Big Boy Stroller

With the new big boy car seat coming soon, I decided to break out the stroller to see how Holden liked it. I took him and Houston for a whirl around the block. As you can see, the stroller was a big success with Holden. That is really how he looked when we got home!

Cereal Time

At 4 months old, Holden is allowed to start rice cereal. We gave him his first bowl on Wednesday morning. He did a great job eating with a spoon. He actually got the food down; he's a natural. The rice cereal was....well, how can I say this, binding. Luckily, Nana Judy was here to help during the upset tummy time. She's a pro; she knew just what to do to help soothe little Holden's tummy. After trying all of Nana's tricks and having a couple of conversations with the nurse line at our pediatrician's office, we've switched to single grain oatmeal cereal. Holden loves it! He ate two whole tablespoons for dinner tonight and cried for more. He's really growing up, and I can't believe it!

4 Months Old

Holden is 4 months old! We had his well check appointment today. He recieved 4 more shots. OUCH! His dad held him through his shots and I looked away. I think the shots are just as hard for me as they are for little Holden. He is a very healthy boy:

• Weight....14 pounds 10 ounces - 50th percentile
• Height....25 3/8 inches - 75th percentile
• Head Circumference.....41 cm - 25th percentile

We have some great things to look forward to in the coming months. Holden will:

• Start eating rice cereal now
• Start following our movements and voice with his eyes
• Continue rolling over (let's hope he masters tummy to back soon!)
• He may start to sit with support
• Think it is funny when we play peek-a-boo
• Start to look for objects out of sight (object permanence)
  

I asked the doctor about the car seat and sleeping/eating situations. He said "he is dangerously close" to reaching the car seat limit, and that it is time to upgrade to the convertible car seat. He also said Holden is capable of sleeping, and not eating, for a 12 hour stretch. Trey and I have our work cut out for us!

Reflections (Ramblings) of a Mom

Car Seats

I think Holden has, or is about to, outgrown his infant car seat. The limit for the Graco Snugride we have is 20 pounds or 26 inches. Holden was 23 3/4 inches at his 2 month appointment, so I'm pretty sure he's close to the 26 inches now. Our friend, Steph, said her son outgrew his infant seat at 4 months, so I guess it's possible. I think we're going to get the Britax Boulevard seat. It's a bit pricey at $300, but luckily it will last until he's 65 pounds. (Mommy friends, what age are kids when they're 65 pounds?) I'm so sad to give up the Snap & Go stroller frame. It has been so easy to zip around with that. But it's stroller time now! I have a question though. What do I do when I go to a store with carts? Holden can't sit up on his own yet. I can't really push a cart and a stroller around the store. How do I do it? Baby Bjorn?


Sleep

You are all probably so tired of hearing us talk about sleep, but things are getting better. Reallly, they are! I've gotten more than 7 hours of sleep the last two nights in row. Woo-hoo! Holden has eliminated the 2:00/3:00 waking! He goes to sleep between 6:30 and 7:00 at night. He wakes up to eat between 11:00 and midnight (Trey is usually still up and does this feeding), and then again around 4:00 or 5:00 am. He goes back to sleep and wakes up for the day at 7:00 am. I'm not sure if he needs both those night feedings. I'm also not sure which to eliminate first. I'm afraid if we get rid of the 11:00, then he'll start waking up again around 2:00 or 3:00. If we try the 4:00/5:00, I'm afraid he won't go back down and then he'll want to be "up" at that time. We have a doctor appointment on Monday, I'll ask the pediatrician. But any advice in this department would be greatly appreciated.

Belly Sleeping

Yesterday as Trey and I were paying bills in the office, Holden was playing on a blanket in the living room. He rolled over, got stuck on his belly and started fussing. We continued to work in the office with the intention of getting him in a minute. All of sudden, he was silent. We looked in to see that he was fast asleep. He took almost a two hour nap right there on the floor.

Here's what we came in to find. So sweet.


Calvin wonders, "What is going on here?"

About half way through his long nap, his little bottom came up. Cute, huh?

Reading and Rolling

As part of our bedroom routine, we read two to three books every night. His favorites are Little Quack and Brown Bear, Brown Bear What Do You See? He loves, and I mean, LOVES Little Quack. (Thanks Nana Judy!) First, he gets very still when we start reading, then when we get to a page he likes he squeals out and kicks his legs. He likes to reach out and touch the pictures too. We usually lay on our backs side by side. I hold the book over the top of us to read. But yesterday Holden started officially rolling over. He won't stay on his back anymore, he just rolls right over. So, about two pages into reading, he decided to roll over. I had to flip over so that he could see the book again.


Now more on the rolling business. Like I said, he's officially a roller overer, which is super fun and great. Except, he rolls over at night in his crib and then gets frustrated on his belly. We have to go flip him back over, but then he just does it again. (Trey finally used the sleep positioner to stop his nonstop rolls.) We get the eating at night thing under control (well, kind of....he still is eating at 11:00 pm and 4:30 am) and then he starts this. Can't we just get a nighttime break? Probably not, I guess this is parenthood. This picture was taken this morning as I was typing this entry. I put him on his back and I intended to capture the rolling over move but by the time I picked up the camera and snapped, he was over. I didn't have the energy to do it again, so this is what you get.

Father's Day Weekend

SATURDAY

We met Gene, Nancy and the Brower family for breakfast at the Morgan Run Country Club on Saturday morning. We had a great meal, and Holden loved seeing his cousins.

SUNDAY


On Sunday morning, we took Trey to The Red Sails for breakfast. It was fun eating by all the big yachts. Holden grabbed the attention of a lot of the patrons (in a good way - no blow ups), while his dad beamed with pride. Afterward, we went to Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf for some yummy drinks. Trey flew banners in the afternoon while Holden and I hung out at home.

Argonauta

Here is the boat Trey works on.

Our Boy

Holden is 16 weeks tomorrow. He is so much fun to be around these days, and Trey and I are consumed with how much we love this little person. I mean, just look at that face! He's so much more alert and active. He'll play on his Einstein mat for like 30-45 minutes at a time now. He loves his feet, sucking on his hands, grabbing toys and sucking on them, and being read to. He loves looking and talking to his mom and dad. His newest "thing" is sucking on his bottom lip (as you can see in the picture). And...tonight he's sleeping without being swaddled! Love, love love....

Jumpin' Holden

Holden just got a Jumperoo. He likes it! (We won't talk about how his dad feels about the amount of space it takes up.) He's able to grab the toys and "jump" (more like bounce) with his feet. I can't believe he's growing up and moving on to big kid toys!

A Visit from Anna and Waylon

Anna and Waylon drove down for a playdate on Monday, June 6th. In their time here Anna and I enjoyed lunch and great mommy talk. We both fed our boys, got them down for a quick nap, and went to a Gymboree class. We LOVE when they visit! Anna and I have so much to talk about, the time seems to pass way too quickly.

Found: Two Feet

Holden has found his feet, so he's in this position most of the time now. He LOVES his feet, and if he could just get them in his mouth he'd be in heaven! This new found love for his feet makes diaper changes and baths a little tricky.

Oh Houston!

Today while we were at a doctor appointment for Holden, Houston got into a little trouble. We forgot to shut the door to our room, where Houston stays, from the rest of the house. When we got home we found he had eaten about a half can of formula. Since 95% of our house is tile this wouldn't seem like a big problem, aside from a dog with a tummy ache. But our sweet Houston took the formula to the small part of carpet (new carpet, I might add) we do have. He chewed the can into pieces and licked all of the formula up off the carpet. He also ate all of the the kitty's food and drank all his water. Oh, Houston! You can also check out his new summer cut in the picture above. We were sick of the fur balls everywhere from his constant shedding. The cut is not too dramatic, which I guess is good. He looks clean and cute. Now if he just wasn't so mischievous......

Memorial Day

Holden's first Memorial Day was spent on Del Mar Beach. I was nervous to bring him down to the beach, not because I was afraid of anything happening to him, but because I didn't know how we were going to manage taking care of him all day. In fact I said to Trey just before arriving, "What are we going to do with him!?!" We brought his Bumbo seat, his carseat, and the Baby Bjorn and they all seemed to get us through the day. Trey also stopped off at Radio Shack on our way to get Holden his own handheld radio. He's a white noise kind of kid, so Trey found a nice static station (no joke). He listened while falling asleep. The static combined with the sound of the real ocean waves worked like a charm. We managed to keep him happy, and caring for him turned out to be a little easier than I thought it would be.

Rolie Polie Boy

Holden is rolling over both ways, back to tummy and tummy to back, well kind of. He still really has to concentrate to go from tummy to back and will only do it once or twice in a row. Here is a series of him going from his back to his tummy.
The Beginning - just hanging out.

Curls into a "C".

He's almost over!

He's on his tummy, but laying on his right arm. He hasn't figured out how to pull that out yet.

And just like that - he's right back where he started from (and kind of shocked about the whole thing!).

He decided to try it again.

Working on going to the other side. He never quite made it over.

Pulling his legs up like that is his new favorite thing. He also pulls his head up at the same time. I call him my Pilates baby - he's going to have the strongest abs in town! He does this move everywhere - car seat, swing, floor, you name it; he's always working those abs!