month four

Here are some of the new developments that took place this past month, month four.

Graydon started putting everything he could get his meaty little hands on into his mouth-

Clothing (mine):

Fingers (his):

Toes (also his):

Pool water:

Toys :



Also this month, he started moving- a LOT. Besides rolling over like crazy, he also started showcasing this sweet move where he lifts his little heiny in the air, pushes with his legs, and scoots around on his head. He can get surprisingly far using this maneuver. JC calls it "the inverted wheelbarrow".

But not all of this months accomplishments were rosy. Gray showed us a glimpse of his dark side, when he started beating up family members:

He practiced his best "It wasn't me, I'm innocent" face:

And pretended to be repentant:



He started spending alot of time swimming and peeing in the baby pool, and showed a definite tendency towards becoming a nudist:

But on the bright side, he started letting me take him out in public, to friends' houses, even to restaurants. He has taken two whole car rides without screaming. He is laughing more frequently, and starts hyperventilating and windmilling his arms with excitement whenever his father or I walk into the room. He's still not sleeping, but that's ok, because he is getting exponentially cuter by the day:

Bring it, Month Five.

fat boy eating

We started little Gray on rice cereal tonight, just shy of his 5 month birthday. We had tried it once before, when he turned 4 months, but that attempt ended in a sleepless night for him (and us) plus a wastebasket full of wet, runny diapers. Sooooooo not fun. So, we waited a month, and now are trying again. The plan as it stands right now is to give him rice cereal for a month and then start him on pureed veggies. The one thing I am not looking forward to is larger, stinkier poops. I am especially apprehensive because JC (he of the allegedly weak stomach) has thus far not been fazed by Graydon's dirty diapers and has been a diaper changing champ. I am worried that once he gets a whiff of these new, malodorous diapers, he is not going to be quite as eager to help out at the changing table. And by "not quite as eager", I mean "throwing up in the corner". But we'll see how it goes. Is it too early to start potty training?

So, here's how it went down. We familiarized him with the spoon...

Then we gave him a taste...

At first, it seemed like he was enjoying it...

But that quickly turned into, "Hmmmm.... Let me think about this...."

Still thinking......this time with a slightly concerned look...

And the verdict is.....

Not a fan! After this mouthful, he pretty much spit everything else out. Oh well, he got a little bit down. Round two tomorrow night. Stinky poop, here we come!

poppa t

As I'm sure you can imagine, one of the hardest parts about having this baby was not having my mom around to help me. She always said that whenever I got pregnant, she would retire and become a full time grandmother. I know that had she lived, she would have been over every day, helping out, playing with the baby, making helpful suggestions. Unfortunately, she passed away a couple of months before we found out we were going to have a baby. And never was her absence more keenly felt than our first couple of weeks at home with the little man. We were tired, nervous, and pretty much completely clueless. But, much to our surprise, help did come, in the form of this guy:

True, he doesn't really know how to change a diaper. And, his memory of my own infancy and childhood is pretty much non-existent; a typical exchange will go something like this: "Dad, when did I start teething?" "Um, I don't remember." "Dad, did I sleep in a bassinet or was I in a crib from the start?" "Uhhhh, I'm not sure." "Dad, can you tell me ANYTHING, anything at all, that you remember from when I was a baby?" "Well, I remember that you cried alot." So, you see. Not exactly a fountain of knowledge.

But, amnesia aside, he has been fabulous with the baby. In that critical recovery period after we came home from the hospital, he came over every day for a couple weeks to help me out by playing with the baby, bringing lunch, even walking the dog. And he has continued to be a contstant presence in Graydon's life, coming over to visit on the weekends, and even leaving work early to help out when I've become overwhelmed.

And the baby looooooves him. He has always been able to make Graydon smile, and now laugh. We say it's because they're on the same wavelength, maturity wise :) We're just joking. Mostly.

Happy birthday, Poppa T! Thanks for being such a great grandfather.

his father's son

Uh-oh.

beefcake central

ritalin nation

Well, if he's not A.D.D. already, he will be after spending time in this contraption (the exersaucer). It hurts my head (and my own attention span) just to look at it. And-- you would think he would find SOMETHING on there to entertain him, but he usually only lasts about 10 minutes before he is done with it. Maybe it's because instead of playing with the devices, he spends all of his time trying to eat them:

jinxed

Jinx, jinx, oh my God, jinx. I wrote the post below and then last night, wham! The worst sleep on record. Grady woke up every hour to 2 hours crying because he had rolled over onto his stomach and didn't want to be in that position. So JC or I had to run in there and roll him back. We got absolutely no sleep. So stupid to have written the previous post. I take it back! I take it back!

