Seth's Summary: 16 weeks

I remember when Seth was only SIX weeks old. Now he is SIXTEEN weeks old...it's amazing how time flies by and everyone tells you that, but you just don't want to believe it.

Naps: For the last week, Seth's naps have gotten longer to about 1-2 hours each. He doesn't wake up every 45 minutes like he used to. He also only wimpers a little when you first put him down for a nap. Then, he finds his fingers and he's content. Sometimes you can hear him talking to himself for about 5 minutes before he's out. Is it too soon to say we've turned over a new leaf in the nap department?


Night sleeping: Knock on wood. That's all I'm going to say. But can I brag just a tad with how well Seth sleeps at night? I keep reading about the 4-month sleep regression that so many babies experience. So, I'm going to say here and now what a good sleeper Seth has been. He has slept through the night (8pm - 7am) consistently without waking up since 8 weeks old. And even before 8 weeks, I had to wake Seth up for middle-of-the-night feedings. Seth's 4th month may be the end of our glorious sleep, but I'm going to enjoy each night until something changes.


Fun Seth facts:

- Seth purposely focuses on a toy placed in front of him, aims for it with his hands and guides his hands to grabbing the toy. It is so fun to see him reach out and grab things, when before he would wave his arms and hands around the hanging toys, but not always purposely grab them.
-He's "grggle"-ing his thoughts to us all the time! He coos, who's and now "grgg"-les.
- He brings objects up to his mouth and "gums" on them. It's typically the green frog or soft soccer ball.
- He has good focusing ability. When Jason throws a ball up in the air and catches it, Seth watches Jason throw the ball up and holds his focus on Jason's hand until he catches the ball. Pretty soon he's going to be catching the ball if Jason tosses it at him, that's how advanced he is. ;) Ha!

-He smiles and coos back when people talk animatedly to him. If someone just talks at him, he doesn't always indulge you with a smile but he'll just study you and wait to see if you're going to entertain him with an animated voice. :)

- He's started to play little "games" with me when I'm nursing. If I start talking while nursing, Seth stops, leans back and watches me with a stoic expression. Then, I giggle. I stop giggling and he continues to nurse, but then I can't stop giggling. Seth stops, leans back, gives me a sly expression and then dives back to nurse. We go back and forth like this for at least five minutes.

Seth's Summary: 15 weeks

Jumpa-who? Jumparoo, that's who....or, I should say 'what'. Seth got a new toy this week - a jumparoo and, boy, does he love it! He sits in it, sucks his hands, and then flails his hands around and pushes his feet off the ground, sending him in a flurry of bounces.

"All hands on deck!" Seth constantly sticks his hands in his mouth and munches away. With the constantly drooling and hand munching, we know Seth is in for some pearly whites soon to come popping through his gums. We haven't seen anything come through yet, but I bet any day now Seth will get his first tooth.

Other fun Seth facts:
- Seth had his first....I mean, second official photo shoot with Jason's friend, Rich, who is a great photographer. Rich took newborn photos of Seth while we were still at the hospital and here we are 15 weeks later and Seth is over twice as big! Seth was a trooper, even though it was early evening and in the middle of his nap.
- We took our new stroller out for our first spin around Arbor Lakes. Seth was awake for the whole ride, except for our dinner at Potbelly.

My friend Talia's daughter, Vivian, turned 1 years old and here we are at her party.

Seth's first Easter Sunday! Here Seth is with my parents.

Our first family picture.

Seth's Summary: Week 14

We had a busy, busy week! We made it through the first full week of both mommy AND daddy at work during the days. Of course, it was probably harder on mommy than it was on Seth.;)

The weather has been getting so nice. Jason and I try to take Seth outside whenever we can. We walk around the perimeter of the house. We sit on the bench in the front and watch the cars go by. We hang out on the picnic blanket in the back and listen to birds chirp and the wind in the trees.

Seth puts his hands in his mouth and just looks, thinks and takes it all in. I stood with Seth in front of the neighbor's wind mill on a particularly windy day. Seth was so enthralled with the spinning wind mill that he took his hands out of his mouth and just stared for minutes on end!

Seth has so much fun with Jason. And vice versa! Jason picks Seth up, raises Seth in the air and he just squeals and giggles with excitement.

Awww....here is a particularly cuddly moment for Seth and Jason. Jason loves cuddling Seth.

I'm just trying to throw you off here with Seth's coordinating sleeper and blanket stripe theme.:)

One of the first times we really "hung out" on the picnic blanket. Also one of the first times Seth got to see his mommy freak out over a spider that came dangerously close to our blanket.

Jason's mom hosted a get together at her house for the Grant side of the family, so Seth was introduced to a very loving family! Seth was completely enthralled with the vents on family room basement ceiling. He kept cooing and chatting at the vents.

Here is Jason's cousin, Tim, and Seth.
Jason's aunt, Wilma. I have an Aunt Wilma too! They're the best!
Jason's aunt, Judy. Awww...they're matching.:)
Jason and I laughed at this sight when we pulled up to mom's house. Seth's hat fell over his eyes and he didn't give a holler....he just decided to sleep. Is that all it takes????

Had to get a shot of the cute little froggy bum.:)

Seth's Summary: Week 13

The biggest thing about this week is that we've been adjusting to me going back to work....probably me adjusting, more so than Seth! Thankfully, Seth has been used to being around my mom and Jason's mom, so having them come over to our house to watch Seth has been easy on him.

Eating: No change here, except I know Seth is getting the food he needs because he is gaining weight. If the scales are true, he is now 16 lbs!

Naps: Eh....Seth sleeps well for his morning nap, but his 2nd and 3rd naps range anywhere for 45 min - 1.5 hrs. Never consistent, but he probably gets about 4-5 hrs of sleep total with his naps. Seth still cries when being put down for about half of his naps. I read that at this age, Seth may enjoy his time playing with us so he would rather be up, than put down in his crib for a nap....even though he's been awake for a while. We're just trying to keep consistent with Seth's waketime so he doesn't get fatigued.

Nighttime: What is consistent is Seth's nighttime routine! This little guy sleeps from 8pm-ish until 7am! We're still enjoying it until something changes!

Waketime: Seth is up to 1.5 - 2 hrs of waketime between his naps. You can tell when Seth is reaching his max waketime, because he gets a little fussy, rubbing his eyes or gets the 7-mile look.

Other fun Seth facts:
- The drool faucet turned on! I find his drooling sweet.:) He's getting prepared for those baby teeth to start popping through in a couple of months!
- Seth LOVES walks in his stroller. He chatters the whole walk through!

Seth's Summary: 12 weeks and 3 months!

Our 3-month old!!! Seth is getting so big and I can't believe that 3 months have flown by.

What is Seth up to at 3 months?

- He's discovered sticking his tongue out. We play a little game that Seth usually starts by sticking his tongue out, then I stick my tongue out and we go back and forth sticking our tongues out at each other. It's so fun! Of course, I'm sure there will be a day when I have to teach Seth "we don't stick our tongue out at people".

- We had tried giving Seth a pacifier weeks ago, but he never wanted to hold it himself. So, we tried a pacifier shaped differently and surprise, surprise - Seth takes it! We use it when Seth wakes early from a nap or is overly tired and needs something to suck on when going down for a nap. He sucks on his fingers, but when he gets overly tired, he'd rather shake his hands instead of put them in his mouth!
- I need to get the boy some shades cuz when we take Seth out for a stroller walk, he's practically blinded by the sun.....but he loves stroller walks - coos and squeals abound!

My favorites for Seth....blue, browns and stripes!

One of the fewer happy moments in his carseat. Seth has started to put up a fuss when he's put in the car seat...I think because he doesn't have as much access to swinging his arms around and putting his fists in his mouth.

Love the cheeky smile!! Seth has my chunky cheeks!

March 10, 2010:

Seth is sporting his first Viking shirt. I know what you're thinking....his first Viking shirt?? Yeah, we don't have a big stock of Viking threads....which I'm sure will change with this upcoming season.

Seth loves his daddy and gets excited when he comes home from work. They have a special time playing and chatting away.

March 11, 2010:

Seth and I had a playdate with our friends Jenny and Hayden. Hayden's 14 months old and Seth just got a kick out of watching Hayden. Hayden loves using his voice and walked right up to Seth chattering away. Seth just took it all in and watched Hayden like a hawk.

Seth absolutely adored Jenny. He smiled, cooed and laughed with Jenny for over a half hour. It was so fun to watch!

Seth got a taste of the Bumbo for the first time and I decided it was time for Seth to have his very own. He did well holding his head up! It is the perfect little seat for our boy that loves to watch the world around him.

March 12, 2010:

In the last two weeks, Seth really took a liking to the bouncer. He kicks his legs and pumps his arms, which inevitably hit the hanging toys and he gets so excited!

March 13, 2010:
We call this the "Zoolander" look.

I don't know who enjoys the Bumbo more.....Jason or Seth. We just bought the Bumbo for Seth and so far I can't tell if he likes it or not. He just kind of slumps over a little bit right now.

March 14, 2010:

Playing with a new toy....Seth loves toys that light up and make music.

March 15, 2010:

Feeding: No change! I'm still BFing and Seth is still quite the eater.

Naps: Seth takes a really good long nap in the morning and takes shorter naps of about an hour or so for the other 3 naps in the day. I've found that Seth's optimal waketime is an hour and a half, longer than that he starts to melt down.:) We started letting him use his new pacifier at the beginning of his nap if he is particulary fussy. Seth still does not prefer to have a nap in the early evening, but we try hard to get him to take a catnap around 6pm.

Nights: Seth goes to bed at 8pm, gets fed "in his sleep" around 10:30pm and then sleeps until 7am. It's proving to be a good routine....however long it lasts!

Playtime: We do Seth's stretches and positions to help his neck muscles. Seth has a lot of tummy time so he doesn't always rest on his back and head. He actually really likes hanging out on his tummy and does so for about 15 minutes during playtime. We try various activities like sitting in his Bumbo or playing in his bouncer for a few minutes. He does really well with independent play, either kicking his legs and pumping his arms over the dining room light to squealing over Sally the Snail that lights up.

Seth loves to be talked to and when you hold him, he prefers to be looking out with his back to your chest. Jason and I think he's going to be quite the independent, active little boy. He would rather be smiling, giggled and played with than being cuddled. Seth has his cuddle moments, usually when he's just woken from naps or we're winding down for a nap.

That's why I love the quiet mornings I have with Seth....because I know soon enough he will be too busy to cuddle with his mommy!