LB is 1 week old!

Well ... so on Tuesday LB turned 1 week! Woohooo ... and he's still alive! Hahaha ... so much has changed since we had Papoosie. I remember with Papoosie it was a constant checking to see if he was breathing, positioned right, covered enough, etc etc ... now I'm comfortable enough to know that if he's wrapped up fine, he will be ok unless he's really screaming. A little moving about doesn't make us jump, and we can tell the difference between the tummy ache cries and notice the signs of his being hungry right away. I'm so much more comfortable with this little one than I was with Papoosie which makes for so much less anxiety and worrying about every little thing. It's made things so much easier and I've been able to have a lot more fun with him as a result.
So far LB is quite a happy and well-behaved baby. He's still in the 'sleep all day' stage so he only has about 1 hour of awake time in the morning, and 1 in the afternoon. He rarely cries (he'll give one or two sharp screams for a tummy ache, but it won't go on for minutes or --God forbid--hours). I'm really hoping he doesn't get cholic and gas pains like Papoosie did. With Papoosie it started around 1 month so I guess we'll just have to see. That was a hard time when Papoosie just WOULDN'T STOP CRYING ... and it lasted till he was like 6 months old so I'm really keeping my fingers crossed that LB will be spared.
I got my stitches taken out yesterday but a TERRIBLE rash has popped up on all the places where I had surgical tape stuck on me ... my back (where they gave me the anesthetic), my wrist (IV drip), and the cut (that strip is the WORST). It's REAL REAL puffy and itchy and ... who heard of an allergy to surgical tape anyway? And why would it come out a WEEK afterwards? Oh well ... hopefully in a couple days it'll go away.
I still spend most of the day lying down (not so much sleeping anymore though) because I still have pain in my right side, and if I'm standing for too long I will start getting dizzy, but I feel real good and very much on the mend.
I'm going to be doing Papoosie's 13 month update after this too ... so I'll finish here with some pics!

In pictures newborn Aiden and newborn Brandon are very much alike! Here's Brandon:

And here's Papoosie:

Fussy Baby

Just when I thought we had gotten a nice groove with his schedule, BAM ... he goes and changes it on me.

These past few days he's been really wonky. Fussy, angry, hard to please, refusing to eat, throwing fits, tired. I'm really hoping it's because his 3rd bottom tooth is coming out, and not because he's starting a little rebellious pre-toddler phase. He usually takes 2 naps during the day but these days he's been taking 3 and it's thrown his schedule (and mine) completely out of whack. He doesn't eat his food anymore but makes like this 'bleh' sound with his tongue and lips and all the food goes spraying. When I scold him he starts really crying like his little heart got broken so he needs to be taken out of the highchair and calmed and soothed before we can resume eating. Also with his toys, or wanting to 'walk' or go somewhere. If he doesn't get his way he throws a fit and cries and freaks out when he is scolded.

Needless to say it's been a tough few days. I'm hoping the tooth breaks (any day now!) and he goes back to being his lovely lovable self. Cause if this is his new personality I think I will cry. We'll see in the next few days.

In other news, Daddy got an iPhone 4s for Christmas (postal system ... WONKY!) ... and he's obsessed now with instagram ... so there have been a lot more pics on Facebook compared to before ... but I'll just post them here for those who don't have Facebook. (HI MOM!!!!)

Enjoy.

Looks like he has buck teeth :D:D

Taken just this morning. After an incident of food spitting and getting scolded a lone tear remained on his cheek. Poor pooch.

Sharing a moment.

All in Green for St.Patrick's Day!

Sleeping Angel

After a bath.

Just chilling

An afternoon at the lake. LB is getting BIG!

Give Mama a kiss

HUG!

Playtime with LB. So sweet!!!

New hat that came with a batch of new clothes for summer. Thanks A.Patty!

Like Father like Son

FLYING! Such a beautiful photo

CUTIE!!!

NO MOOMMM!!!!!

Playing

Looking so chub chubs

11 months old

I say this every month its just crazy!

It's very strange though. With Papoosie growing time just seems to be whizzing by light-speed! But then when it comes to LB I wish he would just pop out already ... I'm tired of him beating me up from the inside out, and carrying him around like a big fat pregnant woman! Ahem.

