Duncan: 25 Weeks Old

Holy cow! I'm 25 weeks old today!!

I've been having so much fun, I hardly noticed how fast everything seems to be going. In a little over a week, I'll be 6 months old already! Then I'll be going to kindergarten, driving my first car, going to college... Ok, that's all a little ways out.

I'm still working on things like eating, grabbing my feet, sucking on my toes, and sitting up for now. :)

We've had a really good week with lots of fun activities!

I'm a big boy now, so I don't need Mommy & Daddy to rock me to sleep anymore. I like to fall asleep by myself in my crib. For some reason, I thought Mommy & Daddy would be sad that I'm so independent, but they seem to be pretty happy about it. Whew! At least I didn't have to console them. I'm also sleeping longer stretches (sometimes 8 or 9 hrs at night!) so I must be growing like a weed. Now that I'm a super sleeper, Mommy & Daddy are getting more rest which means...

Lots and lots of play time everyday! Mommy & Daddy got me a new giant playmat and I love it! I even enjoy tummy time so much more now. It's not so bad. :)

A walk in the stroller on a gorgeous Sunday to have lunch at the park with Ryan, Jenn, and baby Liam:

And a lunchtime play date with Jenn and Liam on Monday:

I've had a lot of fun and Mommy says that I am being SO good these days that she is glad she didn't return me to the hospital for a refund back when I was so fussy. Seriously, she would have missed out on this irresistible little face & an AWESOME mohawk baby:

Yup, I'd say Mommy & Daddy lucked out. I could have been a lot fussier for a lot longer. But I love them so I took it easy on them. Just as long as I get my rice cereal twice a day and the occasional bite or two of banana, I'm pretty happy. :)

Love,

Duncan

Duncan: 24 Weeks Old

My little man is 24 weeks old today! He is growing so big and doing so much, I am amazed at how fast it's all happening!

Without a doubt we have had the BEST - WEEK - EVER. I just could not wait to write this post and rave about our achievements this week, so I promise that Duncan will be back to post next week. I don't think he understands the magnitude of this week's milestones. He's too busy being cute. ;)

1.  We started him on rice cereal! Yay for solids! Well, I've been giving him bananas every once in awhile for the last few weeks, but with rice cereal everyday at noon now, we'll say that we've "officially" started solids. He LOVES this stuff and eats like a hungry little bird. It's SO cute! And Messy!

2.  HE IS PUTTING HIMSELF TO SLEEP NOW! I am still in awe of the reality of it, even as I write those words. Ever since he was 3 weeks old, we have been rocking him to sleep (i.e. bouncing on the yoga ball) for every nap and every bedtime and every middle-of-the-night waking. EVERY one. He hated being laid down. He fought sleep as if it were the most torturous of events. Bouncing on the yoga ball was the only thing that would calm him down and lull him to sleep. Sometimes it would take hours. Then we would lay him down ever so gently and tippy toe backwards out of the room like highly-trained ninjas whose very survival depended on absolute silence and stealth... only to have him wake up in 10 minutes screaming. It was not a whole lot of fun.

But all that is past. Our new and awesome life involves no more bouncing or lulling or backwards tippy-toeing. On the night of March 22 (I will never forget this day), after 2 hours of bouncing and crying and finally just staring off into the distance in silence, his exhausted Daddy decided to just put him down in the crib wide awake and take a breather. As we sat on the couch and discussed why he wouldn't go to sleep all week without such an epic battle and what we should do to get him to sleep right now, we noticed something: It had been silent for awhile. Daddy went in to take a peek at him and what was he doing? SNORING!! After I picked my jaw up off the floor, our lives were changed forever. I guess he must have been trying to tell us all week that he didn't need us to bounce him anymore & he was mad that we weren't listening. We're stupid first-time parents. We had to find out by accident. Sorry, buddy! :)

Now at naptime and bedtime, we swaddle him, give him his binkie if he wants it, kiss him goodnight, lay him in the crib, give him a gentle pat on the head, and walk out of the room. He wiggles around or talks to himself for a few minutes and the miracle happens -- he falls asleep without a fuss. Yup. Without a fuss. I have never been so in love with this little boy as I am when he puts himself to sleep again and again. I don't know how it happened, but I'm sure glad it did. If I never have to sit on that yoga ball ever again it'll be too soon. :)

3. He is sitting up with the Boppy! Well, almost sitting up. It's still a little bit wobbly and he tends to lean forward to play with his feet, but he does get some good moments of sitting up by himself and playing before he does the slow motion collapse to one side if he leans to far. :)

So hooray for a really great week! I find myself with so much time now that I'm no longer rocking a sleep-hating baby. Oh, the chores that will get done! It's a girl's dream come true! :P And it's all thanks to my sweet little baby boy.

You're such a monkey, Duncan, but you are the best!

Thanks for an awesome week, baby. I can't wait for the next one!
Love you more than you'll ever know, my little Duncan punkin. :)

Duncan: 23 Weeks Old

Hooray, for a 23-week-old-today handsome guy! Yup, I'm talkin' about little ol' me. :)

This week has been pretty laid back but I've been having some fun:
-  I like to sit up to play (with Mommy or Daddy close by). I'm still
    working on my balance, but I'm getting there!

-  We've been going out in the stroller when the weather isn't horrible
    and I actually like it! You can't tell by this face, but I really do
    enjoy going to the shops & the park with Mommy & Daddy. :)
    Sometimes, I even nap! Amazing, I know...

-  I am so crazy in my Bumbo! I like to make a racket by banging

    my toys on the tray and attacking them viciously.

-  I love my rattle! I shake it like a madman and I only wish that it was

    not a hard toy. It's not fun when I whack myself in the face with it,

    but I still get so excited when I see it. :)

-  I've moved up a notch on my jumperoo! I must be growing lots.

    I just love playing in that thing. It's the best!

-  I've learned how to suck in my bottom lip and keep it tucked under

    my upper lip. I love to do it all the time. I even try to blow raspberries

    like this, but it doesn't work. They usually come out, "MmmmMmm!"

-  I can pivot my body around when I'm on my tummy! Almost mobile!

-  My hair is growing SO fast! It sticks straight out of my head still, so

    I look like a poofy chimpanzee baby. And it's longer in the middle

    of my head, so I have a mini-mohawk going on.

-  I love my toes! I can reach them and hold them now, especially when

    I'm sitting up, so I like to lean forward to grab them & I laugh at

    them a lot. :)

Now that we're all healthy again, I've been moved back to my room to sleep in my crib. I don't like it! But aside from that little annoyance, I've been pretty happy this week. Mommy keeps telling me that I'm such a good baby, so I must be doing alright. :)

Catch you all next week! I hope you have a good one!

Love,
Duncan