Sitting, Scooting, and If the Creek Don't Rise

Iain is almost six months old. Can you believe it? He is working on sitting in earnest now though he still tumbles almost every time. He is also teething in earnest, which is tough on the poor little guy. He's not a cryer (a fusser at times, but he doesn't often actually cry hard), but the past few days, it seems every time he tries to nurse he just cries and cries. It's so pitiful! Pray for his teeth to come in soon and with as little pain as possible.

In the swing:
I must say, though, even with the teeth troubles, he is sleeping a bit better. Last night, he woke up three times instead of four (or eight), and I think had his teeth not bothered him, he wouldn't have awakened the last time. So praise the Lord for progress.
Fun floor time:



Aunt Haylee really wanted Iain to scoot before she left for the month. She practiced with him this last week, and eventually, he learned that he can propel himself forward if someone puts their hand behind his feet for him to push off. He really, really wants to crawl! He gets frustrated that he can't, even though he can roll himself wherever he wants to go (and does so!). I think once he really gets moving, there will be no stopping this active boy. Anyway, when he tries to scoot, he grunts and groans and makes you think he was trying to lift the refrigerator. Very dramatic boy.

Aunt Kelsey came to visit (well, she didn't come for the express purpose of visiting Iain, but we like to think she did). She was a good sport and fed Iain his sweet potato and rice cereal lunch, which was fun for us all to watch. They both made quite a mess of themselves and each other. Aleah, Grace and Jake were over, so Iain had quite an audience as he chowed down.


Last bit of news for the evening: we are pouring slab tomorrow (if the good Lord's willing and the creek don't rise, that is). It really feels like we're moving on this house project, finally. We spent the weekend emptying the laundry room and tearing down the walls, removing the sink, washer, dryer, hot water heater and miscellaneous pipes. Uncle Alex and my mom helped out a great deal, and Nan took Iain for a stroll so we could finish up today. Jeremy loved demolishing the walls with the sledgehammer - actually grinned while smashing away. Must be a guy thing. The "room" looks strange now, like a stage waiting for a play to be performed. And tomorrow, we will have slab! A good way to start off spring break.

Before:


During:


After:

Outdoor Fun

The other day, after a particularly fussy morning, Iain and I needed a break from looking at the same walls of our house. It was abeautiful day and I had some potted plants I had been meaning to re-pot, so we headed outside. Iain, as usual, loved being outdoors, and the weather was beautiful. I put him in his jumparoo so he could look around (instead of laying him on his back where he could only look up). As I potted my plants, I would look up and catch him looking around and smiling to himself. He didn't even jump - just sat there looking at the trees, the grass, the birds... I think we have ourselves an outdoor lover, and I am glad.

Some Updates

Sleep Update: after the last post, you may be thinking that our lives have dramatically changed...but unfortunately, they haven't. We've had one other great night of sleep since then, one decent one, one terrible one, and the rest have been average. Ah well. I'll still take the good ones when they come, even if they are infrequent. Needless to say, I'm frequenting the library and reading everything they have on baby sleep.

House Update: plumbing is in, though it failed inspection today (we hear our city is one of the hardest in which to get things passed). It should be fixed tomorrow. Electrical will soon follow, as will the pouring of the slab!

Adorable Baby Update: Iain is sitting up in his swing and trying to sit up in his carseat. He alternates between gulping down whatever rice cereal is offered, and being so interested in anything and everything around him that he can't seem to remember to eat. Today, for the first time, he laughed at silliness (as opposed to tickling). He also has developed the funny habit of scratching at fabric with his fingertips - whatever fabric is near him. His seatbelt. his clothes, my clothes, the glider, etc. I think he's going to be a tactile and kinesthetic learner.

The other day, he rolled from back to front (something he is quite good at) and got stuck (something he often does). Jeremy and I were both in the kitchen in the middle of things, so it took us a bit longer to come to his rescue than it usually does. He squawked and wiggled for a minute, and then, having had quite enough, he put his face down into the carpet and cried/yelled angrily. It was pitiful and just a bit funny. :) Don't worry, we rescued the poor thing.

Last weekend, we had a good visit with Jeremy's parents. Iain enjoyed showing off his jumping skills and charming them however he could. They commented on how interested he is in everything, always looking around and taking it all in.

Now for some cute shots.

Sitting in the swing:

Reaching for the camera:
Just for fun:
Rice cereal (literally) from head to toe:
Our Little Bookworm (he squirmed off the blanket and was lying there quite contentedly with his book and his plug when I came back in the room):

Hallelujah!

Last night went something like this:

7:00 - Iain is in his bed asleep.
9:00 - Iain wakes up; I go in and try to get him back down. I don't feed him.
10:00 - Iain is again in his bed asleep. Anticipating getting up to feed him in half an hour, I head to bed myself.
12:00 - Iain wakes up to eat, an hour and a half later than normal!
1:00 - Iain is back in bed. I expect Jeremy to get up with him at least twice before 3, at which time, I take over again and usually feed him at 3:30-4. Instead... drumroll please...
5:30 - We finally hear the boy waking up to eat. He slept 4.5 hours. It was wonderful and I felt so much better in the morning. Please pray that it wasn't just a fluke - maybe he has turned a developmental corner.... I'm not counting any unhatched chickens, but it sure would be wonderful.

The jumpy seat remains on of the best places to take cute Iain pictures:

House and Zoo

Or, The House is a Zoo

Get ready for a whole lot of pictures!

House: the work is progressing rather quickly. This week, we hauled off that huge pile of concrete that has been in our driveway for weeks. We had friends over to help (we treated them to slurpees afterwards:) and many hands did indeed make light work. We were done in about an hour and a half, and it was a LOT of rock! Now the fill dirt is in and graded, the plumbers have been and will come again on Tuesday, the footers and preliminary electrical work will also go in this week, and we'll hopefully be pouring slab before we know it. It's exciting to finally see work being done. Oh, and our front door works again now, too.

rock pile before:

work on the rock pile:

Zoo: Iain's first trip to the zoo took place this Friday. My aunt and cousins were in town, so they, Nan, Haylee, and her two babysitting charges (also related to us), Iain and I enjoyed a chilly day at the zoo. It was a lot of fun - stuff like that is always more fun when you're with kids. Iain divided the time between his stroller and the arms of various people. Don't know how much he got out of seeing animals, but he loves the great outdoors and so was quite content, right up until the end.

Iain and the parrot:

More fascinated with the water bottle - we could have saved ourselves some money, I think.

Iain and Nan (love this one):

In front of the monkey cage. The monkeys were siamangs - very loud with a throat sack that inflates. They make their noises by blowing across their throat much like you might do with a coke bottle. Anyway, I thought their noises were very interesting.

The Iain and the tortoise:
Us and the elephant, right before Iain reached the end of his happy day and began the tired one:

The gang:

My sweet boy:

He hardly lasted until we pulled out of the parking lot before falling asleep. Poor little guy - a full day of animal watching wore him plumb out.

Whew

What a week! We're finally getting stuff going on the house construction, after so many months of paperwork, permits, etc. The footers are being dug tomorrow, the plumbers should be coming this week, the sprinkler system will hopefully be moved this week as well, the dumpster is coming tonight for the concrete we jackhammered from the carport, etc, etc. Yay!

Iain is still recovering from what turned out to be a very long, though not severe (thankfully!) cold. A few more days and I think he'll be back at 100%. His sleep habits are still not too great. At night, he's still waking 4 or more times, though only two are for eating, and most are short-lived and it's easy to get him back down. Once or so a night (besides feeding times) he'll be up for about an hour off and on; this is the one we're trying to eliminate. Naptimes are 20 minute catnaps most of the time. Funny kid.

He's rolling in earnest now, back to front. He rarely does front to back (the one babies usually perfect first), so he frequently ends up frustrated and stranded on his belly. :)


Rice cereal is still going strong. as you can see:
Here are the promised superbowl pictures. Don't worry, they didn't sit there and watch tv the whole time. Iain actually rolled around on the floor most of the time, screeching like a pterodactyl. Good thing we weren't with football fanatics or his loud noises may have disrupted the game!



And the ever-popular jumparoo, still the favorite pastime of the little grasshopper. Sorrry about the cut-off one; he jumped right out of the picture, but the smile was so cute, I couldn't resist. Please also overlook the spit-up-y bib....

Sorry!

Sorry about the lack of posts recently. Check back tomorrow - I'll do my best to post then. Goodnight!

Superbowl Sunday

Can you believe I just named this post after the big game? I am not a televised football fan, but despite that fact, this will be the second year running that I will have watched the Superbowl. Last year, Jeremy and I and an unborn Iain were in Seattle and watched the game with my friends Jon and Angela. This year, we'll be watching it again with friends Pete. Lauren, and Iain's buddy Noah. So next post, you will see pictures of two adorable baby boys at their first Superbowl party. And I have to say, although I enjoy the idea of not watching the most watched few hours of television in America, the ads are usually pretty funny, and I am looking forward to game time goodies. :)

Anyway...
On the Iain front, his cold is about the same. His sleeping habits are about the same. His fascination with his feet is about the same. But, he and I did have a fun wrestling match on the living room floor a few minutes ago. He won by shrieking delightedly and slobbering in my ear. He was so wound up afterwards that he kicked his feet like a crazy person, waved his arms, and kept the shrieking up until he could settle down enough to eat and fall fast asleep. Play hard, eat hard, crash hard - that's Iain's motto.

Here are some adorable pictures taken by my mom of Iain playing in his favorite toy: the jumparoo. Please note the hair that it faintly visible, and the drool that is always plentiful.




And another few: