Week 23

What a fun week!

Earlier this week, we had some great sunny weather so Hayden and I went to the park with some of our PEPS friends and Hayden took his first ride in the baby swing. He loved it! I have video of him giggling.


Then Hayden began celebrating his first Halloween at a costume party with our PEPS group. Hayden wore a dinosaur/dragon costume. When he was tiny, he had a little onesie that said, "Gigglesaurus" on it, and ever since then, we call him everything from "Sleepysaurus" to "Stinkysaurus" to "Grouchasaurus"... and he has the high-pitched dinosaur shreik to go with it!



We also attended the neighborhood "Green Halloween" festival and met up with our friends Annie and her 9-month old Lucy!


Then Phil and I went to the Pumpkin Patch and got some fun photos and picked out a pumpkin for Hayden.



I finished off the week last night with a much-needed Mommies Night Out. Eight out of the 11 PEPS moms could make it and we had a fabulous time at Coho Cafe for 3 hours, eating a peaceful meal out, drinking wine, chatting about life and, of course, our babies. :)


P.S. I'm adding some cute photos of Hayden reading to my post from last week.

Week 22

Here is a photo of Hayden's two bottom teeth!


He is now 20 lbs. Can you believe it!?! He just turned 5 months old! Some of the 9-month old babies in our music class weigh 20 lbs. My nephew Jude weighed 20 lbs when he was 1.

In addition to being a big boy, he is developing really well. He is starting to sit with just light assistance. Sometimes I can even let go and he'll balance for a few seconds before toppling over. When he's on his tummy, he is already doing some crawling motions with his knees and can sometimes get his back end off the ground, but doesn't quite have the coordination yet to push himself up with his arms at the same time. He is getting really frustrated on his tummy because for some reason he forgot how to roll over from tummy to back. He squeals and grunts and snorts until mommy decides to rescue him!

Since he's been loving his Jumparoo, he is getting really strong legs. He can support his own weight for a few minutes while standing, and his balance standing is getting better too.

We love, love, love reading books! Hayden likes to even hold the book and "help" mommy turn the page. He looks at where I point on the page and almost never tires of looking at each page. His favorite books so far are: "Oh My, Oh My, Oh Dinosaurs" By Sandra Boynton, "Hop on Pop" by Dr. Seuss, and "Everywhere Babies" by Susan Meyers. He smiles when he sees the covers!




In honor of Phil's 30th Birthday that was on the 16th last week, here are some recent photos of Hayden and his Daddy:

Week 21

One of the most exciting things about Hayden's development is the way he gazes at me with his eyes in a way that makes me think he truly understands that I am his Mommy. It's as if he is saying "I love you, Mommy" with his eyes, especially when I am nursing him or go get him when he wakes up from his naps. So precious.

As I am now packing away his 3-6 month sizes and have to move him into the 6-12 month sized clothes, my heart is breaking at how quickly time is passing. As much as I am loving this new stage he is in, his "newborn" stage is officially history. Especially the days when he napped on my chest on the couch or in his car seat or stroller when we were out and about. He is only napping in his dark, quiet room in his own crib. Thankfully, his naps are getting longer and more regular, so that is helping, and he is only waking up once or twice to nurse at night lately. (Knock on wood! Now that I said that, he'll probably wake up 6 times tonight!)

Hayden continues to love his toes. How cute is this?


He is also constantly sucking his hands and fingers and occasionally gets just his thumb and realizes that's a pretty good one to suck! I'm torn with whether or not that's a good thing. In a way, it's good because he can pacify himself, but a thumbsucking habit can be harder than a pacifier to break...

I've also been giving him little sips of plain cold water out of a glass. He likes the feeling of the cold glass on his mouth more than anything. He is really good at grabbing and wanting to hold the glass!


Today we went to my nephew Jude's 5th birthday party. My sister-in-law pulled out Jude's old Halloween costume from when he was 1 and it fit Hayden!



We also started a Kindermusic class this week. It meets every Thursday for 15 weeks at a place in downtown Issaquah called The Musik Nest. Hayden absolutely LOVED it! The instructor is super enthusiastic and cognizant of infant learning and brain development. She explains why things are stimulating and how brain synapses are being connected by these motions and sounds. It’s not just about singing silly songs! We started out with some basic infant massage (which stimulates their circulation and digestive system), then learned some songs, playing with bells, drums, balls, and dancing. Hayden was REALLY mesmerized by the whole experience, especially the drums – he loved putting a hand on the drum to feel the vibration while I beat it to the music. And he’s JUST on the verge of clapping! He puts his fists together when everyone else was clapping. So smart! There are about 12 infants in the class. Some are as old as 9 months so it’s fun to see what we have to look forward to!

Week 20

TWO TEETH!

Hayden's 2 front bottom teeth have popped through the gums! Boy are they SHARP! I can't let him chew on my fingers anymore. After over a week of the most sleepless nights we've EVER experienced, I'm hoping that was the cause. I read that the teething pain is most intense just before the teeth break through. Unfortunately, other than Friday night (when he slept from 7:30pm to 7:30am and only woke up at 3:30am to feed!) he is still waking up 4-5 times at night. Funny thing is, his naps are getting better. Maybe it's because he's not getting good sleep at night, but all the books say that good naps yield good sleep and vice versa... So I don't know what's going on!

Hayden is hilarious in his Jumparoo. We put him in it in the kitchen while we're eating dinner and he'll jump around and entertain us during our entire meal. He loves music and dancing, clapping and motion songs like "If You're Happy and You Know It" and "The Wheels on the Bus". He even sometimes will try to clap his hands too (closed-fisted, usually!).



I am having so much fun with him. He has a great personality and is rarely fussy. His giggle is the most adorable sound I've ever heard. It's so fun to discover new things that make him laugh. Phil and I make complete fools of ourselves getting him to laugh, but it's totally worth it!

The dairy-free diet seems to be working. No bloody diapers for 2 weeks. I'm surviving without ice cream, cheese, and milk. Cheese has actually been the hardest to give up (I thought it would be ice cream!). Another thing that's changed is that he used to have 4-5 poopy diapers a day, but now is down to 1-2. We started giving him a "Poly-vi-sol with Iron" vitamin supplement (our pediatrician recommends all 4 month-olds start taking iron and vitamin D supplements) so I wonder if the iron is causing things to slow down. Unfortunately, with fewer poops, comes bigger blowouts! My washing machine is getting a good workout!