Life of Wilder: Week Nine

It's been a fairly eventful week in the Taylor house. Last Sunday was a beautiful day so we took Wilder to Balboa Park. It's such a great place to stroll around and get some sun. We walked him up and down the Prada, took some pictures on the lawn in front of the Botanical Building, and made a quick trip to the Timken Museum of Art where Wilder shared some interesting insight on Rembrandt's portrait of St. Bartholomew. ;) 

Balboa Park is definitely one of our favorite places to visit in San Diego. It is absolutely beautiful and there is so much to see and do. There are always musicians and street performers lining the Prada and there is always at least one weird/random/interesting thing to take a picture of. This time we saw two of these "Omg, take a picture of that!" sights...

Look very closely at what's in the stroller...

Yes, that would be a live bunny, haha

Armless man playing the guitar with his feet...

He was actually pretty good at it. I posted a video

of it on YouTube that you can watch by clicking here.

So, after Wilder rolled over last Wednesday, he rolled over again on Thursday to both sides, but he must have worn himself out because he has refused to roll over ever since, haha! I'll put him on his tummy but it's almost like he forgot how he did it. He'll get his legs going one way and his head going the other way or he'll stick his arm out to the side so that it stops him from going all the way over. He gets so frustrated, poor thing! But he did reach another small milestone this week -- he intentionally grabbed one of the rings hanging from his play mat, swung it around for a few minutes, and tried to put it in his mouth. He was so proud of himself, he didn't want to let go.

This week he's been escaping his swaddling blanket every night. Hopefully he'll get used to sleeping this way and soon we won't have to swaddle him at all. His main reason for working his arms up out of the swaddle is because he desperately wants to to suck his thumb.

He wants SO badly to get his thumb in his mouth and he has scratched his face all up trying to accomplish this in the dark. Last night I caught him blindly jabbing both thumbs at his face hoping to at least get one of them in, haha, and the other night this is what I found when I looked at the video monitor: 

Tuesday night Paul gave Wilder his first bottle. I've been putting off doing this because it's such a hassle to pump and try to save up the milk and since I'm always with him there was never really a necessity for it. But I knew I needed to at least get him used to a bottle now so he won't reject it in the future if I need to be away from him for more than a few hours at a time. I wasn't sure how he would react to it, but he took it no questions asked. He's such a little piglet I guess he'll take his milk however he can get it. 

On Wednesday I took Wilder and the dogs to the dog park by myself. If you've ever witnessed how jacked up our dogs get when they think there's even a remote possibility that they are going somewhere (Posey literally attacks Rider out of excitement) then you know how big of an accomplishment this is. I was pretty proud of myself and it's nice to know that it can be done with a little planning and strategy (i.e. put the dogs in their room so they don't suspect they're being taken along, put Wilder in his car seat, go out to the car and open up the back end, come back in leaving the gate and the front door open, let the dogs out of their room, at which point they make a mad, scrambling dash out the front door, through the gate, and into the back of the car, then come back and get Wilder and go). It felt good to get outside so I'll probably do that more often now that I have the correct sequence of events down to minimize the insanity. 

On Thursday I took Wilder to my old work to meet everybody. He did so great and let everyone hold him while he just stared at all the people around him. They witnessed the pregnancy from start to finish (that sounds weird... not the literal start or finish, haha, but you know what I mean) and have been like a family to me out here so I was so excited for them to finally meet him. Of course, he wouldn't "Ooh ooh" for them (why won't kids perform when you want them to?) but they all thought he was just too cute :)

Today Wilder and I went to our first baby yoga class on the lawn of the Kensington-Normal Heights Public Library. He was the youngest baby there so most of the poses were for little ones who could at least stand with the help of their mom, but it was pretty easy for me to modify them for him. He did so good and let me hold him up in the air, move his arms and legs around, roll him around on the mat, etc. He was actually a little fussy before we went, but once we got there he loved the fresh air and getting to watch all the other babies and people. It wasn't as much exercise for me as I had hoped but it was fun to get out of the house and go do something interactive together and he was absolutely worn out when we left. We'll definitely be going back. 

Also this week I did another little photo shoot with him with our good camera and got some (I think) really amazing photos. He is so funny, he loves having his picture taken and will lay there for an hour or more watching me snap the camera at him (probably because I'm making a total fool of myself trying to get him to smile for me, haha). Here are some of my favorite shots:

OK, that's all for this week. Hope all of you have a fantastic weekend! 

Life of Wilder: Week Eight

I can't believe my precious Wilder is already two months old! Where's the pause button?? In the last 8 weeks our lives have been turned inside-out, upside-down, and backwards. SO much has happened and Wilder has gone from a tiny eating / pooping / crying / sleeping veritable fetus to a chubby eating / pooping / crying / sleeping / laughing / cooing / playing / leg-kicking / world-watching / rolling over baby. 

