25 Weeks

Funny little pose, huh? haha!

 

Santino continues to be a smiley boy but he still has his moments/days where he cries a lot. For the past several weeks he hasn't been sleeping as well at night. He goes down quicker, but wakes up a lot more. He has a love hate thing with swaddling. He usually cries and fights it when I swaddle him, but once he's all wrapped up he feels cozy and sleeps a lot better. When he wakes up though it's hilarious, because we'll hear (and sometimes see) his legs rising up and smacking down as if he's trying to get out of his cocoon.

 

I've gotten to the point now when he wakes up, a lot of times I'll nurse him in our bed and he ends up sleeping beside me. He sleeps so much better this way, but I know that eventually he's going to need to be solo in his own bed. But, for the sake of everyone, (including ME) this works best for us right now...we ALL get more sleep this way.

 

Last week Santino tried summer squash and some pear mixed with raspberry. We stopped the pear and raspberry because we think he may have had an allergic reaction to the berry. His skin on his face got flushed on one cheek and he had a rash on part of his face. Other foods seem to cause some irritation to his skin I've noticed, but I don't think it's anything serious. Next time he goes for a well check I'm going to ask about it.

 

The other day, Maximus had Santino in stitches. M was telling me about a ball that went up in the air and he was using hand gestures and sound effects. Santino was watching and observing M and started laughing like crazy. I had Maximus tell the story over and over and we all got some good giggles out of that! It's so darn cute to see the two of them communicate with each other.

 

Maximus is always bringing Santino toys and "blankies." He even likes helping us change Santino's diaper. He'll unzip or unsnap Santino's jammies to assist us. Sometimes he'll even throw the dirty diaper away for us. ha!

 

I've been taking the boys to the music class at the library that I took M to before. We all enjoy it. At church, in order to get Maximus to go to the nursery, I've been going in and staying with both of the boys. Some of the little girls there just adore having baby Santino in there.

 

I hope your week is good. Does it feel like 2014 is already off to a fast start? That's a YES for me!

 

Happy day!

Best Buds

Flower Child
 

 The other day when I came home with the boys, I noticed Santino's toy on his face. Maximus and I got a good chuckle out of it!

 

Remember me telling you how Santino loves it when Maximus lies on top of him?



Do you feel the love?

 

These two boys are so much fun!


Have a beautiful day!

24 Weeks

This little face melts my heart

 

It's official. Santino hates peas. It doesn't matter if he eats them cold, warm, or with olive oil. He gags on them. So we won't be feeding him them anymore. At least for a while.

At night he's been going to sleep earlier than in the past. I've been trying to put him down when he gets drowsy or just falls asleep. Sometimes he'll stay asleep for a few minutes and wake up and I'll pick him up and hold him longer. Other times he'll stay asleep for a couple hours or so. At least it's some progress.

During the day he usually naps in the swing. He just seems to sleep better that way. If he wakes up, we can usually get him to go back to sleep if we push him manually in the swing.

Santino loves it when his feet are bare and he can reach for his toes. Even better, he loves being just in his diaper.

This week he's been rolling around a lot.

When it comes to him taking a bath, I really have to watch him closely because he about jumps out of his little tub from all his kicking and splashing. Needless to say, he likes the water.

This little guy is so much fun!

Happy day!

Play Time

Tuesday I took the boys to the indoor play park near our house. Maximus enjoyed playing there. I brought a couple toys from home for Santino to play with too.

 

Eventually Santino got pretty sacked so he took a nap.

 

And Maximus enjoyed a little snack.

 

It's so nice to have a place like this for kids to play.

 

Thank you for the sweet comments on my Dad's Birthday post! He really appreciated it.

 

Have a good day!

Happy 80th Birthday Dad!!!

Don't faint that I'm doing two posts in one day. I couldn't pass up sharing that it's my Dad's Birthday today! I can hardly believe he's 80 years old, can you? He takes such good care of himself - always exercising and watching what he eats. I couldn't ask for a better Dad. He's one of the kindest, gentlest, most humble individuals you will ever meet. Rob calls him "Even Steven." That's for sure! He's also extremely intelligent and has a good sense of humor. I love you Dad. You are a wonderful example of love - you put God first in everything you do and love your family and others unconditionally.

Happy Birthday Dad!

Yesterday we celebrated his birthday with our family, my aunt and uncle and two of our closest family friends. It was a fun time of sharing stories and telling my Dad all the things we love about him.

I don't know if I've ever shared a photo of my entire family. Here we are - my Dad, Mom, 3 brothers and me.

Santino - 5 months old

 

Maximus - 6 months old

Happy Birthday Grandpa!!!

Love,
Heidi, Rob & the boys



23 Weeks

I could squeeze these chunky legs all day long! ha!

 

This last week Santino ate sweet potatoes and bananas for the first time. He also ate peas, which he had only had one time before, a few weeks ago. Santino has a good appetite and eats 2 - 3 jars of baby food a day. His favorite foods so far are carrots, squash & rice cereal. He gobbles those foods down. When it comes to peas, he kind of chokes on them, so it's better to feed him fruit alongside and just rotate bites. If he's having pears, he'll usually make spit bubbles, and you get a splatter of pears all over.

 

When he's on his tummy he'll push up with his legs as if he's trying to crawl. Sometimes he gets momentum and moves or slides a bit, but I think we're still a ways from full blown crawling.

 

He's a such a smiley boy. We love him so much!!!

 



22 Weeks

Santino's latest thing is grabbing his feet. I caught him in action with this shot and by the look on his face he's pretty serious about trying to touch those toes. You can see the spit bubbles coming from his mouth, another thing that he does often.

Last week Santino had a well check. I was a little late in getting him in for his 4 month appointment, so it ended up being closer to 5 months.

Here's his stats
Weight: 14 pounds 9 ounces (35th percentile)
Height: 25" long (44th percentile)
Head Circumference: 16 ½" (36th percentile)

He's still on the smaller side for his age, but it's amazing to look back at how much he's grown since birth.
 - Gained almost 9 lbs
- Grown 6" in length
- Head circumference has increased by 3 ¼"

Most of his clothes are now size 6 months and he's just about ready to go to size 3 diapers.

He's been sleeping in the bassinet at night. But, yesterday we took that out of our room and put his play pen in there instead. Now he has a lot more room. It's pretty comfy too as far as play pens go. I bought a high density foam cushion from an upholstery store and sewed a waterproof diaper fabric over it. Now, it's not too hard or too soft - just right for this "little piggy." ha!

Today I took both of the boys to do a couple of errands and it was so much easier than in the past. Santino only cried a couple times - right before he fell asleep at Costco and then later when we were checking out and coming home. That is a big improvement over outings in the past. Santino wasn't a very good traveler in his early months, so I've stayed home a lot more than I did with Maximus at this age. Looks like we'll be able to get out more often now. Yay!

Santino's really enjoying solid foods. Last week he ate pears, apples, squash & carrots for the first time. It's so fun to watch the development that's happening along with the daily interaction between him and Maximus. I feel blessed!

How's everyone doing? Hope your New Year is off to a good start!  

Christmas Photos

I can't believe Christmas came and went so fast! Here's some photos I wanted to share with you, taken before and on Christmas. (WARNING: there's a lot of pics!)
 

 Here are some out-takes from his weekly photo session last week.

 

Can you say, "Mr. Scrooge?"

 

There's that SMILE!



Happy baby!



Candy Cane Heart





 One of Rob's friends from work bought the boys these outfits.

 

 "Hurry Santa! We're going to be late!"

 

 These two crack me up!

 

Santa & his Elf weren't always in the picture taking mood.



Santino & Maximus with their cousin Sydney on Christmas Eve



Opening presents at Rob's parents' house



Family photo

 

We're moving onto Christmas Day! Rob's Aunt Kathy gave Santino some jammies the day before. Little did she know that Maximus had the exact same ones!



M opening up a gift for Santino



Maximus was excited to get a Caillou DVD



We celebrated Christmas with my family later that day. M was wrestling with his cousins.

 

Santino with his cousin Isaac



The packaging still proves to be one of the best presents. Maximus enjoyed the bubble wrap!

 

Here's to a wonderful New Year! Happy 2014 Everyone!