Update on 4th Month

This month has already been a little rough on us... little g was sick for the first time! Graham and I decided to go out for sushi for my birthday with a few friends, while we were getting ready little graham became cranky but nothing out of the ordinary. We also took a hike this day, so we assumed that he was exhausted and needed to sleep. We brought him over to his Uncle Matt & Aunt Cheri's house and went on our way. When we returned to pick him up they told us about a cough and that he hadn't slept much... thinking it was no big deal we headed home. I nursed as soon as we got home and we swaddled our little guy... while he was eating he stopped and coughed this horrible sounding cough and SCREAMED! It was horrible... this went on throughout the entire feeding so we gave him our doctor recommended dosage of Maloxx and baby Benedryl. Eventually he finally stopped coughing and fell asleep. He woke up every 3 hours that night and I realized he had a slight fever. We called his doctor in the morning and they requested we come in for a sick-visit. The doctor saw him and heard some wheezing in his lungs and said that we would try a round of breathing treatment in his office to see if that would fix the sound. After 10 minutes of the nebulizer, the doc came back in a said that helped tremendously. I was happy... the doctor was concerned. He said that he would send us home with a breathing machine and we would have to do it 3 times a day for four days. He said that this is important because babies can actually die from suffocation from their airways being inflamed.

So, for the past four days we've been on the treatment and using the cough concoction at night. He's JUST starting to feel better... the mucus is loosening and he can cough it up now... it's still horrible though. At least he's getting back to his old self again.

At the same time little g was sick, Big G got sick too... and stayed home one day. No fun at the Quattlebaum house!

Before both of my guys were sick, we went to the pedi on the 8th for his four-month checkup. He received two more vaccines... the Rotavirus and DTAP. Not too bad again since he was able to drink one. His NEW statistics are:

Weight: 16 lbs.
Height: 26 1/2in... WOWOW
Head Circumference: 42.5cm

He's actually in the 90th percentile now for his weight and height and his head is still perfectly the 50% percentile. He really looks longer than ever and we can't believe how big he's gotten.

Oh, and I forgot to post a new schedule. This is what our day's look like now:

7:15am - Eat
7:30am - Play
8:30am - Morning Nap
9:30am - Eat
9:45am - Play -- 2 hours
11:30am - Nap
12:30pm - Eat
12:45pm - Play -- 2-3 hours
2:45pm - Nap
3:30pm - Eat
3:45pm - Daddy Comes Home & Little g eats vegetables (we're working on squash)!
4:00pm -Nap
5:00pm - Play
6:30pm - Eat & Play
8:00pm - Rice Cereal Time, Bath, Massage, Eat
9:00pm - Bed
3:00am - Eat & Back to Bed (YES, YES... little g wakes up once a night now!)

Happy Four Month Birthday Little Graham (and Mommy)!

The third month of little graham's life has come and gone... a little too quickly. Our little guy is now making some major changes and is becoming mobile... wow! For more updates on little g keep reading....

1. At night, he can turn around from back to front in his crib... but we haven't seen him do this during the day... it's so weird. Not so good for us because now we worry even more about him.
2. Little g is babbling and goo'ing more than ever. He actually waits for us to finish our statement before he starts his again. 
3. He is awake for an hour and half at a time now. 
4. He's starting to scoot on his back by pushing his hips up in the air.
5. One of the most awesome notes about this month is that he is sitting up with a little assistance! He can do a 'sit-up' when lounging on our bent legs.
6. He caught a yucky virus this month. It made his cheeks rosy but gave him a horrible sore throat and cough. We had to give him a mixture of mallox and benedryl... so sad! We were suppose to give it to him for 3 days but we could only do 1 full day of it. It took the pep right out of our little guy and made him drowsy.
7. On a more positive note... WE GAVE HIM RICE CEREAL... yay! Easter was his 4 month birthday and the Easter bunny brought him a basket full of rice cereal, bowls, spoons, puppets and a book. He actually really enjoyed the cereal... we're going to ask his pedi on Thursday when we can start more interesting foods that aren't so bland. More shots on Thursday too... booooooo
8. Speaking of Easter... we took some pictures with a few bunnies this month. The first one was with the suited Easter Bunny in the mall... kinda fun, kinda creepy. The second set was taken at Studio One in Grapevine Mills Mall because they had real Easter Bunnies! But, we DO NOT recommend them... we had a 50% off coupon and for SIX sheets it was over $250.00 ... yuck. Plus, they couldn't get little g to smile and we were hurried along because another family was waiting. They charged us $60.00 for photo correction... hello, it's baby-skin, what type of correction does he need, REALLY?! Plus they pressured us in to buying some photos by showing us them on this tiny computer in the back... not the huge screen in the front. Do not waste your time... photos were cute but I could have done what they did by going to my local PetCo and purchased some damn bunnies... (little g don't say that bad word)... everytime I look at them I have a bad taste in my mouth because it was so expensive... I fully recommend Natali Young (our family photographer)!
9. This Easter was super-duper special because 1. Little g turned 4 months 2. It was my birthday AND 3. It was Easter... so fun!

Great month... a little busy but wouldn't do anything differently!

Happy Three Month Birthday, Little Graham!!!

Our little g has been so busy this month... changing and GROWING! We are still having a blast being parents but this month was more difficult than past months because he is finding his vocal cords... some other interesting notes this month were....

1. He is no longer an 'infant', or so we read.... ::Heartbreaking::
2. His all-time favorite song is "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" and the close runner up is "On Top Of Spaghetti". He laughs, smiles, gigles, coos and they calm him down when he's protesting something.
3. Graham smiles and even cries in his sleep... the smiling/laughing thing he has been doing since he was born and the crying thing just recently started. 
4. We've been having a problem with his bowel movements... he has gone 5 days without going #2 but we called our pedi and learned that we could give him 1/2 ounce of water and a 1/2 ounce of prune juice... we tried it this morning and it worked like a charm! We have to continue this until he's 'regular'. His face was hilarious as the whole family tried to offer it to him! 
5. Our second round of immunizations was on Thursday. He didn't like these as much mainly because there were two shots... one in each thigh. At this appointment we learned our healthy boy is now 16 pounds... WAY TO GO!!!
6. We were quite surprised this month when we went in to little g's room and realized that he scooted completely out of his triangles and in to the bottom of his crib... he was super happy about it and we were a little freaked out.
7. He has also turned in to a Houdini and can fanagle his way out of his swaddle blanket (a.k.a. straight jacket). When we go in to his room in the morning we not only find him in the bottom of the crib but also with his arms flailing around like a helicopter!
8. We love to play with our little one... he is just starting to grab at distant items such as a rattle if we hold it in front of him. I read that this was going to happen and I was a little disgruntled when I never saw him doing it. When I visited my mom I told her of my concerns and he held something in front of him. Sure enough he started moving him uncoordinated arms toward the bottle of lotion. I was amazed... I figured they meant he would be able to look and grab at anything but they meant that he would start making progress towards doing just that. 
9. Some nicknames we have for our little one are: snack-pack, tootie-mc-fruity, buddy and cranky-pants!!!

For more changes... just check out this picture...

This photo was taken by our super talented and creative friend, Natali. We are taking this picture every three months (1, 3, 6, 9, 12) and then I will get these pictures custom framed together to see his growth... I can't wait to see the finished product. Isn't it amazing?!

A First: We GIGLED!

Ok, so oops... there's been an error... I titled one post, "A First: We LAUGHED" but I meant "A First: We SMILED."

Little g has been smiling for a while now but now he will let out a huge rolling laugh! He even laughs when you tickle him... before he would just squirm and now it's like he get's what being tickled is all about. He may have even chuckled in the past... but NOW he absolutely, positively, throws his head back and lets out a huge laugh.

It's pretty cutey-pa-tootie!

2.11.10 - SNOW ((again))!

This last snow set a new record for North Texas; I only wish our little guy would appreciate it. I'm so over the snow this year and I am ready for little g to feel the soft, green grass under his feet for the first time! We had a great time playing in the snow over at Uncle Matt & Aunt Cheri's. Little g holds his breath when the cold air hits his face... but he's adorable in his snow suit. The next day we went over to Grammy & Pop's and Mommy & Daddy got to play in it together. We hooked the boogie board up to the riding lawn mower and pulled each other though snow, mush and mud! So fun!!!!

 

  

Our little snow angel... he didn't like the snow falling in his face! 

1.21.10 - Our First Hike!

 

Snug as a Bug!

On January 21st temps got up to the upper 60's so we took the day off together and went for our first hike at Eagle Mountain Park & Reserve. We got the stroller ready and packed a picnic and were on our way! We picked a trail that was a loop, easy right?! NO... it ended up being 6 miles of hills and drop-offs. Shouldn't trails be marked with a difficulty level?

 

We set our camera up on a rock!

A First: We SLEPT through the night!

Yes, yes... you read correctly! Little Graham slept through the night for the first time last night. We were amazed. He officially slept from 10:30pm (after his last nursing) to 8:00am!!!

I woke up a few times and carefully listened to the monitor (Graham has been sleeping in his own room since Monday, 02.08)... I could still hear him breathing so I went back to sleep. When I woke up and realized the sun was up I kinda freaked out and went in his room to find him starting to stir. Man Oh Man was he a happy, restful baby and I was a FULL mommy!

He had a full day yesterday at Grammy & Pop's and the whole family came over. Big Graham and I played in the snow until we were exhausted and Little Graham stayed inside and was nice and warm with Grammy! We had dinner with everyone, came home, nursed some more, played, took a LONG bath, got a baby-massage and then got swaddled and ready for bed. I don't know what we did but I think the bath-time helped to relax him!

We know that we are SO blessed to have such an amazing baby. I don't officially call anything a "routine" until it lasts for a week straight... so we'll see if this was a one-time occurrence or if it lasts.