New Milestones

Jalen now eats rice cereal a couple of times a day. His grandma mixes breast milk with rice cereal and feeds it to him with a spoon and he likes it much better than the water and cereal mixture we gave to him on the first try. Last Saturday, we also saw Jalen roll over for the first time. He was on his tummy and he leaned more and more towards the side and eventually rolled over to his back. Then he repeated it for his Dad a second time. He still doesn't know how to roll from his back to front. My theory is that he's a lazy kid and it takes more energy to be on his tummy so he learned to roll to his back. I've also been getting Jalen to practice sitting up. He can now sit with his hands on the floor for a few minutes without toppling over.

Jalen sitting up with his hands. He has that stunned look on his face because of the flash.

Jalen Eats Rice Cereal

Last night we gave Jalen rice cereal for the first time. We followed the instructions on the box and mixed one tablespoon to four tablespoon of water. It was really watery. When we fed him with a spoon most of the cereal came back out of his mouth. He made a sour puss face because I don't think he's used to the taste. The whole process was quite messy and I'm not sure how much of the cereal actually made it to his tummy. But I thought it was probably good practice for him for learning how to eat solid food.


Rick shows Jalen how to open wide!

Poopy Jalen

Today is Jalen's five-month birthday. We took him to the pediatrician because over the past week or so, he's been pooping a lot more than usual and we were getting concerned. At the doctor's office we found out that Jalen is now 19lb 3oz! The doctor said he seemed like a perfectly healthy and happy baby and we didn't need to worry. Phew!

I've been trying to get Jalen to practice rolling over. He can roll to his side easily but he is totally not motivated to roll completely from his tummy to back or vice versa. I've also been letting him sit up while supporting him lightly in hopes that he'll develop some stronger stomach muscles. I kind of think that Jalen is a lazy kid. He's discovered the button on the Jumperoo that makes the music and lights go on. So he kinda of leans on the button with his arm to turn on the music instead of jumping. Go figure.

Jalen enjoys sucking on his thumb and he likes to shove as much of his hands into his mouth as possible.

Jalen is Five Months Old -- Almost

My parents were in town last weekend to help us with our move. We gave a Jalen a bath.

Here's Jalen happily hopping away in his Jumperoo again.

Jalen in overalls.

Jalen in big boy clothes. Check out the baseball shoes!

Peek A Boo!

We played peek-a-boo with Jalen for the first time and he just loved it!

Jalen's Four Month Check Up

Today Rick and I took Jalen to his 4-month check up. He is still a very big boy! He is now 18lbs 4ozs, 27.5 inches and his head circumference is 17 inches. He is in the 95th percentile in all 3 categories. Jalen's infant car seat is only for up to 22lbs, I can't believe that I already have to upgrade his baby car seat soon when those typically last until the baby is 1 year old! He got 4 shots this time and tonight he was very fussy. He cried for about an hour before I finally calmed him down and got him to go to sleep. Poor guy.

I hope to take some more pictures of Jalen soon. Things are still a bit disorganized right now since we haven't moved into our new house.

Jalen is Four Months Old!

There has been a lot of things going on in our little family in the last month. We purchased a home in Bellevue in early August. We decided to put our current house in Renton on the rental market so I spent the rest of August packing things up to get the house ready to show. We moved some of our stuff into the new house a week ago and left some furniture in the old house for staging. Right now we're interviewing renters. We haven't moved into the new house yet because we want to do a few things to it before we move in. We're temporarily staying with Rick's parents. Rick was away for work one week in August. He's been away for a few days this week. We're not sure how much traveling is ahead for the rest of the month. It makes things hard since we're in the middle of moving.On top of all that, I went back to work full time on August 31st. I was really dreading going back to work because I wasn't sure about how things were going to be like. So far, things are been pretty good. Here's our daily routine:

5:00 am - 6:30am: first feeding of the day, depending on when Jalen wakes up. Then I put him back down to sleep.
8:00 am: I get up. Usually, Jalen is still sleeping. I pump, then get ready for work.
9:00 am: I leave for work around 9am. Jalen's Grandma gives him a bottle of pumped milk when he wakes up.
12:00pm: I come home from work to feed Jalen. It only takes me about 10 minutes to get to Grandma's from work. So after I feed Jalen I still have time to eat a quick lunch.
3:00pm: Jalen's Grandma gives Jalen a bottle of pumped milk.
6:00pm: I come home from work and feed Jalen. Then pump.
9:00pm: I feed Jalen and put him down to sleep.
11:30pm: I wake Jalen up for his last feeding of the day then he goes back to sleep. I go to bed.

Since we're staying with Rick's parents, we definitely save time on the commute so things are a bit easier. The routine will have to be adjusted when we move into our new house. Being back at work isn't as scary as I thought it would be. In some ways, it's a welcoming break because taking care of a baby is hard work. It's also comforting to know that Jalen loves his Grandma and that he is in good hands.