He won't go nekkid

We were so lucky with our baby showers. We were truly overwhelmed by everyone's generosity. We're also hooked-in for hand-me-downs from friends with boys a little older than Biscuit.

But even so, when I decided over the weekend to do a spring/summer inventory, what I found just blew me away. Here's what Biscuit has:

31 short-sleeved onesies
8 one-piece short-sleeved rompers
14 pairs of pants
5 pairs of shorts
3 bathing suits
1 bathing suit coverup with a hood
6 hats (3 bucket hats, one baseball cap and one floppy sun-blocking hat)

Can you throw a shower every couple of years until they leave for college?

Biscuit on film

Right now, I have two options for taking video of Biscuit: My mother-in-law gave me her old video tape recorder, and my point-and-shoot digital camera has video built in.

I was happy to get the camcorder from my mother-in-law, because I was afraid to spend the money to buy a digital recorder unless I knew for sure that I would use it. And I wanted to use the video setting on my point-and-shoot camera to see how difficult it is to upload video online.

After realizing that I've learned to pick up the camcorder pretty frequently, and it's really, really easy to e-mail video or post it online, I think we're ready to buy our own.

Here's Biscuit having some tummy time in our living room floor. He's really finding his voice these days. He's learning to make all sorts of noises, including ones that are so loud that he scares himself. He jumps at the sound and looks around like, "What was that?!?"

Grabbing on

Biscuit has just started to grab things - toys, his bottle, his burp cloth, my hair (ouch!).

So I took a little video of him having a good ol' time hanging on to his burp cloth.

The Bumbo

Biscuit's Bumbo seat is great! We got it as a shower gift. It's a thick foam chair with a high, stiff back, so it puts him in the position he'll be in when he learns to sit up.

So far, he seems to enjoy hanging out in it ... well, as long as it's not for more than 10 minutes!

"It's just a bit of poo!"

Biscuit fell asleep about 7 p.m. last night after fighting tooth and nail to try to stay awake. So when he woke up about 10:15, he was quite ready to eat. I was tired and ready to go to bed, but Jeff was finishing up some work stuff.

So I changed Biscuit into his night clothes (a short-sleeved onesie with a sleep sack over it), fixed a bottle and settled into the rocking chair in our bedroom. I had my Boppy around my waist and a burp cloth on my shoulder, everything moving right along as usual.

Then I heard this grunting noise and thought, “Oh great! He’s going to mess up his diaper, and I’m going to have to change it. I’m tired. I’m sleepy. And the last thing I want to deal with is a diaper full of poo!”

I always wait a minute or two before I change a messy diaper, just to make sure the job is done.
So I got up from the rocker and spread out one of our waterproof changing pads on the bed. I started to unzip the sleepsack and felt something wet and slimy on my hand.

HULL BREACH!!!! HULL BREACH!!!!!

The inside of Biscuit's onesie and sleepsack were covered with liquid poo! It was all over his legs and feet.

So I did what any good mom would do, I yelled for my husband. “Jeff! Help!”

Jeff came into the bedroom, and I swear, two grown, college-educated adults stood there dumbfounded for a minute before we could even begin to take care of this mess. There’s a line in the movie “Johnny English” where Rowan Atkinson says (in a very proper British accent), “Oh, do get it off. It’s just a bit of poo.” And that line was more than a little appropriate for that moment.

So we formulated a plan of attack, which included about 10 minutes of getting the poor child undressed while trying to contain the mess. Then he had to get a bath at 11:15 at night!

Meanwhile, I just happened to glance up at Biscuit's face, and he had this HUGE grin on his face.

Right then, I knew that although the past couple of weeks have been really rough, and I’m tired, stressed out and generally all-around grumpy, having this little critter has made such a huge difference over the past four months. He has changed my whole outlook on life.

Roll over, Biscuit

We took Biscuit for his 4-month checkup on March 9. As we were waiting for the doctor to come in, I put Biscuit on his stomach on the exam table. He swung his arm up and rolled over for the very first time.

The doctor came in and started asking us all kinds of questions, then he said, “What about rolling over?” I said, “He just did.”