sleep saga part deux

So, the whole sleep thing is getting marginally better (I totally just jinxed it by typing that, too). We've discovered 2 things- first, he doesn't take 2 naps a day like other, normal babies. Instead, he takes 4 to 5 brief 40 minute naps sprinkled throughout the day. Not ideal, but it seems to be working for him. Secondly, at the first sign that he's tired (yawn, eye rub, whatever), we need to throw him into his stroller and start pushing him back and forth, until his eyes glaze over and he goes into some sort of zen trance. Then, and only then, can I take him upstairs and get him to bed relatively quickly. It is hit or miss, and we often trudge up and down the stairs, from the stroller to the rocker and back again, but our total time spent trying to placate a crazy baby has been dramatically reduced. Hallelujah!

Going.....

Going....

Gone!

However, that means that my time spent strolling around town with this kid has skyrocketed. Just today, we went on a total of five walks. JC, Stella, baby and I always do the last one at night when JC gets home from work. It's the knock out punch and usually gets him down for the night (and by night, I mean 3 to four hour stretch). Last night, our area was having some major thunderstorms, and we were forced to choose between going on our walk and getting drenched, or staying in and having a showdown with a cranky little man. Which one do you think we chose?

Here's a hint:

Though, I do have to say, temperament-wise, he's becoming much more enjoyable to be around. He's started laughing, this deep belly laugh, and it's just hilarious. At night, when I'm rocking him to sleep, he started doing this thing where he'll start to drift off, but then realizes he might be missing something. So he keeps one eye half open, the other eye closed. I learned the hard way that if I make eye contact with the partially opened eye, he snaps them both wide open and starts smiling, ready to play. Similarly, if he catches me smiling, even just a little, he's ready for it and pow! he pops his eyes back open and starts grinning back at me. So now, in order to get him totally to sleep, I have to rock him with my eyes closed while biting the inside of my cheek to keep from smiling. He is something else, that baby.

this is how he rolls

This is how Graydon rode around in his stroller on Saturday. Seriously. He even fell asleep in this position:

What a nut.

pappy power

So, this guy? I don't think this guy was completely sold on the idea of having a baby. Hell, it took me 5 years just to get him to agree to walk down the aisle and get married. 2 years to agree to a dog. So I wasn't surprised when he was a little ambivalent about the idea of starting a family. When I told him I was pregnant, the first thing he did was to ask me how much college cost these days. He's a planner, JC is. But he gradually warmed up to the idea, and soon we were here:

Although, I don't think he truly realized we were having a baby until I was actually in labor. At one point, we were 30 plus hours into labor, and 3 hours into pushing, and the doctor had decided that I needed a C-section. So the doc and all the nurses left the room to go get the OR ready, and JC was left alone with a (non-medicated), fully in labor, totally crazy pregnant lady screaming on the bed. I was literally screaming, because hello? My epidural had been turned off two hours ago, and those contractions HURT. So I'm shrieking at JC to DO something, HELP me, and there's no one else in the room, and so JC picks up my ankles (and crosses them- don't know how the baby could have made it out that way if he had been so inclined) and starts talking to me like the nurse was- kind of: "Ok, push! now breathe! one two three pushbreathepush! i mean breathe! i mean, one two four five breathe! or push! no, breathe! help! nurse! help!" luckily the nurse heard him and came running back in. But it all worked out, and soon Graydon was born, and a new dad was made:

And ever since, it's been a smooth ride. Ha! Just kidding! Have you not been reading this blog? Our son is a WILD MAN. Colicky, fighting sleep, refusing the bottle, crying all day long, the nicest word to describe him is challenging. And that's being generous. I think the last time he slept was in the hospital:

It's been pretty rough. Trust me, there have been several days when I have considered fed-exing the baby elsewhere, like Brazil. Or Canada. C.O.D. He's cute enough, he'd be ok. But I haven't had to do that, and the main reason why is JC.

JC has always been a fabulous husband, but he is a phenomenal father. I don't know how many new dads work full time but also do the lion's share of the laundry, grocery shopping, and housework, as well (although- part of this is he's a little OCD- he won't let me do his laundry because he thinks I'd ruin it. And- everytime I load the dishwasher, he actually takes the dirty dishes out and RELOADS it because he says I don't do it right. Whatever, are the dishes in the dishwasher? Yes? Does the door close? Then how can it be wrong???) Regardless, his helping around the house is much appreciated and keeps our house presentable even in the midst of this baby tornado. Thank you, JC.

Additionally, he often takes the baby for walks in the morning so that I can get a little more sleep. Seriously, is there anything cuter than a dad in a baby bjorn?

