Almost 7 months update

Samuel got 3 shots today at the doctor's office, and he only flinched and winced--no cries or tears. Then big smiles for the nurse. He's a tough little man.

He's also back to sleeping through the night. Hallelujah! We decided 3 nights ago that we had to give up our (my) habit of rocking him to sleep, because he would fall asleep in our arms, get put in the crib, and then just wake up again in 10 minutes. After going through this cycle too many nights, we just let him cry. He was asleep in 15 minutes. The next night 30 minutes. And tonite, 10. Once he goes down, he tends to sleep much better all night. Maybe exhaustion. Maybe he's given up on his parents.

His poops are also getting better. He's had spontaneous poops for the last few weeks about once very 3-5 days, which is way better than his every 10 day suppository. We plan to wean his lactulose slowly as he gets older.

He's a real grabber these days. Didn't seem that long ago that he was just staring at the hanging toys on his bouncer. Now he'll grab and manipulate anything around him, with determination. He gave himself a papercut on a Land's End catalog he was trying to mangle around today.

His feedings have also drastically increased, from 4-6 oz a feed, now to a whopping 8oz four, sometimes 5 times a day. Now also taking oatmeal cereal, and some Stage 1 peas.

He was 20lbs exactly 2 weeks ago at his checkup. He doesn't look enormous, except during his baths. His weight is distributely evenly throughout his body, and not just in face and butt like Joshua's.

He sleeps mostly on his back, and once a while when he's not in his sleeping bag, will flip over onto his stomache and cry.

Spring Breaking

Being just 6 months old, Samuel didn't get to experience too exciting of a trip to Miami. Spring breaking meant sleeping in a crib next to his big brother,

kicking it watching TV,

watching his family pig out on burgers and pizza on the beach,

and clowning around in the hotel room.

But all fun things. We all had a blast.

Barium enema and sleeping

Samuel got a barium enema on Friday to work up his constipation. It showed no major problems, but just some "redudant sigmoid colon." Basically, his colon is extra long. Not sure yet if it got extra long because he was constipated, or it was long and made him constipated. He is still on lactulose and has a big poop every 3-4 days now.

Another big development--Samuel finally started sleeping through the night last week. Unfortunately, he just got sick again, and we were back to waking up every couple hours again last night. Ughh.

First solids

We fed Samuel his first solid food today: oatmeal cereal. Yum! It was fun to see how much he enjoyed it.

First Bites!



He really likes it!

6 months old

If I keep repeating myself saying that Samuel seems to be happiest baby in the world, it's because it seems so true.

Reading together

Samuel likes reading along with Joshua.

Tuesdays with Daddy

Typical Tuesday Schedule with Daddy

March 2, 2009
10am Roland returns from meeting and takes over care
until noon: floorplay, watches episode of Survivor 18 with dad
12pm: drinks 6oz milk, falls asleep for 45 min
1:30pm: wakes up, Roland carries Samuel around in backpack, kitchen/house cleanup
3:30pm: drinks 6oz milk again.
4:30pm: goes with dad to pick up Joshua at preschool
5pm: falls asleep in carseat and is carried around Wholefoods while dad and Josh buy cheese puffs, ketchup and sushi
5:30pm: wakes up
6pm: everyone gets dressed and ready for the Housemaster dinner

All dressed up

Samuel attended his first official Housemaster function tonite, and he was dressed to impress.