Happy 1st Birthday, Griffin

Dear Wooze,

Happy 1st birthday, my little boy. Your daddy and I were talking about how much has gone by in the last year. You've had a very big 2008. It started with you getting sick for the first time. Boy was that a doozy! Dad was right as he whispered "Come on .. you're my little Trooper" as you were fighting your last and worse seizure. You had to be recessitated but you trooped right through it and battled your way out of your illness, with the help of many prayers, doctors, and nurses (including Joan, pictured below). I have such admiration for you and you are only 1 year old.

You have had many favorites, including your swing, which was your first love, really. We discovered early that you also loved to eat - eating early and lots! You still love everything and will start to fuss when you see someone eating something that you're not a part of.

Your brother has been a bit rough on you this year, but we can already tell you'll be holding your own soon with him. If he upsets you now, you will actually go after him. Well, you whine first and if that doesn't get you far, you'll yell at him, then maybe even go to hit him. I wonder how many ER trips we'll be having over the years to come ...

This year you went from being brand new, to holding your head up, then holding your body up with sitting, then standing, and you are now cruising around like you've been doing this for the longest time. You crawled at around 6 months ... walked around 10 months.

You went camping for the first time with Grandma Jo and Grandpa Dave. We went to Sweet Home, OR and fished, camped, and had a fire.


You've had a few boo-boos along the way - most came from your excursion from crawling to walking. The picture above you dropped Bubba's Leapster onto your face, slicing the top of your left eye open. It was minor and you were over it very soon ...

You had your first Christmas this year, too. You didn't care about opening presents, so Bubba got to open most of those. All you cared about was what was inside and most of the time, all you cared about was the box it came in. Your new loves around this time of year have been the remote and phones. You'll hold anything that resembles a phone up to your year and yell something inaudible but we're sure you think you know what you are saying!

And the year closed out with your first birthday. You were surrounded by family as we sung Happy Birthday (you weren't sure what in the heck was happening!). Aunt Jessica made your Snowman cake which you devoured. You liked the balloons especially this bee one.

It has been one year filled with expansion, adjustments, firsts, trials, excitement, fear, worry, laughs, smiles, claps, and more emotions than I can fit on here. You are very loved and we are so happy you joined our family ... making it feel that much more complete.

First Snow!

You experienced your first snow today. It was supposed to come a day or two ago, but at least it came. I dressed you up snuggly and then put on a pair of big pajamas to keep your feet warm and to keep you somewhat dry. It worked!

I didn't think to put socks on your hands and before we knew it you were screaming bloody murder because your hands hurt. Poor things were so red!!

We warmed them up and before too long you were back outside enjoying the mysterious white powder!

11 months

Woozle,

You might wonder where “Woozle” came from out of the blue but the fact is, is that we’ve been calling you “Bamboozle” for a long time – mainly because we’ll trick you into a lot of things and then you’ll have this look on your face like “Huh?” Bamboozle quickly turned into Woozle, Oozle, Doozle. It certainly feels like this nickname will stick. I’m sure you’re going to hate us for this, but it just seems like …. You. We’re also starting to call Maysen “Bubba” because you started calling him that one day a few weeks back. Maysen seems to like it and it’s easy to fly out.


You’re still bashful with your walking. You will walk independently for only about 6-8 feet and then sit down. You will chose crawling over walking still, but you can certainly walk on your own for a bit.

Your hair is getting really curly, especially when wet. It’s still strawberry blonde, and your eyes are still a bright blue. You still have 6 teeth, no new ones!


I am starting you on milk. You still get formula at night and at your naps, but during the day you will drink milk out of a sippy cup or a regular cup with mom’s help. Average breakfast is NutraGrain bar, yogurt, oatmeal, applesauce, Cheerios, or bites of toast. Then you get your bottle at 11:30 for naptime. You have a snack at 3:00 which usually is cottage cheese, cheese, fruit loops, applesauce. You will eat dinner with us, and then you have your bottle after bath at 7:30. That’s your routine lately.

