19 weeks old

Calvin had his four month check up this week and is doing great!  He is 17 lb 3 ounces and 24.75 inches tall.  He tolerated his shots better this time, but still had a pretty rough afternoon.

Current research in the allergy field says to feed high frequency allergens often between four to six months to hopefully build up immunities and prevent a severe allergy.  So, we are jumping right in with the big eight allergens.  We are just doing little taste off our fingers of each one each week.  So far he's had fish, peanut butter, and plain yogurt.  Just a small taste of each, but no reaction.  Now that he's had a taste of food, there is no turning back...he's in love!  I let him try some squash today at lunch and then at dinner I made him some baby cereal.  Looks like tomorrow I'll be making up some baby food for him.  I've got a trial kit of the kiinde foodii so I'm hoping that's going to be a good way to get a bunch of food in the freezer and feed him on the go when needed.

Trying out the jumper.

Eating cereal

Eighteen weeks old

Calvin is starting to get attached to a stuffed animal.  He fallen in love with an elephant head on a blanket.  It helps him to keep calm(er) in the car and helps him fall asleep.  He likes to hold it by his head and sometimes chews on it.  I'm trying to get him to like other similar ones too so that we aren't in trouble if this ones goes missing.

Calvin has also discovered his exersaucer this week and is loving it.  He was getting quite mad anytime we tried to lay him down in his play gym this week and was pushing up and using his legs quite a bit.  He loves being able to look around and see what's going on when he's in the exersaucer.  He plays with a couple of the toys, but mostly just uses it to see what brother is up to.

He's not a huge fan of being in his stroller for long periods of time.  He will sit in it while Caleb rides around the block or for maybe 20 minutes while we play outside, but after that he wants held.  This made for an interesting trip to the zoo.  I don't have a picture, but imagine this...Calvin in the Moby on me, me pushing the stroller, Caleb running around and doing a really good job of staying with us all while there were 16 busses of school aged children there for field trips.  Needless to say, we didn't stay too long and I'm not sure which one of us needed a nap the most!

Calvin also got to try swimming this week.  And like typical second time parents, we didn't bring the water camera so we only got a couple of pictures before Travis got in.  I wouldn't say he loved swimming, but he tolerated it.  He stayed in for about 35 minutes and then he started to seem cold.  He does still love the bath though!

Seventeen weeks old

Calvin had a pretty exciting past weekend.  He got to meet his new cousin, Sarah, and he slept 8-9 hours three nights in a row!  What a nice Mother's Day gift he gave me.  He slept from 8:00 until either 4:00 or 5:00 the last three nights.  The first night I was up from about 2-4:30 waiting for him to wake up and waiting for any news about the new baby, but the other two I have slept as well.

In other news, Calvin also rolled over back to front today.  He's only done it once, so we will see if he does it again.  He can pretty consistently get himself on his side, but only made it clear to his tummy once.

He's also really into his hands this week.  He will sit with his hands clasped together and just stare and stare at them.  He's getting pretty good at grabbing a toy that's within his reach and can bring it to his mouth to chew on.  He's also starting to be interested in putting some weight on his feet. 

So tired and ready for bed

All the great grandkids

Ready to go to swim lessons

With cousin Sarah

Loves to stare at the octopus

Enjoying the library

Hey Mom, why are you sitting back here with me?

Caleb didn't want him to play with his trucks.  

Sixteen weeks old

Likes:
- escaping his swaddle.  He usually doesn't break free until 6:30 in the morning, but one he has, it's full blown giggling.  I heard giggling coming through the monitor at 4 am yesterday and sure enough, there was a free little boy in his crib.
- sucking on his fingers.  He hasn't mastered his thumb, but if he starts to wake up before he's ready or if he's trying to put himself to sleep, two fingers go right into his mouth.  This and rubbing his own head are driving us nuts!  Another one of his self-soothing things is to rub his own head.  No matter how often I trim his nails, his head is scratched constantly.  He rubs his little fingers on his head as he falls asleep or sometimes even in his sleep.
- diaper changes.  He still loves to have a dry diaper and will give us the biggest smiles when we change him.
- his mobile.  If we turn that on as he's going to sleep, he watches it intently until his little eyes drift shut.  We usually crank it up and he's asleep before it's done playing the second time through.
- baby carriers.  He will tolerate the stroller for a while, but he prefers to be carried.  We tried out this  one yesterday and both loved it.  Haven't tried it in the pool, but it was much cooler for summer wearing.  Calvin enjoyed a 90 minute nap and I enjoyed only slightly sweating while wearing him in 80 degree weather.

Dislikes:
- bottles...Calvin has decided bottles are his arch enemy this week.  He took only 7 ounces each day at daycare (he was there three days this week) and went to bed without one both evenings in the last two weeks I was gone.
- being in the car.  I really thought we were over this one, but the past few days it's been full blown screaming the entire car ride.   Mom, Dad, and anyone else who was forced to travel with me as an infant, I sincerely apologize for my car screaming days.  If we can time it perfectly where he is a little tired, but not too tired, he will fall asleep after a bit of fussing, but if not and you find yourself in the car with us, we recommend quality ear plugs.  As Caleb put it, "I not like babies who cry."
- staying up late.  This boy is TIRED early and does not want to stay up late.  He is typically in bed by 7:30 if not before.

So serious on our walks.  Starting to hold on to his toys!

Warm enough for shorts!

Morning exercises

Bath time with brother

Fifteen weeks old

Loves his new bath seat. 

Caleb thought he needed a new hat

Calvin might just be one of the happiest babies in the world in the morning.  He is all smiles when he first wakes up.  Now if we could just get his wake up call a little later in the am, that would be wonderful! It's not terrible, but he's been wanting to be up around 6:15 lately...Travis got this video of his morning smile routine.

Fourteen weeks old

Calvin is really starting to want to be around the family more.  He used to be content to lay on the floor while we ate dinner, but now he wants to be at the table with us. He is sitting in the bumbo on the table, but we are a bit nervous that he might tip it over and fall to the ground, so we are going to get out the high chair for him this week.

Likes:
- bright colored toys.  He doesn't hold them yet, but will stare at them for a long time and is starting to reach for them
- music
- being outside when it is cloudy or overcast
- bath time...I wish we would have gotten some video of his bath on Saturday night.  He was kicking like crazy!
- diaper changes -- he loves dry diapers and loves to lay on his changing table
- sitting up
- eating and gaining weight like a crazy man.  He's in 6 month sleepers and shirts.  His 6 month pjs tonight were even a little on the short side!

Dislikes:
- being outside when it is really sunny or windy
- being held like a baby...he wants to look out at the world
- using his legs.  He has no interest in having any weight on his legs at all.  He keeps them folded underneath him instead.


It seems he's ready to be done being swaddled, but for the life of me, I can't remember how we weaned Caleb off of it!  Calvin sleeps with one arm out already and is waking up with his other arm free as well.  I put him down for a nap today with both arms out and he slept an hour.  It did take him longer to fall asleep though.

Three months old!

Not happy about the walk...scowled the entire time. 

7:00 pm nap

Dinner time with the family. 

Thirteen weeks old

Calvin sure is a happy little guy lately.  He loves his sleep, but in between naps, he's happy and smiley.  This week his schedule was three 30-60 minute naps and then one giant 2-4 hour nap each day.  Sometimes this was the first nap of the day, but usually more towards mid day.  He still doesn't like to be up more than about 60-90 minutes at a time. He sometimes ends up being awake for 2-2.5 hours in the evening only because we are trying to not let him take a nap at 7:00 at night.  We try to time it that his last nap is around 5:00, but sometimes that just doesn't happen.

The big news this week is Calvin moved to his own room and we are all sleeping great!  He's been in there four nights. The first night I woke a lot to stare at the monitor, but now I'm feeling refreshed after a better night of sleep.  Calvin grunts and kicks from about 4:30-6:30 every single morning in his sleep.  This meant I was basically awake form 4:30 on each day.  We can't hear this through the monitor so I am able to go back to sleep after his 4 am feeding.  The boys also spoiled us by both sleeping until 7:30 Saturday and Sunday!

We got to be outside a lot this weekend and Calvin is starting to like the outdoors more and more.  He will sit in his stroller and watch big brother play.  He really likes it when the neighbors stop to talk to him.  He is a social little guy and is all smiles when people peek into the stroller and talk to him.

The other big news is that Calvin's allergy tests came back as negative!  The doctor did warn us that false negatives could happen this early, but we are hopeful that isn't the case.  We also have the green light to do the early introduction of foods beginning at four months since allergies are in the family.  The current research in the allergy field is showing that severe allergies can be avoided by introducing common allergens in between 4-6 months.  I'm planning to talk with our doctor at his four month check up and our allergist to get their advice on how to do this.

Getting used to his stroller.  The toys give him something to look at and help block the sun!

Loving the sunshine!

Always watching big brother

Such a smiley little guy