Lazy weekend

Poor Rob has the flu, so I took Robbie to my parents' house Thursday afternoon so that we wouldn't catch his sickness.  Last night mom, Kelsey, Robbie and I  drove to the lake house, and we're enjoying a lazy day today!  It's so windy that the flag pole at the end of the pier is swaying back and forth. I put Robbie in the baby bjorn and we walked out in the yard and onto the pier for some fresh air (which blew the pacifier out of his mouth and into the lake! ...grandpa to the rescue with a fishing net), but the wind bothered him too much - like he had a hard time taking a breath with it blowing in his face - so we came back inside.  

This morning we celebrated my dad's birthday which is June 1st.  We decorated the house with balloons and streamers, made his favorite dessert (brownies) and brought in his favorite lunch (Pizza King).  He flew in around lunch time (lucky to survive the blustery flight, apparently!), and was surprised by the party that was waiting for him!  He opened presents and we had a fun time.  I have pictures and videos, but no way to upload until I'm back home and have my cords.  Sorry. :(

In other news, Robbie is quite the fashion forward baby in his black and white striped baby legs!  You can check them out at babylegs.com if you don't know what they are.  He loves them and aunt Kelsey calls him her 'Rugby Baby' since it looks like he has a Rugby uniform on when he is wearing them  (apparently...!).  He also just got his first life jacket this morning.  It's so cute and soft.  I promise to post pictures soon.  This is becoming a very boring blog without them...

Love from Snow Lake!  (Get well soon, daddy.)

Not so big news, but still news...

For those of you who enjoy the littler milestones, Robbie is now trying to grasp his bottle while I feed him.  Tonight he had both hands open and flat on the bottle, by the collar, and was trying so hard to do something (anything!) with them that he kept breaking the suction and knocking the bottle out of his mouth.

He also knows that if his bottle is removed while he's feeding, that we're about to burp him .  He tightens his neck and shoulders and tries to sit up in anticipation of being picked up and put over a shoulder to be burped.  For some reason this amazes me - maybe because it shows thought patterns and memory.

The other thing that was special about today was that he kept the same outfit on from morning until his bedtime bath!  This is no small miracle.  His blowout diapers have us running for fresh clothes 2 or 3 times a day, and if I don't get down to the laundry room to do something with the stack of poopy clothes that still sit in our utility sink, our entire basement is going to smell like something died down there.  I attribute the lack of blowouts today to the fact that we upgraded to size 2 diapers this week.  

In addition to going up a size in diapers, I have started to collect a small pile of clothes that Robbie has already grown out of.  Who knew a pile of clothes could make a mommy so sad!?  I can't believe how fast he is growing - this evening I pulled out a newborn size diaper and showed Rob how tiny it looks up next to Robbie (and reminded him that the newborn diapers looked big on our little boy in the hospital!).

BIG NEWS!

So you will understand why I don't have any pictures to go along with this post...

But Robbie has been sleeping in his crib for the last 3 nights and we are thrilled!  I've established a nice little bedtime routine that seems to do the trick for him.  He gets a bath around 8:30 or 9pm, I give him a little baby massage with lotion on his arms, legs and tummy and talk softly to him, then we get his jammies on and feed him.  He usually drops off to sleep around 9:30pm, at which point I put him in his crib and leave the room.  Sometimes he wakes up and I have to go back in right away and shush him and help him hold his arms still (his nervous system seems to still make him jump in his sleep which wakes him up), but then he is out!  He wakes up around 2am to eat, and then sleeps again until 5:30am.  He eats again at that point, and sleeps until 8 or 9am again.  

Needless to say, I am feeling much more rested now that I am getting larger chunks of sleep at night!  Along with this new development of sleeping through the night in his crib, I've discovered in the last few days that he wants/needs a morning or afternoon nap.  Today he fell asleep for his nap at 10am and is still sleeping now (it's 12:30pm).  Yesterday he slept from 2pm until 5:30pm (but also slept in his baby bjorn while I grocery shopped from noon to 1pm!).

This napping is SO helpful to me, since I'm able to actually get some things done during the day.  This week I have been able to clean out my kitchen cabinets, clean out my parenting magazine collection, and do laundry from start to finish - and I've had some wonderful help from my mom and sister too. :)

Robbie must know that I am loving his new tricks, and doesn't want me to raise my expectations of him too much, because he had 2 major blowout diapers yesterday.  The watermark was up around his shoulders somewhere, and I actually considered just throwing away the jammies he was in at the time (it was that gross!).  But I didn't, and 15 wet wipes and a bath later, we had him cleaned up.

Today Rob's parents and one of his brothers (Brad) and his wife (Christine) are flying in for the weekend.  We are so excited because Brad and Christine have not met Robbie yet!  And the only time Rob's parents saw Robbie was literally minutes after his surgery, when they came to visit for a day.  He has changed so much since then, and is just so much fun and really at a sweet age.  So this weekend will be great, and the weather is supposed to be nice too! (Finally.)

This is my life...

...and I love it!

A day in the life of Robert Jack Livingston:

I call this success - although he's sleeping in a pile of blankets on the couch right next to me, he's ON HIS BACK! (Which is a battle... the transition into the crib is not going well because of it!)

For those of you on SIDS patrol, don't worry - this is not a regular occurence, and I did not leave him unattended!

Today was unseasonably cool (around 60 degrees... brrr!), so I took the opportunity to dress my poor little baby boy in the bear outfit I got at Baby Gap before he was born. I was just about to give up hope that he would ever wear it, since it's been too big for him all this time. But today it was chilly, and he's been packing on the pounds lately, and it just sort of all worked out! (Sorry buddy.)
Still being a trouper and humoring his mom, but starting to get a little antsy...

And just when I was trying to get the last shot of his 'paws', he started to cry. Oops, I just broke the promise I made last week about not taking his picture while he's crying for me. But again, what an adorable crying-picture! With the flailing foot and everything...

All he wanted was milk... so I gave it to him, and he was happy again! So I resumed my picture taking.

Lately he's been 'tracking' - following us as we move around him, especially when I have our digital or video camera out!

Sleeping bear. :)

Man is he going to be feisty-hungry when he wakes up - I just took this picture 1/2 hour ago, and he's still sleeping. He's been asleep since 5:30pm, almost 4 hours! (Maybe I'll take a picture...)

9 weeks!

Robbie had his 2 month checkup at the pediatrician on Friday. Here are his stats:

He weighs 11 lbs 9 oz, which is a 4 lb gain since birth.
He is 24 inches long, a 2 inch gain since birth.
His head circumference is 16 1/8, up 2 1/8 inches since birth.

He's growing and putting on weight well, and there were no concerns! We continue to thank the Lord for Robbie and for his health (which we do not take for granted). He had his first round of vaccinations at that appointment, and of course wasn't happy about it. We headed to grandma and grandpa's house for some TLC...

"Grandma, they poked me 4 times with long needles!"

"If I just rest my head on your shoulder, I'll feel better..."

It's tough being a little guy.

His newest trick is to show off his strong neck by holding his head up (somewhat - still a bit wobbly!). Thanks to many hours of practice with Grandpa Jack, Robbie knows that if he is laying in your lap, facing you, and you grab his hands... it's time to try and sit up! He pulls on his own now and tries to sit up by lifting his head up, and if we pull him up by the hands, he sits up and looks around. It's so cute, he is so proud and will start making these excited faces and try to talk while upright. I will try to get a few pictures of this to post.

Aside from that, everything is pretty much status quo. We try to get out of the house every day - either to the mall, or grandma and grandpa's house, or just for a walk around the neighborhood. Robbie loves being outside, and sometimes on the weekends I will feed him a bottle on the porch or deck - especially fun when dad is outside working in the yard!

We just set up our new computer, so I will try to post a video on our blog soon. Stay tuned!

Flying right past 8 weeks old

Robbie turned 8 weeks old last Saturday!

