There's No Place Like Home...

...for the holidays. We just stayed home for Christmas after going to see Chris's parents the weekend before. Chris went in for a few hours Christmas Eve but we just relaxed the rest of the weekend. Hopefully next weekend the weather will be nicer and we will go drive through Zion's or the Grand Canyon. If anyone is around or wants to come down, just call!

Remember this?

Well, he's quite screeching and has a new habit.

It's quite impressive - he can wiggle his uvula (you know - the thing that hangs down in the back of your throat, go ahead and try it). I didn't really know it was possible but I came to find out that more than half the Gappmayer clan can do this little trick. It's quite a bit quieter than the screeching.

But I have a question for those of you who go to church for three hours every week. When he does this in church or just babbles or squeals, he's obviously happy but he can get pretty loud. Should I take him out of the meeting? If he's loud during Sacrament Meeting, I usually go to the back of the church. But during Relief Society (when all the women meet alone), it's a smaller room and I think it's really distracting. Sometimes I wonder if the women are turning around and looking because they're annoyed or because they think it's cute. Sometimes he "talks" for half an hour. Shouldn't I take him out?

Thanksgiving and Christmas

All four babies born between October 2007 and May 2008 were at my in-laws for a Christmas party Dec. 20. They are sure growing up fast. The craziest part is the fact that my three sisters-in-law are all pregnant again! I love how in the picture above three of the four babies have their hands in their mouths. I'll be really glad when Max is done teething.
Max got so tired over the weekend that he just laid across Chris' lap at the party Saturday night. He would never, ever do that at home. We went up on Wednesday for the adults' party and Max got dragged everywhere and anywhere over the next couple of days. We got to see lots of friends and family and he was a trooper, but it wore him out.
We didn't set up a Christmas tree at home this year so we borrowed my in-laws for a few pictures. My awesome and very talented sister-in-law cut my hair on Thursday too. THANKS ANTHEA!!!
The picture above is the only one out of a dozen or so that we took that turned out AND didn't have Max's hand in his mouth.Chris' Grandma Healy crocheted Max this ball. Max loved it! He loved seeing her at Thanksgiving too (as in the pictures below). I was so relieved he was a in a good mood for both visits. Christmas was a lot better than Thanksgiving as far as sleeping through the night, but naps were still erratic and shorter than usual. He was really fussy right before we went over and I thought he would just cry the whole time. He held off until he was alone with his parents again though. :)

Max's six-month check-up
Weight 17 lbs 5 oz 41%
Height 27 inches 65%
Head 18 inches 90% (!) Have you ever seen So I Married An Axe Murderer? Chris calls Max Head sometimes...
Everyone says he's such a chunky baby but 40th percentile for weight??? He can't be that chunky. Chris and I think it's those chubby, chubby cheeks and big head. :)

Here's what he was for Halloween (really just for the picture).
And all decked out in BYU gear. Go Cougars.

Family Pictures

A photographer just trying to get started posted an ad on Craigslist for an hour and a half for $45. Chris' car broke down right as I was about to make the appointment but we did it anyway and I'm really glad we did.

I know why some pictures you can make bigger and some you can't. If you move the picture after you've uploaded it, rearrange it to be in a different order or whatever, it messes up the html code. Thank you Kim for helping me with this.

To Swaddle Or Not To Swaddle

When Max was born we wrapped him up in a blanket to sleep. He loved being swaddled and went to sleep easily as soon as you trapped his arms and legs. Awake or asleep, his arms flailed about him aimlessly and constantly and would wake him up if they weren't trapped.

At three months old he slept from 9pm-5am, ate a bottle, and went right back to sleep until 9am. I was loving it. Then he got a little older and a little stronger and started coming unbundled at night which caused him to wake up more often - not something I was okay with.

We decided to try putting him down without being swaddled. I tried everything during the day for his naps. I left one arm out. I tried having him sleep next to me. I tried just letting him cry. I tried everything that I and anyone else I talked to could think of. When I was reading a message board one day, someone recommended The Miracle Blanket. I finally ordered it. The night we got it Max slept 13 hours straight. I had to wake him up! He didn't ever do that again; I think he was just catching up on his lack of sleep. I finally decided to just let him dictate when he was ready to sleep unbundled and to quit trying to force it on him. A lesson that I will probably learn over and over with him.

This is what he looked like in his blue camo Miracle Blanket (Chris picked out the design). Sleeping like a baby.

He was getting too big for the feet section, so they got left out first.
Then one arm - much easier to do with this blanket than others.Finally, no more swaddling. He had a really hard time letting go of that last arm though so I had to replace it with something. I worry a little about him suffocating himself though. But he's 6 months old now and he can move it away from his face, right?

When I first go in to get him after a good nap he has the biggest smile for me. :)

Max "Talking"

Max is making his presence known lately. He started shrieking a few weeks ago. Chris blames my sister Kimberly's visit with her young son Colin. He says you may not be invited back Kim. You can see why by following the link and watching the video on my sister's blog. Max especially does it on the changing table, but also in his exersaucer, watching the dogs, and anytime he thinks he needs to hear himself (as above). He was even babbling (at least he wasn't screeching) in his sleep last night. (Sorry for the dim light. I put in energy efficient bulbs that the camera obviously does not pick up as well.)

Max around 5 months old

These pictures were taken on Oct. 16. I forgot to take pictures on his 5-month mark. I practically forgot it was his 5-month mark that day so I'm not surprised I forgot to take pictures too. Look at that bald head. He's getting a little more fuzz but he's still pretty bald.
He always has that hand in his mouth. He's cutting the bottom two front teeth and is drooling quite a bit lately too. The one tooth's edge has come through already and the other one seems like it's going to make an appearance any day now.

He loves his dad. He can be cranky and fussy and Chris walks in the door and he's all smiles and giggles.

Max's Naps

We stayed out too long the other day and by the time we got home Max was very tired. I went out to feed the horses and when I came in the conversation went like this:

Erin: "Did Max go down for his nap okay?"
Chris (with a look on his face kind of like he's telling me something I didn't know): "Yeah, he went down great. He's really easy to put down. You just bundle him and hold him for a few minutes and he's out."
Erin (after staring at him for a minute): "That's fantastic. Do you know how long it took me to get him to go down like that? Six weeks!"

For the first couple months of his life, Max was on the EASY (Eat, Activity, Sleep, You) schedule recommended by the Baby Whisperer. It worked perfectly. He was up for an hour eating, getting his diaper changed, and just hanging out. He would get a little tired and show you by yawning really big, you would put him to bed, and he would sleep for two hours. The cycle would then repeat itself. It was sooooo EASY.

Then somewhere around two or three months old everything changed, as babies do. He didn't yawn or do anything to indicate to me that he was getting sleepy. He would usually just start getting really fussy and by the time I was putting him down, he was crying. I would try and try to find that "perfect window of opportunity" where you can put a baby to sleep without them crying. I found it ONE time in all those weeks. Six weeks.

Six weeks of a crying, overtired baby who didn't know how to put himself to sleep. Six weeks of me having no clue what to do and trying different things to try to get him to go down easily for naps. Six weeks of me absolutely dreading the moment when I knew he would need to go down and praying it wouldn't involve him screaming at the top of his lungs for an indefinite period of time - whether or not I was holding him. Six weeks of 20 min. - three hour naps (I could NEVER tell how long he was going to sleep), and if it was 20 min., a cranky baby who wasn't ready to go back down to sleep but hadn't gotten enough sleep to be happy and content to play on his own and I would get nothing done but holding him. Six weeks of me calling friend after friend asking what they did to get their baby to sleep and receiving a lot of "I know what you're going through" - which actually always made me feel better. There were brief periods of respite when I thought he finally was getting it and would go down with just some moaning or squirming. But two or three days later it was all off again. It was a loooooonnnnggg six weeks.

I finally got a schedule worked out that worked for him and me. Friends and Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child helped give me ideas. It also helped that he got better control of his hands and his emotions and he doesn't just start crying when he's getting tired. It may sound funny to say a five-month-old has better control of his emotions but that's what it seems like - it probably helps that he's not overly tired all day.

Now he starts rubbing his eyes and getting a little fussy. When I take him in his room, we close the blinds (I have to remember to open them when he wakes up), and he immediately buries his head in my shoulder and rubs his eyes some more (very cute). We then put on a little soft music, I give him his binky, I bundle him (I will explain why I still bundle my five-month-old in another post), and then I hold him in my arms for the length of the first song. His eyes immediately close when I pull him close to me and they flutter open when I put him in his crib and that's it. I have an hour or two, depending on the time of day, to myself as he sleeps peacefully. I go for a horseback ride since the monitor reaches to the arena or clean the house or any number of things. The best part is he is now to the point where you can skip steps and he still goes down easily.

On Sunday nights when I look to the week ahead and the 50+ hours that I will be alone with my son, I am no longer dying to switch places with Chris and I actually look forward to my week. Life is so good right now. But don't worry, I have no illusions that this will actually last. This, as everything else in his life, is just a phase and, unfortunately, it too will pass and I will be back to a crying baby and 20 min. naps for some unknown length of time.

Horses and Fires

Chris' Dad and Mom brought us down four horses on Sept. 14. We're going to ride them to try to get them ready to sell; let us know if you know of anyone looking for a Tennessee Walker. We love having horses down here. We really missed riding. Now we get to ride three to four times a week and we've had a number of neighbors and their kids over to ride. If you're down here and want to go for a ride, just call. We pulled a bunch of thorny sagebrush in the arena by the house we rent and lit fire to it.

Before (photo courtesy of my sister Kim) the fire
After - MUCH BETTER

We're renting the house because we wanted to make sure Chris' job went well and to watch the housing market (which has dropped significantly just since we moved here in June). It's going to be hard to leave the place we rent though. There's lots of room for the dogs to run, we have the horses right outside, and we have more space now inside than any house we'll buy. It's an older home and there are renters on the first floor of the house too so it's not perfect, but we really are enjoying it more than we thought we would.

Rice Cereal

We gave Max rice cereal for the first time on Sept. 25. He actually did decent with the spoon. The constipation came later of course. Prune juice and glycerin helped.
He kept playing with his bib which effectually helped keep him cleaner.
He still managed to get it all over his face though.

Chris always teases me about my long tongue. I licked some frosting off the edge of my elbow the other day and Chris started laughing because he said he hadn't realized exactly how long it is until I did that.

Max's tongue is CONSTANTLY sticking out of his mouth so Chris says Max got my tongue and his mouth and Max's tongue doesn't fit his mouth. Hopefully he'll grow into it. :) So these are some pictures of his tongue sticking out. Max lost interest in the rice cereal pretty quick but he's doing better every time and even started opening his mouth for the spoon. He sure loves to eat.