February 28, 2011

I'm bummed I missed yesterday, since G was 7 months old! It was a tough day though, that came after a tough night and was then followed by another tough night. Let me tell you something about those canine teeth - appreciate them. It is hard work to get those things in and it causes a lot of pain. Poor little man, it's tough to be a baby. We had a party from 2-4a Sunday morning and then he threw another party at 4a THIS morning. I finally had to break down and ask Jason to help me so I could get some sleep before work. He took a long nap today and since both teeth have now broken the surface, I'm PRAYING for a little sleep tonight. We'll see how it goes. We did have some fun yesterday though, we cleaned the house and then Uncle Brad and Emily came to visit. He was in a pretty good mood most of the time, it seems like that the teething really gets bad around bedtime and is worse during the night.

He was in a pretty good mood when I got home, just sleepy. I got home late, so J fed him his dinner and I got here in time for his bath. We talked, crawled around (chased Nala - see pictures above) and got in some good snuggles before he went to sleep. He's been really snuggly at bedtime - but I think it's a ploy to make me hold him a little longer. It works. As soon as those new teeth really pull out, I'll post a picture of my vampire baby.

February 26, 2011

This is a terrible picture, but it's the best I could do for the end of the day. Today was a fun day. G and I hung out this morning, playing and watching Yo Gabba Gabba. Then we played with J a little bit back in our bed and he took a little morning nap. After his nap we all packed up, picked up some tacos and headed to the Cannon house out in Benbrook. He slept most of that ride and once we got there, he had a lot of fun playing on the floor with Ella and Jacob. Ella didn't appreciate Gage's slobbering all over her toys, but she was very sweet and shared with him. Gage loved Ella and any time she sat next to him, he tried to reach out and touch her face or give her a kiss. Seems I already have a ladies man on my hands. He slept about half of the ride home and he and I spent the rest of our evening hanging out in the living room, just being relaxed.

GiGi stopped by for a quick visit and some kisses, which Gage enjoyed. He had some dinner, a bath and then decided even though he was super tired (lots of eye rubbing and snuggling) he wasn't ready to go to bed. He hung out with me and chewed on one of his frozen teething rings while we watched Fringe together. He finally went to bed around 7:30p, after fighting it as long as he could. I can tell that next tooth is really bothering him, poor kiddo - I wish I could make it eaiser for him. He's already been up once, but I was able to rock him back to sleep pretty quickly. Overall we had a pretty fun day - Gage got to show off his new crawling skills, hang out with some kids, take a couple of naps and have some fun with me. Tomorrow he'll be 7 months old and I just can't believe it. He's getting so big!

February 25, 2011

I know I missed yesterday - I was completely exhausted and the kiddo went to sleep early. Look at that cute little face today though! Someone was being super sweet and cute today. When I got home, we took a walk around the neighborhood, which he loved, then dinner, bath and a book. Bedtime stories are starting to be a lot more fun. He still wants to eat the book, but he usually lets me read the pages first and he follows along with my finger as I point out the pictures and words. He seems to be enjoying it a lot more. He was really snuggly and sweet tonight, lots of kisses, hugs and smiles.

So over the week he has become pretty much completely mobile. You put him down somewhere and he will NOT be there when you turn around. He's been crawling down the hall, through all of the rooms, etc. - completely supervised, of course. This weekend we need to lower his crib and set up some of this baby-proofing stuff that we have put aside. I'm going to check out gates at Target - something that will keep him in his room for short periods (like a big play pen).

I think tooth #3 might actually be his right canine - and I can feel where the matching tooth on the left is coming (gum is really swollen), which means I'm going to have a little vampire baby on my hands. So funny. Now that the one tooth has broken through, he's been so much more content - hopefully the one that's coming won't take long to break the surface. Happy Friday everyone!

