New tricks

One of Nic's newest "tricks" is to take the pacifier out of his mouth, hold it in his hand for a bit (sometimes waving it around like crazy) and then attempting to put it back in his mouth. Sometimes he is more successful than others and occasionally he tries to put it back in backwards or sideways. He doesn't seem to care as long as there is something to chew on. Yesterday Nicolas was waking up from a nap and I knew he was awake but was waiting for him to roll himself over, so I went into the office for a minute or two. When I went back into the nursery, Nicolas had turned himself about 180 degrees and was trying to inch toward the stuffed giraffe that is in the corner of the crib. He scooted (precursor to a crawl!) over to it, grabbed it with his hands and rolled over so he could play with it. I'd never seen him do anything like that before and it was pretty cool. Of course, he thought he was just such a big shot after that one :-)He slept great again last night. Didn't wake up at all during the night and slept until about 5am this morning. Two good nights in a row - can this last????? Mommy hopes so.

Sleep, Glorious Sleep

We had a great weekend. Nicolas took two really good (1.5 hours+) naps on Saturday and we went to a party at our friend Kevin's house in Simsbury. We drove right by the Simsbury Inn where we had our wedding reception and it brought back some lovely memories.

Sunday Avos Marques came over to visit and to watch Nicolas while we met with our financial planner. They had a great time playing outside (and weeding the front lawn!!!). Vovo got to feed Nicolas some cereal for dinner which they both enjoyed. I put Nicolas down around 8:45 pm. He slept until about 4:45 when I got up to give him his pacifier. He didn't wake up until 6:00am!!! Yahoo! I hope this continues. It certainly beats the 4:15 wake ups that we've been having for the past 2 weeks.

Our son, the humpback whale

So perhaps he isn't a humpback (much smaller and doesn't know how to swim yet), but he certainly thinks he is. All morning before leaving for daycare he was trying to communicate with the other whales in the neighborhood. I am sure the neighbors were wondering exactly what was going on in our house. In fact, he was so interested in squealing/screeching that he didn't nurse as long as he normally does. Of course that could also be due to the fact that he woke up at 3:45 to nurse, went back to sleep and then was up again at 5:00 and nursed. He then thought it would be playtime and I had to politely tell him to go back to sleep. Luckily he actually listened to me. I think he had gas and that is what woke him up - this better not become a habit!

Sitting pretty....(almost)

Last night we had a lovely visit with cousin Andrew and his girlfriend Heather. They moved into a condo complex down the street from us about 3 weeks ago. Nicolas was getting sleepy right as we were about to eat a delicious dinner, so we put him down on the blanket facing away from us. He decided he didn't want to sleep yet and turned himself 180 degrees so he could face us. He kept trying to push himself closer to us but wasn't able to get very far. He'll be crawling soon enough! Yikes times sure does fly.

"We" have been practicing sitting up. When I say we I mean Nicolas with a lot of help and coaxing from me :-) Today he sat up and balanced himself on his hands for about 5 seconds before starting to fall over. He thinks it is all great fun which is good since I can't wait to see him do it on his own. Of course, he is much more interested in figuring out how to walk. I have to start thinking about baby proofing at some point in the not to distant future...

So earlier today while nursing Nicolas he decided that it would be great fun to grab and pinch my nipple (ouch!). Well he got a little surprise of his own - he must have grabbed it just right because it squirted all over his face and the chair. Lovely. At least he let go :-)

Do you know the Muffin Man?

This week is Cooking Week at daycare and today they made muffins. When I went to pick Nicolas up he was sitting in Mary Lou's lap laughing and "talking" to one of the other little boys in the room. Mary Lou sent a muffin made with love home to Luis. Not sure where mommy's muffin went...hmmmmm.

