success with the sippy cup

Riley’s been practicing with the sippy for a couple of months now. He bites it and eventually sucks for a microsecond and goes back to biting. This morning, when I offered him the cup, he started sucking! I took it out and gave it back to him about 10 times to make sure that it wasn’t just a fluke. No fluke, the boy got it and I managed to get a photo of it, while helping to keep it tilted for him.

I don’t know why I got so excited about this particular “milestone”, but as I thought about it on my way to work I actually teared up over it. Maybe it’s just the realization that while most days seem the same in almost every way, that he is changing and maturing…a reminder that he’s growing up. I think every mom understands the sad/happy (or happy/sad) reaction to the reality. I love to see him learn new things and yet I’m conscious of how fleeting these days are.

We love our good-sippin’ boy!

Shelby

6 months…postscript

As an addenda to my last blog, I took Riley in to the doc for his 6 month well visit and my boy is 16.25 lbs to date. That puts him in the 25th percentile, which was the same place he was last visit. I was hoping for 25th-50th, so I'm happy.

He’s 26-27 in long -- it’s hard to tell exactly. He squirms around so much, measurements are approximate. All I know is his pants from 2 months ago are too short, so I know there’s some growth happening there.

His head’s bigger too (17.25) and rounding out more now that he’s tummy sleeping.

My only question for the doc was about his decreasing formula feeding. Now that I’ve got him foods other than veggies and fruits, his formula consumption is down to 18-20 oz a day. I started giving him a breakfast of hard-boiled egg yolks, cheddar cheese and full-fat greek yogurt this weekend (which he LOVES) and as of this week he is eating avocado again. Our doc said that those foods are going to fill him up more and since they are full of the protein and fat that he needs for growth, it was ok if he was drinking less formula.

For someone who doesn’t enjoy cooking, I really like making purees for my boy and seeing him eat healthy. I got some great ideas from a lady in the UK named Annabel Karmel who’s written a lot of books on kid’s nutrition. Also, there’s a Harvard guy named W. Allan Walker that wrote a book that I’ll be referring to for the next 10+ years as I seek to influence my son’s food choices in a positive way.

Shelby

6 months old!!

I love that I get to do this blog on the heels of Thanksgiving. We do have much to be thankful for as J expressed so well in yesterday's blog. It's hard to believe Riley's been with us for six months... it has gone by sooo fast. Here's the scoop on what he's got going on right now:

His Body
*He's over 15 # and I suspect that when his doc weighs him next week, he'll be closing in on 16. He's been putting on weight at a steady pace ever since I began supplementing with formula 2 months ago. He's quite the chubba bubba and has got a nice little "beer" belly to boot. Storing up the energy for when he goes mobile, I'm sure.

His Food
*He has 4 bottles a day --taking around 24 oz total. As I've been introducing him to solids for the past month, he's been eating 2oz of rice cereal with 2oz of pureed veggies or fruit each morning before I go to work. This week I started an afternoon meal of 2-4 oz of veggies or fruit, whichever he didn’t have in the morning. He’s been getting protein in the form of yogurt and starting this week, I’ll add meat, cheese and hard-boiled egg yolks. He also gets a tsp of omega 3-rich flaxseed oil in his cereal which is good for building immunity.
*He hasn't been too picky with food, though he's not crazy about rice cereal alone (when it tastes like paste, who can blame him?). Here's a list of all the foods he's been eating for the past month:

Rice cereal and...
sweet potato / yam
butternut squash
broccoli
rutabaga / yellow turnip
brussels sprouts
banana

He also enjoys plain yogurt & papaya, as well as pears and apples.

*The one thing he's turned his nose up at is avocado, but I'm going to keep trying with that one. If anyone has a good idea for hiding it in something, let me know.
*We're also giving him 2oz of prune juice each day (diluted with water) to help with the constipation he had once he started solids. Seems to be working for him and this is the only juice he gets for now.
*He’s still getting used to the sippy cup – gnaws it more than sucks, so we keep practicing.

His Sleep
*He's still going to bed around 7p each night and getting up around 5:30a, give or take 30 min. He takes two naps a day – an early morning nap about 90 min long and another for 2 hrs in the afternoon.

