Little Mr Trouble Maker

Little M has been doing a whole lot of trouble making lately. He has been going up and down the stairs for one. Not having a gate blocking the stairs, it's hard to keep him away from it. But we started relaxing when he really didn't wantto go upstairs when we're all downstairs. Then, he changed his mind. Just when we started to relax, he would sneak upstairs. He is pretty much an expert about going up, by his approach to the stairs when we're in the second floor frequently gives our heart a jump start. And of course he wants to go down facing forward. No amount of turning him backwards could get him to go down safely.

He also loves to run. He is always running from one room to the other. Sometimes his upper body gets ahead of his legs and he ends up face first know the floor but he just picks himself back up without even crying and he runs again.

He climbs up on the kitchen chair and then climbs on the table. Sometimes he does his when he sees something interesting but now he climbs up to FIND something interesting.

He opens doors. It doesn't help that our doors have lever handles. His room and his big brother's is a Jack and Jill room and it makes it difficult to keel him away from the bathroom because the door to the sink area has no lock.

Little M prefers me to put him to bed so it makes Daddy a little jealous. We have long realized that all the kids were pretty much Mama's up until 3 years old when they become all about Daddy. But Daddy feels a little sad when the little booger refuses to give him a hug at bedtime.

But with all his mischievousness, Little M is quite the charmer when he wants to. He loves it when he makes us laugh and he is a smart little monkey.

toothy grin

The weaning process has begun! He is definitely allergic to milk so we've gone straight to soy milk. It took a sip everyday from a cop to get him used to it and now he is. He doesn't drink much, only a couple of ounces total for a day. He holds his cup but do not tilt his head so we must hold it for him (even his sisters and brother).

His first 2 teeth finally came in at 10 months. The pictures above are only a week and half old. Today his upper teeth are very swollen with teeth just waiting to come out. There are 2 peaks already.

Little M is great at self-feeding! He likes cheerios, Gerber stars, bread, rice, carrots, meat sticks. I must admit that at this age, J and K only ate baby food when we go out, so I am actually not doing so well in this department. I've been buying baby food for the sake of convenience. I want to get him to self-feed because if his sisters were any indication, he would be a great eater as he gets older because of it.

trouble is looming

Little M takes steps using his walker toy for the first time. He needed some motivation, otherwise every single thing on the floor distracted him. :) And as you can see, he is also brave by letting go of the toy. It won't be long now until we're all in trouble because he is walking and goes where he wants to go.



He also loves letting go of whatever he is holding onto to stand up and balance a few seconds at a time.

I just noticed that Little M is wearing the same clothes as in most of his shots. I assure you that he takes bathes and he has other clothes.

Thanksgiving

Our first Thanksgiving in Texas was pretty relaxed. Though it was a little bit of a shock since we've been spending Thanksgiving with the in-laws for so many years while in VA. I had a menu of what to cook, though it was quite flexible. I couldn't find something I need so I cooked something else. I still hadn't cooked my first turkey. The kids are still so young, I just cooked what we liked to eat. There will be time enough to establish a Thanksgiving holiday tradition.

Big M woke up vomiting. It was quite sad to see him so miserable, especially since he was looking forward to eating the pumpkin pie and the banana bread the girls and I baked. Thankfully, by the next day, Big M was on the mend. Little M was also sick. The week prior to Thanksgiving, he started with a runny nose and started coughing. Then he started wheezing. Since the girls were still recovering from asthma/cold and were still on the nebulizer, we decided to put Little M on it too. It helped a little bit, but he was still wheezing.

Yesterday, the doctor said Little M has RSV and has fluid behind the ears. He prescribed antibiotics which should start making him feel better in a day or two. One thing that is very striking to me is the way he handles this RSV. The twins being premature, the RSV was pretty tough even though they had the dreaded 6-month monthly course of RSV antibodies. For Little M, the RSV was only slightly worse than garden variety colds.

But even through the sickness, Little M has been surprising us this past 2 weeks. He has been crawling by pushing off with his feet for months, but a few week ago, he started crawling the right way on all fours. In a matter of days, he would crawl that way for a few paces. Than he started pulling up. A few days later, he was pulling up to a standing position. After that he would crawl and go into a sitting position. Pretty amazing.

It was near 80s the 3 days leading up to Thanksgiving. Then on the day of Thanksgiving, the high was 50 with lows around upper 20s. Crazy! One we have our AC on, the next we have the heater.

Little M's 6-month check-up

Little M's 6-month stats:

Head: 17 1/4 in (50th percentile)
Height: 26 1/2 in (50th percentile)
Weight: 19 lbs (75th percentile)

He definitely leveled out from his 4-month check . All his wiggliness has caught up to him, even though he has started eating solids! In mid September, he had his first rice cereal with soy formula. The doctor suspects that his eczema may be exacerbated by milk and advised me to stop drinking milk for a while and observe any change. With this in mind, his first cereal was with soy formula. I didn't really want to dig for my breast pump just to use breastmilk on the cereal. Call me lazy. The cereal with soy formula was a success though it didn't last long. When the soy formula expired, I bought regular milk-based formula. That was not a good idea. Within minutes of eating (he didn't like it anyway), he developed a welt on his mouth. After that, he didn't really like baby cereal anymore, not even with water.

I bought carrots baby food and with the initial what-the-heck-are-you-feeding-me reaction, he actually liked it. A few days of that and then on to peas. So now, he's on to a few other veggies and loved all of them so far. Though now, I'm having a hard time finding one veggie ingredient baby food. We may start mixing fruit in pretty soon.

Oh, Little M started with just a few teaspoons once a day. Now he's up to 2x a day, and now he can eat half a bottle! Good golly. So with all that extra source of calories and still leveling out in his growth chart, no wonder he's back to waking up 3x a night. I thought it was because he was teething, which it may have started out that way, but after a month I thought something was up. This definitely explains it.

first baby food

You would think this baby is being starved the way he attacks my hand.

Big M had fun shooting this video, not to mention highly amused by his little brother's enthusiasm toward the rice cereal.

baby, slow down!

My youngest, my baby, is speeding through his infancy. It makes me both sad and happy. It's a strange feeling. I snuggle him and think wow I'm not going to have this for very long. Yet I marvel at how fast he is reaching milestone after milestone. When I pick him up from his bed, he reaches out both his hands to touch my face. I can easily imagine the gesture to mean to soothe me as if to say, "Mommy, it's Ok. I love you!"

Three weeks ago, he started sitting on his own for a few seconds at a time. Today, he can sit up even longer.  And of course he is in the process of trying to figure out how to crawl. Today Little M is 5 months and 5 days old.

a 5-year old's morning routine

It's that time again to brag about my first born. About 2 weeks before Kindergarten started, I gave Big M a list of things to do before he comes downstairs in the morning. He must go potty, brush teeth, and change his clothes. Amazingly, he loves it so this has been his morning routine ever since. Oh, and how it makes my life so much easier! All I have to do is wake him up at 6:30 in the morning, and he does his own thing while I go and get J and K ready and doing the same thing. By 6:45, the kids are all downstairs eating breakfast and by 7:25 we are out the door. Big M's morning routine doesn't stop on weekdays either, come rain or shine and weekends he comes down all dressed up.

I knew I had something special here, but didn't know exactly how much until I hear some of his friends' parents complaining about how difficult it is to get their sons/daughters out in time in the morning.

I don't show him enough, but I am super proud!

could it be that we have our very own easy baby?

I hope I don't have to eat my words when we reach the terrible 1s, 2s, 3s, 4s and 5s, but Little M proved to be an easy one today, at least when it came to taking formula for the first time since he came home from the hospital. Daddy played Mr. Mom to Baby M, J and K today when I took Big M to a friend's party. It was fairly far from home so I knew I may be gone 3 hours or so, so I bought formula and a set of baby bottles this morning. I was pretty considerate with Daddy and breastfed before I left so he didn't have a cranky one to deal with. But he was apparently cranky anyway. Two hours after I was gone, I told Daddy the go ahead. Daddy made 8 ounces of formula and Little M chugged 3 ounces in no time. I didn't want him to eat too much, so I told Daddy not to give the whole thing....which then made for a crankier baby.

Regardless of the crankiness, we were pretty amazed at the drama-less way in which he took the formula and the bottle! I remember Daddy making several trips to the store just to get different kinds of bottles for Big M just so we could get him to take formula. This was before my milk came in, which took 2 weeks.

Could we really finally have an easy baby? Not that we didn't deserve one. Every family should have one of these. Strong-willed for a first and twins for second and third. Yeah, we deserve one.

so yeah, this is our first family picture

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It only took a school project to finally prompt us to take a picture of all 6 of us together, our first ever family picture. It's an impromptu one at that. We had just gotten home from church so some of us had already dressed down. I think Little M had no idea what everyone was doing, but he did great keeping up.

I love the shots of the kids. We told the girls to kiss Big M on the cheeks so they had fun at that.

(J is in Pink, K is in blue)

"mini me"

Daddy and  I were looking through pictures of the kids and found Big M and Little M look pretty much exactly alike, except Big M was a chubbier as a baby. I need to get pictures together and put them side by side. They can be twins.

Yesterday I tried sitting Little M up on our bed and he did pretty well. He can sit up for about 10 seconds unassisted and he's not even 5 months. I am both excited and sad. My little baby is growing up very fast.

another big monkey

Little M had his 4 month visit on Monday. While there, he charmed both the nurse and the doctor with his sideways grin and giggles.

Stats:
Head: 16 1/2 in. (50th percentile)
Length: 25 3/4 in. (80th percentile)
Weight: 17 lb 2 oz  (90th percentile)

He is big just like his brother.

Big M's 4 mos stats:
Head: 17 in.
Length: 26 3/4 in.
Weight: 20 lbs 5 oz

The first thing any new pediatrician we see asks is "how tall is Mom? and how tall is Dad?" We're just oh so slightly above average for height, and I guess together we just make big kids. I can't say I've overfed all 4 kids, because I've breastfed them all up to a year (planning on doing the same with Little M). Some women I've met say they're big because I breastfeed. Must be some good crack. :)

Little M has some issues with eczema, and in fact he has scratch marks all over his forehead. I've resorted to making him wear mittens at night to protect his face. The pediatrician said it may be worth stopping milk, cheese and yogurt for a couple of months and see if this improves. I am willing to try, especially that the twins are allergic to milk so it is entirely possible that Little M just has issues with it.

He continues to roll around and pull himself up from a sitting position. One day while driving, I saw him in the baby mirror with his head up and now rested on the car seat. He grabs at toys, he grabs at whatever I'm eating, he likes to hold faces when you're close enough to him, and he is smitten with his big brother.

the determined baby

our summer so far

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Little M has had a lot of firsts lately; first time on the high-chair and first time on the exersaucer. He loves being on the table when everyone is eating. He doesn't eat solids yet though. I'm not prepared for that just yet. Soon.

The petting zoo pictures are from a party of a friend. It was a lot of fun and it was surprisingly cooler in the country!

the amazing, Little M!

Little M rolled over from back to tummy about 3 days ago. And now, he does it all the time. The really amazing thing, is that he seems to do it with pure tummy/back muscles. Big M, J and K all rolled over by pushing off with the legs when they are on their side, not Big M. :)

how did we ever live without internet or cable

We're back on! We moved two weeks ago into our new house and have had trouble since then. First Verizon kept changing the FIOS installation without telling us, then our AC isn't working. But we have internet now, though we still have AC trouble. The warranty company sent 3 different companies all finding something different but yet no one could fix the upstairs AC. It's blowing warm air and the kids sweat like little piggies at night.

The moving is almost over, we just have little bits to go that I try to get every time I drive to kids to school. Big M is still in the same preschool and he will be there until he starts Kindergarten. The twins started in a new school this Monday, less than a mile from our house. They love it. Little M continues to develop. He is doing mini push ups, turns himself around and flips from tummy to back. He laughs, giggles and now hates it when he sees me pass by him.

if I never have a day like this, it would be too soon

The day began innocently enough...

Earlier this week, Little M had his 2-month well baby check. I had Big M with me, while J & K were at summer camp. Little M's check-up was great. He went from 10.4 lbs a month ago to 13.6 lbs! The doctor said, "Whoa. That's quite a weight gain!" Um hmm. This after telling me last month to pump, supplement, etc because baby's weight wasn't good enough. I didn't tell him that if Little M is anything like this sisters and brother, he would be humongous. Just the night before, Daddy and I were betting on how much Little M now weighs. I said about 12.5 lbs, and Daddy said about 13.5.

The nurse marveled at Little M's happy temperament. He was laying on the table with Big M standing next to him talking to him. You can tell just by looking at Little M's big smiley face that he knows he's talking to someone familiar. He coo'd and smiled and grinned at his big brother. When the nurse came to talk to Little M, she got a smile too. She asked how old he was again, and when I told her he's only 2 months she was impressed. She said usually they are only starting to smile at this point, but only occasionally.

When the visit was done and we were about to walk out of the office I got a call from the girls' school. J had her head turned while still walking and bumped her head on a foosball table. The teacher gave her ice but minutes later, her eye swelled up. Now the teacher wasn't so sure of what happened anymore and she said she would feel better if I came and took a look. So we headed there. It was a shock to see J's eye, but she didn't seem in pain. Under her lower lid was a little blood, so I decided to take her to the doctor, still with Big M and Little M in tow. Now Daddy was worried when I told him what was going on.  Thankfully, the doctor didn't think her eye was injured, but told me to keep an eye and watch for any behavioral changes and vomiting. I decided not to take her back to school.

Now with 3 kids with me, we headed to the new house and spent a little time there while the kids played on the outdoor playset. A little bit of time passed when I got another call from school saying K bumped heads with a friend though she's fine. They are just required to call parents when there is an injury above the neck. I didn't go into a panic this time. All of Big M's bumps had prepared me for that. But nonetheless, I'm thinking what next?

After lunch, we picked up K from summer camp and headed back to the rental in time for J and Big M to nap (K napped at school). After 15 minutes of relative quiet, I got a call from school saying they need me to sign a form for school for J's injury. Since they forgot to make me sign at carpool, the teacher was going to drop by the house. Well, while on the phone, out came Big M from his room with a bloody face. I hung up the phone, put the baby down and rushed Big M to the bathroom. He had a nose bleed, though you'd think there had been a crime judging from all the blood on his face, hands, and his bed!

During all this hoopla, Little M's shots (he got 4) finally caught up to him and he was cranky and sore.

By 3pm, I was ready to crash! I couldn't wait for day to end.

the joys and the chaos of being the baby

cooing and smiling

We are all thoroughly enjoying the little cooing and smiling Little M is doing when someone talks to him. It doesn't really matter if someone he doesn't know talks to him, he smiles anyway. He is getting bigger and heavier, too.

Night nursing is down to 2. He cries, I put him next to me in bed and then he nurses and we both fall asleep until the next time. During the day, he nurses between 2-3 hours, which I don't mind. I just wish he would sleep for long stretches! Other days, he doesn't sleep for very long unless I'm holding him, and then other days, I can put him in his bassinet and he sleep for an hour or so.

He also has some cradle cap, but I think it's worst than a cradle cap. Some spots on his scalp is constantly oozing, so he's constantly crusty. Hopefully the doctor can give him something next week for his 2-month appointment.

the interactive baby

Little M will be 7 weeks tomorrow and he is becoming quite interactive. He has been smiling for the past 2 weeks, mostly for his big brother. I don't know what it is he finds funny in him but when Big M dances around like a fool and talks to him, he just can't help himself. But lately, if he's in a good mood he smiles instantly when you talk to him. He even does it with strangers (Big M's teacher).



And what's up with the eyebrows? Daddy said it must be a male thing. :)