Nicholas Maravillas’ Blog

We took Nicholas to the doctor for his 6 month well baby check-up.  We saw a different doctor in the practice today and really liked him.  We’ve already scheduled his 9 month appointment with him in early October.  He did pretty well and overall is doing great!

Weight: 16 lb 15 oz- 50th percentile

Length: 27.25 in- 75th percentile

Head circumference- 17.5 in- 70th percentile

He gained 15 oz in a month! Based on his current length, there is some chart that said his projected adult height is 5′10″.  Which makes sense seeing as that right around Matthew’s height! Although I think Matthew is in a lower weight percentile.

I asked a ton of questions about food.  In particular, about when to start him on meats and he asked “oh, the stuff that tastes like cat food?”.  I said “no, I make his food” to which he replied, “wonderful, start anytime then!”.  That made me feel good! Not that store-bought baby food is bad, I guess he just prefers homemade.  He was also impressed that we are still breastfeeding.  Honestly, I am too! I feel so fortunate that it has gone well for us and I hope it continues!

Dr. Powell didn’t seem convinced that he has a milk protein allergy either.  He does have another anal fissure (ouch!) but that could also be caused by frequent poops/diaper changes as breasfed babies tend to have.  So, maybe with more ’solid’ food that will help.  We’ll see.  He also got some vaccinations and screamed but calmed down soon after some cuddles.  Luckily no shots at the next appointment, just a prick to take a blood sample.  But overall he is a happy and healthy baby boy!

Since you only turn half a year old once, we decided to buy Nicholas a special present.  You’ll tell from the gift that I picked it out!  I even wrapped it up for him to tear into this morning.  Enjoy the pictures!  The last one is when we got home from the doctor’s.  He is wiped out!

Yes, we still pay attention to Zoë, albeit not as much are in the pre-Nicholas days but we still love her just as much!  So to make up for some of the neglect that has inevitably occurred, we have resorted to bribery.

As many of your know, Matthew has a huge garden in the backyard.  Amongst the tomatoes, zucchini and carrots, he also planted catnip.  We have been drying some for her because it is supposed to make it more potent.  Yesterday Matthew put some of it into a toy for her and she loves it!  And as you can see, she also enjoys a good box left unattended.

Enjoy the pics of our furry baby!

Nicholas has ‘mastered’ rice cereal so we are moving on up to veggies! Butternut squash was his first one and he seemed to like it. I thought it tasted pretty good, definitely could be better with some butter and or salt but he doesn’t know the difference yet. We decided that since making his food at home wasn’t too complicated, it is better for him and cheaper that we’d give it a whirl. And at least the squash wasn’t hard at all so I doubt the rest will be. I went out and bought the smallest butternut squash (but still huge!) I could find, roasted it and after it cooled I pureed it up with a bit of water and viola- baby food! One small squash made about 15 servings! I also got frozen organic peas and green beans for future meals. I’ll pick up some bananas and pears for his first fruits soon. I still can’t believe my baby is eating food!

Yesterday I caught some cute pictures. He is a rolling machine now and rolls into everything. The couch, the fireplace (which we have padded), his exersaucer, Zoë, his toys on the floor, me… everything. Including the arches on his playmat, causing it to topple over. I love his expression when he was busted. I also took pictures of him rolling over while I was attempting to change his diaper, they are funny too but I don’t want to post his bare booty on the internet!

Enjoy the pictures!

Today was the second round of rice cereal.  Again, he didn’t seem to be a huge fan.  He loves the spoon, but we don’t think he associates it with eating quite yet.  He just likes to suck on the spoon, and sometimes some of the cereal gets in but other times it just goes right down his chin!  Enjoy the latest pictures!

Nicholas had his first experience with real food today! Well, as ‘real’ as rice cereal diluted down to basically liquid form is. He seemed excited at first, but it turns out he was just excited about the spoon. Yet another thing to put into his mouth. It got a little easier to feed him when we just gave him the spoon and used a second one for the cereal. After a few bites, I think some of the cereal actually went down because he started making the craziest faces. Soon after he started to refuse to eat anymore. We think he got a few spoonfuls worth, but it is a start! A few more days of that then we’ll move onto squash. Hopefully he’ll like that better. Enjoy the pictures! And of course we caught it all on film, but it’ll take awhile before we finish out the dvd and be able to upload it. Stay tuned!

Happy 1st Father’s Day, Daddy!  You are the best dad in the whole wide world!

Happy Father’s Day to Papa, Grandpa and Lolo too!

love,

Nicholas

Nicholas’ Grandma and Grandpa got him this neat baby pool. And since it is hot as hades here today we decided to give it a whirl! Plus he wore his new swim trunks- I just love them! He was tired from not napping well today (hence the red eyes), but he still seemed to enjoy himself! He liked to kick in the water and splash me. Here are just some of the many pictures we took! Thanks again Grandma and Grandpa!!

Mommy got me a new toy the other day.  She calls it an exersaucer.  When she first put me in it, I didn’t like it despite how excited she was about it.  But it is quickly growing on me!  I just had to figure out that I can spin around in it and play with all the neat toys.  Here are some pictures of me having fun this morning.

Here are a couple videos of Nicholas!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ShfFk9_rAIU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jPLKJePyajI