7 Mos Old!

This last month has been extraordinary in the changes we have seen in Austin!  He is sitting on his own and is super active on the floor now.  He rolls over to get where ever he wants to go.  Front to back, back to front, non stop. We are grabbing cords, reaching for things otherwise out of his reach and rocking constantly. Changing a diaper is interesting because the rolling over does not stop. 

Bath time fun!

First swim!

"Reading"

Blueberry fun!

Austin's has taken to eating mommy's homemade foods.  He has had sweet potatoes, squash, baked apples, baked pears with cinnamon, green beans, carrots, blueberries, watermelon, bananas thus far and we are going to start trying out some meat in the next couple weeks.  We are eating three meals a day while reducing our formula intake by about 10oz/day.  

Homemade goodness

We had a huge breakthrough just recently with stopping the acid reflux medicine that he had been taking since he was 8 weeks old.  We were so excited about this and I am sure Austin was glad to stop taking his daily "strawberry delight".  Also, we have also just recently switched to regular formula containing milk and he seems to be handling it well.  Looks like the milk intolerance is behind us as well!

First swing!

Austin slept for his first eight hour stretch a couple weeks ago so we got to experience a few "once a night" feedings for about a week, which was nice.  We are back to two times per night but his stretches are longer overall and he is learning to fall back asleep on his own although he definitely needs help to get to sleep.  This is fine by us as we do enjoy rocking him to sleep in our arms.

Homey

Standing practice

Drool machine!

As posted before, teething has been uncomfortable for Austin this time around.  We think the top two are coming in but it is still hard to tell at this point.  

Seven months old little boy!  Yay!

Teething

Just the other day a friend had wondered why I hadn't posted anything about teething.  The truth was, Austin went through the first set of teeth (the bottom two) with really no effort.  I mean, there was a lot of drooling and he did have a fever for one day about a month prior to them coming in but one day they just popped through and walla!

Well, literally that very night after speaking to my friend I discovered Austin had a low grade fever and realized that he may be teething again.  He had been drooling quite a bit again and chewing everything in sight (including trying for the dog's paw - yuck!). He also has had a few nights of having a tough time going down and staying asleep for any length of time.  Once we realized this, we started giving him Tylenol for relief and then switched to Advil.

It has been three days now and the poor kid is still running a low grade fever and seems to be bothered a little more than usual.  To say the least, it has been a nightmarish week for all of us.

Sweet Austin, believe me we enjoy every moment with you.  We are documenting these little trials though so we remember them with laughter and to eventually hold it over your head!  xoxo, Mommy and Daddy.

Milestone - Austin is 6 months old!

What an amazing time to be experiencing right now as Austin turns six months old today.  I feel like so much has happened in the last couple weeks (besides the last 6 months!), I am in awe of how much Austin is changing and coming into his own as a vibrant individual in this big, big world.  

As mentioned before, Austin has moved from an all day wear to just night/nap time wear for his brace.  Within that week, he was finally rolling over on his back with and without the brace and scooting all over the floor.  All of sudden, we are moving the coffee table downstairs and researching the safety proofing of the living room to get ready for this little guy to begin exploring beyond a 4x4 range of space.  Exciting and frightening at the same time because as parents we have to get used to keeping a closer eye on him and the freedom of going out of the room for even a second has been lost.  

We had a slow start to introducing solids but we are on our way and have figured out that we LOVE bananas and carrots thus far!  I do lots of singing and airplane moves and even show him that "mommy likes it too" to get him excited about eating this new way.  I admit I was weary of moving on from our routine, but this process is turning out to be fun for the both of us.  We will be feeding Austin homemade baby food, so we are pureeing fools and freezing the colorful one ounce cubes each week.  I've done sweet potatoes, baked peaches, carrots, and bananas thus far.  

Sweet Potatoes!

Father's Day was a big day for the "A" man as well.  The night before was a tough one for Austin and I.  I had been working on getting him back to sleep for about an hour and a half and gave up about 6am.  The next thing I know, he grabbed my finger and took a big chop and "OW!" that hurt!  Austin's first tooth broke through!  Yep, a little clear nib, that is sharp as ever, is peaking through!  I was so excited, we went upstairs and woke Daddy up to show him!

Happy six month birthday little man.  We love you very much and are enjoying every moment with you.  You are certainly the pride and joy of our lives.  Fun times ahead!

California Trip Part 1 - The Flight

5/19/2011

I had researched and asked about flying with an infant.  Received some good advice from experienced friends and was really set to go.  Austin is truly a good baby so I was not worried one bit about the ride over.  He would flirt and socialize and when he needed, whine a little for some food and sleep.  No problemo!

Umf.  Well, the morning didn't start out so well with a forgotten stroller that needed to be retrieved and all of a sudden a two hour leeway turned into a rushed boarding that set us up for an interesting plane ride on a full flight.  Austin was great at first.  He took the bottle as we took off and didn't complain about pressure changing.  About a half hour later and all of sudden, I had an inconsolable child that needed his diaper changed and the pilot had not turned off the seatbelt sign.  Once permitted and a diaper change was had, on a very tight changing table in the lavatory that made Austin very upset, the next couple hours were challenging.  I spent most of the those two hours consoling and entertaining him in the back of the plane in the flight attendent station.  Once he conked out, I returned to the window seat of row 29 and he slept for about two hours (thank God!) while I barely moved in the seat for fear of waking him up and I apologized up and down to the sweet ladies in the middle and aisle seats for our little meltdowns. 

The second flight was a breeze from Los Angeles to Santa Barbara as he slept and I chatted with a college kid from outside Austin, Tx. 

There are no pictures to post - I simply did not have the energy!