New Photos of Calvin from 4-8 Months!

Ok, so I need to get better about updating the blog, at least try to do it monthly.This one is going to be a long one.

We are doing great. It is now Thanksgiving holiday and I don't have to work all week. Cal and I are going to spend lots of time together.
What's new with Calvin? He just turned 8 months on Nov. 15th.
He now has three teeth and a new one is popping in, I bet it will be through the skin by morning. He has begun eating little pieces of food (bananas and cheerios) and it is so funny to watch. He can pick the cheerios up but has only tried a few times to put it in his mouth. He can sip water from a glass, but not from a sippy cup...go figure. I have found a new past time, making baby food. Who new steaming and pureeing food was so easy. I love that I can make healthy food for Cal to eat and am saving money on top of it. From what I gather baby food for this age is a little bit of veggie and lots of water, so I am paying more for watered down veggies than I pay for fresh veggies. I like doing it this way because I also know what is being put into the baby food, no baby recalls for me China. ;-)

Calvin is rolling around all over the place and is really good at twirling on his stomach. He can lean over real far (without falling) to grab a toy and pull it to him. He hasn't figured out crawling but sorta scoots when sitting up. I think he knows he should be able to move because when he is sitting up he will lean over as if he is going to go somewhere but nothing happens, he then looks down at his feet and moves them and then leans back over again. It is really funny to watch. When he is on his tummy and trying to get a toy he will hold his upper body up and wiggle his legs, and then give out a little frustrated "rrrr", hopefully he will soon figure out that he needs to use his knees.

Calvin is doing lots more talking now. His favorite word is "gaa" and Scott and I will swear that he said "Barkly" yesterday as we were driving home but. So far he hasn't said the basic "mama" or "dada", but he does recognize the sign and word for milk. When I sign to him "milk" he makes his hungry sound and cries out a little. We are also teaching him the signs for "eat" and "more". We have noticed that Calvin is a lot like us because he "talks" a lot at home but take him out and he just watches everything and barely says a word. Yesterday we were out for lunch and he just followed (with his eyes) the busboy and cart around and around. He was so fascinated with them.

Laughing is one of Calvin's cutest noises. You can tell he is a happy baby because this is the sound that he mostly makes. He has started to crack up laughing at things. One of these is Barkly, when Barkly itches sometimes Calvin will just start laughing and when we play catch with Barkly he thinks it is sooooo funny.

Calvin hasn't been too sick either. He did get a stomach virus and let me tell you, I never saw anything as sad as a baby that keeps throwing up. I also never thought I would mind having someone throw up on me three times but I guess that is what becoming a mom is all about. He has had a lot of little colds (damn... daycare!)but no ear infections!!!! I am giving all the credit to our chiropractor. She has done a few infant adjustments on him and I have seen a major change in his immune system. Even though he has colds they haven't become any worse than that(no ear infections) and he hasn't had to take antibiotics since he was 5 months old! Yay.

Here are his 6 month stats. As of two weeks ago when we took him to the doc's office with the stomach thing he weighted 22 pounds.

	Weight	Height	Head Circ
birth	7 lbs 6.8 oz	19.25in	35.5cm
2 mos	11lbs 4oz	23.25 in	39cm
4 mos	16lbs 7oz	26in	42cm
6mos	19lbs 7oz	27.5in	44.5cm

Calvin month 4 and 5

Well it has been a long time since I last did this and so many things have been going on. Calvin has started going to daycare and I am back at work. He is beginning to adjust not being at home with mommy and has even started smiling at his teachers.
Lots has happened with Calvin since I last blogged.
Calvin has grown a lot. He has jumped from 3-6 months clothes and is now wearing 6-9 months. Here are his stats from his 4 month checkup.
Here are Calvin's Stats

	Weight	Height	Head Circ
birth	7 lbs 6.8 oz	19.25in	35.5cm
2 mos	11lbs 4oz	23.25 in	39cm
4 mos	16lbs 7oz	26in	42cm

When I took him to the doctors at five months for a cold he weighed 19lb 6oz, can you believe that!
He is laughing all the time now! and smiles at everyone. He is so happy and laid back. He loves to play in his exersaucer and has just begun to squeal with delight (he did this for the very first time today). He loves playing with his toys too. He is really beginning to interact with them.
He is now eating baby food and boy does he love it! I can never tell when he is full because he will just keep eating and eating. He just loves to eat (but I don't think you can tell hehe).
He is starting to teeth and boy is he drooling. I noticed two bumps on his gums at the beginning of this week and felt a little tooth above the gum yesterday (Friday Aug.31) YAY! He has been a little fussy but it hasn't been too bad.
He has also begun sitting. He can't sit up by himself, but if I put him in a sitting position he will stay in it for a while.
Calvin is just a fun little guy. One thing that he loves to do now is watch Barkly and reach out to touch him and Barkly loves to lick him. I think they are going to be great friends when he gets a little older. Barkly is already protective of him. Not in a growl at people if the get near him way, but if Calvin is crying in his bed he goes in there and lays next it. Barkly has also stopped sleeping in our bed at night and now sleeps in the bed in the room next to Calvin's room (we assume to be close to Cal). Barkly always wants to be near Calvin, it is pretty sweet. I wonder if this will hold true when Calvin is running after him pulling his tail and ears? I guess we will just have to see.

Calvin 3 months old

Calvin is now 3 months old. I can't believe it!
He has learned so many new things. And has started to actually do more than eat, sleep, and poop!
In this last month he has learned to laugh, it is still a silent laugh but I think his giggle will come very soon.
He also is the kick master. He loves to kick at objects and is a very good shot. Rubber duckies BEWARE! During his bathtime he kicks at his duckie and almost always gets it. He is also really reaching for objects, but will have to learn that if you want to pick them up you have to use an open hand.
He is sleeping through the night, well at least in five hour blocks! YAY! His vocabulary has also increased. He can say agoo, gaaa, and mama (ok he hasn't mastered mama but I think it will be soon, hehe JK). And will usually talk back to you when we talk to him. He love to have people talk to him.
Calvin has such funny expressions, Scott and I love to just sit and watch him and talk with him.
Here are some pics from the last month of Calvin!

Calvin at two months

Here's a quick snipit of Calvin flashing his pearly pink gums. He's two months old now and wow has he grown! He's more alert, he tracks with his eyes, he's not just crying but he'll cooo and baby talk when we talk to him. He's even rolling over on occasion (not when the camera's rolling of course). He had his two month shots and took them like a champ. He's starting to reach and hit at objects (better start him early so he can defend himself against his big cousin, Luke).

Calvin's starting to sleep more through the night, usually 4-5 hours at a time. Our bedtime routine is becoming more common. He eats, gets a bath, talks for a bit if he's feeling up to it, and then Daddy soothes him to sleep by bouncing up and down on the yoga ball and listening to Enya (appropriately, one of his favorite songs is titled "Wild Child").

Here are Calvin's Stats

	Birth	2 mos
Weight	7 lbs 6.8 oz	11 lbs 4oz
Height	19.25 in	23.25 in
Head Circ	35.5 cm	39 cm

Long Awaited Pictures of Calvin and Family

Calvin and Family (Click on picture to view album)

Here's the first batch of photos of Calvin in the hospital. Isn't he just the cutest! We are so madly in love with him. There are so many more photos and videos to share and as time (and energy) permits, we'll update the photo album.

Unfortunately, Calvin's still in the NICU at the hospital because he's still being treated with antibiotics. We're anxious for him to come home and expect him late Thursday evening or early Friday morning depending on his last round of antibiotics. Until then, we're visiting him in the NICU as often as we can.

He sleeps about 3-4 hours and then feeds like a maniac. He's doubled what he eats since last week and it's such a joy to cuddle and hold him. He can get a little fussy and when he does his cries sound like a Pterodactyl. He has the longest fingers and toes and he'll grip onto anything with his hands or feet like a little monkey. Because of this we call him our little "MonkeyDactyl".

Thank you so much to everyone for all the support, interest, and love. Tiffany and I really appreciate everything everyone has done for us.

month 9

month 9

Well I am now a little over nine months and have about 2 weeks left. In my last post I said I was uncomfortable, but never imagined it could get worse. I am unable to get comfy at night and have to go the pee pee every hour, so I am not able to get a real good night sleep (maybe my body is preparing me for having an infant). I also have heartburn pretty bad and it is now all day instead of only at nighttime. Scott also has begun complaining about not getting a good night sleep too, but this is because of my loud a** snoring. At first he woke me up to tell me to stop snoring, but that stopped very quickly when I gave him the death talk about waking me up when I was sleeping. Now he just wears ear plugs. :-)

I have been craving banana nut muffins and eat one pretty much every night. I also crave powdered doughnuts, milk, and hard boiled eggs. I guess I am going through a breakfast theme. I read that your weight gain is suppose to slow down these last few weeks, but between week 37 and week 38 I gained 4 pounds! Damn those powdered doughnuts! Overall I feel pretty good for being so close to the end. And another thing that is helping me feel better is that I am now officially on maternity leave. YAY!
Today I saw the doctor and am actually dilated to a 1+ and 40% effaced. Which is better than nothing. I am hoping and praying to go into labor some time next week, but since nature has a way of not following plans we have scheduled inducement for the 27th of March. This is because my doctor doesn't want him to be too big for me to deliver. But I am still keeping my fingers crossed about next week.

Calvin must weigh a ton because my stomach feels very heavy and I am having to wear a maternity support belt. At my 36 weeks ultrasound, he weighed a hefty 6 pounds 11 ounces (this is just an estimate by measuring some of his body parts). This made the U/S machine say his due date was one week earlier. My doctor thinks he will more than likely be over 8 pounds, which is around the same weight Scott was when he was born, but I guess we will really find out how much he weighs when he is actually born. Some of my friends think maybe he will be really skinny and long like Scott and me. Calvin is still moving a lot but I believe he is pretty cramped in there and so any kind of movement stretches my skin even further and makes me look like I have an alien growing inside me, worse than what the video showed. The ultrasound also showed us that he is already practicing his grip by holding on to the umbilical cord.

We are very excited and trying not to be too impatient for his arrival. The nursery is about 90% finished, we just have a few finishing touches. I am painting a little table to go by the glider and we will be hanging some pictures above the changing table.
This has been a very long post, I guess because I have procrastinated on doing it for a long time. I think the next post will be short but have some very cute pictures of a newborn Calvin!

Here's a little snippet of our family today. I took this video mostly so Calvin would get to see what things were like before he arrived. I thought he'd be interested in his mother, some of the things Tiff has gone through during pregnancy, the crazy green house we lived in when he was born, our dog Barkly, and most of all, how amazing it is to see him move and dance inside Tiff's belly. I should note, Tiff didn't appreciate the "night scene" very much but I had to capture the very rare occurrence of her snoring (loudly). I hope everyone enjoys seeing our family as we get ready to welcome Calvin into the world.

32 weeks

I am 32 weeks in this picture or 8 months. This month has been a lot harder than others. I am feeling very uncomfortable and am not sleeping much. I wake up pretty much every hour to go tinkle. I can't eat a lot, so I am eating more small servings. This is a plus because I probably won't gain too much more weight. I think I have gained a little over 30 pounds which I can't believe. They think Calvin weighs around 5 pounds (this was at 34 weeks) so by the time he is born he will be pretty big (if the predictions are right).
I have been craving milk and banana nut muffins. I probably drink about 3 to 4 glasses of milk a day! Hopefully this is a sign that Calvin's bones will be very strong.

What a cute baby!- 4D ultra sound

Well our little boy is very cute, even in utero. This was taken last week when I was 32 weeks. It was so cool to see him move and to see what he looks like... a baby. We saw him hiccup, suck his fingers, and kick himself in the eye! It was all very cool and weird at the same time because I could feel him moving as I watched him. This has made us even more excited for him to come. I guess this is because we have seen him and he isn't just this alien inside me but a real little baby boy. His estimated weight was 4 pounds and 10 ounces! Yikes I hope that is due to him being long and not big!

He might have lips like Scott...but we will just have to wait to see.

Our little monkey kicking himself in the eye!

What a cute baby!

Calvin sucking on his fingers and thumb.

Tiny little feet, but the middle toe is longer than the big toe, like mommy's.

Smooshed face! That weird thing is the umbilican cord.

The Nursery...so far...

Baby bed with train bedding.

Wall and bed, the paper is where we will have train decals. I just ordered them from Potter Barn kids, they are very cute!
Back wall with cottony valance and bed.
Scott did a great job painting!!!

7 months and counting...

7 month belly-WOW! It has grown.

Well I am now in my seventh month, which means I am in the third trimester. This is exciting but a little scary. It is exciting because we only have about 11 weeks left and our little one will be here. A little scary because in 11 weeks I will have to push this big baby out of me. I try not to think too much about how scared I really am. Hopefully I will have a great epidural that will take away all the pain.

This month a lot of things have started to happen.
Calvin's movements are no longer just little kicks here and there but more like punches. His movement times have become more predictable, I can usually depend on him to start moving at 3 am, 9am, 11 am, 3pm, 7pm, and 11pm. He is quite a busy little boy. I wonder if this is a predictor of how he will be outside the womb. Scott and I have such a great time just sitting watching my belly jump, jiggle, and wave. It is quite freaks and I always am wondering what part of him is making the movement.
Calvin also has been getting the hiccups quite often, so I am constantly feeling like I having a muscle spasm in my lower abdomen.

Scott and I started our childbirth classes. Of course the first night we go, we have to watch a movie on the stages of labor. Let me just say I was a little grossed out by the "good looking" ladies giving birth,especially since we got to see all their special areas. But I guess the point of the show was to see what to expect during labor, not to see pretty ladies "vajayjays". The best part of the class was the last 30 minutes of it,when we did relaxation and breathing techniques, I got to lay down and relax and Scott got to massage me. I found out that he is a little nervous about the labor part of the pregnancy because he doesn't want to do or say anything to make me yell at him. But from what I hear, the husband doesn't have to do anything wrong for this to happen, it just happens. Again, hopefully the epidural will help in this area too.

I have been going to Dr. Tovar for the last five weeks to help with my hip problems and let me tell you, she is a miracle worker! I have no pain and am feeling awesome! If you ever have any type of back pain and need a good chiropractor The Total Body Center is the place to go to.