5 months

A few quick updates on Mr. Max:

• He is saying "mamamama" ALL the time. I've been saying it to him for months now and just a few weeks ago he started saying it back. It's really the cutest thing ever. Now Marc is trying to teach him "papa".
• He is sucking on his hands and rubbing his chin a lot. We think his gums could be starting to bother him but there are no signs of teeth in his mouth yet. Sometimes I wonder if he will get his entire fist in his mouth. 
• Over Christmas he did manage to roll from his back to his tummy but he was a guided a bit. He was doing his usual arching of the back trying to roll and I ran my fingers up his back and he totally squirmed because it tickled and he rolled. Everyone was there watching and we all got so excited and were cheering him on then he got scared and started crying...haha. That was the only time he's rolled over besides going from his tummy to his back.
• He his sleeping pretty well at night. He's going down between 6-7 and usually doesn't wake up until between 3-5. Then will sleep for another 3-4 hours. I can't wait until he sleeps until 6 or 7 and I can get a full nights sleep. That probably won't happen until we start feeding him solids, which isn't going to be until 6 months. 
• He's grabbing at everything you put in front of him. He's starting to enjoy all the toys that have a rattle in them and will shake the heck out of it. 
• He loves his jumper, his toes can finally reach the floor and he really gets in to all of the different toys attached to it. This thing will be around for awhile.
• He's starting to read and write...well not really, but you get the picture. ;)

Visiting Santa

While we were in Nebraska we took Caiden to visit Santa. He was his usual self, serious with no smiling. Marc even sat on Santa's lap for the first time. We all had a good laugh.

Caiden's first Christmas

After 10 days in Nebraska for Christmas we are back in San Diego. It started out a little rough, the airline misplaced his car seat so they had to give us a loaner...a sketchy loaner. I was happy when they delivered his later that night. The next day a pretty big snow storm rolled in, I'm always happy when it snows when we go back because it really makes it feel like Christmas. Caiden slept in a pack n play in our room which was rough for me. He would wake me up every few hours by either farting, moving around or sneezing. It was nice to have him in his own room when we got back. Christmas morning was a lot of fun, we had mimosa's, listened to Christmas music and exchanged gifts. Caiden even opened presents. I can only imagine what next year is going to bring!!!

Meeting Bud for the first time.

Marc went hunting and shot the Christmas goose

Meeting Great Aunt Sally for the first time. They really hit it off!

Hanging with Mickey

Christmas morning mimosas

Last minute SeaWorld Saturday

This morning we woke up with nothing on our plate so decided to go to SeaWorld. We have season passes so we can go anytime through 2013. Since it's just down the street from our house it's too easy not to go.

Reason to go to the park

I took Caiden to the park for the first time today. He loved the swing! It's about a 10 minute walk on the Bay to the nearest park; another thing to do with the little man. He's starting to get bored with the same activities we have in the house so thank god we have things close by. I can't wait until we can walk to SeaWorld...that'll really knock his socks off!

Holiday card photo shoot

My sisters best friend, Brandi Mussack, was in town last month so we were able to fit in a quick photo shoot. Caiden wasn't in the merriest of moods that day, not a single photo with him smiling. There was one photo that B didn't get and that was when Marc was holding Caiden up in the air and he projectile barfed all over Marc. It was a mess, luckily we were at the end of the shoot because Caiden wasn't happy after that.

Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas!

Caiden's first Christmas Tree!

We walked into the Christmas tree lot on Saturday morning and the line was about 15 deep. I was not amused. Thankfully though the line went really quick. I was hoping to carry Caiden in the carrier on me while we picked out the tree but he passed out in the car on the way there so we just left him in his car seat. We got the tree put up and lights on it Saturday night. The ornaments had to wait until Sunday morning...but it's DONE!

See Marc waaaaay in the back waving his arm?!?!

