6 Month Picture

With the Holidays and traveling I kind of forgot to take Adam's six month picture. Well here they are:

Brought to you by the letters "N" and "T":

Mmmm those letters are tasty:

Cutest Present

I got the cutest present at daycare today. I just had to bring it to work and show it off and now it sits in the center of my Christmas tree. Check out my little angel:

Adam's First Christmas

Adam had a great first Christmas at Grandma and Grandpa's house.We had the traditional Christmas Eve with Dave's family. We went to mass at 4 PM and then came home and took a family photo, our family is getting so big that you can't see the Christmas tree! Then we started making dinner and before eating we had did the Christmas Program. Adam got to put Baby Jesus in the manger and he did a great job. After Christmas dinner we opened a few presents and Adam liked the wrapping paper more than anything. After we put Adam to bed we played The Newlywed game twice and we lost both times. Once to Bob and Denise and once to Ann and Titus!

Christmas morning we woke early. Again Adam didn't really get into opening presents, but once we started pulling toys out of boxes he had more fun. Ann and Titus left for Chicago after we opened presents and we went to Algoma. Adam finally met his great-grandma and had fun playing with some of Aunt Linda's toys. We couldn't visit for too long though, because the roads weren't the best. So we went home and watched a movie together.

On Saturday Dave really wanted to go to the Packer Hall of Fame at Lambeau field and it was Christmas, so I said OK. I was a little worried they wouldn't let me in since I don't bleed Green and Gold. It wasn't that bad and we got some cute pictures of Adam.

Adam got really good at sitting up over the long weekend. He loves playing with his toys from the new perspective.

We got home to two feet of snow in our driveway on Sunday night. Of course the snowblower wouldn't start. Thankfully two of our neighbors came over with shovels to help us dig out.

Not a Chunk (6 month check up)

I have been asked a lot lately if my son is a chunk. I can say with confidence that he is not a chunk. We had his six month well baby check up yesterday. He weighs 16 lbs 5 oz in the 30th percentile, 25 1/2 inches long which is the 19th percentile (poor shorty) and his head is holding strong in the 99th percentile at 18 1/4 inches.

After Adam's doctor appointment we drove to Cheese-sconsin. We're celebrating Adam's first Christmas with Dave's family. Adam enjoyed playing on the piano with Auntie Ann this morning:

Christmas Letter

Merry Christmas,

To save the environment I decided not to print and include our traditional Christmas Letter in with our Christmas card (well that and I didn't buy any pretty Christmas paper), so instead I am posting it here on our Blog.

We spent the first six months of the year preparing for the addition of a baby to our family. On June 26th Adam Louis Schwedler was born. He has been an amazing baby and it has been so much fun to watch him grow and discover the world around him. He has mastered rolling, squealing and raspberry noises and is now working on sitting up and eating solid food.

When Adam was 7 weeks old we all went on a whirlwind tour of the Midwest to go to two weddings in one weekend. We went to Dave's roommate, Zack's wedding in Warren Michigan on Friday and then drove to Peoria Illinois for my girlfriend Kathleen's wedding on Saturday. Looking back on that trip I think we were crazy, but I'm so glad we didn't miss those weddings. (We missed two weddings in June because I couldn't travel close to my due date, sorry guys).

Then in September we added another member to our extended family- Titus and Ann got married. Adam was able to meet the whole family at once and it was an awesome Schwedler Wedding Weekend. Enough said.

I was able to spend four months off of work enjoying Adam. After I went back to work Dave took a month off too. Speaking of work Dave got a new job (still with 3M) in January working with slitters that cut up film and tape and when I went back to work I got a new job too (again at 3M)- I still work with electrical tape, but now I deal with the machine that puts it in a plastic can and I make the sticky.

Dave and I weren't the only ones in the household to start new jobs this year, Brockway has become our household newspaper retriever. Near the end of my time home I started working with Brockway to train her to get the newspaper for Dave in the morning. She took to the new job quickly (she didn't get her breakfast until she did it). She also loves Adam a lot. He receives more kisses from her than us on any given day, in return Adam provides Brockway with plenty of squeals and smiles.

