Week 36 and 37

Busy, busy at our house again.  These blog posts are taking back seat to grand-opening!  In my defense, I did actually have a post drafted for week 36, but the pictures I wanted are on Travis' computer and I've been in bed before he's gotten home every night except two for the past three weeks...soon, I'll get up baptism pics.

Here is what Calvin is up to:
- A new tooth -- he has his second one on the bottom and it was not accompanied by the rash, so next week we will try corn again.

- A cold -- poor little boy was so stuffed up.  He wanted to sleep well, but couldn't breathe with his pacifier in, so he was up a lot...like the longest he slept for seven days was three hours in a row.  Couldn't this have waited until Mom and Dad weren't running around like crazy opening a new store?  Oh well, he was at least napping like a champ (4-5 hours a day), so he wasn't crabby.

- pulling up -- we're convinced Calvin is going to be our "wild child." And true to that, he decided the best place to pull up for the first time would be the bath tub!  He did it once in there and since has done it a couple of times in the living room.  He doesn't have a lot of things that are the perfect height for him, but now that he's figuring out, I'm sure he'll try other objects!  Caleb used our coffee table, but that has long since been moved out of the living room.

- He's sure getting faster at crawling and has even started to crawl around the yard.  He prefers to be on his blanket when outside, but will do it some.  He will crawl from the living room to come find us if we are in a different room.  He's not very quiet and often giggles as he heads for Caleb's room.

- He hasn't started cruising around yet, in fact he doesn't move his legs at all and more of just leans and stretches if he wants to get to something else when standing.

- Playing peek-a-boo.  I've never seen a baby love to play this so much!  If he's upset in the car, I hand him a blanket and he starts it up and giggles come quickly.

And look, he can even reach in and grab the toys!

So proud of himself!  He pulled up all by himself.

Loves wrapping paper!

Such a happy guy. 

Absolute favorite toy right now

His shirt says "my mom's cool."  Wonder if he'll feel that way in 13 years...

World's best teether!

Sad his big brother shut the gate in his face. 

I'll try to post the actual baptism pictures next week...if I ever get to see Travis again!  Or maybe I'll make him leave his computer behind if he has to head to the store after dinner.

Thirty-four and thirty-five weeks old

Busy month in our house...trying the best to keep up on the posts, but fell a bit behind.  Oh well!

I really try not to be one of "those moms."  You know, the ones who obsess about their kids sleep habits and nap times, but lets face it, sleep of the youngest person in the family can determine the mood of the entire family.  And let me tell you, the mood of our family this week, was excellent!  Moving to two naps has been wonderful for all.  Somehow Calvin is sleeping more during the day with two naps than with three. His morning nap has increase to 1-1.5 hours and his afternoon nap is pushing 2.5-3 hours.  His nights are about the same as before...I've given him the six week warning before we address that.  Bed between 7-8 depending on how tired he seems, up once in the night (somewhere between 1-4), up once early morning (5:30-6:30), and up for the day between 6:45-7:30.

It was a big week in Calvin's mouth this week as he got his first tooth!  He hadn't been showing really any signs of teething and I just assumed it was a ways away still (Caleb was 11 months before his first).   Wednesday night at swim lessons I put my finger in his mouth and got poked by a sharp tooth!  He then got a bit feverish and you could tell he didn't feel the best.  He slept pretty good, just needed a little bit more help getting to sleep.

Unfortunately, it appears we are heading down the allergy road again.  This past Wednesday around 3:00 I changed his diaper and noticed his belly and legs were covered in a rash.  It quickly spread to his entire body.  I began to get nervous and started thinking of any new foods and corn was the only new one.  He had it for the first time Tuesday night.  Travis put the kids to bed that night while I was at book club and I remembered him saying Calvin threw up, but I didn't think too much of it. Well he had the corn Tuesday for dinner and again Wednesday for lunch.  The rash faded a bit Wednesday and then darkened Thursday.  By Friday morning looked really, really bad, so I took him to the clinic.  They said yes, definitely an allergic reaction, and probably to the corn if that was the only new thing. He's on Claritin and a cream to help with the itching.  In two-three weeks we will try corn again to see if the same thing happens.

Calvin is still mostly army crawling, although he does get his knees under him sometimes.  He's getting stronger and willing to go longer distances.  He still does use rolling to get around too.  He's made it back to sitting once, so we went ahead and lowered his crib down this weekend.  He's not pulling up yet, but we still had it up on the highest level!

He's also eight months old!  Some of his favorite things include:
- eating -- eats anything and everything!  Unfortunately it doesn't appear he has the same 6th sense as Caleb about eating foods he's allergic to.  He especially loves to eat things he can feed himself.  Peas have been a big hit lately.
- playing with Caleb's toys!  Caleb is learning that some things have to be kept up, but he's also learning he has to share with his brother.
- bath time -- he splashes around and flips over to his belly and kicks all over.  He does a pretty good job of keeping his head up, but still freaks me out a little!
- balls -- he loves to sit up and hit a ball over and over again.  He's especially fond of a beach ball and spends a lot of time playing with that when we are outside.
- being outside -- this little guy is in for a rude awakening shortly when we can't be outside as much.

This was when I took him in...it got a bit worst after that, but is looking better now.  

Very serious boys on the trolley

If I smile really big, can I stay up for the game?

Loves my phone!

Thirty-three weeks old

Was sucking on his toes, but let go right when I took a picture. 

We're in trouble now...someone is really starting to figure out this crawling thing!  I have a video, but can't get it to post and don't want to take the time to figure it out.

We have a clapper!  Now of course not when I try to video it.  In fact, much like older brother, he instantly stops when the camera comes out.

We're working on transitioning to two naps this week, and it's been ok.  If I can get the middle of the day nap longer than 45 minutes, he does great, but when he won't go back to sleep after his first sleep cycle, it makes for a long evening.  I tried having him take a third nap on those days, but he's a bear to put down late afternoon. I end up fighting him for 45 minutes and giving up most of the time anyways!  Hopefully a few more days and he will be used to a long middle of the day nap.  His morning one is almost always 55 minutes exactly.

We found a food he doesn't like...apricots and golden beets.  He instantly spits it out and won't open his mouth up for another bite.  I'll try again in a few days, but honestly, I don't blame him.  I took a bite and it's not good.

Loves his books

Favorite toy right now.  He loves to dump everything out. 

This is another favorite, but needs close supervision.  He likes to pull it onto himself as he lays down. 

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.