Posts Tagged ‘eating’

Whirlwind

Sunday, November 22nd, 2009

It’s been a busy few months! Here are some videos I’ve been meaning to post.

First, now that Mads has officially passed his six month mark, he’s been hanging out in a variety of highchairs and shopping carts. I took him to Costco a couple weeks ago, which he loved. Here he is very studiously studying the 40 gallon tomato cans. I love the way he hangs onto the car. As if I’m the bad driver in the family!

Next, also a few weeks ago, Mads and I were hanging out in the car while Leanne graciously volunteered to clean up our old apartment. He happened to be in a fantastic mood (which is unusual for sitting in a parked car), and so I made some ridiculous noises which he apparently found quite funny.

Lastly, a few nights ago Maddox ate his first meal in a highchair, which is great as it means we no longer have to get oatmeal and squash all over our couches.

Four Months

Sunday, September 20th, 2009

4 month appointmentWednesday the 16th was Mad’s fourth birthday. To celebrate, we went to the doctor’s to get stuck with some needles! To be honest though, he cries more when we put him down to sleep than he does with an injection.

He weighed in at 16.7 lbs and is 26 inches tall, which puts him in the 86% and 81% percentile, respectively. So I guess that explains why he is nearly as tall as the one year olds at his daycare!

This was dad’s turn to take him for his appointment, and we had a good time. Mads had fun tearing up the paper on the doctor’s table.

This weekend, Leanne and I started our initial packing for our (hopeful) move to an actual house next month. Of course Mads likes being the center of attention, so we put his door jumped in the only central place we could find: the closet. Kind of odd to store your baby in a closet, but hey, whatever works!

Coat / Baby closet

This weekend, Maddox “ate” his first “solids”. The excessive use of quotations is due to the fact that he probably only actually ate about 10% of the food (the rest ended up on his clothes), and I’d question whether they were solids since the rice cereal was so watered down.

Overall it was more entertaining than it was nutritious, but it sure was fun seeing him attempt to actually eat some food.

Lastly, I have to say that I’m just endlessly amazed at how happy this baby is. I didn’t think it was actually possible for him to smile any more than he does, but this past week or two he’s proved me wrong.

My First Tooth

Wednesday, August 19th, 2009

Maddox has started teething. You can actually SEE tiny little tooth points on his lower and upper gums. It’s pretty early – he was just three months old on this past Sunday.

He’s not thrilled about it, but Jon explained to him about the delights of calzones and the larger world of noms in general. (We call his food “noms,” as in NomNomNom!). Since Maddox is a big fan of noms, he’s coming around.

He also seems to be adjusting to the discomfort. Sometimes he’s pretty unhappy, and our wonderful daycare provider (who spotted the fact he was teething in the first place) suggested using Orajel. At home, we usually soothe him and rub his gums, and I let him chomp on my fingers.

I’m a little concerned about what happens when he can actually chomp holes through things. Namely, things like me. Doing bottles full time would be so much less convenient, especially at night. I’m back at work now, so it wouldn’t be awful to switch, but I’d miss the bonding time – my pump is a whole lot less adorable to hold, and although I appreciate it, I’m not looking to spend more time with it.

I’m torn between being proud of Mads, being concerned about his discomfort and the possible change to bottles, and being just plain excited that he’s growing fast and is healthy. Overall, I’m savoring the experience – you never get to go through the same phase with the same kid twice, and Maddox is a constant source of amazement.

Two Month Check Up

Monday, July 20th, 2009

Today Mads had his 2 month check up with the pediatrician. He’s healthy (yay!) and generally pretty happy. Unfortunately, our poor little guy missed his morning nap, had to have a bottle of semi-cold milk, and received 2 shots and an oral vaccine (blech). Needless to say, it has not been an overly smiley day. =(

Here are some of the things we learned at the doctor’s office:

Mads is the size of a four month old. He is 13.13 lbs and is 23.5 inches tall. Apparently, this is completely okay and we should feed him whenever he’s hungry instead of worrying about him eating too much.

Personally, I wouldn’t want to try to get in the way of his food consumption. When he’s eating, his eyes sometimes flicker back and forth like he’s checking out potential competition for his food and is ready to take them out.

triumph buggy

His size means that he can ride in his 3 month baby carriage, so long as we are careful that his head is supported. It seems so light-weight that I kind of worry about him riding in it at his age, but I’ll just make sure I go with him until I feel more secure, so I can keep an eye on him.