You experienced decorating for your first Christmas. This past weekend when you turned 11 months, we put up Christmas lights and got our tree. We actually took dad’s truck, which only has a forward facing seat. So, out of a bit of a no-no we drove with you in the forward-facing seat. You weren’t any happier in that seat, but I’m hoping it was only because dad’s truck is a tight fit. You loved getting all the decorations out of the boxes and were mesmerized by all the balls, lights, and sparkly things. You like to look at the windows and look at the lights when it’s dark. We have “the singing lights” and you get excited watching all the lights go with the music.

We took your first long trip this month, too. We drove 400 miles to Baker City to visit Papa and Grandma Sherrill for an early Thanksgiving. You were not happy one bit, but we kept you entertained with mom/dad in the backseat with puppet shows, singing, and snacks. A few more weeks and we’ll be able to turn you around so you can see the world (well, at least movies with your brother).

In a few weeks you’ll turn ONE, have Christmas, and be able to sit forward in the van. Lots coming your way in the next month to come.

Love, Momma

Walking Boy!

You have been taking steps for about 3 weeks now, but you're starting to get more brave, taking multiple steps at a time by yourself. What a big boy!! You will start smiling and going "Da-Ta-Da-Ta" when we let go. What a big boy!

10 months

Dear Fin,

You turned 10 months a few days ago but it was right before Halloween so we had been busy!

Over the last month you’ve changed quite a bit. You are starting to take steps, which is crazy! Maysen was walking at 9 months and here you are just about ready to walk. You must be ready to chase after that big brother! You stand pretty solid on your feet now and will take independent steps, anywhere from 2-5, depending on what/where you’re going. You get excited when doing it though.

We went up to the Roloff Farm in Hillsboro, OR to pick pumpkins. The Roloff’s are the stars of a series on TLC called “Little People, Big World”. Mommy and Daddy love that show, so it was neat to go. That was your first pumpkin picking extravaganza and it was on famous land even! WooHoo!

You had your check up with Dr Pelinka on Halloween! You were a dragon for your first Halloween. Unfortunately you had to get a flu shot and a finger stick before the fun could start so you weren’t real thrilled. She said you looked great and you have your last meeting with Dr Koch at OHSU on 12/30. Here are your stats:

Weight: 20lb 2oz (20%)

Height: 29.5 inches (70%)

You’re starting to really have fun with your brother. He’ll run up like he’s going to tickle you and you shriek with excitement and want me to pick you up as quick as I can. You giggle and laugh so hard, and Maysen likes this too. He’s a bit rough on you, but that’s just what brother’s do.

President Obama was elected yesterday. You of course are too small/young to remember any of this, but one day you’ll realize just how historic this election is. It is going to impact not only your future but the futures of many many Americans.

You got 2 more teeth. You got your neighbor-to-the-front teeth. First one was on 10/17 and the other was 11/1. Right now you’re gumming things like a champ. You don’t want that babyfood anymore – you want what we are having, thank you very much. Even if that means spaghetti or ham sandwiches. I have to be careful of you choking, but you’d rather have that over baby food.

You also like drinking milk out of a regular cup. I have to hold it, and yes it’s messy, but you prefer to drink out of a cup vs even a sippy cup. You enjoy your snuggly bottles at naptime (11:30-1:30+) and at bedtime. Otherwise, you want a cup.

The last couple of days you’ve slept all night long. You do get up at 5-6am to eat, but then you go back to sleep, which is nice! You did get pink eye this month, thanks to brother’s preschool class. It comes and goes so we’ll see how long it takes to “really” go away.

I love you, baby, and shopping for your first Christmas and birthday is fastly approaching. In fact, we are going shopping in 2 days for that.