4 months

Caiden has changed so much this past month. To start we finally got his eczema cleared up. We took him to a dermatologist last week and they gave us some oil to put on his skin twice a day. Literally overnight we started seeing a change in his skin. It cleared up and he stopped scratching almost immediately. I'm not sure how long we have to use this stuff but we have a follow-up appointment in a couple weeks and we'll see what they say. At his initial appointment they just said that he has extra sensitive skin and until his immune system gets stronger and can fight off dander and allergies he will have eczema. So not sure how long we will need to use the oil...I guess it's just a waiting game. Anyway, ever since he's had time to do things other than scratch he's become a lot more playful. It makes me sad to think that it could have been delaying him developmentally. He's grabbing his feet (happy baby pose anyone?!?), constantly trying to touch your face and grabbing at anything you put in front of him, including my hair. He seems so much happier than he was before. A few people have told me that these next few months are the best. They are constantly smiling, happy to see you when you walk in the room, when you put them somewhere they can't move and they start to sleep better at night...yes, I said it, sleeping longer at night!

Last week when we started the oil for his skin he started sleeping longer. He was getting up twice per night around 11pm and 3 am before, well now he's completely nixed the 11pm wake up/feeding. We put him down between 7-8pm and he doesn't wake up until 3-3:30am, I feed him and he goes back down until about 8am. Again, fail as a parent, poor kid was so itchy he couldn't sleep. I'm wondering how long until he will sleep all the way through. I'm sure it won't be until he starts eating food in a couple months but until then I will cherish our bonding time as it won't last much longer.

We are still swaddling him at night, which for some reason I feel guilty about because he can't stretch and move around in the middle of the night. But seriously, if we don't he keeps himself up by putting his hands in his mouth and touching his face. I try to only do one arm in when we put him down in the evening, but at 3am he has to be completely swaddled otherwise he won't fall back asleep.

He really only cries when he's tired, which is the only time I give him the pacifier. I really wish we could get rid of it but sometimes it's the only thing that will calm him when he's tired. Some of my friends have warned me that if you don't get rid of it early enough you'll find yourself two years later and still having to worry about a pacifier. I keep telling myself that once he doesn't need to be swaddled anymore and he can suck on his fingers to calm himself that we'll get rid of the pacifier. Till then I've got about 3 of them strategically placed throughout the house for easy access.

He's the bomb at tummy time and doesn't mind it at all. I think it's because he discovered how to roll on to his back. The minute he's over it, he just rolls over. I can imagine in his head he's saying, "haha you fools, I figured out how to get out of this horrid thing you make me do!". He still hasn't managed to roll his way from his back to his tummy but it's just a matter of time. He tries SO HARD and stretches his back so far off the ground, a few times I thought he had it...but not yet.

He's a babbling fool. If it's a quiet room, usually when it's just me and him home alone he'll go at it or if there are a few people in the room having a conversation and no one is paying attention to him he will squeal and squawk and make sure he his heard. Sometimes you have to wait until he is done because he's so loud and you can't hear the other person talking. He's especially talkative in the morning after he wakes up and I bring him in our bed. I will video him almost every morning and play it back for him that afternoon and his face just lights up when he watches himself, it's so cute.

He's ticklish! We just started finding his tickle spots that will make him laugh and laugh until we stop. It feels so tortures but I just can't help myself and love to hear his giggles. It's really the best sound in the world and his smiles melt my heart. Seriously, how do you ever punish your own child?!?! Oh, wait, I'm sure I'll find when he's in his teenage years ;)

{I've been wanting to post this but when I tried to upload more photos to the end of this post I get an error that I've used up all my available photo space on Blogger. Annoying. So I'm just going to post this without the photos and when I purchase more space I'll add them}

Caiden's 4-month check-up

I was not looking forward to his check-up today. He had to get all of his shots again and after his 2-month shots he was up all night and developed a fever. The doctor gave him some Tylenol at the same time as his shots since he got a fever last time. We'll see how this round goes tonight. 

{Update: He slept for 9 hours straight last night! We gave him some Tylenol and put him down at 7:30, at 4am I woke up and watched him on the monitor for about 20 minutes because I couldn't go back to sleep. I was trying to figure out if I should go pump or go in and feed him. I decided to go in and feed him and he pretty much just stayed asleep the whole time and when he was done I set him back in his crib and he didn't wake up until 8:30}

He weighed 16 lbs. 7 oz. (66th percentile), 26 inches long (80th percentile) and his head is in the 91st percentile. He's starting to level off in the weight department like I thought he would, but that head of his is still growing strong! It was another successful appointment, everything looked great. We go in again at 6 months for another round of shots.