High Chair!

We decided that it was time for Robbie to graduate to his high chair that Nan bought him... thank you so much Nan! He still fits in his Bumbo, but his "thunder thighs" are a tight squeeze and the chair seems to cling to his "beefy" legs when you try and lift him up out of the seat! So now Robbie has dinner with the big kids and as you can see through the pictures, he doesn't mind at all! I don't' want to start any bad eating habits so meal time will always be in his chair and at the dinner table (except when he's nursing... obviously) He's still inhaling the cereal and the oatmeal hasn't phased him a bit.

He goes for his 6 month check up next Monday, I'm so excited to see how much he's grown! That Friday we have his 6 month shots as well (booooo!) I hope these set of shots don't bother him as much as the other ones did.... he's doing so well with his sleeping!

Yesterday he had some major red cheeks, I tried to capture it on camera but the lighting was horrible... too much light (with the flash) or not enough (no flash).

More pictures here

"Squeaks"

That's our new name for Robbie. It seems as the days pass he's exploring how to use his voice and all the pitches it can reach. He talks to us through squeaking (rarely babbles), what's funny is if you repeat the noises that he makes he'll squeak back and have a conversation with you!


Yesterday I introduced Robbie to oatmeal, he seems to really like it! I'm going to wait about a week before increasing his quantity, I want to make sure he doesn't have any allergies to it. Babies, of Robbie's age, aren't suppose to have any more than 1/2 cup (8 Tbsp) of cereal in a day, so once we know for sure he doesn't have any allergic reactions, we can increase the quantity. So, for now, the daily menu is:


Breakfast: 2Tbsp rice cereal (add milk/formula)


Lunch: 1Tbsp oatmeal (add water)

Dinner: 2Tbsp rice (add milk/formula)


At first I was trying to pump enough milk so that I could add it to the rice cereal but I quickly realized that it just won't happen. When Robbie caught that bug it affected his appetite which in turn affected my milk supply, I'm taking Fenugreek again (the herbal supplement to increase milk supply) but I think I'm going to go off of it tomorrow. For the past couple of days I've had to give Robbie both sides to fill him up, but this morning he seemed to be quite happy with just one side.



On another note, I picked up some swim trunks (and swim diapers) for our little fish, the trunks fit him perfectly! I can't wait to get him into the pool!

Photoshop - Here I go again!

I was inspired by the pictures I took yesterday. I learned some new things on photoshop & I was up late last night making these "creations". Here's what I made:

In the clouds

On the beach

Making sand castle's with Cousin Kailey!

Pictures

So even though our monster wasn't in the best of mood, I thought I'd do a photo shoot with our little model. Here are some of my fav's. There's more on the website.

Thanks Auntie Char, Uncle Ron & Cousin Julie for the fantastic outfit!! He looks great in it and he still has some room to grow, so hopefully it'll last him a while!

Like son... like father

Just as Robbie's on the mend the other man in my life gets sick. I feel so bad for him, he's pretty much quarantined himself away from Robbie and I. No kisses, hugs, bath time, etc... I can't imagine how he feels.

Robbie's doing much better. He's pretty much caught up on his sleep, which is always good. He's got a pretty big rash on his tush because of all the poops (he has anywhere from 2-4 poops a day!!) and all the wiping. It doesn't seem to hurt him, but I've been putting some rash cream on it as well as giving his bum a little air time... seeing as though he LOVES being naked, he has no problem flaunting himself to me.

Yesterday Grammy, Robbie and I had a date. We went to a movie! Another first for Robbie!! We went to a "Stars & Strollers" show that accommodates moms and their babies. They had a fold out table for changing the babies and plenty of space to park the stroller inside the theatre. It was fun! All these little babies, some brand new and some running/crawling up and down the isle (that mom didn't get to watch much of the movie) We picked two seats that were right up against the wall and I'll definitely sit there again, they dimmed the lights but I was still able to see Robbie (we were right underneath a light) & play with him while watching the movie... it seemed a lot darker in the middle of the isles. Robbie was quite intrigued with all the sounds coming from the big screen, he sat there for a little while & just watched! We saw Dreamgirls, not the best movie to go see with a baby... the whole story line is in lyrics which is hard to follow when you've got a tired or wet baby. I think I'm going to do it again tomorrow, alone. It's at a theatre that's closer to the house & it's in a mall. We'll see how tonight works out... I've learned that planning only goes so far when you have a baby that constantly throws you curve balls.

Robbie's getting so good at holding his own bottle! I bought a new cereal where you add milk/formula as opposed to just adding water (what we had before) So I always seem to have an ounce left over so I give it to him through his bottle... he loves to feed himself. He gnaws on the nipple for a bit and then tilts the bottle up when he wants some more milk then goes back to chewing on it (better the plastic nipple as oppose to me!)

Spoke too soon!

I tell ya... I jinxed myself on that last post! I'll try and update everyone the best I can but my days are all blended together and the past seems like such a blur.

Saturday

He was in good spirit but you could tell he was a little "off". We did our bed time routine like we always do but instead of putting him to bed I rocked him to sleep in the lazy boy. He was up at 9 to eat and went down fairly easily then was up at 10 he didn't want to eat but I could smell something rancid coming from his lower region.... lone behold he had a major poop. (This is when the fun began) I tried putting him in his crib to sleep but hated that idea, his cry turned from a sleepy cry to an "I'm PO'd" cry. So I picked him up and rocked him in the chair, he would start to fall asleep and then would wake up to toot and start screaming again... obviously something wrong with his tummy. He ended up falling asleep on my chest, I waited until he was in an obvious deep sleep and then put him down. Around.... 1(?) 2(?) He woke up crying again, he had another poopy diaper. So there I sat with him rocking him back and forth while he let out toot after toot =( He kept crying while he nestled his head into my shoulder as he was overtired and feeling yucky. Colin was woken up by all the crying so he stood there and talked softly to Robbie with me, Robbie was quiet while daddy was looking on but as soon as he left Robbie started to cry again. So I asked Colin to stand there for a little bit until he calmed down. Robbie refused to sleep in his crib, every time we put him down (sleep or awake) he'd wake up screaming. Honestly.... I don't remember how the rest of the night went, I was that tired. I think Robbie got about 5(?) hrs of sleep.

Sunday

Well this was catch up day. Robbie napped for longer periods of time to make up for lost sleep from the night before. We rented a movie and stayed home. We felt like zombies. Again, I don't remember a lot about yesterday... I know I was able to get the guest room ready for Nan (she's coming to visit Feb. 03), I made chicken fingers for dinner and I did some laundry. I was preparing myself for another night like the previous night, Robbie & I were going to sleep on the lazy boy as that's where he seemed the most comfortable. Turns out I was able to rock him to sleep well enough that it didn't bother him to be in his crib. He woke up 3 times last night to feed & took a little bit of effort to get back to sleep, so each time we were up for about an hour.

Monday

Today Grammy came over to help out. She played with Robbie (and cleaned!)while I relaxed and tried to catch up on some sleep. I got a little bit of sleep, but I'd rather spend the time with my family instead (call me crazy). This evening I put my foot down with Robbie! We had done our bed time routine and it was time to go to sleep, so I thought I'd try rocking him like he had liked in the past.... his majesty didn't like it, he wanted to be bounced. So I scooted to the edge of the chair and started bouncing and realized that my back was starting to act up, so I tried to slowly transition the bouncing into rocking..... nope! As soon as the swinging started and the bouncing ended he was crying again. The pain in my back reminded me of the sleeping issues we had with him before & I WAS NOT going down that road again. So I put him to bed and sang him a song and kissed him goodnight. He cried for about 10mins before I went in there to offer him some food and to make sure he was okay. He ate, I gave him some Gripe water and then he went back to bed. He cried for another 10mins and then fell asleep!

I feel so bad for Colin, his weekend was a complete flop because of Robbie's situation. I know that it's part of the package when you have a child... but I just wish we had some kind of sound proof room so that he could get at least one good nights sleep.

Update

Well, he's doing much better today... but, whatever it is that's bothering him, is still lingering.

He was up for longer periods of times today (compared to yesterday) but he was SO difficult to put to sleep. During his afternoon nap I ended up rocking him to sleep because he just wasn't able to soothe himself. The same thing happened this evening, he just kept crying and wasn't showing any sign of calming down! So I fed him and he was able to simmer down and fall asleep. His poops aren't green anymore (yellow now) but they're still fairly watery and he's having several stinky diapers a day. His appetite is much better, but it's still not the way it was before. I'm finding that I'm always engorged and when he does nurse he's on so briefly that he doesn't stay latched on for the let down.... and then there's Heather scrambling for a towel as I'm spraying everything in sight (including my son) HAHAHA. I'm sure tomorrow will be even better for him!

Tomorrow Robbie and I are going to the wedding fair! I'm a bridesmaid in a friends summer wedding so I get to do the wedding planning all over again with her... I'm so excited. On Monday Robbie and I have a play date. I signed us up for a playgroup that is put on by Gymboree. I'm looking forward to meeting moms that are in the same boat as I am.