A Mos'hawk and A Table-licking Goodtime

-Lindsey

So close!

In the past two weeks, Moses has developed a love for the push-up. He does this anytime he's on his belly and doesn't tire of it easily. He'll hold himself in this position, and as soon as his arms fatigue, he belly flops to the floor with a "thud."



It's only natural that his push-up would progress into the crawling form. It has. He can now get on his knees and rock gently. He hasn't figured out how to move his legs, and he's obviously frustrated by the lack of know-how. Hopefully, his crawl will develop sooner than his teeth---which we still haven't seen despite some very irritable days.


-Lindsey

Those Lazy Hazy Crazy Days of Summer

We kept pretty busy in May. Moses' first road trip was the six hours from Lubbock to Horseshoe Bay, Texas for my cousin Ryan's wedding. There, Moses had his first dip in a pool, and his first, of many I'm sure, dance to The Isley Brothers' Shout.

Since a picture is worth a thousand words, here are some (okay, 16,000 words worth) pictures to recap our busy May:


















-Lindsey

6 Month Check-Up

It's been awhile since I posted, but today was his 6 month appointment so what better time to start up again.

Dr. Gray said everything looks great. He's 17 pounds 13 ounces (50th percentile), 28 inches (90th percentile), and his head circumference was 45.5 centimeters (90th percentile). Looking at those numbers, it seems our little chunk had a good growth spurt!

He seemed to *remember* Dr. Gray this time because he started crying as soon as he saw him. Of course, he had reason to cry as he had three shots and one oral immunization. Then, we had to go to the lab for a pin-prick so they could test his blood for anemia (it's standard for this check-up).

We still haven't seen any teeth, but we can see them just below the surface. I'll be happy when they break through because he's constantly gnawing on everything.

We also started him on solids a couple weeks ago. He's had applesauce, bananas, green beans, squash, and sweet potatoes. He likes applesauce and bananas the most but still prefers breastmilk more than anything. Since he associates me with breastmilk, Dave and his grandparents have greater luck feeding him solids than I do.


Moses is now "scooting." He'll lie on his stomach and push himself backwards or pivot on his belly. He hasn't figured out crawling but has managed to get in the crawling position on a couple of occasions. It won't be long until he's everywhere!



-Lindsey

Good nights make for good mornings.

Moses' sleeping has improved greatly in the last month. He now goes to bed between 9 and 10, wakes at 1:30 to eat, sometimes again at 5:30, and then up at 8:00 a.m. All this uninterrupted sleep makes us very pleasant...and extremely giddy. After almost four months of zombie-engendering sleep deprivation, we are back among the living. That's definitely something to smile about.



-Lindsey

Because I'm a doting mother...

and it's my job.

Jump around, jump around...

When Moses becomes a pro athlete, we’ll be sure to have his jumperoo bronzed. Here’s video of our future athlete exercising his legs and smile. And despite the way it looks, Moses is actually jumping that much on his own! The video is long ( 2 minutes 40 seconds) but well worth the time spent.



If anyone's unfamiliar with youtube.com videos: press play, then pause, and the video will load (the red line indicates how much is loaded). Once the video is loaded you can play the video without stop/start troubles.

-Lindsey

I shall call him Chip.

I was looking through old pictures of me as an infant, and Moses sure looks a lot like me. Here's a picture of my mom and me in January of '82 (4 months old), and here's one of Moses and me this month (he's 4.5 months old). There's definitely some resemblance, but of course Mos adds his own boyish spin to it.



It's funny because when Moses was born, he sure looked like his Daddy: a little Asian boy.




-Lindsey

An Easter Weekend Story

Saturday morning: We woke up to snow! What? In West Texas...in April? NO! Yes.



The snow made us lazy. We vegged all Saturday. However, someone almost figured out how to roll from back to stomach. Too bad he couldn't take his eyes off that mobile, or he'd be a champ.



Sunday morning: Easter! It's still cold! What to wear, what to wear? Mom knows. This outfit was a Christmas gift from GramGram and G-Dawg(my Mom and Kelly). Isn't he the bee's knees?




The Easter Bunny dropped off some goodies for Mos at his grandparents' house (Sally and my Dad). Thanks Gran and Granpop, er, Easter Bunny. He can't get enough of his books and Jumperoo!




Tuckered out. We sleep.

-Lindsey

4 Month Check-Up

We just returned from Moses' four-month check-up with a rave review. He's now in the 75th percentile in weight (15 pounds 10 ounces), height (25.75 inches), and head circumference (43 centimeters). We're relieved that he's proportionate, and our large heads have yet to doom him. Dr. Gray said he looks great. He's strong; He's on track developmentally; His first two teeth are almost here--All the things parents want to hear (well, we could argue the downside of teeth). And of course, we finished the visit with those pesky vaccinations, three shots and an oral dose. Poor kiddo turned bright red then screamed bloody murder. I didn't cry last time, but this time I teared up. Luckily, we have another two months to prepare for the next round.

On a lighter note, he got some summer shades:




-Lindsey

Like Night and Day

Drumroll please.......

Moses spent his first full night in his crib lastnight. Can I get a hallelujah? Sigh.

The night was relatively uneventful. He went down at 9:30 and woke at 10:30, 1:00 and 6:00 to eat, but he wasn't completely awake for those and went back to sleep immediately. There were only a few times during the night that he need a shush/pat. It was marvelous! I'm only hoping the nights to come will get better and better, and Dave and I can reclaim our space without the fear of finding wayward dirty diapers, spittle-soaked sheets, or worse, a larger ring of wetness.

In all his independent glory:



As I promised yesterday, here's more video of Moses' morning chat, with himself. This is 1 minute of video. Imagine this for 40 minutes at a time in the morning. It's downright hilarious. Those high-pitched pipes could give Maria Callas a run for her money. I'm sure deep down inside Dave's masculinity he's concerned that we'll have to enroll Mos in The Vienna Boys' Choir. I'm game as long as they throw in some of those sausages...

-Lindsey

Gift of Gab

Moses can talk. Well, babble. Toe-mate-toe, toe-mot-toe.

This morning I let Moses entertain himself for a bit since he was in a good mood. He just talked and talked and talked to himself--for almost 40 minutes! I didn't even say a word. Of course, when I tried to capture it on camera, he slowed a bit and started to focus on the camera instead of his growing vocabulary. He's quickly learned that the funny silver rectangle I bring around so often does something, but what?. Here's some of this morning's chatter. In the meantime, I'm working on a contraption that'll hide the camera and capture him at his best.



-Lindsey

Teething Troubles

Today we took Moses into the doctor because he had some symptoms indicating a possible ear infection. After getting checked out (and weighing in at 15 pounds 5 ounces!), Dr. Gray said he's getting in his bottom two teeth, and that is what is making him feel bad. Apparently, some babies have an easy time teething, others difficult. Poor Mos is on the latter end of that spectrum. Dr. Gray said he's a little early with the teeth, but it's completely fine. I just hope he cuts them soon because he's obviously miserable. Poor little boy. We'll post some pictures when those first teeth peek through!

-Lindsey

Our Day in a Nutshell

I'm part of an online message board for moms who were also expecting in December 2006. I've been a member since last June, and it's amazing how close all of us have become. It's great to have so many other moms who are going through the same thing. We can rant and rave about our experiences as mothers, wives, girlfriends, etc. Recently, one mother suggested that we post photo diaries of a day in our life as a mom. So here's our photo diary from Thursday, March 22nd.


8:00 a.m. Rise and shine. Neither one of us is a morning person.



Despite being on this schedule for a week now, someone is still a grump-a-saurus. Perhaps breakfast will cheer him up!



My turn to eat. Moses is jealous of my wheat toast and fake bacon. Yum!



8:30 a.m. Moses gets dressed for the day. Check out those sexy shorts!



Play time. Mos is really loving his activity mat.



9:30 a.m. Yawn, he's sleepy. Time for a nap!



Whoo hoo! I get ready for the day. And, I need a haircut (and to lose the baby weight), ick!



Checking out the Snowflake (messageboard) updates...



I like a little coffee with my cream.



Time for a little TV. Hooray, Neil Patrick Harris is guest hosting on Live! Swarley! I love NPH. So funny!



TV makes for better (read: more enjoyable) housework: make bed, fold laundry, dust.




11:00 a.m. Oh, he's up! After brunch, we head outside for a nail clipping and fresh air. It's drizzling but so nice. Our dog Bella gets her playtime.




We head inside to our Bumbo and blocks. Those yummy, yummy blocks.



12:30 p.m. Hooray, Daddy Dave is home from his teacher training classes. I leave to run some errands while the men chill.



I'm back. Moses is napping. Time to study for class tonight, but I really want to read the new book I picked up today at Barnes and Noble--The Double Bind by Chris Bohjalian. Unfortunately, it'll have to wait until bedtime.



3:00 p.m. He's up. Time to play again. Mos loves the taste of elephant.




5:30 p.m. Quick snack and nap for Mos. I put a pizza in the oven and begin my online class.



While I'm "in class", Dave and Moses talk about their day and Mos takes a bath. And yes, Dave is wearing shorts.




7:30 p.m. I'm done with class. Time for a quick project! From this...



to this! A family picture!



8:30 p.m. Cluster feeding commences.



10:00 p.m. After some low-key play, he sleeps. I get to read my new book!


-Lindsey