5 months!

Yep, today marks 5 months since Seth's arrival. He is such a joy and we love him so much!

We also want to wish a great big HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Aunt Alicia today! We hope you have a great day and we can't wait to see you soon.

Dedicated to the Lord

All dressed up!
Our Pastor praying for Seth and us.

Today Seth was dedicated to the Lord at church. It isn't a baptism, as that is done when the child decides on his own that he wants to make a public declaration that he has given his life to Christ. Dedication is basically when we as parents dedicate our son to the Lord and declare that we will introduce him to Jesus and do all we can to mirror Christ in our home as we raise him. Seth did so great and didn't fuss at all. We are so thankful for him. It was a great day; Grandpa George, Grandma Elaine, Grandpa James and Aunt Tina came to see him and we all had lunch together afterward.

Note of interest: It was exactly 1 year ago today that I took the pregnancy test and got the positive result. :)

3 generations of Hammersmith men

Making Progress!

Seth enjoying his cereal.

This week, Seth has really turned a corner. Here's an update:

Sleep: This is going pretty well. He will fuss for a few minutes before some naps and going down for the night, but overall he is sleeping well. He continues to go to bed around 6:30-7pm for the night (as often as possible) then wakes for a bottle somewhere between 3:30-4:30 in the morning. He then goes promptly back to sleep (with absolutely no fussing) until around 7:15am. Not bad!

Talking/Cooing: This has really taken off the past few days. He just jibber jabbers all the time. It is too cute! I love talking back to him and we have "conversations" throughout the day.

Eating: I thought he'd never stop spitting the cereal back out, but our daily practices have finally paid off. The last couple days he is eating his cereal very well. He hardly spits anything back out. I have increased the amount to 1Tbsp. of cereal twice a day now. I am so proud of him for getting the hang of eating at just under 5 months old.

Pacifier: We still only use this in case of emergencies...basically when we're in church or restaurants. He is doing well, though he is giving his hands quite the workout. He wants to chew on them all the time and has even fallen asleep with his 2 fingers in his mouth. Poor guy. Mommy really needs to get him a teething ring to chew on to save the skin on his hands that has become all red from being in his mouth.

Overall he is quite happy. He always has smiles for us. He has even started to wait patiently in his crib when he wakes up. When we go in to get him, he gives us a big smile. There's nothing like being greeted in the morning with a big grin from our little guy!

Pacifier Update

Since Thursday, I've been putting Seth down without his pacifier and letting him self-soothe/cry himself to sleep. I know that part of this going smoothly is based on me getting him down before he's overtired. He cries more if our schedule gets messed up and he gets to sleep when he's beyond tired.

So for naps he's been crying anywhere from 5-20 minutes. At night he will cry initially when we put him down and possibly a few more times during the night (briefly), which happens more often the more overtired he is . He wakes up around 4-4:30 for a bottle. After he eats, I put him right back down to finish his night sleep. This morning he fell back to sleep without a peep! With church today, his schedule got a little messed up and when we got home I gave him a bottle and put him down. He stayed quiet for about 10 minutes, then cried for about 10-15. I checked on him and his eyes were closed, he was in his favorite sleeping position (hands behind his head) and was crying. He was just really tired. He's learning to use his hand if he wants to chew on something.

So, we continue to work on his sleep schedule, which is easier during the week when less is going on. I am also continuing to introduce cereal each day. I try giving it to him after a bottle. I've heard about giving cereal in between two feedings, but I don't think this will work with his nap schedule. He sleeps between feedings for the most part.

Kicking the Habit

Last night was not fun. We put Seth down around 7pm, which is the time he gets tired. We rocked him a little, gave him his pacifier and I stroked his face until he looked like he was going to fall asleep. Usually we have to go back in his room a few times to put the pacifier back in because he wakes up as soon as it falls out. Last night was no exception. I was determined not to bring him in bed with us, as I have been doing, just to try to get some sleep (all of us).

Well, it was miserable. I had to go in his room to get the pacifier just about every hour of the night. No one got any sleep. I told Evan that this can't continue. So after Seth's 4:30 bottle, I put him back down as I always do. This time I let him have his pacifier to start, but when he pulled it out or it dropped out, he would have to cry it out. This worked! About two minutes after putting him back down, he started to cry. I think it was about 5 minutes and the crying stopped and the boy slept for almost 4 hours straight through. He sleeps better without the stinkin pacifier! In fact, we all do!

So this morning I jumped online to google this issue. Over and over I read how mothers had the same exact issue and how they just had to get rid of the pacifier all together. They said it would be hard at first getting through the crying, but their children slept so much better and eventually got used to it. This makes sense to me, as I just experienced this myself.

