4 months!

Mother's Day in front of our church

Mother's Day in front of our church

"Great news for weary moms: Your little one will likely be in a sunny mood most of the day, sleep more during the night, and stay put wherever you plunk him (he's not mobile yet). He's ready for fun and conversation, with you or anyone who happens by, so be prepared for lots of laughter (his and yours!) as he tries out her new routines. By this age, your baby can raise up on his arms when placed on his tummy (thanks to all the tummy time you give him) and keep his head level when propped in a sitting position. He might even turn in the direction of your voice and complain if you take away his toy. His second round of immunizations is scheduled this month, so ask your pediatrician what's on the agenda. This is also a good time to ask about starting solids and discuss upcoming (or missed) milestones. What else is up? Maybe your baby's temper every time you strap him into her car seat. There are some pretty effective diversionary tactics to try, such as singing his favorite song and attaching plenty of car-safe toys to her seat (rotate these periodically for boredom's sake). Ultimately, he's just got to get used to it. (That means never give in and drive with your baby out of his seat.)"
--whattoexpect.com

Ummmm, wow. More than halfway to 6 months old! HOW DID THIS HAPPEN??? Haha, the days go by devastatingly fast. I feel like I barely see the little guy even though I am with him from the moment he wakes up to the moment he falls asleep for the night... crazy town.

Let's see...not too much new stuff to report... Oh so our LOVELY insurance (don't get me started on how we wound up on this insurance), is so frigging hard to deal with. THIS time, we had to choose a subdivision of the main insurance to go with so we dutifully looked up all the info about all the ones to choose from and decided. We called and had Andrew transferred to Molina Healthcare with an enrollment date of 4-1-13. On 4-4-13, we called just to double check he was enrolled and good-to-go since we had not yet received a card or anything like that. They have never heard of us and have no records showing that he is to be enrolled (we got a letter from the main division saying he would be). That evening I open up the mail and see a packet for Andrew with insurance cards and info for something called Freedom Health. I look up what they include and it looks fine so the next day I call our pediatrician and ask if they take Freedom. They do not. Sooooo Monday morning I called the main division and again asked for Andrew to be transferred to Molina. Called the pediatrician and had to reschedule his 4 month appointment for almost an entire month later. Got a letter stating they got the change request.... no cards or info yet. He is to be enrolled June 1st. If I have to go through all this bull again, I am going to scream. Hopefully in the ears of some supervisor at the main branch. Seriously.

This makes me feel better.... today he fell asleep with this in his hand....how precious is that????

Our schedule of course has adapted and we are doing partial baby-led, and partial parent-led. Our loose schedule is:

9:15am wakes up for the day, change, 7 ounce bottle. Play, cuddle, chat, read whatever until about 11:20am. Then down for a nap.

1:15pm up for another 7 ounce bottle, change, play, read, chat, cuddle, tummy time until about 3:45 down for a nap.

6pm up for a change and another 7 ounce bottle, play, chat, cuddle, swing, tummy time, bathtime... sometimes another short (like 30 min) nap in there as well.

At around 8:30-8:45pm he gets one last bottle, some more cuddle time, and then a final change and down for bed no later than 9:30pm.

Basically we do this pretty steadily each day, however, if he sleeps longer, or takes only a short nap, it gets altered a bit but that's okay. We roll with the flow, and it always works out just fine :)

This weekend is finally our St. Pete's trip! We are heading out after Andrew has breakfast on Saturday, going straight to Madeira Beach, then lunch and quick stop at the hotel to wash Andrew off. Then headed to the Dali museum, and holocaust museum. Then we plan to window shop and find a cool place for dinner before heading back to the hotel. Sunday we are gonna hit the pool, relax and then head to the Henry B. Plant museum and our favorite restaurant, Smokey Bones for a belated Mother's Day feast ;)

I knew my pack-rat tendencies would eventually be a good thing tee hee. Here is a list of what we are bringing for this ONE night trip about an hour away from home:

• Extra shirts, pants, socks and onesies
• An outfit for the day 
• Changing table attachment for the pack n' play
• Changing pad blankets and waterproof pad
• waterproof pad for sleeping, 2 blankets, his lullabye frog, sleeping hat, paci, swaddle pod and elephant
• Towels and washcloths and baby soap for a bath after the ocean and pool
• Toys and a couple small books
• Eucerin, brush, wipes, diapers (2 disposables for sleeping, rest cloth)
• 2 sets of PJs, washcloths for changing table
• Pack n' Play obviously
• All his swim gear in his swim bag (flip flops, sunglasses, hat, swim diaper, swimming suit, towel, sunscreen, life jacket)
• All his bottles, vitamins, formula
• Baby detergent and bottle soap plus brush
• Fully Stocked diaper-bag (one change of clothes, all the kinds of wipes you could imagine, washcloth, bib, burp cloth, toys and book, hand sanitizer, tylenol, spot remover, baby powder, nose bulb, petroleum jelly, bag for wet items, scented disposable dirty diaper bags, swaddle balnket, extra diapers, toy and paci on straps, changing pad, etc)

Whew! Oh!! And P.S. GET RID OF YOUR JOHNSON AND JOHNSON baby powder! They have said that their powder contains cancer causing ingredients or something really bad like that... not good!

Yes, he has reached that "I must chew on ALL the things!!!!!" stage... haha

In other news, I checked out Name Berry recently:

ANDREW KENNETH:

"Strong and Manly" Andrew is among the most appealing classic boys' names, with more character and charm than James or John, and a host of Andrew-inspired nicknames: Andy makes it friendlier, Drew adds to its sophistication. Though it has slipped a bit, it was firmly in the Top 10 for more than two recent decades, and in one Harvard research study by sociologist Stanley Liberson it was the leading boys' name chosen by highly educated parents.

In the New Testament, Andrew was one of the twelve apostles and the first disciple to be called by Jesus and, although the origins of the name are Greek, Andrew is the patron saint of both Scotland and Russia, as well as Greece. It has associations of two ofAmerica's most famous artists, Wyeth and Warhol.

Andrew also has several appealing foreign manifestations that are sometimes used in the US, including Andre (French), Andrei (Russian), Andres (Spanish), Andrea (Italian),Andreas (German, Dutch and Greek), and Anders (Norwegian and Swedish).

"Born of Fire, Handsome" Kenneth may have lost itsluster now, but Kenneth has had its moments of glory The first king of Scotland was Kenneth, and Sir Kenmneth, a Christian crusader, was the hero of the Sir Walter Scott novel The Talisman.

In this country, Kenneth was a Top 20 name from the 1920s through the 50s. And of course for many girls growing up, Ken was the name of Barbie's eternal boyfriend and ultimate dream date. These days, Kenneth Ellen (!) Parcell is the naive, perpetually smiling character on 30 Rock.
--nameberry.com

Alright well that's all for now... pictures to come from our trip soon!! I shall leave you with some NEKKID baby photos....TTFN! <3

Look at that sly grin!

What a little ham!!!

He was one HAPPY baby lol