We Are Thankful For...Our Son

Its been quite a long time since my last blog update. Well over a month, actually. The issue was timing and really nothing more. We planned a very long trip back to Chicago to see family so Billy could meet most of his relatives for the very first time. The problem was that the date we left correlated with the date I typically update the blog, so the last blog update weekend was skipped all together. Well, all that means is this blog update will have to be super long and feature a boatload of pictures to make up for it. So here we go.

To kick us off will be the first of a couple major milestones that Billy has begun to break through. Always the biter, his little clamping gums were quite powerful. If he caught a knuckle in there just right, you'd certainly feel it. Well, a couple weeks ago, the little guy added a little razor blade into that equation, better known as a tooth. As of the typing of this email, that little tooth has a friend right along side of him in the center of the bottom gumline. When Billy decides to use that on your hands now, you have to correct him. We are trying to teach him not to bite at an early age, but I know that with those teeth coming in, that's going to be an uphill battle.

Aside from his new set of jibs he has coming in, he's also changing in the height/weight categories. Billy's up to 19 lbs. now on the scale at home and is measuring out at 26.5" to 27" in length (he doesn't seem to want to stay still for an exact measurement though. His growth seems to be steady and he's filling out quite well. Even his hair is beginning to grow in toward the back, so his Mother's fear that he would remain essentially bald until he was about two years old like his Father did may go unrealized. We'll see.

Before we get into the trip back to Chicago, which is the primary subject of this entry, we had one more major event. The Grand Opening of my new bank in Jacksonville. Of course Billy and Antoinette came to join in the fun as we arranged for jumping jacks and ball pits for the kids, a full spread of catered Southern BBQ, martial arts exhibitions in the lobby, and lots of giveaways to the customers and members of the community that came out to support us.

Luckily, the entire family was able to stay for the entire four hour event and meet the staff and bank executives that were present. Even little Billy found himself mingling with the whose who of the banking establishment of the South. But before long, the little man wound up running out of gas. Oh well. He tried. And for his efforts, he left with about two dozen Fifth Third Bank Grand Opening balloons that were fun trying to fit into the truck. But the little guy likes balloons, so why not. Before any of you respond to this, we don't allow him to be by himself with balloons. I can see the emails coming already...

So, let's get to the meat and potatoes of this blog update. Or should I say, the turkey and the stuffing. It was Billy's first Thanksgiving, so we figured, what the hell. Let's give him two. We'll head back to Chicago to see family on an absolutely insane trip that would encompass traveling with a 6 month old child strapped into a car seat for 42 hours of total driving over a 6 day time span and we would drive through 7 states, stopping to visit family in 3 of those states. Could we have flown? Maybe, but with our desire to have as much of Billy's stuff as possible up there to use as we moved from home to home on this whirlwind tour and knowing we would inevitably be coming home with much more than we left Florida with, we thought it wiser to take the truck.

So after a long day of work, I got home in time to finish packing the truck and Antoinette and I hit the road for 18 hours of driving, straight through the night, with the intention of hitting Chicago by early the next morning. Being late in the year, it was soon dark and Billy was fast asleep. Luckily for us, he basically slept the entire car ride. Before long, we were in Atlanta and all of her late night traffic, Chattanooga for some practice driving through the mountains with a light fog in the dark, Nashville as we cleared the other side of the mountains and hit the foothills, up to Louisville on the border with Indiana, through to Indianapolis at day break and flat land, and then on to Chicago. By about 10 AM, we had arrived at our first destination, which was the south suburbs of Chicago and Billy's first chance to meet his Grandparents, his Aunt and Uncle, and three of his cousins. Of course, he found himself quickly in the arms of his Nanny for the very first time.

Now my brother has three kids. All of them are under the age of 7, but the youngest is just a couple months older than Billy. Yet because she can crawl and even take a few steps, she is far more advanced than our little guy, who at this point, is just rocking back and forth. So we put them down next to each other and there is the inevitable smiling, slapping, eye poking, crying, touching, and staring. This is soon replaced by the escape of my brother's daughter who has basically had enough. Billy watches her, mesmerized at another little person who is getting away and he reaches out for her to try and grab on, but its too late. Little by little, as we watch him interact, he seems to be studying the youngest and her crawl. Well, back to this later. In the meantime, we are not home more than a couple hours when we're loading up the vehicles again, packing up all of our stuff, taking a very short nap (which never actually happened), changing the kid, and then in a couple of vehicles, heading 2 hours north to Wisconsin to my sister's house out in the sticks.

In Wisconsin, my sister decided to have all of the kids and their families, now spread all over the United States, to come home for a sit down Thanksgiving dinner about a week prior to the holiday so that it would coincide with my cousin's wedding. So my parents and oldest sister and her children all made the trip up from the Chicago area, my brother and his family came in from the Philadelphia area, and Antoinette, Billy, and I made the trip up from Florida, all with the intention of getting together for the first time in a long time. I've lived in Florida for three years now. I was not looking forward to Wisconsin in mid November, but what can you do? So there we are. Billy is getting passed around like a sack of potatoes and I think he's loving every minute of it. In the picture below, this was Billy's first appearance with all of the boy's in his generation. From left to right is Jacob, Ricky, Luke, Brett, John, and Billy. As you can tell, Billy was extremely interested in what all of these older boys were doing.

By the end of the night, we had all sat down to a huge Thanksgiving dinner with 20 of us all together for the very first time since the two latest arrivals. It was a very nice evening and my sister Christine was a wonderful host. We stayed the night in Iceland (Wisconsin) and after some breakfast in the morning, Antoinette and I were loading up the truck again and driving another 2 hours to the southwest suburbs where Antoinette is from in order to see her Mother and sister, Auntie Laura. For this Grandma, she had seen Billy a couple times before, including just minutes after he was born, but for Auntie Laura, it was her first time actually seeing her very first nephew in person.

We spent the rest of the day with Antoinette's Mother (Grandma) and her sister and then later that evening, one of Antoinette's best friends came to visit and brought her husband and her two children, one of them, a little boy, was just a few months younger than Billy. So of course, we had to get a picture of all of them. Unfortunately, about half of these pictures didn't turn out, but one of them did that I thought looked really nice, so I'm adding it below. Here is Billy with his buddy, Gavin.

On Saturday morning, I left Antoinette and Billy at her Mother's house and drove across the city yet again to meet my Dad and brother so we could begin getting ready for my cousin's wedding while watching the Ohio State vs. Michigan game. Seriously, who gets married on Michigan weekend? Luckily, my cousin Lauren timed up her wedding so that we could watch 85% of the OSU game before the wedding and the remaining 15% before the reception. I remain very appreciative (especially since we won...again). Billy stayed with his Grandma while Antoinette and I hit the reception at Cog Hill Country Club. After the reception, Antoinette went back to her Mother's and I went back with my brother and brother-in-law to my parents. Lots of driving. After celebrating with the bride and groom at the hotel party afterward, we got home at about 3:45 AM. Later that morning, we began preparing the house for more guests, as my uncle and his family, one of which consisted of my cousin who was just married the night before and her new husband, were planning on coming over to watch the Bears game and see little Billy for the very first time. Billy was busy getting his game face on.

Billy arrived at about 3 PM with Antoinette and surprise, surprise, he quickly began to crawl. Just a couple feet here and there, but still crawling. By the time my family arrived to watch the Bears game, the little guy was crawling up a storm. Billy got to meet another have dozen relatives from his Great Aunt and Uncle (which is his namesake) and many more cousins. Toward the end of the night, when it was time to call it an evening, little Billy went upstairs and laid down with Grandpa on the couch, where Grandpa put him to sleep. Before long, the little guy was out cold. Speaking of cold, I had to slip this picture of Billy at his Grandma's house experiencing fun outside in the cold. He looks thrilled to be outside, doesn't he? Not used to that sort of chill in the air!!!

At 3:30 AM, we were up and packing everything we had. We were off to head back to Jacksonville, FL and were on the road by 5 AM. The trip back was a bit crazier than the trip down since it was during the day and Billy was awake most of the time. We stopped off in Kentucky to visit Billy's other Grandpa and Grandma, meeting in tiny Bowling Green for lunch. It actually turned out to be a terrific little pitstop, as the food was great and Antoinette's Dad got to meet his Grandson for the very first time. After hanging out for nearly two hours, we were off again, finishing the drive at about 1 AM, safe and sound back home. An incredibly packed weekend trip to say the least.

On the trip, we were able to pick up an enormous amount of gifts and presents for the little guy. At Nanny's house, he was able to pickup an Ohio State quilt and pillow that Nanny made for him from scratch. At Grandma's house, he got a rocking horse that makes real horse noises. At Aunt Chrissy's house, it was a pair of sizable boxes of clothes, etc. that Billy's cousins no longer fit into. And from his Grandpa in Kentucky, Billy's gift was a hand crafted train set made from wood with real moving parts made by a local craftsman. Billy also got a visit from his Great Aunt Sharon and Great Uncle George at his Grandma's house. Uncle George and Aunt Sharon had very sweet gifts of their own, giving Billy a pair of outfits and a bib. All wonderful gifts and we thank you all very much for them.

Since we've been home, Billy's crawling has advanced exponentially. Hard to believe that when we left for Chicago, he had just begun getting up on his hands and knees to rock back and forth with regularity, and then within three days of returning from the trip, he was full blown crawling all over the house. There was no stopping this kid. His couple feet here and there had turned into crossing the breadth of the entire house in just minutes. Here one minute, gone the next. And he's into everything. You never know what is going to interest him as he'll be in the dining room slapping the tile one minute and then trying to play with the TIVO box the next. This became the only view we had of the little guy.

Obviously baby proofing the house became an instant priority. We are not crazy, over-the-top baby proofers. After all, we managed to survive somehow without all of that stuff. But we are taking care of the outlets, the cabinets, and securing things that could fall on his head if manipulated. We are also taking a floor's eye view of the area he will be crawling in and following him as he traverses the house looking for new things to touch and test. Speaking of testing, Billy's new thing is to get to something somewhere in the house he's never been too before, and then bang on it, beat it, twist it, yank it, pull it, punch it, slap it, and then repeat a dozen or more times until he's satisfied he's played out that particular object. Then he moves onto the next. Its interesting to watch his little brain work, processing each new experience and taking note of the enormous wealth of information he is getting from each touch and manipulation of that object.

As I update this blog tonight, Billy has a couple of new "tricks". One is that he seems to have finally perfected moving from a crawling position to a sitting position. The reverse has been possible for a couple weeks now, with only the occasional face plant, but to go from a crawl to a sit is brand new. He loves to test this skill out in his crib, where now, when we put him down to sleep, instead of just rolling around until he dozed off, we will often find him just sitting there crying. We've tested this out to see what his limits are and it appears that he can cry for nearly 7-10 minutes before he falls asleep. When we just put him down normally for a nap, it usually resulted in him being fast asleep within 3-5 minutes of some crying. Not sure if this is going to last or not or if its just double the tears because he's not sure what to do to get back to a sleeping position when he gets himself sitting up, but its quite funny to go into this room and see him just sitting there half asleep, thumb in mouth, and looking exhausted. But if you lay him down instead of him laying himself down, you need to start the process all over again.

Billy's second new "trick" is standing. He's far from perfecting this one, but his legs appear sufficiently strong to help him stand while holding onto an object. Unfortunately, his core strength is not there yet to hold him that position and he often will bend at the waist and then crash to the floor within 30-90 seconds. But he's getting there little by little. He also seems to have a new level of spacial awareness. He is clearly developing a memory of the location of objects that are outside of his view, such as the TIVO box or the dog kennel. He knows where these objects are and how to get to them. We've blocked them and then brought him into the room and he simply goes right around what is blocking the object to get to what he knows is back there. His understanding of object permanence is developing on target. Finally, he is also learning to waive good bye. He has the "open/close" fist thing going on, but he isn't quite pointing it at you when he's doing it. He's just sorting of opening and closing his hand like a crab. We're working on it.

Since we celebrated Thanksgiving with the family a week early, Antoinette and I were free to celebrate it again on actual Thanksgiving with our own immediate family. So Antoinette made up and elaborate spread of food, as if to feed 25 people, and we sat down for our first Thanksgiving as a family. So Billy donned his "I'm Stuffed" Baby's First Thanksgiving bib from his Auntie Laura and we prepared him for his first bite of mashed potatoes. Take a look at this picture and tell me if you think he enjoyed them or not. After dinner and helping Mom clean up, we moved to the living room to start unpacking some Christmas decorations and to watch football. We'll save those pictures for the next blog update though.

Christmas should be lots of fun this year as we have my family coming to town for the holidays. Quite a bit of them actually. We will take lots of pictures and be sure to share them on the blog update just after New Year's. The next update will have all of the pre-visit prep going on and Billy's first taste of Christmas lights, which has been quite fun to watch, as well. As you can tell from this picture, Billy is as tired as I am after typing all of this out, so good night to you all, and we'll talk in a couple weeks. Sorry for the graininess, but the picture was taken in near darkness.

Halloween Update...

This week's blog update starts with Billy's first trip to the Pumpkin Patch. Antoinette did a little research to try and find a genuine pumpkin patch in Florida and while there are a few, they are not as easy to find as they are up North. This one had rides and things like that for the kids, but the selection of pumpkins was a little rough. So we picked out a couple of good ones (all of the good ones remaining), laid them out on the ground and then let Billy sit in the grass for the first time in his life. As you can tell by his hand placement, he really likes grass. Just sat there pulling it out while we waited for that smile. Goes without saying, but you can tell that 6 months has not brought this child any more hair than basically what he had at birth. Billy got to see tractors, go on little rides with his Mother, take a hay ride and see some cows, and see a bunch of barnyard animals. It was a lot for him all at once, so he basically slept the car ride home, but I don't think he cried once the entire time we were at the farm, so that was good.

On Saturday night, it was Halloween and of course, Antoinette had bought not one, but two costumes for Billy. He was either going to be a Tiger or a Bumblebee. Antoinette made him a set of wings, so Bumblebee it was, although I think he looks more like a Ninja in that outfit, so we'll call him a Bumblebee Ninja. How mysterious. Of course, in this picture, he looks like a Bumblebee, but let me show you his skill at blending in with the background, typical of a Ninja Master...

On Sunday, one of my employees was getting married and she had decided to have her wedding ceremony at the beach. Of course, that meant that Billy had to get dressed up fancy for the first time in his life. So Antoinette picked him out his beach apparel and then dressed him up for some pictures. Below is Billy all decked out for the big event. As you can tell, the little guy is a ball of energy and was ready to rock. He knows to never pass up an opportunity to head down to the beach...

Billy was extremely well behaved through the entire ceremony. Our biggest concern was that he was going to start into that high pitched screaming that he does when he gets excited. The beach has a tendency to do that to him. Lucky for us, he held off until the end when everyone started clapping, so it seemed to fit quite well. The reception, up the beach a bit, was a different story. Still very well behaved, but so excited to see all of the other kids, people, music, and food that he just started screaming and giggling as loud as he could. Antoinette and I were on a rotation taking him outside so he could get his screams of joy out, then we'd try and take him back in. Some people were laughing at us because of how excited the little guy kept getting every time he came back inside. I think Antoinette was getting embarrassed. Pretty funny. Ironically, he's sitting in my lap while I type this and screaming his head off. Apparently typing is pretty exciting to him, too.

On the way home from the wedding, we decided we would take the shorter route, which ultimately takes longer to actually travel because it involves taking a Ferry Boat across the St. John's River. Antoinette and I had ridden the Ferry before, but the little guy never had. So we popped the $5 and waited for it to come across, drove on and parked, and then got out to enjoy the sights as we took the ride over. At this point, the little guy was pretty sleepy, but he still seemed to enjoy himself. Especially each time a giant pelican flew over our heads heading out to sea. He really loved those birds, since they were only flying about 20-30 feet overhead. In the picture, he's looking back at the Captain's deck behind us.

