6 months

Only a parent will understand when I say that our days pass both so slowly and with a blink of an eye.  Our little man is 6 months old already.  He is eating solids and has his first 2 teeth (bottom middle).  We are not getting any sleep, but are powering through.  He watches his sister with complete adoration and they love to roll around on the floor together making each other laugh.

Weight:  17 pounds, 10 oz (75th%ile)
Height: 75 cm (off the charts)
Almost sitting and crawling
Cutting his 2 top front teeth

5 months

This little boy is rolling ALL over the place, and those pesky 2 bottom teeth have finally poked through.  Naps are a bit of a wash around here lately (he is a big fan of the 20 minute catnap), and the nighttime sleep is hit and miss (he is still usually up a couple of times).  He is all laughs and smiles for his big sister and she loves to make him giggle by dancing and making silly faces at him.  He is reaching for everything (and then of course trying to put it in his mouth) and starting to show a big interest in books (yay).  Next up - solids!

Nobody knows... the trouble I've seen...

We've had a rough week here chez Johnson. Lexi started running a fever early last week, which meant precious little sleep and one overtired clingy little girl. By Thursday Nurse Oma decided since she was still running a temperature, Lexi should take her first visit to the emergency room. One thing I will say is that it pays to have connections - toting one of the ER nurses' granddaughters through the door certainly gets you quicker treatment (that being said, it did seem to be a slow day). We spent 3 hours in the pediatric room, 30 minutes of which Lexi had to suffer the indignity of having a U bag strapped to her "who ha", but we did discover she did not have any kidney/urinary track problems, and the doctor told us she probably had a virus. I was skeptical as she had no other symptoms besides the fever and the trouble sleeping. While playing on the floor with her on Friday, I discovered the source of our problems - 2 more new teeth poking through! We know from past experience in this house that teething = trouble for all parties, as sleep seems to go out the window. We had been spoiled last week as she had slept through the night 3 times (which she hasn't done since she was about 3 months old!!) so now that the teeth have made their appearance, we're hoping to get back on track and get some rest again.

Weekend Update

OK, it's not the weekend yet, but I thought I would give a quick update on what's been going on around here lately.

The official tooth count is now 6. Lexi seems to like to cut her teeth in pairs (which probably isn't such a bad thing), and when Daddy isn't around (which in my opinion, IS). She's now got 4 across the top, and the lonely 2 on the bottom.

The official "steps taken on my own" count is now 3-4. Lexi took her first unassisted step on Thursday last week (I know, I'm a bad mommy for not posting it sooner), and took a couple more yesterday after watching her little buddy Hayden show her how it's done. I will try to get her walking on vid and post it.

Lexi is growing like a weed and I'm having to put away some of her 6-12 month and 9 month size clothes. FYI if you have a baby - Old Navy sizes run small and Joe Fresh from Superstore run HUGE. I'd guess she's up to around 18 pounds now, which I think is on the low end of average for her age. She's been eating like it's going out of style lately, so she must be burning off all those calories cruising around the coffee table. She's definitely long in the torso like her Auntie Cat though.

We've been busy with visitors, and will be doing a quick trip to the Island for Easter. Lexi's Uncle John came to visit with his girlfriend Stephanie last weekend, so we had fun going out for dinner and walking around Deer Lake. This weekend we've got some friends visiting from the Island with their kids, who haven't had a chance to meet Lexi yet, and I think we'll be visiting the Aquarium on Saturday.

I'm definitely feeling the countdown is on until I go back to work May 5th. I know Lexi's Oma is excited to start her babysitting duties, and it will certainly make the transition back to work easier on me knowing she is in good hands.

Now if only the sun would shine for a day or two we could get back out in the stroller and get some good old natural Vitamin D!!

Rub a dub dub, fun in the tub

After the first few initial baths we inexperienced parents gave our newborn, Lexi seemed to enjoy her tub time. It's part of her nightly bedtime routine that we've been doing since she was a wee little one of two months old. She often ends up accidentally giving Mommy a bath in the process as she loves to kick and splash. She's got a few bath toys that she likes to play with (the squirting bear and frog Daddy got her at Carters are the favs), and she just recently began sitting up (instead of reclining) to explore the territory - the game of "pull out the bath plug, Mommy puts it back in" never seems to get old. Daddy's job is to towel me off after I'm done.

(PS - Like my new teeth? Both of them?)

A new year, a new...

-TOOTH! Finally Lexi's top teeth, which have been threatening to poke through the gumline for months, have erupted. Well, her right top tooth has broken the surface, the left will happen any day now.

-favorite food (or two). We tried yogurt earlier this week (plain). She likes it, as long as it's mixed with fruit. We also gave her Cheerios yesterday for the first time and she LOVES them. I think it's more about the fact that she can feed them to herself.


-gym pass (for me, not Lexi). I got a 4 month pass for Burnaby Parks and Rec so I can do fitness classes, Aquafit, swim or go to the gym. I plan to get out one night a week, and Lexi and Daddy can enjoy some quality time together (and Lexi can learn that it's OK if Daddy puts me to bed once in a while too!)

"Two-fers"

Hooray for Daddy coming home! Lexi was so happy to see Doug, I was worried she would cry at the sight of him, but she definitely remembered him and smiled, squealed, and kicked her legs in excitement. She got some wonderful gifts from China that she will enjoy when she's older (I told Doug NO TOYS as China has a pretty bad rep for lead/melamine, etc these days) so she got a jade bracelet and a string of pearls (and so did Mommy, as well as a FAB-U-LOUS purse).

We sure missed the camera when Doug was gone! I finally (sort of) managed to capture a picture of her first teeth or "two-fers" as Oma dubbed them.

We've got exciting things coming up this month. Lexi's Nana (Doug's mom), whom she hasn't seen since she was a wee little babe of 3 weeks old, will be coming on Wednesday after her return from her summer trip to Nova Scotia and Europe. Lexi will take her first trip to Victoria to visit her various grandparents and great-grandparents (and her first meeting of her only living great grandfather) as well as her half birthday on November 12th.

Why we miss Daddy

I've been meaning to add some new posts, but with Doug in China on business I haven't had the time lately. I have a whole new respect for single parents!

Of course Lexi would choose this week to sprout her first TEETH! I noticed them a few days ago - both bottom middle ones have broken through the gumline already. They haven't made much progress since then. She's been handling it like a real trooper.

Some other new things she has done lately:

- turned on her Rainforest mobile BY HERSELF in the middle of the night by pushing the button that starts the music. This put her back to sleep. Oh if she could only do this EVERY NIGHT.

-when I feed her (we've tried yams, applesauce and bananas) she has decided she needs to hold the spoon herself. Yup, stubborn like her daddy!

-figured out if she bashes her rattles or Sophie against the ground/her leg/mommy's face/whatever is close by, it will squeak/rattle

-bitten me for the first time while breastfeeding her (OUCH)

I'll add some new pictures when Doug gets home with the camera.