Paxton at 4 months

First of all, I can't believe that it's already April!  And secondly, I can't believe that my baby is 4 months old already!  Well I can, but I don't want to. *sigh*  So I guess it's that time again.  "What time?" you might ask.  Why, it's time to let you know how Paxton has changed in the last month, of course!

At 4 months, Paxton:

- is laughing.  He's been doing it for about 2 weeks now.  He's still pretty stingy about it and a lot of the time he'll just give me a really big toothless grin.  But I can usually get one or two out of him by either tossing him up in the air (just a little bit) or by doing "Upside down, Rightside up" (rolling him from a sitting position on my lap down my legs so he's upside down and then rolling him back up to a sitting position).  Paxton also ,for some reason, always giggles when I'm taking his shirt off.  I'm not sure why, but he seems to think it's the funniest thing ever.

- "talks" a lot now.  He only does it when someone else is around, but if we coo back at him he'll go on for quite a while.

- weighs about 15 1/2 lbs I think.  He was 14 lbs 8 oz and 23 inches long on March 8th, so I'm guessing he's gained about a pound since then. 

- is in to 6 month clothes now!  I've packed up everything that is just 3 months.  He can still fit in to some that is 3 - 6 months, but mostly it's just 6 month stuff.  They're a little big, but it's surprising how well he actually fills them out!

- is a jumping fool in his Jumperoo now.  He can jump high enough to make the music and lights come on by himself (good for Mom since I don't have to keep pushing the button for him now).  Jay got a really good video of him the other day, but I can't post it on here.  (Help, anyone?)

- still will only tolerate being in the high chair, Jumperoo, etc. for about a half hour max.  He's figured out how to grab his rings now and can usually get them in his mouth as long as his bib doesn't get in the way!

- loves it when you click your tongue at him.  He gets a huge smile, and then will stick his tongue out trying to imitate you.

- has turned into a "squirmy worm."  Once you put him down on his change table, the floor, etc. he starts kicking his legs and waving his arms around.  I guess the days of being able to put him on his change table and not worry he's going to fall off are over.

- is weaned.  He has now gone for 4 days without any Mommy milk.  I'm kind of sad that I had to wean him so soon, but even with the pills the doctor gave me, I wasn't producing enough.  At least I was able to breastfeed him for 4 months.

- discovered his hands.  It's kind of funny because he looks like he's plotting something now.  He clasps his hands in front of him and then rubs them back and forth.

He still hasn't found his feet, but I'm sure that's not too far away now.

- doesn't like having a nap/sleeping schedule.  He likes to change it up every week or so.  He actually had 2 days in a row this week where he slept for 11 hours at night!  I was really happy about that, but then the next day he went to a 4 hour stint thing again.  He hasn't done that for almost a whole month!  Then for 2 days he decided that sleeping 1 or 2 hours at a time during the night was fine.  Mom did not agree.  Last night he slept for 3 hours and then 6 hours.  I don't get it.  And naps are just as unpredictable.  He had one week where he decided he only needed one nap a day, but it was for 3 or 3 1/2 hours.  That was great!  But the last few days he's been on the awake for 2 hours, sleep for 1/2 hour, awake for 2 hours, sleep for an hour thing again.  Arg.

- is definitely getting too big for his baby tub.  One of these days I'll get the bathroom cleaned and then we can upgrade to the big bath.

- is starting to try to hold his own bottle.  This is great, but I found that he's also pretty sneaky.  Despite my best efforts, Paxton is determined to suck his thumb.  If I catch him at it, I'll take it away and try to distract him so he doesn't go back for it.  However, I was feeding him a bottle a few days ago and he had his hands up on it.  I was chatting with Jay when I looked down and realized that not only was he "holding" the bottle, but he'd snuck his thumb in with the nipple!  And he made sure that it was the one on the far side so I wouldn't notice it!  I don't know what I'm going to do with this kid if he's starting this at 4 months already!

- had his first road trip.  We went up to Kelly's for Zane's birthday.  He did pretty well, but he'd had about enough of his car seat with about an hour left of the trip both on the way there and back.  He did sleep quite a bit though, so I can't really complain too much.

- is starting to recognize the camera.  He usually stops whatever he's doing and gets this "deer in the headlights" look when we pull it out now.  It probably won't be too long before he starts hammin' it up when the camera comes out though.

- is getting stronger.  He can stand pretty well by himself, even though he needs someone to balance him still.  Won't be too long before he can do the famous stand on Grandpa Dooley's hand!

- is still a cuddle bug.  I realized this month that he doesn't curl up anymore (*sad*), but he still wants to cuddle when he's tired.

Laundry Baby (it's clean laundry)

Smiles!

Sad Face

"Standing" on the recliner

Excited about St. Patrick's Day

Hanigin' out on the play mat

My "Driving" hat from Auntie Kelly

Onesie from Jackie

Re-Decorating

We made a trip up to Calgary on the 13th and hit up Ikea for some new additions to our home.  It's slowly starting to look more like our house and less like it did when Jay's Mom lived here.  And I mean SLOWLY when I say that.  She moved out in the spring of 2003, so just about 7 years ago.  Anyways,  here are the pictures of what we redecorated.

There used to be 2 of these chandeliers hanging in our upstairs hallway.

The chandeliers were replaced by these lights which are so cool because they can be hung in any shape you want.  The metallic strip bends so it could be coiled, wavy or straight! (the chandeliers were at either end of the lights so the mirror is covering the hole from the 2nd chandelier)

This shelf is in our kitchen. I was super excited to find a shelf for the kitchen so we can put some pictures and stuff on it (and so I can put Christmas stuff on it this year!).

This is the top shelf of the kitchen shelf.  It's got Paxton's hand print from when he was 12 days old hanging on some "Alisha and Jeremy" ribbon from our wedding (awwwww).  We're going to put some colored stones in the martini glasses, but haven't found any we like yet.  Looks like another Ikea trip is needed!

And now for Paxton's room.

Paxton's clock

Paxton's shelf

Kinda Blurry, but the prints are from my Aunt Carol (she's an artist)

Paxton's shelf with some books and stuffed animals on it

More prints from Aunt Carol

Growth chart from my friend, Tricia.  It has spaces to put pictures of Paxton on it as he grows.  He should hopefully be able to start using it next month.

And I just realized I haven't put any pictures of Paxton's room up on my blog before this, so here are a couple more.

The change table used to be where his shelf is.  It's a little cramped right now, but we figured that the change table will be moving out eventually so it should be ok.

The shapes are all decals, so when Paxton gets older and wants to change decor we don't have to repaint!  Or if we have another baby and it's a girl we don't have to repaint!

I am a horrible Mom ...

because I laughed at my son.  Here's the story:

Paxton had a poopy diaper so I was changing him.  As I had his legs up in the air so i could clean his bum, he peed!  So with the angle being what it was, he peed on his own face.

And I laughed!  It was pretty funny, and he had this stunned look on his face that was very cute (ok any look on his face is very cute).  So it was straight to the tub to get him all cleaned up. 

But it'll be a great story to tell his future girlfriend/wife!

Snow Pitch

I was asked to play in a softball tournament on March 6th, and I accepted 'cuz the guy who asked knows that I am always there to help out when they need more girls to play.  Don't get the tone wrong here.  I do like to play softball, it's just that it's not my strong point.  Mostly in the hitting area.  I can throw and catch fairly decently, but for some reason I get all flustered when I'm up to bat and usually end up striking out or getting thrown out at first.  However, it should be noted that I can actually hit a fair distance when there's no pressure.  A few of us went out to practice a couple of days before the tournament and I was hitting farther than I've ever hit before!

But I'm not done whining yet.  So the name of this tournament is the "Snow Pitch."  I'm not entirely sure who decided that playing softball this early in the year would be a good idea, but there we were anyways.  There are a few potential problems with holding a softball tournament in Southern Alberta this early in the year.  First, you could be playing in the white stuff (hence the name of the tournament).  Enough said.  Second, you could have gorgeous weather like we did this year.  "But wait," you may say to yourself, "Why would good weather be a problem?"  I will enlighten you.  Softball is played on a diamond which consists of grass in the outfield and shale/dirt in the infield.  So, when the weather gets nice, the ground starts to thaw.  This in turn causes the shale/dirt infield to turn into MUD.  Add to this the fact that the people organizing said tournament decided that we should play with balls filled with foam (or something weird) so that they didn't fly as far when hit (mine pretty much went the same distance as usual, but the guys on our team who usually hit really far were getting super frustrated), and also the fact that the mats we were using were about twice as wide as a regular mat (the mat determines whether it's a ball or a strike when you don't have an umpire to call it; anything that hits the mat is a strike) and you have yourself one super challenging day.

I think we ended up getting 4th.  We tied our first game, won our second, lost our third, and I'm not sure about the 4th game (by that point both teams were getting pretty tipsy and no one was really into the game anymore).  But we all had fun.  Jay brought Paxton down for the day to cheer me on, and his Mom and Auntie Kizzy showed up for a while as well.  And now for some pictures for your viewing pleasure.

Auntie Kizzy watching the game while Jay's Mom feeds Paxton

Me throwing the ball back to the pitcher

Action Shot: Me hiting the ball

I made it to first!

Jay with the kangaroo wrap on

Kim holding Paxton during our last game

The team decided we should rotate positions each inning during our last game.  That's how I ended up in field.  Not my best position, but I did stop a ball and keep the runner at first.

Karen, Kim and Kaity.  Karen played the first 3 games.  Kim and Kaity are preggers (Kaity's due on the 11th) so they didn't play with us.

Home after a long day at the ball park

Paxton at 3 months

Another month has passed.  I seriously can't believe how fast the time goes by.  I know I've said that in my previous posts, but it seems like it's going by even faster this year than in the past.  Anyways.  Here's an update on my little man.

At 3 months, Paxton:

- is getting closer to laughing.  I can tell that he wants to when I get him on a "big smile" roll.  He's also let out a few little ha's in his sleep that we've giggled about.

- is cooing a lot more and we've had a few "converstaions" that have lasted about 5 minutes.

- weighs about 14 lbs.  We weighed him at Grammie and Grandpa Robinson's house on the 21st and Grandpa said he was 13 lbs 12 oz.  That was including his clothes and diaper, and I'm guessing he's gained a bit in the last week since his cheeks just keep getting chubbier.

- has almost lost his double chin.  However, this is not because he's losing weight.  This is because his second chin is getting so big it's almost the same size as his regular chin!  But it's just adorable on Paxton.

- is into 3 month clothes now.  I have been procrastinating packing up his newborn clothes, but I was informed today that I need to do that by Jay.  I went out to Wal Mart and left the boys alone for about 1/2 hour.  I returned to find Paxton dressed like this:

Apparently Jay was unaware of how Paxton's clothes are arranged in his dresser and so he had him in a onesie that was too small to do up.  I remedied this immediately, but only after I'd had a good laugh.

- can touch the floor and sort of bounce back and forth in his Jumperoo.  He still isn't too interested in being in there for too long though.

- sits up in his Bumbo.  It's amazing the difference a month makes.  Once again, not too interested in being left in the Bumbo for too long.  I foresee a lot of one-handed meals or meals eaten only when Paxton is soundly asleep. *sigh*

- plays with his rings while sitting in his high chair.  I can usually get Paxton to sit in his high chair for about 1/2 hour in the morning while I check my email, etc on the computer and have my chocolate milk (or coffee on the mornings when we've had a rough night).  He's usually quite content to play with his rings, but he hasn't quite figured out how to pick them up.  He'll grab them if I put one in his hand (like the finger grab reflex) and hang on to it, or he'll sort of scoop them towards himself.  I'm thinking it won't be too much longer until he puts the whole thing together.

- still hasn't "discovered" his hands and feet.  Like I said before, he does some stuff with his hands, but I don't think it's really intentional.  Not too much longer, though!

