Wild weekend continues + pictures

In addition to all the other fun from the weekend (see previous post), Amanda and I tried to get Nathaniel to start on solid food on Saturday (before I felt sick; after Nathaniel seemed to be feeling better). That was actually kind of fun, if a little pointless. That picture, as well as various others from recent weeks (sorry I've posted so few lately, but the little guy's a handful) are below:


Getting ready to be fed ...


Not sure he likes this (but he does like the spoon):

Dressed (a little) like Dad for Father's Day weekend:

Getting his toes wet in the ocean for the first time on Father's Day:

What a weekend

It all started Wednesday, so it's not really a weekend, but anyway ...

Nathaniel had a spectacular spit up Wednesday afternoon. Then we took him to the doctor for his 4-month vaccinations. Then he had another spectacular spit up Wednesday evening.

Then came Thursday. Around 11 a.m., I got a call from Amanda telling me the daycare had called and Nathaniel had a temperature around 103 degrees (not unusual after a vaccination, not dangerous to a 4-month-old, still VERY disconcerting). I left work to pick him up, then stayed home Friday to take care of him.

Around this time, he also developed some diarrhea issues and continued to not eat as much and throw up from time to time. We called the doctor's office, and they suggested some pedialyte to help keep his fluids up (his mouth was dry and he had stopped drooling). We tried pedialyte, but he really didn't seem to like the taste of that.

Got worse
Then came Saturday. I don't know if I caught what the little guy had or got food poisoning or what, but I joined Nathaniel in throwing up throughout the day and developed a fever. Good times. Even better times, I'm sure, for Amanda, who had to take care of both of us while trying to relax/recover from work. Amanda did great, however (we're both lucky to have her).

By Sunday, I was feeling a little better. Nathaniel still wasn't eating quite so much and was pooping too much. His mouth was wet again (back to the drooling). Based on some trial and error, we opened a new can of Enfamil forumla powder, and we're deciding the previous can might have been effected by the recent humidity. Amanda said the new can's powder appeared lighter and fluffier, while the previous can was kind of heavy. The proof (we hope) was that Nathaniel chugged down a full six ounces Sunday evening, afters spitting up a bit when we fed him from the previous can at 4 p.m. He also drank the whole bottle happily and without protest, which he hadn't done recently with the previous can (we thought he was just being fussy).

I can't imagine a "bad can" was responsible for all of this (he did have his shots, after all), but Amanda and I felt both relieved and horrible when he was so happy with the new can's formula.
(EDIT TO ADD: Based on how I continue to feel and on the symptoms, we're now convinced the main issue was a rotovirus of some sort. The powder probably added to the problem, though.)

Has anyone ever heard of a can of powdered formula going bad? We know, obviously, to seal the cannister tightly and keep water out of it, but it seems the high humidity of late might have caused some problem. I wrote to Enfamil about storing the can in the refigerator to protect against this, but I haven't heard back yet.

Either way, he seems to be doing fine now. Happy, hardy, sleeping well, not spitting up. I hope his poop is back to normal, as well.

Beanpole?

We took Nathaniel to the doctor Wednesday evening for some vaccinations and a quick checkup. The big news -- he's in the 97th percentile for height at 28.5 inches. He's tall as a child is allowed to be. But he's only 60th percentile for weight at 16 lbs 2 oz. That has us a little nervous, but the doctor didn't seem too concerned. Still, we'll keep an eye on it.

Otherwise, Nathaniel's a little iffy these past few days. He spit up really spectacularly twice on Wednesday. What's so weird about that is how happy Nathaniel seemed immediately after spitting up. It has no ill effects -- he's just smiling and laughing at me while he's still covered in a slick of formula.

I guess we're lucky to have such a relaxed little guy.

Teething?

Nathaniel has been drooling like a champion for weeks. We knew this was a teething indicator, but it´s also just something babies do. But now he´s adding some uncharacteristic crankiness to the mix, and we´re guessing a tooth might be coming soon. It won´t be long, then, until he´s on to solid food. Man, he´s growing fast.

On Father´s Day, he held his bottle by himself for the first time. Much like the recent post about him putting the binky into his mouth, he still has some technique to learn with the bottle. He held it with both hands and placed the nipple in his mouth, but it wasn´t in a position that allowed him to get any formula. Then he tried moving it around, but putting it into his cheek didn´t make things any better. Still, he actually held it himself and tried to make it work ... it´s just a matter of time.

And he´s doing fairly well on rolling over, as well. Early this morning, he started screaming ... it turns out he had rolled over onto his belly. Apparently when he woke up in that position, he was not happy and let us know about it. He went back to sleep eventually, but it wasn´t a very good sleep.

He's learning!

It's pretty phenomenal to see our little guy actually thinking, understanding and interacting, as he's been doing this week.

I was so excited this week when he was playing with a toy and then I showed him his binky (binkie? pacifier?). Anyway, he looked at it, sort of dropped the toy, reached out for the binky, then brought the binky to his mouth. Sure, he tried to put it into his mouth sideways, but then he tried rotating it to get it right (OK, so he rotated it and tried to put it into his mouth backwards, but he understands a little about what's happening and he's trying -- that's the key!).

The next day, Amanda and I were playing with him in his room. We stacked up some foam blocks and he reached over and knocked them down. We stacked them again, and he knocked them down again. I think it's amazing to see him begin to understand that he can have an impact on his surroundings like this. I'm looking forward, of course, to a time when he can stack the blocks up by himself, but I think that's a little ways off.

New sounds

It looks like the hacking cough has gone away (knock on wood). He's still hacking a little, but it's mostly gone ... and he didn't wake up last night! Man, what a joy it was to sleep through the night and just go at my own pace in the morning. I need some more of that.

The "What to Expect" book noted that babies will often continue to cough beyond the need to cough once they start because it's a new sound to add to the repertoire. I suppose that's possible in this case, but the real "new sound" for him is the high pitched sound I refer to as a whale song. He squeaks at us pretty often lately ... seemingly just because he can. It's actually a lot of fun.

It also feels like he's growing old so fast ... he had a zit when I picked him up from daycare today.

Oh well, here's a couple shots from earlier this month. The "I'm #1" shot and a cute close up.
Enjoy!

Going in reverse

For months, Nathaniel has been sleeping through the night (OK, he's only four months old, and he didn't do it from the very beginning ... so maybe close to two months, if we're lucky). Anyway, we got used to it. He had been an angel at home and at day care.

Until he got this cold.

Now, he's like a newborn waking up a few times each night. He coughs, he gurgles, he can't understand why it's hard to breathe when he was peacefully asleep moments earlier ... so he cries.

He had been sleeping from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. with only rare failures. Now, he's sleeping 9-11; 11:15-1:30; 2-2:45; 3:30-5:45; etc. Man, this is getting difficult. How do people handle this? (One way for me, I'm sorry to say, is fewer blog updates. I'm working to address that, but the little guy comes first).

Amanda and I are exhausted. The house is a mess (dishes piling; too little vaccuuming; lawn unmowed for weeks; etc). We're eating terrible foods and feeling bad about it.

But, through it all, Nathaniel still seems happy as can be. He's over 16 pounds, he's standing up (as long as I balance him, that is, he can support his weight on his legs); he's rolling over; he's smiling, laughing, etc. He's truly wonderful. It's just tough to figure out how Nathaniel smiling and laughing at 4 p.m. relates to Nathaniel screaming and crying at 3 a.m.

(We talked to our doctor about the ongoing cold ... they said as long as he has no fever and is eating, sleeping and laughing, we shouldn't try to do anything major. This is so frustrating!)

Phlegm-filled baby

Nathaniel is really working through a cold these days. He has an ugly, wet-sounding cough that makes Amanda and me jump every time we hear it. Luckily, he doesn't have any fever or anything, but this cough certainly makes him unhappy ... which, in turn, leaves Amanda and I with surprisingly little time to sleep or relax. This cough, it seems, is working its way through Nathaniel's day care. Ugly sounding, but not dangerous, according to doctors.

Still nerve-wracking.

Sorry for a lack of new photos (I'm getting bad at that, I know). It's so difficult to find time for anything when you have a baby. I imagine other parents have found this to be true, as well.

Belly baby

Nathaniel rolled over!

On Friday night, he was hanging out in "the zoo" (a 3 foot by 3 foot lightly padded square of cloth on the floor with two arches over it -- the two arches have a parrot, monkey, elephant and giraffe hanging off of them. Amanda and I alternately call this the zoo or the jungle). Anyway, he's hanging out in the zoo and Amanda calls me over because he's rolled over onto his belly for the first time. Then he proceeded to bring his arms under him and prop up his upper body. It was really pretty amazing.

And he seems much happier about tummy time when he puts himself in that position.

Then, when I woke up the next morning (yesterday), Nathaniel was on his belly in his crib. The baby books I've read say that once he can roll over on his own, being on his belly while sleeping is OK (before this milestone, placing baby on his belly to sleep is a major no-no).

Still, I saw him on his belly and figured I should try to get him back on his back. I tried to roll him back a little, and the little guy basically kicked at my hand and rolled back onto his belly. I guess he preferred the position.

But then when he did wake up, he started crying pretty strongly. My guess? He wanted to know who the heck put him on his belly.

All in all, it's been a pretty exciting weekend for Nathaniel, who turned 4 months old on Friday (June 2).

Nathaniel, the tongue-grabber

The stereotype is that kids like to suck their thumbs. Not Nathaniel.

Nathaniel sticks his thumb and index finger into his mouth in an apparent attempt to get a firm grip on his tongue and rip it out. Luckily, the tongue is a wily appendage that isn't easy to grip. That doesn't stop him, of course. He'll sometimes stick in another finger or two to get a better grip. But that darn tongue keeps on fleeing to the back of his mouth.

And let me tell you ... a hand in the mouth results in drooling like crazy. Nonstop. For hours.

What a kid.