Friday, September 30, 2011

6 Month Stats

We just got back from Paxton's six month doctor's appointment. I think this was the easiest one so far. It worked out with his schedule so he wasn't tired or hungry, in fact, he was in a great mood and had lots of smiles for Dr. Campbell.

Paxton weighed 17 pounds and 15 ounces and was 27 inches long. This put him between the 50th and 75th percentile for height and the 50th percentile for weight. His head size was also in the 50th percentile. So he's a little bit taller than he is wide but not much. Just a pretty normal baby.

While we were waiting for the nurse to come in with the shots (we skipped rotavirus again since he did so well without it last time), Paxton was cracking up.


He laughs a ton right now and it is probably my favorite thing about parenting. I love his sweet giggles and finding out the tiny things that make him laugh (shaking his puppy toy).

Surprisingly, he didn't cry at all after the first shot, but as soon as the second one went in, he started crying. It wasn't as bad as his last round, it was much easier to calm him down afterwards, and by the time we got to the front, he was fine. He got some football bandaids and we were done. We're so proud of how tough he was! He got a flu shot which they do in two parts for babies, so we'll have to go back in a month for the second half.

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Birthday Weekend

As soon as we wrapped up Paxton's six month birthday party, it was time to switch focus to my birthday weekend. Just kidding, I'm not that selfish...but we did have a really busy weekend.

Saturday night, Jared took me to Saii, a sushi restaurant in OKC that is one of the best.

Sunday for lunch, we met Jared's mom, his brother Josh, and Josh's girlfriend Candace at Flat Tire in Edmond. I think I pick this place every year because the burgers are so good. We even got to set outside because it was so nice. Paxton sat in a high chair and made his outside face:



Sunday night, we met my mom and sisters at Louie's for some tasty dinner.
Paxton got to sit in a high chair again, but also spent some time playing with Daddy's hat:



Yes, all my pictures are of Paxton....

Uncle Mason got Paxton a really neat hanging bouncer that was shaped like a car for his six month birthday. We ended up having to exchange it because the weight limit is 20 pounds and Paxton will probably hit that soon. Instead, we got Paxton some cars:



Since I grew up with sisters, I have very little experience with boy toys (well to be fair the two youngest did play with hot wheels). It was fun to look at all the car stuff and other boy toys, but it's hard to know which toys are going to be fun. Luckily, Jared was there to help and pointed out that this toy would probably be fun for a few years.


Overall, it was a pretty fun birthday weekend. I'm so thankful for everyone that made it special: my sweet husband who always makes the whole day special and gets the perfect present, my adorable son who was kind of grumpy but still sweet, my wonderful mom and sisters who always get me exactly what I ask for and way more than I deserve (and start texting me happy birthday messages at midnight), and my amazing in-laws who have done everything possible to make me feel like part of the family.

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Saturday, September 24, 2011

Games and Toys

Paxton is really in to face grabbing right now. If he can reach your face, he will grab it. His fingers will probably end up in your nose and the spit from his hands will coat your cheeks. The whole time he is being fed, his hand closest to the feeder is exploring their face. He rubs cheeks and pulls hair.

He has also invented a new game. If he's sitting on a lap facing someone, he will lunge backwards. He wants to be held upside-down and then brought back up repeatedly. I think it's so neat that he thought of that himself and will instigate it.




He has also been practicing standing up:





Look at those thighs!

Here are his six month birthday presents from Mommy and Daddy:





Paxton was also lucky enough to get some awesome presents from both of his grandma's. He got some cute fall/winter clothes and a really neat toy car:



It drives when he shakes the rattle or touch the top. He doesn't get how to turn it on, but he sure does love watching it drive around.

Jared did a fall photo shoot of Paxton last weekend and this is my favorite shot:


(I'll let Jared post the rest on his blog)

And Paxton tried out a Mohawk:



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Thursday, September 22, 2011

SIX MONTHS!!

Paxton is six months old today.  Once again, we can't believe how fast this is going.  It definitely doesn't seem like it has been six months since we were in the hospital, but at the same time it seems like Paxton has been part of our lives forever.

We are having a six month party for Paxton tonight.  We mainly wanted to get pictures of him with all of his family.  We don't do that enough, and a kid only turns half a year once!