February 23, 2011

It's official, tooth #3 is poking through! It's not one of the two top front teeth (like I was expecting), it's one of the teeth right next to those. I'm pretty sure the matching tooth on the other side is coming right behind it, he's now pulling on THAT ear and sticking our hands in his mouth on that side. It's just the very edge right now, so it's still making its way out, but he seemed to be doing a little better than he has been the last week. He has pushed his own bedtime back about an hour and a half. Tonight I decided that instead of fighting him for an hour, I just let him stay up with me for a while and when it looked like he was slowing down a bit, I put him to bed. He rolled over, pulled the blanket up and talked himself to sleep - just like the good old days. Of course while he was up with me he had a poop-splosion that ended up with a complete change of pjs. I think he saved that up just for me.

He was babbling and talking so much this evening, it was cracking me up. He is also blowing raspberries like crazy lately - so funny. At one point J was teasing him while he was sitting with me on the couch and he was laughing so hard that we all started laughing and that just cracked him up more. I guess if he wants to stay up a little longer, we will just roll with that. He was in such a better mood and it was so much easier than the fight I've had the last couple of nights.

We are going to have to lower the crib this week. He is thisclose to pulling himself up in there and Mom's too nervous to leave it where it is. Wiggly little monster.

February 22, 2011

Please ignore the state of his room in this picture - it was the end of the day, so we hadn't picked up after the little tornado yet. Oh and ignore my foot. Today was pretty normal - although J said he threw a pretty big fit before his first nap today. When I got home he was crawling on the floor with J and I got down there with him. He brightened right up and started crawling to me. He was pretty sleepy though, definitely couldn't decide on what he wanted. Little zoned out, but still wanting to play with his toys and snuggle me all at the same time. He had some dinner, a bath and then he and I played in his room a little longer. He went to sleep pretty quietly, but he woke up just about 30 minutes later and was upset. I had to rock him back to sleep again, but it only took another 15 minutes. He was blowing raspberries like crazy tonight, even during dinner. I would give him a spoon of food and he would swallow most of it and then blow raspberries and sent food-colored spit everywhere. Little maniac. We have plans with the Cannon family this weekend and I know he'll have fun over there.

February 21, 2011

Today was a little better than yesterday. I was off work for the holiday - thank you bank! - so it was another day with the Monkey. This morning started a little rough. He woke up ready to roll at 6:30a, which wasn't too bad, but he started getting pretty whiny around 8:30a. He was totally against a nap, so we just stuck it out until his second bottle around 9:30a, which knocked him out. He took a 2.5 hour nap and it was awesome. I took a shower and an hour long nap - double awesome. We had plans with friends today, so once he woke up I got him dressed and fed. He was still being a little whiny and I was saying some prayers that he would cooperate. We got to the park and he had a GREAT time. Just being in a new setting seemed to shake things up enough to keep him happy. He played with some toys at the picnic tables, we tried the swings and we hit the slides. He had so much fun. These pictures are from the swings and I have to give credit to my friend Jennifer Lee - she is a much better photographer (and has a better camera than my iPhone) - and she was sweet enough to take a few pics for me and upload them tonight. I was a little nervous about the swings, but he LOVED them. Big smiles and laughs - he's my little daredevil. He didn't really notice the slides much, the reaction was "meh". Not wild enough for him, I guess.

He took a great nap on the way home - Mom even got to stop for some Sbux - and slept a little while longer once we got to the house. The rest of the afternoon was touch and go - we played, watched a little TV and took another walk around the neighborhood. He went back and forth from totally content to clearly frustrated that I wasn't meeting some need that he couldn't voice. He's so wiggly and rowdy right now, I can barely hold him in my arms - he just wants to go, go, go. The new thing I do is just put him on all fours on the floor and throw a bunch of toys in all directions. That keeps him busy for a little while, but eventually he remembers that he wants to be attached to me and whines for me to pick him up. But he still wants the toys, so more whining - man, being a baby is tough. The smiles and kisses make up for it, but I'll be happy when he can tell me what's up.

He fought bedtime again - I mean, screaming like it's his job. He was so tired, but every time I would lay him down - screaming. I finally brought him back into the dark living room and rocked him to sleep on my shoulder. That is something he hasn't done in months! But he fell sleep and when I laid him back down, he stayed that way. I hope he doesn't give J too hard a time tomorrow.

February 19 and 20, 2011

Today was tough, so this will be short. The first couple of pics are from today - that's G man enjoying a Mum Mum, a handy replacement for teething biscuits. They are rice rusks and Gage loves them. We were watching Monsters vs. Aliens, which he also seemed to like. The last picture is from yesterday - that's Gage and Grangingy (Great Grandma). We went for a visit yesterday and had a lot of fun playing on the floor. Rough night last night with a few middle-of-the-night screaming sessions. Good morning and then no afternoon naps today, lots of screaming and being mad. Not a great one for the books, and we spent a lot of this evening trying to keep the little tyrant distracted. It took a 2 hour fight, but he finally went to sleep for the night. Poor kiddo, he was so sleepy and he just doesn't want me to put him down these days. I am trying to keep my eyes open for ear infections, but he's eating fine, no fever, totally ok as long as we aren't trying to get him to sleep. Maybe it's teeth, maybe it's separation anxiety, maybe he's just being a stubborn little punk. Who knows? I just know that I am going to bed right after I post this.

February 18, 2011 - 6 Month Pics

These are some of my favorite pictures from G's photo session last weekend. I know I'm biased, but I think he's pretty darn cute. I got home a little early today and we took advantage of the nice weather by taking the jogger out for a spin. We've never really taken a walk with it, so it was new for both of us. Monkey loved it - he looked around, played with his feet and was nice and relaxed. It was relaxing for both of us.

We are going to visit Grangingy tomorrow and then we have a date at the park on Monday. This weather has me excited to get out of the house more!

February 17, 2011

No new picture today. Someone was being a BIG crankapotamus. He took a nap today, but he was still SO tired when I got home. This picture is from a couple of days ago and that's his "there's the cat" face. The boys went to the grocery store today and according to J, little man pitched a fit in the cart for about half of the trip. Not an easy day with the monkey. I got smiles and kisses when I got home, but he was really sleepy and little zoned out. There was one cool thing - I always put him on his playmat while I get his bath ready, which is visible from the bathroom. Tonight I turned around and he was 2 feet from the playmat and up on all fours, rocking back and forth. I thought he might actually get a good crawl going, so I got down on the floor and called him over. He made it to me (about 2 feet) and it was pretty damn close to a real crawl. It was a little up and down - kind of half crawl, half army crawl - but it's the closest I've seen. Before we know it, he'll be crawling all over the house!

February 16, 2011

For those that don't know our cat Gizmo, this picture is actually kind of amazing. We have two cats and Gizmo is the "antisocial" one. She barely lets ME pet her (J is her favorite person) and the fact that she laid there and let G touch her foot is a pretty big deal. J said that he and little man were hanging out in his room and Gizmo came and laid on the playmat. Of course Gage is super interested in the animals right now, so he went straight for her. She let him pet her foot and grab her tail and then she decided to bolt. Progress!

There was another funny story J told me today about wrestling. J and I were big WWE fans when we first started dating, back in the day of The Rock and Stone Cold Steve Austin. Well apparently The Rock is back in WWE for some appearances and J was watching the video from his return on the computer with the kiddo in his lap. Again for those that don't know, The Rock is HILARIOUS when he gets on the microphone - he's really good at "the pitch". According to J, as soon as he started talking on the video, G started cracking up and cackling. I mean, REALLY laughing his head off. When he was telling me the story we both started laughing. So, looks like we have a WWE fan on our hands.

J said they had a lot of fun today. He took a long nap in the middle of the day and then another cat nap before I got home. We all ran some errands and had dinner out as a family when I got home. He did great at the restaurant, especially since we kept giving him saltines to chew on. Bath when we got home and then he fell asleep eating his bottle. Good day.

February 15, 2011

G man had lunch with J and his GG today at El Fenix. It was his first official restaurant visit and J said he did great. We took him to a restaurant once when he was tiny, but he slept through the whole meal, so it doesn't really count. He apparently LOVED chewing on the crackers they gave him and had a great time.

He actually slept all the way through to 7a this morning. Unfortunately I didn't set my alarm and overslept a little, but still made it to work on time. I was still home when he woke up and when I went to get him, he was sitting up in his crib - which is new - and had a big grin on his face. It was nice to get a little awake time before heading off to work.

When I got home he was still in a great mood and we played in his room for a while before dinner and bathtime. He's so funny - I'll sit him on the floor and put a bunch of toys in front of him and he just goes from one to the other. Pick this one up, put it in his mouth, put it down - repeat. Since his day started a little late, it ran a little later as well. I put him down at 7:15p and as of right now (15 minutes later), he is still awake in there, mumbling and scratching his hands on the crib sides. We have some fun planned for this weekend, a date with the Cannon family and a date at the Arboretum on Monday. Woot!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day everyone! G got a little guitar for Valentine's Day that plays shredded versions of nursery songs - it's kind of awesome. He especially liked that it was the perfect size to chew on.

According to J, little man had a pretty good day until about 5pm. He didn't want to take an afternoon nap, so he was pretty tired early in the afternoon. When he finally took a nap, he still woke up cranky. He was better when I got home and we had some fun. He has been trying a new food flavor - garden vegetables - and he really likes it. You know what he doesn't like? Apples. WTH? What kid doesn't like apples/applesauce? So crazy, that little dude. Anyway, we had dinner, a bath and then we played in his room for a little while before bed. Nala (one of our cats) has been letting G pet her a little bit lately and it makes him SO happy. He gets so excited when he sees her walk over and he immediately lunges for her. I've been controlling him a bit, showing him how to pet her gently and not pull or grab. He really wants to catch that twitching tail, though. It completely fascinates him. Nala likes the attention and the petting, but I'm still keeping a little distance because little man can get pretty grabby. Hope you are all spending time with the ones you love today.

February 13, 2011

Phew, it's been a long weekend. Yesterday we had a 6 month photo session for little man, Buddy dog had vet appointments and then J and I snuck out for a Valentine's Day dinner while GG sat with the kiddo. He had already gone to bed, but when we got back he had thrown one of his late night fits and was sitting up with GG reading a book. This pic is from my cousin Laura's baby shower today. G and I drove out to Granbury to shower the soon-to-be-born Harper with gifts and little man was SO good the whole time. He played with his toys, charmed the ladies and hung out with his cousins. Of course, the biggest hit for him was this paper cup, which he chewed so much I had to take it away before he actually started to INGEST it. He was super laid back and didn't fuss one time - I was so proud of him. It was great to see the family and spend some time out of the house. Before you start hating me for having this easy kid, I will say that during our 1 hour, 45 minute drive back, he screamed bloody murder for the last 30 minutes. Poor little dude, he was just done with that car seat and wanted his Mama. It was tough to get home, but we made it and as soon as I pulled him out of the seat he was totally fine. Night time ritual went the same as always and it was lights out by 7pm. He and I had SO much fun today - I love that little snuggle monster.

February 11, 2011

There was no picture taking this evening - little man was super sleepy and GG was here since she watched him late this afternoon. So this is one of my very favorite pictures of him when he was about a month old.

I could tell when I got home that he was pretty tired. According to J and GG, he only slept for an hour today. He had his bath, we practiced some more crawling, then a bottle and right to bed without any complaining. Professional pictures tomorrow!

February 10, 2011

Look at how blonde that monkey is! J finally pulled out the real camera today and hopefully now we'll have some real pictures to post. Please ignore the drool and snot - the bad part about better pictures is that there is no missing the dirty face. He is THISCLOSE to crawling. Today J got a great video of him almost doing it. He has really great control of that right side, but he's still working on getting the left side to coordinate. He's up on all fours now, which is definitely progress.

He slept better last night, even though he was up a little early. He took a 3 hour nap midday and then another 1.5 hour nap later in the day. He really needed it, he's been behind the last couple of days.

He was in a great mood when I got home and we had some fun before it was time to go to bed.

