Excersaucer to the Rescue

Since Dr. Nash said his head wasn't rounding out as much as she'd like to see, we have been trying to keep Gunner off his back as much as possible. Meaning, unless he is sleeping, having his diaper changed or in his car seat, he is off his back.

We have found that this is nearly impossible and totally inconvenient. He doesn't exactly love being on his tummy, even though that is the new trick he learned. He likes to flip from his back to his tummy, but once he is there, he doesn't enjoy it nearly as much as we would like him to.

We also have a Bumbo chair that we put him in. But he gets sick of it pretty easily and tries to get out of it when he gets tired of sitting in it or he sees something interesting on the floor and tries to grab it.

What he does enjoy a lot are his Excersaucers, or activity seats. He sits in them and plays with all the toys. And when I say "play," I mean he tries to get them in his mouth. It also helps him stand up a little bit.

He gets really excited and will stay busy for a while. But when he's tired of it, he is pretty vocal about getting out. Luckily if he is tired of it, he is just tired in general and will go for a nap.

Yum yum -- cereal!

They say there are certain cues for when your baby is ready to try solid foods. He may try to grab your food or watch you intently as you eat. Since Gunner was sort of showing these signs, we thought we'd give rice cereal a try.

A couple of things to note: Rice cereal does not mean Rice Krispies. It sort of looks like instant mashed potato flakes. And "solid" foods is pretty misleading. You are supposed to add formula until it becomes a soupy consistency.

Anyway, we tried to give it to G. He didn't really know what to do with it, so he sort of pushed it out of his mouth. Dr. Nash said he might do that. I think he managed to get a little bit of it down, but we'll just have to keep trying until he gets it. Seems like he may not be totally ready yet. But we're sure it will be pretty soon!

Here Comes Santa Claus

It's Gunner's first Christmas. It wouldn't be complete without a trip to see ol' St. Nick.

We took Gunner to Aisha's work party to see Santa for the very first time. We stood in line for a good 20 minutes just so Gunner could sit on Santa's lap. Mrs. Claus was there too.

Of course, G didn't really know what was going on. He was sort of looking off in the distance.

4-month Doctor Visit

G had his 4-month doctor appointment Dec. 9. We couldn't wait to get him in there to see how much the little guy weighs. He feels heavier and heavier every day. We figured he had to weigh at least 16 pounds.

And we were right. Gunner tipped the scales at 17 pounds, 9 ounces. Hard to believe that is pretty much 10 pounds more than what he weighed at birth. It is unbelievable how much he has grown, not only in weight but in height too.

A few people have affectionately called him "chubby" but Jim and I think he is just fine.

I'm not chubby, I'm just very healthy!

Also at this appointment he got his dreaded 2nd round of immunizations. He was very brave again and only cried for a little bit.

Dr. Nash gave us the go ahead to start giving him solid foods, so Gunner will get to try rice cereal in a few weeks. She also said he needs to play more on his tummy because she is worried about his head staying a little flat in the back. Looks like we got some work ahead of us!

Gunner gets things rolling!

Well, we knew this day would come. Gunner had been so close to rolling over for the last week or so that we knew he was about to get there. It happened three days ago and now, it's old hat. Gunner is rolling over quicker than the Chiefs out in San Diego.

And with his ability to go from his back to his belly so easily, his nights have become interesting as well. He rolled over for Nan Monday afternoon and when it was time to go get him from his crib Tuesday morning, there he was sleeping away on his belly. Not bad for the little guy. He tends to get fussy after about 20 minutes of tummy time during the day.

Aisha saw him close to rolling over at about 3 a.m. when she got up to check on him. My guess is that he made the move a few seconds later because his whimpers and whines stopped on a dime and we didn't hear a word out of him until he woke up, grinning ear-to-ear at about 7:15.

Now he's everywhere in the crib. Aisha checked him last night at about 1 a.m. when he was squirming around a bit, not only had he rolled over, he was facing the opposite direction from when we put him to bed earlier that night.

Look out world, here he comes. Next thing we know, he'll have his driver's license.