new highchair and ketchup

This boy likes ketchup. We went to Bob Evans yesterday for breakfast an Xander almost slept through the whole meal. He then became really fussy so I sat him on my knee and put the ketchup bottle in front of him. It was great. He was completely enthralled with the ketchup bottle and was eying it up and down. And he kept making this surprised face at it, as if the ketchup bottle was growing and shrinking before his very eyes.

Amanda picked up a highchair on friday and we tried to recreate the ketchup excitement earlier today, but we have the generic and alas, the bottle is clear and not red like the Heinz. The Kroger brand lacks the vividly colored bottle.



Xander ended up just razzing at it. If you look close you can see all of his drool.

inconsolable

Inconsolable.

Mr. Stinkybutt becomes completely inconsolable right about 7:45 every night. Right in the middle of Wheel of Fortune. I've been warned about 'The Witching Hour', which is the hour before a little kid needs a nap he/she becomes a real pain in the neck...but he's only 4 months...isn't it too early for this?

Tonight was worse than other nights, but I try not to get too hung up on it. To solve it we've gotten into the habit of just putting him to bed at 8 every night and that seems to work. It only takes about 10 minutes and he ends up screaming himself to sleep. And then he sleeps for a good chunk of the night, so that's good.

I do have some fatherly advise to pass along to the rest of the world.....when you are watching Jeopardy with your wife and your kid is in his bouncy seat in front of you (or anywhere within earshot), do not, DO NOT scream with delight when you answer the final Jeopardy question correct on Shakespearean Geography.

It's so rare that I correctly answer the final Jeopardy question correct I just couldn't help myself. And on Shakespearean Geography to boot!

Four Month Check-up

And in this corner, Xander!

Weighing in at 14 lbs 7.5 oz!
Measuring 23.75 inches!
And with a head circumference of 15.25 inches!

Poor Xander. I think he sensed the shots coming this time and he fussed and cried once we arrived at the doctor's office. He tolerated the weighing, measuring and prodding fairly well. The shots made him scream again and even though I was holding him down I couldn't watch the nurse do it, so instead I was watching him scream with huge tears welling up and sliding down his face. Seriously, I had to keep telling myself that he needs the vaccinations because I almost cried myself.

Other than that, it was a typical visit. I had a chance to ask a bunch of pesky questions that were not serious enough to call about (and the doctor agreed, he didn't accuse me of neglect or anything!). The only surprise I had was that he recommends holding off solids, even cereal, until 6 months. He says the liver isn't developed enough and just makes the baby gassy at this point. I totally thought Xander was ready for it, but I guess not. He's going through a growth spurt now, so when it ebbs we'll see what we do.

After the shots I fed Xander, he fell asleep and stayed asleep through the grocery shopping and is now going on 3.5 hours. Poor little thing. I think he needs some cuddles now.

The first rule

You do not talk about Fight Club!

Happy Feet

Xander is happy to lay on the floor and flail for an hour or so at a time. Like so (once again, sorry about the video quality):



So I thought I'd try my hand at a poll. After I made it I realized that I grievously left off 'Band Geek' as an option, sorry. Vote away!

Happy Feet! What sport do you think Xander will play when he gets older? Running Soccer (Amanda's sport of her childhood) Football (Chris's Sunday obsession) Other (tell us in the comments) None, he'll get by on his stunning good looks and football will mean he'll never be a teen model None, he'll obviously get by on his smarts since his parents are so obsessed with math view results

Blue Steel!

Today Xander and I made a trip to the mall for his first professional picture session. I was oh-so-lucky to win a free session and 8x10 at the photography place there. They also have a 'milestone' deal that I might take them up on because they did a good job today.

Unfortunately Xander spent all of his smiles on me before the pictures began, so most of them look very serious. But many did turn out good, especially since I brought his little penguin along to keep his attention.

Some highlights of the trip:

Did you see the video in the last post of Xander's face plant? Well he kept trying to do that while in a basket and the entire thing would start to tumble over every five seconds. Finally I just had to hold his feet and keep the basket down.

Many of you have seen him 'snuggle' with me while I'm wearing a sweater. He just likes to rub his face on the sweater. Well, imagine putting him on a fuzzy, furry rug. Yeah, he just plopped his face down and rubbed away. When we finally got him to look up, his face was a nice rosy red color.

One of the better pictures of him? The big drip of drool kind of makes it less adorable but kind of funny.

We did some of the classy naked baby pictures, you know, so we can embarrass him when he is older and trying to date. Oh, except Xander was apparently having fun with it and that is when he got smiley and really wiggly. So we would try to pose him in a discreet manner and then all the arms and legs would flail about and we would have to repose him.

I'm going to try to drag Chris along to pick out a picture and see if we want any packages this time. Maybe I'll scan what we get so everyone can see it. Of course then there is the danger of Xander being discovered and becoming a baby model, moving to the big city and forgetting all about his dear ole ma.

I do not have a problem....

... Chris asked me to take pictures. I told Xander it is practice for his pictures later this week.


From the belly down position he likes to chase his fist and ends up in a face plant, like so:


Xander's cold hasn't gotten any worse and he seems to even be improving. It must be nice to be able to sleep off a cold.

Poor Little Bunny

Xander has his first cold.

Chris and I have known he'll get sick at some point and while we followed basic rules like hand washing and not letting sickies hold him, we have not been germaphobes. Chris has had a cold for almost a week, so I guess it's no surprise that it's been passed along. I know my sinuses are bothering me, but Xander seems to have what Chris had.

Xander is a bit fussier than usual but seems content if he's being held or is getting attention. If he's not he has this pitiful little holler or whine. You can hear that he is congested and probably has a sore throat. And he's waking up more at night just crying. He isn't eating as much either. No fever though.

So for now I've cranked up the humidifier and put him in warmer clothes, as well as given him more holding and attention. I've considered putting the doctor's emergency number on speed dial, but I don't think there's anything else that can be done right now.

Hopefully he'll feel better in a couple of days because he has his first professional photos being taken next week.

Cutest moment of the holidays

The holidays had poor Xander all messed up. He handled all of the traveling and people with as much grace as possible for a baby boy. However when it was all said and done he spent two days being really fussy and barely consolable. I think that all of the chocolate I ate probably had something to do with it, he seemed to have a lot of gas and tummy troubles.

But last night he had one feeding and then slept for 6.5 hours. Hello zzzzz, how I've missed you.

One of my favorite Xander moments was while we were trying to watch Transformers. He kept fussing and we'd have to pause the movie. Finally I was sitting with Chris on my right and holding Xander against me. While watching the movie I realized Xander had calmed down and I looked at him. He was staring to his left at Chris with a huge open mouthed grin. I smiled but thought 'that will pass, and it's probably just a coincidence since I've only seen him do that when someone is playing with him'.

A couple of minutes later I look and he's still doing the huge grin at Chris. I poked Chris and he saw too. We both laughed and Xander looked around, looked at him again and grinned some more. Someone loves his Daddy, that's for sure.