New tricks:

- finding his voice and trying to talk to us

- smiling in response to attention

- cooing

- kicking his legs and flailing his arms for 10-15 minutes solid each day

- almost able to hold his own head up for less than a minute before losing control

- turns his head and gaze in the direction of mom and dad's voices

- actually enjoys tummy time now

- watches the trees pass by during our walks

- sleeps in the car (if his tummy is full)

- averaging 5 hours of solid sleep per night!!

Dad is ready to add potty training to this list. And walking. Although I understand where he's coming from, I am in no way wishing away these baby-days! Robbie is so alert for most of the day now, and is still just happy and content unless he's hungry or has a gas bubble to work out. I never realized how fun it would be to stay home with him all day, every day. He is such a great baby and we could not possibly love him more. What a gift.

Recent activities:

- first trip to the lake house in Indiana

- met great grandma jessie, aunt sherry, uncle jim and cousins courtney and caroline for the first time

- met kay branz for the first time (my old boss)

- play dates with jack roth, anna mathews, noah and eli dennis, and the fuhrman twins (jackson and amelia)

- first babysitter; cheryl came over while Rob and I went to see a movie for 2 hours one Friday.

Funny things Robbie likes:

- the sound of my hairdryer

- when I use the bulb syringe to clean out his mouth after spitting up (he actually smiles!)

- the bath

- getting his diaper changed (he never fusses!)

And he definitely does not like:

- his pacifier unless he's fussy

- his swing (darn.)

- his car seat unless he's asleep for the night

- his crib (yet!)

- his vitamin drops

- when I talk while nursing him or while holding him if he's sleeping

- anyone touching his feet

- when i try to clean his nose

- being woken up - he's a beast like his mom if he doesn't get enough sleep.

Here are a few recent pictures!

Ready to get out of the Baby Bjorn!

Chilling with grandma

Grandma cracks me up!

Kay comes over to meet Robbie

Looking older in his car seat!

Robbie is 7 weeks old!

Robbie turned 7 weeks old this past Saturday! He is starting to put on some weight, and is MUCH more active these days.

He is awake for most of the daytime, from about 11am-9pm, with a few cat naps (read: 15-20 minutes tops) throughout the day, and usually one good nap (read: 2-3 hours). He is probably what you would consider a good night-time sleeper, since he sleeps from 9pm or 10pm until 8am-ish and only wakes to feed. However, he does wake up to eat at midnight, 2:30am, and 6:30am regularly. So mom is still waiting for that nice 5 or 6 hour chunk of sleep during the night!

Stretching out after a diaper change - you may not notice a change, but we see those skinny little legs starting to fill out!

We think he's around 10 lbs now, but haven't seen the pediatrician for an exact measurement recently.

Aunt Megan spending some quality time with Robbie - as you can see, he loves her.

Turn the lights off, I'm trying to sleep!

Talking to Dad after a long day!

Stretching out and playing before bed.

Rob is really good at getting Robbie to sleep in the evenings.

(ps. how fun is the scooter blanket?!)

I don't remember when this happened, but when it did, it melted my heart! Like father, like son.

Dad and his buddy.

We also visited Rob's office yesterday - my friend Kris and her son Jack (14 months old) hopped in the car with Robbie and I, and we drove into the city! You should have seen us, I'm sure people were staring - between Kris being 8+ months pregnant and hauling around a 1 year old, and me with my huge stroller and exploding diaper bag, trekking down Madison Avenue and into the Citybank building to Performance Trust... I'm sure it's not everyday this happens in the Loop! But we actually enjoyed the trip and did quite well, and the boys never melted down. I guess our only blunder was when I temporarily stopped using my brain, as we were getting the boys out of the car and into their strollers, and I misplaced (dropped?) our parking garage ticket. We turned our diaperbags, strollers and the car inside out, and never found it, which meant I had to pay an unmentionable amount of money (what they like to call the 'lost ticket fee' but I think it should be renamed to 'highway robbery') to get out of the garage.

That's all we've been up to for now! (That, and yard work, but I don't think you would find Rob's new gas powered weed trimmer nearly as exciting as he does. So no pictures of that.)