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.

"When a child is born, so are Grandmothers..."

This week wasn't just eventful for us, but also for Billy's Grandmother. Antoinette's Mother Charlotte got a chance to visit this week and her reward was a whole week with her first grandchild. While Antoinette spent the week in orientation at her new job and I spent the same time at work, Charlotte got to spend the whole week just bonding with the little guy. And let me tell you, he's pretty easy to bond with. He laughs at all of your jokes, provided you finish them with a smile. What else could you ask for? All kidding aside, his happiness quickly wins you over. Like I've said before, even diaper changes are fun because he just laughs and kicks the entire time.

So what new events did we have this week? Well, for one thing, Billy's rolling is progressing along. His attempts are becoming a bit more forceful, especially if he's rolling around with a stuffed animal. For whatever reason, if you put the stuffed animal to one side or the other, he grabs onto that sucker with all his might and immediately twists into a Crocodile death role...except he's smiling and laughing while doing it. Its quite funny. Still, he can't quite get all the way over, but my guess is that the first time he rolls, it will be while clutching one of these toys.

He also appears to have found his thumb. While he's still shoving his whole fist into his mouth, the increased control of the individual fingers means that he can now isolate a single finger and use that instead. After this morning's nap, we heard him waking up on the baby monitor and I went in to find him with this thumb in his mouth. It had taken so long for this to happen, I really thought he might just bypass this stage. Now he's using his thumb with regularity.

Billy's growth is still quite steady. He remains in the 75th percentile in length at 24.5 inches long. This steady growth means that he's essentially grown out of the cradle that he's been in since birth. At this point, we can begin transitioning him into his crib full time. He's had experience in his crib, as he's taken naps in there during the day periodically up to this point. We are going to start moving him to the crib little by little during the night, with each week being another step toward full time acceptance of his baby room. In the meantime, we decided to go out and get a Pack N' Play to substitute for a cradle.

This thing is very convenient. It has its own mobile attached, is twice as roomy compared to his cradle, is a bit softer for him to lay in, and has an attachable changing table with compartments to hold all that you need to change him so Antoinette doesn't have to use our bed for that any more. Last night was his first night in the PNP and to say it was a success is not saying enough. Billy had regressed to the point where he was getting 4 hours to begin the night when he used to be getting 5-6 hours in a row. First night in the PNP, he got nearly 6 hours in a row. Antoinette had to check on him to make sure he was OK. He loves that thing. He got up once during the night, after 6 hours, ate and was changed, and then he was back down for the count for another 4 straight hours. Typically after the first long sleeping period, he gets on 2 hour cycles. To get on a 4 hour cycle after the first "pit stop" (changing, eating, etc.) was very impressive. So he got up, was changed, etc., then went back down for an additional 3 hours. I guess he likes it. The PNP also has a built in bumper around the sides so there are no crib slats to get your arms stuck in. Plus they are mesh so if he presses his face up against them, he can still breathe.

This marks an important moment for the little guy. Having graduated from the cradle that has been in our family through seven of Billy's cousins, he will become the 8th to have used it in his generation. I will take the cradle apart and put it up for storage, ready to be shipped to the next family member who has a little one that can use it. But before I do, underneath, I will add his name and his birth date to the bottom of the cradle, where the list of all of his cousins before him are currently written.

For next week, there are some additional milestones we will keep our eyes out for. For instance, babies at 13 weeks are typically keeping their hands open about 50% of the time now, so you can really start putting all kinds of new objects into their hands to feel. They will also begin to bring their hands together for the first time with regularity. Circles are the objects of choice to look at now, and little ones at this age can begin to see in color. Babies are typically slowing the number of feedings throughout the day to 4-7, although the amount of time and quantity of milk at each feeding should be increasing. Tummy Time can get bumped to about 10-15 minutes a day (a day, not per try). He should also start batting at objects while laying at the floor. May not happen this week, but we'll keep an eye out for it and keep practicing.

Finally, his target weight for the end of next week was 13.5 lbs. based on his birth weight. Well, he hit that a week ago, so I'm thinking we'll be targeting about 14.5 lbs. by next Saturday. We'll see how he does.

I will try and post a video tomorrow, however, you are being forewarned that we did not get a lot of video this week with Charlotte being home with the little guy, so we'll only have a morning or two to edit out and splice together. We did get a lot of pictures though. Kind of the opposite to last week. Might not be as action packed as some of the others, but it can still be fun to see the little guy again as he continues to grow and develop.

Home Alone...

Since I was busy trying to get good video of the little guy this week, I failed to take a single picture. Instead, we're going to post this flashback picture of the little guy just a few days old. Amazing how much he has changed in just under 3 months.

This week was eventful to say the least. Antoinette went back to work on Monday for her Orientation for her new job. That meant that for the first week, I would be home alone with the little guy on Daddy duty. Of course, having spent quite a bit of time with Billy, I had little concern other than one major one. Billy has little to no experience taking a bottle at this point, so there lay my primary concern. In the couple times I'd been home alone with him while Momma went to the store, etc., I had found that he not only doesn't want a bottle, he rejects it at the top of his lungs for the better part of...the entire time she's gone. Should be interesting, right?

So on Saturday and Sunday, we practiced giving him a bottle so we could prepare for the week ahead. We worked on getting it just right. Curl him up next to you like a Mother would for warmth and comfort, dab the bottle around his cheeks, lips, and the roof of his mouth to trigger the rooting reflex, and then away we go. Worked like a charm. Baby took the bottle both days without much fuss. Little did I know that baby's have less energy in the evening, so can be less likely to raise hell on such a trivial issue as where their food is coming from. The morning turned out to be a whole other story entirely.

Monday morning, Antoinette is gone to work and its time to eat. Baby's being entertained while the bottle's being warmed. Temperature is checked to make sure its not too hot and not too cold and away we go. Holy crap!!! This kid screams like you cut one of his feet off. I checked the temperature and then figure what the hell, maybe my wrist doesn't work. Let's just stick a finger in there to check the temperature so I don't burn the little guy. Its perfect. Luke warm. So we try again. More screaming like a banshee. Great. This is going to be a phenomenal week.

Five minutes later, we try again, same result. Five minutes later, same thing. What do they say is the mark of insanity? Trying the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result? That was me. Well, at this point his screaming is freaking me out because it was seriously like somebody was sticking daggers in his toenails. I immediately dial my sister, who calms me and tells me to let him be and that crying won't kill him. I go in the other room and she tells me that he'll run out of gas soon and probably fall asleep. My biggest fear is that the little guy hasn't eaten anything and how long can he go like this. Well, she told me that he'd be OK until his Mother got home unless he gets dehydrated, but that she could almost guarantee it wouldn't come to that.

Turns out that what we were dealing with was a genuine battle of wills. I had a bottle for breakfast and Billy was holding out for the real deal. According to my sister, what would most likely happen was that I would keep offering the bottle and he would keep rejecting it for some time, but eventually, he would take it at the risk of not eating at all. She advised that I should also be armed with a binky (pacifier) to swap with the bottle in case he rejected it. I should also develop some thick skin to tolerate another round of hollering. Before I even realized it, the screaming had stopped and when I went into the living room, the baby was sound asleep in his vibrating seat. Out of gas.

So I prepared myself and then when he woke up, the battle commenced. Bottle, screaming, pacifier, rejected, wait 15 minutes. Bottle, screaming, pacifier, rejected, wait 15 minutes. This was going to be a long day. And a hungry one for somebody. Round 3. Bottle...and he took it...while crying... He drank 3/4 of an ounce, but it was enough to alleviate my fears of dehydration if I could just get him to knock down this much each time. Some crying, then a rejected pacifier. 15 minutes later, nothing, but I didn't care. Watching him take 3/4 of an ounce was great and put a big smile on my face.

