Monday, April 20, 2009

Long time no blog

Well hello again! Yes, I've been a bad blogger. Things have been crazy, and I needed to let something go. Sorry blog:(

The past 3 weeks have been filled with illnesses: a horrible 2 week long cold, an ear infection, and a mysterious rash that developed after the ear infection. Luke has now been sick a total of 7 times since he started daycare. I look forward to a HEALTHY summer. I personally don't know how much more I can take, as I have gotten 6 out of 7 of his bugs. Little man is a trooper, though. Through all of it, he's still been a really happy baby.

Luke had his 6 month check up a few weeks ago and weighed in at a whopping 16 pounds. He's still in the 15th percentile for height (24 inches) and weight. He's growing consistently, so that's what really matters.

My dad came to visit for a few days. He even took care of Luke for an entire day while David and I were at work. So much better than daycare! It was really great to see them together. Luke loves his Granddad! As you can see, we got Luke some shades, and much to our surprise he actually enjoys wearing them! I just love the look on his face in this next picture. It's not the most flattering expression, but funny nonetheless.
Luke officially grew out of his infant tub and is into the inflatable tub. Now bath time is even more fun because there is room for toys!
We are really enjoying Luke's ability to sit! Hopefully the bald spot on the back of his head will finally grow some hair now and the flat spot will fill out:)
We've been trying new foods. He loves applesauce, sweet potatoes, carrots, bananas, peaches and cereal. Avocados, though, are not a hit. Check out his reaction in this video:


Finally, a few words about sleeping. I officially resign myself to the fact that my 6.5 month old cannot sleep through the night yet. We have tried the Ferber "crying it out" method twice. The first time, we were on day 3 when the 2 week cold followed by an ear infection followed by a rash hit. We had to abort our mission as it seemed cruel to allow a really sick baby to cry hysterically for hours (because he cries for HOURS). The second time was this past weekend. He woke up at midnight and we let him cry for an hour before he finally fell asleep... for only an hour. He then cried for another hour, slept for an hour, and repeated this pattern until 7am. When I finally went to get him at 7am I discovered- to my horror- that he was covered in red spots. All night long I had been telling myself what the books say- that he was fine and that crying wouldn't hurt him. We had been checking on him through the night but in the dark the spots weren't visible. So, when I finally saw the spots in the morning my guilt was immeasurable. Now, it turns out the spots aren't a big deal but I didn't know that that morning! The point is, I give up on the crying it out method. I'm just going to let it ride for a while and keep getting up to feed him in the middle of the night. At least for now. I haven't had a good night's sleep in longer than I can even remember so what's another month or two? Ha. That must be the sleep deprivation talking:)

Wednesday, April 1, 2009

6 Months!




I cannot even believe that my baby is 6 months old!! Unfortunately, he had to celebrate most of his half-birthday in daycare. I left work a bit earlier than usual today to pick him up early. However, when I got there he was 15 minutes into a nap. For a while now I've been wanting to be right there when he wakes up from a nap at daycare, so I finally had my chance. For 20 minutes, I sat on the floor next to Luke's bed and watched him sleep. When he finally woke up and saw me, he had the biggest smile on his face. It was awesome. I don't know if it registered as strange with him that I was there (he always smiles when seeing me after a nap), but I'd like to believe that he thought it was a neat surprise!

I don't think you can see it in the pictures, but Luke's eyes are now... BROWN. Surely this has to mean that his hair will be brown (like David's) too! Right?!? I'm shocked at how much his looks have changed in the past 6 months. Pictures of him in the first few weeks now just crack me up. He looked like a little alien baby! Oh, but he was a cutie;)

Sleep hasn't been going so well. Like I said in my last blog, we tried the crying it out method for 4 days, but then Luke got sick so we haven't been as rigorous with it. Our new plan of attack is to feed Luke before we go to bed and see what happens. He's pretty regular with the time that he goes to sleep (7pm) and the time that he ultimately wakes up (6am). I'm not sure we should expect him to sleep and not eat for 11 hours... actually 11.5 since I feed him at 6:30pm. Yes, some babies at 6 months can do this but should I expect Luke to just because others can? He's been pretty good with getting a solid first stretch of sleep, so I've been hesitant to wake him before I go to bed. However, maybe filling his belly at 10pm will allow him to then sleep continuously until 6am. We'll see. This will either be genius or disastrous. Let's hope for the former.

Luke has been a GREAT solid food eater. He's especially cute when he eats apple sauce, because he really likes to taste it. Check it out: