A slingin' update from The Roost

A quick status report from The Roost: Soren is feeling all better after his bout with diarrhea last week. He was under the weather for maybe four days. Jeff overlapped this with getting the bad cold that's going around town. I stayed healthy -- I'm attributing it to my mommy-boosted immune system.

But speaking of the boys, Jeff has been wearing Soren in a ring sling -- mostly in the mornings when I'm catching my last shut-eye and he has care of Soren to himself. Don't they make a sweet pair?

We recently purchased an Ergo carrier to supplement our stash of baby carriers, and I appreciate the hip strap that keeps most weight off my shoulders. Soren now weighs 17 pounds, 10 ounces, and that's hefty! The Ergo is supposed to be great for carrying baby on your back after six months of age -- we haven't tried that yet, but I'm getting anxious to.

I am taking a small-group class on "Mindful Parenting" and enjoying the discussions about how to take care of yourself (always a challenge for a new parent) and to be emotionally present for your child. Today we talked about children forming secure attachments with their caregivers, and I am confident we are providing that for Soren, helping him to view the world as a safe, trustworthy place that will soon be his to explore. The only drawback is that the class is that it is held from 4-6 p.m., a really rotten time for a breast-feeding infant who has to be without his mom right before bedtime (currently 7 p.m.). And I have fallen behind on pumping milk and today there was none stockpiled and he wailed with hunger as Jeff tried to soothe him. It was a rough transition for me to return from the feel-good class to a frazzled husband and frantic infant.

We are looking forward to visits from both sets of grandparents this month. Will report on those visits as they occur.

Soren's new favorite "chew toy" is a wooden spoon from the kitchen. The handle is just the right diameter for gumming. No teeth yet! He also has a sippy cup with double handles that he is learning to drink a little water from. To his credit, Jeff did think of giving Soren water this evening when he cried for milk, and it helped a little, he reported.

I'll sign off with this photo that caught a funny expression on Soren's face. You know how babies can make fleeting faces that give you a glimpse of what they will look like when they're older? Note also that his hair is coming in, although it's so white-blond it's hard to see. Isn't he a cutie, though? He makes us laugh. In fact, Jeff likes to get him all giggly and then come wake me up in the mornings with Soren chuckles. Hee, hee!

Tasty toes and torso torsion -- check!

OK, here's the proof that Soren can do what most of us have to practice a lot of yoga to accomplish...
Ah, the flexibility of a five-month-old!
The "sitting up" pictures below were taken on Soren's five-month birthday (Jan. 27), as the official baby book portrait for that month's page. About a week before this milestone, he just "got it." His torso muscles figured out how to make minute adjustments for balance, and that was that. We can sit him down and leave him, and he's quite happy--for at least a few minutes, until he tires. But his stamina for sitting up is growing more and more each day.

Also noted in last month's "accomplishments" were A) going a whole night without a diaper change thanks to Huggies Overnight Diapers, B) starting to enjoy the game "peek-a-boo," C) entertaining himself with his carseat toybar on the floor of the bathroom so that Mom can shower without another adult at home to mind the baby (!), D) getting a drool rash on his chin, and E) going 72 hours without pooping.

Speaking of (E), this past weekend Soren experienced the opposite extreme: diarrhea, which is defined more by frequency than by liquidity in infants. Poor little guy, it was just squirting out of him, and still is, although he's getting better. He doesn't have a fever, nor is he vomiting, and his appetite is if anything increased. We are watching for signs of dehydration, but so far so that seems stable. He's just fussy and tired.

This is the first time he's been "sick," which of course is of concern to his parents, and not much fun for any of us. All this just might be a symptom of teething, so we are watching to see if a tooth erupts. We'll let you know when it does!

Soren's sitting up

Wowie-kazowie, Soren's made a huge developmental leap: he can sit up (pretty much) on his own now! In just the past few days, he has made great improvements in his balance.

We started sitting-up practice holding him, of course, then graduated to the surrounding- pillow-fort. This weekend we pared that down to a Boppy pillow (as seen in this video, shot Jan. 25), and today he sat up unaided on the rug, with throw pillows surrounding him on three sides in case he flopped over, but not actually supporting his weight. What a difference this seems to make in his view of the world!

Here Jeff "plays ball" with Soren, a game Soren interrupts by trying to mouth Dad's knee (showing us he's getting hungry). You may also notice Soren blinking and flinching when the ball comes near his face -- an unfortunate (but remembered) reaction from me squeezing blasts of air from the ball onto his face two days earlier. Jeff's mumblings reference this event. Sorry, Soren, I won't do that again!

Missing my grandparents

Gee, life is a little less exciting when Mom is the only one around to take me on walks, Soren thinks... OK, before I slip into "SorenTalks" mode, I'll switch pronouns and say that these are some precious pictures from last week, when my mom and dad visited for four days and had a great time with their ever-more-interactive grandson.

Now Ann & Bill are in California on a road trip in Matilda (our co-shared VW Vanagon -- if you've never checked out my blog of our round-the-country, 10-month trip in 2006, here it is, for the record: www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/Waltzing-Matilda/). We won't see them for a month! And it's been longer than that since we got to visit with Jeff's parents. Ah, for the days when families congregated in the same town and never left. (But then we never would be living in Port Townsend, and that would be a shame.)
Soren now likes to finger faces. He grabbed Dad's glasses more than once, and here was "lip-reading." He likes to stick his fingers IN my mouth when he is nursing!
While I was away from home for some work-related interviews, Mom fed Soren bottles of pumped milk. While pumping is not my favorite thing to do (!), I'm grateful that the option exists, and also that Soren takes the bottle like a champ even though is offered it intermittently -- sometimes not for weeks.
He still has only ingested breast milk to date. He has not shown any strong signs of wanting other food, and Jeff is convinced we should wait until he gets a tooth anyway.
You can tell why Soren is considered often "serious" upon first meeting him, with expressions like this one. But when he laughs -- hee, hee, watch out! He's a total charmer.

New avenues for amusement: Toes and more

Soren "found his toes" on New Year's Day, an event first witnessed by Grannie Annie, but soon by us all. OK, I haven't gotten a picture of them actually in his mouth yet, but that's where they end up when they are bare. He usually manages to stuff in toes from both feet. P.S. In the photo above, this is his new favorite pair of PJs, a gift from Louise & Josh. And the booties were knit by our former neighbor Gitte -- he wears them a lot in this cold winter weather. (There is a hat to match!)
Other amusements: the Johnny-Jump-Up.
And the "Exer-Saucer." This one has a weighted, stationary leg and wheels on the other two, so eventually he'll be able to run around in a circle but not across the room. Right now he can sort of scoot backwards. (I can also lock the wheels.) Soren can't quite reach all the toys, but he can spin the globe at right in this photo.

He doesn't last long in either of these "big boy" play-toys, but they're fun for a while, and we can see they'll eventually provide minutes if not hours of fun.
And then there's always the demonic glee of stuffing anything and everything into his mouth! This is a stuffed cube with appendages perfect for gumming.

Photos of Soren, all grown up -- just kidding!

Thanks to everyone who commented or emailed me with their choice of holiday photos from the previous post. Alas, the votes were split fairly evenly, and I couldn't decide either, so I found a card template with space for two photos and included them both! We're not really sending out cards this holiday season (our postal budget was exhausted sending Soren's birth announcements far and wide), but I did order a few for the baby book, bulletin board, grandparents, etc.

OK, now here's some new photos you have to check out. The link is to my new Facebook page, but it's a public link, so everyone should be able to view it. There are a dozen tableau featuring out little man at around four months of age, but you'd think he was all grown up, what with his skill at tennis, cooking and even shaving!

When my sisters were visiting around Christmas, we went a little crazy reliving our love of "dress-up" -- yes, this is the sort of thing that would occupy us for days as children and even teenagers. You should see the video we wrote, staged and shot of our favorite fairy tale, "Snow White and Rose Red"! It rekindled a latent creative spark for me, that's for sure. And Soren didn't really seem to mind being our model...

Anyway, here's the link to the photo album. You can click on any image to make it bigger, then use the Previous and Next links in the upper-righthand corner to view a slideshow.

P.S. If you are a regular Facebook user, you can find me as "Shelly Rees." But I only allow myself to log on once a week...

Vote for your favorite holiday family photo

These are my two favorite family photos from Soren's first Christmas. But which one should be featured on the official "Christmas card"?
P.S. I finally posted photos of me and Soren as Mary and Baby Jesus on SorenTalks. Check out our little actor in his first starring role. (If you're not subscribed to that blog, too, you're missing out on a whole new perspective on life at The Randall Roost!)

P.P.S. I removed a nonfunctional link on my post of Dec. 15 and simply copied my list of Top 10 books/DVDs for expecting mothers. If you were interested and unable to view the list previously, here it is.