New things!

Writing time! Let's see...since I last wrote, River has started doing a few new (little) things. He has quit sucking his thumb and fists so much, and now has started sucking on his bottom lip a lot! Weird! It makes him look pretty funny when he is doing it and leaves slobber on under his mouth, haha. But there isn't really anything we can do about it, so if it provides him comfort, we are happy! He has also started rubbing his eyes with his fists at night when he gets sleepy...he looks SO adorable doing it, too! I love it. Isn't it funny how these teeny little things are so noticeable and adorable when it is your child doing them? : )

We have been putting him in his room to sleep all night in his crib for about 2 and a half weeks now...he does great! He goes to sleep at 11 and I go in and get him up at 7:15...some mornings when I go in to get him, he is asleep, and others times he is lying there watching his ceiling fan! He is such a happy and cuddly baby in the mornings...I love getting him up, feeding him and then just lying in bed with him and cuddling. He talks a lot in the mornings, too. I think he is telling me all about the dreams he had the night before! : )

Cody and I are getting a lot of exercise lately! Well...the lazy kind, I guess. River falls asleep anywhere between 6:00 and 6:15pm for a short nap, just long enough for us to eat a quick dinner. He sleeps for 30 minutes exactly, then wakes up and HAS to be held or right next to us until 7:30 when he eats next. So, we use this time to put him in the stroller and take him and Mattie for a walk if it is nice enough out. Lately it has been, so if you are in our neighborhood between 6:30 and 7:30 pm, you might see us pushing out lil guy around! I guess it is a sort of work out, b/c he gets heavier every day, and there are some hills we push him up! In any case, it is a fun way to get him through his fussy time of day.

He also got a new chair called a Bumbo seat last Friday. It helps him to learn to keep his neck up better and helps him with learning how to sit up. He enjoys sitting in it!!

We have been taking him out a bit more, too! We still love to go out to dinner or lunch with him during his nap time at either 12 or 6...he usually does pretty good at the restaurants. I've also been taking him to visit people during the weekdays, too. He went and visited with his great grandparents Mimi and Papa last week, and I took him up to Andy Woods! He has also been to see my parents and Cody's parents a few times, too. This past week he swung outside at my mom's house...his first time to swing. He loved it! So we brought a swing home and put it up in our backyard...fun times!! I look forward to taking him down to Bergfeld park to swing some too, and play.

Busy times!

Wow! It has been awhile since I have written...we have had a busy past couple of days I guess. : )

Cody was off on Good Friday, and we ended up making the most of it. We started off the day taking our usual 8:30-10:00 nap, then took River over to my parents' house for a surprise visit. This was his third time to go to Granny and G-pa's house. We sat around and visited for awhile, then we met Cody's parent's for lunch at Jersey Mike's. We sat outside in the sun, which was fantastic...I even got a little sun on my shoulders and face! Good 'ole Vitamin D! After that, we took River home, fed him, played and then put him down for his 2:45 nap. Well then Austin called Cody and said he and Emily were taking their 3 dogs out to Greenbriar, which is Austin's family's lake house behind Lindsey Park. That is a really special place and we love going there. I hadn't been in a long time, and since it was such a nice afternoon, we just couldn't resist. This was probably a selfish thing for us to do, but we woke poor River up from his deep sleep, and put him in his carseat and took him out to Greenbriar about 3:15...he did NOT like being woke up after only sleeping 30 minutes. Poor guy. Once we got out to the lake (we took Mattie, too), we went down to the docks and lounged around, visiting with Emily and Austin. River was a bit fussy off and on, but I think he had a good time. We put down the big picnic blanket we got from Babies R Us as a shower gift and relaxed. Soon it was 4:30, which is River's feeding time...I had thought we would be home by that time, so I couldn't believe it when Cody came up to me and told me it was time for River to eat!! I had never fed him away from home before! However, it went just fine and now I am glad that his first time to eat away from home was there...pretty special memory! We left the lake about 5:30 and decided to go out to dinner after that, so we met up with Cody's parents again! We ate at Jucy's; yummy! Then, we left there about 6:50...right in the middle of River's fussy time. He was great at the restaurant but we knew he would get fussy if we just went home and tried to play with him, so instead, as soon as we got home, we plopped him in his stroller and walked around the neighborhood for 30 minutes, until 7:30, which is when he eats again! Whew!!! It was a long and tiring and wonderful day, one of which all three (four, if you count Mattie) were all exhausted from! Needless to say, we payed for it that night, when we were trying to get the babe to sleep for his 8:45-10:45 nap. Usually we rock Riv for a few minutes at this time and he gets settled down pretty easily. However, this time, he cried for a good 30 minutes before calming down! He had been way overstimulated...but, what a great day it was! We decided not to do that again until he was a bit older, but I am glad we did make the most of his rare day off. : )

Easter Sunday was a fun day with the fam. We spent the late morning/early afternoon at my sister and bro-n-law's house. My 2 1/2 yr. old nephew Ian loves getting to spend time with River. Ian is such a hoot and is always entertaining to watch. He is talking up a storm and you never know what he is going to say! He loved getting to sit on the couch and hold River. River took his first "official" nap that afternoon at her house (the kind were I actually went and laid him down in the back room...) and he did great! He slept the entire time! After lunch and feeding River, we went over to Cody's parent's house for the afternoon. Cody's brother Matt and his wife Sarah came in town from Austin with their 15 month old son Felix, and this was our first time to visit with them since River was 3 days old. Felix LOVED getting to be with River...he kept on going over to hug him and love on him...so sweet! River went down for his 3:00 nap and again slept the whole time! What a precious Easter gift for his parents...b/c I was worried all week about him not doing well being gone all day...Felix hunted Easter eggs outside and we had a very good Easter dinner- homemade fried chicken with peas, mashed potatoes and rolls....yummm!! I took River home that night at 8:15 and he went to sleep really easily for his last evening nap! It was a great ending to a fun Easter!!

Let's see...he has been cooing and talking more than ever this past week...even some "coo yells" that are pretty loud and expressive and reallllyy cute!! : ) He also finally found his thumb!! Easter night I was rocking him to sleep and I looked down, thinking he was again sucking on his fist like he has been a lot for the past few weeks. Anyways, he was sucking on his right thumb! And he has been doing it a lot the past two days since. So cute! :)

A good week so far

It has been a fun week so far. Fun, but laid back. : ) We took family pics down the street in our neighbors backyard Monday night. My parents and sister, brother n law and nephew were there, and Cody's parents, too. It went well and River did great but of course, he is only 2 months old! I think most 8 week old babies are pretty compliant most of the time, right? : ) It's when they turn 2 and think they run the world things will get a bit harder, hehe. Anyways, last night, Cody's great aunt Ann came in town to meet River so we all went out to eat at the new Bruno's. River does really well when he is outside, so we sat out on the patio and he was just fine! We got to enjoy our entire meal while he sat in his car seat listening to our conversation and watching the sky. I still rarely get out, so even something as simple as going to dinner and successfully making it through without River getting fussy is a huge thing to me! He has been working more on finding his thumb this week. I will turn on the monitor when he is napping and just watch him as he sucks on his hand during his sleep. So cute!! He is still sleeping about 5.5 hours at night, then waking up to eat, then sleeping til we get him up at 7:30. The other night when he slept for 7 hours still remains to be a fluke, but we are still hoping more nights like those aren't too much further around the corner!! He still sleeps swaddled at night, but during the day he is unswaddled for his naps and sleeps in a "sleep sack"...they are the coolest things! It is basically a sleeveless blanket that goes on over their onesie or gown or whatever they are wearing, and zips up on them and serves as a blanket. That way you don't have to cover them up with anything. It works great for River because he always kicked off any blanket we had on him. I think this weekend we will experiment with letting him sleep in that at night verses being swaddled, and see how that goes.

We took him to the doc on Monday for his 2 month checkup...he weighed 13 lbs 15 oz!!! Bigger than Cody and I had guessed. Apparently Breedlove baby boys are just big...Cody and his brother Matt were big babies, and River's cousin Felix is a big baby, too. We also found out the "dry skin" he had on his scalp, forehead and sides of his face are cradle cap. Apparently it is very common; 50% of all babes get it. So, I have to put hyrdocortisone cream on his face 3 times a day and use anti dandruff shampoo on him, until it goes away. The cream has already really helped his face, and with the shampoo, I think it should all go away in the next few weeks. It isn't harmful or bothersome to the baby at all (the cradle cap) but it just doesn't look great to peel like a lizard on your head and face. : )