Say Ahhhhhh!

While Seth and I were playing today he started to chew on my finger like normal, except that it wasn't! I felt something a little sharp and checked to make sure he didn't have anything in his mouth. He did - and does! My little boy cut his first tooth! Ok, it's just the tip and you can see just a bit of it, but I'm super excited! My baby's growing up!

We Be Swingin' in the Spring(in')!

It's kind of difficult to keep up with these blog posts. Most day-to-day things would be boring to anyone but Michael and I, so I don't bother writing about them. Then it takes me several weeks to get anything to write about, and lately they just haven't been super thrilling things. So basically I have a few weeks of things to add to this post.

I'll start with Seth's picture. This was Seth's first time going to the park! I put him on the swing, but he didn't seem interested or disinterested in it. He looked around, but seemed sort of bored, so we mostly just walked around. He was content with this and we walked four laps before it started to get too hot for him and we went home.

The hat he's wearing is from Dollywood, where we went the week before. He has such a small head that no hat seems to fit him! This one is an infant hat and it fits his head great, but the earflaps don't cover his ears, so I think I'm just going to cut them out. Anyway, we weren't sure what to expect bringing Seth to Dollywood, but he surprised us and did really well. Sure, he fussed a bit, but he usually does more than that at home, so we were pleasantly surprised. It wasn't the most fun trip for Michael and I because we obviously couldn't ride rides together, but it was a fun experience nevertheless.

As far as Seth's accomplishments go, he's been in a "fine tuning" stage for a while - nothing really new, but improving on what he's already done. For example, he's been rolling for a while, but now instead of rolling from his back to his stomach, he rolls across the livingroom! And now when he kisses you, you don't end up with a ton of slobber on your cheek, just a sweet little kiss. He's doing better with eating and seems to really enjoy it now. His menu includes: peas, green beans, sweet potatoes, pears, apples, bananas, and, of course, oatmeal. I make his food, which is really easy, and it saves a surprising amount of money. I can't believe Gerber rips people off like that!

Seth's sleeping is still a bit of an issue. On a good day I can get him to take an hour nap in the morning and a half hour in the afternoon. He wakes up during that hour, but is fairly easy to get back to sleep. I've stopped stressing over how he should sleep. I'm not looking up baby advice on the internet or in books and I'm not asking people's advice. I was letting it get to me too much and that shouldn't be the focus of my whole day. Maybe he just doesn't need to sleep much. So, I count myself lucky that I get what I can get. It now allows me to take a shower and do a couple of quick chores. Hopefully he'll realize sleep is a good thing as he gets older and will extend his nap periods, but for now I'm thankful for those 90 minutes.

Our Little "Jigger"

Not much has happened over the last two weeks. Michael and I both got sick and it really wore us out. Thankfully Seth didn't get it and has been his usual cute self. He's holding his own bottle and is becoming more independent in putting his paci back in his mouth himself. I bought him a Jumpin' Johnny at the Duck Duck Goose sale and he did not care for it at all at first, but now he really seems to be enjoying it. Here's a video of Seth doing his version of an Irish jig (I know it's sideways, but it won't let me fix it - live and learn!).

This Sunday is Easter and I'm looking forward to seeing Becca again. Unfortunately, I have to miss Michael's family's dinner because it's so close to my mom's dinner time. She's hosting this year and I offered to help, but I'm sending my big and little man to visit and they'll just meet up with us later.

I also found a job this week. It's in the evenings, mostly when Seth is sleeping, so I won't miss much time with him. Michael will be putting him to bed a few nights a week now and hopefully they'll have good Daddy-Son time. I was just so bored staying home all the time, I needed something to feel productive, but I didn't want to work full time and miss out on Seth growing up. I looked for part-time evening jobs, which of course are limited, and got lucky with the movie theater. It's low pay, but it's convenient, should be fun, and will give me interaction with other people. As it is, my main company is Seth (although a good listener, not so much on chatting back) and Michael (who can be quiet and often brings work home). My first day is tomorrow evening and I'm hoping it will go well. It seems odd that they would start me on a Friday night, presumably the busiest night of the week, but we'll see how it goes. Anyway, that's it for now! Happy Easter!

Happy Half-Birthday!

