Christmas

We had a great first Christmas with Christopher. We decided to do our big dinner on Christmas Eve so we could just relax on Christmas day. Sarah came over and we cooked a goose (Sarah obviously did not partake in the bird).  It was great to have a good friend here to celebrate Christmas with and Christopher always has a blast with Sarah. 

I don't think Little Guy knew what hit him when he woke up and the first thing we did was put him in his new bouncy pony. We thought he was going to be terrified of it. Every time it bounces it "Neighs"- which is hilarious. Christopher actually liked it a lot and he's figured out to bounce super high now. Christmas present opening lasted all day long, which was really fun. We'd open a couple with Christopher and then it would be time for him to eat or take a nap. Christopher started feeling sick on Christmas Eve, so he was a little droopy during the day. Of course, he liked the bows on all of his presents the best.

This was Christopher's first real time to get sick, so Conan and I weren't quite sure to do. We spent a couple nights up all night with him because he couldn't sleep without us holding him (there goes the sleep training : ) ). On Monday we thought he was doing better, but then he started wheezing. Everything I read said you need to take them to the MD as soon as possible after that, so we all hopped in a cab to the pediatrician. Once we were in the cab he started breathing rapidly, and tears were just rolling down his face. Conan and I were terrified, so we redirected the driver to the ER. As soon as we walked in we could tell he was doing better, and by the time we saw the doctor he was fine. He diagnosed him with the croup, which actually gets better in the cold air- probably why his breathing improved as soon as we got him out of the cab. Who knew? Christopher is feeling way better now and is almost back to 100%. He just has a little cough ever once in a while, but it's not slowing him down too much. We definitely will never forget this Christmas!

Big Week!

Little guy had his 6 month appointment with Dr. Julie last Wednesday. It went well. He's 16# 14 oz and 28 1/2 inches long. He's in the 97% for length, but only the 25% for weight. Dr. Julie was a little concerned since he dropped percentiles in weight, but said he should be fine once he starts solid. I was worried until I started reading La Leche info and remembered from back in the day about exclusively breast fed baby's growth slowing down a bit after 3 months, so I  felt some better. We have a weight check in a month just to be sure. 

Dr. Julie gave us the okay for solids and we were so excited. We started on Saturday so Dad could be there. Christopher has been grabbing at out food for so long that we thought he would be thrilled to have some of his own. We were wrong! Poor kiddo was a little confused why we were sticking a spoon in his face. We finally got one bite down and were so excited we yelled a big "Yay" and that made him start bawling. So the first time didn't go exactly how we pictured, but he did much better the next day. Conan set him on his lap and we pretended to eat the rice cereal for a while until Little Guy couldn't stand it anymore and needed some for himself. We got a few bites down and he's doing better every day. Since he's such a terrible bottle drinker we decided we were going to go straight to the sippy cup. He's doing pretty well holding it and can chew on the top. We have the no spill cup, so he hasn't really figured out how to suck on it to get liquid out. I think if we put a little juice in there instead of water he'll get it pretty quick :-). 

Christopher is also sleeping through the night now!! It had gotten really bad. All of the yoga mom's babies were getting better and better on their sleep and Christopher kept getting worse. I was happy if he would sleep more than an hour at a time. So, I read Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Baby (best library borrow EVER) and we started implementing some of the things he recommended. We started with naps and got him on a pretty good schedule during the day. We both knew we had to do "extinction" (crying it out) but were just dreading it. We finally decided on a day to do it, but then a few nights before Little Guy just wanted to be held all night. I tried feeding him and he wasn't hungry, we tried rocking him, changing him, nothing. So we knew it was time. We had a horrid 20 minutes and then he stopped. The rest of the night he did some short cries, but nothing too terrible. Dr. Julie said it would be about a week before he figured it out, but the next night he did amazing. We had the baby monitor and you could hear him start to wimper a little, and then just go back to sleep. I could not believe that was all it took. He seems so much happier now that he's getting a good night's sleep and I can't tell you how relieved Mom and Dad are. I think he just gave us the best Christmas present we could ever get!

As if sleeping through the night and eating solids aren't enough, we just saw that Christopher is getting a tooth! He's been acting like he was teething for months (chewing on things, drooling, biting), so I just assumed it was a baby thing and we weren't going to see a tooth for a long time. But, he was chewing on my finger today and I felt it. We saw a little baby white spot on his lower gum. We got so excited, which made him laugh really hard. Hopefully it's not going to hurt him too bad. I'm so excited Dad has this whole week off to witness all of the fun things Christopher is doing! We can't wait until Christmas!

Happy Half Birthday!

I can't believe our baby is 6 months old today! Over the weekend, Conan and I were watching video that we took of him right after he was born. It's amazing to see how much he's changed. Since I'm around him all of the time I don't see the differences as much, so it's fun to see the contrast in the video. He's gotten so much bigger, but his personality is very different also. I had forgotten how he used to just lay there. Now, he's all over the place. He gets way up on his hands and now he can lift most of his body up too. I think he'll be crawling any day. He can sit by himself for a couple of seconds, but then kind of topples over. He "talks" all of the time. We haven't gotten any real words, but he's got his own little baby language that he uses- it's super cute. He doesn't understand why Mom and Dad need to sleep, he wants to just be held all night long- we're working on that : ). He thinks yawns are hilarious, but sneezes really scare him. He loves to laugh and thinks Dad is too funny. Every time Christopher sees Conan after he's been at work for a while he does the biggest grin. He's so much fun. He grabs for everything now. When I was taking his picture by the tree before I knew it he had a branch in his hand. The pictures at the top are from this afternoon. It started snowing harder than I've ever seen. I took him downstairs in his snow suit and set him on a blanket. He wasn't a big fan of the snow hitting his face, but it was fun to see him react to the snow for the very first time. We had a great half birthday today. Happy 6 months, Little Guy!

Santa!

Our apartment complex had Santa visit all of the kids in our neighborhood on Friday. Conan took a well deserved day off and we took Christopher. We were a little late due to a diaper incident (I won't go into details, but it involved cutting a onsie off of the poor kid). We weren't sure how Christopher was going to do with Santa, but we definitely did not predict how he would react- completely indifferent. Don't let the picture fool you. There was a TV behind santa that had a fireplace scene going and Christopher did everything he could to look at the screen. It was like the big guy in the red suit with the huge white beard wasn't even there. It was actually pretty funny. I don't think Santa was too offended- at least he wasn't screaming like some of the other kids. 

That's not where I left you...

Christopher has gotten really good at scootching around. This morning I put him under the gym on his back and went into the kitchen to make coffee. When I came out a couple of minutes later he was on his stomach and not even under the gym. I think he may be crawling when Conan and I leave the room. I'm onto you Little Guy. 

Party Time

I recently read that you can help baby's socialization skills by making up scenarios where their toys interact. I decided his favorite toys needed to have a party today. Conan predicted exactly how this would turn out. The poor party "guests". Red bird got slammed into the Bumbo multiple times. When Christopher was finished with him he tried to stuff Ms. M&M all the way in his mouth. The "party" ended abruptly when Little Guy got tired of the pretend food and needed milk immediately. I'm just glad he's not invited to any real parties in the near future. What a horrible host!

Weekend with the Sisters

Conan's sister, Chevon had an information session for NYU grad school, so she and Mariko came to see us this week. Mariko hadn't seen Christopher since he was first born and they both couldn't believe how big he's gotten. It was so nice to have family in town and Christopher had a great time with them. 

The crazy girls took the red eye on Wednesday and got here early Thursday morning. After short naps we went to Curly's for lunch. It's a great vegetarian restaurant that will probably never let me back in : ). It's a tiny place and my stroller took up most of the restaurant. About half way through lunch I realized I was wearing a rabbit fur vest (don't judge... it's freezing here). If that wasn't bad enough I didn't realize how terribly inappropriate my conversation about the pig shoulder I had just cooked was until the vegetarian guy turned around and gave me the worst look. Luckily we had Christopher there to redeem us. He was quiet and adorable, so I think people forgot how ridiculous his mom is. After lunch the girls shopped at Union Square and I (of course) fed Christopher at Babies R Us. 

Conan took Friday off and we all went to Midtown. We walked around Times Square. It was really cold so we had to take a few indoor breaks at the M&M store and St. Patrick's Cathedral. I can't believe how gorgeous the church is. We also got to see the Christmas tree at Rockefeller Center lit up. The decorations around town are amazing. The cold weather really makes it feel like Christmas. On Saturday we all went downtown. We got to see Trinity church, which is amazing. Conan also gave the girls the Wall Street tour. The stock exchange is even decorated for Christmas! We were trying to get a picture of the three of us for our Christmas card, but Christopher kept falling asleep. He literally fell asleep for one picture as Mariko took it. 

We got breakfast at our favorite diner on Sunday before Mariko and Chevon left. It was the first time since we've been here that it snowed. We didn't take Christopher outside since it was so cold, but we videotaped him by the window. That afternoon we got a Christmas tree. I had never gotten a real tree before, so it was fun to pick it out. Christopher was asleep during the whole thing, but this afternoon when it was delivered he was very intrigued. He just stared at the guy who brought it in and then the rest of the evening he would stop what he was doing and look at it. We are so excited for Little Guy's first Christmas!