Monday, Monday

It's Monday and I have so much to do! But instead I've done some work around the house and watched last night's episode of Design Star. I'm taking care of the really important things first.

I spent a little time playing on the floor with this guy, too.


We had a fun weekend at home. The best part? It was in the lower 90s all weekend, and it dipped down into the lower 70s at night. It almost felt like the beginnings of Fall. But I have to try not to get my hopes up because we all know it'll be back to 100 degrees in another week or two.

Every year I have to remind myself that truly cool air doesn't show up and stick around until the end of the State Fair which is sometime in mid-October. So, yeah, I've got some waiting to do.


Yesterday we got together for lunch with some of our friends who also have babies. It was so fun to see everyone. Cody was born last Fall and Alex is about to be 17 months. Andrew actually interacted with the other babies this time, taking toys from Cody and watching Alex as she walked around the room.

We also had our Fantasy Football draft yesterday. We do it online so Brian was on the computer in the study and I was on my laptop in the kitchen. I had to feed the baby and put him down for bed between my picks. It was a much different experience than last year's draft.


But I'm pretty sure my team rocks!

Registered

I signed up for an SMU continuing education photography course yesterday. I'm really excited about learning more about my camera and this new hobby I'm enjoying so much.

They offer a level I and level II class, and I decided to register for the level II. For one thing, both level I classes were already filled even though I registered two days after receiving my catalog. But I had planned to sign up for the level II anyway.

It says level I or similar proficiency is a a prerequisite for level II. I'm hoping all my online research will count. I've also read a book about my specific camera and one on general digital photography.

I've been shooting mostly in Av mode, occasionally switching to an automatic setting if I just can't get the exposure right, so I'm not starting from scratch.

It doesn't start until November either, so I have plenty of time to teach myself new stuff in the meantime.

Mmmm....Applesauce

The road to solid foods seems to be a bit rocky. Andrew's not really sure how he feels about getting food with a spoon, but he's starting to warm up to it. I'm introducing new foods really slowly, and I don't know if that's helping or hindering.


We started out with rice cereal at 4 1/2 months and we've slowly added in oatmeal cereal and carrots. And just this week I started mixing applesauce into his oatmeal and that seems to have made him much more amenable to it.




He's also not a fan of the sippy cup yet. I've given him one with water a few times, but he doesn't really know what to do with it. He seems so interested in my water bottles and my diet coke cans and anything I'm drinking so I thought he'd love the sippy cup, but not yet.


So anyway, I know that at this stage they're just supposed to learn how to eat, and they're not getting much nutrition from their solids, but I keep thinking Andrew should be better at eating by now.

I guess it just takes practice, practice, practice.

Birthday Girl

Happy Birthday Mom/Mimi/NonnieGram! I hope you've had a very special, very happy birthday.

On His Feet

He's getting so close...I'm so not ready. What do you do with your mobile baby when you take a shower? Will he sit on the bed and watch Baby Einstein anymore?

I think I have at least a few weeks left. I'm just thinking ahead.

The Weekend Ends

Ah Sunday night. It's here already. I'm sitting with Brian and kind of watching the Red Sox vs. Yankees game, mostly looking around on the Internet. Andrew is sleeping peacefully upstairs and Fenway is munching on a special treat that Brian's mom left for him to enjoy.

It's the perfect end to a great weekend. (If only it were football instead of baseball. But we won't tell Brian I said that.)

Speaking of Andrew sleeping peacefully, I have to share my great news with you: The baby has slept all night long for the past three nights! He's fallen asleep between 8pm and 9pm and slept until 7am. I can't tell you how excited I am about this new turn of events!

I have no special tips or tricks. He's been eating oatmeal once or twice a day, and yesterday he ate an entire container of carrots. So I think his little tummy is staying full longer with the new food. And that's my best guess as to why he decided to bless his mama with three full nights of sleep.

He's also really busy trying to become mobile which burns lots of energy during the day. I'm so tempted to not encourage him to crawl even though he's now pushing himself up on to all fours. It's so nice to have a sitting but not-yet-mobile baby. But that would be selfish of me.


Do you see his little tooth down there on the bottom? It's about half way in, and now the second bottom tooth is getting close to popping through. He's going to have a toothy grin soon!


Don't you just want to squeeze him? I just want to thank him for sleeping. And then squeeze him.

We're Off

Brian's mom (aka Grammy J or GJ) is here for the weekend. We're heading out to the lake tomorrow for a few days of fun and sun.

Little Andrew will not want for anything with two grandmothers in the house.

Y'all have a fun weekend!

Head Shots

I bought a book on photography today. Do you think it's going to teach me how NOT to cut off the top of my subject's head?

Family Fun

We got to see lots of family this past weekend.

My Aunt Mary Ann was in town from Austin and she wanted to meet Andrew so we packed up and headed out to Rockwall on Saturday night.


It was so great to visit with her and she's a faithful blog reader so: Hi Mary Ann!

We also celebrated my Nana's (ahem...) 62nd birthday. :) We had yummy white cake and opened presents after a great dinner out.






We were going to hang out in the pool on Sunday but I forgot my suit. Mary Ann and I played a game of Boccie ball during Andrew's nap, but that was it for outside activities.

My cousin Katie and her family came over later in the day.


It was just another open house at mom and dad's!

5 Months!

Guess who is 5 months old? My baby is growing up so fast!



Andrew grew a lot this month. I don't know exactly how much he weighs, but I bet he's 15 pounds. (He was 13 lbs, 11 oz at his appointment last month.) And I'm sure he's longer, too. His feet touch the floor in his jumperoo much better now than they did a few weeks ago.


He also cut his first tooth this month! I don't have a picture because it's a sneaky little thing. I need someone to get him to smile really big while I get right up in his face with the camera.

His right bottom tooth came in last week and its next door neighbor is on its way too. He's drooling some, but it's not too crazy. You can tell his gums hurt because he often works frantically to get something, anything in his mouth, but he hasn't been extra fussy.


He's just been a joy and a delight this month. He smiles and grins all the time. He'll be playing with a toy on the floor and just randomly look up at me and smile. We're pretty sure he has my big mouth. Lucky kid!


He's sleeping on a more regular schedule now which makes me a much happier mom. He goes to sleep between 8:00 and 8:30, wakes up to eat sometime between 2:00 and 5:00, goes right back to sleep and wakes up around 7:30 ready for the day.

His naps don't really count because they're so short, but he usually takes two, one between 10:00 and 10:30 and one between 2:00 and 2:30. And I'm lucky if they last an hour each. Sigh.

And yes, we're still swaddling. He's a very busy baby, moving around all.the.time. He just can't fall asleep without the swaddle. I don't know when we're going to stop, but it didn't happen this month.


We started cereal this month. He's starting to like oatmeal a little better, but he'd still much rather nurse. I'm going to move on to veggies and fruit this month so hopefully he'll become a better eater. Surely he'll like applesauce! He's nursing every 3 - 4 hours now so we've been able to space them out a bit. We're able to do more during the day when I don't have to worry about him getting hungry every 2 hours.


He just keeps getting better and better!

What She Said

Kelly's confessions post cracked me up. I could have written most of it, except for the five hours worth of naps part. Whose baby naps for five hours in one day?? Andrew usually takes two naps and they both last about 45 minutes. Sometimes I'm lucky and he'll sleep for a whole hour in the morning. But when he is asleep, I'd much rather shop online than fold the laundry.

We don't eat at the dinner table either. I keep worrying about what we're going to do when Andrew is old enough to eat dinner as part of the family. We've been eating in the den in front of the t.v. after I put the baby down, but I don't think that'll work for much longer.

I want him to eat dinner with us. So Brian just needs to come home from work earlier so we can eat by 6:30 or 7:00. That might be a little easier said than done. His days are busy!

I also plan to start making my own baby food, but I don't have high hopes for my follow through. But check back with me in a few weeks, and I'll let you know how I'm doing with that project.

