Thirty-two weeks old

This week we ventured to the Omaha zoo with cousin Sarah!  Calvin did pretty well on the trip.  He enjoyed the goats, slept a bit in the rainforest, and loved the aquarium.  He did not, however, enjoy sleeping in the pack 'n play!  I guess he's a mattress snob!

He's also decided that we are making the transition to two naps and for the most part he's doing ok.  Even if we are driving around at like 5:00 he won't give in and take that third nap.  As long as we can be outside in the evening he's not too crabby.  Hopefully the weather stays nice until he's past this transition.  Otherwise we might have to let him take more baths to keep him calm until bedtime!

Along the same lines of sleeping, try as we might, Calvin thinks it's time to be done sleeping in our arms.  He's never been a huge fan of it and has mostly preferred to fall asleep on his own in his bed, but on occasion I have been able to convince him to snuggle on me and sleep on me if we are out and about and he's tired.  Saturday night he refused to fall asleep in my arms even though we were out at a wedding until 10:00.  He would get almost asleep and then would scream and violently try to throw himself out of my arms.  Fortunately he still likes to sleep in the car and in the Ergobaby.

Hey Liz, how did you do that crawling thing?

Little snooze at the zoo. 

Listening to a story. 

Ready for the wedding!

Had a blast.

Crashed pretty hard the next day and took three LONG naps!

Mom, please give me some of your apple. 

Thirty-one weeks old

Check out how much this little guy loves his beach ball...

In other news, Calvin still loves to eat.  He's added meat to his diet and is loving that as well.  He particularly likes hamburger.  He's also tried some pork and chicken this week.

All the sudden he looks huge in this! 

Thirty weeks old

This week Calvin experienced life as an only child and he was not a fan!  Caleb spent some time with Grammy and Pops and Calvin did not like being completely alone in a room or alone in the back seat. I guess he likes the constant entertainment his big brother provides!

He's working so hard to make some type of forward motion and no having a lot of luck!  He ends up rolling over when he tries to go forward!

Here is what Calvin is into now that he's 7 months old!!!
- being outside. He gets a little crabby sometimes, but a quick trip outdoors will solve that.
- sleeping on his side.  Most nights he sleeps on his side and seems to be very comfy that way.
- eating, eating, and more eating.  He still likes to nurse, but he sure is distracted during the day so we often have to leave the room now.  He also loves his purees and finger food!  He's joining us for breakfast now, so he's up to three meals a day of table food.
- water - this kid loves to swim or take baths.
- reading books
- toys he can chew on.  No sign of teeth yet, but he loves to chew away on toys.

Twenty-eight and twenty-nine weeks old

I'd like to say the week got away from me and the boys were so crazy I didn't get a chance to sit down at the computer to write this last week, but that's not true!  The truth is, I just didn't do it.

So what have we been up to?
Calvin did a lot of sleeping and caught his second cold which led to some rough nights of sleep.  He falls asleep great, but in the night his nose gets so stuffy that he can't get back to sleep easily. Nursing or his pacifier don't really help because he's so stuffed up he has to breathe out of his nose.  The Nose Freida is working great, but it does make him really, really mad and wakes him up.

He had his 6 month check up this week and is doing great!  Shots didn't go that great for him, but that's normal for him.  He barely cried when he got them, but was feeling pretty crummy for the next 24 hours.  Fortunately he slept well.

He's started finger food and boy does he love it!  He's not the best at actually getting the food into his mouth, but he's trying so hard!  He can get the food into his hand, but it's in his palm instead of his fingers so it's hard to get in his mouth.  We started with Gerber Puffs and then have moved on to bites of what we are eating.

Calvin met his fall baby-sitter and seemed to like her!  He's not a fan of new people, but he did well with her and actually let her calm him down when I was in the same room when he got upset.  Hopefully this goes well.  He did great with our summer baby-sitter, but she is going to college out of town next week :(  Calvin will stay home with our new sitter two mornings a week while Caleb is at pre-school and I am working.

Calvin has no interest in trying to crawl.  He's gotten quite proficient at rolling, but would really prefer to just sit up and watch the world around him.

He graduated completely from the swaddle.  We were using it just on his legs, but we've quit and sleep hasn't been affected at all. He still goes to sleep well and sleeps just as long.  He's usually side sleeping now, but sometimes on his belly.  He's rarely on his back anymore, so hopefully his flat head rounds out!

Brothers playing together

Feeling icky

Loves to sit outside

First night with no swaddle...I wish he would learn to turn his own head to the side.  Instead I go turn it for him once he's asleep. 

Twenty-seven weeks old

Calvin had a great week this week visiting Storm Lake, Iowa.  He got to play in the sand for the first time and hand out with cousin Sarah.  He's trying really hard to reach for things out of reach and is getting quite frustrated that he can't get to things!  His love for books is continuing as is his love for food, but we have found something he doesn't like...watermelon.

Loving the water hitting his toes. 

He kicks his feet whenever he's in the water.  Maybe I should have signed him up for swim lessons this fall!

Reading to Sarah.

All smiles in the sunshine!

Listening at story time...no one tell him it was for three year olds!

Aunt Ashley and Uncle Chris will be so proud...he loves the football. 

Twenty-six weeks old

And just like that, our little guy is celebrating his half birthday!

Six months old!

At six months old, here is what he is into:
- eating...have yet to find a food he hasn't liked.  We've done sweet potatoes, avocado, broccoli, green beans mixed with potato and kale, fig mixed with turnip and pear, carrots mixed with cauliflower, bananas, some applesauce, lots of bits and pieces of whatever we are eating, and some baby oatmeal. So far, if it's food, he's loving it!

- sitting up.

Look at him, sitting up!  Oh and Caleb decided he needed shoes, so he wore his first pair of shoes today. 

- books.  He's decided he doesn't want to miss out on nighttime books so he won't nurse while we read with Caleb anymore.  He's also starting to chew on books and look at the pictures.

Bedtime books

Keeps the book in hand even when he falls. 

- putting things in his mouth.  If he can reach it, it's in his mouth.  He got his hands on the celery and croutons while we were at Hy-Vee and was trying to chew on both of them!

- Baths - This little man loves to kick his feet in the water

- His bed and his teddy bear/cow/elephant.  When it's bed time or nap time, if he's in his own bed with one of his stuffed animals, he will kick all around and roll about and then snuggle up and go to sleep.

- His big brother.  He loves to watch whatever Caleb is doing.  A favorite activity is when Caleb dances and Calvin watches from his exersaucer.

Twenty five weeks old

Calvin has been up to no good this week...he can sit on his own now for about 20 seconds and is getting faster at rolling. No picture of the sitting up yet...goal for this week! He's also decided he wants solids twice a day and wants a lot of them!  I've yet to let him eat until he stops eating and instead just stop when I think he should so that he still nurses and gets most of his nutrition from that.

He took his first trip to Arkansas this weekend for some time at the lake.  He wasn't a huge fan of wearing his life jacket and since there was no actual benefit to him being on the boat, he didn't spend much time there.  He did take a nap one day on the boat and kicked his feet in the water the next.  Mostly, he just enjoyed hanging out at the cabin and being entertained by his cousins.  He did great on the car ride down, but was a little restless on the car ride home.  He kept dropping his toys and was frustrated he couldn't get a good view of what Caleb was doing.  He did sleep quite a bit and was pretty happy when I would sit by him.