Eric Anthony is 5 Months (22 Weeks) Old!

Someone recently told me that this blog isn't going to write itself.  I realize that.  Unfortunately, the laundry won't fold itself, the toys won't put themselves away, the basement won't organize itself so the kids can start playing in it, food won't cook itself, and my lesson plans won't write themselves.  (I love you, Mommy!)

But, the magic of Christmas has allowed me some time to write.  Scott got video games, and he only has about a week to play them.  So instead of talking with him right now, he is playing his games, and I am finally getting Eric's blog post written.

Eric really is the sweetest little boy.  He is battling his first major cold right now (thank you, Adriana's preschool friends), and he is still in pretty good spirits.  He cries when he is hurting, and Christmas day was especially rough for him, but he still tries to play, and I still get tons of "kisses" throughout the day.

At 5 months old, Eric is able to do all of the following:

• Pays attention to small objects
• Can see across the room
• Uses hands in a raking fashion to bring toys near
• Keeps head level when pulled to a sitting position
• Makes some vowel-consonant sounds
• Sits by himself with minimal support for longer periods of time
• Opens mouth for spoon
• Reaches for and grabs objects
• Rolls over and back
• Copies some facial expressions
• Makes two-syllable sounds
• Turns in the direction of a voice
• Starting to play peekaboo
• Chews on objects
• Reaches for utensils when being fed
• Has specific cries for various needs
• Babbles enthusiastically
• Begins to identify self in a mirror's reflection

He still seems to be rather shy, but compared to what we are used to, who isn't shy?  :-)  He also gets happier and happier each day (sickness aside).  He is spitting up less often, and you can tell that he is no longer in pain when he eats.  He is eating a lot more, and it is not just because he is getting bigger.  He is getting bigger, though.  Here is proof in this week's picture:

 

 

Off to bed now, but I'll try to be back soon with the 23-week (and probably 24-week) pictures.

Eric: 21 Weeks

Yes, I realize he's now over 22 weeks.  That post should be coming later this week.  For now, here are the 21-week pictures:

Eating Elmo

Eric: 20 Weeks

Eric is really starting to babble a LOT!  He is so happy and talks almost all of the time!  Adriana finally has some competition.  He also recently decided that he hates the bottle.  Great!  Just in time for me to get ready to go back to work.  He screams and cries just like his sister did.  Today, it took an hour to get him to take it, but that's nothing like the 6 hours it took Adriana before I went back to work.  I'm hoping each day gets a little better.  So is Grandma Hermie.

Here are the pictures of our cute little guy from this week:

Adriana: 26 Months

When I took Eric's 4-month picture, Adriana insisted that she needed a turn, too.  She then rocked on the chair the entire time I tried to take pictures.  Here they are though:

Eric: 19 Weeks

Since I just finished writing the 4-month post, there's not much new to say, but here are the pictures of Eric from this week:

Eric Anthony is Four Months Old (18 Weeks)!

Four months seems to be a somewhat magical age for Eric.  A couple of days before he turned 4 months old, he stopped spitting up as much and he stopped crying uncontrollably every night.  It's amazing!

Another thing that we have noticed about Eric is that he's very smiley.  He has a way of focusing on one person and smiling at him or her like he or she is the only person in the room.  He stares very intently at the person and then gives them a huge smile.  It is such a cute and likeable trait.

Here are the other things that Eric is able to do now:

• Usually sleeps for 6 hours at night
• Rolls over (and over and over) and back
• Sits with support
• Lifts head up 90 degrees
• Can follow a moving object for a 180-degree arc
• Babbles and amuses self with new noises
• Explores objects with his mouth
• Communicates pain, fear, loneliness, anger, and discomfort through crying
• Responds to rattles and bells
• Pays attention to small objects
• Can see across the room
• Keeps head level when pulled to sitting position
• Reaches for and grabs objects
• Copies some facial expressions
• Turns in the direction of a voice
• Tries to get up on knees to crawl
• Scoots a little bit
• Stands with minimal support