February 9, 2011

See that face? That's the face of a kid that woke up at 3a, 4:30a and 5:45a this morning and then only took one 25 minute nap today. SOOOOO sleepy. I got my smiles and kisses, but once we had dinner and a bath, there were no more smiles to be had. He does love his new wooden rattle that we got in the mail from his cousins in Houston. I opened the package and he chewed on it for the rest of the night. They also sent a couple of new books that were pretty awesome and he liked chewing on those, too.

As I mentioned, it was a rough morning with the kiddo waking up every hour from 3:30 to 5:30a. I was a bit of a zombie today. He's cute, but he's been a little bit of a punk this week. Just seems like he's always trying to do something and we just can't figure it out fast enough for that little dude. Hopefully our full weekend will wear his little butt out a little bit and shake things up enough to stay a little ahead of his needs.

February 8, 2011

Toys are for chewing on, and that is all. This particular toy vibrates and sings when you squeeze it, so he thinks it's hilarious and loves to chew on the face or ears while it's on. According to J, he had a pretty good day - but he got a little fussy toward the end of the day. When I walked in the door I could hear him yelling in the back room with J. They met me in the hallway and he gave me some big smiles and immediately lunged at me with a big open mouth kiss. We had a little dinner, took a fun bath (complete with big splashes, his new thing) and then we read his Caterpillar book. He was pretty sleepy, so he went to bed pretty quickly, but we managed to get in some snuggles and silliness before he went to sleep.

February 7, 2011

This picture isn't great, it's a little dark - but little man was sleepy tonight, so it's the best I could do. This is after bath time and before I got him in his pjs. After spending a whole week with him, I really missed him today. He was excited to see me too, handing out lots of smiles and sloppy open-mouthed kisses.

It was so crazy though, when I went to get him he just looked so different from yesterday - like he grew up overnight. He looked like a little boy, not my little baby. He's just growing too fast! I'm trying to work on some words with him - Mama is the main one, of course. He really likes his First 100 Words and First 100 Animals books. He likes to look at the pictures and he follows my fingers as I point and read the words to him. He doesn't even try to eat the book as much as he used to. Pretty cute.

February 6, 2011

In keeping with tradition, I've posted two pictures since I didn't post yesterday. The one where he is trying to eat the toy is from this morning, while he was still in his PJs. The second one is after his morning nap. Yesterday and today were good days. He's starting to fight his naps and bedtime again and we've had a few fits the last couple of days. I really think his gums are hurting, he has kept his hands in his mouth almost 24/7. I can't feel or see any new teeth, so I fear we may be in for quite a bit of fussiness until those new teeth decide to come along. We all went the to the grocery store today and he likes sitting up in the cart and checking the place out. I've enjoyed all of my extra time with the kiddo this week, I'm kind of sad to go back to work tomorrow. Hopefully he'll readjust to the "daddy" schedule easily and not give J too much trouble. Next weekend we have a photo shoot for the monkey (Saturday) and then my cousin's baby shower (Sunday). Will be fun to get out and about a little bit with the monkey - more than just the grocery store, anyway.

February 4, 2011

Well this was our third snow day of the week. So the count ended up as 2 days at work, 3 days with the monkey. Such a strange week, but the snow was definitely prettier to look at today. After a fussy day and a half, little man was in a great mood today. He actually slept until a little after 7AM! I couldn't believe it. Usually he wakes up between 4:30a - 5:30a for a bottle and then sleeps until 6:30-7:30a, but he slept all the way through to 7a this morning. It was awesome. Of course I still got up at 5a, but I was able to get back to sleep easily. THEN, he took his morning nap with no fuss and slept for 2 HOURS. Again, not the norm at all for that little dude. It was pretty nice, and he obviously needed it because when he woke up, he was ready to PAR-TAY and we had a blast.