His Activities
*Anytime he's placed on his back, he rolls to the left onto his tummy. Maybe since he's a righty he only rolls in that direction. I finally put my fears of suffocation aside and just left him alone when he started tummy sleeping at night. Since he doesn't know how to roll from tummy to back, I was convinced that he'd be hollering at us to rescue him in the middle of the night. So far, that has not been the case.
*The thing we're making a conscious effort to work on with him is sitting up unassisted. He's not able to do it, nor does he try to balance himself with his arms yet. Since he's not been crazy about being on his tummy, we've not forced the issue. Now, J and I make sure he spends some quality time building his neck and arm strength so he'll be able to sit up on his own before too long.
*He's ditched the bink altogether in favor of his fingers -- esp the thumb. He doesn't suck it though, he gnaws on it. I keep watching & feeling for teeth, but none have made an appearance yet.
*He can now pass an object from hand to hand.
*He loves, loves, LOVES to be in his jumper and he's learned how to manipulate all the toys in the tray and spin himself around in it.
*The other activity he enjoys is going for walks in the stroller. I think he enjoys it even more now that he can sit up and look at what or who's ahead of us.
*He smiles at himself in the mirror and is intrigued by seeing the dual images.
*He loves music and when we whistle to him, he gets a big grin on his face – not sure if it’s the music from our mouths or the look on our face that causes the amusement.

His Personality
*Our son is destined to be a social butterfly. He talks a blue streak, loves to interact and giggles easily. When faced with a choice of playing with a toy or interacting with people, he chooses people over any brightly colored object.
*Besides playing tickle games and peek-a-boo, when I'm cradling him in my arms he likes to reach up and push my chin away as I'm talking to him. It's as though I'm being slapped in slow motion. Gets very amused when I exaggerate the motion and make noises to that effect. It’s our new game that's all his idea.
*He flirts with women whenever we’re out on the town… no question, a ladies man.

He’s finally grabbing for his pooh-bear when we sit them together for a picture:




























Shelby

thanksgiving

We celebrated our first Thanksgiving with Riley today. It was a fun day with Shelby's cousins up in Maine. It was also a serious feast. All of us ate to total contentment. All of us. Riley had an entirely solid food meal for the first time. Usually he has a bottle along with the solid stuff, but this time he ate so much of the solid stuff he didn't need (or want) the extra. Shelby brought along the food mill and was able to make food for Riley right at the table. The boy gobbled it up. Yams, mashed potatoes, turkey and some veggies. Our good eating boy!

Riley also got to play with cousin Erica for a while:

Riley and Erica









Riley liked Erica's hair...in his mouth









Thanksgiving is the named holiday today but it's been a state of being for me, especially over the last six months. This has been an eventful year. There are a number of things that I am particularly thankful to God for today:

• My wonderful wife Shelby - If ever there was a person that I felt filled the spaces in my life just the right way it is Shelby. When God was going to create woman, he said, "I will make a helper suitable for him." It is so nice to have someone in my life I feel compliments me so well.
• My beautiful boy Riley - I am continually amazed at the love I feel for my boy. That 20 ton sledgehammer of love has left a permanent imprint on me that is nothing short of joyful. I knew that I would love any child that I had, but never would have figured I'd be happy to get up at 2 am (or 3:50, or 5 or...) I never thought that I would take joy in changing a diaper, feeding a bottle, putting clothes on or just rocking my little one to sleep in a rocker. Fatherhood has rocked my world.
• My family (on both sides) whose love for me and mine is shown so well.
• Friends - I received the blessing of many more great friendships through my marriage to Shelby. I now have two networks of some of the greatest people I can imagine knowing. It is a great blessing to share my life with you all.
• CTK - A church that blesses me with fellowship, education in my faith and a continual push to grow in faith, my relationship with God and particularly with his Son Jesus Christ. This savior is the one I'm most thankful for. It took a lot of grace to save this sinner. Thank you Lord.
• God's plan - It's a great comfort to me that God doesn't leave things to chance. I know that He has a plan for everything in my life. With uncertainty in housing among other things in the coming year I am grateful for having seen God's hand in my life in the past, and knowing that He's with me now. I can't say that I've enjoyed his lessons in patience, but I am grateful for them since it helps me deal with those uncertain things in my life.

Life is good. Thank you Lord!


Jonathan

50th anniversary

Saturday we went down to my parent's house in CT to celebrate my parent's 50th wedding anniversary. The whole idea of 50 years of marriage just blows me away. It took me almost that long just to find Shelby! Both Shelby and I are very fortunate to come from families where our parents have shown such a strong commitment to their marriages. It is an increasingly rare thing these days. I'm grateful for the good example.

It was fun listening to my parents talk about the beginning of their relationship, going through their wedding photo album and reminiscing about the last 50 years and where it has taken them. It was also good just to hang out with the family and to give the grandparents some time with their newest grandson. Riley's cousins enjoyed playing with him and watching him demonstrate his newfound ability to flip from his back to his stomach. Our boy will probably be quite confused when he is not cheered for these things in the future... The cousins are so great with our baby boy. Britney holds him as though she's had many years of experience, and Bruce not only handled Riley very well (and instructed his sister Britney on being careful of the soft spot on the top of Riley's head) but was incredibly calm even after Riley threw up on him. Bruce has some of the makings of a good dad already.

Here's a slide show of pictures we took Saturday:



Mom & Dad’s 50th Anniversary

Congratulations Mom & Dad!


Jonathan

one of those nights...

We spent the day in Connecticut celebrating the 50th anniversary of J's parents yesterday. Though we live only live 2 hours away, it still takes me a bit by surprise at how it throws off Riley's sleep schedule, even when he sleeps at his normal times during the day. Here's a rundown of what happened with Riley after we left:

(all times are approximate...)

7:30 leave Grandpa & Grandma's; Riley asleep within minutes.

10:00 arrive home, Riley wakes up when we open the car door. After a quick change, he's laid in bed, given blanket and bink.

10:30 Riley talking and rolling over to tummy. I'm still nervous about tummy sleeping, so I roll him back and rub his back for couple minutes to try and calm him.
10:45 same as above
11:00 same as above
11:15 same as above
11:30 Dad goes in and rocks Riley. Riley appears asleep, dad puts him in bed, Riley wakes up and turns into high-energy boy, kicking and flailing his arms (sigh).
Midnight Riley brought into our bed to calm him before putting him back in his own bed. Gets fussy. Given 4oz bottle which seems to help relax him.
12:30 gets squirmy after finishing bottle and starts talking up a storm.
1:30 In one last act of desparation, I grab the unused-as-of-late swing and haul it into his bedroom (the warmest room in the house). Put him in swing in hopes that it will be the magic bullet.
1:45 Riley still talking; I go to the kitchen to clean up dishes so my awake time is more productive.
2:30 Hearing no sound from the bedroom, I find Riley asleep in the swing. He's carefully put into his crib and I head off to bed....finally.

All in a night's work. I'm glad these times only come once in awhile.

This morning, he ate a good breakfast of cereal, turnips & carrot puree and finished off with mom's homemade cinnamon applesauce. He makes all sorts of noise when he eating -- happy noises. On a normal morning (when I'm up at 6am to feed him) he's so loud that J has to put in the earplugs. Since we all woke up late today, I was able to capture some of this on video as J was giving him breakfast:



Have book, apples & food mill -- have yummy applesauce:









We love our good-eatin' boy!

Shelby

yam love

I was pureeing a yam for the next week’s meals and though Riley had already had a full bottle, he saw what I was spooning out and gave me those “please mama?” eyes. How could I resist?

Shelby

a retrospective

I’ve been reflecting on my recent history and realized that more than any time of my life, something significant and life-changing has happened every year for the past 7 years:

2000

After 8 years of living in Nashville, I moved to Portland, ME which coincidentally was three months after my cousin Jon and his family decided to pick up stakes and move there from Dayton, OH. Knowing no one when I moved, I was really glad to have them there. Once I got over the initial shock of the high prices, I fell in love with the Maine coast – rocks, sand, harbor…everything.

2001

Lost my job just before Thanksgiving, and within three weeks had moved in with my cousins, got a new job in Boston and prepared to relocate. Since it was the Christmas season, my p/t job at Borders became a full-time one, which provided some much needed $$ in the interim. Very sad to leave Maine.

2002

Moved to Boston in January, began attending CTK and started the worst job I’ve ever had (for a meat-packing plant in Southie) which was run by one of Boston’s most dysfunctional families. I lasted 5 months before quitting and starting up at InterGen, where I have been ever since.

With the exception of Dagmar, who I met on my second Sunday at CTK, friendships came much slower here than in Nashville. The buds of friendship however, began in the fall, starting with my small group – Brian, Abbie, Charlie, & Kathy. At Rick and Glenn’s encouragement, I began playing piano with the music team, having never played piano in a band setting and quite unsure of myself.

2003

This was a year of hard providences, leading to a long-term loss of appetite and 30 lbs from my frame. One of the blessings that resulted however was that my friendships at church widened and deepened significantly. During this time, I was asked to lead one of the worship bands. I felt woefully unqualified as I had minimal knowledge of music theory and played mostly by ear. Having some great players that knew how to work with someone like me was a big help. I found that being so intimately involved with the music helped me to sing truths to myself that my heart desperately needed to hear during that difficult time.

2004

Met my wonderful husband in January and got engaged in August – a huge surprise after convincing myself that I was entirely unmarriageable. I still marvel at the miracle of finding someone who could love me like J does.

Transitioned from accounting to treasury (cash management) at InterGen, which meant more interesting work and virtually no overtime.

2005

Got married…had the wedding that I dreamed of with almost everyone I wanted there to celebrate with us. Honeymooned in Martha’s Vineyard and was pleasantly surprised at how easy the transition to married life was.

2006

After a great first year of marriage, we sought to expand our family and within 3 months Riley was growing in my womb. We took a record 9 trips that year, in anticipation of travel slowing down significantly.

2007

With the birth of our son, it’s been a year of ambivalence. The financial stress and sadness of leaving Riley in daycare is the flip side of the tremendous joy we have in loving him so much. Better to have a boy to miss than to not have one at all. So we count ourselves blessed and lucky and look to God for help with the harder realities.

I still look at my almost-six-month-old son in wonder that he’s really here, in my home, in my family and in my arms. This was the life I had hoped for years ago and God in his mercy has let it come to pass. Thank you, Lord.

I love my Riley-boy!

Shelby

rolling over

Riley’s been able to roll over from his back to his front since he was 4 months, but after learning to do it, he seemed to lose interest in it. Well, he’s back to doing it every time I put him on his back and go into the kitchen to get food ready for him. I’ll hear this sound – a cross between a grunt and whine and find him on his tummy, burying his face into the blanket, hollering for me to rescue him. He’s fast at turning over and knows now how to pull his inside arm out from under himself. He uses the maneuver to grab a toy that’s lying on the blanket.

This morning, I heard him talking at 5:30 am and waited until it got closer to 6 to go in and get him. I started hearing those familiar “belly sounds” and sure enough, he was on his tummy:

That’s a first time he’s done it in the bed and he did it again at the start of one of his naps. I just hope he’ll learn to relax and sleep with his head turned sideways – I try and help him to that position and he won’t have it. He likes his side much better.

I caught a little video of him rolling over today and was amused to see him improvise at getting his toy when it was slightly out of reach by grabbing the blanket and moving the toy towards him:

Since he shows no inclination to move himself toward his toys, I think crawling will be delayed a bit with this kid. With my job and my studying for a professional exam – we have little time to keep the floors clean, so it’s not something I’m rushing anyways. He’ll be walking soon enough.

Shelby

sick boy

Riley didn’t have quite as much energy today as yesterday. The virus was affecting him more today and although at times he was his usual sunny self, he was having more times where he was crying, moaning or otherwise showing that he felt like crap. Poor kid. He napped on and off all day. His last nap was for about 90 minutes on daddy’s shoulder since he needed the comfort of a parent holding him in order to keep from crying. Here’s some video post-nap:

His being sick is tough for me. I’m the ‘healer’ in the family and also the one who feels compelled to make things ‘all right’. Although I’ve adjusted Riley I can’t just make him better. His body is taking care of that. It’s excruciating to see him suffering. It’s not something like when he’s hungry (I can feed him) or when his diaper is wet (I can change him.) All I can do is hold him and rock him, telling him quietly that I love him and I know he feels crappy. Somehow it doesn’t feel like enough.

I wish I did faith healing.

Oh well, we’ll just have to do it the old fashioned way and wait for his body to take care of it. Thankfully God designed a good healing mechanism in there. In the mean time mom & dad will give all the comfort we can.

I’ve heard it said that love is when you care more about someone else’s welfare than your own. Uh huh. One more lesson my son has taught me about what it means to love. I wish that I could take on this cold for him.

I love my boy.

Jonathan

jumping boy – pt. 2

It looks like Riley has gotten his dad’s energy level. (He showed that last week…) I’m one to ride my mountain bike until I’m too tired to ride. Only then do I stop. He did the same last week in his jumper. Well, I’m also one to go for a long ride when I have a cold. Riley is currently battling another virus, but do you think that’s slowing him down? Not a chance. Further video testimony (albeit a bit dark):

His energy level bodes well for future mountain bike rides with dad, but it’s scary to think of what he’ll be like once he starts to walk. High Energy Boy! May God give us the grace (and energy) we need to keep up with him…

We love our High Energy Boy!

Jonathan

the last bottle

When the inevitable stress of work reduced my milk supply I had to adjust my plans of b/f Riley for a year down to six months. I’ve been watching my supplies dwindle rapidly over the past 8 weeks or so and it looked like I might not make it to his six month. Alas, 2 weeks shy of Riley’s 6 month mark, I’m feeding him the last bottle of mama milk. It’s sad, but I know that I did my best under the circumstances and that he can thrive with formula and solids, just as I did at his age.

In my usual fashion, I’ve mourned this loss already, so now that it’s here I’m able to deal with it. I am contemplating the upside of this unchosen circumstance – I’ll have a less bottle cleanup work each night and my coffee table won’t be decorated with pump items and milk drippings. Not to mention having one less bag to carry to and from work (I had 4: pump, laptop, gym bag and lunch bag).

Riley’s doing great with his morning solids. He likes rice cereal with anything sweet in it – applesauce, sweet potato, banana etc. Just gobbles it right down and feedings are going faster now that he’s getting the hang of it. Now, if he could keep his milk down instead of spitting it up all over himself and us, we’d have it made. I’m not one to push him to the next level as I’m enjoying his current stage of life, but I have to admit I’ll be very happy when the spit-up phase is over.

We love our Riley-boy!

Shelby

sippy cups

Riley’s figuring out the sippy cup I bought him about a week ago. As he’s into biting his bink now he tries to bite the spout of the cup, but eventually sucks a little bit. I let him practice a little each day, but he still mainly biting it.









































He’s getting better at eating solids as I try and give him a little each day so he gets used it. His tongue still thrusts out from time to time or just gets in the way when I’m trying to feed him but he can down a couple of ounces in 10 min or so. He doesn’t like plain rice cereal, but if I put a little organic applesauce in it, he’s good to go. As I have time, I try and puree a few other things like bananas, avocado & sweet potato and he’s been agreeable so far. I just bought a book called “Top 100 Baby Purees” which has a lot of good ideas that I can’t wait to start trying.

We love our good-eatin’ boy!

Shelby

Wed morning PS: I tried pureed sweet potatoes and rutabega and he downed 4oz in 10 min, so apparently the speed at which he eats is dependent upon his enjoyment of the flavor...

hard providences

I hate leaving Riley in the morning but some days are worse than others. Today was one of those days at the office when I’d look at his picture and my eyes would well up with tears over the loss of time together. In the core of my being it just feels so wrong, and yet our need for insurance dictates that I stay at work. I don’t know why God wants me there -- I have to believe it’s for our good, tho’ it feels awful to me.

Tonight, I did something I never do – I rocked my son to sleep. I didn’t want to miss those last minutes with him. Makes me wish for heaven, “when disappointment, grief, and fear are gone, sorrow forgot, love's purest joys restored”. This is what Scotty Smith called “hard providences”, those difficult situations when our faith is put to the test. Will we believe when those deeply held desires are denied fulfillment? I believe, but I need help with my unbelief.

Shelby

jumping boy

Riley is starting to get stronger and is able to hold his head up better now. So he’s ready for the jumper that his Uncle Michael and Aunt Cheryl got him a while back. He had a ball in the thing today. Here’s a picture of him in it with his new sunglasses on:

Cool Dude

He was bouncing while Shelby and I ate lunch and also while I was cooking food for the week in the adjoining kitchen. At first we didn’t have the batteries in it, so it didn’t make noise / light up. He enjoyed it. Then I put some batteries in. Oh, my… When it first made noise (it plays a little song and lights flash on and off) he would stop and you could see his eyes flicking back and forth at the lights. After a while he figured out that he was making it happen and he started to jump and jump and jump… Here’s some video:

He started looking tired after a while (he was jumping for at least an hour) but every time I’d come over to see if he was tired enough to get out he’d start jumping again. So I let him have at it and continued my cooking. Finally, I realized I hadn’t heard anything for a few minutes:

Wiped out!

He took a nice afternoon nap.

We love our jumping boy!

Jonathan

Fall Leaves 2007

We love our chubba bubba boy!

Shelby