Mid-March Happenings

Just thought I'd update quickly tonight.  Things are going great here!  Theodore turned six months old on the 7th.  Since then he's started sleeping in his own room, and had his first tastes of solid food (rice cereal was a bust, he liked avocado okay, and then turned his nose up at homemade pears.  Tomorrow we try homemade sweet potato...) Big changes!

Yucky!

He had his six month checkup at the doctor's and weighs 14lbs, 7oz.  He's still in the 5th percentile for weight and 7th for height, but is growing beautifully along his curve and the doctor is very pleased with his progress.  We will be getting a referral to another pediatric plastic surgeon or orthopedist about his foot, but we don't anticipate any action being needed - it's just a consult so we have contact made in this area, vs. in Ottawa.

He's been sleeping quite well - he has his off nights, but more often than not, he has a great night, like the other day when he slept from 8:45 until 7:30!  And we've been going out and having lots of fun, as Grandma Carole and Granddad Bill are in town.  We went to San Francisco, to Palo Alto, and out on errands and for yummy lunches.  Grandma and Granddad are off to Mendocino for a few days, but they come back this weekend and then we are all going to Maui on Sunday!  We stay for five days, and are really looking forward to it.  I'm hoping Teddy likes the ocean - he loves taking a bath.

Having him in his nursery is going well, and we love the new furniture and decorations.  We aren't allowed to paint, so we got wall decals, and think it came out looking quite fun.

Super Mario nursery!

As always, here are photos - no video right now! - and I'll try to update after our vacation with photos from that.

February Events

Another month gone - the time flies! 

Theodore has had a very good month.  He's more active and social by the day.  He loves to play and "talk" - sometimes, these days, squealing loudly like a little piglet!  He consistently rolls over just about every time he's put on his belly - sometimes within seconds of being put there.  He can also sit in a tripod position for about ten seconds if he's put there, and sits up quite straight when on your lap.  He's sleeping great, eating well, loves to eat his toes, and especially fun for us is that he's become interested in the cat!  He loves looking at Sam Spade, laughs and giggles when he sees him, and tries to grab him.  Naturally, Sam is not interested in too much attention, but will sometimes sit and let Teddy touch his fur, depending on his mood.

Practicing his sitting!

He'll be six months old in a week, and we've got his highchair, bibs, spoons - everything ready to start solid foods.  I'll be making my own purees and food for him to eat, and am excited to get started on that, though a little sad to move on from just breastfeeding, which has been going great.  We've also finally got his nursery furniture set up, and will be moving him to his own room in a few days or so.  We're both going to miss him being in our room, but it's probably time!  We just have to finish decorating the walls first.  I will post pictures when it's complete!

Trying out his highchair!

We continue to enjoy the good weather - a bit of rain and a few storms, but mostly sunshine over the last month.  Teddy and I go on an outing every day, whether just a walk to the grocery store or to a moms' group outing.  Unfortunately, he really hates being in the car, especially if he's in the back seat by himself, so driving places can be a bit nerve-wracking as sometimes he screams and cries the whole way.  He does enjoy being out, however, so we try to keep it up.  This month we went as a family to a little zoo in Palo Alto, and today we all went to the King Tut exhibit in San Francisco - Theodore's first time up in the city!  We also watched a lot of the Olympics, cheering for the Canadians!

With Daddy at the DeYoung Museum

He sees the doctor again on the 9th, so I will update with all his latest stats then.  We're very excited because the next day Grandma Carole and Granddad will come to town for a visit! 

As always, here are more videos and photos from the month.  Hope you enjoy!

Feet, February 10th:


Laughing Baby, February 23rd:

Current Events

Just a quick post to keep up to date, rather than letting a month go by between updates! We've had a fairly quiet second half of January and beginning of February, which is a nice change. Theodore and I have been starting to attend a few "mommy group" outings, and have been visiting weekly with Teddy's 3-month old third cousin Talia and her mom Beti. Beti and her husband Kevin, my second cousin, just moved to Mountain View from Toronto, and we've been enjoying getting to know each other. We also had a visit from Auntie Catherine last weekend, which Teddy really enjoyed!

