Happy Thanksgiving!

Hope everyone had a great long weekend! It has been nice having Cal home this past week!! Tomorrow (9th) is our 3 year wedding anniversary! My how time flies!! It is also Blake's Grandma Bev's birthday! Happy Birthday Grandma! Blake is now 5 months, 3 days old. My parents just got back from a 4 week vacation on Thursday evening and said they noticed a huge difference in Blake! Not that he grew much, but that he is much more interactive! He reaches for everything now and laughs and makes different faces at different situations. He especially loves to laugh at Heidi and Jazz and "pet" them too!!! My glasses, hair and necklace also are tugged on regularly! Actually everything he can get his hands on gets pulled and most likely brought to his mouth! He is teething like crazy! It actually hurts when he gnaws on your fingers! I'm not sure if any teeth are going to pop up soon or if he'll just teethe for months upon months! Some of his friend's have had 2 teeth pop up around 5 months and others are 8 months old with no teeth in sight! LOL! Blake has had a cold these past 5 days, but today it is much better. I felt so bad for him, especially during the night, he would get so stuffed up it would be hard for him to breathe. I just wish babies could blow their noses! But thankfully the cold is clearing up. Blake LOVES his Jolly Jumper! It's great for Cal and I too because we can put him in it and do some things around the house without worrying about him becoming bored or upset! He's not quite the jumper I'm sure he will be, but we have it in the front room and he does circles and looks outside at the trees and grass and the big air filled Halloween ornament we have on the lawn! Today while jumping my Mom and I were making turkey soup and we gave him a big carrot to chew/suck on and he just loved it! Probably felt good on his gums. It is crazy how their hand/eye coordination develops so fast. He just took that carrot and put it right in his mouth! When we're eating now he stares at us and the food with this hungry look on his face! He has successfully eaten rice and oat cereal and this week we're going to try barley and wheat. Then next week I think we'll try some meat. It involves a lot of work/planning on Mom and Dad's end!!! But I'm so glad that he is now enjoying his cereal! Anywho, I should get to bed! Blake goes to bed around 7:30 and gets up around 6:30 (other than during his cold!) so I really could get a good sleep too, but I'm a night owl! Talk to ya soon!

Luv Tracy

Success!!

Whoo Hoo!!! Blake successfully ate his rice cereal today! But I had to mix it with a little bit of mashed banana!! It's funny because I barely put any banana in it. I guess it was enough to change the taste! I was so glad that he enjoyed it! He didn't make a funny face or turn away with his mouth clamped shut! So now I will wait a few days and try oat cereal and then barley cereal and then mixed cereals! And I think we'll give him some mashed potatoes at Thanksgiving dinner!!

Tracy ;-)

Dad's On Holidays!!

Yeah! Cal is on holidays this week! Our goal is to get the garage organized so Cal can put the drywall up! We put a big dent in that task this afternoon. Blake sat in his bouncy chair on the ski-doo trailer while we tackled the junk in the garage!! He is such a good baby, we're so blessed!! My parents are back from their 5 week holiday this weekend. It seems like they've been gone forever! It will be so nice to see them and have them home!! We've had a great weekend so far. Friday afternoon Blake and I had a baby shower at Allen Gray and Blake got totally spoiled!! He got a gift card to Toys R Us, so I think we'll buy a Jumperoo!! He also received a very special gift - a quilt the residents made! I thought that was very cool!! Friday night Brad (Cal works with him) and his wife and 3 boys (ages 5, 4, and 17 months) came over and Saturday Blake and I went to my friend Melissa's little boy's baby shower. In the evening Gerry and Lesley came over for a visit! It was nice to catch up with everyone! These past few days Blake has been squealing out loud a lot! It is too cute! I'll pick him up and he'll squeal in delight or I'll be playing with him and he'll let a squeal go!! He's also laughing at Heidi a lot! She'll be sniffing the ground at my feet while I'm holding him and he'll start giggling! It's so much fun! A friend of mine told me last week that starting at around 5 months old babies become sooo... much fun! I guess because they get more talkative and interactive. Today Blake almost rolled from his back to his stomach. In fact, he was pretty much over and realized it and flopped his butt and legs back over! He fell asleep after nursing today on the nursing pillow and I just let him sleep in my lap! He looks like a little angel just laying there so peaceful, not a worry in the world! Such a beautiful sight! Have a great week everyone! Stay warm! Brrrr...

Luv Tracy

15 lbs!!

Blake had his 1 week follow-up appointment today with the pediatrician and he now weighs 15 lbs! The Pediatrician was happy with his weight gain and we don't have to go back again until Blake is 6 months old. The Pediatrician also mentioned that we may have to go see an ENT doctor about the little "hole" near his right ear. If it gets infected or there is a threat that it might get infected he will have to have surgery. So that was a little bit scary to hear, but apparently it's a minor thing and nothing to worry about yet. So we'll try not to worry about it yet!! The pediatrician also said to continue trying rice cereal and oat cereal with Blake and he will probably get used to it. Today he seemed to eat a little bit more than the last few times. So that's what's new with us!! We'll talk to you later!

Luv Tracy

Home Again!

As our title says, we're home again! On Saturday a.m. we left for Grande Prairie and came home this morning. It was a good trip! We stayed at Cal's parents new house and visited with Cal's family. We had a great time! Blake is so close to sitting up on his own!! And this weekend we also noticed how much he now likes to stand! It's crazy!!!! He is "talking" a ton too! On Friday night I went to the Keith Urban concert with Lindsay and Lesley (and it was awesome!!) and Cal told me he was reading Blake a book (called Baby Bug) and the whole time Blake was talking!!! He read it to him a couple of times because he seemed to love it so much! He hasn't been likin' the rice cereal to much, so we gave him a break from that this weekend and I'm going to try Oat cereal with him this week. He has a pediatrician appointment again tomorrow, so hopefully he will have gained a bit of weight!! Hope everyone had a good weekend!

Tracy

Rice Cereal!!

So today we started Blake on rice cereal!! He did good! He had a few strange expressions on his face and didn't eat a full tablespoon (dry - before mixed), but he got a few spoonfuls down! I posted a picture so you can see where most of it ended up! LOL! Blake's pediatrician appointment was good except for he once again did not gain any weight, which is why we've started the rice cereal with him. We have an appointment next Tuesday as well, just to see if there's been any weight change this time. Blake's pediatrician says that they only changed the feeding guidelines to starting solids at 6 months at the beginning of the year and that he feels a lot of babies are ready and need to start solids at 4 months (which were what the old guidelines were). He checked everything else out as well and commented on how strong Blake was! And how much he's grown in length! He's getting long and skinny!! Take care everyone & keep warm!! It was cold out today!!!

Tracy

Swimming starts on Wednesday!!

I am so excited for Aquababies this Wednesday! Today we're going swim suit shopping for Mom! LOL! It is Cal's Monday off today so the 3 of us are heading to the mall. We're taking Aquababies at the Servus Centre in St. Albert. It's a new multi-plex sports facility in St. Albert, similar to the Tri in Spruce Grove and Millenium Place in Sherwood Park. Apparently there are 2 wicked water slides, a big pool, a smaller warmer pool for kids (where our class will be) and a "river" that runs around the pools. The river actually has a current, so you can float along it in a tube! Sounds like fun hey!? Cal's on vacation the first week of October so he might go with Blake that week. Actually, I'll probably go to, but I'll be on the water slides and in the hot tub! Ha, ha, ha! We also started Salsa Babies last Thursday. It was also sooo... much fun! We did the Salsa, the Cha-Cha, the Muranga (spelling??), and a few others that I forget the names of! Blake loved it and started falling asleep at the end! Tomorrow, Blake has his regular Pediatrician's appointment. Hopefully he will have gained weight. We still haven't started him on rice cereal yet, but if he hasn't gained then we will have to :( On Friday Lindsay, Lesley and I are going to the Keith Urban concert! I'm so excited for that! Then on Saturday Cal, Blake and I are heading to Grande Prairie to visit his family. But I better run! Blake just woke up and is ready to eat!! Take care!

Luv Tracy