Family Man

What a fun weekend- lots of family time! My Grandmother and Aunt Dana came to visit from Pennsylvania. We spent lots of time with them and the Keery family (who live nearby in Weston).

On Friday Caiden spent the day at the Keery house with everyone, I joined them after lunch

On Saturday everyone came over to our house for dinner. Caiden loved all the attention.

Here is our "4 generations" photo

And on Sunday we spent a few hours back at the Keery house. Caiden already misses everyone... come back soon please!!

High baby

We made a stop at Chipotle on Saturday and decided to try Caiden out in a high chair.

It was a hit, so when we got home Dan assembled the high chair that Grandpa Jack and Grandma Madeline gave us at our baby shower.

He had fun playing with his toys while I had breakfast. In a few short weeks he'll be sitting in here to eat!

Teething?

Caiden has been a little grumpy for a few days. Just about a week actually. He had a cold over the weekend but we think maybe something else is going on because he is extra fussy right now. He is not drooling very much, but we're thinking it might be teeth. Actually, we are just hoping it's teeth. And hoping that it breaks through soon and that our little guy goes back to his happy self.

He is so close to rolling over from back to front. If he is lying down and hears something behind him he will arch and turn and gets so close to flipping over. Here we were trying to coax him by putting my phone within view. Electronics trump all toys, but even the coolness of the phone did not motivate him enough.

We don't swaddle him at night anymore. Over the last month we've been weaning him from it, going from full swaddle to single arm swaddle, to body wrap with free arms. Unfortunately free arms mean face scratches, as he has a tendency to bat at his face during the night. It's getting better though as he gets used to sleeping swaddle free. We also stopped giving him a pacifier at bedtime. He chats to himself for a while, sometimes cranks for a minute, but falls asleep by himself easily.

Happy St Patty's Day!

Caiden wasn't feeling very photogenic yesterday, but he still looked really cute in his St Patty's day shirt. He had a fun day, especially because it was so nice out that he got to go outside at daycare. They have big multi-seat strollers, and Caiden got to go out for a whirl around the grounds with all of his buddies

This is a new favorite lounging position for Caiden. He'll just lie in my lap like this and chat.

That's better!

Some photos from Wednesday, he was showing a little NH pride

 

Ras na hEireann

On Sunday I participated in my first race since late 2009 (the pre-Caiden, pre-pregnancy days). "The Ras" is a 5k in Somerville that always happens around St Patty's day and attracts a big BTT presence. It was a bit of a hectic morning! We got to say a quick hello to Grace and her fun college friends who were visiting before the race:

 

Then we ran off to find Dan before the start of the race. He was meeting us in Davis Sq since he had a meeting at Northeastern beforehand. We found him in the nick of time. He took over Caiden duty and I made a beeline for the start.  It was a fun run, especially knowing I had these guys waiting for me at the finish line.

 

We got to say hello to a few more friends after the race, but we had to rush the little man home pretty quickly to take a nap. He's not so good at napping when we're out and about anymore. He was very good all morning, but I knew a meltdown was imminent. He crashed for 2.5 hours when we got home. All the excitement and fresh air tuckered him out!

5 months!

What a month! Caiden is such a fun little guy. Not so little anymore though. He is outgrowing his bouncy chair. In November when he was one month old, Caiden had lots of room to grow in this chair:

 

That's not the case anymore though! The belt barely makes it around his waist and his head is almost over the edge:

Here is what he was up to this month:

• Sitting: he loves sitting and is getting better at sitting unassisted by the day. We still have to stay nearby when he is sitting though- at any time he might flop forward, fall backwards, or slump to the side.

• Reaching and grabbing: just about anything that comes within reach is interesting to Caiden and he'll grab it up. Glasses, hair, pieces of paper, kleenex, water bottles, tv remotes- whatever! Nothing is safe around this guy. And everything still goes in the mouth. Sometimes he will gag when he is gumming on a toy because he has gotten it too far in. Silly Caiden.

• Playing with his feet: when he's on his back his feet are favorite toys to play with.. and munch on. His foot obsession makes it hard to change him!
• Tummy time: is no longer a dislike. As long as there are toys around, he can hang out for a while and is very good about pushing up

• Hugs: this past week Caiden started giving me "hugs" whenever I pick him up after being away for a while. He clings on tight and nuzzles in. I love it!
• Sleep: I had heard rumors of the "4 month sleep regression", and it hit this house hard. Caiden was such a good sleeper until shortly before he hit the 4 month mark. I thought he was sleeping poorly because of a cold- but the cold went away after a few days while the sleep regression lasted for weeks. And we still aren't back to where we left off. We went from one wake-up a night, with the occasional sleep-all-night-long nights, to several wake-ups a night. He would still go down easy, but there would be nights where he would be up every hour or two. Ouch. He seems to be settling back down into better sleep patterns, but he's up at least once or twice a night. And that first wake-up is earlier than it used to be- usually 1am

Happy boy!

Caiden sits

Today during my lunch visit Caiden was sitting pretty much unassisted for a good chunk of time! He's been slowly improving his sitting strength, but today he really seemed like he had it!! A bit wobbly, but pretty good! Excuse the sideways video... I was using my phone and forgot to turn it the right way.