Houston, we have takeoff!

A Crawler's Life!
I think that life as I know it is going to change. Robert took off comando crawling yesterday afteroon (started backwards and today is working on forwards) and hasn't stopped since. He crawls in the crib, off the changing mat, across the bathroom floor before his bath, out of the bouncy seat, accross the kitchen.... he is so proud of himself. Guess who is now limited to the floor or crib! I made strawberry/blueberry freezer jam yesterday and had him sitting on the floor playing with a mixing bowl and a spoon (liked the spoon but didn't care much for the bowl), the next think I knew he was all the way across the kitchen and I realized he must have crawled backwards and couldn't get back. After that I started watching him more closely and sure enough he's moving. YIKES! At least all this work has made him super tired and he's sleeping 8:30-8:30 (waking up once to eat around 5) and back down for a 2 hour nap at 10:30!

oh where is my baby?

I swear in the past week I've lost my little baby! He must be under this big boy somewhere but I'm not sure where. First of all he's starting to get mobile. Not really crawling yet but definitely getting around-scooting and rolling. Add that to lots of independent sitting and being able to dump his basket of toys on the ground and todays latest which was that he fed himself banana sticks (a banana cut into long thin peices and covered in baby cereal so it wouldn't be so slippery). He actually managed to get them to his mouth and in his mouth and chew and swallow! I am so impressed. He is also continuing to hone his skills in the doorway jumper and can glide back and forth the whole width of the doorjamb (or all but) and reach the stuff on top of the speaker so we had to put them up. Oh and non stop talking: dadadada and even a few mamas! Oh and of course his first really good scooting was to snoopy (who loves the finger food results but isn't so sure that a mobile baby is what she wanted!).

Robert's life

Wow a whole week!
I didn't realize it had been so long since I posted. Oops! I've been really tired lately, first with a cold and then with some very long evenings at work (getting off at 12-1 am getting to bed around 1-2 am) coupled with a baby that gets up at 7:30 for the day. Today he slept on and off until 8:30 (he gets up at 5 to eat) and I got to bed at 10 so I feel better. Mom came Tuesday evening and left this morning and it was nice to have her. I think she got her "munchkin fix", feeding cereal, giving baths etc. We had lunch Wed at Sunnyside to celebrate Grandpa's 92nd b-day. Robert insisted on eating and ate 1/2 a banana! Yikes. He doesn't usually eat lunch. He's definitely getting more and more social, loves to see himself in the miror, will play happily on the floor for 30 min or so by himself and for longer if I sit next to him and read. I'll have to post some pics soon.

Quiet Week

It's been a quiet week at Lake Harrisonburg. Nothing really new here except that Robert can now sit and play for long periods without falling over and has become quite the enthusiastic eater. He is also almost grown out of his carseat so I've been working on installing his new convertable car seat (convertable in that it can rear and forward face). Work has been good, time at home has been good, and it has just been a nice week.

Photo Shoot and a lazy weekend

Friday afternoon I took Robert to the mall for an impromtu 6 month photo shoot. I had a good coupon and he was in a good mood so I decided to see what happened when we got to the mall. If he was happy and they had a slot great if not then whatever. Well everything worked out great and we got some good pics. Saturday we had nothing planned and did pretty much nothing exciting. I made baby food and went to the Farmer's market for a while with Peggy and Nanny and Wesley mowed. Sunday we had a picnic for ex-Rocco employees after church which was fun and then just hung out and relaxed. I've gotten Robert's cold so it was so nice to have a lazy weekend home!

Big boy!

Robert has really grown up this week! He's sitting better and better and has learned to walk himself to the end of where he can go in the jumper and then swing back (repeat ad nauseum). I was going to take him to a park yesterday to see what he would think of the baby swings there but he fell asleep. Maybe this afternoon! He also refused to eat his peaches mixed with oatmeal this morning (the peaches were rather tart-I didn't think to taste them before I cooked them/pureed them) so after a few bites I gave up and fed him some carrots, he ended up eating almost a full 2 oz jar (I buy carrots because of the nitrite levels-jarred are grown in areas with low nitrite levels), he would start to cry if I stopped. And when a friend came over for supper last night he was in his booster seat playing with the toys and while we were talking I looked over because he was being so quiet and he was just sitting there with his head cocked looking at her. He listened for the longest time. And he's getting really good and pushing himself against something to scoot. Oh and he has figured out how to get stuff off the bookshelves by walking himself using the jumper and then grabbing them--or the dog. Snoopy has been really tolerant of having her ear chewed, eyes grabbed and tail grabbed. I'm really pleased with her.

First Cold

Robert's life
Well, at 6 months of age and in the middle of summer Robert has gotten his first cold. I'm a little confused about where he got it, he started Sun night, so probably not from church, and I haven't had any patients at work with colds. Anyways, he is a little miserable, especially at night but it hasn't stopped him from talking non stop.

Sigh, sorry Heather his first word wasn't He-ther but rather da-da. All day long it's been dada dada. I tried to tell Wesley that he wanted him to change his diaper (almost worked).

Mommy: "Robert who do you want to change your diaper, mama or dada?"
Robert: "Da-Da!".

So today instead of saying mama today it is ba-ba.

Robert (in the bathtub): "Ba-ba!"
Mommy: "No, Robert, ba-ba (the big stuffed lamb) can't take a bath with you, she doesn't like water."
Robert: "Ba-ba! Dada! Ba-ba"

Wesley called this morning and Robert was talking up a storm. Oh, life is funny! All the work mothers get and no mama. But lots of good hugs!

Home Improvement

Crazyness
It's been a crazy couple of weeks here but the upstairs has really made progress! Wiring and insulation are done and drywall is almost done (yeah!) Hopefully we'll have a place to put guests come Christmas! Robert's face is almost all better and he's back to his happy self. Dad only hurt himself 3 time and none required more than a bandaid. We had a nice lunch with the Smiths today before I had to go to work. And although the rain was dreary it made working a lot cooler. Well, I don't feel like I'm making a lot of sense so I'll leave ya'll now and go to bed. But a few more pics :)

Camping!

We had a great time camping this weekend with Clif and Hollie. I had Robert in his Bumbo (chair) and the bumbo on a picnic table bench and he fell sidewase and skinned his forehead. Poor guy. I felt so bad. I should really know better and especially after taking PALS (the first link in the chain of response for kids is prevention of injury!). He was somewhat cranky all weekend (despite tylenol for shots/face pain) and today has been napping like crazy so I'm thinking he was just tired but there was too much going on to nap well! It was very different camping with a 6 month old versus a 3 month old! He is definitely more aware and more active. He's used to being able to blow off steam in the jumper or exersaucer and we didn't have either with us so a couple of times he was laying (lying?) in bed kicking furiously and flapping his arms. Poor guy.

I'll add pics to this post when Wes gets home, he has them on his camera.

Busy Times

Robert's life
It's been a busy couple of days with "Grammy" and "Gramps" Reinhold here. Dad has been working on our upstairs (yeah!) and mom has been helping with Robert etc. It's been cute to watch them with Robert, they can't believe how much he has changed. He's really interacting! They're headed to Montreat and we're headed camping! Thursday Robert had shots and a checkup: 16 lb, 10 oz, 28 inches and doing perfect. I'm aching to see him right now, I had PALS (pediatric advanced life support) class today in Fishersville and left at 6:45. Mom and dad had him for a while and then took him to my SIL's mom's house and then my SIL picked him up and still has him. They're going camping with us and are bringing him to us. I fed him at 6 am and haven't seen him since :( I want my baby!

Here's another picture.

Robert's life

6 Months

I can't believe Robert is 6 months old today! It has flown by, and I'm sure the next 6 months will fly by too! I celebrated by staying home with him (put myself on the wish list) and it's been fun. He goes Thursday for his check up so we'll see then what he weighs! I'm trying to think what's new with him! He has the funniest smile, he tucks his bottom lip in and puffs his cheeks out so he looks like a toothless old man. Oh and he thinks that Snoopy is SO FUNNY when she sneezes. He just laughs and laughs! He's sitting up pretty well on his own (30 seconds without anyone near/10-15 min with side support). He's rolling really well and even did a 3 way roll the other day (back->front->back) in about 3 seconds flat. He was pretty proud. Now if only he could crawl he would be happy. He spent 5 min trying to inch his way towards a peice of paper on Friday. Poor guy. Paper is his favorite toy. I guess I should stop letting him eat the grocery list while I'm loading the groceries ;) Right now he is helping Wesley play Bejeweled. He's waving his arms around and hooting like an owl. Hooting and shrieking are his 2 new noises. Well I guess it's munchkin bedtime so I'd better go. Oh, here's a quote from Wesley right now "keep those hands out of your mouth, they get gross in there". Daddy doesn't like drool much :)

Robert's life

OK, MY life :)

A quick side note that has nothing to do with Robert. I won first place at the fair for 2 scrapbook pages! Apparently scrapbooking as a fair entry hasn't caught on yet and so not a lot of people entered. Wes won 2nd place for a photo of the fields behind our house.

Back to munchkin, he has decided that sleeping on his belly is nice and is presently asleep "spread eagle" in his crib. AND he slept until 8:15 this morning! That was a nice change from the 2/3 am wake up calls!

Robert's life

Pool, watermelon and rolling!

Sunday we went to Sarah's parents house for a BBQ. They have a pool and it was Robert's first time "swimming". He loved it! Then he got to try watermelon for the first time which was great for a while and then he got bored with it.

I'm begining to wonder why I wanted him to roll over. The last 2 nights he has rolled himself onto his stomach and then cried until I rescued him. Ugh. Last night he did it twice!

Robert's life

Grand Caverns
Saturday was RMH's fun day and we took Robert. What's not to like about free food, free funnel cake and free admission/tour of the caverns (normally $16 a person!). Robert slept through the first part (again in the Ergo) and then woke up and was, as usual facinated by the lights. It was a very fun time.

Robert's life

Hold a little tighter
A friend who I met at Bible Study who has since moved away called the other person who did Bible Study with us a few months ago to say she was pregnant again (had a baby while we were doing Bible Study) this was rather unexpected since she had had to be on fertility meds for the first one (actually her second pregnancy, no heartbeat at 12 wks with her first). We just got a call last night from her husband that she developed an infection and the baby (Robert Aaron!) was born at 20 wks and lived 10 min. I can't imagine what she must be going through. All last night and today I've held my Robert a little closer, kissed him a little more often and felt the fragility of life more intensely. Please keep that family in your prayers.

We were having a slow evening on Peds. I was precepting a very experienced (telemetry) nurse and we had 2-3 patients. I forgot part of my pump parts so had Wesley bring them in and got to keep Robert for 45 min or so while they (Wes and his parents) had supper. It was a great interlude to the evening! He is such a happy baby, smiling, laughing and crazy. He's starting to laugh at stuff around him-not just at being tickled. And he's loving squash!

Mommy Tired

Musings on various topics
I was reading in a parenting magazine yesterday an article on the things no one tells you about being a mother. One of the points was the difference between tired and mommy tired. The writer said she figured that since she could handle all nighters, jet lag etc that sleep deprivation wouldn't be an issue. And it wasn't, it's the exhaustion from spending all day entertaining, feeding, walking, rocking, changing...and repeat! I totally agree. While I love this life there are still times when it's like, wow I feel like I just changed you/fed you/played with you! So worth it though. Robert has been gobbling up solid food this week, to the point that he now grabs the spoon and pushes it in his mouth (or ear) and I usually have to abandon that spoon and get another one because he won't let it go. He seems to think that peaches and oatmeal are fantastic together but not so sure about the avacado. But I guess he wasn't so sure about peaches at the begining either! So we'll keep trying. I should have done avacado today but I thought he hadn't pooped so I figured that the peaches would be more, um, moving :) Then I opened up the diaper bag to find a very dirty diaper from the baby sitter. Delightful present.

Robert's life

News Flash
I forgot in my earlier blog that Big Robert called while we were at the hymn sing to say that he and Kavitha are engaged! I'm thrilled!

Robert's life

Unexpected Weekend Off
Somehow I ended up with a weekend off (scheduled to work). It was my turn off on Sat and I found out Friday that Wes' friend Aaron was going to be in town and his church was doing their anual hymn sing (which I missed last year because I was working) so I put myself on the wish list for Sunday :) Sunday I ended up being off (not on call) so we went hiking with Robert and Snoopy. I know we haven't been since I was pregnant so it's been a long time since I've been hiking. Luckily I now have an Ergo and although tough it went fine. Robert fell asleep on the way down and we were able to use the sleeping hood. It was so much fun. And of course Robert loved the hymn sing and even tried to sing along. I saw "Here I am Lord" and wondered about requesting it but wasn't sure if people knew it (we were at a Methodist church) and someone else requested it. It was awesome.
www.ergocarriers.com

working mommy

Morning After
One of the things I love the most about working is the look on your face when I get you out of your crib the next morning. You're always happy to see me but you seem extra happy on the morning after I worked evening shift. You have this big grin on your face and you make a high pitched squeal. Having you cuddled up in my arms after 16ish hours of being appart feels wonderful!

Solids

Starting Solids
Starting solids has certainly been interesting! So far you've had 5 days of oatmeal and 1 of peaches. You seemed to like the oatmeal pretty well after the first day or so. But you made the funniest face when you first tasted the peaches today, it was like, "what the heck is this?". You are becoming a neater eater though, or I'm becoming better at spoon feeding!

I've been spending a lot of time with you on the floor trying to get you to roll over more, and you now have done it 3 times this week! Twice front to back and once back to front (a first for you). To make up for all the hated tummy time I bought you a used "exersaucer wannabe" from a second hand store. You seem to really love it, peeling eyeball stickers and all.