Although a little reluctant at first to change a diaper, he's now a pro. And, it may surprise you to know that JC does the majority of the diaper changes at night, and then brings the baby in to me so I can nurse him. If it weren't for him, the baby might not get changed or fed at all during the night, because I sleep so soundly that even if the baby were dancing the cha cha on my head, I probably wouldn't stir.

He does try to help with feeding the baby, too, but Grady is not always on board with the bottle. But the effort is appreciated.



He gets in the baby pool (urine and all) to try and entertain our water baby. He walks the dog. He rocks the baby at night when he won't sleep. He plants flowers and waters our front lawn. He goes with me to doctor's appointments. He hasn't been out with the boys in months because he stays home to help me with crazy baby.

In short, for a first time dad, he pretty much rocks.

We love you, Big Pappy*! Happy first father's day!

*Yes, he does refer to himself as "Pappy". Mostly so he can have a cocktail at night and call it "pappy hour". I know. What can I do, I just roll with it.

radio free graydon

So for the past few nights, an interesting event has been repeating itself in our house. I wake up in the middle of the night to the sounds of music playing in my bedroom. At first, I'm still so sleepy, so I just lay there and enjoy the music. Ten seconds later, semi-rational thought kicks in, and I realize the music isn't actually in my bedroom, but is coming through the monitor, from the baby's bedroom. Where there should be total silence, since we don't play the radio at night. My first thought is that an evil gang of musical burglars has broken into our house and is currently in the nursery, stealing our stuff while serenading the baby. This thought is so overpowering that three nights in a row I have shot straight out of bed and sprinted into the baby's room, only to find the baby (alone- no burglars in sight), wide awake and grinning at me, listening to the mobile music which he has turned on with his feet. Seriously, he turns the button on with his crafty little toes. Oh, and he thinks it's sooooo funny when I go rushing in there just to find him relaxing, listening to some tunes. He is such a pip. Unfortunately, he's also totally awake and it has been taking me close to an hour to get him back down to sleep. Oh well. You'd better believe the first thing I did this morning was to take down the mobile. We need our sleep! 3 am is no time for a baby dance party. I hope this isn't a foreshadowing of his teenage years, otherwise JC and I are in big time trouble!

Oh, and PS- we are feeling much better over here. The river coming out of Gray's nose has slowed to a trickle, and my (self-diagnosed) sinus infection seems to be easing up a bit. JC and Stella remain, as always, hale and hearty.

rumpshaker

Sorry for the lack of posts... baby and I are illin' over here. I'm not sure if I got sick from the baby or he got sick from me. I bulb suctioned about a quart of snot from his nose this morning, poor kid. BTW, how are you supposed to use that bulb suction when your kid is squirming all over the place and turning his head and throwing his arms in front of his nose? It's tricky. Anyway, thankfully I seem to be much sicker than the babe, but not in a blogging mood. So here is a gratuitous butt shot to tide you over (whoever is actually reading this :)

swing, swang, swung

So, we found a park! One of the other moms in the neighborhood recommended it to me. It's seven blocks away, and only two of those blocks are through shady territory. Although, I've found that pushing a baby stroller makes even the sketchiest individuals behave nicely- this morning, I passed a woman screaming out the f-word, "F_ck! F_ck!F_ck!" (I think she was out of booze. It was ten a.m.). But the moment she saw me, she said, "excuse me for cussing in front of the baby". I was all, "no worries, who knows if he even speaks english at this point" and then not 10 seconds later, she was screaming it again. But the point is, she actually stopped to apologize to me. Babies make everybody nicer.

So here's the park, it's pretty cool. They have alot of stuff that we can't use yet, but it's fun to watch the other kids and imagine a time when the baby won't need to be carted everywhere like a bag of groceries. I saw children walking! Feeding themselves! Peeing in the trees! (ok, that was just one kid, I guess he was only semi-potty trained. But still! No diaper change!)

I thought I would meet some other moms there, but instead all the kids were with their nannies. Who seem totally cool and friendly. When I told JC this, he said, "Mmmm, nannies", just like Homer Simpson, and I had to break it to him that not all nannies are from Sweden and look like Tiger Woods' wife. Anyhoo. They have a baby swing there, which is our main attraction, and the baby seems to dig it:

We'll be going back there soon.

On another note, JC and I didn't check the weather reports this afternoon and decided to take the baby and dog on a nice leisurely stroll through Tornadoville. Thank goodness I had packed the rain cover for the stroller, because this is how we returned:

Yeah, we're not so smart. Let's hope it skips a generation.