Callen at 8 months

Sheesh! I can't believe we're halfway through February already! We've been pretty busy over here at the CB household between Audia's preschool, eye doctors appts (a different doctor, who actually managed to figure out what's going on with her eye!), and learning how to write her name and Callen's teething, raspberry-blowing, and quickly increasing mobility.

Cal's 8 months already! Home-taken measurements again this month. He's still 21 lbs and is now 30.25" long! In 12 month sized clothes already, I regularly get surprised reactions and 'Wow! he's a big boy'-type comments from strangers when asked how old he is.

-While he is showing much more interest in eating baby food these days, I am a bit concerned at his inability to keep food in his mouth. Early on we noticed that he had tongue tie, but since he wasn't having any troubles latching on and breastfeeding the doc said not to worry about it. Now, however, it seems that it might be posing a problem so we have an appointment next week to discuss his having a lingual frenectomy.
-Along the same vein, he is just now starting to blow raspberries and babble a little bit. Tongue tie can cause delays in speech because of the restricted movement of the tongue (he cannot actually stick his tongue outside of his mouth) so I can't help but feel his delay in babbling is related to this also.
-He is getting so close to crawling 'normally,' and is starting to get up on his knees to reach things on the couches, coffee tables, or toys that are in buckets.

-He still thinks his sister is the most fascinating and most wonderful person on the planet, and also loves to chase Fievel around, grabbing his tail and fur. We are very lucky to have a cat who is not only patient, but actually seems to willingly walk up and sit down next to Callen to let him 'pet' him.

-Our Cal has 7 teeth now, with number 8 just starting to break through a day or two ago. He has been teething since Christmas, so I am hoping this is the last one for a while. Teething has caused quite a disrruption in his sleeping habits, so it has been nice the past couple of nights to only have him waking up once or twice.

Callen at 7 months

7 months! No well check this month, so stats are approximate, but I'm measuring him at 21 lbs on the nose and 30 inches long! Granted he is quite the squirmy wormy these days, so getting his length is a bit challenging to say the least. He has all four of his front teeth now. The top right came in around Christmas and the top left took the longest of all his teeth by far, starting around New Years and just breaking through a couple of days ago. I always think babies look so funny when their teeth are just starting to come through, probably because it looks like their teeth are chipped or something. He kind of reminds me of an old black-and-white movie hobo. You know, the kind that carries one of those hankercheif sacks on a stick. LOL.

Just this week, he finally figured out how to pull himself forward using his arms, army-crawl style. He also has just recently started getting up on his hands and knees and rocking back and forth. He still isn't super keen on sitting. He'll do it, sometimes for a minute or two at a time, but only if there is absolutely nothing of interest in his line of sight. If he sees a toy or his sister or the cat, he immediately falls to his side, rolls to his belly, and starts trying to get whatever it is that has caught his eye.

He's also still not very interested in eating baby food. He starts out strong, usually opening his mouth for 2 or 3 bites, but then clamps up. I think we might try some cubed, steamed fruits and veggies this weekend. I have a feeling he might be more interested if it's something that he can put into his mouth himself.

Personality-wise, our little laid back sweetie is still that. He loves to 'flirt' with people, smiling at them and then looking away, just to look again a second later and see if you're still smiling. I wish I were more eloquent these days; there are little nuances about his personality that I yearn to put to words but am having a hard time finding the words for. He is just this sweet, silly, curious, clever, funny, engaging, little man, and I love him more than words!

Callen at 5 Months

Our little buddy sure is keeping us busy these days! According to my measurements, Callen's now 19.5 lbs and 28.25"! At the rate he's growing, he'll be out of his infant carseat in a month or two, which is probably for the best as carrying him around in it is getting a bit difficult. He figured out how to roll to get places about a week ago, and has been keeping us on our toes ever since. There's no more putting him on his play mat on the floor while I wash dishes or throw in a load of laundry; goodness knows where I'd find him when I came back!

Just heading into the kitchen, Mom! No big deal.

He is still teething, and just yesterday I noticed what I think is his lower front left tooth starting to break through. It's hard to get a good look with all of his talking and smiling though. He's been passing toys back and forth between his hands for a couple of weeks, and just recently discovered his hands. It is so funny to watch him stare at a hand while he moves it closer to and farther from his face, wiggling his fingers just to really be sure that he is in control of this thing that he's looking at. His favorite thing to watch, however, is still his sister. The way that he looks, smiles, squeals, and laughs at Audia is absolutely heart-melting. He is in such awe of, and so totally in love with his big sissy. And while she has a hard time understanding that he doesn't purposely try to pull her hair or clothes, she is still absolutely wonderful with him. I love watching their relationship develop!

 

Callen at 4 Months

Four months, and yet I feel like I've been his mother my whole life. That's how it is with babies. Really, that's how it is with anyone who you truly love. It is hard to imagine what life felt like before them.

These days, our super sweet boy is learning all kinds of new tricks!

~He loves to "talk" to his toys and to us; sometimes it's a quiet coo, a bubbly gurgle, or, more frequently, a high pitched, excited shreik.
~Just like his sister did, he is doing things backward and is rolling back to belly regularly, and has rolled belly to back only a handful of times.
~He loves tummy time, and still is pushing himself forward with his feet, though more often these days he is getting up on his knees, chest on the ground, and sticking his butt in the air. I will not be surprised if he's an early crawler; he is definitely anxious to MOVE!
~He is chewing on everything, a sign of teething I am afraid.
~In the span of the past 5 days, he's gone from batting at his toys and sometimes hitting them to grabbing them in his first try; he also loves to grab my nose or lip and laughs hysterically when I pretend to eat his hand.
~He absolutely loves to watch his sister. When she comes around, he will stop whatevery he is doing to just sit and watch her in awe.

As for his stats, our big boy is HUGE! He is even farther off the charts at 27.5 inches long (the length of the average 9 month old!) and is in the 95th percentile at 18 lbs, 5 oz (the weight of the average 6 month old.) I am willing to bet that he is going to be even taller than his daddy one day!

14 month (or so) update

Audia hit the 14 month mark last Sunday, and I realize that since her first birthday, I haven't really written a whole lot about her milestones since September. A big part of that is because she is growing and changing so darn fast that who has time to document it all?! But I will try, because that is what this blog's purpose really is. So that some day, when Audia is older and interested in such things, she can look back and learn all about how she grew and changed and developed into the amazing person that she is.


So, based on our measurements, she is 22.5 lbs and is still 31" long. She has been teething on and off for what feels like months now; about a month ago her upper first molars broke the gum, and we had a little lull in teething, and then about a week ago it started up again. As of today, both her right upper and right lower canines have broken through, and her lower first molars are trying their best to show themselves; her gums are super swollen and obviously uncomfortable, and as a result our sleep schedules have been a bit lackluster.


Aside from the past week, however, her sleep schedule has been awesome. She's been in a crib since I blogged about sleep training her, and now she has no problem letting me or Chris put her down at night; she's asleep in 20 minutes regardless. She goes down around 7 or 7:30 and gets up around 6, at which point we bring her into bed with us and she sleeps until 8 or 9. It would not surprise me if a lot of toddlers who are "early risers" would actually sleep in if their parents just brought them into bed with them for the early morning....Audia is up with the sun, but give her a little snuggle time and she's out like a light again for another 2 or 3 hours.
She's on a one nap schedule for the most part (again, ignoring the past week of torturous teething hell), sleeping for one to two hours around lunchtime.


Weaning has been a bit slower of a process than I was hoping it would be. We have successfully gotten her from 4 breast feedings a day to 3, but she still asks for a fourth feeding pretty regularly; we just distract her with other food items. She isn't really interested in whole milk; she drinks maybe an ounce or two before becoming bored with the whole thing. I don't want to make an issue of it yet, though. Age 2 is my absolute limit, but I am willing to go slow up until that point. She says "num num num num" whenever she is hungry, which totally cracks me up. She still LOVES her green vegetables; it is so funny to me that she loves the veggies that it took me a good 26 years to start enjoying. She is a carbaholic. She is constantly munching on cheerios, puffs, bread, pasta, and rice. She is a huge fan of meat, just like her carnivorous mama. She loves deli ham, organic nitrate-free hot dogs and bacon, chicken breast, my dad's smoked ribs, hamburger, rib eye.....you name it! She also is a huge fan of pears, apples, and bananas (which she calls "bun"), but not such a big fan of berries. Stonyfield farms makes a line of yogurt called 'Yobaby' which she also LOVES. Her favorite is the 3-in-1 apple and sweet potato.


She is discovering new things every day. She is running now on a regular basis, and loves being chased...she will look at you and start running away from you while still looking and smiling at you to try to get you to chase her. This often results in her running into things because she's not looking where she's going. She is so close to figuring out both how to jump and how to do a somersault that it's scary. She really enjoys practicing going up the stairs from the basement to the main level; she has yet to figure out how to get back down, though! She loves taking the magnets from the fridge and putting them, one-by-one, onto the dishwasher, and then putting them back. She's obsessed with books. She will take one and will sit on the floor and flip through the pages while babbling loudly to herself (reading aloud, I'm sure!) She points at any clock she sees (analog OR digital) and says "tick tick tick!"; she loves when you hold one up to her ear. She calls all animals "arf arf"; we are working on teaching her other animal sounds but she really has locked in on the doggy sound. (Maybe because 99% of her stuffed animals are dogs??) She especially LOVES the outdoors. She is hating her stroller right now because she would much rather be running free around the back yard than sitting idly in her stroller while we walk around the block; we can be outside, playing, for 45 minutes in the 50 degree weather, and she will still throw a tantrum if we try to bring her inside to warm up.

Watching her grow and learn is so ridiculously fun. It just makes so many other things in life seem so trivial in comparison. She truly is my reason for living, my pride and joy, everything that is good and exciting and wonderful in life! She is a willful, active, curious, handful of a child and I am proud to say so!
Happy 14 month birthday, Munchkin!

Baby Talk and More Teeth

This video is from the other night. Notice how she says "Mama" towards the end, and then waves when I say "Wave" to her. Since the day I wrote the '10 Months' entry, Audia has become so much more verbal and shown so much more obvious understanding of words, it's almost ridiculous. Like she read my blog entry and said "Hey! I absolutely am saying those words knowingly!"

She calls Chris 'Dada' and me 'Mama', and this morning, when Chris got out of bed and left the room, she said 'Bye' and waved. In the past couple of days, she has started making a snaping motion with her fingers when she sees the dogs. (We frequently snap before we say a command to get them to listen). She also will give a high five if you say "Can I have a high five?" She definitely knows what we're saying when we say 'Puffs', 'Eat', 'Yay', 'Good Job', 'Grandma', 'Grandpa', 'Dog', 'That's Nice', 'Down', 'Up', 'No', 'Be Gentle'....this list goes on and on, and has grown (or, I feel like it's grown) about 50 times in two weeks. Maybe this is totally normal for 10 month olds, but it still blows my mind. I feel like I give her so much less credit than I should by being amazed, but I can't help it!

In other news, our poor sweetie pie is getting yet ANOTHER set of teeth in, and these ones are by far the worst of all the teeth she's gotten in thus far. According to my research, the molars are next and based on how much more uncomfortable she seems, these upper molars are doozies. I just hope she gets through it soon. We've been going on 5 days of fragmented sleep now. I feel like I'm the living dead for the first time since she was a month or two old!

Cottage Part Deux

Day 6 at the cottage and we could not have asked for better weather! It was overcast the day we got here, but from Thursday on, it's been partly cloudy to mostly sunny and in the upper 70's the entire time we've been here. It's definitely the most busy I've ever seen Horseshoe lake....to be expected over the weekend of the Fourth.....but we have been enjoying ourselves nonetheless. We've also been lucky in that both Chris and I have only been bitten once each by mosquitoes; other people I know who were at their cabins this weekend were eaten alive. We are having such a good time, and the weather outlook is so good, that we've decided to stay an extra day, and will be returning Wednesday rather than tomorrow.

Audia seems to feel right at home here, and is proving herself to be one fearless little girl! Playing on the beach, she crawls right into the water, no hesitation whatsoever, and splashes and plays there. She loves crawling up to the big bay window in the living room, standing at it and yelling and waving at the speed boats and pontoons as they pass. I like to pretend she's yelling "go home!" but I am sure she's just saying "hi" ;-)
We kept her up on Saturday night to see the fireworks that were set off by a group across the lake; definitely no fear there! She loved watching them with daddy, and I find it pretty amusing that she couldn't care less about the loud booms they made but is afraid of the vacuum cleaner.

Watching fireworks with Daddy

She's really started to get into music while we've been up there; she bounces up and down anytime any music (with or without a decent beat) starts to play.
Her fifth and sixth teeth have both cut the gum since we've been here as well. Both are on the bottom, next to the middle teeth, and thankfully she only had one day where they seemed to be bothering her. Since then, she's been a peach.
She's had her first "real" (aka not minced to a paste) hamburger and corn while we've been up here....both of which she's loved. Of course, now that we've allowed her to feed herself these things, she's being a lot more finicky about us feeding her baby food, refusing the spoon unless we place it in her hand and guide it to her mouth. There's no doubt that she's a "do-it-yourself" kinda kid. Both a blessing and a curse ;-)

Corn on the Cob!

We've caught quite a few fish up here; I had a killer start, but the fishing's slowed down a bit for me, and Chris started off slow, but has killed 'em the past couple days. Ahhh the ebbs and flows of life. LOL. We've caught enough bass to have two meals so far and I'm hoping we'll catch enough to bring some home. There's nothing better than fresh bass for dinner (that is, aside from fresh panfish ;-)) Audia still hates her life jacket so we've been taking turns fishing. It's forcing me to learn both how to drive the boat and how to unhook my own fish, which is a good thing.

"What's that?"

She's Back!

Audia seems to be over her teething, at least temporarily, and my sweet, funny, happy little sprite is back! YAY! No new teeth have officially cut the gum, but I can see one on the bottom just below the surface. Hopefully either A) it will be another week or two before it decided to continue it's journey or B) it simply has stopped hurting her and will not hurt as it does finish cutting through.

The past couple of days have been hot and sticky. Minnesota hot is soooo different from Arizona hot. I would take 90 and humid-as-hell over 110 and dry any day, but would much prefer 100 and dry to 90 and humid-as-hell. It really is true that it's the humidity that kills you. Anyways, I went out and bought a new swim suit yesterday so that we could take Audia to the pool today. And boy, am I glad we did! She LOVES swimming! She was kicking and squealing and babbling pretty much the whole time. I wasn't such a fan of water at her age, so I am glad that she likes it so much.

I can't get over how smart our little monkey is; every day she is doing something new. She's been "AT-AT" (like from Star Wars) walking all over the back yard to avoid letting the grass touch her knees, and just a day or two ago started pointing at things she wants or is interested in. I also could swear to God that she's said "Hi" four or five times, and actually meant to say "Hi", as opposed to random babbling that ends up being words. She's been testing us a lot more lately, doing things just to see what kind of reaction she gets, and unfortunately she's also started hitting people in the face to get their attention....I am doing everything I can not to take it personally and am hoping she gets over it quickly. I'm told it's a common thing for babies around a year old to do. 98% of the time, though, she is sooooo sweet and cute and funny and just SO MUCH FUN! She gives hugs and laughs when I laugh; it is so rewarding being her mom :-)

New borns are cute for sure, but I am just loving this age where she is learning and interacting so much!

Nine Months (a little belated...)

So, Audia had her 9 month well check last week. We got a recommendation for a practice from a friend's dad, who's a doctor. We really like this new pediatrician, Dr. S, so far. She was amazed that Audia hasn't been sick more than twice in her life so far, and had nothing but good things to say about her health, size, disposition, and activity level. She commented more than once on what a busy girl Audia is; it's nice to know that we're not the only ones who thinks she's a very active tot!!

