Time with family

Last night we got to spend some time with my grandpa and his family. His sister and her husband are in town this week from Wisconsin, and I just absolutely love them! They're Italian and cheerful and loving. Plus, how could you not love an older couple named Alma and Mino? (I could be spelling their names completely wrong!)

We went out to eat last night, and my dad and uncle came too. Even though I am not a fan of Cheddars, I actually found something there that I liked. Their baked spaghetti was quite good. So I guess I'll have to take this place off of my hate list now!

It was so great to see their first reactions when we walked into the restaurant with Daven. Their eyes lit up and they were so happy! The last time we saw them was last year, although I'm not sure if we knew yet if it was a boy or a girl.

After dinner we went back to grandpa's apartment because I wanted to spend some more time with them. Daven sure did show off! He smiled and talked and kicked around on the floor. He really does know how to work a crowd!

After hearing my grandpa and great uncle talk about how tired they were of going out to eat, A and I decided to invite them over for dinner tonight before they go back tomorrow. Hopefully I can get the house cleaned up a bit, because it is a wreck in here! But this way we will be able to see them one more time, and we can show them photos and video of Daven, and they can get a chance to hold him. Alma got to last night, as you'll see from the pictures, but Mino didn't get a chance to yet. I know he got some good pictures last night on his camera, and I'm hoping that we will be able to get a copy of them.

Here's Daven with his Great, Great Aunt Alma.

Homemade baby food

I've gone back and forth on the issue, but decided that I wanted to give it a try. We bought sweet potatoes and carrots a few days ago, and I turned them into baby food this morning. It took me quite a while. Partly because this was the first time and I wasn't sure what I was doing and partly because Daven didn't nap for very long and I had to do quite a bit of it one-handed. Right now it's in the freezer. Later today I'll move them to ziplock baggies.


If I decide to continue to make the food I think I'm going to have to invest in a food processor. I could only do half a potato at a time in my magic bullet.

I got Daven a doorway jumper yesterday at Target. When I found it and saw that is was only $20 I couldn't resist. Daven hasn't quite gotten the hang of it yet - he just liked to chew on it and spin around some. He also didn't want to have his hands out, so it looked like he didn't have any!


Daven actually enjoyed tummy time yesterday for once!

::contented sigh::

Yesterday was a good day! Daven wasn't fussy the whole day like I thought he would be. Shelby came over and after she patiently waited for me to fold and put away Daven's laundry, we had lunch at Panera Bread. It was yummy, and the company was the best!

Daven's hand-eye coordination is great! First he grabbed my plate and pulled it toward him. Then he put his hand in my broccoli cheddar soup. Later when I was eating my bread he put his hand in my butter! Silly boy!

Then we went to Hobby Lobby and afterward back to my house. Shelbs showed me her pictures from her trip to Florida. It was good to catch up.

A and I ate at the Melting Pot for dinner and it was wonderful. He added on the anniversary package, so we got a champagne toast with take-home flutes, and they took our picture and put it in a frame. The food was great - I totally pigged out. I mean I literally scraped every last bit of cheese out of the pot and we didn't leave anything. We ate it all! The fiesta cheese, lettuce wraps, Caribbean style meats and white chocolate bananas foster dessert. Mmmmmm. A was sweet and affectionate even though I kept dropping my utensils and making a bunch of noise!

Daven stayed with my parents and even though I loved my time alone with A, I couldn't wait to get Daven back and snuggle with him.

Daven is back in bed with us at the moment, because if he's in between us he will sleep through the night. But in his crib he won't. This is because throughout the night there will be a few times where he will start to wake up but I'll put his paci in his mouth and he'll go back to sleep. But if he's in his crib by the time I realize that he's waking up, he's too alert and then Ill have to change him and feed him a bit of bottle. I don't tell most people though because their opinions are usually not favorable!