He played in his exersaucer for about an hour while I cleaned and organized some things around the house. We played together with his toys and he hung out with J in the "man cave" for a while as well. J was taking him through his playlist on the computer, so there was some Ozzy, GnR and Ohno education going on back there. I got a lot done today, cleaned the kitchen, did laundry, organized G's clothes and pulled out the stuff that doesn't fit, put some gifts together for a couple of baby showers next weekend, cleaned the living and dining room - not bad. We have people coming over for fights tomorrow night and it was nice to be ahead of the game with the cleaning, etc. Gage watched me and gave me big smiles while I ran around. We put on one of the Baby Einstein DVD's he got for Christmas and he really liked it - Baby Mozart. It was a nice break from Brainy Baby, which is the show we DVR that he has watched forever. I'm a little tired of those same episodes, so I welcomed the new entertainment option.

Because his schedule was a little off today, our bedtime stuff started a little later, but it worked out well. He got to play on his mat while I cleaned his room and J came in to play with him a little before bed time. J has been helping him with his crawling and they had a pretty good time. He's ALMOST figured out the full on crawl, but he's still working with his army crawl technique. He is pretty damn mobile. Now I can't just put him on his mat - I have to really pay attention to where he is because if I blink for 5 seconds, he's 3 feet from where I left him.
We had a great day today and it was a welcome change from the fussy kiddo we had with us yesterday. That kid's smiles make our whole day.

February 3, 2011

This picture is actually from yesterday morning. someone was a big crankapotamus today and I didn't want to try and make him sit for a picture. We were playing on the floor and he was laughing at his singing cow.

I don't know if it's teething or the shots he had yesterday, but that little dude was pretty cranky and whiny today. He woke up around 6:30a and according to J he was pretty hard to please for most of the day. I got home an hour early and while he was excited to see me, even the "mom factor" didn't really make it better. I kept him entertained by handing him toys to chew on, my hands to chew on, played a little Yo Gabba Gabba and did some snuggling. He was better after dinner and during bath time, and he was being super cute during story time. He didn't want to go to bed, he wanted me to keep holding him, but it didn't take long after I put him to down to go to sleep. Poor little dude - I don't think he's feeling very well.

February 2, 2011

Gage and I had a little adventure today. His 6 month appointment was scheduled for this morning and even though we are in the middle of Snowmageddon 2011, we went up to the office and took care of business. There was a power outage when we first got there, thank you rolling blackouts, but he did just fine. His stats were: 19 lbs (75%), 28 in long (92%) and 17.75 in head circumfrence (85%). Doctor said he looks great and is doing awesome with his development. Further confirmation that he is a big flirt: every nurse got a smile and a giggle, but our male doctor got nothing but blank stares. The doctor leaves and when the female nurse comes in with his shots, more grins and giggles. So funny. He got his shots and that pretty much sucked, but by the time we got back to the car he was doing better. Now that he's bigger he gets so upset and there are these big crocodile tears - ugh, I hate it. He actually fell asleep in the car and by the time we got home he had gotten a little nap and was all smiles. I'm pretty sure I'm going to have to make my way to the office tomorrow, but it's been fun to have a little unexpected weekday fun with the kiddo for the last couple of days. He's such a cute little monkey.

February 1, 2011

They grow up so fast - just last week he turned 6 months old and already he's learning how to drive. That's another toy that he really enjoys, it makes a lot of noise and he beats the crap out of it. Just when you think he's done, he tries to pick the whole thing up and put it in his mouth.

Well like the rest of the city, we stayed home today thanks to the "winter blast" that iced the place over. Monkey slept pretty well last night and was in a good mood when he woke up this morning. He had pears for breakfast and he liked those a lot. Then we just hung out - singing songs, playing, having fun. He took his naps like a champ today, going to sleep without a fuss. He seemed pretty sleepy all day and he was gnawing on anything that got near his face - my fingers, his toys, my shirt, J's leg - I don't know how long it's going to take, but it will be nice when the next teeth show up.

We had fun on our snow day. Tomorrow I actually took a vacation day to take him to his 6 month appointment, which is in the morning. Hopefully the roads will be clear enough to go in - the office called and confirmed this afternoon. Guess we'll see what happens overnight.