Happy Halloween!

A big toothy smile from Seth. We took him to the Fall Fest at church this past Sunday. it was in the evening, so he was too tired to even care. Evan and I grabbed a couple pieces of candy for ourselves though! Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

Blogger has this gadget to track the followers of blogs. I've been seeing it on some of the blogs I "follow". I believe its only purpose is to let me know how many readers this blog gets. It's not a subscription to the blog. So, if you usually "follow" the Hammersmith Happenings, go ahead and click on it at the right of the screen. Thanks for keeping up with our family! :o)

Seth the Builder

Seth has really started to get a hang of stacking blocks lately. I used to have to start the stacking and he would help, but he no longer needs my prodding. Before this photo was taken, he had stacked a tower of 8 blocks all by himself! It finally tumbled when he added #9. It's fun to watch him. (Sorry for the relatively poor photo...he saw the camera and was coming after it!)

Have a good weekend, everyone!

Success!

Well, it seems we have conquered the milk and cup problem...at least for today!

It turns out that the milk was missing a key ingredient: chocolate!! Once we made his milk into chocolate milk, he was interested. I should have tried this earlier since my pediatrician told me that she used Strawberry Quik with her daughter. In any case, I have absolutely no problem with Seth getting a little chocolate as long as he's drinking his milk.

And the sippy cup! We got him a new one yesterday that had a straw tip. He held onto it all through the store and the entire way home. As you can see, I think he's getting the hang of it! Thank you Kris, for your cup recommendation...I think we may have to buy another one if it continues to go well.

* An update* - Well, I think the milk is causing loose BMs at the other end. We are currently giving him organic whole milk, but maybe we'll have to try soy. Not sure.

Long overdue

Don't call Child Services, but I finally found some help with the house work...
It's been awhile since I posted a current photo of Seth. He sees the camera and it's all over. In fact, I took a photo to illustrate my difficulty. Sorry it's been so long, I'll try to be better. :o)

A Time of Transition

Seth is 13.5 months today, and as I think about where we are, I can only conclude that we are in a time of transition. It's hard...for me. I am having a hard time being patient waiting for Seth to grasp some concepts. In my head I know he will pick it up when he is ready, but at the same time wonder if he's ever going to get it! This is where the lack of patience comes in. :o)

For the past month we've been transitioning Seth off of the bottle. It seems he will drink water from a sippy cup or a cup with a straw, but not milk. Milk must be in a bottle and it must be warm. Yesterday I put away the bottles for good and am only giving him the sippy cup or straw option. Needless to say, he's not getting much milk right now. He just isn't interested. It doesn't help that he hasn't grasped the idea of holding his own cup. So my day consists of offering him something to drink, if he takes a sip, great, if not, oh well. I just make the cup available to him and figure if he gets thirsty enough, he'll drink. I want to get him a new sippy cup that holds more than the ones we have now, maybe one with a straw since he does well with those....unless it's milk, of course. I am in full realization that this is partly my issue. I just want him to get the hang of it already. In my mind, everyone's kid has been drinking out of a cup unassisted for months by now. Seems like my kid is the only one and will be going to kindergarten with me still offering him something to drink. ha.

Seth is still transitioning to walking as well. He walks around the table while holding on and can stand not holding on to anything too. He has a firetruck that he can stand behind and push (to learn to walk). He has taken a couple small steps with it, but then decides it's much faster to get on his knees and push the truck. So, it's a process and I'm not upset that the walking hasn't kicked into gear yet. I'd rather he learn how to pick up his cup and get a drink unassisted.

On a positive note, Seth has begun to mock me a little (occasionally). If I make the noise for his trucks, he'll make the noise. If I clap my hands, he might clap. He even started to move his head like I move my head when I'm being silly with him. It's funny. The things he picks up on! Last night, for the first time, I think he was sad to see Evan leave. Evan had to lead his FPU class, so he hugged Seth goodbye. Seth started to cry a little but I thought it was because he was tired. Eventually he went over by the door, whimpering, and I heard "a-da" which is the closest thing to dada I've heard yet. Interesting. He likes to get behind us when we're sitting down and "sneak-up" on us. He thinks that's funny. The other day he was drinking water from his sippy cup and it made a funny noise. He started laughing so hard and each time it happened, he'd laugh. I thought, oh man, here we go...boys being entertained by sounds of bodily functions. It must be in their DNA.

A Baby Questionnaire

Okay I’ve been tagged by Evan's cousin Liz to complete this meme. All questions relating to my child.

1. Were you married at the time? Yes

2. What were your reactions when you found out you were pregnant? Excited

3. How old were you? 30

4. How did you find out you were pregnant? We had been trying for a few months with no luck. It was January and I was late. So I waited a few days and tested early on a Saturday morning. It was positive! I went back to bed and whispered to Evan that he was going to be a daddy. His response: "cool". We both wanted to go back to sleep but somehow that just didn't happen. We laid there and talked about it. Then we prayed together for a safe, healthy pregnancy and baby.

5. Who did you tell first? I think it was my parents. We emailed them a photo of the positive test. Then we called and had them open the email while on the phone. Fun.

6. Did you want to find out the sex? Yes

7. Due date: September 29

8. Did you deliver child early or late? 1 month early

9. Did you have morning sickness? Mine was not limited to morning. I felt nauseated all day long for about 8 weeks. Then it was gone.

10. What did you crave? No cravings, really. I was hungry for pasta and bread pretty often though.

11. Who irritated you the most? No one irritated me.

12. What was your first child's sex? Boy

13. How many pounds did you gain throughout the pregnancy? 36. Ugh. Still trying to get rid of it.

14. Did you have any complications during your pregnancy? No

15. Where did you give birth to your child? At the hospital.

16. How many hours were you in labor? didn't really know i was in labor. I had back cramps and was thinking of not going to work. But they subsided so I went. In the meantime I called the doctor. The doctor on call didn't think it was labor. He was wrong. I went in for a non-stress test at 11am to find out that I was 5cm. I was fully dilated by 1p. Started pushing at 5:15 (after my parents were there) and Seth arrived at 7:24pm.

17. Who drove you to the hospital? Evan

18. Who watched? Evan and Mom

19. Did you take medicine to ease the pain? I had an epidural. It was great to finally feel relief from the cramping.

20. How much did your child weigh? 6lbs 9oz

21. Why did you name him/her the name you picked? It was a name we both could agree on. It was short, which is nice when the last name is long. Evan liked the idea of using his name for the middle name...so we settled on Seth Evan.