Wowie Zowie! Next month Papoosie is gonna be a whole year old! Who wants to come to his party? I'm only gonna take like 10-15 ppl so if you want in you gotta let me know.

Papoosie continues to grow and develop and every day (yes, even the crazy not so happy ones) is such a wonder to me. He is such a sweet baby and is so loving and adorable!

Here are the news in his 11 months:

-Got his bedtime routine down

-Sleeps in his own crib/room

-Such attitude

-Teaching him signing

-Teething

Yep ... sounds awesome doesn't it! Here's what an average day in the life of Papoosie looks like:

Most days he will wake up anywhere between 7-8, and Grandma brings him to our room. He started really moving and kicking a lot in his sleep and it would hurt my tummy when he kicked so we moved a bed into his room, and now he sleeps in his crib and grandma sleeps in the bed beside it! I am so thankful grandma loves him so much and actually WANTS to (instead of doing it as a favor to us) sleep with Papoosie. I am SO darn lucky!

Anyway, so grandma brings him in the morning, and goes off to work, and Papoosie plays between us until we wake up enough to make him breakfast and start his day. He will eat, get his bottom wash and diaper change, and play for an hour or so. Around 2 hours after he wakes up he takes his morning nap .... anywhere between 30 min and 1 hour.

Then once he wakes up he will have second breakfast (HIIIIIIIIIIII Patty), then since it's been warm these days we take him out. To meet friends, go to the lake, go window shopping, do errands .... we stay out till around 2 or 3 when it's his nap time. We feed him, and by the time we get home he's sleeping! He will sleep for an hour or two, and then after he wakes up and has another meal we have happy play time between mommy, grandma, and daddy in the afternoon.

Around 8:30, 9 I make him dinner, we wash hands, mouth, and bottom, change into pajamas, brush teeth and by 9:30 ish he will sleep. Of course he's not a clock so its just a general flow ...

His favorite playtime activities are standing up (with his head popping out of the playpen/crib) and throwing the ball and having us 'fetch' it for him. He will do this over and over and over again ... sometimes we substitute the balls for blocks, or string/chain and he loves the sound it makes. He also LOVES walking. Like the video in the previous post, we bought him a little harness thingie and when we go to the lake we put it on and he walks along with us ... he's quite a good walker and can go pretty far before tiring!

Other than bye, hajde (come here), pointing, and saying please, I'm also teaching him I'm sorry, thank-you, more, and all-done. He watches baby signing videos as well, but those are the ones that I am teaching him. He's SUPER smart. He also understands DAME (no in Japanese), when I tell him not to touch something or put it in his mouth he retracts his hand or takes the thing out of his mouth. But he's really naughty because he gets a little mad that I told him no and he will kind of make an 'ugh' sound and try to hit my hand, or throw the thing that he was putting in his mouth away. Kind of like throwing a fit that I said no. For now I say 'good baby' in response to his taking his hand back or taking the thing out of his mouth ... but if his reaction gets stronger I'll have to work on that.

A week or so ago he had a couple days where he was teething bad ... those nights he got a break from the crib and came to sleep with us. I could feel the 3rd bottom tooth coming in, but since then it cold feet or something cause I can feel it but it's not showing. Funny.

A few times now he has 'fallen asleep' on his own either in his car seat or in his high chair. These are cases of him in a state of extreme tiredness, but it's PROGRESS I say!

Anyway I don't have his measurements cause I have to go tomorrow so I will leave off for now.

Enjoy some CUTE CUTE CUTE pictures!!!

Counting ...

Saying please ...

My sweet sweet baby!!!

Mommy loves you so so so so so so so much!!! xoxoxoxoxoxoxox

10 friggin months old!!!!

kyaaaaaaaaa~~~~

Can't believe it! 10 months old and in 2 months he's gonna be a whole year old!

It makes me so proud and yet so nostalgic at the same time ... lucky for me I'm gonna have another baby so I won't miss his baby stage too much ...

Before I forget here are his measurements:

Weight: 8.3 kg (only small weight gain attributed to his being sick for so long and rejecting food)

Height: 72.5 cm (compared to his usual 0.5 cm growth in the past few months, this month he grew 1.5 cm!)

Head circumference: 42.5 (I think ... I forgot and I can't look at his book cause it's in the car)

He is 'catching up' to the average size so the doctor is quite pleased.

He spent 2 weeks of this past month being sick (poor baby) so he hasn't had a lot of time to learn new things ... but he is just generally growing and getting smarter doing little things here and there to just make us so happy and proud.

He has started 'walking' by holding onto things ... learning to re position himself and shift his weight to get different places.

2 more teeth are starting to come out on the upper side ... they started right around the time he was sick so it was like a double whammy and my poor love had a hard time coping. Also they didn't come out one at a time like they have been so far but came out simultaneously so that seems to be hard for him too.

Grandma has been gone a lot taking care of great-Grandma since great-Grandpa passed away, so it seems Papoosie has forgotten her a little. Also coupled with him being sick and just generally being sticky to mom more ... it makes her sad. He's totally fine if she keeps him while I take a nap, or something ... but if I am in the same room he will try to come to me, and now that he has 'please' mastered we can't really say no if he's asking so nicely.

I've been trying to introduce him to the next stage of eating ... self feeding!!!! I steamed some carrots, we got some non-salted cheese, I tried bananas, etc ... I put them on a plate and try to get him used to feeding himself. I wrote about this before, but even with his toys, he really prefers his forefinger and will only use that one finger to pick up toys, etc. So he does the same thing with these foods ... so obviously he has a hard time picking them up. Then he gets frustrated and just starts playing with the plate which leads to all the food ending up on the floor. hehehehe ... but when he does get some food in his hands it goes properly to his mouth. He also started spitting out foods he doesn't like. Before he used to eat anything (pretty much) ... but now if he doesn't like the taste he will spit it out. He doesn't like bananas anymore ... or if we give him some of our food sometimes such as pasta, he will suck all the meat/sauce and spit out the pasta part. I just hope he doesn't start spitting out his veggies ... up until now he's been so good with the veggies.

Sleeping is still rough ... still wakes up many times throughout the night to be held ... if we don't pick him up he will crawl to where were are and sprawl himself out on top of one of us. I'm trying not to pick him up so we'll see how he does. At least he doesn't drink in the middle of the night. He goes the whole night without drinking and will take his bottle in the very early morning after waking up.

Well I don't know what else ... I've been a lot more tired these days (I started my 3rd trimester YAY!) ... I take naps 1 out of 3 days and for like 2 hours. (TG for Grandma! hehhehe)

Anyways, my baby is just growing and growing (along with Little Boss, of course).

I don't know how it's possible but I love him more and more everyday! How does the heart not burst with all this mushy mushy-ness???

Hehehe ... I will post photos soon ...

7 months old

My darling baby is 7 months today!!! And 'technically' I'm 12 weeks! PROGRESS!!!!!!
Somewhere along the line I miscounted the weeks ... so starting this month I am gonna stop doing the weekly updates ... been sick too often and it just doesn't make sense anymore.

Measurements-wise he's below average for his age. I chalk it up to him being a preemie and continue with my assertion that he is PERFECT!!!!
Weight: 7 kg
Height: 67 cm
Head circumference: 42 cm

Still no sign of the little teethies ... doctor says the gums are abnormally hard so its contributing to the no-show.
Suddenly seems to be growing up so fast! Little things he suddenly started doing that are just so adorable and cute ... like sitting on his own like a pro to play or watch videos, using his fingers to twist objects (namely his pacifier) to fit his mouth better ... or for better grip, throwing objects and then 'looking' for them, etc. He also has gotten so much more expressive with his face and voice ... is able to reach when he wants to be picked up, arch when he wants to be put down ... lean towards the person if he wants to go to them, or refuse by turning toward the person holding him and burying his face in their neck. He also cries or yells when he's frustrated, 'babbles' when he's happy ... etc. He's been such a joy to be around even though I can't pick him up so much.
Of course along with 'growing up' he has learned some naughty tricks ... he doesn't like being put down on his mat, or on the couch alone to play ... so he cries and cries for no reason until you pick him up and find something new for him to play with. And recently he's really learned to yell oh my gosh ... SO LOUD! I usually give him a little swat on the leg if he's throwing a fit and kicking is feet ... thankfully he doesn't do it too often ... but he's a smart baby so I gotta watch out as he goes along. I also feel a little bad that I can't pick him up and play with him as much as I would like because of my sickness ... sometimes I have to just dump him on the bed for a few minutes as I make a run for the bathroom and I can hear him screaming but I can't go back to him until the queasiness subsides or everything comes out ... those times I feel really guilty but what can I do ... he seems to understand because when I come back and pick him up he perks up right away and we get back to playing or whatever.
Grandma is the hero ... in the afternoon when my sickness gets real bad she takes the baby and he just loves being with her! Sometimes even in the middle of the night when he has a hard time sleeping she will come and he will end up sleeping the rest of the night with her! I would probably die if she wasn't around to help with the baby!
Grandpa is also starting to come around more often! Now that the baby is more attentive and responsive (and easier to hold) grandpa feels more comfortable around the baby and playing games and entertaining. Baby doesn't get AS excited to see grandpa as he does with grandma ... but it's still cute to see him sharing a smile with grandpa.
AAAAAAnyway ... he's just growing up so fast! And I can't WAIT to get over this darned sickness!!!!!

Here are some pics from today ...







And we ordered him a johnny jumper because the exer saucer we have for him bounces but doesn't really give him the full range of motion that the jumper would've ... and it arrived just in time for his 7 months!
We put him in to try it out and he LOVED IT!!!!





And in this one we are using the jumper as a swing ... :D:D

29 weeks

Obviously I've skipped a week but I feel justified because I've BEEN SICK!

Oh the horror it has been ... and still not over yet! But I'm hanging in there ... what else can be done, eh? I feel so terrible that maybe the Papoosie is suffering because I can't give him the attention that he needs ... but I promised myself as soon as the sickness is over I will re-double my efforts all over again!

As of yesterday I've stopped pumping milk (and offering the boob as a soothing method). Papoosie is a formula and food baby from now!

I bought him a potty ... but am in no condition to start trying to get him used to the idea so I am not even going to try ... I am going to wait another month or so until I can do this the right way with my full attention and energy ... otherwise he will just end up hating the potty and not get trained properly.

Such a sweetie pie my Papoosie is. Seems he understands most of the time that I am unable to do things that I used to for him ... he still overflows with smiles and love for me and the ppl around (daddy, grandma, grandpa, auntie) ... it melts my heart how sweet he is! Of course nowadays he is also starting to scream and cry for 'no reason' ... and sometimes we have swatted his leg when he seems to be throwing a fit just for the sake of it ... but it makes me feel so sad because half of the reason he does it is because I am unable to pick him up ... or I leave him lying on the bed when I get too nauseated and have to run to the bathroom ... etc. Oh well ... I'll figure it out.

He now refuses to sleep in his crib ... so he sleeps with me now on our big bed and daddy has been relegated to the baby's room. It's been getting really cold these days and most nights he ends up cuddling up in the crook of my arm even though I start him out on his own little pad next to me instead of really snuggled up with me. I guess I don't mind because eventually once the belly starts growin' he's not gonna find it as comfy as before ... and once the baby actually comes he's not gonna be able to do it anymore either ... so I want (and want him) to enjoy this snuggling as much as possible.

Eating is still progressing steadily, which is a relief and a joy to watch. I am really not a fan of formula (not only because it's expensive) ... so the less he drinks now and the more he learns to eat will be just awesome.

25 weeks

25 weeks old today!

-This week I decided that with him being so close to 6 months and our BIG change coming up in just a little bit, it was high time he learned how to fall asleep 'on his own'. So, step one ... weaning him off of being held and rocked by us as he falls asleep. So far it's been 4 nights, and SO FAR SO GOOD! I work really hard to make his schedule end up with his bath, his feed, and his sleepy time (2-3 hours from his last nap) all falling around 7:30, 8:00. So we used to take him out all evening and give him his bath sometime during his long day-time nap, but that was in the summer and nowadays it starts getting dark around 6 so I try to take him out around 5:30 (which is when he wakes up from his nap), and come home by 7:30 or 8 in time to give him a bath, feed him, and put him to sleep. It's been working pretty good ... yesterday he was so tired that I even skipped the bath and went straight to changing him into PJ's and feeding him and he fell right to sleep. Tonight it took him a little longer and he played around a little on the bed but by 8:30 he was sleeping! So 4th night that he has fallen asleep without getting picked up! HOORAY for MEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!! The next step is somehow weaning him off of the pacifier ... which I really am not sure how to go about ... but here's my idea ... we bought him a sippy cup so I will teach him how to drink from that, and then once he has learned it properly, I will give him his milk in that instead of the bottle and start teaching him to sleep 'on his own' for real in his own crib ... maybe along with the baby mobile. Of course it'll take time but I'm encouraged by his progress so far!