On Tuesday, Billy had his 6th month doctor visit. His Mother got him all dressed and ready to go and off they went. Billy's weight came in at about 17.5 lbs. and he measured out at about 26", both putting him firmly in the 50th percentile of length and weight according to Antoinette. Billy's reflexes and developmental goals have all been met per the doctor. Regarding his diet, he has begun eating some flavored rice finger food snacks that dissolve in his mouth, but is yet to master the "pincher grasp" necessary to manipulate small objects himself, so we have to help him out. Billy is working his way through all of the Stage I foods and will soon be progressing to the Stage II foods, including meat and vegetables in a jar, which sounds pretty disgusting, but I'm not a baby, so what do I know? He's still a very good eater and his diet is right on track with the three major meals with two snack times. We were also told that we need to make sure that he's getting at least 4 ozs of water a day. He can get that water from his formula/breast milk mix and/or diluted apple juice and he can also continue with his sipper cup.

Developmentally, Billy is sitting without assistance at this point. He has recently begun to elevate himself to his hands and knees for that inevitable rocking, which often has him going backwards as his knees slide on the rug when he has his pajamas on. The result is that he is often about a foot or so behind where he started and even backs himself under the couch (just his legs fit). He has perfected the clockwise and counterclockwise rotation from this position, as well as rolling all over the place. But the new development, other than getting up on his hands and knees, is that he rocks, rocks, rocks, and then lunges forward, usually landing on his face. But he has figured out that forward is something he can control. I'm guessing by the next update in two weeks, he will have begun crawling to some degree. We are also going to begin learning to clap, wave, stand, and practicing our first words. Billy is getting close to the point where he should be able to understand the concept behind a couple words.

Because Billy is about to become mobile, we are going to be spending the next two weeks planning to baby proof the house. Antoinette has already begun buying outlet covers, etc. We still need the childproof latches, fridge locks, and a couple of those systems to secure dressers to the wall so they can't be pulled down on the little guy when he gets that inevitable urge to start climbing. I remember climbing on the walls/door jams when I was a little kid, flying up trees, flipping off porches, and cruising over fences, so I'm sure he's going to have a little of that trait, too. We've also removed the mobile from his crib now and lowered the crib itself down to the 2nd lowest level (lowest is for a toddler bed). We've rotated through to his 3rd set of clothes now (6-9 months) and to his 4th size of diapers.

Finally, to wrap up that doctor visit, Billy had another round of shots, including DTaP, flu shot (standard), Polio, Rotavirus, and Hep B vaccines. We inquired about H1N1 and the doctor recommends one, but like everywhere else in the country, there is a shortage. He received 600 doses and hammered through those in a week. He said he probably needs up to 6,000 and would let us know when the next batch comes in. Obviously that is concerning, so we try and do everything we can to prevent or restrict the little guy from catching something like that. Chances of a really bad reaction are still very low, but they are nearly triple that of the standard flu, or at least that is my understanding. Billy's next visit will be at 9 months old, in late January.

On a final note, some other interesting things Billy has begun doing is making weird faces. For instance, he makes this old man face where he looks like he's trying to swallow his top lip. We're not sure why he does it and realistically, he probably doesn't know either, but it is funny looking. He's also begun dropping/throwing objects inadvertently when given to him. In his high chair, everything hits the floor. When laying down, he moves objects up and down as fast as he can until they fly out of his hands (twice bouncing directly off my face). Nice. He also clearly recognizes his own name. Billy is also struggling a bit with Daylight Savings time changes and for whatever reason, his normal 6 AM or 7 AM wakeup is now a 3:30 AM or 4 AM wakeup. We're trying to work him through that, but so far, he's still getting up at 4:30 AM. We believe he's teething now and can feel a couple little ridges on the top and bottom of his mouth. Not sure if these are teeth or not, but based on his age, we're assuming so.

Over the next couple weeks, some of the new things we're going to be looking for are improved crawling skills (maybe attempting to actually crawl for the first time and not just lunging), possibly attempting to stand while holding onto something, learning to wave hello/goodbye, and improvement with his words. On a final note, here is the picture of Billy before he and his Mother left for the Doctor's office visit. He says bye. Have a great two weeks...

Pictures Galore...

I'm going to be making a change to the blog starting with this entry. Since we are doing the blog every two weeks now, I've decided to change the blog in terms of the number of pictures the blog will hold. This week, the blog will have a picture for each subject we have one for. So you may get as many as 4-5 pictures in a given week instead of just 1 or 2. I hope you all prefer the changes.

This is the blog entry just before our Halloween themed blog entry on Halloween weekend and it was full of all sorts of firsts for the little guy. Last weekend, we took Billy to beach for the third time, although this is the first time we actually hung out at the beach for more than 10-15 minutes without him being covered up in a stroller. We made sure to cover him in sun block and to bring a beach umbrella to keep him the shade, but being the water baby that he is, Billy wanted to spend a lot of time down by the water. Of course I had to walk him out into the ocean so he could get dipped in for the first time.

After some time in the water, Billy and Antoinette settled in at the water's edge, just far enough to not get hit by big waves, but close enough to get washed over by the remnants of what was left before they receded back to the ocean. He would get startled with each wave, as if not expecting them when they rushed over his feet and legs and then smile and occasionally smack the water. But he seemed more interested in watching the water rush back out after it had gained his attention.

After a long day at the beach, it was time for a nap, which is the picture you're seeing below. But there were plenty of other stories that happened this week. Like Billy's trip to the grocery store with his Mother. Billy has a tendency to scream at the top of his lungs in excitement at just about anything. Usually his screams are accompanied by a big grin and happy hands smacking things, but one thing they are not is restricted to the house. He's more than happy to unleash these ear piercing screams in public. Well, on this trip to the grocery store, Billy was in need of some distraction, so Antoinette handed him the grocery list. Not a good idea. After tossing a couple items in the cart, she turned to realize he had the list in his mouth, and when she took it out, Billy had munched off a Jaws sized bite mark. Not bad for a toothless mouth. She was able to recover the lost pieces, although they were now in the form of a wadded up ball of paper. That will be the last time we hand the little guy anything in paper form.

Billy's diet is coming along nicely. He's broadened his solid food horizons to include a host of fruits and vegetables out of the jar, as well as his oatmeal and rice cereal. Antoinette has also been blending up some green beans and bananas to baby food consistency and he's been taking those, too. He threw up once from some solid food, but everything else since has gone down well. So far, we really haven't found much he doesn't like, except he isn't really a juice drinker. Could be the sippy cup or it could be the watered down juice is just too much after a few sips. We're not really sure. We've also been working on getting his schedule to 3 big meals a day with a couple snacks and reducing his naps to a pair of 2 hour naps a day. The naps are dwindling in number, but the meal reduction is coming much slower. I know it will take some time, but we'll get there. Billy has been holding his bottle up on his own for longer periods of time now. He's getting about 10-15 seconds straight sometimes before dropping and needing it repositioned.

There are other signs of physical development in the little guy, as well. His jabbering has increased where he is now shortening his "dadadadada's" down to just "dada", "baba", and "rara". We're not real sure if he knows what he's saying yet, but its improved. He is also quickly developing an understanding of the word "no", like when he pulls Momma's hair or tries to reach into his mouth to touch his food after the spoon comes out. I'm fairly certain its the tone of voice that he's responding to and not the word itself, but it gets the point across. Billy has also seen an increase in his hand control which has led to several new developments, such as trying to "catch" his pee stream in the bathtub and being confused when it seems to slip right through his grasp every time.

Speaking of baths, the little guy has outgrown his existing tub and graduated to the next level up, which is a giant inflatable rubber duck given to us by my former coworkers at my previous job that sits in the bathtub. Billy seems to get a better grip in this thing and therefore has less of a risk of falling forward, or so I am told by Antoinette, who is the only one to have used it so far. It also has a temperature sensor in the bottom of it that changes color if/when the water temperature is too hot for a baby. Billy's introduction to Mr. Duck was an interesting one as he seemed intrigued by the expression on his new buddy's face.

Billy's increased hand control is also leading to changes in his ability to move. From the ground, he uses a combination of rolls and spins to orient himself and move himself around the room. While he's not stationary, he certainly isn't crawling yet either. These new techniques are not exactly efficient, but they are new to him and he seems to enjoy them. Basically, he rolls to his stomach and then uses his hands to rotate his body 90, 180, 270, or 360 degrees, and then he begins rolling again. In a matter of minutes, he is often found 6-7 feet from where he started and in a reverse directional facing position. He also seems to have discovered the first step of crawling although I can't get him to duplicate it. Billy has this blowup penguin that when hit, bounces back up like one of those kids punching bags. But when it does so, it sings and makes noise. He loves it, so I set it about two feet in front of him. Over the course of about 15 minutes, he managed to drag himself 2 feet to reach the penguin. Each time he dragged himself by smacking his hands on the ground and pulling a little, moving him about a 1/4 inch or so. Pretty funny, but more importantly, he's learning that he can control his body and the direction it moves and he can therefore change the set of objects and circumstances before him.

Finally, the temperature has dipped quite a bit this weekend. We are getting January temps in Jacksonville in mid October. The high today is 68 degrees, which has people here in a panic mode, just about freezing to death. Billy got his first taste of some chilly weather and he was initially startled by the first cool breeze to his face and then just went with the flow. Antoinette had some friends in town, Uncle Steve and Aunt Rhonda, so we met them in St. Augustine for Billy's first trip to a restaurant and also the farthest he's ever traveled from home (about 45 minutes south of where live). He was very well behaved at Cracker Barrel, where we met them, and only needed to be picked up a couple times to limit his fussing. It was a very fun weekend with Steve and Rhonda.

Then we went into St. Augustine so the youngest Lionhood could visit the oldest city in this country. We even took him to see the oldest fort in the United States, which is about 400 years old and where they were firing off live cannons this weekend. We then took him on a stroller ride up and down St. George street, which for those of you unfamiliar, is a small tourist street that is loaded with shops and restaurants all set to look like they are hundreds of years old. Much of the city street and the cemeteries are easily that old, as are the 200 year old gates that line the entrance to St. George. It was quite an experience and a beautiful 70 degree day (again, chilly enough to bundle up in jeans and sweatshirts).

Hope you all enjoy and see you for Halloween...

A Month in the Making...

I can't believe it has been a month since our last blog entry. There's been so much going on that there just hasn't been time to get this updated. I just had my new bank constructed from the ground up and I have been putting in 10-14 hour days on a regular basis, including on Saturday's to make sure the transition was flawless. You'd be surprised at the complexity behind moving a bank two blocks down the street, and doing it all in two days. Closed on Friday evening, open at the new location on Monday morning. Anyway, the new building has worked out about 85% of the inevitable kinks that come with opening a new location, but working through those issues and adding my new staff has allowed me to get back to a much more reasonable work schedule. That being said, I expect the blog updates to start coming about every 2 weeks now that Billy is nearly 6 months old.

Since its been nearly a month since the last entry, prepare for this one to be pretty extensive. First up is Billy's diet. We transitioned him to rice cereal about a month or so ago when he was just four months old. He spent the better part of his first feeding pushing that out of his mouth with his tongue, but by feeding number 2, the little guy was mouth wide open waiting for each spoon full. Gradually, week by week, we began adding new solid foods to his diet. First up was green beans. Apparently little Billy loves green beans. He would cry in between spoon fulls until you came near him with another scoop. Then he'll stop crying and open as wide as he can. Its pretty funny to watch actually. The next meal on tap was banana. He ate all of that right up without a problem, so Antoinette tried a real banana. She would give him a little squished up piece to see if he would eat it. No dice. He didn't want anything to do with it. So she took the entire banana, added some water, and blended both into a thinner banana paste. Then she put it in a bowl and fed that to him. He proceeded to eat the entire blended banana!!! Guess he likes bananas. The one item of baby food he doesn't seem to like, since he throws it up, is butternut squash. He's tried it twice and both times it has completely disagreed with him. He's also trying watered down juice and licking apples when Mom and Dad are eating one. Seems to love the sour taste of green apples. So far, like his Father, he's not a very picky eater.

Physically, Billy is developing quite well. On the scale at home, Billy is now nearly 16.5 lbs., which for a 5.5 month old, puts him in the 55th percentile in body weight. But its more than just weight that is changing for him. The other day we caught him with his socks off and one of them stuffed into his mouth. He was chewing on it. I'm pretty sure the issue is his new found ability to get his feet up to his head because we continuously catch him chewing on his toes. He's also nearly sitting on his own now. He can sit upright with his hands down in front of him for a minute or two, but eventually he keels over. He seems to have much more strength in his core, but his issue is balance now. He seems to topple after awhile, so we'll just keep working at it.

I think he's at least a couple months from crawling at this point. When on his belly, his knees still point outward and he's made no effort to get them underneath of himself. I'm assuming we're going to need to see him get on all fours before we actually see him use this position for any sort of locomotion. So for now, he gets around by rolling, and he's quite the roller. Especially when he wants something. If he's not engaged with something, he seems content to entertain himself by rolling around. Its quite common to see him 3-5 feet from where he started in a matter of minutes. That's a good 5-6 rolls, just seconds apart. His new thing is rolling into the dog, who likes to lay next to him when he's on the ground. I know that its inevitable that he's going to grab onto the dog's ears at some point and I have no idea how that's going to go over. My guess is the dog will just yelp and move, but I have to see that before I'm entirely comfortable with the notion. So for now, we watch the two of them whenever they are together. They really do seem to enjoy each other though.

Now that Billy is a little older, we've been getting him out of the house quite often. Aside from our 2-3 neighborhood walks (we try to go on when I'm not working), we've been taking him to the zoo every other weekend with our free zoo pass. When we're not at the zoo, we were getting him over to the pool which he absolutely loves. He'll play in the pool with you for an hour or more if you'll let him, so we go nice and early in the morning when nobody is there and the temperature is closer to 80-85 degrees outside instead of the 90-95 it will be hitting by noon. We've also screened in the back patio, which is now a pretty large 22 x 8 room with a 10 foot ceiling. Billy loves to sit out there with his Mother and I, free from the bugs that often accompany the sunset, and just enjoy the breeze. There's a ceiling fan out there, so whatever breeze that's blocked by the screen is more than made up for by the fan. And this time of year in Florida, the evenings are great. 70-75 degrees, little to no humidity, blue skies, and gentle breezes. You can't beat it. October and November are the best months in Jacksonville.

We also need to discuss Billy's mouth. This little attachment has gone through quite the overhaul since our last blog entry. He's using it for everything. While he still puts everything he can get his hands on in his mouth, he's also using it to give "kisses", or at least his version of "kisses". If you ask him for a kiss and you start kissing his cheeks, he turns toward you with his mouth as wide open as he can get it. Then he'll proceed to gum whatever part of your face he can clamp his mouth onto. Its pretty funny. He's also very snuggily at certain parts of the day. While he gets very excited when he sees me and starts to lean toward me as if he wants me to hold him, when he's with his Mother, he acts differently and attempts to snuggle up and nuzzle in there around her neck and face. Its very interesting how he really seems to treat the two of us differently. He has also figured out that his mouth is used for eating food, which we discussed earlier. But the biggest change regarding his mouth is that he is using it more to try and communicate. His vocalizations have become more complex and he's added a new sound into his little arsenal that sounds like "da da da da da da". He uses it now for everything in varying degrees of volume and inflection to indicate different needs. He's also begun screaming at everything with this ear piercing high pitched squeal. He unleashes that sucker wherever he is. Grocery stores, swimming pools, zoos, car rides, diaper changes, or just in routine play. He's got a mouth on him, that's for sure.

Among the most concerning developments for the little guy is this incessant desire to sleep on his belly. Every time you put him down, he rolls to his front. We are always concerned with SIDS and the unknowns surrounding it, so we have done what we can to prevent it from what is known. The #1 item on that list was putting the baby down on his back. Some facts about SIDS. Caucasian children are far less likely to suffer from this than African American children. Most of these deaths occur between birth and four months, although they do occur all the way up to 1 year. According to the Mayo Clinic, cases occurring in babies earlier than 1 month old and older than 6 months old are rare. Most of the cases occur in the Fall and Winter in places with colder climates. The number of children who die from SIDS in the US is about 1 in every 1,000 births. Based on these numbers, we figure that with Billy being Caucasian, over 4 months old, living in the South, and generally healthy, his chances have to be closer to about 1 in 10,000 or 1 in 20,000 at this point, and at that 6 month mark, probably closer to 1 in 50,000 or so, but that being said, we continue to put him down on his back and then check on him 20 minutes later to flip him onto his back once he's asleep. He won't stay that way all night, but for at least half of it and that makes me feel better. At one year, he can sleep standing on his head for all I care.

Finally, Billy's hand control is much better. He can grasp and reach for objects at will, even from a Tummy Time position. Unfortunately, that brings the dog into question again. We are trying to ease him in with the dog where his Mother and I are there for when the baby is grabbing and pinching at the dog. We can be there to keep him relaxed, which he pretty much is anyway.

The next two weeks are going to mark another transition period for little Billy. We are going to start the process of working him toward three major meals per day with two snack times in between. Right now, he's on more of a 5-6 meal schedule with maybe one solid snack meal somewhere during the day. That will not be an easy transition and should take about a month or so to complete. To complement those major meals, each of the big ones should be a combination of solid and liquid meals and his snacks should be liquid meals only. Since we are starting from a point of no consistent solid meals, it will be interesting to see how it goes.

Additionally, during that same stretch, we are going to start transitioning Billy's sleep schedule. He is still getting 8-10 hours when he first goes down, then he's up for a 20 minute pit stop of changing/feeding, followed by another 2-3 hours down. That's about 10-13 hours straight a night. The remaining portion of the day, approximately 12 hours, needs to broken up into three awake sessions and two nap sessions. The naps need to be about 2 hours a piece, which leaves about 8-9 hours of awake time during the day. That means he needs to be up for 3-4 hour windows during the day before each 2 hour nap. Now, of course all kids are different, so this may not work out as planned, but that doesn't mean its not a good idea to have a goal/plan to work toward and see how it shakes out. That is how we got him to sleep through the night so early. Set a goal and worked toward it. This will also likely take about a month or so to complete, by my estimation.

Some other developmental goals we are going to work on are sitting up, maybe balancing on all fours, and putting objects just out of reach and see how he does about reaching for those objects and pulling them close to himself.

Our First Trip to the Zoo...

Billy took his first trip to the zoo this week. We live in Florida, so the zoo is a year round event. Its still a bit warm this time of year (about low to mid 90's with the heat index), so the zoo is a morning event for the family. We decided about a week ago we were going to get Billy up to the zoo and buy one of these zoo passes. The deal is $70 for a year for one adult who can bring one friend and kids under 3 are free. So instead of paying $26 a visit, in three zoo visits, the pass would pay for itself. That works out well since we have a nice zoo, live about 15 minutes away from it, and both Antoinette and I enjoy it. We figured we'd make it to the zoo about 10-15 times a year, even if its just to go for a walk there. That's $250-$400 worth of zoo trips for $70. Can't beat it.

Anyway, we took Billy there on Sunday morning, but we didn't leave until 11 AM. Well, by the time we got there, got our passes, and got into the zoo, it was packed and it was hot. People everywhere, combined with a sweaty uncomfortable baby was too much. So after 30 minutes or so, we left and went home figuring we'd come back again on Monday (holiday). The next morning at 8:45 AM, we were out the door, at the zoo by 9 AM (when it opened), and pulling into an empty parking lot. We went right through the gate and straight to the back of the zoo where everyone else would get to last. Next thing you know, we're half way through the zoo coming back before we see the first people. It was great and we had a blast. Little Billy seems to be partial to the giraffes, but in all fairness, the giraffes at this zoo are allowed to stick their heads into area where people are so that you can feed them by hand and touch them. Its a great zoo.

Anyway, the little guy liked the animals he could see up close, provided they were moving and not just laying down. If they were laying down, he didn't seem to realize what he was looking at. He was also equally interested in the trees, plants, and water fountains, especially when we dipped him into them. The zoo was a hit and we'll be back at least once a month...

As for Billy, he's rolling all over the place. You can't keep him one spot now. Leave him on his mat and walk into the other room to grab a new onsie for 5 seconds and when you come back, he's three feet to the left after two barrel rolls toward the door. This is most apparent in his crib at night where once we put him down, we have to check on him 15 minutes later to flip him back over to his back. I'm sure he's fine now since if he can flip himself to his stomach, he can likely flip himself back over if need be, but it makes me feel better to start the night on his back. Once he's out cold, you can flip him with ease and he just stays asleep. Sleeps like a rock like his Daddy.

Billy has also noticed his feet and his knees a bit more. He's grabbing at them quite a bit now. On his play mat, he's reaching for everything, grabbing, manipulating, pulling and hitting things, etc. He's much more interactive with the mat now than he was a month ago. Tummy Time is interesting as he can now easily stay on his stomach for 20-30 minutes at a time with his head up and looking around. If he sees you, he'll definitely smile from this position and seems to really enjoy it.

Billy's eye sight is improving. He is better able to break down bold colors now and while his eyes will continue to develop, in most ways, he can see pretty much everything that we can see now. You can see additional development in his ability to turn toward sounds, such as his name, which he seems to be recognizing a little better these days. He's also expanding his sense of taste with his first dabble into some rice cereal this week. His Mother tried it and he basically pushed 90% of it out of his mouth. This is clearly going to be a work in progress, but what part of parenting isn't, right? I guess practice makes perfect when it comes to eating solid foods, too.

Looking forward to next week, our primary goals are to continue working on eating solid foods and to practice sitting up. Billy has done very well developmentally so far and we think a lot of that has to do with us practicing and structuring many of the games we play with him around our goal for the week. This week, he'll get plenty of time in a sitting position with his hands out in front of him to help strengthen that upper body and that midsection. His lack of balance is no longer in his neck, but now in his abdominal wall, lower back, and shoulder/arm muscles. On the solid food front, he'll finish this week with the rice cereal and then we'll transition him to barley cereal. Enjoy the pics.

Nothing Like a Good Book...

Is anyone really surprised to see my kid in his position? Seriously? Antoinette was playing with him and reading to him, at which point she handed him the book. He then took hold, crossed his legs, and began intently looking at the pictures ("reading" in an infant's mind). Where's that set of Britannica's when you need them?

Anyway, I spent this past weekend in North Central Ohio visiting some friends on Lake Erie. Because of that, this week's blog is coming to you all a bit late. And worst of all, this blog is absolutely loaded with information and changes that the little guy is going through, so it will take quite a bit to get through the whole thing. I apologize for the delay to all of you that have emailed me asking for this update, but finally, here it is...

First, we'll begin with Billy's doctor visit. He's 4 months old now, so an additional checkup was required. This visit was action packed, and it all began with a quick Q&A between Antoinette and the doctor about Billy's general condition while the doctor gave him a quick once over. First topic was a touch of some coughing and sneezing that he's been going through. Of course, that little sickness came from his Daddy who not only gave it to him, but handed it to his Mother, as well. Oops. Doc says that as long as his breathing is not affected, then the coughing and sneezing are not a big issue, but that until he's a couple months older, we should avoid cough medicine and he'll just have to tough it out.

The next subject was his thumb sucking. Billy has developed a little lip blister from sucking his thumb and the doctor basically told us that we are going to want to break him of this thumb sucking habit sooner rather than later. He thinks we should give him a pacifier instead since down the road, you can take it from him, where his thumb you'll never be able to confiscate. We're skeptical because both Antoinette and her little sister were thumb suckers as children and neither developed any long standing issue or long term need for their thumb because of it. I guess its a bridge we'll have to cross down the road, but for now, he'll continue to suck his thumb to calm himself when he's sleepy.

Billy then received a thorough physical exam, beginning with his length and weight. He's about 15.65 lbs according to the doctor, which is in the 50th percentile for a 4 month old boy. His height came in at 26", which is in the 85th percentile for a 4 month old boy. In other words, he's quite long, although he looks chubbier to us. During the entire examination, the doctor felt his extremity control, neck control, general motor function, and vocalization were all progressing exceptionally well. He said Billy is ahead of schedule from a general developmental perspective.

Next up were his additional immunizations. It was time for the second dose of DTaP, H. Influenza, Polio, and Pneumococcal. Once again he didn't enjoy these shots much, but he did tolerate them much better than the last time. Afterward, he was a bit under the weather from his shots, but Antoinette took really good care of him and made sure he got some Tylenol here and there when necessary to keep him in good spirits. He also slept his butt off for quite awhile afterward.

The doctor then began some additional discussions with Antoinette about his general care, beginning with his diet. At 4 months, Billy had begun knocking down stored breast milk faster than his Mother could replace it. Because of that, during the past couple weeks, we have been supplementing two parts breast milk with one part formula to make sure we can spread out the "stockpile" we have left. The doc said this is not necessary and that Billy can transition to solid food now. First up will be the ever so tasty rice cereal. He wants us to work with Billy with rice cereal in slightly increasing concentrations for at least one week, at which point we can add another food into the mix. Most likely Barley. Sounds great. After that, the Barley is followed by Oatmeal, followed by a various fruit, then a vegetable, then a fruit, then a vegetable, etc. Within a couple months, Billy should have a pretty extensive diet of foods to supplement his regular feedings. The doc says we can also begin giving him small portions of fruit juice as an afternoon snack. This will require a sippy cup with a valve, which our two existing sippy cups do not have. We should get everything we need this weekend and then the food flinging and spitting can begin. All the while, we are to continue getting him his daily vitamins via an eye dropper, which he doesn't seem to like at all.

The last major development at the doctor's office is the realization that Billy has a toe deformity. Its really the same thing that I have and nobody really notices it, but the doctor said Billy can go to an Orthopedic Specialist if we want to get it taken care of. Ready for this? His 2nd and 3rd toe are fused together up to the first knuckle. I have the same deal, but you wouldn't know it unless I showed you. Funny stuff. We haven't decided if we are going to take him to get it taken care of or not. Another decision for a later time.

Another major milestone was reached a couple days ago when Billy rolled from his back to his front. He then did it again a few hours later and now seems to be rolling around his crib with regularity. Typically the major rolling happens in the first 10-15 minutes after he goes down, so we pop in to check on him and roll him back over if need be. We try to keep him on his back as much as possible when he's sleeping, but the kid does 360's in his crib while he sleeps, so its not really that easy. Next major step is sitting up on his own and maybe getting on his hands and knees soon after that.

Because of the little guy's increased neck control, for his 4 month birthday, his Mother and I went out and bought him a bouncer/play ring that doesn't hang from the door frame. Instead, it has three flexible poles that stick up in the air with three bungees that extend down from that to his bouncer. That allows him to bounce around, spin around, and play around. It has lights and music and he seems to like it for awhile. Then he seems to get tired and fusses a bit. 10-15 minutes at a time now is all you're getting out of him.

Billy's next doctor visit is in 6 months, but I'm sure plenty will happen before that. Especially since his Mother bought him a pool floaty that she's already tested out in the jacuzzi tub. That should be fun!!! Anyway, I'll get back to you all soon...

The Return of the Water Baby...

It all started with his first bath. You've all seen the video of it back a few months ago. Billy didn't utter a peep. He loved every minute of it, from sitting in the water to having cups of water poured on him. He was good to go. We then moved him up a level to the jacuzzi tub to see how he'd like that and the response was quite the same. An initial shock and unsure look, followed quickly by a very cool, calm, relaxed attitude.

Well, today marked Billy's 4 month birthday, and since he could now use sunscreen, we took advantage, threw some on him, and took him to my former boss' swimming pool. There were only a few people there, as it was a fairly overcast day, so we basically had the whole pool to ourselves. He loved it. Nearly half asleep by the time we got to the pool, he quickly exhausted the remaining energy he had left with about 15-20 minutes of straight kicking/swimming and wore himself out so much that he nearly fell asleep in his mother's arms while still in the pool. Now that is one relaxed kid. Clearly he loves the water, which is both a good thing and a bad thing in Florida. With water everywhere, he should have the time of his life living down here if he loves the water, but while young, we will need to keep a strict eye on the little guy.

As I stated earlier, today is Billy's 4 month birthday, and this date marks a whole host of changes with his life. In a week or two, Billy will visit the doctor for his 4 month checkup, and assuming everything is good, he will be allowed to progress in several important ways. For one, which we already covered, he can wear sunscreen, meaning the entire world outside is about to open up for him. Just in time, too. Babies at this age, can typically now see much greater distances and many can see in the full range of colors. This is clearly noticeable with this little guy when you see him watching you from across the room. Another major leap for him will be the introduction of solid foods into his diet. With doctor's orders, Billy will begin to supplement his meals with rice cereal. Sounds absolutely disgusting, but I guess babies like it. Billy can also hold his head up in a solid pushup position at this point. Within a week or so, we will be taking advantage of this new physical ability by purchasing one of those little kids play spinning seat things. I'll talk more about that once we add it to his arsenal of toys.

For the bad news. The 4 month mark also means the admission of another round of vaccinations. In case you don't remember how that went down last time, let's just say not very well at all. Billy took it up a few decibels until his Mother could calm him down. When I find out what he'll be having, I'll update the blog that week with the details. In other good and bad news, this is the earliest age at which babies can begin to cut their first tooth. Billy has begun teething weeks ago, highlighted by his increased saliva (drool) levels. Typically a sign that his teeth have begun working their way through the gum line toward the outside world.

In other "only parents care" news, Billy has begun arching his back now. While this sounds relatively unimportant, it really isn't. Since he hasn't figured out how to roll over from his back to front just yet (still can't get around that arm), he makes up for it by this back arching nonsense. Essentially, he's learned he can push off with his feet and uses this new skill to propel himself 3-4 feet from where he started in just a matter of seconds. Its a fast paced little scoot from his back that has taken the place of a roll, I guess. The back arching also occurs when you're holding him and he wants down. Most of you parents know this feeling. Feet push, back arches, arms go up, and the babies seem to become slippery like Jell-o. He seems a bit young for that, but oh well. We'll work our way through it.

His growth is still solid. He's now 26 inches long, which puts him in the 85th percentile in length for a 4 month old child. Billy remains a very content and happy little baby. We certainly can't complain. I hope you all enjoyed the picture and I'll update with a video tonight or tomorow morning.

Baby's Move at Their Own Pace...

This week was the biggest overhaul in Billy's schedule. To be honest with you, I'm still not sure we've figured it out entirely yet. We've been pretty good at developing a routine and sticking with it, but as he grows and develops, our routine no longer fits his needs. The result is that all of a sudden, he'll burst right through that routine and we'll be left scrambling to put the pieces back together into a new routine for his new stage of life.

For example, let's start with his sleep schedule. Having been very excited when he started sleeping 7-9 hours straight through the night, we were shocked when that grew to 9-12 hours straight in just two weeks. If you factor in a quick feeding/changing session that typically lasts 20 minutes, he sleeps 11-15 hours straight now.

Speaking of sleeping, my Mother used to tell me when I was a small boy, my brother and I would fall asleep one way, and in the morning, we would be a jumbled mess with a leg over there, and arm over here, and a head hanging off the bed or something. Well guess what? Billy has learned how to scoot. I doubt it happens in his sleep, but I can't be sure. My guess is that right when he's falling asleep and right when he's waking up, he starts to fuss a bit and that results in the scooting. We'll lay him down one way and when we come to get him when he wakes, he's rotated his entire body 90-180 degrees. We often find him facing the other direction in which we laid him or laying sideways in this crib now.

Back to the schedule changes. Not only is his sleep schedule changing, but so are his napping and pooping schedule. First, the pooping. Billy was doing this every diaper change when we brought him home. Gradually, it reduced itself to every other diaper change. Now, he's lucky if he goes once a day. Reading on this out of concern, I found that its perfectly normal and some babies, due to their increased development in their stomach and intestinal systems, may only go once or twice a week!!!

From a napping schedule point of view, his extended night time sleeps have deteriorated his daytime naps dramatically. Now, we're lucky if he takes 2-3 naps during the day, instead of 5-7 naps. And during those 2-3 naps, he may be asleep anywhere from 30 minutes to 3 hours, but these days, its a lot closer to the 30 minutes. His body seems to have adjusted well to the concept of night being for sleeping, as well as becoming acclimated to his crib. He's rarely in his swing these days, hardly ever in his Pack N' Play, and as of next week, if he's still doing well, that Pack N' Play is moving out of there. We may also relocate the swing to his room, which would completely remove all of his things from our room. Not bad in less than 4 months.

