The Wendlings

Playroom

2008-08-18T15:19:00.008-04:00

Huxley is almost to the point of crawling and already has a tonnage of toys. We've started to make a playroom for him up in the loft. Below if my first addition...

I've constructed a play table for him:

I constructed it out of 2 by 4s and a sheet of 1/2" plyboard.

I found some really cool paint that adds a grassy texture to the surface:

My hope is that Huxley will start off with cars and figure toys, move up to wooden trains, then electric trains, and finally to Lego cities or castles.

The construction was fairly easy thanks to help from uncle Zach and Huxley's cousin Austin. Thanks for the help guys!

The table came out at a mighty 6' by 3' and stands 18" tall.

Almost there!

2008-08-13T10:53:00.002-04:00

Huxley is very close to crawling. Just yesterday he started doing full body push-ups and getting on all fours. It won't be long now!

First Zoo Trip

2008-08-09T18:17:00.006-04:00

We took Huxley for his first big adventure to the zoo. While he may still be a little young for the zoo, it was good stimulation for him. It also showed him that other animals aside from Spike do exist.

He got to see lemurs, giraffes, elephants, hippos, and he got to pet a billy goat at the petting zoo.

Our first stop was the lemurs and he wasn't quite sure what he was looking at. The lemurs were hiding in the trees, but then they jumped down to Huxley's eye level and went crazy chattering to each other - that got Huxley's attention. The elephants were his favorite. Jason kept trying to take his picture in front of the elephants, but we couldn't tear Huxley's eyes away from the elephant.

The lions were asleep and the dolphin shows were sold out. We got signed up for a zoo membership so I'm sure we'll be back to see them and probably go to Zoo Boo and all the other holiday events.

On our way out we of course had to buy Huxley souvenirs. He got a "Tails" board book and a Koala puppet. He loves them both.

Go to Jason's Photo Gallery to see more pictures from Huxley's first zoo trip.

Jumper Fun

2008-08-06T13:18:00.006-04:00

Huxley got to try this out at our last neighborhood party. We went out and bought one the very next day. We just can't stop buying him toys. It's an addiction - a good one though.

It didn't take Huxley long to figure out his jumper. He loves to jump!

Jumpy Time

2008-08-05T18:32:00.003-04:00

Huxley sure does love his jumper. Above is one of the few times he takes a break from his workout. (I'll see if I can get mom to post a video.)

Huxley and the Spice Rack

2008-08-05T08:52:00.005-04:00

Here's a random video of Huxley and the spice rack. I set him on the counter, he turned around, got all excited and started spinning the spice rack like mad. He gets really excited when the spices fall out and tries to get the rest of the spices to do the same.

During month seven he really became fascinated with everyday objects like the remote, cell phones, the refrigerator, the blinds, and anything within his reach.

Happy Seven Month Birthday Huxley!

2008-07-29T14:12:00.003-04:00

Well, seven months already. Crawling and table food are just around the corner. Actually, I've already started giving him a little table food. One of our neighbors introduced us to these fruit puffs that dissolve in your mouth. He does a good job at getting them in his mouth but they end up falling out and dissolving on his bib.

Here's a summary of where the little man is at right now....

Looking for dropped objects: Yesterday he nearly fell out of my lap looking for the book he dropped. He dropped the book and then dived after it.

Rolling: He can roll from belly to back and vice versa. He especially likes to roll continuously on the floor. Right now he does it in slow motion, but I'm sure he'll get some speed to his rolling shortly. Diaper changes continue to get more challenging. He likes to roll over and knock his wipes and diapers on the floor.

Belly time: When he's on his belly he tends to scoot backwards. It's only a matter of time before he scoots forwards. He doesn't get up on his knees yet. I'm guessing he'll be crawling by nine months. We'll see. I think he really wants to get around and explore. He loves the refrigerator and not just because of the cold air. He sees so many little things inside that he doesn't know what to grab for first.

Food: He hasn't really been thrilled with anything so far. He tolerates prunes the best and they make his poop smell fruity. So far he's had, prunes, applesauce, bananas, green beans, sweet potatoes, avocados, carrots, squash, pears, peas, and peaches. This week we are trying plums and pumpkins.

