Toe-Grabbing Fun

Today was the first day I have seen Tyler reach down and grab his toes! I love it when his toys (hands, feet) are built-in and portable. Later today I taught him the hands-shoulders-knees-and-toes song and he really liked it when I pointed to all his different body parts.

I also noticed during tummy time today that Tyler looks like he is thinking about crawling. He tried moving his knees closer to his body and pushed his little tush up in the air but couldn't figure out how to actually move forward. He's not quite sure what to do with his arms even though I demonstrated how to crawl. It must be hard trying to figure out how to make all your muscles and body parts work together!

Beavers Baseball

Tyler attended his first baseball game today at PGE Park. (FYI for non-locals: Portland has a AAA baseball team affiliated with the San Diego Padres.) Tyler did really well during the game and for the most part was pretty content sitting on one of our laps.

Tyler did not munch on this moose, who is much, much larger
than Mortimer! I am not sure why a moose was roaming around
a Beavers game. Lucky the Beaver was at the game but we did
not have any photo ops with him.

Our Lil' Beaver Believer. I forgot to bring Tyler's baseball cap,
but I guess that would have just been one more thing to keep track of.

My friend Teresa and I took Viola and Tyler to
the infant/toddler suite for a while so they could
play. There was a nice play area with toys, books,
crayons, etc. for kids to blow off steam during
the game. Viola was very sweet and gave
Tyler a few kisses on the top of his head.

Jack is at a great age (almost 5) for baseball games. It probably
doesn't hurt that he really likes baseball and even got Lucky the
Beaver to autograph a baseball. Not only did Jack do really well
at paying attention to the game he was such a little ham
dancing to the intermittent music played.

Tyler even managed to nap for 30 minutes on my lap.
A few times his eyes fluttered open when the
crowd got loud but then he went back to sleep.

All in all a great way to spend a summer afternoon!
Click here for family photo taken by the
Capturing Memories photographer at PGE Park.

More Rice Cereal

[Video of Tyler hiding his mouth behind his bib and then
crying when Michael put rice cereal in his mouth.]

Spoiler Alert: Only watch if you can tolerate crying. This is how the rice cereal went over today when we tried to feed it to Tyler before his bottle. Don't worry- we gave him his bottle right after the end of this video!

Rice Cereal

Since we got the go-ahead from the pediatrician on Monday to start solid foods we finally gave it a try today. We started with rice cereal- the traditional first baby food since it is mild and generally agreeable with their tummies. I sampled a taste before we gave any to Tyler and that stuff is absolutely foul. I don't think babies have taste buds!

Tyler let us put the rice cereal in his mouth but he wasn't
really sure what to do with it. He didn't attempt to swallow.
He basically just swished the cereal around in his mouth and
then let it dribble back out of his mouth. I can't say I blame him!

"Maybe if I cover my face they can't put any
more of this awful stuff in my mouth!"

"Or maybe I'll just eat my bib instead?"

We still managed to get some smiles (not pictured) out of
Tyler. Maybe rice cereal isn't so bad after all.

First Friday with Daddy

Michael and I are alternating working on Fridays and yesterday Michael and Tyler spent their first full day together. They managed to stay out of trouble - well, they did make a trip to Fry's Electronics but they didn't buy much. They mostly hung out and played and Michael looked pretty exhausted by the time I got home.

Michael did jokingly ask if he would have to add blog posts on the Fridays he is watching Tyler. I answered "of course!" but obviously that hasn't panned out. He did take a few obligatory photos though.

6 Months Old Today

Tyler turned 6 months old today! It flies by way too fast. I took him in for his 6-month well child visit today and upon seeing his latest measurements Tyler's pediatrician said, "Preemie? What Preemie?". The latest stats:

Weight: 17 lb 5 oz (48th percentile)
Height: 25-3/4 in (26th percentile)
Head Circumference: 17 in (35th percentile)
(these percentiles are NOT adjusted for prematurity!)

That means in the past 6 months Tyler's weight has more than quadrupled (!) and his height and head circumference have increased by just over 40%! The pediatrician gave Tyler a clean bill of health and said we can start feeding him rice cereal and then follow it with pureed fruits and veggies.

