Seven Months Old

(The quality of these pictures is going downhill as Beckett becomes more mobile. He crawled off the chair twice, Kolby (barely) catching him both times. We'll take what we can get!)

Well just about as soon as I decided that I’m going to embrace Beckett growing up, I have to eat my words.  My baby grew up too much for me this month.  He changed more in just a couple weeks than he had in the past couple months.  The big thing is that he’s gotten so active that he doesn’t want to sit still with us anymore.  Y’all... it breaks my heart.  He’s squirmy in our laps now and just wants to get on the floor and play and move.  At church we had to start dropping him off in the nursery during the sermon.  I feel like it’s the ending of an era (overdramatic, much?). 

On the bright side, he’s laughing a lot more now and learned this fun “trick” where if you shake your head at him he’ll shake his head back, usually accompanied by a silly scream.  He’s getting more interactive every day and it’s a ton of fun.  But the independence he’s developing—it’s not my favorite.

He’s still Grabby McGrabberson.  I’m constantly having to adjust because every day it seems he can reach further and faster and knock something onto the floor, get something that’s not his, etc.  Kolby and I joke that we could set 10 things in front of him and he would grab the one thing that does not belong to him.  It’s so funny how he’ll look right past a pile of his toys (even new, fun ones) and go for the shoe, phone, remote, etc.  We had a little honeymoon phase when he learned to sit up on his own, where we could eat dinner or sit and chat with someone and it was super easy because he would just sit on our laps and be totally content.  Now he’s lunging for anything within eyesight and gets frustrated if he can’t have it.

A big new thing this month is food!  We gave Beckett his first solid food a couple days after his six-month birthday.  We started with pureed avocado, then moved on to pureed peas, then gave him some hard-boiled egg yolk (which he LOVED), then pureed green beans.  He’s learning quickly what this eating thing is all about, and seems to enjoy everything he’s tried so far.  Our doctor suggested starting with green veggies then moving on to orange/yellow veggies, then fruit.  So next on the menu was sweet potatoes and roasted yellow bell peppers, and he also tried banana (and ate half a banana in one sitting!).  He still gets all his sustenance from breastmilk; the solids at this point are just to help him learn how to eat food and also provide some extra vitamins and minerals. 

Also, Beckett is now rolling over!  He took his time deciding it was worth it, but he now rolls over when he wants to, usually back to front.  He scoots a little bit too, mostly backwards, and he can turn (counterclockwise only!).  He’s also gotten a lot more consistent lately with liking to stand.  For the longest time he had no interest in locking his legs.  And just this past week he learned how to maneuver from sitting to lying on his belly.

His sleeping isn’t much changed from my last update.  He typically sleeps from 9pm-6am, although it’s still not uncommon for him to wake up closer to 5 or 5:30am, and every now and then he’ll wake up once in the middle of the night.  We’re happy with his sleeping and are all enjoying the full night of rest!

He naps from about 7:30-9am, again for another hour or so around lunch, and usually a shorter nap later in the afternoon.  He seems to have become more sensitive to getting tired now—if he’s been awake for too long and gets bored he’ll sometimes start to get a little fussy, whereas “fussy” wasn’t really in our vocabulary the past couple of months.  He also protests loudly now when he’s hungry and I set him down while I get ready to nurse him.  Just in the half a minute it takes for me to get a glass of water he’ll break out into this really high-pitched whiny cry.  Apparently when it’s time to eat, it’s time to eat!

Things we did this month:

-Beckett tried food for the first time

-Celebrated Kolby’s first Father’s Day

-Beckett laughed REALLY hard at Kolby tossing a ball in the air and catching it

-Had a play date with Maximilian, Collin, and Declan

-Swam at Chip & Sherry’s house and at Becky’s house

-Spent a long weekend in Wimberley with Poppa and CeeCee

-Beckett’s first trip to the river in Wimberley

-Visited Gran and Daddy Monk in Athens, TX

-Splashed around in our tiny inflatable pool

-Had lunch with Mimi and Grandfather at their community center

-Celebrated July 4^th with Brad/Remy/cousin Tucker and Chris/Ashley/cousin Liam

Things Beckett loves:

-Loves grabbing his feet and holding on to them, especially during diaper changes or in his car seat

-Rolling over

-When Kolby tries to make him laugh

-Standing

-Looking at Maya

-Playing with other kids and babies

-Being tickled

-Tags—he LOVES to play with and suck on the tags of his toys, bibs, etc.

