Playing with the camera

As many of you know I like to take lots of pictures.  For Christmas Margaret's parents bought us a really nice DSLR to get great pictures of Josh and I've certainly taken advantage.  At this point I've taken about 2400 pictures, mostly of Josh so far with this camera.  I'm certainly not a pro and I don't know how to use all of its features, but it has been fun to try to capture Josh over the last several months.

Today we were playing with Josh and here are some of the pictures we took (Google Plus made the grid picture and video):

Take me out to the ballgame

Today Margaret and I took Josh to his first of what I expect to be many baseball games!  We went with my mom and step-dad Don.  We saw the Nationals play the Rockies.  Unfortunately Josh's first baseball did not go as well as I hoped.  Josh was cranky and hot (so was I) so he was not in a good mood.  We had great seats behind the 3rd base dugout but unfortunately the Nationals did not cooperate to making Josh a winner.  They got down early 7-0 which made me join Josh in a sour mood.  Margaret walked around with Josh and fed him which put him in a better mood. She also ran into a friend, Natalia and her son Riggins (6 months), who were also avoiding the heat and sun. Riggins was very nice and shared his stroller so that Josh could take a short nap. We stayed for most of the game and the Nationals did make a comeback but fell short.

It was really nice to get out to a game this season.  However the game was a reminder that it is very difficult to plan things with a baby.  Josh was not in a good mood and it made it difficult to watch the game. It was really good to have my Mom and Don there to help us with Josh.  We learned some lessons about how to bring a baby to the stadium and hope that his next game will be better! It will also help if the Nationals play better. :-)

 

Trouble maker!!

I normally put Josh on the floor on a playmat surrounded by interesting toys while I shower in the morning. I leave the door slightly open so that I can hear him or peak out of the shower and see him on the floor. So far this has been working well. He is too interested in the things that I leave for him to travel very far, and I moved anything that was in his room that he might get into that could harm him. However, this morning I heard him on the move and had a feeling he might not be where I left him....and I was right.

I scooped him up and took him to our bedroom while I got ready for work, and all he wanted to do was investigate the space heater and the power strip....no matter where I put him, that is where he ended up.

Finally I got smart, and put him next to my full length mirror. He was SOOOO excited and interested in the other baby, it made for some very cute photos :-)

Friend or foe...too soon to tell

Julian and I have been waiting for Josh to notice Jeter. He finally is showing some interest! Jeter for the most part wants nothing to do with Josh. Josh is still too slow to catch her, but we'll have to see what happens as he gets older :-)

On the move!

So as we mentioned in the 5 month update, Josh has been doing some "scooching". It is not quite crawling, because his stomach is still on the floor...however he has a full range of mobility. Here is a video from Monday...he has already improved since then and is getting much faster. He will go after anything electronic (or otherwise not for babies) that you place within view. This morning I left him on the floor for a few minutes while I was getting ready and found him eating my stash of bed bath and beyond coupons! I think we have a weekend of baby proofing ahead of us!

These coupons are expired, that means I can eat them right??

5 Months

We can't believe it but Josh is five months old!  No doctors appointment this month so we don't have official stats but we believe Josh is now around 17.5 lbs.  He's still putting on lots of weight but now he's getting more active so we hope the weight gain will slow down.  This past month he rolled over from his back to his stomach for the first time.  Now he does it very quickly and almost every time we put him down.  He is also rolling multiple times so the days of us putting Josh down and him still being where we left him are over.  He has also been scooching around with his arms, and looking like he wants to crawl. He's playing with toys much more and able to reach and grab for them.  His scooching allows him to get some of his toys he used to not be able to reach.

We were worried Josh would have a four month sleep regression but so far it hasn't been an issue.  We are now consistently putting him to bed at 7:30 and he will sleep until at least 5am (sometimes as late as 7!).   He seems to have an alarm hidden somewhere in his room to wake him each morning even when he does get to sleep a bit later.

Aside from constant drooling and chewing on everything, we haven't seen any real signs of teething but we are keeping an eye out.

At our four month appointment the doctor recommended a new body lotion to help with his eczema which has improved it greatly. For those interested it is Curel Itch-Defense with ceremide. It is not completely gone but it is getting much better.

On Friday we gave Josh solid foods for the first time (the term solid is very relative here)!  We gave him rice cereal mixed with breastmilk which formed a slightly thicker substance.  Josh didn't seem to mind the taste of it but he didn't get the idea that he needed to swallow the food.  He was very excited about the spoon and kept grabbing it and pulling it to his mouth. He got lots of food in his mouth and even more on his face.  We are going to try again and see how it goes.

Josh continues to be smiley and playful, always happy to get attention.  We can't wait to see what this next month of his life brings us!

Yummy!

Enjoying the spoon more than the food

Beware electronics near Josh!

Back to work

Sorry for the blog silence this week, but both Julian and I are back to work full time now. We hired a college student to nanny for us for the summer so that I can finish my thesis. We decided to go with a more "temporary" child care solution while I decide what I want to do next with my career. She has worked a few days a week the past few weeks, but this was the first full week for us all. So far things are going far better than I had feared! I worked from home the first week to make sure the transition went smoothly. Josh was very difficult about taking a bottle at first, but has finally adjusted nicely. It has been more difficult than I realized to find childcare in our area, so I'm glad this seems to be working out. For now Julian has been going into work early, while I wait for the nanny to arrive. Then Julian is home by 4:30, and I get home a bit later. I am also trying to work from home or the library when I can, so that I don't have to waste 2 hrs commuting. It has certainly been tough for me to leave him each day, but this is all the more motivation to finish my thesis quickly :-)