Day 1's third cycle began and this time, Billy wasn't jacking around. He knocked down the entire 3 ounce bottle without much hesitation and with no fuss. I guess his hungry belly overrode his picky palate. From that point on, Hell turned quickly into Heaven as the little guy was back to his old self. He was smiling and laughing, giggling and cheery (as you can see in the video which is the best snapshot of what a typical day is like for him). He really is a very happy baby. From that point on, we had the best time and the hardest part is that next week, its all over. I'm back to work and my extended Father/Son time is over. I consider myself spoiled for that week I was able to take. It turned into the best vacation I've ever had.

Without turning this blog entry into a novel, let's cover some of the other big events this week, of which there were many (since I was the one home to see them all). We'll start with last weekend's 4th of July fireworks. We chose to watch the fireworks from home this year after watching from the beach two years ago and from a 350 year old St. Augustine Spanish fort last year. This one was far less exciting watching the fireworks from over our little lake in the backyard, but what the fireworks lacked, the excitement on little Billy's face as he registered the close up ones was worth it all. Billy also weighed in at 13.5 lbs. this week which keeps him in the 75th percentile in weight. Seems likely he's going to hover in that general range for awhile since he's held steady after climbing up there from the 25th percentile in weight at birth.

Billy hit up the Jacuzzi tub this week for the first time. Being too hot and too crowded to take him to the subdivision pool at this age, we decided that maybe we should try the tub. Billy had never really gotten into the water before. Usually just his butt and part of his back are underwater in his bath chair, but he does seem to love it, so we figured maybe he would like this, too. Well, he's definitely a water baby. We dipped the little guy into the tub up to his shoulders and he was a bit surprised at first, but quickly adjusted. Before long, he was just relaxing, so we decided to add a little spice (mind you, the water temp was luke warm). We turned on the jets to see what he would do and he loved those, too. After awhile, it was time to get out of the tub and that's when we had a problem. This kid did not want to get out at all. He screamed bloody murder while we dried him in his little hooded towel. Since then, he's been in the Jacuzzi tub two more times and fortunately for everyone, on the last trip to the tub, he was happy and smiling when we took him out to dry him off.

Billy has had three other major developments this week. The first is that we gave him this really soft frog puppet thing. You'll see it in the video. When he gets it on the floor, he started picking his legs up and grabbing onto it with his arms and hands. It was all an attempt to use every limb he had to get this thing to his mouth, but it looked like Mixed Martial Arts grappling. Then, the second event happened. Billy rolled over to his side with it. I had never seen him do that before. Now he is rolling to his side without it quite a bit. He basically grabs the floor with his toes and begins pulling on it while he turns his head and twists his waist. The next thing you know, he's over. Already he's begun taking that top leg and swinging it over and I'm guessing it won't be more than a month at max before he's rolling from back to front after figuring out how to negotiate that arm that's in the way preventing a complete roll. He's also started warning us before he's about to cry by sticking that bottom lip out. Typically, it seems to be the first stage of crying. You have two choices at that point. You can either continue down the path you are on and trigger a full blown fuss or you can change course and make him smile, which isn't that tough to do. Its really funny looking though, so when we see it, we usually start smiling and laughing and that is usually enough to prevent his mood from progressing much farther.

Last story and then I'm done this week. My sister, Christine, had to put down one of her dogs due to an unusual medical condition for his breed. It was truly a very sad and disheartening story, which is why I decided to make the video that I made below. Something to cheer everyone up whenever they are feeling down. But from this very sad story comes a very cute one. I had the little guy in his vibrating seat, which he loves, and was bouncing into my office every now and then to see if my sister had replied to my email about what happened that led to the day's events regarding her dog. When I got her reply, it was quite long and as I started reading it, I was pulled into the story, which again, was very, very sad if you are a dog owner like we are. After I was about 2/3 of the way through it, I realized I couldn't hear the baby anymore. I went into the living room (the next room over) and there he was, sitting in his little chair. Our dog, a 95 lb. blue weimaraner, was laying at the base of his seat sound asleep. We have a really mild mannered dog who absolutely loves the baby. He's constantly getting in there to lick the baby and lay by him (except when he's crying, in which case he leaves the room so nobody accuses him of making the baby cry, I guess). When I walk in, I realize that the dog is getting a massage as the baby is positioned so that he is repeatedly kicking the dog over and over in the back. Little baby + big dog = massagelike kicks. As I got closer to tell the dog he was a good boy for being so good with the baby, I realized there was more going on here. Apparently my son had heard my wife telling me the dog needed to be brushed and was taking it upon himself to address the shedding issue. With each kick, he was grabbing the dog with his toes and pulling gobs of hair out of the dog. My dog is a short haired dog, so they were probably his loose hairs since he was sound asleep and unfazed by all of this, but that didn't stop my kid from having a pile of dog hair at the base of his swing and all over the floor. Quite funny.