At six months old, Paxton is:

  • Rolling over both ways.  If we leave him on a blanket, we can almost always come back to find him about three feet away from the blanket.  Fortunately he thinks his toes are just as fun as most of his toys so he doesn't get bored.
  • Sitting up for short periods of time.  I still don't leave him alone while he's sitting because as soon as he stops concentrating on balancing and tries to play with a toy or look around, he topples over.
  • Babbling a lot, squealing and laughing when he's happy, and screaming for attention.  He will repeat ah-ah-ah noises but only if he starts the game, he won't do it on demand.  He also makes a fake coughing/laughing noise that he will repeat.  This one is his favorite noise right now. 
  • Starting to get a little nervous around other people.  He has cried twice when people have taken him from Jared...but for the most part he is still smiling and loving other people.
  • Responding to his name almost every time we say it.
  • Eating some baby vegetables.  So far we have tried peas and green beans.  He liked them both (after a short period of terrible faces with the peas).  He still loves rice cereal and oatmeal.  
  • Down to eating four times a day: 7 ounces at 9:30 when he wakes up, 6 ounces at 1:30 plus some oatmeal, 6 ounces at 5:30 and a vegetable, and a 7 ounce bottle with  rice cereal around 10:30.
  • Sleeping eleven hours a night.  Usually from about 10:30 until 9:30.  He likes to stay up late and play with us.  I think he would stay up later if we let him.
  • Loving his Jumperoo.  He could spend hours in there.  It's hard to take him out and put him on a blanket with toys...but I know he needs to develop those skills and I know too much Jumperoo isn't good for him.  Plus he loves rolling around.
  • Still loving bath time.  He has figured out that he can make some huge splashes with his feet and Jared and I usually end up drenched after a bath.
  • Wearing six month clothes in most brands, still in 3-6 month Old Navy clothes, and wearing 6 and 9 month pajamas.  He is wearing size 2 diapers.
  • Taking 2-3 naps a day (11-1:30, 3:00-5:30 and 8:00-10:30).  He will sometimes skip the last nap if someone is over playing with him, but if he does he wants to go to bed around 9:00.  Sometimes we have to wake him up from his last nap at 10:30 to eat.  I think he would sleep through the night if we didn't, but I dread the thought of a crying baby at 4 a.m. and I think he needs the seven ounces so we wake him up.
  • Loving my iPhone.  Every morning when I bring him in our room to feed him, he looks for it.  He gets the biggest smile when I give it to him and puts it immediately in his mouth.  He also wants the remote, but we don't let him have that because it's probably dirty.
  • Still teething, but no teeth yet.  He is chewing on everything and sometimes fusses while he is chewing.  Orajel fixes it.  



He is at a really fun age right now.  We have started to relax and trust ourselves and just enjoy every second with our sweet baby.  We know that things will probably get more difficult as he gets older, and are very thankful for what an easy and happy baby he has been.  

Saturday, September 17, 2011

Peas

We were planning on starting Paxton on baby food on his 6 month birthday. Our pediatrician said we could anytime between 4 and 6 months and we just weren't in a rush for him to grow up too fast. Well, we are planning a cookout on Paxton's six month birthday and knew that we wouldn't have the time that day.

We bought the food last night, and by the time we got home, I was too excited to wait. He's only 5 days shy of 6 months so that probably counts. I've heard stories of babies who try their first vegetable and hate it and make crazy faces...I love those stories. However, I was pretty sure we wouldn't have one of those stories. Our baby switched from breastfeeding to Enfamil and then to Emfamil Gentlease and then to Gerber all without realizing. When he was sick a few months ago, we had to give him pedialtyte. He drank orange and strawberry without flinching. He drinks cold bottles or warm bottles. Basically, he's an amazing eater and isn't picky at all.

I got the food ready, and Jared got the video camera. Just as I expected, Paxton chowed down on the peas. It seemed like he couldn't tell the difference between the peas and the rice cereal and oatmeal he was used to. Then, as soon as Jared put the camera down, this happened:













He made terrible faces and then wouldn't open his mouth for a bite. I'm not exactly sure what happened...because he ate 3/4 of it without realizing it was gross.





We needed to use up the second half of the container of peas...I'm not a fan of waste, so I tried again today. He ate the whole bowl, lunging forward for each bite. I don't understand his wavering taste, but I guess he likes peas now? Hopefully he eats all of his other veggies this easily...because his daddy sure doesn't.





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Friday, September 16, 2011

Sitting up!

I'm not sure when I can officially say that Paxton is sitting up...he definitely can right now, but I don't like to leave him unattended because he falls over kind of a lot. He can't really keep his balance when he reaches for something...so maybe he isn't an official sitter yet. He sure does love sitting up though.





He has also very recently started getting his knees under him during tummy time...he's almost in the crawling position. I'm not too excited about this one because I know he's strong enough to crawl once he figures it out...every night I put him at the very bottom of his bed and every morning I go in to find him at the very top. I want him to develop properly and hit his milestones on time, but I'm not ready for crawling. I'm not ready to baby proof and keep the floor swept. But, I guess we're on Paxton's timeline now and not ours.

I would definitely freeze the stage we're at if I could. He's so fun right now! He laughs all the time and is constantly babbling. Jared had his car seat turned towards him at lunch today, at one point I turned it a little so that Paxton could see me and as soon as he turned and looked at me, he got the biggest smile on his face. Then every few seconds, he would turn back and look at me and grin. It's so sweet that he knows who we are and he likes us so much.
















Jared and I were talking the other night about how crazy parenting is. Aside from some books I read during pregnancy and the What to Expect book, we have no idea what we're doing! It's so funny that we are just kind of muddling through this and it's working! We have a happy, healthy baby who is developing just like he should. Some days we skip tummy time, some days he sleeps for longer than "recommended" and some days he doesn't eat as much as the chart from the doctor says he should, but things are great! The biggest lesson I've learned so far is to just relax and let things happen. I feel like this should have been easier for me since I'm pretty laid-back about everything else...but one of my life goals has always been to be a good mom. But now I've got it down. I'm not in a race for Pax to hit his milestones before other babies we know or before I did as a baby. I'm not anxious about having him on a strict schedule (although he has kind of put himself on one...apparently he gets his desire for a routine from his daddy). All I'm worried about is making sure he's as happy and as healthy as possible.

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Monday, September 12, 2011

Another Lazy Weekend

Before Paxton, Jared and I were out for most of the weekend. Since we both worked all week, we used weekends to run all our errands and we had to pack a week of fun and house cleaning in too. Well, now that I stay home with Paxton, I'm able to get most of the errands run during the week and keep the house picked up. Now, we get to spend that time just hanging out as a family.

Friday night: We made pizza and watched the Office (our favorite tv show in the world) and enjoyed watching Paxton play in his jumperoo (his favorite toy in the world).



Saturday: We spent the day helping my mom and one sister move. Since my mom and sisters have helped me/us move about a thousand times (most recently in one night while I was 8 months pregnant), we definitely owed them. Jared borrowed his dad's trailer and his brother Mason and knocked out the big stuff in two short hours. Moving is never fun, but it was fun to spend a day with my family!

Saturday night: We took the trailer back to Jared's dad and spent some time with Granny Pat.



Sunday: We watched the documentaries that were showing about 9/11. We talked about where we were and what we remembered. We did laundry and cleaned Jared's car. Paxton enjoyed some oatmeal.





He played with his daddy.


YouTube Video


Took a nap.




And looked adorable.





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Thursday, September 8, 2011

Highchair!

Paxton's new highchair from Grandpa Mark came yesterday, so when Jared came home, we put it together (which was amazingly easy) and put Paxton in!

We ended up deciding on the Contempo Rittenhouse highchair based on the reviews. I wanted something that would look cute in the house, but most importantly would be safe and easy to use.







Here it is with our table.

It is really easy to use and the tray is dishwasher safe. The seat reclines and has a 5-point harness which is amazing since Pax isn't great at sitting up yet.







Here he is trying it out.







He really liked it. He thought it was fun to throw things onto the floor...hopefully he grows out of that before he starts feeding himself...

After he ate, Daddy let him play with his bowl and spoon. This is what happened:




















Then he knocked the bowl off and threw the spoon on the floor...then he was bored...so:







He thought sucking on the tray might be fun.

After every bite, Paxton sucks his thumb...I'm not sure why he does this...maybe he thinks he can't be full without sucking? Maybe it helps him swallow? It makes a big mess....he gets the cereal all over his hand and rubs it all over his face...plus it slows down the eating process because we have to wait until he's done with his thumb to feed him the next bite.








But look how cute he is:







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Monday, September 5, 2011

Labor Day Weekend

Having a baby makes relaxing weekends seem a lot more desirable. When it was just the two of us, Jared and I were always planning little trips...the lake, Dallas, Tulsa...just anywhere to get away for a few days. Now that we have Paxton, not only is it a pain to pack, but it's also so much easier to just stay home where all his toys are...

So, instead of taking another lake trip, we did this:



Practiced sitting up








Played with toys







Smiled for pictures




And found some new pajamas we didn't know we had!

We have started feeding Paxton rice cereal from a spoon again and he's doing so much better this time. He actually swallows each bite and then lunges forward for the next one. Apparently as first-time parents we mistook his lack of readiness for general baby sloppiness...we had heard feeding babies was messy...so now he's actually ready and loving it. Grandpa Mark ordered Paxton a high chair and he should get it any day now.

He had a growth spurt this week and is officially in 6 month clothes. He can still wear a few of his 3-6 month outfits (which luckily includes his ou onesie) but not for long. He also has some pretty intense thigh rolls. After that, we moved him up to 7 ounces per bottle and he eats every 5 hours (approximately...we're not on a schedule yet). It's nice cuz there's a lot more time in between feedings (he was eating about every 3 hours) to run errands and get things done. On the other hand, it's tough being off a schedule.

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