Five Months

Weight and Height: Approximately 16 pounds and 26 inches

Sleeping patterns:  Naps mess with social time, so he's not sleeping much during the day. He's doing much better with sleeping through the night with his earlier bed time. We had a rough patch at the beginning of the month.

Eating habits:  He LOVES rice cereal! He eats solids soooo much faster than he drinks bottles. We started with rice cereal, moved on to carrots and sweet potatoes, then peas (not a hit) and green beans, and now he's on to fruit (peaches and apples). It's so funny to watch him dive onto the spoon and get so excited about eating. Who knew that feeding a baby could be so fun?! Here's a video of his first dinner time:

 
New discoveries he's made:  He discovered his tongue, so Brian has started calling him snake.

He's more aware of his feet, and he absolutely loves his jumper - thanks Jennifer, Ryan, Laney, and Brinley for sharing your's!

Accomplishments:  He's much more coordinated with grabbing things, and he's starting to transfer items from hand to hand. He's able to sit up on his own for a few seconds before his big melon starts making him tip over or face plant. He's standing for longer periods of time too. Laying down is boring to him. During tummy time, he is able to push his chest off the floor with his arms straight. He can roll onto his side from both his tummy and his back, but he's not very interested in rolling over all the way (and again, his big head gets in his way).

Sitting unsupported

Timber!

At least he's still happy after falling over. And aren't those socks super cute?!

Places he went:  We went to Sergeant Bluff for Mallori and Todd's wedding. He was a hit in his sweet bowtie.

Special friends he's made:  Brian said that Dom gets super smiley whenever he sees the other kids at daycare. I love that he's so social! Pretty much everyone we know having babies is having a boy, so Dom got to hang with his little buddies this past month. He got to meet his cousin Bennett and family friends Mac and Avery in Sergeant Bluff. At the Hofferts' wedding, he and Mac became BFFs. It was so fun to listen to them talk to each other! Dom also got to meet Beckett here at home, and hang at his house a few times. Let's hope Dom and Beckett don't do the same things together that their fathers do...

Bennett and Dominic

Buddies

Noises and babbles:  He's making all sorts of noises. His giggle is one of the best sounds in the world.

Firsts:  He had his first solids this month. And his first blowout at home - yuk. 

Other adventures this month:  He's very interested in animals right now - watching their tails, smiling at them, and petting them. Dom and Miss Marbles are buddies.

To come in next month's post:  Dominic's baptism, falling asleep during dinner, meeting his great grandparents and great aunts, fall pictures, and HALLOWEEN! I can't wait to share his costumes (yes plural - did you expect anything less of me?)!

Four Months

He's now one-third of a year old!

Weight and Height:  15 lbs 6 oz (47th percentile), 25 1/4 inches (44th percentile) - And don't forget head circumference:  17 1/4 (95th percentile)! When we were in Sergeant Bluff Labor Day weekend, he was by a 6 month baby. They had the same size heads. Dom must have a really strong neck since he can hold his melon up so well.

Sleeping patterns:  Little dude sleeps through the night mostly, but he absolutely hates napping during the day. He'd rather see what's going on than sleep. Although sometimes he'll pass out when he's not supposed to be sleeping...

Eating habits:  He has 6-7 meals per day with 4-7 ounces per feeding. He stares at us when we eat, and will open and close his mouth. His 4-month appointment was today (ugh, more shots), so we got the okay to start him on solids. Hello stinkier poos! We were also pretty sure that he has started to teeth - he gnaws on everything - but the doc said that it's just standard for infants this stage of development and it could be up to nine more months before he gets teeth.

New discoveries he's made:  He realizes that he has feet and he's more coordinated when he goes to reach for something. It's fun to watch him explore his hands and feet and the toys on his bouncer. He loves to stare and smile at himself in mirrors.

Accomplishments:  He is able to push himself up pretty high when he's on his belly, and he's able to sit up with very little support. He's also much more steady on his feet when we stand him up.

Places he went:  He made his second trip to Sergeant Bluff this past month for the annual Craun Labor Day Smokeout. Aside from that, he's just made a few trips around town to the doctor's office and Grandma and Grandpa Carlson's house.

Special friends he's made:  Sophie the Giraffe is one of his favorites. He also likes his cousin Brinley - they both were staring at each other last weekend (the weekend he turned 4 months), and he kept giving her his cute little flirty smiles.

With his BFF, Sophie.