He said, “When did he start?” And I said, “No, you don't understand, he JUST did. As in, he did it for the first time a couple of minutes ago while we were waiting for you to come in.” He laughed and said that Biscuit must have known he was going to ask about rolling over and just wanted to go ahead and get it out of the way.

Biscuit on wheels

We took Griffin for his first stroller ride on a recent Saturday at Bur-Mil Park. They have nice, paved walking trails that run alongside Lake Higgins. It's very pretty, and we took lots of pictures.

And if you take a look at the picture to the right, you'll see why Jeff doesn't get to push the stroller anymore!

Then my friend Sadie (she has a 1-year-old) and I took our boys to the mall Sunday afternoon. And I can tell you that learning to operate a stroller at the mall is a whole new set of skills.

First off, Sadie knows where all the elevators are. (And just so you know, the department store elevators are way more stroller-friendly that the ones in the middle of the mall.)
Secondly, some of the racks in the stores are so close that you can barely get a stroller through, much less if you have a kid old enough to start grabbing things.

And lastly, getting the stroller, kid, diaper bag, any purchases and yourself in and out of the car is quite an adventure all its own!

But I think after spending the day there with an experienced stroller-handler like Sadie, I'm ready for a trip on my own.

LOUD NOISES!!!

There's a line in a Will Ferrell movie where during an argument a guy yells, "LOUD NOISES!!!" So of course Jeff and I say that to each other all the time ... when the TV is too loud, when a car with a loud radio goes by or when we can hear someone's personal cell phone call across the store at the mall.

Well, now Biscuit is expressing his distaste of loud noises.

Jeff and Biscuit stayed home together yesterday and when I came in from work, I asked how their day was. Jeff said, "Well, he only cried twice, but both times, he cried so hard that his face turned red, and there was a second's pause before he caught his breath."

I asked what in the world made him so upset, and Jeff said, "I sneezed while I was feeding him."

It's really weird but for the past week or so, Griffin seems to be bothered by the sound of coughs and sneezes while he eats.

So this morning, Griffin sneezed twice in a row while we were getting him dressed for day care. Jeff said, "Boy! I sneeze once and you freak out, but you sneeze two times in a row and that's just fine!" Biscuit just looked up at him and smiled his biggest toothless smile.

Talking to Biscuit

I love to hear Jeff and Biscuit talking to each other. Granted, Biscuit doesn't so much talk as he coos, yells, squeals and babbles. But still, they often seem to be having conversations that make perfect since.

When we first brought Biscuit home, Jeff said he didn't know what to say to him. I told him that it didn't even have to make sense, he just needed to let Biscuit get used to his voice. So I was happy one day close to Christmas when I heard Jeff just talking away to Biscuit in the living room. I walked quietly through the kitchen to eavesdrop. Then I realized that Jeff wasn't talking to Biscuit, he was reading to him. And what was he reading? The instruction manual to the GPS he got as a gift from his parents.

In this perfect sing-songy voice, Jeff said, "Before you use you Garmin GPS, you first have to let the battery run completely down."

But like I said, it doesn't matter what you're saying, just as long as you're talking.

My sick boys

As a first-time parent, I worry about everything. Is Biscuit warm enough? Is he too warm? Did he eat enough? When do I need to increase the amount of formula he gets? When do we start giving him cereal? When do we start with baby food?

So when Biscuit caught his first cold at day care, I spent a week worrying about what to do to help him get better. I used blankets under his bassinet mattress to elevate his head while he's sleeping. It's supposed to help him breathe better. I used saline drops in his nose to break up the congestion. I've been using a humidifier at night to add moisture to the air he breathes. I've read chapters in books and entries on Web sites about babies and colds. But still, I wonder, should I take him to the doctor? Is there something else I should be doing?

My mama said that all mamas have those thoughts - first-timers or not. So I'm trying to relax and depend on my instincts. But everyone who knows me can tell you, I'm not really good at relaxing. I usually leave that to Jeff!

But I'll tell you, I have never seen anything more pitiful than my sick little boy ... well, unless you count my now-sick husband!

Biscuit woke up all smiles this morning. I could tell that he's feeling better. So now that my little baby is okay, I'll turn my attention to my big baby! Feel better, Jeffy.