New toys: He got so many new toys this month I don't think I could name them all - jumper, ball, rattles, barn, karaoke/musical thing that he can bang on, and mostly just stuff he can bang on. We had to retire a few toys because he's either too big for them or has no further interest. We retired the swing a few months ago, because he'd kick his chubby legs and make the swing shake. The bouncer is being retired because he's pretty much over the weight limit and would rather stand or roll around. And, soon to go into retirement is the playmat. He just rolls right off of it.

Sounds: he's starting to say ga, ma, da, and ba, but very infrequently. He mostly just says, AH. He grunts a lot more and even has happy and angry grunts.

Grabbing/Reaching: He grabs everything in sight - earrings, necklaces, hair, Spike, etc. He's even got the pincer grasp (ability to pick things up with his thumb and index finger)

Activities: He had a big month in July. He attended classes with mom at Clarian, had a couple of play dates with a mother's group I've joined, went to the library, Quaker Park, and Forest Park. He had his first "swim" at Forest park and didn't really enjoy the cold water. He even went to several Friday Night Flamingo Parties (neighborhood parties) and met up with the zillion other babies in the neighborhood.

Sleep disturbances: He's been such an excellent sleeper up till now. Last week he woke up several times in the middle of the night scooting and spinning in circles. He was waking up at 12, 4, & 6. It's been many months since he's woken up that often. This week he seems to be back to his regular sleep pattern.

Separation Anxiety: He doesn't like to be put to bed by anyone other than me. Sometimes I'll go workout while Jason's putting him to bed. I return to Huxley either screaming or watching Star Wars. Hopefully he'll get past this soon.

Signals to get picked up: He holds his arms up in the air when he's ready for a lift, which somedays is all day long.

Fits: He gets angry when toys or Spike are taken/walks away from him or if he doesn't get picked up when he's signaling.

Fascination with everyday objects: He likes the spice rack, refrigerator, remote, blinds, and cell phone. Jason was playing Star Wars on his iphone and Huxley took it out of his hand and started watching it. That lasted for a minute before he got bored and decided it was time for the iphone to be eaten.

Diaper Explosions: Fortunately for me, it was only the wet kind. While eating at Texas Roadhouse, I noticed my leg started to get really warm. He peed all over me. I had changed him and hour ago and he had already soaked through his diaper and me.

Hopefully next month we'll have progress to report on the crawling and table food front.

Gearing up for mobility

2008-07-27T16:49:00.004-04:00

Huxley is showing early signs of mobility. When he's on his belly and tries to reach for an object in front of him, he ends up scooting backwards. He'll also get his but up in the air and move his legs.

When he's in his crib, I'll check on him and find that he's made it into the corner of his crib or his head is at the opposite end from where he started. He uses the crib bars to spin himself around and then rolls over and finds himself smacked up against the head of the crib. When he does finally settle himself down to sleep it's either on his belly or his side.

Since he's rolling from belly to back and vice versa he's been rolling around the living room floor. He rolled for a good ten feet today and with very little screaming. I think he might actually be starting to like laying on his belly.

Well, I suppose it's time to start babyproofing.

First & last hair cut by Dad

2008-07-27T09:44:00.003-04:00

Look what Jason did to Huxley . Can you believe this?? (See horrible photos below) Huxley's hair is all gone!!!

Jason had been talking about cutting of the tail in the back of Huxley's head for a while. Before the hair cut, I confirmed several times that this was still his intention. Needless to say, Jason lied.

I started out recording the first hair cut, but Huxley was so freaked out that I put the camera down and tried to distract him. I started to notice large chunks of the hair falling to the floor. I tried not to panic, because I didn't want Huxley's crying to escalate any further. I kept telling Jason that's too much hair, but he said he needed to even things out.

When he was done, it looked like a buzz cut. All of Huxley's baby hair was gone. Jason calls him his little Nazi solider. That's a little disturbing. I'm not going to post the video of his first haircut, because it's too traumatic for both Huxley and me. I'll leave you with a couple of photos of the horrific event.

Here is the during the torture photo....

Here is after Jason's butcher job...