Noises and babbles:  This little dude is super talkative whenever he gets his diaper changed. It's so cute! He babbles, giggles, laughs, and blows raspberries. Here's a look at what our morning is like:

Firsts:
First sleepovers
August 25th and the weekend of September 8th, Dominic spent the night at Grandma and Grandpa Carlson's house. He did a pretty good job, but was kind of fussy with Grandpa during the Iowa/ISU game. He was just upset that the Hawks lost, and that Grandpa cheered for the wrong team.

First Craun Smokeout
Dominic survived his second party in Sergeant Bluff. He was absolutely perfect, and many people asked, "Is he always this good?" Mostly, yes. Yes, he is. And we are incredibly blessed!

The cool kids wear black and gold.

First swim
Brian took Dom for his first swim in Eddie's pool when we were back for Labor Day weekend. Let's just say that he wasn't pleased about going into the cold water. He seemed to not mind it as much once Bri stopped dipping him in and out.

Other adventures this month:
Meeting extended family
John and Celine came to visit on their way up to Minnesota a few weeks ago. I was a slacker and forgot my camera at home that day. I can't wait for him to meet all our other extended family!

Wonderful daycare illnesses
What haven't we had? Ear infections, colds, slight fevers, runny noses, pink eye, hives...And of course, he's shared everything with me. Thankfully he heals much faster than me!

Pictures with Bess
Bess came over to take his four month pictures, and Dom actually cooperated! As usual, Bess did a great job, and we have so many great pictures to choose from. Here are a few of our faves: 

Go Hawks!

A Quarter of a Year: Three Months Old

The changes in just one month are astounding! I love to see him grow and accomplish new things, but at the same time I get very sad that my baby is growing so fast. I have turned into the biggest sap! I'm a little late on positing this because of work, but here goes...


Weight and Height:  We went to the doctor today so we have an accurate weight. He now weighs 13 pounds, 12 ounces. And my sloppy measurement of height puts him at 24 inches. While he doesn't weigh much and he's fairly short, his feet are humongous! His 3-month sleepers are too big everywhere but his feet.

Big Foot does exist.

Sleeping patterns:  He's a pro at sleeping through the night. Every now and then he'll wake up at 5:00, but for the most part he's sleeping from 8-8:30 to 6:00 every night. Daycare has made him an excellent sleeper!

Eating habits:  Apparently "typical" 3-month olds eat 4 ounces per feeding. Not Dominic! He eats 5 to 6 ounces. Oinker.

New discoveries he's made:  He's paying more attention to his feet, watching tv, actually liking baths, and playing with new toys (his O-Ball football and his squeaky parrot from Vi). He's drooling a lot now, and has taken an interest in our food. Whenever we eat in front of him he stares at our food and will sometimes open and close his mouth. And when he sees us after waking up or after daycare he gives us the biggest smiles. He likes to stare at himself in the mirror. I think he's also discovered that he is super cute, because he is a massive flirt!

Watching some pre-season football with Daddy.

Rar! This little alligator is hungry!

It is impossible not to smile at this picture.

Accomplishments:  He's an expert at holding his head up, and he's using his strong abs to pull himself into a seated position when he's cradled in our arms. He's grasping (one of the reasons I chopped 9 inches off my hair), bringing things to his mouth, giggling, and rolling over (well 2 times now so he hasn't mastered this quite yet). He can actually tolerate tummy time for about 5 minutes. He is able to lift his head all the way up and hold it up until he's pissed that he's still on his tummy. He's also able to lift his chest off the floor. He loves sitting and standing with our help.

I caught his first roll on video a few days before he started daycare. Don't make fun of my excitement! And yes, I did cry after because I was so happy I got to see him do it. I was feeling pretty down about him being in daycare and having to miss big firsts while we're apart. And then he gave me this:

 
Places he went:  This past month has been pretty uneventful. He's mostly just gone to daycare and Grandma and Grandpa Carlson's. He did get to go to Whole Foods grand opening, which was a pretty exciting event for me, Bess, and Lauren. He'll have all sorts of yummies to eat when he gets bigger!

Special friends he's made:  His daycare providers absolutely love him. They tell us how they love to cuddle with him, and the love seeing all his smiles. While it's great to hear how wonderful he is (although we already knew that!) and that they love caring for him, it makes me extremely jealous that they get to spend so much time with him.

Noises and babbles:  Since he started daycare, he has been talking a lot more. It's fun to hear him go on and on, almost like he's telling us about how his day was. His giggles are one of the best sounds ever! We love to get him laughing, and we really don't have to do much to hear his cute laugh - just some funny faces, big smiles, and tickling.

Firsts:  His first giggle was on July 24th (I know the exact date because I just so happened to be taking this picture). It is the cutest sound ever.

His first day of daycare was on August 6th. He loved it; me not so much. I held it together until I got to the car, and then I sobbed. Like those big ugly, can't breathe cries. We started him a week before I started work so that I wouldn't be a mess my first day. I basically spent my last week off work out of the house. It just felt way too empty without him.

His first cold came at the end of his first week at daycare. He started to get better, but it just wasn't going away so we went to the doctor today. Turns out that he has a double ear infection and the cold, so he is now on antibiotics. He doesn't seem too affected by it, and still felt well enough to share his smiles with the doctor. She called him a big flirt. We're so in trouble when he gets older!

 
Other adventures this month:  He tried out his jumper for the first time and loved it! I can't wait to see him bounce around when he's a little bigger.

Two Months

Our smiley little guy is two months old today!

Weight and Height:  11 pounds, 12 ounces (37th percentile) and 22 inches (10th percentile). If there wasn't any measurement error in his height, he's only grown an inch in the last month. His head however, has grown almost 2 inches since his 2 week appointment, putting his head circumference at the 90th percentile! Wonder where he got that from...ahem, Brian...

Sleeping patterns:  He's sleeping through the night regularly! He takes a few 1-2 hour naps throughout the day too.

Eating habits:  He's quite the piggy, eating 4 to 5 ounces every feeding. It must all be going to his head.

New discoveries he's made:  He's starting to realize he has hands. He'll stare at them and try to suck on them. He's also quite in love with Captain Calamari, a toy that Lyndi got him. He's quite content to stare into Captain's eye and bat at and grab his legs. His other favorite toy is his piano gym. He'll lay there for 15-20 minutes just kicking away at the piano and watching the lights in the mirror. Thankfully he's also taken an interest in the mobile we made him, so he'll hang out in his crib and look at that when he wakes up or before he falls asleep.

Hanging with his buddy.

Kicking it in his piano gym.

Accomplishments:  He holds his head up pretty much on his own, unless he's really tired, so he can sit in his Bumbo chair now. He smiles all the time, especially when we talk to and smile at him.

Places he went:  On his first Fourth of July we went to Sarah and Brandon Weaver's wedding reception in New Virginia. It was pretty hot out for him so he only got to stay for an hour. He's gone out to eat with us a few times, and has made a few trips to the farmer's market downtown. 

He looked so cute for the wedding reception!

He lost his styling outfit first thing because of the heat.

Giving the bride some loving.

Special friends he made:  Captain Calamari.

Noises and babbles:  He started cooing, so we have lots of fun talking to him now.

Firsts:  His first real smiles were around 5 weeks old. There is nothing I love more than to see a big smile light up his face! Before his last feeding of the night, I try to engage with him as little as possible so that he knows it's bedtime, but he just grins up at me from the changing table and it's so so hard to ignore that! He's definitely going to be a charmer. He first found his hands around 7 weeks and has really started to suck on them when he's hungry. He also had his first holiday, and celebrated by sleeping through Erin and I beating Brian and Eric in Taboo and Logo.

Other adventures this month: 
Jennifer is 27!
Jennifer and her family came down the weekend of Jen's birthday. Laney helped me feed Dom once, and she loved holding him. Brin was pretty curious and about slammed into him when she tried to give him a kissy. 

Exhausted from the day of fun.

Two Month Doctor Visit
He had his immunizations today. The look on his face when he got stuck with the first needle was so awful. Thankfully we had a bottle to give him right after so he was a happy camper. Me, not so much. I held it together until the nurse left the room and then cried for a little bit. I don't think I'll ever forget his face, with him just looking up at me like "Mom, why'd you let her do that to me?!" Poor baby!

Sleeping after his shots. He smiled just as I took the picture. Love him!

How time flies!

It's so hard to believe, but Dominic is ALREADY a month old! This month has been one of the hardest, most rewarding months of my life.

Dominic and I are doing really well (most of the time). I think I've figured out what his cries mean, and he's definitely crying less than he did those first days home. We've got his reflux under control, so he's only spitting up some here and there instead of massive vomiting like he did on our first day alone together. Let me tell you, that day was awful!

I decided to use the stems from his baby book to share how we're doing each month (with a few things added in here and there). So here goes:  Dominic's First Month!

Weight and Height:  About 10.5 pounds and 21ish inches (he's so squirmy it was hard to measure him!)

Sleeping patterns:  He naps really well during the day for short periods of time (1-2 hours), but at night he has slept anywhere from 3 to 7 hours. The last week of his first month he slept for 6 hours and threw in a few nights where he actually slept through the whole night! The first week of month 2 hasn't been so hot so far, but I'm really looking forward to the time when he starts sleeping through the night more consistently.

Sleepy smiles

Eating habits:  OMG is this kid a piggy! He typically eats 4 ounces at each feeding. Everything I've read says that newborns usually eat 2-3 ounces per feeding. I think feeding has been the single most frustrating thing ever. Dominic and I shed a lot of tears and got very little sleep in the beginning. I started out breastfeeding and the first week went really well. Then he must have hit a growth spurt because all the sudden he was fussy after nursing for an hour, acting like he wanted more food. So we supplemented with formula, and he really was wanting more food. Then on Brian's first day back to work, Dominic decided to get a massive case of reflux and vomited all over the place 3 different times during the day. Per doctor's recommendations, we went back to just breast milk. I started pumping so we could feed him by bottle, which allowed us to track how much Dom was eating. The next weekend, Brian took the night feedings so I could sleep for longer than 2 hours at a time and I freaking lost most of my milk! Instead of supplementing again with formula and risking the vomiting (yuck) while I worked to get my milk supply back up to meet Dom's needs, we decided to switch to 100% formula. This was a really hard decision for me, one I agonized about for a long time. I felt super guilty for switching for so many reasons - I wasn't giving Dominic the best possible nutrition, I was choosing sleep over working to get my milk back and keep it, I was putting myself first over my helpless little baby, I was choosing to spend lots of money on formula over working to get free milk...I still feel guilty sometimes but I'm feeling a lot better about switching him because I know that he is fed, I'm not tethered to a pump every 3 hours, and I'm able to get (a little) more sleep. Even though I had a tough time breastfeeding, I don't think I would have done anything differently. I gave it my best shot, and Dominic was able to benefit from getting all the key nutrients and antibodies those first 3 weeks.

New discoveries he's made:  He's starting to focus and track us and colorful objects more. He really liked the balloon in his picture. He loves to stare at me when I'm feeding him, as well as ceiling fans, shadows made by lights, and his hands.

Accomplishments:  He's so strong! Dominic is able to hold his head up for pretty extended periods of time (for a newborn anyway). He's manage to punch me in the face a few times if I don't get the bottle to him fast enough. One of my favorite accomplishments - sleeping through the night! I can't wait until that's consistent.

Strong boy

Places he went:  So far Dominic has been to the doctor's office three times, Target (of course!), Best Buy, On the Border for lunch with the Drews, La Mie for Lyndi's birthday brunch, and a road trip to Sergeant Bluff for the Diaper Kegger (more on that later). He's done well on all his outings!

Special friends he made:  Well, just us, Megan, Lauren, Bess, and family. The girls have been over a lot to help me out and to spend time with Dom. Mom came over a lot in the beginning to bring me lunch and to see Dominic during her lunch hour. Coco and Marbles aren't too interested in him right now. Coco hangs out with us while he feeds, but Marbles just started coming around him in the last week or so. She seems pretty irritated with us for bringing Dominic home!

Noises and babbles:  He has some strong lungs, so you can't miss his cries. When he's really hungry and he knows the bottle is close he'll start panting like a dog as he roots around for the bottle. It's hilarious! Other than that, he has the LOUDEST farts and burps. They are grown-up size and always make me laugh!

Firsts: He slept through the night for the first time at the four-week mark. He smiles a lot during sleep and just after feeding but no real smiles yet. His first road trip was to the Bluff - he loves car rides and zonks out pretty quickly. His first bath was interesting - he screamed the entire time, and then as soon as Brian started washing his hair with the lavender shampoo, he stopped. I guess the shampoo reminded him of me and the lavender linen spray I use.

Chilling out after his first bath

On his first road trip

Other adventures this month:
Pictures with Bess
I'm fairly certain the Dominic does not like to have his picture taken. Nonetheless, Bess got some amazing pictures!

Diaper Kegger in Sergeant Bluff
Brian's parents threw us a Diaper Kegger - bring diapers and wipes in exchange for food and beer. We have quite the stock of diapers and wipes now! It was fun to see everyone and to show off Dominic. He got some cute clothes and books, and I got an awesome jogging stroller. I can't wait to use it! Thanks gals!

Partying

I'm looking forward to all the coming months and all the fun things we'll get to do!