Four Months Old

I've done my absolute best to enjoy and appreciate each Caleb moment in the last four months. I am constantly reminding myself that these moments won't last forever and that soon enough he'll be crawling, walking, talking, talking back, and unappreciative of the constant kisses. So before those last two things happen, I'm just taking it all in. And? LOVING IT!

He is still such a good baby... I definitely know when he needs something because those are the only times he cries. And those times? Rare.

At this stage...

Things Caleb loves

• His play gym. Um, more like destructing his play gym. He's happy to play with the toys hanging from it, but he's happier when he's kicked a leg or two out and has the whole thing flattened out on top of him.

• Song time! The Itsy Bitsy Spider (with hand gestures, of course) and Five Green and Speckled Frogs (which, imagine this, can actually be Ten or Fifty Green and Specked Frogs, depending on how long you need the song to be! Kinda like 100 Bottles of Beer on the Wall, Kids' Version!)
• Bath time! Bath time climbed the list from "tolerates" at eight weeks to "loves" at four months! He splashes, he floats on his back (Daddy's assistance), he plays. It's magic. And it prepared him well for the pool in Palm Springs on Fathers' Day weekend :)

• Reading time! He looks at the pictures, reacts to the silly voices we make, and "reads" along. His attention span is better than mine... I'm working on that.
• Stroller time! He likes to be on the go, whether it's a walk in the neighborhood, rolling through the library, or bumpy terrain at the park.

Things Caleb tolerates

• Sitting with us while we eat at the table. This will hopefully move up to the "loves" list above when he actually gets to indulge in eating food instead of watching us eat in front of him.

Things Caleb doesn't like much

• That darn binky falling out of his mouth. While he IS able to find it with his hands sometimes, he just isn't coordinated enough to find his mouth quite yet. A hole in one is still a fluke... I mean, it happens, but it's most certainly about the stars and moon aligning moreso than any mad skills he's acquired. As entertaining as it is for me to watch, he frankly gets pissy about the whole thing.

And to add categories this time around...


Things Caleb's parents love

• Hearing him scream with delight and laugh. Best sounds EVER!
• Watching him hit new milestones and make new connections.
• His omnipresent smile.

Things Caleb's parents tolerate

• I have to put this here because my "love" and Paul's "doesn't like so much" come out as a neutral: Paul gets up with him 9 out of 10 times at night. I don't even hear them most times - but I soooo love that he (Paul) hasn't complained even once about this. Caleb will sleep through the night some nights, but many nights he just can't quite get over the 4 or 5 a.m. hump. So we (mostly Paul) will feed him, change him, and get him back to bed for a nice wake-up time between 8 and 9 a.m.

Things Caleb's parents don't like much

• Seeing dog hair on my little guy's hands. I know it will only get worse as he crawls on the floor, but I really don't like that.
• He is growing and changing so fast! I wish I could slow some of that down.

Just thought I should document some of these things before I forgot. Life is flying by and if I can freeze just these few thoughts and observations, why not?

Sweetest Sounds Ever Heard

This video melts my heart! Caleb's cousin Michael played peek-a-boo with him in Target tonight:

I love him so much!

My Newest Favoritest Picture

Yeah, I know favoritest isn't a word ;)

Here's Caleb and Daddy looking at their twins:

Stats and Crazy Thoughts

Stats first since I'm so excited to say... our healthy boy is still a BIG, healthy boy!

At 9 weeks, his head circumference was 16.5 inches (90th percentile), he weighed 14 pounds (95th percentile) and was 26 inches long (off the charts - the average length of a 5.5 month old!). The doctor said he eats, sleeps, pees and poops just the right amount. Wait, was that TMI? Sorry if so... I mean those terms in the most medical of senses ;)

Perhaps getting 9 hours of sleep on one of the weekend nights and another 9 hours last night (yes! a work night!) made me a little loopy because I said something to Paul about having another and he said something like "did we win the lottery and you didn't tell me??" I guess this is one of those situations where I can't say "money aside..." because, well, money is never aside. Perhaps we can talk along those lines if I get another kick-ass bonus next year :) For now, and for always, Caleb is a blessing and I know we're lucky to have him and our lives are so full and complete just the way we are.