Well, Billy's Grandma is in town today to take over the baby sitting duties for Antoinette's final week of orientation. I can't wait until she gets to see him because her last visit was when he was born and he is a completely different baby now. Should be fun to watch.

Enjoy the video this week. Hope it makes you all smile.

Back to Work...

This upcoming week is going to be quite difficult. Antoinette returns to work, starting her new job at a new hospital with a work schedule that is much better suited for our new family situation. Over the next two weeks, however, she needs to work five days a week as she gets through the orientation process. Because of that, I'm taking an early vacation to stay home with the little guy this week, which should be fun since he's not particularly comfortable bottle feeding. I guess we'll learn together. By the way, what's a Boppy?

Emotionally, I anticipate this week will be harder on Antoinette than any week other than when she first moved away from home. I know the difficulty already of having to walk out the door to work every day while the little guy is still sleeping in his cradle or swing, or curled up quietly next to his Mother. It is one of the hardest things I've ever had to do to leave them without getting a smile or a little giggle and it doesn't seem to get easier, but I think it makes each little grin all the more important when I return home. I think Antoinette will experience and appreciate the time she has home with him even more after a couple weeks away.

That being said, we are also anticipating the arrival of Antoinette's Mother Charlotte in a week. While I have the baby for the first week, her Mother is coming to town to take him the second week. For Charlotte, it will be the first time she gets to spend days at a time alone with her first Grandchild. The last time she saw him, he was brand spanking new. Fresh out of the oven. Now, he is a completely different, interactive, smiling baby. He actually makes you enjoy changing his diaper because he's laughing and giggling during the whole event. Probably because he knows you're cleaning up his poop, I guess.

As for this past week, the biggest development was a gross one. Billy's a drooler. Well, in fairness to him, all babies transition through this stage, but its one stage that is filled with more spit bubbles than I've ever seen in my life. Most people think that this is a sign that the baby is teething and while this isn't exactly true since teeth won't pop through his little gums for another 3-6 months, it is teething related. Basically his teeth have begun their long trek through the gum tissue. When this process begins, saliva production goes into overdrive for the forseeable future and we see a spigot of drool and spit bubbles. Bust out the bibs. Other ancillary benefits to this excessive drool is stomach acid neutralization allowing the esophagus to heal from increased spit up and the intestinal tract to continue a healthy developmental growth.

Another interesting fact pertaining to this excessive drool is the understanding that Billy's inability to control his saliva production by swallowing is a sign that he is not yet ready for solid foods (and likely won't be for another 2 months). His sucking instinct is still strong at this point meaning that any attempt to put food into his mouth would probably inadvertently lead to him pushing it out of his mouth with his tongue anyhow. Either way, his digestive system is still quite a way from being prepared to handle anything other than breast milk or formula.

This week was about the time that babies begin to notice not only their parents voices, which are no doubt quite familiar to them already, but also their parents' smell. Moving to within a close proximity to the baby can result in increased excitement, even if he can't hear or see you. He's also seen increased development in the gastrocolic reflex which should slow down bowel movements to as little as a couple per week over the next couple weeks. Head and neck control continue to improve and I expect he's a month to a month and a half out from being able to support his head on his own fairly well, but we'll see.

Billy also left his very first voicemail this week. I'm going to try and attach it to his video this week, which I'll probably have on here today or tomorrow.