Eddie Versus Bulb Syringe

I know we are very, very lucky to have such a healthy baby and I'm extremely grateful for that. Eddie has made it 6 months without getting sick (if you don't count that unfortunate jaundice episode in his first week of life). Today, however, that all changed. Eddie has his first cold.

For months I have dreaded the inevitable sickness that is guaranteed to come to every kid, and now it has struck in the form of a runny/stuffy nose. I think a stuffy nose is one of the worst things for a baby like Ed. After all, it makes it impossible for him to breathe while eating. That means that the snot-sucker is essential, no matter how hated it is.

This morning I discovered the wonders that saline can work on a stuffy nose. I didn't have any on hand that is safe for a baby, so I made some with water, salt, and baking soda. Eddie has quite the aversion for any foreign objects coming in contact with his nostrils, and he has now learned how to thwart my efforts by pushing my hands out the way. I'm working on devising a system to pin both arms down, hold his head straight and still have at least one hand left for the saline squirting and snot-sucking. Sounds like a three person job, doesn't it?

I'm hoping that with the help of the saline, bulb syringe, and humidifier, that Eddie will manage to not snort himself awake 5 times tonight like he did last night. I think he just needs to learn to breathe through his mouth. But what do I know?

Baby on Board

Riding in the car is one of Eddie's least favorite things. Now that he no longer falls asleep every time the car starts moving, longer rides have become quite problematic. We are often faced with the dilemma of whether we should pull over so one of us can get in the back seat and attempt to comfort him (usually in vain), or if we should just reach our destination as quickly as legally possible. Through some unpleasant experience, here are a few ironclad rules we have learned to live by:

5. All car rides are 20 minutes too long.

4. Once baby begins to scream, you will to hit every red light...

3. ...and they last twice as long.

2. The car in front of you will drive at least five under the speed limit, no matter how much you flash your brights at them, or how close you tailgate.

1. After screaming for the last 19 minutes, baby will finally wear himself out and fall asleep five blocks from home.

Six Months Old

Today is Eddie's half birthday! It baffles me to think that he has really been with us for six whole months. In honor of his six-month birthday, here are a couple fun facts about Ed:

1. He can now sit up unsupported... but I never go far (more than a foot away) because he tends to topple sideways onto his face or backwards. He gets better at it every day and really doesn't seem to mind toppling. I'm just a worrier and don't want him bonking his head as long as I can reasonably prevent it.

2. He is learning to clap this week. He loves it when I bang his hands together, but usually they are fists. I have tried to convince him to open them up, but he never went for it. Now he seems to be learning it on his own. Today at the doctor's office, he gave a good clap for the nurse.

3. His favorite thing to say is "mmmboo." It worked out great for Halloween, but I'm hoping for more new noises. Maybe by Christmas we'll get him saying, "ho ho ho."

At his appointment with the pediatrician today, we found out that he now weighs 17 pounds 15 ounces. He is 26.8 inches long. That means he's pretty much right in the middle of the range.

What a Swinger

This past weekend, we traveled to Cedar City to visit with my family. On Saturday, we had family pictures taken up Cedar Canyon and then we went to the park so the kids could play.

Riley and Eddie when we first arrived at the park.

Eddie looking tiny in the park swing.

As you can see, he liked it a lot. He got quite angry when we took him out.

Mmm... Prunes Are Good!

We recently discovered Eddie's love for prunes. He gets so excited when we give him some that he waves his arms around and kicks his legs like crazy. Here is today's prune feeding, for example:

He happily awaits the next bite.

He gobbles it down with only half squishing back out for another try.

But all good things must come to an end.

(For the record, Eddie was wearing a diaper under that bib...)

Sitting Up... Almost

Like I already mentioned, Eddie likes to sit up even though he's not good at balancing himself. If he's concentrating on something by his feet (or on his feet), he can usually stay up by himself for 5 or 10 seconds. Otherwise, he almost always tips backwards. Today to allow myself the freedom to read the mail, I propped him up with blankets and let him play for a while. Most of the time he looked like he was using all his abdominal muscles to hold himself up like this:


I also think he might be learning how to smile for the camera because nearly every time I'd go to take a photo, he'd get a cheesy grin like this:


However, I don't want anyone to be misled by these amazingly cute photos. Even though our child is ridiculously cute, I would say that at least half of my day is spent dealing with this:

This Week in Eddie

Nothing monumental has happened in the past week, but I thought since it's been an entire week, I ought to share a few photos I have taken of Eddie.

Eddie loves to sit up, even though he can't balance himself for longer than 2 second at a time. Here I am helping him out with my legs. This photo also shows off his new robot jammies.

He has also recently realized that he is flexible enough to grab his own toes and put them into his mouth. Socks really get in the way of this, but it's getting so darn cold that I'm letting him lay around without clothes on less and less.

Today I laid him on his little activity mat and he used his feet to push the overhead arches down so that he could grab one of the supports and chew on it. Pretty clever if you ask me.

Five Months Old

Eddie is five months old today! In honor of his almost half-birthday, here are some fun facts about Ed:

New Things

Sucking on his lips and/or tongue. I'll hear all sorts of slurping and think he's sucking on his hands, but no... just his lips.

Squealing. I particularly enjoy the squeals that are so high-pitched that only dogs can hear them. Otherwise, they hurt my ears.

Dislikes

Riding in the car. Often I will be struggling to get him to take a nap, so I'll strap Eddie into his car seat and we'll go somewhere (usually the library or the store). This used to work like a charm to get him to sleep, thus allowing me to browse the library shelves or get my shopping done. Now he'll sometimes stay happily awake for the whole trip (thus not taking a nap) or he'll scream the whole time and look at me like he was betrayed. There is no happy medium in this situation.

Citrus fruits. I myself am not the biggest fan of citrus fruits, but whenever I happen to enjoy a half glass of orange juice, I am always in for trouble. I have stopped drinking it altogether. What didn't occur to me is that Key Lime pie has limes in it... so I ate some one night last week. The next morning I basically got showered in spit-up. It was a lovely way to start the day.

Crowded restaurants. I think this one boils down to over-stimulation. Restaurants are too crowded, too hot, and too noisy for our boy. More often than not, one of us ends up holding him (or standing outside the restaurant holding him) while the other eats.

Letting Mommy and Daddy sit down. Eddie loves being held while the holder is standing. If he's not asleep when you sit down, he will freak out.

Likes

Eating with a spoon. So far, his favorite veggie seems to be green beans. He grimaced at squash and was a little unsure about sweet potatoes.

Being naked (or nearly so). We recently discovered that, though Eddie is ornery in the evenings, if we take off his clothes, he will be happy as a clam. But as soon as we put on his pajamas, he's back to being ornery.

Snots and Otis. When Eddie was born, Jeremy, Natalie, Dax, and Riley gave him a stuffed brown dog named Snots (in honor of Dax and Riley now having a Cousin Eddie). Eddie loves the dog, but he pulls his hair out and ends up with brown fuzz between his fingers. Otis is what I dubbed his little orange octopus toy one day when I was getting a little loopy and naming all his toys. For some reason, as soon as he sees that octopus, he gets all excited and shakes his arms and legs. Perhaps the tentacles are just the right size for chewing on.

The Sneetches and Other Stories by Dr. Seuss. Even though The Sneetches is quite the long story, Eddie will usually sit through it and sometimes even cough-laugh at Sylvester McMonkey McBean and his star-off machine. This book also features the wonderful stories The Zax, Too Many Daves, and What Was I Scared Of. I'm hoping that by reading him all these books now, he'll grow up to have an amazing vocabulary.


"When He Comes Again" from the Children's Songbook. Now I am not much of a singer...especially when singing a capella, but Ed loves this song. He can be all sorts of mad at me and I'll sing this song and he'll just hang out until it's over, then he'll start screaming again. Unfortunately it only has one verse (that I know of) and isn't all that long... so sometimes we just sing it over and over and over again. I've tried other Primary songs, but this one is the clear favorite.

Zoobie Doobie Doo

Today Eddie experienced his first zoo adventure. He and I went to Hogle Zoo with Cheryl, Zach, Sarah, Christie, Josh, Neil, and a few of Josh's friends. Eddie squealed at me the entire way to the zoo, then fell asleep about 2 minutes before we arrived.

He woke up in time to look at the elephants. Really I looked at the elephants and he looked at all the crazy kids around us. Obviously he's not old enough to be too interested in large caged animals.

He broke down about the time we arrived at the giraffes. That's right, just before the huge hill. So I was lucky enough to get a workout carrying him while pushing the stroller up the hill to see the tiger. Eventually I got tired of lugging him around, so we went to sit by the carousel to wait for the others to see the camels and gorilla.

Then we watched everyone else ride the carousel.

On the way out, we stopped at the giant elephant for a photo-op. Ed wasn't too interested, as you can see.

Just Like Daddy

We like to make stupid faces and noises at Eddie because they make him smile, but this was the first time he actually mimicked one of us instead of just laughing at us. Apparently Eddie wants to be just like his daddy... because he wouldn't do this when I tried it later. I cut out the sound and added fun music just so you don't have to listen to me chuckling through the whole video. Enjoy!