7 months

Stephen is a day shy of 7 months! We went back to the dr for a weight check. He has gained a pound. So, for now, we don't have to supplement. (Yay!!) He still has allergies like crazy, so we are starting him on Zyrtec once a day. We started last night. Hopefully it works! He can sit up much better now. He is almost to the point where he doesn't need anyone around him. He is just still a little wobbly and tumbles over sometimes. He is working really hard on pulling himself up by himself. He can do it with a little help. He can almost crawl. He can lunge himself forward, but still goes backwards a lot when actually crawling.  It won't be long and he will be running circles around us. He still has no teeth. (Boo!) He is now off the bottle and drinking from a sippy cup or nursing. (Yay!) It was a pretty easy transition for him. I took a sippy cup to his daycare so they could introduce it. They said he was doing so good they thought he had been using it for a while. He hasn't looked back since! I am really looking forward to all the exciting new things he will be doing soon. But I am sad it is going so fast. 

          Stephen and Daddy chillin'

I can't believe we are 7 months into parenthood!!

6 Months!

My big boy is 6 moths old!! He is 27" long and weights 15lbs 4oz. Tall and skinny! A little too skinny! He is only I. The 10%ile in weight. We have a few things to try to get his weight up and we go back in a month for a weight check. He is in the 66%ile in length though. I think he will be tall!! :) 

He now gets very excited to see me when I pick him up from daycare. When I pick him up he just grabs me and give me big wet kisses as his whole body shakes around from excitement! I love it so much that he loves his momma! He can say dada, but nothing else yet. He does jibber jabber a lot. I don't know where he gets this talkativeness from! ;) 

He still waking up 1-3 times a night when he's not sick. If he is not feeling well it is about every 2 hours. 

He has learned to play peek-a-boo! It is really about the cutest thing ever! If you give him anything cloth he will put t over his face, then jerk it down fast and grin really big! He really cracks himself up sometimes! I took some 6 month photos that I will post later. I hope they turned out good! 

      Sitting in the shopping cart for the

                         first time!

               He loves tummy time!

       Eating some dinner with his new 

                 (to us) bumbo tray!

             He loves shower time!

  Clearing out the snot from his little cold. 

                             :)

He waves!!

Stephen has been trying to figure the whole waving thing. When you wave at him he gets all focused and you can see his hand tense up like he wants to do it, but cant. Today after talking to the ladies a daycare, before leaving, one of the teachers said, "bye, bye Mr. Stephen!" while waving at him. He just started waving big and looking at her. He did it several times! My baby is learning so much and getting so big! This little man just brightens all of my days! 

    Taking a nap after school today! :) 

We have been sick!!

Well the plague has hit the Stepp house.  I had a touch of food poisoning Thursday night.(6-27-13) Then, Justin has got food poisoning on Friday night. We are thinking maybe bad Hot Pockets. So no more Hot Pockets for a while. Justin also has his first kidney stone(s). We are hoping just one and we are hoping it passes soon. (We have heard that kidney stones may cause nausea and even vomitting, so that may have been the culprit! And the kidney stone did pass that night!)

In baby new, Stephen is doing great! His teachers at daycare say he rolls over all the time! He has been chewing a lot since he was about 2 months old, but in the last week or so has been chewing a lot more and a lot harder. He really isn't very fussy about it, just chewing like crazy! He is eating cereal daily with veggies so far. He likes sweet potatoes, peas and squash so far and does NOT like green beans! 

Addy spend the weekend with us. She is such a big helper! Right when she walks in she says she needs to hold Baby Stephen! She is learning that she only gets to hold him when Lala or Nana are beside her. We had an incident where I left him laying on a palate in the floor to go get something from the kitchen, I told her before going in there to leave him alone and DO NOT pick him up! I came back in the living room 45 seconds later to him crying because she was trying to pick him up...  Now, maybe he was crying and then she tried to pick him up to comfort him, but I'm not so sure. 

She is usually a big helper, though! She wants to help change diapers, give him a bath, get him dressed, even clean the house! She loves to vacuum and do the dishes! I love getting to spend time with her and I love that these two crazy cousins are going to get to be such good friends and take care of each other!

          Addy holding Baby Stephen!

First word!!!

He said Dadda!!! He was just repeating me, not actually saying to Daddy, but Daddy was holding him when he said it. Super exciting to me!!

He has started sucking his thumb in the last couple of days. This is apparently a very contraversial issue! Some people think it a bad habit to let him start. Well, we are not "letting" him start it. He just does it. We put this paci in his mouth and when it falls out he goes for the thumb. I guess it is just easier to suck the thumb than find the paci and put it back in, which he is actuly kinda of starting to get the hang of! :)

               Sucking his thumb!!

Swimming for the first time!!

We went swimming last weekend for the first time. The water was a little chilly but still fun!

       He thought it was kind of chilly!

        Look at his crinkled little toes!! 

5 Months Old

Stephen is 5 months old!! This month he has began rolling over and eating. He LOVES to eat. 

        Taking his very first bite ever!

At first he didn't know what to think. After the first few bites he went after it. The first night we fed him he slept from 7:30pm until 5am!! He must have known I was pretty sick and needed the sleep. He has not slept through the night again yet. Hopefully that starts happening soon, but i am not holding my breath. As if we had never fed him...anything! Now he eats in the morning at daycare and at home before he goes to bed. I am excited to start trying veggies, fruits and other "real" food. 

He is getting very good at sitting up in the Bumbo. He is becoming much more vocal and majoring lots of new noises and sounds! (I would put a video but this blogger app won't let me?!) 

  Such a happy boy sitting in his Bumbo!

And he has started riding the Bumbo like a horse..

                         Giddy up

Doesn't he know that is frowned upon in this establishment. I just know he is going to tumble out one of these days. (Don't worry, I am always within arms reach!) 

He doesn't have any teeth yet, but is always chewing on everything! 

His favorite thing right now are playing with Daddy, stranding up and eating! 

                Stephen and Papa

                 Stephen and Nana

                 Stephen and Meme

               5 month old (the day) picture!!

Swaddle Free?

Well, we tried for an entire week to go without a swaddle. 

          Sleeping without his swaddle

The first night (Friday) he woke up 7-8 times. On the second night only 3-4 times. So naturally I thought we would be past the whole swaddling thing before the weekend was over. That's what I get for thinking. Last night (Thursday) he woke up EVERY hour. That was the second or third time this week he did that. So, along with going to work every day, I have also been waking up WAY to many times at night. This makes for a very cranky Mommy. Now, with the helpful advise of some of my mommy friends, I have decided my baby, despite what the doctor says, is just not ready to sleep unswaddled. Tonight, when Stephen got a little tired, I gave him a shower, Daddy got him dressed and played with him for a few minutes, then, I played with him for a few minutes, swaddled him and put him in bed. I did have to go in his room once to settle him (only having to pat his tummy). HE FELL RIGHT TO SLEEP!!!! I suffered for an entire week with nothing to show for it, except bags under my eyes! But we will be trying again in a couple of weeks. 

Well, it wasn't all for nothing. The second night without a swaddle he rolled over from his back to his tummy! 

   How I found him at midnight Saturday!

Since then, he has been rolling from back to tummy like crazy! What the heck?! He is getting so big! And mobile!! I know tomorrow he is just going to take off running! He was rolling from tummy to back a little before, but was having a hard time with it. He is still having a hard time rolling from tummy to back (that darn arm is always in the way). But rolling from back to tummy seems to be old news, and he's only really been doing it a day or two!!! 

            The many ways he sleeps.

                        (this week)

4 1/2 months

Stephen went in for his 4 month check. He's actually 4 1/2 months old but our Dr. appt got delayed a little. 

His stats:

Weight: 13lbs 13oz (18%ile)

Height: 26" long (77%ile)

Head: 16.5" around (30%ile)

Dr. Austin is not concerned about him being in the 18%ile in weight. He says he is growing at a good rate and there is nothing alarming him about his weight. 

We do have some things to work on. We are already working on the flat spot on his head. I believe some improvement has been made on it.

I have been working and getting it rounded out. Dr. Austin is ok keeping and eye on it right now and reevaluating it at the next appointment. He gave us some good tips on how to fix it, so hopefully we get it taken care of before he turns a year old. 

He also wants us to get away from the swaddle. We use it at night and it really helps him sleep through most of the night. We took to swaddle away Friday night. Let's just say it was a rough night! He normally wakes up at around 3am and then again at 5:30-6am. Friday night he woke up at least 6 times, but I think it was probably actually 7-8 times. Saturday evening was a little better. He woke up 4-5 times. So, hopefully tonight is back to normal. 

Dr. Austin wants us to wait until at least 6 months before introducing solid foods. I am okay with this, due to the fact that Daddy was so allergic to food as a baby. Stephen is beginning to get interested in us eating. He follows our spoon/fork to our mouth and even began mimicking me chewing today. 1 1/2 more months and he will get to start eating!! Yay!! 