And some recent pictures of our little-big guy:

Had to put a pic with Paul's hand so Caleb would look small(er) than something

When do we add peanut butter and chocolate to the diet?

Ack! So cute! We have 3 robes for him and use them all because, well, why wouldn't we when he looks this cute??

Currently my facebook profile pic because every time I look at this, I smile!

Chicks dig him

From today... 9 weeks 3 days (but who's counting?)

From the weekend... Happy Easter, naked baby style!

Updated Pictures

I uploaded new pics today here
Password = calebian

Damn he's cute. I don't think I'm supposed to say that... I'm supposed to wait for everyone else to say that. Ahhh to hell with the "rules."

Back to Work. Blech.

I went back to work today. My work is generous and offers a "new parent transition week" which means I can work 20 hours and get paid for 40. Quite frankly, I was not ready for this. Even now - after finishing a 4 hour work day - I'm not ready for this! I had a mini panic attack this morning... like a last minute attempt to figure out how I could NOT go back to work and still pay our bills. I failed to come up with anything doable, because short of selling our house and living like homeless people, it ain't gonna happen.

Of course I knew my return to work day was coming. In fact, I had chest pain that started on Sunday and got worse yesterday. All sorts of things went through my head... like maybe it was a physical symptom of stress (like the idea of returning to work). I went to the doctor and he poked and pushed and diagnosed it as costochondritis (click here to learn more about that) which according to Wikipedia, a diagnostic version of God, if you will, has symptoms similar to those you may have with a heart attack. Alas, it's likely due to hauling a heavy little baby around in a heavy little car seat and his recommendation was to switch the load to the other side of my body. We'll see about that.


I'm pretty sure if I look back through the archives of this blog, I'll find a post about how sure I was I wanted (perhaps even wrote "needed") to work because that's what I know and it's how I define(d) myself. I don't have time to go look for that blurb but that's ok... I'd probably choke on my own words anyway. In case I'm not being clear, let me put it this way: I want to stay home and play with Caleb all day!

Because I don't want to just complain and not have a plan of action, I do plan to do something about this quandary: I will immediately start playing Lotto, the Early Retirement Plan :)

4 Weeks

Do you want to eat him, too, or is it just me?

This "little" (I'll use the term loosely since Paul thinks he's around 12 pounds... yikes!) guy melts my heart. At 2 o'clock in the morning, he'll be sucking down a bottle and I still just look at him and smile. Paul and I still fake-argue about who gets to feed him.

Things Caleb loves:

• Snuggling (good thing since he doesn't have much of a choice) and being held.
• His carseat.
• To grab our fingers and hands while we feed him.

Things Caleb tolerates:

• The dogs barking.
• Tummy time and reading books.
• Bath time for the first few minutes. After the first few minutes, it falls down to the "doesn't like much" list.

Things Caleb doesn't like much:

• Not having control over his hands yet. When his pacifier falls out of his mouth, this is abundantly clear.

Crying: I read something the other day about newborns crying, on average, 2-3 hours per day. I am happy to report he is not average. He rarely cries, and when he does, I know he needs something (food, new diaper, sleep).

Eating: He's eating 3-4 ounces of formula every 3-4 hours right now. We tried breastmilk last week but he got very fussy and gassy. We're going to try again today with some Mylicon and hope for better results. It's important to us that he gets the health benefits of the milk, but if he doesn't tolerate it well, we won't force it. I'm not ready to give up. We'll mix 50/50 milk/formula today and if that's still too much, we'll try 25/75. I'm crossing my fingers. The goal is for him to have the best nutrition and immune system possible.

Sleeping: He is sleeping pretty well at night. For the most part, we can wake up, feed him, change him, and put him back down. Sometimes he'll want to fall asleep in Paul's arms and Paul's ok with that. I'm not big on co-sleeping (for Caleb's own safety...) but if we need another hour or two in the morning around 6 or 7 a.m. we'll put him in bed between us.

That's the summary. If I write more, I'd only be gushing so I'll stop here :)