-He's really eating more and more! This week we went out and bought a whole SLEW of feeding materials ...

Like so: The big Avent box in the back are storage cups that can be sterilized, warmed in the bottle warmer, and they even have an adapter that I can hook up to the pump and nipples to use as bottles too ... so awesome! The small Avent box in front of it is the sippy cup ... the handles are attachable to any of the Avent bottles, as is the top portion ... so that is awesome too! The box in the back right is cereal, and in front are some baby waters. The glass jars in the front are different types of puree ... we bought a whole bunch of different tastes: veggie, salmon, veal, chicken, etc etc ...

And so far I have started with the cereal, and homemade juices (carrot and apple). I also give him homemade pureed avocado, peach, mango, and banana ... one type of puree per day (no mixing types). So I haven't had a chance to try the bought purees yet ... but so far he loves the cereal, and its been awesome as my milk supply has REALLY dwindled in the past week. Now I am trying to feed him enough so that he drinks 200 ml less of milk every day ... and so far so good! And even with the 200 ml less every day, I STILL almost don't make enough every day! Needless to say it really has me stressing! All the books I have read so far say that eventually the milk should start coming back (the quantity) but I really hope that EVENTUALLY isn't like 2 or 3 months .... but that it's REALLY soon! Cause I REALLY REALLY want to be able to keep feeding my baby! I'm trying to eat even more healthy. I eat 2 servings of veggies every day, and

fruits with every meal, and tons and tons of water. So we'll see how things progress.

-He continues to shake off his laziness and get more interactive with his toys, roll over (he used to be too lazy to do it), etc etc. He is easier to entertain without picking up (although sometimes all he wants is to be carried), so that is so nice.

-I was moaning a little while ago (maybe just last week) how I haven't been able to buy him a lot of toys here ... but as if she had been reading it, Grandma came home with a few new toys for him the other day! One was a Lamaze crib poster thingie ... 2 soft books with pop out features, squeaking, touchy-feely spots, etc. Now he has like 6 toys that he can rotate and play with ... which is awesome. It's also been a couple months now since I started experimenting with the exersaucer ... but now he really enjoys it so we put the batteries in the toys and he has so much fun with it too.

I know I'm so behind on his pictures ... but I will get around to it eventually. eheheheheh.

Now I must sleep ....

5 months, 22 weeks

My cutie is growing up so fast! His measurements are:

Height: 64 cm

Weight: 6.1 kg

(He's grown 17 cm since he was born. YOU try growing 17 cm in 5 months! hehehe)

Again he's only gained 350 grams since last month. He gained 300 grams last month, and this month he's gained 350 grams. The doctor told us not to worry though ... because he's OBVIOUSLY growing ... just not fatter! It's also been deathly hot and it's really been affecting his appetite. He is healthy, and growing, and developing and active so there's nothing to worry about. He was just not destined to be a FAT-so baby.

This week we have continued to feed him ... in between his drinking times we feed him, and this week the doctor recommended making vegetable juice and giving it to him, and not limiting his juice to just fruit juices.

He's learning how to push himself off of different objects. Like if he is having tummy time on his play mat he will grab the edges to pull himself toward whatever it is he wants to play with. If he's on his back he can arch his back to scoot himself backward. Small progress, but he's slowly slowly learning how to get towards what he wants.

Still no interest in rolling onto his back from his tummy time position ... he CAN but he ... just doesn't care for it I guess.

Still sleeping with either mommy or daddy on the big bed ... effectively kicking either mommy or daddy out and sending one of them to his room to sleep on the floor there. I'm going to try to put him back in his room but on these HOT HOT HOT nights it just doesn't seem like the best idea.

Refuses to fall asleep with mommy during the day. It breaks my heart. WAAAAAAAAAA He SCREAMS and kicks and flails trying to get away from me and then daddy comes to 'save' him and within a minute he's silent and sleeping. I think it's because I have been spending very little time with him because of my work, so he's really bonded with daddy who has been taking care of him every day. He's also too long to fit comfortably (as comfortably as he can with daddy) in my arms ... I guess ... daddy just has so much more space for him ... as soon as this big project winds up I am going to spend TONS of quality time with my poor estranged son to get him back to being a 'mommy's boy' ... or as close to it as I possibly can.

His pants finally fit him! YAY! I had so many T-shirts that were so cute and were going to start getting small for him but all of his pants were still too big! But now they FITTTT! And I am sooooo happy!

Picture time! I took these today! (not the one with all the clothes) Thank you A. Sara for the clothes! They really compliment his boyishness!!!

New clothes from A.Sara and U.Cesko

He doesn't understand why both hands don't fit into his mouth

YAY! I'm 5 months old today!!!

I tell him to smile and he give me this ...

So active and happy

Doing jumping jacks lying down.

OH SO CUTE!

21 weeks

I had this post saved just waiting to add some things for his 21 week post but baby ended up not going to sleep till 11 and I had missed my nap so I just collapsed in sleep right after he did!

Thank Goodness the nights have been getting cooler. He still prefers to sleep in our big bed instead of in his room in his crib ... so one of us sleeps in his room and one of us sleeps with him at night.

-I mentioned in his 19 week post how he started grabbing his feet. Now he started eating his feet! It's just oh so cute! Here's a video of him doing it for the first time ... it was at night and he was lying on across my knees so it's kinda gnarly but maybe you'll be able to make it out ...

-I mentioned last week we would start to feed him and so far we've given him pureed (is that how you spell it?) carrot, peach, avocado, and apple and carrot juice. (We have a juicer so we make fruit/veggie juices when we feel up to it ... I water down the juice for the baby WAAAAAY much ... like 70 water and 30 juice)

He loves to eat and its funny because ever since we started feeding him he even started to drink a bit better and now he drinks the proper 700 ml every day (well it's supposed to be 750-900ml ... but don't discourage me now). Hooray!!!!

-He knows when it's time to go out and starts crying trying to tell us to take him outside. He just LOVES the outdoors!

-He started 'talking'. He used to make sounds like 'koi koi koi' (I mentioned this before) but now he just .... screams (for lack of a better word). No consonants or sounds (unless he's particularly 'talky') but he really likes to aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah .... if there's no one to talk to he'll just talk to the light above his face. If we are around and we plop ourselves down in front of him we can carry on a mini 'baby' conversation. But he doesn't do it in 'talking' levels ... he does it at a shout/screaming level. It's like he just discovered it and is trying to see how loud he can get his voice to be ... or if he's loud enough that someone will come and pay attention to him.

-He is quite the outgoing baby ... on the bus if he gets the attention of the person in front of him and they give him attention he will be happy. If we meet ppl on the street he generally laughs and smiles for them (girls especially). But there are certain people that no matter how often we meet he just doesn't like ...

He's really starting to be picky about who holds him. If a friend is holding him and he sees both daddy and mommy next to him he will look at us very closely for a few minutes before starting to cry. Almost like he's trying to decide if he likes being held by that particular person ... if they don't pass he yells, and if they pass he is happy with them and stays just fine.

We've gotten so many new clothes in the past couple of weeks (the 6-12 month clothes we ordered for him arrived as well) so I can't wait for him to make another growth jump and fit all his new clothes!

20 weeks

Gosh this week went REAL fast.

It's still been oh so hot that his night time schedule is SCREWED UP! Messed up I tell you! And I'm SUFFERING! He wakes up and just CANT get comfy enough to sleep again. We bring him to our bed where there is more air circulation (we have two fans going at opposite ends of the room)and he sleeps better but gosh darn I am OH SO TIRED. It's also because every spare minute I have I'm working to meet this crazy deadline to make money so we can get a CAR! (or something ...)

