Eight and a half months

Here we are at almost nine months!  My little baby is growing fast!  I thought time moved fast when you hit thirty, well it revs up to warp speed when you have a kid.  Little man is growing right before our eyes.  I just bought him some shoes a month or two ago and he has outgrown them and moved up two sizes, plus he's more comfortable in 12 month clothes, sometimes even 18 month pants fit better depending on the brand.  I'm still trying to squeeze some life out of his 9 month onsies though, lol!  I don't know how much he weighs because we haven't been back to the doctor since he was 6 months.  At that time he was 21 pounds, so on July 1st we find out how much he weighs (because ppl ask ALL the time).

Now that he has been crawling for over a month he can really pick up some speed.  Sometimes when he really wants to go he does this weird crawl on his hands and feet, he doesn't even use his knees.  He's pulling up on everything and I mean everything.  He pulled over his exersaucer on top of him, the side table too.  The exersaucer was kinda funny cause it was all slow mo and he looked around like, why is this on top of me?  If we are in the kitchen he'll crawl over and pull himself up using our pants or just grabbing our legs.  He likes to cruise around the edge of the couch, checking things out and grabbing for the remote.  Sometimes he sneaks up on the cats and grabs a tail or a handful of fur.  They are really good about it, they cry until they can break free, no scratching or biting at him.  He loves when we walk him around the house.  He can walk just holding one of our hands for a couple steps, he's wobbly but getting better at it.  I know once he walks there will be no stopping him.  He will be into everything.

As far as food goes, he's still nursing but eating 2 to 3 meals of food a day.  He likes fruit better than vegetables, big surprise there, ha!  Or it could be he just doesn't like pureed veggies.  He's real funny about texture.  For example, mashed bananas, he hates it.  Give it to him in chunks and he loves it.  Same with avocado and green beans.  So sometimes I give him pieces of my broccoli or squash and he loves it.  And of course he enjoys meat as if there would be any doubt since he is 1/2 argentine ;)  And what will definitely help him in his food consumption is his first tooth!  I finally felt one tooth yesterday.  Which would explain the extreme crankiness, crying all night that was going on last week, sheesh!  He is quite the healthy eater and hopefully won't be too picky when he gets older.  And if he is getting fussy you can always pop a cheerio in his mouth ;)

So little munchkin, you keep on growing and we will keep on enjoying every second of it.  Even all the crying, late nights we have with you.  Because those other moments when you lay your head on our leg or shoulder and sigh contentedly or you clap your hands from happiness or laugh at your mommy dancing for you or daddy belly flopping on the bed are so worth it.

Into everything, literally

Big boi on the move

With family and friends (btw little Olivia is 3 months older than Roman)

7 month shenanigans

Well we had a busy month.  We went to Pennsylvania to visit Mike's sister and her family.  We hadn't seen them since Roman was a week old.  It was nice to see how the cousins are getting bigger and doing a lot more.  Roman and Donald don't quite interact yet besides putting their hands in each others face and Roman not sharing his toys.  Donald would grab one of Roman's toys and Roman would drop whatever he had and reach over and grab the toy from Donald.  Donald is a good sport though and just moved on :)  We will have to work on sharing.  And of course Patricia just wanted to hug Roman all the time, lol!    We visited with Mike's childhood friend Joe and his family.  Its fun, everywhere we go there are babies :)  Even though it was a week before our anniversary, we celebrated by going to Emeril's Chophouse at the Sands Casino.  I had been dying to go there since it opened a few years ago.  It totally lived up to my expectations, the steak was AMAZING!  It was nice being out just the two of us.  We spent time with the family on Sunday and Monday we went sight seeing in Jim Thorpe, PA.

Roman updates this month, he feels heavier.  But that's nothing new, lol!  We don't have another doctor visit till July, so I'm just guessing he weighs more.  He's been eating rice cereal and various fruits and veggies.  He seems to prefer veggies most of the time, but I'm sure that will change as he gets bigger.  I really think he knows mama means me, because whenever he is upset or wants me he starts saying "mama mama mama".  He says dada too but I'm not sure if he knows that's Mike or if he just likes saying dada.  Last Monday, May 5th, he started crawling.  He had been trying for over a week before that.  He would get on all fours and scoot backwards but he didn't have forward movement till the 5th.  Now that he's mobile, there's no stopping him.  If you want him to move fast put either a dog dish or a shoe in front of him.  Those are his favorite things to go after.  And of course electrical cords.  What is it with kids and cords?  The other day he got the laptop cord wrapped all around him.  I don't even know how he did that.  So needless to say we have started baby proofing the house.  Had to get a gate for the stairs and start locking things down.  Not only is he crawling but he stands too.  He'll grab the windowsill, side of the couch or his crib, cat tower, really anything and pull himself up and cruise along a bit until he loses his balance and falls on his butt.  So fun times ahead.  I can't believe in 7 months how much he has changed.  Every day my baby is disappearing and he's looking more and more like a little boy.  If we can just slow down time that would be perfect.  So till next time!

6 years!

Cousins and friends, babies everywhere!

Roman and me and Melanie at the races!

Terrorizing the cat

With mommy at work

Seis meses

The little guy has been with us for half a year already!  Can't believe it!  He had his 6 month check up the other day.  He's coming right along.  Weighs 21.12 pounds (might as well say 21 1/2 :p).  We thought for sure he was going to come in at 25 lbs.  When she told me that, I was like are you sure? lol!  He's a perfectly healthy little booger.  Doctor said he's good to go on eating solids.  Now I asked her about the difference between pureed baby foods and doing baby led weaning.  She said either is fine, but the nice thing about baby led weaning is the baby can get used to the different textures of food.  If any of you moms out there have experience with either let me know.  Pros and cons.

So far, he's had carrots, broccoli, sweet potato and avocado.  I guess I've been doing the baby led weaning because I haven't pureed a thing :p  He also loves to drink water from his sippy cup.  I tell you, he wants to be grown already.  Whenever he wakes up from his naps he looks around and then tries to get down (if we are holding him) and I ask him "Where are you going?  You know you can't walk or crawl yet, right?".  His biggest feat, he finally figured out how to roll over.  He flings his arm over and eventually the rest of his body follows.  He also likes to try and practice standing.  If we are laying on the bed he'll roll over and grab our legs and try to pull up.  Let's see what else, bath time is a lot of fun.  He takes a bath in the tub now, because he did not fit in the baby tub anymore.  He sits there and splashes around, grabs his toys and chews on them.  And I finally did it, he's now sleeping in his crib.  Mind you, he outgrew his bassinet at 4 months.  So for the past two months he's been sleeping with us.  I finally had to admit, even though I love having him with us, he was getting too big.  Trying to sleep with his feet in my back, no fun.  He transitioned awesome.  I mean he still doesn't sleep through the night, but he only wakes up once or twice and he sleeps a lot longer in the mornings.  I think he's more comfortable too.  Speaking of sleeping through the night, all the advice I see online and from the doctor says "Your baby should be sleeping through the night now, they no longer need night time feedings." Umm yeah, you try telling that to Roman.  If you try to get him back to sleep without a feeding its not happening :p Lies and deception haha!

He's talking up a storm and finds it hilarious when I dance for him and when we make funny faces or noises.  He's growing fast and we are just trying to keep up.  I was holding him the other day and couldn't believe how big he is, he fills up my arms.  I think that's the latest with him.  I feel like I'm forgetting something, hmm.  We are off to see the family in PA in a couple weeks so we will have some cousin pictures coming soon! :)  Till next time!

Yummy bottle

Stretch!

Bye Bye

 

Cali Trip

Ok finally getting around to posting about our trip to California.  It was really nice visiting with our family.  I realized I haven't been out west in about 2 years!  I know I definitely didn't go last year since I was pregnant and the year before that I went for a couple days to see my grandparents.  So it was a quick trip because me and my mom couldn't take off that much time from work.  I was worried about how Roman would do on a 5 hour plane ride but he was perfect on the way there.  He played with his toys, looked out the window, ate, slept, talked to himself.  The lady sitting behind us told me when we landed that he was a "rockstar" because he was so good. 

As soon as we landed in LA we picked up our rental car and drove straight to Las Vegas.  Because yah, we are crazy like that.  I figured since we were out there and so close I should see my two aunts and their families in Vegas.  Now in my head I'm like, a 5 hour drive, that's  nothing.  But a 4-5 hour drive through the desert to Vegas is BORING!!!  And Roman woke up around the 4th hour and made his displeasure known.  Ugh.  So we finally get there, check into our hotel, rest for about 5 seconds and meet the fam at the Venetian for dinner.  It was nice but at this point I'm so tired I'm dreaming about the comfy bed back at the hotel.  The next morning we got up and had breakfast with my cousins and my aunt Lydia at a buffet, because when you are in Vegas you have to go to the buffets, burp!  We visited for a while after that but then had to pack up and head back to Cali to see my grandparents.

The weather was so wacky when we were out there.  It rained almost the entire drive to Oxnard and the whole weekend.  The only sunny day was Monday, our last day there :p  On Saturday was my grandparents special assembly day.  Me and my mom slept in but we went for the afternoon session.  I'm so glad we did because we saw a lot of my family in one place plus some family friends that I haven't seen in a few years.  Sunday we went out in service with my cousin Connie.  It was so nice, because I don't think I've seen her in several years.  We had a blast.  After service we drove around seeing the old sites and the beach.  Then we had lunch at a really good mexican restaurant.  Afterwards we went to my Uncle Henry's house and hung out with the family all evening.  Catching up and just talking.  It reminded me of when I go to visit Mike's family in Argentina and we just sit around talking and eating, lol!  Monday we drove to Santa Barbara and visited an older couple who have known the family for years.  They really wanted to see Roman.  Then drove around Santa Barbara for a bit, its such a beautiful town.  That evening we had dinner with my grandparents and just hanging out with them and taking lots of pictures.

We flew home on Tuesday.  The flight back was pretty uneventful.  Roman slept for half the flight.  He got a little cranky at one point but for the most part he did really well.  So that in a  nutshell, my friends, is our Cali trip.  We already have our next two trips planned out.  We are going to PA to visit Mike's family next month and then a quick weekend trip to Vegas (again) for Agustinque's ten year anniversary bonanza :)  Here's a few pictures from the trip.  I left my camera at home today so these are just the pictures from my cellphone.  I have alot more pics of the family on my actual camera.

Ready for takeoff

Dolores expression here cracks me up

With his aunty Lydia

Uncle Henry reading the menu to Roman

With Connie at the beach

Pacific Ocean

Tommy's burger! Sooo good

Roman with his great grandparents Martinez

Four months old

Little guy keeps getting bigger and bigger.  He had his 4 month well check with the doctor and weighed in at a whopping 19.5 pounds.  Doctor said he's a healthy little boy, right on track with everything.  He loves to talk and coo all the time at home.  But sometimes he gets shy especially at the meetings and he'll just give people the most serious little face, refusing to smile or talk.  He's doing a half a roll now, he can get on his side but then flops back down on his back. He likes to sit on the floor propping himself up with his arms, but he can only do that for a little bit then tends to topple to the side.  He is also showing a lot of interest in his surroundings and touching things.  I have to watch him when I'm eating because he will put his hand right in my food.  He got a handful of scrambled eggs the other day, just squishing it with his fingers :p  He's reached the age where I have to keep my hair back and I now understand why moms cut their hair.  He will get a death grip on it and refuse to let go.  So not only is my hair falling out but he's pulling the rest out, ha! Guess I just need to have another kid so my hair will grow back, lol j/k!

We took him to his first assembly a couple weeks ago.  It wasn't as bad as I thought, he did good but we still missed a lot of the assembly.  The main reason being he refused to nap.  All the noise and lights and he couldn't stop looking around.  And he doesn't want to sit he wants you to walk him.  It is nice though in the mothers room because they have a tv so you can watch the program.  But when it gets full of screaming babies its kinda hard to concentrate.  All in all  I say it was a success and we enjoyed seeing all our friends.

We have our first cross country trip planned for the end of this month.  Going to visit my mom's side of the family in California and Nevada. It should be interesting.  I have high hopes he'll do good.  He loves to eat and I've been told as long as you feed them during takeoff and landing babies tend to do fine.  So we shall see.  Here's some photos from the past month.

The purple family :)

Chillin' with auntie Dionne

What's tio Eddie talking about?

This carpet has fur on it, lol!

Sleeping and out and about

Till next month!

Sleepy

The munchkin has been teething for the past month or so.  It comes and goes the pain.  Some days he's fine other days he just cries and cries and wants to be held with his fingers glued to his mouth.  Last night was one of those nights.  I really need to buy the teething tablets Katie mentioned, its just that Whole Foods is wayyyyy on the other side of town, literally almost an hour drive to get there :p  Charlotte is too stinkin big.  But I digress.  So last night he would fall asleep, wake up an hour later crying and want to be held and fall back asleep.  He did this till about four and then just woke up for good.  So I'm sitting in the glider in the nursery and he's on my lap and he looks up at me and give me the biggest smile and coos and it makes all the tiredness go away.  Melts my heart.  Love him so.  I can't wait to get off work and go see him. 

Three and half months

So here we are a month and a half later.  Little guy is growing and growing fast.  I feel cheated sometimes I didn't get to enjoy a teeny baby but the important thing is that he is healthy.  The little chunk loves to eat, obviously.  He doesn't fit in his 3 month old clothes anymore, some of his 3-6 month old clothes fit but he's most comfortable in the 6 month old clothes.  They are a little loose but its better than him busting out of the snaps in the others, ha!  The past week or two he's started laughing.  Not just a half laugh but true baby giggles.  He's also started grasping and holding on to things.  Its funny though, he has this little monkey toy and it makes him laugh and he tries to grab it then he gets all frustrated because he can't quite make his hands do what he wants them too and he starts crying.  It cracks me up, I know I shouldn't laugh but its kinda funny.  He recognizes us and follows me or Mike when we walk around the room.  He gets so happy when Mike comes home from work at night, big ol' smile on his face.

We went up to Durham over the winter break to see family and friends.  Some of them hadn't met Roman yet so that was fun.  He was real cranky towards the end of the trip and we couldn't figure out why.  Well when we got home we realized he is teething.  He has a molar coming in on the bottom back right.  This little guy is determined to grow up asap.  My mom bought his a teething mesh thingie and we bought some baby orajel.  But his favorite thing to help with the teething is sucking his fingers.  So whatever keeps him from crying I'm fine with that.

He's still sleeping in his bassinet/rock n'play in our bedroom but I'm thinking he probably should be in his crib.  Starting to look squished in there.  I think I'm just in denial.  Its weird too how his sleeping pattern changes up, right when I think I have him figured out.  He was going to sleep around 11/12 at night, waking up once in the night and then little catnaps all day.  Now he's going to sleep around 1:30 am, sleeping all night till 9:30 then two long naps from 11-1 and 3-6 and maybe a ten second nap around 10 to make us think he's going down for the night and he's like, psych! I'm still up.  Its only been for the past few days and I'm sure he'll change it up again to keep us on our toes. 

Well I think that's all that is going on for now.  I'm working part time, 2 1/2 days a week, with  my mom watching the baby on Mon/Weds and our good friend watching him for half a day on Thursdays.  Its working out really well.  I don't think I could take being away from him more than that.  We are going to California next month so my family out there can meet the baby.  Hopefully sometime this spring I can make it up to Indiana so my Grandpa Tomczak can see the baby, I know he would really like that.  Plus Mike wants to go to PA in April so I would say thats a busy spring planned.  Till next time.

I love the look on his face during the bathtime photo, he's like "really mom, really?"

Looking like a little cowboy in his carseat