Another video!

This one is of him in his walker.

Chance is learning to sit up on his own. He can sit up for a minute or two by himself. He reaches for toys and sometimes he can even stay sitting up while reaching. After a few minutes though he starts to slump over and then eventually rolls on over onto his side. He has also started to grab for everything and by everything I mean everything. He pulls cords and things off of the fridge and of course the trash can and he plucks the strings on the guitar that is on a stand. We have to hang that one on the wall now. We have also babyproofed a lot of other things. This is a picture of him sitting up in the laundry basket. With something to hold onto he can sit up for a long time.

Videos!!

This is one of Chance pulling a toy into his crib. He is so sneaky.



This one is one of Chance on the floor "swimming" around. He will be crawling in no time.

Just look at those chubby cheeks. They are so cute I just want to pinch them every time I look at them. Today we went to Barnes and Noble for story time. He didn't really pay much attention to the story. Mostly he was looking at all the people around him. He was very good the whole time. They made a turtle craft after the story, instead of making the turtle I drew a smiley face on the little paper plate and Chance proceeded to eat it. I put it in the stroller but now can't seem to find it so it may still be in the car. He had a lot of fun. I got to see a few of the people I worked with and some of the Moms that I used to read storytime to were there with their children so it was cool getting to show Chance off to them. After our outing Chance went right to sleep so here are some great pictures of him jsut sleeping it off. He has a couple of these outfits with collars and buttons like a pollo shirt and I think he looks so grown up in them. After his nap today he kept smacking his lips kind of like a kiss. It was so cute, he gets plenty of kisses so maybe he was trying to make a kissing noise. The weather is kind of crappy today but if it is better tomorrow I think we will go to the park and try swinging on the swings.

Bath time has turned into play time. Chance still isn’t sitting up perfectly but in the sink he uses the edge to keep his balance. I line his bath toys up on the side and he reaches for them and plays with them while he is getting a bath. It really helps the time go by faster for him and for me he is happy so the bath is a lot smoother. It’s great to see him enjoying things when he is happy he seems happy to his very core and that is a wonderful thing to see. He doesn’t mind water going over his face and head at all which is wonderful because I can’t for the life of me figure out how you could wash his hair without getting his face wet. The other day we got stuck in the rain and had to walk from the car to the apartment in the rain. Luckily I had an umbrella but still we got wet getting in and out of the car. Chance didn’t care a bit, he was smiling and laughing and having a wonderful time in the rain. He kept trying to put his hands out from under the umbrella to get them wet. I am very glad he likes the water. Not just for the convenience but I love to swim I think next time we are in Florida I will take him in the pool. I let him stand on the first step when we were there last time that brought the water up to his tummy and he did mind at all. We are going to stay at the beach for a couple days while we are in Portland at the end of June maybe we can try to put him in the water there to see if he likes the ocean.

Fun with Daddy! Fun wearing daddy's hat and fun hanging upside down. It is great to try things and see how he reacts. He seemed to have fun with both of these tricks. He has started liking peek-a-boo so I think that is what he was thinking with Daddy's hat over his head. Hanging upside down he usually has a big smile on his face. He likes flying around the room and generally being held in weird positions and feeling weightless so upside down goes right along with that.

P.S. before some well meaning person writes me a horrible email/comment about how we are damaging our son by hanging him upside down I have one thing to say to you. Mind your own business. Thank you.

P.P.S. the pictures are a little wierd on this page, sorry about that.

My sister, Kristy and I send a box back and forth to each other with a journal inside as well as a little gift of some sort. We have been sending the box to each other since I moved to New Orleans over a year ago. We just received the box from her yesterday and inside was a new toy and teething ring for Chance. The toy is a little yellow chicken that makes noise when you shake him. Chance loves it, I put him on his tummy and he kicked and kicked till he reached it and then he shook it and ate it and laughed at it when it made noise. A big thank you to Aunt Kristy for the new toy.

We went to The Old Ursuline Convent today. They have an awesome exhibit of 37 Vatican Mosaics. They have never been outside of the Vatican before. The convent is less than a block from our house and it only cost ten dollars so we went to check it out. Chance was very good the whole time. He was in the sling and through part of it I pulled him out so he could look around. He loved looking at all the pretty colors. I bought a couple postcards to show him after we got home which he also loved. We also bought a couple plants today, I am trying to get a nice bunch of plants going on our balcony hopefully I can keep them alive. I'll keep you posted on that.

This morning we went to City Park to grab a couple geocaches and I snapped a picture of him staring at me from his carseat. We noticed this a couple days ago when Scott was driving. He's figured out where we have been hiding while in the car, it's too cute.

5 months old today! It has been such a short time but so much has happened. He is doing wonderful. He is still sleeping throught he night from about 7pm to about 7am, he almost never wakes up crying any more. In the morning I hear him in his room squealing and babbling to himself. Which is great, I have time to get dressed and use the bathroom and he is usually in a better mood overall when he doesn't cry first thing in the morning. He fits in his 3 - 6 month clothes and is starting to fit into some of his 6 - 9 month clothes. He has been eating rice cereal in the morning for one month now and both in the morning and evening for two weeks. On Friday we got him some sweet potatoes and he loves them. So now he is eating rice cereal mixed with a little sweet potato in the morning and all sweet potato at night. He is still eating between 25 and 35 ounces of formula per day as well, he has started eating a little less though since he started solids. Today we sat out on the balcony and I peeled a banana and held it for him. He loved it gummed it and licked it and just generally had a wonderful time with it. It also made quite a mess but, the messier the better, right? He pushes himself around with his arms when on his tummy and scoots backward a little bit but seems to become frustrated with that pretty fast. He will reach of things that are in front of him but he still only moves backward. His little ribs are ticklish and will squeal and laugh when I tickle him. He is very aware of things around him now. He has started crying when I take things away from him. Before I would just change toys at my will but now if I move something he is still interested in he will let me know. Rosco and Chance are still getting along well, Chance runs into him with his walker now but Rosco is a good dog and just goes to lay down somewhere Chance can't reach him. Chance can now put 'mmmmm' and 'aaaaa' together all the time so he wonders around saying 'mama' all the time even though he has no idea what it means. he also says 'baba' a little bit along with all his other random sounds. When it comes to this five month list he does all of these things and has for some time. He drops toys from his chair and watches to see what happens. His little tooth is still only sticking through a little bit, it doesn't seem to bother him much but it is sure taking a long time.
By the end of month five a baby typically:
Pays attention to small objects
Experiments with the concept of cause and effect
Can see across the room
Begins to use hands in a raking fashion to bring toys near
Begins teething process
I copied the six month list too because he is also doing most of these things too. He still needs a little more support to sit than I think they mean and I haven't tried giving him a cup yet so I don't know about that one but all the others he does. He rolls from front to back and back to front all the time and fast like lightning, he also rolls both directions. When I put him down for a nap if he isn't really tired he immediately flips over to his tummy like he had been planning and thinking about doing it from the moment I said it was nap time, he's quick.

By the end of month six a baby typically:
Keeps head level when pulled to sitting position
Makes some vowel-consonant sounds
Sits by self with minimal support
Opens mouth for spoon
Reaches for and grabs objects
Rolls over and back
Drinks from a cup with help
Can hold bottle
Copies some facial expressions
Makes two-syllable sounds

He also puts his toes in his mouth every opportunity he gets. Between him putting his toes in his mouth and his little wiggle butt, diaper changes have become quite good fun.

Chance has started grabbing his feet along with everything else. He grabs them when he is sitting up and when he is laying down. They have become great toys. Also, the first thing you should do with your toes once you have gotten a good hold on them is put them in your mouth.
Chance of course already knows this and so he immediately puts his toes in his mouth at all costs. While sitting he will topple over because he is trying to get his toes in his mouth and while laying down he rolls himself into a little ball as seen here. He is much more active than ever before, He has learned to go forward and backward in the walker and so rolls himself all over the house. I have to make sure I wipe his feet off with a baby wipe every time I take him out of the walker or he puts all the dirt from the floor right into his mouth. Welcome to the age of babyproofing! We are starting to put locks on the cabinets under the sink and clean up the loose wires around the tv and computers.

About a week ago I noticed Chance was grabbing for things or at least I thought he was, sometimes he would and sometimes he wouldn’t so I wasn’t sure if I was just making it up. I have noticed that Moms (including myself) sometimes ‘make things up’ or believe that they are seeing things they really aren’t about their child. To me he is a genius but lets face it he’s not even 5 months old. Anyway, it is for sure now, he is definitely grabbing for things that he wants. He grabs for his bottle and the spoon when I feed him and toys and for me or Scott. When he grabs for me and I know he wants me it is really wonderful. It’s the first time he could actually say “hey Mom I want you.” It’s so cool. His tooth still hasn’t come all the way in, it’s a little bit bigger nub than it was before but still not a whole tooth. He is doing well with it though. He isn’t crying just moaning a little and biting his lower lip but it will come in soon (I Hope). In the picture where he is reaching for his bottle you can also see it is time to step up to a high chair because he can put his feet down on the table now and push. So we will be getting one of those soon. The rest of these are just some random pictures of his mug.

How do you know it is time to lower the mattress on your crib? When you go in to get your baby out of bed in the morning and find him looking back at you like this. By the way he is doing great with tummy time. I added these two other picutres I took yesterday. We have to get a couple rugs because our apartment has only tile and wood floors now that he is starting to move around he needs to have the space to do that and I don't want to put his bare knees on the hard floors not to mention him bumping his head on them. Right now he is on the ottoman with one of us right next to him. He is really holding his head up well now.

Chance is starting to sit up on his own. Not for very long but he is doing it. He holds himself up for about half a minute and then topples over but every day he sits straighter and sits for just a little longer. He looks like a big little guy when he is sitting up by himself. He holds himself up with his hands. I dangle a toy in front of him and when he reaches up for it he only lasts a second before…over he goes. I was lucky to get the good one where he is looking right at athe camera. This is the progression he starts happy and looking at me then he gets side tracked and then down on the blanket he goes.

Chance’s tooth is not all the way through yet it is still just a little tip of white sticking through his gums but he is holding in there quite nicely. He is drooling all over the place, it’s so much it is almost funny. The worst part is you can tell he is in pain. When he isn’t moaning he still has a pained look on his face. It is so sad. I want to give him a big hug and have his tooth come through and not hurt any more, like magic. Oh well, I guess we all know how that goes. In these pictures you can see how even though he is playing in his walker he still has the pained look on his face. He grabbed his toes yesterday and put them in his mouth, it’s the first time they made it all the way to his mouth. He’s learning more and more each day. Instead of just starring off into space like he used to when he looks around he is taking in the world. He always looks like he is processing things. Yesterday Scott was talking to him and Chance actually mimicked what Scott was saying. It was amazing.

Chance is getting a tooth!! It hasn't come all the way in yet but he has been acting a little cranky for the past couple days and he sort of bites his bottom lip and moans which is completely different than his cry. He does the moan thing all the time so today I pulled his bottom lip down just to look in there and I can see a little white tip sticking through his gum. He is being so good for having something punchering his gums like that. I hope it comes all the way through fast so he isn't in pain for too long. He is still sleeping and napping well even with the toothache. Also, my Mom brought up the walker that Peter and Chellee gave us when she came to pick us up to go to Florida and I have been putting him in it every day since we have been back. He started not moving too much but every day he moves a little farther and a little farther. He only goes backward and sideways a little, he hasn't figured out forward yet but when he does he will be able to go anywhere. It's funny because Rosco and Chance are on the same level. Chance really likes the walker he moves his feet and plays with the toys and then pushes with his feet some more. It's cute and it gives some great insight into what it will be like when he really gets mobile. Hello babyproofing!

We are back from Florida. We were there from the 30th to the 8th. Mom came up to pick us up because plane flights to Florida at this time of year are crazy expensive. It is a 12 hour car ride from New Orleans to Fort Myers. We stopped every couple hours in the beginning to stretch our legs and get Chance out of the car. Which was a perfect opportunity to get a couple geocaches. Then at his regular bed time he went to sleep and didn't wake up till we got there. He was wonderful in the car, he barely cried or made any fuss or any kind. We had fun just hanging out with Mom, Kristy and Grandma. Chance was his usual self while we were there. He's such a happy baby even when he is tired or maybe a little cranky you can still get him to smile because inside he is a good natured soul. I tried to get him to laugh while we were there but he only did it a couple times. He has started humming a lot sometimes instead of crying he will sort of hum/whine to tell you he isn't really upset but he doesn't like what is going on. We went out to eat a couple times while we were there and Chance sat at the table on my lap. He started in his carrier but became cranky half way threw the meal so I took him out and sat him on my lap. He had fun slapping the table and looking at all the things going on around us. He was pretty good on the plane ride back though he didn't just sleep through it this time he wanted to get out of the sling and look around he still didn't cry much at all. He is starting to sit up unassisted, these pictures are him sitting up on the couch but this time he isn't propped up with pillows.

Videos! Scott helped me get these videos on the computer so I could share them with you. They are not studio quality but they are clear (mostly) and they have audio which is a big step up from the last video. The first three are Chance hanging out in his crib talking to me and himself and his mobile. Then there is some tummy time and the last one is him laying on the couch looking at the ceiling fan. They are all super cute.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZleHHGkccMg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ImGGAS7oEXA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3hgqDfRC26E
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zn70Sx3P07s
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8sosdnwyhJU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7UDOlDG80LQ
I couldn't get the embedded video to work so you will just have to follow the links.