Uplifting while not yet coming down

We are finding Sydney's smile, giggles and personality to be quite uplifting. I'm starting to believe that it is nearly impossible to have a bad day with him around. He is SO MUCH FUN and an absolute delight!

Grandma and Grandpa Olson sure enjoyed him today! (Their faces probably hurt from so much smiling.) He certainly knows how to entertain a crowd.

Sydney DID show off some skills today as well: 

• he stood alone for (a record so far) 15 seconds
  
• he showed grandma & grandpa how he climbs UP the stairs
  
• he made car noises with his mouth
  
• he ate like a little champ
  
• he gave LOTS of hugs
  
• he showed grandma & grandpa how well he crawls and pulls himself to a stand
  
• he showed grandma & grandpa how to pick yourself up and try again when you fall
• AND he learned how to wiggle DOWN off of the couch cushions (but will still require more practice with that... just found it to be fun to do.)
  

He did NOT, however, learn how to climb DOWN the stairs. (That was Grandma's j0b to teach him and all she could say was "I can't believe you taught him to climb UP the stairs at such a young age." For the record, mommy did NOT teach him... daddy and Grandpa Lowell did; however, he is demonstrating great skill at it for being such a little person.)

Looking forward to another day of smiles and happiness tomorrow, as well as more visiting with Grandma and BOTH Grandpa's.

MUCH THANKS...

Grandpa & Grandma Olson, 

Thanks for coming to visit us, bringing homemade chili for lunch and for taking us out for dinner tonight! It was delicious food (Mexican) and so nice to see you guys! Also, Sydney thanks you for his new seat covers (diapers). Tomorrow, we plan to serve you a delicious lunch... when the kitchen is not ripped up.

Grandpa Olson,

Thanks for helping us with our old dishwasher removal, new dishwasher installation, and moving of gas lines and stove. We truly appreciate all of your knowledge and assistance. THANKS A BUNCH!

Better hurry off to bed to rest up... looking forward to spending more time with you guys tomorrow! I love you guys!

Happy 8-month Birthday Little One

Dear Sydney,

Today you turned 8 months old (35 weeks). You are getting SO BIG (and think that you are even bigger)! At last weigh-in, you were 19#.

You have 3 teeth: 2 bottoms and your upper left. Your upper right is a visible bump under the surface, but looks like it will take a little longer before it pokes through. 

You eat solid foods like a champ: applesauce, apricot, pear, avocado, green bean, pea, sweet potato, squash. Lately, you decided that you do not care all that much for carrots and you have disliked bananas from the get-go. You are loving the Baby Yum Yums, which we call "crackers". (It is so cute to hear you crunch them with your little teeth.) The Gerber Graduate puffs are also fun for you to eat, as you display great pride in feeding yourself.

You have been crawling for a little more than a month and have got it down to an art. You are quite speedy actually. You have even figured out how to crawl UP the steps. (Grandma Olson will show you how to come DOWN them when she visits this weekend; although, I personally think you are too little to learn backwards crawling movements.) You pull yourself to a stand all over the place. You are cruising along the side of the couch, playpen or end tables to get places faster. Sometimes, we find you standing all by yourself with a toy in your hand - forgetting to hold on. Sometimes, I purposely stand you in front of me to count how long you can last.

I count: 1  - 2  -  3  - 4  -  5  -  6  -  7  -  8  -  9 ... of which, you have a HUGE smile on your face the entire time, with such a look of accomplishment. So far, 13 seconds is your best that I have counted.

I laugh when you crawl under the table and chairs. Sometimes, you bump your head - not noticing the legs. You like to see the cats under there. You are also good at finding any speck of lint, dirt, etc. and try to eat it.

We had a puppy (Scrappy) for most of the past month, but the two of you must have been having a contest to see who could get into more trouble. You both liked the strings on my hooded sweatshirt a lot. After 28 days, we got rid of the puppy because YOU were more than enough to contend with - with your mobility and sense of adventure. I recently teased daddy that we need a bigger house because you are running out of things to explore. Someday, when you are bigger, daddy hopes to try again with a puppy. Hopefully, you will be old enough that the puppy won't use YOU as a chew toy and you'll be able to help pick one out.

