Just an update that Christopher has had a great first 2 weeks of daycare, it is going great. Here he is taking a nap the other day :0)

Now that the semester has started and I'm working again, Christopher has started his 2 days per week of daycare. Yesterday was his first day, but we've gone a couple of times with him during this past week and spent time there so he'd get used to the surroundings. I was pretty upset before dropping him off, and had been upset all week over it. But when we got there, I set up his cubby, his food and his crib and he seemed really comfortable and curious. He's crawling now (backwards only!) and he didn't stick by me, he took off and watched some of the babies and played with the toys. The women who worked there were really, really nice. Unfortunately they aren't the regular women who work in the infant room, they are just there temporarily, but I liked them a lot and they were attentive to all of the infants. I stuck around for a while but he was quite content, so I went and observed from the hallway window and yep... still content and playing. I left feeling really calm about the whole situation, that its only 2 short days a week and he'll probably benefit from being around other kids. I called after 2 hours and he had eaten all his food and they said he was a little fussy but fine when held. Then I called again later and they said a crying baby had woken him up only 30 minutes into his nap, so he was fussy but they were going to put him back to sleep. I couldn't believe they got him to sleep in the first place, that is amazing that he was so comfortable. I picked him up then and finished his nap at home, but the first day could not have gone better. I hear the first couple weeks are actually harder than the first day because that's when they realize you're going to leave them there, so we'll see how it goes. I feel comfortable with him there though, I know he's safe.

Article on cloth diapers:

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1702357,00.html#

Christopher uses bumGenius for the most part, except Chris actually prefers the tri-folds & covers. Cloth diapering is going great, they work better than disposables did for him and we don't need to use any creams - his skin is always perfect. I think they are great!

Experimenting with feeding himself...

I got this idea from another mom on the La Leche League, thought I'd share a summary of the past 6 months.

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Happy New Year!

I hope you have a wonderful 2008. I am really looking forward to this year, having Christopher makes things so wonderful and interesting. He makes us laugh so much, we love to see what he's going to be doing next. I should try to catch it on video when he sticks his foot towards my face so I'll kiss it & wiggle his toes, it is so funny. He laughs and then up his foot goes so I'll do it again. And yesterday Chris noticed that he loves the coffee pot. He looks at it and giggles - he inherited Chris' appreciation for coffee I suppose. Lately he's been really working on crawling. He gets on his hands and knees (and sometimes his hands and feet) and wiggles around, but he ends up gliding backwards instead of forward. It looks like he'll get it any day now. Until then, when he gets me up every few hours I find him in that position practicing. Here is a pic of him working on it!







Andrea

Thought I'd share his 6 month photo. Six months already!

Hope you had a Merry Christmas!





Christopher is loving all the toys he got. He's so curious right now and likes studying his toys, he is very serious. He had his 6 month visit last week and is doing great. He is still in the 5oth percentile for weight & height, weighing 17.5 pouds. He's been on solid food for a couple of weeks but doesn't eat too much of them yet. I offer them a couple times a day, so far he likes mashed bananas the best. His diapers now that we have started solids stink!!

So we had a great first Christmas, Christopher had a great time with his grandparents, aunts & cousins. Hope yours was great as well!

Andrea

Getting ready for Christmas...








I hope everyone's enjoying getting ready for the holidays!

Andrea

A few pics...

Weekend in Philadelphia...


Last weekend, Chris and I went to a friend's wedding in Philadelphia. Lorie came along to be the nanny for the weekend and spend time with Christopher. I think he found the Liberty Bell boring.


The statute of Rocky really is at the Philadelphia Museum of Art!


Walking around downtown Philly getting some cheese steaks.

The weekend went great, Christopher had a great time hanging out with Lorie and she really cracks him up. Today he is 5 months old already, but if you count by weeks he's 5 1/2 months. So in a few weeks we'll be starting to introduce some solid food. He really watches us eat now, I think he's getting ready for them.

