I'm feeling better!

Hank and his Baby Grab and Chew, originally uploaded by allthingssara.

Thanks for all the well wishes! I'm feeling much better and even got to go to mama-baby group today! I missed being out and about... Time for a nap, then I'm going to hang out on the floor and roll some more.

Stop the Presses AGAIN!

Hank just rolled over from his back to his belly! When I walked out of the room he was on his back, kicking his legs around. When I came back, he was on his belly, licking his play quilt. It is development-a-palooza around here today!

Teeth and rolling in one day? Mister Baby has one proud mama and papa over here....

Stop the Presses!

Hank is cutting two teeth!

This would explain the copious drool over the last couple of days, and the complete lack of enthusiasm when eating! I though the latter was just because of his cold, but no...

hippos for all!

hippo, originally uploaded by allthingssara.

I think it has been about two weeks since posting any news! Time flies... I've been busy with Hank and messing around the house. I've been getting to know the slow cooker I bought several years ago, thinking it would be the answer to always having fresh cooked meals. I barely used it until having a baby made making dinner at dinner time impossible... I've been making turkey and spinach meatballs, swedish meatballs, different stews, curries, and even a pot roast! I feel so domestic, although some of the recipes need some tweaking. For instance, the pot roast was dry (how can a piece of meat, cooked in liquid, wind up dry??). But the curry rocked, and the turkey and spinach meatballs were so good I've made them a few times over.

I also made a stuffed hippo for Hank! It is a little lopsided, but considering it was the most ambitious sewing project I've done since high school, I'm pretty pleased. Next up, some new hats for Hank as his head has gotten too big for most of the hats we've got for him. And some seersucker overalls for spring.

Enough of my domesticity... How is Hank? Poor little Hank has a cold, or possibly the flu, according to his doctor. This is his first bout with illness, not counting the jaundice at birth, and we're just trying to keep him well fed and hydrated, and rested. I've got the humidifier running 24/7, and I have to irrigate his sinuses with saline every time I do a diaper change. As you can imagine, he hates that. He's on the mend though, thank goodness. I've been cooped up with him in the apartment for two days running now, and I'm going to go a little stircrazy if we can't get out and about again, soon... But for now, Hank is snoozing in the sling again, so we'll be staying put for the rest of today.

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Back with a little more -- I realized after I posted that on Valentine's day, the last day I posted, Hank turned three months old, and thereby waltzed out of the fourth trimester! I felt really wistful that day. I couldn't believe we had made it this far -- that Hank was well on his way to becoming a full fledged person, and was no longer even a little bit fetal. And he just keeps on growing (at his drs appointment yesterday he weighed in at 15lbs 5.6oz!). He babbles constantly, and is trying on new sounds daily. We are teaching him some sign language -- Mom, Dad, Milk, More, Cat, Diaper Change -- that's it for now. He's constantly aware of everything around him, to the point that it is almost hard to complete a feeding, that's how distracted he can get. His hair has gotten so long, that it no longer stands on end, and he really looks like a little man now. His hair is starting to fall out a little in back, though, where his head rubs against the crib mattress. He's getting a bald spot there, but I do a little comb over -- such a vain mama!

In feeding news, we are pretty much finished breastfeeding. I tried, I tried. I wanted it to work, but I never was successful in getting my supply to an adequate level. And now in the last couple of weeks Hank has actually started refusing the breast and clearly preferring the bottle. It was upsetting at first, but in the end the important thing is to feed him. I thought about starting to pump again, but I just don't want to start driving myself crazy again, when everything else is going so well. Hank is a very happy little guy, and with the exception of this week's cold, very healthy, too. It is hard to put in to words what I feel about our adventures in breastfeeding, it is easier to say that overall I am comfortable with the way things are, even if I have moments when I feel a little blue about it. Sometimes I find myself wondering what we would have done had Hank been born into a society in famine, where women had to struggle to build a milk supply, and had no alternatives to breastmilk were breastfeeding not possible. Even though I regret that I wasn't able to build a milk supply, I am really grateful that we have safe formulas in this country, and that we can use that alternative to feed Hank.

It was just over a year ago that I got pregnant with Hank, and I'm constantly grateful for the year we've all had here at the Wagmonds. It was full of challenges, and so much joy. In the last few days I've found myself thinking a lot along the lines of 'a year ago today we were...' and reliving the road trip Henry and I took around the Grand Circle, when in was still just the two of us. Now we've got this enormous baby with crazy nutso hair who just seems to be really, really in to us. And any road trip we take in the forseeable future will have to accommodate a baby, too.

Now I really will close for today! Seems I'm now starting tocome down with whatever creeping crud it is that Hank has had, just in time for him tostart feeling better (he's all smiles and wiggles tonight, clearly on the mend).

Hank Loves You!

Happy Valentines Day!, originally uploaded by allthingssara.

Happy Valentines Day from the Wagmonds! I made this shirt for Hank yesterday, in the hopes that it would still fit him today. I was so happy to see that it did! He's got a hot date today with two mom and baby groups, and even got invited to a party for tomorrow. Our little Cassanova...

It is really exciting from a developmental point of view that he's holding his hands together in this picture. He's only recently started doing that and it shows that his brain knows that he's got two sides of his body that he can connect with his limbs. Seems like such a small thing, but it is so, so exciting.

Offfor our busy thursday! Hopefully Hank will take some baby bucket naps, or we'll be cutting things short this afternoon...

Surprise!

Surprise!, originally uploaded by allthingssara.

I think this is one of my favorite pictures of Hank that I have taken to date. Itis just so funny! He is such an expressive little guy -- these days he's constantly discovering new faces to make, and don't get me started on the sounds and vocalizations. He has a huge range of sounds now, and just like the faces, he's constantly coming up with new sounds these days as well. I guess you could say this has been a very expressive week for Hank. Another exciting development is that he now interacts with toys. He's got a velvety little blanky that has a horsey head on it and he just loves that thing. He holds it and licks it and sucks on it. We play a lot of peek a boo with it, too. He doesn't quite 'get' peek a boo yet, but he's learning to move things off of his face by playing along.

In other news, Hank's gone through a massive growth spurth. He is busting out of the seams of his 0 -3 month clothing, and some of his 3 - 6 month clothing as well... He's enormous! I'm bouncing him in his bouncy chair withmy foot right now, and I am starting to see how a baby could, in fact, outgrow a bouncy seat. He's gotten so tall that I had tomove the straps in hiscarseat up.

Other than all that, I don't think there is much to report! Henry's been busy with work but we've all still been able to enjoy the wonderful weather we are having -- by the looks of things it is going to be a really lovely springtime around here.

All Dressed Up For Super Tuesday

All Dressed Up For Super Tuesday, originally uploaded by allthingssara.

Hank had his first exposure to the Democratic System yesterday. We all got up early, got dressed and walked to our polling place to vote in the primaries. This was the first time I can remember every being so excited to vote, and certainly this is the first time that our primary in California actually stood to play a role in getting us closer to deciding who will be nominated to run in November. Hank did a great job representing the all important Under Aged Voter vote (just kidding -- but he did get an "I Voted" sticker).

Hank's first road trip!

Sleepy Road Tripper, originally uploaded by allthingssara.

Hank's first road trip, to Yosemite, was a success! It snowed and snowed all weekend and was truly beautiful. Hank handled both the cold and the change up in his routine and surroundings with grace and managed to remain smiley and happy throughout the weekend. Thanks for indulging us, Hank-star!

Between napping in the car, Hank got to go hiking through meadows and the snowy woods, got to see his first waterfalls, and feel his first snow. Verdict on snow? Cold and not enjoyable! Hank clearly prefered hanging out in front of the fireplace at the Awahnee curled up with his parents and a good bottle.

It really was extraordinary up there. There was already quite a lot of snow on the ground when we arrived on friday night. Starting Saturday afternoon it started snowing again, and there ust have been two feet of accumulation before we left on Sunday afternoon (when it was still dumping snow!). On Saturday we loaded Hank in to the Baby Hawk and Henry carried him on a hike across a meadow and out to the base of Lower Yosemite Falls. On Sunday I wore him in the Moby and we took a long walk through the meadows behind the Awahnee. The snow, even where walking in tracks others had made, was nearly knee deep. At one point Henry stepped off the path and went into the snow up to his thighs, and he wasn't touching the ground yet.

It wasn't exactly relaxing to travel with a baby, but it was really nice to wake up in our hotel on Saturday morning and realize we were on our first family vacation.