The Fussyness Continues...

So the solids definitely are keeping him full, (that is him after cereal on the right) but they didn't help us get anymore sleep. Jim and I are starting to get dilusional. One night last week I sat in the lazyboy with Josh all crunched up on me from midnight until 4 am. I finally got him to lay down in his crib and crawled back to bed. Only to hear him start screaming again 15 minutes later. I kicked Jim outta bed and he was up for another 45 minutes trying to get him to calm down.

We know that part of the problem is gas... because he is letting them rip louder than I have ever heard in my life... we are doing bicycle kicks, tummy time, mylicon drops, and squats. All seem to get him to quiet down quickly... and he is SO TIRED!!! As soon as we pick him up he usually starts falling back to sleep... so we'll lay him down and he'll start screaming again.

Apparently Rice cereal does make some babies more gassy... great! We skipped the rice cereal on Saturday to see if that would help... We also put him in his bouncy seat in the crib to keep him upright. He only woke up 3 times last night instead of 5 or 6. That was better but still not what he used to do... which was sleep for at least 6 consecutive hourse. Jim and I aren't sure what helped him sleep better... the bouncy seat or the fact we didn't give him rice cereal. So we introduced too many variables to know what has helped him sleep better. AGH...

And during the day he seems completely normal. He is definitely more tired... but he continues to sleep his usual 3 hours total during the day... And he still falls asleep doing his favorite activity... the jumparoo!

I have talked to lots of new moms and they are thinking it is teeth or a growth spurt... I am hoping one of them is true... if not both! We just need some sleep soon!!!

Let's Try Solids

So the fussyness continues. Josh has been waking up after anywhere from 30 - 45 minutes of sleep. After work on Tuesday I came home to find Josh was screaming again. He had 5 oz right before Jim picked him up at daycare and 2 hours later been given another 5 oz. It was now 3 hours later and we couldn't get him to stop crying. So we pulled another 5oz pack of milk from the freezer. He guzzled that 5 oz down like he hadn't eaten in days! So he drank a total of 15 oz in 3 hours! Usually he would eat 5 oz every 4 hours. yeah. Time for Cereal.

So the next day I bought some Rice cereal on the way home from work. I mixed it up according to the directions on the box - super runny. We got him into his high chair, put on the bib, and we started feeding him. HE LOVED IT!!!

He would open his mouth and reach for the spoon as I would get it closer. And then move it around in his mouth with his tongue. After swallowing it, he'd look up at Jim and I with the BIGGEST grin we have ever seen.

Mark and Tara's Wedding

We headed back to MI this weekend for Mark and Tara's wedding. Jim was Marks' Bestman so we had a full weekend of activities to attend. On Friday night we went to Dave and Busters for the rehearsal dinner. I have never been to one of those places before. It was a blast. Jim and I left Josh with his sister and husband so it was just the two of us. We played games until about midnight and got everyone from the wedding party to pool their tickets to get Mark and Tara something nice and big. We ended up getting 8,020 tickets and decided to trade them in for the two HUGE carebears. One pink, one blue. The remaining tickets went to some hot tamales for Vick and a MSU candle holder for Jen.

Josh was a little fussy Friday night and had Jim and I getting up every few hours to change him or give him his pacifier. It made for a long night! Saturday Jim was busy most of the day and so Josh and I hung out with his cousin Izzy and aunt Abby. It was a nice relaxing day. We got ready for the wedding and left Josh with his aunt CJ and her friend. It was a very quick wedding and then we hopped on the big limo bus with the wedding party. We drove down to Commerica Park and the wedding party got some awesome photos of downtown hotspots. Meanwhile, Elaine, Michelle, and I were keeping the party going on the bus... yeah - lots of fun. The reception was a blast too... lots of food, drinks, and dancing. Jim, Abby, and Aaron, and I attempted to keep the party going by heading out to the bars afterward... I think we lasted 10 minutes!

We got back to Abby and Aarons to find out that Josh was again very fussy. He gave Catherine and her friend a hard time and just didn't want to go to sleep. This continued again all of Saturday night and the only way we could get him to sleep was in the bouncy chair. Hmmmm...

Sunday we hung out some more with Jim's family and then got back on the road to WI. It was another uneventful drive. Josh continues to travel well. :)

The Baptism

Josh was a pretty happy baby all weekend. And this morning was no different. We put him in the jumparoo early that morning to keep him occupied while we finished getting ready. He is so happy in that thing he just falls asleep when he gets tired. We got a few pictures of it. He would get the heavy eyes, slow down the jumping to just one leg, and then finally stop all together. Then soon he would wake up, do a little bounce, and then doze right back to sleep.

We got him dressed in his baptism outfit that my girlfriend Mandy's mom made. It was so darn cute! And again he didn't mind having something on his head. He was really good at church again. And the baptism went very smoothly. He cried when I first held him out over the baptismal fount... but then was fine after that. The priest even got water all over his face. Josh just batted his eyes until the water was gone. Just like bathtime. The priest annointed him and Shannon and Steve lit the candle. The priest then carried Josh up to the front of the church and held him up for everyone to see. He was so darn cute!

After mass we got a few pictures and then went back to our house for lunch. We had everyone over again and things went just fine. Everyone took off by about 2 pm. At that point we all crashed. Jim and I on a couch. Josh in the pack'n'play. And Hilo on the floor. For 3 hours!!!

Joshua's Baptism

This weekend was Josh's big weekend. His baptism. We had both sides of the family coming into town. My grandparents and my immediate family. Jim's grandma, immediate family, and Aunt and Uncle also made the trip. It was a busy weekend but very fun!

Most of our guests arrived on Friday. The guys hung out on the deck while the ladies played rummikub in the kitchen. Pretty low key. Saturday was jam packed full of excitement. We woke up pretty early and by 9 am we had everyone outside with paint brushes. Jim and I put everyone to work! We were hoping they would help us finish the second floor... well they did more than that. They finished the entire back of the house too! So all we have left is the sides on the first floor! THANK YOU SO VERY MUCH!

We also went grocery shopping for our big dinner and the lunch for Sunday. We had a huge dinner on Saturday night with everyone! It was the most we ever had in our house for dinner and it went pretty darn well. We had some really good food and great company. We spent the night around the bonfire in the backyard.

Labor Day Weekend

This was our first weekend without plans... But that didn't mean we had a lounge lizard weekend. We cleaned up the house in preparation for all of our out of town visitors coming for Josh's baptism and also decided to start painting the outside. They had a huge sale on stain at Home Depot... so we figured we should take full advantage of it! Jim and I worked on painting the house all day on Saturday. We got our first floor done on the front of the house and it looked AWESOME!!! We can't wait to get the rest of it done!

We made a last minute trip to MI on Sunday. The drive went super well and Joshua proved again to be a fantastic traveler. The funny story from this weekend is that Josh now jumps anytime you stand him up. He is super strong and loves to show you just how much by standing and stiffening his entire body. Grandpa Jay was holding him up under his armpits and Josh would let his knees give out... and Grandpa would hoist him up in the air... His smile would get SO big it was hilarious!

Along with a trip to MI is a visit with our new neice Izzy. And of course we took full advantage of capturing the cousins together. Izzy's hair still stands up on top and it is SO long. She is one cute little gal. Izzy and Josh are getting so much bigger - we can't wait to see them interact in the months to come!