Easter Bunny and visit to Chesapeake

Yesterday Gage and I went to see the Easter Bunny. Daddy had to work so we trekked to Dulles Town Center so he could meet us there. On a Tuesday afternoon noone was in line so we got to see him quickly. I was a little disappointed being that the Easter Bunny was brown, who's ever heard of a brown Easter Bunny...everyone knows the Easter Bunny's supposed to be white! Anyway much like Xmas, the Bunny was giant and looked like he wanted to eat my kid. I'll try and post a picture when I have access to a scanner again...I'll try and make Luke do it at home. The Bunny trip was pretty uneventful aside from Gage crapping on himself RIGHT as we were walking out the door...he then proceeded to do it again once we got home.
This am we packed up and headed to see Grandma and Grandiddy. Gage got a nice long nap on the way and might have made it all the way home but Mommy had to stop and pee. Of course once here he didn't want to nap and everything was so new that he worse himself out. NEedless to say, he had a complete meltdown at dinner and wouldn't eat any cereal. Hopefully tonight he will get some sleep and be well rested for tom. We're going to see Auntie for her bday and maybe vist w/ Paul or Bonnie.....until tomorrow and more adventures in Chesapeake. We miss you Daddy!

Eating Video

Well I got this to work, it just must be a problem if I edit the video then it's not compatible w/ the blog. So, sorry this is long but it's the only way I can post it.

Rice Cereal!

So last night we took our 1st attempt at eating 'solid food'. Why it's called solid food, I'm not quite sure being that it's almost as liquidy as milk itself. We followed the directions and added one tbsp. of cereal and 5 tbsps. of milk. It was so liquidy we could hardly keep it in a spoon. We thickened it up a bit by adding more cereal, so tonight I think we'll try just 4 tbsp. Gage wasn't buying into at first but then he slowly started to understand what he was supposed to do. By that time and a few bites later he was done. Not bad for his 1st time. We didn't think he even ate enough for it to matter, but he didn't nurse that long afterwards. He also slept for an entire 9 hours too, so maybe he got more than we thought! Or that extra cereal we added to thicken it up may have done the trick...hope he didn't get too much! He doesn't love his high chair too much, that's for sure and we bought him a high chair toy so that he could amuse himself while we ate and I think he may be scared of it. I have a few pictures to post, we also took a video, but since I can't seem to get video to post correctly, not sure I'll get it up. As you can see, it was ok at 1st, but the last face says it all. Do I have to?

Spring Break!

Wahoo! It is here! This has been the longest week of my life and it is FINALLY over and I get to spend the next 10 days with my favorite person ever! I can't even recall anything special to note this week. We are FINALLY getting GAge on an eating schedule, the beginning of the week went well but towards the end we got a bit off. He has been sleeping a lot the last few days, maybe has a touch of a bug. However, our spring break is already filling up w/ things to do! Tomorrow Mommy will have a little time to herself, I'm going to the spa w/ a friend for a lavender pedicure! Sunday morning we'll have breakfast with Heather and she'll finally get to meet Gage, we have been trying to get together FOREVER!

Monday, Gage and I are going to visit the Easter Bunny and if Daddy can get off work he'll join too. Wednesday we're headed to the beach to see Grandma and Grandiddy and meet Summer--should be a good time relaxing and spending time together. The weather's supposed to be really nice as well. Saturday evening we'll head back here for Easter. We'll attempt church since Gage has a spiffy Easter outfit. Then this is the 1st time ever that we don't have school on Easter Monday so we'll have one more day together before Mommy has to head back. Countin' down the days....'til June. I am so lucky to be a teacher!

A beautful weekend!

This weekend brought beautiful weather and it makes me long for the summer even more. At least I only have 5 days until Spring Break. Friday, Luke had off w/ Gage, so he got to have plenty of Daddy time. He took him for 2 walks and fed him outside. Yesterday, unfortunately I had grad school ALL day long so Gage got more Daddy time. Again, they went for a walk and hung out outside. Finally, today I had off w/ so we got to spend some family time. Brett and Meg came over to visit and then we went to buy Gage a HIGH CHAIR! It is so exciting that he is about to eat solid food. I don't particularly like the color high chair that we got, but if you know anything about Graco, you know all of the color schemes are different prices and if you know anything about us, you know we'll buy the cheapest one that is not pink. That is why our stroller, pack n' play, swing and high chair do not match. oh well....so I got a color I don't like but it was $20 cheaper than the rest, so I'll get over it. It's very boyish (everything we bought we tried to make gender neutral in case we have a little girl in the future). In any case, I guess one day this week or the weekend I'll go out and start purchasing baby food!

Gage was in such a wonderful mood today and everything is so amazing to him. It was the most precious thing ever today when he stared into my face and touched my nose, and mouth and eyes as if he was seeing me for the 1st time. He then turned and did the same thing to Luke, smiling all the while. He had finally found his Mommy and Daddy and we're the coolest people around! Only 5 more days before I get to spend 10 days w/ my baby!

4 month dr's appt....

Today Gage went for his 4 month well checkup and as we had hoped....all was well. They told us he would roll soon...check....and that by the time he is 6 months old he should be able to sit up on his own for a few seconds...check...and that he won't crawl until after he is 6 months old...I beg to differ on that one. In any case, our once fat boy seems to have begun to slim down and thin out. He only weighs in at 14lbs 3oz (50% percentile) and is 25.5 ins. long (75%ile). He still has a teeny head and its only grown 1/8 of an inch in the last 2 months, which puts him at the 25%ile again for head circumference. Fortunately, it doesn't seem to be affecting his intelligence!