Love, Momma

First Steps

Last night you took your first steps without holding on to anything. I don't think you're ready to walk yet, but you sure took 3 steps alone! You wanted some of my potatoes and you were getting very ansy! You were standing at the footrest, then all of a sudden you let go and BAM ... BAM ... BAM three independant steps later you were at my chair. I don't think you realized what you had done, or even meant to for that matter, but you did! What a big boy!!

Today you had your first blood-boo boo. You were playing with Maysen's Leapster, flinging it around, chewing on the corner, etc. You laid back holding it and it fell on your face. It's not the smallest thing in the world and it fell and cut your left eyelid. I think it scared you more than anything but you were fine within a few minutes.

You're starting to be very vocal these days. You will do this funny thing where you grunt and then you'll wait for us to grunt back, like cavemen. It's your way of communicating I think. You are also saying a lot of "La-La-La-La's". I think you like the feel of your top teethies. And you've discovered the fun of hair-pulling. I think Daddy started it. He'd lay on the ground on his tummy and let you yank on his hair to pull up. Now you think it's great to pull hair. In fact, you get very excited about it ... and IT HURTS!

Your brother is still hard on you. He will knock you over and bang your head and take toys away. But I'm starting to see you rebel on him a bit. You've been crawling over to him and will start whacking/slapping him on his head. I am not looking forward to the ER visits as you both get older!

Language

One little note. It wasn't until this morning that I realized you can understand what I say. You were looking everywhere but at me, so I finally said, "Griffin, watch!" and you immediately stopped and faced me like, "What, mom?" I thought it might be a fluke but when I repeated it again this evening I got the same response. Amazing .... (like you'll be listening to me in 10 years. Ha!)

9 Months

Dear My Boy,

A few days ago you turned 9 months old. It seems you are developing new things and trying them every single day in rapid succession. Yesterday while at Aunt Jessica’s and Uncle Josh’s you discovered how to clap on your own. You don’t bang both hands together, but rather will sort of set one hand stationery and bang the other one on top of it. Then today while in a very whiney phase, you wanted picked up and I had walked off. Well, you lost it and starting wailing, but you started crawling toward me when I heard, “…Ma….Ma….Ma….Mu … Ma….” You were saying MaMa for communication purposes. Big milestone! Of course daddy says “Well, he’s been saying ‘Dada’ for a long time!” My arugement to that was that you just say it to say it … not that you are “calling” for daddy or saying his name. But it appeared this time to be so! You’ll even clap on demand, so that’s very fun to watch.

You love getting into the toilet and that’s become an issue. At first it was just flicking your fingers in the toilet water but now you love to pull the TP down and dip it into the water. Your brother loved the same thing. So when we can’t find you … check the bathrooms!

You love to pull hair. You use it mainly to pull up to stand and you’re very rough when you do it!! But that is what makes you laugh very hard .. the harder you pull the more excited you get J Very funny.

You went to your first football game this month – Creswell High. We sat you back in your stroller and you loved it! You watched the cheerleaders most of the time (already!).

This month we have been trying to get you to sleep longer through the night. You were up 3 times a night and it was getting ridiculous! So, we had to start letting you cry out those periods when you woke up. I hate hate hate listening to you cry and know I can’t just go pick you up. It’s time for you to learn that you can comfort yourself back to sleep and you don’t need us. So, now you’re only getting fed once a night and that is helping the sleep factor.

Your top two teeth were born around September 11th. You ran a fever for 2 days the week prior but nothing poked through. So you now have a matching top and bottom pair and MAN DO THEY HURT when you like to "nibble". You’re getting more independent with eating. You’d rather be eating OUR food versus yours. You like real food like bread, crackers, yogurt, applesauce cottage cheese, cheese, pretzel twists, and I give you smashed things off our plate. I have introduced you to a new soft nipple topped sippie cup so you can have more independence with eating that, but you still kind of make a mess. You blow IN to the sippie cup, and in response milk comes out this little hole in the top and onto your face. So, it’s messy … but I’m hopeful you’ll catch on and I can just let you hold the cup and drink.

You’re getting good at walking with your walk toy. You would just fall down with it, but you do have pretty good control of it now and will walk until you run into something. You have learned to click with your tongue. It’s something I have always done to get your attention and now when you click, I will click. Or if you hear me click, you’ll click back. It’s pretty cute!!

We love you!

Momma

First Cry-Out

Check out the feet ... you're in "gonna stand up and walk" mode but just can't get there. You've been a pill the last few weeks. Your top 2 teeth were born last week (slow movers!) and you have one I-Tooth that is coming through that has caused a bruise but yet no break through. Poor baby. But with your crankiness has come some waking up at night wanting held. I admit, I had given into this, but it was causing no sleep for momma!! You'd be awake at 11p, 2a, 5a. More than when you were born! Finally daddy talked me into letting you cry it out after you were up from 11:00pm until 3:30am one night. So, Sunday night you woke up at 11:00 and cried so daddy slept on the couch (I can't stand to listen to you cry) and let you cry it out until you went back to sleep. It took you until 1:00 to go back to sleep. But you did! And ever since then *knock on wood* you haven't gotten up at night until like 6:00am to eat. Thank you!!

You're standing on your own now. You crawl 100mph to get to where you're going, pull up then you'll let go and stand until you get nervous and fall to your bottom. That's what Maysen did before he started walking so I think that's around the corner!!

ouchie teeth

You just got over your first bad bout with teething. You ran a fever for over 2 days straight. You were mopey, whiney, tired, and looked miserable. Thanks to Tylenol and some extra care, you are feeling much better now. I am still waiting for those babies to poke through but it should be very soon. You still have your lonely 2 in the bottom, but before we know it you'll have all of them poking through.

You're walking with your walker now. Before you would pull up and start to walk but just fall down. Now you're taking steps and can walk with it for a good 10 feet before your legs give out. Who knows, maybe you'll be walking at 9 months like your brother. You need to get a jump on him. He's a pretty good big brother, but he likes to get a little rough with you sometimes. You'll be showing him who the Little Brother Boss is before you know it!

8 months

Dear Pretty Boy,

You will be 8 months this week and I still can’t believe how fast the time has gone. This month you have exploded with new things. You started crawling and have mastered it by now but it still frustrates you to have to crawl to things – you’d much rather just walk or run to them. You started out by crawling with one leg/knee but would keep the other foot flat on the floor and kind of half-walk with that foot. Before long, you had gotten the whole knee/arm movement and are crawling great now.

You got your first 2 teeth at the end of last month and they are big and bright now! They are your bottom front teeth and you jet your jaw out trying to munch on things. You’re now eating Stage III foods and loving every drop! You also are eating solids now, such as cheerios, bits of bread, Club crackers, bits of cheese – really you will go after just about anything!! You slide it to the side and gum it until it breaks up. You like drinking water/milk out of a cup although it still is a bit much for you. You recognize when others are eating/drinking and majorly want part of the action!! Your newest thing are the teething biscuits – which are supposed to not break apart easily. Well, #1 their messy as all get out, but #2 is you break them apart in no time so I have to really watch you!

You still get up in the night once. Its usually around 1:00am, then you get up at 7:00 to eat again but will generally go back to sleep until 8:00 or so. You nap around lunch time and if I’m lucky (and ONLY if I’m lucky) I can get you back to sleep around 4:30. You get a bath still around 7:30 and are in bed at 8:00pm….unless you refuse your pm nap then you’re in bed a bit earlier than that.

You’re also pulling up on things. You will crawl right over to the couch, grab on, and pull right up! You’ll crawl over to me in the kitchen and pull up on my pant legs. That’s less successful, but you try J You get frustrated very easily and will give that half whine/half cry bit when you’ve had it.

