~5 months old~

Wow, I have some major catching up to do! A lot has happened since our last post! Our lives have been busy and I have had no time to update our blog. Every time I would sit down and start, I would get interrupted our distracted.

Connor turned 5 months old today! It is hard to believe! And, he has changed so much over the past month or so since my last post.

Connor was put on reflux meds shortly after his 4 month check up. He was showing some classic signs of acid reflux, but it took us awhile to figure it out. He refused to be flat on his back (hense some of our sleeping troubles), he was arching his back in pain, he was spitting up, and the list goes on. I finally realized that most of our fussiness/sleeping troubles started when I stopped my reflux meds in September. Our theory is that he was getting my meds through nursing and then we I stopped taking them, his symptoms became exacerbated. The doc gave us Zantac and he had a few good weeks where he wasn't fussing at all and sleeping was going much better!

Then, teething started!!! Ha ha. Connor started to get fussy and night time became a struggle again (he had a few nights where he get up about 8 times!). A few days ago, his first tooth finally popped through! We think the 2nd one isn't very far behind! Hopefully he will get some relief from teething soon!

Another milestone Connor just recently met is rolling over! We were at my parent's house for Thanksgiving a week ago and I had him doing some "tummy time". He reached ahead of himself for a toy and inadvertently rolled from his tummy to his back! He ended up doing it 3 times in a row, but we haven't seen it again since! I don't think he meant to roll over and I don't think he's quite sure how to do it again.

Connor's laugh has gone from a little squeal to an all out chuckle! It is too cute. He is very ticklish too. He absolutely LOVES to be in his just his diaper or naked (who wouldn't?? ha ha). So, the best time to get him to laugh is either on the changing table or after his bath.

We have been having a blast giving him rice cereal. He has been chowing down on it. For a few weeks we were giving him one bowl in the evening. He started out only lasting a few mintues, but now he will eat the whole bowl easily. He knows exactly what to do and very often his mouth is open before we can have the next bite ready. Just recently we started giving him a bowl in the morning as well. We are really excited to start giving him other foods, which will probably be around Christmas time when he is 6 months old. I am going to venture into making homemade baby food.

Our Thanksgiving holiday has been extremely busy. We spent last Saturday with my family, like I just mentioned. I was supposed to be on call for the holiday (Wed-Sunday), but a coworker of mine asked me if she could take Wednesday night and Thanksgiving day. I gladly gave it to her! We ended up traveling to Ryan's family get together in Millmont, PA on Thanksgiving day (it was a surprise). I worked Friday and have been on call ever since. Ryan and Connor have had a lot of quality time together the past couple of days since I have been working!

December is a busy month for us. We have a few play dates with Jameson & Jenna and Kayla & Khloe. Ryan has two Christmas work parties that we are going to. Before we know it, Christmas will be here and it'll be 2011! We are excited to see what 2011 has to bring for our family!

Below are a few pictures from the last few weeks:

A few pictures from today...

Connor & Jameson

Rice cereal!

~4 month stats~

Connor had his 4 month doctor appointment yesterday! He is such a big boy! He weighed in at 14 lbs 15 oz and measured 25 1/4 inches long! He is in the middle of the growth charts for both height and weight. He also got 3 vaccinations (one oral, and 2 injections) and he did fairly well! He had a delayed reaction to the shots, and then cried for only about a minute. He slept a lot at home the rest of the day and was a little fussy in the evening, but he's doing great today!

We were able to talk to our pediatrician about some of the concerns/struggles we are having. Our pediatrician has a son that is 6 days younger than Connor, so it is nice that he is at the same stage we are at and understands our troubles 100 percent! He said that Connor's regression in his sleep habits is normal for this age, and that he and his wife are going through the same thing. Connor rarely sleeps more than 3 hours anymore and fights us so much when we put him down at night. We wondered if it could be teeth or hunger. The doc said his teeth are definitely there, but that it is hard to say when they will come through. He also gave us the go ahead to start rice cereal, but he didn't seem to think it would help him sleep through the night. I guess babies at this age are just becoming more aware and "smart" and are figuring out how to get what they want. He suggested trying to cut out the night time feedings because he'll get into the habit of thinking he needs to nurse every time he wakes up at night. He also suggested letting him "cry it out", but was very realistic and said that he and his wife struggle to do this too. He said he can tell us what the "right" thing is to do, but that he knows how hard it is to actually execute it.

We tried the "cry it out" method for a few days last week. The first night was hard; he cried for an hour long! But, after the first night, we seemed to see some progress. He was going down for naps and at bedtime and only fussing/crying for about 10-20 minutes. Sunday was a bad day, and we think he was in pain -- teeth? tummy ache?? -- so we decided to stop. He wasn't just crying he was screaming in pain. We were taxed out emotionally from listening to him cry so much in the past couple of days, so we decided we would try it again in a couple of weeks. We need to make a decision on how we want to go about this and stick to it.

We tried rice cereal last night! We knew going into it that it probably wasn't going to go well because he was a little fussy from his shots. But, we thought we'd give it a try anyhow. He did well, but he only lasted about 5 minutes. He made some "funny" faces and spit a good portion of it back out. I'm sure it'll take a few tries before he gets the hang of it. Plus, maybe we'll have better luck tonight if he's feeling back to normal.

Today we are getting a visit from Jenna and baby Jameson!! I'll try to get pictures of Connor and Jameson together and post an update later today!

Last week was a busy one! Connor and I had a few playdates. Last Wednesday, we got together with our friends Kayla and baby Khloe! I met Kayla and her husband, Kris, through work and they ended up being in one of our childbirth classes. Khloe is about 8 weeks older than Connor, and when we get them together, you can definitely tell the difference in age. She is rolling around all over the place! They had a lot of fun! Below are pictures of Connor & Khloe:

Last Friday, we got together with Libby & baby Emily. We also met Libby and her husband, Greg, in one of our childbirth classes. Emily was born about 2 1/2 weeks after Connor. Libby and I met up in Elizabethtown for ice cream! YUM! We dressed the kids up for Halloween and took pictures. Below is a picture from that playdate:

Last Thursday night was trick or treat night in Hummelstown. We decided to dress Connor up and walk around the neighborhood to see our neighbors and all the kids that were out. We cannot wait until he is old enough to really get into trick or treating.




Baby Dragon!


Last Tuesday, I was able to go and meet baby Jameson! He is so sweet and snuggly! I left Connor with Grammy for the day and went to keep Jenna company. Matt went back to work, so I was able to go help for the afternoon. We gabbed the whole time, as usual, and I got to love Jameson for a few hours! It is so funny because Connor is gigantic compared to him even though he is a pretty good sized newborn; his birth weight was 8 lbs 10 oz. I forgot what it is like to hold a little newborn already! It is amazing how much they change in 4 months!

Saturday was my last photography class. It was amazing to see the difference in my photographs from the beginning of the class until now. I learned a lot!! Hopefully I can keep up with it! I'm thinking about taking another class during the winter session; not a photography class, but something out of my comfort zone like painting or pottery. I've never considered myself artistic, but I think it would be fun to just see what I can do with a little instruction.

So, what new things is Connor doing?? Well, he is getting more and more interactive each day and he is getting pretty darn close to rolling over. When he is on his tummy, he can get up on his side, but he gets stuck because of his arm. I'm sure he'll roll over any day now!

Here are a few pictures to end with: