Five Months

My baby boy is getting so big! A couple of weeks ago we passed the one-year anniversary of my first OB appointment and our first little peak at a kidney bean-shaped "Poppy" - Boy has he grown in a year! Anyhow, I'm realizing that he really isn't a newborn anymore in any way. He's so alert and attentive, active, and capable!

Of course he is reverting to eating a bit like a newborn. For the past two days he's eaten almost every three hours, including overnight. His long stretch is more like 4-5 hours right now. Not good little man. He really is hungry when he wakes up - trust me he eats a lot. So I think its about time to get him started on some cereal...wish us luck!

Sam sleeps on his stomach a lot. I know, I know, SIDS. I sweat I put him to sleep on his back every single night and for every single nap. But 90% of the time he rolls himself over and sleeps on his tummy. He sleeps well on his stomach - he must get that from me. He gets some pretty awesome sleep marks on his face sometimes, too. Unfortunately that means he wakes up on his tummy, which makes it harder for him to fall back to sleep. Hopefully he'll get better about that, and maybe all the tummy time will help him develop the strength to crawl.

His major accomplishment this month is sitting. In the past week or two he has made huge strides on this milestone. If properly balanced, he can sit for up to a minute before tumbling over. He can't yet get himself into the position, but he does try to sit all the way up when he's in his car seat, stroller, and sometimes lying on the floor. He's got the whole "tripod sit" figured out. I give it a few more weeks before he is officially a "sitter" rather than a "supported sitter."

He's also getting very good with his fingers. He has great control when holding and grabbing his toys. Unfortunately, this also means he's getting better at scratching. He's no longer just rubbing his itchy spots, he's actually using individual fingers to relieve the itching. Side note on that topic: I think the scratching is becoming as much a habit as a relief mechanism. When you're holding him he often tries to scratch your arm, and it certainly is a sign that he's tired. Hmm, how are we going to nip this in the bud?

So at 5 months, here are Sam's likes and dislikes...
Likes:
-Watching Cars
-Being Outside/Stroller Walks
-Anything He Can Get Into His Mouth (his fingers, your fingers, remote, toy, burp cloth, etc)
-Scratching
-Blowing On His Tummy

Dislikes:
-Waking Up On His Tummy
-The Evening (still a very fussy time of day)

Tickle Tickle

Sam now loves it when you blow on his belly - its pretty much fool proof that you'll get a smile. A few days ago I was getting way more than a smile out of him, he was giving me all kinds of giggles! So here are some happy sounds for you today:

And a funny story to go with it: I recorded this right as Chris was getting home from work. I played back the recording to make sure that it captured the sound just as Chris was walking in the door. As soon as the giggles started, Sam BURST into tears. Of course he was all smiles again as soon as he saw Daddy. So I tried to play the recording for Chris and Sam BURST into tears again. I guess - even as a baby - no one likes the sound of his own voice on video!

Playgroup

Sam and I recently joined a wonderful, large, and well-organized family group in our neighborhood. It has playgroups for all ages, family events, online discussion boards, Moms Nights Out, etc. Honestly, I had no idea how many families with young children there were in our neighborhood until we joined. Sam falls into a Playgroup of babies born in March-August of this year.

The first "playgroup" we went to was at a neighborhood coffee shop. Yes, that makes it much more a playgroup for the moms than the babies, but isn't comparing parenting stories, tips, and ideas really for the babies in the end? This week we went to a playgroup at someone's home. How fun to see 9 babies all over the huge blanket on the floor, looking at each other, rolling onto each other, etc. One would cry and that would set off 3 others. Towards the end they were all falling asleep.

One of the slightly older babies decided to explore Sam's face by touch, as they often do. Usually the baby being explored gets quite annoyed by the intrusion of hands all over his face. Not Sam. He merely saw another new set of fingers to suck on, and that's exactly what he did. You should have seen the look on the other baby's face when Sam started munching on his fingers - so confused!

I think we are going to have a lot of fun with this group - we already have several more playdates scheduled. We can't wait to host everyone at our house soon!

Four Months

Sam turned 4 months old on Sunday (sorry I'm a few days late with the post). I was still thinking of him as a new baby until two things happened: First, I visited a friend's newborn 7lb baby. Second, Becky commented that he was 1/3 of a year. Holy cow, the first third of his first year is already over!

We went to the pediatrician for his "well baby" visit on Monday. Turns out my baby boy is long and lean. He's a respectable 25 1/2 inches long (75%), but only 13lb 7oz (25%). He'd been in the 50% for both height and weight, so we saw some big changes this month. I must have had a worried look, because the doctor asked if I was concerned about his weight. I responded with, "Are you?" (thinking, he you went to Med School!). He wasn't, so I'm not.

Sam did MUCH better with his shots this time. I was holding his hands, making stupid faces at him while the nurse was prepping his legs. All of the sudden she says, "Do you even know I gave you a shot?" Holy Cow! She'd given him one and he didn't make a peep! He did cry for the second shot, but stopped as soon as I picked him up. Yay!

As far as accomplishments in the last month, his biggest is standing. He much prefers to be in a standing position than a sitting position. He can bear all of his own weight (not that there's much of it!) and stand by just holding my hands - or by leaning against furniture. He is SUPER smiley, especially at girls and Daddy.

His cradle cap is looking better, but that's only because he gets some type of lotion all over his body 4+ times per day (and he now sleeps in mittens to keep from scratching his face). He'd still be a very itchy boy if it weren't for some serious persistence. I was given the OK to start solids, but I read somewhere that its better to wait till closer to 6 months in babies with skin problems. My baby definitely has skin problems. Plus, if I'm being honest, I'm not quite ready for him to not be 100% breastfed.

