A's first vomit

Yep, and it landed all over me. He only did it once--last night as I was putting him to bed. Then he awoke a few times in the night, wanting me to hold him, which he typically does only when he's experiencing teething pain. I don't think he's having teething pain right now, but I don't know what else could be up either. From what I've read, babies vomit easily and will do so for a variety of reasons, and that a single vomit is nothing to fret about. He seemed oddly fussy tonight before bed though. He passed out in no time and was as limp as I've seen him since his first few weeks of life beyond the womb. But then he awoke just 40 minutes later. I gave him some acetamenophen, and now all seems well.



In other news, I'm being referred from one doctor to another to figure out what is wrong with my eyesight. I went to the optometrist last week. She referred me to a retina specialist because she thought she saw the beginning of a retinal hole. I found out today that my retinas are holeless, but that now I need to see a cornea specialist. I hope she figures it out. I'm sick of leaning into the computer screen and squinting.

Atticus's New Dance (video)

Atticus's New Dance

Grandma Ross Meets Atticus (video)

Grandma Ross meets Atticus

steelers, grandma, pre-crawling, gripping toes

Atticus and dad sporting Steelers attire.


Atticus meets Grandma Becky. He got up somewhat early that morning and wasn't being very cooperative during picture-taking.


Atticus sporting still more Steelers attire. Here he is using his toes to grip the toys on his play mat. He uses his feet like hands quite often. I've even seen him pass a toy from one foot to another. ha.

A few weeks ago I reported that Atticus almost never rolled from back to belly since he seemed to hate being on his belly. Now rolling onto his belly is all the rage. He's eager to crawl but doesn't quite have it figured out yet. I suspect he's not yet able to lift that heavy torso of his. So instead he slithers about by grinding his head into the floor or mattress. It looks awkward, but he can travel quickly like this. I can no longer leave him momentarily unattended on the bed or other high places.

Today I fed him sweet potato not long after he awoke from a 1 1/2 hour nap, and he ate it all up. It appears that feeding him on an empty or almost-empty stomach is the way to go.

6 months!

Happy Birthday, Atticus!

Atticus had his six-month check-up today (very prompt). His new stats:

weight: 20 pounds 13.5 ounces (95th percentile)
height: 29 3/4 inches (off the charts; plus, this means we now officially need a new car seat)
head: 46 cm (95th percentile)

He took his vaccinations like a champ--only a few tears, despite that he bled all over my jeans. And this despite that he's been teething something fierce the last few days. I can now feel a tiny something of the second tooth above his gums.

The doctor went on about how I need to give him iron-fortified cereal soon, that breastmilk is insufficient in iron. Am I the only one who is suspicious of this claim? Okay, I know I'm not the only one, but seriously, how would we all be here if breastmilk was so darn insufficient? It makes no sense to me that my baby NEEDS processed white rice cereal with iron added to it. And if breastmilk really is an insufficient source of iron, which I doubt (and I've seen studies that challenge this claim), why not give him real foods with iron in them, such as spinach and beef and beans? Why processed foods?

the beach

We took our first family vacation Labor Day weekend--went to the San Diego area (more specifically, Carlsbad, to visit Mike and Lauri and kiddos [I thought I hated that word, but have found myself using it from time to time lately]).


Chris declared that Atticus was too young to play in the sand, that he might eat some of it (as if all hell would break loose if that happened). Lucky for Atticus, mommy thinks babies should eat all the sand they want. What harm can come from a few gritty diapers?


Risa kept telling Atticus that this was her bucket, and that he should get his own. "Baby Atticus, don't take my bucket!" Baby Atticus was also instructed not to pull hair.


sand beard--maybe he's trying to imitate his Grandpa Jimmy?

a father's love

Several days ago Chris was hanging out with Atticus at one of the parks in our neighborhood when a small child came over to them, swinging a long stick around. Chris says he politely asked the child to stop swinging the stick so close to them. The child grinned and swung his stick some more. Chris said, he reports, "If you poke my baby's eye out, I'm going to rip your arm off." The child departed.