Wow....so we got alot of advice on schedules, sleeping, napping, etc. We absolutely love our doctor and she let us ask tons of questions today, although I think eventually she was trying to hurry us along. We have chosen a variation of the Ferber method for getting him to sleep so we'll keep you posted. Tonight he ate right before going to bed and it wasn't a problem. Perhaps if we can get him on a schedule of eating somewhere around 7pm we can avoid the insomnia. He also slept sooo well last night.....from 7pm-430am and then he went back to sleep and let Daddy sleep 'til 9am. He napped pretty well also today but we are still working on that. I have to figure out a nice way to talk to the sitter about napping him in a swing. He always naps so well for her so I have a feeling that he doesn't nap in a crib. However, we did find today that he can nap with the door and windows open...probably because it is never quiet at daycare either.

Our little boy is growing up so fast! We can't believe the doc told us today he is ready for rice cereal and possibly solid foods! WE haven't even bought a high chair yet. I was planning on buying him one next month so that he could sit with us at the table and watch us eat before he started eating himself, but now I guess I gotta get on that! It's so amazing that we are at this stage and I'm so excited to see him exploring new things! It is supposed to be a beautiful weekend so hopefully we'll get outside to enjoy!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

LOVE GAGE

Missed one...

ha...how could we forget this picture in our 4 month favorites??

4 months already?!?!...

Today our little guy is 4 months old. It sure has been a whirlwind but one that has been worth every moment. Let's see, what's new?

This week bought awesome weather and a chance for a few more long walks. Auntie Ann left on Monday and Gage was a little better for her on Sunday.

On Friday, we stayed home from work with yellow/green snot running out of our nose. The dr. of course just said it was a cold and may take days to pass but that he was fine. It put Mommy out a little bit at work but I guess now that I have a little one, all bets are off.

We are also currently in the refusing to nap stage...the babysitter says he naps but weekends make me skeptical of that. In any case, some people empathize, say it's just a stage and that he wants to look around and discover his world instead of sleep while others say, just put him down at the same time every day and he'll nap. I disagree w/ both of these kind of people....at this point there's got to be something to do, we have been attempting a schedule for 2 months now. The dr. said we might not achieve it until about now so we'll talk Friday at his 4 month appt. A new book I got says that nighttime sleep must be well established before naps can be. Thank God he doesn't have trouble sleeping at night, we can consider ourselves lucky in that regard. However, he still doesn't like to go to sleep and some nights it takes almost 2 hours to get him settled. However, there are also those nights that I'll read to him, rock and sing to him, put him down awake and walk away and he goes right to sleep. There still is NO consistency.

As most of you know as well, Gage insists on sleeping on his belly and nothing we can do will change that. He can now roll over both ways, just only in one direction so unfortunately his crib is not wide enough to accommodate more than 2 rolls. Oh well, he'll have to deal with it! Gage also learned a new trick as of this week. He can now sit up on his own.....of course, not always w/o falling but he's learning quick and strengthening his ab muscles in the process.

Gage is very excited about his 4 day week at day care and his chance to hang out w/Daddy on Friday. He is also excited about St. Patty's Day, his 2 new outfits to wear and his new bib! Mommy also bought him a Baby's 1st Easter bib on Friday! Gage also wants to congratulate Auntie Ann and future Uncle Mark on being engaged!

There is always so much I want to write but forget during the week. And these posts are SO long since I only write once a week. I thought I was mostly writing to myself anyway, but then a few friends say they've been checking it out so that makes me a little excited. Ah yes, the rolling video...I tried to cut it using Movie Maker but then couldn't get it downloaded after that, so I'm going to work on that, or if you know how to do it, send me a message!

Here are the latest of our favorite pictures of our 4 month old! Oh, also, Gage played in his Exersaucer for the 1st time today!

I can't quite figure out captions either, so here is a funny picture showing how much Gage drools!



Here is Gage and his favorite friend, Flo.

Here is Gage sitting up all on his own!

Only 16 more weeks of daycare!

ha...this will now become the countdown for how many more weeks I don't get to spend w/ my baby while he is in daycare....grrr..

It has been a week since I have posted and that seems about average. There doesn't seem like enough hours in my week to post any entries during the week. AFter picking Gage up from daycare, we want to play for a few hours before bed. Then once he's in bed, I inevitably have grad school work to do or bottles and pumps to wash and bottles to prepare for the next day, etc. AND I was planning on going back to the gym soon....I don't see that happening. Anyway, daycare really is quite depressing and I wish I didn't have to take him, but again, I am fortunate to be able to spend the whole summer at home with him. This is a breakdown of our week..

Monday-dropped Gage off at daycare, worried about him some....picked Gage up from day care, didn't like daycare, had a rough night....

However, I must say he looked pretty cute in his 1st day of school overalls!


Tuesday-dropped Gage off at daycare, was sad he wasn't home w/ Daddy or Grandma and Granddiddy, hated daycare

Wednesday- dropped Gage off at daycare, liked it a little better, had a play date with Jamie and Jacob, Gage slept through the night! 9pm-5am...best sleep in a while

Thursday- dropped Gage off at daycare, liked it so so, went to look at a daycare center close to school, liked daycare even less, realized daycare is too expensive, went to an open mic and ate amazing organic pizza

Friday- Thank God! No daycare, home w/ Daddy! Gage can now roll from front to back! Came home from work at 10am and puked my guts out! Sweet....Auntie Ann came in tonight and I was so so sick, luckily 24 hours later I was better and am feeling fine still.

Gage slept horribly last night and was up at least every hour. Luke and I were both sick so it was quite the night. However, good news was that today it was over 50 and we got to go for a nice long walk. Bad news, Gage has never been so terrible as he was today for Auntie Ann. Now she thinks we're lying when we said we had the best baby ever. Must post new pictures soon and the rolling video.

Another nice day tomorrow and supposed to be several this week. Hopefully Gage will get to see the outside. Until next week....Gage will be 4 months old!