Westie-Roo is a whopping 5 months old!

I just keep waiting for the day when the novelty of Weston's place in my life will wear off. Like when we got the Wii. Or my engagement ring. Or a new haircut. I was super into the new "toy" at first, maybe too much, and then suddenly, I stopped playing the games, cleaning the diamond or looking in the mirror. The excitement of those trivial things brought was ephemeral and replaceable.

But not so with this kiddo who ranks supreme. In fact, I think it's getting cooler to be a mom with every day... I'm getting prouder and Weston is getting more fun and person-like with every wakening. I've even seen Neil start to come overly alive in the fatherly shoes he's wearing.

Sometimes when I'm holding him, or nuzzling his neck, or squeezing his cheeks, I get that feeling in my throat that I'm going to cry at the same time I get this swelling in my chest like I'm going to explode with happiness. I turn into a volcano of maternal pride and love. It's mind-boggling. 

Here is the 5th month "official" progress pic:

and moments later....

So let's start with the sad stuff...

I made him bleed. I dropped a knife on him.

Just kidding. I just said that so what I'm about to say next pales in comparison, even for me, someday...when I reread this.

I was trimming his nails...and yes, I know, many parents cut too low and the nail bed bleeds. But this was worse. He pulled away from me when I was lining up to trim his thumbnail...and I took a decent sized chunk off the tip of his actual thumb. He SCREAMED. Then went silent, shedding real tears, but no sound when my scream surpassed his in caliber. Neil came running. And I was sobbing, in the rocking chair, holding a kleenex to his thumb, which was half the size of a baby carrot. Well, now it was even smaller than that thanks to my horrible skills with the nail clipper. I am so thankful that Neil wasn't mad at me. I texted a friend of mine right away and told her because I needed a mom to sympathize with my agony. And she texted back to not worry...that will be the first of many things I do that unintentionally causes him pain. Oddly, it did make me feel better. hahaha

The second note of sadness...he keeps growing. I know, that's a good thing. But I had to say good bye to many of my fave clothes of his. (Btw, the onesie in the progress pics is 3 month sized... he will continue to wear it for the progress photos until it's painful to put it on him... hahah)

Like this onesie. He grows out of clothes so quickly length wise...I don't know why they don't make baby clothes with longer arms and legs.

He is honest to goodness the most happy baby I've ever heard of, been around, or birthed....er......well, you get the picture.

He might cry for a total of 90 seconds all day long..but in three 30 sec increments. I really don't want to be one of those moms who makes it seem like parenting is super easy and hunky-dory, but honestly... ever since I stopped breastfeeding... parenting has been super easy and hunky-dory. Sure, there are challenges with feeling too busy, not getting enough sleep and an overall decrease in time for myself, or more importantly, time with Neil. But I don't mind it because Weston is what gets me through the sour times. He's so easy to get to laugh nowadays. And I could literally quit my day job just to spend time trying to get more of his chortles. But we would literally not be able to feed or clothe him if I were to quit, so then how h happy would he be then?

 GAHHH! Baby giggles.How can one ever get tired of hearing such a gleeful sound??

Here are a few videos of such. And you might also hear other sounds like....us making dumb noises...or grandma G cracking up too...

FEEDING

We started feeding him rice cereal just shy of his 4 month mark. That lasted for a week, then we upgraded to the more beneficial oatmeal. At this point (and I'm writing this down for record-keeping purposes to refer back to later if needed), he was eating a 7 oz bottle by 6:15 a.m., then 2 scoops of oatmeal (with formula added) and 8 oz bottle at 10:30 a.m., an 8 oz bottle at 3:30 p.m.,, and then another 9 oz bottle at 7:15 before bedtime.

Here is his first cereal-eating experience. If you haven't seen this... definitely watch because there IS a climax. ;)

We had his 4 month appointment the next week though and they okayed us to start giving him other fun purees. So his first one was carrots. the bottom pic is peas. Not a fan as much. ;)

But really he does like them all. Sweet potatoes. Green beans. Peas, Squash. Squash & Corn. He likes them all thus far though I think he is least enthralled with the peas. I can't blame him. I can't wait to give him STEAK! Just kidding. Originally I was going to make our own baby food. And I think if I were a stay-at-home mom, I totally would do it. But I work 7 till 4:30 every day and then once he's home from daycare, I don't want to "waste" 20 minutes here and there mashing up veggies as there are lots of other things higher up on the priority list like...showering....cooking adult food....straightening up the house...laundry...and the occasional "ohmigoshitfeelsgoodtositdownanddonothinginfrontoftheTV" moments. :)

We've tested a few other flavors out on him. The lemon we let him lick at Ruby Tuesday with my parents was quite amusing. Aren't they always? He seemed to enjoy the taste of an apple. (We're not giving him fruit to eat eat until his palette is well-versed in non-sweet foods.) And just like his mama, he was delighted with the dill pickle! BUT...oddly enough... watch his reaction to a piece of watermelon I mashed up for him to try:

So enough of his refined tastes...physically, he is moving right along, I suppose. We have still been trying to teach him to wave for BYE BYE. And he'll do it out of the blue of course, and sometimes it's even when someone at a store or restaurants says goodbye to him. And then they always say, "he just waved!!!" And for that fleeting moment, I think...MY KID IS A GENIUS!! But then he won't do it on command of course. ;)

He has indeed begun to roll over, intentionally and repetitively. It began on my aunt Jeani's b-day (she's the one who sends us diaper coupons!! woot!)... June 8. Back to belly. He does it all the time now. But he will notdo it the other way...even though he did it 5x in one day when he was 14 days old! WTF? This actually is what causes him to cry out in the middle of the night. We have to go flip him over because he gets stuck and since he once again has congestion (oh, the joys of day care), we don't want him to get too stuffy in the nose from being face down.

He actually prefers to sleep on his side, though easily flips all the way over. As his eyes become heavier and heavier, he always reaches out for something soft to play with in his fingers. I do that too...with the ends of my pillow case. And so does uncle Troy. Kinda odd.

One day, I laid him to nap in our bed while I was getting ready (he naps more easily when there is sound of the everyday life around him...like daycare), and came back to find he had found my pajamas on my pillow and cuddled up with them.  Here are a few snaps of him doing just this... (the last one is of my pjs!!)

Be still my heart. (and no, not worried he'll suffocate because a) I'm obsessed with him and check on him often to just swoon and drool and practice self-restraint in waking him up to try to get him to giggle, and b) he's quite adroit when it comes to pulling covers over his head and back off. Not worried. At all.

He loves his ears cleaned. He gets this relaxed expression of complete bliss on his face when i stick a baby q-tip in. I love it. Sometimes I clean his ears when they are already clean just to see his face...and please him. :)

He also doesn't mind me shooting saline solution up his nose. He used to. But now he's so familar with what must surely be a slightly burning sensation down the back of his throat that he just patiently waits for the nozzle to go up both nostrils before he squirms again. He then sneezes and smiles big at the series of cool sensations.

The first day he intentionally touched my face, I about bawled. I don't know why. But something was so intimate about it, that my heart was warmed more than any microwave meal could ever withstand. And now he does it on and off while I rock him before putting him down for the night. My favorite part. I hope he does it until he's 18. haha

Speaking of rocking him before bed... I think I get an F in bedtime songs. I can never remember the lyrics to ANY song that would be appropriate for soothing an infant. I start them out... like... "Puff the Magic Dragon, lived by the sea... he frolicked in the autumn mist in a land called Honalee (sp?)... Hmmm hmmm hmmm hmmmm hmmm, hmm hmmm hmmm Puff...." (those hums are to the tune. I remember tunes. Lyrics? Not so much.

I even though I could pull off a madonna song the other day, or Taylor Swift. But it seems I need the song to be going on at the same time to bring the words out.

The *only* song that I can remember how to sing is... "One Tin Soldier." So that's the song of choice every night when I put him to bed. And I really think he is taking in the meaning in the words of that song. (Which honestly...it does have a great theme going on...google it if you don't believe me.) My mom keeps promising she'll type up lyrics to all the songs she sang to us when we were younger. But GRANDMA HAS FAILED to deliver.

Oh, I do know YOU ARE MY SUNSHINE. He likes that. And Yankee Doodle Dandy. I've recently decided to start singing the theme songs to TV shows to him, such as the Growing Pains one or Facts of Life.

He has a few favorite toys. I'll blog my recs to new moms shortly...my goal is in 2 weeks. :) But for now, he LOVES this crinkly book he got from my aunt Traci, uncle Jim and Daleni. And he's just like his mom and dad...he loves to read in bed.

He's also a strong baby. He can fling elephants around like they are peapods. Check out THIS brauny baby. ;)

I never thought I would say this, but I love going shopping with him in this stage he is in. Yeah,  yeah, people will fuss all over him because he's a baby...but he is just so darn fun! As soon as I close the door to the fitting room, he erupts with his little celebratory grins...he pumps his fists up by his face and looks so happy to be helping mommy pick out clothes. I just giggle all the way through the nightmare that is trying to find something I think I look not too drab in. He helps me refocus on the fact that it's okay if most items of clothing go back out on the racks. :)

Neil and I were worried for a whole week (the first week of June) because Weston had once been so blabby and then that week, nothing. He rarely cooed. Rarely made ANY noises, other than laughing. I had heard about developmental problems in which kids digress with their milestones. So I was a bit worried. But it turns out, I think he was just focused for that entire week on rolling over. Because here is him the evening before he rolled over for good.

And then after he rolled over the next day...he is back to jabber jaws. His latest method of communication is the grunt. I think he does his when his tummy is full and he's gearing up for a good nap. Don't watch the last 20 seconds because they're even more boring than the beginning. ;)

He and Kramerface have a cute, albeit slowly evolving relationship. Weston is very aware of him now, and tries sooo hard to get his attention, though Kramer, as cats will do...ignores him. BUT...Kramer doesn't want to go far from Weston because he knows where the tummy rubs are coming...and he's much more apt to get one if I'm close by. He will go up to Weston after I bring him home from daycare and sniff him to see if it is indeed the same baby as he was when he left. Kramer has batted at Weston once...(claws never came out)...when Weston reached for and pulled his whiskers. Scared me, for sure, but we will just have to teach Weston about nice touches once he's on the move. For now, he will grab a handful of fur on Kramer's back, and Kramer has been very accommodating...lying very still so the least amount of hair-pulling goes on. If Weston hurts him, Kramer will turn his head to Weston and meow meanly...so that is when I step in and loosen Westie-roo's grip.

I put Weston down for a nap and came back to this. I nearly cried. :) A watch cat!!! ;)

These next four are from several month's time..

 Father's Day weekend...

 Just the other day. Weston had started out on h is back where Kramer is in the pic. Then he rolled over on his tummy, so Kramer came and laid down next to him on his back. I just laughed.

Weston understands object permanence now. Peek-a-boo is getting more fun with every game. He is so blissfully joyful when we take a blanket and flap it over his body and then stop...and then do it again. He gets so excited in between that he can hardly contain himself.

Another milestone we've ticked off the list is him throwing a tantrum when we take something away  that he wants to play with. Unfortunately, it was poopy clothes. Right before we changed his diaper size to a 3, he leaked out of his diaper into his clothes at daycare. So daycare put it in a plastic Walmart bag and tied it up. When I take the car seat out to the car, I just put whatever else I need to carry on Weston's lap (because it's never heavy). So the bag went on his lap...and once I had the car seat in the car, I took the bag off his lap to put up front and omg...you'd think I was taking his favorite toy away. He screamed until I put it back. So I put it back on his lap...and then while it was there, distracted him with another toy until his attention was diverted...and then removed the bag. Score.

I had always wondered what nickname would rear its head with Weston. We tried a few out..kinda forced them...like Worm, Sharkie, Ducky....etc. But nothing stuck. Until I realized I was always calling him Westie-Roo. Then my friend Cara pointed out, that Roo is a cute nickname...and I agreed. And I tend to add it on to whatever is going on..if  he's in a cuddly mood, I call him Cuddly-Roo. If he has a dirty diaper, he's Stinky-roo. If he's being fun, I call him Buddy-boo-roo. And so forth. So me thinks that Roo is going to at least be the base for what we call him out of fondness. ;)

And some other firsts...

He went to an outdoor event with CAra & Cody and was wide awake and playful past his bedtime. He made it through 5 innings of a Royals baseball game. (He did fall asleep on my lap for 30 minutes though.)

He got to meet Grandma Fritz! I was sooo happy for that. And his cousins love him. ;)

Flirty Weston...

Mother's & Father's Day

He's the Dark Knight of Laundry!!

I do think he'll be the next drummer in the fam. The way he's always moving his arms and legs...it's natural. We stuck some sticks in his hands though and thought this was foretelling...

As cute as he looked ready to swim, he was NOT thrilled with the chilly water. So we're going to try it again after the water is able to warm up. But EEEK. SO CUTE.

 AHHH. My lil' Roo-man.

Wanna know how I know that Grandmas & Pas are blind? They actually think Weston looks cute in this hat. Now, granted, it's so funny looking you might call it cute in that "oh dear" kind of way. But it's not very flattering on him. (Yes, I love my kid, but let's be honest moms, okay??)

My current fave outfit!! :)

Ok, Neil's baby pic is on the bottom left. My 1-year pic is on the bottom right. I am not seeing much resemblance, other than my mouth. I'd like to see my dad's baby pic because I see his devilishness in him the most right now.

Just something that tugged at my heart strings the other night. He didn't have anything soft in his crib (per the stupid rules), so he settled for something hard.

So yeah.... the obsession continues. I love being a mom. More than I thought I would. And now that I'm seeing more of Weston's personality with each passing day, I can't wait for the future because I think we're going to have one o the most ornery, playful, excitable little boys on our hands. And in our hearts. (ha, gag me, I know!!) I have a few friends who are ready to pop...approaching their due date...or just found out they are expecting...and I am more happy for them now than I could ever have been before I'd had Weston because now I know...I truly know...what all the fuss is about with having a baby. A little human being who is part me, part the man I love...and made up of every family member we love, too. So stop reading this blog and go make a baby! (Just kidding, clearly.)

Stay tuned because we had our family pics last weekend... and I will share once we get them! And I do really intend to make my own recommendation list of items...if for any other reason than recording what we liked for the next bambino..though I'm sure, Hebrank Baby #2 will be completely the opposite of this mild-mannered ball of joy.