Adam started daycare in December and we are all still in the process of figuring out what the new normal is. I have been using this blog to keep the family (mostly the grandparents) up to date on Adam. So if you check back from time to time you too will be able to know what the "Western Minnesota Schwedlers" are up to in 2010.

Have a Happy Holidays,
Sarah, Dave, Adam and Brockway

Happy Honda Days!

We are now the proud owners of a brand new Honda Odyssey- that's right I drive a minivan.

Food

Our doctor told us to wait until Adam was 6 months to introduce solids, but 5 1/2 months is close enough for me. I gave him some oatmeal on Wednesday night. He probably only a couple spoon fulls, but it's a start.



I was hoping filling his belly would allow us all to get a full night of sleep, but around 2:30 he woke us up. I tried to feed the little guy, but he wasn't hungry, so I rolled him over onto his belly and rubbed his back. He let out the loudest burp and then when back to sleep. So I guess I shouldn't feed him solids so close to bed time.

Seriosly What

Today was server downtime at 11:30. Pre-Adam I would have gone to lunch during this time, but I've been brown bagging my lunch and working while eating. So what was an engineer to do without her computer for an hour? Go visit my little munchkin at daycare. It was perfect timing, he had just woken up from a nap and hadn't eaten yet. I also got to meet most of his teachers, which was really nice. While I was there I found out that one of the other babies in the infant room has started using the toilet at home. Are you kidding me, the four month old is peeing and pooping on a toilet!?!?! I said her mom needs to write a book so I can follow her technique, but really I'd rather focus on getting Adam to sleep through the night again (which a five month old should be capable of).

Brockway Alarm

I know for the most part this blog is about my baby Adam, but Brockway will always be my baby too. Dave and I have been a little sleep deprived lately. We've been staying up to late at night and then Adam has been waking up in the middle of the night and to add insult to injury we didn't get to sleep in at all this weekend. So this morning I slept right through my alarm and Dave's alarm, but good old Brockway started barking around 6 AM to wake us up. Dave was ready to go yell at her, but then we noticed the time. She's such a good dog!

Shiny New Computer

Finally- one year after we decided it was time to buy a laptop- we did. I have no idea how to use Windows 7, but I'll figure it out soon, hopefully. My husband is watching football, my child is alternating between raspberry noises with his mouth and real farts and the dog is sleeping on the couch. I no longer have to choose between spending time with the family or the computer- Priceless!

Oh Tannenbaum

We put up our Christmas tree on Sunday. Adam is a fan. He reached for the tree and squealed when we turned on the lights. We're tempting fate by putting up our glass ornaments this year. I think I will be going on a shopping spree after Christmas to buy plastic ones.

My mom helping Adam put his first Christmas ornament on the tree (thanks grandma and grandpa S):

We all survived Adam's first day of daycare today. I only cried a little as I handed him over, but it wasn't as hard as I thought. He was crying when I showed up to pick him up, but as soon as he saw me he stopped crying and wanted me to hold him. Below is a picture of my smiley boy tonight in his Christmas jammies!

15 pounder

Wow- a 15 pound baby was born in Minnesota. All I could think while lugging Adam into church in his baby bucket was that new born weighs as much as my five month old son!

http://www.kare11.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=829379&catid=14)

It's Been a While

Adam is five months old, Dave is back at work and on Monday- Adam goes to daycare for the first time! Life has been pretty crazy lately, but mainly I haven't posted in a while because we got a virus on our home computer. It's the final straw that has made us decide it's finally time to buy a new computer.

So to catch up. November has been an unseasonably warm and beautiful month. Dave and Adam took advantage of the fabulous weather and went for walks during the day and even played in the park for the first time. My little baby got to go swing!

Adam is moving around the house now. He rolls from one end of the room to the other. He's also making raspberry noises all the time now.

Adam has been reaching for everything lately. This last week he's started acting really interest in food, so I've been giving him a little adult food when he reaches for it. So far I have given him a some tiny pieces of bread and some cheerios. This is the face he makes when we give him some food to eat. He's not sure if he likes it or not.

Baptizm

We baptized Adam the Sunday before Thanksgiving. Uncle Henry and our friends Andy and Brooke were the Godparents. Adam was great, he smiled as Father poured the water over his head and loved being paraded around church. I was a little nervous to sit in the front row through the hour mass service, but Adam was great. He squealed once during a song, but as my aunt said, it was just Adam trying to sing along with the music.