Things I love about Beckett:

-How easy it is to make him smile

-How precious his smile is (and how gummy it is… not sure how long that will last!)

-His hair getting longer

-Swimming with him

-I feel like I’ve hit a really good groove with nursing him—I’ve always loved it so much, but now that he goes longer between feedings (4 hours) we can do more things without me having to game plan where I can find a spot to feed him.  And it’s been a long time since I’ve thought, “Man, it’s time to feed him AGAIN?!?” (moms of young babies, you know what I mean!) or been inconvenienced at all by the logistics of being a nursing mom.

-His sweet and silly sounds

Summer

A few pictures that capture the essence of our summer :)

Beckett's First Trip to Wimberley

In mid-June we took a family trip to Wimberley for a long weekend with Poppa and CeeCee at their ranch there.

We all had such a fun time!  Here are a few pictures.

Picnic at the river park:

Beckett's first trip to the river:

 Beckett's first rodeo:

 Can't wait to go again!

Six Months Old

Beckett is so much fun these days that I’ve decided to accept and celebrate the fact that I have a six month old rather than totally falling apart.  I loved every second of his newborn phase but I don’t wish for it back like I thought I would because he seriously gets more fun every day.  Plus, he turned six months old on Kolby’s first day of summer…. and that is definitely worth celebrating!!!

Cheers to two months of tons and tons of time as a family together!

So, what’s the latest with our little guy?  He is still such a dream.  If I had to sum him up in a word this month it’d be content.  He’s still an insanely cheery and smiley baby, but the change that stands out the most lately is how he’s happy whenever, wherever.  Life with a baby has never been easier than it is now.  I can barely remember what it was like when I couldn’t take a shower or eat because there just wasn’t a good option for what to do with him.  There are so many options now—he loves his exersaucer, his playmat (still!), his Johnny Jump-Up, his swing (which he never really cared for before), his Bumbo chair, or just hanging out on the couch, a blanket, wherever.  He doesn’t get bored.  He also can sit all by himself now!  Such a big boy!  Over a one-week period early this month he went from sitting for about a minute before toppling over to sitting very steadily for as long as he wants.  He still doesn’t really roll over, mainly because he doesn’t give it a try often.  Too content to make the effort, I think!

I thought he was grabby last month, but this kid has upped his game.  He is obsessed with reaching for and grabbing onto anything that catches his eye.  No more eating with him in our laps… he grabs on to EVERYTHING faster than I ever think possible.  He is very coordinated with his hands.  He loves to pretend drink out of cups and soda cans (funny how he learned exactly how to hold it and bring it to his mouth the right way) and he can hold his own bottle now.

Beckett loves to play peek-a-boo but he plays it backwards and it’s hilarious.  He is much more thrilled when the blanket is on his face.  When we take it off we can see that he’d been grinning and giggling away behind it, but once it’s gone he just looks at us like “excuse me, I was playing under there.”  He also plays it himself, putting a blanket or burp cloth or even his bib over his face and then going crazy with excitement.

He also discovered his feet this month.  That’s been a big score.  He also has sucked on his thumb a few times, but it’s not clear yet whether it’ll be a thing or not.

In addition to all these developmental changes, he’s also had some big changes to his schedule and sleep.  Last month his morning nap came together and this month he started taking a long mid-day nap.  Our eat, play, nap routine that we’d had for a few months (and worked so well!) is no more.  He’s older now and needed fewer, longer naps and he doesn’t need to eat quite as often.  We now have a daily schedule, for the first time.  I wasn’t pushing for this at all, but it just sort of happened on its own and it’s working really well.  He’s still really flexible though.

6am—wake up, eat

8-10am—nap

10am—eat, play

12:30-2pm—nap

2pm—eat, play

45 minute cat nap sometime in the afternoon

6pm—eat, play

7:30pm—eat, bedtime routine

9—asleep

He can take all of his naps alone in his crib.  If you had told me a month or two ago that this would be the case, I would have called you crazy.  He has always had trouble napping well outside of our arms (I’ll admit we were enablers there, but we don’t have any regrets!).  And I do still hold him or nap with him in our bed probably once a day—I’m just not ready to give that up!

The other big news is we started sleep training.  Yes, the definition of “big news” has really hit an all-time low around here.  Our doctor advised us at four months to start teaching him to sleep through the night (aka sleep training).  We weren’t really ready, and Beckett didn’t seem to be either.  Then a few weeks ago (Mother’s Day to be exact) his sleep just totally fell apart.  He would not sleep for more than 30 minutes at a time in his crib.  We tried everything, to no avail.  After a couple weeks of sleepless nights, we decided it was as good of time as any to take the plunge.

Full disclosure:  we have rocked (or for Kolby, bounced) Beckett to sleep for every nap, bedtime and nighttime waking since the day he was born.  Then we hold him for 5, 10, sometimes 30 minutes to get him into a nice deep sleep before transferring him into his crib.  And I loved every second of it.  There is nothing in the world sweeter than a sleeping baby.  But, for his sake, it was time for him to learn to fall asleep and stay asleep on his own.   

We knew it would be difficult.  The idea of putting him down awake in his crib, saying goodnight, and then walking away was laughable to me.  There is NO WAY he would fall asleep.  But I knew we could get there over time.  There are a million different philosophies for sleep training and I had perused several but couldn’t really land on one.  Then I happened upon this old hardcover book at our library’s book sale that caught my attention.  I read it and it immediately felt like a great fit for us.  It’s a balanced approach—letting them fuss/cry some but with a parent there in the room to reassure and comfort them, starting with lots of help (patting, singing, etc.) and phasing it out over the course of a few weeks.

We jumped in with both feet a couple weeks before Beckett’s six-month birthday.  At the same time we also switched from swaddling him and placing him to sleep on his back to putting him down on his tummy, unswaddled, now that he’s out of the heightened SIDS-risk age.  He started sleeping through the night after six days.  SIX DAYS!  He often still fusses on and off for a while when we put him in his crib at bedtime, but we are seeing slow progress there.  We’ll see if he keeps up the good sleep (teething, growth spurts, travel, etc. could easily throw him off), but right now he often sleeps from 9pm-6am and it is wonderful.  Of course there are times when he wakes up once in the middle of the night or only sleeps until 5 or 5:30am, but overall he’s doing great and we’re really proud of him!

Things we did this month:

-Celebrated my first Mother's Day

-Tried a pool for the first time and discovered Beckett doesn't like cold water

-Beckett's first Webb family ranch work weekend

-Welcomed the return of Summer Kolby

-Got back into a routine of going on walks every evening after dinner

-Started putting Beckett sitting up in the front of shopping carts and in high chairs at restaurants

-Beckett's first Gordon Family Reunion

-Went to more Rangers games (Beckett has been to six now!)

Beckett’s favorite things:

-His feet

-Stealing an empty drink cup and playing with it

-Touching everyone’s face (we joke that it’s like he’s blind and that’s his way of identifying who it is)

-Being rocked to sleep on my shoulder

-Kicking his legs really hard when laying on his back

-Grabbing people’s lips with his slobbery hands

-Being outside, particularly looking up at the trees

-Holding his own bottle, with a death grip

-Seeing Kolby or I for the first time in a while (even 5 minutes!)

My favorite things about Beckett:

-He’s still a great nap buddy

-He started making this hilarious “mmmmmm” sound when he nurses

-He is so stinkin’ easy—it makes motherhood such a joy!

-He makes a soft, repetitive cooing sound as he’s falling asleep

-He’s such a great little passenger on my hip

-It’s so fun to share him with others because he always smiles and plays with them

First Food!

A few days after Beckett's six month birthday we gave him his first taste of food---avocado!

We had the best time with it.  I think Beckett was indifferent about the food and seemed far more interested in Kolby and I making fools of ourselves smiling at him and taking video and making smacking sounds to try to teach him what to do with what we'd just shoveled into his gummy little mouth.

 YUM!

Bluebonnets 2013

I was so excited to take bluebonnet pictures because Beckett was able to sit on his own and I know next year he'll be way too busy running around to pose for a picture.  

We tried twice, and both times Beckett was comically uncooperative.  This kid is ALWAYS smiling and hamming it up for the camera.  But we'd set him among the bluebonnets and he'd get this totally spaced-out look and would not smile for the life of him.  It was so funny.

Exhibit A:

Anyway, here are a few of my favorites from our first attempt, in a field near my parents' ranch:

On round two near our library, he finally gave a little grin:

Such a handsome little boy!

Five Months Old

 *This post is way late.  I wrote it forever ago but never got around to taking/editing the pics.  Whoops.*

Someone please tell me how it’s possible that my baby is now five months old?  Heavens I can’t even imagine what will become of me next month, when I’m forced to acknowledge that half a year has passed.

You are probably tired of my wailing about how fast time is passing but you might as well just go ahead and get used to it :)

Anyway, what’s new with our five month old?  Nothing and everything at the same time.  He’s still the happiest and easiest baby ever (seriously).  I keep thinking it’s just a great phase he’s in, but he’s still going strong with it so maybe it really is just his nature?  That would be a major score.  This month his physical growth hasn’t been too striking but his development has been in full swing.  Most notably is how he grabs on to EVERYTHING.  And faster than you ever thought possible.  He’s gotten a lot more coordinated with his hands.  Also, he is incredibly vocal.  He doesn’t really have a belly laugh, but he laughs/squeals quite a bit and has a happy cooing sound that he makes along with his smile.  He also has a happy scream that I think he makes because he likes the way it feels in his throat.

He is close to sitting up on his own.  He can do it for almost a minute at a time, so I know it won’t be long.  There is something so sweet and funny about a baby tipping over to me, so I’m in no hurry.  He doesn’t roll over yet but he never really tries to and I don’t care to make him try because I’m not afraid that he’ll be leaving for college and still not know how to roll over.  He’ll do it when he’s good and ready.

One big thing we’ve noticed this month is how much this kid has become a daddy’s boy.  He LOVES his dad.  It makes me think back to when I was pregnant and Beckett would always move like crazy when he heard Kolby’s voice.  Now, if Kolby opens his mouth anywhere in the house Beckett stops whatever he is doing to try and find where he is.  If Kolby is in another room I’ll have him come in or I’ll take Beckett to him because it gets really sad in a hurry—he never gives up.  When he finds him he just looks at him and waits for him to look his way and then slowly flashes a big gummy grin.  You can’t even imagine what it does to Kolby.

If you think I’m struggling with Beckett growing up, you should hear from Kolby.  The other day he said, “If I could choose between Beckett being a normal child or staying this age forever, I’d really have to think about it.”  Ha!  The thing that gets him lately is how much Beckett shows that he loves him.  Kolby seems to be convinced that there won’t be another time where Beckett will show his love like he does now.  Right now all Beckett wants to do with Kolby is smile at him, coo at him, be carried around by him, and just be with him.  No rebelling, no choosing friends or video games instead, no wanting anything in return—just pure unadulterated affection.

For the sake of documenting details for myself, Beckett started taking a longer morning nap this month—from about 8-10am.  He usually takes a quick nap mid-day and another long nap in the late afternoon.  This is the first time we’ve attempted to structure his nap schedule a little bit, and it’s going pretty well.  He eats six times during the day and wakes up in the middle of the night—usually around 3am—to eat again.  He usually wakes up one other time as well and just wants to be rocked back to sleep.  So no, he’s not sleeping through the night.  He did sleep through the night three times this month (he hasn’t done that since he was two months old, when he also did it a few random times), from about 10-5:30.  We’ve just moved his bedtime up to 9:00, which I think is still pretty late, and we’re planning to work with him on sleeping through the night in a few weeks, then hopefully move his bedtime up again to closer to 8.  Overall his sleep has come a long way, although when I hear of babies his age sleeping from 7-7 it completely blows my mind!

