More Mastication

Sucking on mommy's finger is even better than sucking on my own!

I'm good at sleeping!

Anthony is turning out to be a very good sleeper. He naps really nicely during the day (at least some of the time.) I've instituted a 3-yawns and you're out rule. After the third yawn, he gets swaddled and goes into his crib. Even though his little eyes are wide open when I put him down, he's usually asleep within minutes.

At night we're doing very well. (Although publishing this is sure to ruin everything.) Typically we'll top him off between 9 and 10:30. Then he'll sleep until 3 or 4am. A quick feed and re-swaddle and I'm back in bed within 30 minutes. He'll babble for 5 or 10 minutes, but then he'll fall back asleep and sleep until 7 or even 7:30. Not bad for a little guy who's not even two months old.

Note: He is indeed a bear if he doesn't get his naps in. Thanksgiving we went to the Tech Museum to see the Body Worlds exhibit. It was a very cool exhibit, but he hadn't napped properly in the morning. Then by afternoon he was FUSSY and too tired and overstimulated to sleep in his Baby Bjorn. Eventually I put a receiving blanket over his head and he was out, just like I'd covered a birdcage. He was AWFUL that evening. We'll be better about naps in the future.

BTW, the exhibit was neat. I highly recommend seeing it!

Clothes

Now that Anthony is getting bigger (we think he's twenty-four inches long), he is starting to fit into real big-boy clothes. Well, at least the clothes in the 3-6 month size that everyone has bought him.

Its fun getting him dressed every morning now that he doesn't mind onesies being pulled over his head.

His coloring is the exact opposite of mine, so I find the colors he looks good in just fascinating.

He looks fabulous in cream, yellow and orange. He also pulls off muted blues and grays very well. Baby blue isn't his color, though. He definitely looks better in muted colors than the primary colors that I am drawn to.

Loving Grandma Donna

Mommy barely got to hold Anthony over the weekend. Between a grandparents and 3 aunts and uncles, he was well loved.

On Friday after Thanksgiving we went shopping at the bookstore with Grandma Donna so she could buy some books for Anthony.







Boy did we get books, including:
Runaway Bunny Board Book
Are you my Mother?
Goodnight Gorilla
Very busy Spider
Make Way for Ducklings
Mr. Pusskins
Cars and Trucks and Things that Go (Richard Scary)

Unfortunately, they did not have Big Red Barn which was on the top of her list.

We're going to have to get a real bookshelf for the nursery. Anthony has so many books now. (His Grandma Elinor and Aunt Erika also like to buy books.)

Anthony's First Babysitters

Uncle Dave and Aunt Julie babysat for us Sunday night so that Bob and I could have our first date since the baby came. People told us to not trust Uncle Dave to babysit, but he did a GREAT job.

Bob and I had a nice dinner at Fiesta del Mar and then we went to the Books Inc cafe for dessert. (We met at Books Inc for coffee for our first date.) I did a little shopping for the "Gift of Reading" program. Its my favorite Christmas time charity. I bought A Wrinkle in Time, Charlotte's Web and Buenos Noches Gorilla.

We got home in time to see Uncle Dave change Anthony's diaper and put him to bed so we could play Hearts. (Poor Bob got stuck with the Queen of Spades about 10 times in a row.)

Master of his hands

Check it out--he's learning to suck on his fist. He'll also hold my hand and suck my finger and his fist at the same time.

Mommy dresses me funny, too

Only she did it on purpose!!!

Our bedroom is a little chilly at night and I worry about Anthony being cold. His current sleepwear are:
Layer one: a cotton pajama suit
Layer two: fleece swaddle blanket (he really sleeps better being swaddled)
Layer three: His insulated sleep sack.

We inherited a few of these from one of Bob's co-workers. (Yes, it was worn by two boys.)
Of course, since his arms are swaddled they can't stick out the armholes.

I couldn't stop laughing the first time we did this!

Starting to smile

This is a place-holder picture until we can get the real thing on camera.

Anthony did his first real smile at Bob this morning. He was waking up and Bob stood over him to say "Good Morning" and Anthony gave him a full smile with checks and everything. We were so excited!

He's only done it a few times since, but they're just precious! (This was something I'd been looking forward to for a long time. I'm fine that he smiled at Daddy first, I'm glad I got to see it.)