Day at the park

2008-07-27T09:43:00.001-04:00

We visited Forest Park today with Huxley, specifically the water park section. They have a nice infant/toddler pool and a splash park. Huxley enjoys his bath time so much we figured he'd love getting out in the sun and splashing around in a big pool. I think we enjoyed it more than he did. The water was a little chilly for him. We didn't stay too long, because he was fussy. I'm sure he'll love it next year.

He did it!

2008-07-23T19:02:00.002-04:00

Huxley finally rolled from his stomach to his back this afternoon. He's been rolling from back to belly for 2 months now, but hasn't been able to flip the other way. I've been coaxing/annoying him for weeks to flip back over. He swung his head hard to the left and the rest of his body swung followed.

Sore Throat

2008-07-23T08:24:00.004-04:00

I made a visit to the pediatrician yesterday. Huxley dropped from taking 32-36 ounces of formula to taking around 20 ounces. He was also refusing to eat any solid foods. The doctor said he had a sore throat, but didn't have strep throat. Hopefully it will pass in a couple of days. Trying to get him to eat has been quite a chore. I found that distracting him with my hair works. If I wave it in front of his face, his eyes light up and he starts to grab my hair. Then I stick the bottle in his mouth and he takes it.

High chair

2008-07-23T08:18:00.007-04:00

Huxley graduated to the high chair yesterday. Since he is sitting so well on his own and since he makes such a mess at the table, we thought it was time to move him to his own chair.

For the most part, I think he likes it. He enjoys banging his toys on the tray while I'm making his food, but he doesn't like being strapped in.

Feeding him is much easier and he even tries to feed himself his bottle, but it doesn't quite workout for him. He gets it started and then I end up holding the bottle for him.

Rough night

2008-07-21T11:52:00.000-04:00

This weekend was also a rough one for Huxley and momma. Saturday night he decided he'd rather stay up and talk to mom and dad instead of sleep. He started waking up around 10:30 and would drift back to sleep and then wake back up. From midnight until 1:30 he was wide awake. We tried everything. Dad rocked him for a little while. We tried letting him fuss for a few minutes. I even gave him a bottle. Nothing would put him to sleep. He finally went to sleep around 1:30. I think someone put caffeine into his bottle.

He made up the sleep on Sunday. He took a two hour nap at eight and noon. Thankfully, he slept much better last night. He didn't wake up until four.

Peek-A-Boo

2008-07-21T11:38:00.005-04:00

Huxley started playing peek-a-boo this weekend. At first if I placed a burp cloth over his face, he'd pull it down. Then he started doing it all on his own. Last night he was really getting into it in his exersaucer. He pulled the burp cloth over his face a dozen times and of course whenever he had it over his face, he'd have to taste it.

A note about Huxley's Photo Album

2008-07-16T19:52:00.003-04:00

You're navigation to Huxley's photo album will be slightly different, since we are no longer using Apple's service to house his photos. Instead we've set up a picasa album.

To access photos of Huxley click on the link at the bottom right of this page called Christa's Photos. You should be able to find Huxley's photos from there.

The photos are arranged so that the earliest (one month) Huxley photos are first. This should make it easier to find the latest and greatest photos of Huxley. They'll be at the bottom of the page. With the Apple photo album, the photos always got jumbled.

FAQ about Huxley

2008-07-15T15:41:00.006-04:00

Frequently Asked Questions abut Huxley

1. Why does he go to bed so early?

Seven o'clock isn't that early considering he's only six months old. Babies require 14 1/2 - 16 hours of sleep in a day for the first year of life. Since Huxley isn't a good napper, he needs to get as much sleep as possible at night. The earlier we put him to bed, the more sleep he will get. Also, Jason and I both go to bed fairly early so this works out well for us and for Huxley.

2. When will he say his first words?

At our 1 year visit with the pediatrician she will be checking to make sure he can say three words: Momma, Daddy, and one word of his choosing. I think his third word will be doggies. He'll really begin to babble around nine months. By his one year birthday he'll be turning those babbles into actual words.

