168-170, Thu-Sat

Oh Judah, you are so cute and delicious, I just want to kiss your chubby cheeks all day long (and that is exactly what I do).

Lately we've been trying to keep busy every day. Thursday was mom's group. Friday we visited your Uncle Will and Aunt Connie. Saturday Mur Mur came to babysit you. It helps the days go by faster and better when mommy has some adult company to break up our alone time.

I'm so excited for your dad's upcoming 2 week vacation. We'll get to spend time all together every day. What a treat!

Here's a pic of us playing the piano together. You know exactly what to do--every time I sit you in front of the keys, you stick out your little index finger because you know it's time to press the keys. You're a music prodigy!

166-167, Tue-Wed

Tuesday was your monthly pediatrician visit. You now weigh 19lbs (18lbs, 14oz to be exact) and measure 27.5 inches long. The pediatrician says that puts you in the "100th percentile" but your dad says that's mathematically impossible. I'm sure you're just in the 97th and your doctor wanted you to feel special so she said 100th.

And you still have a tiny 50th percentile head. You know what they say, small head, big brains!

You also enjoyed hanging out with Mur Mur, your favorite babysitter. You demonstrated what a lazy scholar you were while reclining and enjoying your book being read to you.


Thanks to Ms. Winnie for all the awesome board books you have--you absolutely love them!


In other news, your dad has started to moby you in a forward-facing way. I love my 2-headed monster!


And this pic is from Monday (taken after we got home from our office visit).


You look like you're unwinding from a long day at the office--kicking off your pants and enjoying a nice cold one from the fridge (and by "cold one" I mean teething ring).


I should also note that exciting developments are happening in the sleep department. Every other day you will sleep straight from your 9pm dream feed to 5am--an 8 hour stretch! Good job baby (but I kinda hate waking up at 5)!

162-165, Fri-Mon

A ton has happened in the last few days. I'm so behind on the blogging, argh!

I love our everyday activities. Everyday you do some time in your walker. You're getting so good at tutting around in it.


Everyday dad and I read you some books. You're usually very attentive and you like to help us flip the pages!




Everyday I feed you some solids. Now you like to help hold the spoon and guide it into your mouth.


And you love chewing on your bib, even more than you like eating your solids!


And everyday you do a little time in your jumperoo. You like to smile at something far off in the distance. I don't know what the heck you're smiling at.



Saturday we had a play date with a local baby who's just 2 weeks younger than you. You guys sucked on your Sophie giraffes together. That's the extent of "bonding" for 5 month-olds I guess!

Sunday you got baptized! I dressed you in your best little-man outfit. I almost died of cuteness when I put your little button-down shirt on. You looked just like your dad.






Monday we went to visit my workplace. I loved showing you off in the same little-man outfit you wore for your baptism. Got to wear business casual at the firm!

You were such a little angel while we were there--barely fussing at all. I'm so grateful for bosses that are supportive of my need to transition back to work slowly and gently. It's so hard to think about leaving you for large chunks of the day, sigh. I'm really going to miss our every day adventures when I go back to work in March.

158-161, Mon-Thu

The days just keep rolling by and, as my friend Peg would say, they seem fast and slow at the same time.

Fast when I think about how big you are--5 and a half months! I never thought we'd make it this far. Those early weeks and months were so so so hard.


Slow when my back and shoulders are aching from holding you as you fuss. Or you're crying on and on and on for no good reason.


There's not much to report, except that my favorite time with you is when you're naked and giggling as I tickle your toes and pretend to eat your hands. In those moments it takes everything I have to not eat you up whole!

155-157, Fri-Sun

Not much has happened. Lazy bullet-point thoughts...

--You've gotten more solids and you LOVE it.

--You're finding your voice. You sound like a screeching demon.

--You've been waking up at 1am every night for the last few weeks and crying really hard. It doesn't matter when we last fed you. You're not hungry, just wakeful. If I feed you around 1am, you tend to wake up again at 5am and STAY up. That is really really bad news for me. And I've been getting insomnia at 1 or 2 in the morning. Ugh!

--You're awesome in your car seat when we go short distances. Not a peep.

--I really need to find some mom-friends (or even just regular friends) to hang out with during the week. I'm going out of my mind with boredom and loneliness.

Here's a video of you eating solids for the very first time last Tuesday. I love how your little eyes light up when you realize there's actually stuff on the spoon!

First Time Eating Solids from Baby Land on Vimeo.

152-154, Tue-Thu

Tuesday was a momentous day for you, one for the history books (well, the history of your life at least).


It was the first day you had something to eat OTHER than breast milk! (Okay, if we're going to get technical, you did have a few milliliters of formula while you were in the hospital).


I felt like you were ready since you've been watching us like a hawk every time we eat and you simply love when we put an empty spoon in your mouth. So I ordered little plastic bowls for you, little plastic spoons, a big plastic bib, and bought you some rice cereal.


I felt a little sad getting all your food stuff ready, knowing that this represents the first step to my baby being more independent from me. Since you were born, actually since you were CONCEIVED, my body provided all you needed to live and grow. And now you were going to eat something that didn't come from me. Sniff, sniff. Who knew motherhood would turn me into such a co-dependent sap?


Your dad, on the other hand, was an eager beaver since this was the first time he would ever get to feed you. He was so excited to bond with you in this way. (Well, technically he gave you a bottle before, but you absolutely hated it and so, as a consequence, did your dad).


You absolutely loved your first taste of "real food" and we got it all on video (which I'll upload later). You also like to hold your own spoon...


...and you're pretty good at getting it in your mouth...eventually.


Thursday we put you in the new high-chair your dad's mom got you. Thanks grandma!


You ate like a champ again (a messy champ)...


...and then proceeded to eat your empty spoon...


...and then your bib.


You just love stuffing things in your mouth.


Today, I noticed another possible advantage to feeding you solids--you seem to sleep longer. You slept for an hour and 20 minutes after your solid feeding! That's amazing since you usually nap for no more than 40 minutes. I'm excited to see if this will happen again tomorrow! If so, I'm afraid I'll be stuffing your gullet full of rice cereal all day and all night long. Just kidding. Sort of.

148--151, Fri--Mon

We've been giving you lots of tummy time ever since your pediatrician basically said you were developmentally retarded and should be rolling over by now.

At first you hated it, but now you're getting quite good at pushing yourself up. Here's you doing a full cobra. Good job baby!


I try to motivate you by holding out your favorite image--yourself!



And of course, tummy time is always more fun (for me anyway), when you're NEKKID!




I think all this effort is really paying off because I walked into your room the other day and found you like this--halfway there to rolling over! You're so close!


In other news, you are drooling like a madman these days. You always have red drool rashes around your mouth, cheeks and chin. I try rubbing Aquafor on it, but as soon as I rub it on, you wipe it off as you snack on your fist. I wonder if it feels as uncomfortable as it looks. Poor buddy.


Lately I've been feeling a mix of the winter blues and cabin fever. It's so boring being stuck in the house with you all day, but the freezing rainy weather makes me not want to go out. Also, it's hard not having any mom-friends nearby to commiserate and socialize with. And all of this is compounded by the fact that I'm dreading the looming prospect of going back to work. I've just been feeling really blue. I guess some days you're the windshield, and some days you're the bug. I definitely have been feeling like the bug lately. Le sigh.

147--Thu

We went to the mom's group Thursday and found that you are suddenly the oldest baby in the group!

I guess all the older babies' mommies have gone back to work. There's another dude that's 3 days younger than you and his mom got laid off so she still attends too. All of a sudden, the group is feeling too "small" for you. We saw a lot of new moms and babies who attended for the first time. Most of the babies were under 10 weeks. They all looked so small!

Anyway, I became a gushing fountain of advice. From probiotics to sleep-training, I dispensed my age-old wisdom on it all (sarcasm intended). I also find that I'm giving advice to friends who are about to have babies too. It's so funny how I'm an "expert" all of a sudden on all things age 0-3 months. Of course I'm no expert, but I have read way too many baby books (got confused by them all) and went through trial by fire with you!

Here's a pic of our ridiculously large baby library. It's embarrassing how neurotic we are. (Ironically one of my favorite books isn't even here because it's on my kindle--Solve Your Child's Sleep Problem by Ferber).

I guess here and now is a good a place as any to record my hard-earned wisdom. I might need to remember this stuff for when we get you a sibling...

--Read the Happiest Baby on the Block by Harvey Karp and watch the DVD.

--Swaddle with the miracle blanket, or something like it.

--Don't buy a ton of diapers cuz your baby might blow through them.

--Line up a new mom's group and a breastfeeding support group.

--Know your local La Leche League number.

--Get the Nursing Mother's Companion.

--Make sure you have an exercise ball.

--Line up help and meals for at least 3 months.

--Get the Fisher Price My Little Lamb Cradle Swing.

--Use baby pro-biotics.

--Ignore the Baby Whisperer's advice when she says to continue as you mean to go on. Babies do magically change after the first 100 days so you don't have to worry about "spoiling" them with too much holding or swinging or sucking or whatever comfort measures you like.

--Don't wait too long to sleep train. If you wait until he's older your baby will just cry longer cuz he's stronger. I think the ideal time to start is around 3 months. Sleep training changed my life.

--Try to enjoy those first few weeks. It goes by so quickly! I wish I had taken more mental stock of your early weeks. I don't remember them at all cuz I was too busy stressing out. But at least we took lots of pictures so I can pretend to remember them.

Here's you at just 2 weeks old in all your baby-acne glory. I have no recollection of this period except that I was freaking out and a total zombie.

And here's you now, fat and sleek. And I cherish every moment of our day together.

We've come a long way baby!

139-146, Wed-Wed

Wow, it's been a week since I last blogged about your latest and greatest. Once again, I blame the holidays!

There's so much to note--let's see, where to begin...

**Sitting! You've made great strides in your ability to sit. Here's a pic of you sitting unassisted for the first time, about a week ago. We were surprised and delighted.



Here's a pic of you sitting a few days later. Still shaky, but doing better.


And here's a pic of you mastering the skill even more, taken just yesterday. Good job baby!



After a few minutes though, you always topple over.


**Rolling over--we're trying to give you more tummy time to encourage you to roll over. Your pediatrician was trying to hide her shock when we told her you haven't even attempted to roll over yet (clearly she thinks you're developmentally retarded). It's okay, we love you anyway.

**El Gordito--You are one fat baby! (Maybe that's why you can't roll over). I notice your chub most when you're naked.


Here's a pic of me giving you a baby oil massage. I feel like you need more diaper-off time since the back of your butt is looking pretty red and itchy.


**Horror! This is not really about you, just something I had to note. Recently I was at the grocery store and saw a mom with 4 kids--two girls who looked about 5 and 7, and two babies in car seats sitting in the grocery cart. Did you hear that? TWO BABIES! One was clearly a newborn and was crying her head off. The mom looked like a dead woman walking (and who can blame her?!) I kept staring at her and wanting to ask her if I could hold her baby for her. She looked like she could use some help.

It also made me feel like a wimp because I need your dad to help me grocery shop with you in tow, but this woman is shopping with 2 babies and 2 kids!