Teething

Well we've thought for a while now that Daven would be getting his first teeth soon. He's been a little cranky from time to time, but mostly he's just been drooling and chewing. This morning he started crying in the middle of his bottle. He wasn't wet. He didn't want his paci. I burped him but that didn't help. So I put my finger in his mouth. Can't really feel anything yet. But I looked into his mouth and I think I can see his front bottom teeth just below his gums. Poor baby!

We have some of the plastic rings that you chill in the fridge, but he doesn't want to have anything to do with them. I'm going to get some baby Orajel (sp?) the next time I go out, even though I've heard from another mom that it doesn't really help. Daven really likes to chew on cloth (burpies, blankets, bibs, clothes) so I think I am going to get some extra burpies so that I can keep some in the freezer.

It just makes me feel so bad that there's really not much I can do to help him. I've got unlimited snuggles prepared, but I know that won't take the pain away.

On a completely different note, HAPPY ANNIVERSARY, BABE! We've been married 2 years today!

Yesterday was a day to mark down in the books. Why? Because A changed Daven's diaper at a restaurant for the first time! I normally change him while we are out. And if we are somewhere that has a family bathroom, A will come with me and help. So yesterday morning we were out eating breakfast at iHop with his family. I asked him to go check and see if there was a changing table in the men's restroom simply because he was the one sitting on the outside. He did no problem!

Later that evening though was a totally different situation.

We were at Outback with his his family again, and of course right when our food was getting ready to come out Daven needed to be changed. So we headed toward the bathroom, only to find that the handicapped stall which has the changing table in it was "out of order" and locked. WTF. I just stood there for a moment like ok what in the world am I supposed to do now? I'm not the only person in here with a baby!

I walked back to our table and told them what was going on. His mother immediately got up to go find a manager. They must not have even thought about this situation, because she didn't know what to do either. She said she would go unlock the stall, but she couldn't fit under the door to unlock it. Plus, she said that the toilet in there was really nasty anyway.

Thankfully they had a changer in the men's restroom and A was able to change him. Otherwise I would have been flaunting my son's junk in the booth we were sitting at.

Public restrooms are tricky. You want the changing table outside of a stall for this very reason. Also, it stinks when someone is using the bathroom (especially when it's not a handicapped person) and you have to wait with a cranky wet baby to change him.

On the other hand, if the changing table is outside the stall, people will often times bump into you, mostly because there's never enough room! Also, you can't take a quick pee when your baby is strapped in the middle of the bathroom.

So I guess there is no easy answer to this.

My MIL went to a yard sale yesterday and bought Daven some stuff. He got a Jumperoo! He's still a bit too little, even on the shortest setting, but he still liked it and I'm sure once he can reach everything he'll love it! I'm not sure where we're going to put it though, because it's pretty big and sitting in the middle of our living room right now.



Tomorrow A and I will have been married for 2 years! It's crazy to think that this time last year we were still trying to let it sink in that we were really going to have a baby! Oh yeah, and me feeling like I was going to barf all day and night. My mom and sister are going to watch Daven while we go eat at the Melting Pot tomorrow night. And this year I can have a drink too! Love you, A!



Daven is so much more interested in his toys now. Well, mostly to fling them around and chew on them. But it's so cute! He really likes this letter links that my MIL found at, you guessed it, a yard sale.

Here are the furbabies, since I haven't put any pics of them up lately.

So I don't think I mentioned this the other day but Daven squeals! When he's happy and playing he'll make these high-pitched, squeaky noises. It's absolutely adorable! He talks so much now and we love it! When he's awake he's constantly making noises. He can put anyone in a good mood!

He can also fake cry now. My dad said he's spoiled, but right now I don't care. I know I'm going to have to get a job soon so I'm going to snuggle as much as I can now!

He's loving his rice cereal. It's so funny how he gets impatient in between bites. He makes such a mess too! He either grabs the spoon from us or he puts his hands in his mouth right after he takes a bite. We definitely learned that for now bath time needs to happen after rice time!



Grammy's arm is probably hurting today because she carried Daven all around Kohls yesterday for hours. By the time we got there (and we had already been to Old Navy, Target, and lunch) Daven didn't really want to be in his stroller anymore. But once he was in Grammy's arms, he was a happy camper! Luckily I had just brought the small stroller so we folded it up and stuck it in our cart. Daven got a ton of new clothes! Daddy got two polos for work and golfing. But I was so excited buying for everyone else I didn't even care that I didn't get anything for myself!

I also got Daven the Buzz, Woody and Rex stuffed animals. Not only are they so cute, but all the money goes to charity! Aunt Lauren bought him a talking Rex flashlight! I know that he sleeps through movies now, but I'm sure he'll love Toy Story soon!

This is about all for today because typing with one hand isn't exactly the easiest! But it's worth it, having my little snuggle bunny in my arms! <3

Finally! I'm on my computer again! I have actually felt anxious about this post because it has been so long since I was last on here. I literally can't remember the last time I was on my computer. There are so many pictures and so many things that have happened and there's no way I could possibly get it all in here!

So our baby boy is 4 months old now. He weighs 16 pounds 5 ounces and is 25 inches long. He's eating rice cereal now! And in another week or so he'll be able to start on veggies. Where has the time gone?

One big thing that I can actually remember when it happened was Daven's first time in the pool. It was on my birthday. He likes the pool! Since then he's been in a handful of times. It's great!









Daven has become so vocal. It's wonderful! He's expanded so much from just his g sounds. He uses his b's, a's, ah's, and he's started squealing! He also smiles a TON and he laughs. God I love him!

We think that Daven is going through a growth spurt because even though he's been eating rice cereal at night before bed, he still isn't sleeping through the night for the most part. Since he outgrew the cosleeper at 3 months, he's been in his crib the majority of the time. He will normally go down first thing in the crib, although he doesn't always want to go back to the crib after he's woken up. When that happens we put him in the boppy between us. Sometimes he still needs my hand on him to fall asleep. I've also noticed that when he's fidgety but doesn't want to eat any more and I can tell he needs to go back to sleep, if I'll lay my head next to his so that we are touching and give him some kisses, he'll go back to sleep.

Ok seriously, this is the 3rd time I have seen this episode of Say Yes to the Dress.

Oreo has finally stopped pooping in the house. And she's back upstairs in bed with us now, which I think helps a lot. Although there's still no hope for curing Coheed of his poop-capades. (asshole) We finally have covers over the air vents upstairs so the cats are in bed with us again too. It's a good thing that we got the covers because the cats outsmarted the baby gate. Mia realized she could jump over it and Coheed would just headbutt it until he could get through. Thankfully neither one of them have tried to jump up in the crib.

I'm starting to get nervous because my paychecks stop at the end of next month. I've put in a bunch of applications at various schools, but so far I haven't gotten one interview. One position has already been filled. I'm not really sure what I'm going to do if I don't get another teaching job. I really feel like I need to teach again before I dismiss it completely. I'm bound to be more happy at a different school, right? Plus the schedule is good. Although I might have to start looking for a desk job, since I really don't want to be a permanent sub. It's stressful because I know that spending all day with Daven is coming to an end. I realize that I have had more time with him than most moms get to, but it still makes me very anxious just thinking about not being with him during the day.

I think Daven is teething, or at least starting to. He drools like crazy, puts everything he gets his hands on in his mouth, and chews all the time. He eats his blankets, burpies, stuffed animals, toys, everyone's fingers...

His hand-eye coordination is getting so much better! He can grab his paci, take it out of his mouth and put it back in again by himself. He's been trying to do this with his bottle, but it's bigger and harder to maneuver.

Daven has also rolled over! He did it later than the wee-by-week updates said he should, but hey, better late than never! He's now rolled from his back to his tummy quite a few times. We are trying to work on getting from the tummy to his back, but he hates tummy time with a passion. It's pretty much immediate - as soon as we put him on his belly he starts waling. Makes me feel so bad! But I know that he's got to get used to it so that he can be strong enough to learn to crawl.

Daven is waking up so here's a few more pics. I wish I could update more!

Daven and cousin Cameron

Daven and Papa Darrell