3. How are the dogs adapting to Huxley?

They're doing great so far, but Huxley isn't mobile yet. Spike tries to ignore him. If he actually acknoweldged his presence, he might pee on the floor.

4. What else will he be able to do by his first birthday?

Lots! He should be able to wave "bye, bye", clap his hands, scoot/creep/crawl/walk, feed himself, feed the dogs, and other things I'm probably forgetting.

5. What's his favorite food?

So far, it's prunes. He's tried many foods and resists opening his mouth to most of them except for prunes. He could have a whole jar full of prunes before turning his head away or pushing the spoon away.

Baby Food - Month 6

2008-07-13T11:58:00.005-04:00

Introducing solids has been interesting and entertaining. In the begining very little made it in his belly. The cereal would leak out of the corner of his mouth and the veggies would be pushed out with his tongue. To even get him to open his mouth for a bite of cereal I had to lay him slightly on his back so he could be entertained by his feet. That would of course lead to the feet going in the mouth, but if he didn't have his toes, he'd scream at the sight of the spoon.

Now he likes sitting up at the table because it gives him a chance to bang on the table and rub his food all over the table. He doesn't get excited when he eats something he likes. Instead, he tries to grab the spoon to hurry me along. Then he'll keep the spoon, chew on it for a little while, and toss it on the floor.

So far he's tried all of the cereals (rice, barley, and oatmeal.) As far as fruits and veggies he's had sweet potatoes, green beans, carrots, bananas, apples, and prunes. He doesn't seem to like veggies, and he absolutely hates sweet potatoes. He took one bite of sweet potatoes and got the most disgusted look on his face. The next day, he wouldn't even open his mouth and there was no convincing or enticing him to do otherwise. He had his mouth firmly shut, and I probably couldn't have pried it open with a bottle. We'll try sweet potatoes again in a couple of weeks. This week he'll be trying squash and pears.

I started out making my own baby food, but made way too much. I have a freezer full of sweet potatoes that Huxley may never eat, so I've mostly switched to buying baby food jars. It was fun making my own, except Huxley cried whenever I started the food processor. I don't think he liked my cooking either.

Birthday Party

2008-07-13T11:56:00.004-04:00

Huxley attended his third birthday party this year and did very well. He lasted about three hours before letting us know it was time to go. He attended his cousin Thadd's second birthday and cousin Austin's 12th birthday party yesterday. Thadd played great with Huxley offering him all sorts of toys. He'd even try them out first just to make sure they were safe for Huxley to stick in his mouth.

Bah!!

2008-07-13T11:54:00.005-04:00

Huxley said "ba" last night. Twice! We are extremly excited. Normally he just says "ah" or maybe "ah-ga" in various pitches and volumes, but last night he made a new sound. It happened just as he was saying good night to Daddy. Hopefully we'll hear more of this today!

Teething Update/Recap

2008-07-09T19:53:00.008-04:00

If you look closely at this picture, (click on the picture to enlarge) you can see Huxley's two lower front teeth. Over the past month he's been teething and it's been a joyous experience. We've had many fussy days, but not too many sleepless nights so that's a bonus. Here's a recap of our first teething episode:

Number of teeth: 2

When he started to teeth: 5 months

Items of Comfort: Rubber teething rings - but not cold. He can't stand anything cold in his mouth.

Signs of teething: He'd soak through burp rags and bibs. He also got a rash underneath his chin from all of the drool.

What he likes to do with his new teeth: Bite the spoon when I'm feeding him. Bite my shoulder. Bite. Bite. Bite.

Huxley's Six Month Stats

2008-07-09T19:32:00.005-04:00

Huxley had his six month check up earlier this week along with another round of shots. He was especially fussy following the shots. He got four shots, and one of them left a big knot in his leg. Aside from the shots, he passed his check-up with flying colors. The pediatrician was impressed by how well he was able to sit.

Here the big guy's dimensions from his visit:

Weight: 20 lbs 2.4 oz (85th percentile)

Height: 27 inches (65th percentile)

Head Circumference: 45 cm (79th percentile)

His weight gain is starting to slow down and will continue to do so as he gets more mobile. The pediatrician thinks he will level off somewhere in the 70th percentile. His next check-up will be at nine months, and he'll get one shot and will be pricked on the finger to test his iron level.

