It's the Great Pumpkin, Sebastian!

We took Sebastian to the pumpkin patch on Sunday. Unfortunately this is the best picture we got of him between him falling over and closing his eyes. Still, we had a great time with him and picked out a great big pumpkin to carve.

We also bought his big-boy car seat yesterday. The little guy has already outgrown the infant carrier. Our little guy isn't so little any more!

Chew Chew Chew

Hey everyone! Sorry we haven't had much to blog about lately. I was on jury duty for 2 weeks and I got a little sidetracked. Sebastian is doing quite well these days. We have our ups and downs with teething, I know that as soon as these 4 come in there are plenty more waiting to follow, so we are far from being in the clear.

Sebastian is eating quite well these days, in fact we calculate his weight around 19 pounds. Time for a new car seat! He loves sweet potatoes, prunes, banana, carrots, and peaches. The jury is still out on peas and green beans. He takes after Todd with that for sure. Between his growing and the seasonal changes clothes have been our biggest challenge. Luckily we have friends that have been giving us plenty of clothes that their kids have outgrown.

He is so close to figuring out the whole crawling thing. I know most parents will warn us not to be in such a hurry, once they start moving they never stop. Still, watching him struggle to scoot around the floor is so cute but he gets so frustrated sometimes.

We are really looking foward to the holidays and all the fun that goes along with it. Having a baby sure changes everything!

Musical Baby!

Sebastian had his first organ lesson from his Grandma Felumlee on Saturday, October 2. While he loved banging on the keyboard and hearing the noise, the organ was turned up pretty loud and he scared himself once or twice. We actually noticed that he really does love music, and "sings" along in the car when we have the radio or a CD playing (when he is not sleeping that is). Time will tell if this is just playtime fun or if he really does have an interest in music.

Sebastian is sleeping much longer during the night. Though we have our occasional early AM wake ups, they are fewer and less intense. Usually all it takes is finding his pacifier and he is back to sleep. The other night he found it himself. That was pretty cool! His crawling is getting better and better too. He is still scooting and rolling more than crawling, but he can cover a lot of ground, especially if you turn your back on him for even the shortest moment.

I am on jury duty this week, and I was gone from 9 AM to 5:30 PM yesterday. It was the first time in quite a while that I wasn't home all day. I can't imagine having to do that every day. He was napping when I got home, I couldn't wait to get my hands on him thought. He finally woke up and I got to play with him, read him a book, give him a bath and put him to bed. I let Todd relax since he was "on duty" solo all day. I think he appreciated it. I realize that millions of parents are away from their kids all the time, but it was just a bit of a reality check I guess. We have 2 more weeks of this to look forward managing. I am already looking forward to my one-on-one time tonight.

A Great Week for Sebastian

Sebastian is finally settling into another nice schedule. We have his teething under control, and his sleep is getting more steady and lasting longer at night. He slept until 7:30 this morning, it was like a present! It was the first time in 5 months that I woke up before he did. It was nice to make a pot of coffee and get my day underway before having to deal with a crying baby.

Sebastian is really moving a lot these days. If you go to our YouTube page you can see some videos I posted, including one of him "crawling" to get to a toy. It is only a matter of time before he is fully crawling and having us chase him around the house.

A Long Week Home

WHEW! Coming home from vacation can be so rough you need another vacation! It took a few days to just get unpacked and get the laundry done. Add to it that we had no food in the house when we returned and other various things out of whack and we were just busy getting back to normal.

Sebastian is still a bit congested, but we think it has more to do with teething than it does being sick. He doesn't seem to be feeling bad at all, just having a stuffed nose is enough to disrupt his sleep though.

Todd's mother and her friend paid a visit this week. Her friend's son was returning from a trip and they needed some help getting to the airport to pick him up. Sebastian got to spend some time with his Grandma Felumlee, and she always enjoys seeing him.

We went to Babies R Us this week and got some great products I want to recommend. The first is a battery operated nasal aspirator. Now, before you judge me for how that sounds, consider this. The suction power of a typical rubber syringe is limited to the small volume of the buble itself. While probably good at the mucus in the outer nostril, we were having trouble getting everything out. Sebastian also cried every time we had to use it. The battery operated one provides constant, gentle suction and we are amazed what it removes. As an added bonus, Sebastian giggles when we use it. Go figure...

The other product is Hyland's Teething Tablets. The link is to their gel, but we chose the tablets. You place two of the tablets under the baby's tounge, and it sooths their mouth. The product is 100% natural and and homeopathic. The tablets dissolve pretty quickly and they really seem to help.

Final Visit from Shannon

Monday was our final visit from Shannon, our social worker from Franklin County. We had a great visit, she finalized her questions necessary for her report, and now we just wait for her to file the documentation that is due to the court on October 4. We should hear from our attorney on 10/24 that the adoption is finalized. Shannon has been an amazing part of this process, so very supportive and clearly dedicated to her job and helping the children she works with every day. We will miss her, and promised to stay in touch. In fact, I am sending her the link to this blog so she can keep up with our escapades.

Vacation comes to an end...

We had a great trip and we are sad to see it end. To be 100% honest there were some challenging moments but all in all it was a lot of fun. Sebastian's nose caused a few sleepless nights, but now we're home and he is feeling better. I think he is really teething now and that is just making it worse.

Friday night Todd and I ventured to Atlantic City for dinner at Fornaletta. No, we didn't see the winner of last season's Hell's Kitchen, but the food was A-MAZ-ING! We walked through the casino floor on the way out and I won nearly the entire cost of dinner back on penny slots in just 2 minutes!

Saturday Stephen, Julie andAmalia came down to spend the day. We were blessed with beautiful weather, and got a few hours of quality beach time in. WOO HOO! Unfortunately it was time to pack up and head back to reality. We left the beach around 10 AM on Sunday and stopped to see my "Grammie." OK I will always call her Grammie, but I guess to Sebastian she is "GG" (great-grammie) and my Mom is Grammie. All of this is getting confusing!

We had a nice quick lunch visit with Grammie, then off to the PHL airport. A quick walk through security, a nap for Sebastian at the gate and a full bottle on the plane proved to be the way to do it once again. He had no problems at all; Todd even changed him in the TINY bathroom on the plane with hardly any trouble.

Now it is back to the "grind" as it were... lots to unpack, a house to get back into order and some version of a schedule. Goodbye Summer 2009!