So, today I am putting Seth down for naps without his pacifier. This morning's nap went rather smooth, he cried for five minutes and drifted off. This next nap took more effort. He cried for a longer amount of time, but as of right now, I don't hear him. I know it's going to be tough to get through the crying, but I think it's worth it if we ALL can get some sleep at night, especially Seth. We'll at least give it a shot.

Seth Rolls Over for the First Time!

This morning Seth rolled over for the first time. I had just given him a bath and I put him on our bed for some belly time. He pushed himself straight up nice and high so I went to get the camera. As I was snapping the photo he started to lean then eventually rolled over! This was a first. How exciting. We hope to try again tonight so Daddy can witness it.

Thanks to all those who have given me their two cents about feeding Seth. I'm not sure why they are having me start the solids so soon when 6 months is the recommended age. My cereal attempts have not been too bad, Seth still tends to cry through it. I am going to be in no hurry to move forward. I think I will keep trying the cereal once a day until he gets used to it, then move on to serving it twice a day.

For the faithful readers...

Hammersmith Happenings will remain. Thanks to the friends and family that let me know that you're making it worth my time to post. My mom even called wondering if I was ok after reading yesterday's entry. I reassured her I was fine, just taking inventory I guess. :o)

So anyway, Seth had his 4-month check-up on Wednesday. All I knew going into it was that we were meeting with the nurse practitioner to discuss solid foods. Which we did. We went over the plan: we're going to attempt starting with rice cereal once a day for 4 days, then twice a day for 4 days, then on to carrots. I'm thinking of making my own veggies for Seth, I just need to read how to do it.

Anyway, he had a great visit. The nurse was very impressed at his head control and strength. She said it was beyond that of a 4-month old. She also said neurologically that he was doing very well. He was very tolerant of being examined and had great self-control. When he got his shots, he only cried during the shots then immediately stopped. She was very pleased. She did say that she saw some things that were more like a 3-month old (his gestational age) but she didn't tell me what those were. I'm glad, I won't have to worry about it then.

Seth has some dry skin and she thought that he also has sensitive skin. She gave me some lotion samples to use. I have used the Johnson & Johnson pink lotion only a few times, even though the hospital said not to use it. The nurse recommended Aveeno or the Eucerin lotion she gave me. We'll see if it clears it up, we might have to use a body wash for sensitive skin instead of the Johnson & Johnson.

Oh! How could I forget?! His stats: he gained 3 pounds since last visit and now weighs 12lbs. 8oz. He grew 3 inches and is 25 1/4 inches long. His height is in the 45-50 percentile, his weight is in the 10th percentile. He's long and skinny I guess.

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Since Wednesday, I've tried the rice cereal twice now. I have thinned it out quite a bit so the transition goes smoothly. So far my method has been to give him spoons of the cereal in between sips on the bottle because he is so hungry that when you give him a tiny spoon with a miniscule amount of cereal on it, he gets frustrated. So, I let him chug on the bottle, take it away (which he hates), then slip in some cereal. If I'm lucky, he keeps the cereal in his mouth. I've read this is normal for them to spit it back out and to keep trying. Which is what I do. I'm sure he doesn't even get half the cereal I prepare, but it's a start. Does anyone have any tips that worked for them when introducing the cereal to their children?

An end to this blog?

Today I'm contemplating stopping this blog. I mean, in all honesty, the only people who visit it are mainly family members who just want to see photos of Seth. It barely gets traffic, let alone comments or anything. So then my thought was: well, Angela, it's a way for you to communicate about trials and challenges and even successes in being a first-time mother. But then I thought: no one cares. I could write about our 4-month check-up but in reality that probably doesn't interest many. We can just email photos to family occasionally, to those who don't see him on a somewhat regular basis.

Who knows, maybe this site gets more traffic than I think. I just think that I have enough going on each day/week/month that dropping the blog would be an easy choice. I don't really do it for myself, i offer it to others. If the interest isn't there than i am wasting my time.

Give a shout if you'd like to see the blog stay. Results will determine the fate of Hammersmith Happenings. :o)

The End.

Happy New Year!

Here is the new year! We pray it is one filled with good health and prosperity for everyone!

FYI Seth was 4 months on December 30. Time is flying.

Christmas Day 2007

Seth on Christmas morning with his stocking that was hung by the chimney with care. Daddy filled it with Andes mints which were apparently for himself.

Whew! We made it through Christmas! We traveled to see both sets of grandparents and Seth did well with changes to the daily schedule we had been working on. He got so many great gifts: many adorable clothes outfits, a couple toys and a couple books. We enjoyed seeing everyone and I think everyone enjoyed seeing Seth. It was a nice first Christmas for him. We look forward to future Christmases when he knows what it's all about!