Snow Storm: Cleveland

Well, we all know that a state-wide snow storm blew through Ohio the past couple of days leaving behind several inches of snow. Evan and I spent the weekend replacing the flooring and painting our kitchen. I will post the before and after photos tomorrow or Tuesday.

Anyway, here's a photo of my car this morning after the snow had finally stopped. Enjoy!

6 Months!

Seth is 6 months old already! He is such a happy little guy. We had his check-up today and all is well.

Weight: 15 lbs. 9oz.
Height: 27.25 in.

He gained 3 lbs. and grew 2 inches in the past 2 months (since last check-up). He is getting to be long enough that the nurse suggested we look into the next car seat. Apparently 28 inches is the max. height of car seats like we have currently. He needs to remain rear-facing until he's 1 year old, butI guess we need to look into getting him more space.

Eating: We have the go-ahead for increasing the solid foods . Seth is currently getting about 35oz. of formula per day, which the nurse said is a little much. She suggests we back him down to 30oz. and increase the amount of solids per day. We have been giving him solids at breakfast and dinner, and now we can begin a lunch feeding as well.

Sleeping: Seth tuckers out at around 6pm each night. He awakens for a feeding around 3:30-4am, then goes back to sleep until 7am. We thought this was pretty good. The nurse said she'd like to see him get rid of the 3:30am feeding. So in order to do that, we would need to wake him at around 10p for a feeding so that he can go straight through to 7am. Sounds good, might be interesting for the first couple nights trying it. Not sure when I will begin to implement this change. The problem is is that I am usually in bed by 10p...but I guess getting up to feed him at 10p is better than 3:30a!

Play: Seth is enjoying his toys more and more. He now sits upright in his exersaucer and enjoys having toys all around him. It's good for him to use his legs to stand up and move around in it too.

He got 3 shots today...and didn't even cry! He started to fuss a little at one point but then the shots were over. He is so good! I think we'll keep him.

Our Little Linus

Do you see a resemblance? :o)

So far, so good!

I'm feeling the need to post because it has been almost 2 weeks since I last updated everyone. Not much new to report, which is good news. We are staying healthy (knock on wood) despite being around those getting over various illnesses.

Seth is continuing his quest for new flavors as he gets through these orange/yellow veggies and fruits. He has now had: rice cereal, carrots, squash, sweet potatoes, bananas, oatmeal cereal, and as of today, peaches. He is a good eater (I wasn't worried) and only makes a face when trying the first spoonful of a new food.

He is continuing to grow pretty steadily. I have now put away all 0-3 month clothes. Even some of the 3-6month outfits that have feet (sleepers) have become too short. Length is the main problem. I think we might have a tall one on our hands!

Overall, he is still a happy little guy. He likes his naps and is sleeping well. It seems like we are putting him down for a nap quite often, but he shows the signs of being tired and does drift off to sleep with the help of his Rainforest music. According to the book Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child, an infant should not be awake more than 2 hours at a time. This doesn't seem to be a problem with Seth. He shows the signs of being tired around an hour of being awake. When naps get screwed up, Seth gets overtired and can have trouble getting settled down to sleep at times. So, we do our best to facilitate his naps without becoming hermits. Usually after a weekend of being out and about, it will take a Monday to get back in his routine.

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!