So at 4 months, here are Sam's Likes and Dislikes:
Likes:
-Exersaucer
-Standing
-Pacifier (this one comes and goes, and we now own one of every kind sold in Target)
-Lovies
-Flying Baby
-Inchworm

Dislikes:
-The evening period (he just gets fussy)
-Missing out on people interaction (if Chris and I are talking and he can't see us, he gets sad)

Visit From Becky

About 24 hours after we returned home from Ohio, we were lucky enough to welcome our next visitor in line to meet Sam. Becky, my college roommate, came to stay with us for a few days. After 3 years of law school and a horrific summer studying for the Bar Exam, she really earned her month of leisure. We're so thankful that she chose to spend some of it with us! It was a wonderful opportunity for Becky and I to talk endlessly for hours and for Sam to get some continued attention from new fans! You're welcome back any time!

Grandma and Grandpa's House

On August 17th Sam and I set out on his first adventure: a trip to Ohio to visit Grandma and Grandpa and anyone else willing to come meet us there. Chris has already taken a lot of time off this year, so he wasn't able to come with us. We missed him a lot, but had a great time on our own. Here's a recap:

I was really nervous about attempting Sam's first plane trip without backup, so Chris took us all the way to security (and watched us go through). Thankfully my mom was able to borrow and stroller and carseat, so I just had the diaper bag and Sam (in a sling/wrap thing) to worry about. He did very well in the airport until we boarded the plane. He was both tired and hungry when we got on board our completely full regional jet (read: tiny) and decided he didn't like sitting in a non-moving plane. Can you blame him? Well he began to cry - louder and louder as I feel all the people around us getting worried - and of course nothing would appease him. He wouldn't eat, sleep, take a paci, nothing. Finally I put him up on my shoulder and the man sitting behind me leaned over and started talking to him and making faces at him. Low and behold Sam began to calm down. The man continued to talk to him for several minutes until his eyes were almost all the way closed. He fell asleep when we started moving, and continued to sleep or eat the rest of the flight - not another peep. And the woman next to me let me put my food and drink on her tray table. So all in all we had a successful first flight!

Tuesday I actually woke up with a bit of a fever. It was my first illness since becoming a mom, so it was great to have my mom as back-up. She got plenty of Sam time while I took a nap on the couch. She did report at the end of the day that she was surprisingly tired - apparently playing on the floor with a baby is easier at 28 than at 54 ;-)

Sam had very many people to meet while we were up there. He met my dear friend from high school, Heather, and was shown off to my mom's co-workers. He also met his Great-Grandparents, who came into town just for him on Thursday. How fun to have pictures with 4 generations! Uncle Matt and his girlfriend Kate came into town for the weekend, so he met Kate for the first time. And some of the Ferguson Family came in on Saturday. I think that Hayden and Sam will make a very cute couple some day!

To say that Sam was spoiled with attention while we were there would be a massive understatement. Funny how Uncle Matt didn't mind getting up in the morning when Sam was doing the waking. I had family members fighting over who would get Sam up from his nap (seriously - there was once where my mom and brother literally raced up the stairs pushing each other out of the way!). Grandma enjoyed the job of giving baths in the sink, while Grandpa relished in reading Sam his bedtime stories, just like he did for me so many years ago. I don't think that Sam had a waking moment when someone wasn't actively engaging him. Luckily for Sam's audience, he has just entered the stage where he LOVES to smile. You've never seen so many adults making such fools out of themselves to be rewarded with a huge gummy grin!

While we were there Sam did have quite and achievement: he slept for 11.5 straight hours without making a peep! I don't know if it was the fan providing white noise, or that he was in a vibrating pack 'n play all night, but it was impressive. We're still waiting for him to repeat.

The flight home went really well. Sam was much more awake, but the seat next to us was open this time which made for two VERY happy travelers. We had a wonderful week at Grandma's and can't wait to go back for Thanksgiving! We'll post more pictures from the trip in Sam's Web Album.

The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

The Good:
I can now independently confirm that Sam can roll from his back to his front. Yesterday I turned my back while he was on his play mat. When I turned back around, he had rolled over - and I missed it again! But this morning I witnessed it with my own eyes. He was hanging out on his side and wiggling around (made a 90 degree turn) and then flipped the rest of the way over. This is where he ended up:
The Bad:
Sam no longer likes to fall asleep. This is not because he isn't tired, or doesn't need the sleep. He is exhausted. But he has developed a "need" to be walked or nursed to sleep. This is not good - very bad sleep habits are formed this way, as the pediatrician confirmed. Staying asleep isn't much of a problem (although he is waking up around 5am again), but going down is hard. We're currently working on our strategy to fight this battle of wills.

The Ugly:
We have been fighting off cradle cap for almost two months now. He gets it bad - thick and yellow on his scalp and even down his forehead. Occasionally his cheeks get red and bumpy as well. We've been using baby oil and dandruff shampoo (as doctor recommended) to keep it under control. Well yesterday when I got him up from his nap his cheeks were bright red and bumpy. I was concerned that it was something more than cradle cap, so I called the pediatrician's office and the nurse said to bring him in. After seeing a picture, Dr. Grandpa (my dad) confirmed that it needed to be looked at. I still thought it was spreading cradle cap, and my mom thought I should put Hydrocortisone cream on it, but we went it for an appointment anyhow. Dr. Jung looked for 3 seconds before declaring it to be severe cradle cap and instructed me to treat it with baby oil, Aquaphor 4 times per day, and Hydrocortisone twice per day. Hmm...looks like mother's instinct was right for these two mothers :-) After 14 hours of this new treatment, its already looking less dry and less red. Hopefully it will stop itching him soon as well, and he'll have a clear, baby-soft face once again.