Grandpa came to visit

Grandpa came to visit for Thanksgiving. (Well, it wasn't just Grandpa Vince, but Grandma Donna and Uncle Dave and Aunt Julie and Aunt Jessica. We had a full house!) Grandpa was SOOO excited to finally have a grandbaby to spoil. They had a nice time together, especially in the mornings when Dad got up early with the baby. Here's Grandpa giving Anthony a bottle, and Anthony is totally checking him out.

Be sure to notice how big his hands are! When Daddy was little, Grandpa (well, his Daddy) liked to hold him high overhead in those big hands.

Of course, Anthony spent plenty of time sleeping on Grandpa's chest, too. That's pretty much his favorite activity.

When Anthony gets bigger we'll go to the lake house in Kansas and Grandpa will take Anthony fishing and bird watching on his boat.

Naptime

Anthony and Aunt Jessica share a snooze together. He loves sleeping on people's chests. Except maybe Mommy, she wiggles too much.

My pants are too big

Auntie Andrea gave us this outfit. Its pretty darn cute, but the pants are a good two inches too big in the waist. We wore them for awhile. It doesn't matter when they're too big when you're lying down playing. But, when its time to stand up, they drop to his ankles!

Brown-eyed Boy

Anthony definitely is going to have dark brown eyes. They gray he had as a newborn is gone. I think he's pretty darn cute. Actually, I think he's my small dark and handsome.

Hanging out in the bouncy chair

Sometimes Anthony is less than impressed with his bouncy chair.

Then, there are times like last night. He hadn't napped very well during the day for no real reason. Then by evening, he was a real bear and would not stop fussing. (Needless to say, he was way too tired to sleep, also.)

We brought out the bouncy chair and with the vibrating and some additional bouncing, he was out in about 5 minutes. He only slept for about 30 minutes, but woke in a better mood. We fed him dinner at 9:30, he was in bed at 10:30 and slept until 3:30. Not bad.

We've noticed that his sleeping stretches at night are getting longer and longer. However, his next sleep cycle after the long one is pretty short. We had him down at 4:30 and then he woke again at 6:30. But, a 5-6 hour sleep is okay.

Still not sure about baths

Well, Anthony still isn't sure what he thinks of baths. He doesn't cry but he tends to have a shell-shocked look, like he's not quite sure what to make of the whole thing. I like to squeeze the washclothes over his fat little belly.

He definitely likes have his hair blow-dried. Actually, he likes the blow-drier on his whole body.

Unfortunately the camera lens did funny things here.

Six Weeks Old

Can you believe its been six weeks already??

How things have changed...

Let's see...

He's up to 11 pounds, 7 ounces today.

He's gotten a lot stronger. He totally likes to stand up when I hold him and he is getting a lot more head control.

He slept for 6 hours straight last night. Of course, there's no guarantee that it will ever happen again. (We have plenty of hard nights, too.)

By the way, he was really good today. Unfortunately, I didn't have the camera out then. I'll have to be better at taking pictures. (Today's project was ordering prints for his baby book.)

The Many Faces of Anthony

Top to bottom:
A little dazed
Snoozy
Angry baby!

(Unfortunately, I don't have awake and alert in this batch.)

Waltzing with Grandpa

Grandpa Teaches Anthony how to Waltz

More time with Grandpa

Grandpa was here for three days. We had a nice time together. We went for nice walks every day. (Even though it was kind of gray and dreary on Thursday.) Grandpa enjoyed holding Anthony and they'd sing German army songs and march around the kitchen together.

Unfortunately, Anthony was a bit fussy for most of his visit.

We're going to Southern California to visit my parents over Christmas, so we'll have more time with California Claus.

(We have more grandparents visiting over Thanksgiving and in December. Anthony is one lucky fellow to have so many people who love him.)

Oh yeah, Grandpa beat me at Scrabble. I was ahead the whole game and then somehow he came out ahead. I think I'll blame the baby for distracting me. (I beat Grandpa Vince when he was here in April. Putting quark on a triple word score pretty much did it.)

Tummy Time

Yep, a picture is worth a thousand words sometimes.

When we first put him down on his tummy, he'll lay there happily for a few minutes. He'll kick his little legs and grunt.

It takes him awhile to get around to trying to lift his head. That's when the screaming starts. We probably don't make him spend enough time on his tummy. I haven't pulled out a protractor yet, but I don't think he'll typically lift his head to 45 degrees yet.

Grandpa comes to visit

Grandpa is here visiting this week. We're having a good time. We're been for a few walks in the neighborhood and I've been putting him to work. Today he cut back a vine and the rosebushes and fixed the railing in front of the house.

Anthony didn't know what to make of him at first, but has decided that Grandpa's chest is a fine place to take a nap.

(You can't tell in the photo, but he's wearing the outfit that Auntie Andrea gave him. The fleece pants and jacket are nice today as its getting colder. The 80 degree weather of last weekend seems to be gone.)

Up Early

He has a bit of a bad habit of waking up before mommy is really ready. Sometimes he'll curl up in bed and we can get just a little more rest before breakfast.

Fun With Jayne

Jayne was a bit nervous about the idea of holding Anthony, as he doesn't have full head control yet. But, give her five minutes and she's poking at his nose!! (Anthony didn't seem to mind. Besides, Jayne's going to help him learn to ski!)

One Month Old

Can you believe it, our little dude is already one month old!

How has he changed??

1. Size: He started out as a hefty 8 pound, 1 ounce baby, and at 4 weeks he was just over 10 pounds.

2. Appetite: Matched his growth. When we brought him home, a good meal was 1 ounce of formula. Now he'll happily chow down 4 ounces.

3. His face: He looks like a baby now, not a newborn. He's also starting to grow eyebrows.

4. His lungs: He's got VOLUME.

5. Things he can do: He likes to play with his tongue and with his hands. (You can roll your tongue around in your mouth and stick it out.) He'll also reach up and hold on to the bottle when I'm feeding him.

6. Still doesn't like: diaper changes, baths.

10/7/07
Edited to add that he definitely knows who is Mommy and Daddy and who isn't Mommy and Daddy.

Daddy is Funny

So, Bob's feeding Anthony and says to me "His bib is wrong." What's wrong with it?? It says "Choo choo, it should say Suck, suck".

But that was the beginning.

Next he exclaims "Maybe its just mis-spelled and should say Chow-chow".

A few seconds later, "Is Pooh all over his clothes because he's full of poo??"

I married a comedian.

(As to the question of "Are there any pictures where he's not eating?" No. That's what he does. And I've refrained from blogging about poop.)

Daddy's Little Wingman

This photo was taken on 10/24, but I thought the computer had eaten it.

Bob was talking about taking Anthony in his "Daddy's Little Wingman" outfit to go pick up chicks.

He's so cute...

Anthony is so precious when he wakes from his naps. He does the most amazing stretching, complete with making faces and grunting. While I certainly love it when he goes down for his nap, I love watching him wake up, too.

Mommy's Fat Baby

Today I took Anthony over to "Maternal Connections" at El Camino Hospital for his 4-week weigh-in. (They have scales available to the public.) Anthony now weighs 10 pounds, 1/2 ounce. In four weeks, he gained just shy of 2 pounds.

When Victoria was pregnant with Anthony, Jeremy used to pat her tummy and say "Mommy's fat baby". Well, he was right. Well, not really, Anthony is just a growing boy.

You can sort of see in this picture that he's demonstrating his latest trick--he has discovered his hands. They're amazingly cool things hands.

Halloween

Yesterday was Anthony's first Halloween. We had a great day.

In the morning his friend Claire and Baby Robert from 2 doors down stopped by with trick-or-treat fun. They gave him play-dough. Claire told Anthony that it would be more fun when he gets older. (No, I'm not actually going to let him play with it, but I sure like it.)

Then in the afternoon we went down to Gilroy to visit his birth family. We went trick-or-treating at the big outlet mall there. It was a great visit! It was totally chaotic at the mall, especially since Anthony decided he needed a snack right when we arrived. But, we got him fed and Tatyanna carried his goody-bag so he could get treats, too!

We had dinner at Applebees, where we met Victoria and her family for the first time. Bob says that he'd going to tell Anthony that he came from Applebees when he gets bigger. The girls were fascinated by the baby, especially his little fingers.

Then we went back to Victoria's house to visit a little more, and meet her grandfather. We especially needed to get a picture of him with the baby since Anthony inherited his nose.

We visited for another hour, then the kids needed to go do more trick-or-treating and we needed to get fussy boy home.

As for the pictures... Top picture, we have Tatyanna (Cinderella), Anthony as her pumpkin, Yesenia is the witch and Jeremy is the firefighter. Jeremy's costume has serious reflective tape on it.

Then that is Victoria and the baby before he got too fussy.

The last picture is Victoria's grandparents with Anthony. He definitely has the Navarro nose!















In the car on the way home, Bob and I participated in the time honored parental tradition of raiding the kids goody-bag. (Its not like he's going to eat any of it.)