What we did this month:

-Beckett was baptized

-We ate out successfully several times

-First family trip to the neighborhood library

-Hung a swing for Beckett from a tree in our front yard and started using it

-Went to several Rangers games

-Played on a blanket in the back yard a lot

Beckett’s favorite things:

-Grabbing hair, shirts, necklaces, food, everything

-Reaching out to pet Maya when she walks by

-Going for family walks in his carrier and listening to the Rangers’ game

-His little fox stuffed animal

-Attending Rangers games (he’s been to 5 so far)

-He still loves everyone—he lights up more for people he knows, but he doesn’t have any stranger anxiety whatsoever yet

-“Favorite” may be a little strong, but he’s generally happy to have his picture taken and is SUPER cooperative, which makes things really fun for me

My favorite things about Beckett:

-I totally melt at all the sweet sounds he makes

-Carrying him on my hip.  He’s a great little passenger

-His personable demeanor—he is so fun to share with other people

-How he smiles so big and often laughs when I gobble his neck

Beckett's Baptism

We had Beckett baptized on April 21.  Our church baptizes infants, as well as believers.  Infant baptism is obviously not a part of our church heritage (growing up Baptist and all), so we talked to our pastor and read several articles and book excerpts about it and ultimately decided that while we respect both traditions, we want to have Beckett baptized, following in the tradition of this church that is such a big part of our lives right now.

As a Christian sacrament alongside the Lord’s Supper, baptism is “an earthly sign accompanied by a divine promise.”  Sacraments celebrate God’s specific action for us, that in every moment of our lives it is God who is relentlessly pursuing us no matter where we may be.  Infant baptism is not a substitute for a child’s eventual individual expression of faith in God and decision to turn from sin and put their trust in Jesus Christ.  But by baptizing Beckett, we are affirming that even before Beckett has any idea about Jesus or His love for him, Jesus is already at work in his life.

Beckett with his Godparents, Brad and Kassidy:

Our families and a few friends were there too and we had a little reception afterward to celebrate together.

I made my first cake for my baby:

Beckett with his grandparents:

Some pictures I finally got around to taking today of Beckett in his precious outfit:

 Beckett's baptism was a wonderful day of celebration!

Motherhood

In honor of Mother’s Day, I feel like it’s as good of time as any to write down some thoughts that have been stirring in my mind lately.

I was meant to be a mom.  I’ve felt that way for long time.  Really, since I was 5 years old and had to start kindergarten just two months after Russell was born and I cried and cried because how on earth was my mom going to take care of him without my help?  I mean, I was in charge of keeping socks on his feet AND brushing is hair.

I have to say, motherhood is everything I imagined it would be.  Far more, in fact.  And it suits me well.

I had the unexpected opportunity to wait quite a while before getting to be a mom.  It gave me a lot of extra time to think about what kind of mom I wanted to be.  And it gave me a chance to hear from other moms.  Hands down I’d say the most common thing I heard was how moms were able to enjoy their second, third, and so-on babies more than their first, because with the first baby you are stressed and anxious and insecure and have to learn a lot of lessons about what really matters. 

I made it a point to really take these lessons to heart.  I’m not promised a second, third, or so-on baby.  So I will for sure be enjoying my first to the fullest.  That was my commitment and goal.  And I have had the.best.time.in.the.world fulfilling it.

Beckett is growing up too fast.  At the end of the day when I’m rocking him to sleep I can’t help but think ahead to when he’s grown and what I’ll think of when I look back.  I want to be a good steward of this time with him and do my darnedest to not to have the regret, “I wish I had cherished it more.”

I know I won’t look back and wonder whether his bed time was too late.  Whether I ever let more than three hours pass without feeding him.  Whether he sat in a poopy diaper for more than ten minutes.  Whether I totally dropped the ball by not sleep training him at four months old.  Whether I did enough tummy time with him.  Whether he could fall asleep without being held and rocked.  Whether he could roll over by his five month birthday.

So I don’t care about those things.  He is clearly thriving.  That’s all I need to know.

But I know I’ll wonder whether I kissed his fuzzy head enough.  Whether I gave him my full attention.  Whether I held him enough.  Whether I spoke sweetly to him.  Whether I squeezed him hard enough.  Whether I smooched his sweet lips despite the constant drool and risk of him spitting up straight into my mouth.  Whether I told him from an early age that he’s my boy, that I wanted him so badly.

So I do all those things, all day long.

This time is so sweet, I can barely stand it.

And this boy:

He’s so much more than I could have ever imagined in my wildest dreams.

Thanks you, Jesus.

Four Months Old

Three months old still sounded like a little baby to me.  But four?  Four months old sounds so grown up all of the sudden!  Six months old is just around the corner and then next thing you know we’ll be dropping him off at college :)

But alas, at four months old Beckett is sweeter than ever so I guess I’ll survive!  He’s so cute I could just die.  He melts my heart every.single.day.  He smiles ALL THE TIME and is the happiest baby I could ever imagine.  To say he fills our home with joy would be an understatement.

The things I enjoy and want to remember most about him at this stage are how sweet and easy he is.  And I mean EASY.  It makes Kolby and I feel like we are totally nailing this parenting thing (ha!), but I know it’s really just because he’s just at a simple age.  And he’s also naturally easygoing I think, at least for now.  I can already see myself looking back at that sentence and laughing when he’s a little older and throwing fits like crazy.  These last few weeks especially, Beckett has been such a trooper with adapting to whatever our days and especially weekends look like.  He’s missed naps and still stayed happy, and hasn’t flipped out if his feeding schedule got out of whack or if he’s in completely new surroundings.  It has allowed us to enjoy him to the max, not that the olden days of unsuccessfully trying anything and everything to soothe him don’t hold a special place in my heart :)

And he’s at the absolute perfect cuddling size.  It adds to his sweetness.  He has full control of his head (that sounds funny, but you know what I mean) so it’s easy to pick him up under the arms and give him a hug and he’ll pull his head away to look at us but then snuggle it back down on our shoulder.  I hold him like that all the time; I know it’s only a matter of time until he gets squirmy and doesn't want to be my little koala anymore.

What we did this month:

-Kolby and Beckett spent a ton of extra time together during Kolby’s spring break

-Beckett started his baseball card collection when Kolby took him to a local card shop

-Visited Kason & Sarah and cousin Kyndall in Houston

-Beckett sat in his Bumbo for the first time, played in his exersaucer for the first time, and “jumped” in his Johnny Jump-Up for the first time—he loved them all!

-Took Beckett on his first trip to the zoo

-Hung out with Brad & Remy and cousin Tucker several times, and Tucker got Beckett to belly laugh (for only the second time!)

-Celebrated the one year anniversary of finding out we were pregnant with Beckett!!!!

-Helped Beckett learn to roll over for the first time (front to back, with some help starting propped up on his elbows)

-Took our first family stroll to the neighborhood park

-Celebrated Easter with my family

-Kolby took Beckett to the Rangers’ Opening Day—all by himself!

Beckett’s favorite things:

-Grabbing things with both hands at the same time

-Riding in the stroller like a big boy (rather than in his car seat attached to it)

-Playing in his exersaucer

-“Talking” a lot when he gets tired

-When people smile at him (he always smiles back!)

-Roaming his hand all over my face while I’m nursing him

-Grabbing on to hair, clothing, necklaces, etc.

-Still loves his changing pad, but his attention is now more on us than on the wall of frames he used to be so fascinated with

My favorite things about Beckett:

-How he started helping hold his legs up during diaper changes by grabbing under his thighs

-His big blue eyes, which somehow got even more beautiful this month

-How when he’s in his exersaucer he plays really intently at each station and Kolby and I always joke that he looks like he’s having a really busy day at the office.  “I am just putting out fires all over the place today.”  “Man, things are just really stacking up on me over here.” etc.

-It is the easiest thing in the world to make him smile; all you have to do is look at him and smile

-He can easily sit in our laps like a big boy, which makes eating meals with him so much easier!

-How he calms down at bedtime when I sing him a lullaby, which makes me feel so good because I have the worst singing voice and was really worried about that aspect of motherhood!

 His hair is looking kind of red, huh?  Sometimes it looks blonde, sometimes brown, and in the sunlight sometimes red.  Still a mystery what color it will be!