Yes, you read that right -- rolling over! I was doing tummy time with him on Wednesday and all of a sudden he straightened one arm above his head, pushed off with the other arm, kicked his legs over and he was on his back! My jaw dropped to the floor and I ran for the video camera. I turned him back over and, lo and behold, he did it again, and again, and again! I sat there and videoed him for 5 whole minutes flipping that little body over... and then I realized that, in all my excitement, I hadn't pressed Record. Ugh! I was so disgusted with myself! By the time I realized this he was getting tired but I was NOT about to miss getting that milestone on camera so here he is grumpily humoring me by rolling over a few extra times (at the beginning you can hear me realizing my dumb mistake, haha):

Last Saturday we took Wilder on his first social outing. Some friends of ours were having a few people over from Paul's studio and they've all been dying to see the baby so we took him out for a little while. Even though it was past his bedtime, he did great. Paul and I took turns holding him facing out into the room and he sat there looking all around the place and staring at all the faces surrounding him. Everyone got a kick out of him because he would study each new person's face for 5-10 minutes and then go on to the next one. He was so amazed at all those new people staring at him. He was definitely the life of the party :)

This has been a really long week. Wilder went back to his 3-hour eating schedule over the weekend (thank goodness!) so that's helped but he hasn't really wanted to nap during the day so we've both been tired and grumpy all week. Also, Paul got an internship opportunity that he couldn't turn down with Teddy Cruz (his work has been in the Museum of Modern Art) so three mornings a week he's gone by 8:00. I'm really proud of him and happy that he has this opportunity, but this means that, whereas before he would get up with Wilder for a couple of hours in the morning and let me catch up on my sleep, now I'm up all night and all day with the baby. And if he doesn't nap, which has been the case this week, then I can't nap. It's been pretty frustrating. BUT for his 2-month birthday he gave me the best present ever last night -- he only woke up one time to eat! Oh, it was fabulous, glorious, amazing! The most sleep I've had consecutively since November! Of course, I'm sure it was more of a fluke result of him missing naps all week than the start of a better sleeping pattern, but I'll take it. 

Ever since he got his vaccinations, we've been getting out a lot more running errands and going for walks. It feels good to get out of the house. This weekend we're going to take him to Balboa Park and then next week I found a Baby Yoga class I'm going to try out and also take him to my old work to visit everyone. The past two months have been awesome and it's just going to keep getting better and better. I'm so thankful for this little man in my life!

Also, we want to wish Wilder's precious Grana a very happy birthday on Sunday! I can only hope to be as good a mom to him as she has been to me. Her generosity of spirit and kindness of heart are unmatched by anyone I know. We love you and can't wait to see you soon!

                       

Here are some pictures from our week:

Best time of the day... when Dad 

 gets home from school!

He loves playing by himself in the Pack n' Play. 

He laughs at and tries to talk to all the toys. 

Even though he hates tummy time, he's 

definitely getting the hang of it.

Shopping at Target with Mom -- 

First time in the stroller. He kept looking up

at me like "Why are you so far away and what's 

this rolling thing I'm in?"

Have a good weekend everyone!

Life of Wilder: Week Seven

It's going to have to be a short post this week because, frankly, I'm exhausted. Paul started back to school on Monday so I've been home alone with Wilder every day and until after 8:00 most nights. I've been blessed that this is only the second week I've had him by myself so far -- besides Paul's exam week during Week 3 we've had visitors and Paul's been on break the whole rest of the time. I'm slowly getting used to juggling laundry, cleaning, and baby. Paul says he doesn't expect me to do anything but feed Wilder and nap all day (sweet man), but I can't just sit at home surrounded by dirty clothes/dishes and Rider hair covered floors and not do anything about it. I know I'm supposed to nap when he naps but I'm a little too OCD to sleep if my house is dirty. I did go to bed at 8:00 last night and it felt awesome. Maybe I'll try that more often. 

Another reason I'm so worn out is that, as you know from my last post, Wilder decided late last week that he needed to eat every 2 hours. I felt like he was probably going through a growth spurt so I let him have his way but now I think he's just gotten in the habit. So this has been our routine all week and it's totally thrown us off his schedule. He's gotten so slow at eating too that he'll lollygag around for like 45 minutes and by the time he's finished I only have an hour before he's fussing to eat again. I feel like I need to create some kind of harness that I can carry him around in attached to me so he has constant access to food. It's getting to be a bit ridiculous and a lot exhausting. I've got to try to get him back on his 3-hour schedule because waking up at 12:00 am, getting back in bed at 1:00 am, waking up at 2:00 am, getting back in bed at 3:00 am, waking up at 4:00 am and so on is this girl's worst nightmare. What happened to the nights when I could sleep 13 hours at a stretch? Now all I want is to get more than 2 hours of sleep in a row!

Don't get me wrong, it's totally worth it. If I have to wake up every other hour at night, what better consolation than to wake up to my sweet Wilder's precious face? I mean, look at this little angel :)

I just have to remind myself that it won't last forever. What a bittersweet thought... He won't always keep me up all night, but he also won't be a baby forever. As he continues to get bigger every week, I'm excited to see each next milestone, but it also breaks my heart that he is growing too fast and we won't ever get this time back. I have literally cried to Paul just thinking about how much he's already changed. 

Speaking of changing, we went for Wilder's 2-month checkup today. He did great; he was so happy the whole time and just smiled and cooed at the doctor as she examined him. I was so proud of him. Then the nurse came in and gave him his shots and totally ruined his day. Poor thing, I've never seen such a red face and he has never screamed so loud. He was totally traumatized the rest of the day. I felt so bad for him, but I'm pretty excited that now we can be a little less nervous about taking him to public places. Here's my happy boy pre-shots:

He weighed 11 lbs 4 oz and was 22.5 inches long! 

In other news, we had a great visit last weekend from Amber, Travis, and Henry. It was so special to see Henry and Wilder together. I can't wait for Wilder to be old enough to play with his cousin. The play was a little one-sided on Sunday, haha :)

Henry is just too cute and it's so fun and crazy to see where Wilder will be in just a few months. Here are some more pictures from their visit:

After my epic fail of a baby photo shoot a few weeks ago I've been a little hesitant to try again. We have a really nice camera though that Paul uses to photograph architecture models so I got him to show me how to use it and finally worked up the courage to give it another shot. I may have just gotten lucky, but I don't care because I got some great pictures of Wilder:

One last bit of news. I'm sooo excited... we booked a flight for Wilder and I to come back to Tennessee to visit the first week in March! I'm pretty nervous about traveling with him by myself but I cannot wait for all of our family to meet him. It's going to be such a great week!

Well, I guess it didn't turn out to be as short a post as I thought. Anyway, everyone have a terrific weekend! 

Life of Wilder: Week Six

Disclaimer: I always told myself I wouldn't be the type of mom to post 27 photos of my baby in the same pose because only she can tell the slight difference between all of them and only she thinks they are all so adorable that she can't choose between them... but I guess I lied to myself because I really couldn't choose between these and I think you guys really want/need to see all of them ;)

Official 6 Week Photo

Happy dancing baby

Laughing hysterically

Grinning

 "Oh Mom, you're a hoot!"

As you can tell, we've had such a fun week. Wilder really started cooing a lot and we discovered that he thinks it's utterly brilliant when we "Ooh ooh" back at him. He gets SO excited that we're speaking his language, gets this big grin on his face, and proceeds to coo back at us, laugh, and jump all around. It absolutely melts our hearts and we can't get enough of it. There has never been more laughter, joy, and monosyllabic speech in our house than this first week in 2011. 

Here's a video I shot this morning of our fun new morning routine. Please try to ignore my annoying "Ooh ooh"-ing and Wilder's inopportune bowel movement at the end... Enjoy!

The schedule is going pretty well. We've made a few adjustments here and there over the week and overall it's allowing us to get more done because we know when he'll be napping, eating, etc. Wilder is still getting used to napping in his crib during the day, but he seems to be sleeping better at night. I read that the better/more sleep babies get during the day the better they sleep at night and that does seem to be the case. At least once during the night he'll sleep for a four or five hour stretch, which is glooorious! 

Ever since he was born he's been on a three-hour eating schedule and I consider myself lucky for this but the last few days he's been wanting to eat more like every 2 or 2 1/2 hours. I think he must be going through a growth spurt so I've been trying to accommodate him. I do NOT want him to make this a habit though because I was really hoping to start stretching him to four hours soon. Oh well, he's a growing boy, obviously -- we weighed him the other day at home and he weighed 11 pounds! 

We go to the doctor for his 2-month appointment next Friday and he can finally start getting his vaccines. I'm having mixed feelings about this -- I'm mostly really excited because I've been a nervous wreck for the last month and a half worrying about him getting whooping cough, but I'm also afraid I might slap the nurse when she makes my baby cry with those shots. Hopefully I can restrain myself :)

Speaking of medical issues... Wilder's thrush is just now going away. He's had it for a month and has gone through two prescriptions for Nystatin -- that nasty, sticky stuff I never should have complained about -- and this week the doctor recommended an even worse remedy... Gentian Violet. Here's what he looked like the first time we applied it (luckily we got better at it real fast and the next day's application didn't end with such frightening results):

Poor baby!

Now that I've thoroughly scared you with my little Goth baby, here are some much cuter pictures from this week:

We love these Wubbanub pacifiers... he can hold onto 

them and they are just so darn cute :)

It breaks my heart, but he can no longer fit into

most of his newborn-sized clothes. Here he is 

in his first 0-3 month outfit.

At our favorite place -- the dog park

A beautiful photo Paul took of him this morning --
we had a very successful photo shoot today so

expect birth announcements in the mail soon!

Love this sweet face!

This is Paul's last weekend before going back to school. We've had such a wonderful three weeks with him all to ourselves. Wilder absolutely adores him and lights up every time he sees him. It's so precious! 

Also this weekend we're getting a visit from my cousin Amber, her husband, and little boy, Henry. We've been looking forward to getting Henry and Wilder together for so long and we are super excited to see these guys on Sunday! I know it's going to be such a special time. 


OK y'all, have a fabulous weekend!