My little baby is going to be 5 months old on Sunday, and I can't believe how fast the time has gone by! The first month or two were a little tough and seemed to creep by. But now that he smiles and reaches for me and stays awake for loooong periods of time it's like we're in fast forward.

He's sitting up and stands up on his feet when I pull him up from the changing table. He's cutting his first tooth and putting on the pounds.

Being a mom is just the most wonderful thing, and I'm enjoying it more than I ever thought I would. We're so blessed.

Ready for Fruit

Andrew and I went to the mall today, but we didn't buy a single thing.

The Dallas library has a small branch at NorthPark called Bookmarks. They have lots of programs during the week, and one of them is for babies, Baby Bounce Basics. There were a lot of babies there! We sang songs, read two books and bounced around a bunch. I thought it was a great activity, and it was free!

I'm sure we'll go back.

Back at home I sat the baby down in his Bumbo in the kitchen while I checked email.

There's no chance he can get to that fruit bowl behind him. He's facing the wrong way. It's behind him, and he's stuck in the Bumbo.

I was obviously crazy. This is Andrew, my always busy, always moving baby. He can just reach around and pull the entire bowl right up next to his seat.

"Mmmmm...Fake orange leaves taste awesome!"

" Wait - this is a real plumb! So much better! I've been wanting to start fruit but Mom's holding out on me."

I had to intervene. A pacifier is a much better choice. We have to introduce vegetables before fruit. :)

He likes to chew on the pacifier, too. He can't just leave it alone in his mouth. That would be way too easy.

Way too many pictures

Our downstairs air conditioner went out last night. It had been leaking coolant and was freezing up so we had to turn it off. Luckily the upstairs a/c was still humming away which helped to keep the rest of the house from getting up to 90 degrees.

The repair man came this afternoon, and it turns out we have to have our coil replaced. Unfortunately coils cost lots and lots of money.

Anyway, Fenway thinks it's really exciting when workmen come to the house. Especially if they have to go upstairs; a stranger on the stairs absolutely freaks him out. So I had to keep him on his leash while the a/c guy was here. Andrew, Fenway and I got to have lots of playtime on the floor this afternoon.

Andrew loved it. He's trying to put everything in his mouth right now, including Fenway. I've been really surprised at how calm the dog is with the baby. You'd think he'd object when Andrew grabs a fist full of fur, but he just kind of ignores it.

Funny Andrew story: I had him up on the counter at Mom and Dad's last weekend sitting in his Bumbo and waiting for his cereal. I turned my back to him for about 15 seconds while I grabbed a paper towel. I turned back around and he had both hands around Brian's giant glass of iced tea. He'd picked it up and was bringing it towards his mouth like he was ready to take a drink.

I couldn't believe it! I so wish I'd grabbed my camera, but I was just worried about him spilling 20 oz. of tea all over the kitchen. But Mom saw it too, so I know it really happened. :)

I'm telling you, he's going to keep me on my toes!

Look how well he's sitting up now!


















Sorry for the picture overload, but I just couldn't pare these down. He looks so cute and grown up sitting up (almost) straight!

Fun in the Sun

Another wonderful summer weekend out at the lake! A great time was had by all 14+ of us. I'm telling you - my mom's hostessing skills are just amazing. She works so hard to make sure everyone feels welcome and has a great time.

After boating and yard games and lounging in the pool we played a very heated game of Apples to Apples Saturday night. I say heated because of course we all wanted to win the game, but also because most of us got a little too much sun.




(We were hoping the wine would take the edge off.)

Dad was the winner. We had decided to play to four cards since there were so many of us. Megan won four and Dad suggested and we all agreed that we should play to five instead. And then he ended up winning the game. What strategy!


They all played Farkel, too, but I had to go to bed after Apples to Apples. I just can't stay up after midnight these days. Even if Andrew is sleeping better lately.


And now, I need to go to sleep. I have to catch up from our super fun weekend! Hope you all had fun weekends, too!