Captain Prunes

Charlie tried prunes for the first time today. While we don't have photos of him eating we have photos of the outcome. He had one of his biggest poops in months. We're talking up the back, through the onesie and through the sweatshirt. As you can imagine the outcome of this was a serious bath.

So now we know. If Charlie's ever constipated we know that prunes have the same effect on him as they do on adults.

Hot Tubbing Baby

I probably shouldn't post these pictures, they're probably
going to prompt one of the grandma's to call CPS. For the record though Charlie really liked the hot tub and we only kept him in there for 10 minutes so he didn't totally overheat.

After the hot tub Charlie helped out with laundry. No one gets a free ride in our house, even little babies.

Christmas has arrived...

Thanksgiving is officially over and Christmas has arrived. If his dad has anything to say about it Charlie's going to be in this outfit everyday for the next 30 days.

By the way, Charlie can officially sit now. He doesn't need props and he rarely tips over.

Developmental Follow-up

Charlie had an appointment for a developmental follow-up at the hospital today. His corrected age is about 6-months right now (actual age is 7 1/2) so they wanted to be sure he's on track with other 6-month babies.

On their scale 85-115 is considered normal. He scored 102 on their mental tests and 94 on their motor skills tests. Basically this means he can pick things up, he has problem solving skills, social skills and memory. What he needs to work on are his movement skills and his ab muscles.

Basically there were 2 things he couldn't really do that they expected him to do. He couldn't really hold things in both hands at the same time. He always dropped the 1st toy and focused only on the 2nd. This seams like something that will correct itself when he gets out of the eating everything he can grab stage though. It's hard to eat 2 toys at once.

The other thing he couldn't do very well was balance when seated. He got credit for being able to sit, however when we put a toy to his left or right he'd fall over trying to get them. So our job for the next few weeks is to encourage him to sit and strengthen his core muscles so he can lean over and return to the seated position.

We got to weigh and measure him today as well. He's up to 17 pounds 8 ounces and he's 28 3/8 inches.

Overall the therapist was impressed with his progress and told us he was one of her favorite babies when he was in the NICU. The compliment seemed genuine too, not like she says that to all the parents :)

Hello Bottle

Just a little feeding update to officially announce I'm working on weaning Charlie from the breast to the bottle.

We made it 7 1/2 months which is longer than I thought we'd make it. We had a rough start with Charlie living in the hospital for 5 weeks and me living at home pumping milk for him everyday. Science says breastfeeding reduces the chances of the baby getting ear infections, increases their IQ, reduces their chances of becoming obese later in life, reduces the mother's chances of getting breast or ovarian cancer, the list goes on...

If any of these things prove to be true then the 7 1/2 months of getting my breasts out in front of in-laws, friends, and strangers in places like Red Robin, on planes and in malls will have been worth it.

Rawhide in Phoenix

On our last day in Phoenix we let Pete and Vanessa choose our activity...next time we may rethink this. We ended up at a fake old west town called Rawhide complete with a shoot out in the street, camel rides, a mechanical bull (they had these in the old west?) and a rock wall (again, did they have these in the old west?). The town was obviously geared towards kids because every activity had a weight limit that most of us far exceeded.

My dad offered to buy me a Corona if I could climb the rock wall and ring the bell at the top. Since I was one of two people in the group that was under the weight limit I didn't feel like the family was going to take no for an answer. I didn't make it to the top, however I made it over half way so I still insisted that he still buy me by beer. The last time I climbed a rock wall I was about 14 and did it for 2 Snickers bars at Tall Timber. See a pattern?
We wanted to go for a family camel ride, just like they did in the olden days, however we were too heavy for Joe the Camel so just Charlie and Matt went.
Charlie's first staged gun fight.

They used real guns that shot blanks but for whatever reason the noise didn't bother Charlie. Other babies were screaming and had to leave the bleachers, Charlie slept through the whole thing.
The guys playing carnival games, another favorite activity of cowboys in the old west.
Pete on the mechanical bull.

WSU Game in Phoenix

On Saturday we went to the Cougar game (by we I mean everyone but Uncle Justin (had to work), Grandma and Charlie). Pete and Vanessa bought Matt, the UW fan, a Cougar shirt so he'd fit it. Sorry about putting the pictures on the web Matt.

The game was fun despite their huge loss. Matt ran into a couple of friends from high school and 4 of his cousins, small world.

Swimming in Phoenix

We got back from Phoenix on Sunday night and I'm just now getting around to putting pictures up. We'll start with our swimming pictures. It was only about 75 on the day we were at the pool so the only people who felt that was warm enough to swim were Grandpa, Matt, Charlie and Me. Charlie seemed indifferent to the whole process, however he was a good sport and went along with it without crying.

Off to Phoenix

Matt, Charlie and I are leaving for Phoenix in a couple of hours. Hopefully we'll come back with some fun pictures of our adventures for the site. That's all for now!

Snow Update

It melted overnight. He looks sad about it though doesn't he?

First Snow

Tonight was the first snow of the season and the first snow of Charlie's life. The pictures don't really do it justice but trust me, there's about an inch on the ground. Hopefully it will keep snowing and tomorrow I can show Charlie how to do a snow angel.

Hamlet-O-Ween

While we were busy up in Spokane dressing our human baby up for Halloween...Uncle Pete and Aunt Vanessa were down in Pasco dressing up their not-so-human baby Hamlet. Pretty cute for a giant, male dog!