11 Month Blog (it's Brian's birthday!)

(another late blog . . . sorry)

Happy April 15th!! This is a very exciting day for us. It's Brian's 28th birthday! Everett is 11 months old. Brian's two week SPRING BREAK starts today! And we got final confirmation that we're homeowners! Yay!! . . . more on that in another blog.

Developmentally, this hasn't been the most action-packed month. He's basically doing all the same stuff. He's just getting better at it.

He's not walking yet, just pulling himself up on stuff and "cruising." But he's much more stable now and stronger. Just today he was pushing the chair with his booster seat attached to it around the kitchen, and I said, "he couldn't do that a couple weeks ago!"

He's started crawling behind the couch and playing back there. It's pretty funny.

He blows me away with his motor skills. He can make a basket in his basketball hoop. He can place a rod into a toy with a hole in it. He can place toys like caps on other toys, and he can pick up little pieces of food and put them in his mouth so well!

Speaking of food, he's eating a lot. I think he's getting pickier. If you give him a choice of food items, he'll usually have a preference. Today he was eating sweet potatoes, kidney beans, and chicken, and the kidney beans were the clear favorite, followed by chicken, and he didn't want anything to do with the sweet potatoes toward the end of the meal.

If he sees his food on a plate out-of-reach, he'll point to what he wants and squeal.

He may be eating better because he's getting his MOLARS!! One on his top right and one on his bottom right have broken through, and the same teeth on the left side are just below the surface. I'm really happy these teeth coming in haven't seemed to affect him much. Besides being a bit more drooly, he hasn't been upset or sleeping poorly (ok, this week he's woken up once a night, but he's gone back to sleep with a little belly rub from his daddy).

He just gets more and more aware. He totally understands what "daddy" means. You say "daddy," and he looks right at Brian. He's almost as good with "grandma" and "grandpa," but I'm not so sure if he understands "mommy." I think I don't say it enough. (;

He's started understanding that you shake your head to mean "no." Too bad, I kind of like when he shakes his head when he's excited. But he's certainly catching on.

He's a big fan of dogs, deer, the moon, and con trails (the above picture he was watching a hawk).

Brian swears he said "up" the other day, and I swear he said "off" today. Or at least as close as he can get to those words.

He's been talking more to himself. You'll catch him quietly vocalizing while he's playing. I'm sure it's very deep stuff.

He makes this "ant face" look a lot still, when he's being silly or when he's sleepy. He's also started doing FISH FACE!! It's so cute. He'll do it when he's eating and sometimes when he's just playing.

We've been going to Kidz Club at Kennedy Gym from 9 to 12 on Thursdays. I'm doing it to get a free membership (which I have yet to USE!) and to get some socialization for baby. It's been pretty fun so far, and Everett loves to watch the big kids (mostly 2-year-olds) run around and play. I'll get in the pool soon, I swear.

So it's Brian's birthday! He's 28 today. Wife, baby, career, new house. That's pretty good for 28!

What to say about the best husband, father, provider, friend I could ever have asked for on his birthday? Well, "happy birthday. I'm happy you're my age again." That's my usual message on his birthday. Four months being younger than me is TOO LONG! {:

But seriously. It's going to be a great year. I feel very fortunate to be sharing these new adventures of parenthood, homeownership, and residing in the town we grew up in (!?!) with a handy guy who is a great daddy, has a lot of energy, and has the same amount of healthy skepticism in the wonders of the central coast as I do (plus a great appreciation for it).

On a petty note, I'm happy to be designing renovation projects and picking out paint colors with a person whose aesthetic sensibilities are so close to my own that he picked out an engagement ring so perfect for me I could never have picked it out for myself. He has great taste.

I love you Brian, and I think we're both going to enjoy your 28th year!

Ten Month Blog

Ten month bl-ahhhhhh-gh! 

This month's post really snuck up on me since I've been pretty consumed with creating my art blog (at www.casdelcisneros.com), making my Twitter and Facebook pages (@casdelcisneros and facebook.com/casdelcisneros respectively), and trying to buy a house! . . . more about that when (if) it's finalized. 

Another month has passed with our wonderful baby boy. Things don't change as quickly now as they did in the early months, but he's still growing and changing so much.

He's becoming more aware every day. It's more obvious that he understands what we're saying and that he knows what he means when he signs . . . even though his signs sometimes get interchanged. 

Some days are better than others with the signing. Some days he's perfect and other days they are all mixed up. But his "milk" is always better with his left hand, which makes us wonder "lefty?" Brian would be very happy about that. {: 

He's clapping now and uses it to do "more." 

He shakes his head (with a big smile on his face) when he's excited or happy. It definitely doesn't mean "no" to him. 

We thought he was fast last month, but this month he's crawling FAST! Blink for one moment and he crawls from the fireplace to the front door! He's also standing even more than last month, free-standing more than last month, and he can walk around using the walker the Hunters are loaning us with adorable proficiency. 

He also loves to walk with his highchair in the locked position (it still kind of scooches along). I know the owner's manual probably warns against this use, but he thinks it's FUN!

He has learned to crawl around the grass like a champ. Before he was hesitant to move much on the prickly substance, but he's getting used to it. 

He's been getting better and better at turning around before he gets off the couch or bed, goes out the door or even crawls from the grass to the mulch (so cute!). But today (!!) he turned around and crawled off the couch backward, and I only had my hand over him in case something happened. 

He's been doing this adorable "excited face." When he sees someone he likes (everyone he knows), he smiles, gets kind of rigid, shakes, and sometimes shakes he's arms too. It's hard to describe but super cute.

He loves birds, and lights, and will reach for lights to get you to turn them on. He also reaches toward the smoke alarm, but only Grandpa Phil turns it on for him.

He's been playing with cars more. Grandma Gion bought him a firetruck, and he wheels it around. Sometimes he even makes "car motor noises." How did he learn that?!

His hair is growing so fast he needs another haircut soon, maybe this week.

He's wearing 12 month clothes very comfortably now. He can wear 18 month shirts too, but 18 month pants are too long. Does this child, who's in the 90th percentile in height, have a long waist and shorter legs like his mama and Grandpa George? Probably.

He's still been sleeping really well! It's so so so nice.

Our late blooming eater has acquired quite an appetite. He's happy to eat at lunch and dinner, and sometimes even breakfast. He much prefers savory and sour foods to sweet. He likes beans, lentils, (rice) spaghetti, eggs, chicken, yogurt, oranges, and even lemon!

The weather's been mixed this month, but there have been enough good days to get in some fun events.

Morro Bay.

Cambria.

And the zoo with the Hunters!

We start Kidz Club at Kennedy this Thursday (thanks to a friend's hook-up!), which should be fun! Get a little socialization and a little gym-time.

It should be an AMAZING month! I can't wait to see what he starts doing next!

9 Month Check-Up

Everett and I went to see Dr. Patterson day, and I wanted to fill you all in on the details.

The doc gave Everett an A+ for growth and development. He kept commenting on how sweet Everett is. Well, yeah!

His stats didn't surprise me. He's still tall. 30 inches, which means he's in the 90th percentile. He grew two inches. He's light at 19 pounds 7 ounces, which is the 26th percentile (using the average chart, not the breastfed chart). But he did gain 2 pounds!! His head circumference is still average.

Methinks Everett is taking after his Grandpa George.

Dr. Patterson wants Everett to eat 2 ounces of beef a week, which I found quite amusing. Sure! I'll let Grandpa Phil cook that up. {:

He has to start taking vitamin D.

And he got 3 shots, which was sad, but he only cried right when the needles went in, and stopped right after she was done. }:

Overall a standard visit.

I forgot to mention Dr. Patterson said Everett has the teeth of a 14-month-old. Don't I know it! 

Nine Month Blog!

(this is my first blog to post the day after his birthday. This is what happens when he becomes super mobile and I have to chase him around the house all day).

So I have a 9-month-old today. Whoa! And although that doesn't mean that he's been out as long as he was in (being ten days late), it does seem significant. Nine months!!

He's still our sweet, silly, amazing boy, but this month more than any other, he's impressed us with how smart he is! He's learned to wave when we say "hi" or "bye-bye," he's started signing! His "all done" looks more like a wave with both hands, but he's improving it, and he definitely knows what he's trying to say (just today he did "milk"!!). He can make baskets in his toy basketball hoop. And he's been mimicking is ducky bath, "quack quack quack."

He's so mobile now! Since last month he's perfected his crawl. Now it's on hands and knees and lightening fast! He still pulls himself up on everything, and now he can walk along the side of the couch or transfer himself from, say, the ottoman to the rocking chair. He's also getting good at climbing up the stairs, not so much down. On the 3rd, Gion and I were watching Everett stand holding his toy box. He had a ball in one hand. He let go of the box to hold the ball with both hands. So for about a second he stood on his own, then dropped to his bottom.

But with all these amazing things, the most amazing thing is SLEEPING AGAIN!! Hooray! A few weeks ago, I had pretty much had it with my lack of sleep. Anyone who reads this blog or follows me on Facebook could tell that I was beyond frustrated.

So I did what I do every time something stumps me, I put Brian in charge. That sounds bad, but I think it's a part of every successful partnership. If you're not very good at something, give that task to your partner, who may be better at it than you are.

Brian's always been a very supportive daddy. Of course! We're not the type to separate tasks down gender lines, but sometimes it makes sense. He works full time, and I'm the milk-maker, so jobs get separated.  With sleeping, I was the one getting up most, especially when he started rejecting Brian's comforting. Brian would get up when I asked him to, but he was a passive participant in this sleep thing.

When I put him in charge, he read the same sections of the books I had read, but all of a sudden . . .  we had a plan!

So we started sleep training. It was hard at first. The first night, when he woke up, we let him cry for 5 minutes before Brian went in and comforted him (without picking him up, just rubbing his back). That 5 minutes was an eternity! Brian came back in and we let him cry for 10 minutes. At this point I thought, "this kid will be scarred for life! We'll give him attachment disorder!" Brian went in and rubbed his back. During the slot where we were supposed to give him 15 minutes, he started whining, then fell asleep.

We did a similar thing the next 2 or 3 nights, but I was never so alert as I was the first night, and he cried less. For the last couple weeks, he's maybe woken up once, cried for about a minute, and Brian will comfort him right to sleep.

He's been "waking for the day" around 5:30 or 6:00. At first, I was good and got up to feed him in the office. The last week-ish, I've just brought him into bed with us so I can stay nearly sleeping. When he's done, we get up.

But last night he slept from about 9:00 to about 7:00!! Hallelujah! No waking, no crying. Wonderful!

So, for nearly 8 months, I was sleep deprived. And I really came to understand the importance of sleep. This coming from a person who always appreciated sleep. I'm an 8 to 9 hour a night sleeper without a baby. Now I REALLY appreciate sleep and what it's like to live without it.

I've been sleeping pretty well for the last 2 weeks, and this is my message: If you have an infant and you are waking up 2, 3 + times a night to comfort and/or feed him/her, and this has been going on for months and months, DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT!!!! You are no good when you're tired. You're unproductive, unhappy, and dangerous! I avoided sleep training because the idea of "crying it out" seemed horrible to me, but he's fine crying for 5 minutes and now he can comfort himself back to sleep, and he's probably more rested too!!

I'm sorry we didn't do it earlier.

He still isn't the best solids eater, but we try to sit him down three times a day and see if he'll eat something. He usually will, more at dinner, less at breakfast and lunch. His favorites are probably squash, yams, and yogurt. He's also good with applesauce, pear, banana, peaches, mango, oatmeal, and this week he tried strawberries and watermelon and liked them both.

We're sticking with fruits and veggies right now along with the yogurt and oatmeal. I know a lot of people are sensitive to wheat and dairy, so we're avoiding those for now (besides yogurt).

If you read my earlier post, you'll know we're avoiding avocado. Who knows when he'll get that again!?!

With this new introduction of food, his poop is changing. You know you're a proud parent when you say, "his poop just peeled off the diaper into the toilet!!" and are actually excited!

Because of the solids, we're trying to have him drink a bit of water at every meal. We've been having him drink straight from his plastic dinosaur mug. He's ok at it, but we're wondering if a sippy cup might be more efficient. We bought a container with a straw. It was supposed to be for babies, but it was too hard for even Brian or me to drink from. Design flaw!

Everett got his first haircut on February 7th. I'd wanted to cut his hair at the crown for a while. It was getting so wild, and he still had some long newborn hairs (which our friend Jessi called Who Hairs, so cute!). But Brian wasn't on board until his hair started growing over his ears and making a mullet in the back. It went well. I used the trimmer, and he wasn't too freaked.

The hardest thing for him is still getting his clothes changed, especially when the shirt goes over his head. He HATES that! But changing is taking longer overall because he's such a wiggle! Sometimes it's taking 5x as long as it used to because I basically chase him around his room to get his pants on.

It seems like he has a new facial expression every month, and this month he's been doing what we call "ant face" where he pinches his nose and purses his lips. It's really funny, but it makes me wonder if he has allergies like his parents and grandparents.

It's been so lovely around here, I wanted to post some pictures of him playing outside.

It's been a busy month.

We've been doing a lot of house hunting, and we've made two unsuccessful bids on houses. Both times it's been frustrating, but it's just the reality of the market right now combined with our price limit. We'll find the perfect place eventually!

On January 17th, Brian had the day off for MLK Day, so Phil, Gion, Brian, Everett and I went to Calcareous Winery in the west Paso hills. They have some beautiful land up there, wow! And it was a wonderful day.

On January 21st, we celebrated Rosalina's 1st birthday with her family and friends. Rosa is Everett's closest little friend right now, and her parents (Chris and Janna) are friends we hope we won't have to move too far away from when we finally get a place. Right now they live just a short walk away.

On January 30th, we got a visit from our friend Jennifer Little. It was great catching up! I'm sorry we didn't get any pictures.

On February 5th, we drove down to Arcadia for my Uncle Olin's memorial service. It was lovely and so nice to see family and longtime friends. The best thing about the service (in my opinion) was all the stories people told! Olin impacted the lives of so many people, and he will be missed. It was a crazy trip because we decided to go down and back in one day. More than 8 hours in the car! It was exhausting, but Everett did really well, so I'd say it was a successful trip

February 6th, we celebrated Julie Hunter's birthday. It was fun because it was the first one of these get togethers at the Hunters' where Everett actually played with other kids . . . sort of. He was interested. We also always love to celebrate birthdays with one of our favorite families! Here's Everett with his new little friend Eli.

Also on February 6th, we celebrated Everett's Grandma Gion's birthday. And on February 12th we went over to the Asdel grans for dinner to celebrate Grandpa George's birthday.

It's been a very exciting month. Let's see how he changes in the next 30 days! 

Our Eating Adventure

When I was pregnant and when Everett was little, I thought we would wait as long as we could to feed him. I wasn't in a hurry to have him eat, and everyone (including my pediatrician) was saying there was no reason to have him start solids before 9 months.

But as we were getting to 5, 6, 7 months with very poor sleep--on my part, he sleeps fine, just waking 2 to 3 times a night to eat--I started thinking, "most people say feeding solids doesn't help babies sleep, but I'm willing to try anything!!"

A bit after 5 months, we let him start nibbling here and there: potatoes, sweet potatoes, banana. We didn't try to feed him every day, just when we were eating something we thought he might be interested in.

He did well at first. It was more a fun new toy than anything.

Mostly out of convenience, we didn't make avocado his first food (that honor went to potato), but that's what we had intended. And when we bought our first avocado for him, it was kind of ceremonious. And he seemed to like it.

When Gion's sister Gretchen and her husband Mark visited in early November, we bought another avocado, and during a family dinner, we were shoveling the green pulp into his mouth, not really noticing how much we were giving him, but it was quite a lot.

That night was the worst night we'd had as a new family. Everett started throwing up a few hours after eating, and he kept throwing up until there was nothing left to throw up. I fed him a full meal (of mama's milk) just so he had something to throw up. And sure enough, he threw all of it up as well. We went through a number of pjs and several sets of our sheets before we put him to to sleep in a disposable diaper in our bed so we could keep an eye on him.

Having had a few bouts of food poisoning myself, that's what it seemed like to me. Not an allergic reaction, but that something had upset the stomach, and the body wanted it out. I assumed it wasn't the avocado, and when I told Dr. Patterson about the ordeal, he didn't think it was the avocado either. He said avocado is a very non-reactive food. People are hardly ever allergic to it.

However, we still avoided feeding him for quite a while. He wasn't insisting upon eating, and we were a bit skittish.

But once again the lack of sleep became my number one concern, and I decided I wanted to try to feed him again.

On December 10th (I looked up the video to get the date) we tried a bit of rice cereal mixed with breast milk. It's what Dr. Patterson had suggested giving him in the first place. I had resisted because I didn't see any value in the food. But it is non-allergenic, and could fill him up at night (plus, I "borrowed" a bunch from my friend Janna, so I didn't have to buy it). When we fed him that night, he acted like we were trying to poison him!! Gagging and making the most ridiculous faces.

So once again, we stopped feeding him.

A couple days after Christmas, we went to a dinner party/poker night at our friends' house. We were all eating dinner, Everett was sitting next to me in the high chair. Leslie had made some squash. Thinking it would be fun for him, I gave him a finger of the food. He made the disgusted face and promptly threw up all over Trago and Leslie's high chair, his clothes, everything. That was slightly embarrassing. More because I didn't know that he'd be sick, not because he was (being parents, they've seen it all).

And we went back to not feeding him.

On January 11th, at almost 8-months-old, we were eating minestrone soup for dinner, and it occurred to me that there were elements of the soup that he might enjoy. The soup was spiced for adults and had chicken broth in it, but he was 8-months-old! We gave him zucchini, beans, carrots, and broth from the soup, and he really enjoyed it. Yay!

That's when the feeding started more seriously. I've been trying to have something for him at breakfast, usually banana. We'll usually give him something from our plates at dinner, like beans. And if I'm really on-it, he'll get something at lunch-time, like orange.

He's very independent, so he'll eat much better if he can feed himself. If he can pick it up (fortunately he's very dextrous) or if the food sticks to the spoon, and he can hold he spoon, he's a much happier camper.

His sleep pattern hasn't improved yet, but I'm hopeful. He's just been changing SO MUCH that it's hard to get a good system down. He recently stopped letting Brian comfort him at night, so that's a big and very unfortunate turn-of-events for me.

He'd been eating so well that on January 17th, more than 2 months after the first event, we decided to try avocado again. We gave him quite a bit. More than a couple little chunks--many spoonfuls. He liked it!

But a couple hours later we were watching TV downstairs and heard him coughing upstairs. Brian ran up to check on him. When he didn't come down right away, I went up and sure enough, there was milky-avocado slush all inside his crib. We went through the same thing again. Hours of him loosing the contents of his stomach, us cleaning up, feeding him more to throw up, sleeping with him in a diaper, and worrying about his health.

As soon as he started vomiting, we realized this kid was allergic to avocado, no question. If it's not a clear-cut allergy, it's at least too rich for his stomach.

It's all so ironic because we looked into giving him avocado for his first meal. As we read, we realized we should start him with something a little blander, but avocado came in as soon as possible. Brian and I both love avocado, think it's one of the most delicious foods on earth. Plus, it's super good for you--bonus!!

So it's sad to us that Everett might not be able to enjoy this glorious "fruit." But hopefully this reaction won't last forever.

This week we've had a couple difficult nights. Friday he woke at 11:30, I nursed him, he went back to sleep (if I remember correctly), but woke at 1:30 and wouldn't go back to sleep. I nursed him, rocked him, rubbed his back, eventually he went back to sleep, but it took a long time. This is quite unusual for him.

I assumed he was just rilled up from attending his friend Rosalina's first birthday that evening. The only weird thing was that he smelled like chicken soup to me. And he had no reason to smell like that.

Then last night, we dealt with a similar situation. This time, he never went back to sleep in his own crib and ended up in our bed, waking up every hour or so and crying loudly. I think that, once again, he smelled like chicken soup (I'm so congested that I couldn't tell--or maybe my illness is causing him to smell like chicken soup to me!).

I've been sick, so I'm hoping these few nights he's just been fighting something off too. I'd be sad if he was allergic to something else, like sweet potatoes or apples. I've done some research, and it seems that banana allergies often go with avocado allergies, but he's eaten quite a bit of banana with no obvious reaction. He's also eaten sweet potato on days he's been healthy and sick. Maybe orange? Apple? Hopefully none. But I'm wondering if maybe we should take him to an allergist sooner rather than later. }:

My thought right now is that I probably have a kid with a few food allergies who is also a bit of a drama queen (sad that I can't tell him to "save the drama for your mama." I am the mama!). I've seen video of other babies eating, and they are not as animated as Everett is. For him, eating is a production. And it can be a fun one or a very unpleasant one.

Remembering Olin

My father's younger brother Olin passed away over a week ago, January 12th at 3:40 am.

I've been trying to write a blog about him, and it hasn't been working. I'm not the right one to go into the details of his life in this open forum. Then I tried to write a letter to him, but it got a little too sad and personal.

So I'm keeping my thoughts and memories to myself, but I'll write this one thing:

Me and Olin on 12/12/1983

My favorite memories about Olin all include the way he interacted with my father. When they were together, they were both "on." These two guys, who could be very funny on their own, were like a comedy team when they were together. I guess that's how brothers are. I wish we could have had more of those moments.

His memorial service is on February 5th. I look forward to hearing everyone else's favorite memories of him.

Eight Month Blog

It didn't occur to me, when I was waiting to write this blog, that the 15th would fall on a Saturday this month. Meaning . . . Brian is home today! This fact is both awesome and might render this blog quite short.

But Everett just went down for a nap, so I'm going to whip up a little entry.

My little man is 8-months-old today!! And although the time has flown by, he's doing so many amazing and grown-up-type things that the 8-month label doesn't bother me. He's only 8-months-old?!? He seems like he's about to enter Kindergarten! {:

This has been an amazing month. He's so active and inquisitive.

He's still not "crawling crawling" on hands and knees, but boy can he move! He gets all over the living room, foyer, hallway, kitchen on his belly and elbows (people call this the army crawl).

One day we noticed that he was just popping up to a sitting position from crawling. No big deal! (;

But the last few days, he's been blowing our mind, pulling himself up to stand on EVERYTHING! Anything that you can imagine he could possibly pull himself up on, he can pull himself up on: toy box, crib, couch, chairs, coffee table, side tables, the cage Phil built around the furnace, the rocking chair, the doors to the living room with glass in them, his piano, the guitar, us while we're sitting, etc.

We're wondering if he'll start walking before he even "really crawls." My parents claim I basically went straight to walking. But I had a walker, and they thought it may have been the walker that taught me the "right moves."

His favorite things are the one-handed pepper grinder, table legs, and anything of ours that he's not supposed to have.

His new thing to do that he knows we find cute is to scrunch up his shoulders and squint his eyes. It's hard to get a picture of it, because it usually just looks like he's chubby.

He's still not a great sleeper. Meaning he wakes up to eat about twice in the middle of the night. Our strategy with Dr. Patterson was working well, then suddenly he changed. His cry at night is different now, less of a baby cry and more his big boy "I'm hungry and annoyed" cry. Brian can no longer comfort him to sleep. When he tries, Everett just cries more and eventually I break down and come in to feed him. Last month I was able to just feed him on one side (to try to increase his feeding in the day), but lately he'll cry after one side and insist on the next. So we're dealing and hoping the sleep comes soon. I can't believe I've only had a handful of full night's sleeps in 8 months!!

To try to get him to sleep better, I'm attempting to have him eat more. I know everyone says solids don't help a baby sleep better, but I'm willing to try!!

When we gave him rice cereal, he acted like we were trying to poison him. Bananas weren't much better. We had more success with some minestrone soup the other night, broth, mashed zucchini, white beans, and carrots. The next night we put the soup through the food processor and he sipped that concoction too. He's also done alright with squash and has warmed up to bananas.

He has all seven teeth in, four on top and three on bottom. I admit, I sort of miss my little vampire.

He's selectively waving to people. The other morning, Brian left for work and said "bye" as he closed the door behind him. I said, "bye bye daddy!" and Everett waved his hand! So sweet.

I ran out of time while writing the last blog to talk about our trip to see Everett's great grandma and grandpa Ramona and Stanley Cisneros. On December 27th, while Katie was visiting, we caravanned down to Guadalupe. It was a nice visit. We brought Ben Franklin sandwiches, and we all caught up while Ramona and Stanley played with Everett.

They were in really good spirits and sharp as tacks!

Ok, it's now 7:30. Many hours after I started writing this blog. Everett came house-hunting in Paso Robles with us today. Brian carried him in the Ergo. We saw five houses, and Everett was so good!! We're home now, playing before some friends come over for poker!

We are having so much fun with our little guy. He surprises us every day!