Another Month Down...

(B & his Valentines toy on Valentines day.)

Blake has turned 5 months old this month and time has sure been flying by! Unfortunately he still has eczema & his doctor also diagnosed him with torticollis which I will explain in another blog entry. There are no new stats to report as he won't get them done again until his 6 month appointment but we did see his doctor for his ezcema and he was 17 pounds, 7.8 ounces. He is becoming quite the little beefcake!

(Mommy's little Chunk after his bath.)

I absolutely love watching him grow because everyday is something new and exciting. He is getting to be very very good working with his hands, he picks up his toys and puts them in his mouth, and he can push cars across his high chair tray. He still loves his swing, duck & goose, his jumperoo, and the tv (though we try sooooooo hard to get him to not look at it! The sneaky little guy can find a TV anywhere!). He is really starting to like his Fisher Price Little People animals, and like I said he still loves his swing but we had to make it a little more interesting!

(Wow! It's like a whole new swing!)

He has really really discovered his feet and will bring his legs up, almost creating a half-ball to grab them. He is still not rolling over, but he will roll over to one side & he is super strong and can sit up on his own! And the best thing of all, he is a total ham! He will smile when the camera or phone is put in front of him! He also grew out of his whale infant bath tub so we got him a bigger quacking duck tub... He loves it!

(Hey mom, check this thing out!!!)

(Ooooooooh, feet...)

I know I say this in almost every entry but time really does fly! He is almost half a year old, soon he will be walking and crawling and talking...

(Baby B, sitting up all by himself...)

If only I had another hand...

So much has happened since the last time I posted that it will take a few blog entries to catch up! But let me start here in the present! As we speak I have Blake in his jumperoo, daddy is playing Battlefield on the XBOX, and Blake has me in hysterics! Currently he is giving me his 'fake' cough, smiling, one hand on his hanging elephant, the other on one of the 'play stations' on the jumperoo... There is also a dangling teether elephant that he so deperately wants to put in his mouth, but, he doesn't want to take his hands off anything else:



(I got it... I don't need another hand!!!)

Well Baby B, we all wish we had an extra hand every once in a while!!! =)

Mom... Are you Serious?!?!

(Ummm... What is this?!?!?)

This blog entry isn't as exciting as previous ones, so bear with me. I thought this evening was humorous... Baby B however, not so much!

In the last two weeks or so Blake has learned a new trick... How to scratch himself! Very relieving for B, not so much for his skin! He scratches his chest, his knees (which are a new discovery this week!), and apparently his face at night. Much to my dismay every morning he has a plethora of new claw marks on his face, some of which are open wounds. I try to clip his nails every time he is in the bath tub, which is every other night, but those puppies grow like crazy.

While the Eczema on his face is clearing he still scratches which led me to take drastic measures; I bought him mittens. Apparently, only newborns have the ability to scratch themselves because I only found mittens in 0-3 month size, but they work!

(Hmmm... Socks on my hands???)

So tonight I got him ready for bed, lubed him up, & put those mittens on him! Having a lapse of judgment, I put them on him prior to feeding and bedtime and guess where they went... Right into his mouth, which meant that I had to put on a new, not-so-wet, pair on him! He looked at them and gave me this facial expression that said, "Ummmm.... What the hell are these for? I am NOT an Eskimo..." Poor kid.

(I guess i'll try them out!)

(This picture is from the package of Blake's new baby spoons and is totally random, but it is our life in a nutshell!)

My Funny (Little) Valentine...

(Blake 'driving' the rental Altima...)

Baby B has quite the personality and he has been totally making his mommy laugh like crazy lately. For example, today he was sitting in his swing while I was writing a message to an old friend I had found on facebook. The battery in his swing died and he had stopped swinging. I looked over at him a minute or two after his swing had stopped and he had this look on his face. It was a sideways glance, half-mad, half-content. If he could talk i'm pretty sure he would be saying "Fix this thing mom..." I couldn't help but to let a little laugh escape, poor kid inherited his mom's facial expressions, and with that facial expression he wouldn't have to say a word. To add to his already funny expression, he had one arm around Adrian the Alien, so not only was Blake giving me a face, I had alien eyeballs staring at me!

Tonight in his bath he would kick his feet and make the biggest splash and then just laugh. Blake is getting way too big to be in his infant tub but not big enough to sit in the bathtub by himself. He was making a total mess, like there was more water all over the mirror, counter, floor, and mommy then there was in the tub. I decided to use my stern mommy voice to tell Blake no when he splashed. Yup, it didn't work... (not that I thought it really would! ;) ) He would splash, I would tell him 'No!', he would look at me like 'whatever, mom...', and start laughing. I just couldn't help but laugh too! If this is any indication of what he is going to be like, I am going to have my hands full with a little mini-me!!!

Since Noah was bumped up to a different shift at work he can no longer spend Valentines Day with me. But you know what, it's okay. Instead, I get to spend it with the funniest guy I know! =)

Goo, Goo, Goo.

(B & the spreading eczema...)

Tonight after Blake's bath he was chatting with me in a "goo, goo, gurgle, goo, gurgle, goo" fashion. Funny about the 'goo, goo' talk is that Blake has been covered in goo this whole week. Blake has always been a very, dry little guy... Since day one. He came out peeling, unfortunately, the thing about his dry skin is that it turned into eczema. It started on his chest, spread to his sides, and then up to his face, neck, & ear. Then it flared. He has been so red and itchy, and we have tried every cream! We have tried Aveeno, Aquaphor, & Mustela. It was a no-go. Dr. Benjamine told us to use Hydrocortisone and we could apply a lotion over it if we wanted to. Thankfully it seems to be working, on the down side he looks like he face-planted into a vat of Crisco! For a while there I was afraid to take him out in fear that people would think I gave him some weird rash. Eczema or no eczema, he is still one cute, albeit gooey, little man.

(Eczema at it's worse... =( )

(Gooey Baby B looking a little bit better.)

Lions, Tigers, and Birds...

(Baby B on his walk around Capitol Park, Duck & Goose in tow...)

We have had some pretty good weather recently, so Noah & I wanted to get out of the house for the day. We decided to take Blake on a walk around Capitol Park followed by some lunch and a trip to the zoo. Nothing too eventful happened on our walk around the park, we did see some squirrels that were eating some oranges that fell off the most amazing orange trees! After our walk we went to Original Pete's and Blake got his first taste of 'people' food! Noah is proud to say that Blake's first food was pizza!!! Well, not exactly... I dipped my finger in some pizza sauce and let him lick it. It didn't go over too well, he made a yucky face and that was that! Guess you start with runny rice cereal for a reason! ha ha!

(A Squirrel eating an Orange...)

After lunch we took Blake to the zoo, which was his very first trip there! He LOVED it, especially the birds. He loved the flamingoes and these big black weird looking birds that were playing with a box. I swear he could have watched them forever!

(Blake's First Trip to the Zoo! 01/24/11)

He got up-close with a giraffe who decided that food on the other side of the fence tasted a lot better & we got to watch the lions in their den. He had such a busy day he was passed out by the time we hit the gift shop. But no worries, mommy picked him out a baby giraffe to take home!

(That giraffe behind us decided that the plants behind us were tasty... He was on his way over!)

(Baby B all tuckered out!)

What a busy week for a little 4 month old!

(Happy 4 Months Blake David!)

Baby B has had quite a busy week! First and foremost, he turned four months old this week!!! Lately he has been making quite a fuss in the car being in his infant car seat. We noticed that if he is sitting in there for any extended period of time he absolutely melts down, and while we love his car seat & love that is very highly rated, it doesn't breathe very well and the poor kid always comes out of it dripping in sweat. Noah & I started looking at new convertible car seats for him, something that he can use until he can sit in the car on his own. We weren't really planning on buying something now but the one we liked ended up being on sale so we bought it. Blake LOVES it! The first time we put him in it he was all smiles and giggles.

(My little baby in his big kid car seat.)

The first place he went in his big kid car seat was to his 4 month check-up. Our little man is growing so fast! He weighs 16 pounds 1.5 ounces, which is in the 75th percentile. He is 26.5 inches long, which is in the 94th percentile. And his head is 16.5 inches, which is in the 41st percentile. On the chart for weight for length he is in the 25th percentile, which Dr. Benjamine (his pediatrician) said was okay cause he is a super long baby! Once again he was a brave little guy when it came to shots. He cried for about a minute then shook it off and pretty much slept the whole day and into the night. If you are wondering how mommy did this time around, I am proud to say that I didn't cry! =) I always get so sad because he is so happy all the time and it breaks my heart to cause him discomfort, but I also know it's for the best!

At 4 months old, Blake can grab and 'play' with his toys. He smiles and laughs. When I read to him he 'reads' along & when I sing he 'sings' along. He holds 'conversations' with Duck & Goose. He can roll over to one side and he tries super hard to sit up on his own. He sleeps in his own crib. He 'pets' the dogs and pulls on Lily's ears. His favorite toys are still Duck & Goose but he likes his elephant wubby & Scout the Leapfrog dog. He loves snuggles and he still loves his swing.
He is still drinking 6 ounces of milk and we haven't tried solids yet. I figure if he is content with what he has and is sleeping through the night, there is no point in changing it up just yet!

(Hey mom... It got awfully dark in here...)

Sadly, my poor little man has eczema and it's on his chest, stomach, & face. It never seemed to bother him until now, so mommy is going to get him some new baby wash & lotion and hopefully that will help! Anything for my little man!

The rest of the week we spent reading lots of books, taking warm baths, & cuddling... Just a few of Baby B's favorite things! =) Needless to say he had a busy week!

(Pooped.)