Taking a Bath

SLEEP

Dr. Newman told us we had to stop feeding Nate at night--he was generally waking once between 1-4am to eat. She said he could go without food (he's 17 pounds now!) and he should learn to do it sooner rather than later. We discussed this with great fear and after a couple glasses of wine, Michael proposed an alternative: I could opt out of the whole experience if I got a new tattoo. I decided to stick it out. Night one: Nate wakes at 3 and cries straight until 4, then is quiet. He wakes at 7:30 happy and naps well all day. Night two: Nate wakes at 4 and cries until 4:30 then sleep until 8! He wakes so happy he doesn't even call out for us--and then proceeds to eat an enormous amount of yogurt (his new fave.) How did we get so lucky?

Nate at 6

We reached a milestone--six months! And just around this birthday, Nate finally rolled over (which sounds like a puppy I know--there are a lot of child/pet similarities which I excitedly pointed out to members of my mom group who looked at me like I was an alien. But still.) He rolled back to front on the floor first (see picture--we were both kind of surprised.) And now in the mornings we find him in the crib on his stomach--weird for a boy who despises tummy time almost as he despises avocado (see video.)

Nate's First Kiss (with beautiful Tessa)

Sweet Potato

This morning was the first successful attempt at eating solids! We gave Nate a little bit of homemade mashed sweet potato (made in my new baby-food cooker--thanks Aunt Brook!) and he ate it without spitting it out, crying, shuddering or gagging (all of which he did during past attempts.) Progress?

Nate's organic nightmare.....

Yesterday we stopped by the grocery store...

Five months!

It’s been a while since we posted and Nate has only gotten cuter. He’s babbling a lot—mostly gibberish words that start with the letter “b.” He’s very smiley and even giggles quite a bit when you make silly faces or splash him in the bath. He has the best laugh—throwing his head back with a huge grin and kind of gasping. He can hold things now and even hold his feet and he is sometimes sleeping through the night—sometimes waking once to eat. We tried solids—cereal, banana, applesauce but he HATED it all, gagging dramatically as if we were feeding him gasoline-- so we’re going to wait and try again in a few weeks.

So far he’s a love— a sweet, good-natured, happy kid who seems to like being around people and excited about new challenges.

Although yesterday I left him in the swing with his stuffed friend we call “Seth” and then heard him cry out. Turns out he had lost Seth—or rather he had inadvertently put Seth on his head and then couldn't find him (see above).