Grandma Sharon's Birthday!

Happy Birthday Grandma Sharon!

It was my Grandma Sharon's 65th birthday last weekend. My Daddy planned a little get together for her and her friends up in Roseville at Fat's Asia Bistro so we drove up there on Saturday for the party. I got my Grandma a special card. I think she had a happy birthday...she got lots of gifts and even better she had a BIG birthday cheesecake for dessert.

I was a such a good boy all night. I met a lot of new people and wasn't shy at all. I was passed around the table like an appetizer! I was especially happy to meet Aunt Dolores. Dolores was Sharon's neighbor while Jeff was growing up and Jeff spent a lot of time with Dolores and her daughter Gloria who were both at the party. She is a fire ball, who informed us she was a proud 80 years old (which seems unbelievable, she looks amazing for 80!) You can tell she has the touch because Barrett was so comfortable in her arms. Dolores got Baby B a gift and wrote the sweetest card that read...

'Sweet little boy... I held your Daddy in my arms when he was a newborn - and have loved him ever since - I'm happy to finally get to meet you. Lots of love, Aunt Dolores"

Sick, Sick, and More Sick

I mean the title says it all. Jeff was sick over Christmas, I was sick over New Years. Somehow Barrett miraculously made it out alive only to fall victim to the sickness in daycare. I am surprised he made it three full weeks before picking something up. He got the worst cold, followed by an ear infection. Poor guy! Let me tell you... there is nothing worse than seeing your little man sick with a barking cough, snoring with a plugged up nose, and tugging on his ears. You feel so helpless and all you want to do is make his little world better again. He is officially on antibiotics, and not a fan of the pink bubble gum flavor. He barely gets the stuff down...I can't believe we have five more days of this. He is feeling more like himself though, so it is all worth it. Me on the other hand, I have picked up his cold now so I am sick AGAIN. Boo! Let's hope Jeff can dodge this one.

We did officially ditch daycare this week. I know that we theoretically knew that if we put Barrett in daycare he would get sick a lot this first year. We didn't know the magnitude of how sick he could get. He ran a fever for 5 days and he can't go back to daycare with a fever...and I (unlike other parents) refuse to take my kid there to expose all the rest. Since we don't have family or friends in the area that can help us during the week during these times one of us has to stay home and we both have work to do. The nanny route just works better for us. We have Nanny Lorraine starting Monday! I will dedicate a special post to our savior Lorraine soon...

Daycare Days

Barrett officially started daycare on January 4th of this year. We just wrapped up his third week there and we are all trying to adjust to the new schedule.

The first week was so hard for Mommy and Daddy. We took him to his new room and stayed for 45 min. to get him settled in. He seemed content and he didn't cry when we left, which was nice. I don't know if I would have left if he had been crying. I cried when we got in the car, of course, but no Barrett tears. Luckily, Jeff and I can watch him all day on a webcam and that is just what I did nonstop for the first two weeks. I'm starting to log off for small chunks of time during the day starting last week.

I think he is at a good age to go...he isn't so attached to us that we can't leave him, and he is still very open to new people. He is making all sorts of new friends from his class, and he loves to watch the other kids.
I just wish he was sitting independently or crawling. Since he isn't mobile he is totally dependent on the teachers to move him around and the first few days he did spend more time than Daddy and I would have liked laying on his back. It's getting better though. Jeff and I just have to be very clear to Miss Alicia and Miss Desiree what we want to see him do during the day. They have been helping him sit up, do tummy time, and he gets to participate in all sorts of fun activities. He has had Spanish class, music class, water play, art class, and his personal favorite...strolling with all his new friends in the 'buggy.'

It will only be a short time longer before this guy is mobile...then watch out new friend Riley who I've seen bop Barrett on the head on the webcam. He's bigger than you and when he can get to you he will bop you right back!!!

One Fish, Two Fish...

Monday was MLK Jr. Day and Daddy and Mommy had the day off from work. What did we do? We went to play with Auntie Lissa, Tates, and Landon at the CA Academy of Sciences. Barrett has been there once when he was two months old. It is amazing the difference between that trip and this one. He obviously is much more alert and can see and process a lot more now. He was so excited! Kicking his feet, smiling, laughing, and just following all of the fish and sealife. Daddy and I were so happy to see our little guy having such a good time.

We saw penguins, starfish, jellyfish, stingrays, sharks, the 'bino gator, and hundreds of different kinds of fish. Barrett loves watching fishies! Jeff stood in front of the large aquarium tanks and he was fascinated. There's only one thing more fascinating than fishies...his girlfriend Miss Tates! He is now very interested in grabbing her face, her clothes, pretty much anything he can get his hands on. Lucky for us Tatum is pretty mellow and tolerates it.

Half Year Birthday

It's Barrett's Half Year Birthday!

He is growing up so fast and he looks like such a little boy to us as opposed to a baby now. Now that he can sit up by himself and look at you, and grab the toy he wants, and tell you about it in his own language it is just the beginning of a brand new stage of his life.

We woke up this morning and headed down to have birthday breakfast. We have been feeding him only vegetables at this point which didn't seem like much of a birthday treat. So we opened a jar of sweet potatoes, it was the best of the veggies for a birthday treat. He wasn't so sure it was a treat at all but he ate them.

And how's our baby boy growing, you ask? Here are his new stats from his six month well baby visit...

• Weight - 19lbs, 2oz (75%) I feel sorry for the mommies who's babies are in that upper 25% percentile. My back is killing me, I can't imagine how they are feeling.
  
• Height - 27" (68%)
  
• Noggin' - 18 1/4" (97%)

The pediatrician was a bit concerned with B's head size. Anytime they climb above the 95% and a baby's head is still growing rapidly at the 6 month visit it throws up a flag. They are concerned about hydrocephalus. They told us to come back in 4 weeks to measure his head again and sent us on our way, said worst case when we come back in 4 weeks Barrett would need to get some head scans. Alarming, and for those of you that know me you know I was just freaking out! Jeff and I got home that night thought about it and said we are going to push for the scans now. They are non invasive, so why not do them? Why wait four weeks? If something is wrong we need to know now and we want to deal with it, and if nothing is wrong then we can sleep at night.

So Barrett had a neuro ultrasound. It brought me back to the days of my pregnancy and my various ultrasounds. They put the same goo all over his head and put the wand on to take a look. The initial results of the scan didn't show any excess fluid and they said nothing looked alarming. Phew, we feel so relieved!

Now we can get back to the business at hand...laughing, playing, and growing up.

Roll It On Over

We are making some real progress on this rolling over thing. Finally, tummy time is not a form of torture but actually somewhat entertaining. We are trying to teach him, when he is done with tummy time and doesn't want to be there anymore...roll it on over! He tucks the arm, gets to his side, and then lets that other arm flop him over. This particular night he rolled tummy to back 6 or 7 times. We haven't seen a night like that since. We keep working on it though. He seems to perform best when he is in just his diaper, so we strip him down every night and let him work at it.

Peas Please

I said I was going to wait until his 6 month Dr. appt. before I started feeding him more solids...but it is so fun watching him eat his cereal that I couldn't wait. Barrett is now eating his veggies! We started with peas which you will see in this video. Then for his 6 month birthday we tried sweet potatoes, and now we are on to carrots. His faces are priceless! I do think he is really enjoying his new menu. I can't wait to give the fruit a try, but we are going to hold out so he can acquire a taste for veggies. Let's face it, once you try the fruit the veggies are not so appealing.

Crabfest 2010

It's the annual NY Day Crabfest. I feel like we should call it Butterfest with some crab sprinkled in. Whatever you call in, it is always great to ring in the New Year with good friends, good food, and good wine.

My family was still here to enjoy, the Sanchez family drove out, and we were lucky to have Alex and Katie in town again this year. It was the first time Katie and Alex they have seen Mr. B! They know how to impress the little guy and showed up with two new toys that he loves. Alex is Jeff's partner in crime in the kitchen where they pride themselves in cracking and cleaning crabs, with the help of their other partner Crown. We do appreciate all of their hard work in there.