6 Months Old

Canon is still getting cuter every day. At his 6-month well-baby visit, he was 14 lbs. 11 oz, 27 inches long, and his head is now 44 cm in circumference. He's in the 50th %tile in height and head size, but his weight in now in the 10th %tile. He's gaining weight, but not as fast as most other babies do. He started out in the 50th range, moved down to the 25th %tile, and now has gone down to the 10th. We're not concerned about it because he's still healthy and getting so big and smart...I just need to make sure that I don't let up on nursing him. I'll probably have to supplement more with formula soon. I don't know if I can keep up with the demand. ha ha

Canon is honestly a SuperBaby: he's a Super Eater, eating anything I give him on the spoon; Super Adorable, which anyone can see for themselves (:P); Super Friendly, smiling at almost anyone who gives him attention, even the old ladies in the nursing home; Super Sleeper, sleeping for stretches of about 12 hours each night with only 1-2 wakings to eat for about 10 minutes; Super Curious, reaching for anything and everything, no matter how many times we say that it's not for Baby to play with (including my hair :D ); Super Alert, always looking around and watching everything that goes on, even from when he was tiny; and totally Super Mellow, smiley and calm at almost anyplace we bring him. True, he has his moments, but most people don't see those. He's seriously the best baby I could ask for, and I'm so blessed to be his mother. He's my adorable Little Mister.

I took him in to Sears to have his portrait taken. I'm still deciding which ones I want to have printed. Below are a few of my favorites.

This free picture collage created with Smilebox

Growing So Fast

I don't really have much of a report or update on Canon, but I thought that it was about time to share some pictures and videos of the cutie-pie.

These were on a walk to get dinner out as a family, and Canon was being extra adorable... good thing my phone has a camera!

Mark and I drove down to Maryland for a wedding this past weekend, and we stopped in New Jersey on the way there and back to stay with a friend to break up the long drive. Here are a few fun ones of Canon's first real road trip and the fun along the way.

Here we are dancing at the wedding...it was the Mother/Son Dance.

Canon was so pooped after the wedding, and you could tell!!


Canon did sleep surprisingly well on this trip. Each night he only woke up once and was really easy to get back to sleep. In fact, he slept better than I did for the first two nights. I couldn't seem to fall asleep within an hour of going to bed!! :) However, he's been waking up a bit more now that we've gotten home, but I think that's due more to pain than habit now. I honestly think he might be teething, but he could be suffering from indigestion too. I've been feeding him quite a bit of rice cereal, and his stool has changed because of it. I'm going to back off of the grains a bit to see if he sleeps better at night. Tylenol usually does the trick, so I don't really think he's sick, but he's definitely uncomfortable.

Here are a few clips of Canon. (Note: They may not be entertaining to you unless you just like to see baby cuteness...not a whole lot happens, just a chance for me to show off the adorableness that is my son! :D )

This one was taken after I had come home from somewhere. Canon was asleep in the stroller, so I left him there to finish his nap. I heard a couple chimes of the tune the giraffe plays, which would only go off if it was moved, so I figured Canon must have woken up. When I went in to check on him, this is what I saw! Sooo cute!

This one was taken this morning. Canon was being extra vocal all day, and he was playing with that same giraffe. You can tell he gets distracted by the camera, but he still loves to play with the giraffe. (Hey Tiff, check out the bracelets I'm wearing!!)

5 Months Old's Sleep Patterns

Canon continues to grow every day. All week I've been thinking that he just looks so big to me... especially his head. I think he gets more and more adorable...which is a good thing because in some ways, he's more and more difficult to tend. I need to be more careful about what I do with him because I can tell that he's learning more about his surroundings... and he doesn't really like to be alone very much. If I don't watch it, he'll be mobile before I really baby-proof this place.

With growing older, sleeping patterns change, and it's always a challenge to keep track of how he should be sleeping. That being said, I think I might have been doing something wrong this whole time in regards to Canon's nighttime sleep. Often people ask if he "sleeps through the night" as they would about any baby. For a long time I figured that since he was younger than 6 months, he was still too little for me to allow him to "cry it out." However, as I reviewed a handout from my pediatrician, I read that babies his age shouldn't be waking up more than once per night to feed. Well, there have only been a handful of times when he woke up only once. Most of the time he's up twice between midnight and 6AM, but it's not abnormal for him to still want to eat every 2 hours some mornings. For a while I would brush it off thinking that it was due to growth spurts. Then, when I mentioned that to Mark he said that meant that Canon was going through growth spurts every other week.

I've come to the realization that's it probably just all my fault. Canon does sleep through the night for about 11-12 hours at a time, but he wakes up 3-4 times throughout that span. When he wakes up, I go in and give him the pacifier. If he doesn't fall right to sleep, I pick him up to feed him, and he sleepily nurses until he's dead asleep within 10 minutes. Only recently have I considered that he might just need to be held for a brief moment before falling back to sleep. I always figured if I coddled him like that, he'd never learn to self-soothe. I have a hard time letting him just cry for 5 minutes (like my pediatrician suggested) because if it's such a quick fix to give him the binky, why would I let him cry and cry and wake himself up more? I know he needs to learn how to soothe himself back to sleep, but I really want my sleep too, and the binky works so well. Therefore, recently I've been waiting to go to him when he wakes during his daytime naps. That way I'm not so bothered because I miss sleep, but it also helps him to learn that it's okay if I don't come right away. I hope that this will actually help when it comes to night wakings, that he won't get as upset if I'm not there within 1 minute, like usual up to this point. *crosses fingers*

Well, now that I've started him on rice cereal, he's been getting more full at night (generally), and last night was the best night he's ever had. The first time he awoke was after 4:30AM. S-W-E-E-T!!! I think I did attempt to allow him to cry longer before going in to get him, and it turned out that I didn't even need to go in at all. I can say that this better sleep is associated with eating rice cereal, but I believe it's actually more related to the fact that he's transitioning to only 2 naps per day. As he refuses to sleep when I expect him to be sleepy, he stays awake until he's practically cranky, then he crashes for a nap. On these days he seems to sleep better at night. Although, this hasn't been going on for very long, so I think I need about another week to determine how true that statement is. I'm trying to find time to read more of the book Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child by Marc Weissbluth because I've found it very helpful so far. Are there any tricks or bits of information that you've found particularly helpful when it comes to helping your child sleep better through the night? (I am really looking forward to sleeping through the night again because these months of sleep deprivation have finally caught up to me. The first couple of months I was able to make it through because of a rare nap and because I simply just had to do it. Now, I feel tired more often...now that the novelty of having a baby to tend has worn off.)

Here are some fun shots of the growing cutie-pie!

This started as just a fun time playing with baby, but ended with something a little unexpected!

Just some fun shots of Canon

I thought you might enjoy these!!

I wanted to get a video of how Canon's whines before being put down for a nap. You can tell he's tired, but just still wants to play or something. This video doesn't really do it justice because he notices the camera. Usually he goes on and on with his eyelids drooping, but you can get the picture from the beginning of this video. It probably would've been better if I had someone else take the video.

When were picking up Canon from the sitter's, they told Mark that they really had him laughing when he tossed his daughter up in the air. So I thought I'd experiment to see if I could get him to laugh by tossing up the monkey. It worked, but once I got the camera out, it wasn't as good as before...still cute though!

Who doesn't love to tickle a baby to see them laugh. He was MUCH cuter before Mark got there with the camera, but I was still able to catch a glimpse of his ticklishness.

The Little Sick-ling

Canon has been sick for the first time this past week. I'm so glad that he went over 4 months before getting ill, and at least it's not really sick. He's been feeling a bit warm (not scary fever-ish), and he's been fairly congested. He's learned that he doesn't really like the nasal aspirator, but we have to use it. Too bad there have been several times where we can't really get anything out, but we can still hear that he's congested. He had a hard time sleeping for a couple nights last week, but he's doing better now! The congestion hinders his nursing a little bit, but he gets over it. He's still pretty happy, and when it's really bad at night the baby Tylenol is a huge help. He calms right down. I'm so glad he's a little trooper!

Anybody know any good tricks for infant congestion? I want to use something like Vick's Vapor Rub to clear his sinuses. Is there something like that for babies?

4 Months Old

Canon is now 4 months old!! I can hardly believe it. These 4 months have gone by so fast. He has always been such a good baby, and I simply love being his mommy. I always found it strange when people would say things like, "I can't remember what it was like before we had our baby..." or "I can't imagine life without him..." when their babies are so young, but I'm starting to see what they mean. I can imagine life without Canon, remember how it was before him, but I wouldn't ever want to trade him in to have that back. I absolutely adore my little boy. Seeing him smile simply melts my heart. I can't believe I'm not tired of that yet. Oh, and do not get me started on what happens to me when I hear him laugh. I couldn't have asked for a better baby. He's the cutest little guy in the whole world!

Canon, I love you soooo much!!

Here are some of the updates on this little cutie-pie:

• His 4-month check-up was yesterday, and he is now 12 lbs 3.7 oz and 25 inches long. He received some more vaccinations, and he was such a trooper. He barely even cried at all at the doctor's office. He came home and crashed for about 4 hours and then let it all out, wailing at the top of his lungs. However, that wasn't something that a little Tylenol couldn't handle. I think the shots made him a bit ornery, but he was still mostly good through the night.
• He cries much less when it's tummy-time. He's holding his head up so well now. He even rolls over occasionally...albeit, not terribly often. He's getting better at playing with things in his grasp too.
• He really likes other babies...really, anyone who's smiling at him. He gets a kick out of his own reflection too. I call it his friend in the mirror.
• He started being more vocal these days, except now he likes to scream and screech, not really out of dislike for things...just because he likes to be loud. I wonder how long this phase will last! :) Along with being more vocal, he's started blowing bubbles in a very drool-y sort of way! Kinda gross, but kinda cute too!

Enjoy the photos and videos!!

Growing Older!!

"All this growing and maturing can sure be stressful!! Look, I'm losing my hair!!"

As a matter of fact, Canon really is getting bigger and stronger every day. Today he rolled over from his belly to his back for the first time. He was holding his head up pretty high during his tummy time and lost his balance and fell over...rolled himself right over his right shoulder. Then later this afternoon he was having more tummy time and started over his left shoulder. However, this time he didn't move his legs, so he looked like he was stuck in a half turn. His head was past his left shoulder, and he let his weight down, so he couldn't go back onto his tummy, but he didn't want to shift the weight of his legs... so we was laying there for a little while, looking somewhat confused. Then he finally just moved his right leg up and over, and he completed the roll. Needless to say, I am excited for the milestone to be reached, but this means that I will have to keep an extra eye on him now because he will become mobile in no time. I can't expect him to stay where I put him for much longer! (But I guess that's still a good thing!)