We'll have to stop using Caspian's bouncy seat in the bathroom soon. He's been pulling himself up on the toy bar and recently started ducking his head underneath to try to get out. He might tip it before too much longer.

Most of the time, Caspian falls asleep on me (especially during his feeding strike). He has just started continuing his naps on our bed, with the Boppy cupping his upper body (below). That way, his arms hit something when he startles and he doesn't wake up. Sometimes I'll put his Baby Glowworm on him, too, so it feels like my arm. Other than that, he'll only nap on me or in the swing...although the swing is becoming less reliable.


Caspian got dedicated yesterday! He wore the shirt we bought for him to wear at my brother's wedding when he was six weeks old. It actually fit this time. The blessing the pastor chose for him was from Proverbs 11:28 - "May you thrive like a green leaf because you trust in the Lord." Pics later...

My CD drive is fried. For some reason, it no longer recognizes if/that there's a CD even in there. New ones cost $150, so it'll be a while before I get to install the cool new makeover software I just bought.

Last night was a little better, feed-wise. Caspian wouldn't go to sleep until 12, then started sleep-thrashing at 4 and 6. I changed him and tried to feed him at 4, but he fell asleep before eating. When he was thrashing at 6, all I had to do was sit up with him and he fell back asleep. Hopefully this will lead to the 6-7-8 hour sleeps we were getting used to.

Oh my gosh, I almost forgot! I got out of bed around 8 this morning and left Caspian laying asleep in the Boppy like he does for his nap. I came back into the bedroom to check on him and saw that his eyes were WIDE open and he was laying perfectly still, checking it all out. You know how it is when you wake up disoriented in a strange place and don't see anyone familiar, like the first night in a hotel room? Well, he had that look on his face, eyes wide! The cool part is, when I walked in the room and he saw me, he just made the tiniest "huh" grunt -- like, "Mommy? I don't know where I am and I'm afraid to move, but it's nice to see you're here!"

My unofficial resolutions are to manage my time better, do something active each week, and start doing daily devotions again like when I was pg. Oh, yeah -- and get all the moving boxes taken care of!

I can't wait until Caspian has more hair! I had a dream that I was watching him as he sat up on the floor, and he just kept getting older and older. I got to see him as a toddler, etc. and was really excited at how cute he was.

Caspian can't sit up long without reaching for something and folding in half. He has almost done half a crawl quite a few times. He's gotten his foot and knee up under himself and started to push...but then he collapses. He keeps trying to sit up in whatever we put him in, even if it's already angled mostly upright (swing, carseat). The Bumbo's the only real sit-up thing we have, but he keeps dropping toys and then can't reach them. Plus, he started arching his back to get out and almost pops out of the seat! When I put him in the Boppy on the floor, he does a sideways roll out of it after about 15 seconds. My parents have a walker thing, but I'm afraid if we get one he'll be in it all the time...


Caspian's been eating better (with less of a fight) the last few days, but he's all congested when he wakes up and coughs off and on all day. He also has what seems to be a combination of diarrhea and constipation. His teeth still bother him, but we keep him on Tylenol every 4 hours or so. The nurse practitioner at the ped's said we could give him Benadryl for the congestion and coughing, but I hate to do that if nothing's really wrong...

Charlie's 7½ year-old niece said the funniest baby quote while we were together over New Year's. Typically, I'm pretty diligent about keeping at least my peripheral vision focused on Caspian's waving limbs -- just for my own safety. For some odd reason, though, I completely focused on something else for a few seconds while I was holding him one evening, and BAM!! He jammed three of his fingers directly into my eyeball. I was so absorbed in whatever I was looking at, I didn't even lower my eyelid first. When Charlie asked if I could see, I honestly replied, "I don't know." I have never before been poked in the eye without at least a hint it was coming first...and it hurt. Everyone else was concerned with how I was doing, but Charlie's niece (in all her childlike wisdom) just shrugged and observed, "The worst thing about babies is they'll just punch you right in the eye." The way she said it was so matter-of-fact -- it was priceless.

Caspian's on a feeding strike because of his poor old teeth. He'll be starving, but arches away from me when I try to feed him, regardless of the position. The only way he gets anything to eat is when he's mostly asleep -- then he'll latch on. He fights sleep, too, so it's a struggle all day.


If anyone wants a copy large enough to print out, just e-mail me:

My Gorgeous Boy

Fin Loves Caspian

Found My Feet!

Ready for Bathtime!

Ready for Bathtime! #2

Asleep on Daddy

Devour the Feet! (his first messy hair pic)

good picture...

good lighting...



For Christmas, Caspian got a "buddy" (I refuse to call it a doll) from the ILs that we named "Toby," which was soaked up to the armpit from being in Mr. Teether's mouth. It has a cow bell inside, and Caspian just adores it. My mom bought herself a Pooh walker to keep at her house, which Caspian thoroughly enjoyed.


flossing with the paci keeper


as long as there's something in his mouth...poor Toby...



Caspian has just been talking up a storm recently! He's even added a high-pitched squeal to the end of some sentences.

Last night, Charlie was handing Caspian down to me on the couch to eat, and Caspian threw himself forward in anticipation, banging his forehead into my nose! Three seconds later, he started to wail. To console himself, he thrust his face into my shoulder...banging that same place on his forehead! He was so confused, poor baby.

Can you believe he was ever this small?