Billy has begun reaching for things now, too. I wondered when this was going to start and its far more dramatic now. If you touch something to his chest, he'll reach for it with both hands. Without touching him though, he's a bit more reluctant, often just staring at it and starting to giggle. He can see it, knows he wants it, but can't quite command those arms yet. Touching him seems to trigger this response. Part of the reaching out process is that he's starting to bring his legs up toward his head and just yesterday, for the first time, grabbed onto his toes. He's already been grabbing other "stuff" during bath time and diaper changes, but doesn't seem to notice. Toe grabbing though, has arrived.

As the teething process continues, Billy's drooling level is still increasing. While we probably won't see a tooth pop through for month, the transition through the gum line is clearly underway. He has started chewing on everything, including our fingers. And those little gums can clamp down pretty hard. If you are distracted and are letting him play with your hands, you're going to be caught off guard when he chomps down with everything he's got.

Billy is 4 months old already next Saturday. Hard to believe he's growing up so fast. His overall weight gain is still on target, but has slowed some. He's dropped from the 75th percentile to the 65th percentile in body weight at 15 lbs. as of yesterday. That's using our household scale by weighing ourselves and then weighing ourselves with the baby. We both do it twice to check it and all four times we get 15 lbs. Doubling your birth weight is one of the signs that a baby is getting closer to the point of trying some solid food for the first time.

Yesterday, the little guy got to watch his first Bears game with Dad. It was an interesting experience, to say the least. He was confused as to what were probably some significant over reactions from his Father, no doubt. But that being said, once I explained to him that our rebuilt offensive line still looked like it was in shambles, our defense looked like it was in some sort of soft prevent all game, and our pass rush was basically non-existent, I think he understood. Then he calmed me down and told me it was only the preseason. Well, actually he said something like, "goo goo, ga ga, dada, aahhhhh, buh...", but I know what he meant. Point well taken son...

With Billy's 4 month birthday this Saturday, his Mother and I are planning on getting him one of those seats you stand/sit in and can spin around in. Then it has things you can play with on all for sides. We've seen these with a bunch of our friends. His neck control is significantly improved, so we think he should be able to handle it, but we'll see. Another week and we'll get it and see. The 4 month mark also begins a new stage of his life in several areas. We could start feeding him dry food at that point, likely in the form of some rice cereal, and as mentioned before, can throw some sunscreen on him and get him out and about. That should open up a huge window of new experiences and things to do now that he can venture outside these four walls for extended periods of time. It will also mark a whole new level of adapting for his Mother and I as we learn what all that entails for us. Here's to the final week of his "sunscreenless imprisonment" in Florida.

On top of that, right about the time his "birthday" is arriving, so shall Tropical Storm/Hurricane Bill. We have a Tropical Depression off the coast near Pensacola this morning, but that's no projected to head this way. Tropical Storm Ana should miss us to the South, but right behind her is coming Tropical Storm Bill and he's headed this way. He'll be a Hurricane by the time he gets near Jacksonville unless he changes course, so I'd say he's in for some new experiences to say the least!!!

Big Changes in One Week...

This past week was a big week of milestone changes for Billy. He has continued to sleep well through the night, but he had begun to reverse himself a bit. After getting 7-9 hours consistently when first going down for about a week, he began to regress again back to 5-6 hours on the first night cycle. This week, he's done quite well again. We're back to 7-9 hours in a row, followed by a feeding/changing, and then down again for 2-4 more hours. He can sleep for up to 12 hours now with just a 20 minute break in between for a bottle/feeding and a diaper change.

On Thursday night, I was home with the baby and since he had slept well the previous night, I decided that since his Mother wasn't going to be home, I would try and see if I could get him to sleep in his crib. So the routine was the same. 9 PM he got a bottle, then instead of getting a nap between feedings, I kept him up for two straight hours. By 11 PM, he was exhausted. So I gave him another bottle (he was falling asleep while taking it), changed him, and then put him down in his crib. He was moving a bit, so I put on his mobile that he likes, got the fan going to circulate some air, set up his baby monitor (had to move it from the Master bedroom where he was sleeping), and left. Our general rule of thumb is that he's allowed to cry for 5 minutes after we put him down. If he's not asleep after 5 minutes (or at least quiet), then we go get him, calm him, and try again. 95% of the time, even if he's screaming his head off, he's asleep within the first 5 minutes. This time, it took 30 seconds. He was out cold. So about a minute after I put him down, I went back in and covered him with a blanket. He slept about 7 hours that night, woke up, was changed and ate, and then went back down for another 3 hours afterward. On top of all of that, we pulled it off without Antoinette being home because she was more likely than him to have difficulty with the transition. The baby being more than three feet from her at night, I guess.

Since then, Billy has slept every night in his crib without incident. If he continues for a week or two, we are going to move his Pack N' Play to the living room so he has a place to take naps and play since just after the 4 month mark, which is fast approaching, he should be able to sit up. He seems a bit far from that point now though, but he enjoys sitting up and leaning against things. We keep practicing and also practicing him holding up his head on his own. I think by early September, he should be able to sit up on his own. The four month mark also means that he can put on sunscreen, which means we can take him out of the house and go places (I'm thinking the zoo, but that's just me). Having been couped up for 3 months of a relatively mild summer other than the occasional walk or grocery store visit, we are both looking forward to some fresh air and leg stretching that comes with getting out.

Yesterday, we had a couple of other new experiences. Wanting to get out of the house on an 85 degree cloudless day, we decided that we'd head to the beach with him. Since he can't have any sunscreen, he'd have to be covered as best we could, so we waited until about 7 PM and loaded everyone up. Billy was about to get his first taste of the sights, sounds, and smells of an ocean that he will grow up with. When we got to the beach, the plan was to take the stroller down to the hard compacted sand by the water's edge. Well, we had to carry the stroller all the way down to get started. Not part of the plan, but oh well. After about 45 minutes of walking up and then back down the beach, we took the little guy out and walked him to the edge of the water. Antoinette held him while he took it all in. You could tell he was amazed. His little head and eyes were darting around all over the place, from the waves crashing about 50 yards out to the water washing against our feet. From the dog running around in the water to the endless expanse of ocean in front of him. It was a great experience and one we look forward to for the rest of his life. The next time we're back, he'll be able to sit on the beach with us under an umbrella and play.

The other interesting development this week was seemingly pretty boring, but could change things for us tremendously. Antoinette ran out of the slow flow nipples for the bottle last night. So she said what the hell and grabbed a fast flow one that we hadn't tried since he was about a month old. The first time he was practically choking on it back in May, but this time he had no problems at all. Typically, it takes him about 10 minutes to finish a 3.5 ounce bottle. This time, he knocked that entire bottle down in 1 minute. Antoinette couldn't believe it, so she went and got him another 2.5 ounces. He knocked that down in 1 minute, too. So she got him another 2 ounces and he polished that off in a couple minutes. So he put down 8 ounces, or a little over 2 feedings worth of milk, in just 3-4 minutes. As you can imagine, he was out cold after that. Slept 8.5 hours last night, got up, was changed and ate, and then went down for another 3.5 hours. Nearly 12 hours of sleep with one small feeding/changing in the middle. That fast flow option is going to make feedings a breeze. Plus, if he keeps eating like that, we are probably going to see some accelerated weight gain and/or a larger spacing out of his meals.

To wrap up this week, Billy is just starting to bear weight on his legs when you hold him up. He won't do it for very long, but he's just beginning. His Tummy Time sessions are very long now. You can put him down and walk away to another part of the room and he can pick his head up off the floor and follow you around from left to right. He can also pick his head up enough to look you in the eyes from the floor when you are about 5-10 feet away from him. These little sessions can last for about 5-10 minutes a piece and we try and get in 2-3 of them per day. His head and neck control is pretty good and rarely does his head flop back. He has trouble balancing his entire upper torso though when sitting so his whole body flopping back is more of the concern these days.

From the grasping what's in front of him department, he's still not quite there yet. He won't reach for things in front of him immediately, but you can tell by his eyes he's thinking about it. If you hand it to him, he'll take it straight to his mouth and chew on it (he really enjoys chewing now, so his teething has likely begun even though we may not see a tooth for another 3-4 months). When I pick him up, I try and reach for him to see if he'll reach back. He's not at that point yet, but after about a minute or two of smiling, he'll lift a hand a bit, which I get excited about and hopefully it will reinforce the idea of that being what I wanted him to do all along. We'll see how it goes.

Billy is 3.5 months old today and tonight, he'll get his first taste of some NFL Football. The preseason starts tonight with the Hall of Fame game and even though the starters only get a couple of series, he doesn't know that, so we'll have a good time watching.

Antoinette is working on his Momma's and Dada's, which he mimics to some very minute degree. More of a babbling with those sounds mixed in, but its all about Baby Steps according to Bob Wylie (What About Bob reference). Everyone have a good week and if there's time, I'll try and get you all a video of the little guy for this week...

Do You See It?...

Here is a side by side comparison (or top to bottom) of little Billy and his Mother when she was a baby. In case you can't tell, Antoinette is the bottom picture. While there are clear differences, after looking at my baby picture and these two, it is clear that at this age, he looks a lot more like his Mother than he does his Father. You'll have to form your own conclusion though.

Moving along, this week was a crazy one. Antoinette began her new job. What she has been doing the past couple weeks was merely orientation. To say that there will be some adjusting to the hours at this new job is a major understatement. Antoinette's internal clock prevents her from sleeping before work, so by the time she gets home, she's typically been up for a solid 24 hours. Due to the demands of her job, I wind up taking the baby on the nights she's working. My first day on the job was Monday.

Knowing me as well as most of you do, you know that I'm always up for a little experimenting. Billy had a few moments over the past month and a half where he would get a good 6 hours or so of sleep, but lately, he had clearly regressed to the point where 3-4 hours was a bit more likely. Something was wrong here. Babies at 3 months old should generally be sleeping through the night, so I figured maybe we were doing something wrong. On top of that, I wasn't thrilled about the idea of getting up 2-3 times during the night either and then going to work.

So I established a game plan. I decided that I would feed him about 2 hours before bedtime. Then we would have our awake time and then rather than laying him down before his final feeding, I would do whatever it took to keep him awake. Finally, we'd have one more 3-4 ounce bottle feeding and then he'd go down. The first night we tried this, Billy stirred a bit in his sleep, but since he wasn't crying, I just let him be. Twice there was no crying, so there was no feeding. The third time he woke up, he was definitely hungry. So we got up and he got changed and fed, but ultimately, he got 6 hours and 45 minutes of sleep, which was nearly double what he had been getting before we started this.

The next day was Wednesday night and to make sure the first time wasn't a fluke, we tried the same thing. This time he slept for 7 hours and 45 minutes which was new record for him. After that, he slept for another 2 hours before I had to wake up to get him to Antoinette. Nearly 10 hours straight with a 20 minute pit stop in the middle. Since then, Billy is consistently getting 6-8 hours of sleep a night, the number of naps has dropped, but the length of each nap is increasing. Today he took one of his longest naps ever, which was about 3 hours long. Sometimes we have some minor hiccups, such as him falling asleep during his final feeding, which leads us to try every trick we can to keep him drinking. Seems like a full belly and a lack of energy equals a full night sleep for the little guy. Makes sense. It also seems like we were getting up to feed him and change him on every peep that came out of cradle/Pack N' Play. Once we decided to only get him when he was crying, he began to just fall back asleep.

Billy's motor functions are also increasing. He's beginning to grab onto his baby bottle when he's feeding, opens and closes his hands a lot more, and is grabbing on things in front of his face. His Tummy Time is seeing him in a push up position a lot more. He can get his head significantly off the ground now and enjoys looking around from that position for awhile. You can tell his neck has increased dramatically in strength from just a month ago. His ability to control his giant head (relatively speaking, of course) is also improving. But his Father was born with a large head too, so I feel his pain.

Vocally, for the past two weeks he has been using some consonant sounds that make it seem like he's saying "Mom" or "Momma", but more than likely it just sounds like that. This week, he began moving to the "d" sounds and he's been uttering something that very, very, very remotely sounds like "dada". Hey, a man can dream, right? Its Dada to me...even though it could be anything to him. He's also laughing and giggling a lot more and he seems to have become a lot more ticklish behind his neck, on his sides, and on his thighs.

Anyway, yesterday Billy reached 100 days old. Seems odd that he's been around that long already. Sometimes it feels like he's been here longer, but most of the time it feels like we're still getting used to having him. Maybe its because of our constantly changing schedule. Or maybe its because there are so many places I want to take him, things I want him to see, etc. Sometimes you think about not being able to wait until he can control his head, or crawl, or read, or run around. And then other times, we just want to sit back and enjoy every second of his growth and development and wonder what we're in such a hurry for. I figure, once its done and over with, we can never go back, except through this blog, through our videos, and in our minds, so really, what is the rush?

Our friends and family were right. Having a baby is a life changing event and one that it certainly helps to be ready for. But those changes are certainly for the better and after having a child it just seems like this is what it was all about all along. Anyway, until next week...

Did He Just Say "Mom"?

Not a chance, but that doesn't mean that his Mother doesn't think so. Billy's vocalization took a major leap this week. While its virtually impossible that he used the word "Mom", what is clear is that he has noticeably begun to experiment with the control of his lips and tongue when forming sounds. He's also been experimenting with the volume of his voice (which you will hear on the video this week). While the video was filmed on Wednesday, on Thursday and Friday, we began to hear the first consonant sounds coming from his mouth (which is how his Mother has begun hearing anything that remotely sounds like "Mom").

A typical language development timeline for an infant would have them using basic words by about 8-10 months old. By the 5-7 month mark, babies are using multiple sounds in tandem, such as "da-da" or "ba-ba". Parents often mistake this for the baby's first word(s), however evidence suggests these are still pretty random syllables being strung together by a developing mind. True comprehension of simple concepts tied to language won't appear for several more months after these. We'll let her keep on thinking it though.

Another significant breakthrough, and likely the biggest of the week is Billy's first night technically sleeping through the night (defined as 7+ hours of consecutive sleep). Billy slept for 7.5 hours last night in his Pack n' Play. Speaking of that, he also has this interesting habit of rotating his entire body in that thing by 90 degrees. He winds up fully sideways in about a half hour from time to time. Antoinette says she felt like a new woman after all of those amazing hours of consecutive sleep. She deserves it. After 3 months of getting what sleep she could when she could, I don't blame her.

Billy is also able to dominate Tummy Time now. No longer are we only holding our head up for a couple seconds here and there. Now he can get into a mini-pushup position, lifting his entire shoulders, chest, and head clear off the ground and holding them for a significant period of time. Judging by the development of his cousin, Krystal, it seems like it'll be some time before he can take advantage of that upper body strength and start crawling around the house. He has quite a wait until we get to that point. That's OK though. No rush.

As for his weight this week, we're really not sure. On Tuesday, he weighed in at about 14.5 lbs., which is where I expected him to be at the end of the week. But when we weighed him today, the scale registered 13.5 lbs. Billy's been eating healthy and doesn't look like he's lost weight, so we think its just an issue with the accuracy of the scale, but those are the hazards of not using a doctor scale when you're at home. Winds up being a bit like a ballpark weight. For now, we'll assume he's still 13.5 lbs. At the 13.5 lbs. weight for a 3 month old child, he's in the 55th percentile now, down from the 75th last week and down from the 80th three days ago. Scale issue, I'm sure.

For next week, Antoinette begins her new job now that orientation is complete. It will be an adjustment for her, but we really couldn't ask for a better schedule for her. Between the two of us, the baby should theoretically never have to go to Daycare on a regular basis. He may have to go a day here and a day there maybe once or twice a month or something, but on the whole, someone should be with him 24 hours a day. Its very comforting to know he will be with one of us at all times and we consider ourselves very lucky knowing that this option isn't available for most families these days.

I'll do my best to get a new video posted by the end of the day tomorrow. Have a good night.