Today was a very busy day! This morning Mateo had his six month wellness check, which means one thing - shots! Not to worry, though; he took them like the champ he is. :) Here's a rundown of his stats. Height: 25.25 inches (15%ile) Weight: 15 lbs. 13 oz. (20%ile) Milestones: Brings hands together, sits mostly unassisted, rolls over, pushes up on arms, scoots backward, babbles, spits, loves the mirror, reaches for his mommy, holds own bottle, eats simple veggies and fruits and cereals, laughs at peek-a-boo and at his daddy! One interesting thing that he's been doing for several months is "thumbing" things, as you can see in this 6 month photo. Pretty much anything around him he'll thumb before picking it up. Not sure if this is worrisome or just cute!
This afternoon we had a playdate with one of his friends at Barnes and Noble (where the mommies can have Starbucks!). His friend Shayne is a chubby, giggly, cutie ball of baby. Meanwhile Mat is very serious about his "work" when he shakes the rattle. They do regard each other well, which is nice. Shayne's mom is a 6th grade science teacher like me! (And oddly enough she's part Panamanian! Crazy, right?)
This evening we broke in the jogger stroller that Victor, Marco, Pilar, Karina, and Ringo gave us. It works well - put him right to sleep! I just started training for a half-marathon coming in February. With all this extra baby weight (30 pounds!) I opted to just do the half this year to save my knees. Plus it takes less time to train for it. I'm using Round Rock Fit again. It's a great program. I even persuaded a few teacher friends to give it a shot. My neighbor/friend Deanna is doing it, too! My motives are different this time - I have no time goals, I'm open to walking, and I just want to use this opportunity to get fit again. So stay tuned - hopefully you'll be seeing less of me! :)
Last Sunday afternoon we took Mateo to the Austin Children's Museum. At first we had a hard time deciding what was age appropriate, but the ACM has a great gated place for babies and toddlers to play without "big kids" barging in. He was vaguely interested in some items, preferring instead to touch the brick rock wall nearby and to play with my bag, but once we made it to the "baby pit" he had a blast! (The baby pit is just a padded enclosed area filled with baby friendly toys.) He was worn out afterward. Mommy and Daddy had a lot of fun, too, as you can see by the rest of the photos. :)
Am I just crazy or does it seem like quite the majority of coupons are for junk food? We are trying to eat healthier (as I've got some serious baby weight to lose), and I'm trying to save money at the same time by using coupons. (Let's be honest - I just get a kick from being able to brag about my good deals!) I have decided that coupons were created to hook children onto very unhealthy products; it seems quite the majority are for little kids' sugary lunchbox snacks. Yes, I know there are some good ones, but not that many. I have to go grocery shopping tomorrow (or Wednesday - not sure yet), so I'm trying to plan our menus for the next two weeks with coupons to help out. I've spent I don't know how many hours today just looking for decent coupons! And by the way, I can't believe people SELL coupons on Ebay?!! What in the H-E-double hockey sticks is THAT about? I'm such a coupon newbie that everything is shocking to me! haha...
Thanks to Heather for sending me the incredibly awesome Target coupon site! I bought sooo much baby food - a two hour event for Mateo and me. My receipt was really long, and of course I had to pour over it after I left. Most of the jars cost me just 7 cents each. Yep, you read right! The double carton packs cost me from 34 to 42 cents each. So just accounting for baby food, regular price this would have cost me $71.77. Instead I paid $21.77. Score! That's like $50 in free baby food! And my coupons didn't stop at just baby food. I bought a total of 20 liter-sized sparkling waters (which I drink every day anyway) for just 9 cents each! And those large boxes of Luvs diapers you see were on sale for a dollar off PLUS I had coupons for $2 off each one. And I bought even more than that today with coupons... ground beef, orange juice, cookie dough, ... After it was all said and done I figured out I saved $65 in coupons. Now I can go get a pedicure! *wink!*
And just because I can, I'll leave you with a picture of my Gerber baby.
At Mateo's first Cranial Technologies appointment, they took various measurements around his head to check for asymmetry. At his appointment last week they took some more measurements. Most of the numbers have shown drastic improvement. But the one measurement that they really use to monitor progress didn't show as much, though they tell me he is right on target as far as showing improvement for his age and time in the band. Anyhow, normal asymmetry for this measurement (sorry I don't remember the exact term) is between 3 and 7 mm. Mat's starting measurement was 17, which put him in the "Severe" category. After 4 weeks of wearing the band he's now measuring at a 14mm. So he's still in the Severe category. Therefore, we'll be getting another band.
So this means that we go through the entire process (from insurance to casting to fitting the new band) all over again. We start this progress now so that in another week or so he'll have another casting, and after that he'll go seamlessly right into the new band. We're a little disappointed that he has to go through more banding, but of course we'll do whatever it takes. I just feel sorry for him now that the temperature is going up into the low 100s; his head gets so sweaty sometimes. But on a lighter note, he is really enjoying bananas and squash (of all things!) these days! (I can't say the same for rice OR oatmeal cereals.)
In other news, Mark came over for a visit. It was a short visit, but we always enjoy seeing him. We all had a great laugh when mom played for us some tapes that she recorded of us as kids. Mark has the cutest, deepest little voice and THICK Texan accent. And while I'll admit to sounding whiny and even argumentative at times, in the tapes I do proudly proclaim that "school is just FABulous." HA! We also want to say that we really enjoyed seeing Vanessa this last week. I think Mateo might have a new crush!
Anyhow, life is pretty good these days. We have had several friends bring some beautiful babies into this world during the last month or so. Congratulations to Marco and Pilar! Congratulations to Brenda and Hector! Congratulations to Mel and Jeremy! Congratulations to Jose and Rosanna! Congratulations to Jorge and Lynette! Congratulations to Michael and Heather! Each time a friend has a baby we relive the day our sweet one was born. :) We wish them all healthy, happy babies and as much sleep at night as possible!
Earlier this week we had some exciting work done downstairs - we had canned and undercabinet lighting installed! It really looks fabulous and makes the house feel much warmer. We used "Kevin the Fan Man" and FINALLY had a good experience with contractors! They came in the morning and stayed until after 8pm to finish the job. Now we're just waiting on some painters to come paint our entire downstairs ceiling. After that I'll repaint the kitchen again. Anyhow, we're thrilled!
Additionally, here are some photos of Mateo playing with the dogs ('cause you know I can't have an update without baby or dog photos of some sort!). He and Pixel have really started interacting with each other. Mat likes to grab his face and ears, and Pixel just loves to have his face and ears grabbed! Seriously, Pixel just licks his hands and loves every minute of the abuse. He's a really good dog. Marley is a little more of a grump about it, but just leaves the situation instead of reacting. So she's a pretty good dog, too. :-)
Today was a very busy day! This morning Mateo had his six month wellness check, which means one thing - shots! Not to worry, though; he took them like the champ he is. :) Here's a rundown of his stats.
This evening we broke in the jogger stroller that Victor, Marco, Pilar, Karina, and Ringo gave us. It works well - put him right to sleep! I just started training for a half-marathon coming in February. With all this extra baby weight (30 pounds!) I opted to just do the half this year to save my knees. Plus it takes less time to train for it. I'm using Round Rock Fit again. It's a great program. I even persuaded a few teacher friends to give it a shot. My neighbor/friend Deanna is doing it, too! My motives are different this time - I have no time goals, I'm open to walking, and I just want to use this opportunity to get fit again. So stay tuned - hopefully you'll be seeing less of me! :)
