Grant's 1st Christmas/8 Months Old

Lots of things have happened since the last post. It's been a busy few weeks! First of all, we welcomed a new member to Doug's side of the family. Doug's cousin/close friend Andy and his wife Nicki had a little boy, Jack Andrew Haap, on December 16. Grant is so excited to have a new little playmate, and we know the two boys will be best buddies!

We started celebrating Christmas on December 22 with my family. It's so hard to coordinate everyone's schedules around the holidays, so we found it easiest to open presents a little early. Grant loved opening his gifts, and of course liked the wrapping paper better than the actual presents at first, but he is still excited about his new things. We then opened presents with Doug's family on Christmas Eve. Grant and Timmy had fun doing this together, and they loved Grandpa's train set! Santa visited our house for Grant as well, and he opened a few more presents Christmas morning. He was quite the party animal over the course of these few days and didn't want to nap at any of the family parties we were at. He even got to play Baby Jesus in a little play my family put on with all the kids. Needless to say, he was exhausted on the 26th, and actually took a 3 hour nap! He seemed to love Christmas as much as Doug and I do, and we can't wait to recreate all the memories we made this year in the years to come.

Today marks Grant's 8 month birthday. Wow, time is flying. He is changing more and more everyday, and it seems like this last month has brought on many new developments and tricks! He has been repeating our sounds, such as "da da" and "boo" and likes to talk a lot. He is also raising up on his arms more. He hasn't figured out how to get on his knees, but he is figuring out other ways to move. He can make it across the room by rolling and going backwards by pushing with his hands. He can also turn his body while on his belly. It won't be long before we are chasing him through the house. He has also started rolling over in the crib. He's been rolling from his back to his belly for awhile, but just started doing it in bed. I awake many mornings to hear him talking and playing, and when I look into our video monitor, he is on his belly staring right at the camera smiling. What a great way to wake up everyday! He also grew out of his baby tub we've been using since he was born, and he graduated to a new, fun ducky tub where he can sit up and play and splash. His latest trick is clapping. We noticed that he was doing this on Christmas. We first thought it was just a fluke, be has continued to do it since then when we do it first or say "Clap!" It is so cute, and I've attached a video for you to see. We weighed and measured Grant on our own here at home, since we don't see the doctor until 9 months and were curious. Not sure how accurate it is, but we got that he is around 21 pounds and 27 3/4 inches tall! He is still wearing 6-9 month clothing, but will probably be busting out of that size soon. He is still as happy as ever, sleeping well, and making us smile everyday.

Tonight we are celebrating my sister Susanne's 30th birthday, and we wish her the best year yet!

I can't believe 2010 is about to come to an end. I feel like I was just writing the posts about last year's Christmas and New Year's. I'm so glad we have this blog to remember this year--the year we welcomed our precious little son to our family. We hope 2011 will be just as great, and we wish the same to you!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

We have been so busy these last few weeks getting ready for Christmas. We are trying to do everything we can to make Grant's 1st Christmas special!

The first thing we did was ditch our artifcial tree and went to a Christmas tree farm to cut one down instead. Doug and I always had real trees growing up, and my family always went to cut them down ourselves, so we wanted to start that tradition with our own family. We went on a beautiful snowy day and got the perfect tree. Grant helped us decorate and put the first ornament on the tree! We also put the lights up outside. Our house is festive and ready for the holidays!

Grant also went to a Breakfast with Santa with his Grandma and Grandpa Gates and cousin Clara. He didn't seem to mind sitting on his lap, although he may cry next year like Clara did!

St. Nick visited our house as well on December 6. Grant got some goodies in his stocking like a Glow worm toy, teething rings, and some fun baby food and snack puffs.

On Saturday, Doug got to share one of his family traditions with Grant. We went downtown to see the big train display at the Duke Energy building. Grant got to experience this with Grandma and Grandpa Docter, his aunt and uncles, and his cousin Timmy. The boys loved watching the trains and seeing all the colorful decorations!

We still have some shopping to do, and we hope to make some cookies and decorate a gingerbread house as well, like we have done the last few years. I also just finished up getting our Christmas photo cards ready to mail out. It has been so much fun getting ready for Christmas with our little boy, and we hope to make traditions and memories that will stay with us forever!

7 Months Old

Grant will be 7 months old on Sunday, but with a busy weekend ahead, I am posting a little early. Here is an update of what has been happening this month!

Earlier this month, we found ourselves back at Children's Hospital for the 3rd separate incident. At Grant's 6 month appointment, his head measurement showed a high jump in growth. It went from the 55th percentile at 4 months to the 90th at 6 months. The doctor said it could just still be playing catch up, but when they see that big of a jump, they need to make sure it isn't something more serious, like fluid around the brain or something. So we had to go to Children's for a head ultrasound. Luckily his soft spot is still big enough for them to do this, otherwise they would have had to sedate him and give him a CAT Scan. After this scare, we got good news that everything looks normal. It must just be his big brain growing! We have to go back next week for another measurement, but we are happy that it seems to be fine.

Grant has been doing great with eating his solid foods. He has tried lots of fruits and vegetables so far, and he has eaten them all! He has also been working on using a sippy cup, but for now, he just likes holding it and chewing on it.

We also finally gave Grant a hair cut. His new hair started coming in very quickly, but there were still some crazy sections of his birth hair sticking out over it, leaving him with nicknames like Steve Chabot, Bill Murray, and Ernie. So we decided it was time to give it a trim since it wasn't falling out on its own anymore. We snipped off some long pieces on the sides and back, and we got rid of the section in the front that made him look like he had a comb-over. It was so weird how different and grown up he looked almost immediately. He is such a little man to us now! You can see a before and after shot in the pictures above. His new hair is lighter and softer, and it makes him look very handsome!

Grant's first Thanksgiving was successful. While he didn't get to eat any turkey yet, he did enjoy some sweet potatoes and apples, and he had so much fun celebrating with both sides of the family. I'm sure next year he will be gobbling down all the food, and maybe it will become his favorite meal like it is mine. Grant was also excited to see all the rain over the last few days finally change and he got to see his first snow when he woke up this morning!

We will be spending the rest of the weekend with family as well. Unfortunately, it won't be for a great reason. We got word last Sunday that my Aunt Elayne, my mom's younger sister, died suddenly. We are all still in shock over the tragedy, and we miss her so much. It was hard celebrating Thanksgiving knowing we had to work on planning the funeral and things, but it is also nice that our family is so close and we are always there for each other. We are working hard to make the weekend nice for my uncle and 2 cousins as they say goodbye to their wife/mom. Please say some prayers for my family during this difficult time.

We ring in December next week. We are looking forward to many things this month, and we will have plenty more to post about soon, such as Grant meeting Santa, welcoming a new buddy for Grant (Doug's cousin Andy and his wife Nicki are due with a little boy in just a few weeks), and celebrating Grant's first Christmas and New Year. Happy start to the holiday season everyone!

6 Month Stats/Halloween/First Solids

Grant had his 6 month check-up yesterday. He weighed 16 pounds, 13 ounces, which is the 40th percentile. He was 26 3/4 inches tall, which puts him in the 65th percentile. He got another round of shots, as well as the flu shot. He has to go back in a month for the 2nd dose of the flu shot. His development is great, and his growth is right on target and catching up nicely!

Grant had his first taste of solid food this weekend. He has had some rice cereal for the last few days--see video below. He will also try oatmeal, barley, and wheat cereals, then vegetables, fruits, and meats one at a time to test them out, then we will be giving him all kinds of combinations. We are very excited for this next stage, and I am making a lot of his food myself, which is a fun adventure!

We had a great time celebrating Grant's first Halloween. We carved pumpkins on Friday night, and he loved watching us. We went to a party on Saturday at Kristen and Andy's house, where the three of us dressed up as a McDonald's happy meal, and Grant got to party with his cousin Timmy. Then Grant dressed as a pumpkin on Halloween. He got to celebrate it with his grandparents, Uncle Matt, Aunts Tammy and Susanne, and his cousin Clara. We only trick-or-treated at a few houses, just for ceremonial purposes and pictures/video, but it was still fun. I can't believe it's already November and the holidays are just around the corner!

6 Months Old

Grant is 6 months old today--wow, a half of a year old! He is really showing us his fun-loving, active, and expressive personality lately. He is reaching and grabbing for anything he can get his hands on and of course trying to get it all in his mouth. He is talking so much more too. We actually got him to say "da da" after we kept repeating it over and over to him. He will try to imitate our sounds, which is so neat. He is also sitting up better and for longer amounts of time, but still falls over to the side after a little bit. If he keeps his hands steady on the floor, he can sit for a few minutes without toppling over, but the adventurous side of him wants to reach for things or lift his hands up, which of course makes him fall. He will figure it out sooner or later!

He is still growing like crazy, and we have no doubt that when we go to the doctor on Monday he will be measuring in at all the right sizes for his age. He seems to have jumped right past wearing 3-6 month clothes and is now in size 6-9 months. He is also so close to already outgrowing the size 2 diapers! With this rapid growth, he was starting to outgrow his little bed/bassinet he has been in since early July that kept him inclined at an angle to help with his spitting up. He loved that bed and seemed so comfortable in it, but we knew we needed to get him used to the crib. We tried it a few weeks ago, and he took to it like a champ! He now sleeps there every night with really no spitting up. He will do some of his naps during the day in the crib, but he won't sleep as long in there and tends to spit up more. His favorite place to nap is on me--he will sleep for up to an hour and a half on me, but may only do 30 minutes or so in the crib. While I love this quiet time with him lying on me, I know we have to keep working on getting him used to napping in the crib. But for now, I'm enjoying the time I have with him snuggled up with me. I know those moments will be few and far between in the future!

Grant had his first physical therapy appointment this week at the Children's Hospital branch in Fairfield. We will be going every Tuesday for the next few months. His P.T. Amy is very good with him, and she has no doubt that his torticollis will go away little by little with our weekly sessions and with the exercises we do with him at home.

We are looking forward to celebrating Grant's 1st Halloween. We will be sure to post pictures of that next week, along with his new stats after his 6 month checkup on Monday. He will also be starting solids next week, assuming we get the go ahead from the doctor, so I will definitely be posting about that adventure, too! You can also see the pictures from Grant's 6 month photo shoot today on Facebook.

Video Updates

Here are some updated videos of Grant. He has recently been surprising us with a lot of changes. He is now rolling from his tummy to his back, he can sit up for some short periods of time, and he is talking up a storm. He has discovered his tongue and loves to talk and spit at the same time, giving us those cute little raspberries. He has found his feet and loves playing with them and putting them in his mouth. He is laughing a lot, and loves to smile and flirt with everyone. It's so neat to finally see his personality coming out. He is doing a great job sleeping as well. He sleeps around 10-11 hours most nights now (he puts himself back to sleep if he wakes up a few times overnight), and takes some good naps during the day. We are so lucky to finally have him doing that. He is still spitting up like crazy (as you will see in the last video) and still taking Zantac. He makes quite the mess all day long, but we hope he will begin to outgrow it soon, maybe as he can sit up more on his own or with the start of solids. But it could go on until he's at least a year, so we are learning to just be used to it. It's a small price to pay for having a happy, healthy, sweet baby. We just can't get enough of him--he is so amazing and such a blessing to our lives! Which leads me to let everyone know that today is Pregnancy and Infant Loss Remembrance Day. After having a miscarriage and knowing many other people who have as well, along with having our close friends who lost their baby at almost 38 weeks, I will never forget how hard it is to lose a baby, no matter how far along you are. We cherish our little guy more than anything, and we pray and hope for our loved ones dealing with loss that they will have a little one to cherish soon too, while never forgetting about the one(s) they lost. They will always be in our hearts and they are the angels among us.

One more thing to share regarding a small health issue. Grant has been diagnosed with something called Left Congenital Muscular Torticollis. That just means that he has tightened muscles in his neck on the left side. We had noticed that Grant always wants to turn his head to the right and always reaches with his right side, and sleeps with his head turned right as well. We were getting a little worried more about his head becoming flat on the side he is always lying on, so we took him to Children's Hospital this week on the recommendation from our pediatrician. Luckily, his head shape is fine for right now, but they noticed his left side is tighter. This is probably due to the position he had in the womb, so he prefers his right side. It's not a major concern right now, but it could cause problems down the road if left untreated. We were told to do certain stretches with him 4-5 times a day, and he will need to see a physical therapist once a week for a few months to loosen those muscles. It probably sounds way worse than it is, and we are happy it's nothing more serious. Hopefully it will all be normal in a few months!

5 Months Old

We are getting ready to celebrate Grant's birth minute on his 5 month birthday--11:24 am. I just got finished watching the video of his birth as well. We love to watch all the hospital videos from time to time, and the older Grant gets, the less he looks like that little baby from the videos taken on April 28. I guess the chubbier cheeks, brighter eyes, and balder head make him look so different from that day. It's weird that it doesn't seem to us that he changes too much from day to day, but comparing him to that video or to pictures that were taken those first few weeks, we can really see how much our little boy has grown. We don't have any new stats to share--we don't see the doctor again until 6 months, but with as fast as these months seem to be flying by, it won't be long!

One year ago today.....

Last year, on Wednesday, September 23, 2009, I woke up with a strong hunch that I was pregnant. Earlier that week I told Doug we should probably wait until Friday or Saturday to take a test to make sure, but something told me that morning to take a test. I noticed a few little signs of possible pregnancy, and I just couldn't wait until the weekend. I never really expected it to be positive after so many negative tests in the previous months, but my mouth dropped and I jumped up and down when I saw the word "pregnant" pop up on the digital test. My very first thought after that was to pray that it would be a healthy pregnancy resulting in a healthy baby. I then had to find the motivation to get ready for work and teach the whole day without revealing my secret to anyone. I couldn't wait for Doug to get home that day to share the news. I can't believe it's been a whole year. I remember thinking on that day, after realizing my due date was around June 3, that it seemed so far away. But here we are, a year later, with an almost 5 month old baby, and I can't believe how much our lives have changed for the better! We love you Grant!

Where did our little baby go?

Grant and I have been spending the day playing together, and while watching him during various activities, I wonder where my little, fragile preemie with all that hair went. (He is now starting to lose his hair.) Doug and I have spent much of the time since Grant's birth waiting for him to reach new milestones to prove to us that he will be okay after being born early. It's not that we are constantly worrying about it, but I know deep down in both of our minds there is always some concern. We get so excited when he does something new developmentally, like smile, hold his head up, laugh, etc. And I also know we are always excited to see that next phase. But I've come to realize that while we want our son to grow and develop as he should, we can't forget to treasure the baby we have at the moment.

This past weekend, I put Grant on his tummy on top of his blanket in his room with all his toys. He has been doing so much better with lifting his head all the way up and putting his weight on his belly so he can move his arms and legs. He can tolerate it much longer than he used to. Seeing that he was content, I began going through his drawers repacking his diaper bag for the day. I turned to look at him a few seconds later and noticed he was on his side. He had not done this yet, and I was so shocked that I called for Doug who was in the other room to come and bring the video camera. He never did roll completely onto his back from his side, but I'm guessing he just didn't feel like it yet, because he can certainly do that if he wants--he has rolled onto his back when placed on his side before. We realized that everything Grant does, no matter how simple or small, is amazing to us as parents. We now spend time everyday waiting for him to roll all the way over from his belly, and we constantly have the video camera ready. But once again, we try to remind ourselves that he will do things in his own time, and we shouldn't wish away the present, because soon enough we will be chasing him around the house.

Grant loves sitting up in his Bumbo seat as well. We have been using it for a little while now, and it has really helped him get the hang of sitting while keeping his head up. We can usually get big smiles and giggles out of him while he's in this, and it is nice to finally get him off his head a little bit. We also put Grant in his exersaucer for the first time recently, and he loves it. We have to put a blanket around him to keep him straight up since the seat is a little big, but he does a great job holding his head up and touching things with his hands. He loves the lights and music on it as well.

We are also finally starting to develop a nice, daily routine. Grant will usually wake up between 6:00 and 7:00am to eat, will take a morning nap, an afternoon nap, sometimes an early evening nap, and will eat and go to sleep some time between 8:00 and 9:00pm. A few months ago, I never thought these kind of days would come, though the thought of them developing in the future was something that kept me going while up all night. We realize there will be days that don't follow the routine (like now since we are dealing with Grant's first cough/cold), and that is perfectly fine with us. But once again, those first few months of no sleep and no routine with that tiny little baby will soon become a distant memory, and we will wonder how he got so big so fast. In the meantime, enjoy the pictures/video of where Grant is at this moment. We will be sure to add more as he changes and grows in his own time.

4 Month Stats

We took Grant to the doctor yesterday for his 4 month checkup. He has come a long way since his last visit at 2 months. He weighed 13 pounds, 9 ounces, and was in the 25th percentile for weight. That means he gained 3 pounds, 9 ounces in 2 months. He was in the 10th percentile at 2 months, so he is slowly catching up in weight! He is catching up more quickly when it comes to height. He has grown almost 3 inches since his 2 month visit. He is now 25 1/8 inches tall, putting him at the 50th percentile for height. The doctor said if you took his age back 5 weeks since he was a preemie, he would be around the 90th percentile in height! So he is definitely taking after his daddy in that aspect. His head circumference was in the 55th percentile--a jump from being in the 40th percentile at 2 months. So he is on track with all his growth, and it won't be long until he is completely caught up for being born early.

Grant did better with the shots this time as well. After his shots at the 2 month visit, he was extra fussy and wouldn't eat. This time he got the same set of shots, but we gave him Tylenol right away, and that seemed to help. He only needed one dose of Tylenol, and he still ate normal and slept fine last night, so that is a relief.

The doctor doesn't want him to start on solids yet. Many babies will start with cereal around 4 months and then add veggies and fruit, but they don't really need it until 6 months. So since Grant was early, we really don't need to worry about starting that yet. We will talk about it more at his 6 month visit. In the meantime, I think he is happy sticking with the breastmilk. He loves to eat!

The doctor was also happy with his development as well. We weren't sure where he should be at this point, but the doctor said to always think in terms of his "corrected" age--meaning what he should be based on my due date. So he is doing great for a 3 month old, but may seem a little behind for a 4 month old, which is perfectly normal. Some babies aren't completely caught up until after the 1st year. Grant wasn't born too early for him to be much farther behind, so we aren't worried. His is smiling, laughing, following toys, starting to grasp things, and sitting up with support. Hopefully he will start rolling over soon as well. We just get so proud when we see him reach a new milestone, and in the next few months I am sure we will see a lot of that. More stats to come after his 6 month visit!

Grant Laughing

As I promised in the last post from earlier today, here is one video of Grant laughing. This is the first time we noticed a small, real-type laugh and got the camera out. A few days later, while giving him a bath, he was really laughing a lot more! He liked the water being splashed on his belly. This one is a little long since Doug taped most of the bath, so I am having trouble downloading it, but I will keep trying so stay tuned. We can't ever get enough of that sound! Oh, and now that I figured out how to post videos, I will try to do it again soon.

4 Months Old!

Grant will be 4 months old on Saturday, and we can hardly believe it. He has really come a long way in just a few short weeks. We have really noticed changes in him physically and developmentally. He seems to be going through a growth spurt as well, because he is eating more during the day and sleeping more at night--which is fine with us! He has actually offically slept through the night a few times--meaning about 7-8 hours without really waking up. We are hoping he will start to make that a regular event each night, and start sleeping longer and going to bed earlier. Last night he slept from about 10:30-6. He used to grunt and wake up all night long due to his acid reflux, but the medicine must be working because he is doing that less and less. He is so cute in the mornings when he wakes up. We will just peek over his bed when we hear him start to stir, and he will immediately give us a huge smile. While we aren't sure how much he weighs right now since we don't go to the doctor until Monday, Grant is definitely growing like crazy. He has just started to fit into 3-6 month clothes and is almost ready for size 2 diapers. While he is still probably smaller than the average 4 month old, we have no doubt that he will catch up! He has also simply become the sweetest and cutest baby there is--no bias here! He is so happy, and he loves to smile, laugh, and coo all the time. We actually got his first real set of deep laughs recently while taking a bath. We will try to share it with you if we can figure out how to post the video on here. I am so relieved to know that he can be that happy even while dealing with the discomfort of his acid reflux. I will be sure to post all of his stats next week after visiting the doctor for his 4 month check-up.

We had a great time a few weeks ago at Lake Cumberland. Grant went on his first boat ride, which completely wore him out (and Mommy too) as you can see in the picture. He had fun watching everyone go on the slide attached to the double decker pontoon boat and can't wait to be big enough to go! We had a fun few months of traveling, but we were happy to get home and settled as well. It has made it easier to develop his routines when we are not out and about all the time.

Last weekend, Grant helped his Grandpa Gates celebrate his 60th birthday. We went out to a nice dinner, and we also went to watch him and my sister Susanne go skydiving! It was a lot of fun to see, especially since we were safe and sound on the ground. But after they landed safely, I think the rest of us secretly wished we had gone too! Last night, Grant was then able to celebrate with his Grandma Docter for her 70th birthday. Parties all around!

We are now looking forward to a nice, relaxing fall--well, at least we can relax 5 days out of the week when we are not watching Notre Dame or Bengals football. Grant is all ready to help cheer on both teams with Daddy as well as to root the Reds into the postseason. Doug is glad that he is finally starting to fit into all his team gear! It has also finally hit me that I am now a stay at home mom. My school went back yesterday, and it was so weird thinking about not being there, but it made me so happy to wake up and be home with Grant instead. We are very blessed to be able to do that, and we wouldn't have it any other way.