Old toys

Now that Hank is big enough, I have started pulling out old toys of Johnny's for him to play with. Like this exersaucer, for instance:

It's kind of weird to see Hank playing with toys that I associate with Johnny. I know that Johnny hasn't played with this exersaucer in over a year, but I still feel like Johnny should be the one playing with it. It's the same with Johnny's clothes that Hank is now fitting in; I have tons of pictures of Johnny wearing those clothes, and now Hank is in them. I know it probably doesn't sound all that weird to you, but seeing Hank in Johnny's old overalls just seems crazy to me.

Hank is 6 weeks old!

I definitely can't keep up weekly updates on Hank (so don't expect any more) but this one felt like a milestone. By the time Johnny was born, I had read every baby book known to man. (<-- That's an exaggeration, but it certainly felt like it.) One thing these books all said is that fussiness and crying will peak at 6 weeks and then get better. So if you can make it through the first six weeks, you'll be fine.

I spent the first six weeks of Johnny's life willing them to go faster and wanting to attack people's throats Roadhouse-style when they would say "Cherish every moment because it goes so fast!!"

I don't think Johnny was particularly difficult (well, he did hate sleeping), but he cried all the time; probably because I had NO clue what I was doing. Plus I was exhausted from Johnny's lack of sleep and all of the holiday festivities surrounding Johnny's birthday (Christmas and New Years... two biggies). Plus I was BORED. No one tells you how absolutely boring newborns are. When they are awake, they are crying or eating. You can't do too much with them for fear they will be overstimulated and then will sleep even less than they already do.

Hank, on the other hand, has been so much easier than Johnny. Is he any different? Not really. He is a finicky sleeper already and can't handle being on his back to sleep, but this time I know what I'm doing and I have a pretty awesome toddler to keep me occupied so I'm never bored. The first six weeks have actually gone by pretty quickly... however you won't find me telling any other sleep-deprived first-time moms to "cherish every moment."

By this point, Hank is starting to smile when I do and sleeps great at night... the night sleep thing is a whole other post... I'm working on it. He weighed in at 12lbs 4oz at my postpartum appointment yesterday, which means he is doing just fine. Obviously no trouble eating, that's for sure. He is so strong that I can't use a regular receiving blanket to swaddle him, he's been in the Miracle Blanket from the beginning. Hank the Tank indeed.

Yes, I know I should put up a picture... but I'm way too lazy to find the camera and upload one. Maybe later.

Critical Mass

Johnny's hair is... well, blonde and stick-straight. And it has reached critical mass. It doesn't have any cute little curls in it that keep it away from his face. Instead, it grows straight down and into his eyes and so quickly! At only 15 months of age, the kid has already had three haircuts and has needed another one for a good two months.

My kid's hair looks a little like Justin Bieber's. Shameful.

If we let it go too long, it'll affect his hearing...

Now, we have tried to administer this haircut for weeks on end, but he is suddenly terrified of the Flowbee, won't let scissors near his head, and we refuse to spend another $20 on a haircut. Screw that. So today, we were stuck at home without a car since it was getting routine maintenance done and I thought, "Maybe he'll let me cut it if I put him on the chair..." Remember, he doesn't plummet off high surfaces any more. And guess what? It worked!! I mean, he didn't move too much, which would have been great for a professional, but for me... even a sleeping child would have ended up with a butchered haircut. Really, I need some major tips in the hair cutting department. I used clippers as much as he would let me (they tickle him too much) and then had to use scissors for the rest of it. He looks a little ridiculous with long patches of hair in random places on his head, but hey, at least his hair is a little shorter now!

Only some of the hair that came off his head. The rest of it is still hanging in the air because it's so fine.

Not stoked about the new 'do.

Maybe a little emo-looking with the long bangs, but he's still cute, right?

Rockin' Pajamas

One of the things that happens when you receive gifts of clothing from people is that you look at it and say, "How cute!" and then realize that your kid is about a year too young to fit into said clothing. So you put it in storage somewhere and then find it and think, "I totally forgot about this... I really hope it still fits!"

These pajamas were given to Johnny by his cousin (actually, first cousin once removed) for his first birthday and they were too big for him then. Last week I ran into a problem where all of Johnny's pajamas were in the wash, so I pulled these out of the drawer for "too big" clothing and what do you know? They fit perfectly! And they are uber-cute. Thank goodness I didn't have any clean pajamas for Johnny or I might have missed the window for him to wear these!

Note: Johnny is psyched about his new pjs, too, but he was just starting to get sick when these were taken so he's in a bit of a foul mood.

Such a big boy

Starting just a couple of days ago, walking has become Johnny's primary form of transportation. He can even push himself up when he falls over! He's such a big boy all of a sudden. :)



I know, it's a little long, but he was so cute I couldn't cut any of it.

Big boy car seat

We've upgraded Johnny from his infant car seat to a big boy "convertible" car seat that is rear-facing for now and then we'll switch it to forward-facing at his first birthday... I think. Though after a little research, the recommendation is to keep toddlers rear-facing until they reach the weight limit on the car seat, which for ours is 40 pounds... Johnny could be 3 years old by that point. Personally, I think that's overkill... but whatever.

Lookin' cool in his G ride...

It has an ultra-long strap that he can chew on while driving around.

Eating on the move

 I try to take Johnny on a walk every morning, though lately that's been a little difficult since the mornings have been wet. The best thing about Johnny being able to feed himself is that I can take food wherever we go and I don't have to worry about giving it to him, he can do it himself! Lately, we've been finishing his breakfast on the walk (he takes forever to finish his multigrain flax waffle... it sounds awful, but it's delicious, I promise) and it really helps keep him from getting fussy halfway through the walk. Yay for being a big boy!

First haircut!!

This past Sunday, Johnny got his hair cut for the first time! I wasn't sure where to take him and John was advocating that we just do it ourselves... which I wasn't into, so I asked some other moms where they've taken their kids. The answer was a place not far from us called Bambinos Salon for Kids.

It was great! A little overpriced, sure, but hey, what do you expect for a place that caters to bratty kids?

I was really worried that Johnny would be pretty difficult to deal with, especially considering he didn't go down for his nap before the appointment. However, he did really well. Granted, he didn't enjoy the whole experience (as you can tell from his face in the majority of the pictures below). His stylist Chris was very quick and did a nice job.

You can tell he's tired, poor baby. But doesn't he look older?!

Check out the awesome certificate we got, complete with some of Johnny's hair! Aww....

Hello 12 month clothes!

One of my major gripes about baby clothes is their sizing method. Johnny was in newborn clothes for circa four days. Okay, maybe I'm exaggerating, but it wasn't very long. Then he was out of 3 month clothes before he was 3 months and out of 6 month before he was 6 months! The 9 month clothes have lasted the longest and he's ALMOST 9 months, so I guess that's not so bad... recently he went through a major growth spurt and now he's wearing 12 month clothes with the occasional 9 month outfit... Yeah, are you confused yet? I guess I don't have a better system for sizing baby clothes so I'll just deal with the system in place now.

Johnny modeling his 12 month clothes from Grandma. This is the "thoughtful" pose.

Hippie hair

As you can see from the photos below, Johnny's hair is getting quite long. He has, as John would say, "hair like a hippie." Considering Johnny can't really sit still for more than 2 seconds, getting his hair cut is probably an experience best saved for later... when he can sit still for at least 10 seconds. Finally last week, the hair on the side of his head was growing over his ears, so John held his head in place while I clipped some hair away and now he looks much better. I don't think that counts as a first hair cut considering I didn't cut away enough hair to save in the baby book... well, I don't think it counts and that's what matters.

On the left, Johnny is 8 months and on the right he was 3 months. Look at the difference!! Crazy, huh?

And here's another one, just for fun:

 

4 month doctor's visit

I know Johnny turned 4 months last week, and we did do a photo shoot just for your perusal. I will get pictures up as soon as I can get them off the SD card that my computer will not recognize anymore... lame.

In the meantime, Johnny had a doctor's appointment today. Here are the stats:
Weight: 17lbs 7oz - 92nd percentile
Height: 27 inches - 99th percentile (SAY WHAT?!)
Head circumference: 17 1/4 inches - 50th percentile

Basically, he's already proportioned like an adult and will bypass mine and John's heights by the time he's three years old. Just kidding. I hope. He also had to get a few shots, but he took them like a boss! He only screamed and turned red for about 75 seconds, but then he was okay. And now he's sleeping off the trauma, like a boss.

Taken after Johnny and I got into the car after his appointment. I think he made what he thinks about shots very clear, don't you?

Tummy Time No More

Johnny has always hated Tummy Time. Well, not always. He liked it when he was a few days old . . . and mostly asleep. After he turned a few weeks old, be began to rebel against Tummy Time for unknown reasons. I tried doing it in different places like his cute surfboard tummy time mat, or on my bed, or on me, but to no avail. He still hated it. However, I still made him do it for as long as possible every day because it is important for muscle development in the neck and chest in preparation to hold his head up and start crawling and such. (I am definitely going to be that mom who makes her child do things and says, "BECAUSE IT'S GOOD FOR YOU! Now finish mopping the floor while I read the rest of this magazine article . . ." just kidding. Kind of.)

Turns out my child is quite the innovator. He decided that since he hates being on his tummy so much, he would just learn how to roll over. Duh.

(Click here to see full screen on YouTube)
The first time he did it, I nearly lost my mind with excitement . . . and then proceeded to check the mat to see if there is some kind of incline. When I was satisfied with the flatness of the mat, I decided that it was probably a fluke and put him back on his tummy. Lo and behold, he did it again! This is when I grabbed the camera and was sure he wouldn't do it again because no matter how many times children will do something during the day, you put them on camera and they are just dying to make a liar out of you. But, he did it. And then did it again, though this time Mommy didn't position him very well on the mat . . .

(Click here to see full screen on YouTube)
Oops. Poor little guy.

Basically, our little man has learned to roll from tummy to back but has yet to learn how to roll from back to tummy. I'm sure we'll get there!

10 Weeks!

 

I'm 10 weeks old today!

This week was pretty exciting for a few reasons. First, I discovered my reflection in the mirror and I LOVE looking at myself. I could sit in my swing (which has a mirror above it) and stare at my adorable face for hours . . . well, not really hours, more like a few minutes. I also laughed for the first time this week, which made Mommy and Daddy very excited! I was getting ready for my bath and Mommy blew a raspberry on my tummy and I just laughed! Of course, they had to do it a few more times for good measure and I laughed every time . . .  until it got old and I was ready for my bath. Oh! And my eyes are still blue and beautiful.

2 Month Stats

Johnny and I went to the pediatrician today for his two month check up. Here are the stats:

Weight: 13lbs 14oz - 92nd percentile
Length: 24 inches - 86th percentile
Head circumference: 15.7 inches - 52nd percentile

He also had to get three shots and an oral vaccination today, which he handled like a champ . . . after he cried so hard his entire head turned beet red. After that, though, he was fine. Just tired, as usual. While we were there I asked the doctor about his sleeping habits, or lack thereof. She said it isn't normal for an infant his age to only take a few naps a day for 30 minutes each . . . so she suggested trying to put him down "drowsy but awake" to help him learn to soothe himself. It sounds to her like he's waking up after a REM/NREM cycle and then is unable to fall back asleep. So, she says I should wait awhile before responding to him when he wakes up at the 30 - 40 minute mark; since he's crying when he wakes up, he's probably still tired and it may be part of his soothing process to go back to sleep. However, she emphasized not to let him cry too long . . . whatever that means. She's convinced it will help him sleep longer at night, too . . . but I'm not too concerned about that at this point. I just want him to sleep during the day for goodness' sake! As I'm writing this, he's sleeping . . . and we're at the 45 minute mark! Perhaps there is something to this "drowsy but awake" thing.

Movin' on up

Johnny has officially transitioned to his crib! For the first five weeks, he was sleeping in our bed in a little cosleeper/nest thing that he really enjoyed, as seen below.

 After he grew out of that, we were planning on keeping him in our room in the Pack 'N Play and then slowly transition him into his own crib in his own room. Well, Mommy decided that she would rather just feed him in his room every night instead of going through the rigmarole of feeding him in her room. So, why have him sleep in the master bedroom and then feed him in the nursery when he could do both in the nursery? Thus, we started having him sleep in his crib a few weeks ago. Well, that first night didn't go so well for Johnny and Mommy. He woke up every hour to hour and a half wanting to be comforted and soothed, which is all well and good for Johnny, but that makes me more sleep-deprived. John then had the idea of putting his cosleeper in the crib for awhile to transition him like so:

 

As you can tell, Johnny liked that idea. He slept for longer stretches, and all was well. However, if you look at the picture above, you can see that his head touches the top and his feet touch the bottom . . . so I had to take the cosleeper out, much to my dismay. I needn't have worried because he slept very well! Well as in two 3.5 hour stretches! Not bad, not bad at all.

Oh, and we finally took a family picture, so I thought I'd post it:

Growing, growing, gone

Johnny has officially grown out of his first clothes, which was a pretty big shock to mommy. I took the cute little monkey sleeper off of him, put it in the hamper to wash, washed it a couple of days later, and then tried to put it on him. At first I thought maybe I shrank it in the dryer, but then I tried to put another newborn-size onesie on him and lo and behold! it was also too small. I know my little baby is growing fast (he weighted 11lbs 7oz last Friday), but the physical evidence is much harder to dismiss than some numbers on a scale. So, now that some of these little outfits don't fit, I have to pack them up in a container to sit in the nursery closet for the next baby.

 Goodbye monkeys and dinosaurs!

Luckily, he still fits in his pipe-fitter/lumberjack outfits, though the corduroy overalls are getting pretty snug . . .

Before I know it he'll be bringing home prom dates!