Rice Cereal and Obsessions with Puppies & Feet

Week 20

Last Friday started Tyson's 20th week.  You would think that Tyson would be 5 months old - but not yet!  Last Friday, I officially gave up on Tyson's naps.  The nap trial is over.  Besides his morning nap, he just will not nap for longer than 45 minutes at a time.  I have seriously tried everything.  I have tried him swaddled or in his sleepsack, in his crib or in his pack 'n play or swing, white noise vs. lullaby CD's, and putting him down completely asleep or sleepy but still awake.  I even tried something I found on a message board - rousing him slightly (by putting the binky in his mouth) 40 minutes into his nap, to try and start a new sleep cycle.  I have tried every combination of all those things above.  It just will not work.  Some days he even naps for 30 minutes only.  But if I know what to expect and don't expect him to take a nice 2 hour nap, then it doesn't frustrate me so much.  I give up - Tyson you win this battle!

Doesn't he look cocky here?  Like he knows he won a battle!

So on Tyson's 20th week "birthday", he started his solid foods!  His RSV is completely gone, so I felt comfortable with starting the rice cereal.  Friday night, after his 7 PM feeding, he got his first taste!  I sat him in his bumbo and I sat on the floor and got to it.  I knew that it was going to be messy, but I seriously had no idea!  It is good that it was right before bed, because despite the bibs, it gets all over his clothes (and face and hands).  The poor guy, it gets so caked onto his face while eating that he gets a rash on his face, from the irritation of the cereal!  The first feeding went pretty well - he took about half of what I had prepared (1 tablespoon of rice cereal).  But he was not getting how to really open his mouth yet, of course.  However, his next feeding on Sabbath, he really started to get it!  He started opening his mouth wide and leaning into the spoon.  Now 1 week later, he is a pro already!  He is finishing the 1 tablespoon at each feeding every time and it is only taking about 20 minutes to feed him the cereal, instead of the 35 minutes it was taking in the beginning!  I was talking with Corey this week and I am disappointed in the info out on the internet about starting solid foods.  I want a specific timetable that says "Week 1, give him cereal X amount of tablespoons blank times a day - then week 2, give him a vegetable.. etc.  But I have been searching and searching and it is all vague and not spelled out.  It is annoying!  I know, I know, every baby is different - but I just want a clear path for this!  What I can find right now is that I have to wait until Tyson has "mastered" rice cereal before we move on.  What "mastered" really means, is anyone's guess!  One thing that came out of the feedings is that Tyson is now obsessed with the puppies.  I think it is because, sitting in the bumbo, puts him right at eye level with them.  And the fact that they sit right beside Tyson when he is eating because they are obsessed with the rice cereal!  (Especially Reeses, no surprise there)  It is so funny.  Ty will keep his head turned the entire time I'm feeding him to look at the dogs and then he grins and "talks" to them.  It is so cute.

First bites...

 The dogs wanting in on the rice cereal!

Tyson "talking" to the puppies!

Sabbath brought a trip to Conway church - which we had not been to in months.  It was great to see everyone!  Of course, everyone thought that Ty looked so big, but our friends, the Blakeney's, had a new daughter on January 13 and she weighs just about the same as Tyson now!  So he seriously is still a peanut.  I try not to make too many comparisons and not to let it bother me.  Then we went over to my parent's house (they were still in Florida though) and hung out with Devin, Leigh, Mia, Shannon, and Adam.  Sean was in NY seeing his brother off to Afghanistan and Shannon couldn't go because she had to work on Sunday.  Tyson's other big thing on Sabbath (besides getting the feeding thing down) was he has started sucking on his lower lip, which he has never done before.  He did it all day long!  Once he figures out how to do something, he just does it over and over.  It's so sweet.  Saturday night, we headed to Friendly's for some snacks and ice-cream.  And then I made my rookie mistake.  I should have put Ty in his PJ's for the ride home, but I was just not thinking.  We left Friendly's at about 9:30 PM (his usual bedtime) and he did fall asleep immediately in the car.  I did want to feed him again when we got home, but I could have just eased him from the car seat, nursed him, and then put him in his crib.  But I had to take off his clothes and put him in his pajamas, which brought on an intense crying fit.  Lesson learned.

 Cousin Mia

Hangin' with Uncle Adam

Showing a bit more life with Uncle Devin!

Showing off his new skill!

Sunday, he slept until about 9 am, which was really 10 PM the new time.  So his schedule was off the whole day.  So because he was off schedule, the hour time difference was not that noticeable.  Heath spent the day working on cutting new trim boards to put in the kitchen, dining room, and hallways.  I helped when I could, in between Ty duty.  We took a break during the early afternoon to go to Pizza Hut to the buffet.  We completely forgot that the buffet was Mon-Fri only.  I couldn't understand this because we had gone twice in the past month.  But the first was when Vutek was closed for a snow day and the other time was on President's Day.  We ended up going anyway, but it wasn't as cheap as it could have been!  I guess we'll have to go back to our Dunkin' Donuts run on Sundays!  One fun thing that I did on Sunday was use the Baby Bjorn for the first time!  I had been using my sling, because for awhile, he was too small for the bjorn.  But he's been big enough for awhile, I just hadn't gotten around to using it.  And I needed Heath to help me with the straps for the first time because I am really bad at puzzles!  The last thing I would want is for Tyson to fall out because I didn't have it strapped right.  He loved it and falls alseep in it a lot, just like the sling!

 Look past the bad hair day - he loves to suck on the bjorn!

Monday brought a sad day.  First of all, it was grocery day and that is never a happy time for me - but I love when it is over and I know I don't have to go for a whole week!  Then came the bad news.  We are NOT going to China.  This has been in the works for a couple of weeks and we have been waiting for the final answer, and it came on Monday.  It is a really long story, but the bottom line is that no children are allowed to go, despite what we were told initially.  This is the first year that they have chosen an "MVP" to go with the sales team on their "fancy conference" - and there has been a long-standing rule that no children are allowed to go on the sales conference.  So even though Heath was given this as a reward, the rules stand and they can't change them.  Supposedly there are multiple people that are not going on the sales conference because of this "no children" rule, so it's not like they could bend the rules for Heath.  Very, very disappointing to say the least.  Heath's boss is very upset and is working on getting Heath the financial compensation for the trip.  So at least there is that, but it truly was a trip of a lifetime, so I'm disappointed.  But there is a reason for this.  I have to believe that!

 Tyson doesn't appear too upset that we aren't going to China!

On Tuesday, Tyson slept until 9 AM again.  I had let him sleep as long as possible, because he had been up crying until after 11 PM (after putting him to bed at 9:30).  Why this was, I have no idea.  Daddy had to deal with it, because I went and picked up my parent's at the airport Monday night and I left at 10:30 PM.  It's nice when Ty sleeps in, but then his schedule is off all day.  But when he really needs the sleep, I can adjust any schedule to give him more sleep!  Tuesday afternoon, Ty and I went with Noni to Concord and did some errands.  We had a good time.  There was no need to rush home, though, since Heath did not get home until 8:30 PM.  Work has been so crazy right now for him, but that was a bit ridiculous.  It just solidified my position of why I will never have Tyson go to bed before 8:30 PM.  Ty would never see his Daddy or get to spend any time with him!  I am aiming for 8:30 at some point, but Heath is already fighting me on it.  Right now I try to get him in his crib by 9:15 PM and Heath thinks that this is too early!  Just wait until I keep moving the bedtime up!

 Ty would miss bath time with Daddy!

Wednesday I worked and Tyson would not nap at all for my mother in the afternoon.  This was a new development for her!  She has gotten too spoiled with his 2 hour afternoon naps!  And this was a rude awakening.  He started doing the lip blowing again and is continually doing it again.  He is drooling so much that the lip blowing is very messy now!  I am constantly cleaning his face off!

 Lip blowing with his bubbles!

Yesterday brought one of the more frustrating days in awhile.  First of all, Ty was up at 1 AM and 4 AM crying.  At 4 AM, he had busted out of his swaddle.  I reswaddled him and at 5:45 AM he was busted out of the swaddle again and was up for the day.  What the heck?  I thought that this was the sign that he does not want to be swaddled anymore.  So I put him in his sleepsack for his AM nap.  Well, that did not work out.  I fought with him for 2 hours to get him to take two 30 minute naps.  That was not good.  And he had already had terrible nighttime sleep.  Then he would not even give me his usual 45 minute nap in the afternoon!  He was overtired, exhausted, but the only way he would sleep was in my arms.  Back to that!  He fell asleep in the bjorn, in my arms in the bed and in the rocking chair, but 5 minutes of being put in his pack 'n play, he would wake up screaming.  So that led to a horrible, cranky day and evening.  Of course it had to be the evening we were going to Concord to the OG with my parents and Shannon and Sean.  Ty had to be walked around the OG the whole time to keep him from crying.  What a day.  I thought that he felt hot but I checked him temperature a couple of times and it was fine.  He at least went right to sleep when he got home and slept soundly until 7:30 AM.  Oh, I forgot!  He really found his feet, for me, on Thursday.  I thought it was the real first time, but Heath said he had done it on Wednesday night.  Stupid work - I keep missing things!!! )=  So, of course, in true Tyson fashion, he is obsessed with his feet now!

Subdued in Daddy's arms (did not last long)

 Getting a taste of lemon - he went back for more!

Ty doesn't care that his feet stink - he can't get enough of them!

That brings us up to date.  Ty is actually taking his AM nap now, so I hope for a better day today!  Have a great week!

 Cutie pie!

 Can you see the drool glistening on his chin?

 Grinning at Poppy!