Blogger fail!

Sorry blog friends! Apparently as the baby grows the time to sit down and blog gets smaller! Sebastian is now 13.5 months old....what?!

So let me back up a little bit and hit on the major milestones. At 6 months he was finally sitting up unassisted and began his "army crawl." Within a matter of a month he was pulling up and able to stand in his crib or against furniture. Shortly after came the cruising...and he was off! Crawling just enough to get to something he could walk back and forth holding onto.

The cruising last for a number of months and he would venture out 3-4 steps on his own before crashing. Then two days before his first birthday he took off, walking clear across the library play area (a good 10-12 feet)!

Now he is EVERYWHERE and into EVERYTHING! Not a kitchen cabinet or drawer in the house is safe. His favorite things to do now are to play with pots and pans in the the kitchen and unload the dirty laundry baskets. He is saying "mama, dada, bye bye, ba ba (nursing), uh oh" and he loooooooves music. He loves to sing along to a number of Vampire Weekend songs as well as Talking Heads. He is skilled at playing the kazoo and maracas and is getting down his best dance moves.

Every day I find myself thinking, man he's smart. He is always looking to figure out how things work and is really understanding what is being said.

Until next time, hopefully before he's driving a car and off to college!!!

A Time of Firsts

Sebastian has had many firsts in the past few weeks. We went to cocoa beach with my Mom and Aunt Marian where Sebastian had his first swim in a pool and another trip to put his feet in the ocean.

At my Mom's house later that week he tried his first few bites of rice cereal mixed with breastmilk. That went over pretty well at first while he was still considering the new texture then he decided he was done. We tried a little bit again a few days later and he was much happier.

I went to church with my mom and left Sebastian in the nursery. This was the first time I have left him in a daycare setting with totally new faces. He did very well and didn't even need the comfort of the bottle I sent with him. I went to pick him up and he was as happy as could be sitting in an exersaucer slapping toys and looking at other babies.

He's changing every day!

Going So Fast!!!!

Monday July 19th was a big day. First we went to Michelle's house for a visit. She has love birds flying around her screened in patio and we took Sebastian out to listen. The birds started landing on our heads and singing very loudly. He thought this was the funniest thing and gave his first real big from the belly laughter. It was the best things I had ever seen! I immediately wanted to go out and buy love birds but luckily I refrained.

So next on the agenda for that day was Sebastian's second round of vaccines. We're doing the alternative method where fewer vaccines are given at once but that means we are going in for one (sometimes two) at a time each month as opposed to 5-6 all at one time. Later that night I realized he had a fever. I first tried a lukewarm bath, that didn't work; next I tried cool compresses on head and chest, that didn't work; finally I rushed out and bought infant Tylenol, that worked like a charm. So for about 3 days he took the Tylenol every 5-7 hours to keep the temp down (or else it would start to climb again) and he was in a very bad mood, understandably. Then it was all over and we were pretty much back to normal. Although he's now changed his sleeping-through-the-night pattern into waking up 2-3 times but I can deal with that.

Now in the second week in August he is laughing at all sorts of things and giving every new friend lots of smiles and giggles. It is really getting fun now. Oh! He also rolled over from tummy to back 3 times in a row the other day. Its all happening so fast!

We had our first trip to the beach with Daniel and Amanda last weekend. No swimming in the water yet but he really enjoyed the waves and wind. Stay tuned....

To vaccinate or not to vaccinate....

That is the question! After speaking with the Doctor, friends and Internet research we have decided to go with an alternative vaccination schedule. This means less at one time spread out over time instead of 4-6 shots at once.

Sebastian had his two month well check and received his first shot, he tolerated it well, no fever or apparent reaction. Its still so hard to allow medications/vaccinations going into his little body willingly. I'm second guessing my decision to give him any but we've started on the path, now I guess we'll see where it goes!

Developmentally he is thriving. He still loves to smile back at me and daddy and talk back with little baby noises. I have a lovely activity matt that I borrowed from a friend and he likes to swat at the little toys/mirror that hang above him.

I couldn't believe this...he's now 14 lbs! At one month he was in 50th percentile for weight...now he's in the 90th percentile!!!

From then to now...

First days home from the hospital were actually very nice. Finally there wasn't a parade of doctors, nurses, lactation consultants, etc coming in and out. Sebastian was two and a half weeks early so he mostly slept all the time. I did not. I was exhausted but something kept me going and up, making sure he ate enough and had a clean house/laundry. Everything was so new that now it seems like a million years ago, back when I was a beginner...



We moved to a new place, my favorite place so far. I can see the sunset over the water from my bedroom window. Sebastian is growing so fast. It seems like in a matter of a week he doubled in size and a lot of things don't fit him anymore.

He started smiling back at me and repeating noises like "oooh" and "aaa-goo" and he LOVES bath time. Its our favorite part of the day. He kicks and paddles and makes funny faces.

Baby books are for boomers...

Aparantly I'm not the type of Mom to make a baby book/scrap book, sorry Sebastian. Instead I will hang onto a box of keepsakes (hospital ID tags, shower invitations, coming home attire, etc..) and staying true to the NetGeneration I will keep this blog.
Sebastian was born 04/06/2010 at 5:30pm. He was 2.5 weeks early but decided to kick a hole in his swimming pool (my water broke) while I was at work. We waited and waited with not much happening before the doctors insisted we start pitocin to induce contractions. More waiting and waiting. Finally after about 24 hours of hanging out with Michelle and Sal and sneaking water & snacks behind the nurses backs things kicked into gear and we were off. It seems like it was out of nowhere. Forty-five minutes of super contractions, I was feeling like I needed to push....I was just about to break and ask for the epidural when the nurse informed me that I was fully dilated and ready to push on the next contraction. Okay, now is where everything gets fuzzy. I don't know where my mind went, its like my body was on autopilot and just doing its own thing. I prepared for this for months practicing hypnobirthing and breathing...yeah, that went out the window. I just pushed like there was no tomorrow.
Little man came out waving. A head AND a hand. He was placed directly on my chest and the doctor honored my request of letting the umbilical cord to stop pulsating before being clamped and cut, giving my baby the last nourishing drops of cord blood. Sal, now "daddy," cut the cord.

Okay, so I always watch A Baby Story and Birth Day shows and the mothers are all emotional a crying and instantly bonded to their babies. I wasn't like that and that really surprised me. Instead I think I was in shock and I just kept saying "I can't believe that just happened."
"Baby" still didn't have a name yet. There were a few in the running but with the little guy still on my chest I looked at Sal and we agreed Sebastian was the right name for him; the middle name Alexander came a day later from Sal when he was on the way out for a bike ride. "Wait, the birth certificate lady will be coming back, what is his middle name?" "Sebastian Alexander sounds nice" And that was that.
The rest of the day was strangely quiet and fast. It was the middle of the night before I knew it and I had been up for 36 hours. Finally a shower and sleep.
Well, I think that is a good start. He's 8 weeks old now, I'll sumerize at a later date.