What a Difference a Week Makes!

It's really amazing how quickly babies grow and change in the first year of life.  This week has been huge for Eddie - he has hit several milestones and it truly amazes me.

On Monday late afternoon/early evening Uncas happen to be home from work early.  It was great to spend the extra time together as a family.  We were standing in the living room and Eddie was on the rug.  He got up on all fours, which has been doing for a couple of weeks and proceeded to crawl, just a couple "steps" towards us!  We were both like "Did you see that?!"  I count that as Eddie's first official crawl!  He's been practicing a lot over the past couple of days.  Tonight we were outside when Uncas got home from work and all of the sudden Eddie just seemed to have it down pat.  Check out the video.

(Side note to the video - you'll have to excuse the outfit.  I didn't feel like wrestling him to put on his pants since I knew he would be getting into his pajamas soon.  Then we decided to go outside and I thought maybe he would be cold, so I grabbed a fleece from my car - I know - super classy!)

As if crawling wasn't enough this week, on Tuesday afternoon I thought I saw and felt his first tooth.  I was pretty sure, but by Wednesday I was positive!  So he officially has his first tooth popping through and I am pretty sure another one will be following closely.

And to top everything off - last night he slept from 6 pm till 5 am!  He's been napping like a champ this week which I think is mainly due to the fact that he is so active now when he is awake.  But this sleeping through the night is great.  Fingers are crossed that it continues.

It's been such a fun week for me.  I swear that Eddie continues to be happier and happier the more mobile he becomes.  I am so proud of his dedication and his determination this week.  He would continue to get up on all fours again and again.  It always seemed like by the end of the day he would be stronger and better instead of being tired or defeated.    And one of his favorite activities hands down was to "get the dog"!  I am not sure what Sammy makes of all of this.  Sometimes I think he likes having Eddie chase him, but other times Sammy jumps about ten feet because he isn't expecting to feel little hands grabbing him. 

I love watching Eddie grow stronger and stronger each day.  He truly amazes me!

Once again pantless - Eddie getting the rainbow that is made by the window on our front door.

Not Quite Wordless Wednesday

Everybody likes Mama's slippers!  Sammy finally stopping chewing them up - let's see how many Eddie chews up now!

Outnumbered

This past weekend I was very much outnumbered by the males in my house.  In addition to my 3 main guys (Uncas, Eddie and Sammy), we also dog-sat for Sammy's good friend Charlie!  He is a big lovable golden retriever.  Eddie was a little intrigued at first by him - I don't know if he could figure out what Charlie was, but in no time, he decided that Charlie was just as much fun as Sammy!

Charlie!

Everyone playing on the floor

All the guys!

Eddie loved watching them play

Three Things Thursday

1. I had to run to Target today in the pouring rain.  Eddie was very intrigued by the rain and didn't seem to mind it all.  He also sat in the cart like a big boy and LOVED IT!  I think he loved being able to see me as well as everything else.  He looked totally adorable sitting up - he's getting so big!
2.  We have the laziest dog ever!  He has done NOTHING today, but sleep on the couch.
3. Check out this smile - he's a boy that loves his puppy!

6 Months

It's hard to believe that in 6 months I will be planning my baby's first birthday party!  Friday was Eddie's 6 month mark, but we were traveling that day and I completely forgot in the morning to take his picture with his whale.  So I ended up taking the pictures this morning.  I actually had it with on Thursday when we had professional pictures taken, but I wanted to have some to post on my blog.  But first here's whats going on with Eddie right now:

• Eddie's not quite there with the crawling, but getting even closer.  He's up on all fours and rocking which he started doing this past week.  He can still get around without crawling as he is great at scooting around on his belly and rolling to where he needs to go.  He loves getting "stuck" by things like the couch and Pack N Play or the chair in the living room.  He tends to move his quickest when he spots black cords from our computers, or the cell phone chargers or the black cord on our camera.  I am completely terrified of what he is going to get into when he does start crawling.
• Food - I just did a long post about this, so I won't go into great detail.  Basically he likes food!
• Sammy - he is the one thing that will always put a smile on Eddie's face.  Eddie loves him so much already!  Eddie will laugh and giggle when watching Sammy play and chew on his toys.  He loves watching Sammy run around the house.  We let Eddie "pet" Sammy although we constantly tell him "gentle".  He'll hold his fingers out so Sammy can lick them.  How does Sammy do with Eddie?  Great!  He will let Eddie pet him, which sometimes turns into grabbing.  When Sammy barks (sometimes he does that when we are chasing him - I think it's his way of saying how much fun he is having) and Eddie will just laugh at the barking!  I hope this relationship continues to progress and flourish as Eddie grows older.
• No teeth yet, but the pediatrician said today that they will probably be coming in soon.  Uncas and I have been thinking that for weeks now, so I will believe it when they actually come in!
• He has recently discovered that he can really express himself when he is unhappy.  This is usually when he is hungry and has spotted the bottle.  He will start crying and carrying on like we never ever feed him!  It seems as if he's a little melodramatic.  I can't imagine where he would get that from . . . it must be from Uncas :-)
• We are back to the cloth diapering.  After we got back from our vacation from my parent's house we gradually started back and he is now fine in them.  We do prefer them over the disposables because we don't have any blow-outs with the cloth.  
• Sleep - it's still a work in progress.  He's taking about 3 naps a day and his current bed time is still 6 pm.  He's been getting up around 5 am, which is starting to worry us about what's going to happen when daylight savings hits . . . but overall at least he is sleeping.  
• Eddie is truly our happy baby.  Everyone comments on how much he smiles.  In the beginning when he first started smiling (which was early), I just assumed that all babies smiled as much as he did.  But I am starting to realize that he truly is a happy baby who loves to smile!  He'll smile at strangers in the store, he'll smile when we are trying to put him to sleep, he'll smile for Sammy, he'll smile when his Daddy comes home, and he'll smile while he is playing on the floor with his toys.  I have also come to realize that if he is smiling, then he must be happy and we must be doing something right as parents.

