ANOTHER RASH

Why can't this baby get a break?! Well this explains why his sleeping has been a little wonky & why he's been owlie. He's got a rash all over his sac that goes down to his bum hole (sorry for the details, I document it for my records) This evening he was really fussy so I gave him an ice cube in the mesh feeder and he LOVED it, his mood did a complete 180. I guess this means that we'll be seeing his top left tooth fairly soon.

Robbie's new play pal

Auntie Alison came to visit us on Tuesday night & we had such a good time. He got such a kick out of her- she was chasing him, he was chasing her, she was doing the worm (yes... the worm!) for him, they had screaming matches and she got to stay for Robbie's bed time bath! He gets such a kick out of her and he's always laughing so hard (hard enough that sometimes he forgets to take a step and ends up tripping over himself). He can't wait to see her again tomorrow at the wedding!

We've been having some issues with Robbie when it comes to sleeping, he's waking up earlier than usual ( ~5:30am) and is screaming at the top of his lungs. Usually, when he wakes up before 6 I let him entertain himself in his crib because it's just too early to start his day, by the end of the day he's NOT a happy camper, but because he's been waking up & screaming I've been getting up with him. He doesn't seem to hurt and isn't overly hungry.... perhaps it's separation anxiety? Last night when I went to work Robbie was still sleeping, once he woke up Colin went to go get him & he wouldn't stop crying. Colin tried Tylenol, food, bottle, etc nothing was working. I told Colin to take him for a walk & if he doesn't calm down then I'd come back home. Thankfully he didn't cry again.

Today it's suppose to get up to 31 degrees! I'm going to get Robbie all suited up when he wakes up from his nap & I'm going to take him to an outdoor wadding pool! WOOHOO!

EXTRA EXTRA -READ ALL ABOUT IT

Robbie walked all by himself!!

I got a frantic phone call from work at 5:30 "Heather, Robbie just walked! He was standing up against the fireplace and decided that he wanted to walk over to the coffee table. He turned around to face the coffee table and he walked to it!" So there you have it, our little man is trying to strut his stuff around the house.

I'd like to direct your attention over to Robbie's dental chart. As you can see, he officially has 3 teeth! Friday night was horrible, he woke up a couple times during the night & would cry uncontrollably. I tried giving a bottle to soothe him he took a couple of sips and then would spit the nipple out and cry at the top of his lungs, I tried a couple different times to offer it to him because I knew he wanted it (he kept opening his mouth once he saw the bottle) but as soon as he started sucking he would spit it right out. So I gave him some Motrin and held him until he calmed down. I had a full day of work the next day, so poor Colin had to deal with a very fussy/sad baby, as soon as I got home @ 6 he went to bed because Robbie took so much out of him. My poor boys.

Sunday we met up with our prenatal class to celebrate our babies 1st birthday! We went down to Edworthy park and had a bunch of blankets set up on the grass and each baby got a bucket with their name on it w/ a bunch of toys inside. Everyone got their own birthday hat, Robbie was quite happy wearing his until another baby grabbed the hat and pulled it which choked Robbie (I had put the elastic strap around his chin) so we were quick to take the hat off & he was quite happy just playing with it. All the babies are pretty much at the same stage of development, which is really cool. They're crawling and babbling and making those high pitched screams together, two of the babies are already walking! I made a big fruit bowl for both adults & kids, it was a big hit seeing as though the bowl was empty when we left! It sounds like the heat is really affecting some babies & their sleeping, thankfully it hasn't phased Robbie. We're leaving his blanket in the crib but not wrapping him in it, he's quite happy with just Pooh on his belly. (We've got to work on sharing)


Something I've been meaning to write about but seem to keep on getting distracted with these big accomplishments.... Robbie knows how to dance! He's so adorable, he's got a couple of different toys that play music when you hit a button, so Robbie's figured out how to whack the buttons so that the music plays - he then proceeds to thrust his hips back and forth with a big grin on his face. Sometimes he'll stop and look over at you to make sure you're dancing the jig with him.


Another thing that Grampy was in awe over is how well Robbie handles a ball. We've got a couple of different sizes of bouncy balls and Robbie and I play pass to each other. He's got great aim and can throw the ball right at you! Sometimes Colin & I will play monkey in the middle with Robbie, he'll just sit there and watch the ball zip by him and he'll try and catch it if we roll it slow enough, lots of fun!

Bye-Bye

It's so cute, when he's in his happy mood he'll constantly say "bye-bye" or "bye"... the TV was on yesterday morning and he was busy playing with his toys when a cell phone commercial came on and someone on the TV said bye-bye... well lone behold I hear Robbie reply "bye-bye"! It broke my heart, I'm so proud of him. Today we were on our way out the door to go for a walk and I picked up my keys and, again, he said "bye-bye". I had to put the keys down to put his hat on and then picked them back up and he said it AGAIN!

His top right tooth is starting to come in. It hasn't pierced the skin yet, but the right side is significantly whiter than the left.... maybe in a couple more weeks (?) and then hopefully it'll make it's grand entrance.

I took Robbie down to the Stampede grounds on Wed afternoon. It was a beautiful day (28 degrees) I was hoping to put Robbie on a couple of rides but when we got down to the kiddie zone I didn't feel comfortable leaving the stroller, diaper bag & baby carrier alone while I took him on a couple of rides, so we watched the kids go on them. There were a couple of pre-teens (weren't tall enough for the adult rides but too old for the kiddie rides) that were on this one ride and were screaming their lungs off pretending it was scary.... it spooked Robbie, I think he thought that they were being hurt. I stayed there with him until the girls got off the ride and he was able to see that they were smiling and walking away unharmed. He stopped crying once he saw them smile.

He got to pet a horse while we were down there! There was a row of about a dozen of gorgeous horses for the public to pet and to talk to the riders. I picked up Robbie and brought him over to a horse that wasn't getting any attention... I think the horse knew that Robbie was a little scared, the horse took his time slowly moving his nose closer to Robbie. I showed him how to pet the horse and Robbie reached out on his own and pet the horse on his own with an open hand (when he's pet dogs in the past he'll end up making a fist and pulling their hair). After the horses we went into the Agricultural building to see all the animals, we spent a lot of time looking at the sheep. Nan gave Robbie some touch & feel books and one of them are all about barn animals, every time he looks through the book I make the animal sounds... so when he heard the sheep's bahh'ing it startled him and confused him that I wasn't making the sound! It was pretty funny, the sheep would walk right up to Robbie and bahh right in his face. It didn't bother him at all, he was pretty excited to watch them. We walked through the midway and then went through all the games that they've got set up when a gentleman stopped us and gave Robbie a fuzzy toy dog and said he didn't want to carry it around all day, Robbie was tickled pink! He held onto that dog for a good 30 mins and then started to play his "If I throw it overboard mom will pick it up and give it back" (I love that game.... NOT!)

Today is Colin's last day @ Symantec. I'm really excited for him, I know that he's still got doubts about leaving such a massive company but I think he's doing the right thing. I think in a couple of months he'll be asking himself why he didn't make this decision earlier. Grampy's coming by this afternoon to watch Robbie for the evening while Colin & I are going to go down to the grounds and have some quality time together =) Him & I (along with the rest of my family) love to watch the chuck wagon races followed by the Grandstand show so we're going to try and get tickets to see that tonight.

I probably won't be posting too much in the next couple of weeks as we've got birthdays, weddings and stagettes to go to as well as work. Colin & I are trying to get these birthday invites done & sent out... keep your eyes peeled.

Happy Stampede!

Happy Stampede 2007!!!

The parade was a big hit with Robbie! Daddy went to go save a spot for us around 6 in the morning, right when Robbie first got up. I stayed home with Robbie so that he got fed, dressed and had a nap. He woke up shortly after 9 o'clock, I had everything packed in the car and ready to go so off we went! We drove to the zoo which is just a couple of minutes away from our place and we took the c-train downtown (all the downtown roads were closed due to the parade & the train was the easiest/fastest way to get down there) So Robbie experienced his first train ride! I brought his carrier instead of the stroller to minimize the amount of space we'd take up on the train. We met up with Daddy & Auntie Alison right at the perfect time... the parade was just making its way to where we were sitting! Robbie sat on Daddy's lap for the first 30 mins with his eyes and mouth wide open & his tongue sticking out. He loved the bands and every time the drums would walk by he kept smiling! I tried to give him a bottle when we were down there but he was so distracted by the parade he wouldn't drink so we stuck with finger foods. We didn't get home until 1 and he was ready for a nap, he was fussing and kept putting his head on my shoulder. I made a 7oz bottle for him and he guzzled that down, I put him down for his nap and he kept moaning and groaning which progressively made it's way to a "I'm not comfortable" cry. So I went back in there & took off all of his clothes (because he was roasting) and gave him another 5 oz bottle which he guzzled. He finally fell asleep after that last bottle.... 30 mins later he's up again! I made him another 7oz bottle and he drank that whole thing!!!! He ended up sleeping for about 3 hours after that bottle! After that nap he was back to his normal self.

Daddy went grocery shopping this morning and came back with a whole bunch of fresh fruit, veggies & deli meats! Robbie's going to be trying nectarines, plums, ham, chicken and turkey breast! Colin also picked up some sweet pea's, I cracked the shell open and gave Robbie the pea's (I squished them a little bit so that he wouldn't have a hard time trying to chew it) he did really well & didn't have any choking issues!

He's figured out how to maneuver the walker. If he bumps into a wall he'll inch the walker over to one side and then try to move forward, he usually tries it a hand full of time before he's off to the races again. He definitely loves his independence! While I was at work on... Thurs (?) he was standing up with the help of the couch when all of the sudden he grabbed his Tupperware container full of Cheerios (with both hands) and let go of the couch! He stood up for a couple of second and then realized he didn't know what to do so fell back on his booty.

Thank heavens for Cheerio's!

We had a major break through yesterday (well... for me at least) I took Robbie to the mall yesterday to pick up a little shirt for the Stampede parade & had to get a couple odds 'n ends. He was good for the first 30mins but then started to get antsy like he always does. Instead of giving him toy after toy to play with I put 3 Cheerios on the tray of the stroller and he was happier than a pig in mud! He sat back & nibbled on the Cheerios while watching everyone go by, it made my life SO much easier!! I picked up some Gerber Graduates while we were out, he loves these finger foods! They're little puffed wheat's in the shape of stars that are naturally flavoured with apples & strawberries (yumm!) We've also ditched the plain yogurt while adding fruit to it... we found this yogurt that's made specifically for babies called "lil ones" It's so convenient, they're all individually packaged which makes travelling that much easier!

We're meeting up with Auntie Alison tomorrow to watch the Stampede Parade, you have no idea how excited I am to see my little guy watch the parade. All the bands, horses, cars, etc... he's going to be in heaven! Colin's going to go down town before us so that he can get a good spot on the curb (it's a first come first serve basis) and I'll stay here with Robbie until he gets up from his first nap. The parade doesn't start until 9 and Colin's planning on setting up camp 1/2 through the parade, so we shouldn't miss much of the parade at all.

With all this warm weather we're having I thought I'd bring out his little baby pool that I bought for him. I'm really pleased with it, there's inflatable butterflies that are held on by Velcro that Robbie can pull off and play with and there's inflatable mushrooms that can be pulled out & he can play with those as well. No need for bath toys!

Walking

Holly crow has he progressed with his walking! Today he was examining his walker and decided to try pushing it... I was resting my eyes on the couch when Colin yells "Heather, look at this" I slowly opened my heavy eyes and almost jumped out of the couch to see our little Robbie running across the living room with his walker! So the afternoon was spent in our long hallway, Robbie kept going back & forth then forth & back again screaming with excitement the entire time. He is so proud of himself and you can tell he loves the fact that he's more independent. His steering is a little off, his left side seems to be a bit stronger than the right so he keeps on veering off to the right... he'll figure it out with more practice! He's in the process of mastering walking while holding only one hand, now that he's figured out how the walker works I'm sure his balance will improve. I got a video of his first day of walking: http://s88.photobucket.com/albums/k186/babyrobbie/Video/07-01-07/

Robbie's new favorite food = Cheerios! When I was still pregnant with Robbie, Colin saw this commercial on TV where son & dad were sitting at the kitchen table and both were enjoying their bowl of Cheerios "that's going to be me" he says. Well that day is here, they share Cheerios together now. On Saturday when I was @ work I suggested to Colin to try him with Cheerios because he's been chewing really well. While I was out Colin gave it a whirl, the first time around he cut the O in half and there wasn't any choking issues... so now he takes the entire O and does a great job chewing it! He's also very particular about how it gets fed to him depending on the kind of mood he's in, in the morning he lets dad feed it to him.... but he usually likes to pick the O up off of your hand or the couch so that he can put it in his mouth by himself. I make such a big deal when he gets that O in his mouth.

We've established a really great meal plan for him:

Morning

Milk

Yogurt

Milk

*nap*

Milk

Banana

Milk

*nap*

Afternoon/Evening

Milk

Meat & Veg

Milk

*nap*

Milk

Fruit

Milk

(and now Cheerios throughout the day)

We've split up his bottle... he gets 5oz instead of 7oz's. We're finding he's napping better & it's a lot easier to calm him down with a bottle. I don't measure the portion sizes for the foods, I feed him until he's full. All his fruit is cut up into cubes & the only thing that's pureed still is his meat & veg.

Such a cool age!