After his checkup he had to get shot. Boo!! I don't like this part (like any mother does) He got 3 shots and 1 oral vaccine. He loves the oral. He also loves Infant Tylenol. He didn't so too bad with the shots. He cried a little and stopped. But, then saw the nurse and had a bit of a melt down. So, they let us go in a room and nurse. That helped a lot!! (Mommy and baby!!) 

After that, we went home and napped a little. 

         Snuggling after Stephen's Dr. 

                      appointment.

Sleeping without a swaddle for the first time!!

Our First Fever Rash

Poor Stephen got a little virus this week. He was sent home from daycare on Tuesday because he was running fever and tugging at his ears. Well we went to the doctor and they said his ears were perfect but his throat was a little red. So it was just a virus and it needed to run its course. Nana kept him on Wednesday since he couldn't go back to daycare until his fever broke for 24 hours. I got off work at noon and my mom met up with me so we could have lunch, I could get Stephen and keep addy for a little while. You can imagine my reaction when we stopped at a park to eat and took off his outfit to find him covered from head to toe (literally, the top of his head to the bottom of his feet!!) in little red dots!! I called and left the nurse a message and then called "Dr. Lydia". I call Lydia every time something happens to Stephen. When he coughs a little funny I can her. Anyway, she said this is pretty normal with a virus. And should go away in a few days. Whew!! My kid doesn't have measles!! The nurse later called back and confirmed when Lydia had said. 

              Little red dots..all over!!

     Poor guy!! It doesn't even seem to

                bother him though!!

                         All over!!

           Even on his little bottom!!

So, now they are almost all gone (YAY!!) and his fever has been gone for about 36 hours now! I think we finally kicked whatever he had!! 

4 months old

He is 4 months old! I can't believe how fast the time has gone by! He love standing up while holding your hands. We have not started solid foods yet. Maybe in a few weeks. He loves play time with Daddy, but still doesn't like to go to sleep for him. He is successfully sleeping in his own bed now. He wakes up between 1-2am and again at 5am. He is beginning to blow spit bubbles and is also becoming quite vocal! Peek-a-boo is very funny right now. He still lights up when Mommy picks him up from daycare! He fits in most 6 month outfits, but has a little room to grow. 

He has discovered his feet and is constantly trying to grab them or touch his face with them. 

             Asleep in his own bed!

We are loving getting to know this little mans personality! He astonishes us almost everyday with a new skill or noise! 

First Haircut!!

Well, his hair is getting kind of crazy! Some is short, some is long and some is just falling out!! So, I cut it all off. Well, I just cut all of it the same length. Which is a "3" with the clippers. It went pretty well. Stephen wasn't scared of the clippers or anything. He did wiggle a little, but I expected that! He is a mover!!! 

                            Before

              Look at that mess of hair!! 

     I think he may be unsure about this!

And then we got the trimmers after him.

                     Here we go!!

Look at all that hair!! I know grown people that don't lose that much hair when they get a haircut!! 

                 And now he is bald!!

It's really not as short as it looks here..

     I think he is happy with his at home

                Mommy-done haircut!

I think it looks much better! And now maybe it will start to grow more evenly!!

Sleep

Stephen is sleeping in his own bed! We tried this once before when he was about 2 months old. Let's just say it did not work out. He was just still waking up too often. Now he usually only wakes up once a night at about 2-3am. Sometimes I get lucky and he doesn't wake up until 4am. Then, he usually eats every 2-4 hours. So we are trying him in his own bed again. So far, tonight being the 4th night, he is doing pretty good. Last night he went to bed a little early and he woke up more than usual. But hopefully tonight is better and he sleeps all the way through. Fingers crossed!! Here are some pictures of him sleeping in his own bed for the first time, this time!! And some pictures from happy mornings!! :)

Cousin Ethan!!

We got to visit with Justin's cousin Elisabeth. She just had baby Ethan 4 weeks ago! (The pictures are from him at 3 weeks) He was almost the same size as Stephen at birth. He was born just a smidge early. If he had gone all the way I'm sure he would have been the same!! His name is Ethan Matthew Spann. He is a cutie!! We really enjoyed our visit! Thanks for having us over Miss Elisabeth and baby Ethan!

These two are two months apart! 

Baby Ethan

First Bath!! (Back tracking)

His cord and bell fell of at about 10 days and we got to take our first bath! I was excited!! Stephen, not so much!!

His hair is a crazy hot mess! I love it! Curls look good on this boy! 

Happy now with the blow dry going!

Probably thinking of ways he will some day get me back for torturing him!