Boy You Like To Grab Your Junk - 225 Days

It might be something all little baby boys do, it might be normal...but it is still startling when you grab your junk. Even more so because you don't just "grab" it, you pull, pinch and twist it. This causes me pain!

The photo below shows an attempt, though rest assured, we have a photo of you just out of the bath showing the real deal. Blackmail material for later years.

You are... - 211 Days

I'm really REALLY tired.
What's wrong with you? You don't like anything!

Give some food, cry.
Put you to sleep, cry.
Give you milk, cry.
Leave you, cry.
Go out and stop on the way a little, cry.
Wipe, cry.
Hold you, cry.

Just cry cry cry cry cry....and not sleep at night.
I feel crazy.

What do you want? What do you want me to do??

Little Mover and Shaker, or, Boy, You Are Crazy - 204 Days

You're a little over 6 months old. I know that's not a lot of time but it feels like it sometimes. The days when you were light as a feather and could basically fit in my hand are long gone. I remember looking at my hand compared to your hand when you were only a couple weeks old..it seemed unreal that your fingers could be so small. I remember thinking how delicate you must be and how petrified I was (and still am) about hurting you (dropping, rolling over onto, etc…).

A couple weeks old, tiny hands.

Fast forward to today and I'm starting to realize how you might not be so delicate anymore. 

To begin with, you can basically sit on your own now, support your neck and all that. You roll over like crazy (and roll and roll and roll). I put you down on your play mat on your back, blink my eyes and next thing I see is you on your tummy. Your first signs of mobility are happening fast and furious. 

Lately, this is what I see in the morning. Wide awake and ready to play.

It's terrifying.

Your crib used to seem like a wide expanse that was an island of safety. Now I wake up and look into your crib and see you in a completely different position than we left you.

You also have started to side sleep. It's so grown up.

Mama puts you on the floor, walks to the bathroom, then comes back and you're far from where you started. Once you start walking, I think we are in trouble.

Started at the blanket, only the stairs stopped you.

Freddy Krueger Dreams - 201 Days

Either there's an evil mad man ruling your dreams or you have a very high tolerance for pain. WTF dude?

What About February 15th? - 201 Days

This already happened and your papa wrote about this already, but I want to write a little about that day.

On 2/14, you had a doctor appointment. You got 4 shots. (4!! I would die! You are a strong boy.)
Of course you cried. But you seemed fine soon after that.

The next morning, I saw some strange behavior. You blinked furiously a few times,  almost like twitching.  But I didn't care so much. I just thought "ah your new boom behavior? crazy boy."

Then, in the afternoon I was holding and feeding you. I felt something different about you. I felt your neck was hotter than usual. Then I touched your face. I felt the same thing. But your body was really cold. And you looked tired a little.

I told your papa about this. But you didn't have a cold or any sickness by then. And we checked your temperature. It was a little high but not so bad. So I asked papa to check the paper about the shots to see what the side effects were.

The paperwork from the doctor had the exact same thing written as was happening to you. The first bit of good news. We knew we don't need to worry too much. But it's the first time for us too. So we didn't want to make any wrong decisions.

So we called the doctor to tell her about this. She told us the symptoms should be gone by the next afternoon, but we can give you cold medicine to make you feel better.

We gave you the medicine. You cried so much, maybe because you were tired too. Your papa held you to make you feel better and relax. You spit up milk so bad. No, more like throwing milk. We were surprised. We helped you calm down, changed your clothes, and held you a lot.

After that you slept a lot. At night also you slept all night. Next morning you were a happy boy, like usual.

It was new step being your parents (for us). I was glad a little I could feel your difference so soon.

Our hope is that you are always healthy, lovely and happy.

Morning Baby -198 Days

Every morning with you is different. Often you are the 5am alarm clock, as you start talking just before sunrise and continue until mama puts you to sleep.

The last couple days you've woken up as I go downstairs, but you're quiet as a mouse. There's no pattern. 

Sometimes you just look at me, stay quiet and then fall asleep again (like this morning). Other times your eyes widen and I know you're awake for good. Honestly, it makes my morning happy.

Camping, Valentine's Day and Cheek Poop - 189 Days

It's been a little bit since the last entry, sorry baby bear. Of course a lot has happened since then.

We took a nice trip up the coast to the NW tip of Washington state. It just so happened that Portland got a lot of snow that week so the streets were covered as we left Portland. It was slow going but once on I-5 nearing Longview, the rode cleared up a bit and normal highway speeds were possible.

That's when we got a flat tire.

It was scary changing the tire on the side of I-5 with the shoulder barely useable because all of the snow. I had to open the back of the car for a long time to un pack everything and get to the spare. Cold wind right in your face but you didn't make a sound. Just kind of watched me as I frantically moved things around.

Thankfully a state trooper stopped behind us to provide a safer place to stop. From there it was just a matter of getting new tires and heading to Neah Bay. It was a long drive but you did so well. The cabin was nice, right on the water (in a long line of other cabins). It was a fun trip and makes me look forward to the future when we can all go camping for real.

Roadside diaper change!

That's the Pacific Ocean in the back...somewhere.

Sleeping with mama in the cabin.

We also had Valentine's Day last week. It was our second Valentine's day together in Portland and the anniversary of our engagement..and the first time with you. You were a little fussy but finally you fell asleep and mama and papa enjoyed some nice Italian food and wine.

Valentine's Day was also your 6 month doctor check-up. 6 months! Really? I am not sure if I feel that time went by fast or slow. Both really. You are healthy and that makes us happy. You're a big boy for sure (almost 22 lbs) and in the 97% for weight (84% for height). You did need to get some vaccinations though and you were not too happy about that, but when the nurse was finished you stopped crying and became a big boy again. The next day you had a slight fever, but even that didn't last long.

6 Month check...before the vaccinations!

Valentine's dinner at Mama Mia.

A final update…from this morning. Lately, after waking up, you do something strange. As usual, you are happy and chatty, but you seem to have added a strange behavior to your morning routine. Laying on you back, you raise both your legs and pound them into the mattress in quick succession. It makes a loud sound, like a bass boom. It's funny and I can hear it downstairs in the shower.

This morning though, i think this new technique made a small problem worse. You see, yesterday was a good poop for you. You pooped 3 times (2 is usually the max), so mama was feeling good that you did all your business. Usually in the morning, before I leave for work, I don't change your diaper. You are not usually awake and I don't usually have time.

This morning however, you were wide awake and I thought I would help mama by putting a fresh diaper on you. I soon discovered that you had poop #4 waiting for me. No big deal really, I could change the diaper and get to work. The more I looked though, the more I saw poop had made it's way up your back. This has happened a couple times. It seems though that the banging feet technique helped the poop make its way all the way up the back, just below the neck. Crazy, but ok. I asked mama for helped and we got you cleaned up with fresh clothes and a new diaper.

I laid you down in your crib, as I was getting ready to leave, but noticed poop in yet another place: on your cheek! What?! How!? You had somehow managed to get poop on your hands then onto your cheek (and who knows where else!). This was a first for us (and hopefully a last!). Of course you were chatting and smiling the whole time.