because that is how they stay hydrated. Also exhausting for a Mommy. We've spent so much time cuddled up together this past week that he has now passed his germs along to me. I'm battling a terrible cold. The kind where when you wake up in the morning you feel like you cannot physically lift your head off the pillow because it is so heavy. The kind with a pounding in your skull and a faucet for a nose. So far it has not moved into my chest, but I wouldn't be surprised. Also, while breastfeeding, you are very limited on what you can take to make yourself feel better. Much like being pregnant again. I have only taken the plain ol' Sudafed. I don't notice much of a change.

On the bright side, Holt turns 6 months this week and we will begin solids. My mom is also going to be in town for a few days. We've both been aching to spend some time together lately so I am happy she is finally coming. If I'm not well, maybe she can take care of me. :)

5 Months!

Oh my gosh, he's five months already. It's getting to that point where I want things to slow down. I was ok getting through the rough first few weeks and getting to where he would sleep through the night, now it is just going by too fast! He is the size I always pictured myself holding perfectly on my hip. He's the perfect sized baby right now. He is strong and sturdy but not old enough to start getting into everything. Stay this way! So many milestones are just around the corner for him. It's that time again when I do his laundry I have a "cannot wear anymore" pile. Feels like I just did this! He's the most perfect little baby I could have ever hoped for. He is light of his daddy's life and he's mommy's best friend. I honestly talk to him like he knows exactly what I'm saying and we're BFFs.


Favs:
-Sucking his left foot
-Smiling and laughing
-Bentley (loves to follow him around the room and he tries to reach out to him, Bentley is not so much a fan)
-Games with daddy
-Listening to mommy sing to him (poor guy!)
-Rattles and sassy links
-His frog stuffed animal
-Books




Dislikes:
-The bumbo for too long
-Starting to notice when I leave the room
-Laying on his tummy too long
-Nose aspirator (I would hate it too)
-Pulling shirts over his head (he's ok if you make sure his eyes are NEVER covered)
-The carseat when he is awake and not sleepy at all

Holt Fun facts:
-Size 2 diapers
-About 16 lbs
-Size 6 month clothes, some 9 month
-Working on rolling from tummy to back
-Trying to sit by himself, kinda doing the tripod but loses balance after about 5 seconds
-Grabs anything you put in front of him and immediately puts it in his mouth
-Fascinated by his hand and fingers
-Still on breastmilk only
-Taking his first plane ride to the Rose Bowl next week!
-Follows us around the room with his eyes and by moving his head
-Starting to recognize his name a little
-Knows our voices and immediately turns toward the sound to find us
-Sleeps from 8-6:30 or 7:30 (depends on if I'm working from home or going to the office)
-A very happy happy baby!

Santa!!!! I know him!

Yesterday Kyle and I took Holt to see Santa for the first time. When I saw the line, I got a little nervous knowing Holt was going to be ready to eat in about 30 minutes or so. Luckily he doesn't have meltdowns when he's hungry like he did as a newborn. He can usually wait awhile longer. I was pleasantly surprised that he was happy as could be in his stroller or in Daddy's arms while we waited for about 45 minutes! That gave Kyle and I plenty of time to discuss which ridiculously overpriced packaged we would choose. The cheapest was $20 all the way up to $45. My first thought when I saw the $45 package was , "That is ridiculous, who would spend that on a silly Santa picture? All you need is one!" I actually needed at least 2, one wallet (for an ornament on the tree) and one 4x6 (for a special 2010 frame). They only had 5x7s, 3x5s, and wallets. Oh but for $7 more you could add a disc to your order and print all the Santa pictures you wanted! $40 later we walked out of there with 2 5x7s, wallets, 2 3x5s (I mean what size is this anyways, who has a 3x5 frame? RIP OFF), and the disc! Luckily it was a good picture because they choose the "best" in their opinion. I think it was perfect! Check him out below.

I immediately put these pictures in my frames and almost got teary eyed in doing so. Why you ask? Because this time next year I will have a 16 month old that will be walking and getting into all sorts of trouble with the ornaments on the tree. I just know that when I pull out my special 2010 Christmas frame with Holt's first Santa picture in it, I will cry. I will be all nostalgic and sad about how quickly time has gone by. He won't be my itty bitty baby anymore. But enough of that, for this year I get to enjoy my itty bitty baby!

Mom Question-Change in Schedule

Ok Mommies, help me out. I'm following my sister in laws lead and turning to you bloggers for tips.

Holt is changing his schedule up on me and I don't know what to do! He's been on a 3 hour schedule since he was born and now he's more like 3-4 hours, which is fine. The biggest question is what to do for bedtime. He needs to be going down around 7:30 or 8 at the very latest. 9 is just too late for him and I'm certain he would sleep better if he could go to bed earlier. We haven't introduced cereal yet, waiting awhile longer, but I'm thinking that might be the answer. As of now I feed him around 5:30 or 6 and then again before he gets ready for bed which sometimes isn't until 9. He needs to have already been in bed but he'll never make it if his last feeding is at 6. If I introduced cereal, I could still keep that one feeding at 6 and give him cereal while we eat, then he can get ready for bed. Right? What are some tips for moving his bedtime up while satisfying his belly at the same time? I just feel like he is so so so tired and a nap around 7:30 seems pointless to me. What did you do? Or what have you heard from others?