37 Weeks Old!

Walking for Dylan!

Today, Cael and I walked in another March of Dimes walk, in memory of baby Dylan. This walk was here in PA, closer to us. I joined a local moms group last month, and I found out that they had a team, and were walking in the same walk today. So I joined them, and walked with them. It was nice to not walk alone, but I don't think I would have minded. I would have years ago - I would have been uncomfortable being by myself (even though I had Cael with me) - but not anymore. It turned out to be a beautiful day for the walk. it was around 82 degrees, and not a cloud in the sky. Unfortunately, there were no trees for shade, because it was on a track at a college. So the sun was beating down on us. I got some color on my arms and face, but luckily I had pants and a long sleeve shirt on Cael. It was really hot though, so by the end of the walk, I stripped Cael down to just his onesie.

We finished Cael's antibiotic this week, so hopefully it worked for his ear infection. He's been really fussy the past few days, but that upper side tooth is finally breaking through. He constantly has his fingers in his mouth, and he's drooling a TON. There's no doubt he's teething.

We've introduced a few new foods to Cael this past week. I made pasta fagioli and chicken & dumplings in the crock pot. When Matt and I sat down to eat, we decided to give him some of what we were eating. It was very exciting! I loved the fact that he can now eat whatever I make for dinner. He loves chicken and ground beef, and enjoyed eating beans for the first time. Over the past few weeks, Cael has been getting more and more away from eating purees. Some nights are a real challenge to get him to eat purees off a spoon. He's enjoying feeding himself, so sometimes the only way to get him to eat a puree, is to put it on toast. That's his new favorite food - toast. I can put any puree on it, even if he's not fond of it, and he'll pick it up and eat it. I wrote previously that our Baby Brezza broke, and I sent it back. Well, we got the gift card to replace it, but I'm not going to buy a new one. I guess it was luck that it broke, because I have the feeling that I'm not going to need to make purees for much longer. Plus, I still find it pretty easy to steam food in a put with a little water, and then use the food processor my mom gave me to use when I was down on Long Island. Works just as well! So now we have a gift card for Babies R' Us that I have to figure out what to use it on :).

Napping on Mommy

Cael is still having some issues with going to the bathroom. I feel so bad for him. Lately, I know exactly when he goes to the bathroom (again - this happened a month or so ago too), because he cries and screams while sticking his butt in the air. We call it the poop stance. He has another bad, bleeding diaper rash, so I'm sure going to the bathroom burns as well once "it's out". My heart just breaks for him. I'm not sure if it's from the antibiotic, teething, or from not going to the bathroom for several days, and then going. Or a combination of everything. But it's not like he sits with poop in his diaper for several hours. I change him right away, as soon as I know he's gone. I keep putting Butt Paste on him, so I hope that helps.

Some of Cael's Likes:

• Water bottles
• Drinking from a cup or water bottle
• Finger foods
• His bink-a-bink
• Pear juice

Some of Cael's Dislikes:

• Diaper changes (even if he doesn't have a rash)
• Prunes/prune juice
• Being away from me (he has some pretty bad separation anxiety)