We have teeth!

Cameron's two bottom front teeth have finally made their appearance! They are just starting to break through the gums. I tried to get a picture, but he wasn't very cooperative. Heh. I'll try again later.

I've tried giving him some teething tablets, and also put some frozen cantaloupe in a mesh feeder bag for him to chew on. So far, he's dealing with it pretty well. **knock on wood**

Status: congestion

We made it through the winter and flu season unscathed, and for that I'm very thankful. But now, Cameron appears to have his first cold. It's pretty minor, but it's hard to see my baby in any kind of distress!

His nose is very stuffy, so he's doing a lot of breathing through his mouth. This makes it hard for him to eat, so feedings during the past few days have been taking a v.e.r.y long time. But he's still in good spirits, and is still sleeping pretty well at night (thank goodness!).

I've tried saline drops, but they don't seem to help all that much. I just want him to sneeze it all out! Do you think that if I held a tissue in front of his nose he'd know to blow? ;)

He's a swinger, baby

Today my mom, Chris, Cameron and I piled into the car and went to a local park for a baby shower for my sister-in-law. Very close to the picnic area was a playground, and I spied some baby swings. Since Cameron has been having such a good time in the jumperoo, I thought he would probably enjoy the swing too.

And he did!

Rolling

Cameron has been very close to completing a roll from his back to his tummy for a little while now, but today he actually did it unassisted. And since I was working from home today, I actually got to witness it. :)

First Mother's Day

What a wonderful day it was!

Cameron woke me up at 4:30am to eat (not the wonderful part), but then went back to sleep until 7:00. When I came downstairs to get him, I noticed that some presents were waiting for me in the living room (it was too dark at 4:30 to notice!).

One of the presents was a photo mosiac that Chris and Cameron created for me; it's so cool! From far away it just looks like one of the newborn photos we had taken when Cam was 9 days old.


But up close, it's comprised of many of the photos we've taken of Cam thus far.


I love it! I think I'm going to take it to the office with me so I can look at it every day.

Chris made me a yummy breakfast, and Cameron obligingly took a nap so we could eat uninterrupted. :) We visited with my mom for a little while, had a visit from Susan and Gene, and then went out to run some Sunday errands (but we didn't make it to the Farmers' Market because it was too rainy, boo). And we finished off the day with some sushi take out. Yum!

Happy first Mother's Day to me!

Got my hair 'did

A little over a week ago, I got my hair cut for the first time since Cameron was born. And boy was it overdue! Part of the reason that I waited so long was because my trusted stylist picked up and moved to New York. The nerve! And I became overwhelmed with the task of finding a new person to trust, so I procrastinated.

But thankfully, I got a great recommendation for a stylist within walking distance from my office who actually listened to what I wanted! (To be able to wear it curly or straight, with no face-framing layers, and to be able to put it in a ponytail.) Yay!

Before:

After:

7 months!

My little man is getting so big!

This past month we have heard a lot of laughter and a lot of high-pitched squeals. And peek-a-boo is the newest fun game to play. Often when Chris is holding Cameron, I will duck down behind his back and pop up over one of his shoulders or around the side of one of his arms, surprising Cameron by where I choose to reveal myself. He gets a big smile and giggles when he sees me appear; it's quite fun! :)

Cameron is getting much better at eating off a spoon. He's now had apples, butternut squash, peas, carrots, and sweet potato (another attempt, with a different potato!). His favorite thus far seems to be peas.

He is sitting up very well on his own now (with only the occasional topple backward).


And he's consistently rolling from his tummy to his back, though we're still waiting for a complete roll from back to tummy.

He can still fit into some of his 9 month clothing (pants, mostly), but we've had to switch to 12 month onesies and sleepers. Though he's outgrown the 9 month sleepers we had, he doesn't quite fit into the 12 month ones we bought. They are definitely designed for a taller, thinner baby. I figure he'll fit into them eventually, as he gets more mobile he will begin to "thin out". But for now we need to look for something with bigger arm holes and more give in the thighs. :oP

Just like camping?

Outdoor bathing is fun! :)

Apples = good.

So after the sweet potato incident, we decided to move on to apples. He likes them, and more importantly, they seem to like him too.

Nom nom nom.

Jump! Jump!

We came home the other day to find that Auntie Sarah had dropped off a bouncy seat for Cameron to use. What fun!

We've been thinking about buying something like this; we just weren't sure if we should go for the floor model jumperoo, or the hanging bouncy seat. So Barbara and Sarah's gift came at a great time, now we don't have to decide! Thanks to you both; it's perfect!

The not-so-sweet sweet potato

Oh, it tasted fine at the time (to me). But holy heck, it did not sit well (with either me or Cameron).