After mass we had everyone over for a brunch at our house. My parents made practically all of the food which was super delicious.

Sitting is hard work

It's amazing how you can take something as simple as sitting for granted. Adam has been working so hard on sitting up lately. I propped him up between some pillows on the bed and then he would lean forward and hold himself up on his arms and slowly he would get tired and start falling. His sitting always ends with a face plant!

Even Brockway has been helping.

Daddy Daycare

Dave is figuring out daddy daycare this week. He's taking the next three weeks off to get to know Adam better and I am back at work. Monday I came home to four long lists on the counter with times down to five minute intervals of everything Adam and he had done. It was a little overwhelming, but I have to admit it was nice to know exactly what they had spent the day doing. He did the list thing on Tuesday, too. Then today the list making ended at noon. I guess the afternoon was a little too hectic. I guess part of daddy daycare is dressing Adam to match daddy- so I couldn't resist taking a picture of my boys.

My Little Penguin

Happy Halloween! Adam was a cute little Penguin today. Really he only trick or treated at one house, but it's a start. We trick or treated at our neighbor's house so we could meet their 2 week old baby son, Ethan.

Adam ended up falling asleep around 7:30 and I thought he was just taking a nap, so I put him to bed in his costume. Really he was out for the night and so he wore his costume a little longer than I thought he would. It's okay though because as my husband says, the difference between Adam's clothes and pajama's is in the feet. In his day clothes he wears socks and his pj's have little feet attached, so Adam's costume had little feet attached = pj's.

Below is a picture of my pathetic puppy. She loves Halloween more than anything. Kids ringing the doorbell non-stop and so many people to sniff and lick and love. So to keep her contained from all of that we put up a gate and she just whines and whines every time a trick-or-treater comes by.

Brockway’s Ball

Adam was in his bouncer playing away and I had tossed Brockway’s ball a couple of times down the hall for her. Then I went back to carving my pumpkin. After a few minutes I looked up and noticed that Adam was holding on to something in his chair. When I got closer I realized it was Brockway’s ball. I asked Adam, “Where did you get that ball?” All he did was smile and laugh a little. So apparently my dog thinks Adam is ready to play fetch with her.

No More Tummy Time Mom

This afternoon while Adam was doing tummy I decided to break out the camera for some pictures. Right before my eyes and the clicks of my lens Adam decided that's enough and rolled onto his back. So I put him on his belly again and he rolled right over again like it was nothing.

Check Up

Well we were both wrong. Dave guessed 16 pounds, I guessed 15 lb. 2 oz and Adam only weighed 14 lb. 13 oz (he's in the 51st percentile for weight of boys). His length was 24.5 inches which is in the 36th percentile and his big old head was 17.75 inches which is in the 99th percentile. Poor Dave got the H1N1 mist. I didn't get it because the doctor figured I had the H1N1 flu last week. Adam got three shots, but they didn't seem to bother him as much this time. He cried harder for the 2 month shots and slept for 24 hours straight after the shots. This time he seems pretty darn normal, he did cry but not nearly as hard.

On our way home from the doctor we bought three pumpkins for carving and stopped at Lamplighter for some dinner. I also took another 4 month photo of Mr. Adam:

4 Months

I woke up to the sun, wohoo sunlight! I can't remember the last nice day we had. So I'm in a good mood despite the fact that I know on Friday I'm going back to work. We have had a very busy Monday today too. I took Adam to ECFE class at 1 instead of 4:30, because his 4 month check up is at 4 today (I'll post the stats later, but I'm going to guess he weighs 15lbs 2oz). Then when we got home I decide the day was too nice to stay indoors so I grabbed Brockway and we went for a walk. As soon as I left the house I noticed the clouds had rolled in and the sun was gone. Oh well it was still a nice fall day for a walk.

We set up Adam's jumper last Wednesday. He seems to like it. He hasn't figured out how to make it bounce, that the little seat rotates or how to sit up straight in it. He kind of leans forward in the seat to hold himself up. He still loves his activity mats with the toys overhead, but he's pretty much not interested in sitting in the swing, so I think it's time to pack it up.

I took his four month picture over lunch with Dave's help, but I'm not sure I like the angle: