On The Move And Keeping Me Busy

Please forgive my long absence on the blogging front... as you will read, Tyler has been keeping me MORE than busy, so I've barely found the time to clean my house, let alone type up an update!

So since I've last blogged, Tyler has gone from having three teeth to having SEVEN. Yes, my 9 month old has seven teeth (he's actually had seven for a few weeks now... I'm just bad at updating the world about it). Needless to say, it was a rough four weeks during which those teeth were making there way in. He has four on the top and three on the bottom. He's still missing his bottom tooth to the left of the center two. I'm not really sure what that one is waiting for!

He's also become much more active. Although he still primarily army crawls, he's finally caught onto the proper form of hand and knee crawling, which he'll do if he's on the right kind of surface and not wearing pants or socks haha. Talk about picky. And for the past few weeks he's been pulling himself up to standing, which scares me to death! At first I was so excited, but now I just stand behind him ALL the time, and of course the times I'm not right by his side, he falls and bangs his head. Which is why I am exhausted and have no time for anything! I do have to give him some credit though... he's becoming a lot better at keeping his balance and most of the time will stick his butt out and catch himself in a sitting position if he starts to loose his balance while standing. Although now he's been testing himself by letting go to whatever he's holding so he stands free for a couple seconds (and my heart stops until he grabs back on or I grab him). Long story short, the kid loves to stand. No more sitting and playing with toys nicely.... nooo he needs to make a bee line to the closest object he can pull himself up on and stand.

While all this was going on, Jordon was in the height of tennis season, which made my life even busier! Jordon would be gone until 6pm on practice nights, and as late at 11pm on nights he had matches. Plus every weekend in March was taken up by matches. Rough life for this tennis family! Tyler was precious though, because anytime Jordon would come home the little guy would try to crawl as fast as he could to Jordon and would cry because he couldn't get there quick enough and wanted Jordon to pick him up. We are SO happy the season is over and was have more family time!

 

Ty man is eating great as well! Lots of new adventures in food... a cupcake on his daddy's birthday, an oreo from his great-grandma (definitely not an everyday treat but you can't say no to great-grandma!), ritz crackers, little bits of hamburger, bits of a chocolate bunny from his 1st Easter basket (okay, I ate the majority of it), strawberries, etc. And he's doing pretty well taking a cup! I'm trying to get him to replace a couple of his feedings with cups of pumped milk (slowlyyyy working our way to weaning). He usually just takes sips of the cup, but he'll finish 4 oz. over a couple hours which is much more than he ever did before, so I won't complain.

As much as I hate that he is growing up so quickly, it is pretty exciting being able to do new things with him... take him to the park and put him in a swing, play in the sandbox, put him on my shoulders, etc. I'm so excited for all the fun our little family will be having this summer!

Right on Schedule

Tyler has been growing, and in doing that, has definitely matured and settled into a SCHEDULE. ah! Every parent's dream. I have been trying to get him on some sort of schedule since he was born but never succeeded. Now he has developed, in his own timing, a schedule that has been working wonders for the whole family.

Baby boy wakes up around 6:30 or 7am every morning, and is down for a nap by 8:30 or 9. Most of his naps are at least an hour long, and sometimes will be 90 minutes long. Definitely gives me the chance to get some work done around the house! Then he naps again around 12:30 or 1 and then again around 4. He get solids at breakfast, lunch and again at dinner and nurses after each nap. He gets his bath around 7:30, nurses and is usually asleep by 8 or 8:30 at the latest. Then it's time for Mommy and Daddy to relax! It's so nice to have a (semi) predictable day. Yes, sometimes the schedule does get a bit thrown off, like when he had a cold last week, but he always seems to get back on track. And he even did pretty good keeping with it the last time we traveled.

He's been eating very well (except last week when he had his cold, but sickness throws everything off). Some new things he's tried are apricots (I mixed them in with sweet potatoes and he loved it) and peaches. I made a fruit medley of apricots, peaches, apples, and bananas which he loved, and it is great to mix in with his cereal in the morning. I've also made other combinations like sweet potatoes with apricots, sweet potatoes with banana, and carrot with pear. I made him some applesauce with cinnamon as well, which was a hit! Last week I introduced yogurt which is a new favorite and daily staple for the little guy. Plus he's been munching plenty off our plates, so he's had a bit of banana bread, he chewed on a roll at Logan's Steakhouse (it was too cute!), black beans, and some other foods that I can't remember off the top of my head. We gave him some baby pureed chicken (we bought the organic jarred kind to try before I went out making and freezing a bunch), but he hated it! I'm not sure if it was the taste or the texture. It smelled like cat food to me, so I'm not surprised he wasn't a fan. I'm thinking about buying some ground turkey and giving him finger-food sized chunks to try (he's getting pretty good at picking up food and feeding himself)... if he doesn't like then I know Jordon can use the ground turkey some other way so it won't go to waste.

And if all of that didn't convince you that Tyler is officially a big boy, listen to this: he has THREE teeth now! Well, his top tooth just popped through this morning and the other one appears to be on the brink of getting through, so I think we will really be able to see those top pearly whites clearly next week. I was so surprised because although I thought he may be teething again (he had been drooling a ton and slightly more fussy than usual), he was nothing like last time. Plus, he had "teething" symptoms for 2 months before either of his first two teeth popped through, so I figured I had a little awhile before his top ones came through. But yesterday I was playing with him and I noticed a rough white spot on his gum, and then this morning I felt the tooth. I'm so glad teething was easier this time around.

Lastly, he has started to really become smarter (I'm not sure if that's the right word here, but go with me...). If he is making a bee-line towards trouble (ex: the floor lamp, the wheels of his stroller, shoes, etc) I can say "Tylerrrrr...." and he'll turn around and look at me. Of course, he usually decided to ignore my warning and go on his merry way towards the contraband item, but at least he is recognizing his name! And he makes this funny face sometimes while in his highchair, where he makes his mouth the shape of an O and looks surprised (See photo above) and Jordon and I laugh so hard. He's learned that we think it's funny because he'll do it again and again as long as we laugh and usually laughs along with us!

I used to have a very optimistic view of him growing up, telling Jordon that with each month and year, there will be something new to be excited about and embrace, but now I'm starting to fall into the typical feeling of "I want my baby to stay a baby forever!" I cannot imagine him growing to be a *gasp* teenager or even getting married one day. yikes. I'm hoping I'll be able to embrace all of the new changes as they come. But for now I'm just trying to enjoy each milestone he's reaching and taking advantage of all the cuddle time he'll give me!

Off he goes!

Tyler is a moving man! Not "officially" hands-and-knees crawling, but since Valentine's Day Tyler has been doing the army crawl all over the place! And boy is he efficient at it... and becoming a handful! He loves to crawl toward anything that is NOT one of his toys. In the last few weeks I've seen him make a bee-line for scissors, the trash can, my computer charger cord, wall outlets, my breast pump, my water cup, and the remote control. He is just keeping me on my toes! In fact, I had him on the floor playing in the living room and went into the kitchen to get something, and while I was in there talking to Jordon, Tyler made his way to the hallway (right in front of our stairs!). Yikes. Time to get some baby gates! I've plugged up the wall outlets and ticked away all the cords we have, so I'm getting closer and closer to a baby-proofed house. Which is good because he has been getting up on his knees and rocking like he is getting ready to take off!

He's been adventuring in eating more as well. I made him green beans and plums for the first time and I also made him an apple/banana medley (he LOVED that). We tried a organic fruit and oatmeal cereal I found for FREE (well, you have to mail in a rebate form, but after that it is FREE haha). He is a huge fan of it. And per the pediatrician's suggestion, I've been trying to give him more finger foods. He's still working on the pincer grasp, so most of these finger foods stay in his fist rather than make it in his mouth, but he's practicing nonetheless. I also decided to have him try Baby MumMums, and he LOVES them. They are big enough for him to hold on his own and helps him practice chewing (although I will admit, they have absolutely no nutritional value and have sugar and salt in the ingredients...bad mommy). And they keep him occupied enough during dinner that Jordon and I can eat in peace haha. And although I swore up and down I wouldn't give Tyler foods with added sugar/salt for awhile, I've definitely given him a few bites of random stuff I'm eating. He gives me those big baby eyes that say "Mommy, can I please have a bite?!" and I can't help but give in haha. So he's tried a bit of ice cream (obviously a hit) and pancake. Oops. It's fun to feed my kid :-)

So with more energy from eating, and the skills to get around the house, he is sure keeping me busy. Sometimes I think maybe I don't want him to grow up anymore!! But on thing is for sure, I love this baby more and more everyday. Seriously. Everyday.

Growing, growing, growing!

Tyler just celebrated his 6 month birthday a little over a week ago, and I believe a half year has never gone by quicker. In fact, just the other day I was thinking about how time has been flying... I didn't really have much concept of time (or really never paid much attention to it) while I was in middle and high school, then in college I started to realize just how quickly the semesters went by. When I got married, the first year of marriage zipped by, and now that I have a child, well, sometimes I think a month has gone by in the blink of an eye. Does this mean I'm officially getting old?

Although it makes me sad that Tyler is growing, I am starting to appreciate it as well. First of all, my 6 month old baby sleeps much better than my 4 month old did! Last Monday (the day after his 6 month birthday) I told myself I just needed to get him sleep trained. I was just so tired of being tired, and wanted him to be getting good quality sleep as well. The first step in my plan was to get him sleeping in his crib in the nursery rather than in the pack-and-play in ours. I figured it would be easier to let him fuss a little and soothe himself if he was in a different room than if he was next to my bed. Well I didn't even need to worry about the fussing, because that night I put him down in his crib, turned on his mobile, and within 20 seconds he rolled over to his side and fell asleep. I couldn't believe it! I did the same thing with his naps the next day and again, he just rolled over and passed out. It was like that for the whole week! And instead of waking 3, 4 or 5 times a night, he woke up just once... AND it was after sleeping for 6 straight hours (then he went back to sleep for 3 or 4 more). So I definitely was getting better sleep. Unfortunately, this Monday my dear child did not want to go to sleep on his own! Jordon even had to take him for a car ride! He woke twice during the night (so not as bad as before) but I felt defeated because I thought my nights of freedom were over. Last night though, it was a little difficult to get him to sleep but he managed to soothe himself in his crib (it just took a little longer than it had before). He also slept 9 straight hours. Amazing. I'd like to say I got 9 straight hours of sleep, but I had to wake up at 4:30am to pump (my body is not used to waiting so long to feed baby... I pumped 11 oz. in 5 minutes!). We're traveling this weekend, so we'll see how he sleeps during/after our trip!

His little teeth are growing on in too! I think his sleep improvement definitely has something to do with his teeth finally breaking through. Of course when they broke through you could only see the top ridge of them, but now the first to break through is about halfway through, and the tooth that followed 3 days later is about a quarter of the way in. They are far enough that when he gives me a smile it is no longer a tooth-less grin, but a cute smile with two visible pearly-whites! Although I'm happy he is no longer in pain from teething, it is sort of sad that I'll never see that tooth-less grin again.

Tyler is sitting up very well these days, but if he gets distracted he always tips over. It's pretty funny actually. He has the hardest head too! We've laid a blanket down over the area run in our living room, but I still hear a small *bam* every time he flips over while holding his head up, or tips unexpectedly. And he never cries! Plus he still rolls under the coffee table all the time and lifts his head exactly at the edge so it bumps the table. I cringe every time... I think it's about time to either bubble wrap my furniture or move the coffee table out of there. I'm not sure if he's getting closer to crawling or not. He pushes himself up in a push-up position so well, but just doesn't understand the concept of moving those little knees. Sometimes he lifts his arms and legs off the floor (so he's just hanging out on his belly) and wiggles everything, so I think maybe he wants to swim places haha. I'm sure he'll figure it out soon enough though.

On the food front, Tyler is being adventurous! He's tried and liked a lot of different things so far... brown rice cereal, oatmeal, avocado, sweet potato, apple, banana (favorite), butternut squash, pear, and carrot. And he's eating more, amount-wise, as well. He eats a good meal about twice a day... sometimes I offer a third but I think he's pretty content with two because he never eats all of the third. I'm so excited for when I can just give him small pieces of finger foods on his high chair tray and let him go at it! (And no, he isn't actually eating crackers in the photos above. He was loving playing with that empty Cheez-it box, and we took the saltines to feed to the ducks at the pond on campus.)

So as sad as it is to see my baby boy grow into a toddler, I'm so excited by all of this progress! We're visiting the pediatrician tomorrow, and I'm anxious to see how much he weighs and how tall he is. And as always, I have all sorts of questions for the doctor... yup, I'm officially a mom :-)

Incredibly Thankful

These past few weeks I have become more and more incredibly thankful for my perfect little boy (no matter what he does to drive me nuts) and everything God has given me. Jordon and I have been having a time with Tyler and his sleeping habits. Like I mentioned in my last few posts, Tyler has NOT been a good sleeper recently. Out stint with the Ferber method was great, but after the crazy-ness of the holidays, Tyler was not sleeping well. In fact, some nights he'll wake up 4+ times a night. Yes, I am a tired momma. I'm pretty convinced he's waking so much because his mouth hurts, but regardless of the reason, I'd like for him to sleep better haha. And because he is such a smart little baby, the Ferber method aint cutting it this time. He will just cry for an hour (if I'd let him... I've made it to 20 some minutes then normally give in). Plus, Tyler KNOWS how to get his tears to puddle up in his eyes and the right cry to sound pitiful so I have to pick him up.

So my little one isn't sleeping well at all, but I am still thankful. In fact, Jordon and I have started to laugh at our situation and look at it with some perspective. Sure, Tyler insists on sleeping in bed with us some nights, but how am I supposed to be upset with that when I wake up to him cooing at me and touching my face? It's by far the best thing ever. Or when he insists on being rocked to sleep rather than just soothing himself to sleep... When he is a squirmy 2 year old and won't let me rock him for anything, I sure will be missing these days. So for now I'll take the sleep deprivation and enjoy the time I get to spend with my little one.

Plus, I'm hoping these restless nights will soon come to an end because Tyler has a TOOTH! Yes, finally, alright! I had been getting quite impatient because our pediatrician said he thought those pearly whites would come in soon back in December (maybe even before Christmas) and I had a fussy, drool-y baby on my hands. Yesterday Tyler chomped down on my finger (per usual) and I felt something sharpy and bumpy! He wouldn't let me look in his mouth, probably because his mouth was sore, but this morning I was able to get a peek and you can see a nice hole in his gums where the tooth is growing in. I'm excited for it to come in all the way and from him to have a cute little baby tooth :-) As long as he doesn't take up biting me while nursing haha. But this experience reminds me of when I was pregnant and the midwife told me I could go into labor anytime when I was 36 weeks (only to have to wait 3 more to finally have my baby!)... I won't believe anything doctors tell me to expect until I see it! Needless to say, I am thankful for his tooth finally getting here!

As of Monday, Tyler will SIX MONTHS OLD. Wow, where has time gone?! My little newborn is no longer a newborn, but half a year old. I've had to put so many clothes away in the "too-small bin" that it is now full and Jordon and I must invest in another (where we are going to put it is beyond me!). And the box of clothes for Tyler to grow into is now nearly empty! hint hint grandmas ;-) He has been developing right on track as well... he has been sitting up all by himself for a few weeks now, and it really mastering it these days. He can sit up for 10+ seconds by himself now before tipping over to one side or the other.

Tyler has been eating very well, and has tried sweet potato, banana, apple, avocado, brown rice cereal and oatmeal so far. And he likes them all! I've had no problem at all making my own baby food... in fact I love it! We've been trying to figure out what we should try next... Jordon is voting for meat (go figure) but I'm thinking probably squash. I've thought about peas but every baby I know hasn't like peas haha, so we'll see about that. He's also been nursing much more efficiently these days which makes my life much easier! And as of Monday we'll reach the 6 month mark of breastfeeding! Six months was my initial long-term goal, so I'm very proud of myself (especially because he's probably taken less than 10 bottles of milk his whole life, so it's been 6 months of hard work for me). And despite all the work, I've loved every minute of it! We actually got Tyler to take some of a bottle the other day fairly easily, but overall he is still pretty much exclusively nursing. So I'm not really sure if we're going to wean anytime soon... I want him to have breastmilk for at least his first year, so I guess we may have to wait until he masters the cup! Anyways, I am so thankful for how big and healthy he has grown (even if it has gone by way too fast).

Last Monday I started my first day of WORK. I am technically no longer a stay-at-home-mom, but now adjunct faculty at Ferrum College. In all honesty, I'm only teaching 2 eight week classes, so I'm still a full-time mom, but it feels nice to get out of the house two mornings a week. I'm teaching a cardiorespiratory activities class, so basically I'm getting paid to workout with college kids twice a week. But I love it! I've done plyometric and yoga workouts with them so far, and both have kicked their butts ;-) I'm a mom, but I've still got it! I absolutely love teaching the class and hope I can teach some more next semester. It's definitely made me re-think my plans of going back to school... If I could work part time exercising and still get to raise my babies, I think I'd be the luckiest in the world. But who know... we'll have to see! Overall though, I am very thankful for this opportunity to work and very thankful that Jordon's grandma watches Tyler for me so I can do it!

So much to be thankful for these days! I love my little boy and wonderful husband.

My Little Sweet Potato

Ah, the time has finally come for my little sweet potato to eat his sweet potatoes! That's right, we have started solid food! Well, not quite solid (more like mashed haha), but he is sure growing up! As you've read before, we started rice cereal about a month ago, and Tyler liked it as first, but then he sort of went on strike and didn't want it much. About two weeks ago we tried reintroducing it and he starting eating it a lot better. He opened his mouth wide up like he was a pro at it! So a couple days ago we decided that at about 5 1/2 months old, we could go ahead and try to introduce some other foods. Being a fan myself, I decided we should start with sweet potatoes. He loved them! Ate like a champ. Now I have to mix it in with his cereal though because I think he thinks the taste of cereal is bland compared to the amazing taste of sweet potatoes! haha.


And I have decided to make my own baby food! Yes, I am super-mom :-) I got the Baby Brezza baby food maker for Christmas, and broke it out the other night to use for the first time. After reading the directions through and back a few times I finally got the hang out it, and whipped up some sweet potato, avocado, apple and banana baby food! I even tried everything I made, and it isn't half bad (although I prefer my food un-mashed personally). I'm still trying to decide which I am going to introduce after the sweet potatoes though! I wish I could just give him a taste of everything all in one day because I am so excited, but you are supposed to wait 3-5 days between introducing foods to make sure they don't have an allergic reaction (and if they do, you'll know exactly what food caused it!).

I have been doing all sorts of researching on introducing solid foods, and have found there is just SO MUCH to learn! There are certain foods they shouldn't eat before 1 year (like honey), and there are some foods like some people say are okay before 1 year and some say shouldn't be given (like peanut butter, chocolate and egg whites). I learned you need to cook all fruit before giving it to a baby younger than 8 months, except banana and avocado, because they can have issues digesting it. And there is just so much more. Yikes, so much to know! I guess I'll just have to keep studying up!

I'll keep you updated on our new adventures with solid foods!

Baby's First Christmas

Christmas is one of the best times of the year, and having my sweet baby boy here to celebrate with us made it even better!

It was definitely a much different experience with baby around however. Wrapping presents did NOT happen as quickly as it usually does, and I could only wrap a couple at a time, but they all did get wrapped eventually! Tyler was a huge fan of the Christmas trees and lights... he'd just stare and stare for hours if you would let him.

We did a lot of traveling for the season. The Wednesday before Christmas we headed up to Woodstock to see Jordon's family. On Christmas, Jordon and I woke up extra early so that we could have our own little family Christmas (like we would if we were home) before the whole family joined together. Tyler, who is used to waking up around 8am, was very confused as to why we were waking him up at 6am. We went downstairs and let him open his stocking and presents first. He could sort of tug some of the gifts out of his stocking, but overall I think he was probably a little too young to take in the full Christmas experience. After his presents, the whole waking up at 6am thing caught up to him and he started to fuss, so I had to nurse him while opening my gifts... All I could think about was how different Christmas was this year, but how special it was as well. And each year as Tyler grows and grows, I think it will become even greater.

When we did presents with Jordon's parents, Luke, Jenna, and the kids, Tyler slept through the whole thing. He was lucky that he had an anxious cousin willing to open all his presents for him haha.

On Christmas afternoon we drove up to Maryland to see my family. They had waited for us to open presents, so everyone had a lot of gifts to open when we got there! I think Tyler was a little overwhelmed by the amount of wrapping paper and gift boxes flying around, but he sure made out with plenty of loot!

All together, I think Tyler got about 15 toys, 25 articles of clothing, 4 CDs (some Raffi classics thanks to my little bro), 1 movie, 4 books, and various feeding accessories. I can't imagine what is going to happen as he gets older and actually starts asking for stuff... We had to bring Jordon's parents mini van home to Ferrum to actually be able to get everything home! I got a baby food maker, which I am super excited to use! Tyler has been eating his rice cereal like a champ, and we are onto feeding him cereal twice a day now. My mom got him some baby oatmeal, so we are going to add that into his diet here soon. Maybe in the next few weeks I'll break out the Baby Brezza and start making the Ty man some squash and sweet potatoes! Oh how my baby is growing up!

In other non-Christmas news, poor Ty man got his first ear infection and first bout of pink eye right before Christmas. It was so pitiful when he woke up one morning with one eye goo-ed shut. He was still smiling though! It spread to his other eye and we decided to bring him into the pediatrician, who found that he also had an ear infection! I was surprised because he had actually been LESS fussy than usual, so I guess we just have a little trooper! He's been on antibiotics (you know, that awesome bubble-gum tasting pink stuff??) for about a week and only has a couple days left. Unfortunately, the pediatrician said the fact that he had an ear infection before the age of 6 months means he may be more prone to them in the future... oh, wonderful. While we were there, I asked the doctor about Tyler's teeth, telling him I could swear they had to be coming in any day because he had been chewing anything and everything and being fussy at night. He told us I was right because they looked like they should be coming in any day, of course it has been a week and still NO teeth! This momma is about to go crazy! I'm hoping by New Years my little man will have at least one pearly white poking through those gums. But I guess I'll just have to be patient...

So the holiday season has been quite the adventure for the Robinson family! I've been so blessed to have a wonderful husband, son and families to share it with :-)