Sleep-Sleep

My beautiful baby is pretty good going to sleep and staying asleep. Since birth he has napped every 2-3 hours during the day, at first very short naps and now they can go for more than 1 hour. This week he took a 2 1/2 hour nap in the morning! Of course, after being awake from 3 to 4:30! Night time sleep is also easy. He still wakes up every 3-4 hours to nurse but goes right back to sleep, except this week that wake up twice to just hang out.  Oh well, naps and night time sleep are easy for the most part. 

What is challenging has been making him fall sleep. My mom rock him to sleep for naps and I nurse him to sleep for the night. However, lately he has been fighting sleep more and more. My little bundle of joy is not so little anymore. He is heavy (almost 18 lb) and putting him to sleep carrying him around was not working anymore. So this week my mom started to put him awake but sleepy in the crib and it has been working very well. I have been nursing to sleep and then have my mom do the final magic to get him in lala land. It is working! It might not be my 8-9 wonderful hours of uninterrupted sleep I used to get when I did not have Mateo but I am okay with what I get. After all, I have this little guy to cuddle with every night. 

We are six months today!

Look at how much Mateo has grown since birth to 6 months.

At birth: 8 lb 2 oz ( 3.685 Kg) -- 20 inches ( 0.51 m)

At 1 month: 9 lb 7 oz ( 4.281 Kg) -- 21 inches  ( 0.54 m)

At 2 months: 12 lb 9 oz (5.698 Kg) -- 23 inches ( 0.58 m) 

At 4 months: 15 lb 8.5 oz (7.045 Kg) -- 26 inches ( 0.66 m)

At 6 months: 17 lb 12.5 oz (8.066 Kg) -- 27 inches (0.69 m)

He is a little man now ready to continue to explore his world with all his senses. He is beginning to crawl and soon getting in trouble. He is beginning to eat solid food and soon sharing our meals. He is beginning to attempt to say ma-ma-ma and soon he will call me mama and Pat daddy. What a miracle! Just a few months ago I was pregnant and waiting, and now I can't stop time and get a hold of what is happening. It is happening so fast and it is filling our lives. In just a few months more, we will be leaving to Ecuador- for good! We are getting excited as time passes. There our lives will change and we will continue to grow with Mateo. Happy 6 months little one!! 

Eating solid food

Thanks to Sarah, our neighbor, Mateo ate apple sauce made with apples grown in her backyard (once our backyard). So far this little hungry guy has tested organic bananas from Ecuador, fresh organic strawberries picked in the lower field and Sarah's apple sauce. I will continue to let Mateo taste different fruits and veggies without taking away his breast milk as his primary source of nutrients until he is nine to one year old. He was a happy camper when it came to try the apple sauce! 

Experiencing new things

On Monday morning Mateo cried for the first time as I was walking out the door in my way to work. He has never done that and it made me happy and sad. Very happy because he now seems to really know who I am and he misses me! and sad because I did not like to leave holding in my mind the picture of him crying. So what I did was, I came back and entertained him for few minutes and when he did not expected I took off. My mom says he did not cry atfter that. 

Yesterday, Mateo eat a whole strawberry for the first time! It was so fun to see his excitement eating the yummy fruit and the mess he made of everything around him, including himself. We are lucky to live on a farm where organic strawberries are grown. Mateo got to have one of them as his first meals. 

And today, my boy experienced rain for the first time. Since it has been raining pretty hard all day, my mom and I could not take Mateo for a walk around the farm as usual. All we did is watch the rain and wind from the window and door. Once there was a little break in the rain, I took Mateo out of the house for a short walk. I could not believe his enthusiasm and happiness being outside and looking at everything. He is definitely going to be an OUTDOORS boy!

Plant a little garden, eat a lot of peaches ...

This weekend Pat, Me and Mateo, and my mom had a good time working in our garden. The first year we really have a garden. So far we have planted and harvested tomatoes, cucumbers, green beans and zucchini. Now we have 6 beds ready to plant green veggies. We planted some broccoli and lettuce. Hope to plant lots more. 

Mateo was very happy in our arms and when we got busy, just sitting in his stroller and watching us work was so much fun for him. Look at this darn cute hat! it is a Red Sox hat. Does it make him a fan of them? Who knows...

Helping dad to put compost in the beds

Love hanging out in the weel barrow

Well deserved rest after working outside

Baby Gear

It really takes a lot of time and effort and gear to entertain a baby. Before Mateo our house did not have much stuff laying around everywhere, now we trip on it.

First we used the car seat and the stroller for going out of the house, then the swings to rock little Mateo and just have him down. We also have the crib and the mobile with the music. Once Mateo reached 4 months he did not want to stay down, he would rather be in our arms and looking forward, learning everything. Our arms and back got tired! we got the moby wrap, baby ergo carrier and the baby bjorn. Later we found the baby jumper, the umbrella stroller and the bumbo seat. The top 3 baby gear that helps us entertain this little guy are: the stroller for going out everyday, the baby bjorn for carrying him in the house and for walks and the baby jumper for his own little world of entertainment where he jumps like a monkey and laughs of happiness.

Did you pay the parking fee?

Can't be still!

It has been chilly 

What the heck?