We like to say that Eric is our athlete.  The doctor has made several comments about how strong he is for his age.  He loves to be held and to take walks.  He's very ticklish!  He also likes to play on his baby gym and his Exersaucer.  He's still a pretty good sleeper, but it tends to be an every-other-day thing.  Since he took good naps yesterday, he's up a lot today.  Tomorrow he will probably take good naps again.  He is such a loveable little boy, and we're glad his stomach seems to be feeling a little better.  :-)

Here is Eric Anthony at 4 months old:

Eric: 17 Weeks

I promise I'll be back soon with Eric's 18 Week/4 Month post.  Eric is teething and Adriana is having some nightmares, so I'm tired and I sleep when I can instead of blogging.  On the days that I'm awake enough to skip a nap, I'm trying to finish up some stuff around here before I go back to work.  My latest project is cleaning up the basement.  We aren't quite ready to finish it, but we're running out of room for all of the toys, so I'm going to get the basement set up for playing.

As I said above, Eric is teething.  No tooth yet, but he drools and chews like CRAZY!  He is also starting to babble a lot.  Several times each day, Adriana tells me, "Eric said, 'ah goo!'" or some other random phrase.  She also tells me that "ah goo" means "I love Adriana."

I'll tell more about Eric's major achievements in my next post (soon, I promise...hopefully).  For now, here are this week's pictures of our cute little guy:

Eric: 16 Weeks

It's hard to believe that when Adriana was this age, I went back to work.  Eric still seems so little.

Eric has really discovered his hands this week.  He likes to fold them together when he's eating.  We think it looks like he's plotting something.  If he's having a bottle, he likes to "hold" it.  He doesn't have the strength to really hold it yet, but he tries.  He's also rolling like crazy, and yesterday, he did one little army crawl.  When I think of all the stuff he can do now, maybe he doesn't seem so little after all.

See how he loves his hands.

And we have a bonus picture this week.  We had fun trick-or-treating last week with our little Buzzette and our skeleton.

Of course, Buzz had to bring Woody.

Eric: 15 Weeks

Eric is officially on the move!  Last night (10/28/13), he rolled all the way around.  Unfortunately, all of this moving is disrupting his sleep.  He rolls in his sleep, gets his arm or leg stuck in the slats of his crib, making it impossible to roll back over or move, then he screams.  I go get him and get him back to sleep, and we repeat this process every couple of hours.

Last night was better.  He only woke up once.  But he was so excited about rolling over that he wanted to try his new trick over and over.  For two hours.  From 3:00 a.m. to 5:00 a.m., Eric was happy to have me as his captive audience and refused to go back to sleep.

Otherwise, Eric is doing very well.  He is "talking" up a storm.  As I type this, he is lying beside me babbling non-stop.  He also loves to play with his feet.  Whenever I lie him down, he instantly grabs his toes and rocks back and forth.  It's pretty cute.

And so is he.  Here are some pictures to prove it:

Eric: 14 Weeks

Eric is doing so much better!  He has always been such a great baby during the day, and now he is doing better during the evening, too!  I think he's starting to get "settled."

He and Adriana are starting to "play" together.  Adriana has so much fun playing with Eric that she has started trying to play with him in the morning.  We have caught her in his crib twice in the morning.  Last night, we put a gate up so we would be able to stop her from getting into his crib.  At least she loves him.  They are best friends.  :-)

Eric Anthony is Three Months Old (13 weeks)!

Oh, Eric...you poor little guy.  Eric's stomach seems to be a lot better.  His crying has decreased greatly and his smiles have increased.  However, I think he is beginning the teething process now.  He drools and chews constantly.  Brandon and Connor got their first teeth at 3 months, so it is not unheard of for Eric to be getting teeth now.  Luckily, Tylenol seems to help him, but it's another medication, and he hates taking it.

Our big news is that Eric is starting to roll.  He goes from front to back pretty easily (the first time was Monday, 10/14), and has gone from back to front once (Tuesday, 10/15).  Adriana and I are the only ones who got to see it.  He's been shy when I've tried to get him to show other people.

Here are the other things Eric can do at three months old:

• Raises head and chest when put on tummy
• Lifts head up 45 degrees
• Kicks and straightens legs when on back
• Opens and shuts hands (he loves holding Mommy's hand)
• Pushes down with legs when placed on a hard surface
• Reaches for dangling objects
• Grasps and shakes hand toys
• Tracks moving objects
• Imitates some sounds
• Recognizes familiar people and objects
• Has a social smile
• Beginning to develop hand-eye coordination
• Brings both hands together
• Interested in circular and spiral patterns
• Kicks legs energetically
• Holds head up with control
• Usually sleeps 6 hours at night before waking
• Rolls over (one way)!
• Sits with support
• Recognizes breast
• Communicates pain, fear, loneliness, and discomfort through crying
• Beginning to teethe

Here are some pictures of our cute little guy at three months:

Eric, you are such a good little boy!  You are carted all over the place for various activities, and you are constantly attacked with kisses from Adriana, and you just go with the flow.  We are lucky to have you in our family, and we all love you so much!

Eric: 11 and 12 Weeks Old

Well, I was wrong.  It took a few days to figure it out, but taking Eric off Prilosec was a mistake.  He ended up having a horrible day once it was completely out of his system.  He's back on it now, and he's doing a lot better.  He even goes some without needing gripe water at all.

Eric is up to 12 pounds 12 ounces, which should mean that he has moved on to 6 month clothes.  I still think the 3 month stuff looks fine on him, though, so we're getting as much wear as possible out of those outfits.

Here is Eric at 11 weeks old:

And here he is at 12 weeks old:

Eric: 10 Weeks

I don't want to jinx it, but I think we've got Eric's colic figured out, and he is a much happier baby these days.  I don't think he has acid reflux.  I think he has a sensitive stomach.  I have cut out dairy, and his stomach doesn't hurt anymore when he eats.  I accidentally forgot to give him his Prilosec one time, and he was still happy, so I've experimented with not giving him the Prilosec, and he still seems happy.  He still spits up, but it doesn't seem to hurt him.  Occasionally he still gets an upset stomach, but gripe water helps more than Prilosec does.  I don't want to unnecessarily medicate our baby, so I think we're going to stop Prilosec and just have the gripe water on hand as needed.  And I will continue to stay away from dairy.

Here's our happy guy at ten weeks:

Eric Anthony is 2 Months Old (9 Weeks)

At two months old, Eric is able to do all of the following:

• Smiles
• Tracks objects with his eyes
• Makes noises other than crying
• Kicks and straightens legs when on his back
• Opens and shuts hands
• Pushes down with legs when placed on a hard surface
• Swats at dangling objects
• Recognizes familiar people (he giggles at me when I make faces)
• Beginning to develop a social smile
• Interested in circular patterns
• Holds head up with control (most of the time)
• Typically sleeps 6 - 7 hours at night without waking (we LOVE this!)

Eric has been the perfect addition to our family, and we love him so much.  We are so excited to see him grow and become great friends with his big sister, and maybe kiss her back every once in a while.

The comment I hear most about Eric is that he just looks so much like a boy.  Someone today told me that he has such distinct features, and you don't see that often on such a little baby.

Here is our handsome little guy at two months old:

Eric smiles at me quite a bit, but whenever I try to take a picture, he stops.  This is the best I could get, and I thought I'd share.  Hopefully, I'll get his huge smile one of these days.  It is SO cute!

 Not really a smile, but I think it's a cute expression.

Adriana Leigh Herman is TWO!

Our little girl turned TWO on Wednesday, September 11.  She celebrated the weekend before with family and friends at a Monsters, Inc. themed party, and she had a great time!

At two years old, Adriana has definitely met and/or exceeded all of the typical milestones.  Some of the stuff she knows amazes me, and I can't believe the memory that this kid has!  About eight weeks ago, Sue and I took Adriana to ride a carousel at a park in Noblesville.  Yesterday, we went to lunch with Ron at Panera after our library time.  When we left Panera, Adriana said "care of self."  Sue asked me what she was saying, and I told her that's how she says carousel.  Sue said, "what would remind her of that?"  And that's when I remembered that we had eaten lunch with Ron at Panera after riding the carousel.

