Dear Moe (Just Because)

You, sir, are made of awesome. Yesterday you outdid yourself. We had people over to stain our deck and you were the picture of patience and goodness. You napped for 2 hours during your lunchtime nap. You were sweet and wonderful and easy going.

We brought you to Uncle Ted's to swim in the pool, and the goodness continued. A small protest about the shock of the water temperature, but you were happy to paddle about with me in the nicest pool in Ottawa.

A friend needed a little cheering up, and you came through. Staring with adorable eyes, giving smiles and giggles.

You ate dinner like a rock star, handled your bath with aplomb. And went to bed at 6:45pm.

Not too shabby for a baby who is teething and constipated.

We love you so much. You are made of awesomesauce, little dude. xoxo

Dear Moe (Just Because)

Can I tell you how amazing you are? You had a rough day today - teething coupled with being woken from your morning nap to go to the doctor where you had to sit patiently through my appointment and then deal with being poked and prodded for your own appointment. Two shots, one in each leg.

And you were the best trooper ever. You were so patient and amused yourself and were so darn GOOD that the doctor could barely believe it. You have the sweetest smile and are just so wonderful to have around.

You're not a bad sleeper, either, despite the problems we're having right now. You nap well. You can fall asleep on your own. And once you are asleep at night, you typically only wake once (sometimes twice) and you go right back to sleep without a problem.

It's just GETTING you to sleep for the long haul that is giving us some trouble. But we'll work it out together. Honestly, if this is the biggest issue with you, we're so lucky. You're awesome.

Dear Moe (Six Months)

Hello, my darling. It’s very hard to believe, but you are six months old now. It makes me sad to think that my leave with you is half over, but you are turning into such a wonderful little boy that I’m looking forward to the next six months so much.

You are really observant! You watch us eat and drink with great interest. You watch our facial expressions. You watch the cat. Do you ever watch the cat... it’s only a matter of time before you make a grab for that tail! You have these beautiful brown eyes that follow what we’re doing. So we’re trying to set a good example.

You have the sweetest smile and the best laugh. In fact, you have several laughs. You have a little chortle, an out loud cackle and a delighted squawk. You love to blow spit bubbles and you make new sounds every day. At one point your Daddy and I were listening to you chatter away to yourself over the monitor and you made a noise that sounded like, “Whoa.” We wondered what you’d discovered!

You’ve discovered your toes, that’s for sure. We’ve been trying to get you to learn to sit up by yourself, but you tend to flop forward in an effort to explore your toes. You can lift your feet up and grab them with your hands. And I don’t think it will be long before you finally get that foot into your mouth.

Because everything goes in your mouth these days. You started drooling at three months and haven’t stopped since, but the drool has reached a whole new level lately. You are definitely teething, and I really hope those chompers get here soon because it’s hard to watch you when your gums hurt. We even took you to the doctor at one point to make sure you didn’t have an ear infection. We’ve been laying on the Tylenol lately, but I think it disagrees with your tummy, so we’re trying to only use it when we have to. In the meantime, you’ve been spending lots of quality time with Wrench and Flower (your teething toys that stay in the fridge when you aren’t using them). Your gums have gotten much harder the last few days - hopefully the end is in sight.

You also haven’t been sleeping as well. The days of five and six hour stretches are gone, and instead we do four hours at a time if we’re lucky. Also, you don’t tend to nap as well during the day, either. But you got over one big block to your sleeping - the fact that you now prefer to sleep on your side and tummy. It was initially a problem because you’d roll over onto your tummy and wake up in distress. But we ramped up the tummy time in a big way and now you are quite comfortable on your belly. So when you wake up, it isn’t a big deal! We’re really proud of you for making that leap. There were a few very rough nights while you figured that out.

Your fine motor skills are improving, too. You can push the buttons on your exersaucer, you are much better at picking things up and bringing them to your mouth, and you have made grabs for Daddy’s beard and Mommy’s glasses and hair. You also enjoy hanging onto Granny’s watch, which shows you have good taste. Granny’s friend Flo got your a wonderful play mat with lots of things to grab and tug, and you enjoy it very much. You can often be found with an object in each hand, chatting away happily.

It’s been a busy month for you, my little social butterfly. You met your Auntie Marsha and Uncle Gavin, you attended Granny’s retirement party and spent more time with Tia Reiko, Tio Rodrigo and your cousin Isabel, you met your Great Grandmother Phyllis, and you got to hang out with Reg and Joan. We even had a lovely little visit from Grandma, Grandma Anne and your Aunt Heather. Daddy had a week’s vacation this month, and we made the most of it. We spent Grandma’s birthday at the Agriculture Museum where you saw the cows, sheep, pigs and horses. We celebrated our ninth wedding anniversary with you with a picnic at Rideau Hall. But it doesn’t have to be a special occasion for us to have fun together - at one point the three of us stood out on the front stoop and watched the rain fall, and that was as special a time as any other.

You still love your bath, and have figured out how to kick and make the water splash. We’ve visited the neighbourhood wading pool a couple of times, too. You’ve made some great strides toward crawling, as well. At first you could only go backwards (and that was very frustrating for you, since you’d work so hard only to watch your toys get further and further away!), but you’re learning to inch forwards on your belly like an inchworm now.

We got you your big boy car seat, which means that you have had to get used to being taken out of it and strapped back into it much more often. It also means we use the big stroller all the time now, which you enjoy because you can look forward at things. You enjoy sitting on my hip in your sling, and still like to sit in the Baby Bjorn as long as you can face forward.

You’ve started solid food and done really well. We’ve fed you rice cereal, oat cereal, mixed grains with fruit, and you’ve tried and liked sweet potatoes and green beans. Peaches were a bit of a bust, though. I think you found them too tart. But you’re getting the hang of spoon feeding, and I look forward to that time with you in the early evening when we see what new food you’re going to try that day!

You are a really handsome boy with beautiful eyes and an awesome smile. One of our favourite times is when you’ve just woken up - you’re smiley, cuddly and relaxed, and you love to be held on our shoulder and drape yourself in our arms. I also love watching you when you’ve fallen asleep in my lap... you have these sudden little smiles in your sleep that make me smile, too.

You bring us indescribable joy every day, Moe. I can’t begin to explain how much we love you and how happy we are to share our life with you. Thank you for six fantastic months. I can’t wait to see what next month brings.

Moe Meets a Very Special Lady

Moe worked his magic on a very special lady earlier this week. I was so happy he had the opportunity to meet her.

As you can tell, he was especially charming!

Dear Moe (Five Months)

 Hello, darling. On July 20, you’ll be five months old. It’s hard to believe. You are so much bigger, it seems, than I expect you to be when I pick you up. You’re turning into a real little boy instead of a little baby. We did a massive clothes cull because you had outgrown so many of your things, and we’re going to have to do another one soon because you’re starting to outgrown your “mainstay” onesies.

You still love the water - you enjoy swimming at Uncle Ted’s and you are now able to lie unsupported in your bathtub. You like to kick your little feet in the bath and make the water splash, and you look at yourself in the mirror while you do it. I set up your kiddie pool on the back deck last week, but since we don’t have a hose yet, I had to fill it using the two gallon water cooler jug. It took many trips to even get an inch of water in the bottom, and you weren’t impressed at all. We’re working on getting a hose this week.

We now read story books and look at the pictures together. We sing songs every day. We sing Round the Garden, Summertime, Rainbow Connection, and our bedtime song, You. Sometimes we sing any song Mommy can think of the words to! We listen to music, too. We listen to everything from Muppet Beach Party to Johnny Cash to The Ramones. You really enjoy your exersaucer, and have graduated to standing on a thinner book. We sometimes call it your Poopersaucer because it never fails to get you to poop if you need to. There have been a few times where the Poopersaucer has been out of commission due to an emergency laundry run. You enjoy playing with the fishy in the ball, and are getting better at pressing the music buttons. You like playing with Cinquo the plush dog and Sophie the Giraffe. You chew on Sophie’s legs and ears, and you chat with Cinquo. You still love Kneebra, and like resting your arm on his head when we travel in the car. You love being lifted into the air - it’s a guaranteed smile. And we recently discovered dancing! You love dancing with me - you smile and laugh and it makes me laugh and so we dance and laugh together. It’s wonderful.

You are starting to really rock your tummy time, and can go for 10 to 15 minutes sometimes. I’m excited about going to the followup appointment at CHEO in August to see what kind of progress you have made. You’re much better at looking to both sides now, and even look out the window in the car!

We’ve been kicked out of the well baby clinic, darling, as you’re over three months. But lucky for us, some of the people we’ve met there have started a weekly playgroup at someone’s house! So every Tuesday morning we head to Shannon’s house, which is only a few blocks away, and you get to hang out with Elianne, Alex, Mila, Emily and Kevin! And Mommy gets to chat with their mommies, which is great, too.

We went to meet Kerrie and Amelia at the OEY playgroup one Monday afternoon, and their scale said you were well on your way to being 17lbs. You have the most deliciously chunky thighs. You still have eczema, which seems to get worse if your tummy is bothering you. I ordered some special shampoo and soap online, and I’m hoping it will help. The heatwave we’ve been having hasn’t helped your skin, either. Your feet are usually sweaty! We’ve been working to beat the heat by staying inside in the afternoon, and sometimes hitting the pool. The only fan in the house is in your room (lucky little man!) and we have a few “tank onesies” that have come in handy in the hot weather.

There’s no doubt about it - you’ve discovered the magic box. I keep the TV off during the day (except to occasionally check the weather), but in the evening it tends to be on, and you like to watch it. Sometimes you’ll even stare at it if it’s off, as if you are saying, “Hey, make that thing go!” (You seem especially delighted by Alyson Hannigan’s face, for some reason. Yes, we watch Buffy.)

Let’s talk about sleep. Oh, yes, sleep. You’re doing much better than you were - you go down for naps much easier, assuming we don’t let you get too tired. You do pretty well at night, too, but haven’t been doing those precious longer stretches for the last little while. I think that giving you a big bottle around 8pm will help - we did that last night and it worked well. You fight sleep so hard, sweetie, that it’s almost tragic to watch. You keep trying to move your legs or your arms or even your head in an effort to stay awake. But you’re getting better and better.

We’ve started the rice cereal adventure! I don’t know how much of it actually goes into your tummy, but we try every day or so to put some in your mouth. I’m sure you’ll get the hang of it soon. I made it recently using my breast milk and a slightly different ratio to make it a bit less liquid, and it went well. We’ll keep it up and you’ll figure it out!

You’ve really expanded your range of sounds. You grunt, you yelp, you squeal, you giggle and you babble along so well. You can be a real chatty little guy, except when I ask you to be chatty for someone on the phone. Then you clam right up!

We bought you a Jolly Jumper with a stand to put in the living room, as the hand-me-down we received only goes over a door frame and those are few and far between in this house. Getting you in and out of that harness is currently a two person job, but maybe Mommy will get the hang of it, soon. You sure enjoy bouncing up and down, but aren’t impressed when you end up turned away from the crowd.

Overall, darling, you are a sunny wonderful little guy. You greet people with a smile, you don’t cry without a good reason, you are fun to be around, and you make us laugh all the time. Please keep being so wonderful. We love you so much and treasure every moment with you. You bring such joy to our life.

With Granny on the Stoop

 Here's how we spend mornings on hot days before it gets too hot.

Dear Moe (18 weeks)

My sweet, sweet baby. Are you really 18 weeks old already? It's been a busy week for us all. Here's the run down.

You are loving your exersaucer. You still can't touch the floor with your feet, so we prop you up with books. You figured out how to make the fish move, and spent a good deal of time yelling at that pesky ladybug. You showed it who was boss! You like looking at yourself in the mirror and love standing tall.

Your fine motor skills are coming along well - you can grab a toy and even pass it to the other hand. You have started bringing everything to your mouth now. You still love Kneebra, and are developing an affection for Sophie the Giraffe and your little Doggie rattle. I bought you some new toys this week - a rattle that is thin enough for you to hold, a colourful teething ring for you to hold and chew on, and a train toy that makes noise and has lots of things that move.

I took you to physiotherapy at CHEO on Thursday for the tortocolis clinic. It was a 90 minute class and assessment. You have a mild case, your head shape is mildly affected, and we need to really strengthen those left neck muscles. So I've learned new ways to hold you, pick you up, and play with you. The problem now with holding a toy to the side we want you to turn is that you cheat and roll onto your side! So sometimes I need to hold that shoulder down, and it doesn't impress you much, let me tell you. We'll keep working at it together. I also learned to do tummy time with a towel roll, which you enjoy much more. It helps you to breathe better while still helping your head control. You had a great time at the class - you really took to Dominique the PT, and she took to you, too! She said you have a killer smile, and you do indeed. Of course, the fact that you had a big, loud and messy poop while she was speaking made everyone in the class laugh. Oh, Moe. You never poop quietly. Sometimes I can still hear it over the baby monitor! :)

You also had your 4 month vaccinations this week. They went as well as could be expected - I was really proud of you. You conked right out when we got home and slept a long time. The doctor was pleased with you on all other counts - your ear infection is all cleared up, your eczema is still there but not as bad at all, and you are in the 50th percentile for height, weight and head circumference. You still have cradle cap/eczema on your head, but we work at it every two days at bath time.

You're getting to be such a wonderful boy, Moe. My tiny baby is gone, but I love the little boy who has taken his place. You are smiley and sunny, have a great chortle-like laugh, and love to chat up a storm with anyone who will listen... or even with your mobile. We're moving on to bigger bottles now because 120 ml just isn't enough for you. You love to stand tall, you step and climb my legs when I hold you up, and you love to practice walking. You smile for the people who love you, and even for strangers.

We've made some big changes to your sleep routine this week. You just weren't yourself for a while, and you'd take to screaming your head off in the evenings. (We were expecting your head to do a 360 and for you to spew pea soup. It was terrible.) Daddy gave me a few hours off and I read as much as I could on healthy sleep patterns. It was time to make some changes. You were exhausted, not sleeping enough, and getting totally out of control.

So we've made those changes, and today is Day 3. You'll get a bit better every day, and after a week, you should be sleeping properly and enough. We have a nice routine for you at bedtime, we are learning to watch for those sleepy cues (the ones you had as a tiny baby have changed and we didn't know what to look for!) and I'm confident that we'll have weathered this storm by the time I write next week's letter. Sleep training isn't easy - it means we're at home a lot right now, and likely will be for a while. But, as someone told me when I was pregnant, it will be worth it to have a baby who sleeps well. We're doing this because we love you, and want you to be well rested so we can have lots of fun together!

You have no idea how much I love you, little Moe. You bring such sunshine to my life. This is the hardest but most wonderful job I've ever had. Thank you for the opportunity to be your Mommy.