We've gone interactive

Eating, bathing, nursing, falling asleep have all become interactive activities nowadays. While eating, Brighton now likes to feed himself. We've starting giving him "pincer" foods. Like toast, deli meat and veggie-puffs. He's still getting the hang of it, but has yet to master it. He's also starting to use a sippy cup without spitting it all over his front.

While bathing, Brighton has discovered splashing. Which is pretty cute. I think he did it by accident once and now loves it. He also loves to be splashed. He will open his mouth and stick out his tongue so the water can fall into his mouth.

While falling asleep or nursing, Brighton now likes to "flip my lip". He takes his fingers and pulls my bottom lip down and flips it to make the sound. Then he giggles and slowly drifts off to sleep. He missed frequently and Mom ends up with scratches on her face or fingers in her nose. Lovely. Thanks Daddy Andrew for teaching him that trick :)

He's also discovered poop. He actively reaches (sometimes) for the surprise in his diaper while changing. We've doubled our Diaper Changing speed thanks to this development.

Right now Brighton is fighting another cold. We're hoping that the green snot that bubbles out of his nose will not drain into his eustatian tubes and give him another ear infection. Well, I better be off, I can hear him on the monitor and he's ready for lunch.

To see photos, visit Brighton's picturetrail album.

It's almost time to clear the house...

Of all the things not baby-resistant. Brighton is almost crawling now. In the last week, he's gotten up on all fours and rocked. He crawls backwards, he'll get up on all fours then sit back down. His 8 month birthday is tomorrow (friday 27th) and mom is not ready for that. He's growing up so fast. Before I know it, he'll be out of high school! But I won't think that far ahead.

Brighton has also graduated to the school of manipulation. hee hee. He will be on the floor playing and I in the kitchen oh, I don't know, making his food, and all of a sudden I'll hear a whimper, then a whine, then a cry. When I look up, he stops, looks at me and smiles. So I go back to what I was doing and here comes a cry again. So I pick him up, put him in position to nurse and after some giggles, he drinks a little, then he's had enough. LOL. Back to the floor.

I tried giving him mac and cheese the other day and he literally puked. He's sensitive to texture right now. Wonder if that is his age or what. But that was definitely a bust.

SICKENING!

Wow, what a week. Bright ended up with pinkeye on Tuesday so I had to stay home from work and reschedule all my appointments. So I worked all week (Wednesday I went in for Lori who was sick). Then lastnight (Saturday night) at around 8:30, out of no where Brighton started puking. And not the here and there little vomits, BIG PROJECTILE EXCORCIST type vomits. After an angry call to the daycare, a frantic call to the doctor, and a call to my friend Gretchen who's daughter's 1 year old birthday party we attended that day, we stayed up all night waiting for the next session. Dr. warned me that it would probably last anywhere from 6 - 8 hours. Which doesn't seem all that long, but at 9 at night, it means it's going to be a long long LONG night. Brighton and I slept on the chair, bowl in hand. About every two hours he'd wake up, dry heave or throw up slimy bile, then promptly fall back asleep. Mom was wide eyed and paranoid after every episode. Every time I'd try to get a nap, I'd hear a burp which would startle me awake and we'd start all over again. Finally about 5 AM Andrew woke up and took over and I slept until about 9:30. So far today he's been in pretty good shape. We're sticking with basics, Breast milk and pedialyte. Tried apples incase he had a bout of the runnies, but so far we've dodged that bullet. That will probably come tomorrow when Andrew leaves for PA.

Enough of the grossness. About Brighton's progress...he alledgedly is starting to crawl backwards, which I guess is the precurser to forwards. I say alledgedly because I haven't seen him do this yet, so it's not official. :) We are totally unprepared for him to crawl. Though Andrew did shampoo the carpets yesterday while Brighton and I were at the birthday party. So that's a start I guess.

Andrew's birthday is next Saturday the 21st. I'm hoping that Brighton will have his first two teeth or at least one by then. One is really starting to bud and now Brighton has caught on and won't let anyone look into his mouth. You'd think his jaw was wired shut once he sees your finger start in that direction. He assumes you're either trying to pick a boogie out of his nose or check his teeth. He's usually right. On that lovely note, I'd better go rescue my husband who sounds like he's choking to death. (he's OK or I wouldn't have finished this sentence.)

Finally!! His 6 (7) month pictures!!!

We finally got Brighton healthy enough and got over the holidays so we could get Bright's 6 month photos done :) They turned out awesome - as usual. We're still picking out pictures, but the ones on the picturetrail site are the one's that the photographer picked out.

Things in Brighton's world are going really well. He's still at 25% for weight, height and head circumference, which is fine. Dr. said she wants them to be proportionate, and that he is. I've started making his food (did I mention that already?). So far, I've made pears, sweet potatoes, apples and peas (he HATES peas...) He literally gags when he eats them. I think it's because the skins are so tough that they don't get blended really well and he doesn't like the texture. So we'll pitch those probably or keep them until he's a little older. Nice thing, they keep for two months in the freezer!

Dad and I ordered a new bed. Finally! A queen size. So our little family won't be all scrunched up together. But now, until we get it, we moved my frame over here and moved Andrew's ancient bed out and so now our bed is about a foot lower than it was and now it also sags in the middle, which is one reason I'm up adding to the blog at 11:30 at night. Anyway, I just checked in on my boys and they're both sleeping soundly. Which is what I'm going to try to go do right now. Have a good night all.

Hugs.
Me.

Bring on the New Year

New Year's Eve
We all tried to bring in the New Year together, but Andrew conked out around 9ish, soon followed by Brighton. Mom stuck it out until around 11:30 then gave in. I thought I'd be brave and let Brighton fall asleep with Daddy. I figured it'd be no problem! But as I sit out in the livingroom, I can hear squeals and "mom"s and little noises, but figured he'd fall asleep eventually. So I went about watching my DVD of the making of "The Incredibles". Not too long later, I hear "YEEEEEEOOOOOOOOOUCH!" followed by what I'm sure was a startled and just "done given up" cry. After laughing for a little bit, Mom went in and saved the night. Brighton was out as soon as I sat down in the chair with him and I fell asleep on the around 11:30. Turns out, the yelp from my husband was because Brighton grabbed his chest and chest hair and pulled and squeezed as hard as he could. Poor Andrew....

New Year's Day
This morning was a whole other debacle. Before I had my coffee, I thought I'd be a good wife, and make scones for breakfast and put the roast on for dinner tonight. I managed to fill the house with smoke from the scones' dripping butter and then turned the au jus for our roast beast sandwiches into a watery broth (I followed the directions on the package, not the recipe...). Yum. Despite all my troubles this morning and my swearing to NEVER cook again, the scones turned out and I'm hoping the roast will too. My husband was a total sweetheart, as usual. His patient self helped me to clean up the mess in the oven (and air out the house) and he reminded me that the roast would be just fine. Other than that, it was a good weekend and it was nice to spend the day today with my family taking down the Christmas tree and decorations and rearranging so we can get ready for Mr. Brighton to crawl. Which is not going to be long now. He gets up on his knees now and rocks all by himself. I'm signing off for now! Have a good night and a wonderful new year!