As promised....

Holiday Photos! (We are also going to go to see Santa)

Dixon and Mommy outside the Capitol 

Family Portrait

Look Mommy!  I got my sock!

Texas

We travel to Houston for the holiday's this year.  It should be a good time as my brother and sister will also be home and we plan on seeing a lot of other family members.  I am pretty excited for D's first Christmas.  I think he will enjoy the lights on the trees and meeting all of his fabulous TX cousins and family.  He will even get to meet his first animal.  My dog-niece Daphne will be joining us for the holiday season and I hope they get along okay.

How are you spending your holiday? Any firsts?

Do you like my hat?

Ry's Aunt and Uncle sent D a few presents.  One is a set of plush keys which he loves and another is a cute puppy hat.

It was pretty cold out today so we let him wear the puppy hat.

TaDa!!!!  Thank you!

Six Months

D is now over SIX MONTHS old.

Wow.  That means I haven't slept more than three hours at a time in 6 months.

How am I still alive?

I'm getting big! 

Yum! For me?

At six months D is still incredibly verbal. He loves to talk and be talked too.  The ladies at his daycare LOVE him because he is so easy going and smiley.  He is sitting up alone and can lean to the sides to reach for various toys.  He loves playing with his feet and has some solid ideas about what he likes and doesn't like in terms of games.  His dad can always make him laugh.

We started feeding him a few weeks before he turned 6 months because he spent mealtimes staring down our forks and he really enjoys "real" food.  We started with rice cereal and applesauce but have since progressed into green beans, sweet potatoes, carrots and squash.  He has also gnawed on some asparagus and broccoli rabe.  He really enjoys being able to pick food up and put it into his own month so we will probably do a mix of baby led and purees.

We also started some sleep training and I have to say it isn't easy.  If he could stay up with us all night he would, so we are trying to teach him that bed is awesome.  So far he isn't convinced.

Weight- 22lbs
Length- 27inches
Cuteness factor- 100%

Holiday Photos

Yes.  We took Holiday Photos.  I wish I could post some, but I can't.  We made them into holiday cards and we don't want to ruin the surprise   But let me tell you.  They are CUTE.  And since we live in DC they feature a famous location prominently.

I promise to post them after Christmas, but if our cards are late and you look anyway you have no one to blame but yourself.

Happy Holidays!

Football Sundays

My boys.

On Sunday Ryan watches football and we try to keep Dixon from watching the TV.  (Dixon also likes to watch football) This usually involves a ton of play time which he loves.  Ryan and Dixon have lots of bonding playtime on Sundays, which means Mommy gets a break.

Day of rest.  Thank you.

Sitting!

Not that you can really tell from this photo but Dixon can sit now.  Before he just laid around but after he learned to roll over (back to front) he decided he wanted to learn to sit.  So he put all of that rolling over stuff on the back burner and fought to sit upright until finally voila! he sits.

He is getting pretty good at it too.  A bit wobbly at times but he puts his hands down to steady himself and has only toppled over backwards once.  Probably helps that he has such a large sitting area.

Now he wants to stand up.  Overachiever.

He Votado Hoy

 Election Day!  Dixon did not get to go to the polls.  Instead this is the day after we went to the emergency room.  We came home from work and I went to Target to pick up his medicine.  Right as I walked in an alarm went off and they evacuated the building.  So instead of picking up his medicine I went to vote while Ryan and Dixon watched the results roll in.

Our voting site is across the street from our apartment.  I waited 35 minutes in line and then over an hour to get my provisional ballot since Ryan and I had moved 5 blocks down our street from the last time we voted. The lady in charge of handling provisional ballots was terrible.  She was rude, slow and I doubt the overflowing cardboard box holding the ballots would have passed an election inspection.  After having learned a bit about the election monitors we send to other countries, I was surprised that we possibly pass any of  the rules we create for other democratic countries.  My ballot probably didn't even get counted in that mess.  Not that it matters in DC.

I'm just glad everything is over and I hope the government can focus on getting something done instead of being dicks to each other.

Sick baby

Dixon has been sick for about a month now.  First we called the Pediatrician's office and she suggested a cold mist humidifier and saline gel.  We did that for about two weeks and then I called again because he was making a wheezing noise when he breathed.  She had us come in for a sick baby visit, took his blood oxygen level and then gave him a nebulizer treatment and an inhaler for home use. Dixon HATES in inhaler but we were good about giving it to him 3 to 4 times a day for the past week.  Monday he sounded awful and after chatting with his daycare ladies I decided to call the pediatrician.  She asked us to take him to emergency at Children's Hospital and off we went!

They saw him very quickly which made me quite nervous because the waiting room was pretty full.  They took his blood oxygen level again and then did a double nebulizer treatment and sent us home with another inhaler and instructions to call the pediatrician the next morning to get a in-home nebulizer kit.

Tuesday morning we went into the pediatrician's office again and they took his blood oxygen level, listened to his chest and performed another nebulizer treatment before listening to his chest again and taking his blood oxygen level one more time.  Apparently it had been so low when we got in they had been thinking we were going to need to go back to Children's and be admitted for care.  SCARY. Luckily it went up to an acceptable level and we are home with a in-home nebulizer and another visit scheduled for Friday.

Until then you can find me anxiously listening for the next breath.

Hanging with Dad

Dixon just LOVES hanging out with his Dad.  Ryan can always get him to laugh.

Oh Daddy, you are so silly!

5 months

Dixon turned 5 months at the beginning of November.  We celebrated by voting in our nation's election and going to the doctor on a sick baby visit.  

He is currently weighing in at 22 lbs and eating like a champ.  He had been sleeping up to 6 hours at a time but he is currently battling a cold so all sleep patterns have flown out the window.  He rolls over and loves to sit up, but does not like tummy time.  He can sit up from a reclining position so you have to keep your hands on him at all times.  He also continues to be very vocal and has added "bbbb" and the vowels "o" and "u" to his vocabulary.  His favorite game is to blow raspberries and to hold on to his feet whenever you try to change his diaper.  

He has started watching Mommy and Daddy eat dinner and loves to sit at the table.  We just ordered him a high chair so soon he can watch everyone else eat in preparation for trying some big kid food in the next month or so.

We love him more and more each day.

Halloween

I'm not much for Halloween.  I guess working in the theatre has kind of killed my love of costumes.  When you are surrounded by people who are pretending to be something they are not, pretending gets a little old.

However, we did make sure to "celebrate" Dixon's first Halloween.  My mom sent him a pumpkin costume and we carved a nice pumpkin.  It had the word Dixon as it's teeth.

No candy or anything but considering this is the week of the Hurricane, the election and the week he started crying for hours on end before bedtime... we did pretty well with the costume and carving.

What IS this orange thing?  Following this picture he promptly tried to put his mouth on it.

Weathering the storm...

We have had a big past year or so here in DC. The city has dealt with an earthquake, a hurricane and now this mega storm.  So far at our house we have just seen a lot of rain and wind but I know other people are experiencing flooding and power outages.  Besides being a bit bored we've done pretty well.  The metro is closed so both Ry and I are home with D as our offices have asked us not to come in.  They are closed tomorrow as well so we will see how we do day two in our apartment.

Stay safe Easterners.

Official Four Month Picture

TADA!!!!- Four Months

Let's take a look back...

                                           

One Month

 

Two Months

Three Months

I am the 1%

In milk wealth.

We had our 4 month appointment on last Tuesday.  (technically he is 4 and a 1/2 months old) Dixon is very healthy and currently weighs 21lbs which puts him above the 99 percentile.  He is 25 inches in length and I can't remember his head circumference at this moment but basically he is around the 50% mark in everything but weight.

The Pediatrician said he seemed perfectly fine but she wanted him to get more tummy time.  We have been spending more time on the floor with him this week and on Friday he rolled over from his back to his stomach.  He was pretty proud of himself and since then he has been trying and trying to duplicate.  We have gotten all the way over one additional time but his pesky shoulder keeps getting in the way.  Once he is on his tummy he isn't really interested in rolling over onto his back although he does try to pull himself forward. 

Dixon continues to be very verbal.  He loves to talk to his mom and the ladies at daycare and he just laughs and laughs at his dad.   He is stringing together consonants and vowels and has starting using the mmm sound to announce his displeasure.  He is extremely well behaved and laid back most of the time.

Although Halloween is not my favorite holiday I look forward to celebrating his first holiday.

TEXAS

We had a great time in TX.  Dixon did really well on the flight and over the whirlwind weekend.  Although we saw a ton of people and went a lot of places I will just go through some of the highlights here. All of these images and more are on the flickr page.

Dixon saw his first show at The Magik Theatre.  We attended Kid Who Ran For President and he intently watched the action almost the entire time.

We had lunch at Titos with Willy.  Afterwards we went to coffee with Willy and Susie but my pictures of that aren't as good as the one Susie took.  (hint Susie...)

We drove out to Kerrville and spent the night with Mimi and Grandpop. (Mom and Dad grabbed some Sonic- yum, and we ate at Mamacitas.  Oh how I miss Mexican food, although my waistline does not.)

Before attending the finale for a Year of Jazz with KRTU 91.7 we had lunch with Aaron and coffee with my family including Perry & Sue Laabs, David Senglemann, Terry & Karen Smith (who drove up from Corpus just for D) and my parents.  The concert was great.  Dixon was patient for about 15 minutes before needing to leave, so I spent most of my time in the lobby.

And we stayed with Ryan's Grandma Linda.  She and his Aunt Susan got to spend a bit of time with the newest family member.

Thank you to everyone who adjusted their lives to visit with us on our SHORT trip to TX.  We will be back in Houston for Christmas.  

My New Friend

This is a picture of Dixon and Davey at Panchitos during our visit to TX.  What you can't see from this picture is that Davey and his wife were very pregnant at the time and last week Dixon's new friend was born.

Hello Sammy!!  Welcome to the world, watch out for the dogs.

Happy Baby!

As you read this post we are in TEXAS!!  Happy Baby!!! Among other reasons, we are in TX to visit our friends and family, see a show at The Magik Theatre and celebrate 10 years of jazz programming at KRTU 91.7 (the radio station Ryan used to manage.) 

While we are in town Dixon will celebrate 4th months.  He is VERY verbal and loves to chat with his caregivers at daycare, the other kids, his own reflection and especially his mom and dad. He is beginning to respond to his name and starting to roll over from his side to his tummy.  He still has trouble getting his butt all the way over from his back but I think as he slims down that will get easier. He really wants to sit and "stand" up. His favorite game to play with his dad is when Ryan pulls him from a prone position to a sitting position and then into standing.  He can hold his own weight on his legs but his balance is still pretty shaky.  We are still working on sleeping, and he has started to become very interested in what mom and dad are doing during mealtimes. I can't believe I no longer have an infant.

Cross your fingers the travel goes well!

Grandparents

D has some wonderful grandparents.  Ryan's mom and dad came up and stayed for a week at the beginning of August (post here) and my mom and dad were here for his birth and then again last weekend as they traveled home from Atlantic City.  My mom actually came for my birthday, along with my brother, she just can't stay away.

Zoo

While my parents were in town we hit the National Zoo.  My dad took some great pictures but he hasn't sent them to my yet, hint hint.  It actually happened to be the same day the panda cub was born and although D slept for most of the animals he did get to see the elephants, the zebra and the new cheetah cubs.  

I will post more pictures once I get them.  We are looking forward to going again once he understands a bit more.

Atlantic City

The weekend after I started work my parents were in Atlantic City for a week to play golf and look at birds.  We had talked about going but decided it would be too difficult to travel with D the weekend after daycare and work started again.  Saturday morning we decided we were going to go anyway.  Luckily some great friends/family had loaned us their car for the weekend so off we went.  It was a short trip but D had his first dip into the Atlantic Ocean, his first stay in a hotel and his first jackpot. (just kidding about the jackpot)

Toes in! 

Ryan is explaining how far it is to England.

Oh! and today is my brother's birthday- Happy Birthday "little" brother.

First Day of School

This is the beginning of September.  It was my first day back at work and D's first day of daycare.  Ryan and I took him down and settled him into his new school.  The teachers are very nice and they seem to really like all the kids.  Our baby is so easy going and chubby that they fight over who gets to cuddle him at the end of the day.  Leaving him with someone else is still hard for me but I know that for our family, at this time, daycare is the right choice.

(but I do enjoy weekends!)

Three Months

Dixon turned three months right before I went back to work.  This is a picture of him the week after with his cupcake that had sat in the fridge for a week.  YUM.  Going back to work was exhausting.  He is in a daycare a few blocks from my office and he seems to like it.  I go over at lunch and we have a bit of cuddle time.  

At three months he was very verbal and had finally gotten control over that hand so he could get it into his mouth fairly reliably.  He is still an easy going baby and almost always behaves beautifully when we are out and about.  We weighed him on our scale after this picture was taken and it looks like he was around 18 lbs!

DC UNITED

On Wednesday night we took Dixon to a DC United game at RFK Stadium.  It was a bit late and I wasn't sure how he would do but overall he was a champ until we got on the metro to go home.  We didn't make any friends in our metro car and I am sure we were totally judged for having our baby out so late. I will put some pictures of Ry and D on the flickr site in their jerseys as soon as I can get them off the fancy camera.

DeRo scored his 100th goal during the game and DC United tied the NY Red Bulls 1 to 1.

Vamos United!

Up a Storm

Dixon is talking up a storm.  Here is a video I took this morning with him showing off his mad skillz.  He is unusually reticent when faced with the camera phone but for some reason today after a few tries he decided to send some love to his Mimi and Granny, albeit a bit whiny sounding love.

I can't believe he is already 12 wks old!

One week more!

I'm having a hard time realizing that on Tuesday, September 4th I will no longer be at home with my baby all day.  Sometimes that realization comes as a relief as in- He's been crying for hours.  Thank goodness next week someone else will have to do all this bouncing. -or- I would really like to talk to some grownups and not be covered in milk right now.

But mostly I feel kinda sad.  I'm going to miss so much time in his life everyday from now until forever with daycare and then school.  Right now when he does something new every couple of hours it  seems hard to think that he will be displaying these new behaviors to someone else, some stranger, some lady who is not the mama.  

We had a difficult time finding daycare but eventually got into two of them. One is a large national chain with brightly colored classrooms and slick literature.  The other is a private daycare with less flashy toys crammed into the first floor of a building downtown.  One is as expensive as our monthly rent and one is $600 less.  One is an hour commute each way and one is literally less than 5 blocks from my office.  After some discussion we decided near to my office was the biggest plus and will be putting him into the less fancy, less expensive daycare- I feel slightly guilty from an educational standpoint but I am tempering it with the fact that with less of a commute we will spend much more time with him each day AND I can walk over to feed him at lunch if I wish.  

I gotta go cuddle my baby now...

Growing

This is Dixon at one month.

And this is Dixon at two months. 

He is currently wearing 6mth clothing, he is talking up a storm, enjoys listening to adult conversations and is beginning to get his sleeping in better order.

Photoshoot

D was in a good mood, and will only be able to wear this super cute (and soft!) romper maybe one more time so we took some pictures.

His cute feet.

Faintly smiling- he won't actually smile for the camera.

Practicing his face-plowing, as Ryan calls it.

Larry Visited!

Our Uncle Larry came to DC to visit Cousin Laura and they both stopped by to say hello.  Dixon wasnt in his most charming mood but Larry didn't seem to mind.

Thanks for the visit!

Olympic Fever

Even Dixon has Olympic Fever!  Go team USA!

SHOTS!

On August 7th Dixon went in for his first round of shots.  He had two shots and one oral medicine.  He took the oral medicine like a champ although I have my suspicions that it might have been because he was pretty hungry and we woke him up to take the medicine so he wasn't really alert enough to know what he was swallowing.

He also handled the shots pretty well until we got home.  After he slept for awhile I think the shot areas became sore as he woke up pretty grumpy.  His confused pain at the soreness on his thighs was the worst part for me.  Poor baby.

Grandparent Attack

Last week my mom and brother came in for a visit.  We mostly just hung out with the baby although they did babysit one night so Ryan and I could have some dinner at a restaurant.  It was my birthday on Friday and we took Dixon to his first real restaurant for brunch.  He did pretty well.

Over the weekend Ryan's parents came into town.  They were with us for a week and although I think Jim gets stir crazy in our apartment we are pretty much planning on hanging out with the baby and taking him down to Woolly Mammoth and WRI. We also took the Weber's to Ben's Chili Bowl and Dixon slept through the entire experience.

 Always good to see family and to get a little break from being a solo caregiver during the workday.  I love that I can grab a nap without worrying about Dixon.

Two Months

This is a picture of our newborn baby in June.  How tiny!

Dixon turned two months on August 5th.  At his appointment on the 7th he weighed almost 15lbs and was 23 inches long.  That puts him in the 96% for weight.  

At two months he is very alert.  He follows everyone with his eyes as they move about the apartment.  He is cooing and participating in conversations and he loves to sit at the table while other people are eating. Dixon can get his hand in his mouth about 90% of the time but can't yet figure out how to extend his thumb so he ends up sucking on the fist.  This week he has been really great about napping and has extended his time between feedings to 2 1/2 hours during the day.  Ryan and I find new things to love about him all the time!

More Pictures

We have been battling some sickness lately so the images I wanted to post on the blog are still on the camera.  However, we did figure out how to upload pictures from my phone to our Flickr so if you would like to take a look at what we have been up to lately please follow the link here.

Sick Baby

ugh.

Last Friday we had our first sick baby visit.  Dixon hadn't really been sleeping more than 45 minutes at a time and would wake up with terrible tummy pain.  He was also asking to eat every hour and oftentimes spitting up most of what he was taking in.  I waited a week to see if it was a growth spurt and finally called the pediatricians office.

We were diagnosed with thrush and a ingestion intolerance which we think is triggered by legumes.  The treatment for the thrush is gentian violet extract and we will put up some pictures of his purple mouth once I grab them off the other camera.

Amazingly once we started the probiotic and the thrush treatment he has returned to his 2 hour schedule.  Now if we can just push that to three...

We caught it!

Yesterday he smiled at me.

You read that right.  After a few weeks of practice smiles when he thought we were not looking he looked right at me and smiled.

It was excellent.

(we are waiting for a repeat performance- and will get a picture at some point)

Cuteness

I am going to be a bit of a gushing mommy in this post so if that bothers you- don't read it.

Dixon is 6 weeks old yesterday and he has started "waking up".   I finally feel like I am taking care of a developing person vs a big hungry bag of poop.

He can now put his fist in his mouth accurately about 90% of the time.
He can hit a specific toy or area with his right hand.
He has started using the letter o instead of just ah- and playing a bit more with sounds esp g.
He actively watches us as we do things around the house- yesterday he sat on my lap at the table and watched our guests and Ryan eat their dinner and talk.
He is grabbing at everything- your shoulder when you pick him up, the straps on my shirt, my hair.
He smiles when he thinks we aren't watching- practice for the big event.
He can sometimes soothe himself back to sleep.

We are still working on sleeping more than 2 hours at night (although he does 3 during the day) but we will get there.

Maybe by week 8?!

A Few 'Firsts'

At the beginning, life with D was a constant stream of 'firsts.'  There was our first night home, changing his first diaper, his first nap that last more than 3 hours, his first nap that lasted less than 1 hour...

It's still very early, and we're thrilled to have so many more firsts ahead.  In particular, weeks 4 and 5 saw some potentially dramatic steps ahead all come off with no drama.  

 Taking his first bottle with Ryan.  He will suck on anything that comes even near his mouth, but didn't know what to make of the bottle nipple initially.  They sat there with the plastic nipple against his tongue, and his mouth wide open - just staring at each other for about 2 minutes.  But when we tried to take the bottle away, suddenly all hesitation was gone.  Since then, D has decided that he is not a picky eater - he'll gnosh from any source, and isn't even particular about the milk temperature.  

 First "tub" bath came in the 5th week, and was even smoother than the bottle introduction.  It took us a little while to figure out how best to hold and wash him at the same time, but as the picture clearly shows he adapted quickly.

Finally, we are experimenting with cloth diapers, and in particular a brand called "gDiapers" that are environmentally friendly, not too costly, and (hopefully) less laundry-intensive because of their hybrid design (using a disposable insert to catch most of it, instead of going in the wash Every Single Time).  We're still on the fence about cloth diapering, but D couldn't care less.