So what can we expect out of the little guy between now and nine months?

Sitting unassisted (he's actually almost there)
Crawling or creeping
Combining vowel and consonant sounds like ba-ba-ba, ma-ma-ma, ga-ga-ga, and da-da-da
Eating cherrios
Playing peek-a-boo

Happy six month birthday Huxley

2008-07-02T16:09:00.003-04:00

Wow! Huxley is six months old already. The months are just flying by and as we go along the accomplishments keep getting bigger and bigger. Here's what our little guy achieved in month six.

Teething - 2 teeth/ disrupted feeding schedule/snacker. Very little sleep disruptions. Mostly cranky during the day. Got a yeast infection in the fat rolls under his chin from all the drool.

Toes - got them in his mouth

Sitting on his own - Almost there!

Hitting & Smacking - He loves to hit. His drum is a great release for his hitting. We also have a keyboard that he bangs around on.

Sleeping - uninterrupted for about 10-11 hours. Goes to bed around 7 and gets up between 5 and 6. I've heard that babies/toddlers will eventually sleep for twelve hours straight. I can't wait for that.

Food - Has tried many foods now. He's had Rice, Barley, and Oatmeal cereal. He's also been introduced to carrots, sweet potatoes, green beans, and bananas. I think his favorite so far is carrots. I've been making my own baby food so that's been an adventure. Just like with the rest of my cooking, I cook for an army but only have a little baby to feed. Well, I guess he's not that little.

Outings - The weather was pretty hot last month so he didn't get out in the neighborhood too much, but here's where we did take him - neighborhood block party, cousin's birthday dinner, and then the boring places - mall, post office, grocery store etc. He's a good little shopper. He normally falls asleep half way through Meijer.

Rolling Over - He's still rolling over like crazy and screaming when he gets on his belly. Now, as he's screaming, he hikes his but in the air and kicks his back legs. He really likes to roll over on the changing table and throw the container of diaper wipes on the floor.

Toes!

2008-06-18T21:55:00.003-04:00

Hmmm....What are these? Something else I can suck on. And, they're attached. Convenience!

Fun Facts about Huxley - Month 6

2008-06-17T16:53:00.008-04:00

A few fun tidbits about our little guy - Updated

Food he's tried: Rice and Barley Cereal and Oatmeal. Later this week we'll try some carrots.

Number of Teeth - Two!!! The second bottom tooth just poked through today.

Tricks:

Sitting with assistance
Rolling over 10 zillion times and crying every time
Rolling over while Momma tries to change his diaper
Laughing out loud & squealing
Sucking on the toes/becoming monkey and getting both feet up to his mouth
Pulling momma's hair, earrings, necklace, and anything else attached to me
Chasing the dogs by having momma fly him through the air
Smacking momma and daddy/smacking himself

New Toys: Mirror for him to admire his handsome self. Toy drum from Uncle Matt Brown- this was actually a Christmas present but hasn't been useful until now. Books & CD from Great Aunt Susie

What comforts him when he's upset: Looking at his bears in his pack n' play, being held and walked, and car rides.

What makes him smile/laugh: Buffy and Spike, strange sounds, being tickled, and momma and daddy singing to him.

Ounces he devours/day: 30

Ounces/feeding: 7-8 ounces

Number of feeding: 5/day

Clothing size he's in: 12 Month - 18 Month

Diaper Size: Size 3

Nickname: Chubs, Giganto, Chunk-a-munk, monkey, Jabba the Baby
Favorite toys: Mr. Star, puppy puppet rattles, and the exersaucer.

Favorite book: All of them. He likes the pictures and wants to eat them all.

Favorite Nursery Rhymes: Hickory Dickory Dock, Itsy Bitsy Spider, Pop goes the Weasel.

Number of Naps: We're down from 4 to 3 naps and he's taking a longer morning nap. His morning nap is 2 hours and the other two are 45 minutes.

Bedtime: 7:30pm

Bedtime Ritual: I read him a book, turn on some lullabies, and give him a bottle.

Waking Time: 5:30 - 6:00am