This weekend during a break from the drive, we ate at a diner and I was nursing Christopher there. I think I'm officially over my fear of nursing in public because a waitress actually came over with an opened-up paper napkin while I was nursing him and covered his face with it. I didn't get upset or embarassed though, I just took it off because he won't eat with anything covering him and just went on feeding him. Other than really ignorant instances like that, for the most part people are pretty mature about feeding your baby when you're out. Nobody looks at us from what I can tell. I think its just seen as weird because you don't see many women doing it in public (maybe because people try and cover you up with napkins!).

Hope you're having a nice holiday.

Andrea

Heading out for an evening stroll... it was a little chilly out!

"Trunk or Treat!"





So Christopher was an elephant for his first Halloween, and he made out pretty good candy-wise! We went to a few neighbor's houses and they enjoyed seeing him. Hope you had a nice Halloween and got lots of goodies - we didn't get a single trick-or-treater!

Andrea

19 1/2 weeks






Cracking up with grandma.




Hanging out with his aunties.

I thought it was funny to catch him eyeing that cake in this photo, he's starting to get ready for solid foods as he watches us eat. Pretty soon, buddy!

19 weeks old...


Giving cloth-diapering a try (I'm not very good at the folding, I don't think its supposed to go down to his knees!). The women on the La Leche league forum I'm on have given me lots of tips though.


Hanging out in one of his new diapers.


He LOVES standing! He can support himself for about 10 seconds or so. He is just dying to sit up, crawl, and just get moving in general.


He's also chomping away on anything he can!

Out for an evening stroll...

"Someone get me outta here..."





He surprisingly doesn't mind being confined to this Bumbo thing, but I don't use it yet really because I think he's too young for it. They say it can be used as early as 3 months, but I won't use this until he can sit up independently because I don't like him slouching forward so much. When I tried him in it he let out a sigh and I was convinced he was short of breath from being hunched forward so I took him out immediately... probably not true. We're not ready for the sitting yet!

Last week was my 30th birthday and it was very nice. I thought about how I expected to be done with school with 3 children by the time I was 30... it used to seem really old to me. But I am so happy with where I am at and am loving motherhood and my family. I wouldn't change anything.

I'll try and post some more videos soon, those take a while to upload so its not as easy to find the time. Have a nice weekend!

Andrea

4 months


Taking his tubbies for the night.


Enjoying his jumper Auntie Jenn got him.

Hi everyone,

These are a few pictures that Chris' parents took when they were here for the baptism. I like how these came out, you can really see his chubby thighs in his jumper!

He had his 4 month doctor's appointment and everything is great. She said I can start with rice cereal but I am not going to give him anything but breastmilk until he is six months old. He is a few ounces shy of 15 pounds, keeping him right at the 5o% percentile which he has been at for every visit since birth. I'm not sure how much stock I put into his height measurement, he was squirming around and they got 25 1/2 the first time then said that seemed high, so did it again and got 24 1/2 and said "that seems better so we'll keep that one." Not too scientific! He handled his shots ok, he only cried for a minute but seemed warm and uncomfortable that night and Tylenol seemed to help.

Have a nice week,
Andrea

So in this week's Providence Journal we came across this article and I thought you might find it funny. Make sure and read the entire thing, and you can click on it (and any photo) to enlarge it.



How funny is that! Keep in mind Christopher's middle name is Michael :0)

Sunday 10/7/2007
Christopher's Baptism

Below are a few pictures from Christopher's baptism ceremony yesterday. It was a wonderful day and we're so glad our families could be there!

Thanks to Christopher's godparents, Aunt Carol and Uncle Mike.


Christopher wore my baptism gown and some really cute satin shoes that were a gift from my mom.


Grammy & Grandpa Lavigne


Great-grandparents Lavigne


Thanks again to everyone for sharing in Christopher's day!

love, Andrea & Chris