Conway is Seven Months Old

 

Conway has started eating solid (puréed) food and at first he loved it. So far he's tried rice cereal, oatmeal cereal, carrots, peas, avocado, and applesauce. He was all excited about eating the oatmeal cereal, carrots, and peas, but basically gagged on the avocado. Then I thought I'd give him something he was sure to love - applesauce - not a fan. What isn't to like about applesauce? I've been pretty lazy about feeding him solids, which probably wasn't the case with Parker when he was this age, but somehow it just seems to get lost in the shuffle. My goal is to feed him solids twice a day so he usually eats oatmeal for breakfast (which he still loves) and then I try to get him to eat something for lunch (which has been less successful).

 

Conway is very close to crawling, but I feel like I keep saying that. He consistently gets up on all fours and rocks back and forth. He even moves his knees forward and tries pushing with his feet, but he has yet to figure out that he has to move his hands too. The result is often a face plant. He doesn't seem to mind, though. He's also very close to sitting up completely on his own. He can do this for quite a bit of time now, but eventually he falls over with a little less control than I feel comfortable with. I know I should be excited about these new developments and I partially am, but I also know that once he can really move I'm in TROUBLE. He's going to be into everything. Watch out!

 

Conway's sleep has still been a little unpredictable lately and let's just say that I'm not a big fan of the unpredictable. Okay, fine, I like to have complete control! There. I said it. My name is Treva Totten and I'm a control freak. Joking aside, Conway is almost completely on a four hour schedule (4 hours between each daytime feeding with a nap included). The end of the day is where it gets a little unpredictable because he's toying with dropping his third nap. On days that he refuses this nap, he goes to bed for the night a bit earlier. All in all, not a bit deal. He does still wake up in the middle of the night sometimes and has a little party in his crib before falling back asleep. It's a party for one at this point, though. He isn't hungry so I don't join him. Not really sure what's going on here, but I think it could be that he's getting cold during the night. The temperature throughout our house is a little uneven so I'm having a hard time figuring out how to keep his room warm enough without making Parker's room into a sauna. My newest solution is to put Conway in two sleep sacks and I think that's helping.

 

The most important bit of news this month - Conway's skin is much better! (knock on wood) We visited a dermatologist and she gave us some good advice and a very large supply of the prescriptions that have worked on the rash he was getting. So, he's getting a bath basically every day using either just water or Mustella Stelatopia Cream Cleanser. He gets slathered in either Vaseline or CeraVe a couple times a day (although I wish these were working just a little bit better so we might give Eucerin a try). His nails are kept very short and filed so that when he does start to get itchy he can't damage his skin. And when the rash does come back we use the prescriptions for several days. The other interesting tidbit that the dermatologist shared with me was that eczema is often brought on or exacerbated by stress. Maybe this is common knowledge, but I wasn't aware. So the teething, vaccines, cold, travel or a combination of all of these were probably to blame for how bad his skin got. Even though his skin will probably continue to react to these stresses in the future, at least we know how to treat it now. Phew!

 

 

 

Parker at 7 Months

 

 

Peas, Carrots, and Avocado - Which one doesn't belong?

 

Peas, carrots, and avocado have all been added to Conway's food repertoire and as you can see, he's a fan of two out of three. So which one doesn't he like?

 Avocado. Silly boy. He takes after his father.

Boating with the Rupperts

 

A beautiful September day in Seattle calls for being out on the water. The Ruppert clan was nice enough to bring us along on their Duffy boat outing. What better place to relax and catch up with friends? Parker even got to play captain for a short bit, but he kind of just wanted to turn the wheel around and around and back and forth, which lead to nauseous passengers and some scared fellow boaters. He also got to see a number of sea planes take off... always a highlight for him.

 

 

 

 

Parker's First Day of Preschool

 

It's hard to believe we're here, but Parker had his first day of preschool at Little Red Wagon. He was very excited leading up to the actual day - maybe because he loves playing with other kids, maybe because he loves to sing and listen to stories, maybe because he loves his new Cars backpack. I'll let you decide. As we pulled out of the driveway, Parker waved and said," Bye bye house! I love you Brown Dog!" All in all it seems as though he had a great day. He came home with a bump on his face from apparently falling face first onto a toy and he was definitely ready for a nap, but I tend to think that both of these are signs that he got in there and played hard.

 

Conway's First Food

 

He's growing up people! Conway had his first bites of "solid" food. Rice cereal and oatmeal cereal are actually pretty runny, but Conway got his first taste and he wasn't very phased by it. I remember Parker making some pretty funny faces when he tasted food for the first time. Conway just wanted to grab the spoon and put more in his mouth. This kid loves to eat!

 

 

 

Inaugural Maison Rouge Stay with the Johnsons

 

Another trip to Lake Chelan has come and gone. This was the first time we all stayed together in our new place, Maison Rouge. Added bonus: Damo joined us! Parker and Finn are full of energy which made posed pictures a bit difficult, but I think these two are going to have loads of fun together at this place. Conway and Reid didn't make it into the cover shot because they spend so much time sleeping. Maybe next year.

 

 

This is what happened when we tried to set Finn and Parker next to each other on the couch for a picture.

 

Parker is loving his scooter these days and he's getting pretty good at it, not to mention fast.

 

Finn took a turn on the scooter too. Can you find Parker on his bike in the distance?

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

  

  

 

 

 

 

 Parker thought it was hilarious to push Uncle Damo into the pool.

 

 

 

 

 

I know. This is really gross, but hopefully it won't scar you for life. There were MAJOR fruit flies in Chelan. Something about all of the fruit in the orchards being ready for harvest. I don't know, but this glass is full of apple cider vinegar and dish soap which is obviously doing a decent job of attracting the fruit flies. Equally gross and not pictured is when the fruit flies make it into the vinegar and drown. Okay, wipe that from your memory and replace it with the following...

 

 Popsicle Time!

 

 Cheers!

 

 Seriously! How cute are these two?!

 

 Actually, this isn't on the drive home. This was on the way TO Chelan. Parker had to rest up for all the fun he was about to have. Mission accomplished.

Conway is Six Months Old

 

Conway at 6 Months

Height/Length: 28.3in (94%)

Weight: 17lb 4oz (39%)

Head Circumference: 44cm (62%)

 

Six Months!! Where has the time and our little baby gone? He is still the biggest sweetheart, but I'm not going to lie. Things with Conway have not been easy over the last month or so. It's hard to pin-point where the difficulties stem because there are a lot of culprits.

 

He got his first teeth! Very exciting and also pretty painful. Both lower front teeth are in and yet the drool has not let up. Could this be the cause of his interrupted sleep? Or...

 

He got a cold this month, not his first believe it or not, but still not fun for him. This definitely played a role in messing with his happiness and his sleep.  But also...

 

We've traveled a lot lately: Whistler, New York, Chelan. They say change is good, but I think it was a bit much for Conway. He's having a hard time soothing himself back to sleep at those early morning wakings and being on the road has caused us to revert to some bad soothing habits. I'm confident that we'll have his sleep habits whipped back into shape shortly, but the travel definitely set us back a bit. And...

 

An on and off rash has plagued Conway for about 2 months now. It started around his neck where drool and spit up would get stuck. Yes, he's chubby and basically has no neck - his chin pretty much rests on his chubby little chest. That rash has long since cleared up, but then he had constant dry flaky skin and a pretty painful red rash all over the rest of his body that has come and gone. We've been to the doctor a number of times and now have a prescription that seems to work for the rash over the short term. It's too strong to use on him consistently, though, and when we stop using it,the rash comes back. Thankfully, Vaseline seems to have been successful at turning his dry flaky itchy skin back into soft baby skin when everything else made him scream. It's absolutely heartbreaking to see him scratch at his skin and scream in pain. More to come on this for sure.

 

It's not all doom and gloom, though. Conway is so interested and interactive. He definitely takes after his papa on the social front. He loves people!! Mama, Papa, and Parker are probably his favorites, but he really lights up when anyone smiles or talks to him. Parker loves making faces at him, getting toys for him, and giving him hugs and kisses. The other day when Conway was going to bed Parker gave him a kiss and said, "I love you bunches and bunches Conway." It kind of brought tears to my eyes.

 

Gone are the days when Conway stays in one spot. He isn't actually crawling yet, but he rolls and wiggles to what and where he wants pretty well. He loves being on his belly now and his favorite move is what we call 'The Skydiver' - belly on the ground, but chest, head, and legs up with his arms off the ground behind him. Seriously, picture someone skydiving before they pull their parachute cord and that's what he looks like. He has also started practicing his plank position. He can balance on just his toes and hands for a few seconds before he drops back down to do The Skydiver again. If I did these moves as much as him, my abs would be in great shape. Food for thought.

  

 

Parker at 6 Months

Height/Length: 27in (75%)

Weight: 16lb 4oz (35%)

Head Circumference: 42.5cm (50%)