Next month, we plan to take you on your first airplane trip. We are anxious to see if you are as good of a traveler as you are in the car. We're gathering some toys and books to entertain you on the plane ride.

It sounds horrible to say, but YOU - at 8 months old - LOVE to watch tv! Your favorite is Elmo's World on Sesame Street. Whenever you hear the song for it, you stop whatever you are doing and watch Elmo on tv. You also like whenever there is music playing because you will sway to the music or do a little dance. You entertain us a lot.

You LOVE your bathtime rubber duck (and the baby duck from Grandma Carol). We try to limit it to bathtime, but you like to crawl into the bathroom, looking for them. You've even floated them in the cat's water bowl.

We laugh that you are a "boob man". You are a good eater and find comfort in nursing... sometimes, for an hour or more at a crack. (The lactation consultant said you are a smart boy, wanting to snuggle in winter; and as long as I don't have anywhere to be, I should enjoy the time I have to snuggle with you.)

Your smile is infectious. I love your giggles, too. You are happy 97% of the time... with the 3% being when you protest bedtime or when we're holding you down for a diaper change when you would rather be off exploring your world. 

We sure do love you... a lot!!!

Stay sweet, little man. 

Love, 

Mommy

Thanks for napping

Sydney, I wanted to thank you for napping. You put up quite a fight the other day and eventually, you gave in and fell asleep. This morning, we napped together (since mommy was silly and stayed up too late playing on the computer last night.) Then, this afternoon, while we were making cookies, I noticed that you were getting tired so, I took you upstairs and put you in  your crib.

I wrapped your torso and legs tightly in two polartec baby blankets and laid you down. You immediately started to protest, but I encouraged you to lay down. You started to fuss, but I turned on your music and I left the room.

Within a minute or two, I noticed that you were quiet. I snuck to view into your room where you were sound asleep. Daddy woke you up after he had gotten home. You had a very nice afternoon nap as well.

So, I just wanted to thank you for napping. If only we would make a routine out of it, mommy might find a little time for projects and unfinished business. Sleep good, little one! I love you!

Waiting for the water

You have found your voice. You like to "talk" and when you don't get your way, you have started to scream or squeal like a little pig. Daddy wants to know when you will stop screaming like a little girl.

Daddy is taking a bath and you are standing at the side of the tub, with your rubber duckie in your hand, and you keep trying to raise a leg high enough so that you, too, can join daddy in the tub. (Sadly, it is too hot for you so, you have to wait a few minutes for the water to cool.)

When daddy gives the OK, you can't hardly wait for us to strip you out of your onesie and diaper because you are ready to go! 

YOU LOVE... splashing in the bathtub... relaxing in the warm tub at the water park... playing in the puddle under the humidifier... and floating your baby duck in the cat's water bowl... yes, you seem to LOVE water! (We're pretty relieved that we dug the pond out of the sideyard or else you would have been into that, too!)

In the summer, we hope you will enjoy going to grandma & grandpa's cabin on the lake for a family weekend of fun. And when you get bigger, we hope you will enjoy puddle jumping with Aunt Sue and fishing with your daddy and your grandpa.

How about a nap little boy?

Twice already today, you have fallen asleep in my arms while nursing. Twice today, I have attempted to put you gently into your crib. Twice today, you have woken (almost instantly) and started screaming as if it is some form of torture for you to nap in your crib.

This time, little boy, mommy has walked out of the room. She is NOT going to wrestle to get you to lay back down again. She is NOT going to stand there, hunched over the side of the crib and attempt to rub your back. She is NOT going to let you win the battle of the nap.

As your mommy sits in the office, typing on the computer, she hears you whimpering and talking. You managed to turn off your cribside music box as I no longer hear the sounds of Beethoven, Mozart or Bach attempting to lull you to sleep. Most likely, you are standing up and checking out your surroundings. You are not yet old enough to know how to throw your toys out of the crib to express anger and for that, I am thankful.

According to parenting experts, you NEED a nap. So how come you are so darned happy all the time? (Oh yeah, that's because you get to hang out with your mommy all day long and her happiness has rubbed off onto you, but that is NOT a bad thing.)

You continue to make car noises and "talk" as well as keep turning your music on and off again. Hey, as long as you are content... we'll both enjoy a few minutes of down time. (Sadly, we both know that if you don't fall asleep though, that I WILL go and "save you" from your crib so, please, Please, PLEASE fall asleep so that mommy can win... just this once.)

**NOTE: After 10 minutes of playing, you are now whimpering. And mommy sits quietly at the computer, hoping you will lay down and fall asleep.

Giggles with Grandpa and Mongolian Grill

This afternoon, Grandpa came over to spend part of the day with us. (Well, mostly spend it with his little buddy Sydney.)

Grandpa Lowell successfully got Sydney to eat a few bites of organic carrot babyfood, which he has been protesting for the past few days. Then, they switched over to some organic green beans, followed by some yummy organic sweet potatoes. Of course, when switching from green foods back to orange, Sydney clamped his mouth shut, thinking that he was being offered those yucky carrots again. (This kid is smart and knows his colors already!) Once he tasted those sweet potatoes on his lip though, he quickly opened up (like a little baby bird waiting for the worm).

There was a lot of playing and TONS of giggles coming from the living room while Sydney played with Grandpa. (Caught some of these great giggle sessions on video... might post some video clips one of these days.)

Daddy snuck out of work early and we all went out to eat at a Mongolian grill for dinner. While we waited for a table, mommy snuck next door to Borders and bought Sydney 2 new books (with intentions of bringing one of them on the airplane when we vacation next month). Our dinner was reasonably good while the service was rather poor. Daddy thought the waitress deserved NO TIP, but mommy left her one dollar. (Thanks for that special treat, Grandpa! We enjoyed going out to eat with you tonight. However, next time you come, we'll return to our routine of home-cooked meals.) 

When we came home, Grandpa managed to trick Sydney into eating some more of those yucky carrots before switching over to some more delicious sweet potatoes. (Grandpa must have the magic touch... or else is pretty darned good at distracting Sydney while he quickly shovels in another spoonful.) 

After one last hug, Sydney waved BYE-BYE to Grandpa, who had to drive home in the fog, rain and darkness. (With heavier rain, the fog has now lifted to the point where the downtown lights are visible again from our windows so, hopefully, his drive home wasn't too bad.)

Sydney nursed and went to bed. Daddy had been awake for 17 hours so, he was ready for bed, too. Mommy anticipated an early bedtime, too, but laid there WIDE AWAKE so, was OK when Sydney had woken 30 minutes later to feed just a little more before bed. Finally, mommy is starting to tire a little. Guess we'll try bedtime once more... Otto seems to think it is time to go snuggle.

You know it must hurt when

As I was ready to stop blogging and sneak downstairs to do dishes, you started to cry. I tried to give you tylenol so that you would be comfortable throughout the night, but you fought it. (I think I got a little into your mouth without you spitting it out!) Then, you nursed... FOR OVER AN HOUR before I pulled you off to return you peacefully to your bed. (I'm convinced that you simply find comfort in it and I'm OK with that.)

As assessed from our past few days, here's my take on teething:

• You know it must hurt when you want to chew on your blanket (or hat) while riding in the car.
  
• You know it must hurt when the mere thought of the Tylenol wand inserted into your mouth makes you scream.
  
• You know it must hurt when the icy cold gel teethers (straight from the freezer) are not allowed into your mouth, but instead are held in your hand while you cry uncontrollably.
  
• You know it must hurt when you wake up crying every 30-60 minutes throughout the entire night and can't go back to sleep unless nursed or snuggled.
  
• You know it must hurt when mommy and daddy can tell the time by the next dosing of infant tylenol - since it seems to wear off with an hour to go before we can dispense more.
  
• You know it must hurt when it takes exactly 28 minutes before the tylenol kicks in and all fussing instantly stops.
  

