Kangaroo

Apparently, this never gets old:

Finger Food Frustration

I thought introducing finger foods was going to be easy, especially for my little guy who has never been shy packing on the pounds. I started with puffs at 8 and half months and he seemed to be doing really well. He was able to pick them up and feed himself, no problem. Then at his 9 month check-up I got a list of foods I could start him on.

I went to the store right away and got a few items he could try, cheerios, cottage cheese, yo baby yogurt, grated cheese and rotisserie chicken, to name a few. When we got home I put him in his high chair and decided to try a few cheerios. He picked them up great but once they got in his mouth he would gum them and then make himself gag and throw up.

He loves grated cheese but it mostly ends up in his lap, same goes for the chicken. It took three introductions for him to finally like yogurt. As for the cottage cheese, no way no how. I'm discovering he's really picky about texture. He loves avocado but won't touch it with his fingers, same goes with cooked potatoes, carrots and peeled grapes. So I have to feed him that stuff if I want him to eat it. *eye roll*

Every meal time I start out with finger foods and finish with baby food, but by the time I get to the baby food he will only eat one jar and then he's done. I know he's not getting enough calories during the day because he's waking up for a bottle during the night again.

Hopefully he'll get the hang of this soon. I'm really looking forward to the day I can just sit him down, put food in front of him and he eats it with no problems. Is this a normal baby thing?

Post Edit

I should note that I drafted this post a couple days ago and already I have seen improvement. I guess my lack of patience got the best of me.

Cruising

Bruce is now cruising the couch and transferring from one object to the other while standing (i.e. t.v stand to jumper and vice versa) and he is standing flat footed!

We are so proud of him! Go Bruce!

Where has Bruce been?

He's been here:

And here:

And here:And Uh Oh, Now he's here:

JustFabulous

Will be the new brand I will be marketing for. It's not skincare, or weight loss but it's FASHION! I love working for Intelligent Beauty because they market so many brands online and it adds diversity to my resume.

Essentially, JustFab is a service of hand - selected shoes and bags according to your fashion style, delivered to you once a month in your email. You then have 3 choices to make, you may purchase a pair, request for more selections or skip the month and spend your money some other time. Each item is $39.95. Not bad for high fashion items. And it's a lot of fun to see what celebrity stylists have picked out for you each month.

Now, here's the insider scoop. I have yet to buy a pair for this main reason: Most of the heels are 5 inches and that is just not practical for a SAHM whose only day to dress up is Sunday, not mention I'm already 5'9" and do not need to be 5 inches taller. But all of the feedback has said the shoes are really comfortable and good quality. I can also testify that your selection is actually hand picked by stylists and not a logarithm in the computer. Now not all of the shoes are stilettos.

Take Trina, for example: Trina is a clog with a 4 inch heel height and really comfortable. In LA clogs are making a comeback, clunky shoes in general are coming back. They look really good with a casual outfit you want to dress up, such as capri pants and a t-shirt.
And then there is Daphne: Yes, Daphne is a stiletto, but she is a peep toe (love them) and she looks high fashion, especially for under $40 bucks. And I love the color. She is also available in blush and metallic silver, but I love the brown. Great shoes for church!


And here is a sneak peek at Delight. Just one of many bags. Unfortunately, my fav is sold out but this was a close second.

So what will I be doing? I will be working from home, listening to customer service calls and filling out evaluation forms. Once a month I will go into the office to work with CS on product knowledge, save a sale, voice tone etc. The best thing about IB is unlike most companies, everything is in-house. Our customer service department is right in the office and not out-sourced so no traveling required.

Anyway, it was a nice break to go into the office today for orientation. And the best part is...I get free bags and shoes!

Now if you are interested in signing up, no membership fee required go here: JustFab

Bruce is funny

This kid keeps getting cuter and cuter by the millisecond. His personality is starting to really shine through. Tonight while eating dinner, he bit down on the spoon and I laughed because it looked really funny and it left a mess on his face. Once he realized I was laughing at him biting down on the spoon, he kept doing it and would look up at me and laugh. He is such a goof ball. Here is some video of it:

I'm excited to be pregnant!!! It finally hit me and it's about dang time. It's been a roller coaster of emotions with this pregnancy and excited wasn't one of them. Nervous, scared, apprehensive, skeptical (can we really do this?) and redundant (yes, redundant. I just had a baby, remember?) and let's not forget grateful and happy because those were there too. But pure, jumping for joy excitement, well that just happened...like JUST happened, this very second.

And I'm excited for a boy or a girl but mostly for a baby. A tiny sweet, soft, sleepy (please be extra sleepy) baby that I get to hold in my arms for hours and he/she won't squirm away. I'm excited for Bruce to have a sibling to torment and then eventually, hopefully a best friend for life.

And most of all I'm excited for March 18th so we can find out if Bruce is having a brother or sister and if I need to go clothes shopping for tutu's and hair bows because you better believe my little girl will be nothing short of a pretty princess...no tomboys allowed.

Oh, a sweet little baby that eats every two hours and poops just the same. I can't wait!

Bruce's girlfriend

Whenever Bruce sees Preslee he talks in a high pitched voice and pants, not sure why but it's really cute. I wondered if he would do the same when he saw her picture and I took some video of it...

And I think we have an American Idol fan in the making. He never watches t.v. but when he heard singing he got as close as he could possibly get dancing and banging the whole time!

Napping? Or not.

Today was stake conference so church started earlier. Unfortunately it still started during nap time, just his morning nap time instead of his afternoon. When we got home we fed him lunch and decided to put him down for a nap even though it wasn't his afternoon nap time. Forty minutes later he was still awake playing around. This is a video of his reaction when he sees his dad:

9 - month milestone

Bruce is 9 months old today!

He did great at his check-up. He is 29 and 1/4 inches tall. Weighs 20lbs and 2 ounces. Head circumference is 46.7 cm. His heights is in the 90th percentile. Weight and hc are in the 50th percentile. His hemoglobin was 11.6, which I'm told is normal. We passed on the shot today because he has a cold.

Bruce has been suffering from a cold since Friday and it's a bad one. When he's sick he doesn't like me to leave his side even when I give him a bath. So yes, I get in the tub with him. The other night he wanted to be rocked the entire night. So that's what I did. He slept and I rocked. If I stopped and tried to lay him in his crib he would wake up and cry and wouldn't let go of my t-shirt. That is when I wished we had a rocking chair that reclined. But this too shall pass. He normally loves baths and kicks his little legs with excitement when I put him in there. And he usually never sleeps anywhere but his crib. Last night was much better, he slept 13 hours in his own bed.

Bruce is doing great developmentally. He plays patti cake and claps his own hands. Waves bye bye (kinda, it's more like an open/close with his hand.) Is really good at entertaining himself. Everyday we have roomtime where bruce plays in his room by himself. We are suppose to work this up to 30 minutes and Bruce is at 20 minutes. Of course his room is trashed by the end of roomtime but it is still a very good skill to develop. He mimics us very well. If I laugh, he laughs and if I cry he starts to cry (a mean trick, but I can't help but find it funny.)

He is becoming quite a momma's boy and follows me everywhere. Kiel and I can ask him to come to his room or to where ever we are in the house and he will come. I can say "come on Bruce let's go change your diaper" and he will crawl to his bedroom and sometimes beat me there. He understands the words "baba," "bath," "doggie" and "dada." He also knows these phrases and will do them when we ask "lay down," "hands down," "come here," "get down" and "no."

He helps me get him dressed by putting his arms through his shirt sleeves and undressed by pulling his shirt over his head once I have his arms out of the sleeves.

Bruce has been able to pull himself to a stand ever since he started crawling but did not know how to get back down. Now he can get down by himself. Whenever he stands, jumps or "walks" it is always on his toes. He has yet to stand flat footed. I asked his Dr. about this today and she said I do not need to be alarmed just yet. But if this persists by his 12-month check up we will need to do a brain test. I guess some babies can't sense if they are on their toes or flat footed. I'm sure Bruce will stop being twinkle toes by 12 months and I work with him every day. But whenever I make him stand flat footed he props back on his toes...crazy kid.

He loves electronics, wires and lotion bottles. He loves to be read too, whenever he gets injured I read him a book and it calms him down. He loves, loves, loves music and to hear people sing (except me) but I don't blame him, I sound horrible. He is fascinated by babies, little kids and adults. Babies make him laugh and get him really excited. Painted toe nails intrigue him and whenever we are in relief society at church he crawls around to all the ladies that wear open toed shoes and have painted nails. He then gives you a little tickle and tries to lick your toe...I know gross, but the ladies don't mind it.

Bruce is now eating finger foods! He loves puffs, unsalted soda crackers and grated cheese. He hates anything banana flavored, including banana flavored puffs. He's a good eater but also knows what he likes. He doesn't mind room temperature food but hates anything cold. I have to warm it up to room temp. He hates cold water as well and cries every time he puts his hand in cold water.

He's an excellent sleeper. He sleeps 10 - 12 hours at night and takes 2 two hour naps.

He has eight teeth now! Four on top and four on the bottom.

And lastly he has said a couple words but hasn't said them since so I'm beginning to think it was a fluke. When I was feeding him in his high chair Kiel took the dog outside to go potty. A couple minutes later we heard whistling and Bruce looked up at me and said "dada." Kiel whistles all the time and Bruce loves it, so I thought he associated the whistling with his dad. And he does say "dada" all the time but doesn't necessarily mean it for Kiel. Then a couple days later, I told Bruce to go to the doggie and Bruce repeated "doggie" clear as day. Then he went and patted Montana on the head and said "doggie" two more times. But he hasn't said it since. They were still exciting moments even if they are flukes.

Well i've said a mouthful, hopefully you feel like you know him better!

Loving Love Day

Beautiful pink roses and lilies from my husband! They smell as good as they look. And they get prettier over time. The lilies still need to bloom!

Here is Bruce getting ready to take his Valentine magenta colored daisies.

As you can see she really appreciated it!

Happy valentines day!

Dear Blogger

I like to blog. It helps me update long distant relatives and journal my year with pictures and videos. It's a great idea, I'm glad you made it possible. But here are some things that you should consider adding or changing.

1. The ability to cut and paste. If I want to blog and a post a recipe I have to type the recipe. It would be nice if I could cut and paste instead. It's annoying blogger.
2. When I load pictures they all load up top. Why can't it be like the video and load where ever my cursor is? That's lame blogger
3. While we are on pictures, why can I only load 5 at a time? Be like facebook and let us load more. Come on blogger, get with it already!
4. Also it would be nice that I could edit my picture after I loaded it. Like say I loaded it to be large and center but now want it to go left. It would be nice if I could do that without having to reload it and "normal." Just a suggestion, blogger.
   
5. When a blog is "private" you should have a button that says "request to read blog" or something like that. Instead of telling me that I need to email that person and ask permission. A) I don't have their email address. B) I would feel like less of a stalker if you just let me press the request button. C) My blog is private, and it would make me feel good if people could request my blog. I mean really blogger, I know you can do it. So just do it already.
   
6. I think there are a couple more and hey I might be able to do these things and just not know it...is that the case blogger?

Melissa

Baby Eczema

Well, after being in and out of the doctors for the past month and a half they have finally figured out what the rash is on Bruce's skin. He has eczema. Something he will hopefully grow out of. But as for right now we have to be very careful not to do things that could irritate him. And I should add this is a relief from the other diagnosis' we got: chicken pox, viral infection, staph infection and a yeast rash. (Phew, it's been a hard month.)

I can no longer give him a nightly bath :( He should only be bathed 3 times a week in luke warm water (this differs with other eczema babies, sometimes baths help them, but for Bruce it irritates him.) J&J products also irritate his skin so if anyone wants the giant J&J body wash and lotion bottle I have let me know. I found Aquaphor and Cetaphil are gentle enough for him so we use those. I am a little bummed about the limited baths, he crawls everywhere and I hate putting him to bed "dirty."

This has also added another chore during diaper changes. We put Nystatin cream on his diaper area, Hydrocoritsone ointment all over the irritated parts of his skin, mainly arms, legs, belly and back, and Aquaphor cream on his cheeks and forehead. After only one day of doing this we have seen a huge improvement. Which makes me feel confident about the eczema diagnosis. The good news is we only need to do this for a week. After we get the eczema under control, I hope to find a lotion that will help with skin maintenance. So far, Cetaphil lotion and J&J lotion do not do the trick. I need something thicker, I think I will say hi to some of my skin care friends and try and get a discount on California Baby. The days of me getting free skin care products are over ;( But maybe when my job starts up I will have free access again (I hope!)

We also have to pay closer attention to his clothes. We just bought him four new shirts that are made out of organic cotton, so I hope this helps. I've always washed his clothes in fragrance free detergent so I think this helps and the Dr. said continue to do this and of course I never use dryer sheets on his items.

Anyway if you have noticed in the recent pictures I posted the extra redness on his cheeks and rash on his arms and legs this is why. But I'm glad we finally found out what's wrong. Poor B has been really itchy most of his baby life and hopefully he won't feel that way anymore.

I can get up...

but I can't get down:

We play this game 50 thousand times a day. Bruce pulls himself up onto something and then screams when he wants to get down. I try to teach him to bend his knees but he just locks them on me. All the books I read said to let them scream and they will figure it out. Do you know how loud my child screams? CPS would be called in 2 minutes :D He is getting the hang of it though, he no longer does this in his crib. Progress, progress :D

Valentines Day

Bruce went to his very first V-day party yesterday! It was stressful but also really fun. The kids decorated bags, passed out valentines and ate heart shaped pizza.

Bruce also had his very first taste of candy, not by my choice of course. I don't know what it is about kids but they don't share with the one's they are suppose to and always share with little babies when they shouldn't. I was constantly pulling out skittles, nerds and candy hearts from Brucey's mouth, trying not to have a panic attack myself. (sneaky little kids.) And I guess Bruce got tired of me taking away his treats, because when I tried to take one last candy heart out of his mouth, he clamped his jaw tight and wiggled his head back and forth so by the time I finally got in there it was dust. Oh well, enjoy kid. Because your next sweet will be in five years :D

This year Bruce asked Preslee to be his valentine.
I think it's the giant bows that attract his attention, what do you think?We wish you all a Happy Valentines day as well!

Sleep tight

It's no secret babies are adorable when they're sleeping. And we also know Bruce is a funny guy. He likes his routine to be the same every day and at the same time too! Yesterday I put him down for his nap: Which goes like this; diaper change, say goodbye to the sun and close blinds, turn on fan, lay in crib, hand him his blankie, walk out and shut the door.

He will then roll around and talk to himself for about ten minutes and then fall to sleep. But yesterday it took 45 minutes for him to go to sleep. I couldn't believe it. He played and talked the whole time. After it was safe I went in to check on him and this is what I found:
1. Pants off
2. Comforter no longer folded on side of crib but instead laying on top of comforter
3. Two extra blankets above his head that were on his changing table.
4. A comb and hairbrush that were also on the changing table.

But then there was also the usual: His blankie snuggled up right to his face covering his breathing passages. At least we finally got out of the stage of him wrapping it around his neck.

My Grill

Finally a picture that shows off my pearly whites. I have seven teeth now. Four on top and three on the bottom!

House Hunting, RJ, and other news

As you know our family is growing. Almost exponentially, we were two, soon we will be four...and next time will we be eight? (Let's hope not for sanity sakes!)

With a growing family; comes larger living expenses, a shrinking living space and our comfort level is slowly becoming uncomfortable. To make a short story shorter, we are house hunting. Not to buy but to rent out here in Redondo Beach. There was a beautiful home down the street at a very affordable price that was rented out two days after it was listed. That place would have been perfect. It was right across the street from our good friends, the Facers, it had a gated front yard and back yard, 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms, and a large living space and beautiful kitchen. Anyway, the best thing about the place was it was in our price range. Hopefully another gem becomes affordable.

And without a transition sentence let's just jump into the next topic. (That's what I love about blogging; you can suck as a writer and you still have readers.) We're calling baby # 2 RJ. He/She will have those initials, so that's why. Don't worry, their names are different their initials just happen to be the same. RJ is healthy and has passed the down syndrome test. March 18th is when we will find out if Bruce is having a sister or brother, brother, cross fingers* brother! (Actually we will be happy with whatever, but we would also be lying if we said we weren't leaning a certain way.)

And the last news I have to share; I got a job! It just fell into my lap yesterday and it's perfect for our current family dynamic. It's only 20 hours a week, I get to work from home and it brings in a little extra money each month. We are really excited!

Handy Man

I decided to let dad help me build a desk the other day...
It wasn't an easy job...

afterwards I took a much needed break and drank a bottle of root beer...It's not easy being me!

Twinkle Toes

Bruce jumps on his toes, stands on his toes and walks on his toes. With his build his chance of being a ballerina sure is slim but he still likes to practice ...