twenty two weeks

we've had a little bump in the road in emre's 22nd week:  he stopped sleeping through the night.  actually he would sleep through the night, just as long as he was sleeping with mommy and nursing pretty much the entire time.  so, we made a quick decision to nip it in the bud using the ferber technique.  in addition to making the kid cry it out on his own, in his crib in his very own room, we also stopped swaddling him.  yep, ripped the bandaid right off.  but he of course handled it like the champ that he is - fell asleep last night after 20 (agonizing) minutes.  slept until 6:30 with just a few crying spells in the wee hours of the morning.  put him down for a nap at 10:30, in his crib, and he was out within 5 minutes, and slept 1.5 hours.  all in all i think it's a success so far, but of course that all depends on how tonight goes!  he never seems to have a difficult time adjusting though, this kid.

here are some pics from our week:

visiting with dede on a sunday afternoon

saw some pretty wild flowers on one of our walks

napping, pre-ferberizing.  just look at those drumsticks!

playing with daddy before bedtime

tired little guy, ready for bed

out & about with mommy on a sunny day

smiley!

fell asleep most nights this week during our evening walk

out.

this is his teething face - what i failed to capture in the picture was the toy he was desperately chewing on

still loving his gym

beauty!

edible toes

five months!

happy five months today to our little guy!  it's all going by so fast.  i remember as a kid i used to get so annoyed when my mom would say she wanted to put a brick on my head to keep me from growing ONE MORE INCH (being short, this was about the last thing i wanted to hear), but now i totally get it.  they grow up too fast!  and he's not even one yet.  i'm slowly coming to terms with the fact that i'm going to be a total sap for the rest of my life.

he's such a little monkey baby - always gripping me with little fingers and fat feet.  he has the chunkiest chicken wings (legs) you've ever seen.  his new thing is to grab a fistfull of my hair at the nape of my neck and - ouch!  total ouch, but i love it.  he's absolutely the one in charge around here, and he knows it!  he's gotten to know me to the point where he will start sobbing if he sees me walk into the room and i don't pick him up or play with him immediately.  i love that, too.  he's really taken an interest in his toys, especially his 'orange,' and sophie the giraffe.  and he is really mastering the whole standing thing.  sitting is coming along too, more slowly, but he's getting there.

we love him more every day - and it really takes us by surprise, but just when we thought we couldn't love him anymore?  he laughs or toots or blows a raspberry or poops and totally proves us wrong.  happy five months (happiest of my life), to my amazing little e-man.

twenty one weeks

our little baby is growing up before our eyes.  already he's starting to look more toddler than baby to me, kind of makes me sad.  but we're definitely enjoying every moment - as quickly as they pass.  here's some shots of our little e-man from this week.

lunching with daddy (little did daddy know he'd taken a big poop and 

gotten it on daddy's jeans... he he)

hangin' with his pops on father's day

sitting... on his own!  a little wobbly but he's pretty much there.

we fear these are the last days of swaddling - not sure how well he's going to sleep without it

teething, for sure

playing with daddy in the jolly jumper

drool beard.  did i mention he's teething?

practicing sitting

so proud of him!

first haircut!

emre got his first haircut, from his aunt aggie.  he'd been needing one for a while (the sides were hanging over his ears), but i was dragging my feet on getting it cut.  agatha offered to do it when we were at her house last night - so we did it!  luckily it was spontaneous so i didn't have a chance to get too emotional, though i did save every last hair i was able to pick up from the mat and put into a plastic bag!

sooo handsome - thanks aunt aggie!

happy first father's day, ben!

you are one amazing dad.  we love you!

twenty weeks

this has been one crrrrrazy week.  work has been keeping us especially busy with a visit from our chancellor, ben being gone a few nights, and emre not sleeping for most of those nights.  plus emre had an extra checkup with his doc this week.  it's hard keeping up with both work and emre, but i'm certainly fortunate to be able to do it.  the weather being 90+ degrees every day?  not helping.

so at his 4 month check-up, emre had not gained as much weight in one month as dr. hande wanted him to.  although his actual weight was just fine for his age/size (50th percentile), dr. hande was still a little concerned, so she told us to come back in two weeks so she could check his progress.  this had his mama in tears, as i felt scared that something was wrong/guilty my breast milk was not enough/concerned my baby was hungry and i had not figured this out myself.  i'm a little paranoid about caring for my little guy (as my reoccurring nightmare where i've forgotten to feed the baby might prove).  it's unbelievable how terrifying it is to love him so much.  does that make sense?  as sarah put it, a mother's love is not rational!

annnyway, he's fine.  he caught up in weight gain and now weighs just about 16 pounds (15.98)!  no wonder my back is sore.  and he grew 2 cm in length in just two weeks!!  kid is growing like a weed.

outfit from australia

meeting gigi's brother

playing 'pass the baby'

getting attention from the guys

chillin' with daddy

meeting mom & dad's boss

all that growing wears me out

happy baby

keepin' cool with gigi

nothing beats time in the jumparoo