- seems to be working out a sleeping schedule (which will probably go out the window now that I've mentioned it!).  He generally goes down about 7 or 8 pm and sleeps until between 2 and 4 am.  Then he wakes up for a bum change and a feeding and goes back to sleep for 2 to 4 more hours.  During the day it's not so predictable, but most days he has at least one nap that's an hour to 2 hours long.  Mom is getting better at fitting stuff in during the naps!

- is tracking things with his eyes now.  He'll watch me as I move around the kitchen in the mornings and turns to look when I'm playing with him.  He is also staring to "watch" tv with us.  He appears to be most intersted when there are bright colors.

- is getting too big for his baby bathtub.  I think we will be upgrading to the big bath soon.

- is really good about sleeping while we're walking the dogs.  He usually goes right to sleep when we start walking and stays that way until we get home.  Hopefully he likes the new jogging stroller as much as the one his car seat fits on.

- gets cuter every day!  Each day I marvel that this perfect little guy is all mine.  Well, ok, I have to share him with a bunch of people, but at the end of the day he's my baby boy.  I now understand why "Love You Forever" always made my Mom cry!

And now for pictures.  Sorry there are a lot.  Apparently I need to do more than one blog a month.

Flirting with Auntie Kizzy at her birthday party on Valentine's Day

Hangin' with Grammie at Auntie Kizzy's birthday

Towel Baby!

Smiles for Dad

Fell asleep while on "auto feed"

"See Mom, I can pick these things up!"

Flirting with Auntie Kizzy at Mom's birthday party

Cool Dude ready for a walk

Sitting in the Bumbo

This shirt is actually size 6 months, but it's just so cute I made him wear it early.  It's only a bit too big.

Watchin' some Olympic Hockey.  I think it's the Canada vs. Russia game.

And this one's for everyone who is still asking how the dogs are with Paxton.  They love him!

Paxton is 2 months old!

Paxton was 2 months old on the 2nd, but since that was immunization day and I was traumatized for the better part of last week this has been delayed.  He's actually 10 weeks old today.  I can't believe how fast it's going by even though that's what everyone told me would happen!  Anyway, here's the update.

Paxton:
- is giving real smiles now!  He has the most adorable, toothless, gummy smile I've ever seen on a baby.  He always has smiles for Mom when he wakes up from a nap (and has a few moments to actually wake up).  I could just sit there all day and baby talk him to get him to smile.  If only I didn't have laundry and dishes and blogs waiting for me ...

- weighs around 10 lbs (I think).  We haven't had him weighed since his appointment in January, but he's definitely getting heavier and taller.  He's also developing more rolls on his arms and legs, and his cheeks just get chubbier every day!  He's starting to lose his neck and look like Mom did in her baby pictures!

- is growing out of his 0-3 month clothes (sad face sigh).  It seems that I have to pack up more of his newborn stuff every day since he's grown out of it!

- holds up his head pretty much all of the time now.  We've tried him out in his Jumperoo which he does really well in (even though his feet don't quite reach the floor).  We've also tried him in his Bumbo, but I don't think he's quite ready for it since his neck control is pretty good but he can't quite sit up without help (and the Jumperoo seat helps support him unlike the Bumbo).

- is starting to make noises other than crying!  He hasn't quite started cooing or "telling stories" yet, but he sure is trying.

- still has blue eyes.  There've been a few times where I thought they looked grey, but they've still had a dark blue ring around them.  I guess we'll wait and see!

- has much lighter hair than when he was born or even when he was 1 month.  It also has a lot of red in it.  Jay doesn't want him to be a redhead, but it's possible.  Jay's Mom was a redhead and we have some red on our side of the family as well.  I guess we'll have to wait on this one too.

- is usually awake for at least an hour in between naps during the day.  It's actually usually closer to 2 hours and occasionally up to 3!  Mom is trying to figure out how to work around his awake times since he really doesn't like to be put down too much (see next point).

- hates being on his back.  It doesn't matter if it's in his crib, on Mom and Dad's bed, in his bouncy chair or his swing chair.  He is definitely a tummy boy (good thing he has such good neck control!).  He will tolerate being in his Jumperoo or high chair for about 1/2 hour and then he demands to be picked up.  This does not really help Mom get the laundry, dishes, housework, etc. done.

- still loves being in the Maman Kangaroo wrap.  When all else fails I can put him in the wrap and 99% of the time he goes right to sleep.  The only problem is that he wakes up as soon as I take him out and lay him down. =(

- is starting to track things with his eyes.  He still hasn't discovered his hands yet, but he's getting more coordinated with his movements.

- has figured out breastfeeding for the most part.  He actually started breastfeeding shortly after I did his 1 month old post.  It was a little rough at the beginning since I believe he'd been a little spoiled by bottle feeding for so long.  He would do fine when I was engorged, but when he had to start working for it he would give up.  But a little perseverence by Mom has gone a long way, and he now breastfeeds more than bottle feeds during the day.  YAY!

- discovered the baby in the mirror today and thought it was great.  I held him up to the bathroom mirror before his bath today and he had a great time giving the other baby high fives.  He kept looking up at me and smiling.  So cute!

- tries to eat his hand and breastfeed at the same time.  We have the discussion about how this doesn't work at least 3 times a day.

- doesn't like his soother too often any more.  You usually have to hold it in his mouth for a few minutes before he'll take it himself.  However, once you put him down while he's sleeping he will spit the soother out and then wake up immediately.  Kind of defeats the purpose.

- is getting better with baths.  He doesn't cry while I bath him anymore, but he's still not quite sure about the whole process.

- doesn't like it when Mom exercises.  He will be perfectly happy in his Jumperoo for about 15 minutes while I'm exercising, but after that he wants to be picked up.  This doesn't really work, however, so a lot of the time I get to exercise while he's crying or else it wouldn't happen at all!

- is starting to drool.  I'm guessing he will be like his 3 cousins and have bibs as a perpetual accessory for the next year or so.

- is my favorite little man and I can't imagine life without him!

Sleeping on Grammie

Hangin' out in the bouncy chair

Grandpa Dave's first hold

This one uploaded sideways, not sure why. But it's Paxton in the Jumperoo

Sleeping in the Jumperoo.  This one almost gave me diabetes 'cuz it was so sweet!

Immunizations ... blarg.

Here is my rant about immunizations.  I realize that it is a good thing to get my baby boy immunized against meningitis, diptheria, etc (I actually read the pamphlets they gave me, and I am not so much about Paxton getting any of these diseases).  HOWEVER, I don't think the whole situation is fair to me or my little man.

I also realize that I am not the first mom, nor will I be the last, who has gone through this ordeal with her baby.  But come on!  To force a woman who loves this little being more than anything else in the world to hold his little body while some stranger jabs multiple sharp objects into his soft rolly flesh is just cruel and unusual punishment!  Mom's are supposed to protect their babies, not subject them to pain!  It happened 2 days ago and it's still bringing tears to my eyes!  It was definitely one of the saddest and hardest things I've ever done.  Poor Paxton was just sitting there all happy, looking at the health nurse like "Hey new person.  Whatcha doin'?  Do you want to adore me like everyone else does?"  And then WHAMMO!  She sticks him with the needle, and his whole little face just crumpled with shock and despair.  And then he let out the saddest most outraged cry I've ever heard from him.  I just wanted to run out of the room with him and not return.

I just sat on the couch with Paxton and cuddled him for hours after we got home.  I was still sad and crying when Jay got home.  Not cool.  And then, yesterday afternoon, Paxton started getting a slight fever.  He woke up around 3:30 pm and was feeling warm on his neck and the back of his head (as well his thighs were warm where the injections were given).  And then my poor little monkey started getting irratable.  I didn't get him back to sleep until about 9 pm, and then he would only sleep if I was holding him.  This spells not a good night's sleep for Mom since I had a baby sleeping on my chest.  I finally got him to sleep in his crib around 2:30 am, but he seems to be starting the whole not sleeping thing again this morning.  And yes, I have been giving him Tylenol since this ordeal began.  If he doesn't feel better later today I think we might have to start giving him Ibuprophen as well.

I'm already dreading his next set of shots, and that's 2 months away!