To commemorate this 6-month milestone I took Tyler into JC Penney on Saturday to have his portrait taken. It's really hard to pick an appointment time since Tyler is not on a set schedule and it's hard to predict when he will be hungry or sleepy. He had a nap before his appointment, but he did get hungry during the photo shoot and started wailing for food by the end. Tyler also had a nice long string of drool that kept pouring out of his mouth for most of the photo shoot. At least he is keeping it real! Click on photo below to see entire album.

JC Penney Portraits

Eating Out

Without even prompting, our waitress made goofy faces that got us all laughing while we were in the process of taking photos. We are such dorky first-time parents!

Welcome Baby Noah!

My brother Bryce and his wife Sonia welcomed their first child today:

Noah Evan Hulett
Born at 12:40 pm
Weight: 6 lb 9 oz
Length: 19-1/2 in

Noah is healthy and both him and Sonia are doing well. Michael and I are now an uncle and aunt and Noah is Tyler's first cousin. We are so excited to welcome Noah to the family!

The Moose Eating Continues

Rolling...

I finally captured Tyler rolling! He was literally on a roll tonight. Just about every time I put him on his tummy he would roll to the left or the right. Since he rolls right after you put him down it's hard to capture it on video.

Will Mortimer the Moose Fit in My Mouth?

The Party (Maternity Leave) is Over

I went back to work yesterday and Tyler started his 3 days/week at daycare. Yesterday was a little rough for Tyler. Before we left him, Tyler started crying (heart-breaking!) even though Michael was holding him because another baby started crying when his mother left. Apparently Tyler is a sympathetic crier and also cried throughout the day when other babies cried. The daycare staff did say that Tyler finally perked up by the afternoon. When we picked Tyler up he looked at us like "How could you abandon me all day?" and then he was fussy after we got home. Today went much better. This morning he was perfectly content being left with Ms. Jennifer since he knows her now. When we picked Tyler up he was actually pretty happy and seemed to enjoy himself today. Apparently some of the toddlers enjoyed retrieving Tyler's pacifier every time he dropped it.

The best part about daycare so far is that Tyler is so worn out by the time we bring him home that when he naturally gets sleepy (around 7:30) he has gone to sleep without a fight both yesterday and tonight. He usually fusses for a while and wants us to hang out with him, hold/rock him, and repeatedly pop his pacifier in his mouth. I am definitely hoping this easy-to-bed trend continues.

The other nice thing is that Michael is taking care of feeding and dressing Tyler in the morning before we go to daycare. This is one of the perks of being married to a morning person! As for me, it is nice to be back at work but I do miss hanging out with my little guy. I do definitely appreciate the time I get to spend with Tyler after work.

Tyler & Michael at Play

Tummy Time and Other Movement

The video is just a short clip of tummy time and it does include a live action smile. ; ) Tyler rolled over a few times at the beginning of tummy time and of course I didn't have the camera ready. That may be a shock to some of you (Dad!), but I don't have the camera attached to me permanently. While I don't think crawling is in the works for a while yet, Tyler did scoot backwards on his back a few times earlier. He arched his back and pushed with his legs and after a few pushes managed to move backwards about 2 feet. I guess we better start baby-proofing the house!

Under the Weather

It was bound to happen eventually... Tyler has his first cold. It seems pretty mild so far. Tyler's first symptoms showed up on Saturday: coughing, sneezing, and snot (just clear, none of that nasty yellow or green stuff). He mostly seems agitated in the evening and is super fussy from about 6 pm on. Once he gets fussy about the only thing we can do is hold him and try to comfort him. He is thankfully sleeping through the night. We inclined his mattress with a pillow underneath and have been running a humidifier, which both seem to help. He still has symptoms today and I am hoping he is considered well enough for his first day of daycare tomorrow. Of course I already feel like I am coming down with a cold. I'm on day 2 of a sore throat and I am hoping it goes away and doesn't turn into a full-blown cold.

Friday at the Coast

I had to take a few pre-trip photos before Tyler
spat up or drooled on his outfit.

While we often get Tyler to bear weight on his
legs while holding him under the arms, I was
amazed how long Tyler managed to stand after
Michael leaned him against the corner of the sofa.

Lincoln City: Siletz Bay on the left side of the photo,
Pacific Ocean on the right side of the photo

Tyler is still too young to use sand toys (well, he can grip but any toys would
have just gone in his mouth) so we kept him off the sand. Tyler can now say
he has been to the D River (not pictured), which is the world's shortest river
at 440 feet. It connects Devils Lake to the Pacific Ocean.
(This piece of trivia included for my Dad's benefit.)

At the edge of the 240-ft suspension bridge over Drift Creek.

View of Drift Creek Falls (approx. 75 ft tall) from the suspension bridge.

View from the bottom of Drift Creek Falls.

I carried Tyler the first half of the hike since it was mostly
downhill and then Michael carried him back uphill. We have
decided that the most challenging part of carrying Tyler in
the front carrier (apart from the back strain!) is that Tyler
 likes to extend his legs and that in turn makes it hard to
take larger steps.

At Play

Tyler laughing at me making funny faces. It takes many
shots to capture a non-blurry smile on camera! The
poor kid is probably already sick of me with the camera.

Tyler mesmerized by the lights on the bouncer toy bar while also trying to get
a good hold of his shirt so he can stick it in his mouth. This is definitely the
downside to putting him in real shirts instead of onesies. Well- on the upside
 it keeps him entertained.

Tyler excited by baby faces (happy ones, see below) during tummy time.
We checked this out from the library today after Book Babies.
Tyler is really fascinated by other babies.

See- they really are happy faces. I wouldn't dare show
him cranky baby faces during tummy time!

Tyler very pleased with himself after rolling over from his tummy to his back.
I am still having no luck capturing this on video.

 

Tyler grabbing my hair. This is the first time he has grabbed it to play with. Tyler
typically grabs my hair or my shirt to steady himself and to hang on while I am holding him.

Day Care Trial Run

This is my last week of maternity leave and so today we did a day care trial run. Our day care suggests bringing your baby in for a half to full day the week before they start day care partly to get the baby used to the idea and partly so that mom isn't a total basket case on her first day back at work. It definitely gave us a good idea of what it will take to get us out the door in a timely manner. Tyler did as well as can be expected. Michael and I were saying our goodbyes this morning as Ms. Nicole held him and Tyler gave us the biggest pout ever and then let out a loud wail. He knew something was up. I wish I had a picture of that pouty face because even though it was heartbreaking it was also so darn cute. Ms. Nicole calmed him down and so Tyler wasn't actually crying when we left. That helped with the guilt a little bit! Tyler did go on a semi hunger strike while at day care today. During the 2 feedings he was there he only drank half his normal size bottle. He even managed to take a few short naps there. The teachers said Tyler mostly wanted to cuddle all day and that he did like watching the other babies. Although he would not give me a smile, Tyler did cling to me when I picked him up at 2 pm. Once we got home he sucked down a full bottle and then took a nap. Tyler was so worn out that he even went to bed about an hour early (6:30!) this evening. I think once he adjusts Tyler will enjoy going to day care and socializing with the other babies. He will only be at day care 3 days a week so it should be a good break from all the quality and non-quality (errands, chores, etc.) he spends with me on the weekdays.

All About the Mouth

Tyler's mouth gets quite the workout these days. It also means that just about everything is covered in drool. Today Tyler even tried to chew on his overalls.

Rolling!

Today Tyler rolled over from his tummy to his back- 5 times! I tried to capture it on video after the 2nd or 3rd time but he decided to suck on his hands and then rolled over again later after I had put the camera down. Michael has been demonstrating to Tyler how to roll over and how to do push ups so it must finally be sinking in. (It cracks me up to watch Michael rolling around on the living room floor!) While Tyler did roll over accidentally while flailing around a few times during month 2 or 3 these new roll overs seem more intentional in nature.

Hanging Out

Tyler is starting to tolerate tummy time for longer periods of time when he is in the mood. Sometimes he likes to do tummy time on my lap. I start him off with my knees up and then gradually lower my knees until my legs are flattened.

Splish Splash

We finally started giving Tyler his baths in the bathtub about a month ago instead of on the kitchen counter. We still put him inside the infant tub since he can't sit up yet, but he finally started kicking and splashing the water enough that we wanted to contain all the water in the bathtub. I don't miss the days when Tyler used to scream for the entire bath! He currently enjoys his baths but not enough to want to play with any toys. Tyler's favorite part of the whole process is still getting wrapped up in his hooded towel and getting dried off.

Chew Toys

Tyler started reaching for the hanging toys on his rainforest activity mat. He thoroughly enjoyed grabbing the spinning discs with animals on them and alternately putting each disc in his mouth.