On June 26th, we went to Scott's work to take him out to lunch for his birthday.  A lot of the admin women talked to Adriana, and we had her say hi to them.  She didn't see any of these people again until last Saturday (September 14) at Scott's company picnic.  At one point during the day, Adriana was playing in the bouncy castle, and Peggy (the head admin person) came over to talk to her.  When Peggy went to leave, I told Adriana to say bye bye.  Adriana looked up and said, "bye bye, Peggy."  Amazing!

What amazes me most about Adriana, though, is her good heart.  She kisses EVERYTHING!  She kisses me, Scott, her brother, her toys, sticks on the ground (eww), everything.  I can't count the number of kisses that Eric gets everyday.  And she is always concerned about how he's doing.  I often hear, "hi there, Baby Little Eric.  Whatcha doin'?"  She loves to help take care of him, and she practices on her babies when she isn't trying to help with him.  It's fun to watch her interpretations of how I take care of a baby.  Based on watching her, I think I'm doing a pretty good job.

She is definitely in the imitation phase of her life, and she wants to be just like Mommy.  As a result, she showers Daddy with attention, and looks forward to him coming home all day long.  I constantly hear, "Daddy do it when he comes home."  Once he does get home, she can't wait to play with her "dog house" (doll house) and eat candy with him.  And she thinks he is the best dancer.  It is nonstop laughter when Daddy is around.

I tried to take an Elmo picture of Adriana, but she wasn't being too cooperative, so I'm including a cuter picture that I took of her on her birthday.  Here it is:

Happy 2nd birthday to the sweetest little two-year-old I know!  We all love you so much!

Eric: 8 Weeks Old

Sorry this post is so late.  I will be putting up Eric's 9 Week/2 Month momentarily, so I'm going to make this post quick.

Here is the picture of our little guy at 8 weeks:

Eric: 7 Weeks

Eric is continuing to grow like a weed.  I weighed him this morning.  Granted, he had on clothes and a diaper that needed to be changed, but he is up to 11 pounds 14.5 ounces!

He is starting to smile more and more.  His acid reflux is still causing him some trouble, and I'm going to call the doctor tomorrow to see about switching his medication, but he is usually a pretty happy guy.  He's starting to make a lot of noises other than just crying, too!  He also likes to imitate me when he can.  If I stick my tongue out at him, he will start sticking his tongue out.  He's definitely becoming more interactive.

Here's a picture of our handsome little guy at 7 weeks old:

Eric - 6 Weeks

Eric had a busy week!  First of all, he did a great job of taking a bottle.  He looked at me like I was crazy for about 2 seconds, and then he started drinking.  Sometimes I forget to give him a bottle or it doesn't work into our schedule, but he gets a bottle a few times a week, and he is doing a great job!

 On Sunday, August 25, Eric was baptized.  Here are some pictures from the event:

Adriana's Marilyn Monroe impression

Quentin, Adriana, Gabby, and Bell waiting patiently.

Father David Huemmer baptized Eric.

Eric screamed through most of it.

Adriana and Grandma Hermie watching

 

We really appreciate everyone who came to celebrate with us!

He wouldn't calm down for Daddy either...

...no matter what he tried!

Adriana thought it was funny to see her brother throw a fit.

Godfather Jeff Miller lighting Eric's baptism candle

Eric started to calm down toward the end.

 

Zekey...looking as cute as ever

Connor did a great job of keeping an eye on Adriana!

 Afterward, Sue and Ron had everyone to their house for lunch.

We cannot thank them enough for being such wonderful hosts!

Posing with Eric's Godfathers, Brandon and Jeff

 

Posing with the Penrods

The beautiful cake!

Adriana blew some bubbles with Daddy.

Posing with the Hermans.  Adriana didn't feel like looking at  the camera, but what can you expect from a nearly-two-year old?

And finally, Eric's weekly picture with Elmo: