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!

7 Months Old!!

Another month has come and gone. :::Sigh::: He's growing right before my very eyes. Yesterday, my Little Man turned 7 months old. Currently, he's not crawling yet. He's trying so hard, but he hasn't been able to figure out how to move forward rhythmically. He may move his hand forward once, and then lose balance and flop forward, but I don't consider that crawling. His cousin, who is 6 weeks older than Cael, can now crawl laps around him. It's the cutest thing!

One thing that Cael has mastered, is pulling himself to a standing position. Since we don't have much living room furniture for him to do this, he does it easily in his crib. I watch him do it all the time on the video monitor. First, he was able to only pull himself onto his knees. But within less than 4 days, he mastered pulling up to his feet. Within 2 days, we had to lower the crib mattress down 2 notches. First we lowered it down one, because he was starting to grab onto the crib rail, but was stayed on his knees. Then a day later is when he figured out how to pull up to his feet. At that point, if he were to lean forward, he'd flip right over the rail. So I was very sad when I had to lower the mattress yet another notch. Now all he does is pull himself to the standing position, and bounce his legs and butt around. It's so cute. He may very well start standing/walking before he figures out how to crawl.

We also started string beans yesterday. He seemed to like them, as he didn't make any faces, and gladly ate them. So far, we haven't found anything that he doesn't like. He made some faces with the carrots the first few days, but it was his first solid food (besides cereal), so that could have been why.

He's also babbling a ton more! It's so adorable. However, he mostly babbles when he has the pacifier in his mouth. You can tell by the sounds that he's starting to figure out he can move his tongue around to make different noises and sounds.

Another thing that Cael is doing more of is lifting his arms up to be picked up or held. He's been doing it for about 2 weeks now, but it wasn't as frequently as it is now. Especially when he's in the walker, and starting to fuss and cry, he'll lift his arms up to me. Although I don't want him to grow up (I'm starting to think that I have a mental issue by constantly saying that), I love that he recognizes me, and wants me to pick him up.

As I previously posted, Cael's sleep continues to regress. Last night was one of the worst nights we had in about 3 weeks (since changing his sleep schedule). He was up every 2.5-3 hours, screaming. And not just screaming. SCREAMING bloody murder. He was first up for the night at 10:45 pm, right when we were just falling asleep for bed (well, I was anyway). After screaming for about 30 minutes, Matt suggested bringing him into bed, and feeding him. Well, I ended up feeding him every time he woke up, which I haven't done in about 3 weeks. I hope he doesn't get used to it. I just wish that his sleep would go back to when we first changed his naps. He was sleeping in 8 hour stretches then. If only.