For a small while you were doing this fake smile that was hilarious. You’d squint up your eyes/nose/lips in this smile like “yep!” and then you’d just stop …. So we all knew it was a fake one. Another hilarious thing you’re doing right now is you’re doing a very similar thing like your brother’s “hooting”. Whne you laugh/giggle, when you breath back in post laugh you will suck it in loud and drawn out like “Hehehehe ….. HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEWWWWW”. It’s hilarious!

You love Bailey. If she’s laying around you’ll crawl over to her and scratch her with your nails … more for the feel for you, but Bailey loves it, until you decide to bite her ear. You are pretty ruthless with those little kitten teeth!! Very sharp blades!

I think that is it. I can’t wait to keep watching you grow and change.
Love,Momma

Seven Months

Dear Griffin,

You are 7 months old today and just this past week, your bottom two front teeth were born. You had been working so hard to get them here!!! You’ve been a drool bucket for the last several months it has seemed. But Finally, they are here!!

You are not officially crawling yet, because you have decided you like to do Mr Inch Worm. You plant your toes, keep your legs straight, and lift up, sort of like an upside down “V”. On your way down, you slide and you’ll move about another inch forward. Of course you roll all over the place, and just today you rolled onto your side and sorta lounge back (like you always have) but you used your ab muscles and actually pulled yourself from that side lounge back into a full sitting position with no help! It was exciting. You are so happy … especially being more mobile.

And you LOVE to eat!! You are eating two of the Stage II Gerber foods. If you don’t eat two it’s because we’ve made one runny one, like green beans, with a half-bowl full of thick oatmeal but even then, the bowl is overly full with thick thick beans. You eat it all up! Then usually you’re asleep after that … hehe.

You are saying “Ta-Ta-Da-Da-Ta”, especially when you’re excited. I think they’re just sounds that you make more than a recognition toward anyone. But we’re working with you on how to understand just WHO “Da-Da” is.

Fourth of July was fun this year, your first one. Anything loud and it was NOT Ok. Luckily the night of the fireworks, you were fast asleep and never woke up once! Good boy!

You LOVE slapping the water. You sit on your little yellow spongie and just slap the crap out of the water. Double fisted most times. You cackle with delight as you do this, not even minding that so much water is in your eyes you can’t see! You’ve also started doing this wiggle, almost dance when he’s on his back naked – doesn’t matter if it’s water or on the carpet. He wiggles his top part one direction, and his bottom the other and it looks more like a dance. And he gets going so far and just smiiiiiiiling. He’s such a happy boy.

We love you, baby boy. Onward HO to Month 8.
Momma

1st Tooth!

Fin,

Your first tooth was born yesterday morning. I'd imagine it popped through during the night of 7/22. Your other one is right there and will pop out today I'm sure. It's already at the surface and you can see it, just needs nudged. You're officially eating crackers now :-)

I call you my inch worm because I just don't think you want to crawl. You get it, I think, but you'd rather just raise your whole body in the air and upon coming down, you push forward, slowly inching along. It's more fun, right?

Love you.

6 months

Hi Fin!!

Boy ...you are six months now. I just posted about the things you did, but wanted to do a blirp about what Dr Pelinka thought about our man at 6mo. She said you are looking so good, and that if she saw you like this at 10 months old she would be just as happy developementally. You sat up good for her, smiled and even talked to her. You got all your shots, and she told me about an anemia screen you'll have to have at either 9 or 12 months. To be honest, I don't think momma's going to have that done. Only because, you aren't at risk for it and for two, your little tiny veins are so hard to get blood from -- at OHSU they had to put you under anesthesia just to get the "important" immunity labs from you. I have a hard time justifying doing that to you and putting you through that for some screen that you're at low risk for. So, momma will talk to Dr Pelinka about that at the next visit. I have your back! :-)

Stats: Weight: 16lb 14oz (50% in weight)
Height: 27 inches (75% in height)

You are eating stage 2 foods now twice a day (trying to slow you down!) and still eating good on formula. You go straight to bed at 7:30-8pm every night without a hitch. You wake up to eat at about 5:30 and sleep again until 8 or so.

You are loving your stand up toys ... like your gymboree thing and Johnny Jump Up. You like to be on your tummy, but will throw up a lot like that. Too much pressure. You sleep on your tummy at night and that makes for a leaky diaper so usually a change at the 5am waking. You are doing the backwards crawl thing, wanting so much to be mobile. You like to watch TV and eat ... or you'll roll over to the TV just to watch. You still have this connection with your brother -- where he does the scariest things to you and you love it ... cackling the whole time. Scary ...

With that I'll close. I love you, Mr Fin.
Momma

Baby Boy,

Tonight was your last dose of phenobarbital. I don't think you've even been getting much these last few days because you fall asleep during bottle time, which is what I mix the pheno in. Nonetheless, it was the last night and it's been a long phenobarbital road.

On Friday you'll be 6 months old. Half of a year! It's been fun watching you grow and change. You've been sitting up on your own for the last few days and love it. When we pick you up you want to stand and arch your back to say "Let me do it!". You're also rolling over onto your tummy no matter what is going on; bath, laying on the floor, bed. You're always on your tummy at night which scares me but you seem to not have a problem making sure you breathe!

You want to crawl so bad it's not even funny. You're starting to pick your torso up off the ground and bending one knee at a time. I wonder if you'll be more like your brother; barely crawling and going straight to walking at 9 months ....

You are enjoying baby food now, so far peas seem to be your favorite. You eat just about 3 times a day with the food and love it! I feed your in your car seat and your little feet start kicking 100mph when you see the bowl/spoon.

Will give you stats on Friday when you have your well-child check with Dr Pelinka.
Love,
Momma

5 months

It's been a week or so since you turned 5 months old. Developmentally you're right on track, and a tad ahead on some things. You are rolling over from back to belly now all the time. The only thing is, is sometimes you get really mad when you're rolled over because you can't crawl and haven't figured out how to Army crawl yet, so you get frustrated. We are tapering you off phenobarb and now we're down to half of your dose. I've found that you are more fussy now. I don't know if that is age, or if that's the tapering process. You aren't very happy in one place for very long. If I put you in the Johnny Jumper, you're only happy for 10min. Then you cry and I move you to the floor, which you're crying in 10min. You just want to move and go that you don't stay happy long.

You and Maysen get along great. He truly loves you. I had wondered if we were going to have any problems with him hitting or being rough with you and we really haven't. He gets down and talks in a baby voice to you, and you and him often giggle amongst eachother a lot. When you cry, Maysen seems to know why you're crying which is mostly "Griffin needs a bottle!".

We have started babyfood with you because it doesn't seem like you're very satisfied with 8oz every 3hrs. So, you like having consistency in your belly. So far you've tried bananas, sweet potatoes, and green beans. I mix all these in rice, because you don't like the watery consistency plain. You sure get messy, but you eat it all! You are trying to work on the tongue-thrust part of it, and it's hard to feed you sometimes. But toward the end, I just put the bowl under your little mouth and you suck it right off the spoon. When you decide to blow/spit with all your might I have to take cover as you like to do that lots now!

Your brother is in Baker City with Gr Sherrill and Papa. It's quiet around here and you're getting a lot of attention. I think you're eating it up!

Love,
Momma

OHSU visit

We just got back from the OHSU adventure. Wednesday you had your MRI. That was an ordeal. We were to arrive an hour early so that they could put lidocaine cream on your IV sites so when they started it, you woulnd’t feel it. Well, the receptionist came out and put the cream on the tops of your feet and one hand. I thought it perhaps was a bit fishy, but what did I know? After waiting the required hour, we went back and the RN right away said that you had no visible veins in the feet. She tried your hand, which you screamed bloody murder on. She called the anesthesiologist who came and tried the outside of your foot (no cream was put there) and while you continued to turn purple with screaming so hard, she too couldn’t get it. They informed us that they now needed to put you under with the “gas mask” as I call it. They gave me a pacifier with some sugar water and I rocked you while he fell asleep until they were ready. When they said we couldn’t go back with you, I informed them that I would be going back with you and I would talk to whatever supervisor I needed to because I would kindly tell you/her what I thought of their inadequate use of the lidocaine cream. Needless to say, I went back with you and held you while they put the mask on you. You never woke up and drifted right off to gassy sleep. I have to admit, I was getting a big drowsy as I caught wisps of curly air coming from the mask.

We saw Dr Koch and when he walked in he said, “The good news is that there is a lot of good news!” He was really encouraged because of the fact that your EEG done on May 9th was completely normal now – the low seizure threshold found in February had resolved. The MRI showed no surprising results and Dr Koch put it in analogy form like this: When You got sick, it was like he had fallen and really skinned up your knee. The MRI done right after your illness showed swelling, acute trauma, and inflammation. On the MRI done on Wednesday, none of that was present and instead just the scars remain. Dr Koch anticipates he might forever have those scars, but developmentally, those scars have not affected anything. The area of the brain where the scars are present is a rapidly growing part of the brain and hopefully the scars will diminish as the new tissue forms. Dr Koch was more impressed with the EEG because although the MRI is a nice picture-taking tool for diagnostics, it doesn’t necessarily reflect functioning. The EEG showed 1hr of pure normal brain function.

You'll see Dr Koch one more time in 6mo, closer to your 1yr birthday to check your development one more time. If everything goes as he anticipates (which is developmentally appropriate), then he’ll discharge you from OHSU care.

Closing on the best note ever: we have been given the OK to start tapering you off of the Phenobarbital. It will be a slow 6wk taper, but eventually you will be Phenobarbital-free. As Dr Koch left the room, he said, “He’s now thrown into the ‘Normal Kid’ Bucket’”. Ahhh, finally.

Month 4

Dear Fin,

You are 4 months old now. You really have grown leaps and bounds since last month. You are still on phenobarb but the dose has not been changed since it was made 6cc at night. We have started giving you a tiny bit of rice on a spoon. At first you couldn’t figure out how to swallow, and your tongue thrust just would spit it back out. Now you suck it right off the spoon and you think it’s delicious! We only give it to you at night, which has made you more full (before no matter how much we fed you, you were always hungry) and you sleep all night now. You get your rice about 7pm, then your bottle around 8pm and you sleep soundly until about 6:30am. You get fed and will snooze back off to sleep until you’re ready to get up at 8am. You nap from 10:30 to noon, then again around 3pm for a couple of hours if your brother isn’t too loud. You figured out your own schedule and we just go with it – but it’s pretty much the same every day!

We have to trick you by letting you fall asleep in our arms, then putting you in your swing during your naps, because you won’t nap in your crib. You WANT to be put in your crib at bedtime, but it’s like you feel you’ll miss out on something if you’re in your crib during the day. But we put you in your crib awake at night and you go right to sleep!

You are such a talker! When I lay you on the changing table you start talking away. But now, you suck on your fist. You don’t want to suck your thumb – instead you suck on your whole fist. It’s even chapped at night! Since giving you rice you poop about 3 times per day, but you’re happy that you’re a full baby now.

You are such a wiggle worm! If we put you on the ground, you will push up with your legs and in about 10min you have yourself faced the other direction! You also love your new BUMBO seat. It lets you sit upright and you just love to stare at your feet and look around. You’re very content.

You are starting to laugh, too. If something happens you think is funny (usually funny faces/voices) you’ll giggle. It’s very cute. You can identify things held out and you’ll grab them and pull them to your mouth to explore. You’d much rather just have your fist though.

You’re starting to show signs of bad eczema, just like your brother. Mainly right now it’ son your sides and side of your leg. I keep Aveeno on it and have been putting hydrocortisone 1% on at night. I hope you don’t have big problems like your brother. Not fun!

Will close for now. My love continues to grow daily.