Theodore will be five months old on Sunday, and we're having a big party to celebrate - okay, for the Super Bowl, but we can celebrate too! He continues to be a generally cheerful baby, though his newest trick is squealing when he's hungry, tired, or just wants to hear the sound! Up until two nights ago he was sleeping beautifully, usually going to bed between 8:30 and 9, sleeping until 6, then going back to sleep for another one or two hours after eating. The last two nights he's decided waking up multiple times to eat is fun - I'm thinking growth spurt! Hopefully he'll settle back into his normal routine soon. He's really starting to enjoy his Jumperoo, however, and seems to be discovering that he's ticklish - it's great fun to tickle him or kiss his belly and get a big laugh out of him! And as you can see in the pictures, his hair is starting to get a little thicker - I can give him a baby mohawk!

A few photos follow, as always, though a smaller set this time! And, of course, one video!

Happy (belated) New Year! Long time no update, but we've been very busy. We had a full December, culminating in two weeks spent in Canada, from the 19th of December to the 2nd of January. We spent one week in Ottawa and one week in Brampton (as well as side trips to Burlington and Waterloo). Teddy loved seeing all his relatives, and got to meet his Auntie Diana for the first time (she lives in the UK) as well as his one great-grandmother! We did lots of visiting, tried to stay warm, and had a great time. Since being back in California we've also just enjoyed a visit with Billy's dad.

Theodore turned 18 weeks old yesterday, and is doing wonderfully. He met his new pediatrician for his four-month checkup last Friday. He now weighs 12lbs 7oz, which is a big gain since his last checkup! He's still down on the percentile chart, but for the size he started at he's doing great, and the pediatrician was very pleased. He got a clean bill of health and we're very happy. He wasn't as happy with his shots - I've never seen him so upset! He cried real tears for the first time that afternoon, but thankfully, is doing fine now.

He's developing well also. After a hiatus of almost a month, he decided to start rolling over again last Monday - and did it three times that day, of course! He's also steadily gaining more head control. He has developed control over his hands, and will now grab onto and "play" with toys, as well as try to stuff them, along with his fingers, into his mouth! It's a very neat development and really expands his range of activities. We've also assembled a Jumperoo for him, and despite the fact he needs two books underneath to be able to reach the ground, he seems to enjoy it so far, though the toys and cause-and-effect of jumping still seem to elude him. Finally, he's begun to enjoy - or at least gently tolerate - being read to. So far his favourite book is "Pat The Bunny". Since he rarely likes to sit still or have you sit down while holding him, it's exciting that he's willing to sit and be read to now!

As always, here are a few videos and a slideshow of photos. The photos cover the time between my last update and over the holidays and just into 2010. Sorry there are so many - that's what I get for not updating more frequently!

Celebrating Hanukkah:


Rolling over!


Jumperoo time:

Three Months Old Today!

It's hard for me to believe, but Theodore is three months old exactly today (and thirteen weeks). He's weighing in at roughly 11 pounds, has had a few good nights (and some bad, but that's life!), is really working on his head control, and rolled over for the first time last Thursday! He did it twice that day but hasn't done it again since - and when I pull the camera out during tummy time, he just gives me a look as if to say "Mom, I'm not a performing monkey!"

While a little early on rolling, he didn't start smiling fully *at* people until 9 weeks, though now he's great and smiles a lot. It took me ages to snap a photo, but finally got a few!

Big smiles!

We've had lots of fun lately - two Thanksgiving celebrations, seeing cousins, lots of friends over for dinner, going out to watch football - and are gearing up to head home to Canada for the holidays. We'll be in Ottawa and Toronto between the 19th and January 2nd.

He's waking up from his nap, so I'll just leave you with a slideshow of photos between the last update and now, and two recent videos.

Current Events

Just wanted to write a quick update to let everyone know how we're all doing. We've successfully moved to California - the trip down was very easy, to our relief - and are living in our new house, though our stuff hasn't arrived yet! The moving van should be here on Sunday or Monday, and we've got new couches coming on Tuesday. We're settling in well; I'm especially enjoying the nice weather and take a long walk with Theodore every day.

Theodore is a pretty happy, healthy baby these days. He has fully mastered smiling and gives lots of big, heartbreaker grins, while giggling and cooing. I haven't managed to get a picture of it yet, but hopefully soon! He loves to spend part of each day and each evening lying on a blanket, kicking his legs, flailing his arms, and looking all over the place. When I hold him and he's awake, he loves to be held facing outwards so that he can see what's going on around him. He's so much more interested in the world, which is lots of fun! We do a lot of singing and walking around together, though he doesn't have any interest in toys as of yet.

He has really adjusted to the new house, and best of all, has started sleeping at night! He had a few really bad weeks, including one where he would take two to three hours to settle and then only sleep for forty-five minutes or an hour, but he started with four hour stretches, and now this past week has reliably done a five hour stretch and then another stretch for up to three hours. He even slept for seven and a half hours straight two nights ago! We are, of course, thrilled by this development. Bedtime is still a challenge, as he fights off sleep and gets very tired and cranky, but since he sleeps so well when he finally does fall asleep, we're pleased - and he's a happier baby for it too, I think!

Not too much else to report, so I'll end with a link to some photos that cover the time period from the last album until now, and two recent videos I posted on YouTube. Enjoy!

Medical and Moving Updates

Theodore turned 8 weeks old yesterday, and had a visit to the pediatrician. He weighed in at 9lbs, 3oz, which is pretty teeny-tiny for an 8 weeker, but a huge gain for him - three pounds on the nose in exactly five weeks! We are very happy, and so was the doctor. He is exclusively breastfed now so we definitely have feeding under control, and it's going well. He was given a clean bill of health and also given his first vaccinations - three shots! The poor guy was definitely not impressed, and spent yesterday very sad, sleepy, and absolutely glued to my arms. He seems to be feeling better today, thankfully.

He does have two other small health issues that I have not written about here previously. The first is quite minor - he has an umbilical hernia, which you may have been able to spot poking out from his shirt in some of the October photographs. This popped out a few weeks back, but is perfectly normal and causes him no distress. It's a little surprising to most people when they see it, as it is quite large and I admit, I had never seen one before so other people probably haven't either, but the pediatrician is not concerned, and unless it doesn't go away by the time he's two (and most do), he won't need any treatment or surgery for it. Billy and I have gotten completely used to it at this point, so hopefully it will become normal-looking to his other friends/family/caregivers as well!

The second issue is that, as some of you may know, but many probably do not, Theodore was born with an abnormality on his right foot. He has no toenails on that foot, the middle three toes are very short and somewhat webbed, and his big toe is a bit misshapen. He is also actually missing a toenail from the second toe of his left foot, but otherwise that foot is perfectly formed. We were told, after his birth, that it was a random abnormality and quite common, and he should be able to walk on it fine, but we were referred to plastics for a consultation, to see if they wanted to do any work on it.

Well, we met with a plastic surgeon at the children's hospital last Wednesday, and were given the great news that they felt he indeed has enough bone structure to be able to walk on it, and they did not recommend any surgery! He is almost for certain missing the top two bones in the three middle toes (they can only diagnose fully with an x-ray, but at this age bones aren't completely calcified so an x-ray isn't a good diagnostic tool yet), but it shouldn't cause issues. They did recommend that if, at 8 to 9 months when he's learning to walk he has any trouble, we should get referred to orthotics, where he may need corrective footwear or the like to help, but this isn't even for certain that it'll be necessary, and is thankfully much less invasive than surgery.

As his feet are still so little, it's very difficult to photograph and see the abnormality, though I've tried to show it a bit in the one below. I will admit that after he was born I was extremely worried about whether he would be able to walk, whether it was something I did that caused it, etc, but am now very relieved to hear that he should be fine, and it was merely something that happened in utero that they can't explain, but happens randomly. (There is a chance it could be genetic, as well, but they treat one abnormality as random and require two to consider any genetic link - and we are grateful he doesn't qualify for that!) We intend to treat it as normal for Teddy - and don't think it will impede or harm him in any way as he grows up.

awkward photo of his foot

On the health front, Billy and I got our H1N1 vaccinations this week - our first baby-free outing! Grandma Eileen was thrilled to babysit while we went to get the jab. Our arms still hurt but we were happy to be able to get vaccinated in the priority group, as Theodore is too young to get that vaccine. We have also both had truly rotten colds since coming back from California, but thankfully the worst Theodore got was a bit of a stuffy-sounding nose - a big relief, as a baby with a cold wouldn't be much fun for any of us.

Theodore also got to have a nice visit with his Auntie Suzie last week, who came up for a few days, and right now he is calm in the eye of the storm - the apartment is being packed on Thursday and the movers are here on Friday! We will be staying with Grandma Eileen for a few days and then are moving to California for good likely next Tuesday, so in a week. Life is certainly keeping us busy!