I thought that sweet potato might be a good first food (other than the rice cereal). On Thursday night, Cameron ate about 4 spoonfuls; he wasn't really convinced that it was good or bad. I finished what he didn't eat. But it was bad...my stomach was angry at me a few hours later, and Cameron woke up in a LOT of pain at about 1:30am.

And he was up from then until 5am. We all were. The poor guy was arching his back and screaming; he was so gassy and just miserable! I was finally able to rock him back to sleep, just in time for me to be getting up to get ready for work. I had a lot of caffeine on Friday to compensate!

Since it bothered my stomach too, I'm thinking that it was more than Cameron just not being ready for it. But, we're still going to hold off for a bit and reintroduce sweet potatoes in maybe a month or so. I think we'll try apples next. And I won't ever make the mistake of introducing a new food before bedtime again! Lesson learned.

Sleep update

I'm pleased to report that the switch to the bottle before bedtime has been a good experience. Cameron is sleeping very well at night when he consumes 7-8 ounces of milk beforehand!

He's still eating at around 5:30pm each night, and going to sleep at around 6pm. But now, I'm not feeding him again until around 5:15am (on average). Amazing!

We've had some nights where we've had to pop the pacifier back in a few times, some nights where he wakes up but puts himself back to sleep without us intervening, and some nights where we haven't heard a peep from him. Of course, this does mean that I have to pump after he's gone to bed. It's not my favorite, but I'm happy to do it for the uninterrupted sleep I get afterward. :)

6 month stats

Well, the numbers have changed a bit since his last appointment. Cam is now in the 65th percentile for height (down from 75th); the 80th percentile for weight (down from 85th); and 96th percentile for head size (up from 90th!).

He's 26.5 inches long, and he now weighs 19 pounds 2 ounces! (I was closer with my guess of 19 pounds 4 ounces, Chris guessed 18 pounds 8 ounces.) Again, I don't remember the exact head measurements, but 96th percentile = darn big! ;)

He did really well today, despite the two shots he received. And we now know that he's inherited my gag reflex...the tongue depressor made him gag, cough, and cry. That was tough for me to witness!

We talked a lot about sleep and solid foods. The basic message about food is that milk still comes first, and only after he's had his milk should we give him solid foods. He should still be consuming the same volume of milk that he's currently consuming until he's 1 year old. I'm going to try to get more milk in him before bedtime by switching to a bottle instead of nursing. (He often gets distracted when nursing, but seems pretty focused on food in the bottle.) Hopefully, this will be a positive change for his sleep.

Because while we did have a few good nights, it seems he's fallen back into his pattern of waking at around 2am to eat. And I'm really not sure that he's actually hungry then; I think he's just waking to eat out of habit. So, hopefully, if we feed him more right before bed, then he'll be able to consistently sleep past 4am. Wish us luck!

6 months!

"Hey, can you believe it? I'm halfway to one year already!"


I'm finding myself having a hard time believing it! Take a look at how he's grown over the past 6 months (clicky, so you can enlarge it):

Cam is such a fun baby these days. If he starts laughing, it makes me laugh, which makes him laugh even more. This goes back and forth, usually until I'm crying from laughing so hard. It's great. ;)

He's also doing much better at sitting up on his own now. He can tripod very well, and also sit pretty upright for just a few seconds. We do have to stay nearby, though, because he will inevitably topple over sideways or backward. The rolling is still inconsistent, and still only tummy-to-back. When on his back, he will pull his feet up near his mouth and roll to his side, but that's as far as he's made it. He's also still gumming everything in sight, and drooling(!), but the teeth still have yet to show up.

We have Cam's 6 month well-baby check up tomorrow, so I'll be back with his new stats!

STTN!

I've been waiting for oh-so-patiently for it to be my turn to say that my baby sleeps through the night. And last night, for the first time, he did it! (And I'm not talking about the 5-hour definition of STTN either...I'm talking about really STTN. My night.)

Well, he did wake up a few times, but Chris was able to pop the pacifier back in his mouth and he fell asleep again.

All I know is that he didn't wake up to eat in the wee hours of the morning. He was down from 6pm until 5am. And I slept from 10pm until 5am! Folks, that's a record! Take note!

And I'm sure I've jinxed it by writing this, and he won't do it again tonight, but a mom can hope. :)

Cats!

The day has come where Cameron is finally aware that the cats exist. He's actually fascinated by them; he squeals with delight and giggles whenever he spots them. It's adorable!

Leo is still skeptical of this loud, wiggly being.

But Cairo seems more tolerant, and has even let Cam pet him a few times. :)