Fun in the Jumparoo

We broke Austin's jumparoo out last weekend and boy did we have fun with it!! His face lit up as soon as he got in there. If you turn it on, with every bounce he makes the music plays, things light up and the animals make noises. His feet don't actually touch the ground yet, but we improvised! Unfortunately, all of my really good pictures are not uploading form my camera for some reason.

My daily parenting newsletter said that jumparoo's, Bumbo seats and Johnny Jump's would help strengthen their core, which would enable them to sit up easier. So I figured, why not try it out? We also have a Johnny Jump that was given to us as a gift, and unfortunately the box was missing a part so we're going to have to take it back and exchange it. I can't wait to see him get going in that thing!! If he likes it half as much as the jumparoo then we're in for a treat!

Austin has been such a great night time guy lately. His routine is pretty much never off which I think helps a lot. We come home around 5:30 and play with him for a few minutes or let him sleep in the carseat if he falls asleep on the way home. Then he eats his rice cereal and plays until he is sleepy. He then takes a nap in his swing until we wake him up for his bedtime bottle at 8. After he eats, he gets his bath and then goes right to bed. He never puts up a fight and as soon as his head hits the crib, he has a hard time keeping his eyes open. It's so sweet to see him fall asleep and to walk in and hear his little snores. He has gotten to be very attached to his blankets. When he sleeps in the swing, we always put a blanket over him. Rather than just letting it lay across him, he grabs it with his hands and pulls it over his face. If you try to move it, he either fusses or just pulls it back. So we have started letting him do this and just keeping an eye on him to make sure it isn't covering his nose to where he can't breath. He's pretty good about making sure his nose is exposed, as you can see in the picture below. I don't know what it is about having the blanket up at his face but his teachers at daycare have been telling me that he does the same thing at school. We swaddle him at night so we don't have to worry about anything then. It's so funny to watch him bury his face into the blanket. I don't know if the softness of it comforts him or what, but it's definitely cute to watch him do it.

We are very much looking forward to tonight and tomorrow night - we are huge LOST fans and the show is ending tomorrow night. They are showing the pilot episode tonight, then we get 5 1/2 hours of LOST tomorrow!! We are so excited but it is also bittersweet, as we really hate to send this show end.

Justin's job requires him to travel during the summer months, and his traveling begins Monday. I'm not looking forward to this, as it means I will become a single parent for a few days every week until August. That means getting up earlier, which will probably be the hardest thing for me since I am NOT a morning person. I will cherish the bonding that Austin and I will do this summer and I do look forward to having so much one on one time with him, but we will both miss Justin a lot.

Hope you are all enjoying this beautiful weekend. I'm definitely looking forward to an afternoon walk with Austin later! Here are a few pics to share. Thanks for reading!

Not quite there yet!

Our improvisational skills

Austin hanging out in the kitchen while we cook breakfast

Sleeping after his bedtime bottle - love those squishy cheeks and lips!


Fun in the jumparoo!

4 months old

Hanging out with Mommy

Another Week Goes By

What a great weekend we had! I spent Saturday morning at the spa getting a massage, facial, manicure and pedicure. Is it possible to start a day any better than that? I came home to a happy and smiling baby boy who did not fuss the entire day. Justin and I took a some time away in the afternoon for us to pick up Justin's new truck. Austin went to bed around 8:45 and we watched The Hangover before we went to bed. Austin was so happy all day and even though I didn't get to spend the entire day with him, it was a really nice, relaxing day. Sunday we were only able to get about 20 minutes of a walk in before the rain started to fall.  Luckily I hadn't gotten very far and it was only slightly sprinkling.  I got back home before the bottom fell out but I was disappointed that we didn't get to walk very long (I really needed the exercise!).  Austin amazingly stayed awake through the whole thing so I hate that he didn't get to enjoy more time outside

He has been really good this week except for one day at school when he ran a low grade temp (99.9). I could tell as soon as I walked into his classroom that he wasn't feeling well and he really wasn't himself for the rest of the night. His temperature went back to normal but he really didn't seem to feel well all night. But the next day he was back to his usual self!

We're still feeding him rice cereal once a day and he is doing so well with it! He finishes his bowl in less than 5 minutes and we hardly have any on his face or bib by the time we're done. I hope this is a sign that he is going to be a good eater! I really can't wait to start feeding him solids because I'm so looking forward to all the faces he's going to make when he tastes different things. And I'm so excited to see what he's going to love and what he's going to hate. What a fun adventure it should be!!

We changed up his schedule last weekend and it seems to be working perfectly.  When the doctor hinted that he wanted us to feed him more, we decided that since we were planning to move around his schedule that weekend, we would go ahead and increase his bottles then too.  Austin was never acting like he was still hungry after he would finish a 4oz bottle so we always assumed that he was full and happy.  In hindsight, he was probably full enough at the time, but it probably wasn't holding him over the entire three hours before his next feeding, which would explain his random bouts of fussiness during the day.  The first few times we offered more than 4oz, he was consistently stopping right at 4.  Finally he started eating 5oz, then 6oz and sometimes even 7oz at a feeding.  Last Sunday he went from eating 24oz to 31oz all day!  I think the doctor was right...  He is now eating every 3 1/2 hours instead of every 3 and he's going to bed an hour earlier at 8:00.  It has caused us to adjust our schedule as well and we're still getting used to having to have dinner cooked, eaten and cleaned up by 8:00!  It works out better for everyone, we just have to get in the habit of starting dinner earlier than we used to.  The Babywise schedule continues to be our model and it has worked like a charm since the day we started it.  I told a friend this week that I can't imagine not having a set schedule to go by. I think our life would be much more hectic, confusing and crazy without one!

Austin is just so amazing and I couldn't feel more blessed to be his Mommy.  He's the cutest thing I've ever seen and he makes me smile just thinking of him.  Last night after we put him down, I stood outside his room to see if he was going to put up a fight or not.  His paci came out after a minute or so and instead of rushing to put it back in before he got fussy, I stood there to see what he was going to do.  All of a sudden he starting "talking" and blowing raspberries and bubbles.  He did this for a few minutes before I decided to put the paci back in, but it was the sweetest thing hearing him entertain himself!  Justin and I both just stood there listening to him, laughing and smiling at the noises he was making.  I can't wait for the nights when he starts to talk himself to sleep.  I have a feeling Justin and I will get many more smiles and laughs out of that!

I'll try to get some pictures posted soon, but I must say I'm pretty happy about getting another update posted so quickly!! :). I hope everyone has a great week and thanks for reading!