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

Little over 2 months

Time has seriously flown by and I know that's so cliche, but its true. The first couple of weeks are kind of a blur. We were having serious sleep deprivation trying to adjust to our newborn schedule. Sleepwalking through feedings, diaper changes, rinse and repeat. Those first couple weeks the little guy mainly slept and looked at us through squinty eyes. Some nights I was up till 4/5 in the morning trying to get him to sleep. Then all of a sudden he started sleeping a few hours at a time and he became aware of his surroundings. He started opening his big gray eyes and focusing on us. That's right folks, gray eyes. He's pulling in some colored eye genes from somewhere. We shall see if they stay that color or change later on. He still prefers the squinty look though. He started smiling around 5/6 weeks. Its the cutest thing to make him smile. When he gives me one of his crooked smiles I just melt. He's been cooing and gurgling up a storm the past couple weeks. Just talking away in baby talk, we have long conversations about buhbuhbooboogoogoogahgah, lol! And I know you will think I'm crazy but he totally put some sounds together the other day that sounded like he said "How are you?", clear as day. My mom heard it too. We were like what the world? I know he was just making noises but it was the funniest thing. Let's see what else? His skin is finally clearing up. First he had newborn rash, then baby acne and then cradle cap. I would have to say the cradle "crap" (as mike calls it) was the grossest. Believe me, I was putting some olive oil on his head and scrubbing that mess off. Don't worry, I wasn't scrubbing hard, I was gently brushing it. He has become drooly McGee lately, have to keep a bib and a burp cloth handy at all times.

We've had 3 doctor visits so far. The first was when he was 3 days old. They just weighed him at that visit, made sure he was eating well. He was also born tongue-tied, it wasn't bad but made nursing very uncomfortable. So we went ahead and had it clipped at that visit. Which made nursing much easier. His second doctor visit was at 2 weeks. Not much happened at that visit, weighed and measured. He gained a pound and half from his birth weight. That should of clued me in he was going to be a big boy. Now his third doctor visit alot was going on. Weighed in at 14.14 pounds and measured 24 3/4 inches (he seems longer, maybe its just all the heft). This was the visit I was worried about because he was getting 4 vaccines. Three were shots and one was given orally. Poor fella, just laying there and all of a sudden he's like, what the world just pinched me, heehee! But he did good, fed him and he was fine. I think he was more upset later that night when I took off his bandaids.

He does really well riding in car. We drove all the way to the beach (3 1/2 hours from Durham) and only had to stop once for a feeding and diaper change. And for the meetings, so far he just sleeps through them. I'm sure that's going to change but for now its great. I haven't attempted service with him yet. I'm building up my nerve to take him out this Saturday. I know I need to get him used to it. But all around I think he does pretty good. He does the usual baby crying when I change his diaper but as soon as you finish he's fine. And if we wait to long to feed him, of course he'll cry but other than that he does really good. I wish time would slow down, because I know this stage won't last long. When I get home from work all I want to do is hold him and play with him. Trying to drink all of him up while I can.

weeks 1-2

weeks 3-4

weeks 5-6

weeks 7-9

This is what its all about 

He's here!

I can't believe it!  After all that waiting, he finally arrived.  We couldn't be more in love with him.  Roman Adriano was born on September 29th at 11:38 pm.  He weighed in at a whopping 8 lbs 13 ounces and 22 1/2 inches long.  After the doctor talked about inducing I thought for sure I was going to be pregnant for at least another week.  But at that visit she also stripped my membranes and I really think that got things jump started.  If you don't want to read the whole long birth story you can skip to the end and just look at pictures :) 

Birth Story

 I started cramping and having mild back pain on Friday.  By Saturday afternoon around 4/5 o'clock I started having contractions.  They were 10-20 minutes apart.  So nothing too regular to call the doctor about.  Nevertheless I still got things ready for the hospital and had my mom braid my hair up.  I knew I didn't want it in my face just in case I did go into labor.  I tried going to bed Saturday night but the contractions were keeping me up.  So I sat up downstairs bouncing on my exercise ball, laying on the floor and timing the contractions.  Finally around 5:30/6 am the contractions were about 5 minutes apart and the intensity was definitely picking up. I went upstairs and told Mike, took a shower and we got ready to go.  We arrived at the hospital and I got checked into triage.  I was only dilated 3 centimeters but since I was four days overdue and the contractions were consistent they decided to admit me.  At ten that morning the doctor broke my water.  The intensity of the contractions picked up after that, so I asked for some morphine.  I was doing all I could to avoid an epidural.  I wanted to stay mobile as long as possible.  I also asked for intermittent fetal monitoring so I could get out of bed and walk around the room.  Well around 3ish the morphine started wearing off.  The intensity of the contractions was indescribable.  I was literally crying and doubled over in pain.  I tried all the techniques for natural birthing but nothing helped.  So finally caved and got the epidural.  The anesthesiologist who gave me the epidural was good but also a brute.  He said okay I'm going to have put you in this position and you cant move.  So while I'm having these excruciating contractions he flips me over into a fetal position and bends me into a C  which hurt like crazy.  But once he administered the epidural I didn't care. Finally the pain was gone!  I actually was able to nap for a couple hours.   At 5 o'clock they checked and I was only dilated 5 centimeters :p  So the doctor said okay we need to start her on the pitocin.  So the two things I didn't want, an epidural and pitocin I got.  But you know what, whatever needed to be done to get the baby out.  I was ready to have him.  From that point things really picked up, by ten o'clock I was ten centimeters and ready to start pushing.  Even though I had an epidural I could still feel the contractions since they picked up in intensity.  An hour and half of pushing and the nurse said, ok we need to call the doctor. The baby was right there but his big ol' head just wasn't coming through.  The doctor said I needed an episiotomy, ugh.  Well once that happened Mr. Roman was here in a few more pushes.  He had his cord wrapped around his neck which meant I didn't get to hold him right away.  He had to go straight to the warming table and the nurses were working on him for a few minutes.  But once they had him stable they placed him in my arms.  I started bawling the moment he was born.  I couldn't believe this little life I had been carrying for 9+ months was finally here.  During that whole time Mike was right by my side.  He did amazing, helping me the whole time, never complaining, telling me I was doing a great job.  I'm so fortunate to have him in my life.  We are so proud and happy to have Roman here with us.  So that in a nutshell was how our day went.  Here are some photos and I can't wait for Roman to meet all our family and friends.

Not in the mood for a photo

A few minutes old

Finally get to hold my baby

Proud papa

Our family