Eat, Sleep, Poop, Play

In the past week or so, it seems all of the above activities have increased for Andrew. He is suddenly eating a lot more. He went from 5-6 oz 4 times a day to almost 8 oz 4 times a day. He is also starting to embrace the oatmeal (even though it still tastes like cardboard)! I think there is a direct correlation to the increase in eating and the increase in pooping =) In the previous weeks, Andrew was fairly regular, pooped once a day and very rarely had a blow-out. For the past week, he goes at least twice a day and often requires a change of clothes afterwards. I will not provide details on the consistency or smell as it will make your stomach turn!! Let's just say I may never eat guacamole again!

Our entire family has been plagued by the stomach flu over the past few weeks. The only sole survivors of the Johnsons (us), the Meguiars, and the other Johnsons (grandparents) are Andrew and Pappy. I must have brought it into the family three weeks ago, and I was convinced I just had food poisoning until everyone else starting getting sick. Unfortunately Chris was in Florida for the golf show when he got sick. He was pretty miserable, and it made for an awful trip to Florida. He was able to finally play golf on the last day. I did feel pretty bad that I was giving him such a hard time about his Florida vacation (when it was a whopping 6* in Michigan) and then he got sick and couldn't even enjoy his vacation! So far Andrew and Pappy have not gotten sick, and hopefully it stays that way.

As I mentioned in my previous post, Andrew started rolling back to tummy. It is now nearly impossible to keep him on his back! If we put him in the floor and run into the other room for a minute, he is often not in the same spot or position as when we left him (I fear that I am going to miss those days!). As soon as he started rolling over in the middle of the night, it was apparent that we needed to stop swaddling his arms during the night. I was afraid that this was going to be a big ordeal and result in numerous nights without sleep, and fortunately I was wrong (yes, it happens every once in a great while). The first couple of nights were a little rough; however, now that he turns onto his belly, he can not flail his arms so the swaddle is a bit of a moot point. He sleeps a lot better now that he is on his tummy (just like his mom and dad!), so after I got through the first few nights with the fear that he was going to somehow suffocate himself in the mattress, Chris and I have embraced this new sleep style and appreciate being able to sleep even better than we did before (and we were pretty stinking lucky before).

Andrew has also started playing and talking much more than he used to. His coordination has improved immensely and now he loves holding onto his toys and balls. His favorite toy right now is a little football that has a lot of holes in it. He can get his fingers in the holes so that he can hold onto the football and wave it around. He still drops it quite a bit and then Chris and I will say "fumble" which he thinks is quite funny even though he has no idea what we are talking about! He is also starting to grab for objects like glasses, hair, necklaces, earrings, etc (while they are on your body). This has resulted in my glasses crashing to the floor a few times and nearly having a chunk of my hair ripped out. The little guy has quite the grip.

I have been traveling a bit over the past few weeks, and next week should be my last week of travel for a while. I miss my boys like crazy when I am gone, but I have been fortunate to only be out of town one or two nights a week, so we are handling it pretty well. Chris has been doing an amazing job being a "single dad" on the nights that I am out of town, and Andrew always seems happy, clean, well-fed, and not still wearing his pajamas when I return so all-in-all the travel has not been so bad for us. Though I think Chris is ready for me to be home again (I think Andrew is still too young to care, he is only concerned that someone is feeding him, bathing him, etc...he isn't too particular about who that someone is)

All-in-all, we are doing great and can't believe this little guy will be 20 weeks old tomorrow. Woah!

1/3 Of A Year

Last week, Andrew hit the 4 month mark!! Where is the time going? We are so fortunate to have a healthy, happy, and generally easy-going baby. We are enjoying him more and more everyday.

The 4th month was a very exciting month for us with Andrew starting daycare and me going back to work. I am enjoying being back on the job and interacting with walking, talking adults during the day, but I miss my little man and I can't wait to get home and see him at the end of the day (and see Chris too, of course). I have started traveling again since this is my busy season, but I think I will be able to keep it at just one or two nights a week, and I should be done by the second week of February. Chris has been great since I have started traveling, and we are lucky to have the grandma's close by to help!!

At Andrew's 4 month appointment last week, his pediatrician gave us the ok to start giving him cereal once a day. The first time we tried it, he didn't quite know what to think. Ultimately, he decided he was not a fan of the oatmeal cereal. Although, I can't say that I blame him because I tried it and it tasted like cardboard. His pediatrician recommended that we do the cereal for a couple of weeks then we can try some vegetables. Hopefully those taste a little better than the oatmeal cereal!!

The past four months have flown by, and most days I still can't believe that Chris and I are parents. However, we are absolutely loving every minute of it, and each day he surprises us with a new activity. His favorite toy right now is a fabric book. I think he enjoys chewing on it more than looking at the pages, but either way, his favorite toy is a book so we are hopeful that he will be intellectual =) He also loves his new exersaucer. His dad did not love the exersaucer when he had to put the thing together, but I kept reminding him how much Andrew would enjoy it, so he persevered and put the damn thing together. Fortunately, Andrew loves it, so my promise paid off!!

My report today (from Chris) was that Andrew started rolling from his back to his tummy and then he would roll back over onto his back. I have yet to see him roll from back to tummy so I am excited to see this actually occur. He has been rolling tummy to back for a few weeks, but he still isn't doing it consistently! Unfortunately, this means that we need to stop swaddling his arms when he sleeps (so that he doesn't smother himself if he rolls onto his tummy). I have been dreading doing this because when his arms are not swaddled he flails around and whacks himself in the head. Chris is really hoping that I will do this over the next week as he is heading out of town tomorrow and will be spending the next 5 days in Orlando at the PGA show for "work" =) I think they play a lot of golf and go to the golf show for 1/2 day in order to call it a "work" trip!! Anyhow he and his buddy, Justin, have been going on this trip for a number of years, and he really looks forward to it every year so I am glad that he gets a chance to have a nice vacation before his busy season starts in a few months. BUT I think he is hoping that I will get Andrew transitioned into sleeping without being swaddled while he is out of town so that he can miss the sleepless nights while Andrew continuously whacks himself in the head!!

Hopefully my next post is that Andrew transitioned from the swaddle beautifully and we didn't have any sleepless night. Ha, fat chance, right?

Who Are Those Other Little People?

So today was Andrew's first day of daycare. This adventure proved to be much harder on Mom and Dad than it did on Andrew. Walking into the daycare room was a bit overwhelming. Chris and I went for our tour during the week of 4th of July, which in hind-sight was a stupid idea because there were only 3 babies in the infant room versus the 8 they had in there this morning when we arrived. Upon our arrival (45 minutes later than planned - it is much harder to get out of the house with child than I thought it would be) one child was having his diaper changed and was screaming like someone was cutting off his leg. I think this whole fiasco started us off on the wrong foot as Andrew heard all of the commotion which is much different than the quiet from his own house, and he started to fuss and cry. Once I saw tears in my little guy's eyes, I was a mess. I held it together until I got to the car, but I was an emotional wreck. We did not leave until he had stopped crying and was content, but that didn't seem to make it any better. Below is a picture pre-daycare. Chris was much happier in this picture than he was when we were walking out to the car after drop-off.

I got to work around 9:45 and made it until 2:20 before I left to go get my guy. I only called once, but I think I checked the webcam every 15 minutes. Andrew's Applegram report card for the day said he was "Happy" and "Quiet", ate 2 oz (normally eats 6-8) and only slept for 15 minutes. Needless to say when we got home, he was starving and very tired! I figured eating at daycare would be a problem because at home we call him "The Sprinkler" because he moves his head around like a sprinkler when you are trying to feed him, he is always trying to see who else is in the room, where the cat is, or what is on TV! Therefore, daycare was an abundance of distractions and he just could not focus on his bottle. This was also the issue with sleeping! He did not want to miss any activities while he was asleep. Anyhow, I got him home and he guzzled 7 oz. and promptly fell asleep. I think this will be a very long nap and we will see what tonight brings. On another note (after my last post/rant), he is back to sleeping through the night. Thank goodness!!
The below picture is when we got home from daycare. He was asleep in his carseat before we ever got out of the parking lot. Overall it was a very emotional day, but we know that in the long run, daycare will be very good for him!

Back to Work and WTH Happened to Sleeping Through the Night

Last Wednesday was my first day back at work. Andrew went to my mom's for the day which made the transition much easier for me as I did not have daycare and the first day at work all at the same time. The first few days weren't too bad. I missed my little guy, but I am excited to be back in a grown up environment! Andrew will start off by going to daycare only on Thursdays and Fridays, so I think that will be a good transition for him as well. I will post again later in the week and let everyone know how he did on his first day at daycare :)

Andrew welcomed 2013 with nightwaking. We had been spoiled as he had been sleeping 10-12 hours straight, and suddenly he is now waking 2 times a night. Typically giving him his pacifier and comforting him for a few minutes (not ever removing him from his crib) will do the trick. However, there have been a few nights where it takes more work on our end. Often it seems that he is fussing, crying, and thrashing about but never truly wakes up. If anyone has any experience with this or thoughts to share, I am all ears!

Visiting with Friends & Happy New Year

This past weekend and week was filled with visiting friends as we wound down the holiday season.

I got to visit with my college roommate and her two daughters who now live in Arizona (lucky dog). It was great to catch up with her since we do not get to see each other very often. It was her first visit with Andrew, and it was the first time I had seen her girls in quite a while. I can't believe how much they have grown! It seems that many of our friends have kids, and we are all getting old =)

Later that same day, we had a visit from the Friedlein's. Their son Logan is about six weeks younger than Andrew, and we are convinced they are going to be the best of friends. The Friedlein's live on the east side of the state in Brighton so we enjoy any chance we get to visit with them. I am so excited to be going through this new journey of motherhood with one of my best friends!

Continuing the visit with friends, we spent the New Year in Traverse City with the Mack's. Justin and Lindsey have an adorable 14 month old daughter. Myla is a busy little bee, and she is very entertaining! Andrew had a major meltdown when we arrived in TC, so the first hour and a half of our trip was crisis management and trying to get him to bed for the night. After the kids were in bed, we enjoyed some adult time (and beverages) watching the New Year's Eve shows. We even managed to fit a game of Cranium into the mix. The girls won of course, but we all realized that we are not the most artistic or creative people! Andrew woke up in a wonderful mood the next morning, and it was a great start to the New Year!

More Christmas

We continued celebrating Christmas this past weekend (we tend to celebrate for weeks, and don't worry...we aren't done yet). Since we were all down in Memphis for Christmas, we celebrate our Christmas when we return. This past weekend was Christmas at RiRi and Pappy's. We continued our tradition of Monkey Bread for breakfast (one of my faves), and this year we added a new tradition of Mimosa's. It doesn't get much better than monkey bread and Mimosa's.

Even Brady was excited about the Monkey Bread, not such much about the Mimosa's.

Andrew got a lot of gifts (no surprise there). He received some cute little rattles that you put around your wrist, a few sound puzzles, a portable DVD player (for future road trips), and much more. Chris and I also received some wonderful gifts. I think Chris was most excited about his robe and slippers. You know you are getting old when you get excite about a robe and slippers.

Beema the Fat wanted to be in the middle of all of the action too!

Overall we had a wonderful day, and we are really enjoying stretching the Christmas celebration for as long as possible!!

Tis the Season - part II - Christmas in Dixie

Immediately following Christmas at Aunt Colleen and Uncle Shawn's, we loaded up in the car(s) and headed for Memphis. This sounds like a terrible idea...I know! However, Chris and I had many discussions and decided that we did not want to miss Christmas in Memphis, even if it meant an 11 hour car ride with a 3 1/2 month old!! We left Muskegon around 3:45 pm and had two cars full of baby stuff (Grandma and Grandpa Johnson were along for the trip as well). Andrew was asleep before we got out of the driveway and slept until we stopped 3.5 hours later south of Chicago, we fed him and hit the road again and he slept until we got to the hotel around midnight. We were amazed that this trip was starting out so easy. We left the hotel the next morning after we waited for Andrew to have a BM. He had not pooped in two days, so I was starting to get worried, and once I saw the first sign of "poop face" I called a halt to all activities and said we are not getting in the car until we get a poop. It is amazing how much your life starts to revolve around your baby eating and pooping. Anyhow Andrew did his business and we hit the road. He was doing great on this stretch of the trip as well, mostly awake and just looking around. However, once we got about 10 minutes west of the Tennessee border, the little guy decided he was hungry and all hell broke loose in our car. Once I determined there was no pacifying him (and at this point we were entering Memphis and were in an area of town where I would not stop if my life depended on it) I told Chris to just drive and I would try to feed him in the car. I thought for sure I was asking for a major spit up, but he ate just fine in the car and we made it to my Dad's safe and sound (without killing each other).  All in all, it was a great road trip.

The first family event in Memphis was the evening we arrived. On Christmas Eve, my mom's side of the family celebrates at my grandfather's house. Andrew had not really had a good nap all day, so the writing was on the wall for a terrible evening, and sure enough, soon after we arrived he went into full meltdown mode. He did not get to enjoy much of the celebration as Grandma and Grandpa Johnson took him back to my Dad's house so he could go to bed (he slept for 12 hours that night...he was one tired little boy). The rest of us had a great evening, and we even had a visit from Santa (Uncle Rusty).  This is a picture of the cousins with "Santa" and Mikey photo-bombing in the background.

Christmas morning we open gifts with my Dad. Below is a picture of Andrew with his Granddaddy. He got some great gifts on Christmas morning (and so did mom and dad).

Christmas Day celebration is with my Dad's family and that is at Aunt Rita and Uncle Alvin's. My cousin's girls are the star of the show on Christmas Day, and as you can see below, it is because they are so stinking adorable!

Below is a picture of Andrew with my Grandmama. His great-grandmother. She was very excited to meet the little guy.

The day after Christmas my Aunt, Uncle, and cousins open all of their gifts. For the past few years, I have enjoyed being a part of their Christmas as it is so much fun to see the girls get their gifts. They receive some pretty awesome gifts from their Nona and Woozie, and it is a lot of fun to be a part of that celebration. Below is a picture of Edie, the newest addition to the Saenger clan and her rocking lamb. I think this gift was a hit with Edie.

 And here is a picture of Nona with Liza and Georgia. Nona put a lot of work into making sure this (and every other Christmas) is the perfect Christmas for these girls.

And the last picture of our Christmas festivities is Andrew with RiRi and Pappy.

We had a wonderful Christmas in Memphis, and other than Andrew's meltdown on the first night, he was a trooper throughout all of the activities. We headed back to Michigan on Thursday morning with the hopes of making the trip in one day but with full expectations of having to stop for the night around Chicago. We left Memphis at 6:30 (7:30 Michigan time). Long story short (because this whole story has been very long!), Andrew was a rockstar. We made it to Michigan at 8:30 after only 2 stops. He just watched the world go by (or slept) for most of the trip. He only fussed for about 20 minutes. Chris and I could not believe we made it home in one day. We didn't even talk to each other for the last 2 hours of the car ride for fear of waking Andrew up.

So that not-so-short story sums up our trip to Memphis. We had a great time, and it was wonderful to see all of the family that we do not get to see often enough. We miss them terribly and can't wait to see them again.