More good news: he’s been kind of nuts lately (see previous post). The doctor said that the fussiness is at its peak around 2 months, but should ease off in the next couple of months. We have a lot of patience (because he’s so darn cute) but it’s nice to know that he’ll chill out a bit eventually.

Another cool fact: we can start feeding him some solids at 4 months. I’m really looking forward to this – Jon and I love good food, and it’ll be really neat to introduce Mads to different flavors and textures. I’ve got a pamphlet to read about which foods are best and how to introduce them which will be neat to learn.

It goes by so fast!

I noticed the nurse put him in size 2 diapers after she weighed him. We’ve been using size 1-2, and I’ve had an increasingly difficult time changing him at night. When you’re trying to squeeze a baby into diapers that just barely fit him, it becomes like a puzzle and at 4am, no sane person really appreciates puzzles.

For me, this is a milestone. Even more than the different sounds he’s making, or the clothes he’s outgrowing, because he does both of those things so continually. But changing his diaper size means he’s really getting bigger, and while I am so proud of him, it’s kind of a pang because I now realize what other parents mean when they say, “It goes by so fast!”

We had another milestone today – Maddox was wrapped in his swaddler and he thrust his arms out to the sides and it burst open. He was surprised but delighted and so he laughed. He’s been doing little half-laughs and lots of smiles, but I swear, this was a genuine laugh. I love our happy baby.

To wind up:

After the doctor’s appointment, we went to visit Dad at work, and then Mads and I snuggled for an hour or two. It’s really cool – when Mads sits on my lap, the top of his head reaches so much higher than it used to.

Right now he’s watching his Bear Parade, yawning and making sad grumpy sounds which I translate to mean, “Whoa, look at that bear parade. Go, bears, go! Oh my god, my bear parade has stopped. Bears? Bears why aren’t you moving? Bears? BEARS ARE YOU OKAY? MOM, MY BEARS AREN’T MOVING! OH MY GOD SOMEONE HELP THEM! (Mom winds the bears) Whew, there they go. Yaaaaaaay! (Insert happy smiles) All is well…zzzzzzzz.”

Image credit: Triumph buggy

Maddox’s Schedule at 2 Months

Wednesday, July 15th, 2009

Although there are always those days when it’s anyone’s bet as to what will happen, Maddox has started to follow a schedule.

Mads usually gets up around when Dad leaves for work, between 6 and 8. He has breakfast and then we have playtime and I take care of the little things, like trimming his nails or restocking his wipes.

After playtime, I bring Mads out to his Pack n Play and wrap him up for his morning nap. This morning, he’s not really into napping, so he’s making noises and watching things while Mom blasts Norah Jones and hopes that he’ll fall asleep. Today he’s going over to Grammy & Papa’s for lunch (I have a meeting) and I’ll probably have to get him up in the middle of his nap, since he’s late going down.

It is so, so wrong to wake up a sleeping baby after all the effort to get him to sleep.

On an ordinary day, Mads has lunch after his nap, and then we play some more and go out. We’ll visit Dad or Grammy & Papa, or my work. Yesterday, Auntie Kate came up and we went for a walk, which was terrific because all that good fresh air was soporific and he slept for 90 minutes.

I’m hoping that the afternoon nap will become a fixture. Usually, it’s only 30 minutes, but yesterday it cut “crazy time” down by about an hour.

What is “crazy time?” Well, between the afternoon nap and bedtime around 8, Mads likes to either move constantly or eat insatiably. After Mom and Dad are ready for the nuthouse, he then proceeds to pass out for a 4 or 5 hour stretch. I go to bed as soon as he does, since he’s up 2 or 3 times during the night. This is a vast improvement – it used to be every 2 hours.

All in all, this is a pretty good schedule. Any sort of schedule appeals to me, since I live to plan and even having a loose plan helps. Having crazy time is tough, but it’s more than balanced out with Maddox going longer between feedings and with his increasingly adorable awake times. He smiles all the time – sometimes he’ll be having a screaming fussy fit and then he’ll pause, grin at you, and then continue. It is impossible to be mad or even frustrated with someone so cute.

Here’s Mads with his new toy, courtesy of Auntie Kristy. The beginning of the video is pretty cute, but then he kind of just stares at me like, what the heck am I supposed to do with that, Mom, I’m just learning how to use my thumbs.