I've been putting off adding this latest blog because I'm still waiting on a few pictures of Seth. However, I suppose I can always add them later. I also took Becca to get pictures taken for her "8th grade graduation." Ok, maybe that was just an excuse to get her pictures taken, but she probably wouldn't have agreed if I had said it was just for fun. This way she actually was excited and decided to dress up. Now that's a first!

Seth is doing well following his vaccinations. He had a slight fever for four days, but stayed in a pretty good mood. He's started something new this past week that I want to share. Now I know it's probably wishful thinking, but I'm going to go with it. I think Seth is kissing now! Michael and I kiss him all the time and I think he's picked up on it. He'll grab my face with both of his little hands and pull it towards him and plant a big wet smooch on my cheek! And sometimes he'll pull my face towards him and turn his head so my lips touch his cheek! I know he's probably just exploring, but I love it! It's so sweet. He's also taken to sucking on my chin, which isn't as sweet as it is yucky, but I love him and let him do it. I'm sure he's learning something from it - at least I hope so.

Michael is still being great and we're taking turns sleeping on the couch so that we can each have a restful night every other night. We're putting Seth down to sleep without his swaddling now, which means he wakes up several times a night to several times an hour, depending on how fidgety he is. Last night he did well for me and slept from 8:00 until 3:45 and then stayed up, but at least I got four hours of straight sleep! I hope he does as well for Michael tonight.

That's about it, other than my many grumblings regarding our Celebrident, but most of you hear enough of that, so I won't bother in here - at least for today.

Oh yeah, Spring is here! Yay!

Catching Up

It's been over a month since my last post. We've jumped from Valentine's Day to St. Patrick's Day! But this time I actually have a good excuse for why I haven't kept my promise of updating Seth's life. Our computer got a virus about a month ago that essentially locked it up and then Michael had to reformat it. Unfortunately it's not back to 100% and I'm stuck using the Xbox connection and doing this on the floor! It's a pain (literally), but I need to fill this blog in with some exciting new details.

As you can see, Seth can now roll over! About two weeks ago all the practicing paid off and he decided he wanted to do it on his own. The video is actually his third time doing it. Since then he has been rolling over just about every time we lay him down. It's actually a chore to keep him on his back long enough to change his diaper. He's actually rolled from back to tummy to back a few times, too.

Seth has also discovered the range of his voice. Every morning we wake up to the chattering of our little monkey squealing, squeaking, and cooing. He's very happy during that 5:00 hour (thank goodness for that time change - it was 4:00 hour)!

Other news: he likes to really grab a hold of things now, especially hair and glasses; he likes his exersaucer and is starting to stand well in it; he likes to sit outside and watch the cars go by; he loves to be tickled; EVERYTHING goes in his mouth (but mostly my fingers for some reason); and he is getting to be a tall boy (6-9 months fit him in length, but just barely).

This blog, though overdue, is short because I'm tired and uncomfortable. Michael, my wonderful husband, has been helping with this the last three nights by allowing me to sleep on the couch while he stays in our room with Seth. Seth has a habit of fussing/waking up frequently through the night and, as a mother, I hear each and every sound. Needless to say, the last six months have been full of interrupted sleeping and I have been in a perpetual state of exhaustion/zombie mode. Michael, as a father, can sleep through all of Seth's fussing/waking so he came up with this idea for a break for me. It's working, because I'm sleeping wonderfully! Every morning I feel a little bit better! I'm hoping that I'll be immune to Seth's fussing when I go back in there so that I can know the feeling of rest again.

Anyway, I'll hopefully be posting another blog soon. Seth gets his six month pictures taken on Thursday and his check up on Friday, so I should have some interesting news to tell.

Mommy's Little Valentine

I've had a lot of great Valentine's days, but none beats this one. Not only do I have one great man to share it with, but I now have two! In actuality I really had three because I got to see my uncle, as well.

Seth is doing great. He's eating baby food well now and he really likes peas! Good for him, because I'm not too big into veggies. We're going to try green beans on Tuesday. This little experiment with food is going to be a fun one. I love watching his expressions when he tries something new. I have the sneaking suspicion that he will like most foods.

Tummy time has become a bit more interesting lately. Seth still doesn't move his arms or roll over on his own, but if he has something solid by his feet, he'll push himself off and can move between six and eight inches. He also likes to reach out for things more now, mainly the wipes box (it's bright red).