Audia weighed in at 19 lbs, 10 oz and is now 28.5 inches tall. She's in the 75th percentile for both.

We went up to the cottage from the 7th til the 9th to visit Chris' brother and his girlfriend, who were visiting from AZ, as well as to see his parents. It was very cold and rainy while we were there (in the 40's in June?! Give me a break!), but we still had a great time.

Audia's teething again, I'm afraid, which is why this entry is a bit delayed....crabby baby means stressed out mommy, so I've been unwinding while she naps as much as possible (aka losing myself in the Sims 3) as opposed to keeping up with blogging and correspondence. Unfortunately for all of us, I can't see the teeth that are cutting through yet, which means it may be a while before they come through and she, and I, find relief.
As a side note to the teething thing, a friend recommended that we try homeopathic teething tablets, so we called our pediatrician and read her the ingredients to make sure they were safe. She said that the one ingredient we want to stay away from is Belladonna because it can severely sedate, as well as cause heart and urinary problems, in some young children. So we'll see if we can find a different brand that doesn't have that. But, for you other moms out there, I thought I'd share that info.

Teeth, Babbling, and Visitors!

Audia's second tooth finally cut the gum late last week. Thank goodness! She seems much more comfortable, and as a result, much less fussy now that it's finally broken through. I've heard that teething gets progressively less painful for babies as they get more and more teeth...I sure hope this is the case for our little one. I hate seeing her in pain and not being able to do anything about it!

She's been babbling up a storm these days; her most repeated sound currently is "Ma" which is so much fun. I like pretending that she knows what she's saying when she says "Mama" over and over.

I think she's weeks away from crawling (Chris thinks days, but I'm holding my breath for a little more time before we have a totally mobile baby). She is getting stronger by the day, and is scooting quite a bit with her legs. She can life her entire torso with her arms, so now it's just a matter of her figuring out how to put the two together. Eeek!

We had a busy, fun weekend, as my best friend Jenne was in town. Audia was unsure of her at first, but after a couple of hours, was comfortable and enjoying her company almost as much as I did :-) We had a picnic on Sunday, which was a blast, and it was pretty funny to see Audia's reaction to the grass on her bare feet. Below are a sample of photos from the weekend; as always, the rest can be seen on my site.

Teeth and Scary Movie Day

I finally managed to get a shot of Audia's first tooth. They taught us in Photo I that timing is everything when shooting animated objects; one second can make or break a shot, and thus, you should always take a roll or two of your subject (back in the days of film.....*nostalgic sigh*). So, of about 15 photos, this is the only one where you can actually see (kind of) her tooth peaking through her gums:See a bigger version here. (And get a load of those eyes! They look Aquamarine here....so pretty!) Today, I noticed that the second tooth is starting to emerge. It's right below the surface, and I'm sure will break the gum today or tomorrow. Which explains why she has seemed so uncomfortable and has been so needy the past few days, yesterday and today especially. Hopefully some Tylenol will help her feel a bit more like herself!

On another note, Happy Scary Movie Day! (Valentine's day to all of you saps out there) This month I have been blessed with two scary movie days in a row; Friday the 13th yesterday and V-day today. I do wonder how we will go about (and IF we will go about) introducing the pleasure of scary movie day to Audia as she gets older. She does seem to like to be startled, so I am hoping that she has an affinity for frightening things like her mom, but it will be interesting to see how and if we celebrate Scary Movie Day when she's old enough to actually understand the meaning of the word "scary" and that the red icing on my decapitated cookies is supposed to be blood......I am guessing this will be the last year we celebrate Scary Movie Day for at least 8 or 9 years. How sad.

Check out this cool invitation Chris made back in 2006

5 Months!

Audia turned 5 months old yesterday! We spent the afternoon with Auntie Heather and Uncle Lance, playing and chatting and having lunch. Audia had a lot of fun watching and grabbing at an Elmo puppet that Heather brought out. Looks like we'll be puppet shopping soon. She was such a hoot to watch!

