Celebrity Look-a-Like

No matter what I do, the kid's hair won't lay flat. I'm only successful in getting the front part to stay down, which makes him look at bit like Kate Gosselin.

Let's Play a Fun Game.

The name of the game is "Find Andrew."

There he is! He rolled himself right under his crib.

2/29/10=7 months

When you're born on the 29th and it's not a leap year, when is your 7-month birthday? Anyway, the 7-month stretch has come and gone. Andrew's still growing and growing and eating and eating. That's right! He's got the rice cereal down pat. Soon, we'll be moving on to more palate-pleasing food, but the rice cereal does the trick for now.I was really hoping to be able to report that he's sleeping like a champ at nap times. He's not. But I guess I'll take a 12-hour uninterrupted night over a 1 1/2 hour nap. Maybe next month....keep your fingers crossed.His measurements are a mystery, as we won't go back to the doctor until 9 months. Until then, he wears mostly 9-12 month clothing, just in case you wanted to buy him an outfit or something.Jacob's doing great. For awhile there, Brian and I were going to put Jacob back into his crib. Nap times were hell and bedtime wasn't fun, either. It seems that the freedom was too much for him to handle: he'd keep coming out of his room, jumping on the bed, playing with his toys. His room would be trashed. Not to mention that he wasn't getting ANY sleep. And anyone who knows this kid knows that he NEEDS sleep. The other thing, and this is the kicker, he was coming into our room at 6:15 in the morning! Prior to the big-boy air mattress, he wasn't getting up until 8 or 8:30.So, now that he has a legitimate big-boy bed and fun truck and bus-themed bedding, he's doing better. I'm not sure how much of the improvement should be attributed to the smaller bed and cool bedding or to the fact that I put one of those safety knobs on his doorknob so that he can't open the door. Or, is the improvement due to not having any fun toys in his room? Don't know. All I know is that he's sleeping waaaay better at nap time, although he still isn't sleeping as long as he used to (we're down from 3 hours to 2 hours). He's going to bed at night easier than he was, although he's still waking at 6:30. Again, I'll take the good with the bad.I'm not sure if I've ever mentioned how sweet Andrew is. Well, let me tell you! He's an absolute joy!

Jacob's Big-Boy Air Mattress

I was not ready to do this, but it had to be done: Jacob is officially on the loose at night and at nap time. I enjoyed having him sit tight until I was ready to get him. But no more. It's the end of an era.

Andrew's crib was falling apart and so we had to transfer Jacob's crib into Andrew's room. But, we didn't have a big-boy bed on hand yet to put Jacob in. Sooo, air mattress to the rescue! And, man, does he LOVE IT! Although he's eager to take naps and go to bed at night, he's actually taking longer to go to sleep. You can hear him playing with toys in his room and so I have to keep going in his room and putting him back on his bed.

The other day I went in to wake him from his nap and this is what I found:

I guess as long as you've got your trusty green bike toy, it doesn't matter where you lay your head.

1/29/10=6 months!

Woo-hoo! Reaching the 6-month mark means that you-know-who has to sleep through the night. And guess what? You-know-who IS sleeping through the night! That's right, folks. 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. Not bad, huh? Naps are a whole other beast that we hope to conquer by next month. Stats:
20 lbs (90-95%)
28 inches (90%)

6-months means the introduction of solid foods, namely rice cereal--yum!! Watch this video of his very first bites (you owe it to yourself to watch to the very end).

So, yeah, he pretty much doesn't like solid foods at this point. I've given him several small bites of banana but he's just not interested and that's fine by me. It's far easier to just nurse him and there's no messy clean up. We'll just keep trying small bites here and there until he gets the hang of it.

Andrew is still just as sweet as he can be. People comment all the time on his laid back nature. And did I mention that he's sleeping through the night? What we've got is a sweet baby and a well-rested mom. Who could ask for anything more?

12/29/09=5 months old!

Andrew just keeps getting bigger and better!

We had to take him to the dr. on Monday due to some funky red patches on his back and his poor sleep habits. Turns out that he just has a mild case of eczema, nothing a little steroid can't fix. We were advised to give him some Benadryl to help with the itching....and you know what that means!: sleep! That's right. This formerly I-awaken-quite-frequently-at-nap-times-and-at-night baby has turned into a regular snoozer! He only got up 1x last night!!!! Praise tha loward!

A doctor's visit also means a weigh-in. You're not gonna believe this, but this kid has gained a pound and a half since his last visit, which was A MONTH AGO! He now weighs 19lbs and 11oz. That's just crazy!

Andrew is participating in an infant study at UNC-Greensboro that's researching how infants use their hands and how they learn from what they do with their hands. Jacob will begin his study participation soon. The study that he will be a part of looks at how toddlers learn and how talking to themselves helps their cognition. Very interesting, indeed!

We all had wonderful Christmas with our 3 sets of extended family!

Hope all of you out there had a wonderful holiday season!

11/29/2009=4 months old!

I'm so behind on these posts, it's ridiculous!

But, here we are at 4 months! One of the big reasons that I've not posted in over a month is that we seem to be getting very little sleep here in the Simpson household. It seems that the little guy has decided to awaken frequently during the night. Yes, where once he slept from 7:30 to 5:30, his longest stretch now is, and this is if I'm lucky, 3 hours. And naps? Don't make me laugh! I wouldn't even begin to call what he does during the day that's sleep-related a "nap." Nope! I would refer to it as a hiatus. He will take a hiatus for 30 minutes every hour or so. So, I spend my afternoons rocking this big-ball-of-a-kid. Seriously, that's what I'm doing every afternoon. So, if you call and I don't answer, I'm on the rocking chair.

If this kid weren't so darn sweet, I'm positive that I would have sold him by now. He's has the best disposition, even if he's only operating on less than 2 hours of day-time sleep (he should be getting 4-6 hours of sleep during the day). So, my blog time and any personal time that I was getting in the past is now gone, gone, gone.

We do have some stats for you. This guy weighs over 18lbs!! At 4 months!! That puts him in the 95% for weight. He's in the 90% for height, too, although I don't have the exact figure for you now. And I'm not interested in wasting my coveted 30 minutes of no-kid time to go look for the paper on which I have his measurement written. Take my word for it: The kid's big.

Have I mentioned how sweet he is? I get comments and compliments all the time on his disposition. Annnnnd, he's rolled over several times, although I've yet to capture it on video.

That's about all I have for now. Gonna use the rest of my 30 minutes to do something productive...like, maybe, shower. Hubby'll appreciate that.