To remedy the pain, you are given a free pass to nurse whenever you need to - regardless of how tired mommy is from getting yet another sleepless night. You will be given tylenol to make life more tolerable, especially during the night (since we are having an alright time occupying you with playing and climbing the stairs during the day). In the morning, you will find your monkey rattle has been soaked in water and thrown into the freezer; hopefully, you will find this comforting to your sore mouth.

It looks like tooth #3 should be poking its way through at any second... WHAT A BIG BOY YOU ARE BECOMING!

Rough night working on third tooth

We had a horribly rough night last night. Even WITH tylenol in his system to numb the pain, Sydney made a point of waking every 30-60 minutes for most of the night. So, by 3:30am, when Mike's alarm would be going off within a few minutes anyways, I was completely and utterly EXHAUSTED!

We did a diaper change, gave him a dose of Tylenol and nursed him back to sleep. I crawled back into bed shortly after Mike left for work at 4:30am. I was relieved when Sydney slept until 6:30 (I think), waking only once - about 20 minutes after I had crawled back into bed. Then, he came into Mommy & Daddy's bed to nurse (and snuggle).

After just a few minutes of nursing, he let go and rolled onto his back - sleeping peacefully in our comfortable bed. Giving him ample space in our bed, I was thrilled to see him go back to sleep so quickly and I snuggled nearby. We woke at 9:36am and it felt WONDERFUL!!! It was some quality rest that we had both needed.

As for the teeth, he's got two on the bottom. His top gums are looking rather bumpy. In that, I mean that it appears that you can see the bumps of the teeth under the flesh of his gums - with the bumps pushing on the front of his swollen gums. It is very hard to tell, but on the very bottom of his upper gums, it appears that his top left tooth is starting to poke through the surface of his gums. Giving him something hard to bite on would probably push it all the way through. (He's taken a liking to biting on his blankets - or hat - while riding in the car.)

He is VERY guarded as far as allowing us to put anything into his mouth, or touching his mouth in any way. As we dispense the tylenol, we try to remind him that it will help him to feel better. Unfortunately, he does not yet understand our language, nor does he understand the pain of teething.

He's in bed (as is his daddy). The house is quiet. There are dishes to do in the kitchen and my dishwater is probably ice cold by now. (The internet has been down since Tuesday and finally came on today so, I wanted to take the opportunity to blog. Plus, I find it to be therapeutic to write.) Think I will attempt to sneak down the creaky stairs so I can finish up down there and hit the bed myself.

SHOOT! As soon as I typed that, Sydney started to cry! Guess we'll go snuggle a little instead.

Fist full of fur

Last night, Otto was sitting on the ottoman next to the recliner. Sydney spotted the cat and crawled over, pulling himself to a stand - staring at the cat.

Otto remained there with great apprehension. Sydney reached out and grabbed a handful of Otto's fur and skin, smiled and then quickly let go. Since it had worked the first time, he must have figured that it was OK to do again so, he grabbed ahold of Otto once more - only to find that Otto quickly decided "I'm outta here!" and hopped down, taking Sydney down to the floor with him before Otto scurried off to safety.

Sydney, still holding a fist full of fur, sat himself up again and wondered what had just happened.

As a by-stander, I just had to laugh. (I guess that is one way to learn.)

Sorry Scrappy, but your time has come

Sorry, Scrappy! 

We gave it a shot, hoping that this was your "Forever Home", but discovered after nearly a month that it was not working out like we had hoped. You were MUCH too hyper and naughty, but were indeed - just being a puppy that needed LOTS and LOTS of attention. Sadly, it is most important that we focus the bulk of our attention on our baby Sydney.

Your cute little ears piled atop your head should be heart-warming to your new owners. We hope your new home will be a large house with other dogs to play with, lots of room to roam and someone else's kitchen cabinets to chew on. May you poop on their doorstep (for old times sake) as well, as that is one way that we will always remember you.

Good luck, pup!

Stairs are NO PROBLEM for Sydney, Problem for parents

Sydney figured out stairs tonight. He (slowly) made it 3/4 of the way up – chasing after one of the cats. Daddy videotaped. Grandpa Lowell supervised and encouraged. Mommy did not want to watch.

Guess we'll be needing that baby gate on the stairs now...

Recall... really?

Today, we got a notice in the mail that there is a safety recall on Sydney's carseat - claiming that there is a problem with the handle falling off of the carseat while carrying it by the handle with an infant strapped inside.

Really?

They don't test these things to make sure that they work as intended?

Mike was hoping that we would be able to return the carseat (because it is defective) since Sydney has almost outgrown in now anyways. (That's not the case.) So, we have to call to order the repair kit. In the meantime, it says to only carry the carseat by holding onto the head and foot portion - with two hands. (Hmm, 19# baby... that doesn't sound all that fun; now does it?)

Silly Boy is a window licker

After Grandpa Lowell taught Sydney how to lick condensation off of the outside of a water glass, it wasn't all that surprising when Sydney started licking the window pane of the front door this afternoon while Mike sat just outside (on the sunporch) with the puppy and laughed.

It started off innocently enough - where Sydney crawls over to the door, pulls himself to a stand and peers onto the sunporch at daddy. But soon, he is LICKING the window. From the outside looking in, it looked HILARIOUS! (Daddy videotaped it and sassily announced that our baby is a genius, but is the smartest baby that we have.)

Don't worry... since Daddy got it on video, we can someday threaten to show it to his girlfriend. (Perhaps tomorrow, if we are not too busy enjoying each others company and catching up on housework, I will try to upload the video to this blog posting, too.)

What a silly boy!

Winding down the day with a backrub

Lately, our house appears to have the slightest bedtime routine where Sydney snuggles (and/or nurses) to wind down and when he is in a relaxed state (or sleeping), I take him to his room. Sometimes, I stand in his room next to his crib while he rests his head upon my shoulder. He flips from cheek-to-cheek as I rub his back and sway on the creeky floors. Otherwise, I put him into his crib and turn on his cribside musical nightlight. He almost always flips instantly onto his stomach for sleeping and flails his head from side-to-side, making me wonder if he is trying to get comfortable or if he is fighting the urge to fall asleep in the darkened room. I stand by his crib, leaning over the side (since the mattress is in its lowest position) and gently rub his back for a minute or two. Sometimes, he will whimper like a tired puppy, but the wimpers get spaced out further and further until he stops and falls asleep completely. 

Who wouldn't like to wind down the day with a snuggle and a backrub?

Speaking of backrubs, on a similar note - tomorrow afternoon, I will be going in for my first chiropractic appointment. . . EVER! 

At the breastfeeding support group, it has been mentioned on multiple occasions how out-of-whack your body gets during pregnancy and how it is good to get everything put back into place again since your center of balance is no longer skewed towards your baby belly. So, I am going to take my aging body, with stiff lower back, in for an adjustment. The chiropractor is the father/husband of one of the babies/moms at the support group. (I'm told he likes to do pediatric chiropractic work, having adjusted his daughter just 40 minutes after birth. Apparently, being confined in a pretzel shape in a confined space and then, coming out of the birth canal does a number on your alignment and is the reason why a lot of babies are "colicky". Mike thinks that Sydney doesn't need an adjustment because "if it isn't broke, don't fix it".

I guess it will be an interesting experience - for this newbie.

Play date at the water park

This morning, I took Sydney to the local water park for a play date. I had been encouraged to go hang out with a group of moms, despite Sydney being the littlest one there. (Plus, Mommy was having a bad morning with Eddy throwing up on multiple occasions, the puppy peeing all over his mat and toys and then a little incident with dog poop all over the bottom of daddy's slippers, which coincidently ended up smeared all over the kitchen [that had been washed yesterday] when the puppy took off running with one of daddy's slippers.)

It was GREAT to get out of the house for an outing!

It must have been visual chaos for Sydney's little brain to take in all of the sights, sounds and splashes. Although, as long as he had one of his (two) rubber duckies in his hands at all times, he seemed quite all right. He sported his Winnie-the-Pooh Little Swimmers (diaper) in style.

