Happy Easter 2014!

Happy Easter! Of course, this post is late, but better late than never. Cael had a fun Easter this year. The Easter Bunny hid eggs this yea, and he had so much fun finding them. And of course, also had fun peeling the wrapper off the chocolate eggs, and eating the eggs.

We got together with my BIL, SIL and niece, and did an egg hunt outside for the kids. After that, the 6 of us got together, and ordered Chinese food take-out for dinner. It was a great Easter!

Easter/Spring/18 Month Pictures

These pictures are my all-time favorite to date. I can't believe how much of a big boy he looks in these pictures. They're not the clearest, because they're pictures of pictures taken on my phone, but you get the idea. This boy has my entire heart.

31 Weeks Old & Happy First Easter!!

Today was Cael's first Easter, hence the adorable outfit he's sporting in his weekly photo. He also has a cabby/old man hat that matches his outfit that he was wearing today too. Makes him look like a little old man, and I absolutely adore it!

In the beginning of the day, I had him in his Carter's "Somebunny Loves Me" onesie outfit. But then when his cousin came in the afternoon, I changed him into his dressy Easter outfit.

The Easter Bunny treated Cael really well this first Easter. He got 2 cardboard Easter-themed books, a bunny container of bubbles, 2 teethers, and a Taggies plush football. It was so much fun watching him take everything out! We sat him down on the floor, but the basket (which was digital camo, by the way) in front of him, and he started taking things out. It was so cute and awesome to see how into it he was. We opened the bottle of bubbles and started blowing bubbles at him. He was very intrigued by them, and made cute little flinches whenever one popped on his face. Definitely can't wait for summer to come for him to experience so much more outside.

For dinner, we gave him some peas that I mashed on my plate, and a taste of baked sweet potato. He really liked to enjoy the sweet potato. But that has to take a number, because we already have a list of what we're trying next. Today was day 2 of pears, which he loves. Then we're going to try bananas (which I currently have ripening on my counter) and then avocado. Then maybe we'll do the sweet potato. To be honest, we're really not being too strict with the "try the same food for 5 days" ideology. I think we'll do 2 or 3 days.

We did find out that Cael can't have string beans though. I think in Cael's 7 month post I mentioned how that night was a horrible night. Well, the next night was worse. He was up from 10:15pm to midnight just screaming that horrible scream of his. It was a pain scream, but he just wouldn't stop. I tried EVERYTHING:

Advil, Orajel, giving him a bottle, giving him the boob, letting him cry in the crib, holding him/rocking him- nothing. When he didn't want to nurse, that put up the red flag. Finally after 45 minutes of screaming in my face, I called my mom and broke down. I was at my wits end, and told her I didn't know what else to do. She had me check for a hernia (she said the last time she heard a baby scream like Cael was, was when I was 9 months old and had a bilateral inguinal hernia), which there wasn't one. I tried putting him on his belly on my lap, and rocking my legs back and forth. Then she asked if I gave him gas drops. I totally forgot about gas drops. I told her that it was day 2 of string beans, and that is was also the second night of hellish screaming. Well, the gas drops worked within minutes, and he began to calm down. He was asleep by 11:45, and my mom told me to wait on giving him string beans again. Then we hung up, and I fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow. It had to be the string beans, because the next day we started pears, and he was much better that night.

Today, Matt's brother brought a walker-type toy for Briley. Basically, you can play with the front of it (lights, sounds, moving parts, etc), but then if you go behind it, the baby can hold onto it and push it forward, to help them walk. Cael loved it! He did so well holding onto it and walking forward. Oh yea, did I forget to mention that?? If you let Cael hold onto your fingers/hands, he'll walk. He's still a bit wobbly, but he definitely moves forward and can hold his weight on his legs very well. He may very well walk before even crawling. He's been rocking back and forth on all fours for several weeks now, but he's still not crawling yet. Oh well, I guess we shall wait and see what happens.

Some of Cael's Likes:

• Plums and pears
• Yo Gabba Gabba and Fresh Beat Band
• Being on the floor
• Sitting, as opposed to being on his belly
• His mommy! He's a definite mama's boy
• Gerber Peach Puffs
• His puppies
• Standing!! Yes, I said standing

Some of Cael's Dislikes:

• After-bath time - putting a diaper on, lotioning up and getting dressed. He screams the whole time
• Being away from me
• When his food runs out

And now for the fun part. TONS of Easter Pictures!

29 Weeks Old! And The Easter Bunny!

I tell ya, this kid has had something "fun" and exciting almost every new week. Last week it was St. Patrick's Day, the week before, we went to a St. Patty's Day parade, and today, Cael met the Easter Bunny. I was fully expecting him to cry hysterically when I handed him over to the Bunny. Let's face it, the Bunny is scary looking! But to my astonishment, he didn't! At first, he looked at the lady squeaking the toy like she was crazy and had 4 heads. He just stared with a perplexed look on his face. Then I tried coaxing a smile out of him: "Can you give mama a smile? C'mon, give me a smile!", in my high-pitched, excited voice. It worked! Of course, the lady wasn't paying attention, and missed his first smile, but I was able to get several more out of him, and we got a good picture.

I also must say that I am in LOVE with the outfit I got him for Easter. I thought it was cute on the hanger. But my gosh, when I put it on Cael, and saw what a handsome little old man he looked like, I melted and my heart turned to goo. I became all giddy, and had to run upstairs to show everyone. Matt isn't fond of the outfit, because it's a sweater vest, and sweater vests are "gay" (no, my husband doesn't have anything against gay people. He calls everything "gay" that he wouldn't wear or use himself), but his parents loved the outfit. The outfit was made complete by the navy blue shoes, and my favorite, a cabby hat. I just wanted to eat him up!

Cael's Likes:

• The Fresh Beat Band on Nick Jr.
• Sweet peas
• Moving around on the floor
• Jolly Jumper
• Mommy's cell phone

Cael's Dislikes:

• Anyone poking around his mouth
• After-bath time (getting lotioned up, dressed, etc). He screams the entire time.
• BOTTLES! Which could be a problem

Cael is SO CLOSE to crawling. He easily gets up onto all fours without a problem. He even lifts his butt up in the air by pushing off the ground with his feet. He just can't figure out that he can move forward by moving his arms forward. He barely moves his arms at all when he's on all fours. I'm sure he'll figure it out real soon. But he doesn't need to be crawling on all fours to move all over the floor. He wriggles, rolls and shimmies where ever he wants to go. But you can see how determined he is to crawl forward.

Cael's tooth is coming in fast. It's so sharp, too! I forget he has a tooth now, and I let him gum on my fingers. Well, he gums hard, and he bit down, and his tooth got me. It didn't really hurt, but you can definitely tell there was something there! So far, there aren't any visible signs of another tooth coming through, but honestly, it was only maybe 2 days between when I saw the tooth under his gums, to when it actually broke through. To me, that's quick, and I have a feeling his other teeth will be like that. He's definitely been a Stage 5 Clinger the last 2 days, and only to me. That along with an increase in fussiness leads me to believe it won't be long until we see another tooth. Or teeth.

We're going to introduce plums to Cael tomorrow. I'm excited to see how he likes (or doesn't like) them. I'm not a fan of plums myself, but Matt likes them. We decided to try a fruit after 2 vegetables. We'll see how it goes. Overall, Cael has been doing really well with solids. He seems to like the different tastes and textures so far. However, I made my first big mommy-mistake tonight. But after talking to some fellow Sweet Peas, I feel better. I was upstairs last night while Matt's family was having dinner. They had steamed carrots as one of their sides. I had figured that it would be ok to give Cael a carrot, since he'd been introduced to them already, and didn't have any problems. I took a bite of the carrot first to make sure it was soft enough, and it was (by carrot, I mean a baby carrot - which was probably my first mistake). I then held onto it while I let him nom and suck on it. Well, the damn carrot was so slippery, that Cael sucked the whole thing into his mouth. He pushed it out though, and I grabbed it. I was a little nervous when that happened, but figured I would try again. This time, I dug my thumb nail into the carrot, so that I could get a better "grip" on it. Well, it worked for about 10 seconds, until the carrot broke. He sucked in a piece a little smaller than half a baby carrot. Matt's mom, dad and I watched him carefully. He made a face, held his breath for a few seconds, did a slight gag, and then started crying in hysterics. Between the gag and the crying, I quickly leaned him forward on my arm, and hit his back to try and help him get it out. But he must have swallowed it. I knew he wasn't choking, because he was breathing and crying. We figure he got scared because it was a big piece - something he's not used to - and because of our reactions. We weren't screaming or hysterical, but I definitely tensed up and became alarmed. I'm sure he sensed that, especially since he was sitting on my lap.

I felt so bad with the way he was crying. His eyes were filled with tears, and he just clung to me. I felt just horrible. And to think I wanted to do Baby-Led Weaning!? I think I'll pass on that. Although, I do plan on giving huge chunks of apple, pear and whatever else (cut it in half, and give him the whole half) to him to nom on after he's been introduced. My heart was definitely racing after that. And I felt like a horrible mother, too. But he's ok, and that's all the matters. Lesson learned. Cael has a very powerful sucker!