The pull to standing baby act

LOTS of work around here today. But look what milestone Ariana reached today.

She pulled herself to her feet!

So proud of herself

and elated

the world is a little different when you're standing on your feet

Sitting (fairly well) and crawling (sort of)

Mom, are you talking about me?

I just wanted to report on a couple of developmental milestones Caleb has reached lately. As you’ve seen from my exciting photos, he is now able to sit by himself fairly well. He can’t sit up on his own yet, but when I put him in the sitting position, he can hold that position for a good while. He also puts his arm out to steady himself or to keep from falling over. He eventually does fall over, but for the most part, he has learned how to fall without hurting himself. Though I still hear a head knock here and there... (Sometimes, I put the Boppy behind him, so he won’t fall straight back.)
He is also practicing the beginnings of a crawl! He scoots himself across the floor, putting one bent elbow in front of the other, drawing up the knees and pushing off with the feet. He gets himself to where he wants to be, so for all intents and purposes, it is sort of a crawl, but it is not the classic version of it. It is more like the beginnings of an army crawl. He still gets tired fast and tends to get frustrated if the object he wants is more than a foot away. I try to encourage him to crawl farther by putting his toys out of reach. If he really wants something, he goes and gets it. I’ve turned around to find him at the other end of a small room, so I know that he can do it.

As I understand, some babies never do the classic (normal) crawl, others graduate from the army crawl to the normal crawl, and others skip crawling altogether. When our pediatrician saw how Caleb could stand on his own two legs, holding on only for balance, she thought that he might skip crawling and be an early walker. I’m glad though that he is doing this army crawl. It prepares me for the next stage: the normal (where did he go?) crawl and/or THE WALKING! Yikes!! We SERIOUSLY need to babyproof our house! NOW!

Happy One Year to You!!!

I say that to my 3 and a half-month-old son, because a year ago today our prayer was heard and God created our little Caleb Nathaniel. His life and our journey as parents began a year ago. We recognized then that a new soul has entered this world and that soul is alive and eternal, just as our “older” souls are alive. We knew that no matter what happened in the next 9 months, God has given us a child, an eternal inheritance, whom we would meet one day. That day came 9 months later with the birth of our son on Christmas Eve - God’s Christmas gift to us.

Yesterday, we celebrated Christ’s resurrection and our new life in Him. We have the hope of a million tomorrows, because He conquered death and the grave – He lives!

Today, on this beautiful spring day, we rejoice in Caleb’s life. A year ago, his life began. What a blessing his little life has been to us already! He is sweetly sleeping on my lap right now and as I look down at him, I am filled with love and gratitude... and wonder. You have lived a whole year, Little One! Did you know that?

Caleb is rolling over!

Just want to report that Caleb rolled over for the first time this past week. I had him on the ottoman and was busy taking pictures/videos of him holding himself up by his arms. Then, all of a sudden, he rolled onto his back!

He did it again last night when we had him on the floor. He showed his daddy too what he can do! There was more room on the floor, so this was a more complete roll (I wasn't trying to stop him from rolling OFF anything!). I don't know which one of us was more surprised by his accomplishment - Caleb, his daddy, or I.

2 months

Here we are at the 2-month mark already! Caleb now weighs 12 pounds and 4 ounces. He is growing very nicely! I’m happy, because this confirms that he is getting adequate quantity and quality of my milk (breastfeeding mothers tend to wonder).

In the past weeks, I've become a pro at going to the stores with him with the least amount of trouble. The easiest way to shop with the Little Precious is to transfer him to the sling, where he is the happiest little shopper, looking all around (or if he’s sleepy, he sleeps contentedly). We always get tons of comments about how cute he is, how much hair he’s got, etc. Lots of smiles, too. I guess people don’t see infants in sling carriers much, because I’ve gotten several surprised comments about what a nice contraption it is and how comfortable he looks in it. I’ve been using that thing so much that I decided to get an extra one, so now we have one for the house and one for the car. (And a Baby Björn for those upcoming hikes in the mountains!)

Caleb's grandparents and Aunt Jen visited us this weekend. They marveled at how much he has changed in the past 2 months. We had a really nice visit and perhaps Caleb will remember them this time. I know that his other grandparents and aunts also can’t wait to see him soon. He is changing so much now that it’s really exciting. He has begun to BELLY LAUGH in his sleep! It is the sweetest sound I’ve ever heard! His brain is practicing and I know that it is only a matter of weeks before he laughs and giggles when awake. (That’s what happened with the smile too.) I can’t wait!

I am now getting ready to apply for Caleb’s passport, so that he can travel to Europe with us in the summer. He will have changed a lot by then, but I guess his passport will be valid for the next 5 years as a child (as opposed to 10 years for an adult).

6 week milestone

We are coming up on the 6 week milestone this Sunday! This week completes my official recovery from childbirth and I’ve been given the OK to start exercising. This is also an important milestone for baby, as this is the week he is said to develop the social smile. :) Indeed, Caleb has smiled at me a couple of times this past week. He has a beautiful smile! It’s an open mouthed smile that begins at his eyes and ends in a big grin. Before now, he only smiled in his sleep from about 2 weeks of age, which was thrilling in and of itself. But now he smiles in response to stimuli from us, which is really wonderful. I will try to capture one of these smiles in a photograph soon.

Caleb is also old enough now to be taken out more and we will start going to places with him more (especially as winter starts coming to an end). I’ve taken a couple of walks with him in our neighborhood in the past weeks, on days when the weather was unusually warm. He also took his very first trip to the grocery store last week; not that he saw much - he slept soundly through it. We took him to see my friends at Monte Carlo Restaurant, and we also revisited the Mexican restaurant. And yesterday, in the bitter cold, I ventured out on my first solo shopping expedition with him to Target, where we picked up several baby items (including a Diaper Champ – about time!) and browsed for a leisurely hour. The trip was very successful and I was so proud of Caleb; he was mommy’s shopping buddy, behaving so well. I think he understands that when we are out, his place is in the car seat, where he’s supposed to stay and not make a fuss. I have high hopes for similar shopping trips in the future. (Funny how ordinary shopping trips have become exciting things to report on!)

I still have to pinch myself sometimes that I have a son, that this little boy is truly mine. It seems that it all happened so quickly – the pregnancy, the birth, the first weeks home. I think that I am still in a daze that this truly happened to us: we made a beautiful child, God blessed us with a son. (Maybe it’s so unbelievable, because we had waited so long to have a child, always planning, but taking our time getting to it.) Now that he is here, we can’t imagine life again without him. He has carved out a place for himself in our family and it’s as if he’s been with us always.

Happy 6 weeks to you, son!

Caleb is 4 weeks old!

I can’t believe a month has already passed since he was born, but it’s true – Caleb is now 4 weeks old! To me, he doesn’t look any different than at birth, but I see him every day. He still fits into all the newborn clothes, but the newborn diapers are starting to become a little too snug on him. What I did notice is that his face has become more expressive. Instead of the blank stares, he now looks at us with intelligent eyes; he has started to smile (mostly in his sleep), and he holds our gaze much longer. He seems more interested in his surroundings too, lately. He especially likes to look at lights, although he has done that since birth. (He has also lifted his head since birth.) He is starting to be okay with being put down in his carseat more often. We took him to church yesterday for the first time and he actually slept in the carseat for 3 hours (including a Mexican lunch afterwards)! This was big progress for him! I normally can’t put him down when he is sleeping. If I try to move him from my arms to the carseat, he wakes up protesting the change. When he is awake and alert, he’s better at being put down, but he almost acts like he’s being betrayed when he wakes up and sees that I tried to sneak him from my arms to another spot while he was sleeping. (The poor thing. It must be tough being a newborn!) Anyway, I’ve learned to manage with him on me all the time - I have a new sling carrier, in which he falls asleep and I have free hands to do what I need. I also love my Boppy pillow, which is a great support during breastfeeding at the computer. As he falls asleep at the breast quite often, I just gently pull my arm out and lay him on the pillow, where he’ll sleep contentedly for a couple of hours, allowing me to work (although not to get up). I’m still trying to see periodically if he will go down in the carseat at these times, but I am just not willing to let my baby cry. Whimper – yes, but not cry or scream. (My instincts about this were apparently right, as I saw a show just the other day where doctors refuted the notion believed for many years that crying develops a newborn baby’s lungs. They said instead that screaming raises their blood pressure and creates stress hormones, which can negatively affect the developing child.) My baby still has an immature nervous system and he doesn’t need additional stress. If he wants to be comforted by snuggling with his mother all the time, so be it. I am sure that as he grows, he’ll be less dependent on me for comfort. So, for now the bassinet stands empty, as we’ve moved him into bed with us, where he sleeps like a big boy next to mommy and daddy, waking up only for a couple of feedings per night (we’ve learned to breastfeed lying down), and giving us 4-5 hours of uninterrupted sleep. He doesn’t even cry anymore; I’ll just hear him stirring and after feeding, he’ll fall right back to sleep. He is so cute at the beginning of the night, when we get into bed. He tries and tries to comfort himself, but keeps squirming, looking for something to suck on (he hasn’t quite discovered his thumb yet, so he tries to cram his knuckles into his mouth, which doesn’t work too well). I usually give him my pinky finger, which quiets him down and he slowly falls asleep. The problem with a pacifier is that he is just a very strong sucker and keeps popping it out of his mouth. (That’s why I gave up having him in the bassinet with my hand hanging over the side holding the pacifier in place!) I never thought I’d be comfortable with bringing my newborn into bed with me, but it works.

By far the most important thing we’ve accomplished in the past few weeks is learning how to breastfeed. It has been a challenge, but we’ve made good progress and he now nurses around the clock (except for one or two supplemental bottles of formula per day, to give me a break). He is a very strong sucker (can I say, OUCH?), but I’m starting to get used to it. He was adorable when he was learning how to latch on. He would try so hard and make sudden head butting motions while chomping down with his mouth (I can’t explain it, I can only demonstrate). I still love to watch him in action: the noises he makes, the heavy breathing, coming up for air every once in awhile, the contented look on his face, the raised eyebrows, the occasional smile, the wide open eyes looking all around or the glazed over eyes towards the end of the feeding... they are all a source of amusement to me. He definitely prefers the breast to the bottle, although I know it’s more work for him. He would nurse nonstop if he didn’t fall asleep, so I’ve taken to affectionately calling him MILK MOUTH. :)

I am happy to report that he apparently likes water. Since his umbilical cord has healed, I’ve given him a few baths and he doesn’t cry, he just lays there looking around, taking in the situation. Even though he was upset and crying before one of his baths and I thought, oh no, this isn’t going to go over too well, once I put him in the water, there was not a peep out of him. So it looks like my wish that my child would love water like I do seems to have come true. Good, because there are going to be a lot of water outings in his future!

Ron and I have managed to have a few of our candlelit dinners since Caleb’s been born. We have always said that we’d never stop enjoying this favorite pastime of ours, cooking fancy dinners and just enjoying each other’s company. It’s been nice that we’ve been able to continue doing that. Caleb either sits in his carseat in the corner or nurses on my lap. We found out the other day that he likes Bobby Darin, when he fell asleep in his carseat listening to his music blaring from the stereo nearby. (It may have been the vibrations.)

So, these are a few glimpses into our days with our new little addition, our beautiful little Caleb Nathaniel. As his daddy says all the time, he is just ADORABLE!