We decided at the last minute to go with the ILs to South Carolina this weekend to see Charlie's grandma, who's never met Caspian. We'll leave Saturday and return Monday. I'm so tired of being out of town, I wish we could stay home and still see her.

Happy almost-New Year!

Picture-rama!

Tummy Time with Daddy


Perching Atop Daddy


Chewing on Technicolor Giraffes

Caspian rolled front-to-back yesterday and thoroughly startled himself! He won't roll the other way because he enjoys looking the light fixture too much.

Caspian burned his fingers last week! I had microwaved a pot pie, then chopped it up and let it cool. I carried it into the living room with Caspian on my other hip, and when I leaned over to set it on the table, he reached out and grabbed a handful! All was silent for a few seconds, then he started shrieking and crying. For a while afterwards, his palm was really sensitive to touch, but about 15 minutes later he was back to grasping with it. He'd never done anything like that before, but now I'm always on the lookout for Mr. Grabby-Fingers. I think the metal-coated pie plate must've brushed his knuckles, because they did stay red and peel a little.

Caspian has some really dense spit-up sometimes, that sticks and spreads like a web. I said to him, "You're a sticky spit man! It's like Spider-man in your mouth!" ...cracked myself up, anyway.

You all have to see this! It's long but it's incredible. Those men are also the members of the band that's playing.

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL!

Pumped Up - A Dad Labs Experiment

"At the dadlabs we believe you should do everything in your power to understand what she, the breastfeeding mom, is going through. We put our beliefs to the Breast Pump 101 test. Wonder what it must feel like to get hooked up to a breast pump? Maybe you should. Daddy Clay and Daddy Brad perform a controlled experiment to increase their understanding of this ordeal. Gain insight into what breastfeeding working moms go through every day. And wonder what the hell the DadLabs guys were thinking."

MY SCARY EVENT OF THE WEEK:
Caspian had a steadily increasing fever all last week, topping off at 103.8 degrees. It was back down to 99-something Thursday night and he was sweating, so we thought it was over...until I woke at 2:30 a.m. Friday to him having a seizure. I'm so glad we were co-sleeping, because I wouldn't have heard him choking if he was in the other room. He started out gasping and clawing at his throat (because it was seizing closed), then started shaking all over and rolling his eyes back. Between shaking episodes he'd just look at me all confused and scared, without even crying. We took an ambulance to the ER and were there until 11 a.m. It was a febrile seizure, which happens when kids' temps jump a lot in a short period of time. Apparently it's pretty common. They had to draw blood from his arm and get a urine sample using a catheter, so the poor guy was pretty traumatized by the end of the morning. The whole fever thing turned out to be a UTI, which is also common with runny-poop infants (since it can easily slide up the urethra when they squirt it out). He started one antibiotic Friday, but they called us to switch it on Sunday because it wasn't effective against the bacteria in his urine sample. That one was so rough on his stomach he was up all Sunday night and all day Monday, screaming and doubling up. He switched to a third antibiotic Monday night, and that only seems to affect him only a little, praise God.


All About Caspian:

* Our 4-month with the new ped was uneventful. He didn't know what a Boppy was. Caspian is 27.5" long, 16" around the head, weighs 16lbs 9oz, and was pronounced "very strong" and "just perfect." He's so tall (past 95%ile) that he isn't fat...except for his Michelin thighs, which Charlie and I call "chubbers." He definitely has teeth coming in, too.

* When I look at Caspian, put food in my mouth, make exaggerated chewing motions, and say, "Mmmm -- yummy!" he licks and smacks his lips in the cutest way! He's eyeing our food, too.

* When he needs a diaper change, he spits and blows raspberries with his lips only. He doesn't do it every time his diaper's dirty, but every time he does it it's accurate. He's also been holding his thighs back (like when I was in labor ) so I can wipe him, but recently he's started grabbing and pinching his penis! It doesn't seem to hurt him...

* Whenever Caspian sits in his bouncy seat now, he grabs the dangling giraffe, lifts up his legs to counterbalance, and sits up to get the giraffe in his mouth! He just gnaws on those little plastic legs like there's no tomorrow.


All About Me:

* My little brother (AF pilot) got deployed to the Middle East last Tuesday. He wasn't supposed to go until February, but he got bumped up just 2 weeks beforehand because the last guy got a last-minute reassignment. Please pray for his new wife, who relocated from Colorado to D.C. in September and doesn't have a local support structure. They'll miss his birthday and Christmas together.

* My Mary Kay conference in PA was awesome and inspiring. I have a huge new goal for Seminar in July and will be pushing to get part of it done by December 15 (next Friday) since I barely got any work in while Caspian was sick. ...so if anybody needs stocking stuffers or Christmas gift ideas (or wants her own wish list shared with her husband), I do free gift wrapping and shipping!

* Thanksgiving was really good. Caspian broke into a huge grin every single time he saw my grandma, which really made her week. The weather was fantastic, and we got to see my childhood best friend and her 7 month old . She and Caspian kept trying to grab each other and missing, but they loved it.

* We were in Dayton for two days this weekend, for more MK training. This time, it was a 7-hour makeup workshop with a professional makeup artist! It was SOOOO great. I can't wait to use those techniques in makeovers!

* We're officially finished traveling for the year. Being out of state three out of the last four weekends has been really taxing on Charlie and Caspian. We're glad to be putting down roots again. Who knows if we'll even get anything decorated for Christmas...we're so worn out.