Happy Halloween!

Anderson enjoyed his first Halloween yesterday- at least a few minutes of it! Because he goes to bed so early, we put him in his costume when it was still light out and he never got to trick or treat, but he looked cute! :) ha!

Lil Lion :)

Happy Birthday Jason!

Happy 33rd Birthday Jason!!! To celebrate I ordered us dinner from the East Coast! We're having lobster tails, clams, clam chowder, red potatos, sourdough bread and cheesecake! YUM!!! It arrived this morning and now I can't wait until dinner!

As most people know, Jason is VERY hard to buy for because he buys everything he wants :) Also, with having AJ, I didn't think the chances of us going out to dinner to celebrate would be very good- so I thought this would be a good present for him (and selfishly I get to enjoy it too!)

Routine.. .What Routine?

Just when I thought we were all set (again) on our routine, it's gone out the window. Perhaps I jinxed myself??

It seems that a routine can form without me even knowing it and then BAM there it is...for good or bad!

The past oh...2 weeks or so we've had a good routine. As I said in the last post, AJ would nap 2 times a day and then sleep at night typically (keyword) 4-5 hours stretches at night. Sure, there were days that were better and others that were worse. Seems that since I typed those very words, he's gone backwards (DARN IT!). Both yesterday and today he took terrible naps (like 45 minutes maybe) and was therefore crabby most of the day and he wakes up at night every 2-3 hours! Mama CANNOT deal with that! I have this idea that we're all set with our plan for the day; I'll work out and clean while he naps and now I'm so darn tired that while he does his little nap, I just want to lay on the couch- or like this morning, I climbed back in bed while he slept (for 30 minutes!) This would be the first time I've done that since he was 2 weeks old!

I'm doing my best now to start our old routine back- letting him cry himself BACK to sleep, but I swear it's taking years off my life. Listening to him cry in his crib makes me worry that I'm turning him into what will become a "terrible" two year old, or a monster teenager. Like he'll have this fear that I don't love him.

Eventually I know he'll sleep but WHEN!! I'm starting to realize why some people have only one child! Because they can't deal with this lack of sleep (I'm somewhat kidding...)

It's 8pm.... Totally past my bedtime :)

Happy 4 Months Anderson!

I sat down at the computer just now and looked at the clock and I remember just about this time exactly 4 months ago, the nurse came to my room and told me that I'm finally 10 centimeters dilated and I can start to push now... Oh, how I remember the next 4 hours soooo well! hahha! I can't believe how quickly time has passed since then.

I know I keep saying this, and I'm sure I will continue to say it, but Anderson is just the most fun baby. He keep me on my toes and he entertains me as much I entertain him these days. His laugh, squeaks, shrills, smiles, constant movement and just his adorable little face warms my heart every day. Even on days of complete exhaustion when I would love to have a few hours of my "old life" back just to rest and not be responsible, I look at him and he'll just make me so happy. He gives me energy when I don't think I can muster up any more of it.

Now that AJ is 4 months old, he's really becoming his own person. We're FINALLY on a routine- two naps during the day; one typically an hour or so, the other about 2 hours and then he goes to bed at 6:30pm and wakes up around 6 or 7am (not including him waking up to eat 3-5 times a night). I think a routine has been so helpful for all of us. Now I know when he's going to get tired before he gets too fussy so I can feed him and put him down before he goes all crazy on me. It's also so nice to know when I will get my time to either work out, clean or ONCE in a while lay around and do nothing.

His latest likes and dislikes:

Likes:
The mornings- he's SO much happier around 7am than he is at say...5pm
Rice cereal- he loves it! He will actually yell at me if I'm not fast enough getting it in his mouth! And he's great with the spoon.
His hands- ALWAYS in his mouth (watch out, cause if your hands are near, they'll be in his mouth too!)
Reading books- We've been going to the library once a week for a few weeks now and I get about 5-6 books each time. He enjoys laying on the floor with me while I read to him. He'll play with his hands or grab my hair or sometimes just stare at me and smile (when I get the voices going)
Bath Time- AJ enjoys his morning bath; he holds the water cup while I wash him- of course he tries to put this BIG blue plastic cup into his mouth.


Dislikes:
Car Seat- it is getting better, but it's not great. He'll be ok typically for 15 or so minutes, but any longer and he's not so happy.
The stroller- sad to say, he's still not liking it. Last night Jason and I took he and the dogs for a walk in the jogger stroller and AJ could look out and see the world. He was ok for 1/2 the walk...then I had to carry him home! (it could have been that it was 40 degrees out, who knows?)

Lastly, Anderson has started to learn to roll over on his own from his tummy to his back. I haven't actually seen him do it yet, but about 4 or 5 times I have put him back into his crib and I'll go back to bed and look at the monitor and see he's on his back! He's also trying to crawl I think! Well, I don't think he knows what he's doing, but I will watch him in his crib scoot with his butt in the air, head down on the sheet and just push himself from one side of the crib to the other! He's one strong baby boy!

Halloween Party

Last night Jason and I went to our streets annual Halloween Party- it's held 4 doors down and we hire a band each year. It's always SUPER FUN! Last year I was pregnant so this year was much more fun! Anderson was with a babysitter across the street and did GREAT!


Princess Diana & Mr. T


Lucy, Dezi, Tony Romo, Jessica Simpson, Posh, Becks, Princess Di & Mr. T!

Pumpkin Festival

Yesterday we went to a Pumpkin Festival community. It was so much fun; and something Anderson will really enjoy in the next few years. They had a pumpkin patch, face painting, hay rides, petting zoo and so many other things. We were fortunate to have great weather too!


Family Photo



Big Boy!

Anderson's 4 Month Appointment

Well, we made it thru his appointment and we're finally back home. Phew...what a morning!

First, we started out with a GREAT night sleep- AJ only woke up twice (that I remember) and so we both got much needed good sleep.

I went to his appointment with a few questions/concerns that I wanted to talk with the doctor about. First, I wanted to talk about vaccines and what he was getting and talk about my concerns that I had last night. He pretty much told me that it would be worse NOT to get them and that there is no link whatsoever to autism. Now, I don't know if I completely believe that or not as there's just so many different views of it; regardless, I did feel a little better.

I also asked the doctor about Anderson's HATE for the car seat; he pretty much laughed, told me it was a phase (a LONG phase) and that eventually he'll grow out of it. I said that I'm sure he'd do better in a front facing car seat, but I know it's too early to do that. When I said that he pretty much jumped out of his chair to explain car seat safety to me. I KNOW I can't put him in a front facing seat, I was just saying that my life would probably be easier if I could... He suggested getting a convertible car seat- basically a bigger seat that can be either rear or forward facing as it may be more comfortable for him. We're going to need one anyway once AJ grows out of this one, so we may get one in the next week or so to see if that works...

The doctor then told me that Anderson is in fact NOT teething and to stop giving him Tylenol. He said that babies don't get teeth until they are 6-8 months old and that teething doesn't hurt them anyway. I don't know about that, but I'm not the doctor so I guess I will go with it. He said that drooling, eating his hands, getting a fever or running nose are not signs of teething. He said that babies are just very oral and put everything in their mouths.

I then told the doctor that Anderson is a tummy sleeper... You would have thought I told him that I put AJ on the roof of the car and then drove around with him!! He looked stunned! I know I'm not the only mom who's baby would rather sleep on his tummy right?? He then explained how unsafe this is and gave me a print out on SIDS and when I told him that AJ just won't sleep on his back, he said, "If you put him on his back he will". At that moment I just wanted to get out of there. I really do like my doctor, but there was something about today's visit that gave me a bad feeling. Anyway, we're still going to put AJ on his stomach because that is how he LIKES TO SLEEP! (and when he sleeps, I can sleep!)

Lastly, Anderson did really well with the shots; all things considered. He had an oral shot which he drank in record time. The nurse laughed at how fast he drank it. Then came the actual shots in the legs. AJ got 3 of them and he certainly cried and hated it, but it was very quick and once it was over, I fed him and he quickly calmed down. I think he'll be just fine.

Here are his stats:

Weight: 16lbs 13oz (90th percentile)
Height: 25 1/4 inches (75th percentile)

*** Jason is certainly relieved that he's gotten taller- he was really worried that AJ would be short and chunky)***