Still no drinking. Well, some days he does better .... but the days where he drinks the recommended 750 ml (that is the minimum btw) are more the exception. I'm actually not TOO worried cause he's healthy, happy, seems to be growing bigger and heavier, wets his diapers (although he doesn't go BM very often ... maybe only once a day). Its just a little stressful cause its a FIGHT to get any amount of milk into him and it causes more crying than if I were to leave him alone and wait for him to get hungry on his own.

We took him to the beach/pool for the first time and it was so fun (for me) ... but I'm so behind on my posting and I want to do everything in order ... so ur just gonna have to WAIT!

I've also taken oh so many pictures and videos but they also are shelved waiting for me to catch up with the posting. Fingers crossed ....

He's not too interested in rolling from his tummy time position ... but he loves grabbing his feet when he's on his back and letting his legs fall to one side. And that turns into a roll. He also kicks his feet and arches his back to roll from on his back position. He uses that motion to scoot along his mat or the bed ... he can actually MOVE himself now! No more leaving him on the couch or bed while I wash the bottles or fold his clothes ....

He LOVES videos! I have only been showing him his Little Reader lessons (5 minutes a day), and Baby Einstein videos (10-20 min), and he seemed to like it. But this week we noticed that whenever he is in the living room, or out in a restaurant somewhere where the TV is on ... his eyes just go to the TV and STAY there! Even if he's lying on his back and the TV is behind him he will arch his back so he can see it! We experimented with different TV programs, the ipod, ... he loves his videos! I was so determined that I wouldn't show my baby meaningless 'time-filler' type videos but gosh darn sometimes I gotta wash the dishes, or go bathroom, or clean and I NEED that 5, 10, or 15 minutes to do something .... what's a mom to do? I feel terrible that I'm going to end up letting him watch videos but I am STILL determined to make them as quality as possible. Now I just gotta figure out what constitutes 'quality'.

We bought him a dish set so we can start giving him a little food. I was determined to only give him breastmilk until he was 6 months, but with his drinking problem, and seeing how much he seems to like eating (I mentioned this before somewhere) ... we decided we would try to start giving him some foods SLOWLY (and by slowly I mean a couple spoons of something a DAY).

Gosh so many things I had my mind made up about going into having my baby, but so many things have already been shattered. It just goes to show its really up to the baby, the circumstances ... my baby is ONE STUBBORN child and is really forging his own way! The eating, the videos, the sleeping ... GOSH! And I am learning that I have to take the things that I wanted and adapt them to what works best and IS the best for my child. Not the easiest thing to do ... cause wouldn't it just be so nice if it worked out the way I 'planned' from the beginning. But I will learn ... cause God help my child if I don't.

19 weeks old

Between working all the time and dying of this insane heat this week just flew by.

He's turned into quite the little drool machine! But he really dislikes the bibs so we just walk around with burp cloths on our shoulders and wiping cloths in our hands.

He really really really does not like drinking. Maybe it's this insane heat, cause at night he just drinks almost 200ml at a time as if to make up for the day time! But during the day its SUCH a fight to get him to take the bottle, and I really really don't want to go back to breastfeeding him. But I will if it's the only thing he will take.

I haven't mentioned this, because I wanted it to go with the pictures, but at the rate I am posting, I wont get around to it for awhile because of my crazy work schedule ...

He's been eating (well, sucking on) fruits since he was 3 months. We give him grape, melon, watermelon, peach, apple ... we get a cutting and he just sucks until the juice is gone from a particular spot. He's gonna like his food I think! Which is a good sign because when he refuses to drink his milk it gets me a little worried!

Just yesterday he grabbed his feet for the first time! I had been doing it in his exercises ... 'grab your feet like this!' and after his bath he was lying on the bed and I noticed him doing THIS!

I hadn't even been playing with him or anything ... he just DID it! I was oh so happy ... and it was OH so cute! He now grabs his feet whenever he can ... and soon he'll be eating his feet too! I think it's the cutest thing when they eat their feet!

Still oh so hot and still oh so fussy. The past 3 nights they had weddings in the neighborhood and they BLASTED the music partying until 1 or 2 in the morning. Poor Papoosie's sleep suffered greatly and one of the nights I was sick with cramps so I couldn't get up to help Ardit and MIL take care of him. I could only hear him cry and it was oh so hard for me!

Last night we were so fed up with it that we went to visit our friend's house
He slept oh so well and it was so much cooler at their house than down smack dab in the city.

Tonight they were partying it up again and pooor baby was crying as he was trying to sleep that MIL got fired up and went down there to tell them to shut it. They must've been getting complaints from the other parents in the neighborhood cause now it's ALL QUIET ... and my Papoosie is SLEEPING!!!!

YaY! Now I will go sleep too! See you next week ... unless I find a crack between my work schedule to post pictures that are STACKING UP!

July 11th

Gosh Mommy's getting so behind in her posting! She has a good reason, but having a good reason is NOT GOOD ENOUGH! The posting must go on! OR I will CRY!

Anyway, here I am on July 11th. Looking like a little angel sleeping ...

4 months old, 17 weeks

Happy 4 month birthday to my sweet Papoosie!

We took him to the doctor to get him measured and he hadn't grown too much ... he was 5.7 kg. So he only gained about 300 grams from one month ago. But in this heat he hadn't been drinking much so we sort of knew that would happen ... I was just hoping that he had reached 6 kg. Oh well ... next time.

This past week Grandma and Grandpa went for vacations to the beach, so I had a lot of time to spend as SERIOUS one-on-one time with him. I was able to regulate his schedule better, set better sleeping times, have school times, etc etc. I definitely appreciate all Grandma's help in taking Papoosie when I have to work ... but this was a great week too! We took daily walks to the Lake just the two of us, and when Daddy didn't have work we had real 'family days' with the 3 of us.

He is generally such a happy boy! He thrives when we give him attention, but gets angry fast when left alone. ... Solution ... give him TONS of attention! I found a trick that works tho ... he wakes up SO SO early in the morning, and I only took him out from around 7 to the Lake (in the morning ... we went TWICE every day this week!) ... and I want to sleep until then ... so around 5 (after I filled all the buckets with water, washed the dishes, and did a load of laundry), I would turn on the Baby Einstein video and set the computer down next to him on the bed so he could watch it ... and he would stay entertained for up to 30 minutes! He really seems to enjoy especially the animal one!

He's been talking oh so much these days, not just the 'ma' that he used to do ... but he added 'koi koi koi' and oooh and gaa and ... just general sounds. The 'koi koi koi' thing is funny cause in Japanese its 'come' and its like he's calling us to come keep him company :d.

He loves doing school ... (right now its just flashcards and signing videos and Little Reader ... but I'm getting more flashcards soon) and generally loves his bath (not so much washing his hair tho) ... and I've started trying to put him down for the night around 10 (working pretty good so far!)

He moves positions a lot when sleeping, and when awake he tries to flip onto his back (get lazy and decides to stay on his tummy most of the time).

There was something I wanted to write about at the beginning of the week but I've forgotten now. Oh well ... I'm uber tired so I'ma go to bed ... hopefully I will be able to start posting with regularity again. This week has just been so tiring and full with baby, water situation, cleaning, etc ... cause grandparents have been gone. And for some reason now I've got TONS of work so idk how much posting I actually am gonna get in ... but I have so so so many pictures that I gotta post or they'll just stack up.

Happy sweet sweet 4 months to Papoosie ... 3 more of these and he'll be a whole year old! Kyaaaa ... I hope he stays smaller for just a little while :d

Mama loves you muah muah muah!!!!

17 weeks

I'm a whole 17 weeks old today!
I'm BIG! I'm CUTE! I'm PAPOOSIE!!

First I wanna say congrats to Auntie Sara and Uncle Cesko ... my long awaited baby girl has arrived!!! Future girlfriend potential? Perhaps perhaps! I am gonna go meet her real soon! Welcome to my world Olivia! I would post pictures but mommy hasn't shown me any because she wants it to be a surprise when I meet her for the first time! (I think she's just saying that because she actually doesn't have any)

Mama's gonna post about my progress in a few days. But I don't care to keep track so much ... I'm just living every day to the fullest by doing my best in every moment ... whether it be crying, or pooping, or drinking, or sleeping, or playing, ... I'm a DEDICATED baby!
And I love to outgrow my clothes ... so I can wear NEW ones!
(Or go nekkid of course!)