Lots New

A lot has happened since my last post, but we've been running too much that I haven't had time to sit down and do an update. Denver had his first plane ride to go to his Uncle Aaron's graduation in Indiana. Denver did very well on the plane. He was a little fussy at times, but we did lots of waiting in the airport and on the plane waiting to take off due to rain in Chicago. After being gone from home for 5 days Denver (AND Mom and Dad) was happy to be home!

Congratulations Uncle Aaron!

Here are some photos from our trip:

Denver waiting in the airport

Denver and Daddy waiting in the airport

Denver loved watching out the window of the plane before and after we took off.

We found some interesting places for Denver to eat while we were on our trip. Here Denver's sitting on the floor in a dressing room in a mall. He thought the mirrors were great and was happy to get a dry diaper, into some comfy clothes (post Church), and to fill his belly!

Denver and Mommy at our hotel

Denver at the hotel. Aren't I cute?!

Denver continues to sit better on his own every day. He loves to sit on the floor and play with his toys. He thinks he's cool stuff now! Denver can lean and reach for toys and return to his sitting position without falling over.

Denver continues to love reading books, but insists upon turning the pages himself. He's been doing this for quite some time now (I think he figured it out around 3 months old), but we forget to go find the video camera to record him doing it before we sit down to read. We'll try and get a video of it for all of you to see.

Several more new trick were learned this past week by Denver. He figured out how to play "peek-a-book" with you. When we were waiting in the airport he figured out how to pull the blanket down, but this weekend he started covering up his face and uncovering it and looking at you and smiling. He loves playing peek-a-boo with his Daddy! If you give Denver your hands he'll pull himself up to standing position from a sitting position. He is very proud and gets excited about it. Look out world here comes a busy boy!

Denver has figured out how to roll consecutively now, but doesn't do it very often and I don't think he's ever been caught doing it; he's just found in a complete different spot on the floor than where he started.

Denver also had his first haircut before our trip, but Daddy was getting his hair cut at the same time so Mommy didn't get any pictures. :( I do have the hair the cut though! They didn't take much off it was just to get rid of the long part on one side that didn't fall out like the rest and had a little curl to it and evened out the rest. It's really starting to fill back in well.

Here's some fun pictures of Denver sitting and playing.

Mmmm....Sonic! Denver loves straws and Daddy thinks that Denver even figured out how to suck out of it at one point as the straw all of a sudden got cold! (FYI the Sonic drink was gone before he got to play with the cup and straw)

Fun in the Sun

April 19th was a gorgeous day and it was Denver's first day outside to play! He really liked it. The grass was very intriguing to him.

Five Months

Too much going on this month that this is what you get for Denver's 5 month pictures.

New Adventures Everyday

Denver continues to do new things every day. Here are some videos of some of his fun tricks. (Sorry they aren't in any particular order of when he learned to do them.) Since I've taken so long to get these videos edited and uploaded there are quite a few and I had to do some picking and choosing as we had too many!

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Brushing Teeth

Denver loves to brush his teeth. Evan gave him his tooth brush one night to let him do it and he did it just like he was supposed to. Of course, by the time I got the video camera out he was just playing with it in his mouth, but it was still super cute.

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Rolling Over

Denver now rolls both ways. He has gotten so good at rolling from his back to his tummy that he some times forgets that he can go back to his back. Denver loves tummy time now and typically puts himself in "tummy time" when we put him down on the floor. He is getting stronger every day and wants to crawl so bad. He'll be playing with his ball and it rolls away and he reach for it and try to get there, but just swims in the floor instead. How frustrating for him. Thank goodness he's not rolling circles yet so he's not real mobile yet!

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Eating Vegetables

Denver gets to eat cereal in the morning and vegetables at night. Here's a video of his first taste of something other than milk or cereal. It's green beans. Unfortunately, I'm afraid he's like his mommy and picky about his vegetables as you can see on his face. He likes his orange vegetables better.

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Playing Catch

Denver loves to play with his balls. Here's the 3 of us playing catch together. Daddy is so proud that Denver likes his basketballs so much.

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New Things

It's so fun watch Denver explore new things that he hasn't seen or had a chance to get his hands on yet. He loves mommy's camera, Grandma's lap top, and so much more. Here Denver is having fun with a balloon that we got at the "Big Give" in Sioux Falls tonight (a house was given away to a little boy who has cancer and his family and this house is actually in our neighborhood...the balloon was supposed to fly away when the family came back out of the house, but we had to go home because Denver was getting cold so we decided to bring the balloon home for Denver to play with instead).

Always Moving

Denver is always moving, unless he's asleep. He does not like to sit still, but I guess we can't blame him since his mommy and daddy don't like to sit still either. Now that I always have to be moving with him I've noticed it's even harder for me to sit still now! Since my last post Denver has learned how to roll from his back to his tummy very well and is constantly rolling over (Dad gets frustrated because he turns his back to grab a onesie or something and when he turns back around Denver is now on his tummy....by the way this is on the floor, not the changing table!). He also sits up on his own and he actually does the jumping in his jumperoo by himself now! Finally the light bulb went on in that head!

I have lots of videos that I want to put on the blog, but I'm too tired to spend the time editing the videos and downloading so hopefully next week I can get those uploaded for you all to enjoy his little personality and see him doing all these new tricks. Denver has also learned that he loves his basketballs! We've started an evening routine of the three of us playing catch; it's very cute and this is on video so it will be coming to the blog, I promise! We have also started doing cereal in the morning and vegetables in the evening. Denver does really well with eating his food. He has had green beans and carrots. I don't think he really liked the green beans (hopefully that doesn't mean he'll be like his Mom and not like his vegetables!), so that's why I went to the carrots next instead of the peas. After the carrots we'll go to the peas and then back to our orange colored vegetables. I also moved his high chair up to the kitchen. He's still a bit little for it, but we'll sit in it every once in awhile and learn how to sit in it.

We've been enjoying the nice weather and have gone on a couple stroller rides. We can't wait until it's beach time! Denver has 4 pairs of swim trunks, a couple swim hats, and sunglasses on the way! The nice weather also means that it's baseball season and we have been watching the Minnesota Twins. We hope to take Denver to a game this year; he was at 4 games last year, he just didn't get to watch, just listen! :)

Today the weather obviously wasn't very nice and Denver and Mommy sat by the patio door watching the snow for awhile. Denver sat and hit at the window for awhile. It's so fun watching him explore new things. We had some good snuggle time the last two days which is good as I work all weekend and will miss him terribly!

Four Months

Denver was 4 months on Monday. He had his 4 month well baby check up on Tuesday and he weighed in at 12 lbs 9 oz (25%) and was 24.5 inches long (50-75%) and his head circumference is in the 75%.

We also got the okay to start cereal, but to be honest, we had tried it before because Denver loves to eat. He would watch Evan and I eat and reach for what we were eating. Also, our little guy may only be in the 25%, but it's not like he's not trying to gain more weight as he eats 5 oz every 2 hours (which is about twice of our little neighbor girl who is 10 days older than him and weighs a lot more than him). Denver likes his cereal, but he gets so excited when Mommy and or Daddy smile at him that lots of times he smiles before he swallows and it comes back out. It's pretty sweet. Denver gets his cereal every evening and gets a little better at it every time. Right now I'm thinking we'll slowly increase it after awhile and then around 5 months start vegetables and 6 months start fruits.

Denver has had some fussier times in the evening and after feedings leading us to believe his Prevacid (for his reflux) needed to be increased so we doubled his dose. It seems to have helped and he's been more himself.

Denver has been working hard to roll from his back to his tummy and Tuesday morning he achieved that, but he couldn't figure out how to get his arm out from underneath him so it didn't last long and he rolled back to his back. He also loves playing with bags; Ithink he likes listening to the different sounds and feeling the different textures. One night while we ate supper Denver played with a bag of chips. (When we eat supper Denver sits in his bumbo seat on the table.)

This is Denver's new way of sitting in his bumbo seat. He doesn't seem to sit straight in it very often anymore. He's just a busy kid trying to see everything going on!

Happy Easter

We hope everyone has a wonderful Easter. Here are some Easter pictures of Denver.

Happy St Patricks Day!

Bumbo Jumbo

Every thing in our house rhymes these days. Denver loves to be sung to and Daddy is always making up songs that have little rhymes in them. It's pretty cute. I tried getting a video of Daddy singing the "Slippery Butt" song, but the camcorder battery died on me so I will have to get it another time. This song is sung to Denver by Daddy when he gets out of the tub, while Mommy or Daddy put lotion on him. Denver typically if not always cries after getting out of the tub and this seems to satisfy him thus there is no crying if Daddy is around after bath time! :)

Denver has a bumbo seat. This is a seat that he sits in that helps him sit up, but also helps him build the muscles he needs to sit on his own. I did get him to sit by himself for a couple seconds yesterday. I have some pictures below of him sitting in his bumbo seat. I need to get a video of him play with his tractors while sitting in his bumbo seat. Sorry to all the John Deere lovers...but I think he likes Case better as he plays with that one first until it falls to the floor and then he plays with the John Deere one. When he gets tired he lays his head on the side and starts sucking his thumb.

Denver gets stronger every day. He still hasn't rolled over from his back to his tummy, but is very close and I don't think he's in any hurry to do this as he does not like being on his tummy very much. He rolls to his side back and forth and back and forth until he gets himself turned so he can see what he wants to see. Lots of times what he's trying to see is the TV! It's about time for us to start thinking about a baby gate so he doesn't go tumbling down the stairs when he gets a little more mobile. Denver's still working on pushing himself up off the floor with his arms. He does this from his elbows to his shoulders, but not with his hands. We've been working on getting rid of our head lag when you pull him up from a laying position to a sitting or standing position. He is getting really close, but when you first pull him up a bit that head hangs back for awhile. Denver loves to play in front of the mirror! Mommy and Grandma Verni have spent lots of time in front of the mirror to make a mad baby a happy baby. It's amazing how well it works!

I think that's all we really have for an update. Denver is 4 months old on Monday so hopefully there will be a doctor's report (including his weight!) and 4 month pictures some time next week. Thanks for checking in on us and thinking about us. We are amazed at how many people check out our blog!

The Lost Thumb has been Found

For all those who remember Evan and I talking about our 20 week ultrasound or showing you pictures of it...Denver sucked his thumb throughout the ultrasound. At one point he lost his thumb and got mad and started flailing his extremities around until he found his thumb again and the ultrasound tech just happened to get a picture of him in the process of getting his thumb back in his mouth. Here's that picture...which if you look close they typed in "WHERE'S MY THUMB????".

This past week Denver found his thumb again! I think he's only found his left thumb as I can't recall seeing him suck on his right thumb. Now we typically find him in the crib in the morning sucking away on his thumb. His thumb has become a good tide me over and when he's tired his thumb goes straight to his mouth! Enjoy the video that we got of Denver sucking his thumb in his crib Sunday morning before he woke up. (It's a little dark as we didn't turn the lights on in the room until the end because we didn't want to wake him up before we got it on video!)

Three Months Old

Denver was 3 months old last Sunday. We are having more and more fun with him every day! Today we went to Target and he just talked away while we were there and was full of smiles. Denver didn't like to sit still much before, but now he really doesn't like to sit still. He's always wanting to be looking at something new or playing with a toy. He has a musical gym and today we got him another gym that has 6 different spots for toys to hang from (1 which is a mirror that he loves to look into) and he loves both these toys. They can entertain him for up to 30 minutes. One day he was sitting in my lap basically asleep and woke up when I moved him and he saw his musical gym and starting reaching for it and going "eh, eh, eh" until I put him down to play with it. Then the other morning Denver decided to get up at 5a.m. (when Mommy was working a night shift so Daddy had to get up! Ha, ha, ha....sorry Dad, but it's funny to Mom) and he played with his musical gym until he fell asleep! Amazing! Denver is also slowly figuring out his jumperoo, but hasn't figured out how he can jump...we have to bounce it for him.


Denver is still a Minnesota Twins fan! We're getting excited for baseball season. Daddy thought he needed to get Denver a baseball glove today, but Mommy said just wait until he gets bigger! Daddy can't wait to play basketball and baseball with Denver.


Here is what I've accomplished for 3 month pictures. Denver has learned that Mommy takes too many pictures and knows that if he starts crying I'll stop....so it's getting hard to get good ones. I'm still hoping to get a good full body one of him in his little button up and corduroy pants.

ROLLING OVER!!

We are rolling over!! Denver rolled over for the first time today. Believe it or not, both Mom and Dad got to be there to see him roll over for the first time. Dad is very proud as he read in a book that at 5 months your baby MIGHT be able to roll over one way. I missed the first rolling over for the video camera, but got it for the 2nd and several more after that. Here's the video of him.

More Bath Time Fun and Jiber-Jabering!

Denver continues to do well. We think he's still working on a tooth though as he's been fussy at times and nothing seems to soothe him other than rubbing his gums or giving him some orajel and/or tylenol. He sucks on his fists constantly and is always drooling. We wear bibs pretty much all the time now to prevent his shirt from becoming soaked in drool! He seems to talk a little more every day. Last week we had a meeting in Church and one of his little girlfriends (who is 10 days older, lives down the street from us, and her mommy works with me, besides the fact of going to Church together) was there...we had them facing each other and Denver started to giggle at Abby and then Abby started to talk away to Denver. It was so cute and fun to watch. It makes you wonder if they know what they are saying to each other! Denver keeps working on rolling over, but hasn't gotten very far. It's going to take awhile to figure out how to get that arm out of the way, but that's okay because we like that we can put him in one spot and run out of the room and he'll still be there when we get back! Denver was 3 months old on Sunday. I hope to take 3 month pictures tomorrow and will hopefully have them posted by the end of the week.

Here are some videos of Denver. One of them is part of bath time and the other is of him talking. Whenever I turn on the video camera he seems to quit doing whatever he was doing that was so cute. These are some of the better ones I've been able to get. I hope you enjoy them. His little personality comes out more and more everyday. It's so much fun!

Adjustments

Now that I've been back at work for 2 full weeks I figured I better make some time to get some updates on here and let everyone know how it's going. It was very hard to leave the house for my first shift back, but each shift it's a little easier to leave. I think that's because I don't "dwell" on it so much and I know I have to go and that I just need to enjoy every minute I get at home with Denver AND Evan. I think Denver has enjoyed his time with his Daddy and Grandmas, but we can tell he misses his Mommy! Night shifts are easier in the fact that Denver sleeps through the night and I can usually make it home in the morning right before he gets up, so he only notices I'm gone in the evening before bed. The only problem with that is that he wants to nurse and snuggle with his Mommy before he goes to bed which has made the evenings a little difficult for Daddy. Day shifts are a little more difficult for Denver because he wakes up to both Mom and Dad gone, but thank goodness it works for Grandma Verni to stay with him so at least it's a familiar face that picks him up out of his crib in the morning and plays with him all day long. Since I work 12 hour shifts I'm gone from the house for about 13 hours and so I'm going nuts by the time I finally get to leave the hospital and go see my baby boy! We are all slowly adjusting and hopefully we will all continue to do well with this transition in our lives.

Here are some new pictures of Denver:

We tried a foam liner that lays in the tub for bath time...thinking he might like that better, but his Daddy was right he likes his blue tub the best. He likes lots of water to be able to splash and when you put enough water in with this yellow thing then he turns his head and drinks the water.

Elmo is one of Denver's best friends. He likes to play with Elmo and he fell asleep with him in his carseat one day.

Valentine's DayMom and Denver played at home all day and then Daddy came home from work and they played together for awhile. Then the 3 of us went out for supper and to Tom's basketball game.

Drew, Ethan, and Tom's Biggest Fan!

Denver loves to go to the Freeman Academy and Augustana Basketball games. He usually is very content and happy just watching the game. There is lots of action for him to watch and there are always new things to see!

Ethan, Denver, and Drew

(Ethan is too scared to hold Denver!)

Denver and Tom