He currently weighs 17 lbs. 14 oz and is 27 inches long.  He is doing great according the pediatrician.


Now for the pictures of our happy boy:

Whirlwind

That word best describes our weekend.  I would also use the words family, babies, introducing, and fabulous to describe the weekend as well!  I am exhausted, but want to get a post done while it's still fresh in my head. 

Friday - Uncas took the day off of work and we were on the road at 7:30 - just in time for Eddie's first nap of the day.  Our first destination was my brother's new house in Evansville, WI.  We made it there by early afternoon and were able to spend a lot of time with Jeanna, Derek and Saffron.  Eddie had a lot of fun playing with Saffron.  After the kids went to bed, we stayed up (not too late) and played a little Apples to Apples. 

Saturday - We departed early again to head to Wood Dale, IL to meet the newest members of our family.  Two of my cousins had babies at the end of August.  Alex was born 3 weeks early.  He is the second child for my cousin Ron and his wife Kelly.  They have a 3 and 1/2 year old Little Ronnie.  We met up at their house.  My cousin Michelle and her partner Chad welcomed their daughter Sienna to their family.  Sienna is a little peanut as she was born weighing 6 lbs!  She has an older brother Gavin who is 18 months old.  Eddie had an absolute blast playing with all the little kids.  My aunt Mary and uncle Jim also were there along with my sister Elaine and niece Catherine.  Uncas and I were amazed at how small Alex and Sienna were compared to Eddie right now!  It's amazing how much they grow in 6 months!

Saturday Continued - We only stayed until early afternoon because then we headed to Lindenhurst, IL for the wedding reception for my cousin Jamal and his new wife Anna.  They were married earlier this year on the beach.  Eddie was passed around from person to person meeting lots of great aunts and uncles and second cousins for the first time.  It was fun to catch up with everyone while enjoying some very tasty food.  We departed around 6:45 to actually start our trip back home.  We reserved a hotel room in Fort Atkinson, WI.  By the time we got there and settled into our room, we crashed.

Sunday - Eddie was up at 5 (he soiled a diaper) and I played with him and when he went down for a nap, I went back to bed as well.  We finally got on the road around 10 am and made it back to the Cities by 3:15 or so.  We only made one brief stop.  And on our way back home, we stopped to pick up Sammy who hung out with his friend Charlie all weekend.

It was a very fast weekend with lots of time spent in the car and around lots of family.  And you know what?  It went so smoothly and Eddie was the best little boy!  He handled everything like a champ.  I couldn't have asked him to be any better.  He handled the traveling so well and he was super happy, even being around so many people that he had never even seen before.  He slept a lot of the time we were driving, which I think helped.  We did our best to keep his nap/eating schedule and surprisingly, it wasn't too difficult.  He napped at strange places, not always for a long time, but he still got them in.   And even today, at the very end of our trip, I know he was ready to get out of the car, but he still had a smile for his mama!

Are we there yet?!

Here are a few pictures from the rest of our trip.  They are in no particular order because for some reason Blogger doesn't load them in the order.  We had a great time.  Thanks to our family for making it so much fun!

Grandma Jo with Saffron and Eddie

Eddie and Great Aunt Linda

Cousin Jeff has the magic touch and put Eddie to sleep

Derek and Dad

The Happy Couple - Jamal and Anna

Grandma Jo playing Patty-Cake with Eddie

Eddie rolling around the floor playing with the bag I put his toys in - why bother bringing the toys along?!

Saffron and Eddie - he's wearing her Cub's hat

Go Cubs!