Seth has been fairly fussy this past week or so, which at first I attributed to his vaccinations, but that time has come and gone. Then he was keeping a slight fever, and I thought that may be the reason. Michael and I now think that he's teething even though he doesn't seem to be too sensitive about his mouth yet. So who knows, maybe we'll see a tooth soon.

Other than that, not much has been going on. When he's happy, Seth can crack me up with his giggles. This is the first picture I was able to take that captured one of his happy moments. In most of his other pictures he's so serious, but he really does laugh and smile a lot - I'm just not fast enough to catch him.

Bibs, Bottles, and Baby Food

This Saturday Seth will be 20 weeks old; I can't believe it! When I was 20 weeks pregnant we were just finding out he was a boy!

Not a whole lot has changed in the past few weeks. Seth has progressed in some areas, stayed the same in others. He coos a lot more and when I tickle him he actually giggles for a few seconds rather than one little giggle. We practice every day with tummy-time, rolling over, and sitting up. He hasn't quite figured out how to position or move his arms during tummy-time, so I have to prop his arms correctly. He will roll onto his side for rolling, but won't go all the way over. So, I roll him over, too! Now sitting he seems to be doing pretty well with on his own. He sits in the Bumbo and in my lap and doesn't usually need much support except for his lower back.

Sleeping is still an issue, although I'm sure it will be until he's a teenager! Then I'll never be able to wake him up. He'll go for a night or two sleeping really well and only waking up a few times. But then other nights he'll wake up once an hour or more. Now he will go right back to sleep once I give him his pacifier, so that's a blessing. I feel bad because we're kind of in a tight spot. Seth can't go to sleep without being swaddled. We've tried it and he will rub his eyes and face constantly (which he always does when he's tired) until he starts crying and screaming. When he's swaddled, he'll fall asleep within five minutes or so. What's funny is that throughout the night he wakes up and he'll somehow manage to pull an arm, or both, up out of the blanket so that he can touch his face or suck on it. So, Seth needs to be able to soothe himself back to sleep when he awakens, however, he also needs to be wrapped up to prevent himself from keeping himself awake. I'm not really sure what to do with that just yet, but since he is improving, I'm not going to worry about it. His naps are a different issue. He'll usually do alright during his morning nap. Sometimes he'll only wake up twice, other times he'll wake up every 15 - 20 minutes. His afternoon nap is always much more difficult. If he's going to cry while going down, it's during this nap. And he never sleeps for more than 15 minutes at a time. Today I gave up after the eighth time of going in there in less than 40 minutes. I'd rather him get his rest in my arms than not get it at all. It's absolutely amazing how well he sleeps in my arms. He doesn't stir, touch his face, or wake up. He slept for an hour and a half in my arms and I actually had to wake him up three times before he would stay awake.

We did have a slight set back on his sleeping due to his four month vaccinations. He didn't fare as well this time with them. All the first and second day he kept a fever of 101 despite the Tylenol. He was pretty miserable then, so I let him sleep as much as he wanted. Well, it took us the rest of the week to get back on track after that.

One more fun bit o' news is that Seth is starting to eat baby oatmeal. Tomorrow will be his sixth day trying it and he's been improving every day. He went from screaming and not wanting anything to do with it to actually trying to eat it today, although he's still confused as to what to do with his tongue. I added just a little drop of apple sauce to the oatmeal and that really excited him. He actually cried when it was all gone. He's only eating about a teaspoon and a half right now until he gets the hang of it. Then we're supposed to move on to spinach, peas, and green beans. The doctor recommends him starting on green vegetables to help with his constipation so he won't have to rely on the prune juice every day. We're also cutting back on his formula. At his three month check up the doctor told me to start giving Seth seven ounce bottles because he was so small. I told him I thought that was too big of a jump because we had just been doing good with the five ounces, but he insisted that Seth needed to gain weight. Well, he certainly did - nearly four pounds in a month! So this doctor says we need to cut back and start adding in baby food so that he'll balance out at his next check up. I guess I was actually right, go figure!

Anyway, that's about all I have. It's a lot of rambling to say a few things, but at least it looks like I'm making up for the missed blog.