When you give a mouse a cookie.

I turn around for a minute, and "someone" (who shall remain nameless--mom!) gave Michael an oreo. *tsk tsk*

10 Things I love About Michael--2

Mommy and Michael. <3

It's been about four months since I last posted a "10 Things I Love About Michael" post. Figured that many things have changed and many things have been discovered since then. So why not?

•  I love that little high pitched squeal you do when you get excited. It makes me laugh and I try to do whatever it was to make you do it again.
• I love how when you wake up before I do (and I'm now semi-asleep), you tap my face with your hand to wake me up.
• I love how when we cuddle in bed, you extend your arm and touch my shoulder--you are wrapping your arms around me.
• I love how you seem to cry out, "Ma!" when crying. I don't know if you are officially crying out for me or my name, but let's pretend that you are.
• I love how now you are trying to crawl. That little humping motion you do is hilarious. "Ready. Set. ___"
• I love how you KNOW who your grandparents are. You absolutely adore my parents and they you. Head butts are what you and my dad share.
• I love how you will eat everything! No matter what solid I give you, you seem to like it.
• I love how excited you get over Elmo singing. Especially over his theme song, "Elmo's World."
• I love how you chase over Jambi in the walker. He has officially become your dog. Poor thing. Ha!
• I love your determination. Once you want something, you let everyone and everything know about it.

Aside from my favorite things that I love about my little guy, I wanted to mention how excited I am that my birthday is around the corner. Yep. I turn thirty one years old and this time around, I get to have my little guy to blow the candles with. Last year, he was in my belly. I'm so excited over the many "First Holidays" we are getting to enjoy this year with Michael. All beginning with Easter and are now on our way to enjoying one of my favorite holidays--Halloween. We will be celebrating this year by going to the local zoo's Boo at the Zoo festivities. Quite possibly, we may even go trick-or-treating. Soon after, Thanksgiving. This Thanksgiving is a wee bit special for me. Last year, on that exact date (Nov. 24th), we found out that we were having a boy. So I get a bit nostalgic when I hear about this year's Thanksgiving. Christmas will be loads of fun, like every year, but this year will be that much more special with him. I cannot wait for this holiday season. <3

Six Months. Seis. Where has the time gone?!

He's actually 6.5mos right now. Life got crazy. Oops!

Weight & Length:

Michael turned six months on the 4th. I know, I'm a little late. I just hate having to guess what his measurements are, so I wait for either our nurse to come visit or to have some sort of appointment for proper measurements.

Weight: 17lbs

Length: 27 3/4

Sleep & Naps:

Since Michael is teething and from the looks of it, it will soon end with the set of teeth he is starting to get right now, his sleep has regressed a little. He goes down for the night at 8:30pm and won't wake up until 1:30am. Which is decent since it's no longer every 2 hours like it was in the beginning. Luckily, he is down for the night until 5:30am and then finally up for the day at 7:30am. It's not as bad, but sometimes, I wish we could go back to a FULL night--wishful thinking, right?

His naps are somewhat consistent right now. He wakes up at 7:30 and then takes his first nap at 9:00am. Once again is back down for another hour at 11:30. I actually like this schedule since it makes my day predictful in the mornings. I know when I can eat and when I can shower. Then after that, everything revolves around the "when's the next nap?"

Feedings:

He's still at 6oz and has begun solids. We aren't quite doing it as an every day thing, but we know he can actually do solids. After this week, we start solids full time. So far his favorites include:

-Carrots

-Apples

-Sweet Potato

-Bananas

-Green Beans

-Pears

-Oatmeal

-Rice cereal

Diapers:

Still in size 3 diapers.

Nicknames:

Monkey! Chulo! or Papa.

Personality:

Nothing much has changed since his previous update. Only difference now is, he has discovered Elmo. Oh my goodness is he a fan! He will squeal and get all wiggly if he sees him on screen. In fact, he knows that my laptop houses the red furball, so when he sees my laptop, he starts banging his hands on it trying to do a search. Too cute!! He also recognizes, "Elmo's World." He’s also learned how to blow bubbles and loves chasing our dog, Jambi, all over the house. Jambi has officially become his dog.

Milestones:

•     He's all over the place when it comes to rolling.
•     He is mobile now when he is in his walker; goes around everywhere.
•     He has discovered Jambi, our Jack Russell Mix.
•     He recognizes certain tunes (Elmo's World) and people.
•     He has begun blowing bubbles. This is funny when a conversation ensues and he blows one. Quite     appropriate might I’d say. lol

Oh! Here comes Peter Cottontail....

Long before Michael was "Michael", he was just a dream. A wish. A few years back, Husband and I talked continuously about what our first born would be like. Would baby be a girl? A boy? What would the nursery look like? All of those questions you ask when you really wish for something. During one of those talks, we were shopping at Target. Oh how we love Target. Anyhoo, during our brisk walk through the Dollar Bin aisles I ran into a section full of Peter Cottontail items. I grabbed everything that I could: Shopping Lists, pens, story books (mini and full sized), and Peter himself. I told my Husband, "I'm going to keep these in a box until my own little rabbit comes into our lives." That was 4 years ago.

Now that my own Peter Rabbit has come into our lives, I finally introduced the two yesterday. He would not let go.

Side not: Michael was born around Easter time.

'round and round we'll go...

Guess who had fun at the local mall's carousel ride? 

 

Wow! Five Months Old!

Five months old as of Sept. 04. | Meet "Patito Loco" (Crazy Ducky), I <3 his eyes!

Weight & Length:

As of yesterday, September 09 Michael is 15lbs with 10oz. That's almost two pounds since his last monthly update. Since birth, he's gained almost a full 10lbs! Wow! As for his length, he is *almost* 27inches! He has grown oh so much since Michael arrived.  Having grown seven inches is quite impressive! I don't quite know what his percentages are, but I'll ask his pediatrician next week.

Sleep & Naps:

In our Four month update, I let you guys know that his schedule was all wonky. His sleep schedule was thrown off by an hour, even though we kept with his regular routine of bath, bottle, and bedtime routines. Now, he's finally sleeping through the night. Halleluiah! This is an awesome gift to have. I know I shouldn't get too excited since I'm sure a growth spurt/regression is around the corner. However, for now, I will enjoy it. 

Nap time is the same. He takes a nap two hours after he wakes up in the morning, then another two hours after that, and so forth until two o' clock, which is his last nap. He'll surprise us sometimes and sneak another one in there.

Feedings:

He has added two extra ounces to his feedings now. Michael has gone from a very long term 4 ounces to a very filling 6 ounces. Nice, right? Must be what gets him to sleep through the night. 

We have started to toy with solids a bit, but they aren't a part of his daily diet, yet. They are around the corner. I can feel it.

Diapers:

He is now fully into size three :)

Nicknames:
Monkey! Chulo! or Papa.

Personality:

(Basically nothing has changed, so I'll CTRL+C from the last update)
Bath time. He loves to kick the water around. He also loves his play gym. It's routine for him to start his day off with the play gym. Wakes up and is eager to start his day. He also loves walks in the mornings and evenings with either Jambi or Zeus. Loves visiting his grandparents. He especially loves my dad. He loves to talk, a lot!

He hates dirty diapers and the car seat. He hates them. I think he loathes being buckled in a lot more than actually being in it. Naps!! He hates them. He will nap and wake up at his regular wake up time, but it's putting him to sleep that is a struggle. Most days it's fine, but sometimes it feels like I am buckling a bronco.

Milestones:

• He can now roll from his tummy back to his back! Last month it was just all tummy. :)
• Sleeping through the night. Again, Halleluiah!
• He can grab things when they are handed to him
• Almost a self sitter, right now he's still a supported one.
• Babbling like a crazy fool!
• Self soothing after a nap.

I can haz sleep now?!

Since his first few weeks of birth, we've always had a schedule for his bedtime routine and it had always worked, until now. For the past couple of weeks, my husband Stevan and I have been having trouble putting Michael down for the night, and during the week, I've been having trouble putting him down for his scheduled naps. He just fights it. For his naps, Michael will stiffen and shriek when I try to rock him. I've tried singing, I've tried the white noise turtle he has with the night light sky. He just hates sleeping, which is funny in itself since he wakes up cooing and ready to play.

His bedtime routine consists of the following:
{7:30pm} Getting his bath ready.
{7:45pm} He is in the tub all squeaky clean. He'll splash around for a minute or two and then he's out.
{8:00pm} Michael will be get a gentle massage with lotion and have his PJs put on.
{8:30pm} Michael gets his final bottle for the night and he is "usually" out.


However, it's not working anymore. He wakes up every hour until 11pm. This is not good. I have a husband who has to be up by 3am to get ready for work and so I have to deal with the night time feedings. Although Steve helps putting him down by giving baby Michael a bath every night, the full on night time routine is all mine, along with the daytime naps and everything else. I have been at the point where I now need sleep. My body can't take too much more of waking up every 2-3 hours every night and walking around this world with little to no sleep, that is until now.


Let's hope and pray that this is his new routine! Let's hold hands and just wish really hard that he will continue to sleep through the night like he has been for the past four nights. If he does wake up, it's for only one feeding at 3am. This new schedule is so doable! I'm hoping he doesn't regress because now I have been waking up with more energy than I ever thought I would ever get!


As for his naps, we are still working on it. As long as I get most of my night time sleep, I can handle the battle of the dreaded nap during the day.

Thank you sleep training!! I hope I haven't counted my chicks before they have been hatched.


(PS. I just recently discovered that I don't have to rock him for his naps. The bouncer does that work for me Ha! Bouncer FTW!)