As for her current stats, she is now 17 lbs, 9 oz and 27.25 Inches tall. This puts her at the 99th percentile for height and the 94th percentile for weight. Tall and skinny like her daddy :-)

Last week we noticed that she had cut her first tooth! It still isn't all the way up yet, but I think it's just a matter of days. Unfortunately for her, I think it's going to be a double whammy, as there is a visible lump next to the cut tooth and she has been extremely fussy and clingy the past few days. I feel so bad because she will bite on something and then cry, and then bite on it again and cry again. Poor dear seems to be having a lot harder time with the second one than she had with the first.

Despite the weather being cold (in the 60's) and rainy, I've been attempting to make her a sun bonnet without a pattern. My first attempt is just a little a bit big (heavy on the sarcasm here...) and a little too floppy.....Good thing I bought extra fabric!

Happy New Year

A year ago yesterday, a little plus sign changed our lives forever. It feels like AGES ago that we were just finding out we were pregnant; heck, it feels like AGES ago that I was going into labor, about to meet the new love of my life. It is astonishing how much can change in one short year. And it feels like the older I get, the faster the years go and the more that changes within those years. Before I know it, I'll be dying gray hairs.

The rest of our visit to Minnesnowta was nice. We enjoyed spending time with good friends and family. The snow bocce ball party was fun despite my not being able to play this year; I always enjoy seeing all of my MN friends so much, and it was fun to introduce Audia to everyone, even though she was exceptionally fussy due to what I believe is teething. She's been chewing on anything and everything she can get into her mouth and drooling like crazy, and I got my first tooth when I was four and a half months old, so I think it's a decent possibility. We've been doing the best we can to sooth her poor gums; some days are better than others. But I digress. The rest of our visit was nice, despite the cold I came down with. The flight back was MUCH better than the flight out there. Audia took normal naps, and thanks to Chris' ability to sheild us by holding up a blanket (as opposed to my throwing the blanket over my shoulder and her head), she ate normally too. No ear troubles on the way up or down, and she was easily entertained on the plane when she wasn't sleeping (thank goodness!) On a side note regarding the whole flying with baby thing, have any of you mothers out there noticed that your baby has what I lovingly refer to as "Poopsplotions" (combination of Poop and Explosion) on the decent? Audia's done this on both flights. Either it's coincidence or it has something to do with the pressure change.

As much as I enjoyed our two weeks in snowy marshmallow wonderland, I am so glad to be home. To walk out of the airport in a short sleeved shirt and not be uncomfortable was a wonderful feeling. And I think Audia is glad to be back too. Although I know she enjoyed spending time at grandma and grandpa's, she's been taking much longer naps since we returned (and she actually took her first 2 hour nap since she was about a month old! Yay!) and has been going to bed much more easily at night (aka I only have to bounce her for 10 mins instead of 30). I do think she has caught a bit of a cold, but as of now it is only some minor congestion and doesn't seem to be bothering her too much. Hopefully it stays minor.

It amazes me how much has changed in the two weeks we were gone; being away and then returning to some of the toys we weren't able to take with gives us a bit of a different perspective on how fast she really is growing. Toys that she used to just bat at she is now skillfully grabbing on the first try and putting in her mouth. She's outgrown the middle height setting on her exersaucer already, and we've now had to put it on the highest one. She bounces with much more force in her doorway jumper than she did before. And she now practically does push ups in her crib when she rolls onto her tummy. I wouldn't be suprised if she started crawling tomorrow with how crazy active she is on her belly; I can just see those little wheels turning in her head, wanting so badly to get up and move around on her own.

I think we may start trying to sleep train her next week. We'll see how the next few days go; my gut still says that we should be following her lead when it comes to how she naps and goes to bed at night (she is ONLY a quarter of a year old, after all) and the changes in her habits since we've returned to AZ lead me to believe that I am right in following my gut, but if she regresses at all and this is just a fluke, I think some sleep training will be needed. If nothing else, to help her learn how to fall asleep on her own. But there's still this part of me that thinks she'll do it on her own when she's ready. My logical mind and my gut instinct are on the outs over the whole sleep training thing. I wish they would just come to some sort of compromise already.......