Upsizing

Last night at about 19 weeks old, we decided to give Oliver some more space. We moved bathtime from the kitchen sink to the bathtub. He can't sit up yet, but he had a good time splashing daddy while laying on his cushion.

He was already in his own room, but we also moved Oliver from his small co-sleeper bed into his crib. We discovered that it had a mean lean to it, but we managed to fix it up, and Oliver slept like a champ last night (yes, a 3:30am brief wakeup is still considered good sleep). And it's a good thing too, because I wasn't sure what we were going to do once he starts to grow out of all of his infant things - which he's doing so quickly!

Four Month Update

Oliver had his four-month doctor's appointment last week, so taking the opportunity to check in again.

First, I am now keeping track of months by the calendar, instead of weeks. So, the 8th of every month is now his birthday! Hard transition to make after pregnancy, which counts by the weeks.

Oliver's measurements come in at: 18lbs, 11.5oz (99th percentile), 27in long (99th percentile) and his head is 43.5cm (80th percentile). The doctor went across the curve chart, and Oliver is the equivalent in size to an average (50th percentile) 7-month-old. He's a big boy. I've packed up all of the 3 month clothes, and pulled out of lot of 9 and 12-month clothes.

He's now playing with toys - holding rattles and small toys. He is shoving everything in his mouth. The pediatrician calls this mouthing, which means he's just practice teething, until suddenly teeth show up, and then its teething. He's drooling a lot and biting down on anything he can get his mouth on. Oliver now sleeps in his own room, in his smaller bassinet. Next step is the crib, which starts this week. He often sleeps 7 to 9 hours without waking (although occasionally throws in waking up after an hour, or just periodically throughout the night). The only catch is that he doesn't go down for the night until 11:30 or midnight. He sleeps with a noise machine, which I think helps, and is quite soothing for us when we hear it through the monitor all night.

Oliver has started to "hug" - wrapping his arms tightly around you. But he also PINCHES when he does this - usually on the underside of your arm or your neck. The sensitive parts that hurt! But, he's sitting up with assistance, and holds his neck up like a champ. We've started giving him a lot of chances on his tummy, since he doesn't like to stay there for long until he cries, but occasionally he rolls himself over from front to back. This is all in preparation for crawling. He likes to look at himself in the mirror, and he's started to notice, if just a little bit, other babies. He's very aware when I'm not around and will eventually start to cry, but he does let other people hold him, thank goodness. We take him out to dinner with us and he does very good - just sleeping. So we've been trying to do that as much as possible these days.

Can't wait for him to start enjoying his playmates - Opal, Wesly and Asher. And to welcome a few more waiting in the wings!

Winter Blowout

Mitchell was in charge of Oliver during a 3 hour ladies spa excursion today. I felt a bit bad that he cried on and off the entire time, per usual. So while I was feeding him after I got home and Mitchell says he needs to help the neighbor "move something" with two beers in his hand, I say go ahead - he deserved a break. And this is what transpired.

A few minutes later while nursing, Oliver loudly craps his pants. I patiently wait for him to finish. I pick him up and realize his back is damp. He managed to poop out of his diaper, through his onesie, shirt, overalls, and into MY pants. I drag him to the sink, peel his sticky layers of clothes off while holding him to stand, get everything out for a bath with one arm, warm up the water and clean off the poo-slick that covers his back from the shoulder blades, on down. During the impromptu "bath" I find myself also counter-spraying his pee spray with the kitchen faucet, and cleaning off spitup from his front.

I take the opportunity to get him in his jammies and into bed. I then change my own pants, throw his outfit away (sometimes, it's just not worth it) and sit on the couch. Mitchell comes back and says, "what's going on?" I don't feel as bad about the crying anymore. ;)

I did capture a shot of the onesie for perspective.

Photos with Santa

Pay no attention to the fact that Santa looks different in the photos.... or the $1,600(!?!?!) dental bill I had just received. Randomly selected Santa photo day at the vet to get the boys' teeth cleaned, and subsequently several of them pulled. Hence the reason they look a little F'd up in the photo they took after because, uh, they were. Pretty cute, though.

And we received Oliver and Opal's photos via a photo order site. So glad we did it. The pediatrician recommended we do it this year, because next year we'll probably get the screaming photo.

Oliver Out and About

I should have gotten a photo today. Burned Oliver's sleeping time with a drive out to Hillsboro and lunch, so he was awake and wanting to be held by the time we made it to our manicure appointment. Great... I held him for a bit, but then I needed both hands. So the guy went in the back and recruited the ladies who were not working at the moment to hold him. They whisked him to the back (where I could still see him) and he totally hung out with them contentedly for 10 minutes or so. Hilarious. I tipped the guy well, and felt bad for not paying the ladies!

On a side note, Andie suggested I get shellac instead of regular polish, since it bakes on and is then dry, so I wouldn't ruin them with Oliver. Verdict: so far, so great!

This story also reminds me of all of the other places that Oliver will be someday be embarrassed having been with me to:

• The nail salon
• The hair salon (Wednesday he actually insisted on sitting on my lap through the whole color process, but did fall asleep just in time for shampoo!)
• The bra store - "Just Like a Woman"
• The ladies lounge in Nordstrom
• Mom & Baby yoga
• OBGYN appointments
• Hanging out in my bathroom
• Shopping

Please remind me if I've forgotten any... Te he he

A few more gift ideas

Still shopping for Oliver and I? Probably not. But we could use:

Music. I've been enjoying the Rockabye Baby - Good Day, Goodnight CD where they make lullaby versions of popular songs. Soothing for Oliver to listen to, and still entertaining for me. I here the lyrics in my head while I listen and sing along (not very well, but Oliver doesn't care). I know they have a lot of versions, including country. Other music is good, too. And then some is truly terrible.

Kid's books. It's amazing how quickly it feels like you've read everything in the collection too many times.

Paci Tether. We've gone from 3 to 8 pacifiers, and somehow they're even harder to find. And the worst is when we make it out of the house without one. So, attaching one to Oliver in the morning just makes sense. It needs to be something that works with his funky soothie pacifiers, and it looks like this kind with a thin loop would work.

First Visit to Santa

Oliver and his girlfriend Opal visited Santa this weekend. We even managed to find one not at the mall. Not a lot of smiles - Oliver was very serious - but no real tears from either of them. So cute! Waiting to get the official photos. We should have had them sit together, but we didn't. :( We always have the Easter Bunny...

They look so nervous!