Seth's Summary: 23 weeks

So, I know this is going a little out of order since I try to summarize Seth's weeks and I've skipped several weeks, but it gets a little hard to keep up with blogging in between getting home from work, sterilizing bottles, spending time with Jason and Seth, nursing, changing diapers, playing, going on walks, etc, etc, etc! And, it's my blog and I can do what I want....even if next week I'll be summarizing Seth's 20th week. He'll be getting younger, instead of older - ha!

What Seth has been up to:

- I think Seth is starting to learn his name, because when I try to get him to look at me, I repeat his name once or twice and he turns to me. Or, as Jason pointed out to me, maybe it's just that he turns to us when we keeping saying the same thing over again, "Seth....Seth....Seth!".:)
- Seth has taken to his sunglasses, but because he's also in the stage of grabbing anything anywhere near him, he takes his sunglasses off!

- Oh, and not only does Seth pull his sunglasses off, but now he reaches for my glasses and my hair! I dangle my hair in front of Seth and he loves to play and twirl my hair in his hands.

- With the warm summer air finally here, Seth hangs out in short-sleeve onesies with his chubby little legs easily accessible for spur of the moment squeezes and kisses.

- Did I say how much Seth reaches for things now? It's not just reaching for a toy that's dangled in front of him. He reaches for toys on the floor beside him. He reaches for the toys hanging from all sorts of contraptions on his exersaucer and playmat. He reaches for the straps and netting on his stroller. I have a feeling this little guy is going to be in a lot of stuff when he gets mobile!

- Speaking of being mobile, Seth is not rolling all over the place.....yet. He rolls from his tummy to back and back to side. We keep teasing him with toys that are just out of reach to encourage him to roll over, but he gives up or gets disinterested.

On Memorial weekend, we didn't have a lot of commitments which made for a relaxing weekend for just the three of us. The weather was so fabulous, so we headed out to a nearby park to BBQ and have a picnic with our friends. Seth was so easy going and he just hung out in the front carrier on me with his cool shades on. It was right during the middle of his typical 5pm catnap, so the little mister just sacked out in his stroller for a catnap. There's nothing more relaxing than taking a nap on a blanket in the park with sounds of summertime all around you.

We are in a nice little groove of three naps each day: a two-hour nap in the morning, a two-hour nap in the early afternoon and then a short catnap around 5pm. Seth usually sleeps all the way through his naps and he wakes up pleasant nearly all of the time.

This little routine makes a great schedule for our days. Seth is able to be up for longer stretches before he gets tired and goes down for his nap. We can go for walks, run errands or have a playdate while he's up and it doesn't interfere with his naps.

Seth is also doing so well with sleeping at night. He nurses at 7pm, goes to sleep between 7:30-8pm and wakes up at 7pm. Knock on wood, Seth has not been waking up at night. I keep waiting for this to change, like when he's able to roll over from his back to tummy or gets his foot stuck in between the crib spokes.

It's hard to believe that Seth is over five months! I have enjoyed and treasured every stage that Seth has gone through. But I have to say that I really enjoy all the ways Seth's personality and development has been shining through in the last month or two. I just want to bottle it up so I'll never forget!

I love watching babies play with their feet. They are so flexible!!

Budding photographer??

Seth's Summary - 22 weeks

What Seth is up to these days?

- Seth likes to touch my face and Jason's face. He wants to touch our cheeks, chin and mouth. I know when Seth is done nursing when he starts to play with my mouth and chin. It's so endearing!

- He's not so interested in sitting in his bouncy chair, now that he can bounce around in his ex,ersaucer. He definitely likes anything where he can sit up or be supported up, like the exersaucer and the bumbo.

- Seth will play with toys when he's on his back and if he drops the toy on the ground next to him, he'll reach for and pick up the toy from his side. If he dropped it before, he'd forget about the toy, but now he's realizing that he can pick it up.

- One of his favorite toys is Sophie the Giraffe. Oh, my - it's one of the easier teething toy that he constantly puts in his mouth.

- He's back to the shrieking. When we play with Seth, he gets this big, open-mouth grin and shrieks.

- It's hard for Seth to sit still in our laps, unless he's tired or feels like cuddling. He wants to be held up so he can push off with his legs.

Mother's Day

Every week I come on here and document another first. Just when I think the first couldn't be big enough, another first comes! It's just so much fun to see this tiny little human being grow and do new things. But this week, I had a first.....Mother's Day!

My men were so sweet to me on Mother's Day. Every day leading up to Mother's Day made me more excited than before. I was almost more excited for Mother's Day than I was my birthday - that's not hard to believe because celebrating birthdays after 30 years is not quite as fun as before. Jason surprised me with a box full of chocolate-covered strawberries the night before. We had a little date night watching a movie and eating the strawberries.

Seth and Jason wrote me the sweetest cards and gave me an awesome surprise: a spa massage! Woohoo! I need that after carrying and nursing my growing baby boy.

We met up for brunch with my parents, grandparents, Kyle, Jenni and Jenni's mom, grandma and brother. My parents gave me a corsage to wear. I don't know why, but I always wanted to wear one on Mother's Day. After stuffing our mouths with a nice brunch, we headed back to our home for dessert. I know. Why go on to the next place for dessert when you're stuffed? Do you need a reason to have dessert?

I was listening to a podcast in which Dee Brestin was encouraging mothers. She said something that I never want to forget as a mommy: when you think that all you do is wipe snot and change diapers, never forget that you are nurturing an eternal soul. I love that. My objective as a mommy is that I'm nurturing Seth, an eternal soul. All the boogies, all the blowouts, all the fussy moments pale in comparison to the larger picture of being a mom to Seth - that he is not mine, but God loaned him to me and Jason to nurture his soul. Big gulp.

Right now this is easy. Soothing words and cuddles when Seth's gums hurt. Singing "Jesus Loves Me" and rocking him before a nap. Praying for Seth before he goes to sleep for the night. Cleaning him after a blowout.

I get a little nervous thinking that it is going to get harder as Seth gets older. I'm so glad it's not just up to me.:) Seth has a loving daddy and I'm so blessed that he is my husband. We're in this together.

I felt so proud and blessed on my first mother's day: I have a beautiful baby boy and a loving husband. These are the days that I dreamed about for so long. Thank you, Lord, for your faithfulness and for all of these blessings in your timing!

Seth's Summary - 19 weeks

We had a lot of big activities this week. Saturday, May 1st, was my brother Jayson's surprise party in southern Minnesota. I took Seth on his first road trip to Jayson's home where the party was, while Jason went ahead of me in the morning with my parents to meet Jayson for a morning of golf. It was the perfect day for a road trip. Seth fell asleep within 20 minutes of driving, so he had a nice 1.5 hr nap. Score!

Seth was loved on by so many people at the party! He did really well, even though he protested an afternoon nap in the pack and play at Jayson and Jen's house. Seth is a resilient little boy and did just fine. He just took everything and everyone in. It was fun to see how he was just gobbled up by his two uncles.

What was Seth up to this week?
- Seth has started to sit up on his own. He's still practicing, but we prop his belly between his legs and he can sit up without our help for a few seconds!
- From laying on his back, we hold Seth's hands and pull him to a sitting position and then a standing position. Seth has the biggest surprised look on his face and he opens his mouth wide like he's going on a roller coaster ride! It's so cute....
- One afternoon I had Seth sitting with his back to my legs and he began arching back until he realized his foot was touching his toy snail. He stopped arching his back and starting playing with the snail using his foot! He did this for 5 minutes -using his foot to push the snail back and forth so it would make music. He's got good foot/eye coordination - future soccer hopeful!
- Seth added a new sound to his vocabulary. he loves to scream! He does these high-pitched screams
- Seth is still sleeping through the night!

Here are some pictures from this week:

Here we are with the birthday boy! Uncle Ray doesn't miss a photo op!

Jen's mom, Marcia, is so sweet. I've had so much fun getting to know her and spend time with her. And she loves babies! Seth was quite content being held by Marcia.

Seth and his uncle. Someday they're going to be throwing a football around, but we'll make sure Seth's uncles and Jason teach him how and NOT his mommy!

Seth loves to reach for things that are dangled over him. I was explaining my Tiffany's bracelet to Seth and how it's important that every man with a girlfriend or wife knows the significance of the little blue box!

Choosing Seth

Kelly's Korner is one of my favorite blogs to read and today she has a "Show Us Your Life" tour about why you chose the name you did for your child. And, of course, I can't resist talking about Seth!

Jason and I have talked about our kids' names for years. In fact, we thought for sure that our son's name would be Hunter, only because one of our favorite Minnesota Twins' players (at the time) was Tori Hunter.... not to say we were going to name our son after a baseball player.:) We just liked the name Hunter.

But then when we were actually pregnant and found out we were having a boy. It was very important to us to name our son after Jason's dad, Roger, who passed away in 2008 from cancer. We had told Roger that we would name our son after him. So, Hunter Roger didn't really have a good ring to it...."er" and "er"....er.

I'm not exactly sure how "Seth" came on the radar. I think it was on my list.:) But, we liked that it was a name in the Bible (Seth was Adam and Eve's third son, after Cain and Abel). It also means "appointed by God", which means to us that God appointed our son to be born to us at this exact time.

I love thinking about names. Confession - I already think about our next child's name! But, I prefer to keep everyone in suspense, so my lips are sealed for our favorite girl names.:)

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.