Happy Holidays!

Wow - is Christmas really just a few days away?! It seems like the month of December always flies by! We didn't really decorate as much as we usually do b/c it's hard to keep Kirby away from everything. We definitely put a tree up, but we blocked it off using a gate between the couch and sofa. Kirby likes to toddle over and try to touch the tree, but he's only able to graze a branch or two. There's not much he can grab, though - we didn't want to put too many items on the tree in case he was able to get past the gate. We have lights, a star on top, and we bought "unbreakable" ornaments. I put unbreakable in quotes b/c half of the containers had broken ornaments in the store. :P

For the outside of the house, we put some lights out, but didn't go as crazy as we usually do. Part of it is that it takes a lot of time and another part is that we realized that we should hire an electrician to set up another outlet instead of taking a chance with the 3 we currently use. Thankfully, the worst that has happened is that the circuit is tripped when it rains/snows. Here's a video of what we have going on this year.

Kirby's still not walking on his own. We thought he would be by now, but I don't think he's confident enough in his abilities just yet. I think the most steps he's taken on his own is 6. He's definitely more stable and he can go fast when he's excited about something, but he wants at least 1 finger to hold onto while he's walking. The past two Sunday mornings, we've taken him to the mall before it opens - which is nice b/c there's no one else at the playground. He also likes walking around the mall and looking in the store windows. It's perfect b/c no one is there except mall walkers and all the stores are closed so he's not tempted to run inside and throw clothes on the floor. :)


He signs a few more words - here's his list: "more" (which he actually thinks means "I want"), "please," "thank you," "food," "sleepy," "milk," and "stars." He also says a few more words: "hi," "mama," "dada," "yo-yo," "umbrella," and as of yesterday, "bye bye."


We have already had a few "snow storms" this year. Ugh - I am not looking forward to January! The first snow storm was the heaviest and Kirby was quite intrigued by the whole thing. We didn't let him stay out in it long b/c he didn't have a proper winter coat, but he had fun. I think he was most happy about the idea of being right next to Santa and Frosty b/c he only gets to see them from afar.

We hope you have a wonderful (and safe) holiday season!

Happy Birthday, Kirby!

Wow - where did that year go? I can't believe that Kirby is already a year old. In the days leading up to his birthday, I just couldn't stop thinking about the amazing experience. I would think, "A year ago, we were playing Rock Band waiting to go to the hospital." or "A year ago I was being induced." While labor was a very tiring and crazy process, it really wasn't that bad (and I was in labor for 18 hours)! Looking back on things, I think my pregnancy was worse than the labor (you know, having to walk using crutches, having random pains all the time, couldn't sleep, etc).

And now, a year later, I have a wonderful, amazing, beautiful boy! :) I was about to say baby boy, but, alas, he's no longer a baby. He's cruising that fine line between baby and toddlerhood. EEP!

So much has happened since I last wrote in May. At that time, he was barely rolling over. Since then, his main mode of transportation became rolling (for about 2 months), and from there he started crawling. He's still crawling when on his own, but he loves for someone to hold his hands and let him walk around. Recently (maybe the past 2 weeks) he's gotten good enough that he wants to run. :) We're working on holding just one hand right now so he can get used to balancing on his own.

It's amazing how much he picks up from other kids when he's around them for just an hour or two. He was watching a friend of his and then the next day he stood straight up (without having to pull up on something). He's only done it once so far, but we'll be seeing his friend again this weekend so maybe Kirby will want to do it more.

Now that he's a little more mobile, he's very interested in being physical. He wants to climb on the stairs, up his slide, and he even climbed onto the coffee table before we knew what was happening! We haven't gotten anything for his birthday, but we're thinking of getting some sort of gymnastic mat that he can climb all over.

Kirby's also *very* good with his hands. He waves at everybody and everything (signs, lightposts, etc). :) I think he's been ahead with hand dexterity since the beginning - he seemed to do things earlier than his friends, but they were always ahead in mobility - so it's a nice trade off.

As far as words, personally, I think Kirby's been saying "Hi" and "Hey" for a while. I say it to him all the time and he usually says it back. He does not, however, say it unprompted. He has also said "Dada" and "Mama" but I think they're just sounds without meaning. It still makes me smile when I hear it, though. :) His first actual communication is the sign for "more". Granny's been doing sign language with him and now he uses "more" all the time when he's eating. Apparently, he loves puffs and Mum Mums.

I can't think of much else at the moment, but I'll try to be better about writing in when there's something interesting. :) Our Flickr page has a lot of photos (including some amazing professional photos taken when he was 8.5 months old), so check them out if you haven't had the chance.

Rolling over pt 3

Wow - what a difference a week makes! In my last post, I mentioned that Kirby rolled from back to front and from front to back on his own. Well...... starting some time last week he started regularly sleeping on his belly. It happened once during the day for a nap and ever since then, he's been on his belly when I get him up (whether it's in the morning or after a nap during the day). At first it kinda made me nervous about SIDS, but everything I read says that once they can roll on their own that they're mostly past the "dangerous" time for SIDS. That's fine, but I'm still nervous! I put him down at night on his back and I usually check on him before I go to bed to make sure that he isn't face down in the mattress. :)

He's gotten a bit better about rolling over but yesterday was a whole other level for him! He started rolling quite a bit - back and front - but still in the same general area. This morning, Kirby was alone on the blanket on the floor while I got breakfast. When I came back into the living room, Kirby was completely off the blanket and on the hardwood floor! We moved a rug downstairs so Kirby has more rolling around space but it looks like we won't be able to leave him alone anymore!

It's so amazing to see how fast he's developing now. It really is like a switch was flipped and he magically knows how to do something that he couldn't do well the day before. Some other things that he's been doing lately:

• He was able to sit by himself in one of the restaurant seats. It was still a bit big for him, but he held onto the sides and leaned against the back. He was so excited to look around and get a different view. Of course he was drawn to the TV, but I'm ok with him watching a little bit since we don't allow him to watch any at home anymore. I don't like complete silence, so the TV is now tuned to the music channels - mostly Solid Gold Oldies. :)
• I took a bath with him for the first time. It wasn't as easy as I thought it would be! He kept wanting to float around and reach for the toy, and I was afraid to let him go just in case his face went under water! It was funny when he discovered that he could splash the water with his legs. Once he figured it out, he was going crazy. :) I can't wait to take him to the pool and watch him play. I already bought his swimming trunks, a shirt with 50 SPF and a floppy hat. :D
• He's getting better at standing for longer periods of time. We still have to prop him up on the coffee table, but he has much better control than before.

We're getting to the point where we'll need to start getting rid of his infant stuff since we're running out of room. Part of me has been wanting to hold onto it in case we decide to have another. Gary's been saying that he's done, but Kirby's such a great guy that I've been thinking that maybe we can have another (nevermind that it took 3 years to have him :P). HOWEVER, some friends of ours came to visit over the weekend and they brought their 16 month old daughter (who's adorable, BTW!). She's so active, loves stairs, and showed us how our place is NOT baby-proofed. :D I look forward to Kirby being that active one day (sooner than I imagine!), but I just don't know if I have it in me to try to wrangle a toddler and and infant at the same time. Now I just need to make sure that Kirby has lots and lots of friends to play with so that he doesn't feel like an only child. :)

Here's Kirby standing with the aid of the coffee table.

6 months old

My beautiful baby boy is already 6 months old. Wow - where has the time gone?! I think it's all a haze of poopy diapers, lack of sleep, and breast feeding. :)

Everything seems to be going well for all of us:

• He had his 6 month dr appt last week. He's 17 lbs 7 oz (55%) and 28.5" long (95%). That's a long baby! He's already getting too big for 9 month clothes and now we just by 12 month clothes. At least now it's summer so he can wear shorts without squishing up his feet in the sleepers. :)
  
• Granny is enjoying being with Kirby all day. Kirby was sick for a bit of the time, and thankfully we have her to watch him and give him a little extra TLC that he wouldn't have gotten at day care. She plays with him a lot and takes him on walks so Kirby's definitely sleepy by the time we get home. I think she's going to start taking him to Pottery Barn Kids story time - partially for him, but partially to see if there are any other stay at home grannies that she can befriend.
  
• A short term goal was to be able to breast feed for 6 months, but my supply doesn't seem to be slowing down so my next goal is to get to 1 year. I had planned on weening him off at that time since he'll be able to drink cow's milk by then, but part of me feels like I can keep going for a little longer. We'll see how I feel once his teeth start to come in. ;)
• He had quite the busy weekend of firsts!

• Gary was holding Kirby so that his feet would touch the ground. At one point, Gary put Kirby's hands on an ottoman and his feet on the floor, and Kirby actually stood on his own for a few seconds! Quite surprising since he doesn't tend to put his feet down.
• He's on day 4 of eating pureed food. I'm not sure why, but we chose squash as his first food. If you go to our Flickr acct, you'll see a video of his first taste of food. The look on his face is hilarious! So far, there have been no allergic reactions to the squash so we'll try another food Wednesday or Thursday. I bought all natural food (ingredients were squash and water), but this weekend, I'm going to another mommy's house to see how she makes her own baby food. Gary & I are pretty lazy when it comes to housework so the thought of all those extra dishes isn't appealing - however, I want to make sure that Kirby's isn't eating crap (preservatives, extra sugar, etc) and she assures me that it's not as difficult as it seems. :)
• Gary & I were sitting on the couch setting up Netflix on Wii while Kirby was on the floor playing. At some point, he stopped playing with his toys and just kept bringing his legs up and grabbing his toes. After 10 minutes, I looked over and Kirby brought his legs up and rolled from his back to his belly - completely on his own! I think all of us were shocked - especially him! :) He's not good about rolling from front to back so we had to help him back over.
• Later that evening, Kirby was on his belly, and he ended up rolling onto his back - again, completely on his own! And so it begins - we'll have to keep an eye on him now. ;)

Here's Kirby's 6 month photo. He's what you call "an assisted sitter" - can sit when propped up.

Granny care

So.... yesterday was Kirby's last day at daycare for a while. Gary's mom is settled in her new place and starting today, she's watching him full time. I know that she says that it's her pleasure, but it really is quite generous of her and I know that we're lucky that he's being watched by a family member that loves him. We're not sure how long before we decide to put him back in daycare (so he can get used to playing with other kids, etc), but a large part of it will be up to Granny - just depends on how long she finds it fun instead of a job. :)

In other news, another yucky stomach bug hit the Miller household. Kirby was feeling "off" all weekend - mostly cranky, couldn't settle down for naps, etc. On Sunday evening, we were driving to meet another mommy and her family for dinner, when Gary looked into the rearview window and saw Kirby throw up all over himself. He pulled the car over and Kirby wasn't upset - just wet. I didn't have the phone number of the other mommy, so we drove to the restaurant to cancel and it turns out that her husband wasn't able to come b/c he was feeling sick, too. Originally, we thought Kirby was cranky b/c he was teething, but then we realized that there was probably another bug going around the daycare. Just great. :/

We drove to Wendy's for drivethru dinner and on the way home Kirby threw up all over himself again. By that time, he looked pretty sad. :( When we got home, we threw *everything* into the washing machine and scrubbed our hands. I wanted to Listerine the heck out of my mouth, too! Poor little guy was completely soaked when we took his clothes off, so we gave him a quick bath and put him to bed.

Thankfully, he slept well that night, but we took him to Granny's on Monday so he could get the extra TLC that he wouldn't get at the daycare. She said that he was definitely acting different (not his usual happy self), but by the end of the day he seemed to be doing better.

Not so much for Gary! He worked half a day and ended up spending the rest of the day in the bathroom. He was still sick the next day, but thankfully he was able to eat some and felt better by the evening.

I thought I had avoided it all until this morning. :( So far things aren't as bad as either of my guys, but I'm nervous waiting to see if it all kicks in! *fingers crossed* that I've already dealt with the worst of it!

Kirby's already 5 months old! I saw the idea for the blocks in a magazine, but I didn't see it until recently, so I missed the first 4 months. Oh well - better late than never!

rice cereal

All the baby books I've read lately say that they suggest babies drink breast milk exclusively until 6 months. However, at Kirby's last dr appt, he said that they now suggest adding rice cereal between 4-6 months. Apparently, it was decided at the last Pediatric convention and since it just happened, the books we have are out of date. *shrug*

I was hesitant to start rice cereal (mainly b/c I'm hesitant about change :P ), but I warmed up to the idea b/c I started thinking of how cute he'd be eating from a spoon. Since he didn't gain much in the last 2 months (only 1.5 pounds!) I thought the extra calories would do him some good. :)

We've only fed him 3 times so far. The first time, he didn't know what the heck was going on, and he ended up spitting up all of it 5 minutes later. Same with the second time. Last night, however, he seemed more interested and even opened his mouth when Gary got close with the spoon. Since he hasn't eaten much of it, we've only been giving him 1 tablespoon once in the evening. Maybe we'll give it another week and bump it up to 2 tablespoons. I know it doesn't sound like much, but it takes a lot to pump out each tablespoon and I hate to see any of it wasted!

Here's video of his very first time eating with a spoon and eating rice cereal (sorry about the light coming from behind him).

Itchy!

Poor Kirby! His eczema has been getting worse lately! He has some raised spots on his head (which we originally thought was cradle cap) and now he's getting patches on his legs, arms, face and neck. His head is bad enough that he now scratches it (which Granny thinks is funny), and of course, his little nails are hard to keep short so he has little scratches all over his head. :(

I started using Burt's Bees lotion on his skin this week and it's gotten a *little* better, but thankfully he has his 4 month appt today so we can find out what we should really do for him. I'm hoping that it goes away with some form of cream because I read that another thing that might help is for me to give up dairy, eggs, soy, seafood and peanuts for 3 weeks to see if he has an allergy. Oi - the thought of giving up dairy (cheese & ice cream) makes me a sad panda for sure! But I'll do what I need to in order for my baby to be happy and healthy!

Speaking of dr appts - I'm curious to see how much he's grown since the last appt (2 months ago). He gained 4 pounds and 3 inches last time. If that's the case this time, he'll be 18 pounds! We're already getting to the point where we have to buy another car seat b/c he's growing too long for the infant seat we currently have.

In other news, Granny has officially moved to Durham! She moved her stuff here last weekend, but had to go back to TN to take care of some things (clean and re-list her farm, etc). She arrived back in Durham yesterday and she's spending all her time unpacking and getting her place set up. We're going to leave Kirby in daycare until the end of March so that Granny has plenty of time to get her affairs in order (additionally, she's going to spend a week in Florida visiting her daughter and grandbabies). It'll be nice to have her watching Kirby full time - especially since Gary, Kirby & I always seem to be sick. Blech!

Here's one of my new favorite photos of Kirby & Gary.

And so it begins......

Ever since Kirby rolled over that handful of times, he hasn't done it since. I'm certainly in no hurry to get him rolling around and walking, but I thought it was interesting that he seemed to have "forgotten" how to roll over.

Since he got us up earlier than usual this morning (5:45am - UGH!), we had some extra playtime. We decided to put him on his stomach on his floor mat to give him some tummy time. He held his head up well, etc, but then he got annoyed and Gary moved him to his play mat to bat at the toys above his head. During this time, I was in the kitchen packing my lunch. After a few minutes Gary got excited and said that Kirby had rolled over to his side, but by the time I got over there, he was on his back again. This happened several times so I delayed packing and got on the floor with Kirby. And you know - he did it several more times!!

It was just the cutest thing. He would bring his legs up in a ball and just BOOP! roll to one side. He'd only stay there for a few seconds then roll onto his back. He just kept rolling back and forth - like it was no big deal. :) I asked his teacher about it and she said that he started doing it yesterday, but he was doing it a lot.

I'll see if he'll do it again and try to get some video to post.

Back to Work

Well, my maternity leave is over. :( It's been really great hanging out with Kirby for 2.5 months, but unfortunately, we're not really in a place that would allow me to be a stay at home mom. Actually, we could do it, but it would be really tight with just one paycheck. Besides, as much as I love my little dude, I definitely need some adult time.

We dropped Kirby off at the day care center today for about 4 hours - mainly so that Kirby isn't thrown into a full day with strangers but also because we needed to deal with some official business (getting our passcodes, dropping off supplies, etc). I was fine when we first dropped him off (he was asleep), but as I talked to one of the teachers about things we need to do, all the babies started to cry. And not just fussing..... hardcore crying! One kid even looked up at me and had these huge crocodile tears running down his face. :( One teacher was talking to me and the other was feeding a baby while rocking two others in bouncy seats with her feet (there are 8 infants and 2 teachers). I know they're good at multi-tasking, but it just broke my heart to know that Kirby would be laying on the floor crying, waiting for his turn to be comforted. :(

As the front desk person worked on setting up our passcode, I wandered over to the infant 2 room to see what was going on. I wanted to look in on Kirby once more before we left, and I saw him laying in his crib, wide awake, staring at the ceiling and snacking on his hand. I immediately started crying and had to quickly leave the building. I didn't realize it would be so difficult. Tomorrow's really going to suck! :(

Gary & I ran around doing errands (looking for a Wii), read magazines at a bookstore, ate Indian food for lunch, and grocery shopped before picking up Kirby. When we got there, he was eating. Apparently, he had a really good day - just hung out in various spots in the room and just enjoyed looking at his new surroundings. He didn't sleep much (about 30 minutes) so I was prepared for a meltdown when we got home.

I fed him just a bit when we got home and he completely passed out! I let him sleep on me for 3 hours b/c I couldn't bring myself to put him down.

I gotta say, we really lucked out with such an amazing baby. He's generally a laid back, happy baby. He's such a sweet heart! All last week he had a cold and even when you could tell he wasn't feeling well, he still had interest in playing and smiling. I feel blessed to have such an amazing little guy in my life and I'm sad that I'm not going to see him as much every day because he's changing so much and every day it seems like he's able to do something different.

Here's the latest video of him - he's talking to his new baby animals book.

First cold

Kirby has his first cold. :( We noticed it Saturday night when he was making more noise than usual when sleeping. During the day on Sunday, he seemed a little out of the norm, but around dinner time it was obvious that he was sick b/c he sounded congested and had a bit of snot.

We took him to the ped on Monday and she said that it's just a typical cold - nothing to do but wait 7-10 days for it to go away. The only thing we can really do to help is to saline/bulb his nose 3 times a day and use a humidifier when he's sleeping. Being a first time mom, it's weird to experience your baby being sick. It's really hard to see him struggling to breathe and to be so miserable. :(

Since Monday, it's been pretty typical - snotty, running nose, coughing, sneezing, and sleeping a lot. Today was a little different - he slept a LOT today. I'm hoping there's nothing new going on - just that he needed a lot of rest to get over it. A few hours ago, he had a coughing fit and then ended up throwing up. The ask-a-nurse doesn't think that it's anything to be worried about right now b/c we're not seeing anything else that's a "warning sign".

Hopefully, he'll start to feel better soon b/c ugh - he's going to start daycare on Tuesday and I'd hate for him to feel so poorly when his life is turned upside down by being with strangers all day.

Here's a photo of him from this afternoon. Even though he's feeling like crap, he still has a smile for his mommy. :)

What do you think?

Here are a few baby photos of The Miller family. Who do you think Kirby resembles?

Kirby:


Theresa:


Gary:

2 month appointment

Kirby had his 2 month appt today. We were looking forward to seeing how much he's grown...... and he's huge! His weight is 14lbs 2 oz (95%) and length is 25 3/4" (97%). He gained just under 4 pounds in one month!

We had to wait a bit before our appt and we discovered something interesting. When I went to check in Kirby, the front desk person said that another mother wanted to meet us. Apparently, our sons keep getting mixed up or it's assumed that they're twins. They were born 2 days apart (Kirby's older), both have the same last name, both mothers work at Duke, and both kids are going to the same preschool in a few weeks. The other mother first discovered it when she called the preschool and said "Mrs. Miller" - they immediately said "Kirby?" The same thing happened to her today when she checked in for their son's 2 month appt. Oddly, Kirby has never been confused with her son - maybe b/c Kirby isn't a common name. *shrug* It's kinda neat that we met them and have such a great story since they'll be buds at school. :)

Anyway, after we went back for the check-up, they had us take all of Kirby's clothes off while waiting for the dr. This was the first time that Kirby really had a chance to stare at his reflection in a mirror - and he loved it. :) I've tried showing him a mirror as I walk around the house with him, but he seemed uninterested. I guess he needed a more relaxed environment to appreciate the mirror.

Other than getting his stats, he was checked out and he's, of course, doing really well. :) Thankfully, Gary went with me b/c Kirby had to get 3 shots in the thighs. Ugh - I eventually need to get over it, but while Kirby was getting the shots, I had to stand in the corner with my back turned and my ears plugged. Poor little dude! He cried for a bit, but fell asleep on the way home.

I let him nurse and sleep on me all day b/c I wanted to comfort him as much as possible and I didn't want to move him too much since his legs were sore. He was pretty pitiful when he slept - making noises like he was in pain. :( I didn't think he felt warm, but Gary thought he felt a bit warm so he took Kirby's temperature. It was our first use of the rectal thermometer - which isn't fun for anyone. Turns out that Kirby did have a bit of a temperature (101.2) so we gave him some Tylenol in hopes that it would help him feel a bit better. Hopefully he sleeps ok tonight and feels better tomorrow.

Rolling over pt 2

We put Kirby in our bed this morning and he rolled over 3 times! Gary & Kirby came upstairs to wake me up and Gary laid Kirby on our mattress while I got dressed. Rather quickly, it looked like he was trying to roll from back to front. He was almost over, but his arm was in the way - like a kick stand. He was stuck like that for about a minute before Gary helped him all the way over onto his stomach.

Kirby hung out like that a bit, rocking back and forth, and the next thing we knew, he rolled over! Gary put him back on his stomach to see if he'd do it again, and he did!

We were bummed that we didn't have the camera, so Gary ran downstairs to get it in hopes that Kirby would do it one more time. During that time, Kirby started to get annoyed and I was afraid that it wouldn't happen. However, Kirby performed on command again and we finally got it on camera! Unfortunately, our computer is in the shop so we won't be able to post the video until the middle of next week. I'll post it as soon as possible b/c I know there are grandparents that are eager to see it. :)

ETA: here's the video!