We ate some more oatmeal today and successfully got more in his tummy than on the bib! I had a little milk leftover that I didn't mix into the oatmeal at dinnertime, so I poured it into a plastic cup to see if he would drink it. He put his little hands up to hold the cup and definitely tried to drink the milk. Not sure how much he got in his mouth vs on his outfit, but it was very cute and a great effort on his part.

Tiggers bounce!

Nicolas entertained Nana and Papa this morning with his cereal eating. He really loves rice cereal and looks like a little bird opening his mouth for more, more, more.

So Nicolas isn't a tigger, but he certainly thinks he is! We had a lovely visit with all the grad school friends & families at Kate's house. Nicolas behaved great and Teddy let him try his Jumparoo. Nicolas loved it and was bouncing all over the place. It must be a very popular toy as Teddy bounced in it later and Charlotte even got in on the action. It was so wonderful to visit with everyone and see how the entire dynamic of the group has changed over the years (especially most recently). I'm looking forward to seeing most of them at Manny's wedding next month.

Little Ladies Man

This morning Nicolas went in the pool with Nana Wilcox! At first he just had his legs dangling in the water trying to decide if he liked it or not. Then Nana jumped into the shallow end (clothes and everything) and carried Nicolas around and let him "jump" on the solar cover. He really enjoyed the jumping part but I think he is still undecided on how he feels about the pool. Next time we'll actually have to put his swimsuit and swimmy diapers on...Today we drove to Sudbury to Amy and Hakan's house for a cookout with my undergraduate college friends. Amy had a little girl last October, Nancy had a little girl in January and Jodi has a 3 year old daughter. The husbands played 9 holes of golf in the early afternoon while we caught up on everything and talked about all things baby. Nicolas decided that it would be fun to hold Meghan's hand (Nancy's daughter). Geez - the boy is only 5 months old and already hitting on the ladies. He looked so grown up in his little "big boy" outfit from Manny and Margery - the pants even had a real snap and zippered fly. :-)

Pack it up!

We headed up to Massachusetts after work today to visit a bit with the Wilcox grandparents and because we have 2 cookouts up in that neck of the woods this weekend. We arrived just around Nicolas' bedtime, but he was so excited to see Grandma and Grandpa that I didn't think we'd be able to get him to go to bed. Plus he slept most of the car ride up. Grandma had the magic touch and was able to settle him down and get him to sleep after I nursed him. It was nice visiting with my folks although I know that most of the weekend we are going to be out and about.

No relation

So last night while giving Nicolas a bath, Luis and I noticed that he has a strange red rash on both his elbows. Previously he had some dry skin, but now he has a big blotchy rash. Not sure if it is a food allergy since we just started him on cereal on Monday or what. I am waiting for a call back from the doctor to see what they think...

Ok, so the doctor's office called back and they don't think his rash is related to the cereal. That's good news. I'd hate to think he has food allergies based on the very first thing we gave him! They suggested applying Aquaphor lotion 4-5 times a day and it should help. We'll see how it goes. Looking forward to visiting with friends & family this coming weekend up in MA.

The start of something wonderful...?

Monday night Nicolas slept great! He didn't even stir for his pacifier until 5:00!!! I was going to assume it was because of the cereal, but last night he only made it until 4:15 so I'm not sure my theory was correct.

I had a great day on Tuesday playing with him - we went to the store, went for a walk in the stroller and he had a 2.5 hour nap! Luis came home early and was able to play with the little guy for a while before dinner as well.Today one of the ladies who works in the other (older) infant room said that today Nicolas had story time with her and he is so sweet. She wished he was in her room all the time. Aaawwwww. Made me feel all warm and fuzzy knowing that so many other people (unrelated to us) think he is as wonderful as we do!

Food, Glorious Food

Last night we started Nicolas on "real" food. His first foray into the world of food was rice cereal. He loved it and ate the entire serving that I prepared. It was only 1 Tbsp of the cereal mixed with about 4.5 Tbsp of breast milk, but he ate it all. At first he stole the spoon so I decided I had to get him his own to play with so I could feed him. Luckily I had friends who had warned me about that very thing happening. Of course he probably got equal amounts in his mouth and on the bib, but he did great for his first try!

Home Again, Home Again, Jiggity Jig

My grandmother used to use that phrase and I just recently heard it used by a friend of mine which brought back all kinds of lovely memories...

After a blissful week on the beach in the sun on vacation, we returned home to settle back into our routine. Too bad it was so hot and humid - we should have left the AC running - it took quite a while for the house to cool down. Luckily Nicolas didn't seem to mind.

I am getting nervous that I am not going to have enough milk to send to daycare on Monday since I froze everything I was able to pump while on vacation and we have a baby christening on Sunday so I won't have a chance to pump...As nice as it was to be on vacation, I'm glad we're back on a Saturday to give us a little time to unpack, etc. before going to work on Monday...

Yummmmmm.....toes

Here we are on day 6 of our wonderful vacation in Old Lyme, CT. When I went to change Nic's diaper tonight he decided that it would be fun to eat his toes. He has been trying to get his toes to reach his mouth for a while and he finally was successful. Now if only he would read the memo that you are supposed to sleep in on vacation...

No biting!

Nicolas has decided that near the end of each feeding it is fun to bite me. It is surprisingly painful considering he has no teeth yet! When I yelp and tell him "no biting" he just looks up at me with my nipple still in his mouth and smiles. Hmmmmm. I don't think he is understanding the point....gotta figure out how to nip this in the bud!

Got milk?

Apparently I don't :-

After a relaxing day on the beach, I was nursing Nicolas for about 45 minutes before bedtime. He kept trying to nurse, but I didn't hear him swallowing too much. He started getting agitated so I had Luis heat up an ounce of milk to see if that would help. Nicolas took that ounce and the two subsequent ounces that Lou warmed up. What is going on? Where did my milk go???? I'll have to start drinking more Mothers Milk tea to see if that will help out...

All set with the hickies

I picked Nicolas up from daycare early yesterday - around noon. They had called to let me know that he was very fussy and was still putting his right hand up near his ear. Since we are leaving for vacation on Saturday, I wanted to make sure he didn't have an ear infection. When I called the doctor's office, they suggested giving him some Tylenol to see if that helped. So, I gave him some Tylenol when we got home, played with him for about an hour and put him down for a 2 1/2 hour nap! When he woke up he sounded very stuffy so I called the doctor's office for an appointment. He checked out just fine (phew!). He now weighs 12 lbs 13 oz. Gained about 10 oz in the past 2 weeks.He didn't seem too fussy until it was bedtime. I gave him more Tylenol (he was still really stuffy) and he went to bed. He was quite restless and Louie got up a couple of times to check on him - he was coughing and it sounded like he was choking, but he was ok. Finally around 1:00 I decided to give him some more Tylenol - it sounded like he was drowning in snot. So I woke him up, tried to aspirate his nose (which he HATES thankyouverymuch) and then nursed him a bit to help him calm down and go back to sleep. But I felt so bad that he was stuffed up that I decided he might breathe easier if I held him in the rocker/recliner so I slept in his room with him on my chest until about 5:15 when I decided to get him up to change him and feed him. It was nice - reminded me of when he was much younger and I did that every night - but he certainly weighs a lot more now and when he pushed down on my engorged chest - well, let's just say that I've had more pleasant experiences! I hope this cold clears up before we leave for vacation on Saturday!

Nicolas has started getting very distracted while eating. This afternoon while nursing him he kept eating for a minute or so then would try to stick his hand in his mouth. He didn't believe me that he wouldn't be able to do both eat and suck on his hand, but he nevertheless continued to try. He also decided that it would be a good idea to grab (really hard) my nipple with his other hand that wasn't in his mouth and when he decided he was hungry tried to stuff it in his mouth. Of course he starts sucking away like mad just under my nipple (ouch!!!) and I have to struggle to actually get my nipple in his mouth so he can eat. It is getting really difficult to determine when he is done eating and when he is still hungry with all the playing/distractions.

The joys of teething

Yesterday was my birthday and Louie stayed home and spent the day with Nicolas and I. We had a nice relaxing family day. Nicolas decided that he should start squealing/screeching. Although he has always been a "talker", yesterday he started squealing and did it off and on almost all day. It was really cute and I think he enjoys hearing his own voice. The squealing continued this morning, so I guess it wasn't just a one time thing!

A teacher at Daycare called today to tell me that Nicolas was really fussy all morning and kept pulling on his right ear. I did notice that he kept his hand up by his ear for a lot of the day yesterday and he was slightly crankier than usual, but I figured I'd see how he was today. I called the doctor's office and after speaking with the nurse decided to go pick up Nicolas to give him some Tylenol to see if it helps at all. He either is uncomfortable because of teething or has the beginning of an ear infection. I am hoping it is just teething. If he doesn't seem better after the Tylenol, I'll take him to the doctor. We are leaving for a week of vacation on Saturday so I want to make sure this is all straightened out before then!

How does your garden grow?

Yesterday Grandma and Grandpa Wilcox were kind enough to play with Nicolas for a few hours while Louie and I finished up the new garden. We thought it would be a good opportunity for them to have some "alone time" with the baby and allow us to get some things done that really needed to be finished. They got to watch Nicolas play in his new favorite toy, the Exersaucer. He is still a little small for it, but we prop him in it with a blanket and all is well.

Nicolas also showed off his rolling skills (with a little help from Grandma!). He certainly doesn't like to spend time in one place and is always looking for ways to get around. He does a lot of scooting and pseudo crawling.

Birthday gathering

I think last night was one of the best night of sleep we got in a long while. Nicolas only fussed slightly twice and went back to sleep as soon as he got his pacifier. It was great! He also suprised me this morning by rolling from his back to his front all on his own - a first!Today we had the entire family over to celebrate my birthday. I figured it was a good excuse for everyone to visit with Nicolas :-) Both sets of grandparents were able to come visit, as well as Uncle Bryan and Auntie Rebecca, and Auntie Tina and cousin Bella. Nicolas gets so distracted when he is nursing that I had to go upstairs when he got hungry to nurse him or it would have taken hours!We had a great time playing with everyone and visiting. There was a bocce game and everyone had fun writing on the front sidewalk with the chalk that Louie bought.

Rule Breaker

Yesterday was fairly uneventful except that Vovo was able to get Nicolas to nap (very briefly - about 20 minutes) on his back. That is pretty unusual and I was glad that he did sleep for a bit on his back, but of course he always sleeps better/longer on his tummy. 4 months old and he is already "breaking the rules". Something tells me we are going to be in real trouble when he gets older!

Still not sleeping peacefully at night. I spent 2 hours sleeping in the rocker/recliner and Lou spent an hour. It is just easier to stay in there than go back and forth between bedrooms. He did have some gas - not sure what I ate that caused that - poor thing. Still hasn't pooped since Tuesday morning, so I am sure that may be making him uncomfortable. Poor daycare - I suspect he is going to have a "code brown" while he is there today!

Fooling Mommy

We had a lovely weekend. Lou's parents came to the house and helped us watch Nicolas and finish the new garden. The new garden is almost complete - just need to put down the edgers and finish mulching. Nic had a fun day playing with Vovo and was very impressed with the new garden :-)

Sunday Louie spent most of the morning playing with Nicolas while I grocery shopped and did some work outside. Then it was time to switch off and Luis got to "play" outside while I played with Nicolas. It was great teamwork.

Nicolas loved his rattle socks - he kept trying to put them in his mouth. He started doing something strange during feedings this weekend. He will nurse for a while, then he will start sucking his fist, then he nurses some more and so on. It is getting difficult for me to figure out if he is done eating. And he also started looking up at me and occasionally smiling while eating. It is like he has a private joke going on in his head. I think it is teething related since as soon as I try to "shut off the tap" he cries and wants more. He also started biting my finger this weekend, so I am chalking it all up to teething.

We all scream for ice cream

Well it was another long night for me last night. Poor Nicolas had some serious gas issues. He never appeared to wake up, but he did some significant squirming around all night and I could hear him farting for a good portion of the night. I ended up sleeping in the rocker/recliner from about 1:30-4:00 since he would go through spurts of spitting out the pacifier and crying. Luckily we splurged when we bought the rocker/recliner and it is really comfortable (thanks Luis - you were right on that one!)

This afternoon was the Parent's Ice Cream Social at Nic's daycare. We got to meet some of the parents of the other infants and Lou got to eat some delicious Edy's ice cream. Since Nicolas still doesn't seem to do well when I eat ice cream, I ate a cookie instead. It was nice to get together with the other families in a social setting.Nicolas was again only interested in daddy during dinnertime. He kept faking a cough so that Luis would look at him. Me, on the other hand, could have left the room and he wouldn't have cared. It just means I get to eat my dinner in peace :-)

Chatty drooler

Nicolas continues to produce copious amounts of drool, but I don't think we will actually see any teeth for a while yet. Yesterday he watched us eat some lobsters. For some reason, he only had eyes for daddy and kept trying to talk to him while Luis was eating. When Luis was looking away, he would do his fake cough to get attention. Didn't matter than I was talking to him or watching him - he only cared about daddy's attention (of course until he got hungry - then he was very interested in me).
Not sure what is going on, but last night Nicolas was very restless again. I slept in the rocker/recliner from about 2-3 this morning since I was tired of going back and forth between the nursery and our room. I woke him up a bit earlier than usual (4:45) to see if he would be less restless once I fed him. He decided that it was a good time to have a nice long chat while I was changing his diaper. I am sure Luis loved that as he was still trying to get some sleep and I hadn't turned off the monitor.

Nicolas is enjoying his bathtime more and more. What a relief - in the beginning he HATED his bath. Now he loves to splash Luis with his feet. By the end of bathtime, Luis and I are almost as wet as the baby!

Our little Peanut

Yesterday Nicolas had his 4 month checkup. Everything is great, but he is on the small size (no surprise there). He now weighs 12 lbs 3 oz and is 24 1/4 inches long. He is in the 25% for height and in the 10% for weight. The doctor doesn't seem concerned - developmentally he is doing great and the doctor even commented on how strong he is for a baby. Poor thing had to get 3 shots but he was a trooper and only cried while he was getting the shots - as soon as we picked him up he stopped crying.

Last night a friend came over for dinner and we ate pizza. I haven't had pizza in ages because every time I ate it in the past it gave Nicolas a lot of gas. But I figured it was time to try again since it had been months. Last night Nicolas was a little restless and definitely had some gas, but it wasn't nearly as bad as before. I figure in another month we should be in the clear (I hope!)

Haunted by cheesecake

Well, the cheesecake I ate last night was a bad idea.

Nicolas had a very restless night. He seemed to sleep ok, but was very restless and squirmy all night. I certainly didn't get much sleep. He had a lot of gas all night/morning. I even got up around 4:30 to feed him a little to see if that would help him sleep better. He did for a little while, but continued to squirm. I slept in the rocker for about an hour and then Luis slept in it for about an hour after I came back to bed. Easier than having to continually go into the nursery to help pacify the little guy. So, I think we are all pretty tired this morning.

Today was music class at Daycare and Nicolas loved it. Mary Lou (one of his teachers) said he didn't take his eyes of Kathye, the woman playing the music. Nicolas was kind enough to save a "code brown" (poopy diaper that requires a change of clothing) for me as soon as we got home.

He is "talking" more and more these days. He is also really enjoying playing with his toes/feet.Tomorrow is his 4 month birthday and checkup. Hopefully he won't cry too much when he gets his shots.

Bed, shmed

Today we went to Kayla's christening. We were all dragging a little this morning so we were a little late to the ceremony, but Nicolas was a very good boy in church. He was very quiet except during one of the songs when he decided he was going to join in and sing for a bit. But, he was smart enough to know to stop singing when everyone else did :-).

The reception after at the Shafman house was a lot of fun. Nicolas got to see his friends (Kayla, Emma, CJ, Ava, Andrew) and had a great day. He even took a nice long nap on Kayla's floor.

Cultivating a green thumb

We put in a new garden today out by the stone wall. It is the biggest garden yet and took almost all day to clear the land and till the soil. We had lots of help from Momma and Poppa Marques. Poppa Marques kept an eye on Nicolas for most of the day so we could concentrate on getting the garden area dug up. Once Vovo ran out of bottles, I went in and fed the little guy and Vovo helped dig holes and transport sod. It was definitely a team effort and all the help was much appreciated. We were able to plant most of the larger plantings and now the rest just needs to be filled in.

Everyone was tired at the end of the day and we all went to bed exhausted.

Morning Mommy!

I woke up this morning around 3:30am to the sound of Nicolas moving around a lot in his crib. So I decided to investigate and hopefully just give him the pacifier to help settle him back down. There is my little man, rolled over on his back at a 90 degree angle from when he started smiling up at me. I turned him back onto his tummy and gave him the pacifier and he closed his eyes to go to sleep. For the next half hour I played "retrieve my pacifier" with him. He would pull it out, spit it out, or turn his head so that it came out and I would get back out of bed to fix it. After 30 minutes I decided to try nursing him for a few minutes to see if that would settle him down. I got back into bed at 4:15 and at 4:30 when Nic started fussing I sent Lou to play "retrieve the pacifier". He got lucky and only had to play it once :-)

Today was sprinkler day at daycare. Nicolas splashed his hands in the water, drank all his bottles which are now 5 oz. and had a three hour nap. Wish I had one of those! Nicolas was very talkative and happy when I picked him up from daycare. Makes me feel better about bringing him there - he must like it since he always seems happy when I get there. Course, I'm quite pleased when he seems so happy to see me at the end of the day :-)

Splish Splash

Today Nicolas discovered two things:
1. His adorable little feet
2. How to splash in the tub

Nicolas had fun playing with with Vovo (grandpa Marques) all day today. During one of my short breaks I went downstairs to give the little guy a kiss and he was laying in the Pack N Play holding his little feet looking quite pleased with himself.

After work he was very playful - lots of big gummy smiles and laughter. Luis and I gave him a bath right before dinner and as we were getting ready to take him out of the tub he learned the fun of splashing with his feet and ended up splashing water all over Louie and himself. Not sure he knew exactly what was going on as he had a bewildered look on his face, but it was hilarious to watch.

How I love the sweet smell of a nice clean baby...

Daycare, Day 2

Today was Nic's second day at daycare. He woke up bright and early at 4:15 and I nursed him and put him back to bed until about 6:00. We woke Luis up about 6:15 to help with a poopy diaper. Since we know how much Luis likes the poopy diapers, we try to save them for him to change. No call from the daycare which means he did fine eating. I am sure Nicolas is adjusting better than I am. He was happily playing in the bouncy chair when I picked him up.Although it had only been an hour and a half since he last ate, I nursed Nicolas when we got home. He nursed about twice as long as usual and then after a 15 minute break he was back at it. Not sure if I need to send more milk in his bottles or if he was just soothing himself after trying to adjust to his new environment. The pediatrician did say he may nurse and cuddle more as he is adjusting, so I am going with that explanation.

Tomorrow he spends the day with Vo vo (grandpa).