Fredericksburg

Travis and I had a great vacation weekend in Fredericksburg this past weekend! We didn't really have a true reason for going, but we both just needed a break and a chance to spend some time together. With the house on the market and a 5 month old baby, along with the fact that Travis is really busy at work, we haven't had much time to hang out, relax, and just be married. Luckily, my parents were available (and willing!!) to take care of Barrett for the weekend, so Travis and I were able to leave for three days!

We arrived on Friday afternoon and spent most of the day walking around town, visiting all the cute shops on Main Street. It was quite the adventure because it rained all day Friday and Saturday, but we decided to brave the weather and walk in the rain! We definitely earned the bright, sunny day on Sunday!

This is the adorable bed and breakfast where we stayed for the weekend. The building actually has five separate suites in it, and we had one whole side of the house to ourselves, complete with dining room, living room, and two bedrooms. Perhaps it was a little too much space, but it sure was fun! There also was a great hot tub in the backyard which we used...in the rain. :-)

The front door of our suite...

...and the adorable patio, complete with chandeliers, wicker furniture, and a porch swing!!

On the porch swing...

The whole neighborhood was full of old, historic buildings, most of which were also B&Bs!

 Neither of us had been to Fredericksburg before, and we found that there are actually lots of interesting things to do there. We decided to make a trip to the Admiral Nimitz and Pacific War Museum, a great activity on a rainy day!! We ended up spending about six hours there on Saturday and Sunday; my brain reached maximum capacity after about three hours, but luckily, the tickets were good for two days. It was an incredibly interesting museum, and we both really enjoyed it!

Apparently, one of the guns they used in WWII is also one of the guns that will be on Travis' new plane in Florida. Pretty cool! :-)

The Flying Tigers were a special squadron during WWII in the Pacific... Also the name of the squadron Travis is in now in Del Rio!!

This is an old hospital on Main Street that has been converted to a store. The basement of the hospital is a little restaurant where we ate breakfast one morning! We spent a lot of time walking around and looking in all the little shops, stores, and restaurants. We found some cute places, and I ate some German food that I have never had before! There was a fun bar we went to on Saturday night that had live music and dancing - it was certainly fun, small-town entertainment!

This was a neat statue in front of one of the buildings in town. It looked like a tree from a distance, but it's actually a very intricate carving of three eagles.

These statues, in the center of the Fredericksburg park, apparently tell the story of the town's beginnings. The people of Fredericksburg made a peace treaty with the local Indians, and, according to the plaque, that treaty is the only one in the United States that was never broken. 

It was a fabulous and wonderful weekend!!

(And Barrett didn't miss us one little bit... He had a great time with Grandma and Grandpa!!)

"Breaking" News!

Two big things have happened here this past week:

1. Barrett has TWO teeth (his bottom, middle teeth) that have broken through his gums!! (All attempts at photos of this event have been utter failures, so you will just have to take my word on it!) We noticed the teeth for the first time on Saturday, March 3, when Barrett was officially five months old. For the week prior, Barrett had been sleeping (and sleeping and sleeping...); I think he was awake for a total of 15 hours for the entire week! When he finally was awake for more than on hour on Saturday, he was in the best mood! He was happy, playful, and alert, and he has continued to be extremely happy into this week. He apparently slept through most of his first teething experience, and his teeth really don't seem to be bothering him at all.  When he does get a little fussy, we give him a frozen teething ring, and he is a happy camper!

2. I took Barrett back to his doctor again today for another weight check, and our chunky monkey has finally broken 15 pounds! He officially weighed in today at 15 pounds, 1 ounce, putting him in the 18th percentile for his age group. Yay!

Two big events for our little boy!! And, today was a gorgeous, 65 degree weather day in Texas, so we went outside for a little fresh air and sunshine! :-)

Showing off his cute little belly and his new summer hat!

(I love pictures of this kid in hats...too cute!)

Watching the dogs play...

Exploring in the grass :-)

(He wasn't really sure about it at first, but he seemed to enjoy it after a while!)

5 Months Old!!

Can you believe this little stinker is FIVE months old today??

Our monthly monkey picture:

It's hard to believe he's five months old already!! Where has the time gone? I swear he is getting cuter everyday, as well as becoming more expressive and engaging. He is so much fun to play with throughout the day, and it's fun to watch him explore and learn when he is awake. He is sleeping through the night without any problems and is also taking some long naps throughout the day. When he's awake, he plays hard; when he's asleep, he sleeps like a rock!

Here's what we are up to at five months old:

Putting everything (and I mean everything!) into our mouth...

This includes syrup bottles, mommy's cup, the dog's paw, mommy's hair... :-)

Laughing with the cutest belly laughs I have ever seen...

He is so adorable when he laughs! This is one of the best videos I have been able to get of him so far. We've found that any bodily noise - sneezes, burps, wiggling tounges, etc - make him laugh the hardest. And, once you get him going, it takes a minute or two before he will stop! His daddy is the best at making him laugh, but I can get him going sometimes!

Becoming the ultimate wiggle worm...

He wiggles, rolls, and scoots all around his crib at night, as well as his blankets on the floor during the day. After a few mornings finding him with various extremities hanging out of the crib, I bought some of the mesh bumpers to put around the crib. Now his legs and arms stay inside the crib, and I don't worry so much about him getting stuck!

Sleeping on our tummy...

Now that he is an old pro at rolling over, he has starting sleeping on his tummy at night and nap times. In fact, I can't keep him off his tummy anymore! He either wants to sit up in his chairs or lay on his tummy on the ground. He loves seeing the world! And, on a side note, he seems to have outgrown his swing and is doing all of his sleeping in his crib now. He lets me know when he's tired, and he will eagerly lie down in his crib and fall asleep almost immediately!

 Practicing our chill skills...
Seriously, this kid could not be more laid back! He only cries when he's hungry, tired, or has a dirty diaper. Other than that, he's a pretty happy camper! :-)

Sucking our thumb...

Learning how to hold our own bottle...
We are exclusively bottle feeding him now, since Mommy and baby were just having too many challenges with breastfeeding. Everybody is happier now, and Barrett loves his bottles! He is eating six ounces of either breast milk or formula about five times a day. He has developed quite a grip and has started reaching for his bottle. He can hold onto it pretty well, but he can't tip it up into his mouth yet. I bought some handles that I have started using on the bottles to help him hold it a little easier (and to give my fingers a break from the squeezing!!), and I think he might be ready to start learning how to drink from a straw.  We'll see how this goes next month...


Learning how to sit in our chair and eat from a spoon...
We are planning to start solids at six months (yay!), so we have been practicing with spoons and our high chair (the bumbo with a tray for now...). We make a bottle of formula and then feed it to him with a spoon. He does great!! He opens his mouth for the spoon, let us put it in his mouth, and then promptly spits it all back out as he tries to figure out what is going on.


In this case, he was eager to keep trying and ate almost two ounces of formula from the spoon! And if the amount of food on his face is any indication of success, then I think this experiment went very well! I've been working on making and freezing baby foods for him, and we are looking forward to when he can start trying new things to eat. We are planning to start with sweet potatoes, avocados, and bananas.

LOVING his bouncy...

He sits in this thing while I wash the dishes and has an absolute blast! Now that his feet can touch the floor, he bounces and bounces...and bounces... The lights and music come on when he moves, and he just loves it! He also stares and coos at the little animals in front of him, and he is particularly fond of the yellow monkey. It is so fun to watch him play in his bouncy!

Trying really hard to sit up...

He almost has it figured out, but he is still pretty wobbly. Today at playgroup, one of my friends showed me some techniques to try to help him out a little more, and he really made a lot of progress! He'll be sitting up on his own before we know it!

Letting daddy teach him how to crawl...

Travis really wants Barrett to crawl, so he keeps propping Barrett up on his hands and knees and telling him to "go"! It's pretty cute, especially because Barrett has no idea what is going on and usually just falls over. :-) He hasn't quite figured out how to push up on his arms yet!

And loving his puppy dogs!!

Both Rio and Percy are SO sweet with the baby, and Barrett is starting to interact with them a lot more. He will reach out and grab Rio's fur, and she will turn around and lick him. Rio also likes to sleep in his room while he's napping and always goes to check on him when he is crying. Percy lays down next to Barrett on the mat and lets him reach out and play with his tongue. I can't wait until he's old enough to play with them even more! They are going to love it!

He's a busy boy these days, and it's so much fun to watch him learn, explore, and grow! I can't wait to see what next month will bring. So, until next month, I will leave you with some more cute pictures of this bouncing baby boy!! :-)

"Mommy, does this onsie make my muscles look big??"

Loving the bouncy!

Holding up his head like a champ!

 Mommy's little monkey is getting so big!

 Our "baby burrito" after his nightly bath

Where is this boy's cell phone? He needs to make a phone call! 

Happy five months, Barrett!!

4 Month Checkup

Barrett went in for his four month check-up at the beginning of January.  Here are his stats:

Weight: 13 lbs, 6 oz (10th percentile)
Height: 26 inches (77th percentile)
Head Circumference: 16.7 in (68th percentile)

Compared to his two month stats:

Weight: 12 lbs (37th)
Height: 24.4 inches (90th)
Head Circumference: 16 inches (84th)


I took him back to the doctor again yesterday to make sure he was gaining weight.  We changed the way we were feeding him (bottles only now, supplementing with formula as needed) and wanted to make sure it was helping him out.  Sure enough, two weeks after his four month check-up, he has already gained almost two pounds!!  He now weighs 14 lbs, 14 oz (23rd percentile), and Mommy, Daddy and baby are all so much happier with our new system. Breast-feeding was becoming too much of a challenge for Barrett and Mommy, and neither of us were happy with how it was going. Now, Barrett is consistently eating 6 ounces from a bottle about five or six times a day; I am pumping every three hours (four hours at night).  Barrett loves his bottles, and Travis loves that he can help out with feedings more often.  Barrett tends to be hungrier in the morning, eating every 1.5-2 hours, but is able to eat every 3-4 hours in the afternoons.  He is sleeping like a champ again; on most days, he sleeps from 7pm - 7am.  He is also taking one long 2-4 hour nap in the early afternoons, usually around 12 or 1. If we don't get him into bed on time (between 7-7:30pm), he gets VERY cranky and irritable and let's us know he is mad that he isn't in bed yet!

Overall, he's a happy, healthy baby! :-)

4 Months Old!!

It's hard to believe, but Barrett is four months old today! People aren't kidding when they tell you that time flies...it truly does!

Here's our monkey picture for the month:

Life sure is busy here at the Daniels' household!! Here's what we are doing at four months:

Rolling over back to tummy...

It's official. This kid is on the move! He rolls over so easily and effortlessly now you would think he had been doing it for weeks! But, he just all of a sudden started doing it on Saturday morning (Dec. 31). I laid him down on his back, turned around, and when I looked back, he was on his stomach looking up at me. It completely shocked me, and I am still surprised every time I find him in a new position. (I'm sure this shock will wear off soon, but right now, it's pretty impressive!!)

Still sucking our thumb...

He only sucks the right thumb, but he will suck all other fingers of his left hand.  He has also started putting his left hand on his head while he sucks his thumb, so he always looks so chill and relaxed. :-)

Discovering our feet...

Not only has he found his feet, but he has also discovered that he can put them in his mouth...

He's quite the contortionist!!

Here's a video of him eating his toes :-)

Putting our hands together...

Instead of keeping one hand tucked underneath him when he's on his tummy, he is now able to bring them both to the front! He also likes to push his toys all around in front of him now, and he sent several flying across the floor this morning...

Holding our head up...

His head no longer flops around while it's up in the air. He is really stable and is able to look around the room at many different things while he is laying on his tummy!

Laughing, cooing, and giggling at Mommy and Daddy...

Everything we do is funny, and he particularly loves it when Daddy comes home and makes faces at him. He will turn his head towards our voices whenever we talk to him, and he loves to hold a conversation with us as well!

(I love this picture because I see the same expression on Travis' face as the expression on Barrett's face in the previous picture... It makes me smile.)

 Here's a little video of him cooing and babbling away!

Making the greatest facial expressions...

His expressions continue to be priceless! This is his "angry" face, and it's the first time I have been able to capture it on camera!! :-)

And, finally, our picture with the puppies for the month!

After Travis and I spent about five minutes trying to arrange this picture, we felt like we were trying to herd cats, so we resorted to bribery. Everyone in this picture is being bribed to sit still and next to each other - the dogs with beefy dog treats and the baby with a shiny rattle.

And, for your viewing enjoyment, some other choice photos of Baby Barrett from this month:

Fingers in the mouth, feet in hand...

After a week of visiting with and meeting all his extended family for Christmas and then a loooong 10 hour drive home, Barrett had a little trouble waking up the next morning!

Playing on our new toy from great-grandma Jerry

(He still needs a little help sitting up, but soon, he'll be doing it on his own!)

Cute as a bug!

I love sweet sleeping baby pictures :-)

A four month old cutie pie!!