Saffron

Eddie and Saffron

Uncas holding little Sienna

Eddie checking out new big brother Gavin

Aunt Mary holding her new grandson Alex

Me holding Sienna

Eddie meeting Auntie Elaine

Little Ron showing Eddie how to play with his new toy from Auntie Elaine

Alex protecting his eyes

Sienna - little diva in the making!

Catherine with her cousin Eddie

Eddie with Great Aunt Diane

Up tomorrow - Eddie's 6 month post!

Food, Glorious Food!

We have been lucky so far because we have a very good eater on our hands.  Every new food that we have introduced to Eddie, he has liked.  Sometimes with the first bite of a new food, he'll wrinkle up his face and take his time eating it, but he always opens his mouth up for more.  Recently we have introduced squash and green beans, pears and carrots.

So far we haven't used any jarred baby food.  I figure since I am home all day every day, I have the time to "make" our own baby food.  Really it's pretty simple - just bake or steam the food, mash up or put in the food processor and you're done!  I have also started making bigger batches, putting the food in ice cube trays, freezing it and then pulling out one cube at a time as I need it.  At first it was fine to make as I went, but Eddie is up to eating solids twice a day and he eats about 1-2 servings each time.  I usually mix a serving of rice cereal or oatmeal cereal with the serving of food.  He almost always eats up everything.

Overall it's been a great experience.  We have some friends that have chosen to do Baby-Led Weaning with their child.  It has been so successful, I decided to try reading a book about it.  What I discovered is the book I chose to read about it was extremely bias.  It was a little disheartening because basically all of the testimonies given in the book talked about how awful and torturous meal time was when they tried to feed their baby pureed food.  I get that the authors are really passionate about their stance on letting the baby feed him or herself, but I don't see how I am harming my baby by feeding him with a spoon.  What I was hoping to learn is how to combine baby-led weaning and what we currently do.  Basically the book recommended to stop feeding by spoon for a couple of weeks.  I can't imagine doing that to Eddie because quite frankly, I don't think he would be full enough just switching back to formula.  We have always had a great experience since we started feeding Eddie solids.  In the beginning when he lost interest in eating, we stopped, sometimes after just a few bites.  We have always made sure to make his mealtimes fun and positive and as a result, he seems to enjoy them.  I can only remember once when he was fussy while trying to feed him solids.  We think he was really hungry, so we feed him half of his bottle first and then went back to the solids with success.

On Monday we have Eddie's 6 month appointment, so I plan on talking to the pediatrician about when we can actually start giving Eddie solid (whole) food.  I would like to do a combination of spoon-feeding and letting him feed himself.  Truth be told, I guess I have already started.  The weekend we went to the apple orchard, Uncas and I sliced up an apple to share.  Eddie was staring at us while were were eating, so I let him gnaw on an apple slice (while I was holding it).  At first he wasn't too sure about it, but then he just loved it!!!

We also have some baby "feeders".  Basically you put food in a mess bag and there is a handle for the baby to hold on to.  They baby will gum or gnaw on the food and you don't have to worry about them choking.  I first gave it to Eddie to play with, and he seemed to understand right away how to hold on to the handle and to chew the mesh part.  When I put food into it, he seemed to want me to hold it, but when I left him alone (in the high chair) he quickly figured out how to pick it up and away he went!

Recently a mom I know said that if anyone asked her what baby books to read, she would tell them none!  In a way I pretty much agree with that!  Books can be so biased and make you feel like you are the worst parent ever if you don't follow their advice perfectly!  I am learning is that my child often doesn't fit into the textbook model, so it's really hard to follow their advice, when they don't always offer some for my situation.  Ultimately I need to trust my instinct and as long as Eddie seems happy and healthy, then I can't really be doing so badly!  Some days its easier to do that then others!

You'll need to excuse me now because Eddie is waking up from a nap.  I need to go get ready to spoon-feed him some pears and oatmeal cereal.  And one thing I can guarantee is that he will have a huge smile on his face and will be more than excited to sit in his high chair and be fed from a spoon!

This Face

I don't think I will ever get tired of seeing this face!

Thanks to Ella for taking and sharing this picture!

Dressers and Play Date

As promised, here are some pictures of our new dressers:

My dresser is the short, longer one on the right.  It's hard to tell in the pictures, but there are four set of drawers that go across the top of it and then two big drawers on each side.  I still don't have it full - haven't had the time to get it organized, but I sure do love them!

Today Eddie and I had a play date with our friends Ella and Eliza.  It was a lot of fun!  Both kids are quite the movers and Eliza not only crawls, but also is able to pull herself up.  And Eddie was very intrigued by the cats and had a great time playing on the floor.  He once again decided to do some exploring on the hardwoods floors!  He even had a chance to test out Eliza's crib when he took a nap in it.  I did take very many pictures (too busy playing and talking!), but here are a couple.

Eliza waving at Eddie

Sunday Night, Already?!

We have had a busy weekend!  It started out pretty low key with us going to bed relatively early on Friday night.  I started compiling a "to do" of things that we wanted to accomplish over the weekend and kept hopping out of bed (until I was finally smart enough to bring the darn list into the bedroom) to add to the list!

Saturday morning we were all up early to start working.  I made some french toast with the brioche loaf that I froze.  It was pretty good, but not sure that I am willing to go through all that work again for some french toast.  Uncas set out to harvest carrots and boy did he bring in quite a haul.  They are very tasty and I am looking forward to cooking some up for Eddie to enjoy as well!  While Eddie was napping we also installed his new big boy (convertible) car seat in my car!  We then headed out to IKEA that afternoon.  We were on the search for new dressers for our room.

Oh, the dressers . . . this has been sort of an ongoing thing for me.

When we moved into the house, we ended up with kids dressers in our room.  They are nice kids dressers, but my main issue with them is that they are TINY!!!!  For an adult who is not a size 0, I seriously couldn't fit more than 1 pair of underwear and 1 pair of socks into a drawer (I might be exaggerating slightly, I could probably fit at least 2 pairs of each in a drawer).  We both had clothes stored all over the house.  And then when we were making room for Eddie, we got rid of some dressers upstairs in the extra bedrooms and our clothes were put into tubs and we haven't seen them for months!  I usually try to not think about how I have little storage for my clothes in our bedroom.  It's been easier to do now that I don't work outside the home.  But every once in a while it would really bother and irritate me.

Back to our trip to IKEA - Uncas had found a style of dresser online there that he liked and I did too.  We drove over to IKEA (Eddie in his new car seat, which he seemed to like) and found the dressers.  We really liked them and decided that we could fit one of each style in our room.  We loaded them on a cart, headed to a check out and out to my car.  I only drive a Honda Civic, which I love.  However it's not a car that is what one would call roomy.  We have had issues in the past trying to load stuff into the car, but Uncas has always assured me that it would fit!  There were 4 boxes for the two dressers and they did fit in the car.  Sadly, Eddie and I did not fit in the car!!!  Fortunately we live about 5 minutes from IKEA, so Uncas drove home, enlisted the help from a neighbor to unload the car and then came back for me and Eddie.  All-in-all it worked out just fine and we were able to practice installing and uninstalling our new car seat.

Saturday night we made homemade pizza using a thin crust recipe for the first time.  We decided it was the best homemade pizza that we had ever made before!  And then we set out to start putting together our new dressers.  We (and when I say we, I mean mainly Uncas) made great headway, but we ended up going to bed by 10:30, before the first one was complete knowing that we would be up early with Eddie.  And plus, he had gotten to a point that he needed to hammer and that was waking up Eddie.  When Eddie got up at 6 this morning, we got up and Uncas started back with the dressers.  While he was busy building, I was taking care of Eddie, which was interesting since the dresser building was in the living room where we usually hang out.  We needed to finish the dressers before 11:30 because we were baby-sitting this afternoon.  We managed to finish them and move them into our bedroom before we left.  I'll have to post pictures tomorrow of the finished dressers.  I love them so much and even though they are much larger than the old ones, our room doesn't look any smaller.

This afternoon we were once again baby-sitting for Eddie's "girlfriend" Ashley.  It was really fun to see the two of them together.  While Eddie moves around a lot more on the floor than Ashley, her babbling seems more advanced and she can blow raspberries with her lips, which totally cracked up me and Uncas!  The kids "played" together - which means they were on the floor next to each other.  Every once in a while they would grab a toy from one another, or try and touch eat other or put their mouth on the other one's arm or leg or hit each other in the head/face.  But they would also smile at each other too.  They were both really good babies and they each took a couple of short naps.

Checking each other out

Ashley grabbing Eddie's shirt

Eddie "kissing" Ashley's hand

Ashley says "No Eddie - you stop eating my hand!"

So now we are home, with our feet up, on our computers and watching some football.  It's been a very busy, but fun weekend.  There's more I could say, but I am tired and need to get to bed soon as I am gearing up for a busy week!

Moving

Eddie still hasn't learned how to crawl yet, (as I whisper "thank goodness"), but that doesn't mean he can't get around.  The other day Uncas found Eddie checking out the hardwood floors.

See how happy and proud of himself he is?  This also keeps me motivated to sweep the floors a little more frequently.  So far he has managed to stay away from Sammy's bed and bag of toys, but I know it's only a matter of time before he discovers those.

He still hasn't quite got the sitting up thing mastered, but we try to practice.  I think he would rather be on his belly because he can move around and sitting up requires him to sit still.

And thanks to all who commented about the sleeping thing.  Yesterday ended up being a really good day.  Although he was tired, he took great naps and was in a pretty good mood all day long!