He didn't much enjoy the smaller kiddie wading pools because the water was too cold. His favorite seems to have been the hot tub that was a tad warmer than baby bath water, but his bath duck didn't alarm HOT in glowing white letters so, it couldn't have been all that bad for us. He sucked on his duck(s) and kicked his feet, making big splashes and inspiring some of the other little boys to splash their feet as well.

Looking ahead on the calendar, it looks like it will be $5 well-spent, to get out of the house again, on another Monday later in the month.

A week of photos

Sydney helped take down the Christmas tree on the day after Christmas. He was fascinated with all of the lights – and kept pulling them from the tree and putting them in his mouth.

Sydney likes to play with the dog's chew toys. Ironically, the puppy likes to play with Sydney's toys. If only they could swap... YEAH, RIGHT!

Sydney is busy crawling all over the place. It is AMAZING how quickly he can go (when he wants to).

He likes to pull himelf up to a stand whenever he can. (He thinks he is a much bigger boy than he actually is, I'm afraid. Mike reminds me often that BOYS GET BUMPS.)

Ah, YES... stairs! He tried his hand at those as well. Fortunately, the second step is a hair higher than the first and he can't get up it. We're trying to avoid stairs because he is hard enough to keep an eye on.

This week, we tried a mesh bag for ice cubes, peaches and avocado. Sydney thinks it works pretty cool.

We also tried our hand at small pieces of avocado. As you can see, it was VERY FUN to play in it!

After the avocado, we played in some bubbles while Mommy did some dishes.

Sydney is loving his crackers. With his two little teeth, you can even hear him CRUNCH when he bites.

Look close... there are TWO TEETH on the bottom!

Tough days of telling time with Tylenol

Throughout the past few days, you can tell the time by the dosing of Tylenol.

Funny how Sydney hadn't shown ANY signs of pain leading up to the emersion of his first tooth that we first noticed on Saturday afternoon. He hadn't been fussy. He hadn't been drooling. He hadn't been chewing excessively. In hindsight, the only sign I recall was that his cheeks were both bright red last week Wednesday and Thursday. 

All of a sudden, with his mouth opened JUST RIGHT, I had gotten a glimpse and noticed that: HOLY COW, my baby has his first tooth!

Sunday afternoon, we saw the bottom right tooth poking through the surface of his gums, next to the left one that had come up first.

With the emersion of teeth, our house has found itself to be rather noisy – with whimpering and whining. Granted, getting teeth can't possibly be comfortable so, we're giving Sydney a little bit of a break - as well as regular doses of children's tylenol.

Yesterday afternoon at 4:01pm, after at least an hour of moaning (while playing, crawling or snuggling), I gave him another dose of Tylenol. Amazingly, like clockwork, at precisely 4:29pm, there was silence and the moaning had stopped. Sydney was back to his happy, playful self - full of smiles, giggles and absolute delight.

I think about parents who have whiney kids on an everyday basis and am so very thankful that Sydney has been a delightful child. After a full day of fussing on-and-off, I was SO RELIEVED when bedtime came and our house was FINALLY QUIET. (Well, other than two cats and a puppy.) Thankfully, Sydney slept until 6am this morning, which was MUCH NEEDED SLEEP by mommy.

As I blog, Sydney is snuggled tightly into the Moby Wrap on my chest and I am able to gently rest my cheek onto his forehead and feel his breath on my collarbone as he sleeps soundly. (I am thankful that he's napping; despite being tired, he fought falling asleep for 25 minutes before he found it too comfortable and womb-like.... well, besides being floating or upside down, that is.)

Shoot, a kiss on his forehead just woke him well-before this nap should have ended. We're going to try this again... back to walking around...

And then there were TWO (teeth, that is)

This afternoon, we noticed the second tooth poking the tiniest bit through the surface.

Baby's First... TOOTH!

This afternoon, we noticed Sydney's first tooth had poked through: His bottom left tooth made its appearance.