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Poker July 07

We had a nice weekend, and Friday night Nathan let me sleep a bit more than usual. Saturday was mostly quiet. We tried out the new jogging stroller that Bubbi Maggie got us and it worked great. Also, Nathan had fun going to the grocery store and charmed fellow shoppers. Sunday, Gary and I helped Adam celebrate his birthday by winning at poker; Gary got first place and I took second. Nathan had a good time too and got to play with Katie a bit.

adventures with mirror baby

Nathan's adventures with the "mirror baby."

Well hello there


What a handsome devil you are

Hey mommy, did you meet this really nice baby in the mirror?

Funny, he's still there

carrots

As you can see, Nathan didn't really like the carrots we gave him a couple nights ago. So far he's only had apple sauce, bananas, and rice cereal. I think we'll try peas tomorrow.

Biting and cats

We had a tough weekend. Nathan's back to waking up every 2-3 hours and waking up early, like around 5:30am. It might be the top two teeth coming in - hard to tell. I got very little sleep Saturday night and am becoming an emotional loose canon. He also bit me a few times while nursing - ow!

On the nicer side of things, Nathan is really enjoying sitting up on his own. He's also getting into the cats. He will watch them intently and try for a grab if they come within reach. But the cats aren't stupid, they have learned to keep their distance.

We went to Nathan's 6 month check up for measurements and another round of shots. Nathan weighed 20lbs 12oz (95%) and is 27 inches long (75%). I'm getting a bit concerned about his wieght, but the doctor said we should not worry about it or try to modify his diet unless it is still a problem at 18 months. Of course Gary reassures me that although he started out as a plump little baby, he quickly got to be skinny boy as his height outpaced his eating.

Baby swimming

Since Nathan loves bath time and has always enjoyed hanging out in swimming pools, I've decided I want to try and teach him to swim. I used to be a life gaurd and I taught swim lessons to kids at the YMCA. I wasn't sure you could teach an infant to swim, but after researching and reading, it can certainly be done. It mostly takes time and repetition. I was really motivated by this awesome video on this swim school web site - very impressive.

All of a sudden, Nathan can sit on his own for a few minutes at a time. Wow!

John williams concert

Satuday night, Gary and I went to see the John Williams concert at the Hollywood bowl with a large group. We've gone before, and I was a bit disappointed that the program this year included works of other, non-Williams, composers. Of course, it was fun to hear the usual Star Wars, ET, Harry Potter, and Indiana Jones pieces. Also, it was cool to see the die hard Star Wars fans dressed as Jedi and waving their glowing light sabers. Finally, it was great to see my good friend Cathy and hang out a bit with her.

Thanks again to Gary's mom who was nice enough to babysit Nathan overnight, from Saturday morning until Sunday morning. As usual, I had mixed feelings about being away from Nathan. I enjoy the time to myself and the chance to do things that don't always involve the baby, but I also worry about him and miss him. I can also tell I'm feeling my age when not getting to bed after 1am, I resolve not to go to any more of these late night outings.

Applesauce

Nathan's first experience with applesauce. He liked this much better than the rice cereal. Yummy.

kiva

I heard about kiva.org on the radio and decided to try it out. Kiva is a microcredit lending association that lets individual web users lend small amounts of money to struggling entrepreneurs in the developing world. For example, I loaned 25$ to a single mother of four in the Dominican Republic which, with money from several other donors, she will use to expand her street stand. I'm supposed to get my money back in 6-12 months. I gave to two other borrowers as well. I thought it was an intriguing idea, and a way for those of us who are better off to help the world's working poor. We'll see how it goes.

First solids

I had another nice morning to myself, thanks to Gary's mom watching Nathan. I went on one of the longest jogs I've done in a while - 4 miles. I also got some chores done around the house.

Today was a big day for Nathan, although he probably doesn't realize it. We gave him some solid food, infant rice cereal, for the first time. It went pretty well for the considering it was his first experience with anything other than breast milk. He maybe swallowed a few baby spoon fulls. At least he didn't scream and gag and end up spilling the food all over the floor. It makes me a bit sad to think of him growing up and eating real food. I'm so proud that up until now, he has grown just with sustenance from me. Ah well, time waits for no man.

last night was a tough one. Nathan kept waking up about 10 minutes after I thought he'd fallen back to sleep.

I try not to think too much about how often I'm waking up to nurse Nathan, it just makes me tired. I used to keep track of how much sleep I was getting and how long was the longest stretch, but that just reminds me how sleep deprived I am and makes me depressed.

I had friends and co-workers tell me how when their babies were 6 or 10 or 12 weeks old they STTN (slept throught the night). I had kept waiting and looking forward to those weeks passing by and counting on getting more sleep. I know each baby is different, but it was such a let down. Now, at almost 6 months, I try not to expect STTN anytime soon otherwise I just get too disappointed.

We had a nice time at the VanderYacht July 4th party. Nathan got to go swimming again and as usual seemed very happy in the water. I'm wondering if he's going to be one of those babies who learns to swim before he learns to walk.